My Reading Frenzy

Tana French - The Secret Place - WOW

I have loved mysteries since my mother brought a box of her Nancy Drew books down from the attic for me. (For those of you who are thinking about re-reading these books as an adult - DO NOT DO IT, let Nancy rest as a heroine in your memory.) I do not like mysteries that are gory, or supernatural (Exhibit #1: Pride and Presience by Carrie Bebris. I am NOT interested in a mystery that promotes itself as a solvable mystery, but then, the perpetrator is a GHOST...ridiculous, and I do not feel at all guilty about having just spoiled the ending...better to be warned than pissed off like I was.)

Moving along, I decided to start my relationship with books by Tana French with her most recent, The Secret Place. I was drawn to it for a number of reasons: 1. My father speaks highly of In the Woods. 2. The very first mystery I read post-Nancy Drew was Cat Among the Pigeons, by Agatha Christie, (also recommended by my father) which takes place at an all-girls school. 3. Having been a teenage girl, and taught them for many years, I know how they can be. This book has them characterized perfectly. Not as sure about the teenage boys, but suspect they are pretty accurate as well.

Now, I am hooked. The story is fascinating. The police procedural bits are informative. The girl/boy social bits are eerily foreshadow-ish since the crime is almost a cold case, which means it is never a question that murder has been done. And the writing is beautiful. This is a not a mystery to tear through to get to the denouement, it is instead a story to savor, working out the clues with Stephen Moran and Antoinette Conway, living in the flashbacks that interweave with one day at St. Kilda's following a trail that went cold 9 months before. The slow build toward the revelation of the killer is immersive.

I will now work backward and read all of French's books, then wait with baited breath for the next release. I am going to start with Faithful Place, an earlier book with Holly Mackey and Stephen Moran who both feature in The Secret Place.

Graphic Novels Galore

In addition to my recent experience with Raina Telgemeier, I also read Bryan Lee O'Malley's Seconds, Sailor Twain by Mark Seigel, The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman and Eddie Campbell, and Tomboy by Liz Prince.

I can admit I have not read O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim books (and it is possible I never will) though, I have seen the movie, which I know does not really count because the book is ALWAYS better. Seconds is a stand alone story about Katie who is a chef and restaurant owner. Even without having read Scott Pilgrim I know this is a departure. Katie is dissatisfied with a number of aspects of her life, including her relationship with her ex and the speed at which her new restaurant is being readied to open. Through some plot turns Katie discovers she has a house spirit in her apartment who offers her a way to make changes to her past. One night when a server at the restaurant is badly burned, Katie makes the first of a series of changes.

It should come as no surprise that the changes do not work out quite as Katie hoped. We're not talking "The Monkey's Paw" type changes, but they throw Katie into turmoil. This is definitely not a graphic novel for kids, but certainly teens and adults. I enjoyed it enough to think seriously about picking up the Scott Pilgrim books. (One of my favorite sources for used graphic novels is Second Story Books in Washington, DC - I have only visited the store in Dupont Circle, but they have others. They also have an excellent selection of art books.)

Since I am on a bit of a tear with graphic novels these days, I jumped into The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Eddie Campbell.  This is not strictly a graphic novel, it is more of a mixed media experience with some elements of the story told in a traditional narrative form with illustrations while other segments use panels and speech bubbles. With only two main characters, the story features flashback to tell us more about Calum McInnes and the man (or dwarf) he leads to the cave to find treasure. Like many Gaiman tales this one is not for children. This is a folktale or fairy tale perhaps from the Isle of Skye, but as the subtitle says it is, "A Tale of Travel and Darkness with Pictures of All Kinds." 

Next up is Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel. I did not love this one. I liked it well enough, but there were a few irritating elements. I liked the art quite a bit. On its face, it is the story of a mermaid and a married steamboat captain who helps her when she is injured. But the mermaid is not exactly Ariel and Captain Twain is not as loyal as one might hope. There is a side story about Lafayette who owns the ship and has lost his brother to the mermaid's song and is desperately trying to avoid his own downfall. Weave in a female novelist who has been published as a man and you have an interesting story grappling with some feminine archetypes. All that said, I liked it, I did not love it.

Finally, just yesterday, I finished Tomboy, by Liz Prince. This one I loved. I think it should be in every middle school library everywhere and high schools too! I can't usually love a graphic novel that is not in color, but Prince's artwork is so spot on in capturing the nuances of her younger self that I did not even miss the color. This is a great story about Prince growing up as a tomboy, having to find her own way with friends and boyfriends who are not sure how to relate to someone who so clearly rejects society's gender norms. I think this is an important story for kids of all ages to read (though it is probably most appropriate for middle schoolers and up). The questions Prince raises about the expectations we have for the behavior, dress, look, everything about boys and girls are mind blowing. The graphic novel format is becoming an important tool for starting conversations about topics related to identity and acceptance.  READ IT!

Next up: Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud...it may be a bit late for this, but I am sure I will learn something from this highly regarded guide to comics.

 

A Sweet Read - Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau

While browsing the book buying area (this year run by an independent book store, DC's Politics and Prose) I ran across a delightful picture book: Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau, written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts. It was drawn to it for three reasons:

1.  The book festival took place on my birthday

2.  It was about hats/fashion

3.  Madame Chapeau is French!

It turned out to be a wonderful story. It is all about Madame Chapeau, who somewhat unsurprisingly is a milliner. She goes out for dinner by herself on her birthday and her hat is stolen by a crow. As she chases it, she makes a number of friends, one of whom is able to give her a perfect replacement hat.

Things that make this a great story:

1.  The illustrations are lovely, with a wide-variety of fabulous hats, some of which are recognizable and others that are satisfyingly unique.

2. The characters are diverse. The "We Need Diverse Books" movement is all over the internets these days and this book is a refreshing look a wide variety of people without diversity being the stated topic of the book.

3.  I seriously dislike the idea of "girl books" and "boy books," as I believe good stories are for everyone. This is a good story!

 

Additional: After writing and sceduling this post, I read Iggy Peck, Architect by the same authors.  Also wonderful.  I love the drawings, the diversity, and the story.  Moving to Rosie Revere, Engineer next.

Raina Telgemeier - Sisters

This past Saturday the Library of Congress held its annual National Book Festival. Because of some difficulties in negotiations with the National Park Service, the festival was moved from the National Mall to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. I heard mixed reviews throughout the day but more positive about the move than negative. Because of the indoor venue, the festival's hours were expanded to 10pm, but all events were condensed into one day.

One of the evening events was a graphic novels super session. As I had been at the festival since 8:30am and it was my birthday, I only stayed to hear one author. And I am glad I did.

Raina Telgemeier is the author of Smile, Drama, and most recently Sisters. She spoke generally about her books and her start as the illustrator of the Babysister's Club graphic novels. She also brought a few kids up to help her read a chapter from Sisters. This was a really sweet portion of the presentation, as was the question and answer session during which mostly children asked a wide variety of questions about her ideas and topics and even her teeth, a story she tells in Smile.

The answer I found most interesting was about how she picks which stories from her own life to tell. For both Smile and Sisters she chose just one small part of her greater experiences. The difficulties she had with her teeth spanned about 4 years of her life, but she was really focused in the book about her orthodontic adventures. In Drama, the time span was through one musical production during her middle school years. She spoke about wanting to capture the experiences of the behind the scenes kids. (I can tell you from experience that as an adult director, having reliable, creative, and wonderful kids painting the sets and moving them during the production has a tremendous, positive impact on the entire production.)

Sisters, is specifically about a road trip Raina took with her mom, sister, and brother the summer she was 14. More generally it is about Raina's relationship with her sister, told through flashbacks. It is really a well-done story, bringing in Raina's feelings about her now-teenage cousins and younger brother as well.

I highly recommend all three of Telgemeier's books for middle school in particular, but they are not too young for freshmen and sophomores perhaps, and would probably work well in 5th grade too.