My Reading Frenzy

13 Curses Love

It is love....love at first trilogy.  I began with The 13 Treasures, then I ordered from the UK and read The 13 Curses.  Now I wait--- for The 13 Secrets.  What I especially liked about the second book is that is could almost stand alone, it certainly ended nicely with no frustrating cliff hanger or loose ends.  I love that, though it does make me wonder where the third book will go.  It is winging its way toward me across the pond...but it is not here yet!   I am even going to post the covers again because I am in love!!!

 

Marginalia

I found this article in my American Libraries Direct this week.  It is about the importance of marginalia, which got me thinking about my own reading habits.  Unless I am reading for a class I am taking, or for a class I am teaching, I rarely write in a book I am reading.  I do read a lot of books from the library, but I do not even write in books I own.  Does this make me a bad reader?  Am I not thinking deeply enough about what I read?  I think I interact quite a lot with what I read, I just do not like to stop and write, I want to just keep reading. 

One of the reasons I started this blog was to write about what I am reading, this seems to take the place of marginalia, but maybe I will test myself and consciously make an effort to write in the next book I read.  I will blog about the results. 

Nebula YA Nominees

The 2010 Nebula YA nominees are:

Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi
White Cat, Holly Black
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch
The Boy from Ilysies, Pearl North
I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett
A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner 
Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld

The rest of the nominees are listed at the SFWA website.

via bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com

Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi
White Cat, Holly Black
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch
The Boy from Ilysies, Pearl North
I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett
A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner 
Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld

The rest of the nominees are listed at the SFWA website.

British Literature

Right now I am reading The 13 Curses by Michelle Harrison.  The book is not yet available in the US so I had to order it from a bookseller who has overseas contacts.  Obviously this was not difficult on-line.  BUT none of this is what I am wondering.  I know there are occasions when British books are changed when published in the US like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone became Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  I would like to see a copy of The 13 Curses when it does come out here to see if there are changes.  As I was thinking about this I got a little hot under the collar wondering why these changes are made. 

Is it:

1.  British publishers believe American readers will be put off by British English and therefore not buy books from British authors?

2.  American publishers believe American readers will be put off by British English and therefore not buy books from British authors?

3.  One of these two thinks American readers are sooooo dumb they will not understand that "colour" is the same as "color," and "nappy" means "diaper?" 

I like the British flavour/flavor of books that take place in Britain, and the verbal and cultural differences shown in these books.  I think Americans need a little shake up so we do not believe the whole world speaks and thinks the way we do. 

 

"Ordinary" boys, apocalyptic worlds, and Victorian mystery

Since my last "Book I Read" blog entry I have read three YA titles: 

1.  The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd. 

I liked this one; it really is a book about the ordinary trials and tribulations of being a teenager.  The main character Dade, is a recent high school graduate biding his time at home before he goes to college in the fall.  He ends one romance and begins another, makes a new friend, deals with his parents' break-up, and prepares for life in a new place.  Sounds pretty ordinary, and it is, except Dade is gay.  The reason I like the book is because it is not a radical look at the implications of homosexuality and its hardships, but a portrayal of the day to day life of a teen dealing with what teens deal with: family, love, school, and friends.  It is important for YA books to explore the lives of all types of teens because all types of teens read books and need to see themselves portrayed realistically. 

2.  A Crack in the Sky (1st in The Greenhouse Chronicles) by Mark Peter Hughes

This is the third book I have read by Hughes and have finally figured out that for me, it takes a while for the book to be interesting.  I have enjoyed all three books, but not until from just before the middle to the end.  There is just something about Hughes' exposition that fails to draw me in, but when I keep reading I always end up liking the book.   This one is completely different from the other two because it is a post environmental apocalypse story.  Eli is the grandson of the most powerful man in the world, Grandfather, who saved the world by inventing and building domes where everyone lives safe from the ravages of the Outside.  The conflict comes when Eli discovers the domes, the Outside, and even his own family are not what he has always believed them to be.  This is likely the first in a series or ever-popular trilogy. 

3.  The Body at the Tower by Y.S. Lee

This is the second of the Mary Quinn mysteries.  I like Mary Quinn, I like the historical fiction element of the books, I do not like how easy it is to figure out whodunit.  On the villain's first appearance I knew he was going to be the bad guy.  I need to give one of these books to a young adult, for whom the books are written, to see if they figure it out as quickly as I do.  Despite this drawback I do enjoy Mary's adventures and mishaps as well as the historical details.  I am sure there will be more books in the series, I will wait until another is published before I decide if I am going to continue reading them. 

Loved Catcher in the Rye....what now?

Flavorwire has developed a list of books we loved as teens, but do not have the same impact now, so they have offered some alternatives.  They are taking suggestions for an adult replacement for Catcher in the Rye.  Hmmm....

 

Flavorwire » Books That Rocked Your World at 16 But Fall Flat Now

BooksAyn Rand J.D. Salinger Jack Kerouac Jack London Paulo Coe Paulo Coelho Robert Jordan Robert Pirsig Thomas Wolfe

Books That Rocked Your World at 16 But Fall Flat Now

4:00 pm Thursday Feb 17, 2011 by Nina MacLaughlin

We all have a few: the books we read when we were young that altered everything. These were the world-changers, the reality-definers, the stories you died over, gushed to your friends about, pushed into the hands of boyfriends and girlfriends, urgently, sincerely. They were pivotal, inspirational, important.

And then: you grow up a bit and return to the books that started a revolution in the way you existed in the world, the ones you thought would change you ever-after, and you think, oh, goddammit, that’s what had me so hot-and-bothered? And this is fine, this is natural. You were changed for a time, and changed again. You get older, you learn some things. Which is not to say the books below ought be avoided altogether. No, these are a few of the books that knocked you off the roof when you were a kid, that fall flat to re-read right now (plus a few suggestions on grown-up alternatives).

What you loved: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Why you shouldn’t now: When you were a kid, and therefore infallible, Rand’s Objectivist novel about architecture and individualism blew your doors off. But Rand’s a lot like Michael Moore — so ham-fisted she undermines her own work and is ever preaching to choir.
Read Instead: The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape by James Howard Kuntsler

via flavorwire.com

The Book Haven - Too Many Books?

I like this blog from Stanford University in general, but I REALLY like this post. I too have overflowing shelves and books tucked wherever they will fit.

Solution for sagging shelves — look no further!

February 17th, 2011

Bowed bookshelves are an inevitable feature of the booklover’s home. And perhaps like me, you never discard an old book.  If so, the solution to your sagging shelves is near at hand.  Yet another purpose for Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West!

via bookhaven.stanford.edu

 

Nominate a title for YALSA’s newest booklist, Readers’ Choice | American Libraries Magazine

I would be thrilled to see a book I loved and nominated win an award...It would be like I were a member of the Academy!!!

Nominate a title for YALSA’s newest booklist, Readers’ Choice | American Libraries Magazine.

Food in Philadelphia

So what does this have to do with books...well I admit the thread is tenuous, but the ACRL 2011 Conference (Association of College and Research Libraries) is taking place at the convention center in Philadalphia and this article (Food in Philly) is about nearby food.  I am interested for two reasons: 1) I am from NJ originally and miss Philadelphia and its food (especially bagels mmmmmm) 2) The section of the article about the Reading Terminal Market mentions DiNic's and their roast pork sandwich (I have to admit as a vegetarian I have never tried it), which is owned by the family of a life-long friend so I like to see it praised as they are wonderful people. 

Judge a book by its cover?

Definitely an interesting commentary on the covers of YA historical fiction, though the comments afterward are almost more interesting because of the questions and concerns they pose about how much we judge books by their covers.

History in 2011: Conveying or Concealing the Past

Cosmic

I am not sure if Cosmic, which I finished over the weekend, is primarily science fiction or just young adult disguised as science fiction...I guess technically it is science fiction because a group of five young teens does fly into space, but the space part of the story is not the primary focus.  The novel is really about Liam who is as tall as a man and has facial hair...he is 12.  In order to win a trip into outer space, Liam pretends to be a dad, to his classmate Florida.  Complications ensue and Liam learns about acting responsibly and appreciating being young and carefree.  There is a whole cast of odd characters in the book, primarily the other kids who are going on the trip and their dads.  Their parenting style is an amusing contrast to Liam and his own father. 

I liked the book, but there was something odd for me about the writing style.  Something I cannot quite describe, whatever it was it was distracting.  Not bad, just distracting. 

I am planning to begin The Vast Fields of Ordinary this afternoon.  I also ordered The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell and Marcello in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork today from my favorite on-line book seller.  As usual I am looking forward to their arrival but have no time to actually read them for about 2.3 weeks.  Sigh...never hurts to have lots of books around. 

 

Winners of the 2010 Cybils Awards

Once again, it's our pleasure to bring you our picks for the titles of 2010 that combined literary merit with kid appeal. That's the secret sauce that makes a child or teen want to pull it off the shelf (or download it onto their gizmo of choice) and not move/eat/sleep/breathe until the last page is turned.

via www.cybils.com

Looks like some really exciting books here from the Cybils: Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards.

Cupcakes and Crimes

In the past two days I have finished two YA novels, Close to Famous by Joan Bauer and The Agency: A Spy in th House by Y.S. Lee.  I always enjoy Bauer's novels as they are upbeat and charming.  This one was no different.  Foster McFee is an amateur baker who woos the townspeople of Culpepper, West Virginia with her muffins and cupcakes.  Foster struggles with reading and the loss of her father in the Iraq war, while her mother, a talented singer, tries to make a life for the two in a new town.  Sometimes Bauer's endings are too neat and tidy, but her characters struggle realistically...and it is nice to have a happy ending sometimes.

Lee's novel, is mystery and historical fiction similar to that of Anne Perry's William Monk and Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels.  There is just enough historical detail for a YA reader along with an interesting female sleuth.  I believe Lee intends a trilogy; the second book, The Body at the Tower is out now...I will have to track it down at my local library.  I am interested to see how Mary Quinn (aka Lang) develops and to what depth Lee will explore the time period and London conditions. 

At the top of my list for reading next are Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce and The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd.

The 13 Treasures - More

I realized after said I was enjoying The 13 Treasures that I did not give any specifics, yet I was extremely precise when outlining what I did not like about The Weird Sisters. 

So...

1.  The main charater Tanya is well-developed and realistic.  She behaves the way a 13 year-old (Hmmm, coincidence that she is 13 and all the books revolve around 13??) who can see fairies might. 

2.  The secondary characters are real characters, not just cardboard stand ups who come in to the scene, say their lines to propel the action, then leave; they are interesting and important.

3.  The dialogue is natural without being too casual.  I like it when fantasy novels avoid slang and colloquialism.  It makes the books more enduring, but it also takes them out of this world and places them in a world that is not quite like ours.  This was one of my problems with Episodes I, II, and III of the Star Wars saga..too many contemporary phrases and words that seem out of place in a galaxy far, far away a long time ago. 

4.  The action moves quickly without skimping on details and feeling sparse. 

 

P.S.  Yes, I cracked and ordered the next two books from an on-line seller.  One coming from NY and the other from the UK. 

The 13 Treasures

I REALLY like this book, The 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison.  I have about 20 pages left to go and I almost do not want to finish because then..... well,then it will be over and I do not want it to be over.  There are two more books, The 13 Curses and The 13 Secrets. The first will not be available in the US until June, and who knows when the next will get here....I do not think I am going to be able to wait...this is one reason to love the Internet which gives me access to the world!!!

 

The Weird Sisters Book Review

So, I finished The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown over the weekend.  As you might imagine it is a sister story, and there are three of them.  Their father is a Shakespearean scholar at the local college and the entire family peppers their conversation with quotes from the plays and occasionally the sonnets.  While impressive that the author spent time carefully choosing quotations to perfectly fit the conversation, the whole premise gets tired after a while.  Unfortunately the sisters are pretty cliché:  the oldest is the responsible one who feels as if she needs to put her own life aside to take care of everyone else; the middle girl is the wild one because she feels as if she has always been uninteresting and unloved; the youngest is a drifter who returns because mom is sick and she is pregnant.  Nothing that happens is particularly surprising. 

An oddity in the book is the point of view:  it is told from a 1st person, omniscient sort of view.  It seems as if one of the sisters is telling the story speaking in first person using "we" and "us," but never "I."  So a sentence will say (and this is not a quote, just an example of the style) "Rose was reading, Bean was sleeping, and Cordy was sitting with our parents."  Meanwhile we know the thoughts of all three sisters....and there is no fourth secret sister...it is not that kind of book. 

After all this it may seem as if I disliked the book, which I did not, but it was not as much about books as I had hoped, nor did it reveal anything about the relationships between sisters.  Overall a disappointment, but not unfinishable or painful. 

Jane Eyre

I love the novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, but I am not sure about this new movie.  See for yourself. 

 

Pride of the Scots

This is an interesting article about the first public library in Scotland, which has just published its first book.  The library was founded in 1680 and has been open to the public ever since.  Sounds like a library I will have to add to my list of "Libraries I Want to Visit Because I am a Library Lovin' Nerd."  This list also includes the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.  I love a nice library. 

Good movie versions of books

It is common knowledge when it comes to the movie version of books, the book is always better, however in a few cases, the movie is actually pretty good.  In no particular order, these are the movies I think fit this criteria:

1.  Of Mice and Men (1992)  Gary Sinise did a great job converting this novella into a movie.  The length of the novella does seem to play a large role because very little had to be cut to fit the length of a standard feature film.

2.  The Crucible (1996)  Beside the fact that Daniel Day Lewis makes an exceptional John Proctor, this movie is wonderful because Arthur Miller was one of the screen writers.  He made sure his work was not butchered by the movie makers.  (Trivia: Daniel Day Lewis met Arthur Miller's daughter Rebecca during the filming of the movie and is still married to her.)

3. The Age of Innocence (1993)  Again we have an excellent film starring Daniel Day Lewis.  While there are of course some differences between the novel and movie, it is generally faithful to the book.  Now, you may be noticing an affinity for Daniel Day Lewis and I certainly have that, but on my "Not good movie versions of books" list is Last of the Mohicans (1992).  Do not get me wrong, this is a superb movie, but it is not a particularly close interpretation of the book.

4.  The Cider House Rules (1999)  I guess John Irving learned his lesson after movie makers massacred his book A Prayer for Owen Meany and turned it in to the monstrosity that was Simon Birch because he was involved in writing the screen play, and even played a small role as a train conductor. 

Sadly these are all I can come up with...though I must admit there are movies I have seen but not read the book or vice versa so I cannot speak authoritatively.  There are also many wonderful movies that happen to be based on books, but are not faithful to the book and therefore not appropriate for inclusion on this list.  Maybe I will make a list of those in the future.  I would be glad to have input about my choices and additions to the list. 

 

 

Find books and authors

For those of us who love books, we cannot have access to too many sites leading us to more books to buy, borrow, and read.  I easily found a nice site today, "Book Browse" with a collection of links to author websites, which is what I originally wanted.  It has a tab called "Find a Book" though which allows you to find books based on categories such as "genre," "setting," "time period," "award winners" and a few others.  This is a nice feature if you know what you like, but do not know what to read next.  I can freely admit, I never have this particular problem because I have shelves full of books I have not yet read waiting for me to have time to give them some attention.  The site is clearly a professional site with many other features than the ones I have highlighted and is worth exploring. 

Whew...

Deanna Raybourn has done it again.  I thoroughly enjoyed Silent in the Moor.  The characters were interesting, the ongoing sexual tension between Lady Julia and Brisbane was palpable, and there were even some nice Wuthering Heights references.  Despite these positives, I did have a primary element of the mystery figured out less than half way through the book.  Usually that turns me off to a mystery writer, but I also usually give them at least one more chance.  After a break from her books I will pick up Dark Road to Darjeeling.  Since the book seems to begin another three book cycle, maybe the mystery will be fresh as well.  Even if it is not, the characters are really likable so it should be an interesting read in any case. 

Up next is The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown.  After that I have three YAs lined up...

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce, 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison, and Close to Famous by Joan Bauer.  My mood at the time will determine which I read first....they are very different.  Cosmic is sci-fi, 13 Treasures is fantasy, and Close to Famous is just going to be a nice story.  As much as I love both sci-fi and fantasy I think it is important for young adults and kids to have some books available in which the angst is light.  Because, despite our changing society, some kids do have nice lives and they should get to see that reflected in literature.