This week I finished two books.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld had been on my to-be-read list for quite some time, and I finally found it at the Library Book Sale this fall. “Tally Youngblood lives in a futuristic society that acculturates its citizens to believe that they are ugly until age 16 when they’ll undergo an operation that will change them into pleasure-seeking ‘pretties.’ Anticipating this happy transformation, Tally meets Shay, another female ugly, who shares her enjoyment of hoverboarding and risky pranks. But Shay also disdains the false values and programmed conformity of the society and urges Tally to defect with her to the Smoke, a distant settlement of simple-living conscientious objectors. Tally declines, yet when Shay is found missing by the authorities, Tally is coerced by the cruel Dr. Cable to find her and her compatriots–or remain forever ‘ugly.’ Tally’s adventuresome spirit helps her locate Shay and the Smoke. It also attracts the eye of David, the aptly named youthful rebel leader to whose attentions Tally warms. However, she knows she is living a lie, for she is a spy who wears an eye-activated locator pendant that threatens to blow the rebels’ cover.” Because of the insecurities of young adults, the dystopian society in this book is able to convince its people that undergoing an operation at age 16 will make everything right. Even though Tally sneaks into New Pretty Town to visit her recently changed friend, she doesn’t quite realize that the the operation does not change just how people look until she meets David and his family in the Smoke. Like most dystopian novels, this one contains those that control the people and those that rebel. I enjoyed the story and probably would continue reading the trilogy if I was to get my hand on the next two books!
Also from the Library Book Sale, The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks is typical of Sparks’ writing, written as a sort of sequel to The Notebook, but coming nowhere near to the romance of the original. “After thirty years, Wilson Lewis is forced to face a painful truth: the romance has gone out of his marriage. His wife, Jane, has fallen out of love with him, and it is entirely his fault. Despite the shining example of his in-laws, Noah and Allie Calhoun, and their fifty-year love affair (originally recounted in The Notebook), Wilson himself is a man unable to express his true feelings. He has spent too little time at home and too much at the office, leaving the responsibility of raising their children to Jane. Now his daughter is about to marry, and his wife is thinking about leaving him. But if Wilson is sure of anything, it is this: His love for Jane has only grown over the years, and he will do everything he can to save their marriage. With the memories of Noah and Allie’s inspiring life together as his guide, he vows to find a way to make his wife fall in love with him…all over again. In this powerfully moving tale of love lost, rediscovered, and renewed, Nicholas Sparks once again brings readers his unique insight into the only emotion that ultimately really matters.” Wilson forgot his 29th anniversary and he spends the year following working to make it up to his wife. His actions were certainly romantic, though I’m not sure they were believable! The original characters from The Notebook are only involved tangentially, but it is nice to catch up with Noah and how he is coping now that Allie has passed away. Nicholas Sparks is definitely a romantic writer and I enjoy his books, though this one is not my favorite.
Have you read anything good lately?
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