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.