Books Read: 1
Pages Read: 296
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What I'm listening to: I Fall In Love Too Easily
Please remember that I'm reading to raise money for Room to Read, which builds libraries, stocks them with books, and trains people to become their librarians.
Up Over Down Under Micol Ostow and Noah HarlanIt wouldn't be a 48 Hour Book Challenge without a Students Across the Seven Seas book! And a super-special to boot!
As a super-special, we get 2 stories. Billie is an Australian studying in DC and interning at the EPA. Eliza is an American studying in Melbourne and doing fieldwork in Melbourne bay. They're living with each other's families.
The chapters tend to alternate between the two girls. Billie's a super-hard core environmentalist (and occasionally annoyingly sanctimonious about it.) Eliza, the daughter of a high ranking politico at the EPA, is used to growing up in the spotlight and is looking to cut loose when she's on the other side of the world. It was a bit painful to watch Eliza make a ton of decisions that even she knew were bad.
BUT! Overall, super fun, even though it's a bit odd to read a SASS book about my own city. The map of the city is comical. Also, I must chafe when Eliza claims the DC doesn't function very will because of it's design-- traffic is confusing? The streets are a grid and go in numeric or alphabetic order! Traffic is confusing if you aren't used to it, yes. I found it very confusing for awhile, but I doubt that a born-and-breed DCer would claim it was confusing...
Also, if they're driving from Dulles to DC, why are they going through Maryland? If you work for EPA, your office would be on the Mall, not the Hill, and the Washington Monument is in the middle of the mall, not the end of it, no building in DC proper has 17 floors, and while Billie's disappointed that she doesn't get to do much as an intern, she's doing MUCH MORE than any real intern, especially a high school one would get to do...
Ok, I stopped cataloging the little details after awhile (never watch a DC-based movie with me. The highway signs are always a mess and I will tell you all about it!!!!)
Book Provided by... my local library
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4 comments:
I usually like these SASS books too, but the DC stuff would drive me crazy.
When Bill and I watched that action movie Independence Day ages ago, we had no trouble with any of the aliens or flight scenes, etc. But what we couldn't get over was the idea of getting from NYC to DC in four hours during an alien invasion. Come on! Now that's ridiculous!
Ohhh, sounds like a good one! I don't have any SASS books in my pile this year, but this makes me want to track this one down. (The only time I've been to DC was KidLit Con and I had no problems navigating. There are so many maps everywhere (at least the touristy parts I went to) that it was really easy!)
Oo! There is a new SASS book and I didn't even know about it. I'll have to check it out even though the DC stuff will drive me mad (if some of the other books did and I wasn't even so familiar with all the locales they were talking about).
Ok, the DC comments made me laugh.
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