Remember when Unshelved used to be seven days a week? Actually we know most of you do, because we haven't heard the end of it. At the beginning of this year we moved to a weekday schedule. We appreciated getting two days off, but many of you have been quite vociferous in your desire for Unshelved on the weekend.
So let's compromise.
Starting this week, Unshelved resumes Saturday and Sunday deliveries, featuring greatest hits from our 3000+ strip archive, handpicked by Gene and me. We think you will enjoy these blasts from the past as much as we do.
(This means our weekly email moves from Friday back to Sunday. If you can't wait that long, click "update profile" at the bottom of your email to change to daily delivery.)
Museum of Thieves (Keepers #1)
by Lian Tanner. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2010. 9780385739054.
Reviewed by Flemtastic
Goldie is feeling stifled by her community, where kids are kept from anything that could be dangerous by the Blessed Guardians. Today she will undergo the Separation ceremony, where the chain that literally binds her to an adult will be broken. But the villainous Fugleman interrupts the rite, claiming there is danger present. The Guardians want to separate Goldie from everyone she knows, for her safety. She runs away and ends up at a strange museum that seems to be alive, where rooms switch places and the history the contain can be deadly.
Fugelman wants to use the museum’s exhibits to secure his grip on power. The dogged Guardians want to get Goldie and her friend Toadspit, another runaway. First they’ll have to defeat the museum’s defenses, and get past Goldie and the museum’s odd occupants.
Why I picked it up: The publisher invited me to a dinner with Lian Tanner, and I had a very stimulating discussion with her. Also, the fantastic cover painting contains clues about the story.
Why I finished it: When Fugleman and his men begin nailing the doors and walls of the museum into place, preventing the rooms from changing to confuse them, a dreadful sense of inevitability began to grow. How could the museum would step up its defenses? I also enjoyed Sinew, the museum’s main caretaker, who gives the kids tons of responsibility as well as training. He lets them bear some risk and reward for the first time in their young lives.
I'd give it to: My nephews who are not big readers, but would be sucked in by the sentient, deadly Museum of Dunt, particularly the war-ravaged Dirty Gate, a room complete with soldiers and battlefields. Also Izzy, who would feel that the the tomboyish Goldie would make a good friend.
Tricked
by Alex Robinson. Top Shelf, 2005. 9781891830730.
Reviewed by Bill Barnes
Ray is a world-famous musician, surrounded by women and money, but his muse has left the building. Nick got laid off months ago, and his wife does't know he's working at a shady collectibles store. Phoebe is searching for her father. Steve is a huge huge fan of Ray, but he’s off his meds. Caprice just got over a messy breakup. And Lily works for Ray's management agency. As this graphic novel begins, their six lives start to spiral together.
Why I picked it up: Big fan of Robinson's Box Office Poison, which inspired me when I was considering going back into cartooning. I still reread each of his books every year or two.
Why I finished it: Ray's life fascinated me. I think it has good lessons for when I become a world-famous musician, surrounded by women and money.
I'd give it to: Chris Baldwin, author of the wonderful webcomic Spacetrawler. I think he'd appreciate the intricate (and intertwined) plot lines.
Heist Society
by Ally Carter, read by Angela Dawe. Brilliance Audio, 2010. 9781441826732.
Reviewed by Sharon Levin
Katarina Bishop was born into a dynasty of thieves. Not just your average, everyday thieves – her parents took her to the Louvre when she was three so they could case it. By fifteen she wants a normal life and pulls off a con that creates an identity she uses to get into a boarding school. However, she’s soon expelled and leading a band of young family members to pull off an impossible heist and save her father.
Why I picked it up: Carter’s clever writing is always fun and the sly “I know something you don’t and I look better than you” look on the teen girl’s face on the cover made me smile. (I know that look, I have two teen girls).
Why I finished it: Who really stole the paintings? What diabolical mind could have pulled off the theft AND framed Kat’s father for it? How in the world could Kat figure out where the paintings were, and then how could a group of kids steal them back, unnoticed?
I'd give it to: Mike, who loved The Thin Man movies, because the story is so much fun and fast paced. The Peanuts (a group of sweet girls I've adored since they were five) who don’t take any nonsense -- they would love both Katarina, who is smart and feisty, and her bad boy.
The 120 Days of Simon
by Simon Gardenfors. Top Shelf, 2010. 9781603090506. Publisher’s Rating: Mature Readers.
Reviewed by Gene Ambaum
Simon travels around Sweden for four months, staying with people who sign up to host him via a website. It’s his personal rumspringa -- he tries to drink and drug and sleep with as many women as possible before returning to Stockholm and a woman he may or may not love. Simon meets a lot of people, reflects on his life, and then returns home. He even gets a death threat along the way.
Why I picked it up: Never read a Swedish comic before.
Why I finished it: I’ve never seen a graphic novel done in two panels per page. I’m a fan of comics like Mister O, Fell and Peanuts where creators stick to a layout and figure out how to use it to great effect. In many cases, this brings out the best in writers and artists by forcing them to tell their stories within a boundary. This thick little book is also extremely fast-paced and includes only the highlights of Simons’ adventure, not every detail.
I'd give it to: Al, who tore through my Snakepit collections when he visited our place with his wife. He was shocked at the content and the concept, and this book shares some similarities. I have a feeling my friend Sam would like this, too, because she enjoys Rich Stevens Diesel Sweeties.
Purple Heart
by Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick. Balzer + Bray, 2009. 9780061730900.
Reviewed by Sarah Hunt
Matt wakes up in a field hospital in the Green Zone in Iraq with only patchy recall of the explosion that got him there. As he recovers, he begins to suspect that he doesn't remember his part in the death of a civilian child, and that his buddies and the brass might prefer it that way.
Why I picked it up: It's a war story told from a teen point of view, and it made a couple of my coworkers' top ten of 2009 lists.
Why I finished it: It's full of details of the strange everydayness of life in Iraq like care packages of Little Debbie cakes, desert heat and cold, playing Halo, and the thousands of choices about right and wrong and survival. You can see the richness and accuracy of detail and emotional impact that McCormick got from the many hours of interviews with veterans and their families.
I'd give it to: My peeps in the cancer survivor group, who would understand Matt’s reluctance to tell his family and friends what he’s going through, even though they care enough to ask.
Prime Baby
by Gene Luen Yang. First Second, 2010. 9781596436121.
Reviewed by Flemtastic
Thaddeus is the center of his parents’ universe until his baby sister is born. Wanting life to return to normal, he schemes to get rid of his sister with progressively less-likely plans. Then she begins burbling prime numbers in sequence. He is convinced she is a dangerous alien, even before she begins burping up Pokemon-like balls that contain advanced, sock-knitting slug creatures. He is sure that this is his ticket to getting rid of her. He is also determined to save the world so that he can make all men wear fu-manchu-like facial hair in a style he calls the Thaddeus.
Why I picked it up: Since reading Yang’s American Born Chinese I have been a fan of his sparse yet emotive drawings.
Why I finished it: Thaddeus’ face speaks volumes as he processes his insecurity after the arrival of his new baby sister.
I'd give it to: Single children of all ages who never experienced the joy that a sibling can bring. Sam J., who has a new brother in the house that he sometimes enjoys, and that at other times he’d rather return to the factory.
DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary Volume Two
by Erika Moen. 2010. 9780982343715.
Reviewed by Gene Ambaum
The second and final volume of one of my favorite autobiographical webcomics. DAR often deals with sex, sexuality, art, marriage, friendship, and there are a number of strips about farts and poop in this one. (This may look familiar -- we did an Unshelved Book Club strip on Volume One earlier this year.)
Why I picked it up: Couldn’t wait to get a copy after reading volume one, but I had to wait until it was published this spring.
Why I finished it: The comics are honest and funny, and that was enough to keep me reading. I also love the contrast between the highly polished later strips in the first half of the book and the earlier strips in the second half.
I'd give it to: Sarah, who would love the highly personal aspects of this, wouldn’t be scandalized at how Erika shares her sex life, and may know some teens who she should recommend it to.
Visit the Unshelved Book Club for more recommendations, reviewer bios, selection guidelines, and permitted uses.
Thanks again to this week's sponsor Albert Whitman & Co., publisher of the classic Boxcar Children Mysteries as well as Zapato Power, The Buddy Files, Christmas Kitten, and more. Click through for free reading guides!
A reminder about Spread The Love, our membership drive. Sign up seven new Unshelved subscribers by the end of September and we'll send you a postcard with your favorite character hand-drawn by me, and signed by me and Gene!
Last week, we blogged about how you could help move the proposed Unshelved Answers replacement forward, and many of you followed and voted. Thanks!
Now the proposal has moved to the Commitment phase. This means you personally commit to using the site - asking and answering questions - for a set period of time. As of writing this, the proposal has 11% of the commitments it needs to move to the beta phase. (There is not a set number needed, as they are weighted by a user’s reputation across the Stack Exchange sites. But because most of us don’t use Stack Exchange much, we’re going to need a lot of people.)
So please:
1. Go to the proposal.
2. Click Commit! in the upper left-hand corner of the page.
3. Supply your name, email, and a reason, as asked.
On behalf of all Unshelved Answers users, thanks again.
Perhaps you remember Brian Brown, who drew a great Unshelved Book Club of Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan. Yesterday he launched his new comic strip Everything Dies, "a series of comics about religion as myth throughout the world". I love it. It's already on my list of RSS feeds.
Drop-In Titles
A paid service from Unshelved letting you know about titles so hot off the press you won't find them in any catalog! How to list titles
The Third Man - Life at the Heart of New Labour Peter Mandelson / HarperCollins UK / HarperPress / $22.95 / 9780007395293 / 0007395299 / Autobiography / Political Science / Trade Paper / On Sale: 09/2010 / Drawn heavily from detailed diary notes, the revelatory memoir of one of New Labor's three founding architects is devoted to the "soap opera" years of Labor government and the breakdown of relationships between Mandelson, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown
This year's Banned Books Week begins September 25. To help you celebrate, any order from the Unshelved Store containing a Read Irresponsibly shirt or Intellectual Freedom Fighter shirt or bag gets a free mini poster pack, which includes posters of both designs. This offer starts immediately and ends, like the week it's designed to celebrate, on October 2.
Please welcome our returning sponsor Albert Whitman & Co., publisher of the classic Boxcar Children Mysteries as well as Zapato Power, The Buddy Files, Christmas Kitten, and more. Please click through to find out more!
The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive Book 1)
by Brandon Sanderson. Tor, 2010. 9780765326355.
Reviewed by Flemtastic
Massive electrical highstorms repeatedly scour the world. Kingdoms battle on the Shattered Plains for glory, power, and the heart gems of the massive, chitinous creatures that spawn there. Unbeatable Brightlords wear magical armor and wield rock shearing Shardblades. They politic and fight amongst one another even as their war against the bestial Parshendi continues. Brightlord Kholinar reads The Way of Kings, an ancient text about honor. His visions push him to try to change society, but his ideas are shouted down and insulted. On the plains, Kaladin, a soldier and healer, tries to improve the system of portable bridges used to span canyons in an attempt to save lives. A would-be scholar, Shallan, must deceive her mentor to steal a necklace and save her bankrupt family. An assassin uses his lashing skills to alter gravity and take out a panoply of rulers, sowing chaos.
Why I picked it up: Sanderson is THE pre-eminent fantasy author right now in terms of prolific output, buzz, and content. He was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Eye of the World series after Jordan’s death, and his Elantris and Mistborn series books have been highly praised. What kind of epic fantasy reader would I be if I didn’t try this 1,008 page behemoth?
Why I finished it: The clever illustrations and historical clippings about past events that are included between chapters. This is a fully realized world, thought out at every level and to a degree seen only in the strongest fantasy novels. I continued to visualize the stunning, gravity defying fight scenes even after I put down the book.
I'd give it to: This series promises to be every bit as all-encompassing and engrossing as A Song of Ice and Fire, so I’d give it to my friends Gene and Bill, who are both (like many of us) waiting for George R.R. Martin’s next book.
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President
by
Josh Lieb. Razorbill, 2009. 9781595142405.
Reviewed by Sarah Hunt
Oliver appears to be a normal seventh grader. Okay, he actually appears to be fairly overweight and stupid. But he is in fact a genius who operates a shell corporation to make huge amounts of money and control everything around him. What else could he possibly want? To become class president.
Why I picked it up: Epic title. Cover blurbs from Jon Stewart and Judd Apatow didn't hurt.
Why I finished it: Oliver fills the evil genius shoes well while keeping me rooting for him (but wondering why). Like Rocky and Bullwinkle and SCTV, the book was funny for grown-up-me, but has lots to enjoy for middle school readers, too.
I'd give it to: My parents, who will like the Captain Beefheart shout-outs. Mark, because of its comedic use of footnotes. Kim, who enjoys fart jokes.
Astonishing X-Men Volume 1
by Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday. Marvel, 2006. 9780785117339.
Reviewed by Gene Ambaum
Hardcover collection of the first 12 issues of the series. Professor X is out. Kitty Pryde is back. Between classes at the mansion, it’s time for the X-men to look and act like the heroes they are. That means tights, because that’s what super heroes wear. (The black leather “costumes” of recent years were giving everyone the wrong idea). Which is good, because a scientist has developed a cure to turn mutants into regular humans. She had help from a brutal alien on a mission and a secret government organization charged with keeping the earth safe. And the X-Men knew some of the test subjects she used for genetic material.
Why I picked it up: It’s part of my permanent collection, and I needed to read a fantastic superhero story.
Why I finished it: It holds up on a 3rd (4th?) reading. The dialogue is snarky, the art and layouts are gorgeous and completely serve the story, and Laura Martin’s colors make the whole book sing. Anyone who doesn’t like this book will likely never like a superhero book.
I'd give it to: My wife Silver, who was good enough to sit through the third X-men movie and the Wolverine movie, too. She probably didn’t mind (thanks, Hugh Jackman!), but I think I can get her to read this because she’s a Joss Whedon fan from his Buffy days. (Bill adds: I left X-Men and vowed never to return. My love of all things Whedon pulled me back in. There are a lot of people who read X-Men back in the day but don't even read comics any more. This one's for them.)
Miles From Nowhere
by Nami Mun. Riverhead, 2009. 9781594483981.
Reviewed by Silver
Joon (13) is a quiet Korean girl living on streets of New York City. Her mother lost her mind after her father left, and Joon couldn't live at home alone with a mother who didn't love her. Joon knows no way to express the pain in her heart. She becomes friends with Knowledge & Wink, who are about her age. They escape from a homeless shelter together. To survive, they turn to using drugs and selling their bodies.
Why I picked it up: My husband Gene got this book for me. I thought he got it for me only because I’m Korean. For a moment, I doubted his librarian super powers. (Gene: I read a review of the book that compared Joon to the character Bubbles in The Wire, which Silver loved.)
Why I finished it: As I got to know Joon, she reminded me of my mother, who, until recently, never expressed how she felt because she thought it wasn't relevant or important. I hoped Joon would meet an adult who would help her and whose help she would accept. I needed to know if there was any light at the end of the tunnel.
I'd give it to: My friend D.J., who made a tough decision to spend more time with his family instead of putting 100% of himself into his job. To my husband so that he understands me better when I tell him I love my father for having been such a responsible person, even though he wasn’t always pleasant to be around.
The Good Daughters
by Joyce Maynard. William Morrow, 2010. 9780061994319.
Reviewed by Bill Barnes
Dana Dickerson and Ruth Plank were born in the same town on the same day. In alternating chapters they tell us about themselves, from their childhood in the 50's up to modern day. Their lives are vastly different but surprisingly intertwined.
Why I picked it up: I really enjoyed Maynard's previous book, Labor Day.
Why I finished it: I confess I harbored a negative opinion for most of the book. I thought I had it figured out. I thought it was heading toward an obvious and disappointing conclusion. The only thing that kept me going was my loyalty to the author. Turns out I was dead wrong. She surprised the heck out of me, with an ending that made me rethink the entire book.
I'd give it to: J.T., who comes from a family of brothers. She might learn something from Ruth, who is the youngest of five sisters.
I Am Number Four
by Pittacus Lore. HarperCollins, 2010. 9780061969553.
Reviewed by Flemtastic
John Smith is the alias of a fifteen-year-old alien, Number Four. He’s on the run with his guardian, Henri. The bestial Mogadorians are hunting him and the other eight children that escaped from the planet Lorien. They have already eliminated numbers One through Three, and John is next.
John and Henri are currently hiding in Paradise, Ohio. Given a chance to stay for a few months, John makes friends with a conspiracy theorist and lands his first girlfriend. He’s tired of running and wants to stay. He is faster and stronger than a human, and is also beginning to develop other powers. But they probably won’t be enough when the Mogadorians catch up with him.
Why I picked it up: Best book jacket copy this year. “They caught Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They killed them all. I am Number Four. I am next.”
Why I finished it: Nonstop action, intelligent character development, the promise of an entire series based on Number Four and the other Lorien children as they hone their fighting skills in an effort to take back their home planet. I read it all in one sitting.
I'd give it to: Nick G, who enjoys the pace of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series. And Amber F, who will love when the school suffers extraordinary damage in the huge fight.
Gogo Monster
by Gogo Monster by Taiyo Matsumoto. Viz, 2009. 9781421532097.
Reviewed by Gene Ambaum
Yuki Tachibana, a first grader, can see the other side. He draws creatures on his desk, and plays the harmonica for them on his school’s roof. His only friends are the boss of the other side, Super Star, and the school’s elderly caretaker.
But more of the others have come. They’re not considerate. And the fourth floor, declared off-limits by the teachers, is becoming more dangerous.
Why I picked it up: Great book design! A glossy hardcover featuring multicolored creatures, black endpapers, and red printing on the paper’s edges.
Why I finished it: The story’s sustained “I can’t quite tell what’s really happening” creepiness is very compelling. I kept waiting for it to turn into a full blown horror story.
I'd give it to: Ashley, my friend who I bet liked Calvin and Hobbes as a kid but prefers darker stories these days.
Visit the Unshelved Book Club for more recommendations, reviewer bios, selection guidelines, and permitted uses.
