Reading is Inevitable

April has been our second month working on the blog! It was a fun month, and we love sharing some of our favorite books with you.

Title:  Bud, Not Buddy Author:  Christopher Paul Curtis Genre:  Historical Fiction/Drama Rating: 3 out of 5 Reviewer:  Julia When I read the first few pages of this book, I had to hold back a moan. The text in the book was much larger than I was used to. It also appeared to be too easy to read, and I was able to breeze through the first few chapters quite quickly. The plan was to read it within a week or so and then to ditch it so that I could move on to another book. I kept this attitude for the first few parts. And then-- wooop, zoop, sloop!-- it changed.

As some of you may know by looking at my posts on our social media page (@readingisinevitable on Instagram), I am currently reading Audacity by Melanie Crowder. It is a beautiful book written in free verse, and follows the life of Clara Lemlich, a female Jewish immigrant who came to America in the early 1900s. (For the full summary of the book, click here .) I absolutely love books written in free verse, or any type of poetry, in fact! This book is so lovely that I have decided to dedicate a whole post to some of my favorite quotes or parts! (Note: I am only on page 294, and there are 366 pages, not including the extra content at the end of my local library's copy.)

I have been debating on creating an opinion post for a while now. Obviously, not everyone may agree with my opinion, and I might not agree with theirs. Writing an opinion post could cause issues based on the different opinions that people have. But after wondering for many nights if I should write one of these posts, I finally decided on doing it. After all, people like opinion posts (or at least I do!), and they are more casual and friendlier.

Title: Made You Up Author: Francesca Zappia Rating: 5/5 Genre: YA fiction Reviewer: Emily "'But-but what if this whole place"-I had to suck in air again-'what if everything is inside my head? East Shoal and Scarlet and this bridge and you-what if you're not real because nothing is real?'" This book is told from the point of view of Alex, a high school senior with schizophrenia, which is a mental disease which causes you to have hallucinations, or see or hear things that are not real. She constantly struggles with trying to figure out what is real. Starting her first day of senior year at a new high school, she takes pictures of possible hallucinations, and hopes that no one will ever find out about her. However, there's this boy that looks exactly like her childhood friend, but she had surely made him up, hadn't she?

Title: In the Time of the Butterflies Author: Julia Alvarez Genre: Historical Fiction Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Reviewer: Julia "It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic." Who are these sisters? Why are they dead? What lead them to such a horrible death? "The official state newspaper reports their death as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo's dictatorship."   Where was the fourth sister? Who is this dictator?  " It doesn't have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas--the Butterflies." That text is from the summary on the back of my copy of In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, a book so great that I based several of my passwords for various things after it.

Title: This is Where the World Ends Author: Amy Zhang Rating: 3.75 Genre: YA fiction romance/mystery Reviewer: Em Janie and Micah have been secret best friends for a long time. However, in the beginning of the book, Micah wakes up in the hospital, not remembering anything after the day Janie moved across town. What happened to him? What happened to her ? That's what he has to find out.

You can't read forever. Even I, an experienced reader, get aching eyes after reading for even an hour. If you are like me and sometimes end up reading for several hours, you may find yourself not feeling too well. Of course, you could be like my co-blogger, Em, who surprises me by not appearing to be bothered at all by reading for several hours. And if you are not affected, that is great, but I have always preferred not to finish a book in a single sitting. If you too get tired eyes or like to have a break, then be glad, for this post is completely dedicated to activities to do on these breaks!

Title: I'll Give You the Sun Author:  Jandy Nelson Genre:  YA fiction Rating: 4.75/5 Reviewer: Em "Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story." This book is absolutely stunning in every way. Literally. No joke, I am being 100% serious. Let's start with the characters. Noah, probably one of the most awesome characters ever created (heck yeah!). He's an ama-zhang artist (I love you if you got the HOO reference) and overall nice person who's just trying to be himself. Jude is pretty much the definition of cool. So, you know, basically Wendy (GF reference!). Not the average person just decides to dive off a cliff. At age thirteen, the twins cannot be separated, but when an art school and strong feelings mix, it turns into a huge mess which results in tension and many unspoken words three years later.