My Reading Frenzy

Recent Romance

Anyone who has read much of this blog knows that I read a wide variety of genres.  My favorites are fantasy and sci-fi though even these wax and wane.  I spent years reading nothing but King Arthur related fantasy as I have mentioned before.  I also really like historical fiction, if it is well researched.  In this genre I had a heavy Queen Elizabeth I phase.  I like mysteries as well; they really give the brain a good workout.  I cannot say I care much for thrillers or westerns.  Not a big reader of horror either.  But above and beyond any of these I am a sucker for romance.  I have never to my knowledge purchased a book from the romance section of the book store.  The genre know familiarly as "bodice rippers," was the favorite of my grandmother, but I do like a well-told love story.  I started when young with Jane Eyre (a truly romantic love story) and Wuthering Heights (which I can now see is really just the love story of two seriously damaged people and not particularly romantic at all).  I also like fiction that just has a healthy dose of romance, like the Anne of Green Gables series (my favorite of all time).  Sparks flew between Anne and Gilbert from the beginning. 

Today I finished reading This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith.  Summer is about to start and I needed something light and romantic.  I got just what I needed.  Ellie, who lives in a small Maine town receives an e-mail obviously not intended for her.  She write back to let the sender know she will not be able to take care of his pet as she is not the person he meant to write.  He writes back and they begin a lively e-mail exchange without knowing each other's names.  While this is improbable it is not impossible.  Unlike Smith's The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight this novel is not filled with things that just would not happen.  Instead, I find that the first e-mail, when a text about Wilbur would have been easier and more likely, is really the only part of the whole story I just could not accept. 

So much of teen romance today is angst filled.  It is nice to read a story with a bit of angst, it wouldn't be YA without it, but without the overwhelming focus on why life is so difficult that too many teen love stories have.  This novel reminded me of Stephanie Perkins's Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door, both of which are fabulously done love stories.   Both really capture that beginning of a romance sweetness that is not easy ot put on paper.  Maureen Johnson also did this well in 13 Little Blue Envelopes.  And The Big Crunch by Pete Hautman. 

Originally I intended to write about a few books I have read recently, but instead this turned into a "Why I love romance" post.  Oh well, time well spent. 

YA at its Finest

I recently read three really excellent YA titles:  A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff (which is admittedly a bit closer to middle grade than YA.), Enchanted by Alethea Kontis and Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller and Zach Stentz.  I really enjoyed them all for different reasons.

A Tangle of Knots involves people coming together because of old and new attachments.  The story is really beautifully done as we meet individuals who turn out to have connections to others in the story.  They all cross each others paths and either become permanent parts of each others lives or help to foster other long term relationships after a chance encounter.  It is really well done, lining everyone up and untangling by the end.  It illustrates how closely related we all really are in this big family of humanity. 

Enchanted has some similar tangles in it.  Sunday is the 7th daughter of a 7th daughter making her particularly interesting in a family of unique people.  This story is a brilliant mash-up of many fairy tales including "Sleeping Beauty," "Cinderella," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and others.  A tiny piece of each figures into the bigger story of Sunday and her immediate and extended family.  It is beautifully written  and ends with the possibility for a sequel that I personally would love to read. 

The main character in Colin Fischer loves a good mystery.  He likes the ordered thinking required to figure something out.  He takes notes on what he observes around him in a notebook.  He often ends a note with the word "Investigate."  Much of what Colin does is influenced by his Aspberger's Syndrome.  Unfortunately, this also causes problems for him as he begins high school on his own.  The story moves quickly and really only captures the first few weeks of Colin's time in high school but seems to accurately portray someone with Asperger's.  I would be interested to hear from a student like Colin to see how well done his characterization is.  

Clockwork Princess

I LOVED Cassandra Clare's latest in The Infernal Devices series, Clockwork Princess.  I do not remember liking the other two, Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince as much.  I really loved her other series Mortal Instruments  until I got to the 4th in the trilogy (Yep, that's what I meant, 4th in the trilogy.) City of Fallen Angels which I did not like at all.  As much as I loved this latest installment, I hope it will not be continued in a 4th book.  I'd like to see Clare write the story of the characters in between the generations presented in the two series. 

The reason I have loved these books is because Clare has done a wonderful job of world building.  In the shadows of the world, live the Nephilim or Shadowhunters, placed here on Earth to protect us all from Darkworlders.  Living in this different world separates the Shadowhunters from mortals (generally), but brings them in contact with warlocks, werewolves, vampires, and demons.  This is a completely original world that did not remind me of anything else.  I give high praise to a book that does that. 

I just read on Clare's website that there will be a 3rd series, but it will take place in the world of today rather than bridging the gap between the first two series....oh well, maybe someday. 

In Clockwork Princess I really could not pick a favorite character.  I like Will for his chilly exterior that covers deep and passionate feelings of love, friendship, and duty.  I love Tessa because she is a bold woman who has suffered greatly making her compassionate and strong.  Sophie, while a servant at the Institute, is humorous, and kind, and fiesty.  Then there is Jem, the heart of the story and the Institute.  I just really like them all.

Clare has a great way with the love stories, making each different, but there is still little mystery how they will all turn out.  The family tree on the inside of the dust jacket was a give-away, but I really appreciated knowing how all the names I know from the Mortal Instruments series link to the people in the Victorian series.   You see how intricately she has woven her stories.  Brilliant!  Despite the age of the characters, these just do not feel like YA novels.  They are simply tales of adventure, heroism in the face of evil, and love for any reader. 

Eleanor and Park

I really, really liked this love story.  Though I admit that at first I was not sure it was really a YA novel.  First of all it takes place in 1986 (which practically makes it historical fiction) and is filled with references, musically mainly, that no young adult is going to understand.  After finishing, I accept that those references do not really inhibit understanding.  What really matters is the relationship between Eleanor and Park.  Eleanor has lived a difficult life.  Her mother is married to a dirtbag.  They live in a hovel.  She shares a tiny bedroom with three brothers and a sister.  There is no door on the bathroom.  All of this has given Eleanor what one might call a crusty demeanor.  Her first day on the school bus after having recently returned to live with her family, she meets Park who saves her by offering her a seat on the bus.  Their romances moves slooooowly after this.  So slowly as to be frustrating to a reader, but completely realistically given the circumstances. 

Park's home situation is heaven compared to Eleanor's.  Park's biggest issue is in being bi-racial; half Korean, half caucasian.  In Omaha in 1986 this is more difficult for him that it would be today.  He feels detached from both cultures and not sure where he belongs.  He also has an ex-military father who wishes his son were more of a "man." Though when it is important, such as the time Park needs to defend Eleanor from unkindess, he steps up in a way no one would label as "unmanly."

The story is told alternately by Eleanor and Park which is a sometimes annoying storytelling method as it has become somewhat too prevelent for my tastes.  It is also makes the reader want to scream at the two as we know that at moments Eleanor and Park are feeling and thinking similarly but because they hesitate to share misunderstandings ensue.  However, when so many adults are not adept at communicating with each other these teens actually do pretty well. 

Despite some of my misgivings at the beginning I would not hesitate to recommend this to teen readers.  I also think readers of my age group who were teens in 1986 would enjoy the story and find the references nostalgic.

Same premise, different story

I recently read/listened to two books with a similar premise: the royal family has been killed and treasonous interlopers have taken over the kingdom, only --------- can save the kingdom.  The first of these novels is The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen.  The second is Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta.  The first I enjoyed enough to continue to the second book, The Runaway King, the second I did not.  

The False Prince stars Sage, an orphan/street kid who is taken away by a man who needs to find a boy of the right age to impersonate Jaron, the missing prince in order to save the kingdom from chaos at the hands of power hungry regents.  Sage, Roden, and Tobias will spend time training to become Jaron.  Whoever best does so will return to Carthya to become king.  The other two will in all likelihood be killed.  

Ten years ago, the kingdom of Lumatere was attacked from within and the royal family wiped out.  A sorceress's curse has prevented the restoration of Lumatere.  The story begins as Finnikin, the son of the former captain of the guard, along with Sir Topher, the former king's first man, and Evanjalin, a religious novice seek to break the curse by finding Balthazar the heir to the throne.

For me, The False Prince was a much more exciting story with a fast pace.  Because of this I was interested to read the second book (and probably the 3rd) to find out how the kingdom fares with its new king.  I will not be reading Froi of the Exiles to find out about Lumatere.  Marchetta has a very heavy hand with the "power of the mysterious goddess" blabbity blab.  I call this the Red Tent effect.  I read The Red Tent when it was all the rage.  I hated it.  Let me be clear, I am all for the acceptance/belief/realization of the blow to women's power that came in with the rise of patriarchal Christianity.  However, I do not need nor want a novel to shove female mysticism and strength down my throat.  I feel Finnikin of the Rock did this in excess; it simply felt preachy.  I have asked one of my male students to read it because my adult perspective is often put off by elements of a book that kids either do not see or see differently.  

Both of these novels reminded me a bit of The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.  Both were inferior.  I would choose the Queen's Thief series by Turner over either of the two above. 

Thank you Sean Pidgeon...

for writing the best King Arthur book  I have read in a long time, Finding Camlann.  And I have read MANY King Arthur books.  My two favorites are T.H.  White's The Once and Future King and Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon (but not its many sequels which are pale imitations of the original.)  Finding Camlann is not an Arthur novel in the same vein as my favorites since Arthur is not a character.  The story takes place in modern times featuring scholars who are interested in the historical Arthur, mainly the question of whether or not there is a historical Arthur or if he is in fact the product of bards who created him from various bardic traditional stories with a smattering of historical warriors.  This story centers on the search in Wales for various Arthurian battlegrounds and burial places. 

Of course while these scholars are searching for a lost hero, they are dealing with their own failures and triumphs as human beings.  Some of the story deals with Welsh nationalism and English rule.  I learned some very interesting things.  I already know some about English and Irish clashes, but was not aware of similar problems in Wales. 

The search in the novel for original sources of information about a possible historical Arthur are intertwined with the story about Siôn Cent a poet who recorded stories of Owain Glyn Dŵr a historical Welsh warrior.  Modern Welsh warriors who fought to keep England from flooding Welsh towns to provide a reservoir of water for England brings in Hugh Mortimer, Julia Llewellyn Mortimer, and her father Dai Llewellyn.  Donald Gladstone is an archaeologist interested in Wales in general with an interest in Arthur that seems to intrigue all Romantics who cling to the ideas of nationalism and chivalry and a golden age of knights and ladies battling evil.  What I enjoyed most is that Pidgeon has refrained from turing the modern characters into metaphors for the Arthurian stories.  This is a novel for anyone who is fascinated by the way storytelling has always held power and how legend and history are deeply intertwined in ways that make the past both more realistic and more nebulous than we will ever be able to know. 

This makes me feel better about Maureen Johnson's latest

In her blog, Maureen Johnson reveals just enough to explain why The Madness Underneath feels so unfinished. 

Holly Black is not...

in on the writing conspiracy with Maureen Johnson, Libba Bray, and Robin Wasserman, if her Curse Workers series is any indication.  I have now listened to the first two books in the series White Cat and Red Glove and am half-way finished with Black Heart.  I am enjoying them a great deal, but they do not align with the particulars of my theory.  One of the things I like best about them is the reader.  The three books are read by Jesse Eisenberg of The Social Network fame.  In fact, he recorded the first book just before the movie was released.  Despite his new-found success he has continued to read the other two books in the series, for which I am grateful.  He has a very nice voice and does an excellent job of emoting without going over the top.  Between the car and the gym I listen to many books and am planning a post about the topic, so keep a look out for it. 

One of the elements I like best about the series is how the fantasy is simply a part of the world as the characters know it.  I feel it takes a skilled writer to give out special powers as if they are an accepted part of our world.  The story is set here and now and some people are just born with abilities.  There are 7 different types of workers: luck, emotion, physical, dream, death, transformation, and memory.  Some types are more rare than others.  The main character comes from a family of workers, but he is not one, much to his embarrassment though working is illegal and association with organized crime.  But make no mistake about it, Cassell is not a worker, but he is certainly a criminal.   Cassell is the youngest of three boys.  His brother Philip is a physical worker, his brother Baron a memory worker, his mother is an emotion worker, and his grandfather is a death worker.  All together they are skilled grifters, often mixed up in some pretty ugly stuff.  Through it all, Cassell is trying to finish high school and forget the girl he loved....and killed three years ago.  I will be sad to reach the end of the third book, but I am anxious to see what happens to the family.  

 

 

Not too long ago, Maureen Johnson tweeted that pre-ordering the second book in her Shades of London series, The Madness Underneath would result in a signed book plate for the book as well as other mysterious prizes.  I went ahead because the "mysterious prizes" intrigued me and because I do like to support independent book shops when possible.  We have a pretty good one in Norfolk, Prince Books, but I am not always able to get there regularly and as much as my heart wants to buy from independents, my wallet does not always agree.  Anyway, I finished the book yesterday, and while I liked it, it suffered seriously from second book in the series-itis.  The story began slowly, which does not bother me much, but does often make things difficult for actual teen readers who can be impatient.  However, I was two-thirds of the way through the book and realized nothing really BIG had happened.  In fact outside of two pretty mundane murders this story is mostly about Rory and how she is settling into her new powers.  Again, this is not really a problem for me, but I read this book expecting a fright level equivalent to that in The Name of the Star, which creeped the bejeepers out of me.  Had I known what to expect I would not have been so disappointed, but I did not even have to turn all the lights on in the house for this one.  Oh well, despite not being what I expected the book was an excellent lead-up to what I hope will be a creep filled third installment. 

On a side note, I really appreciate Johnson's ability to write a mature, high-level text without gratuitous cursing or sex.  It makes her books perfect for my middle school readers who long to be challenge, but who are not emotionally mature enough for the other stuff yet.  Woohoo Maureen Johnson!

Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

is either a genius or insane.  I know, I know there is a fine line.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is quite simply brilliant.  If you have read it, you know why I cannot say much about the plot without ruining it all.  If you have not read it, I say...Nick and Amy are a generally happy couple with their share of problems like loss of jobs, ill parents, and a dwindling bank account.  None of this however seems important when Amy disappears the morning of their 5th anniversary.  Clearly based on the evidence and the stereotype, Nick is the prime suspect in the disappearance that may in fact be murder.  But this story is so full of twists and turns the reader cannot possibly keep up without long pauses to think about it all. 

YA Romance

I bought Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler almost two years ago, just after I heard it was being banned because it "promotes or sensationalizes sexual promiscuity." I love a good banned book and was hoping for a shockingly frank discussion of teen sexuality.  Those people who tried to ban this book are idiots.  Only someone who only read the title would think this book encourages promiscuous behavior.

The two teen girls in the novel are suffering because Frankie's brother Matt, who was Anna's boyfriend died of an undetected hole between the chambers of his heart.  A year after his death, his parents decide to take Frankie and Anna to the family's long time vacation spot to promote healing.  It is at this point Frankie suggests a game in which the two girls will meet 20 boys.  They do not even get half-way there and one girl remains a virgin and the other sleeps with one boy, just one, not twenty.  A boy who incidentally she feels quite strongly about even after knowing him for a relatively brief time.  At no point does the story glorify sexual escapades.  It is in fact a sweet story about loss, friendship, family, and love.  I am sorry now to have waited so long to read it.   I intend to read Ockler's other recent publications, Fixing Delilah and Bittersweet.   

Now, a book that I would not be surprised to hear about being banned is Sarah Mlynowski's ten things we did (and probably shouldn't have).  I would not agree with such a ban, but this is certainly a book with a fair amount of teen sex.  Mlynowski writes frankly about teen issues, which include decisions about sexual partners.  This book is the story of sixteen-year-old Anna whose father and step-mother move to Cleveland leaving her in Connecticut to finish her junior year.  On one hand this is what Anna wants, but on the other hand she wishes her father (who is a loving and attentive father just trying to make his daughter happy) would just command her to come with him.  She moves in with her best friend Vi who has some actual parent problems with a mom who is away with the touring company of Mary Poppins.  Yes, this means the girls are on their own, perpetuating a big cover-up so that April's father does not discover the truth.  I do not want to ruin it, but one of the 10 things they do is buy a hot tub. 

April is likeable and still reeling from her parents' unpleasant divorce two years earlier.   She has lived with her father while her younger brother moved to Paris with their mother and her new husband.  It is a challenging situation and April feels most comfortable around the friends and boyfriend who got her through that difficult time.   Living on her own with some distance from her family is probably the best thing for April, but book banners of the world will disapprove of the not unusal teen behaviors show in the novel.