These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner: The Titantic Sinks in an Outer Space Blue Lagoon!

These Broken Stars
Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Hyperion: New York, 2013.
ISBN: 9781423171027

ARC provided by publisher
Book Club Recipe suggestion: These Broken Ration Bars (aka Date Bars with Almond and Coconut)

Ms. Lilac La Roux and Major Tarver Merendsen were passengers of the Icarus, the finest, newest and most technologically advanced spaceship across the many galaxies.  Tarver is a war hero, recently returned from battle and being paraded around and shown off by the military on tour.  Lilac is the only child of the richest man in the universe.  Now, though, they are the only two survivors after disaster befalls the ship.  Stranded on a strange planet, they must survive both the unknown planet, strange whispers they are hearing, and their mutual discord if they have any hopes of living long enough to repair the beacon that will signal their SOS.  But, as they grow to develop a slow-burning bond that is more than mere friendship, they begin to wonder: are they really better off being rescued?  Fast-paced, dramatic, and unexpected, this is a spectacularly fun, engrossing, and totally accessible Sci-Fi title filled with adventure, romance, and intrigue.   It is a STRONG recommendation for anyone who likes their Sci-Fi light on the Sci and heavy on snappy writing, adventure, high-stakes, and romance.  I’m looking at you, readers of this blog. 

This super title came into my orbit (see what I did there?) this summer when I was lucky enough to be working at the best bookstore in all the lands (all of them).  One of my fellow booksellers and I were chatting about what we’d been reading and she’d just finished it.  She summed it up as…Titanic in space.  And she’s TOTALLY RIGHT.  OMG you guys.  It was a tonic to my 13-year-old self, she of the three viewings of Titanic in movie theatres and listening to the CD so much it broke (that must have been awful, sorry, family).  I’m pretty sure I’d re-read this at LEAST three times in a row if I were 13.  I’d go one step further and add that it’s like Titanic in space with shades of Outlander and a healthy dash of Blue Lagoon… Which is why, readers of this blog, I suspect that the vast majority of you will more than dig this.  Even the dudes.  I’m not genderist (okay, well, ladies will probably dig it a little more).   

THIS IS WHY WE ARE BEST FRIENDS.

Now, let us take a walk with my brain through this super fun read together, in bullet form, because my brain is unable to form full paragraphs and desperate for some vacation!

Tidbits: Let's read to our hipster babies, squee over upcoming books, furrow our brows, and jump in our Deloreans to visit a museum

It's been a while!  I'd say I'm sorry, but it stopped raining and the sun came out, and suddenly my computer screen held less allure than say, the great outdoors.  And/or my super crazy month o'fun finally slowed down to a speed allowing this (weddings, graduation parties, friends in town, visiting places, the wilds of finding new roomies on craigslist, road races, end of school, etc. You get the idea; everyone is busy in May!).  But as the great outdoors gave me both a sunburn and more mosquito bites than I can count this glorious and action packed Memorial Day weekend, I'm back to being an indoor kid for a few hours.  Thusly, I give you some tidbits I've been hoarding and will solemnly swear that I am up to only good and will post at least three new Le Creuset Challenge recipes this week.  Enjoy the following tidbits I've been hoarding away with your morning coffee!

• Hey Indiana Jones: Let's jump in our Delorean and go on a hot date to the OG (original) museum in Babylonia! But if I catch you makin' eyes at Princess Ennigaldi, we're done and I'm moving onto Han Solo, capice?
  
•  I found a tumblr I'm not sure how to feel about.  The name says it all: Hot Guys Reading Books.  Obvi, initially I was all "Heck yes! Bring it!" But then when I actually clicked and realized some subjects are not, say, willing or even knowing subjects, it made me feel a little squicky.  Because it's totally uncomfortable to realize someone is trying to secretly take your photo, and it's something a lot of ordinary women (not celebrities, they sign on for it in my opinion) deal with all the time.  Creepy guys on trains, I'm looking at you.  Does this then make it okay and level the playing field, even if the creepy factor is removed by the general good of guys reading books and enjoying it publicly?  Am I reverse feministing this?  I just don't know how to feel!
  
• Two books I am very excited for:
• I can't for the life of me remember the gem of a friend who told me about this.  Break out your hipster babies who won't go to sleep!  I've found the perfect book for them, a classic Case of the Terribles:

I know right?
I want to give this to someone sleep deprived but still able to appreciate it.
And/or have someone read it to me as a badtime book. 
That typo is so perfect it's staying. 

• I've always enjoyed the comic and shopping stylings of Mindy Kaling.  Fun fact: she went to the high school where I work.  After reading her first spot-on essay about why it's okay to not be a high school cool-kid in her upcoming sweet yet sassy book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, made available via publisher preview, I have a new goal/project for the 2011-2012 school year: Get Mindy Kaling To Visit My High School Library.  Say yes, Mindy!  Make your high school library (and librarians) cool by association!  (No worries about cupcakes; food is still not allowed in the library, DUH.)

• Finally, please read the following casting call specifications for the Hunger Games movie that came up in my twitter feed.  BS alert?  I certainly rolled my eyes.  "'The Beautiful People' Adults?" "Extreme characters of all shapes and sizes?"  What does this even mean?  Just say what you want, casting people. 

A Discovery of Witches (and Vampires Who Do Yoga, Fondle Books, and Sniff Wine), by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches
by Deborah Harkness

New York: Viking, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-670-02241-0

Guilty confession/secret shame: occasionally I read books for adults in addition to books for kids.  While there are some respectable titles in the mix (a recent brush with The Road comes to mind), more often than not they happen to have less literarily lofty ambitions.  Yes.  Are you ready for this jelly?  I'm coming out of the I-love-epic-time traveling-paranormal-historical-romance-fiction-novels closet.  It is true.   I love Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.  But this is not a post about an awesome book about a WW2 era English nurse who trips and falls through a mini Stonehenge and time and into the arms of a be-kilted ginger Scot that you should read.  It is about another saccharine-y fun book for grownups that I read just the other day!  

When I saw a review for A Discovery of Witches in Booklist that compared it to Outlander, I felt I owed it to my freak flag to read it.  Abandon ye all hope of getting any sort of respectable, scholarly review below.  Pull up a couch and pour yourself a mouthwatering glass of red wine.  Appropriately, anytime I use the word mouthwatering, I have an overwhelming urge to say it like this:

Thanks for nothing, Twilight!  But why, why is this urge to talk like a ridiculous vampire in Twilight so appropriate?  Well, let me tell you all about it.

Ladies and ladies (since I doubt the gents picking this up are few and far between), this book is a mouthwatering mashup of Twilight, Outlander, The Historian, and The Da Vinci Code.  Yes.  Seriously.  Though nowhere near as insane as Outlander, it is epic, it is fun.   Our heroine is one sweet young thang, Diana Bishop, a witch hailing from a long line of other witches, including an infamous one in infamously witch-loving Salem, MA.   Since her parents bit it suspiciously on a trip to Africa when she was a kid, Diana has been denying herself and the world of her magical powerz through a combination of pensive pre-dawn rowing sessions and a historical study of alchemy.  Alchemy being the ye olde science equivalent of magic.  Clearly she's doing a great job!  On sabbatical to Oxford to fondle some dusty old books in Bodlean, Diana finds and promptly returns a freaky enchanted book, and immediately stumbles into the arms of a hot Doctor.  Suspect! Double suspect, he is not just a Doctor!  Oh ho! He is a hot VAMPIRE doctor!  Matthew Clairmont is impossibly fast and strong, his skin is pale white and ice cold, and sometimes he speaks like he's from a different time!  His powers include being hot, being a badass predator, being a doctor, being ascetic, being immortal, having lots of secrets, being part of a vampire gang, and having a penchant for fine wines.  If it weren't for the last, I'm pretty sure the Cullen's would have adopted him by now.  But I digress!  

Turns out a ancient pact of Witches, Vampires, and Ghouls want the book real bad - it may or may not have the secret to magical life tucked away inside and it has been MIA since nigh on forever - and now that everyone knows Diana fondled it, they're all after her.  To boot, said secret society also has a rule on intermagical species dating.  As the Germans say, VERKLEMPT! Oh snap.  But they are not the only secret ancient society out there, and lines are drawn (to steal yet another Stephenie Meyerism) irrevocably.  Our heroes are on the run to places near and far, bourgeois and swank, denying their love, proclaiming their love, doing yoga, and sipping wine throughout.  Will Diana ever embrace her magical powers?  Will Matthew ever not be hot?  Will you be able to avoid craving wine while reading this book?

This book is filled with many things you would expect of anything that has been hit with the romance or paranormal genre sticks:  hot vampires, breaking in to watch people sleep (aka studying at the school of Edward Stalker Cullen), longing looks, pensive walks in the woods, near death fights, surviving near death fights, dudes carrying girls, girls sitting on dudes laps all the time, declarations of true love, opulent vampire lifestyles, hot baths, etc.  But it failed majorly on one count.  I was expecting it to be much more smutty.  I love smutty books!  In fact, there is no. sex. at. all.  I'd have given you a spoiler warning, but consider this your sex disappointment warning.  What up with that Deborah E. Harkness?  No excuses!  What is this, Twilight?

At times the story can drag; there was probably way too much scholarly debate in the first half and not nearly enough action.  It also becomes clear with 200 pages to go that this book is going to be the first in a series.  However, there is a lot to redeem it and judging from the fact that I devoured this book, it's relatively captivating.  If you are anything like me, you will probably be amused by the ridiculous wine sniffing activities (turns out Ms. Harkness has a wine blog), Vampire yoga, convenience of Matthew knowing every historical figure mentioned, inclusion of gay primary characters, occasionally clunky dialogue, and (antiquated) semantics of (vampire) marriage. In short, this post is not short and neither is the book.  But if you at all like reading series or epic paranormal-time traveling-historical fiction books, this is a strong recommendation!