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Amanda's Bookshelf

I'm a culture junkie who works at a bookstore. Pop, high-brow, junk -- it's all good. I try and consume it all. I read tons, especially young adult fiction. I also love quirky, offbeat novels; cultural analysis; mythology; girly fiction; fantasy; screwball romantic comedies; books with extremely flawed characters, yet somehow you really empathize with them; nonlinear narratives and language play.

Currently reading

The Runaway King
Jennifer A. Nielsen
The Lost Girl
Sangu Mandanna
Another Little Piece
Kate Karyus Quinn
Moranthology
Caitlin Moran
There Is No Dog
Meg Rosoff
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs
Fated
S.G. Browne
Room
Emma Donoghue
Topics About Which I Know Nothing
Patrick Ness
The Little Friend
Donna Tartt

Shut Out

Shut Out - Kody Keplinger I really enjoyed The Duff, so I was looking forward to Keplinger's re-telling of Lysistrata. While I felt it wasn't as strong as The Duff, I still really enjoyed it. Part of it has to do with how refreshing Keplinger approaches young female sexuality, especially in comparison to a lot of young adult books out there. It's nice to see double standards and the way female sexuality is portrayed to young women questioned. While at times it was rather heavy-handed I'm still glad there are books like this out there for teen girls.On a different note, I did like Lissa and Cash a lot, but they didn't resonate with me the way the characters in Keplinger's debut did. Probably comparisons I shouldn't have been making, yet I couldn't help myself. That combined with some of the clunkier aspects of the plot make the book more a 3.5, but the issues Keplinger addresses elevates it for me.