Lady Reader's Bookstuff: A.S. King

Showing posts with label A.S. King. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

GLORY O'BRIEN'S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE by @AS_KING @VictoriaLBYR @lbschool

GLORY O’BRIEN’S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE
By: A.S. King
Publisher: Little Brown Young Reader’s
Pages: 320
Published: October 14, 2014

WOULD YOU TRY TO CHANGE THE WORLD
IF YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD NO FUTURE?

Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities—but not for Glory, who has no plan for what's next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she’s never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way...until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person’s infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions—and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying.

A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women’s rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she’ll do everything in her power to make sure this one doesn’t come to pass.

In this masterpiece about freedom, feminism, and destiny, Printz Honor author A.S. King tells the epic story of a girl coping with devastating loss at long last—a girl who has no idea that the future needs her, and that the present needs her even more.

Amazon |B&N |IndieBound| Aaron’s Books| Goodreads | Amazon Free Preview |Books |Powell’s

✭“Complex.”—Booklist

✭“Sharply observed.”—PW

✭“Inwardly witty.”—Kirkus

✭“Beautifully strange.”—SLJ

As per usual AS King has written a novel that I absolutely adore. I have to say that this is one of the best stories that I've read and I feel very close to the main character, Glory.

This story is about two best friends that experience something only the two of them will ever believe and the experience takes them on a trippy ride into various places in the past and the future. The characters are created perfectly; unique, full of substance and depth and personalities that make you think they’re quite real.

Glory is a poignant, gritty, witty, sharp and compelling story with beautiful dark humor. Obviously, I would recommend this novel to everyone and as for reading the next novel that King releases, well, let's just say that hands down, I will read it and every other one that she writes. I think you should as well.

“I am tortured too. I am tortured by belly fat and magazine covers about how to please everyone but myself. I am tortured by sheep who click on anything that will guarantee a ten-pound loss in one week. Sheep who will get on their knees if it means someone will like them more. I am tortured by my inability to want to hang out with desperate sheep. I am tortured by goddamned yearbooks full of bullshit. I met you when. I’ll miss the times. I’ll keep in touch. Best friends forever. Is this okay? Are you all right? Are you tortured too?”

Extraordinary Machine--Fiona Apple
Silly Ho--TLC
No Conditions--Bad Brains
War--Bob Marley & the Wailers
You Haven't Done Nothin'--Stevie Wonder
Zombie--The Cranberries
Gimme Shelter--Rolling Stones
Light Years--Jamiroquai
War Pigs--Black Sabbath
Wandering Star--Portishead
Township Rebellion--Rage Against the Machine
That's Not My Name--The Ting Tings
Revolution--Bob Marley & the Wailers
Just Like U Said It Would B--Sinead O'Connor
Aftermath--Tricky
Waiting for the End of the World--Elvis Costello
The Letter--Macy Gray
Everything is Everything--Lauryn Hill
Bold as Love--The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Precious--The Pretenders

She has been a rare poultry breeder, photographer, master printer, contractor, summer camp counselor, pizza delivery driver and after more than a decade in Ireland dividing herself between self-sufficiency, restoring her farm, teaching adult literacy, and writing novels, she returned to the US in 2004.

A.S. King is best known for her award-winning young adult novels, though she writes novel-length and short fiction for adults as well.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Events | Glory’s Website

Prologue--The clan of the petrified bat

So we drank it—the two of us. Ellie drank it first and acted like it tasted good. I followed. And it wasn’t half bad.

When we woke up the next morning, everything was different.

We could see the future. We could see the past. We could see everything.

You might say, “Why did you drink a bat?” Or, “Who would do that?”

But we weren’t thinking about it at the time. It’s like being on a fast train that crashes and someone asking you why you didn’t jump before it crashed.

You wouldn’t jump because you couldn’t jump. It was going too fast.

And you didn’t know the crash was coming, so why would you?

Chapter One--Hippie weirdo freaks

Ellie Heffner told me that the day she graduated would be the day she left her family and ran away forever. She’d been telling me that since we were fifteen years old.

“They’re freaks,” she said. “Hippie weirdo freaks.”

I couldn’t argue with her. She did live with hippie weirdo freaks.

“Will you come back and visit me, at least?” I asked.

She looked at me, disappointed. “You won’t still be here then, will you?”

I had one week to go. Three more school days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and optional Baccalaureate on Friday and then a weekend wait to graduate on Monday. I still got postcards and letters from colleges and universities in the mail every week. I still threw each of them away without opening them.

It was Sunday night and Ellie and I were sitting on the steps on my front porch facing her house, which was across the road.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “I have no idea where I’ll be.”

I couldn’t tell her the truth about where I thought I’d be. I almost did a few times, weak times when I was gripped by fear. I’d almost told her everything. But Ellie was…Ellie. Ever since we were little, she’d change the rules of a game halfway through.

You don’t tell your biggest secrets to someone like that, right?

Anyway. I had a week until I graduated. I had zero plans, zero options, zero friends.

But I didn’t tell Ellie that, either, because she thought she was my best friend.

It was complicated.

It had always been complicated.

It would always be complicated.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Exclusive Red Carpet Event: REALITY BOY by A.S. King [Review + Giveaway]

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he is still haunted by his rage-filled youth—, which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he has tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone is just waiting for him to snap…and he is starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that.

In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved.

Reality Boy was one of the most unusual books I have read this year. It is narrated by teenage, Gerald, a boy who once starred on a “Super Nanny”-type reality show.

From a young age, Gerald was bullied by his older sister and one day his anger and rage manifested into him defecating on the kitchen table. After many episodes of him leaving various members of his family his special “deposits” and having violent outbursts, Gerald begins anger management counseling. This soon leads Gerald into the pursuit of a normal life, despite his fears he is incapable.

At first, I must admit, I was a little off put by how much Gerald discusses poo and being known as “The Crapper”. I almost even put the book down after yet another poo-based chapter. However, at the urging of a friend, I kept on and I am really glad I did.

Through present-day narrative and a string of reality show memories, King gradually reveals more of Gerald’s personality and you can see him grow as a person as the book progresses.

The romance was light, but very sweet and inspiring – without ever being mushy. Gerald is able to find a meaningful relationship with a girl who believes she is just as broken. The two serve as mirrors of each other as they learn whom they are and how to trust.

King shows a vivid portrayal of the effects of being bullied and how one boy is able to overcome the taunts and find him-self – and love – along the way.
Guest Review by: Victoria Lucas

A.S. King is the author of the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner, Ask the Passengers, Everybody Sees the Ants, a 2012 ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults and Andre Norton Award nominee, and the Edgar Award nominated, 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book Please Ignore Vera Dietz.

She is also the author of the ALA Best Books for Young Adults Dust of 100 Dogs, an adult short story collection, Monica Never Shuts Up, and the upcoming REALITY BOY (2013).

After a decade living self-sufficiently and teaching literacy to adults in Ireland, she now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and children.