13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (a bit of a rant)

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Series: Little Blue Envelope #1
Source: Kindle copy
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: October 6th 2009
Age Group: Young Adult

Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket.
In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat.
The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist.
Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/ bloke–about–town called Keith go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous–though utterly romantic–results. But will she ever see him again?
Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.

So, I'm going to be totally honest - I've been meaning to get 13 Little Blue Envelopes for a while now. I was always curious about this book, but I just... I really, really don't like the covers for this book. At all. So, being the shallow human being that I am, I pushed it back until... well, until it was on a kindle sale.

I will start with the good - the story is very cutesy. It's fun. It's a fast read. You'll be smiling with the characters. You'll be waiting to see what Aunt Peg's next task for Ginny will be. You'll be enjoying this trip as you cross countries and locations alongside Ginny. Plus, Richard is great. I wish we got to see more of the guy! (and I totally called the last "twist" with him the moment we met him)

Now, to the less good - Ginny is just so damn clueless and naive, I couldn't deal with it. She's supposed to be a 17 years old girl, right? But she reads much much younger to me in the way she acts. Case in point: 

 - She doesn't know what to do with the ticket for the Tube. Even if you've never been on one, logic dictates you at least keep your ticket in case of an inspection, right??

-She goes with a guy she doesn't know to his sister's apartment just because he tells her his sister will like her. Where is your self preservation instincts, woman?! You've literally just met him, in a foreign country no less! He might be a serial killer for all you know, or...

I have been looking for a chance to use this gif forEVER!

 -She let's another family "adopt" her for five days, going with them everywhere without question. Say that wasn't weird on it's own (which it totally was. It creeped me out), you just... let them pay for everything, never even asking for the prices? 

Umm, girl, money does not grow on trees and you do NOT have a limitless supply of it!  At the very least you should be aware of how much you've got and how much you'll have to repay, and put your feet down if it's too much, because that is also your only way to get back home!

I couldn't deal with all this! It's pretty much a miracle she doesn't get murdered on this trip...

Than, there is the fact she has no phone on her. I know, I know, Aunt Peg said no phones. But what kind of an idiot would go to a foreign country(ies) without a means to communicate with his family/the police if something were to happen? Take a phone, keep it closed the whole trip unless something happens, but at least have the option to call for help!

Maybe these things were supposed to make the story special. Maybe they do. But to me, they were too farfetched and too frustrating. I don't know if I'll read the next book; maybe I will, but probably not unless there is a sale.

  Nitzan★

Which TBR Matters?

We, the book people, all have something we refer to as our "To Be Read" pile. We always say "our TBR". But recently, when thinking about it, I realized something. We don't have a TBR. We have TBRs.

What do I mean?

1. Physical TBR

This one consists of all your unread books on your physical shelves at home, in your personal library. This is the most visible of TBRs, the one people actually see if you invite them over.

Currently, I have around 70 books on this TBR.

This is the TBR that really matters to me, and is the one I work the hardest on minimizing. Why? Because this is the one I feel obligated to excuse. If someone walks into my room, sees a book and asks me how it is, I am unable to just say "I haven't read it yet". I feel obligated to give a very detailed explanation why, because I feel almost ashamed that it's still unread (and that I'm buying more books despite of this fact).

2. The Series TBR

This TBR is mostly compiled of sequels we intended to one day read. All bookworms love their series. All bookworms know waiting for the next book to publish/to get your hands on is torture. And all bookworms know sometimes, in the wait, you end up... forgetting you wanted to read the next book so badly.
So this TBR tends to grow and grow and grow until it's a monster (like all TBRs, when you think of it...).

I'm "Currently Reading" 117 series. That means 117 immediate sequels, not to include all the trilogies, sagas, etc... That's A LOT of books.

This one is also high on my list, as I'd like to really narrow it down, especially when it comes to finished book series.

3. the Electronic TBR

Nowadays, almost everyone has an electronic TBR, compiled of all the electronic books we've got.

Mine is split into two:
a) freebie purchases (which currently stand on 902. I know, I've got a problem).
b) my paid for purchases (73, but I've read a big number of them).

This TBR, to me, is on lower priority. I still go to great lengths to clean it up and reduce my unread titles (especially in the Paid For department), but no one actually sees these books. They're hidden inside this small device, so I don't have to excuse anything.

4. Goodreads/Leafmarks/Booklikes TBR.

This one is made from all the thousand books we mark "To Read" on these sites. Those tend to be the biggest of TBRs, for the sole reason you're not obligated to anything on it. Marking "To Read' is marking interest, not committing to marriage.

To me, this TBR is of the lowest priority. I mark things that look interesting, but more often than not I forget about them. The books on my GR TBR that I do end up reading are books that ended up standing out of the rest, be it because my friends talked about them all the time, they sounded exceptionally intriguing or were just plain beautiful (yes, I'm shallow. Get over it).

Every once in a while I'll go to my GoodReads TBR and clean it up a little, erasing those books I can't even remember why I added, but it never seems to grow any smaller...

Those are just four types of TBRs. I'm sure there are more, and that every one of us has different versions of TBRs.

Which TBR is the most important to you? The one you pick from the most and care the most about reducing? 

   Nitzan★

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS REVIEW CAN BE FOUND ON AFTERWORDS!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Source: paperback
Publisher: Black Swan
Publication Date: January 30th 2014
Age Genre: Young Adult

HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE

1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.
Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH

It's a small story, about:
a girl
an accordionist
some fanatical Germans
a Jewish fist fighter
and quite a lot of thievery.

ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW - DEATH WILL VISIT THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES

The Book Thief has been reviewed many times over. I bet everything that could be said about it, already has been. But... as a Jew, reading this book, I feel obligated to add in my two cents. So bear with me. This is going to be a very personal review. In fact, it's going to speak largely about things surrounding the book instead of the book itself.

Originally, I never intended to read the Book Thief. As a general rule, I don't read Holocaust based novels. In Israel, we study the Holocaust extensively (in relations to Jews mostly, for obvious reasons) from the first grade to the twelfth. We annually mention and mourn the 6 million lost on a special day. And, honestly, every damn holocaust book I read brings me to a sobbing mess, and I don't enjoy that.

I always tell my grandma, who made it her mission to read as many of those testimonies as possible, that one day, I'll probably start seeking those stories, but right now, I am too overcome by the darkness that engulfs me when I read of it.

So, again, I wasn't planning on reading this. But then the movie was coming out, and the book was on sale, and I found out Death was narrating the story, and that it's about a young German girl in the holocaust and I became curious. So I started it.

I was almost immediately disappointed (wait, let me explain, both why and how come this is a four star despite this). I did not like the narration, even though it was the thing I was most looking forward to. Death's voice felt a bit choppy to me, and I did not like how he felt the need to end every chapter (or what felt like) on these ambiguous notes. It took a long while to get used to It's voice.

I was feeling very dejected (even though I was loving Lisel and her Papa), when Max came into the picture. And from that moment on, I was hooked. I didn't know (and maybe I should've), that this book tells the story of what we call khassidey umot ha-olam, and in English is apparently referred to as: "Righteous Among the Nations".

I've always loved those stories. The stories that show there were people who resisted the brainwashing; resisted the propaganda; kept their humanity intact; saw through the veil over their eyes. That's what always been the hardest to swallow, for me; how people were able to boycott and humiliate and demean people who have been their neighbors, their friends, their partners. And yet it happened, on a massive scale.

Hans Hubermann did not forget his friends, though. He wasn't fooled. I loved that. I loved Max. I loved the relationships that bloomed between the Hubermanns and Max. I loved everything that had to do with that.

And, I'll admit, I loved reading of the Holocaust from a different perspective. Not from the direct victims, but from the eyes of a little German girl. How her life was affected by it all. What the war did to her. To them.

Like death, I still pity those in the concentration camps a lot more than the Germans. I still pity the families broken or obliterated far more. I can't deny that--nor do I feel the need to. But this story was still powerful, and served to show everyone gets hurt in a war. 

And, yes, I admit it: I cried. I was quietly sobbing in my room from part ten on. It was heartbreaking. In a different way than most of the holocaust books I've read before, but not any less powerful.

(BTW, anyone else shipping Max and Lisel despite the ten-year age gap?)

   Nitzan★