Wildwood

Wildwood by Colin Meloy

Wildwood is Meloy's first foray into novel length prose. His talents are usually at the helm of the Decemberists. The book is also illustrated  by  Carson Ellis. Over all, the book is good. The story is captivating, the characters are solid, and it wraps up nicely. Also, my fears of this being a vanity project were set aside. Due to the style of the novel, it is rather obvious that Meloy has been sitting on this story for a while. My hope is that Meloy is able to keep the momentum to write. If so, this could be an amazing YA series.

Wildwood clocks in at around 500 pages. As intimidating as that is, the book reads at faster than average pace. I could see in areas where the author had written himself into a corner and tried to get his way out. All novels have those traps, some are adept at getting out of them and some aren't. Meloy was better than average. It's easy to over look that when one realizes that the author is constructing a new world of magic, and I absolutely fell in love with that world. I'm a complete sucker for talking animal books, and Wildwood filled my quota. It's head nod to Wind in the Willows and Charlotte's Web were lovely. The structure of the world made me happy as well. It lends itself to expansion. Meaning, I hope a sequel is on the way.

Walking away from Wildwood I'm smiling. I've read 110 books this year (it may end up being 111), and I started this blog. I'm glad I could bring my musings about books to the fine folks that read this. 2012 is going to bring great things. First, the reading project. That starts tomorrow. Second, graduate school, my applications are due by Feburary 15th. Lastly, I'm going to be moving again, so I'll have to pack my life into boxes and purge things I don't need. 2012 is going to be a year of transition for me. I can feel it.

My next read is Blankets by Craig Thompson. So far it is astonishing.

The Book of Three

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

I've decided to reread this series though out 2012. My dear readers may know it as The Black Cauldron or The Chronicles of Prydain. Essentially this series of books is a way to have a child cut his or her teeth on epic fantasy. It moves swiftly, has engaging characters, and has satisfying resolutions. Also, seeing as the books have been out since the 1960s they are readily available at any used book store for around .50 a book. 

The book clocks in at around 200 pages. It can be read in an afternoon if there are little distractions. The characters are sweet, fully realized, and endearing. I'd linger on a page simply because the writing style was so much fun to read. Taran, the Assistant Pig Keeper, is so sweet that I wish the series was longer.

I'm moving onto Wildwood. So far I'm really enjoying it. I'll more than likely be done with it by the end of the week. Also, if you are in the Austin area, BookPeople is having it's customer appreciation day on January 1st. 20% off almost everything in the store. I save my gift cards all year. Second, I just recently purchased The Great Gatsby from Novel Poster. It looks fantastic on my wall. Also, there customer service is excellent. Lastly, remember that January's reading project is 1984 and 1Q84. Reading will begin on January 1st. I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday. May the new year bring new reads.

 

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs by Anne Usru

I came across this book while listening to NPR. They are doing a Backseat Book Club* for young adults. I've decided to read along with them. My review, in short, buy this book. It's lyrical, beautiful, well written, and flat out one of the best YA books I've read since The Book Thief. I can't sing praises high enough. I should have told you this prior to Christmas, but seeing as most of my dear readers received  gift cards to bookstores, I can direct you on how to spend it. Go. Now. Buy this. Give thanks in the comment section. Trust me.

Usru's book is very much a coming of age story, but it's also a love letter. Hazel has to find her best friend, and is sent on a magical journey. The woods that she walks though are familiar. I've walked through them before, I've talked to some of the same characters Hazel has, I know their stories. Usru uses well established characters to draw the reader in. Then she uses Hazel, a  breath of fresh air, to move the story along. As familiar as everything is, Usru's characters make everything seem brand new.

Breadcrumbs is a book that opens doors to others. It's heavy influence on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales makes me want to pick them up again. I have this strong desire to remember what those stories were like. I remember the magic they held when I was a young girl, I wonder if they still hold the same, or if it has changed now that I'm an adult.  I may buy a compendium of them this year, and read the stories when I have time.

Moving on I'm reading Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three. It's short, so I should be done with it soon. Then I am moving on to Wildwood. Remember the January Reading Project starts soon so pick up your copies of 1984 and 1Q84 soon. I will start blogging 1984 as of the 1st of January.

*Here is a link for the podcast of December's Backseat Book Club, it includes an interview with the author.
'Breadcrumbs': Young Readers Follow A Wintry Tale

  

The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I shouldn't have liked this book. Honestly, it's not my thing. The plot was weak, the characters were flat, and the justification around the main conflict in the novel was like bland rice. But, I couldn't put it down. I suppose it's a testament to the prose. Morgenstern's ability to tell a story bypassed the fact that the story she was telling wasn't very good.

The tricky part to The Night Circus is explaining the plot out loud makes one look like an idiot. There's a circus, and there are magicians, and the magicians fall in love, but are bound to the circus, and then there are these twins. See? It's difficult to boil the plot down into it's specific elements. As much as Night Circus wants to be a love story, it's also very much a story about magic. However, and this is not the best way to go about it, the book attempts to deny that the system of magic it is using is indeed MAGIC. This becomes a bit frustrating as time goes by.

Another issue is that Morgenstern's characters are really flat. As a novel progresses I expect some sort of growth. Not in the Night Circus. The characters end where they began. Their flaws are still glaring and they don't appear to have learned a thing. This is equally as frustrating as the magic denial.

With all that being said, The Night Circus is compelling. Morgenstern knows how to construct a novel. She doesn't linger in areas and chapters are kept short. What really saved Morgenstern is that she decided to construct her novel out of time sequence. So, as the reader gets frustrated in one area the chapter ends and then one is thrust into another. It really saved the entire story from tedium. Honestly, the whole thing read more like a movie script or a play. I can absolutely see this story being adapted by HBO or by a budding film maker. It could easily be spun into a series or a film.

My next book is Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights by Ryu Mitsuse. This book has recently been translated into English, and has been a cornerstone of Japanese Science Fiction since the 1960s. I'm so excited to read it.

Link Round Up

Book Riot did a cute post on, Holiday Villain Throwdown: Grinch vs. Scrooge

We Like Big Books (When They’re Fiction?) I think this is simply the experience people have had with longer non-fiction. In an academic setting, long non-fiction is dull. I challenge my regular readers to pick up a longer non-fiction book and give it a go. Suggestions for this will be at the end of the post.

Andrew Sullivan asks, Is Amazon Killing Literary Culture?. In short, no. Amazon is not killing literary culture. It's simply reacting to a market that wants what it wants. Literary culture is bound and determined to catch up. The same arguments have been made about literary culture after each new innovation. We need to stop worry about it and start figuring out what the new literary culture is going to look like.

An Against Amazon Tumblr. Some of the arguments are good some of them are bad. We'll see how this works out.

Finally, Booze And Prose. Does drinking make for a better writer? In my experience I've found that drinking distracts me from writing. I'm not able to focus.

Suggested non-fiction readings:
Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus

Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

 I'm ever so glad that I read Going Bovine and Beauty Queens before I picked up A Great and Terrible Beauty. Bovine and Queens have made me a champion of Libba Bray. I've recommended them more than once and will continue to do so. Terrible Beauty just didn't do it for me. It's 350 pages of set up and 50 pages of payoff. And the payoff isn't that satisfying. I found myself wanting to abandon the book, and now that I'm done with it, I think that may have been the smart move. Bray's take on the Gothic novel  left me shaking my head and wondering aloud if she was purposely ignoring aspects of Victorian England. Her characters seem more like time travelers that were plopped in the middle of an English finishing school rather than girls who grew up in the era. The woman of that time didn't wish for more than marriage because the options outside of being a Mrs. Soandso were terrifying. Her modern feminist take on a girl who would have been raised to be a brood mare made me want to scream. I realize Bray was taking creative license, but at times it felt like she was shoehorning characters into their respective archetype. 

As much as I am ripping apart A Great and Terrible Beauty, it does have it's moments. Bray's ability to give characters flaws that are both loved and hated is fantastic. Gemma may be a young selfish girl, but then again so is everyone else. Bray's characters seem very real. They aren't cut from the sackcloth of the Twilight novels, wherein Bella is so under-described that she could be any girl, they stand up on their own. I appreciate the strong female, and Bray's ability to make her beautiful, endearing, and flawed all the same time is a testament to her talent.

Next up is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Before I start I'm wondering if we have a feminist take on Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury made the basis of the creepy circus book, I hope Morgenstern expands on it.

The Scorpio Races

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Stories like The Scorpio Races appeal to my inner 12 year old. When I was that age, finding strong female characters was a bit of a challenge. They were either babysitting, making out with their boyfriends, or living in Canada. Girls like Puck didn't exist. Apparently, Puck and I also have the same ability to make life altering decisions within a nano second. She decides to compete in a murderous race to save her house within the span of less than a paragraph. I decided to move over 1300 miles in the same amount of time. She and I could be sisters.

Stiefvater writing style lent well to this story. Her imagery was fantastic, and she drew me deeply into the story. However, the book takes about 100 pages to get going. Also, it's told from multiple perspectives, and at the beginning it's a tad difficult to tell them apart. As the story goes on, they become more distinct. This seems like a story that has been brewing for a long time. The characters were fully realized and I kept thinking that they were going to walk off the page. Reading this book made me immensely happy. Stiefvater is a young author, and I can't wait to see what she does next. Pick this up for a nice winter read. It may clock in around 400 pages, but it reads fast.

Keeping with the strong girl theme, my next novel is Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty. From some of the reviews I've seen Bray's Gemma has been compared to Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As far as I'm concerned that's one hell of a comparison. Gemma has a lot to live up to if that is the case. I'm skeptical, but in a good way.

Link Round Up

Genre Kryptonite: Agatha Christie. Blogging about one's love for Christie is fantastic. She writes a lean, mean, amazingly good novel. Pick them up.

Books That I Wish Had Been Better – 2011. I totally understand this post. I absolutely wish When She Woke was a better novel. It had all the rights to be one of the best of the year, but it really dropped the ball.

Friday Reads. I've been participating with this for the last few months, and have completely forgotten to post it here. It's a great project.

The Local Crusade. A lovely post about local bookstores. I'm a huge fan of Powells for online shopping. They also have FREE shipping right now, so you know, buy books for Christmas.

Document: The Symbolism Survey. In 1963 a high school student mailed out identical surveys to a host of  authors. Some replied. The rest is history. I love how delightfully bitchy Ayn Rand's response is, I'd expect nothing less.

Level Up

Level Up by Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham

I picked this up due to my love for American Born Chinese.* I'm happy to report, Level Up is just as good, and has made it onto my best graphic novels for 2011 list. I enjoy books like Level Up, they showcase new talent and are a great platform for using comics to propel ideas, not just superheros. This is a classic son not wanting to disappoint his father story. In a sense, I've read this before, but Level Up treats the story differently. It's use of watercolor comics all done by Pham bring it out of the stagnate modern comic and into a more modern place. Pick this book up, it's a coming of age story, but with a twist that everyone can appreciate.

When I did more extensive writing about this during Graphic Novel Month I went on and on about the modern state of comics. I believe, with the advent of ereaders and tables, we are going to see a new type of mixed media author. Part graphic, part prose, part chose your own adventure, and part compelling story. It's a medium that cries out for collaboration. The artwork in Level Up lends itself to such works. It's fresh, but with an old soul feel. I'm going to keep an eye on the artist, because I feel like I'll see a lot more of him in the future. He brags about only having 399 fans on facebook, but a few years from now he's going to be more widely known. Pick this up now, watch the growth, it will be amazing.

I'm now moving onto The Scorpio Races. This has been on a bunch of 2011 best of lists, so I've decided to give it a shot. Also, I'm still attempting to study for the GRE so posting may be a bit slow for the next week or so. I can't wait for that to be over.


*American Born Chinese is an astonishingly good graphic novel. Read it. You won't be disappointed.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

The chatter around this book is immense. It's on so many best of lists, and it has been thrust into my hands on more than one occasion. Miss Peregrin's takes a hybrid approach, filled with creepy photographs. It's a horror YA novel that has collided with an art project. Left in sensitive hands the photos alone could cause nightmares. In tandem with the story they complement a creepy tale. When I was reading I felt the steady influence of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, and some of the older works of Stephen King playing into the plot. Also, a nice movie companion would be Tod Browning's Freaks (1932).

The book itself fell into some of the classic mistakes that a young author can make. I feel like Riggs doesn't quite trust his audience yet. In places where I wanted more plot I got descriptions of the sky. In places where I wanted more descriptions of the sky I got more plot. It's a frustrating endeavor, but will be easily remedied with time. If put on a scale the good far outweighs the bad with this book. I'd love to see Riggs get into graphic novels, or some sort of hybrid book/mixed media project. The desire is there, and we have the means. In Riggs I think we've finally found the talent to be able to pull something off that would take e-readers/tablet computers to the next level. Björk did it with her most recent iPad app, it's now time for an author to try it. Mr Riggs if you ever read this post, consider this your challenge. You've got the talent. Go use it. Wow me. I dare you. 

Next up is Level Up by Gene Luen Yang. His prior graphic novel American Born Chinese wowed me a few years ago. According to the rumors, this is supposed to be as good as his debut. It will be a quick read, so I'll more than likely have the write up done in the next day or so.

An Abundance of Katherines

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I picked up this book mainly because of the chatter through the #lit tag on Tumblr. It has a lore around it, and is quoted often. Figuring that I could easily toss it aside if I disliked it, I undertook it during a rare rainy Sunday. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It's prose comes off witty  and cute.  The plot line was a throw back to many of the 1980s summer adventure movies, and over all the characters were endearing. Also, this book shows the evolution of an author. I read Looking for Alaska a few years ago, and couldn't finish it. Green seems to have come into his own, and has finally found a home in his nerdy but adorable characters.

Young adult lit has a boy problem. Meaning, attracting young men into reading has become more and more difficult over the years. Green's novel is an attempt to bring the non-target demographic into the fold. Using characters like Colin and Hassan, Green crafts realistic dialogue and banter between the two of them. It's good to see two male characters have discussions that don't seem forced, and also are not centered around a love interest. The book spends a lot of time dealing with Colin's love live, but the brief reprieve the reader gets from that are Hassan's jokes. The pop culture references, and ability to simply connect to a male character is lacking. Boys are left out, or are told to go seek solace in the science fiction section. The book world is doing their best to subtract men out, and authors like Green are doing their best to add them back in.

As I walk away from this book, I can't wait to see what Green does next. His books are constantly evolving, and I'd love to see him tackle something more of a challenge. I want to see him write the young adult book that makes him a household name. After reading this one, I know he has it in him.

I'm moving onto Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. This book has popped up on more than one Best of 2011 list, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Also, I'm taking the GRE on December 20th so I'm going to have lighter reads in between now and then.

Link Round Up

The 10 Best Books of 2011. The most trusted list for book lovers.

December Kids' Book Club Pick: 'Breadcrumbs'. NPR's book club for kids is shaping up to be one of the best out there. I've loved all there selections.

Largehearted Boy has compiled a meta-list of all the best of 2011 book lists, yes my tiny blog is on there. Yes, I'm excited about that. It's the little things people. It's the little things. Online "Best of 2011" Book Lists

Another wonderful story I've been following, I'm so excited by this The Library Phantom Returns!

As I lay *&%!!*! dying? David Milch to do Faulkner for HBO. We'll see how this works out.

Upheaval at the New York Public Library, a good article about the modern library.

High fantasy for young adults. This is an interesting read from The New Yorker.

When Used Books Attack: Banana Edition, this is the scariest thing I've seen in the book world all week. A banana shaped penis candle is astonishing.

(Still reading this) 

2012 Reading Projects

The idea for this hit me as I was holding the book 1Q84 in my hands. I realized that I haven't read 1984 since high school. Seeing that 1Q84 exists in the same world as 1984 the two should be read one after the other. Then I looked at my to read shelf* and saw The Feast of the Goat and In the Time of the Butterflies another great pairing about Dominican Republic under the rule of Rafael Trujillo. After that The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad  and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl popped out at me. Then it struck me, this could be a reading project. 

Two books of a similar theme read one after another. They don't have to be in the same genera or written in the same time period. Here's the list I have so far: 

January: 1984 followed by 1Q84

February: The Feast of the Goat followed by In the Time of Butterflies 

March: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl followed by 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad 

If any of my dear readers has further suggestions please contact me. I may even try to get a few movie selections around these books as well. 

*Yes I have a to read shelf. Would you expect anything less? 

East of Eden

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

This write up could have gone so many ways. I could sit here and pontificate about the duality of man, and how Steinbeck's novel is one of the best examples of how that concept is expressed in literature. I could also mention how e.e. cummings' poetry is a direct influence on East of Eden. Or I could bring a modern twist on East of Eden by drawing connections between its themes and the modern comic book hero, because the modern comic book hero is dual in nature. He is in constant flux between good and evil. But, I'm not, because that's boring, this isn't English class, and I'm not a professor. What I am going to do is simply ask people to read it. East of Eden is one of those novels that leaves the reader breathless. The book is a master work by a master author. It's prose is completely accessible, Steinbeck doesn't talk past his audience, and it's one of the best American novels ever written.

Classics have a bad reputation. Books like East of Eden usually end up in a dimly lit corner of a bookstore where the only customers are students and professors. This needs to change. I challenge my dear readers to pick up a classic novel. I also will give an out, if the book becomes dull in the first 50 pages, it's okay to abandon it. Reading should be a pleasurable experience slogging through a book isn't fun. Reading shouldn't feel like a chore. This isn't school and as far as I'm concerned no judgement shall be passed. Hell, I've been trying to read A Light in August for two months, but can't get past the first 50 pages. Faulkner and I are like oil and water. We just don't mix.

The next few weeks may be a bit slow for me because I'm studying for the GRE. My test date is December 20th, so I'm switching to light reads for the next 19 days. Right now I'm reading An Abundance of Katherines a lovely YA novel centralized around a road trip. I am creating a reading project for January, and I plan on posting about it some time this weekend. Look for that post sometime on Saturday or Sunday.

Link Round Up

Your Book Club’s New Best Friend is a article about the Subtext app for iPads. I like the idea of this app very much, however, I've found that interacting with authors via email and Twitter is almost easier. I've been able to have lovely conversations with authors just by telling him or her I was a fan. It opens the door.

TV Characters and Their Literary Counterparts, the Ron Swanson and Ernest Hemingway comparison made me laugh.

Where Print Is Still King. Hint, it's India. I'd also be willing to bet that China is more apt to have a print newspaper rather than an electronic version.

Kurt Vonnegut Was Not A Happy Man. 'So It Goes.' One would think being locked in a meat locker while the Bombing of Dresden in World War II took place, and then surviving it would make for some heavy memories and guilt. Now condemning him to a life of unhappiness is a bit of a stretch, I'm sure he was human just like the rest of us.

Here's some great information on the NEA's Big Read project. I'm going to see if I can get involved with this on a local level.

In Fight with Amazon, Libraries Caught in the Crossfire. Libraries are angry with Amazon and Penguin over this. Some may pull elending all together.

(Image from Kiki's Delivery Service manga) 

Best of/Worst of 2011

I said I'd link to all the books in my video, so here we go.

Best Fiction I read in 2011:

Ready Player One

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

and

Kafka on the Shore

Best Young Adult Fiction I read in 2011

The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxed Set

Beauty Queens

and

Going Bovine

Best Science Fiction/Fantasy I read in 2011

The Name of the Wind

Feed

and

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms


Best Nonfiction I read in 2011

Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class

and

Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus

The Book That Should Have Won More Awards Than It Did

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

The Best Book I Read in 2011:

The Book Thief 

Now the bad.

The Most Overrated Books of 2011

A Visit from the Goon Squad

When She Woke

and

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

The Worst Book I Read in 2011

Fallen


Miscellaneous Categories

The Classic Book You Should Most Likely Pick Up Before They Make It Ugly With a Movie Cover

The Great Gatsby

A Cute Gift For The Reader In Your Life

Magnetic bookmarks from Girl of All Work. Magnetic Origami Bookmarks

A T-Shirt from Out of Print Clothing. (Order a size up.)

A sleeve for that  e-reader from Timbuk2.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

I have absolutely no clue why this book hasn't had more buzz. I don't know why it's not at the top of every single bookish parents holiday gift list. This book has languished, it doesn't deserve it, and I hope to change that with this write up. In short, buy this book. Make it a priority. Do it now. I'll wait.

 The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is a book that deserves to be a bedtime story. It's broken into manageable chapters, each starting with a lovely illustration, that demand to be read out loud. Valente's prose is poetic in structure, but also accessible to young people. The story is beautifully constructed with just the right amount of darkness to make it scary and just the right amount of light to make it a fairy tale.

September's journey is a cross between the Phantom Tollbooth and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  She'll also going down in history as a classic heroine. September is reluctant to take on the role, but as the story unfolds her journey becomes something larger than herself. Her choices make her so memorable to me that I hope Valente makes this into a series. I want to go back to Fairyland. I need to know what happens next.

Moving on, I'm reading East of Eden. I've been slacking on my classics so it's time I got though this one. I'm going to keep a running total of how many times I get asked, "Are you reading that for a class?"

Apparently, Steinbeck can't be read for pleasure.

Oh, I'll be posting my best of video sometime tonight. Just an FYI. 

Deathless

My video review of Deathless. I'm having embedding issues. I'll try to fix them later. 

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Koschei

Hugo Awards

Link Round Up

The Big Read (The BBC Top 100): Time for a Facelift? Top 100 lists are always tricky, especially because this one is crowd sourced. In the past, I've used them to help guide my reading choices, but they are not the end all be all.

Book Drum has assembled multimedia profiles of 150 great books via Google Earth, so you can see where some of your favorite novels take place.

The Books They Gave Me a fantastic Tumblr about books, relationships, and where those pesky gaps get filled. The books I could contribute to this, well, that's for another blog.

Madonna's Sex most sought after out-of-print book. Just an FYI.

A Collection of Rejected Titles for Classic Books, some of these are fun.

The Grapes of Roth. On narcissism and what makes a good novel.  Look, I blog, and that is one of the most narcissistic things out there. Novel writing is inherently narcissistic. If authors don't share the way that they do we'd be reading how to manuals and cookbooks. (Hell, even cookbooks are narcissistic. Try prying the secret BBQ sauce recipe out of an old southern man. Waterboarding won't make him crack.)

Author Ann Patchett Opens Own Indie Bookstore. More popular authors need to do this. We need a vibrant indie bookstore culture.

And finally, albeit slightly off topic, why I'm a benevolent dictator on Tumblr, Blogger, and YouTube. If Your Website's Full of Assholes, It's Your Own Fault.

Another note, because of the really positive feedback I got with my Kindle Fire review I'm going to do a video review of Deathless. We'll see how this goes. I may switch over to doing half video reviews and half written reviews.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood 

Children's chapter books are always a bit of a hit or miss. In one respect, they could turn into the mega hit, mega ghost written, hundreds of books long series like The Baby-sitters Club. This, when an author lends his or her name to it, can buy a vacation home in the Hamptons. The series can also turn into something like a Babysitters Club clone, and end up collecting dust on the shelves of the bookstores. What Maryrose Wood has created is a winning series. Her characters are likable, the books read well from an adult perspective as well as a child, and it's a very accessible story.  The big question becomes, will it take off? I hope so. This series could be the introduction to a life time of reading to a child. It's worth buying and giving as a gift. The age range that would be acceptable is 3rd though 5th grade.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Where previous book drops off the Mysterious Benedict Society picks up. Easing in right around a 6th to 9th grade reading level, and novel of this undertaking makes a young adult feel slightly more adult. The plot is not dumbed down, and makes for a good introduction to mystery and suspense. As an adult, I found it to be a lovely rip off of the plot of  They Live. I kept expecting a wink and a nod, perhaps some bubble gum, but alas the author didn't come though. However, as a child who doesn't have access to late 80s horror movies that involve aliens and baseball bats, it will be a fresh story. Also, it connects deeper than the crappy horror movie ever could. The children involved in the story humanize it and give it a better emotional weight than I was expecting. It's definitely a book that would make a great holiday gift.

The two books were a great distraction from the outside world. Best read on snowy nights snuggled under the covers. I can remember when I was a young girl loosing myself in books like this. My mind would drift and the characters would be come part of me. Approach these books with a sense of wonder and joy, not the jaded eyes of an adult. They exist to entertain, tell a story, and perhaps teach a small lesson as the words fly by.

Next up is Deathless. I've had this book on my reading list for a shot time. Looks like it's going to be interesting. Also, over Thanksgiving weekend I am going to start reading East of Eden.

When She Woke

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The heavy hand of marketing told me that it was a mix between the The Scarlet Letter and The Handmaid's Tale. What I read was more of a coming of age story set among the backdrop of a dystopian America. However intriguing that sounds, it's really not. When She Woke uses a series of stereotypes that is almost as maddening as the borrowed references. These stereotypes are up to and including the Sassy Black Friend,  forewarned is forearmed. The good news is that Jordan's writing style is zippy and quick so skipping past the frustration is quite easy. The plot, however, seems like a mishmash of  all the bad things that can happen to women if all references are taken from Lifetime movies. Also, it contains enough fundamentalist Christian bashing that it should make a nice annoyance among friends who attend that big fancy mega-church.

Now the question becomes, would I recommend this book to anyone? Yes, When She Woke is entertaining, but in a beach book kind of way. It's plot doesn't linger, the bad guys wear black hats (hand on my heart, they really do in this book), and the ending satisfies. It's not in the same league as Hawthorn or Atwood, I'm not going to kid you there, but it is in the same league as a Nicholas Sparks novel. I can see this book quickly getting optioned for a movie, so look for it on the marquee some time in 2014. It would make a great chick action film. Give it a shot, but know that it's got as much intellectual  heft as The Notebook.

Moving on, I've picked up a YA series called The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, The Mysterious Howling. I've been told that it is a lot like the Series of Unfortunate Events. I wax poetic about that series constantly. Part of the problem with it is that it came out right around the same time Harry Potter was hitting it out of the park. It flew under the radar, and a lot people missed it. At any rate, Incorrigible Children is a chapter book, so I should be done with it quickly. After that, I'm moving onto the The Mysterious Benedict Society. I'm going to do a combined post of the two.

Beauty Queens

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

When I read Going Bovine a few months ago I found Bray's take on Don Quixote to be refreshing and truly funny.  So, when Beauty Queens billed itself as Lord of the Flies with teen beauty pageant contestants I snapped it up right away. Hard bound copy in hand, I discovered something entirely different. Queens is, in a way, Lord of the Flies, but Bray's argument for putting the girls on an island was so wonderful it nearly brought me to tears.

"Maybe girls need and island to find themselves. Maybe they need a place where no one's watching so they can be who they really are." pg 177.

And they do. The book hides a powerful message behind a fantastical  plot. Each character represents a stereotypical teen girl. Each character finds herself, and is able to be who she wants to be. As much as I enjoyed the book, Bray's style can come off a tad overbearing. She whops the reader over the head with message. However, when the book lays it on thick, Bray often comes back with a sly joke, wink, or commercial break.

I'm going to break from my normal review patter to address two characters that struck me in this novel. One, Petra is a transitioning transgendered girl. I simply cannot remember the last book that treated a transgendered character with such care. It's rare to find a character like Petra in modern fiction, rarer still to find one who isn't self loathing, and, as far as I can tell, the first who was able to have a relationship with an opposite sex partner that isn't abusive. The second, Sosie, is a bisexual girl who has a lovely moment when other characters want to pin her down as a lesbian. She gives a wonderful response about why it is not that easy. Again, I'm hard pressed to find a character like Sosie in YA lit. Usually the bisexual girl has a drug habit and ends up in rehab after she's labeled a slut.

Bray's book will find its way into the hands of girls and women that need it the most. Currently, the reviews are mixed, but I see this novel as having a cult like following. It will be the Mean Girls of young feminist literature. I have become a big fan of Bray's novels. She writes young voices from a fresh perspective. It feels like she gets inside their heads and takes up residence. Their hopes and fears lay displayed for all to see. The most vulnerable side of a sixteen year old girl is laid bare in this book. Sometimes that can be a bit hard to take.

My next read is When She Woke. From what I can tell it's a hybrid book of The Scarlet Letter and The Handmaid's Tale.

 

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, this book was the toast of the chattering class a few years ago. Due to its description, I bought it and put it on a shelf. I didn't want the book to have to live up to the hype that it was the best novel of the 2000s. A few things of note, I  read quite a few reviews of this book prior to writing this post. Most of them reference Diaz's use of language as groundbreaking. The reviewers must live in English only enclaves because punctuating sentences with Spanish is so normal I didn't notice. Now this could be due to the fact that I live in Texas and many of my friends are bilingual. If the English word doesn't fit, Spanish is used and vice versa. I kept waiting for the groundbreaking to happen, and didn't realize until halfway though that I had been experiencing it the entire time.

The past 10 years have brought forth a lot books that contain so much nostalgia that they are going to end up with their own literary term. Oscar Wao is going to be one of the corner stones. The book is well written and expertly crafted. Students are going to be told to rip it apart to discover it's literary metaphors. From references to Watchmen, Lord of the Rings, and an overt homage to Hemingway, Diaz weaves them in and out of a not so classic love story. As tragic as it is comedic, I found myself hugging the novel when it was done. I knew what was going to happen, but I wanted it to stop. My wish for the character was overridden by the author. Diaz had to do what he had to do. Oscar is such an emotionally accessible character, and it's difficult to not feel a sense of loss at the end of it all.

I want more people to read this book. Part of me wants to slap a used copy down next to a friend and demand that they read it. It is the type of novel that needs to be shared and discussed though friendships and book clubs. It deserves to be given as gifts and passed around. Pick this one up and give it a go.

My next selection is Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. It's her version of Lord of the Flies. After Going Bovine I've become a huge fan, so I'm crossing my fingers that this is a good one.

Link Round Up

Hornby calls for a nationwide network of story 'ministries'. Hornby is talking about a British project called The Ministry of Stories. Essentially it's a place where children can learn the creative writing process. From what I've read there are two arguments. One, full support of The Ministry of Stories. Two, support for the project, but the desire to have it be centralized in an area library. Either way, I find the discussions about it fascinating.

Horror Goes Highbrow. I laugh at this. Horror has always been highbrow, but the main difference is that the horror stories that scare the extraordinarily wealthy don't involve monsters. Jasper Fforde convinced me that Jane Austen didn't write love stories, she wrote horror. A highbrow family loses everything and is then saddled with five daughters that have to be married off or the parents become financially destitute? That's scary.

Here are some great instructions on How to Read a Classic. My biggest suggestion? Get the audiobook. Really. It makes it a lot easier.

Kindle: Best Books of November, 2011

Three Reasons I Hate Hardcover Books. I'm a fan of them, but I totally relate to this article. There are moments where I want to throw them up against the wall.

(Currently reading)

Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves

Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin

I decided to add this book into my nonfiction rotation a few months ago so I could better understand the scale of the Greek financial crisis. Sorkin's book does not disappoint. It is is as fun to read as it is educational. The huge scale of Lehman Brothers, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs is akin to mythical kingdoms   The men who run them, and their egos, are larger than life. As most stories go, this one ends up with redemption, but not in the way most people and bankers would like. The US financial system was saved, but we also seemed to have lost faith in it. Fairy tales have white knights, bank bailouts get anger, in both stories something is lost and gained.

Setting the book up like a play, Sorkin's first eight pages are the names of all the players. I wanted this story to have a black hat bad guy, and a white hat good guy. It seemed to play out that way in the press. Unfortunately it doesn't. It does, however, have a fascinating insight into the psychology of a group of people who run these large institution. They are, in short, just like us. And they do think, "It can't happen here."

That phrase, those words, it can't happen here, are the reason I had to replace a car window a few months ago. See, my husband and I moved to what we though was a nice safe neighborhood. We ignored the screeching advice from people saying that our area was prone to smash and grab car theft. Well one morning I had to call my boss and tell her I was running late, and I am still digging glass out of the backseat. I used it can't happen here to try to protect me from car thieves. Bankers used it to convince themselves that their huge financial institutions wouldn't collapse. We both got the same results.

As I slide this one on my shelf, I hope that Sorkin continues to write nonfiction. His voice is clear, the book was dense and readable, and he knows how turn a phrase. Honestly, if he doesn't get a similar book out of the Eurozone crisis, then he needs to quit. I want to read his take on it, and I want him to write the cornerstone book.

I'm moving onto some fiction with The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. This book has been taunting me for years.

Guilty Pleasures

Against ‘Guilty Pleasures’

Musical guilty pleasures aren’t about guilt

Guilty pleasures

GUILTY PLEASURES

Guilty Pleasures, The Body, And The Mind

Most of these posts are about music, and shockingly some of my favorite musicians are named in the guilty pleasure category. That's really neither here nor there, I've known for quite some time my secret love of Ace of Base means that I have terrible taste in music. I'm okay with that, and I've come to terms with it. However, I wanted to address this topic when it comes to books. 

A few weeks ago, I asked my Twitter followers about their guilty pleasures. The answers ranged from Harry Potter fan fiction, Archie Comics, and bodice ripping romance novels. I once had a professor admit that she drove 20 miles out of her way to a bookstore in another city to buy romance novels. She said she did this because the local bookshop was where she ordered all of her PhD material, and she didn't want to face the sly smiles from the staff. In my estimation, that's a bit much, but I can understand the concern and the judgment faced from peers. Having a respected opinion about certain aspects of literature, politics, or science means that an image has been created. Finding out that a person who's life work has been studying feminist literary icons, and also likes Fabio style romance novels lends itself to some small chuckles. Although, the Kindle makes that easier now.

I have recently discovered that my guilty pleasures aren't all that bad. My love for Young Adult literature is well known. My readers understand my love of comic books, dystopian fiction, science fiction and fantasy. For a long time I thought I was alone. Turns out, I am very much not. My concern is when we label something a guilty pleasure we may be shoving some out of literary conversation. Now, I may not care for a pink covered romance novel, but to discount that desire to read? That is a bad idea. That energy and passion can be easily transferred to a child. A new reader can be born. Lets take the guilty out of it and just spread the pleasure of reading.

(I couldn't resist)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

I've fucking had it. Laini Taylor wrote another love story that makes me so angry I threw the book across the room. Twice. In this version of the abusive love story the sexy guy is an angel who tries to tries to kill the main character more than once, tosses her family into a magical prison, stalks her, and then attacks her in front of people she knows. Oh, he's 50 and she's 17. THIS IS NOT FUCKING OKAY! Why do we keep thinking this story is sweet and lovely? Why do we keep thinking that the star crossed lovers are some sort of ideal match?

Books like this normalize stalking and abusive behavior. Authors shove it out under the guise of it being a love story, but it boils down to excuse making. Oddly, we don't question it as readers. This book has over four stars on Amazon, it's being praised by other authors,  and it's fodder for reading summer reading lists. I'm exasperated. I'm not asking authors to be perfect, but I'm asking them to stop making this seem like it's the ideal. Give a young woman a partner not a stalker.

I'm moving on to Light in August by William Faulkner. Yes, I realize this book may be sexist and misogynistic, but Faulkner's excuse is that he wrote in the 1930's.  Taylor doesn't get one. She should know better.

Link Round Up

World Book Night has chosen it's books for the UK and Ireland, THE BOOKS 2012. For those who are unfamiliar World Book Night  is designed to  spread the love of reading. Givers sign up though the website and promise to hand out copies of their book to people who either do not have access or chose not to read. I will keep you posted when the US books are announced.

Book Riot did article, Reading Pathways: Haruki Murakami. This week his magnum opus 1Q84 was published in the US. I'm waiting for the paperback to come out, so I'll be reading it some time next year. Also, I did a write up of Kafka on the Shore. Murakami's body of work is astonishingly good.

Another Book Riot article, The End of Cosmos: Chick Lit in the Recession Age. I don't think that Chick Lit as a genera has gone away. Its morphed into something new. Carrie Bradshaw's cocaine* fueled shoe shopping expeditions have now become something slightly more realistic. As the economy improves I expect it to flip back to the fantasy that it once was.

Why do we love great literature? The article, Perfectly flawed is a fantastic analysis. Our favorite characters are flawed like we are.

Finally, Is Amazon Short-Changing Authors? This is a great read, I own a Kindle, and I'd like to think that Amazon is pay authors fairly. I'm going to wait for more criticism and more voices on this. It is a conversation worth having.

(I took this picture. It's my current bookmark. Isn't it cute?) 

Kafka on the Shore

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

In the world of fiction rarely does a book live up to its hype. For the past six years I have dodged and weaved out of reading Kafka on the Shore because it was thrust into my hands by more than one person. Any time a book is recommended that many times to me I get nervous. It could be Harry Potter great or Twilight bad. Happily, Kafka is an amazing novel. Murakami prose carries the novel to a place where time and reality are not what we know or understand.

Generally, novels like Kafka end up being beaten to death by literary heavy weights. Professors, students, supposed learned men, and pseudo-intellectuals dissect it with in an inch of its life. Papers are written, classes are taught, and every bit of fun is sucked out of the novel and tossed onto a blackboard. Freshmen college English classes are bound up by novels like this. I feel like English departments at major universities do this to separate the wheat from the chaff. If a student can tolerate their third year post doc loudly pontificating about novels like this, then he or she can move on to an English major or minor. With that being said, Kafka deserves more than that. It should be read by people who do not read. It should be picked up and desired by high school students trying to figure out who they are. It should be lingered upon by grandparents who have memories made out sunlight. It is a book that is meant to be shared.

Be that as it may, there is a lot to be intimidated by when reading a book like this. First, the author's native language is not English. Murakami is Japanese, his English speaking fans often end up waiting a year or two after his books are published for a translation. No worries, I have read Japanese literature in the past, and J. Philip Gabriel does an amazing job. Gabriel makes the feel of the text innately non-Japanese. Second, there are a lot of illusions to Greek myth. Murakami does not send the reader diving back into old textbooks looking for meaning, he gives short, simple, and wonderful explanations while going along. The myth of Oedipus Rex becomes more of a gateway than a barrier. Lastly, it won a World Fantasy Award. Do not let the genera label of Fantasy get in the way. The book contains no wizards, castles, or Hobbits. It does contain talking cats, Colonel Sanders, Johnnie Walker, a large stone, and an old man that reminded me of my grandfather.

As I place Kafka on the Shore back on my shelf I realize that I have made a friend. I will revisit it later, in a few years, just so I can reflect on the story from a different perspective. Honestly though, is that not the sign of a great book?

My next read is Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I am reading it for a new book club called Forever Young Adult. Apparently, it is a book club for adults that like to read YA fiction. There is also a promise of cocktails at the meeting, so I was SOLD.

Right to Ride

Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship in the Era of Plessy v. Ferguson  by Blair LM Kelley

In previous posts, I have said that I had an excellent high school history teacher. He made history come alive and  taught my class the history of the United States like it was oral tradition. With that being said, I have gaps. When I first learned of Dr. Kelley's book it made my reading list due to that. My understanding of African American history goes something like this, President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, the Civil War ends, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat and is arrested, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott begins.  See that comma between the Civil War ends and Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat? That is the span of 90 years. I have some work to do.

Dr. Kelley's book took me to a part of history right after Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Case was decided. It examines segregation on public transit and the way people fought against it. Right to Ride gives a look at the tradition of boycotts and civic action that are woven into the fabric of the United States. Our most famous examples may be Dr. Martin Luther King, but he was relying on a long tradition. The model for the modern Civil Rights movement happened in those years right after Plessy.

As for the book, Dr. Kelley's writing style makes Right to Ride a treat. It is easily read, coming in at just under 200 pages. It is also impeccably researched with reference footnotes.* The best praise for a book like this, is that Dr. Kelley gets out of the way of the story. Too many times non-fiction authors feel the need to interject themselves into the history, or give conjecture that is not necessary. History is fascinating enough without unnecessary commentary.   Right to Ride gives the compelling story minus any ego.  It very much worth reading and sharing with friends. It would make a great book club read, or just a discussion piece for a group of friends.

Moving on, my next book is Kafka on the Shore. I am reading some Haruki Murakami in preparation for 1Q84. I like to get to know an author before I read his opus.  

(Image brought to you by: xkcd)

Link Round Up

An infographic: Who Reads More

Where Are the Teen-Lit Protagonists Who Just Happen to Be Gay? To an extend they don't exist yet, but we are getting there. I feel like J. K. Rowling making Dumbledore gay was a first step. Normalization is another generation away. My thought is that it will happen when gay characters on TV stop being gay characters and simply turn into characters.

La Casa Azul Bookstore. If anyone can pitch in on this project it would be much appreciated. I love ideas like this, and I really want to see it happen. Besides, a crowd sourced bookstore in Harlem? Where else in the USA could this be possible.

The new film ‘Anonymous’ says the Bard was a fraud. Don’t buy it. The best thing about movies like this is that it brings renewed interest into the Bard's work. I can't wait to see some of them done.

Read More Canadian Literature!: Genre Edition. I agree. Just do it. You will thank me later.

Delirium

Delirium

I am so tired of this story. Lauren Oliver has rewritten Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, Titanic, and Twilight. This time the love story is set in a dystopian Portland, Main and it ends how one would expect. *sigh*

The plot to the above stories goes something like this:

1. Take one female character and make something terribly wrong with her. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is a Capulet, West Side Story, Maria is Puerto Rican, Titanic, Rose is rich, and Twlight, Bella is human. This brings us to Lena in Delirium, her flaw is that she has low self esteem.

2. Take one mysterious guy who is kind of a jerk, and make the male and female characters fall in love. Romeo is a violent, but somehow Juliet still finds him sexy. Tony has similar qualities to Romeo, but yet again Maria finds him irresistible. Jack treats Rose like complete crap, but she comes back to him because he is cute. Edward is a flat out asshole to Bella, but that does not stop the two of them from falling in love. This brings us to Alex. On the most important day of Lena's life he creates a disruption so large that it screws up the results of a vital test. 

3. Start changing the girl because the fundamental flaw is so terrible that she unacceptable the way she is. Juliet and Romeo have sex and then get married, thus making Juliet a Montague. Maria and Tony do something similar. These are notable because of the transformational mythos around sex. Men can have as much sex as they want, women, however, can only have sex if it changes them. Jack takes Rose slumming it though the poor part of the boat, because it is totally impossible for Rose to have been written with any sort of empathy. Edward and Bella go though some push me, pull you, I love you, I don't love you, stay away from me, fine lets get married emotional abuse. Alex takes Lena to the Wilds and shows here that life can be totally different, but only with him. 

4. Kill them off. Romeo and Juliet both die. Tony dies thus leaving Maria alone and broken. Jack freezes to death leaving Rose emotionally traumatized. Edward changes Bella into an undead monster. (See what happened? She didn't actually die, she was just completely changed from what she was.) Alex gets shot, leaving Lena emotionally incapable of dealing with her new world. 

We push these stories on young girls and hold up these relationships as some sort of ideal love. That idea is so abhorrent to me. It is not love, it is abuse. I'm going to leave you with the words of Dorthy Parker:

 "This book is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled with great force."

I am now moving onto A Fine Balance. Crossing my fingers that this is better.

(Image brought to you by: prettylittlepaperbacks)

 

  

Going Bovine

Going Bovine

Libba Bray's book is full of darkness. Her main character, Cameron, is dying of Mad Cow Disease.  He also must save the world. What happens is a two week long adventure that includes a sugar addicted angel, a positive thinking cult, a talking garden gnome, a magic trumpet, and one ancient Cadillac. Bray creates an adventure of epic proportions it zooms back and forth between the magical realism of Cameron's adventure and his hospital room. Untimely, the lesson of the book is live each day to its fullest, and Bray's crafting of the story makes that seem not as trite as it seems.

Going Bovine is a fantastic introduction magical realism. Bray makes the genera completely accessible to a teen audience. Literature is all about building blocks. Having a young adult read and enjoy a book like Going Bovine can create a rich love of a work like One Hundred Years of Solitude. Or it could even get slightly more dangerous and that same young adult could go digging for works by Alejo Carpentier. Be that as it may, Bray does unique justice to the genera her characters are fully realized, and feel like high school students. Much of the YA literature that I read falls far short of that. It is mostly an adult projecting what a modern teen would feel. Bray captures the emotional response, the emotional limitations, and the wonderful perspective that a 16 year old has. Also, what best to test his psyche than give him a talking garden gnome as a best friend? Genius.

Walking away, Going Bovine is going to be a book that is around forever. I can see young people (and adults) connecting to Cameron on a very emotional level. The book is funny, tragic, joyful, painful, and one of the best life lessons I have had the joy to read. At the end of the day, I have become a huge Libba Bray fan, and will be adding more of her books to my reading list.

Next up is Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Another YA dystopia, I know I know... I have a thing for the genera.

(Image brought to you by: kelly-lea)