Soon to be in my Etsy shop -- a bag displaying the best Hardy Boys picture I've ever come across (from a decrepit copy of The Arctic Patrol Mystery):
Heh.
Soon to be in my Etsy shop -- a bag displaying the best Hardy Boys picture I've ever come across (from a decrepit copy of The Arctic Patrol Mystery):
Heh.
I still can't believe it's taken me so long to hop on the audiobook* train. This morning, my twenty minute commute felt like a five minute hop, even though it was PROBABLY, in actuality, longer than usual because of the craptastic road conditions.
Anyway.
I just finished up The Essential Agatha Christie Stories, which was, for the most part, awesome. David Suchet and Hugh Fraser read most of the stories, with Joan Hickson and Christopher Lee(!) popping in for a few.
High points: "Jane in Search of a Job" and "The Girl in the Train", which were both hijinks-type mysteries/love stories. SO. CUTE. And they were new to me, which was exciting -- I thought I'd already read all of her short stories.
Low point: The last story, which was narrated by Jonathan Cecil. Wow. I was not impressed by his Poirot.
Up next: Pillars of the Earth. I know, I know, like 25 years late. Whatever. I will not be bossed.
So far, I'm liking it, though I'm finding it rather repetitive. Really, Tom? You're angry that No-Lips bashed your daughter's head in AND you think Ellen is a hottie? YOU DON'T SAY. Oh, wait. You DID say. 47 TIMES.
But, like I said, I'm enjoying it enough that my drive is seeming way short. OH, LOOK. REPETITION IS CONTAGIOUS.
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*Though now I'm even more out of touch with current events, as I haven't been listening to the news in the morning.
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Amazon Affiliate: If you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money.
Emily has spent her the entirety of her privileged life in the same affluent, safe suburb. Now, at age sixteen, she will do something different.
Rather than spend another summer lazing by the pool with her best friend, she'll attend an art program in Philadelphia. For a few days a week, she will be on her own in the city, surrounded by strangers, free to be someone else -- or is it her real self? -- in a way that she's never been before.
This is my first Siobhan Vivian (after finishing it, I went through boxes until I unearthed her first book, which is now at the top of my Post Cybils Pile), and more than anyone else, she reminded me of Cecil Castellucci. There's something similar in her style (at least in Same Difference) -- Emily doesn't really know herself (or other people), and she doesn't know that she doesn't know. She isn't prone to Big Emotional Outbursts (even in her own head). But, through her description of her interactions and her experiences, I was able to see and feel what was going on under the surface -- even when she wasn't aware of (or refused to see) -- it.
She's an interesting, very real sort of person, and she's full of contradictions. She comes back from Philly, expecting people to suddenly Take Her Art Seriously, and when they act the way they've always acted, she writes them off as immature and obnoxious and close-minded. But, without realizing it, she herself is hugely arrogant and close-minded:
"Well, you come from creative parents, too," Mom says. "So don't sell yourself short. Your father has to be extremely creative in his job."
"He's a salesman, Mom." I shake my head. "Sales is not creative."
"Hey," Dad whines.
"Theater is art," Mom says. She takes the wine that Mr. Mundy offers her and clinks her fork against her glass like she's made some incredible point. "Every property requires a new performance."
How could she think that's even close to the same thing? "Dad's not on Broadway. He's selling office space to companies." I take my food back to my lounge chair.
"I agree with your mom," Meg says, joining me. She starts cutting her lettuce. I don't know anyone else who cuts their lettuce. "Rich works a 'typical' job, but he's very creative."
I laugh. I can't help it.
At first, she doesn't see that in trying to Become An Artist in the way that many of her new classmates Are Artists, she's just trying to hop from one box to another -- rather than what she supposedly wants, which is to be Free From The Boxes. She's got a lot to learn.
I did find the romance somewhat problematic. I didn't really find her a very sympathetic character -- I understood her rather than LIKED her -- so it was hard for me to understand someone liking her enough to think romance. But that's my only real complaint, and that's probably a pretty personal reaction. Overall, I thought it was an excellent portrayal of someone trying her damnedest to be herself, even though she hasn't realized that she doesn't really know what or who "herself" is.
Looking back over this, I've realized that as I focused so much on the character-study aspect of the book, I didn't mention that Same Difference is also an excellent, mostly quiet and restrained, look at how friendships change. And at how friendships can be salvaged.
Thumbs up. It was just... good.
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Book source/other info: Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee.
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I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program. Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC. So, I will spell it out: if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money.
...being the good little worker bee that I am, unloading the book drop in the children's room, when I noticed a copy of Olivia Kidney and the Exit Academy in the book sale.
May I just say, YET AGAIN, that I think it is a complete and utter... wrongness that Ellen Potter isn't more well known than she is? I mean, REALLY.
By now, I'm sure you know that Kirkus will soon be no more.
And by now, I'm sure that you've seen the plethora of responses to the news.
I'm in the I'm-going-to-miss-it camp. Not just because I'm pro-negative reviews -- which I am* -- but also because it seemed like they often had a different take on books than the other outlets, and generally, the more varied the responses, the more interested I get.
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*Not because I'm a Super Mean Lady, but because I like it when people are straightforward** and I feel that wearing rose-colored glasses somehow, I don't know, lessens the subject. Like if a review withholds criticism and pulls punches, somehow it isn't treating the subject seriously. I don't know if that actually makes any real sense to anyone other than myself.
**If a book drives a reviewer so bananas that s/he throws it at the wall, I WANT TO KNOW, you know?
You know, I try my damnedest to NOT sign up for reading challenges.
I know that I have the tendency to get super-excited about things and then lose interest when I notice something shiny.
But this one may have to be yet another exception -- because, YAY.
However. I am going to be good and not commit myself until after The Big Read V.
I am so adult and mature and responsible.
15-year-old Hanna wants Seth, and she wants him above all things. He always seems to have a girlfriend, but she hopes that sooner or later, his eye will fall on her.
Being so preoccupied with her heartache, she hasn't been spending much time with her adopted grandparents. Who aren't getting any younger. And who have dealt with -- and are still dealing with -- their own head and heartaches. Grandma Helen, especially, knows that there are things she needs to tell Hanna, and she needs to do it while she still can.
How It Ends is made up of Hanna and Helen's alternating narratives, as well as a transcription of the audiobook they listen to together. It's a coming of age story and a romance -- multiple romances, really -- a story about family, about aging, loss, death and dying, about obsessive love, and about strength, hardship and about how the connections we make with other people can carry us through fire*. With, you know, bonus Gothic elements.
It's one that won't be for everyone -- many adult readers, especially, will have a hard time with Hanna's bad choices and inability to see much of anything beyond her own situation, and some might feel that the beginning of the book is slow-going -- but it'll hit some people hard.
Like me.
Hoo boy. I haven't cried so hard since I read The Subtle Knife. We're not talking Book Thief tears pouring down the face. We're talking red-faced-mouth-open-can't-breathe-no-holds-barred crying so hard that I was worried Mrs. Across The Street would hear me and come nosing around because she was "concerned".
I do think that my response was, in part, intensely personal: How It Ends deals with some of my greatest fears, and there are many parallels between Helen's lifestyle and my own. So it resonated. But setting my personal reaction aside, I think it's an extremely strong book on its own -- Hanna's behavior, while maddening to those of us with more life experience, is quite realistic, and the slow beginning is necessary to allow the reader to actually get to know and care about the characters BEFORE the big payoff.
It's one, I think, that could benefit from cross-promoting -- definitely, definitely a good pick for adult readers of the YA.
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*Sorry if I got a little overly dramatic there. I'm still fighting back tears about this one (even though I finished it days ago), and also we re-watched Babylon 5 recently, so I currently have Jeff Conaway's voice on loop in my head: "It was the YEAR of fire..." Plus, you know Delenn or Sheridan probably said something or other about carrying one another through fire. I mean, it SOUNDS like something one of them would say. Okay. I've distracted myself away from another crying jag. Back to it.
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Book source/other info: Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee.
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I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program. Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC. So, I will spell it out: if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money.
Holy cow, I can't believe I've gearing up for the fifth Big Read. Although maybe I shouldn't count BRIV, as I totally bailed on it. But I do count BRI, BRII and BRIII as complete successes. And it would be confusing to use the same number twice. So.
There was a bit of dissent, and I did give it quite a bit of thought. Ultimately, I decided to go with my first choice.
For The Big Read V, I (and any of you who would like to join me) will be reading Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White.
Why did I decide to go with it? Two reasons.
First, I want to re-read it. And, you know. My house, my rules. Second (and far more importantly), I'm kind of scared of CC.
So. This is the schedule I'll be following:
January 6: The First Epoch: The Story Begun by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-VIII
January 8: Walter Hartright, Chapters IX-XV
January 11: The Story Continued by Vincent Gilmore; The Story Continued by Marian Halcombe
January 13: The Second Epoch: The Story Continued by Marian Halcombe, Chapters I-V
January 15: Marian Halcombe, Chapters VI-X; Postscript
January 18: The Story Continued by Frederick Fairlie, Esq.; The Story Continued by Eliza Michelson
January 20: The Story Continued in Several Narratives (This is a really short section, which will allow for any needed catching up.)
January 22: The Third Epoch: The Story Continued by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-VI
January 25: Walter Hartright, Chapters VII-XI
January 27: The Story Continued by Mrs. Catherick; The Story Continued by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-VII
January 29: The Story Continued by Isidor, Ottavio, Baldassare Fosco; The Story Concluded by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-III
If you'd like to read along with me, awesome! If you'd like to blog along with me, even more awesome -- when you post, just let me know so I can compile a list of links as I've done in the past.
I'm going to use a library copy (or my own if I can find one up in the attic), but it's in the public domain, so it's available at Project Gutenberg and other places online, and I'm sure there are bazillions of used copies for sale at all of the usual places.
I'm looking forward to this one -- I hope there's a lot of conversation!
And, as a bonus, here's Kyle MacLaclan selling stuff (and watch for Jon Pertwee at the end!):
Lots more at Forbidden Planet.
Josh made me sit on the woodpile (but do note that he was nice enough to put a jacket down so I wouldn't snag my tights):
My hair is doing something insane (which everyone really should be used to at this point, but this picture was taken after work today, so I have an excuse for once), and I'm making my classic "I hate having my picture taken, so I'm not going to even pretend to enjoy this and even though it's me who wants to document my sewing projects, I'm going to act like a complete puke the entire time the camera is pointed in my general direction" face, but if you ignore all of that, you'll notice my awesomely massive collar. The fabric of the dress is a medium brown with a white pinstripe, and I tied my (well, Josh's, but I borrowed it) tie with an Atlantic knot.
I used this Simplicity pattern from 1970, and I made it a size bigger than I'd usually wear, both because I thought it would be more comfy that way and because I was being lazy and didn't want to fiddle with re-sizing the pattern:
Even though it looks short on the middle lady, either her legs are three miles long or I'm a stump, because I had to hack a good five inches off of the bottom before it hit me above the knee.
Val Martinez sits in the back of the classroom, she doesn't make eye contact with people, she doesn't talk back to teachers, she doesn't talk, period. She's pretty much invisible.
So she's understandably surprised when Francie Knight decides that they're going to be friends:
Francie was that kind of girl. You know the type I'm talking about. Blonde. Big boobs. Total slut. The kind of girl who doesn't need a name. It's always the blonde, isn't it? I guess certain things will turn your hair gold. Francie's hair was hell-of-gold.
As for me: my hair was brown like something you looked for and looked for and couldn't find until your mom told you to check under your bed, and then there it was, crumpled in a dusty corner where you couldn't reach it.
Francie teaches Val the ins-and-outs of shoplifting, and together, the two of them set out to claim the entire world for themselves: one tube of liquid eyeliner at a time. In a voice both hard-boiled and innocent (I know that sounds strange, but she is), Val narrates a story about the rise and fall of friendship, about secrets hidden in suburbia, about being lost, about finding magic in the world and in yourself, about quests and belief and trust, and about becoming who you are, even if you aren't exactly sure what that means.
At least, I think that was what it was about. The Blonde of the Joke felt like two books in one. The first half chronicles the relationship between the girls as well as Val's re-creation and re-invention of herself, while the second half isn't quite as easy to describe. Fittingly, considering the happenings and tone of the second half of the book, the turning point came with Francie and Val's viewing of Blue Velvet:
After the turning point, Val and Francie's story gets stranger and stranger, but I found it no less engrossing -- even though, by the end, I still didn't have answers to a whole lot of questions, and I'm pretty sure that Val didn't, either. But then, who has all of the answers?
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Book source/other info: Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee; read for the RRRead-a-thon.
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I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program. Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC. So, I will spell it out: if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money. Why? Dude. Because in the future, I need to pay someone to entertain Josh while I participate in a read-a-thons. He's extremely distracting!
Best friends Noelle and Keeley have been inseparable for practically forever. While they were always two, they were often three: Noelle's twin brother, Nadio, was the third in their trio.
But after Kelley returns from a summer in England -- the first time that she and Noelle have been away from each other for more than a few days -- everything is different.
In alternating voices, Noelle and Nadio tell a story about: the end a friendship that had seemed unbreakable, about the beginning of a romance that crept up on everyone, about quiet estrangement, about secrets and lies, pain and first love, about what family is and about how who we are shifts and changes, again and again and again.
From This is What I Want to Tell You:
Noelle:
I can't tell you exactly what happened, but I can tell you part of it.
My part.
I once read that you should always write about what you know, that what you know will tell the best story. What I know now is that the stories people tell are always about our insecurities, about the things we left behind, and about the things we wish we could do again. The real story isn't about what you know; it's about what you wish you knew then.
Nadio:
It is hard to picture what last summer felt like. I know I was someone else then and I probably couldn't have imagined who I'd become--who we'd all become--but now that I know, part of me wants to remind myself what it was like before. I told Noelle about the way I'd written to our father, on invisible pages but with permanent ink. We need to do that, she said, we need to tell this story, even if the pages are invisible.
I started reading this one and it just... grabbed hold of me. I read from the first page to the last and I didn't put it down once. Nadio and Noelle have voices that are distinct -- I never mistook one for the other even though the author used the same style (very spare on the punctuation, no quotation marks) throughout -- but also similar. They echo and complement each other, in realization and experience. And although we never get to see the world through Keeley's eyes, her emotions and experiences are a slightly-not-parallel version of Noelle's.
I saw a review that called this book 'melodramatic', which I really don't agree with -- while there are events that could have come off that way, I felt that the writing was so strong and the characters were so real that it never veered in that direction. Many times, I knew what mistakes the characters were making -- mistakes that I've seen characters make a million times before -- but I never felt even remotely frustrated with them or with the book. Maybe because I really believed in them, believed that they were all figuring these things out for the first time.
What more can I say? Something -- a lot of things -- in this book resonated with me. And I don't think I'll be alone in that.
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Book source/other info: Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee; read for the RRRead-a-thon.
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I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program. Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC. So, I will spell it out: if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money. Why? So I can build an arena in which to hold an Epic Battle between RPattz' hair and Taylor Lautner's abs. And you're invited.
I've decided (at the very last minute) to jump in on today's 24-hour Read-a-thon.
I figure it'll give me a good excuse to get some of my Cybils reading done. It has nothing to do with just, you know, wanting to read all day or anything. I swear.
Anyway, onward! I shall begin at 9AM, which, according to my computer, is in seven minutes, and periodically, I'll post reading responses and whatnot.
So here I am, next to the wood stove with a cup of tea and a pile of books. According to my husband the weather fanatic, we might actually get snow today, which would make for the coziest day EVER. (As long as, you know, I stay inside.)
[ETA: Rather than writing lots of separate posts, I'm going to compile all of the read-a-thon activities here.]
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Books read:
This is What I Want to Tell You, by Heather Duffy Stone
The Blonde of the Joke, by Bennett Madison
My stats:
Hours reading: 5.5
Hours writing/socializing: 4
Due to my inability to remain undistracted by my husband (who, it must be said, put forth an AMAZING effort), those are my final, completely pathetic, stats. I'd like to say I'll do better next time, but unless he'll be away for the weekend, I'm not making any promises.
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Breaktime Shindig #1 (courtesy of I Heart Monster):
Sarah has two (new to her) very beautiful cats. Who may or may not be aliens. Also, she herself is lovely in real life.
The title of Ash's blog -- English Major's Junk Food -- made me laugh out loud.
BrownGirl BookSpeak is new to me, but I'll be keeping an eye on her from now on -- her writing voice is understatedly hilarious.
I've always loved the header over at Biblio File, but I've never mentioned it. So here I am, mentioning it.
Sasha has books lingering on her Currently Reading list, and she's actually going to DO something about it! I am inspired.
Second half of the sentence #1: ...SO I'm glad to see that I've already read most of these recommendations, including Sunshine, His Majesty's Dragon, the Earthsea books and Eon: Dragoneye Reborn. I read a good number of the Pern books back in middle school, but the only part of that series I've been interested in revisiting is the Harper Hall trilogy. I'm sad that she didn't mention Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, though.
Second half of the sentence #2: ...BUT what's one more? After all, it's free. And a whole pile of people have recommended that I read Charlie Huston.
So, due to my newfound obsession with vintage sewing patterns, I have a few saved eBay searches. Including one for "Mondrian sewing patterns", in the hopes that it'll turn up something along the lines of this famous dress:
So, obviously, I was all atwitter when I opened my email and saw that I had a hit.
My excitement didn't last long.
BEHOLD THE HORROR:
And I don't like how it's waving at me. It's creepy.
15-year-old Andrew Zansky is the second-fattest guy in the sophomore class. Tenth grade begins pretty much the same way as ninth: ten minutes in, he's already been harassed by Ugo the Bully and cheated on his diet. It looks like this year will involve lots of hanging out with his best friend, Eytan, and the other kids in the Model UN. Just like last year.
This year, at least he has April -- the gorgeous girl he met at a function his mother was catering -- to fantasize about. Why not, right? It's not like he's ever going to see her again.
Wrong.
Not that it really matters -- it isn't like Andy has a chance, or that he will ever make a move.
But. O. Douglas, star quarterback, golden boy and dreamboat, has suddenly shown some serious interest in Andy Zansky. And Andy finds himself pulled into a world where getting the girl just might be possible.
I really enjoyed Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have. I loved Andy's voice, which was funny and confessional (And after noting that the author has the same initials, I wondered just how confessional it was!), self-depricating and genuine, fresh-to-the-ear but familiar-to-the-psyche:
There's a lot of fat in our family, but there's some thin, too. Dad is thin and athletic, and my sister Jessica is super skinny. She's also a super bitch, so there's clearly no correlation between being skinny and being nice, at least in her case.
That's my family. Some of us are fat, some are thin.
It may be true that we have a glandular problem, but if so, it's extremely selective.
The storyline kept me wondering -- with so many people suddenly being so nice to Andy, I kept waiting for the situation to change, for the Big Reveal, for the twist. Because, after all, it's hard to imagine a world in which a Big (literally) Nobody gets scooped up by the most popular group in school, no strings attached. Don't get me wrong: it's always refreshing to read about football players and cheerleaders who AREN'T Satan's Spawn. But I reserved judgement for quite a long time -- because I cared about Andy, and I didn't want him to get hurt. Emotionally OR physically.
I'll let you find out for yourself about whether or not there is a twist. Just know that this is a good one. It's about friendship, trust, branching out, finding out who you are and what you enjoy, about learning to see. In some ways, sure, it's a story that's been told before. But the characters are real, right down to the minor ones, and Andy's voice -- and the emotions under his voice -- ring true. Thumbs up.
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Crossposted at Guys Lit Wire.
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Book source: Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee.
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I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program. Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC. So, I will spell it out: if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money. Why, you ask? Well, gosh. Tomato sandwiches aren't free, you know. Especially in December.
...now that Issue #2 of TBRT is printed and shipping, I'm now taking submissions for next June!
Which, considering today's 70° day, doesn't seem so very far away.
Ash, by Malinda Lo
Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
The Everafter, by Amy Huntley
Flash Burnout, by L. K. Madigan
Hold Still, by Nina LaCour
I've read a whopping... none of them. Yeesh. Man, my reading has been so very down this year.
More info at the ALA's WCMDYAA page.
...that made me laugh so hard that I felt physically ill.
(And that's a good thing.)
Wow, so not only has the Twilight saga made the Brontë books super-popular among the Twihard set*, but now there are at least three movies in the works.
Chuck Bass as Heathcliff, though. Oh, god. Does this mean I'll actually GO to the Wuthering Heights movie?
Probably. And I'll probably find his assiness likable.
I have no shame.
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*Which is, you know, great, except that many of them probably think Heathcliff is a dreamypants dreamboat who looks just like Robert Pattinson's hair, when in actuality, BLECCH WITH A DOUBLE TOPPING OF BLECCCCCH. Which makes me wonder -- would they swoon over stupid Maxim de Winter, too? YUCK. YUUUUUUUCK.
**This footnote isn't actually attached to anything. Just wanted to share: Yesterday, I displayed Look For Me By Moonlight on the front desk with a card in it that read, "An antidote to Twilight". So far, every patron's response has been, "'An antidote to Twilight?' Why would you need one?" But I know that someone understanding will come along. Eventually.
People who use the term "graphic novel" as a catch-all term for any book in comic format, EVEN IF IT'S A MEMOIR.
According to the Wikipedia page, it can be used in that way, but I protest. Strongly. On the grounds that IT MAKES NO SENSE.
The AV Club (god bless 'em) has posted a Best Bad Movies of the '00s list.
As I read it, I kept saying, "C'mon guys, C'MON! Where's the Wicker Man remake? It's GOT to BE HERE!" I'm sure you'll be very relieved to know that I was NOT disappointed, and so there was no tantrum thrown and my head did not explode. Phew.
Anyway. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll be adding many of the titles to my Netflix queue.