Bogus to Bubbly

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Publisher: Simon Pulse (2008)

This book is essentially about this world Scott Westerfeld created which includes a nifty Hoverboard manual, a glossary of terms, and in depth walk through his inspirations for names, slang, and anything else you can think of that you ever wanted to know about the Uglies. Additionally, there’s an alternate beginning for Extras in the male’s perspective (I read this before Extras) and lots of other fun things.

This review will be short because I loved reading about Westerfeld’s inner workings and as a writer, this illuminated aspects of his writing process and what could work for me.

A fulfilling read from beginning to end. Check it out!

Hiatus

December is halfway done (and the year is almost gone!) and I have not had many new posts. For any loyal followers, I apologize. Life gets in the way. And working six-day weeks doesn’t help either. I don’t even have the energy to hang out with my friends and I’m going to have the energy to write? If I had a desk job, that’d be easy. But this homegirl stands on her feet about ninety percent of the day with two breaks in between. Yeah, if you had my job, you wouldn’t want to do anything but sleep either.

The remaining posts of this year will most likely be book reviews (I didn’t reach my quota of forty books this year – not even thirty!) and then next year is about writing bootcamp! I don’t know what that even means yet but I’m creating something for myself to gear up for MFA applications and to make writing routine (even when I’m crazy busy).

As for right now, reading the books I’m reading (Scott Westerfeld’s series – Uglies, Pretties, Specials) and other random books on the side.

Cheers, folks!

The Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Published by: Simon Pulse (2005)

Tally Youngblood wants to be pretty. But it’s because she’s about to turn sixteen and everyone in her world turns pretty at the same age. After performing a trick in New Pretty Town, she meets Shay, the girl who could care less about turning pretty. When Shay invites Tally to run away with her to The Smoke, the Special Circumstances are involved and Tally learns that turning pretty, changes you forever.

Never hearing that much buzz about this series until I met a YA lover (check out her blog here) who went on and on about Scott Westerfeld and Suzanne Collins (reading that trilogy next), I decided to pick this book up. Additionally, a fellow book club member recently read the trilogy and raved about the world. When I saw the premise, I immediately thought of The Giver by Lois Lowry because they all turn pretty at the same age just like everyone receives a bike at the same age and is also assigned their occupation at thirteen for the rest of their lives.

This story was an interesting look at the way this society functions solely based on beauty and how this is a reflection of our society today. Although not as extreme where pretty and “ugly” people living in separate towns but man, too close for comfort.

The writing works for a young adult novel and much better written than any Stephanie Meyer novel (but that’s just me).

A solid read from beginning to end; once you start, you cannot put the book down. With a first line like, “The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit,” how can you not get into this story?

Looking forward to the next in the series, Pretties!