YA Books to Cure Your Post Olympic Craving!

Gymnasts, Maroney and Ross (BFFs) lying in the Olympic
Rings. I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

     I'm not really one to watch sports on a regular basis. However, every time the Olympics roll around, I develop this obsession  "special fondness" for the Olympics, and after talking to an endless number of people about the Olympics, I know that I'm not alone with this feeling. And that's why I've decided to help the rest of you (and myself) to cure our  "Post Olympic Craving!"

Gymnastics

 I love love love watching women's (aka teenage girls) gymnastics!  I'm just amazed of how the girls are all just so young and tough! And I may be slightly jealous of them. (in part because they got to meet Kate Middleton)

I think my cures may be egging on my olympic obsession even more. Anyway, for gymnastics here are the books.

Gold Medal Summer by Donna Freitas- I'm surprised more people don't know about this book even though it is relatively new and just came out earlier this summer.

Leverage by Joshua Cohen- This is sort of a half football, half gymnastics book (it will make sense if you read the summary!) and is told from two boys' points of view.

Spotting for Nellie by Pamela Lowell- I hardly know anything about this book, but I've seen some good reviews for it and it sounds good! :)

 To add to your gymnastics craving cure, (if you REALLY want to get into it) you can also listen to "Home" by Phillip Phillips because that's the "theme song" to the USA gymnastics. ;)


Swimming

Swimming is definitely my favorite sport! I love love love swimming! I love partaking in swimming and also love watching swimming in the Olympics. Side note: my all time favorite swimmer, Dana Vollmer, won 3 gold medals this Olympics! So exciting!

There's Dana Vollmer getting out of the pool after winning!

The List by SiobhanVivian- One of the eight main characters in this novel, Danielle is a swimmer and on an intense swim team. If you're longing for more olympic swimming, read the List.

Swim the Fly by Don Calame- I read this book a couple years ago and I just recall that I could not stop laughing the entire book. Three teenage boys join the swim team... it' just a really funny book that I highly recommend whether you're into swimming to not.

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs- The premise of this one may be mermaids, but there is definitely also some swimming and swim team action throughout the novel. A fun lighthearted summery and swimmy read that I highly recommend!


Track

4x400, USA Women take the gold!

One of my favorite elements of track is the diversity. I love how there can be someone in each lane from a different country and I guess I really just love how the Olympics manages to draw so many countries together.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen- The Running Dream is by the same author as Flipped, and while Flipped is certainly more well known, I think that The Running Dream might be just as good. The Running Dream tells the story of a girl who loses her leg in an accident but wants to keep running anyway. Highly recommend this one!

Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs- Another TLC novel! Moving to greece, being on the Cross Country/ Track team, this is another vivacious, lighthearted novel by young adult author extraordinaire, Tera Lynn Childs.


Soccer

USA's lovely soccer game winning the gold medal.

Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin- I cannot contain my emotions for this book!! I love Kelsey so much! Soccer, theatre, prom, new york city, this is the perfect year that turns into the perfect disaster. (side note: Kelsey's experience with soccer had me laughing out loud!)

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger- This book is some soccer and some football, but I thought I'd still include it since I love it so much! Probably my favorite of Kody Keplingers fabulous novels (although A Midsummer's Nightmare was pretty amazing), Shut Out is about a sports team rivalry and is a modern retelling of the greek play, lysistrata.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares- Oh, what a good book. I've always admired Bridget (one of the main characters) for her carefree existence although I know that I could NEVER EVER be at all like her because I'm way too OCD and stressed about every little thing. But I love Bridget and her soccer, lovely long blond hair, and her live-in-the-moment way of life.


That's it for cures to your Olympic Fever! I'm sad to see the Olympics go and cannot believe that we have to wait 4 more years for the next summer olympics! I'll be in college by then! And feel free to leave any of your thoughts on the Olympics in the comments! :)

Fixing Delilah

Title: Fixing Delilah
Author: Sarah Ockler
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Release Date: December 1, 2010

Goodreads Synopsis:

Things in Delilah Hannaford's life have a tendency to fall apart.

She used to be a good student, but she can't seem to keep it together anymore. Her "boyfriend" isn't much of a boyfriend. And her mother refuses to discuss the fight that divided their family eight years ago. Falling apart, it seems, is a Hannaford tradition.

Over a summer of new friendships, unexpected romance, and moments that test the complex bonds between mothers and daughters, Delilah must face her family's painful past. Can even her most shattered relationships be pieced together again?Rich with emotion, Sarah Ockler delivers a powerful story of family, love, and self-discovery.

My Review: 

Although I wasn't head over heels for Sarah Ockler's debut novel, Twenty Boy Summer, I heard good things about Fixing Delilah so I decided to give it a whirl. 

Fixing Delilah is a novel that focuses on family issues. I would say about 85% of the conflicts in this novel are created by family problems. I was shocked with all of the bad luck in the Hannaford family (the main character's family). Most people have a funky in-law that's a little annoying, and most people experience a death in the family at some point, but the Hannaford family had the luck of the Kennedys and a whole batch of interesting family members. I enjoyed the family aspect of this novel because sometimes in YA literature, you don't hear anything about the main character's family.

I liked the main character, Delilah. She seemed like a real person with real flaws. The only thing that bugged me about Delilah was that whenever she had a problem she seemed to run to her boyfriend/crush/lover/significant other and ask for help. I wished she was a little more independent. Overall she was a good character.

Fixing Delilah is full of plot twists, and it involves lots of genres. This novel is mostly realistic fiction, but there is a little bit of mystery and romance thrown in to boot. If you're looking for an unputdownable (that's a real word!!) book, I suggest you read Fixing Delilah. Thanks!

TGIF (42): Back To School Reading

TGIF is a feature hosted by Ginger over at GReads! Ginger asks a fun question every week and bloggers post their answers. TGIF is a great way to learn about some of your favorite bloggers, and have fun posting too!

This Week's Question Is....

Which books would you like to see in the high school English class rooms today? 

1. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green- John Green books must be on the shelves of high school classrooms and libraries.  Aside from being extremely entertaining, John Green novels will expand the vocabulary of high school students. 


2. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray- Beauty Queens will make people who hate reading love reading. Beauty Queens is fast paced, hilarious, and contains an extremely diverse set of characters. This novel would be great for the high school student who claims books are boring.

3. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli- Stargirl just makes you want to be nice to people. Stargirl is a great reminder that if you're nice to people then they will be nice to you (and sometimes teens need to be reminded of that). 

Five Flavors of Dumb

Title: Five Flavors of Dumb
Author: Antony John
Publisher: Dial
Release Date: November 11, 2010

Goodreads Synopsis: 

The Challenge: Piper has one month to get the rock band Dumb a paying gig.

The Deal: If she does it, Piper will become the band's manager and get her share of the profits.

The Catch: How can Piper possibly manage one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl? And how can she do it when she's deaf?

Piper can't hear Dumb's music, but with growing self-confidence, a budding romance, and a new understanding of the decision her family made to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, she discovers her own inner rock star and what it truly means to be a flavor of Dumb.

My Review: 

           After skimming the teaser in Five Flavors of Dumb, I knew I had to read the novel. The plot line sounded so enthralling; A deaf girl who has to manage a rock band. 

          The main character in this novel, Piper, was interesting to say the least. She was headstrong, and made it clear that being deaf isn't a disability--it's a trait. I liked Piper's confidence and ability to take risks.

          Five Flavors of Dumb is a novel that deals with family issues. In this novel Piper has to deal with her dad not accepting and putting limits on what she can do because she is deaf. Piper also has to navigate her feelings about her previously deaf baby sister being able to hear due to a cochlear implant. 

        Throughout this novel each character, whether they were the main character or a side character, grew immensely. If you were to read the first five chapters of the novel, and the last five chapters of the novel, you would think you were reading two different books because the characters grow and change so much. 

      The only thing that I didn't like about Five Flavors of Dumb was that sometimes it was sappy. Other than a couple of cheesy moments, Five Flavors of Dumb was a great read.

      If you're looking for a good read then check out Five Flavors of Dumb. It is inspiring, and has an awesome plot line. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the novel has an awesome cover. Thanks for reading!

An Apology Note

    I know that I really owe all my blog readers an apology. I've been a slacker blogger and haven't been posting as consistently and as much as I usually do. And yes, I'm really super duper sorry about this and I feel pretty guilty about letting my lovely blog readers down. :(
     I had all these blog plans this summer but it feels like I almost "abandoned" Mint Tea & A Good Book in a way. Erin did a great job posting in July and then in June and August it just didn't happen. What happened? As it is so very cheesily yet so very accurately stated in one of my favorite movies, (500) Days of Summer: "What happened?" "What always happens? Life." Ahh, Summer Finn, why must you be so extraordinary?

And now this is making me want to watch (500) Days of Summer...

     I have been in 4 countries and 11 airplanes over the course of these past 2 and a half months, I've had lots of fun and lots of adventures, but blogging was sort of pushed to the side over and over again. Also, my goodreads account became that old t-shirt that gets shoved to the back of your drawers.
And I'm very thankful of those of you who keep commenting and keep visiting Mint Tea & A Good Book. I'd be telling a lie if I said I wasn't just the tiniest bit flattered by you all.
     And now to (le sigh) bear some more sad news. The posting will likely continue to be a bit lacking for the next few weeks since I'll be starting school very soon. I know, very sad. But I'm trying to get things organized so that I can be back to blogging regularly as soon as I can. The fall brings lots of literary opportunities like The Austin Teen Book Festival (!!!!) and The Texas Book Festival. I will also hopefully be meeting Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian along with Lois Lowry! (meeting Lois Lowry is something that I can hardly fathom!)
   Again I cannot thank you fabulous blog readers enough for sticking with Mint Tea & A Good Book! I'm not kidding when I say that I'm honestly flattered by all of you! And hopefully you will be seeing a lot more from Erin and I both in the not so distant future. :)

July Book Of The Month: A Walk In The Woods

Title: A Walk In The Woods
Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Broadway
Release Date: May 4, 1998

Goodreads Synopsis:

God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a grueling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail.

The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas.

With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey.

An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.

My Review: 

        Woods. More woods. Mountains. More mountains. Deer. Ponds. Steaming ghost towns. Gnarly camp grounds. I-know-best hiker. Religious hikers. Partier hikers. Lost hiker. Boy scouts. Snickers. More snickers. Noodles. More noodles. Rats. Disease. Murderers. Bears. Hypothermia. Camping gear. Stupid maps. Good maps. And two guys who just wanted to take a walk in the woods: Bill. Katz.
      If you mixed all of the words above together, you would have A Walk In The Woods. When I started to read this book, I thought the memoir was going to solely focus on Bill Bryson's journey on the Appalachian Trail. I've read one other Bill Bryson book, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (click here for the review), so I expected the book to be a funny, light-hearted retelling of his adventure. Instead of feeling light-hearted for the whole read, I felt quite a large range of emotions. Bryson talked about the extinction of gorgeous trees, and how the people who are supposed to conserve wildlife are viciously chopping it down to accomodate the human race. This book was incredibly funny, but equally eye-opening. 
       A Walk In The Woods made me want to jump of the sofa, grab a backpack (A couple bottles of pepper spray) and venture out into the great unknown; The Appalachian Trail. I was on a trip with a friend while I read this memoir. I was constantly reading passages to her out loud. After sharing a couple passages with her we both pulled out a notebook, titled it "Bucket List" and wrote down: Hike the Appalachian Trail. 
    Bryson's novel is inspiring, eye-opening, and mind blowing. As you sit on your couch (or wherever you are) reading this post, just know that there is a 2,000 + mile trail sitting, and waiting for you to take a walk in the woods. 

I hope you enjoyed the July book of the month!

Adventures in France/Spain + French YA Literature

As a lot of you already know, the reason behind me not blogging in July was primarily because I was busy traveling in France and Spain!

This was amazing for me since I'm obsessed completely fascinated with world geography, especially of the European variety.

We initial flew to Paris and stayed there for a few days before taking a 5 hour train ride down to southern France.While we were visiting family in a little beach town in southwest France, we stumbled upon a bookstore that was literally across the street from the beach. (which also caused there to be quite a bit of sand in the bookshop) And I happened to have my camera with me, so when I saw the Young Adult Literature section of the quaint little shop, I whipped out my camera to take pictures of the books to show you guys. I tried to be sort of subtle about it, except I somehow managed to find myself taking pictures of books while crouched on the floor until some random french man (I'm not sure if he worked there or not) asked me what I was doing on the floor. My french is kind of limited so I just told him that I like taking pictures of books and then he mumbled something back that I didn't understand, so I just decided that would be enough picture taking at the bookstore.

Anyway, here are the books! (keep in mind that I was rushing and attempting to be subtle, so the picture quality isn't great)

Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter!
The cover is very different from the US one.
What do you guys think of this cover?

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.
I saw this book quite a few times over the
course of my trip! Maybe it's super popular
in France or something. Fun cover!

So Divergent has the same title (and basically the same cover)
as Divergent in the US. The one main difference is Tris' face is
above the Dauntless symbol on this one. To me the face seems
like a bit too much for the cover. What do you think?

Same cover, French title, different font. What do you think
of this one? 

Full Moon by Rachel Hawthorne. I kind of
like this cover better than the American one.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver! Pretty much
the same paperback cover as the one in the
US, but I was still happy to see this one!

Gone by Michael Grant. Again, not much
difference at all.

Everneath by Brodi Ashton! I actually saw
some teenage girl buy this one! :)

Sorry it's sideways! But this is the last Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants book (which has a really cheesy title. It
literally means Four Girls in the Jeans for Forever) But what
was really cool was that all over France I saw like these
billboard-like ads for this book! Book Billboards!

So this is all 4 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books
combined into one book! (all but the last book in the series
which is pictured above) Its SO big!

And a front view of the big book beauty. ;)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransome
Riggs! This one is called Miss Peregrine et les Enfants
Particuliers. (I prefer this title) ;)

Yes, The Hunger Games. Same title and pretty much the
same cover, although I seem to remember Catching Fire &
possibly Mockingjay having non- American titles.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney! I also saw this one
while I was in France. :)

It's not Summer without You by Jenny Han! I was super
excited to see this series at the bookshop!

We'll Always Have Summer! This title actually translates
to "The Summer Before Us," which I like a lot. :)

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini! Pretty much
the same book, but in French. :)

I didn't recognize this book at first because this French cover
is so much different than the American one. Very pretty!
 Do you guys like this cover or the American cover better?

I really don't know all that much about Christopher Paolini's
Inheritance series. But here it is! 

Hades by Alexandra Adornetto. I saw some
people looking intently at this one. :)

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen! They actually
had a bunch of Sarah's books, but I only took pictures of a few.
This cover is a little bit different, but I like it. The title kind of
confuses me though, because it means "I get one day"
 which doesn't really make much sense for the book.

Everlasting by Alyson Noel. This one is actually a bit odd
because the American cover shows the girl on this cover
along with a boy, but for some reason they cut out the boy
from the cover on this one.

This is the 3rd book in a french high fantasy series that we
don't have in the US, but I thought the cover was pretty and very
different from what most high fantasy covers would be in the US.

Radiance by Alyson Noel. It's a very similar style to the cover
of Radiance in the US, however, the cover picture is not the
same as the one in the US. Which one  do you like better?

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen! More Sarah Dessen!
This title means "Way to the Future," which is pretty
different from the US title.

Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. This was the
cover and title that was the most different from the US. At
first, I completely didn't realize that this was the same book
until I picked it up and put it down two or three times! I have
to say, I prefer the American title and cover.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer!
Ok, these were so cool! They were like little pocket books! Like
this book here, it would fit in the palm of my hand! It only had
2 or 3 chapters, but I still thought that it was absolutely adorable!

And here are a few very lovely scenic pictures from the trip as well! :)

Beach in Southwest France.

Beach in Northwest Spain.

Town in Northwest Spain.

The view from a little valley town in Southwest France.

The view from atop a mountain in Spain

My sister standing by a ruin on a mountain in Spain.

Signs on a Spanish Mountain. SO COOOL!

     We had so much fun in France and Spain and met so many cool people! Plus, the weather was so lovely compared to the summer weather we get here. And I got to use some of my French which was super duper fun!!

     I will be out of town AGAIN in a couple days to visit some family in the Northwest US, but if you have any questions or want to get in touch with me, please don't hesitate to shoot me an email! :)