Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta - A.K.A. greatest book ever written

Hello Readers! 
I recently re-read one of my favourite books and it is easy to say that it is now my favourite book! I think that the reasons why I didn't like it as much when I read it the first time as the second time was because I was younger and couldn't really read between the lines as much. So! I'm going to tell you everything there is to the book without spoilers!

The first thing you should know are the facts about the actual book:

Author: Melina Marchetta

Adaptations: Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

Country: Australia

Genres: Young-adult fiction, Bildungsroman

Originally published: October 5, 1992

The book summary:

Josie Alibrandi is an girl from Italian descent who is growing up in Sydney, Australia. Josie is on scholarship at a prestigious Catholic school where it matters what her father does. Josie doesn't know who her father is as she lives with her mum, Christina, all she knows was that her mother had her against her fathers wishes when she was in her late teens. Josie and her mother's lives are interfered with by Nonna Katia, Christina's mother. 
Josie's father, Michael Andretti, comes back into Josie's life with no idea that he had a daughter. When he finds out he and Josie decide to have nothing to do with each other.

At school Josie hangs out with her misfit friends, Sera, Anna and Lee. She has a crush on the school caption of their brother school, John Barton. She also meets Jacob Coote, the school caption from the local state school, who asks her out... and I know you guys probably want to know more but I can't write any spoilers! 

The main characters:

Josephine Alibrandi

• The main character in the book

• The school vice captain of a high class school

• She is Italian

• She is the only child of single mother

Jacob Coote 

• The school captain from a local state school

• Has a crush on Josie 

• Is kind of a badass

• Is Australian

Christina Alibrandi
• She is Josie's mother
• Had Josie at 17
• She's not married
• She constantly gets told off by her mother
• She is Italian

Katia Alibrandi
• She is Josie's grandmother and Christina's mother
• She is referred to as Nona
• She treats her daughter badly because she is an only mother
• She is Italian











Michael Andretti
• Josie's father
• Lives in Adelaide
• He is unaware that Josie exists
• He owns a fair amount of money









John Barton 
• He's the school captain of a hight class school
• He has been Josie's crush since as far as sh can remember
• Josie's closes boy friend
• His father puts a lot of pressure on him

So now that you have brief idea of what the story is about the characters are in going to tell you what were the best things and the not so great things about this book:

Best Things:

-Such an fast and easy book to read
-Amazing and interesting storyline that makes you wanna keep reading and never let go of the book
-Really good character development throughout the book
-Makes you realise a lot of good and bad things about having different cultures 
-Teaches you so much about Australia

Not so good things:-Cliffhanger at the end! So if that annoys you...

-When I read the book, I would have liked to know more about how Jacob was feeling through the book
-Even though it will teach you a lot about Australian culture, there are some things that you could miss if you don't know a lot about Australia.

 Michael Andretti and Christina

Josie, Nona Katia and Christina Alibrandi

Josie Alibarndi and Jacob Coote

And for you guys who like watching movies... There's a Looking for Alibrandi movie!

Initial release: May 4, 2000
Director: Kate Woods
Running time: 1h 43m
Adapted from: Looking for Alibrandi 
Movie summary and actors:  Josie (Pia Miranda) is struggling to cope with her teenage existence. She lives with her single mother, Christina (Greta Scacchi), and attends a prestigious private school, where her snobbish classmates mock her Sicilian heritage. She contends with the dramas of teen romance, divided between John (Matthew Newton) and Jacob (Kick Gurry). When her family receives a visit from Michael (Anthony LaPaglia), her mother's former lover, Josie is overwhelmed when she discovers that he is also her father.

 

Top books of 2014!!

                          Top 10 books of 2014

   2014 has been one of the most amazing years for all the YA (Young Adult ) readers. So many amazing books around! It makes it awfully hard to choose!!! So I'm going to give you a short summary about the top 5 and just title and the summary for the top 6 to 10! If you have any book recomendation please comment them below!!!!

 
So, the top 10 books that I read in 2014 were:

1. City of glass by Cassandra Clare! Even though it isn't the first or last book of the series Mortal Instruments, it's the one that stood out to me the most. I still love the rest of the books, specially City of Lost Soulds and City of Heavenly Fire, but this book just took a piece of my heart. So if you like vampires, angels, dimons warewolves and that kind of stuff, this is the perfect series for you. There is also a movie for the first book, but unfortunatelly not for the rest because of a lot of reasons, but they are going to make it into a TV show, which is very exciting. So, this book was just amazing and I recommend it for any YA reader, I personally thought I wasn't going to like it, but I ended up falling inlove with these books.

2 The Maze Runner by James Dashner! This is an amazing book, it's the first book of the Maze Runner trilogy and it is beautifully written from the main characters point of view, Thomas. It's about a group of boys who find themselves stuck in the middle of a maze and their memories have been errased. One day a boy appears  in the place where they are living and somehow becomes their kind of leader; the one who has to find a way out for all of them. As I said, it is a really great book and if you like science fiction, this is your book. There is also a really good movie if you are interested in that. The movie came out in 2014 too, so it shouldn't be hard to find it on a website or at the cinema.

3 Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. It is just too good to put into words, this book was a best seller. It was written by an Australian woman. It's about an Australian girl with Italian backround. She lives with her mum and doesn't know who her dad is, unfortunately because all the Italian old ladies talk behind other peoples back, she has to hide the fact that she is the daughter of a single mother. Then at school she meets a boy and of course they fall in love, but they're relation ship doesn't really work becuase of they're different families and ways of living, so she has to solve two problems, who is her dad is and why can't she have a normal relationship with the boy she loves. I recomend this book to any teenager girl, this book will make you laugh, cry, smile, sob... It is really trully an amazing book.

4 The Giver! This book will take you to the future, show you what the would could look like if it carries on with wars and fights. It shows how anyone can be important and make a difference..... so the story line goes a bit like this: the world has tuned black and white, everyone is exactly the same as the preson next to them appart from their name, children study, teensgers study and adults work, they don't choose they're job though, it gets chosen for them. During one of the choosing ceremonies, one boy doesn't get selected in any job, instead he becomes a receiver which means he gets the memories from the past back... So, if you like science fiction, books about the future and a touch of romance, this is the perfect book for you.

5 Love, Rosie! I wouldn't be surprised if you have already heard about this book, or the movie which came out recently in the last months of 2014. I can't tell you if the movie is good or bad because I haven't watched it yet, but i have a felling its amazing, I mean... Lily Collins and Sam Claflin!, that has to be good. But anyway, the book is just great, it is all written in letters and emails that everyone sends Rosie during her life. The story is about a girl and her friend Alex who have been best friends since they were 3 years old. When school finishes Alex moves to America. Rosie has to go to the graduation dinner with another boy because Alex had already left, and she ends up pregnant without anyone really knowing. Her and her daughter try to live a normal life, but its just too hard for her and ends up needing her best frined, Alex again. This a very romantic novel, but still, it's very interesting seeing how someones life can turn into such a mess and how hard it can be to be claned it all up.

6 The Divergent series by Veriona Roth
Summary witten by the author is: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her

7 We were liars by E. lockhart

Summary written by the author is:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

8 Silent Echo by  Elisa Freilich
The summary written by the author is : Portia's silence is about to be broken with the abrupt discovery of her voice, unparalleled in its purity and the power it affords to control those around her. Able to persuade, seduce and destroy using only her voice, Portia embarks on a search for answers about who she really is, and what she is destined to do.

9 All that burns by Ryan Graudin
Summary writen by the author is:

In this thrilling sequel to All That Glows, the worlds of magic and mortal are colliding as London celebrates its new king, marking an era of unity between the Faery realm and the human one. Emrys, the Faery guard to the British royal family, sacrificed her powers to be with King Richard, choosing love over immortality. But now, as Emrys struggles to navigate her place bet In this thrilling sequel to All That Glows, the worlds of magic and mortal are colliding as London celebrates its new king, marking an era of unity between the Faery realm and the human one. Emrys, the Faery guard to the British royal family, sacrificed her powers to be with King Richard, choosing love over immortality. But now, as Emrys struggles to navigate her place between the Faery queen’s court and London’s lavish galas, danger looms beyond the Thames.When a prisoner with dark, strange magic breaks out of Queen Titania’s labyrinthine prison, endangering Emrys's king and sparking an uprising, Emrys must make the hardest decision of all.

Will she reclaim her magic to save Richard’s life and lose him forever? Or stay powerless as the kingdom goes down in flames?

10 The Shatter me series by Tahereh Mafi
Summary written by Author: Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.
She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.
Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.
In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.