Caleb and Camille Fang are performance artists. They are known for huge stunts that involve crowds of people. It's not truly art unless it causes mass chaos and hysteria. Mr. and Mrs. Fang enjoy this life and they raise their children to be a part of it. Annie and Buster grow to disagree with their parents idea of what is art. When Caleb and Camille are thought to be dead, their children don't know if this is their greatest performance yet, or if they are really gone. They also don't know which answer they really hope is correct. This book was strange and funny and compelling. Definitely one of the best books I read in 2012.
Red Glove by Holly Black
This is book two of the Curse Workers series. Cassel Sharpe knows what his gift is and now that he's turned the girl he loves back into a girl from a white cat he should be able to be with her. Unfortunately, his mother has cursed Lila to be in love with him. Cass is basically a good guy, so he can't act on his feelings for Lila and he can't take advantage of her that way. Now, that being said, I really am not crazy about this series. The idea of the stories is very interesting, but as my nephew used to say, "I can't like it." I read the first book and I do like Cassel, but I can't stand any of the other characters and he's just not enough to carry the whole series on his own. This is a horrible world. I'm really just glad that I don't live in it.
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami I just love Haruki Murakami. His books are just beautiful. Reading them is like dreaming, I really can't think of another way to describe it. 1Q84 refers to an alternative to the year 1984. Aomame is a personal trainer and very specific hit woman. On her way to a job, she is stuck in traffic. Her cab driver tells her that there is a ladder that will take her down to where she needs to go off of the expressway, but cautions her that when you make some changes in life, you can slip out of your reality and into a new one.
Tengo is a math teacher at a school and has been trying desperately to become a writer. Every year his work is found lacking, until he is presented with a stunning piece of work, written by a young girl. The story is amazing, but the telling lacks style and Tengo, reluctantly agrees to work on it. He wasn't prepared for the story taking the country by storm.
Yeah, I don't know how to do this book justice. It's just so very very good and you should just take my word for it and read it. And then, read everything else he's written. You won't be sorry.
Where She Went by Gayle Forman
This book is a sequel to If I Stay. Mia obviously came out of the coma she was in throughout If I Stay. She stayed because of her love for her boyfriend Adam, especially since the rest of her family died in that car crash. Part of the agreement Adam makes with Mia while she's still comatose is that if she just lives, he'd be okay with her leaving him. And, she did.
Mia goes across the country to Julliard and is doing really well there. Adam is kind of at loose ends. He never got over Mia, and he's had very little contact with her. During a trip to New York he runs across a performance Mia is giving and he attempts to reconnect with her.
This book was alright, but I think If I Stay was better on its own. It was a really fresh story. It was sad and so small, considering that most of the story takes place around a comatose girl in the ICU, just after the horrible accident that killed her parents and younger brother. A sequel felt unnecessary, like overkill.
That's it for now. I'm already 20 books into 2013, so I really need to cover these 2012 books and move into the present.
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