The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The Carbon Diaries 2015
by
Saci Lloyd

Could this really happen? Are we reading fiction or an account of the future?
On the first day of rationing Mum couldn't get on the bus because she had forgotten her carbon card.
The government has decided that we need to cut our carbon emissions by 60%. Now the UK has become a guinea pig for the rest of the world, and two months into carbon rationing the country seems to be falling apart. In between blizzards we've had blackouts, food lines, looting, and thousands have lost their jobs.
Under the new system, each person is allowed 200 carbon points to spend each month. That has to cover our expenses for travel, food and heat.
The only thing that seems normal now is my band, the Dirty Angels. The Angels were so hot at practice. I played this wild bass.
The government has installed smart meters on every house. If you go over your monthly limit the smart meter starts controlling your energy use. What used to be personal before rationing has now become political. Go too much over your monthly limit and you will get a red envelope from the Carbon Department. Then you are in real trouble.
Because of my sister, Kim, our whole family has been put on "CO death row." We have to get our carbon use down. It is 2015. The new world of carbon rationing is destroying my family. This is my carbon diary about the first year of carbon rationing in the UK.

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Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Finding a mummified body of a child is not the best way to start your day! Eighteen year old Fergus McCann finds the remains of a small girl while poaching turf with his uncle in 1980s Ireland. Thus begins a seamlessly interwoven novel of multiple story lines. Fergus is confronted with several life altering situations - discovering more about the little girl, his developing relationship with Cora, being blackmailed into running packages for the IRA, the trauma of having his older brother, a political prisoner, on hunger strike. There is never a slow moment in the book, the pace is fast. The characters are believable with catchy, involved dialogue.
The novel explores the vagaries of growing up, coupled with the political tension in Ireland during the '80s. Fergus has to grapple with becoming an adult as well as battling family, religious, and national problems. A beautiful book.

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Caleb + Kate by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Caleb + Kate by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma.
Find out how he feel and she feels as our modern-day Romeo and Juliet's relationship develops. Told from both Caleb and Kate's point-of-view, the reader follows rich and pampered, Kate whose life changes from boring to intriguing when she meets rough Caleb. Set in the Pacific Northwest, this novel explores the doubts and frustrations of teen love.

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