2 down...

So at this point I've finished Tweaked and Gotcha!. Between the two of them, I enjoyed the latter much more than the former.

All I wanted to do was beat senseless the main character of Tweaked... I think it could have been better if the main character had been younger, to the point where he doesn't fully understand what is going on. It would have made the story more compelling, and much more emotional (i.e. less angry) than with a brother close in age. Worst of all was the ending. It was such an obvious twist, it made me want to throw up. Reminded me of when I predicted the twist in M. Night Shyamalan's movie, The Village.

As for Gotcha!, it had a good storyline, with some great twists. But there were parts where I was just yelling at Katie (the main character) that she is an idiot. Especially the part where her dad shows up quickly (trying not to leak any info to those who have yet to read it). I wish they would have had some of the students go much further into the game than they did (it did get down to the last 45 pretty quickly), and the relationships were fairly well developed. The ending was particularly good, mainly due to it's reality: not all things were fixed, but not everything was left broken.

I get the joys of reading The Corps... (etc etc) over the holidays, but am feeling a little wary, now that I've read some of your thoughts on it. :S

New Book

Alright, so I'm going to be reading Daughter of War over the Christmas break, and I'm hoping that I can (at last) find a White Pine book that I really like .... can someone give me a little insight as to what the books like?

Thanks!
~Capt. Holly Short~

Mustang Sally here again! I finished Mountain Girl River Girl last night and I found it really revealing about what life is like in China. At first I thought it was set a little while in the past, but when they referred to the Olympics in Beijing, I realized the horrible conditions of the common people is still very much going on. The story touches on the treatment of women, government restrictions, poverty, prostitution and sweat shops. I was pretty skepitical about the whole 'fox stink' issue, but after reading the author's blurb at the back, was surprised to hear that it is an actual condition. Anyway, an interesting read...

The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane
I don’t know who picked the cover for this book because it sure gives a different impression of the contents. I was expecting a riproaring adventure with maybe a few bodies. What I got was a story of an eccentric uncle who has isolated himself on his island for years and knows nothing about teenage girls or life in general. The girls themselves were brought up in very different ways and their only commonality is they have both lost their parents. As for the old lady who comes to be the cook what is all that about? It is four characters in search of a plot . Miss Horvath attempted to weave the story lines together and came up with a sweater with three arms. You can wear it but do you want to?

Book Thoughts

I just finished reading Dooley Takes The Fall .... And I have to say that I'm really disappointed overall with the book selection this year. It makes me really sad because last years was fantastic ... I'm going to keep reading (my goal is read all the books this year) because I'm holding out hope for a book that I actually LIKE. So far, Gravity Journal was OK. Gotcha! wasn't bad either. If the worst comes to pass, it'll be one of those two that gets my vote.

Signed,
A Very Disgruntled
~Capt. Holly Short~

Dooley Takes The Fall

Me again...
I finished reading Dooley Takes a fall last night. Here's my thoughts on the book: IT WAS AWESOME! This book was about a boy named Ryan Dooley. Dooley, as he prefers, lives with his uncle and attends a new school. Throughout most of the book, the reader is trying to figure out why Dooley is living with his uncle, why everyone at school is afraid of him and what happened in his past. At the start of the book, Dooley finds the dead body of a boy from school. The rest of the book follows Dooley as he tries to solve the death of the boy from school, with the involvement of the police. Along the way, he meets Beth, the dead boy's sister, whom Dooley has a crush on. As well, many characters, major and minor are introduced. The reader also gets to terms with Dooley's past. The ending of the book takes a twisted and unpredictable turns. I could not put down this book once I started reading.
Today, I took out The Corps of The Bare-Boned Plane and just got into it. The book has absolutely nothing to do with the front cover. So far, so good! I'll keep updating throughout the weekend. Ciao

And I'm back! Just gonna finish up on my last post. And I'm sure most of you have read some of the books so I won't bother outlining the plots
Little Brother: overall the book was... ok. I didn't really understand alot of the technological aspect of the book. Little Brother didn't really keep me on an 'edge' like i thought it would. The book was fairly long and I had some trouble getting through it. What I like about the book is the title. Weird, I know. After reading the book I found that the plot was very similar to George Orwell's 1984(one of my favourtie books in the world). In 1984, there is someone called Big Brother that watches over everyone in the book. Thus the tile, Little Brother. As I said before, the book was ok but not one of my favourites this year.

Gravity Journal: I thought gravity journal was a bit too whiney for me. I mean, I know she's going through a tough time and stuff but it seems like she brought on that stuff herself. Anise thought she could make everything better if she did something about it. She can't change everything and she has a hard time realizing that. I generally like to read books about topics like depression, self-mutilation, anerexia/bulmia, drug/alcohol abuse, and so on, but Gravity Journal just didn't make the cut for me. It was a quick read though.

Tweaked: I actually really liked tweaked. I thought the author put a good spin on the topic of drug abuse by getting a family member's perspective. It just made the story seem more real, and even sadder. I aslo liked the ending because it wasn't your usual drug abuse book. Overall I really liked it.

Like I said before, I am currently about half way through Dooley Takes a Fall. I like it so far because it's a sort of mystery type book. Feel free to make comments or give your opinions on books!

hey guys, welcome back to this year's White Pine Book Club! I do have to agree that this year's book is really dark. I've read Gravity Journal, Tweaked, Gotcha!, After River, Little Brother and I am currently reading Dooley takes a fall. I have to say my favourite book so far would be After River. It is a fantastic book about love, family, relationships and everything you would find in a book. Reading After River, I fell in love (corny, I know), I cried and just about every emotion there possibly is. After river is a love story, and a mystery. I would definately recommend to EVERYONE (yes even boys)! Here's my thoughts on the other books:

Gotcha!: From other members' posts you will probably know the plot of Gotcha!, so I'll spare you the bore of reading it again. When i first saw the cover of Gotcha!, I immediately thought to myself that this was going to be one of 'those books'. You know, the teenage-chick-with the bright cover type of book. As i was reading it, I never gave it too much thought about the novel. But! After reading it i founf that there was so many issues covered in that book that are present in everyday life. Such as conformity, trust, competitiveness and so many others. Gotcha! was a nice, fun, light read.

Gotta go, dinner! I'll be back to talk about the other books!

Thoughts on Book Selection

I have thus far read Gravity Journal, Mountain Girl River Girl, and Gotcha! and I have to say that I am not impressed with this years selection of books. Gripe #1 - NO FANTASY. I understand that its not a genre that all love, but many do. Pretty please include just one fantasy in the selection? Gripe #2, and this is the major one - the books are so DARK! I dont mean just dark as in death, but I;m talking about the pits of humanity, the lowest of the lows of human existance. In Gravity Journal, you have Anise, who deals with depression, self-mutilation and anorexia; the end holds hope but no promise. In Gotcha! Katie's life goes horribly awry between the banned game of Gotcha, the lengths players will go to, and the whole mess of her family life. Mountain Girl River Girl I simply despise. The writing is choppy, alternating between Pan-pan and Shui-lian's points of view at crucial moments, causing the flow of the story to be hard to hold. In addition, this novel is also incredibly dark; including running away, forced marriage, prostitution, homelessness, gang rape, social stigma and crushed hope. The one chance where it might have been redeemed - the end - I was bitterly disappointed. There is no hope for the future for these two girls. There is no epilogue or note on how their lives turned out ... for all the readers know, they were both beaten, raped, robbed, murdered, and left in a ditch! Can I please, please, PLEASE hear from someone that there is at least one White Pine novel for 2008-2009 that will not depress me? Enough of eating disorders, depression, war, rebellion, rape, strife, and suffering....
~ Capt. Holly Short~

Gotcha!

I just finished reading Gotcha last night...it's basically about Katie, a straight A, popular member of student council who is part of a traditional grad game-"Gotcha!" The prinicipal bans it for being too dangerous, so they take the game underground. Things go into a downward spiral for Katie, who also has family problems to sort out.

There are plot twists galore in this book, and a brush with expulsion...but just when it seems like it can't get any worse-there's a happy ending! I really enjoyed this book!

tweaked

Tweaked, I just stared this book today and I'm about half through it, it's an easy read. Through his brother going to jail and his brothers dealers coming after him, his kid brother.To his parents selling everything they can to bail his brother out of jail for being stung out and bashing a guy over the head with a beer bottle. To his secret crush. This is defiantly a book to read and just to think I'm only half done. Check it out

Mustang Sally here again - I just finished After River. I really enjoyed reading this novel, and liked the twists and turns the author weaves into the story. Ultimately, it is a story of family love, mistakes made, reconnecting and redemption - very moving and hard to put down.

It has been quite a wait but the new White Pine reads are here and I wasted no time at all getting started.

The first book I read was the Gravity Journal by Gail Sidonie Sobat.

It is the story of a young anorexic girl , Anise, written in journal form. It is a great read and a close look into the darkness of the journey many girls/boys take when self destruction takes the driver's seat.The simple assumption that the only problem anorexics have is not eating is dispelled in Anise's journey through depression, purging, and cutting . I learned a lot from Anise 's journal, including the fact that there is hope.

Little Brother

The white pine books are looking good this year. I've just finished reading Little Brother. I thought it was a decent book. Many technological aspects that got confusing at times. But it was good read and a nice story to follow.

Hello all White Pine Book Club members for 2008-9!
We are off to a great start with over 40 students signed up already!So now we can start discussing the books...I've just finished Gravity Journal - Life is hardly worth living for Anise. After all, she is in an institution for anorexia and self-cutting, her brother is a druggie, her parents are loathsome and witless, and she's falling in love with a guy who is bi-polar. Well, the darker the better for me, so I loved it!