Readathon Book Reviews

I really should have done this earlier, but I'll make it quick and simple, and I'll go in order of what I read:

I started with the comic/graphic Lenore: Noogies by Roman Dirge.  I've read it before, and I love it.  It's morbid and funny and there's a lot of twisted takes on fairy tales/nursery rhymes.  Lenore is a cute little dead girl who has a tendency to be a little rough with the people and a
animals she encounters.  She's still adorable though!

Christopher Pike is one of my favorite authors and his books dominated my tween and teen years.  I bought a used copy of Tales of Terror since my original copy was lost to fire years and years ago.  I was so excited when it came in, and the collection of short stories didn't disappoint.  As always Pike has a way with characters and plotting... he's amazing.  Plus, he brought back Marvin Summers from Master of Murder, one of my all time Pike books.  In fact, Marvin's short story- The Fan From Hell was probably my favorite.  It's like a cross between Misery and Wild Things.  Loved it!  This book might be hard to get since it's no longer in print, which makes me sad.

I really enjoyed Twilight the Graphic Novel Vol 1, adapted from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight by Young Kim.  It was beautifully drawn and was true to the book.  Of course it only goes up until shortly after the meadow scene (cue sparkling vampires) but it's something I'm happy to add to my sad little group of graphic novels. 

I ordered several other Pike books just for the readathon (I didn't get to Scavenger Hunt and Spellbound didn't show up until too late) but Tales of Terror #2 was actually the first book to show up.  Again it's a great collection of short stories by Pike, and again we get another Marvin Summer story- this one with a supernatural edge- The Burning Witch.  Tears of Teresa was probably my favorite in this group, because while I thought I had figured out the twist ending, I only did so partly.  I like being surprised as long as the author doesn't cheat the ending, which Pike doesn't.  Again, this book is out of print so maybe not the easiest to get.  However, you can always find cheap used copies if you look hard enough.

 I can be a bit of a morbid reader.  I'm drawn to books that are moody and or terrifying.  Impulse by Ellen Hopkins is more on the moody side.  I didn't quite finish this during the readathon, but I'm still counting it.  Impulse is the story of three teens who end up in a treatment center after each makes an attempt on their own lives.  It took me awhile to figure out which character was speaking since it switched often (although the speaker was clearly announced each time I guess I missed it a lot in the beginning), but eventually the voices distinguished themselves from each other.  As usual, Hopkin's teens don't fair well in the book, they all have unhappy backgrounds and have been through a lot.  The reasons behind their suicide attempts unfurls slowly, and their friendship grows throughout the book, as do they.  If I were to say this is a cross between anything, then I'd have to pick 13 Reasons Why and Girl, Interrupted.  I don't know why I feel compelled to compare books/movies but I do.



All of these books get Midnight Book Ratings of Midnight since they helped me stay awake (for the most part!).