Too Young to Die, by Lurlene McDaniel

Back of the book: Sixteen-year-old Melissa Austin has always worked hard to get what she wants. As the school year begins, her work is paying off. Her grades are up, and she landed a coveted spot on the high school Brain Bowl team. She and her best friend Jory Delaney, are determined to have the best junior year ever.

Then Melissa receives devastating news about her health. At first she refuses to accept the doctor's diagnosis, but as her illness gets worse she cannot deny the truth. The caring and closeness Melissa feels toward her family, and especially toward Jory, help her find the inner stength to hace the mysteries of living and dying.

( Thoughts: )

Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever, by Lurlene McDaniel

I told you all it wouldn't take me long to finish the sequel!

I don't really have much to say about this one, not that I didn't say in the earlier commentary for Too Young to Die. The protagonist in this book has switched from Melissa to her best friend Jory, which was probably for the best given how Melissa dies at the end of this book.

Someone has to die, after all. It's a Lurlene McDaniel novel.

I forgot to mention a more few staple traits in her books. The protagonist nearly always has a friend who's more boy-crazy and fashion-conscience than she is, there's always some internal debate about whether or not to have sex (but in the end the protagonist makes the "right choice" and abstains), and the protagonist muses about God at least once per novel.

One of these days I'm going to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and write a few novels that use the same formula, only switch things around a little. Maybe make one of the characters gay (I have yet to see a gay character in one of her books) or make somebody's religion something other than Christian. Just so that such a novel actually exists.

Ahem, yes, all ranting aside...

I recently took a look at my old reading records (I keep a spreadsheet of the books I read in a given year), and it looks like 2005 was my best year thus far, with me having read 85 books. (Keep in mind that I only started keeping these records in 2005, so that doesn't mean that 85 books is the most I've ever read in a single calendar year.) I think I'd like to beat that record this year. I won't list a specific number, but I will try to get more than 85 books read by the end of December 2010. I've got plenty of books that need reading, after all, and until I find steady employment again, plenty of time to read them in.

And when I do find steady employment again, I'll keep making time to read. I posted recently about how I sometimes find myself reading more when I have other things to do, like work, since I can read on the bus there and back, as well as on my breaks and my lunch. Depending on how long the bus commute is and how long my work shift is, I could have 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, with nothing else to do but read.

Sounds like heaven to me!