Review: The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon

The Sun is Also a Star
by Nicola Yoon

Edition: 2016
Pages: 384
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK Children's

Summary: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

Rating: 3/5

Review: 
I will start by saying that I received an online copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange of a honest review.

A mixed junction of fate, love, desires and teenage dreams!

Wow. I haven't read much lately and due to many factors I find myself leaning on young adult books to overcome this reading slump with lighter reads. Which is kind of odd and even a bit funny, since I almost stopped reading young adult books a long time because I can't find myself enjoying them as much as I did in the past. Nevertheless, I'm still keen of a good story and "The Sun is Also a Star" had all the right ingredients to get my attention. Starting by the author's nationality.
Ever since I started thinking and preparing the project of the World Book Tour (now in partnership with my friends Cata and Jojo ) I started to look out not only for books representing diverse public segments but also different authors, with different experiences and a wider spectrum of analysis. And this book had it all: a Jamaican author, Jamaican characters, Korean characters, and a bit of youthful, confrontation between a magical fate and logic and some scents of the historical paths that brought two different branches of immigration to the United States of America.
It's also a test to life in general, calling the readers to decide where is the line that divides a predisposed destiny and the cadence of small happenings which, in the end, transform who we are and what are our next steps.
Firstly I considered a bit annoying all the parallel stories to which I couldn't find a reason for them to appear constantly, since they interrupted the main plot quite often and line of the story I was designing on my mind. Therefore, I understood near the end their purpose and I could even understand the little magic created from them. It's amazing to conceal how small moments and differences can change someone's life! Nevertheless, they weren't my favourite part of the story for sure.
Natasha and Daniel couldn't be more different from each other. That's why it's so lovely to find them in love, surpassing the inconveniences of family's expectations, emotional baggage, a timeline they can't avoid and their personal insights about how life should be or shouldn't be lived.
 It's a love story, but it's also a bit more than that, fruitfully resulting from the dimensions created by their family stories. In the middle of all the unbelievable situations and actions during that 24 hours, that elements added new memories and moments for both of them to cherish. This book also adds a dimension of real life, when discussing that being a teenage is not always so easy as it seams, since many of the major decisions responsible for defining our future are taken so early.
Because of that, I felt there was a realm of reality claiming to make the readers think about what they are expecting to build on their paths (or what they did in the past) and what it means at the present moment. It's also a lucky charm against blue days, because I doubt that someone isn't going to fall for Daniel, he has that spirituous and free mind we all would like to keep on us (even just a little) every time we see ourselves on the mirror, besides he is a dearest and it's impossible not to smile at his blind faith in the world.
Finally, I enjoyed the last chapter, it felt realistic and honest and as sincere as it could get. Until the author decided to add that small plot twist at the very last. Even if I still understand why she did it, I find it a bit pushed. I just hope her choice was done due the need to create a more enjoyable ending for her readers and not because she thought her readers couldn't handle a bit of factual happenings and life in general. Because every young person conscious about the world knows life isn't perfect and many times isn't fair either. But it always teach us something and leave marks to never be forgotten. If not by memory, at least by heart.

Cláudia

About the author:
 

Addicted to the library Claudia loves to read on the move and we can usually find her sitting in a train or bus reading while commuting to and from work. But don't be fooled she is also keeping an eye on the landscape and all around her. She is an avid defender of sustainability and volunteering and it's as easy to find her starting a new project as it is to find her chatting with her friends. She is a dreamer and loves good stories so she keeps looking for them in her personal life.

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Opinião: Fangirl, de Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl

de Rainbow Rowell

Edição/reimpressão: 2013

Páginas: 433

Editor: St. Martin's Press 
Resumo:

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.
Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Rating: 3/5

Comentário: 

Confesso que depois de ter lido Eleanor & Park de Rainbow Rowell não estava muito curiosa em relação aos seus outros livros. O meu problema inicial não foi a escrita ou enredo, foi efectivamente ter achado o livro por si pesado e me ter obrigado a acabar o mesmo. Contudo quando o acabei achei que faltava alguma coisa, não achei que Rowell tivesse resolvido bem o conflito que era o centro da históroia. Quando vi que a autora tinha outro livro chamado Attachements soube imediatamente que este não iria para a minha lista do "a ler".
No entanto, quando encontrei o Fangirl pela primeira vez no GoodReads apercebi-me que o mesmo tinha uma premissa interessante e após, a conselho da Cláudia, me ter posto a seguir o Book Club do Tumblr (que decidiu que este seria o primeiro livro a ler e me bombardeou o dash com posts sobre ele)  tive de me dar por derrotada e ir em busca do mesmo para ler.

Citando um pouco a Stacey, a responsável do blogue Prettybooks, este é um livro "para a internet" e sobre a internet. Este é um livro que fala de pessoas que passam tanto tempo on-line que para elas não há diferença entre amigos virtuais e amigos reais, pessoas que são parte de fandoms e as abraçam ao máximo, através de fanfics, fanmixs e fanart.

E este é o motivo pelo qual me foi tão fácil identificar com a Cath. Além de partilharmos o nome, partilhamos também a nossa paixão pela fandom e por fazer parte da mesma. Apesar de ter escrito fanfiction aqui há uns anos atrás, tenho a dizer que nunca fui tão popular como a Cath. Mas mesmo assim, tendo feito parte do fanfiction.net compreendo perfeitamente a paixão dela por escrever e por "postar" as suas histórias on-line.
Este é também um livro que nos fala sobre a primeira vez que nos afastamos da nossa família, da ida para a faculdade e das pessoas que lá conhecemos. Uma vez li que as pessoas que conhecemos na faculdade se tornam nossas amigas para a vida, que são elas que efectivamente passam quatro anos cruciais da nossa vida connosco e que, como trabalharão na nossa área, são aquelas com as quais teremos mais em comum.
Cath, a nossa personagem principal, sempre foi muito fechada mas como tinha a gémea, Wren, para lhe fazer companhia nunca sentiu a solidão. Mas agora a Wren não quer ser mais gémea, quer ser uma rapariga independente e seguir com a sua vida e Cath sente-se traída.
Creio que Rowell conseguiu captar a vida universitária com os seus altos e baixos, as novas amizades, as amizades mais antigas e o distanciamento da família para que possamos crescer e nos encontrar. Gostei da maneira como a Cath se foi expandindo e das pessoas que ela encontrou.
O enredo foi interessante mas achei as partes sobre a fandom (que se nota bem foi baseada em Harry Potter e no ship Harry x Draco) muito mais interessantes e por isso achei bastante engraçado que a autora tenha decidido publicar a fic de Cath (Carry On) como um livro independente.
Para concluir gostaria de dizer que apesar de Fangirl ser um livro interessante ainda não me conseguiu converter como fã desta autora.

Ki
(Catarina)

Sobre a autora:

Bibliófila assumida e escritora de domingo. Gosta de livros e tudo o que esteja relacionado com eles, tem a mania que tem opiniões sobre coisas e gosta de as expor no seu blog conjunto Encruzilhadas Literárias, tem também uma conta no GoodReads e é das melhores coisas que já lhe aconteceu.

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Opinião: Um Jantar a Mais, de Ismail Kadaré

 
Um Jantar a Mais
de Ismail Kadaré


Edição/reimpressão: 2010
Páginas: 1
72
Editor: Quetzal

Resumo:
Gjirokastër —a cidade de pedra no sul da Albânia—vê desfilar as tropas alemãs que regressam da Grécia ocupada. Quem as comanda é um coronel nazi que em tempos fora colega de um dos dignitários da cidade—o Dr. Gurameto —na Alemanha. O reencontro do coronel von Schwabe com o seu antigo condiscípulo é efusivo e este convidao para jantar.
Mas eis que os resistentes abrem fogo sobre a frente de blindados alemães, e, como represália, os nazis capturam reféns entre os habitantes da cidade.
Sob pena de passar por traidor aos olhos da população, durante o jantar com o estado-maior alemão, o Dr. Gurameto, tenta persuadir o coronel de os libertar —de entre eles, um farmacêutico judeu. E ganha a causa.
Após o fim da guerra, e depois de instaurado o comunismo, este caso volta à discussão. E no momento em que no bloco comunista a paranoia estalinista atinge o seu apogeu, a libertação do farmacêutico judeu pelo coronel nazi transforma Girokäster no centro do complot planetário para a decapitação dos países socialistas…

Rating: 4/5

Comentário: "Um Jantar a Mais" é a escolha de Março do projecto World Book Tour, onde o grupo viajou até à Albânia através das páginas. Tido por muitos como um dos autores que há muito já deveria ter sido consagrado com um Nobel da Literatura, Ismail Kadaré traz-nos uma obra que vinca pelos seus ideais e posições reflexivas, sob um olhar escrutinador perante a História da Europa e as repercussões tidas na Albânia, o seu país natal.
Este livro é uma parábola, tragico-cómica e alegórica que compreende um período da História do séc. XX de completa transformação na Europa. As transformações ideológicas e as suas influências sociais surgem caricaturadas na pequena aldeia de Girokäster, cujos acontecimentos singulares ganham proporções desenxabidas mas bastante claras e perfeitamente honestas sobre as vicissitudes, diferenças e complementaridades de dois regimes ditatoriais, que embora em extremos opostos de um espectro ideológico, se aproximam por diversas vezes nos métodos utilizados para o controlo da população e para a prestação de uma lealdade cega aos líderes que as compõem.
O discurso ligeiro, mas poético, comprometido mas levianamente expondo as construções da acção com perícia e uma deliciosa índole narrativa, tornaram esta pequena leitura num prazer imenso. É ainda assim uma leitura que, ainda que bastante fácil, apela a um olhar perscrutador  por parte dos leitores, na medida em que nada é deixado ao acaso e todos os encadeamentos e reflexões são propositadamente colocadas e com intentos claros. Auxiliará também os leitores terem alguma cultura geral e conhecimento sobre os períodos de ocupação Nazi assim como da Guerra Fria para esta composição lida nas entrelinhas que, ao fim ao cabo, é a missão do livro na sua plenitude. Ainda assim, não é descabido que quem se sinta pouco confortável com estas temáticas não subentenda a mensagem, mesmo para além do plano principal da narrativa. Ismail Kadaré foi sem dúvida uma óptima surpresa trazida pelo projecto doWorld Book Tour e irei certamente enveredar por mais leituras de obras do autor.

Sobre o autor: "Ismaïl Kadaré nasceu em 1936, em Gjirokastra, no Sul da Albânia. Estudou em Tirana e em Moscovo no Instituto Gorky. Após a ruptura do seu país com a União Soviética, em 1960, iniciou uma actividade jornalística e publicou os seus primeiros poemas. Entre 1970 e 1982 foi deputado da Assembleia Popular de Tirana, tendo em Outubro de 1990 obtido asilo político em França. É o mais conhecido escritor albanês e as suas obras estão traduzidas em diversas línguas. De entre as seus livros mais importantes, destacam-se, os romances: O General do Exército Morto (1963), Crónica da Cidade de Pedra (1971), Os Tambores da Chuva (1972), O Concerto (1988), e já editados pelas Publicações Dom Quixote, Abril Despedaçado (1978), adaptado ao cinema pelo realizador brasileiro Walter Salles, autor do filme Central do Brazil, O Palácio dos Sonhos (1981), A Pirâmide (1992), e selecção de textos Três Contos Fúnebres pelo Kosovo (1998). Em Junho de 2005, Kadaré foi galardoado com o primeiro Man Booker International Prize pela sua carreira literária." Fonte: WOOK                            

Cláudia

Sobre a autora:
 

Maratonista de bibliotecas, a Cláudia lê nos transportes públicos enquanto observa o Mundo pelo canto do olho. Defensora da sustentabilidade e do voluntariado, é tão fácil encontrá-la envolvida num novo projeto como a tagarelar sobre tudo e mais alguma coisa. É uma sonhadora e gosta de boas histórias, procurando-as em cada experiência que vive.

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How I grew my library

As a bookaholic moving countries was one of the most difficult things I ever did. Mainly because it meant leaving my whole library behind. I moved to England around four years ago leaving my country and my books behind. I moved not only because England was a country that fascinated me but also because I knew the language and I knew I had good changes of getting a job.
When you first move countries and are on a budget but still need to read, libraries are your best friend. It took me less than a week to enrol at my local library and to start checking books out. If you have been unemployed and have spent more than a week sending CV's every day you know how stressful it can be. You fill the same form over and over again, you keep applying thinking that this might be the job that guarantees you at least an interview. I think one of the worst that can happen when you are job hunting is when you really apply yourself in doing a decent cover letter and CV because you really want to get that job and then you get declined. When this happened to me there was nothing that made me fell better other than reading a book.
And so I would walk to my local library on Saturday and get myself some books to read. These books kept me going through good and bad times and because libraries in England tend to get the latest releases I was on top of the released books for the first time in a long time.
Time went by and I got a job, I got my own place (I was staying with family before) and then I got some spare money. Now this spare money was my "treat yourself" money and my first thought was to get myself some books for my very empty bookshelves.
This was when I found charity shops. In Portugal charity shops are not easily found and do not tend to have books in them, but in England you can find them at most town centres and they all tend to have a very neat book section. Neater are their prices which tend to go from £1 per book to £3.5 per book (with some exceptions if you want rare and collectable books). Unfortunately for me I found myself falling into their trap (cheap books) and I quickly over flowed my bookshelf.
In the beginning I didn't think much of it. I had been without my own books for so long that a couple of them on the floor was not a bother at all. I also always had been able to buy books quicker than I could read them so I didn't think much when my "to be read pile" went into the hundreds. However as time went by and I got more and more books (some new, some old, some given) I looked at my bookshelves (I couldn't cope with see my books on the floor forever!) and realised that although I had a library this library wasn't mine.
I will try to explain myself better, back in Portugal when I looked at my bookshelves I used to smile, even now when I go back I still do. Even though I haven't read all the book in those shelves they are mine. I know most of them, I know their stories and their characters. Some of these books are my friends and looking at them makes me remember the stories and the adventures we shared together.
My new bookshelves are full of strangers. I haven't read most of the books in them and even though they are strangers that I want to meet I find that I do not have as much time to get to know them as I wished. I also realised that I had bought books that had seemed appealing in the shop and that I though I could read but now I found that I really won't have the time or patience to do so; mostly because they are not in my favourite gender or because I have seen the movie/series and realised and I didn't really enjoy the premises. It was strange to look at my bookshelves and realise that I had bit more than I could chew and that it was time to raid them and decide once and for all what I was going to read and what I was not.
It was a difficult process. I bargained with myself a couple of times, I said things like 'oh no I will definitely get to this one' or 'I bought the whole saga' but I had to be strict and look around me. My bookshelves weren't making me happy. I had a "to be read pile" that I was never going to finish and I kept adding to it. In the end it was like taking weeds out of a garden. I wanted my bookshelves to be a reflection of me and to harbour old friends and future friends not books that I was never going to read. I gave some the books back to the charity shops and some to friends. I had to learn to control shopping urges and I learned to look at books and think am I really going to read this? Could I get the eBook if I am not sure?
It took me a while but I managed to learn that growing a library can be like growing a garden. You need to take care of it and be sure of what you want. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try new things however trying a new type of book is not the same as buying 10 to give it a go (also don't forget that libraries are our friends!)
Slowly and steady my bookshelves began to change and so did my library. Now when I look at my books I can smile again. I see old friends and new friends and friends to be. To make sure I read what I bought every January I go through my bookshelves and pick books I haven't read yet and put them in the "preferential readings" bookshelf. If after a bit I realise that I am not going to read that book I take it to a charity shop.
I am still not 100% satisfied with my library but I feel like I am getting there.

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Vencedor do Passatempo: Voo Fantasma de Bear Grylls

Depois de  "festivalarmos" com o programa da RTP 1, não quisemos que o Salvador Sobral fosse o único da noite a ir festejar para casa, pelo que fomos sortear o vencedor do nosso último passatempo, em parceria com a Marcador.

Sem mais demoras, um exemplar de "Voo Fantasta", de Bear Grylls vai para Ricardo Belinha, de Santa Maria da Feira. 

Continuem com boas leituras, que mais passatempos podem surgir a qualquer momento. Boa semana para todos!

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