Books I read but didn't review

 It's time to throw in the towel, I've got some books I've read, but neglected to review and they're now too far away in my memory for me to give them a proper review. Instead I'll do a brief review of each here


The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

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Every year, the Scorpio Races are run on the beaches of Skarmouth. Every year, the sea washes blood from the sand. To race the savage water horses can mean death, but the danger is irresistible.
When Puck enters the races to save her family, she is drawn to the mysterious Sean, the only person on the island capable of taming the beasts.
Even if they stay together, can they stay alive?
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I enjoyed The Scorpio Races, to my pleasant surprise it felt far better written than the previous books from Stiefvater. Particularly the main characters felt more likeable and properly outlined to me. It took a while to get into it, and while it never properly hooked me, it was hard to put down by the end. This is a book I can really picture making a good impression as a film, it's very visual and to my (granted, limited) knowledge, pretty unused territory. I mean... killer horses racing. Sure there's young love and all that, but even their relationship works - mainly because it's so understated and not the usual OMG HE'S BEAUTIFUL I MUST HAVE HIM! ;)

 
482 pages / published in 2011

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

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Every teenager wants to fit in and be just like everybody else. So imagine how hard that is when your father runs a taxidermy business out of the family home, your mother runs the student cafeteria, and your sister has just been elected high school mascot, which means she walks the halls in a giant bird costume. But as Jenny Lawson grows up, falls in love, gets engaged - in a way that is as disastrous as it is romantic - and starts a family of her own, she learns that life's most absurd and humiliating moments, the ones we wish we could pretend had never happened, are the very same moments that make us who we are.
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Let's Pretend This Never Happened isn't your usual blog-inspired books where blog entries have been stolen and bastardized into chapters. It's a book that happens to be written by a blogger, and that makes a huge difference. However, many of the things Lawson tells about does make more sense if you're already an avid reader of her blog (www.thebloggess.com) as it puts some things into context. I laughed out loud numerous times, especially the first half of the book was just pure gold. I am obviously biased as I'm a major fan of her blog (which, I totally think you should check out if you haven't already; living the weirdest life, she writes about everything - including her depressions and her anxieties and every so often amongst the thousands of comments, you find the ones telling her thank you  for - literally - saving their lives by letting them know they're not alone and breaking the taboo.)

313 pages / published in 2012

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

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Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books - but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They killed them all. I am Number Four. I am next

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I saw the film and it left a lot of questions unanswered and as such decided to read the book. Mostly it managed to annoy me with the 15-or-so-year-old main character who finds his one true love. 'Cause that's how them aliens does it. It never really caught my full attention and throughout it I remained unimpressed. I never felt engaged, the characters were pretty bland and the action failed to be exciting. To be honest with you I can't remember why I gave it 3 stars, most likely it was just well enough written and still held an interesting concept, even if poorly executed.

360 pages / published in 2010

Reviews by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2012