6,059 pages read and other stats

Since I haven't been reading much the past couple days, I figured this would be a good time to post some fun stats about the books I've read in 2010, and some tidbits about 2009 as well. First, please understand the 2009 total pages might be slightly off--I did my best to get the page count from the specific editions I read, but a few of them I was a bit foggy on just which one I did pick up! Regardless, it's a very close number.

First, total books read as of March 10, 2010: 18
Total pages: 6,059.
Longest book: Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) - 503 pages
Shortest book: Voyage on the Great Titanic - 197 pages
Average pages: 336
Book that felt the longest: Before I Fall
Book that felt the shortest: Voyage on the Great Titanic
Favorite books so far this year: Shiver, Some Girls Are, Moloka'i
Best cover artwork: Shiver
Worst cover artwork: Audrey, Wait! and Vampire Academy (I can't stand the girl on the cover)
Book I'd most-likely recommend to my grandma: Moloka'i

Total books read in 2009: 87
Total pages: 33,008
Longest book: The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes (tied) - 1456 pages
Shortest book: Project Princess (novella) - 64 pages
Average pages: 379
Book that felt the longest: The Fiery Cross
Book that felt the shortest: Project Princess
Favorite books of the year: Click here
Best cover artwork: The Thirteenth Tale
Worst cover artwork: The Princess Diaries (the covers did get better later in the series)
Book I'd most-likely recommend to my grandma: The Book Thief and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (both of which I did recommend to her)

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

It's been a while since I've posted a new blog, so my apologies. There have been a lot of other distractions, for lack of a better word, great books included! Now I've fallen behind, and so I'll work my patootie off (what is a patootie?) to get things back on track over here.

Anyway, a little over a week ago I picked up the second of my three gifted books, Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers. The giver had said so many wonderful things about this book, and I couldn't wait to dig in. The verdict? Uh. May. Zing. Amazing!

Regina Afton is the best friend of Anna, the most popular girl (bitch) in school. As I'm sure we all remember, high school and that climb up and down the popularity ladder can be nothing short of cruel. So when untrue rumors are spread that Regina hooked up with Anna's boyfriend, the results are absolutely brutal.

This book reminded me of the movie Mean Girls (and yes, I know this is based on a book, but I haven't read that book so I can't compare), except meaner. Regina's voice is so perfect for the telling of this tale, and I love how not perfect she is. This less-than-perfect protagonist seems to be an interesting theme with Courtney Summers' two books, the other which I will get to a few posts from now. It's refreshing to watch a character struggle with morals and make all the wrong decisions in an attempt at self-preservation. We were ALL like that in high school. No one knew all the answers, and no one was absolutely perfect. We made mistakes because we didn't know better and didn't have the insight or life lessons to back up our decisions. Summers really captures this beautifully.

The supporting characters are all equally dynamic, and the high school setting of this book really helps the plot along and builds to a wonderful crescendo. Despite the harshness of the events in the book, I hate to say that there is probably a good deal of truth in these pages. Big thumbs up for this book and author.