Go Ask Alice - Anonymous

January 24th After you've had it, there isn't even life without drugs.... It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth -- and ultimately her life. Read her diary. Enter her world.
You will never forget her. For thirty-five years, the acclaimed, bestselling first-person account of a teenage girl's harrowing decent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teen readers. As powerful -- and as timely -- today as ever, Go Ask Alice remains the definitive book on the horrors of addiction.

My older sister recommended this book to me, she said that she had read it in school and that it was one of her favorites. I wasn't sure how I would feel about reading someone's personal thoughts, and their personal memories, but there was just something about this one that kept me coming back.This diary was phenominally raw and real, not much was edited from what I can tell. There there is too much to say about it, only, I can't put my thoughts into coherent words. Every teenager, or adult, should read this book. If you haven't read it yet, then please, do.

*There is heavy drug use in this diary, and multiple f-bombs were dropped, also, some graphic scenes. I would recommend that anyone 15+ read this book.*

Vampire Academy: The Graphic Novel (1)

After two years on the run, best friends Rose and Lissa are caught and returned to St. Vladimir’s Academy, a private high school for vampires and half-bloods. It’s filled with intrigue, danger—and even romance.

Enter their dark, fascinating world through a new series of 144-page full-color graphic novels. The entire first Vampire Academy novel has been adapted for book one by Leigh Dragoon and overseen by Richelle Mead, while the beautiful art of acclaimed British illustrator Emma Vieceli brings the story to life.

When I picked this up from my local library, I was expecting something that was as fantastic as the original VA books. I was a little disappointed in reading this book, I guess I was just expecting more detail plot wise. I mean, the basic plot was there, it was just kind of in bits and pieces and I kept having to remind myself what happened in the first VA book to make certain things in this graphic novel make sense. I don't know if this novel would make much sense to someone who hasn't read the VA books, because I don't think a person who hasn't read VA would completely understand the characters and the world that VA is set in. Either way, the graphic novel was good. I loved the drawing and this was a good way for me to recap what happened in the first Vampire Academy book. Plus, Dimitri was pretty awesome. I can't wait to see what they do with Adrian and he rest of the gang. This book definitely needs to be on my shelf.

3.5/5 stars

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. [GoodReads]

John Green says that there will be no spoilers and so there will be no spoilers. Know that this book is way beyond awesome and that you must read it - if you haven't already. Read it as soon as you get your hands on it and don't try to stop reading it because you won't be able to. This story is so magnificently tragic and horribly beautiful at the same time. I can only compare it to a car crash, and the bits of broken glass that remain on the road and sparkle in light. Please, read this book, it will open your mind, forever.

The Walking Dead vol 1

An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months, society has crumbled: There is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. Rick Grimes finds himself one of the few survivors in this terrifying future. A couple months ago he was a small town cop who had never fired a shot and only ever saw one dead body. Separated from his family, he must now sort through all the death and confusion to try and find his wife and son. In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally begin living.

This was the second graphic novel that I've read, and I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot. I don't have much to compare it to, but from all of the talk about this TV series, I think that it'd be ok if I said that this book was a really good first book for this series.
I enjoyed the depth of the characters, they were developed well, but for some reason I thought that there could have been more development. Some things were hinted at in the dialogue - and sometimes even in the drawing - but they weren't fully developed. The extreme plot twist at the end made me want to read more, so I ordered the next four books in the series from my library... Anyway, I loved the post-apocalyptic setting and the drawing was phenomenally creepy. I am definitely going to keep up with this series, but first I think I have to catch up...

4.5/5 stars

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." - Ernest Hemingway

Of all the contenders for the title of The Great American Novel, none has a better claim than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley-a sequel to Tom Sawyer-the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck's and Jim's voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor.

John Seelye's introduction discusses the context from which the novel emerged

I started reading this book because it was required for school and I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed reading it. At first, I was wary about it - I had to read Tom Sawyer for school in 8th grade and I didn't like it as much (probably because I had to read it for school). Although the dialect was sometimes difficult to understand, Huck is a very believable and fun character, and to me, his character alone makes up for the sometimes incomprehensible words. However, at times I found myself skipping paragraphs of the book - particularly the details that had to do with the setting. After a while of reading through the very elaborate details, I got bored and had to skip to something that was more interesting. I'm not sure that I skipped these parts because they were extremely boring or because I wanted to get my homework done. Either way, this classic second installment in Twain's "Adventures" series (as I call them) is a must read for anyone who is interested in reading classic American literature.

Overall, I'd rate this book a 4/5.