Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Completion Date: May 6, 2012
Reason for Reading: Fun!

I have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do. 

That's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again. 

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I'm going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two. 

We are a sensational team.

On February 10, 2012, Ana reviewed this book on Book Smugglers and gave it a 10/10. I was immediately interested because I love books set during World War 2 and this book sounded like something I would enjoy. I had just been on a book buying spree, though, so I set out to wait. Then, another Ana, this time from things mean a lot, reviewed this book and she loved it. I immediately opened a new tab and ordered the book. Then, I waited impatiently for it to arrive. And when it finally I did was in the middle of a reading slump. I was so upset because I knew I was going to enjoy this book, but I was worried my cranky reading habit would destroy the experience. So, as a result I read it very slowly. Soon, though, I was caught up in the story and was thrilled to bits with it. Folks, this book is awesome! It will make my best of list for 2012 without a doubt. I think that everyone needs to read it... Actually, I may have been emailing people telling them it was available on Netgalley before I even finished because really, everyone needs to read this book.

I guess it is supposed to be young adult, but it deals with some very heavy subject matters. I think it is definitely the best... no, wait... It is definitely one of the best fictional accounts of World War 2 I have ever read. (I almost forgot Briar Rose by Jane Yolen!) This book was so good I am having a hard time deciding what to say about it that is even remotely coherent. That is why I wasted a paragraph explaining why I have it. When I finished the book I hugged it and then sat there mulling things over for a bit. The story is told in two parts. First, we hear from Queenie aka Verity. I hate to even name her because that is a bit of a spoiler, but you need to start somewhere. She has been captured and has come to an agreement where she is to write down everything she knows about the war from the British point-of-view. She chooses to write a story, so we learn about her personal life as much as about the war effort. It makes for a very captivating read, folks. Queenie, who is entirely fictional, is a fantastic character. She really comes to life for you and you feel like you know her by the end.

Then, for the second half of the book we follow the story from Maddie's point of view. Her story is equally as captivating and because we have heard so much about her from Queenie, we can't help loving her from the moment her story starts. I love stories told in epistolary format and the way that Wein chose to address it in this book works so well. Queenie is a spy writing her story under duress. She says over and over again that she has told the truth and that she is a coward because she gave into them, but the entire time I was wondering if things were true. There is a sense of doubt the entire time you are reading it because you are so caught up in what she is saying and you believe it to be true, but it is not the most reliable way to get information out of someone. There is no doubt that she has been tortured and the other inmates all hate her because they think she is weak. I am not entirely sure I would be able to put up with what she did... Maddie is basically writing her story in the beginning to help pass the time. She is not under duress, though, so you tend to believe what she says more.

I fear I am not doing this review justice, so I recommend reading the two Ana's Reviews... The Book Smugglers/ things mean a lot 

The very interesting thing about this all is the entire time I have been reading this book, and even back when I was hearing about it, I thought the author name sounded familiar. I've read her before. Isn't it sad that I forgot? Would you like to do know why... I blocked the memory because I absolutely hated the book. I am so glad that I didn't remember because that could have really ruined this experience.

But, she has redeemed herself. I don't really rate books, but we are talking 5/5 or 10/10 or A+. Fantastic stuff!

This book counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and for Trish's Pin-it and Do It Challenge because I actually had posted it (twice...).

Gordon Korman Titanic Trilogy

Gordon Korman Titanic Trilogy

• Unsinkable
• Collision Course
• S.O.S.

Completion Date: April 6 and 7, 2012

Reason for Reading: Titanic Week.

The ultimate action/adventure trilogy begins, with #1 bestselling author Gordon Korman plunging readers into the heart of the Titanic.

The Titanic is meant to be unsinkable, but as it begins its maiden voyage, there's plenty of danger waiting for four of its young passengers. Paddy is a stowaway, escaping a deadly past. Sophie's mother is delivered to the ship by police - after she and Sophie have been arrested. Juliana's father is an eccentric whose riches can barely hide his madness. And Alfie is hiding a secret that could get him kicked off the ship immediately.

The lives of these four passengers will be forever linked with the fate of Titanic. And the farther they get from shore, the more the danger looms. . . .

I have been glancing at this trilogy since it was released last year, but it took this week to get me to actually pick them up. Ana wants to talk about as much fiction as possible so she can link to the posts in the up-coming HT Recommends, so I thought this was a good way to read 3 books quickly. Plus, it is Gordon Korman and I have been reading him since I was a little kid. My biggest worry when it came to this trilogy, though, was that it wouldn't meet my expectations. I have read a lot about the Titanic at this point and this is geared to a younger audience. This is why when the books came out I just kept glancing at them and not rushing out to read them.

Now that I have read them, I have to say they were good, but better for those that know very little about the Titanic. They are adventure stories that even tie in Jack the Ripper, but they also contain small bits of information every so often about how things really played out on that fateful evening. They also practice the idea of upstairs/downstairs, so younger readers get a taste of what it was long for the different classes in that period of history. I am not sure I would rush out and recommend the trilogy to adults, but I do think that younger readers have a wonderful treat in store for them. Gordon Korman was a favourite when I was younger, and I would have loved this trilogy at that time, and he has written the perfect introduction for those curious about the Titanic after all the hype surrounding the centennial.

To sum up, I am glad that I read these, but I didn't love them.

Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher

With her mother ill, it’s up to fifteen-year-old Ruby Jacinski to support her family. But in the 1940s, the only opportunities open to a Polish-American girl from Chicago’s poor Yards is a job in one of the meat packing plants. Through a chance meeting with a local tough, Ruby lands a job as a taxi dancer and soon becomes an expert in the art of “fishing”: working her patrons for meals, cash, clothes, even jewelry. Drawn ever deeper into the world of dance halls, jazz, and the mob, Ruby gradually realizes that the only one who can save her is herself. A mesmerizing look into a little known world and era.

I am very happy that this was a quick read because I hadn't got around to reading it, and it was due back at the library the next day. I tried to renew it and couldn't! That meant that I had to either read it in a day or hope that I could get it again soon. I managed to read it right away because it was a good read. The early to mid part of the twentieth century is something that I find interesting to read about, but this looks at an aspect of the history that I had never really explored before.

The main character in this book is Ruby. Her mother had been working in a meat packing plant, but arthritis was making it so that her hands were useless. The plant managers discovered this and let her go. Ruby's father had died year ago, so it was only her mother keeping the family alive. Now that she couldn't work, it was up to Ruby to quit school and get a job in that same plant. She hated it, though. She dreamed of doing more with her life than working in a plant that shortened its workers life-spans. At a dance club one night she catches the attention of a young man who causes trouble in his wake. He takes a shinning to Ruby and suggests that instead of working in a plant she try out taxi dancing. She was a really good dancer and this job would make her a lot more money. Her mother would never go for it, though. It was not a respectable job for a young lady growing up in 1940's Chicago, but Ruby had to do something. Telling her mother that she was a telephone operator, she launched herself in a career that would wind up being both a good and a bad thing.

I had never really heard of taxi dancing before, so it was interesting to delve deeper into that little-known aspect of history. When the novel starts, the U.S. hadn't joined the war, but Pearl Harbor would occur and things would change for Chicago. This meant that instead of men they normally had showing up at the dance club, they would also have men in uniform. Ruby was really good at her job. She learned very quickly how to get what she wanted out of the men that she entertained, but she has found herself in a very disasterous situation. Things are not always what they seem, and the boy that she thinks she is in love with is more trouble than he is worth. When her mother makes changes in her life so that Ruby can stop working, though, everything comes to a head. Ruby doesn't want to give up her life that easily, but her mother is not taking no for an answer. It's when her unsatisfactory lifestyle creeps into her home-life that she knows she has to make some serious changes to her life.

This book was short-listed for the Cybil Award. I think it is deserving; but then I haven't read all the other books available. It was a really interesting novel, though. Ruby was an interesting character and I enjoyed the secondary characters. Fletcher gives a good taste about what life was like for a Polish-American in the 1940's and how you had to do what you could to survive. I recommend this book!

Ringside 1925: Views from the Scopes Trail By Jen Bryant

Written for Young Adults, but Just as Engaging for Adults

The year is 1925 in small town Tennessee. The school year is winding down and the children are excited about having a laid back summer. However, when it comes to the towns peoples attention that the science teacher, J. T. Scopes taught Darwin’s theory of evolution in class, he is arrested and the children realize it won’t be the same summer they planned after all.

The title Ringside is quite accurate, as the town turns into a virtual circus for the trail with nationwide publicity: reporters, lawyers, scientists, religious leaders, and tourists. The only drugstore in town orders in all kinds of monkey memorabilia to sell and even rents a real monkey to sell the items. Many of the towns people also cash in by setting up tables outside the courthouse to sell food and all kinds of things.

Some of the friendships in town became strained because of the differing point of views. In the end, some friends were able to come to terms with their differences and even see their friend’s point of view but a few could not.

Bryant tells the story from the town’s people’s and reporter’s point of view, each narrating in turn. By writing it this way, we really get to know the town and all it’s people, both it’s children and adults with differing point of view.

She writes in fresh lyrical prose. This small and fast paced book really packs a punch. Both children and adults will learn more about the real life Scopes trial while being thoroughly entertained at the same time.

I loved this book and highly recommend it! What a gem!

5/5

A special thanks to Jen Bryant for sending me a copy of this extraordinary book!

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

This is the sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty.

From Random House: (too lazy to type the flap)

Gemma Doyle is looking forward to a holiday from Spence Academy—spending time with her friends in the city, attending balls in fancy gowns with plunging necklines, and dallying with the handsome Lord Denby. Yet amid these distractions, her visions intensify—visions of three girls dressed in white, to whom something horrific has happened that only the realms can explain.

The lure is strong, and soon Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are turning flowers into butterflies in the enchanted world that Gemma takes them to. To the girls' great joy, their beloved Pippa is there as well, eager to complete their circle of friendship.

But all is not well in the realms—or out. Kartik is back, desperately insisting to Gemma that she must bind the magic, lest colossal disaster befall her. Gemma is willing to comply, for this would bring her face-to-face with her late mother's greatest friend, now Gemma's foe—Circe. Until Circe is destroyed, Gemma cannot live out her destiny. But finding Circe proves a most perilous task. . . .

This sumptuous companion to A Great and Terrible Beauty teems with Victorian thrills and chills that play out against the rich backdrop of 1895 London, a place of shadows and light . . . where inside great beauty can lie a rebel angel.

They call it on the book a companion to A Great and Terrible Beauty, but it really takes place 2 months after the events from the previous book, so I think it is better termed as a sequel. And there better be another sequel because I really enjoyed this book!

A lot happens in this novel. It is a bit longer than the first book, which I found great because it was more to enjoy. The same characters are present: Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are still attending Spence and dealing with being teenagers, as they are sixteen years old when this book takes place. They come from different lives and different backgrounds, which makes their interactions more interesting. Gemma lost her mother in the first book and her father is dealing with sustance abuse. Her grandmother wants what is best for her, but can be rather uptight, and her brother is rather shallow. Felicity's mother was in France for the first book, but is back around. We also meet her beloved father in this book, but looks can be deceiving. And then there is Ann, totally alone in the world and living on the charity of others. She begins to gain confidence in this book and really shine.

Pippa and Kartik are back. Pippa got left behind in the realms in book one, so she is a different character than she was in the first book. You are never really sure what to make of her, and what has happened to her really bothers Gemma. Kartrik is one of my favourite characters. Gemma is upper-class and can treat him rather badly, but I like him. I think he adds an interesting aspect to the books. In this one, Gemma has to figure out where he stands in her circle.

It was a very well-written book, that just grabbed you. I could not put it down after I get a bit of a ways into it, and when I did, I was thinking about when I would be able to read it again. I read most of it today while I should have been doing a million other things, but anyways. It was too good to put down. In the last book, Gemma had to destroy the things that held the magic in the realms, and now it is causing problems that she is the only one that can fix. It is really a novel where she has to figure out who she can trust, who her real friends are, and what she is truly capable of. All the girls begin to really grow up and find themselves in this book.

I think everyone that likes a good, slightly fantastic novel should read this book. It will hold you until the very last page.

For more information, go here: Random House.

5/5 (a rare thing from me for a young adult book, and no idea what I will do if I like book 3 even more!)

Marg says:

Having read and enjoyed A Great and Terrible Beauty last year, I have been patiently waiting for this book to come into the library, and so was very excited when finally, not too long ago, it finally came onto the library catalogue.

So, after all that anticipation, was it worth the wait? Well yes, and no.

The school year is coming to an end for all of the young women at Spence Boarding school, and Gemma and her friends are looking forward to spending Christmas in London - after all what girl wouldn't love all the balls and the opera and all those tea times. Even young Anne manages to get an invite to London, only by making up an incredible story about her identity, but all three girls eventually find themselves in London.

Gemma's visit to London starts really well when she meets the deliciously eligible and dashing Simon Middleton - a member of one of the best families in London. Simon has taken a liking to Gemma, and she to him, but she must not allow herself to get too distracted - after all she still has to track down the mysterious Circe, bind the power in the realms and keep up all the necessary appearances of a very proper young Victorian lady.

One of the benefits of moving the setting away from Spence for most of the book is that there are a wide variety more settings that are available to the author - from the dingy parts of London where no proper young lady would ever go, to the opera, to Bedlam, to shopping in strange little book shops. There is also more scope with interaction with other characters such as the families of the girls, where some time was spent on some quite sensitive issues including but not limited to addiction.

Within the realms as well the story was expanded during this book. When the white door opens to Gemma and her friends they do find themselves in the part of the realm that they are familiar with, including Pippa, their friend who was left behind - but are things really the same. Gemma has found a young girl in Bedlam who has some knowledge of the realms and she and others are constantly warning Gemma to find the Temple and bind the magic, but to be careful of who she trusts, particularly as everything in the realms is out of balance at the moment. As the girls travel further into the realms they find more and more interesting tribes, some of whom are more interesting than others, and some who are far more dangerous than others. Can Gemma and her friends find the temple and bind the power before Circe does, and if they do, who should they bind the power in the name of . Is the Order to be trusted, is there another one who should be holding the power, or perhaps should it be shared.

Along the way Gemma needs to figure out who she can trust. Can she trust Simon to love her no matter what her strange powers may be? Can she trust Kartik, or is his first loyalty to others? And can she trust herself with the power that she has, or will it overwhelm her?

I think that this book was more fast paced than the first one, with lots more situations where Gemma and her friends could have found themselves in danger. In particular they spent a lot more time in the Realms in this book. In my opinion the book was less balanced than the first one was and in some way I think that this affected my concentration. To be honest, I think that once again this was more about my frame of mind as opposed to the book, but that's what I felt so therefore that is what I am basing my review and rating on!

I did enjoy it, but not quite as much as I enjoyed the first one. I am however just as eager to get hold of the new book, The Sweet Far Thing, which is due out in September.

Rating 4/5

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

A young adult, soon to be, trilogy that I have wanted to read for a while, this enters the marks as one of the better books I have read this year. Young adult books are much better than they were when I was a young adult, I know that much.

From the back of the book:

Gemma Doyle isn't like other girls. Girls with impeccable manners, who speak when spoken to, who remember their station, and who will lie back and think of England when it's required of them.

No, sixteen-year-old Gemma is an island unto herself, sent to the Spence Academy in London after tragedy strikes her family in India. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds a chilly reception. But she's not completely alone... she's followed by a mysterious young man, who warns her to close her mind against her visions.

For it's at Spence that Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds; there she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discovers her mother's connection to a shadowy group called the Order. It's there that her destiny waits... if only she can believe in it.

A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY is a curl-up-under-the-covers kind of book... a vast canvs of rustling skirts and dancing shadows and things that go bump in the night. It's a vividly drawn portrait of the Victorian age, when girls were groomed for lives as rich men's wives... and the story of a girl who saw another way.

I regret that it took me so long to discover this book. I had heard of it, but it never grabbed my attention enough to buy it until recently. Now, I can't wait to read the next one and I hope it will be equally good. Young adult novels have come a long way, some of them are even better than novels marketed at adults.

This novel was attractive to me because people were saying it had fantasy elements to it. I enjoy fantasy novels, so I decided to see what these fantasy elements were. This book takes place in the later part of the 19th-century. The main character, Gemma Doyle, is dealing with being a sixteen-year-old. Teenage years are never easy, and with the last few months has brought a very difficult daughter for Gemma's mother. They used to get along, but now Gemma has it stuck in her head that she absolutely has to go to London. Her mother doesn't agree, and this causes lots of conflict between mother and daughter.

Then one day, everything changes for good. While in the marketplace, Gemma says a horrible thing to her mother and the next thing she knows, her mother is not around anymore to argue with. Gemma blames herself, and is racked with guilt for quite some time. She is her most annoying at this part of the book, while she deals with the loss of her mother. But then, she discovers she has an amazing gift that results in a whole other world for her. A young man, who you will find an interesting member of the cast of characters, follows Gemma to London where Gemma is attending Spence Academy.

When Gemma first arrives in London, she wonders why she ever really wanted to go there in the first place, but then she starts to make friends and lets her powers work, and a whole new world is open to her, a world of adventure and danger. She is in a school where girls are supposed to be learning how to be good wives, they are more interested in pleasing their men folk than doing anything for themselves. Gemma soon learns this is not the way that she wants to spend her life.

I hope I am not making this novel sound silly, it is anything but. I was glued to my seat while I was reading this, waiting to see what adventures would happen to the quartet next. As Gemma is not alone when she has her adventures, most times she has her three female friends with her. They are an interesting group, but they each have something to bring to the novel as a whole.

I can't wait to read the sequel!

4.5/5



Marg says:

When Gemma's mother dies after there were harsh words spoken between them, Gemma finds herself at Spence, an English boarding school whose main aim is to produce young ladies who will be prized catches during the season, and find worth husbands. Feeling incredibly lonely and ostracized, Gemma struggles to make friends and to make sense of the strange visions that she has had. As events spiral out of control, can Gemma and her friends make the correct decisions to maintain both their friendship, and their lives.

I wish I could remember where I first saw this book, so that I could thank the person who bought it to my attention. What a little gem of a book! With a tone that is moody and atmospheric, almost gothic and so fitting! The last book that I remember reading that conveyed this kind of sense of impending events was the Australian classic "Picnic at Hanging Rock".

With interesting locales (both in India and then at Spence school), the world that Gemma (and the reader) is introduced to following the tragic death of her mother is one where anything can happen, both good and bad, and is an interesting look at the consequences of getting what you think you want.

And yet, as gloomy as that may sound, there were sections of fun, delight fantasy and growing friendship between the girls. In some ways this book could be a gothic/fantasy/historical version of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books. Both explore friendship and a growing sense of self, and are marketed as Young Adult books, although I was a little surprised at a couple of the scenes that were in this one, as I felt that it might be pushing the YA label a bit far!

The sequel to this book is already out - called "Rebel Angels", I will definitely be looking out for it to continue the adventures of Gemma and her friends.

Rating 4.5/5

Ivy – Julie Hearn

Ivy has been spotted in a rough part of London by Oscar Arentino Fosdick, a rich Pre- Raphaelite painter. He needs a muse and Ivy is prefect – a stunner.

But Ivy is also a girl with a past. No amount of laudarum can block her memories of being used to lure wealthy children down alleys so that Carroty Kate the ‘skinner’ can strip them of their clothes and jewels.

Realising quickly that Oscar has more money then sense Ivy’s greedy cousins order to sit for him – and to do anything else he might ask. But their ‘nice little earner’ has sinister consequences.

Oscar’s jealous mother is determined to get rid of her son’s beautiful model
Oscar’s famous neighbour wants her all to himself
And Ivy’s strange and troubled past is about to catch up with her…

Ivy is an orphan being brought up by her uncle and aunty in Victorian London. But she is different and by the age of 5 knows that life is not fair. Ivy life is change for ever when she bumps into the Children welfare women and her cousin sees a chance to make a quick buck. The story quickly races through the next 10 years leaving you scratching your head but it is explained later.

Ivy is now 15 and has caught the eye of a Pre – Raphaelite painter and the painter must have her as his model. This is when things get interesting for young Ivy & while she may wish to just escape from her relatives, Oscar and her past she can’t.

This book has an interesting plot but it felt rushed to me. I would have like there to be more about her time with Carroty Kate but I can understand why it was left out it wasn’t really need to help the story progress but it would have help understand Ivy a little more. Ivy annoyed me at time but generally I felt sorry for her. She doesn’t really belong anywhere, when she does find a place that accepts her she quickly discover that while she can make her relatives money they won’t let her go.

Overall I was left feeling a little unsatisfied with this book. I didn’t like the ending but I like my stories to be all wrapped up by the end and this one wasn’t and then there is a little bit which is set in 2004 which just didn’t really fit. This book is targeted for Young Adults and maybe that is where my problem lies. I’m now 23 and maybe that is too old for YA books, so maybe good for either a quick read or someone who doesn’t read very much. This book does not focus on real people and is only loosely based on fact which may also be the reason it just never felt quite right.