My Reading Frenzy

Two Boys Kissing

is not really what you think it will be about.  Though it is about two boys kissing, but in true David Levithan style it is really addressing so much more.  The two boys in question are Harry and Craig who used to date.  Now they are kissing in order to break the world's record in a particularly attention getting way.  They will kiss over a weekend on the front lawn of their high school.  Harry's parents know he is gay and completely support this endeavor.  Craig's parents are less aware and less supportive than he and we would like.  We also follow the story of Avery, a transgendered boy, and Ryan who meet the night before the kiss begins at a gay prom and a long term couple, Peter and Neil.  Cooper also figures into the story as he is discovered on gay pick-up sites by his disgusted father.  Hovering over all these stories are the ghosts of gay men who have gone before, those who have died of AIDS and who are part of the generation that refused to hide despite some horrific repercussions.  They linger to watch as the world changes for the better for young men like those in the story. 

This is not a long novel, but it is lovely and sad, but hopeful that though we have come a long way, there is still work to be done.  So while the two kissing boys are at the center of the story, Levithan has really written a book about being gay.  He writes about how being gay is still what you are rather than one part of what you are, but he also writes of the day when this will no longer be the case. 

I think that Levithan does not back away from what has surely been controversial reaction and I am glad.  Someone needs to write books about the gay, teen experience for all the reasons we know YA literature is important: so kids do not feel alone in whatever they are experiencing, and so they know their stories are being told and read. 

Jodi Picoult does it again with The Storyteller

I have said it before and I will say it again.  I really like Jodi Picoult's books.  They always cause an emotional reaction.  Some really get to me (Nineteen Minutes) and others are affecting, but not in a personal way.  This one was a mix.  While it is about the Holocaust, specifically focused on Poland, it is also about family, love, self-knowledge, and forgiveness.  Picoult is wildly successful and talented at writing about timely and difficult topics.  I have read criticisms of her work which run her down for the very things that make her books popular and effective.  No matter my level of connectedness with the issue in the book, I always spend time while reading and later really mulling over the intricacies of the moral dilemmas she presents.  Books that make us think and consider an issue from more than one side are all to the good I think.  This story was well researched, intricate on many levels, and heartbreaking, but a good cry is good for the soul. 

Big Bloggin' Slacker

Some people might give me the benefit of the doubt over my long posting absence.  Those of you who just leapt right to judging me....well you are in the right.  I have been lazy and not blogging about what I read.  This of course, as I have lamented before, completely goes against the reason I started a blog in the first place, which was to record the books I read because they do not all stick in my mind the way I would like.

In my defense:

1.  I do write a journal every day to record my adventures as the Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, so I am doing a lot of writing. 

2.  I also spend a lot of time exploring Washington, DC so my time for blogging is more limited.

Neither of these excuses is strong, but at least they are honest.  So without further ado, here are some of the books I have read since last blogging, with mini-reviews. 

1.  The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness:  I liked this one most especially because it was another re-imagining of a dystopic world, but one totally different from anything before and gladly after.  Next up in my reading pile is the second in the series: The Ask and the Answer.  On one hand I am afraid to read because book 1 ended with our hero and heroine in a very precarious situation, but on the other hand....I MUST find out what happens to them.

2.  The Disenchantments by Nina LeCour: This novel was fabulous because its characters are all artists of one sort or another.  There are lots of sports novels that I think are meant to draw in sporty kids who someone believes do not like to read.  But I love a story about musicians and artists.  This is definitely a high school book, but one I would recommend to any high schooler who likes to read and is perhaps a bit apprehensive about life post-high school.

3 & 4.  Jepp Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh and The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd:  I did not finish either of these books because the first did not really catch my interest and the second because its first 50 pages were filled with ridiculous cliches of plot and metaphor. 

5.  Allegiant by Veronica Roth: WOW!  What an ending!  Roth has done it, she has ended a trilogy in what I felt was a totally satisfying way.  I know there is chatter around the blogs that she broke readers' hearts, but I say, all's fair in dystopic YA fiction.  This is a series I will read again to capture the emotional impact of all three books without a year or more of time between.

6.  The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater:  I have said it before and I will say it again. Maggie Stiefvater and I should be friends.  I will not go so far as to say "we are just alike" and "I totally get her," because those two things are ridiculous, but I think she has an outlook with which I agree and I think I could bring a lot to the friendship.  The books was amazing.  It does not suffer from second book syndrome.  Stuff happened, important stuff happened, the story progressed, there was no treading of water so that the third book can be tumultuous and earth-shattering.  I listened to The Raven Boys before reading this to refresh me on the details, and I am glad I did.  Now I wait for the third installment.  Sigh.

7.  Graceling by Kristin Cashore:  Yes, I am a bit late to this party, but I have wanted to read this trilogy for a while, and just never did.  This is of course good because I can read all three quickly without waiting for the next book to be released.  I realize this is good for book sales in many ways, but it is frustrating to me as a reader who does not often re-read books.  It is difficult for me to remember details from earlier books, but I also dislike when the other front-loads a book with reminders from the previous stories.  Yes, I am very picky!

8.  March by John Lewis:  There is a lot of weight on the shoulders of Congressman John Lewis who is the only surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington.  He has handled some of his legacy by writing a graphic novel about his experiences.  While the book is aimed at middle grade readers, I think it is still a great way to look at the Civil Rights movement from the first person perspective.  I look forward to the continuation of the story. 

There may be others I have read, but I cannot remember any right now.  I am part way through Foodist by Darya Pino Rose and The Secret Lives of Codebreakers by Sinclair McKay.