WithTheBanned

Crank | Ellen Hopkins

pick

That was dark.

I feared the lyrical poetry style would grate on me at first but overall I think it ultimately added to the frenetic decent described. Looking forward to the discussion here. #WithTheBanned

Jadams89

28 likes

Read4life

Crank | Ellen Hopkins

pick

I finished listening to our May #WithTheBanned #WTB25 book. I‘m looking forward to our discussion. According to the author‘s website, the book is loosely based on her oldest daughter‘s addiction to crystal meth.
#BookSpinBingo #SeriesLove2025

Andrew65, Jadams89, TheSpineView, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 1w

TheSpineView Fantastic! 💜📖📚 1w

TheBookHippie This is a series FYI and yes, her daughter. 1w

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Andrew65 Excellent 🎉🎉🎉 1w

Read4life @TheBookHippie have you read the other books in the series? If so, do you recommend them? 1w

TheBookHippie @Read4life I‘ve read everything she‘s written, and yes. 3d

TheBookHippie I didn‘t get tagged! Sorry took so long to answer! Oy 3d

Read4life I often wonder how many comments or posts I miss because the tag just doesn‘t show up. 😣 Thanks for the info. I‘m adding them to my TBR. 2d

64 likes8 comments

Read4life

Untitled | Untitled

#WeeklyForecast

Includes books for:
#Readyourebooks #Roll100 #BookSpin #WithTheBanned #WTB25 #DoubleSpin #SeriesLove2025 #ThematicCozies

Andrew65, Jadams89, TheSpineView, CBee, TheAromaofBooks, PuddleJumper, julieclair

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Enjoy!! 1w

TheSpineView Lookin good! 💜📖 1w

PuddleJumper Happy reading! 1w

Andrew65 Some good books there. 1w

julieclair Looks like some fun reading ahead! 7d

58 likes5 comments

CatLass007

Crank | Ellen Hopkins

pan

I listened to the audiobook for #WithTheBanned and I‘m including it with #Read2025 because I actually finished the book and for #SeriesLove2025 because it‘s the first book in a trilogy that I won‘t continue. I gave it two stars on Goodreads because the unusual style of poetry and prose is the only thing I liked about the book. There are several reasons I didn‘t like it. I‘m tired of YA and teenage angst. I‘m tired of multi book series. (cont)⬇️

DieAReader, Andrew65, Jadams89, TheSpineView

CatLass007 But I think the main reason is because I read Go Ask Alice in junior high and, even though I now know it‘s not a true story from a dead teenage girl‘s diary, it still set the standard as a cautionary tale about drugs and sex. There are new drugs available now but I don‘t think the book lives up to the hype. Ordinarily I would bail on a book I didn‘t like but I wanted to see if the book ever got better and I don‘t believe it did. 2w

Andrew65 Oh no, hope your next book is better. 2w

CatLass007 @Andrew65 Killers of a Certain Age is excellent and fun. 2w

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TheSpineView Bummer! Hope your next book is better. #Next 2w

CatLass007 @TheSpineView It already is. 2w

5feet.of.fury I‘ll be reading this one too, I know the series was very popular when it was first released but I was out of the target demographic at that point & never paid it any mind. 2w

CatLass007 @5feet.of.fury I liked her writing style. I hope you and the rest of the group like it more than I did. 2w

DieAReader 👋🏻 #Next 2w

DogMomIrene Years ago a parent challenged book 2 Glass in our MS library. The librarian knew I had a BS in journalism so she asked me to be on the “book ban” committee. I was like, it‘s freaking awful. The cheap voyeurism. The cliched “poetry”. The obvious money grab with a series. BUT I wouldn‘t ban it. Thankfully, the other teachers, parents, and community members agreed. Not sure the same results would hold today. Better luck with your next read! 🍀 1w

CatLass007 @DogMomIrene Is MS Mississippi? I‘m surprised that you were able to keep it in the library. I live in East Tennessee and I‘m surprised there are any books in our library at. Thank you for not banning it. It may be awful but if I had kids I wouldn‘t want anyone deceiving what my kids were allowed to read except me. My parents were fairly conservative but after I learned to read, I was never without a book. My parents knew what I was (cont)⬇️ 1w

CatLass007 reading and never told me I couldn‘t read something. These days, I buy books because they‘ve been banned with the belief that anything worth banning is worth reading. (edited) 1w

DogMomIrene @CatLass007 Middle School. I was out in Arizona. Tucson was a blue spot but this was an affluent area, so some conservative folks. I did my student teaching at William Blount High School back in the day. Spent 3 years at UTK. I think that‘s where I fell in love with fall. 1w

CatLass007 @DogMomIrene Middle School never crossed my mind. LOL. We had junior high where I grew up in West Virginia. The Fall is beautiful in East Tennessee. The politics, not so much. (edited) 1w

48 likes13 comments

Jadams89

Crank | Ellen Hopkins

Hey #WithTheBanned readers. @CatLass007 let me know that our May read is available for free on Audible.

Jadams89
@JenlovesJT47
@BooksBlanketsandahotbeverage
@Read4Life @skygoddess1
@Julsmarshall @Lapreader 2w

Jadams89 @lil1inblue @Deblovestoread @dabbe @5feet.of.fury @TheDaysGoBy @AnishaInkspell @Melismatic @bookwormjillk @KT1432 @Riveted_Reader_Melissa 2w

See All 11 Comments

Jadams89 @thewallflower0707 @catsandbooks @megabooks @Kenyazero @CoverToCoverGirl @Bookbuyingaddict @CuriousG @AllDebooks 2w

CatLass007 I appreciate you sharing this with everyone! 2w

Jadams89 @SconsinBookyBadger @PaperbackPirate @CogsOfEncouragement @Amiable
@peanutnine @CatLass007 @Karisa 2w

Jadams89 @CatLass007 Thank you for letting me know! I forget to check things like this ☺️ 2w

TheBookHippie Oh this is a good one. Enjoy. 2w

Read4life Awesome!! Looking forward to this one. 2w

CatLass007 I‘m an audiobook girl so I will always let you know. 2w

Kenyazero Interesting! I wonder how the audio experience with a book like this will differ! I read Dear Mothman by audio recently and only realized much later that it was a book in verse 🤭 2w

32 likes11 comments

Jadams89

The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky

#WithTheBanned

Jadams89 I think this book would have hit much differently for me in college. A good read, but not something that speaks to me at this point in life. 2w

5feet.of.fury It was my first reading! May have been more impactful if I read it in high school since there‘s so many coming of age elements. 2w

CatLass007 I wonder if we would have been allowed to read it in high school? I was never one of the popular kids growing up. I definitely remember what it was like to feel like an outsider. 2w

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Karisa It was a re-read for me and I think I appreciated it more this time. Something about the current climate of book bans and attacking vulnerable groups makes it more poignant and important now. There‘s a lot of honesty and sincerity in this slim book that centers around found family and kindness. 2w

Read4life It was a reread for me. It did hit a bit differently this time. Ultimately, I‘m thankful I read it when I did both times. I got so much out of it both times in different ways. 2w

CogsOfEncouragement This is a first read for me. I think reading it now is as good a time as ever. 2w

15 likes6 comments

Jadams89

The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky

#WithTheBanned

5feet.of.fury I didn‘t see it coming at all! All he remembered before was his love for her. So heartbreaking. 2w

CatLass007 Aunt Helen‘s role in his dissociation and the reason he was an observer and not a participant in the world around him was a complete shock! 2w

Karisa @CatLass007 That was a horrible shock to me too. @5feet.of.fury Heartbreaking is right! I‘d read the book awhile back and had totally forgotten that twist 😢 2w

Read4life Me, too @Karisa . There was a niggling in my mind and an unease but I had forgotten that twist so when it happened I felt shocked all over again. 2w

CogsOfEncouragement Yes, definitely surprised because it is so uncommon for women to abuse in this way. I was concerned that the teacher, Bill, was going to be a villain. Was relieved Charlie had a good support system when the memory hit him. 2w

13 likes5 comments

Jadams89

The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky

#WithTheBanned

5feet.of.fury I identified with Charlie feeling like an observer more than an active participant in his life. I‘d definitely felt that way at times, kind of just adrift, along for the ride. 2w

CatLass007 I could tell that Charlie suffered from mental illness but not what kind or why until the end. I‘ve had anxiety and depression for decades so I‘m sort of on the same page. But what happened to him as a child was so traumatic. I grieved for his lost innocence. 2w

Karisa I‘m not sure that I identified with anyone exactly. Maybe Charlie at some points feeling more comfortable around older friends in high school and his sister irritated by the younger sibling at others. Definitely never cool enough to be Sam 😂 2w

Read4life Not one particular character but events, moments, thoughts & feelings throughout. 2w

13 likes4 comments

Jadams89

The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky

#WithTheBanned Once again, I am only tagging everyone in the first question. We‘ll have 4 questions total.

Jadams89 @JenlovesJT47
@BooksBlanketsandahotbeverage
@Read4Life @skygoddess1
@Julsmarshall @Lapreader 2w

Jadams89 @lil1inblue @Deblovestoread @dabbe @5feet.of.fury @TheDaysGoBy @AnishaInkspell @Melismatic @bookwormjillk @KT1432 @Riveted_Reader_Melissa 2w

Jadams89 @thewallflower0707 @catsandbooks @megabooks @Kenyazero @CoverToCoverGirl @Bookbuyingaddict @CuriousG @AllDebooks 2w

See All 10 Comments

Jadams89 @SconsinBookyBadger @PaperbackPirate @CogsOfEncouragement @Amiable
@peanutnine @CatLass007 @Karisa 2w

Jadams89 I like epistolary novels when they‘re done well. I think the format worked well for this book. 2w

5feet.of.fury @Jadams89 honestly at first I found it really annoying ..but it worked for the type of story (with the added benefit that the reader ends up essentially being the “friend” he‘s writing to 2w

CatLass007 I think the format worked well for this story. I don‘t know if I‘d write and mail something so personal to someone I don‘t know, so I have to give the character a round of applause for being so brave. 2w

Karisa @5feet.of.fury Oooh, I like this interpretation. Just always thought of the recipient as unknown or writing to self. Just read diaries of Edna St. Vincent Millay and she made up people to write to when young. 🙃😅 2w

Read4life This format worked. I was all in from the very beginning. 2w

CogsOfEncouragement @Read4life Agreed, I was all in from the start. @5feet.of.fury I liked being the trustworthy, good person who would be chosen to receive such letters. 2w

19 likes10 comments

CogsOfEncouragement

Parable of the Sower | Octavia E Butler

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This dystopian novel has become extra popular again because it was written in 1993 and is set in 2024-2027. Kinda like when I read 1984 (written in 1948) in 1986. This was a downer of a read and I ended up taking several weeks off at the midway point. It does provide some moments of hope and the MC is a likable heroine I readily cheered on.

My intermission made me fall WAY behind the #WithTheBanned BR hosted by @Jadams89

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