Saw this at Dollar Tree. I was doing my usual ‘judge by the cover‘ on if I wanted to spent the $1 +tax, I flipped it over and was sold by the blurb. #yesplease #coverjudged
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Laurinda | 
Saw this at Dollar Tree. I was doing my usual ‘judge by the cover‘ on if I wanted to spent the $1 +tax, I flipped it over and was sold by the blurb. #yesplease #coverjudged
“So for me, leadership is about building your own character before you start influencing anyone else. To be a true leader, I think you must first learn what it is like to follow — And to follow without losing your own moral compass, you have to know yourself and appreciate where you come from.”
pick#2018Book163
If you ever watched Gilmore Girls and wished that Lane had gone to Chilton instead of Rory, then this is definitely the book for you. It focuses on coming-of-age as a student at an exclusive private school who doesn't fit in because she's the only non-white kid there. Not only does she have trouble connecting with her outrageously rich classmates, she also has to separate her life at school from her life of extreme poverty at home.
pickI loved how this book handles elitism and privilege, racial prejudice and the experience of Asian immigrants in Australia.
Lucy and Linh was a sharp, funny and just fantastic read. We don't get many Australian books here in the libraries of suburban America, which is such a pity, so this was an extra pleasure to read.
It was a billion degrees here today (okay, only 38, but ugh), so I set up camp in the air conditioning and ploughed through this one. Think “Mean Girls”, but set in a posh Australian girls‘ school with a POC protagonist that looks at race and class.
pickThis was an extremely well written book about a girl who gets a scholarship to an exclusive school. Pung does an excellent job capturing the feelings of alienation, wanting to fit in, immigrant life and cultural and class differences. And she does so in a seamless way. The ‘twist‘ was obvious and Lucy was a tad too insightful but not over the top. I hope more people discover this YA book.
I think we all feel pretty #underpressure as teenagers, for so many different reasons. As a new scholarship student at a fancy prep school, our main character in this Australian YA novel feels it from a plethora sources, for sure. #septembowie
bailedI bailed because after 15 chapters I got the gist of the text.
so-soFeeling pretty meh about this book. (This is the third time I'm trying to post this sooo...) some interesting cultural stories written in the book but it dragged so much. It took me a long time to finish and just didn't do much for me.
Lucy is occasionally a little too astute for a 15 year old and I'm not sure I get the whole "this is a letter to Linh" thing. But I love books about private schools, and this one is no exception. Alice Pung does a great job of capturing adolescent cruelty.
pickLucy gets a scholarship to a preppy school and has trouble adjusting with all the spoken and unspoken rules. She misses Linh, who was left behind at her other school and tries to balance this new life with her old life. I loved the family relationships in this book and was appalled by the outrageous but real "mean girls." A great novel with a voice that stuck with me about finding yourself but not losing yourself along the way. #kidlitsy
"Where we lived was not a place where good stories began, but a place where bad stories retreated, like small mongrel dogs bitten by much larger, thoroughbred ones."
pickThis book completely surprised me! What a gem. It's a YA novel, centered almost completely on the circumstances of high school, but it's also intelligent, insightful, and wholly unexpected—not juvenile or contrived. Alice Pung is a gifted writer and storyteller and her unique perspective (the reason I picked up this book) is just an added bonus. I thoroughly enjoyed this and plan to read more from the author.
"All teenage girls are drama queens inside their minds, even the mousiest of us. We load and reload movies of ourselves in heroic postures and outlandish triumphs, movies that, if they were ever to be played in front of an audience of people we know and love, would cause us to shrivel in shame."
This is certainly true in my experience.
Back at Christ Our Savior, a cute boy was a cute boy, even if he was a bit of a loser. But here it seemed that cuteness had to be filtered through quite a few lenses. It reminded me of going to the optometrist...But it seemed to me that all these girls were myopic, because the guys they considered popular were not necessarily the hottest...Laurinda girls were into Jane Austen heroes, not hunks.
I chose a light read for this gorgeous day. I love reading in the backyard with my girls, especially on not-hot days.
I'm not sure if I like the style in which this is written, but the perspective of a teenaged girl born to Chinese immigrant parents in Australia is what initially drew me to this sweet YA novel.
Current read, for #riotgrams day 6. I'm home sick today, so hopefully I'll get some reading done in between naps.
Great book swap + shopping day with a friend. #bookhaul #rebeccalim #loveozya #waichim #alicepung #natsuokirino #nkjemisin #cynthiakadohata
pickWhen Lucy receives a scholarship to prestigious Laurinda she is surprised,but this could be her way out of her neighborhood. Lucy knows she will have trouble fitting in. She is poor. She is an immigrant. She is behind in her classes. However she did not anticipate a place where 3 cruel girls run the show Lucy has to learn just how smart and strong she really is. This was so much more than a book about bullies- families, privilege, race, and more.
Before I left for work this morning I snapped a picture of the current version of my #24in48 TBR stack. This will likely change and I also have ebooks and an audiobook ready to go. It is nice to know that all of this awaits once I escape this place. 9 hours until midnight in California!
Checked this one out of the library because it was #recommendedby @RanaElizabeth . Looking forward to reading it during 24in48
This is like when I told my mom I had a 3.8 GPA in grad school after taking full courseloads each semester, student teaching/interning, and either working full time at Starbucks or assistant coaching a nationally competitive high school debate team and she said "Of course you do," then refused to go to my graduation (or let me go alone) because she didn't want to deal with New York. Book, you get me.
pickThis one operates well within some familiar YA tropes: new school, popular girls, outsider status, parents who can't understand. Lucy doesn't feel like a teenager to me–and I love that, because she's able to see outside of herself in a way few teenagers (adults too!) ever can. I'm gonna pick it hard for POC narratives, no romance, and immigrant MCs. LOVE.
All teenage girls are drama queens inside their minds, even the mousiest of us. We load and reload movies of ourselves in heroic postures and outlandish triumphs, movies that, if they were ever be played in front of an audience of people we know and love, would cause us to shrivel in shame.
First YA of 2017! I love it so far. It snowed here for the first time this year and nothing shuts the south down like snow. My goal is to read 30 YA this year, and more cozy days like this will sure help!
pickI honestly loved and was addicted to this book. It s described as Gilmore girls meets mean girls and it some how did just that!!! I loved it and it uses a common twist but actually pulled it off that I didn't see it coming. I don't know what I'll read after this. It was just great!!!
so-soI really enjoyed the premise and some parts of Laurinda, but as with Unpolished Gem there's something about Pung's writing that grates in me. That combined with the end of the school year where my tolerance of teenage angst is at its lowest meant that this was only a so-so read for me.
pickMean Girls, but a thousand million times better and smarter. Full of heart-crushing statements about immigration, bullying, and self-worth. Top-five of the year, want and need everybody to read this.
Full review over on Goodreads.
A slower month for me but there was a lot of video games played over the holidays so I lost some time there.
Settings: Minnesota and Australia. Main characters: Native American women and Vietnamese girl. Plot: Family, love, Native history and boarding school Mean Girls. Overall theme? Actually both are about growth and knowing one's self.
#currentlyreading
#photoadaynov16
Library haul of wonder!
