Library Loot #38

There were Christmas books and movies out on display at the library today. Last time I checked, it's not even October yet.

What is this world coming to?

Or, better yet: where has the year gone?

For A/K:
My Goldfish, Barroux
Miranda's Beach Day, by Holly Keller
Hook, by Ed Young
Baby Baby Blah Blah Blah!, by Jonathan Shipton/Illus. by Francesca Chessa
Mrs. Muffly's Monster, by Sarah Dyer**
The Bold Boy, by Malachy Doyle/Illus. by Jane Ray
Strega Nona: Her Story, by Tomie dePaola**
Big Wolf and Little Wolf, by Sharon Phillips Denslow/Illus. by Cahtie Felstead**
The Dumb Bunnies, by Sue Denim/Illus. by Dav Pilkey

For C:
She's still working on OOTP, but I picked this one up for her, anyway.
Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona of Mytilini: Captured and Sold as a Slave in Rome - AD 107, by Richard Platt and David Parkins

For M:
Brutal, by Michael Harmon
Prophecy of the Sisters, by Michelle Zink
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, by Terry Pratchett
Shine, Coconut Moon, by Neesha Meminger*

For me:
Sweetness in the Belly, by Camilla Gibb
The roundup is either at Reading Adventures or A Striped Armchair.

*Ones that M eventually read.
**Picture books we really liked.

September Jacket Flap-a-thon

Just a quick reminder before we get into this month's jacket flap-a-thon: the nominations for this year's Cybils awards open tomorrow. Go make a nomination: the more, the merrier, and you know you don't want your favorite book to be left out!

On to this month's reading:

Rules (Scholastic): "No toys in the fish tank. Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public" -- in order to head off David's embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the potential next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal? Filled with humor and warmth, Cynthia Lord's debut novel takes a candid and sensitive look at feeling different and finding acceptance -- beyond the rules."

I thought this captured the spirit of the book -- humor and tenderness and all -- while making it intriguing enough that someone would want to pick it up.

Twilight of Avalon (Touchstone): "Ancient grudges, old wounds, and the quest for power rule in the newly widowed Queen Isolde's court. Hardly a generation after the downfall of Camelot, Isolde grieves for her slain husband, King Constantine, a man she secretly knows to have been murdered by the scheming Lord Marche -- the man who has just assumed his title as High King. Though her skills as a healer are renowned throughout the kingdom, in the wake of Con's death, accusations of witch craft and sorcery threaten her freedom and her ability to bring Marche to justice. Burdened by their suspicion and her own grief, Isolde must conquer the court's distrust and superstition to protect her throne and the future of Britain. One of her few allies is Trystan, a prisoner with a lonely and troubled past. Neither Saxon nor Briton, he is unmoved by the political scheming, rumors, and accusations swirling around the fair queen. Together they escape, and as their companionship turns from friendship to love, they must find a way to prove what they know to be true -- that Marche's deceptions threaten not only their lives but the sovereignty of the British kingdom. In Twilight of Avalon, Anna Elliott returns to the roots of the legend of Trystan and Isolde to shape a very different story -- one based in the earliest written versions of the Arthurian tales -- a captivating epic brimming with historic authenticity, sweeping romance, and the powerful magic of legend."

It's a little misleading -- it made me think it was more of a romance than it was -- but otherwise, a good picture of the plot without giving too much away.

Willow (Dial Books): "Seven months ago on a rainy March night, Willow's parents drank too much wine at dinner and asked her to drive them home. But they never made it -- Willow lost control of the car, and both of her parents were killed. Now seventeen, Willow is living with her older bother, who can barely speak to her. She has left behind her old home, friends and school. But Willow has found a new way to survive, to numb the new reality of her life: She is secretly cutting herself. And then she meets Guy, a boy as sensitive and complicated as she is. When Guy discovers Willow's secret, he pulls her out of the solitary world she's created for herself, and into a difficult, intense, and potentially life-changing relationship. Julia Hoban has created an unflinching story about cutting, grieving, and starting anew. But above all, she has written an unforgettable tale of first love."

I thought this was nearly perfect: captured the intensity and desperation, and the whole bit about it being unforgettable is spot-on.

Catching Fire (Scholastic): "Sparks are igniting. Flames are spreading. And the Capitol wants revenge. Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol -- a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create. Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before... and surprising readers at every turn."

Had to include this one... how do you write a blurb about one of the most anticipated books of the year and not give anything away? This is how.

Other books I read this month:
Just Listen
Faith, Hope and Ivy June
Babymouse: Dragonslayer
The Beef Princess of Practical County
The Moonstone
Perfect Chemistry
From Cover to Cover
Dreaming Anastasia
The Great Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
A Finder's Magic
The Princess and the Bear
My Life in Pink and Green
The Conch Bearer
The Purloined Boy (DNF)
Tess of the d'Urbervilles

2009 Challenge #4: Classics Challenge

I finished another challenge! (I have not had a good track record this year...) For the Classics Challenge, I read:

My Antonia, Willa Cather
The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
Tess of the d'Ubervilles, Thomas Hardy
Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard, Isak Dineson

And for the snack, I read Atonement, Ian McEwan

Out of them all, I think I liked the Willa Cather best, but it was good to delve into some headier books. I should read more classics more often. :-)

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy
ages: adult
First sentence: "On an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walking homeward from Shaston to the village of Marlott, in the adjoining Vale of Blakemore or Blackmoor."

Men are jerks.

Really.

That's basically the bottom line that I got from this book, the one that I stomped around the house growling about, that I vented on the phone to a friend about, once I finished the book.

Men -- all men, from fathers to lovers -- are just basically going to take a woman's innocence, their good hearts, their good will, and stomp. all. over. them.

Cheery, isn't it?

For those who are unfamiliar with this classic, Tess Durbeyfield is part of the Victorian working poor -- oldest daughter of a lackadaisical farmer. When her dad inadvertently finds out that he's a decedent of a noble family -- the d'Urbervilles -- he decides (practically pushes out the door) to send his daughter to a branch of the family who lives in a nearby town in order to beg them for money.

Male jerk #1.

Tess, being the kind, good, loving daughter that she is, does her father's (and mother's -- she's not much better!) will, and heads out. There she meets Alec: pretty boy, ladies man, and who is completely and utterly smitten with his "coz". (Because as these things go, Tess is not only pure, but beautiful as well.) He pursues her very aggressively, and while she's able to withstand his advances for quite a while, eventually he rapes her. Or at least, that's how I see it.

Male jerk #2.

A short while later, Tess up and leaves the house and ends up back at her parents' place. She gives birth and while the baby dies shortly thereafter (a very touching, passionate scene with her desperately trying to get the baby baptized before it dies), she's determined to move on with her life. Fast forward a couple of years, and she gets a job at a dairy farm where Angel Clare is working.

A bit about Angel -- he's a gentleman's son, and an enlightened Soul. He was meant for the Church, but unable to commit because of a lack of faith. And so, he decides to be a gentleman farmer, setting about visiting farms to get training. He falls head over heels in love with Tess, because of her purity and earthiness. She tells him she's no good for him, that it would be better for him to marry one of the other dairymaids. He persists, and eventually she gives in (either these guys were REALLY persistent, or she really didn't have much of a backbone), agreeing to marry him. On the wedding night, they decide to be confessional (word of advice: the wedding night is not a good time to be confessional). Angel confesses to having a short affair, whereupon Tess gets hopeful: perhaps he will be sympathetic to her plight. So, she tells him about her past.

Male jerk #3.

Actually -- at this point, I don't know who I was more incensed at: Alec for abusing and using Tess for his own personal pleasure or Angel for being such a merciless hypocrite. I had to put the book down for quite a while (a day or so) before I could deal with the story again.

Tess is totally the victim here, and it's very frustrating for me as a reader to experience that. Especially since Tess is really the only sympathetic character in the novel. All that said, Hardy is a brilliant writer; engaging, descriptive, gorgeous language. And able to span all the emotions -- from love to hate to disgust; he's a master. The rest of the book is totally downhill, of course. A criticism of Victorian society and norms and a portrait of good intentions gone horribly wrong couldn't have a happy ending.

That said, I'm not sure I'm going to run out and get more Hardy any time soon. Unless someone can convince me that it's not full of horrid men. Because, I'm not sure I can handle much more of that!

The Purloined Boy

by Mortimus Clay
ages: 9-12
First sentence: "All the doors were locked, all the windows were latched, and everything was perfectly secure the night the bogeyman came."

The premise for this book is an interesting one: a boy, Trevor, lives in a world where bogeymen are real. They are your friends, they know what's best for you. Except Trevor keeps having dreams about a time before, a time when he had parents, when he was truly happy. One day, he mentions this in class, and suddenly his world changes: he's whisked away, and in order to avoid Certain Doom, he must find a way to escape.

And it sounded like it would have a Lemony Snicket feel to it, since the author -- one Mortimus Clay -- is "the most prolific author writing posthumously in the world today. The modest Clay is not given to sweeping generalizations, but he has this on the highest authority." A dead author writing kids books? What's not to love?

Well... lots.

I tried to read it. Really, I did. Picked it up and put it down at least a half-dozen times. And every time, I would look at the words, I would try to get into the story, but it eluded me. I tried to get past the stilted dialogue and the clunky sentences, and find the good story in there, but it eluded me, too.

So, about 100 pages into the nearly 250 page book, when nothing remarkable had happened (and yet, I was left with a feeling -- that did not elude me -- that something remarkable *should* have happened), I bailed.

Hopefully, since the author is dead, he won't mind the negative review.

Sunday Salon: Double Booking

Look at me: participating in Sunday Salon!

It's a dual thing this morning... a response in Suey's recommendation that I blather more and a column in this morning's paper about reading only one novel at a time. The author, Lisa McLendon, wrote about how she finds it difficult to read multiple books, commenting:

Confusion aside, reading multiple books at once seems to me to give short shrift to all of the books involved. You can't give your undivided attention to a book if another book beckons from the coffee table, competing for your eyes. Plus, when a novel transports you to another place, placing you inside another person's life, it feels almost like two-timing to delve just as deeply into something else.

She ends the piece by asking for responses: how do those of you who read multiple books do it?

I have to say that for many, many years I was on the same page as Lisa: I only read one book at a time, savoring it fully to its conclusion (whether it was good or bad) before moving on to another one. And, honestly: for the most part, I still do that. I'm not a serial double-booker (or triple-booker), I do feel like I should give each book its due; that the time the author put into writing it is deserving of the time I can put into reading it.

However... lately (meaning the last couple of years), that's not always been the case. Partially, it's due to book blogging: there are now so many more books I want to read and not enough hours in the day, that I feel almost compelled to double book. But I do it carefully. Take the last couple of weeks, for instance.

I decided to pluck Tess of the d'Urbervilles off my pile. I started reading, trying to get into the language and plot and characters of the dense Hardy novel. Then, I popped by the library and saw that this years' big read was Edgar Allan Poe. I figured, what the heck, why not pick that up, to. Except that it was a 14-day check-out, as opposed to the usual four week. So, it got bumped to the top of the pile. I didn't want to give up on Tess, and I needed to read Edgar... so I alternated. I'd read one story of Poe's (or a couple of poems), and then a couple of chapters of Tess. Then, because all that 19th-century language (and depressing plots) was dragging me down, I complimented them both with a bunch of YA and Middle Grade novels.

So, my reading went like this: one Poe story, two or three chapters of Tess (I'm almost done with it!), half of a contemporary novel. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But how did I keep them all straight?

Partially it's because when I double- (or triple, in this instance) book, I choose novels that are so far removed from each other they're easy to keep straight. I'm not going to go confusing plots from a Poe story with the drama in Tess's life with the middle-grade Indian fantasy. I think that's crucial, actually: as Lisa pointed out in her piece, if you pick two books (they don't have to be novels) that are similar in any way, then the tendency to get them confused will be stronger.

It would also help if I took notes on the book -- I have noticed that when I double-book too closely, my posts are not as detailed (or as good) as when I only read one at a time.

But, until my reading list gets shorter, or someone invents a way to have 26 hours in a day (with the extra two devoted entirely to reading!), then double-booking is the only way I'm going to get through all the books I want to.

What about you? Do you double-book? If so, how do you manage it? If not, why not?

My Life in Pink and Green

by Lisa Greenwald
ages: 10+
First sentence: "Things can always be worse."

This looks like a very girly book. Pink background, face mask (or is it masque?), cucumber slices: you think it's going to be frills and parties and giggles.

Except, it's not.

Sure, Lucy Desberg loves makeup, and wants to be the next Laura Mercier (who, thanks to Google, I found out is a real person), but she's no girly girl. She's a smart 12-year-old who loves to help out at her family's pharmacy -- which is slowly failing due to a myriad of factors -- and who becomes interested in going green. Sure, there's seventh grade stuff: her best friend develops a crush on a boy and gets all weird about it, but really it's about Lucy's business sense and the fact that kids can Do Things To.

If only the stupid grownups will stop shouting at each other and listen to her.

It's a cute enough plot, and Lucy and her friends are a likable enough characters (the book falls into the "parents are idiots" trap, which was distracting). Combining saving a business and saving the earth with makeup and beauty tips is a unique idea, though it kind of screamed: "Hey girls! You can be environmentally aware AND cute at the same time! See how easy it is?!" Overlying message: you CAN be smart, aware, AND be into makeup. They are not mutually exclusive. Which, I suppose, is a halfway decent message.

However, one does have to wonder how good a book really is if the favorite thing, when all is said and done, are the beauty and business tips at the beginning of each chapter. Those, I really liked (found myself wanting to write a couple down; what does this say about me?). Even though there wasn't anything that really grabbed me about the book, it was a good debut novel. And I'm sure there are smart girls out there who are just dying to know that its okay to like makeup. (And vice versa.)

Okay, then. Off to paint my toenails.

The Conch Bearer

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
ages: 10+
First sentence: " Anand shivered as he carried a heavy load of dirty dishes from the tea stall to the roadside tap for washing."

Once, Anand had everything he thought his heart could desire. He went to school, his family was happy living in Kolkata, India. Then his father lost his job, and headed to Dubai to get work. Eventually, the money stopped coming, and Anand and his mother were forced to take work. His sister slowly retreated into herself, until all three were just barely scraping by.

Then one day, Anand, in a fit of desperation, silently pleaded for someone -- anyone! -- to help him, and an old man showed up. Being the kind-hearted person he is, Anand helped the old man, and in return the old man -- who is a Master in the mysterious Brotherhood -- offered Anand the chance of a lifetime: to aid him in carrying the sacred conch shell back to the Silver Valley. There would, of course, be dangers along the way -- a corrupt Healer named Surabhanu is after the shell's power -- and, of course, Anand would be tried and tested in ways he could never imagine.

There's fantasy, and then there's epic fantasy: the journey against incredible odds that our hero has to take, succumbing to temptations and betrayals, passing tests and trials, learning and growing until he becomes something greater than himself. Sure there's magic (not the least of which is a "talking" conch shell) -- though of a more mystical sort -- and danger -- natural and supernatural -- and battles -- which is to be expected -- but mostly it's about Anand and his growth and learning process.

All this gave the novel a formulaic feel, but perhaps because it was set in India or perhaps because Divakaruni is an intriguing storyteller, it rose above the fantasy cliches that were littered throughout and became an intriguing read.

The Princess and the Bear

by Mette Ivie Harrison
ages: 12+
First sentence: "Long ago, there lived a wild cat that was the sleekest, fastest, and bravest of its kind."

One of the things I like best about sequels and series, especially in fantasy books, is getting to visit the world the author imagined again. Especially when the world is as fascinating as the one that Mette Ivie Harrison has imagined.

The Princess and the Bear follows the story of the Hound and the Bear from the end of The Princess and the Hound. Told through alternating chapter narratives, the book tells the story of the two unlikely companions who find solace in their togetherness, until the spread of unmagic threatens to destroy their comfortable -- if lonely -- life. They journey to the wild man, the one person who can aid them in righting this horrible wrong. The wild man sends the Hound and the Bear back to a point in time when the magic is overly volatile, to deal with and stop the source of the unmagic. It also happens that this point in time is when the Bear was a human: King Richon, a spoiled brat of a king who was used and taken advantage of by his evil advisers. It's up to him, with the aid of the Hound -- now a human, Chala -- to find the source of evil, right the wrongs that Richon did before spending 200 years as a human, in order to fix the future.

The best part of this novel, much like the first one, was the words. Harrison paints a gorgeous picture of the world she's imagined. It's also a thoughtful book, one in which the reader does not plow through, but instead lingers over the pages soaking in the atmosphere. Yet, for all its flowingness and thoughtfulness, Harrison is a writer for a particular sort of person, someone who is willing to take a slower, quieter pace and enjoy the words instead of the characterization and plot. There's very little action, there's very little romance (like the first book, it grows slowly, so much so that you almost miss it). There is a definite character arc, but, again, its something that will sneak up on you, almost without you knowing. It's not exactly something that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The evil guys aren't that scary, the action isn't that captivating, the romance isn't that swooning.

Yet, there is something magical in Harrison's writing. And that's just enough to draw the reader in and be completely captivating.

Library Loot #37

I'm starting to think I need to be more like Amanda, and ban myself from checking out books. It would make me sad, but I really can't read them all. Why do I think I can?

For A/K:
Hobbledy-Clop, by Pat Brisson/Illus. by Maxie Chambliss
His Royal Buckliness, by Kevin Hawkes
A Visitor for Bear, by Bonny Becker/Illus. by Kady MacDonald Denton**
Peace Week in Miss Fox's Class, by Eileen Spinelli/Illus. by Anne Kennedy
Tacky Goes to Camp, by Helen Lester/Illus. by Lynn Munsinger**
Henry's Night, by D. B. Johnson and Linda Michelin
Pennies for Elephants, by Lita Judge
Itty Bitty, by Cece Bell**

For C:
She has decided to read (actually read) Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. So she has requested no more books from the library for the time being. She, at least, has self-control.

For M:
Gifts, by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Key to the Golden Firebird, by Maureen Johnson (I'll have to read this one, too. It's the only one of hers -- I think -- that I haven't read.)*
Rhiannon, by Vicki Grove
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, by Holly Black*
Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale, by Holly Black*
Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, by Holly Black (Score! All three books in this series were in. I couldn't resist.)

For me:
The Princetta, by Anne-Laure Bondoux
Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan
Mission Control, This is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon, by Andrew Chaikin and Alan Bean

The roundup is either at Reading Adventures or A Striped Armchair.

*Ones that M eventually read.
**Picture books we really liked.

Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

by... um... Edgar Allan Poe
ages: 13+

I saw this on display at the library, it having been chosen as the Big Read Wichita book for October and November. Not having read any Poe since Junior High/High School when I went through a morbid kick where he was my favorite author, I figured what better reason than this to pick up the book and see if I still like Poe as much as I did.

Oh, and I can count it for the RIP IV Challenge... :-)

First off, I should mention that I didn't read every story or poem in this book. I read the ones I remembered liking, which are basically his best-known ones -- "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Pit and the Pendulum", and "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee" -- as well as a couple I'd never read before: "The Black Cat", "Ligeia", "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Gold-Bug", and "Ms. Found in a Bottle" as well as assorted poems found in the Poetry for Young People collection we have kicking around the house.

Some general thoughts? When Poe is on, he's brilliant at mood. "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Black Cat", "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Raven" are all absolutely chilling. One of my most vivid school memories is listening to "The Tell-Tale Heart" in eighth-grade English, the lights out and curtains drawn. Deliciously terrifying. And it still is.

The other thing I noticed about Poe's horror stories is that his protagonists are liable to flip off at any little thing; they, on many levels, are genuinely crazy. Take the guy in "The Black Cat", for instance: he totally loses it because the cat is bothering him (obviously, he's not a cat-person), and hangs it. Then another cat comes along, which he begins to believe is the dead cat out for vengeance, so he tries to kill it with an axe. And ends up offing his own wife, for which he feels no remorse. Sometimes, you just have to scratch your head and ask, "What was Poe on when he wrote this?"

The thing is, when Poe was off whatever it was that he was usually on, his writing is really not very good. "The Gold-Bug" was an interesting exercise in deduction to find a pirate's treasure, but "The Masque of the Red Death" was odd (and not in a good way, either) and "Ligeia" made no sense at all. (It might have been me, though.) However, I did find that I enjoyed much of his poetry. In fact, my new favorite poem of his is a sweet one called "For Annie", about a man expressing his love and gratitude for Annie, who helped him through a severe illness. It's very touching and tender (and sane).

Do I love Poe as much as I once did? No... but that's probably more of a factor of age and temperament than anything else. Poe was a brilliant writer, and is deserving of the praise he has gotten over the years.

Kidlit Mania

First off: Just a reminder (you'll be getting a lot of these in the next week), that the Cybils are coming! The nominations for the various categories -- from non-fiction picture books through to YA fiction -- will be open on October 1st. Anyone can nominate one book in any (or all!) categories, so start thinking about the books you've loved this year. I know I've got a list forming (first choices and backups, in case my first choices are already taken...) in my head (and on a few pieces of paper).

While you're at it, don't forget to pick up some Cybils bling -- I'm determined to pick up at least a T-shirt before October, and...

the Kitlit Conference!

I'm SO excited to be going this year; I've wanted to go since it was started, and -- bad economy and all -- the stars have aligned in such a way that I'm able to go, meet, learn and enjoy!

Which brings me to what I need from you (hopefully, you've made it through until this point)! Pam has asked me (eek!) and several other awesome bloggers (I feel like an imposter!) to throw together a panel on issues in book blogging and reviewing. It'll be a bit of a Q&A -- we hope (I don't know, maybe we'll all just get up there and blather a bit about how wonderful the kidlitosphere is or something) -- and we're soliciting Qs beforehand (so we have some time to think about the As). So... what do you want to know? Any issues that you want to addressed? Any ideas/processes you want me to spill the beans about? Any tips you want me to pass along? Any thoughts? (Bueller? Bueller?) (OK. I did just date myself.)

C'mon, people: I'm begging here!

(And, yes, I know you can't all come -- so sad about that, too! -- but I WILL blog about this afterward, so you'll get your As. I promise.)

Willow

by Julia Hoban
ages: 14+
First sentence: "Maybe it's just a scratch."

As it turns out, Heather, Kailana and I all read this book within weeks (days?) of each other, which we realized thanks to Twitter. I had such a grand time doing a buddy review with Kailana, that when she suggested that the three of us review this one together, I couldn't say no.

The format we used was to each ask one question about the book that the others would respond to. Mine is below the plot summary.... for the other questions/reviews, stop by Heather's and Kailana's blogs today.

Willow has done the unthinkable: seven months ago, she was driving her parents home in a rainstom when she lost control of the car, totalling it and killing both of her parents instantly. That is she is grief-stricken is an understatement: she is terrified of facing the grief and so has taken to cutting. The physical pain of the razor slicing her skin is for her, much more bearable than the emotional pain of dealing with her parents' death. So, she goes about in a haze, cutting herself when things get too bad. Until she meets Guy, who finds that as much as Willow wants him to, he just isn't able to leave her to her destructive ways. It's because gets involved in her life in ways that Willow didn't expect that finally allows her to begin healing.

What did you think of the book being written in present tense? Did it work for you, or not?

Heather: I thought it added something to the immediacy of her situation. Made it seem more precarious, more...real. I think if it had been in past tense it would have had that "already happened" feeling and, for me at least, would have made me feel certain that she came out okay. Being present tense kept me feeling unsure, worried, was she going to be okay? Would she learn to deal with her pain in a different way? Or would she seriously hurt herself? It definitely worked for me; in fact, I don't think I would have liked it nearly as much if it had been written in anyway other than the way it was.

Kailana: I liked the writing style. I thought it worked really well for this story because we learned what Willow was going through with her. We experienced it as she was experiencing it; which I thought was fitting considering how complicated things were for her. Willow was a teenager living her life and the reader got to live it with her, so I think that the present tense was a good idea and worked well for the novel.

Me: This doesn't really have a lot to do with being in present tense, but I think it can fit here... This the first time I can remember reading a book the main character dealt with pain in such an obviously addicting and destructive behavior. It was painful for me, as the reader, to see such obvious pain in a person, and yet be nearly powerless to do anything about it. Because, on top of being grief-stricken, Willow is a terribly unreliable narrator. Sure, the book is written in third person present tense (which usually drives me nuts), but we're seeing things from Willows perspective. And, as I could tell more and more as the book went on, Willow was wantonly misinterpreting almost everything around her. It made the cutting more powerful, and the reader more helpless.

It was a good book: gripping and powerful as well as ultimately healing, and in ways that really worked for me as a reader (including the sex scene at the end, which really surprised me). Worth reading.

A Finder's Magic

by Philippa Pearce/Illus. by Helen Craig
ages: 8 to 10
First sentence: "There was a boy who went to bed in despair."

Some books are fun and exciting and adventuresome. Some books lure you in with flashy covers, or great blurbs, and keep you there with engaging characters and winning premises. Then there are other books, quiet books, simple books with a simple story to tell. Books that when you finish, you think that was nothing remarkable, except it left you with a smile on your face. And, really, that was sufficient.

The plot is so simple, it's almost mundane: Till has lost his precious dog, Bess. He's heartsick about this, and has trouble sleeping one night. The next morning, a strange, little man appears at his gate and announces that he's a Finder: someone who helps find things (I could use one of these on occasion!). He takes Till through the path of the previous day, and they make it to the meadow where Bess was last seen. Then the Finder begins to work his magic... he gives Till the courage to talk to the old ladies -- Miss Gammer and Miss Mousey -- who live in the meadow. He gathers information from the other creatures in magical and mysterious ways. And they do find Bess (was there much doubt?) in a wholly unexpected way.

Still, in spite of the plain plot, the book had a certain charm. Much of this was garnered from the inscription: Philippa Pearce wanted to write a book for her two grandsons, and wanted to collaborate with her grandson's other grandmother: Helen Craig. They came up with an idea, and as soon as she passed it off to Helen, Philippa died. It's a touching little love story to her grandchildren, a legacy of imagination left in words. But it was also in Helen Craig's beautiful watercolor (I'm assuming) illustrations, and in the simplicity of the story itself.

I'm not sure who would want to pick this up -- it doesn't really scream read me (though I picked it up on a whim). However, I do think it would make a lovely read-aloud to a younger child. Which is maybe what it's really meant for.

Dreaming Anastasia

by Joy Preble
ages: 12+
First sentence: "I didn't always dream about my family."
Review copy sent to me by the publisher.

Dreams are funny things.

They're often just manifestations of stress or hopes or fears. But, what if they were real? What if what you dreamed really happened... or was about to happen? And what if you dreamed about someone other than yourself?

Anne has dreams like that: she dreams she's Anastasia Romanov, grand duchess of Russia, supposedly dead as part of the communist revolution in 1918. Except, as Anne slowly finds out, things aren't always as they seem. Her life was ordinary -- except that her brother recently died of cancer -- until Ethan showed up... and then ordinary became extraordinary (and not just because he was wicked hot), as both Anne and Ethan work to put right the wrong that was done to Anastasia nearly 100 years before.

Part historical novel, part fantasy, part romance: this book has a little bit for everyone. The best bits were the ones with Anne and Ethan -- told in alternating chapters -- as they tried to figure out how to unravel the magic that was done 100 years before. It was intense in the action, the magic wasn't overpowering or awkward, and while the romance was very, very subtle, there was still enough of it to satisfy. I enjoyed Anne as a character as well, as she struggled to grow into herself and come to terms not only with her dreams, but with her own history as well.

In fact, the only real complaint I have is the font for the Anastasia letters -- it's so incredibly difficult to decipher (and I thought my handwriting was bad!) that I was pretty sure I was missing plot points. Other than that, it was an entertaining read.

Check out the rest of the tour:
Hope is the Word (9/20)
Zoe’s Book Reviews (9/21)
Homespun Light (9/21)
Teen Scene magazine (9/21)
Galleysmith (9/22)
Once Upon a Bookshelf (9/22)
Café of Dreams (9/23)
My Friend Amy (9/23; 9pm EST author chat)
The Brain Lair (9/24)
Ms. Bookish (9/24)
Lori Calabrese Writes (9/25)
Mrs. Magoo Reads (9/25)
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm (9/26)
Fantasy Book Critic (9/26)
Into the Wardrobe (9/27)
In the Pages (9/27)
Beth Fish Reads (9/28)
Reverie Book Reviews (9/28)
BookLoons.com (9/28)

From Cover to Cover

Evaluating and Reviewing Children's books
by Kathleen T. Horning
ages: adult (I'm sure teens could read it, if they're interested).
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I think it was Liz who mentioned this book in passing, though the title immediately intrigued me. Lucky me: the library had a copy, so I stuck it on hold.

I never intended to read the whole thing: much of the book is on evaluating and understanding picture books and easy readers, neither of which (while I enjoy reading them) I'm interested in learning how to review better. So, I skipped ahead to the last two chapters: on reading and reviewing fiction.

And, while (as Liz pointed out) this book is a bit outdated (being published in 1997, before the Harry Potter phenomenon) and I'd be curious to see what she thinks about the book blogging communities, it is an interesting book. I learned that what I write (and I probably knew this) is less of a proper review and more of a reaction, and I found that I'm okay with that. I don't take notes as I read the book -- though sometimes I've thought I should; I would be able to remember things about the book more when I'm finished -- and I don't really think about themes or style or impact. My approach is to enjoy the book (or try to, anyway), and then blog about that. I am interested in trying to stretch myself, so maybe I'll pick up a notebook, and start taking notes on the books I read. We'll see....

Anyway. Not a bad little primer on "proper" book reviewing.

In Which I Attempt Cake

And spectacularly fail.

Life lesson #135: sometimes, even when the recipe is from Bon Apetit, and even when you think you know what the heck you're doing, all you end up with is cake mush.
The cake wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of whatever it was I was supposed to do... and so it all kind of fell apart. Thankfully, there was time for Plan B -- which was a box cake (shameful!) and some leftover white chocolate/peppermint whipped cream filling. That, at least, turned out.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes: aside from the cake fail, I had a great day!

My Bloggy Goals

Today's BBAW question is a tough one for me:

Write in 50 words or less…what do you like best about your blog right now and where would you like your blog to be a year from now?

I have never been about bloggy goals. I get on, I write my reviews (and whatever else bookish I can think of), comment a few places and get off. I've been doing this for nearly five years. I started this blog for myself, and I told myself that I'd review everything I read, whether I finished it or not. Five years later.... I think those two statements still hold. I still blog mainly for myself (though I'm flattered y'all read it and like it), and I still pretty much review everything I read, whether I finish it or not.

So... in spite of my angst earlier this year, for right now, I'm just going to keep doing what I do: reading books and writing about them. Sure, I'll probably do more Book-to-Movie posts, because I like doing them (when I remember). And I'll keep doing at least one author interview a month (because I like the opportunity to "meet" people whose work I enjoy). But other than that? Don't expect much different around here. (I don't know... maybe I'll break out and muse more often. Then again, I tend to blather... so maybe not.)

Do you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see me do? (I promise to think about any suggestions... which doesn't mean I'll actually implement them. Just so you know.)

In the Midst of BBAW

I happen to be having a birthday. And, in honor of that, I'm giving you another 25 things about me! (Because, you know that's exactly what you wanted on my birthday!)

1. You all know I read and write. But what else do I do with my time?
2. I have dabbled with: cross-stitching, sewing clothes and home decor, painting, photography, and scrapbooking.
3. I have never: knitted or crocheted.
4. I feel guilty about that, since they're much more practical than the stuff I have dabbled with.
5. Not enough to pick it up, though.
6. But, lately, my real passion (outside of books and blogging, of course) is food.
7. I'm not a gourmet or a foodie, and I'm no good at inventing recipes, but I love to cook.
8. I'm a weird stay-at-home mom that way: making dinner is one of my favorite things to do.
9. There's something calming and creative in the throwing together of ingredients to create something delicious.
10. Bad mom moment: even though I need to teach them to cook, I actually DON'T like it when my kids want to help.
11. It throws me off my groove.
12. Sure, dinner's gone in 10 minutes... but it's totally worth it for those 10 minutes
13. (Which means my new hero is Julia Child. She totally rocks.)
14. General cooking is great, but what I really really love is baking.
15. Bread, rolls, cake, cookies, doughnuts, sweetbreads... if it goes in the oven, I'm SO there.
16. I used to say that there was no way I could do the Atkin's diet because I. Live. For. Bread.
17. I bake bread every week for the family to use.
18. I started doing this because there's high-fructose corn syrup in the store-bought loaves, and I'm anti-high-fructose-corn syrup as much as possible.
19. But now I do it because I love baking bread.
20. There's something calming and creative in the throwing together of ingredients to create something delicious.
21. Someday, I'll even own a baking stone and learn how to bake artisan bread.
22. Until then, I'll just keep frequenting Panera...
23. And perfecting my cake-making skills.
24. Mmmm.... cake. Life is better with (good) cake.
25. Want to know what cake I'm making me for my birthday? This. Crossing my fingers that it'll work out.

Book Recommendations

Today's BBAW topic:

Today we encourage you to blog about a book you read only because you discovered it on another book blog. Preferably, this will be a book you loved! You might also write a bit about the blog you discovered it on!

I get the books I read one of three ways, these days: I'm sent them by publishers/publicists/authors; they're for one of the book groups I attend; or (and this really is most of them), I've seen them on a blog I love somewhere.

So, to specify one book that I loved is not an easy task. Primarily because I have a hard time remembering who recommended what... but also because there are so many!! I did look back through my books that I've read this year, and here are ten that I loved that I can remember who recommended them to me! (Aside: I've read a LOT of fantasy this year. Who knew?)

1. Beastly -- Corinne at The Book Nest. She read this one a year or so ago, and made it sound absolutely captivating. And, because I trust her taste, I stuck it on my TBR list. It just took a while for the library to get it in, but when it finally did and I got a chance to read it, I really liked it, too.

2. The Order of the Odd-Fish -- Besty at Fuse #8. Actually, Betsy didn't review this book; she just mentioned James Kennedy and linked to one of his posts in a Fusenews. I clicked through, and it was love at first laugh. The second the library got it in, I snatched the book and fell in love with it, too. (And, yes, I know I need to go buy the darn thing.)

3. When You Reach Me -- Betsy again. The only downside to Besty recommending things is that sometimes she does it SO dang early. She reviewed this one back in April, and if she hadn't have kept bringing it up, I probably would have forgotten about it. But she wouldn't let us forget about it. I know I saw it other places (can't remember where), too, before I finally got a chance to read it.

4. The Year the Swallows Came Early -- Natasha at Maw Books and Becky at Becky's Book Reviews. I think they were part of a tour, which means the tour did its work: I was interested by their reviews (and author interviews), and I found the book to read.

5. Graceling -- I'll pin this one on Abby at Abby (the) Librarian, though I'm sure I saw it elsewhere. It was one of those that got buzz that I mostly ignored until Abby gave me the push I needed to read it.

6. Hunger Games -- Everyone! (Click through for the actual list.)

7 and 8. Fire and Hemlock and Poison Study -- Kailana at The Written World. Actually, I'm not super sure about these, but Kailana's the one I associate with them. I don't remember how or why, and maybe it's just because she commented and said she loved them. But, somehow they ended up on my TBR list, and I'm SO glad they did.

9. Babymouse -- Pam at MotherReader or Jen at Jen Robinson's Book Page. I'm pretty sure it was one of these two fine ladies that blogged about Babymouse, which prompted me to get them for C, which led me to reading them myself, which led to much Babymouse love around here.

10. We Are the Ship -- School Library Journal Battle of the Kids books. See? Silly award contests do have a purpose in the blogging world! I wouldn't have picked up this book otherwise. (Well, I shouldn't say that: I'm sure I would have picked it up, eventually. The BoB just sped up the process.)

There you have it: some of my favorites this year, and the people who recommended them to me. How about you? What have you loved so far this year?

Library Loot #36

BBAW may come and go, but Library day is still every Wednesday! One complaint: at storytime, they used to have this really cute sock puppet named Tigger who would "taste" the kids fingers and tell them what flavor they are at the end of every story time. This year, though, no Tigger due to swine flu. My reaction? HUH?! Really?! I know they're just trying to be safe, but... huh. Stupid. IMHO.

Anyway. On to the loot (which was small again, this week. I've not been doing well on picking books for M lately...):

For A/K:
The Dunderheads, by Paul Fleischman/Illus. by David Roberts
Sputter, Sputter, Sput!, by Babs Bell/Illus. by Bob Staake**
Boo-Hoo Moo, by Marge Palatini/Illus. by Keith Graves
Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, by Mac Barnett/Illus. by Adam Rex**

For C:
The Story of Tracy Beaker, by Jacqueline Wilson
Agnes Parker . . . Girl in Progress, by Kathleen O'Dell
Agnes Parker, Happy Camper, Kathleen O'Dell

For M:
The Summer I Turned Pretty, by Jenny Han*
Hoot, by CArl Hiaasen
Dance of the Assassins (The Devil's Dances Trilogy), by Herve Jubert
Whalesinger, by Welwyn Wilton Katz

For me:
I've almost caught up! YAY! (Which means I can start putting books on hold again, right?) I do want to read The Summer I Turned Pretty, though.

The roundup is either at Reading Adventures or A Striped Armchair.

*Ones that M eventually read.
**Picture books we really liked.

BBAW Meme-Thing

Today's BBAW task is a kind of meme. In short:

Please choose one or two questions to answer or try to answer all the questions in five words or less. Or choose a picture to answer a question! Brevity is the goal of today!

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Not ususally.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? Two words: library books. Also: it horrifies my husband.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Book darts.

Laying the book flat open? Sometimes

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? Both

Hard copy or audiobooks? Hard copy.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? Depends on how demanding my kids are.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? Nope. I'm all about context.

What are you currently reading? Three books at the same time.

What is the last book you bought? Catching Fire.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? Used to be one; see above for now.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? All day, anywhere.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? Stand alone.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? Shannon Hale. Love her stuff.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?) Hubby does: alphabetically by author.

10 Questions for Cass

So, for BBAW, I signed up to do the partner interview, and I got Cass from Bonjour Cass as my blogging partner. She's a new blogger, so here's your opportunity to meet her (she's pretty cool!). Then go by and check out her blog... (and leave a comment!)

MF: So, Cass: tell us a bit about yourself.
BC: I'm a twenty-something Bostonian (by choice, not birth--I grew up in northern Connecticut). I love city life, mostly not having to worry about driving, especially since I never got around to learning how to drive. I live with my wonderful partner and our two spoiled cats, Gino and Henry. I spend a lot of time reading (shocking, I know), exploring the city, and drinking far too much coffee.

MF: I love big cities, too, though I've never really had the opportunity to live in a really big one... How long have you been blogging? Why did you start?

BC: I made the tragic decision to start working in the financial sector last year, right before the recession hit hard, and I was laid off. I started my blog in July after months of following book blogs and feeling frustrated about not being able to discuss all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) books I'd been reading. My partner isn't a reader and even my friends who claim to be read maybe five books a year. Of course, this is fine, but it's hard to convince someone who doesn't read much to tackle books you admit aren't the best, just so you can discuss them. I use my blog as a way to put my thoughts into a concrete form.

MF: I think that's a reason a lot of us started! What do you enjoy about reading? What keeps you picking up the next book?
BC: This is a challenging question for me because I don't feel like I make a conscious decision to keep reading. It's become a part of who I am, beginning when I was young and my mom would read Little Women to me before bed. I couldn't wait to learn how to do it myself. I was an only child (now I have three significantly younger brothers from my father's second marriage), and I was frequently the only kid in the room with a bunch of adults. I started pretending to read--I'd hold my mother's hard cover copy of IT and mumble out words, pretending I was a witch casting spells--and I would hand write books like When You Give a Mouse a Cookie over and over, even though I only knew the story from memory. When you're an only child, you learn to make up your own games to entertain yourself, and my games just happened to make me a book lover.

MF: Are you a buyer or a borrower? Why?

BC: Lately I've been reading so much I'd go broke if I bought every single book. We have a great local library, and I use the Inter Library Loan system to get everything I want. I buy used books from the independent book stores around--there are many--but I don't buy many brand new books.

MF: Me either! (I really love my local library, too.) You mentioned in an email that you like YA books. Why? What is it about YA that pulls you into reading them?
BC: In high school I was the president of the town library's Young Adult Council. They were trying to attract more teens to the library and recruited those of us who spent a lot of time there. Their YA selection was, well, embarrassing. Maybe a couple of Christopher Pike books, maybe some Lauraine McDaniels, but the selection was sparse. Mostly we took books out from the adult section. My favorite book at the time was Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, which I had bought myself, so that was one of my "wins" for the library. The group sparked my interest in YA books, and I just haven't been able to let them go.

MF: Okay... lightning round... Do you have:

A favorite place to read?
BC: The train. Or a cafe with a good coffee. Or in the library. Or at my kitchen table. Or in my cozy armchair, snuggled with one of my kitties.

A favorite author?
BC: Officially I might say Toni Morrison or Margaret Atwood. Off the record, I might say Charlaine Harris.

A favorite genre?
BC: Lately I've been devouring fictionalized accounts of history, like American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld (fascinating fictionalized autobiography of Laura Bush) and Joyce Carol Oates' Black Water (based on the Chappaquidick tragedy).

A favorite food?
BC: My stepmom's meatballs, one of the many benefits of being Italian.

Five books that you think everyone should read?

BC: Obviously, this is just the beginning.

1. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly: my favorite book of all time.
2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
3. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Fienberg
4. The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff: I listened to the audiobook and the narrator made it very funny.
5. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

MF: That is an impressive list. Thanks so much, Cass!
BC: Thank you!

I Heart My Bloggy Friends

Happy BBAW, everyone!

We're supposed to, today, spotlight blogs we absolutely love that didn't make the shortlist of the BBAW awards. This was actually difficult for me, since many of my friends didn't make the shortlist!

So, I picked a handful of people that I consider friends, women that if I really need a book recommendation, I turn to them first (sorry, Becky, you made the shortlist, so you're not here!). I've also noticed that we have similar tastes in books, and that we read many of the same books, which makes commenting on their blogs fun (also pretty similar: "OOH! SO glad you loved it, too!"). Anyway, some of my bloggy best friends:

I feel like I really know Corinne at The Book Nest, Dawn at My Thoughts Exactly, and Tricia at Library Queue, even though I've never met either one of them, mostly because the four of us are part of an online book group that Corinne started three years ago. They're all amazing women: smart, talented, inquisitive. Talking books (and other things) with them is part of what makes my blogging and book experiences so much fun.

Can I tell you how stoked I am because Abby from Abby (the) Librarian is going to the Kidlit Conference this year, so I actually get to meet her! Squee! While I don't always see eye-to-eye with her on books, I completely trust and respect her opinion on them. Besides, how could I not love someone who also unabashedly loves John Green... which also goes for Suey at It's All About Books. They are women who are made of awesome! (I do like Suey's book reviews, too!)

I've been following Kailana at The Written World and Heather at A High and Hidden Place for quite a while, but it seems like in the last year -- possibly because of Twitter? -- I've been paying more attention to them and their musings (and well as their incredible reading habits!) in the past little while. I'm so glad I did: I've found a ton of books through both of them that I've either loved, or are desperate to read.

Alysa at Everead is one I discovered -- by the benefit of being on the same panel as her -- last year during the Cybils. Again, we have similar tastes, and I have gotten a lot of recommendations from her. I admire her passion for books, and her enthusiastic spirit. I just wish she was able to blog more!!!

And, last but not least: Melissa at One Librarian's Book Reviews. Melissa's a new friend -- she's a relatively new blogger! -- and I think she found me first. But, I'm so glad she did, and she left a comment (or two or three), and that I clicked through to see who the "other" Melissa was. Not only do we share similar tastes, she's a great writer, who writes interesting, thoughtful posts. And check out her posts from her trip to Europe this summer. Fabulous.

There. Now that you've been introduced, you can stop by and say hi to some of my friends!

Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins
ages: 12+
First sentence: "
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there! (If you haven't already!)

When Tricia at Library Queue and I realized that 1) we were both reading Catching Fire and 2) everyone else had read it so there really wasn't much new to say about it, we decided that the best thing to do would be to team up and do a buddy review/chat of our reactions and thoughts about this sequel to The Hunger Games. Since most of you have read it, I'm not going to edit out the spoilers; just know if you're one of the handful of people who haven't gotten around to reading it, you might want to come back later, once you've finished.

So, our thoughts:

me: SO... what did you think? First impressions?

Tricia: Loved it!

me: Dawn asked if I ever got to the point where I wanted to throw it in the freezer... did you? Did it ever get too suspenseful for you?

Tricia: Nope, I decided to burn right through it.

me: Brave woman.

Tricia: I found it really hard to close it last night at 12:20am on page 260.

me: Well... yeah... so close to the end.

Tricia: What about you? Did you read it straight through?

me: I read most of it in one sitting, but had to stop (at page 253) for a few hours, but I got back to it as soon as I could. It made yoga hard: I kept thinking about the book!

Tricia: That's funny we stopped at about the same place.

me: Yeah. :-) So: are you Team Peeta or Team Gale? (Why is it that we feel a need to divide everything up into teams?)

Tricia: So, going into the book, I was on Team Gale. But I think one of the things that I really felt like Collins did that Stephenie Meyer didn't manage for me, is really really make me torn between the two.

me: That's a good point: you really couldn't root for one or the other, because they were both so good for Katniss.

Tricia: Yeah. I can't discount the lifelong friend thing. My parents were lifelong friends and it totally worked for them. But, because we've really seen so little from Gale in the two books, I'm having a hard time justifying my team. I really love Peeta, especially after reading this book.

me: Me, too. M said, when she finished, that Peeta REALLY rocked. I agree. But Gale's never really been given a chance. Why do you think Collins chose to do it that way? Not give us too much info about Gale other than they were lifelong friends, and he loves her, I mean?

Tricia: I'm worried about the readers not getting emotionally involved with Gale.

me: Why?

Tricia: Because I'm worried she's going to kill him off!!

me: Yeah, I can see that. I think she might have a bigger role for him.

Tricia: OK, so you are on Team Peeta I presume?

me: He's awesome, and Gale's so much in the background. I thought, too, that Peeta was stronger this time around, altruistic, yes, but also smart, savvy and able to manage himself which is not something he did in Hunger Games. I think Katniss needs him more than she needs Gale.

Tricia: There was something a little pathetic about Peeta in the first book that was totally gone this book. Like he really grew up. At the moment, I totally agree. Katniss does need him. I think it will be hard for Gale to ever fully understand how much the Games has changed Katniss as a person, but Peeta will always have that for her.

me: You know, one of the things I really liked in this book was how Peeta and Katniss needed each other to sleep through the night. I also liked that they managed without sex -- that their connection was something more elemental than passionate.

Tricia: Yeah. That was sort of sexy too. Kind of Twilight-ish.

me: Good comparison. Except not as creepy.

Tricia: Right. LOL. So were you surprised by what happened in the book?

me: YES, I was surprised. I was going along the book, and then I hit page 174 (tweeted it, which is why I remember the page number) and it totally threw me for a loop!

Tricia: I am surprised by how much I was surprised.

me: I am, too, especially since I knew going in that there were surprises.

Tricia: Yeah, some of it I anticipated, and other things just had me shocked. And Collins manages to do it BAM at the end of the chapter so you have to keep reading!

me: What shocked you?

Tricia: I was really hoping no one would fight after the holding hands thing.

me: Actually, one of the things that surprised me was the games itself. I thought she'd leave the games behind in this book and just go political. And she did, in a way. Well, not in a way. She did. Just not in the way I was expecting.

Tricia: Yeah, I was expecting a more traditional uprising I guess.

me: And we got some of that.

Tricia: On page 60-something, when they visit District 11, I actually cried. I don't even remember getting that emotional when Rue died in the last book. But for some reason, it really got me when she was staring at the people's faces and remembering it all.

me: Speaking of uprisings: President Snow was CREEPY.

Tricia: I could have nightmares about that dude.

me: Oh, MAN. Talk about a good bad guy. He made my skin crawl. And the level of intimidation that he'd stoop to -- poor Cinna!

Tricia: Yeah. Love Cinna. He's kind of a younger Nick Arrojo in my mind.

me: Yeah -- how about the mockingjay dress. Totally awesome. He was one of my favorite characters from Hunger Games.

Tricia: Loved the mockingjay dress. I think Collins does a fabulous job with the minor characters. Even annoying Effie and the crying stylists. I love them all!

me: True. Actually, the only person I still really didn't like was Katniss herself. She's still too black-and-white, though she's less so than in Hunger Games.

Tricia: You know, I never really thought about it that way, but I agree with you. She's still immature. I think this book really highlighted that, especially with Peeta growing up so much.

me: Yeah. Which is probably one of the reasons she got sideswiped there in the end: she wasn't mature enough to handle what everyone else was doing, and would have probably blown it (she nearly did anyway). Which makes me curious for the next one.

Tricia: So, usually 2nd books in a trilogy are a little rougher for me than the rest. But this one wasn't. What do you think made this book so different from normal 2nd books?

me: I don't know: I was thinking that about this book, too. Perhaps it's because Collins didn't do what we expected her to do? If you think about it, not much really happened in this book it's still mostly foundational.

Tricia: Yeah, she seems like she's got a really clear direction she's headed. She's not distracted in her writing.

me: That's so true. She's a very tight, very descriptive writer. I don't feel like she's telling us more than we need to know which is probably why it's such an intense reading experience.

Tricia: Nor do I think she's being influenced by her fans one bit.

me: Good. For. Her. I think being a more seasoned writer helps -- she has the whole Gregor series under her belt.

Tricia: Somehow Collins makes a dystopian thriller romantic and heartbreaking and gritty. It's explosive stuff! Do you think Collins knows exactly how it will all end?

me: Oh, yeah. But I don't think we can even imagine what's going to happen.

Tricia: Do you think she's know that from the beginning?

me: I don't know. Possibly.

Tricia: I always wonder if writers sketch out the whole trilogy from the start, or if it evolves...or both.

me: Or if she sat down and wrote it all as one long draft, and then perfected it in three chunks. I think sometimes writers just start with one book, and if it does well, make it fit into a series. But sometimes, you can tell that they've thought it through from the beginning!

Tricia: Yeah, I think Scholastic booked her for a trilogy from the start on this one.

me: Okay... lightening round...favorite character?

Tricia: This book: Peeta. Yours?

me: Haymitch.

Tricia: Oooh, good call. We haven't talked about him; why did you like him? (Sorry, not lightning, but I've got to know!)

me: Because, like in Hunger Games, there is so much more to him than what we're really seeing. I liked that we "saw" his games and that he knows more about getting out of the arena alive than anyone else.

Tricia: Yeah. Me too.

me: and then there's the end... WOW!

Tricia: I'm so SO glad he was there at the end.

me: I think his drunkenness is a mask for something bigger, and Collins hinted at that in the end. Makes me wonder what he's going to do next. He's very complex.

Tricia: I hope he's more sober in the next book though. :)

me: Back to lightning round: favorite scene? Don't give too much away.

Tricia: Having a tough time with that one. You go first.

me: I think I liked the one with Katniss in the woods when she met the escapees from District 8. It gave us a hint of something bigger that was going on, yet managed to not give too much away. And it let us see a bit more into Katniss's world.

me: Yeah, I agree. OK, I will probably change my mind 1/2 dozen times, but I really liked the scene when the fence goes back online and she gets hurt coming home. And how everyone at home reacts and plays dumb when the Peacekeepers are there. It was serious and funny all at the same time. And I liked the interaction between Haymitch, Peeta, and Katniss there a lot.

me: Oh, that's a good one. Serious and funny at the same time is something that Collins does well.

me: OK, totally random, but if you HAD to live in a district, which one would you pick?

me: Besides the Capitol? ;-) District 3 or 4. I'm selfish, and I like to live in ease.

Tricia: Remind me, 4 is Finnick...the sea right?

me: Yeah. And three is electronic: Nuts and Volts (I liked them). How about you?

Tricia: I think somehow 12 gets me because my ancestors were coal miners. That, and they had relatively nice Peacekeepers and they were far away from everyone else.

me: So, even though they were poor, they were relatively untouched. Perhaps that's why the revolution had to start with someone from 12. Hunger Games was a good criticism of popular society and reality television...but I don't think this one was as much, do you?

Tricia: No, I felt like it was much more it's own world this time. Any characters you don't like? Besides Snow?

me: Thresh. I think she makes most of the people sympathetic, and leaves just a couple to be real baddies.

Tricia: I actually really don't like Joannah, and I think that's a good thing. How I can dislike someone who's on the right side...that's talented writing.

me: That's a good point. It's easy to like the likable people and hate the bad ones but to dislike someone who is on the "good" side... but to write someone unlikable who is on the good side. That IS good writing.

Tricia: Did you think someone was going to turn bad? I've been worried there's a mole somewhere. Who saw Gale and Katniss kiss? that never got resolved.

me: Oh, I hadn't thought of that.

Tricia: I thought maybe Haymitch...at first.

me: Not Haymitch. maybe it's someone we haven't met?

Tricia: Right. But snow is getting his info somewhere. Prim?

me: Would it be really terrible if it were Peeta? That, actually, would be interesting. Devastating, but interesting.

Tricia: Yeah, I'm scared I'm emotionally invested in a bad guy!

me: LOL! THAT would be good writing.

Tricia: OK, which book did you like better? I think I'll go with Hunger Games just because it was first.

me: I think I liked Catching fire better because it was less commentary on society and more a straight-up adventure.

Tricia: I don't think we could go wrong with either, truth be told. Good stuff!

Good stuff, indeed!