the deus ex machina complex and other theories

well, I want to read novels about teenage boys KISSING. I'm doomed.

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:18:54 GMT

Hahahaha, are you kidding me?

In an era where there is so much legal panic around relations between adults and young adults, it's hard to deny your knee-jerk response that there's something slightly distasteful and pedophilic about an adult reading stories aimed at people under the age of 18.

Hands up from everyone who thinks that authors writing YA novels are also child predators!

the booklog that time forgot

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:42:03 GMT

The last month has been sort of crazy! Thankfully, all the work and meetings I've been doing are finishing up and despite any wank I am not going to stress out. Time to relax and catch up on me-stuff.

94. Th1rteen R3easons Why, Jay Asher: So there's this girl who kills herself because she just can't go on living. Before she does the deed, she spends some time recording some tapes, outlining all the people who brought her to the point where she feels she can't continue. Whether it was negligence or thoughtless emotional abuse, thirteen people end up on Hannah's tapes—and after she dies they begin their journey through the group of people indicted for Hannah's suicide, blamed for just not giving a shit about anyone but themselves. After each person listens, the tapes must be passed on, or everyone, not just the people on the tapes, will know the truth.

Someone is watching.

This book was hyped and hyped and hyped some more. What sort of events bring a teenage girl to take her own life? You listen with Clay, to Hannah's story—and although Clay is a huge part of this novel, Hannah is the protagonist. She's left her words behind, recorded, and we have to listen to her story. We can't argue—although Clay tries, interrupts all the time a girl who can no longer listen—and the more we hear the more that we decide that maybe we don't want to argue against the people who waged an emotional war on Hannah for no other reason than carelessness and selfishness.

Instead, what we see is how logical it can be, even as we sit on the sidelines knowing that is is illogical and no solution at all to die and take any chance at redemption or closure or healing away. Hannah hurts, but through the entire novel she's not always likable. Her selfish desires win out over anything else the other characters do.

I didn't expect the ending and the more I thought about it less I wanted this book to be about the same issues that I keep seeing, over and over and over again. It's saved by the question of Hannah's choices and motivation in those dark moments in the closet. Was it revenge? Was it her own personal safety? Was it right?

Is the true reason she ultimately chose suicide because of what people did to her...or what she did to other people? There are no easy answers and no girl to give them—not anymore.

95. Hope Was Here, Joan Bauer: What's the best way to ruin a really great novel about what it means to be compassionate and loving?

Strangle the denoument with bare hands.

I admit, I am not a fan of books with endings that look like they just came from an extremely talented gift-wrap service. Some I can stomach because that's just the way the story gets made to look all pretty, no ribbon or bow out of place. Others make me want to stab myself in the face. This was one of them. I went through the entire story with Hope and her aunt, loving their adventures with their restaurant and G.T.'s run for major of a town so corrupted it was putting off steam. I was fangirling this book hard!

I love father/child relationships. I loved Hope and G.T. together. I thought, "Bauer is my NEW B.F.F. she is reading my mind and writing exactly what I want with these dynamics! YES!"

Then she went and fast-forwarded her ending for the cheap trick empathy. I haven't been this pissed since I read My Sister's Keeper. Everything in the last 20 or so pages—cheap! All the emotions—shallow! You only get to tug my heartstrings if you're not playing the maximum emotional blackmail card. I'm left feeling a little abused and preached to about the nature of life and loss and moving on. Moments and issues were spread too thinly...totally unnecessary.

I do not get why people paste on melodramatic endings to perfectly good stories and weigh them down with a lot of emotional baggage that has not been shown, has only been told, on a narrative that doesn't exist and therefore can't support the outcome. I listened to this author get hyped too much, I suppose. I really do hate flash-forward endings this much; it was a learning experience for me. This has happened before. The Book of Lost Things, I'm looking at you.

I really enjoyed the entire book until the end. It is totally worth reading for the good bits, because they are very good. Just beware the gift-wrapped, emotional man-trap ending. It's tricky.

96. Love Match, Keira Andrews: This was an ebook that went through one of the communities I belong to.

It is hilariously bad. There are at least 10 sex scenes between the main characters. At least. I spent the majority of my time when I was reading going, "This is like terrible fictionpress work." Seriously, I've read better original work on bb_shousetsu.

The story goes that Luke is a down-on-his-luck tennis player, still heartbroken over the death of his coach and lover. He meets a younger, up-and-coming player, Jesse, and sparks fly! Kisses are exchanged. Sex is had (again and again and again and again¹). Then the obligatory separation, fueled by the fact that Jesse wants to get with the times and be out and proud, but Luke knows tennis endorsements are only for straight guys. God! A gay tennis player! Can you imagine.

There is also a scene in the book where Luke is stalking Jesse because he can't bear to be parted over a stupid fight and sits in his car and watches him, then calls him on the phone and then they have phone sex. Predictably, this ends in heartbreak and I die of lawls because it is so melodramatic. You have the obligatory gay fairy (as in, fairy godmother who is pyschic and speaks only wisdom and light) and the obligatory straight friend that suffers gay panic and the well-meaning mother who just loves her son and wants him happy that reads like Luke's nosy younger sister. Every time the mother spoke I wanted to tell the author to please step off the narrative and let me read. Self-inserts are tired and I have one million fics at fanfiction.net that can fill that need.

Also, the book wouldn't be complete without a raging homophobic dude in the villain position, vying for the same tennis championship that Luke is. The symbolism! My eyes.

So much sex; I keep coming back to it. There was so much fucking it was like I Chronicles. I know there's a problem when I'm getting tired of the word "cock" and am wondering when we're going to get back to, well, the plot.

¹ and again and again and again!

The Cybils are coming up. I am pretty excited but nervous because I don't think this blog counts as YA-focused. To be YA focused you sort of have to post all YA all the time and I totally fail at doing that (or just fail in general by never posting anything). Also, I think being on blogspot or wordpress or anywhere that is not LJ helps, unless you are an author and then it doesn't matter because, well, you're an author. People outside LJ hate LJ for being unintuitive, for real, whereas we just hate LJ for being a greedy, corporate jerk.

I have also pwned part three of Weedyverse after about, oh, a year. The sad news is that I probably won't post any more of it until I finish the remaining sections (11! HA HA!). Turns out writing a huge, sprawling story with interconnected storylines is better if you do it all at once, then release. Who knew.

OH STEPHENIE MEYER NO

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:05:40 GMT

I gave it a good, you know, two chapters before I escaped the writing that was reminiscent of the junk I was producing at 13 and scrambled to the recaps. Upon completion of those recaps with my illegally downloaded copy by my side, I have decided that Stephenie Meyer is bugfuck crazy.

A YA fantasy romance that has been so benign isn't supposed to turn for the bizarre then suddenly careen into a "FUCK ALL OF YOU I AM A RICH MOTHERFUCKER AND I DON'T CARE" science fiction, Ridley-Scott on-Aliens-esque nightmare. Meyer didn't jump the shark; she stopped and had the shark for dinner and spat out its bones.

Then made jewelry with it. A woman needs to look her best for her ~~man~~ vampire, after all.

What was she thinking? Does this woman not have, say, friends that can read her work, then take her aside and say, "Steph, honey. No." If she does, they might just be afraid of her after reading some of the gore in this book.

I wouldn't hang around with her alone, that's all I'm saying.

I am still pretty angry that Meyer is anti-feminist and colorblind, but mostly I am just freaked out.

I don't know whether or not to call shenanigans!

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:59:47 GMT

They've made a movie from the book, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. From my review: "...their first meeting is when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to distract his ex from engaging him."

Except in the trailer, Norah asks him. In the book, she's not throwing herself all over him. In the movie, suddenly they give the catalyst for the entire plot—a desperate plea for a make-out fake-out—from Nick to Norah.

Why?

I honestly don't know why this upsets me so much; the book was simplistic, the screenplay had to flesh the other characters and the plot out, of course. This might have changed the characterization a little bit? Honestly, it bothers me that this one thing was switched—for no reason I can see besides it's easier for people to buy the girl throwing herself at the guy, rather than vice versa?

It just feels kind of dirty.

SHORT VERSION: I am twelve

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:50:50 GMT

Here is an extremely blurry picture of my signed copy of Victory of Eagles that owlmoose sent me! Flying! FLYING TO ARKANSAS! Except I hope not, because every hick I know makes a sport out of hunting reptiles, the bigger, the better. SAVE YOURSELF, TEMERAIRE. When I got this I ripped it open in the middle of the parking lot and squealed like a Stephenie Meyer fangirl hopped up on X. I even startled the gang members.

View Poll: #1232558

I also bought a new writing notebook today, because I hate taking the nice one soopagrrl got me to work because it's so dirty there. Now I have a hardcover I can drag around and it can take some hard knocks and keep on standing. There is also the possibility I will make my co-workers think I am even more strange than they already do; this is probably a bonus. first_seventhe, when I first saw it had to resist LAUGHING OUT LOUD in the middle of Barnes & Noble, and tried to get Zach to see the BEAUTY of it but he just didn't get it. This makes me sad, but maybe our obsession comes from only having metaphorical cocks? Maybe if we had real ones we wouldn't be "lololol COCKS!" all the time.

Well. It's us, what I am saying. Of course we would.

This photo is mostly just for owlmoose or anyone else who likes cats. Please note: despite the file name and the sad face kitty, we actually feed that fat bastard four times a day.

this better spell MOVIE oh please oh please

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 03:41:06 GMT

Carly! AND I GUESS ANYONE ELSE WHO LIKES GAY SUPERHEROES.

YES!

hahahaha ha ha what

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:55:58 GMT

I just acquired the entire set of Animorphs books!

hahahahahaha

geography strikes again!

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:50:39 GMT

owlmoose is probably meeting Naomi Novik right now and I am so effing jealous! Why do I have to live in Podunk, Arkansas, Land of No Author Events Ever At All No Way And Aren't All Arkansans Illiterate, Anyway?

ETA OF GLEE.

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:56:18 GMT

I've procrastinated enough by posting rec lists in order to browbeat my friends into reading the books I love! Time to face the music and get some reviews out of the way. Reviews under the jump:

80. 7 Days at the Hot Corner, Terry Trueman
81. Totally Joe, James Howe
82. The War With Mr. Wizzle, Gordon Korman
83. - 85. One Piece 16/17/18, Eiichiro Oda
86. - 88. One Piece 19/20//21, Eiichiro Oda
89. The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, Catherynne M. Valente
90. The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice, Catherynne M. Valente
91. This is What I Did, Ann Dee Ellis
92. The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen
93. Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado, Nancy Mathis

80. 7 Days at the Hot Corner, Terry Trueman:
I was disappointed with this book! The premise: gay panic suffered by a straight teenager when his friend comes out! Angst in spades! Illogical blood tests and general confusion! It held so much promise for showing the confusion that our society instills in teenagers about gay issues, how families can break down and how friendships can be strained.

It doesn't do that.

This novel was a complete one-trick-pony and the pony was kind of lame. It wasn't lame in the "this is not as cool as Rick Astley" way but the "walks with a limp" way. The author kept beating the poor horse to drive the plot, the characters (every one of them! even the ones that were supposed to have secret motivations!) were predictable and I'm not even going to get into dialogue past saying that I'm not sure I've been in more pain...ever. Including the root canal I had when I was 11. I was convinced the main character couldn't possibly be as big of a douche as he was in the first few chapters, but then I realized he wasn't really a character at all, but yet another facsimile of a teenager with Problems.

It's short—I read it in two hours—because there's absolutely nothing happening besides a) THE ISSUE and b) BASEBALL, and boy, have I ever been more sick of a metaphor by the end of the novel? I'm thinking back and I'm fairly sure this book wins for taking a metaphor out back and SHOOTING IT, but missing the kill shot which just means it dies a slow agonizing death. I got it the first 1,000 times: yes, sometimes life is a lot like being a baseman on third. Yes, it's very clever. Congratulations! It's a metaphor home run, except for how the batter only runs around the bases once, not 500 times celebrating his luck in connecting ball and bat (in this case: theme with plot). There is a lackluster attempt to insert some family dynamics into the story, but it feels dishonest, and the "resolution" comes cheap.

Foul ball, guys. Foul ball. (Okay, I'll stop now.)

81. Totally Joe, James Howe: This Gay Issue novel isn't so bad.

That sounds like it didn't excite me, but I read this directly after 7 Days at the Hot Corner. It was too soon to deal with another novel over the same issues. I ended up being in a mood and it's never good to be in a mood when you read a book like this. Taken with my mood a lot of this book and these characters seem like wishful thinking: a big hunk of the resolution skirts too close to a gay utopia fantasy where the good guys win and the bad guys get shipped off to a Christian school, where there is no hint of boy sexing (or even thinking about touching in a way that does not involve violence). It's a pretty idea, but not always how things play out in the real world.

If I consider it without my mood, it's actually a well-drawn characterization of a gay preteen (if a little stereotyped. Or a lot. Whatever, we're listing good things now, self.) and his trials with his family and his friends and his first boyfriend. It's set up in the form of an alpha biography, outlining a life in letters of the alphabet. It deals with Issues almost in a subtle manner; first crushes are fleeting things even in heterosexual dealings, so this was a really nice touch. It's not really a gay utopia fantasy throughout the novel because Howe makes a point to have reality crash in from time to time—not in any devastating way, but enough to remind the reader that Joe still has a lot to handle as he grows up.

I make it sound boring, but I'm sure this isn't a YA book (where my library had it) so I maybe expected something different. It's middle grade and I am hesitant with all middle grade outside Philip Reeve. It's good for what it offers even when those offerings are not exactly reality-based.

82. The War With Mr. Wizzle, Gordon Korman: What can I say about this book? It is hilariously bad. With some books the writing is terrible and you wonder at what the author was thinking about, because it sure wasn't about how ridiculous the dialogue sounds. I just can't get mad at these novels, because Korman wrote them so young. They're so sincere in the building of this boarding school reality where poor Boots can't catch a break from Bruno's plans no matter what and all conflict centers around students not getting their way and going to extreme lengths to fix the problem. I loved this whole book, the terrible dialogue and the outlandish situations with earthquakes and paper shipments and the outdated technology and the inevitable love story.

They stay gloriously bad and the longer they do the more I want to scoop them up and hug them. What's better than boys kissing? Unrealistic boyhood shenanigans at a boarding school! Yes. If I had been a writer when I was younger, I could totally have seen myself writing something like this, except with more secret kissing, instead of making my Ken dolls have weddings.

In my head, Bruno and Boot are totally in love.

The re-released versions of these books have apparently been "updated" to deal with the outdated technology. I am glad I have my e-book versions Updating books makes me sad!

83. - 85. One Piece 16/17/18, Eiichiro Oda: This review is full of spoilers!

Chopper! Oh, Chopper, how I love your backstory. It's an interesting commentary on Devil Fruit; it can effect animals, too. Chopper's nose is blue (proving you can be shunned for any abnormally colored nose) and his dream is to heal every sickness in the world, which is a mighty dream I can totally get behind. Oda adds useful characters like Chopper for plot purposes but it never feels dishonest. So while Luffy is busy kicking ass, Chopper's past is revisited. Dr. Kureha is wonderful (plus, connection to Roger?!) and I like the fact that within this arc things start to progress a little faster—Drum Island for me marks the time period where there's more plot being visited, even though Oda hasn't stopped his constant foreshadowing (I love his foreshadowing most of the time; I am a complete Oda fangirl).

Proof that Zoro is an awesome first mate: he is the one to come up with the plan after the visit from Mr 2, Bon Clay. He is fantastic and I refute any claims he is a stupid muscle head. D: Plus, brotherly love! The first time I read this arc, I was floored by Ace's appearance; my reaction was Zoro's, when he gets all teary about the fondness Ace shows toward Luffy (but what was on the paper?)

Luffy and Vivi have a slap fight, too. Man, I love this about her, that she becomes nakama and allows Luffy to pound some sense into her (literally), and accuse her of devaluing them by wasting their talents for ass kicking, and calling her on her bullshit, since she wants Crocodile dead more than anyone. THUMBS WAY UP.

86. - 88. One Piece 19/20/21, Eiichiro Oda: This review is full of spoilers!

Now that I know to look for it on this read-through, it's fascinating to watch how Zoro inserts himself as the first mate of the Strawhats everywhere, from how he talks and bitches to everyone like a parent to how he is quick to point out improvement one of the others have made in how they do something; this time it's just a throwaway line about Chopper's endurance, but it says so much about how Zoro notices these things about his crew, and he cares enough to point them out.

Totally unrelated to the current plot is the cover form chapter 17, where there's a particular scene with something happening but it doesn't matter because Coby and Helmeppo! I seriously need to get this manga to Susan so she can read it and then come write completely nerdy Marine!slash with me.

The following things made me roll (because again sometimes I have the sense of humor of a 10 year old):

1.

VIPS / Pirates
<---- ---->

2. "See you later, croc of shit."

Note: no wonder Smoker hates the Strawhats so much; they're such confusing pirates, saving the lives of Marines that want to haul them in. I didn't miss how he sat and listened to them, though. Smart dude.

When the truth comes about about Crocodile's adventures in the desert, the first time I read this I was like, "holy shit, how is Luffy going to beat him!?" I swear, this worried me all the way until their confrontation in the desert; I spent a whopping three seconds pissed at Zoro for just grinning and letting him go. That lasted exactly that long because I was tearing through to the next chapter because Luffy! Luffy! Knowing what's coming doesn't make it any easier; Luffy hasn't really had issues with his fights at all until Crocodile, so it's pretty agonizing to watch him try to work through it.

Crocodile's motivations are less than pure; I was surprised when he finally revealed them to Vivi. It's the first sign that the World Government likes to shoot itself in the foot, and it won't be the last.

89. The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, Catherynne M. Valente: This was a reread from last year; I bought the second volume in February planning to read it but somehow never got around to it. Because the books are so closely related, I decided that it would be better to reread so I could appreciate the second volume more.

For me a second reading was a great idea; I rediscovered a lot of things I love about the nested nature of these stories, but most of all I found details I missed and parts that were connected I didn't piece together were clarified. This was a story of Stars, and this reading helped me understand much better their history and why they were all so sad and lost. The creation myths this book boasted were simply amazing and the power women wielded a really beautiful thing. Some of my favorite stories included the tale of the griffins as well as Sigrid's story, the twists and turns of it. It remains one of my favorite books, the pieces so woven together that it's almost impossible to have a favorite, since they all turn and ease back into themselves by the end. Even then my fondness for the girl in the garden and the boy who would be sultan trumps all of them; it is as pure a story of friendship as I've found anywhere else, and I would recommend the book on that alone, since friendship through the act of story-telling in apparently a huge kink for me. Hearts!

90. The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice, Catherynne M. Valente: I inhaled this book in my desire to see if the girl in the garden would come out the other side of the telling of her tales. I was surprised at the twist, actually, but it felt really natural and intimate and well, I'm not sure if you're supposed to come out of the book shipping the girl and the boy, but I sure did.

Young love! I thought. Yes, please!

Much like the first book, I feel like if I reread it I will see more connections within as well as with the previous. It repeats all the wonderful things it does so well in the first installment, but builds on the story-world in fascinating ways. There are so many pieces to this book, that perhaps might not go anywhere (or so it seems they don't to me) but I know they must; I just missed them in my hurry through the stories. The resolution of the story of some of the Stars was pretty and bittersweet. After the girl with her stories, all the lost Stars mourning their lost brothers and sisters were my favorite part of this story; the creations the myth left behind to fend for themselves, as confused and as lost and unknowing as the rest of us.

These are not books to be rushed through and they are definitely books to be read more than once, self. I have no excuse this time! I own this one.

91. This is What I Did, Ann Dee Ellis: My habit for the last two weeks has been to go to the library and pick up every book that deals with a social issue. I could be reading epic fantasy, but no, I keep hovering around this middle grade/YA books full of angst and woe and Issue #423 off the List of Issues In Literature for Kids. I thought this book was about something other than it came to be about, and I was a little disappointed! This wasn't the fault of the book; my expectations were skewed. The author does a great job with her foreshadowing; the book is told in real time but also in select flashbacks as we learn what happened and piece the clues together. It's almost like a mystery novel! Except for the lack of mystery the main character is involved in. Does that still count as a mystery if the reader is figuring out what happened even though the character is figuring out how to deal with what happened? That said, have some spoilers:

Logan is the only one who knows that his best friend, Zyler, is being abused. I'm not sure if it's me or if I'm the only one picking up on the fact it might have been more than just physical abuse or what—I definitely got that vibe. Logan knows about the abuse but because he's Zyler's best friend, he keeps it a secret even after something terrible happens involved Zyler, Zyler's father and a neighborhood girl. Logan shuts down and runs away, facing the fact that he failed Zyler as a friend. Even though his family moves so they can have a fresh start the rumors and speculation follow him.

I was pretty shocked at the mother. Seriously? Was this woman that hard up for attention she had to sell out her kid? Logan admits he might be kind of messed up, but I wondered if part of that came from his mother being a loud mouth and fueling the fires of gossip mongers; I was relieved the father called her out on it because if not I was going to have to call shenanigans on every adult in the book. I wasn't fond of any of the authority figures in Logan's life. Adults are human and thus imperfect, but from Logan's parents I got the distinct feeling they were pissed about having to deal with Logan's mess and just wanted it to go away and contributed to it by running, but not far enough.

I am overdoing books like this and I know because I can't figure out what's special about this book besides it being about Issue #423: abuse! I know my general apathy toward it might be because it skews the line between regular prose and a verse novel. Every time I open a verse novel I am punched in the face with the fist of pretentiousness. I don't go there under normal circumstances; this novel probably suffers from my inability to stomach bad poetry, although it's not a verse novel or bad poetry. I'm being fickle.

I did like Logan's relationship with Laurel, though, even though I got tired of him being everyone's dirty little secret. I just can't figure out if I like the book or if it just made me angry because most of the characters were douche bags abusers or douche bags by association with abusers. I need to stay away from issues for awhile, except I know if I say I will I'll be back on the horse in two days, tops.

92. The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen: Because I am jumping into the new generation of YA literature late, instead of reading up with an author as they grow, I'm reading backward. The Truth About Forever is about Macy's struggle to regain her balance in life after her father's sudden death, with a workaholic mother and a brainy boyfriend too caught up in his own intelligence to notice Macy's unhappiness. When by chance Macy meets the crew of Wish, a catering company, she ends up with two summer jobs—one at the library, filling aforementioned boyfriend's place among his bitchy friends and one catering various events with Delia, the very pregnant owner, Wes and Bert, a pair of brothers that couldn't be more different and Kristy and Monica, a sister duo that mirror Wes and Bert in their differences.

Although this book has the romance that all Dessen's books seem to have, and although I enjoyed Macy and Wes's friendship and brutal honesty with one another, I really enjoyed this book more for the family relationships between Macy, her mother, and her sister Caroline, as well as the absent father, a tangible lack of presence. Macy's reflections on her father were heart-breaking but full of hilarity as she continues collecting the infomercial products he loved so much well after his death and hiding them in her room from her mother, who seems determined to wipe the remnants away and get and keep her life in order.

I think I found the romance too flat; this was mostly because Wes never became real for me. He was very bland and mysterious— the latter being fine for part of the novel but by the end I didn't feel I knew anything more about his character or motivations, and even the game of Truth he and Macy started didn't help this much—too much telling. This surprised me, since in Just Listen we see so much of Owen it feels like the book was his story too.

Also, did we really need to know what Kristy was wearing every time she appeared in a scene? Really?

93. Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado, Nancy Mathis: I loved this book. It was so informative; I spammed owlmoose with a bunch of useless facts about tornadoes she didn't care about at all, such as:

1. The Fujita scale used to measure tornado strength (known as the Enhanced Fujita since 2007) was created by Ted Fujita, a Japanese transplant. This man was a genius; he gave us most of what we now know about tornado activity without ever seeing a tornado in person (he did finally see his first two tornadoes at age 61); he learned everything by viewing the destruction left behind, marks on the ground, and by being able to visualize the wind.

One of his suggestions was that tornadoes have a main funnel but also separate vortexes inside them that are weaker or stronger; he came to this conclusion by studying the path of a tornado, to explain why two houses could be destroyed while one house could remain standing with minor damage. He also identified and named the thing we call a down burst, that wrecked several airplanes back in the day.

Needless to say, his writings are on my list.

2. The United States government was full of morons. I didn't realize that the installation of the Doppler system most weather stations use continued up until the 1980s or even later. The government didn't want to pay, dragged their feet, and not to mention the decades they spent disallowing forecasts of tornadoes. It all came back to greed and arrogance. We spent years denying the furthering of science, years refuting excellent meteorology from other countries, and generally we were a bunch of jerks—even to Fujita, who was continually dismissed for many of his theories that would turn out to be right on the money.

The weather systems, the advance notice we have today of storms is mind-boggling considering where we were in the 1940s, not even allowed to forecast tornadoes.

3. Tornadoes don't necessarily form from the mesocyclone (the cloud that the tornado drops from which rotates horizontally). Instead, there's speculation that formation happens closer to the ground with cool and warm air flows similar to down bursts, via the rear cloud wall.

4. The stupidest thing you can do during a tornado is seek shelter beneath a highway overpass.

5. Or staying inside your mobile home. That, too.

The book was telling a story about our progress toward tornado forecasting to frame the picture of why the tornado that struck Oklahoma City was so deadly and shocking. The warning systems we had in place saved lives, of course—for the size and path of the tornado, the death toll was mind-bogglingly low—but it highlighted how complacent people had gotten with constant forecasts, assuming their safety because of their location in a metropolitan area. The book called them the Weather Wars, where forecasters were clamoring to be the one to break the news of a tornado.

One of the stark things taken from this book is how the building industry really didn't care; houses in hurricane prone areas have strict building codes, such as having hurricane straps for the roof and laminated glass, but structures in tornado prone areas don't. The book didn't have stats, but I wonder if, after A9 struck the city, if people even installed safe rooms in their homes when they rebuilt.

Yet another reason for me to never move any closer to tornado alley than I am already. Here is a collection of videos, but I found this one to be most disturbing.

To sum up some of my problems with all the GLBTQ literature I'm reading; I know that gay relationships have to deal with "issues" to some extent, but you can only write so many novels about coming out as the only plot point before you're treading over ground that needs some time to lie fallow. The more I read, the more I really, really want YA novels with boys dealing with their issues but also having adventures and living life and maybe kissing boys and being nervous about being gay but it not defining them, and not in a constant state of angst over the gay thing—M/F YA romance novels get this treatment (by which I mean: they have multiple issues that fuel them), so I think it's about time that M/M novels got it too. I honestly might not be reading in the right direction; so far all these award lists with all these books on it seem like breakthrough novels for a time gone by, that honestly don't match up with what I know about gay teenagers who I'm familiar with now and the friends I had back in high school that came out to their groups. I wonder, too, if it's a side-effect of where I grew up; the gay angst combined with the faith issues to be explosive enough to force people to deal with it instead of spending years in limbo, so this is what I'm used to. Surprising what being told you're going to hell to burn for all eternity can inspire in teens. Who knew!

Not that I'm campaigning for less angst in YA novels; just less angst about one issue and more spread over an entire life. The biggest problem I faced when I did gay rights work was encouraging people to stop seeing the "sexuality" in homosexuality as a defining trait of the person. The more we focus sexuality the more prevalent it becomes and the easier it is to accept but if we keep harping on it we make things worse for ourselves; it's one part of a whole. Where are the stories about that struggle with identity?

I am just way too demanding and clearly need to shut up and go write my own books. It's like fandom; don't see what you want? Do it yourself.

musing about how dumb America was (is?)

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:25:43 GMT

Reading: Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado, by Nancy Mathis.

"In 1887, nervous superiors sent him [John Park Finley] new instructions: the word tornado was banned from his forecasts. He was ordered to refer to "severe local storms" rather than use the word tornado. ... Businessmen in Iowa and other territories complained that Finley was giving potential investors the idea that the region was twister prone."

And later down the page:

"It is believed that the harm done by such predictions would eventually be greater than that which results from the tornado itself." The government would maintain that position for sixty years.

I am boggled.

triumphant retu--oh wait I only left for like three days

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:13:31 GMT

I think it's safe to say I am addicted to the internet, but I have come to terms with it. If this addiction leads to an intervention, I hope they don't film me making out with my MacBook as I flee the scene, leaving everyone behind me in tears (or joy; probably joy).

I have read 92 books at this point in the year, and so now to keep myself from drooling over the desk and the bookshelves I want at Ikea, I am going to list my 2008 mid-year favorites:

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, Rachel Cohn, David Levithan: It's safe to say I enjoy David Levithan's work when he has a co-author; I can't seem to stomach his solitary work so far, or it leaves me cold. His utopias have no heat. Naomi and Ely, though, are full of heat, and I love that at once it is a love story and a story about friendship but also about family, set in the bustle of a familiar New York City. Naomi and Ely. Ely and Naomi. As Jake Barnes said, "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie: I've stood my ground on this novel when I've read reviews that deride it for frank speech about sexuality and language, fumed silently when people have the gall to say it would be a stronger novel if the parts that offended them were removed. In the context of Junior on his reservation, and the theme of the novel, it enrages me to see that sort of speech. I recced this book long and hard to anyone that will stay still long enough to listen to me. This book is a collection of little miracles, coming of age and the the tragedy of life and human nature and how easy it is the fail and how hard it is for Junior to do the exact opposite. This book did not with the National Book Award on a lark.

Life As We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer: Pseudo-science at its best. I love apocalyptic scenarios with a fiery passion, and this diary-style novel full of Miranda's world growing smaller and smaller around as at a time in her life when it's supposed to be expanding outward is as horrifying as it is entertaining. I'm still not positive that this scenario is even plausible, but boy, let me tell you how much I don't care. Depressing and dark, the ending pages stark with the reality of a family-dysfunction brought on by the cold and hunger, it's some of the best YA SF/F I've picked up this year.

Old Man's War, John Scalzi: I am behind the times on Scalzi; everyone's been reading his hilarious blog for years, picking up his books as well, and I've been over here, dense and missing out because I simply didn't know where to start in the multitudes of SF/F I have collected in various lists (I love making lists). Luckily for me, Tor offered this e-book free, I read it and immediately became a fan of John Scalzi (I really did, I wrote him an embarrassing fan letter I really hope got sent to his spam folder oh please oh please). John Parry and the world built in Old Man's War is super awesome and also hilarious but at the same time mildly disturbing even when you're sort of laughing at dude #64522 who just got blown to bits. I have the second book which is a companion, it seems, rather than a sequel, but I have yet to start it. Soon! Meanwhile, I hope everyone reads this book, recycled clichés and all.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party , M.T. Anderson: I've recced this book pretty hard to my history friends (and some professors), because I think Octavian is a genius of a character, the premise of this book full of genuine insight to the lies we tell about our country's history and the lies we tell ourselves about our own enlightenment. I am still amazed by the language of this book, how it feels so real and true to the time; it's like I'm sitting in Dean B. Ellis library on the floor in the stacks, a book pulled open in my lap, dusty and falling apart and these people are telling me their story. The realism this book boasts is a credit to Anderson's talent of giving a voice to those who had no voice, a face to the screaming hypocrisy of a nation straining for freedom, all the while playing the part of masters who couldn't learn to let go.

Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them, David Anderegg: Probably the only nonfiction I've ever had a deep, continuing relationship with weeks and months after I've finished it. I keep going back to its arguments and theories, finding more and more of the book relates to what I see everyday in life and in friendship and in politics and in myself. It's unnecessary for me to sum it up; it's all in my review, but I am totally impressed with this book and I remain impressed well after the fact.

Boy Toy, Barry Lyga: Fucked up sexual situations in a society that see sex as inherently shameful is a pretty heavy thing to read about and I've been able to convince few people to try it. I don't even like baseball that much, which is the book's other claim to fame, but I enjoyed what Lyga did with baseball in this story. Beyond the premise there's not much you can say about this story without spoiling the entire thing, and I'm not sure how in the world most teens would react to the book, but for me it hit a nerve.

Auralia's Colors, Jeffery Overstreet: The longer I think about this novel the more I can see the philosophical and religious themes in it, but the more I see the more I think I love the book and the magical orphan it stars. I don't have much to say about the book except I am apparently a sucker for clichés that are employed in interesting ways, and I've mostly forgiven Overstreet for the shitty, sexist treatment of one his female characters because hey, we don't always see it when we're trying to end a novel in a certain manner. I think what this book says about stripping something away from someone, something so natural, denying it to them for personal gain and glory, is particularly interesting since the object Overstreet chose was colors.

Predator's Gold, Philip Reeve: I can already see some people going, "why the hell is this on your list, Nay? You did not like this book!" Not for the first time, after hearing comments about an alternative viewpoint and thinking and rereading parts of the novel, I come to change my mind about the quality even though I still have problems with some of the female characters and their roles and the ridiculous triangle I maintain that's there, because no I think it was mostly unnecessary to send Hester spiraling toward CrazyLand. Mortal Engines is the first but the more I think about this book the more I hate what Reeve does to Hester and the more I see exactly how much sick sense it makes, how logical it is for her even as it's illogical for the readers. He's saying something interesting about being adrift, whether he means a city or a person and what not being anchored can do to a person; it simply depends on the person. There's a lot of breakdowns in this novel, and not all of them are mechanical but after I sat and thought about it for awhile, they're all pretty genius even if I really, really don't like them. This book still isn't my favorite ever, but it forced me to think past appearances, and any book that can do that has something to say for it.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson: This book reminded me of my Philosophy class and an interesting problem we worked on, that to mention would spoil the book. I've sat on this book, too, thinking about the implications of cross plants to make hybrids, how medical technology allows people to customize babies, and how although this novel is simple (and the romance pretty phoned in) puts the philosophical argument I faced in my class into more concrete and interesting terms but also complicates it a hell of a lot. Sometimes, a boat isn't just a boat.

Just Listen, Sarah Dessen: Oh, this book. It's been awhile since I've read it and I'm still sitting on it, reeling over it, going, "Sarah Dessen, get out of my 17 year old head, that shit is creepy!" I am interested in characters that talk but don't speak; it's not selective mutism like in Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson (another good book) but it's the different sort, where someone has broken you and you've hidden it. It's so easy to have that done during the teen years, and I think this novel is one that can remind people how much our personal identities rely on the input of the people we choose as friends, whether on purpose or because our personalities predispose us to going along with the flow. This was my first Dessen book, and it won't be my last.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart: It's feminism and sexism and girls being awesome but also being human and making mistakes. I've never read E. Lockhart before this book, and it gave me a lot of interesting ideas to consider even outside of the gender politics at its core, and the ambiguous ending. I am still waiting for someone else to read it and come talk to me about it! PLEASE SOMEONE.

I left off rereads, so I will toss out One Piece and The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden just in case.

Now I have a question to those on my friends list who might buy and/or borrow YA books to read if they happened to contain M/M romance rather than M/F romance! I am curious about this because I'm still not seeing a lot of books with gay characters just facing problems and falling in love and making out. (I think of Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott, and how that's exactly what I want but with boys kissing! BOYS KISSING, YA AUTHORS. WHY DO YOU DENY ME?). What would a novel like that have to contain? Could it be a reality novel, or would it have to have action and adventure with like, spaceships? This is totally objective, of course, I'm just wondering, since for me it's a combination of other issues happening at the same time that don't have to do with make outs, plus snark and genuine affection. A story, that the romance fits into, that doesn't have to be all about the Issues. Are the Issues required at all times?

I don't know if original M/M work sells; although David Levithan seems to be doing pretty well for himself, he's an editor, it seems, first. So who knows.

booking through Thursday: what are you reading?

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:07:01 GMT

I don't do this the BTT meme often because my answers each week would be boring or tl;dr or both, but I never miss the chance to harass my friends-list about what they're reading, or, if they're not reading, what should they be reading (or what they want to be reading but can't because they're too busy risking life and limb to light fireworks)? *stares at Susan*

It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so let’s keep today’s question simple—what are you reading? Anything special? Any particularly juicy summer reading?

I am in the middle of five books! This is completely hilarious to me; no wonder I never finish anything.

The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Cat Valente (reread)
A Game of Thrones by GrrrrMartin (okay guys, see? I've started it)
One Piece 22 by Eiichiro Oda (fuuuu okay I love the Alabasta arc)
Homophobia: a history by Byrne Fone (you know, for a little light reading)
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (The John Green Project for Awesome!)

I work the entire holiday weekend! I don't mind when I work as long as I get two days off in a row, so I'm not bothered, but I'm pretty annoyed that it's food service all weekend! Curses! I just have to remind myself I'm working toward the ultimate goal of buying a crapload of books this fall! EYE ON THE PRIZE.

In an unrelated note, I want to go back to school.

herd those cats: free book!

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:37:21 GMT

Welcome, my cats! I have been herding you (badly), so please forgive me! I did not expect this challenge to be a) popular, b) any work. Please note that these assumptions were completely wrong. I think this is a good example of "biting off more than you can chew." I officially have hairballs. I apologize to everyone that had to wait on me. To prevent any more insanity, I closed membership for this round, but anyone who is totally bummed about not getting to take part: Herding Cats II will debut in April 2009!

Challenge recap:

Participants | Reading Lists | Master List | Reviews | Challenge Throwdown | RSS Feed

At the time of this post, on the third month of the challenge, we have 56 reviews. All participants can find all reviews they've contributed or reviews of books they've recced via the participants tag. Look under "related tags" for your handle and click it for all the information! If the name I have for you isn't the one you want, just let me know. It's easy to change. :)

*slides in reference to OpenID tutorial just in case*

Okay! We are having our first contest! This is just an excuse for more recommendations, in the form of a survey. It is for a free book, and I love giving people free books, and it's not like we have 83 members. I'm sure the odds are fine! All you have to do:

1. Make a post talking about books that are coming out that you're looking forward to.
2. Why those books. Include love for previous works in a series, love for an author, love for a random review that caught your eye and now you have to have those books or you'll DIE.

Notes: the books have to be those of the unreleased variety at the time your post is written. Images encouraged if available! Send the link to me via e-mail or comment here (see: OpenID) to your post and you are entered! That is all! I am resisting requiring a word count because I love reading people being excited about books. Okay? Resisting. Winners will be decided randomly, in the form of numbers assigned to the entries as they come in, written on pieces of paper and taped to my cat. The last number remaining on my cat after she spazzes out is the winner!

THIS IS TOTALLY NOT ANIMAL CRUELTY.

Or you know. I might just use a hat.

Contest closes on ~~July 15th~~ (and sorry for any confusion, but this contest is only open to participants in the Herding Cats challenge, which you can find here)!

♥ Renay

This contest has been extended until July 30th!

Contest participants (you must be on this list to be included! be sure you're here!):

Even though I don't get an entry since it's my contest and my cat that may suffer, I am still going to talk about books I am looking forward to! You can't stop me!

First up! Mothstorm: The Horror from Beyond ~~Uranus~~ Georgium Sidus! by Philip Reeve, illustrated by David Wyatt

It is no secret that I loved Larklight hard, thanks to mekosuchinae and the first time I ever yelled at a customer service person was when Barnes & Noble failed to order the copy of Starcross that I requested weeks before it came out. I am so emotionally attached to this series, which skews the history I loved and studied for so many years in just the right way, that has all the icky social issues that drive me crazy but comments on them in such a subtle and satirical manner, that it boggles me this book is not being cross-marketed to other reading levels. This is beautiful, well-done steampunk that should be read by everyone. Art Mumby is the most hilarious narrator I've ever met, full of quips and commentary that can sneak up on a reader if they're not watching for it. He at once notices and then is too young to get it and it's hilarious. The romance in this book. It's so fantastic! Reeve tweaks a period romance not once, but twice, and I love him for it, oh, do I love him for it.

Also, I will never look at period hats the same way again. Mothstorm will be available in the U.K. on October 6th, and in the U.S. on October 14th, from Bloomsbury. Which of course means I'll have to make eyes at not_cynical, my Reeve dealer, to get my earlier copy.

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik is the fifth books in the Temeraire series. I am so painfully fond of this series, even though I know it has weaknesses in characterization and plot. I think I have a kink for alternate history, and so this book presses all my buttons. It uses dragons in interesting ways but doesn't shy away from those implications as the series progresses. Laurence and Temeraire for me are just a fabulous duo, the best kind of partners in a war scenario I've ever read (possibly because I have not read about war that much) because it reminds of of how relationships when I was a teen work: the first few weeks of wanting to be around someone constantly, the pure pleasure of being together and doing things we loved—it's an infatuation and I think it makes what happens in Empire of Ivory more stark, and will make this book more rewarding. I speak of the series as a whole, because as I've added books I've started to see where Novik plans to take the series overall, how important the slow progression of conflict is meant to work, in a time where so much goes unsaid out of propriety and rank.

I think, in a lot of ways, these books don't shine as much individually as they do as a whole. The entire premise: fighting Napoleon with an aerial navy consisting of dragons—it's a twist that requires a huge suspension of disbelief and a lot of patience, because everything Temeraire goes through with Laurence and vice versa leads them to the place we find them at the beginning of this novel. Reading the premise of this one without the other is sort of a spoiler in itself! I rec it if only to say that I have waited a year, I am so ready, and I hope that more people give it a chance past His Majesty's Dragon and Throne of Jade, the first two books, which can be slow going if historical fantasy that follows the period style isn't the norm for someone's reading habits.

Providing everyone survives the abuse of semicolons. Um.

Victory of Eagles will be released on July 8th, from Del Rey.

Finally, a book that is not part of a series (if you can get past the similarities between it and Looking for Alaska). Paper Towns by John Green.

I am a John Green fangirl, except for the fact I was a big fan of John Green as a person before I was a fan of him as an author. I spent half a year watching Brotherhood 2.0 featuring him and his brother Hank. One of the first videos I watched was Book Banning and from that moment I was hooked on John Green. I have kept myself deliberately blind as to the content and plot of Paper Towns, although I do know that it contains one special person, a road trip, a mystery, and possibly many references to Walt Whitman. I have done my best not to spoil myself for this book and to keep my expectations reined in, because I don't want what happened with Looking for Alaska to happen again; so much frothing and putting the book high on a pedestal made it a little weaker for me.

I mean, I need another teen angst novel like I need measles. Don't get me wrong, Alaska was a really beautiful, awesome book. I just don't want to end up in the place where Paper Towns can never, ever exceed my expectations, and well. I foresee teen angst.

John read part of the beginning of Paper Towns a few months ago: Part One and Part Two. That's as far as I've gone in details for the book. I've saved some of the ARC reviews that have been cropping up online but I haven't really been reading them. I just want to be able to go back to them. John's work is so literary, it warms my heart. There's always something there to deconstruct, and I love that. It also helps that John is pretty hilarious; laughing when crying has never been so true.

Paper Towns will be published on October 16th by Dutton.

nothing says summer like a nice long...fantasy epic?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:51:34 GMT

Copying Susan's list making in order to make her feel just a little guilt by asking such hard things.

Books I have on my shelves that I should probably finish:

Empire of the Sun, J.G. Ballard
The Book of Joby, Mark J. Ferrari
Perdido Street Station, China Miéville
A Song for Arbonne, Guy Gavriel Kay
On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Ander Petterson
The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice, Catherynne M. Valente
The Lions of al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay
Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey
Kushiel's Chosen Jacqueline Carey
Kushiel's Avatar Jacqueline Carey
The Talisman, Stephen King/Peter Straub
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
The Last Colony, John Scalzi
Clockwork Heart, Dru Pagliassotti
Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr
Homophobia: A History, Bryne Fone
An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
Absolute Sandman Volume 1, Neil Gaiman

Library books I have or will have out due to holds:

The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, Catherynne M. Valente
The Dey Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
A Game of Thrones, GrrrrMartin
The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen
The House of the Scorpion, Nancy Farmer

Books I have agreed to read:

The Stand, Stephen King
It, Stephen King
THIS, Stephen King (HA HA I AM SO SCREWED)
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
Sherlock Holes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Mugs will be happy?)

I also really wanted to catch up on One Piece and reread Eyeshield 21! HA HA.

All in all, I'm looking pretty doomed!

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:54:37 GMT

Week #24: June 9th - June 22nd

I love how I wrote half of these out, thought I had posted them and then deleted the file. Sweet. My best review ever could have been in that last batch! Curses!

71. Y: The Last Man: Unmanned (1), Brian K. Vaughan: Joe Hill recommended this on his blog. It takes a strong premise to make me run out and buy any comic, site unseen, but it had Vaughan's name on it and I really do like Runaways, so I decided to give it a chance. I didn't expect to walk into a comic featuring such crazygonuts body modifications. Oh, extremism, I love how you're adapted to a world without men. Actually, this reminded me a lot of The Children of Men, except in that novel the disappearancet of everything with a Y chromosome is gradual instead of all at once, but it's the all-at-one job that will have you going, "holy effing shit!"

I think if you want a comic with some implications, you could do worse than this one. Everything with a Y chromosome snapping out of existence at the same time? On one hand, all the men drop dead, but on the other, spontaneous miscarriages! That shit is scary, and since women are the survivors, I was pretty squicked out at the thought.

I find Yorick and Ampersand, as the last two males on the planet, hilarious. Yorick Brown is this great combination of good-looking but has a nerd vibe, and it's pretty refreshing that he's pretty socially awkward, to say the least. Agent 355 spends most of her time in the comic saving his ass, and I really liked her, and find the reversal kind of awesome. There's a perfect balance between action, survival and philosophy not to feel too heavy for a first volume, and I have to admit, I love some of the art, how things were framed, making them stark and compelling to look at.

I totally endorse this, if just for the Washington Monument as a memorial for all the dead guys.

72. Just Listen, Sarah Dessen: How do I keep walking into novels with friendships that so mirror my high school experience? It's like I have the worst and best luck in the world, at the same time.

I had never read a Dessen novel before, although I have seen her name tossed around like it's confetti. I've seen the movie two of her books became, How to Deal, but I didn't realize there were novels behind them. I remember liking that movie when everyone else hated it, which is a theme with me, and has continued into my present where everything I think is awesome is hated by the majority. Lucky for me this time the majority got here first! Dessen is a YA romance demigod. If there was a pedestal I'm pretty sure she'd be in the top spot, and I don't know, Joan Bauer would be second. My first experience with Dessen was opening her book just to see what the writing was like and then coming out of my fog four hours later, tears streaming down my face, slobbering all over the cat that was snoozing on me, with a burning need to turn my computer on and check for more listings at the library. Dessen writes about ISSUES but it's done so well that I don't end up frothing in anger over the sloppy mess the author has left in their wake for me to trip and fall and damage myself over.

I found Annabel absolutely real, perfectly balanced and unhinged just enough to make me go, "this chick is crazy!" Crazy turns to damaged and I was seeing visions of Dessen's face morphing into M. Night Shyamalan. In fact, I make this claim right now based on this book alone and I'm sure I will find that her other novels disprove it but don't kill my dreams: Dessen is the M. Night Shyamalan of YA romance for teenage girls.

I don't even want to summarize this novel! I walked into it knowing three things: a girl is ostracized by her friends, a girl meets a loner dude who possibly has a romantic relationship with his iPod, and the family dysfunction tops the chart at THIS SHIT IS WHACK. I actually don't have a chart for family dysfunction, but if I did that would be the top score, and this novel totally hit it. It's a beautiful mess.

I love train wrecks that end so nicely.

73. Fairy Tail 1, Hiro Mashima: This manga, about magicians and magic guilds and apparently, big busty ladies, is pretty cute so far. Honestly, it only caught my eye because it had a cute talking cat. I am totally in this for the cute talking cat, Happy. The only characters that seem fleshed out are Lucy, Natsu and Happy, plus the father son combo from the first volume. Such is the way of manga that start out with huge casts right off the bat instead of building up to them. I was almost put off at the beginning—anything that starts put with men seducing women with what amounts to a magical roofie and getting them all on a boat has my eyebrows crawling up around my hairline.

None of the other Guild members made much of an impression on me, except for the naked one, and I don't actually remember his name. This speaks to my biases really well.

Did I mention the amount of gratuitous breasts? Yeah.

74. One Piece 14, Eiichiro Oda: Absolutely everything in this review is a spoiler! The Little Garden arc bugs me because for me it's kind of boring and doesn't really liven up until the Straw Hats are put in a life or death situation. It's interesting, but it's also a repetition of the same point about honor and friendship Oda has made several times already in a different context, and all the action is kind of slow. There's only so many times you can reiterate a point, even with different characters in different situations. Little Garden tries my patience, even though I know it matters to the plot. It's simply that it matters later; multiple chapters of foreshadowing is apparently the max I can handle.

I remember the first time I fell in love with Carue, keeping his mouth shut, and just thought, "holy shit Oda is a magician there is a GIANT DUCK who is HONORABLE."

Zoro lecturing Nami about how she should have chosen a good pose as they're turned into candles is classic. lksjdfljdffff Zoro. He does have a reputation to uphold, though, and a bad pose would be terrible for his legacy. The humor in One Piece is everywhere, inherent in the entire premise and all the characters, so it's like getting goosed when one of those characters will pop out with something so out of place and hilarious. Oda is my hero. ♥

75. One Piece 15, Eiichiro Oda: Spoilers everywhere. And so, the Little Garden foreshadowing starts to pay off and other parts of the series come out. I didn't actually catch this first time, even when the characters commented on it, about the stories Usopp told Kaya, and how Little Garden proved so many of them. It was fun to read them this time and catch it. Oda staggers his plots so well, it's obvious on this read-through things that are going to happen. I am not sure how he manages to insert foreshadowing into almost everything, but he does it really well. I want this skill!

Also, how awesome is Sanji? Extremely awesome. Mr. 3! He is so doomed. Plus:

I think Nami is fabulous here even in her absence, because the lack of her highlights just how integral she is to the Straw Hats as a team, and how far they'll go to protect and care for her. I end up having a lot of issues with female characters in manga (okay, okay, everywhere), but with Nami it never happens. She's so important I can pretty much fangirl all over this volume, at her stubbornness, her cleverness, and how her crew reacts at her weakness.

76. Wide Awake, David Levithan: Returning to Renay-reads-all-the-gay-YA-novels-she-can-find--to-scope-out-the-competition portion of Let's Get Literate! 2008, I had a moment of conceit when I read this blog and went, "I could write better than this IN MY SLEEP." and "David Levithan, maybe you should stick with editing and stay away from writing unless you are writing a book with John Green, who can keep your ass as well as your plot in line." This novel was doing too many things at once, trying to fit a utopia in a space that was not designed for utopias. Wide Awake reminds me of that little kid who just KNOWS he can get the square peg in the circle hole if he just keeps banging on it.

God, at least there were some boys having sex in this one. Otherwise it would've been a total waste. I think it's safe to say that I am too jaded, cynical and bitter for this book to work on me. Too many years in gay rights work, I guess.

Places where Levithan lost his effing mind: non-shopping malls (Jesus! ARE YOU KIDDING), demonizing the opposition while preaching against that opposition demonizing our heroes (I admit, this might just have been me getting tired of the constant condescending), crammed so full of diversity that it was a joke. I felt like I might vomit rainbows. It was like a game of musical chairs, every time the music stopped we got a new minority individual, a inspiring speech, and sometimes there would even be some character development.

However, mostly it was just inspiring speeches. I should use scare quotes there, because I simply wasn't inspired. I was bored; I knew what was going to be said already.

I get really annoyed at people writing about religious GLBTQ characters, just tossing on the religious references and ways of thinking, like the reader isn't going to get it, or get that it's unhealthy. I think Levithan did this exact thing in the opposite direction. It's too much, all at once, spread too thin to hold the theme of the book. It's wishful thinking, and wishful thinking doesn't tell a good story. It reads like an AU fanfic of election 2000! I spent most of my time boggling that it was all so pasted on.

Wide Awake reads to me like David Levithan's politics and personal philosophy disguising itself—badly—as a novel. I might as well have been reading his thoughts on yaoi. Duncan was a smokescreen.

Ugh ugh ugh.

77. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart: This is the anti-thesis of Twilight. This is everything Feminism 101 for teen girls (and boys, too!) should be. For every person who picks up a book by Stephenie Meyer, I want to take it away when they're finished and put this in their hands and say, "THIS. THIS IS WHAT I MEAN."

A subtle but scathing commentary on the patriarchal establishment, an attack on the concept of the old boy's club, and both an engaging story and critique of heterosexual teenage romances at the same time, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks had my heart from the very beginning, when Frankie's mother balked over her going off by herself and Frankie kept demanding answers as to why she wasn't allowed to do things other people—boys!—could do. I was hooked. Frankie, geek-girl at fourteen, transforms into a girl with all the right assets, except for the fact that the world around her seems to appreciate only her newly acquired ones, a little bit of fat in the correct locations. Her wit and intelligence is pushed aside by her new boyfriend and his collection of friends, made worse by the fact that Frankie discovers that he and his friends are members of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, an all-male secret society Frankie's father was a member of, a group he made connections in that he still has. Matthew never tells Frankie about the society, even as their relationship progresses.

She was, as I would say, not having any of these shenanigans.

Frankie is such a lovely character, at turns determined to infiltrate this casual, secure world of boys and men who will never want for anything and step up to an equal footing with them—to be recognized as equal regardless of her gender—and hilariously blind to how her behavior so easily mirrors the easy sexism the boys take part in without even seeing it. The sexism is so casual that we might even miss it. I think this is a commentary on feminism with a capital C. You have all flavors of it if you read just right. You can pick them out at will from so many chapters—Frankie's kind, that's like X-TREME feminism—off-roading!—Trish's or even Zada's. They're all correct views, but who gets to decide what the correct view is if they feel there can only be one? Frankie does a lot of running into these issues throughout the book. Readers are six feet deep in issues.

The whole time I was reading this book, I kept thinking, "owlmoose has to read this. Also I might have to hire a book hit man to threaten delladella with a gun. They have to read this!" That's what they get for getting me into feminism. It's totally a fandom.

As a totally TMI side note, when the Panopticon was invoked, I realized that even I buy into it, locking my bathroom door when I'm home alone. What givesn with that?

78. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Rachel Cohn & David Levithan: I swore after Wide Awake I would take a break from Levithan, but this book is almost never checked in and not reading it is like not knowing who Jesus and Moses are, except, you know, YA-themed. I got lucky, because apparently when Levithan writes by himself he goes stark raving mad with his own cleverness, but when he's with a co-author they tone him down to that thing we like to call reality.

I liked the second book these two wrote together, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, more than this one. This story was more stream-of-consciousness, more full of angst and woe and public sex, but I enjoyed it. Taking place over one night in New York City, Nick and Norah strip off old baggage, get to know each other, and begin to fall in love. It's a very realistic, literal sort of falling, too; their first meeting is when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to distract his ex from engaging him.

There's not much to say about this novel besides that it's a very in-the-moment read, and none of the characters are what they seem in the beginning. I didn't like it better than Naomi and Ely's story. I would rather rock out with a family drama than watch two straight edge kids take each others clothes off by a soda machine.

They're making a movie; I'm increasingly curious as to how it's going to play out.

79. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares: I knew it was going to happen eventually. I knew I was going to keep back-tracking into the bowels of YA lit gone by, and finally, finally, pull up a dud. However, I didn't just unearth a dud with this one, I unearthed a yowling crap monster, full of every dumb cliche plot device imaginable. This novel is not getting invited to the cool books party and it's definitely not going to be on YA's Greatest Hits. At least it won't be on mine, because I only put things that don't suck balls on any of my lists.

The movie improved on this book so much. I bow down to the women who took these flabby, deflated balloon characters and made me care about them. And thank you movie gods for writing a screenplay that replaced the atrocious cliches with something that doesn't make one of the characters look like a raging douchebag.

I could have grabbed Brashares and shaken her like a sweet pair of maracas for pulling what she did in this book. When rape becomes a plot point used to develop characters in this way, I want to throw things and set books on fire. Unfortunately, this one was saved because it was an e-book.

Don't think I wasn't tempted, though.

I timed this so badly, since tomorrow is Sunday! Hilarious.

One of the participants of the Herding Cats challenge (which, uhhhh I need to update) is hosting this one, which is how I found out about it. I have consistently failed every reading challenge I've joined (even my own) so I think it's time to set the bar lower.

July Book Blowout. Basically, we challenge ourselves to read a lot of books in July! Sweet! I am sort of sad that graphic novels/comics/manga are treated as second class book citizens, since only two volumes of those will count, and if I read more they won't. Whine! I'll say it! Either these things are books and should count as books or they're not and shouldn't count at all. I do not think it should be a halfway thing! I don't understand. I keep trying to understand and failing! I've edited this paragraph eight time! I KNOW, I KNOW, NOT MY CHALLENGE, shut up, Renay, no one cares about your book politics or your issues with people dismissing graphical books.

Stop being lame.

Now that I've slathered my ~~thoughts on yaoi~~ questionable opinion everywhere and offended 100+ people, I guess I'll try to read ten books. Ten books is doable! I wish it was more, but I also plan to do another writing challenge in July, 1,000 words a day of various WIPs to catch up with my yearly totals (I am still aiming for 100,000!) Therefore, I can't go crazy. I have to be sane about my time, since popcorn job has more employees so I've been shunted to the lanes for a bunch of closing shifts.

Sad face.

Now I am going to bed for real.

What gives with the point of view crap?

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:19:07 GMT

The question is, why does the YA community seem to find first person narratives stronger, more emotionally appealing, than third point narratives? Or, well, any community, I suppose, but I've only seen it in YA. I mean, I saw it most recently with the dead & the gone, where the emotional impact being muted was the fault of the third-person point of view, when I think a more likely suspect is the fact that we already know everything that's going to happen because of the status of the dead & the gone as a companion to Life As We Knew It, rather than a sequel that skips ahead in time. It seems like a really good author could rock third-person just as well as first, but I've seen loads of examples that suggest that third person makes a book automatically weaker emotionally.

*flails* I don't get it.

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:22:23 GMT

When I started this damn thing, it was really to get some friends give me recs, and have them read some of mine, like a trade. I really didn't realize that 80 people would join and I would have a huge rec list of 625 books and lsdkjhflhffff holy crap. Even if you aren't into reading challenges, you can't go wrong with this recommendation list. SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.

So, an update.

1. I added all my backlog! All reviews that have been sent to me are cleared and saved via del.icio.us. If links are missing please comment/e-mail me! Here's that OpenID tutorial again (no, I will never give up!)

2. The recommendation list is updated with links to the collections of reviews. Also, two new people joined up and their lists are available. New recs are marked as such; feel free to check them out!

3. Our RSS feed is still the best way to stay on top of new anything. Feel free to pass the word along!

4. This is our review collection. It can be searched by author or book title, and also by who is reviewing and which people recced the book. Feel free to check if your name is correctly attributed to your reviews as well as to books you've recced (also I will change names for anyone if they so desire). We have 40 reviews!

The end! Happy reading!