May Jacket Flap-a-Thon

Good heavens, where did May go?

It's Memorial Day here in the states, and that's not a holiday I've given much thought to since I graduated from high school and stopped attending my small town's Memorial Day parade. Though things have conspired this year to make me feel guilty about that, and I'm looking for some suggestions as to what to do to remind my children that there are men and women out there sacrificing their lives so we can live in comfort and freedom. Suggestions?

And I suppose, since it is the last day of the month, I ought to give you my three favorite jacket flaps, huh?

Academy 7 (Speak): "Aerin Renning is a scarred fugitive, Dane Madousin a rebellious son of privilege. On the surface, they have nothing in common. But the two most competitive freshmen at Academy 7 share an undiscovered bond. Both harbor a dangerous secret that threatens their own destruction. And while their safety depends on their staying apart, the two are inexplicably drawn to each other. Evan as unknown forces conspire to separate them, their competition turns to friendship, and their friendship to romance. Now, not only their lives -- but their hearts -- are at stake. To survive, the two must unite all their knowledge, skills and gifts to uncover a secret bigger than either could have imagined. A secret as big as the entire universe..."

It's not exactly accurate to the story, and it kind of blows things out of proportion, but, man, it makes you want to read the book. Doesn't it?

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (Dutton Juvenile): "One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens--both named Will Grayson--are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history's most fabulous high school musical. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan's collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans."

Spot-on. Captures the essence, without giving too much away. Perfect.

Crossing Stones (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): "Maybe you won’t rock a cradle, Muriel. Some women seem to prefer to rock the boat. Eighteen-year-old Muriel Jorgensen lives on one side of Crabapple Creek. Her family’s closest friends, the Normans, live on the other. For as long as Muriel can remember, the families’ lives have been intertwined, connected by the crossing stones that span the water. But now that Frank Norman—who Muriel is just beginning to think might be more than a friend—has enlisted to fight in World War I and her brother, Ollie, has lied about his age to join him, the future is uncertain. As Muriel tends to things at home with the help of Frank’s sister, Emma, she becomes more and more fascinated by the women’s suffrage movement, but she is surrounded by people who advise her to keep her opinions to herself. How can she find a way to care for those she loves while still remaining true to who she is? Written in beautifully structured verse, Crossing Stones captures nine months in the lives of two resilient families struggling to stay together and cross carefully, stone by stone, into a changing world."

I think it's a bit too detailed, but perhaps they felt a need to spell out the plot because it's a novel in verse. It's still pretty good, though.

Other books read this month:
Radiant Darkness
My Double Life
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
French Milk
Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence; Sabine's Notebook; The Golden Mean
Confections of a Closet Master Baker
God Went to Beauty School
Running out of Time
The Wide-Awake Princess
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Letter to My Daughter

Running Total: 72
Adult fiction: 17
YA: 26
MG: 15
Non-fiction: 7
Graphic Novel: 9
Didn't Finish: 5

Sunday Salon: Summer Reading

There was an article in Thursday morning's Wichita Eagle about kids and summer reading, and in the wake of all the BEA posts (and since summer started this past week for us here), I thought I could muse about what we do to encourage reading during the summer.

My first thought was keep it less scheduled, but I noticed last year that less scheduled lent itself to more YouTube watching than reading. So, I think this year, we're actually going to have scheduled reading times. Probably in the morning -- the school-age girls have workbooks they want to do (yes, you read that right: they asked for the workbooks!), and we'll probably combine an hour reading time with that. It'll be most helpful for A, who just finished Kindergarten, who needs a chance to practice her new found reading skills.

We're also going to join the summer reading program at the library. (Can't live without my library!) All the girls will do this, and, honestly, they all look forward to it. There will also be weekly trips to the library -- we'll have to experiment with what time, since the summer programs make for crowded libraries. Maybe we'll pick a letter and choose books that way. And we'll probably ransack the non-fiction, poetry and fairy tale shelves, which we never seem to do during the school year.

Another idea is audio books: we go places during the summer -- big vacations, yes, but also little trips around town. And, instead of listening to the same old music over and over (which we do like to do), we can pop in a book and listen to that. The years when we've done this, there have been times when we've become more interested in the book than where we're going.

As for me, I'll probably keep my afternoon reading time, an hour or two just for myself to read, plus a bit of reading in the evenings. (Though it seems my TV and movie watching go up in the summertime; maybe I'll be more regular about my Book to Movie posts!)

There's some of my ideas: what are yours? How do you encourage reading for your kids, or make sure you have some time, during the summer?

Running Out of Time

by Margaret Peterson Haddix
ages: 8-12
First sentence: "The light woke Jessie, though it was just a glimmer downstairs."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Jessie is a thirteen-year-old girl living in the village of Clifton, Indiana in the year 1840. She's curious, loves doing dares, and is pretty much happy with her life. Until a diphtheria epidemic breaks out in her village, and her mother, concerned, breaks some news to Jessie: it's all a hoax. The year is really 1996, the village is a tourist attraction (where the tourists are hidden); the adults were in on the "gimmick", and were supposed to tell their children when they turned 12. However, things have made a turn for the worse, and the owner's "men" have people terrified of leaving, or even spilling the secret. Since her mother feels that letting children die as part of a gimmick is unethical -- which isn't the only unethical decision adults make in this book -- she asks Jessie to brave the real world and get some modern medicine to help. Jessie has no choice: she has to go, even though the thought of it terrifies her.

The dichotomy between the modern world and the life Jessie has known is, of course, fascinating. Jessie has to figure out most of the things we take for granted: light bulbs, toilets, refrigerators. But there's also a tension: the palpable feeling that someone is out to get her, even if you don't know fully the reason why. But that's where the book fails. Haddix sets up the conflict, and makes Jessie quite awe-struck at what the modern world has to offer. But when resolving all the conflicts, addressing the unethical behavior of the adults, she completely falls apart. Part of it is age group: you can't address the craziness of Jessie's father -- who truly believes it's 1840 -- or the unethical behavior of the man who set up the village in the first place in a middle grade book. And so, Haddix just ends the story. There is an interesting promise for the future, but no actual, real resolution.

What I found myself most interested in, though, is the mother: what were her motivations for going along with the father? What did she think of all this? Did she ever want to leave? Why did she stick with it for as long as she did?

Maybe, someday, Haddix will tell that story.

The Wide-Awake Princess

by E. D. Baker
ages: 8-11
First sentence: "'We can't let it happen again,' Queen Karolina said."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy sent to me by the publisher.

In a world where everyone royal is enhanced by magic -- handsomer, prettier, better -- Princess Annabelle (Annie to her friends) stands out. She doesn't have any magic. In fact, no magic will work on her, and the longer she's around, the less potent others magic becomes. So, she's not exactly welcomed by her parents, or her sister Gwendolyn who, they say, is the most prettiest princess in all the kingdoms.

So, when Gwendolyn pricks her finger on a spindle and puts the entire castle to sleep, it's up to Annie and one of the king's guards, Liam (who was out running an errand when the spell hit), to find Gwendolyn's true love and bring him back to the castle to wake her up.

One of the most charming things about this book was the myriad of fairy tales it breezes through: there's Sleeping Beauty, of course, but also Hansel and Gretel, Rose Red, Princess and the Pea, Rapunzel, as well as a host of others that I'm sure I missed. The more one knows about fairy tales, the more fun this book is. That's not to say that it isn't fun on its own: Annie is a plucky character, and there is more than one instance where she manages to get out of scrapes (no damsel in distress in this book!) or into humorous situations because of her non-magic status. There's no real bad characters, and sure, the romance that blossoms is to be expected, and the dialogue is a bit stilted, and... but, you know, it works. It's charming, it's light, it's fun, it's a fairy tale with some clever twists.

And, really, it's quite delightful.

Armchair BEA: Why You Should be a Professional

When I went to sign up for today's topics, this one popped out at me. Partially because no one else had tackled this subject, but also the idea of ethics and professionalism appeal to me. It's very important, I think, to remember that even while we're doing this for ourselves, we're not alone in this vast Internet void.

Yes, we're just bloggers. Yes, we get looked down upon by the "professional" media. No, we're not paid (most of us). And no, we're technically not professionals. But, that said, here are five good reasons why we should act professionally.

1. Because we're not alone: when I first started blogging, I figured I'd just be putting it out there for myself and maybe a few friends and family. I never dreamed I'd have readers. I'm sure those starting blogs today aren't that naive, but still. It's good to remember that there are people following what you say. And, as a result, you should be professional about what you write. That's not to say you can't talk about your family, your kids, your life outside of books... but, there is a line that you should. not. cross. There is such a thing as too much information. (That's not to say you can't be chatty, you can. Just don't be crude.)

2. Because a blog can lead to something more: think of it not just as a hobby, but a part-time volunteer job. It can go on resumes. It can be used to springboard into something else. It doesn't have to, but make sure that your blog is some place you would be proud to show to a stranger.

3. Because we're all adults (mostly) here: disagreements: fine. We all disagree. There are issues that need to be discussed. But name-calling, back-biting, dissing, whatever you want to call it... is not. acceptable. It's okay to be honest. But be nice about being honest. And that goes for the comments, too.

4. Because no one likes a liar: This goes for the ethical side of things. My personal policy is: if I don't intend to (eventually) review it, I don't accept it. Which is why I've been trying to slow down accepting ARCs. I'm finding I can't get to as many as I once did, or I'm not as interested in getting to them. But, whatever the reason is: if I accept a review copy, I feel obligated to read it. That may not be your policy. But, whatever your policy is, state it, and then stick by it.

5. Because the world is a happier place when we're all acting like professionals and are ethical in our dealings with each other. Enough said.

Crossing Stones

by Helen Frost
ages: 14+
First sentence: "You'd better straighten out your mind, Young Lady!"
Support your local independent bookstores: buy it there!

Muriel Jorgensen is living a pretty ordinary life in late-1917's Michigan. She's about to graduate from high school, and she's not terribly thrilled with President Wilson's decision to enter into World War I. Her friend (and possible beau) Frank has decided to join the army, to go serve in France. And then her younger brother Ollie sneaks away to join up, also. What is Muriel to do, especially when she wants to do something, but everyone tells her that girls can't do much of anything, except cook, clean, and have babies. Thankfully, there's Aunt Vera and the suffrage movement to help Muriel figure things out.

That sounds trite, but this novel is anything but. Helen Frost has a way with words, yes -- it's a novel in verse, and Frost finds ways to do things with form that make the novel beautiful to look at as well as read -- but it's more than that. She's written about a time in American history that I don't think we talk about much anymore. There's incredible relevance though: the impact of war, both on the boys who served as well as their families and communities. It's a very pacifist book; the implicit message is that there is no such thing as a "good" war. Or, at the very least, all war has negative consequences. Combined with that is Muriel's desire to speak out against the war, to find a way to express her opinion, which is difficult, considering there is no outlet for women at that time. Enter the suffrage movement, and the impact that it had on this country (women didn't get the right to vote until 1920? Really? If I knew that, I'd forgotten.). There were brave women; not just the leaders of the movement, but the individuals out there trying to make a difference. But, most of all, this book is a moving story, powerful in its simplicity.

Another reason to really love novels in verse (and Helen Frost).

Library Loot 2010-19

Oh, hooray! The library construction is DONE and everything is all sparkling brand-new (ish). I don't have to wait in line for my holds, and they have a very nice self-checkout system, which K LOVED. She likes being useful... Though I do have to admit I'll miss chatting with the librarians. At any rate, we finally have a full week's loot!

Oh, and don't forget to check out the Armchair BEA interviews today!

Picture Books:
Today I Will Fly!, by Mo Willems
There Is a Bird On Your Head!, by Mo Willems
Otis, by Loren Long
The Hallelujah Flight, by Phil Bildner/Illus. by John Holyfield
The Red Scarf, by Anne Vileneuve
One Red Apple, by Harriet Ziefert/Illus. by Karla Gudeon
A Beach Tail, by Karen Lynn Williams/Illus. by Floyd Cooper

Audio Books:
Blubber, by Judy Blume (Read by Halley Feiffer)
Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh (Read by Anne Bobby)

Adult Fiction:
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman (Yes, I've read it. So has M. But Hubby wanted to read it, and has time for it now.)

YA Fiction:
The Cup of the World, by John Dickinson
Skunk Girl, by Sheba Karim
Finnikin of the Rock, by Melina Marchetta
Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs, by Ron Koertge

Non-Fiction:
Mysterious Messages: A History of Codes and Ciphers, by Gary Blackwood
Raucous Royals: Test your Royal Wits: Crack Codes, Solve Mysteries, and Deduce WhichRoyal Rumors are True, by Carlyn Beccia
A Kid's Guide to Native American History, by Yvonne Wakim Dennis and Arlene Hirschfelder

The roundup is either at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader or A Striped Armchair. Obligatory FTC note: the links are provided through my Amazon Associates account. If you click through and actually purchase one of these books, I'll get a teeny, tiny payment. But, since no one ever does, and it's SO much easier using the associates account to put up these links, I'm going to keep doing it.

10 Questions for Suey

Woot! For Armchair BEA today, I get to interview one of my favorite bloggers (and on my wish list to meet, next time I'm in Utah): Suey of It's All About Books. I have no idea when I discovered her blog (years ago), or even what drew me to her (possibly good writing, fun reviews, and a similar taste in books), but if you're not following her blog, you should be.

Me: What do you enjoy about reading? What keeps you picking up the next book?
Suey: First and foremost, I love the stories... and the characters. I love traveling to new places, both real and not. But I also love seeing what authors can do with words. Some of them completely blow me away with their word manipulation ability, so I love that experience, just enjoying the language itself. I keep coming back, and will never stop reading because there's just so much out there to read! And the thought of experiencing that perfect wonderful story makes me keep on reading.

Me: What do you enjoy most about blogging?
Suey: I really enjoy the creative outlet that it is for me. Then there's the obvious book discussion and sharing of a passion that is so fun. Discovering and being part of a huge community of other passionate readers has been a bonus, something I truly didn't expect when I started, even though I was already participating in online bookish communities. It really is a rewarding and fun hobby.

Me: Are you a buyer or a borrower? Why?
Suey: My first response is that I am equally both. But then I looked back on the numbers and here's what I found from the past three years. In 2007 I borrowed (from the library of course) 60 and 40 came from my own (bought or gift) pile. In 2008 it was 51 borrowed and 49 from my own pile. This past year in 2009 it switched to 35 borrowed and 52 from my own pile. So it appears I'm borrowing less and buying more! I think this is because I'm going to more author signings, and discovering more local authors whose books I feel the need to buy (thereby putting my money where my mouth is!) Also, it could be that I'm buying more because I got a little job and I can "spend my own money!"

Me: What do you do with your time when you're not reading or blogging?
Suey: In between reading and blogging you can find me doing mom things... boring mom things. Cooking dinner, driving kids here and there, trying to keep the dishes clean and the floor bearable, washing and folding clothes, and a lot of worrying (about homework, graduation, college applications, dances, summer jobs, making kids practice for lessons, getting money paid where it's needed, not forgetting all the stuff there is to remember!) So basically... all the normal stuff. I also work 12 hours a week at the library up in the Administration office where I help the Admin. Secretary. I also watch TV, as most of you know, but usually while I'm doing something else like folding clothes (or blogging!) Some shows I do watch live and just sit and enjoy. Before blogging, I used to scrapbook a little and quilt a little. But I haven't done either one of those things in a long time!

Me: Sounds a lot like me! So, if you were at BEA, what would you most likely be doing?
Suey: I would be going to lots of panel discussions because I find them way too much fun. I would be getting books and having them signed by lots of authors. I would be networking with other bloggers and having fun with all the meet-ups. I would hopefully come home with a list of new-to-me authors to love, and bloggers too actually. Also, hopefully I would do a little promoting of the blog and come home feeling all pumped up to keep it going. The other thing I'd most likely be doing is having many many anxiety attacks while I try to overcome nervousness at doing all the above mentioned things! I would seriously not do well going to BEA on my own.

Me: I can totally empathize; I want to go, but it would be completely overwhelming. Ok, lighting round:
A favorite place to read?
On the couch in my living room.

A favorite author?
Markus Zusak remains my current favorite... even though he is making me crazy by not having a new book come out!

(I'm not surprised surprised; I was guessing either him or John Green!) A favorite blog?
Besides yours? :) Dang, I have too many to pick just one. A fairly recent new favorite is Amused by Books.

*blush* Thanks for the compliment! A favorite genre?
I really do love fantasy, both YA and the "big people" kind.

And five books you think everyone should read?
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Isn't she lovely? Thanks so much, Suey!

Armchair BEA: Author Signings

If I ever went to one...

I would want to go to a signing for John Green, Shannon Hale, Mo Willems, Jackson Pearce, Rick Riordan, Sarah Beth Durst, Scott Westerfield, Beth Kephart, among others.

I would probably take one or more of my daughters, since they love the above authors as much as I do.

I would hope I'd say something intelligent, or witty, or at least memorable, and not dissolve into a puddle of giggles. (Which, honestly, could very well happen.)

I would also wish for a hug, but probably not get one. I would get a picture, though.

I would also hope that, if it's someone my very cool friends loved and they hadn't had the chance to see them yet, I'd be wonderful enough to get a book signed for them.

Kind of like what my friends (and very cool sister did for me):

(Okay, don't know why it's loading sidways today...)

And then I would treasure them always. :-)

If there was any author you could meet, who would it be? Or, if you've been to a signing, what's the best one you've been to?

Griffin and Sabine

An Extraordinary Correspondence; Sabine's Notebook and The Golden Mean
by Nick Bantock
ages: adult
First sentence (of the first one): "Griffin Moss, It's good to get in touch with you at last."
Support your local independent bookstore, buy it there!

A few weeks ago I was in a reading slump, and I sent out a plea for book ideas on Facebook (and Twitter, and here...). An old friend from high school responded, asking whether or not I've read the Griffin and Sabine letters. I hadn't (hadn't even heard of them), and so I stuck them on hold at the library.

And, wow! Oh, man, wow! Weird, wild and wonderful, these are books to peruse and savor even though reading one will take you less than an hour. They tell the story of a correspondence, via postcard and letter, between two artists: Griffin, living in London, and Sabine, living in the Solomon Islands. There's a connection between the two: Sabine can "see" Griffin's art (it's a one way street; Grifiin has no idea who Sabine is), and sets about connecting with him. As the books go on, you learn more about Sabine and Griffin, and their relationship become ever more weird and complex. They are bound never to meet: is it because they're in parallel universes? Is it because they are two sides of the same personality? Who is writing these letters? What is going on? It's a mystery, and one that is never truly solved.

What really is wonderful about these books, though, is the format. The art -- both on the cards and letters as well as the doodles in the margins -- is amazing; detailed in some parts, simplistic, reflecting the text in the letters as well as the mood of the writers. But, beyond that, it's the simple fact of reading the letters -- letters! Not texts, not emails; who sends letters anymore? -- of opening the envelopes, and removing the letters; of deciphering the handwriting, that gives these books a sense of intimacy, a peek into the lives of two characters in a way that a simple narrative wouldn't. It's quite amazing.

I'm just glad I discovered them now, and not back when I would have had to wait for the next book to come out!

French Milk

by Lucy Knisley
ages: 16+
First sentence: "My last night in Chicago for six weeks, and unseasonably warm for December."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

This slim travel memoir/graphic novel is about Lucy's trip to Paris with her mother the semester before she graduates from college. It's very much a young adult book; Lucy's trying to figure out her future, dealing with rejections and insecurities about what path to take, and so it, at times, becomes highly angst-ridden. The book is best the times when Lucy lets her ego go, and she sits back and enjoys what Paris has to offer. The food! The art! The architecture! The history! The people!

The trip is in January, and so the book has a very winter feel. But even with that, it's a joyful experience. Told through drawings and pictures, Lucy captures Paris in a way I've never read before. The only thing it lacked, I think, was a sense of smell. I saw what she saw, I felt what she felt, but I wanted to smell it all as well. It was a touristy book, but she also went off the beaten path, discovering shops and markets and museums that your average tourist wouldn't have the time. (In other words: I'd love to have the opportunity to be this kind of tourist!)

Mostly, though, what this book made me do is long to be in Europe again. The pace of life, the sensibilities, the food... I'm just a European at heart, I guess. And this book tapped into that for me. And I really enjoyed that.

Sunday Salon: Blogger Envy

I want to be at BEA this week.

That is all.

(To all those going: have a good time, write lots when you get back and make us all wish we were there with you. As for the rest of you, I'll see you for Armchair BEA. Right? Right?)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

by Jonathan Safran Foer
ages: adult
First sentence: "What about a teakettle?"
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Huh. I heard so much good about this book, the people over at the Nook (that's my online book group) are basically raving about it, and all I can come up with is... huh.

For those of you who don't know (all five of you), the story revolves around nine-year-old Oskar Schnell whose father, two years before, died in the World Trade Center Bombings. Oskar has become increasingly fearful: of heights, elevators, people that look Arab and more and more neurotic, wearing only white, writing letters obsessively to famous people (mostly asking to be their protégé). Then, in his father's closet, he finds a key in an envelope marked "Black", and begins searching New York City for the owner. Somehow, he feels, this will help him learn more about his father and give him some kind of closure. Interspersed with Oskar's story are letters from his grandparents: ones from his grandfather to his father explaining why he left and wasn't there while his son was growing up. And ones from his grandmother to Oskar, explaining what happened with her husband and why she is leaving now.

It's the combination of Oskar's pretentiousness (and "wise innocence") and the use of graphics -- pictures or red markings or -- that give this novel it's unique feel. Sometimes, that's a good thing. Sometimes, I thought, all of the novel ideas in this novel actually worked. I enjoyed the photographs; they gave an interesting perspective into Oskar's world and his journey. It's a depressing subject, 9/11, and I thought there were moments when Foer got grief, got incompleteness, got searching for closure just right. There were chapters that hit me powerfully -- the letter from the grandmother about her reaction when she realized her son had died in the towers, for instance -- and the ending is, ultimately, hopeful. Which is a good thing considering the scope of the tragedies in the book. It could have been a horribly depressing book, and it wasn't.

But, there were also moments when the pretentiousness -- of both the novel and of Oskar -- drove me absolutely batty. I spent too much time trying to figure out the red editing marks on one of the grandfather's letters, trying to figure out what it all "meant". And the letter from the grandfather that began with numbers -- he was trying to communicate on the phone without speaking -- and ended in pages of black ink drove me batty. (Yes, I did try to figure out what he was saying. Argh.) Perhaps, for once in my life, I was over thinking a book instead of letting it wash over me. But perhaps, also, all the uniqueness and all the pretentiousness negated each other: there was too much of a good thing in this book, and in the end I was left with an empty void of Huh.

Library Loot 2010-18

I barely got to the library these past two weeks; they're still under construction, and there's not much to do except go, pick up the numerous holds I have, take all the paper off and rubber bands off of them, and check out. Sigh. Hopefully, we'll be back to normal next week!

What came in these past two weeks:

Adult Fiction:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel, by Jonathan Safran Foer
The School of Essential Ingredients, by Erica Bauermeister
A Song for Summer, by Eva Ibbotson
Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues, by Nick Bantock
The Golden Mean: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes, by Nick Bantock
The Gryphon: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Is Rediscovered, by Nick Bantock
The Morning Star: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Is Illuminated, by Nick Bantock
The Beekeeper's Apprentice: Or On the Segregation of the Queen, by Laurie R. King

Middle Grade Fiction:
Running Out of Time, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls

YA Fiction:
North of Beautiful, Justina Chen Headley
Blue is for Nightmares, by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Enchanted Glass, by Diana Wynne Jones

The roundup is either at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader or A Striped Armchair. Obligatory FTC note: the links are provided through my Amazon Associates account. If you click through and actually purchase one of these books, I'll get a teeny, tiny payment. But, since no one ever does, and it's SO much easier using the associates account to put up these links, I'm going to keep doing it.

Letter to My Daughter

by George Bishop
ages: adult
First sentence: "Dear Elizabeth, How to begin this?"
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by TLC Book Tours.

Elizabeth, 15 years old, has taken the car and run away after a heated argument with her mother, Laura, which ended with Laura slapping Elizabeth. All Laura can do, now, is wait and hope and reminisce about her own adolescence. In a letter to her daughter, Laura lays her past out before her, hoping that somehow it'll help the two connect.

And, thankfully, while it's not a happy, pretty past, it's also not something that's truly horrifying. It's honest in it's reflections of the teenage years from an adult perspective. Nothing is sugar-coated, but there's a reflectiveness to the prose, a weightiness that makes the actions of Laura's youth -- from her first, and only it seems, love affair to the loss of that love in Vietnam to her impulsive decision making to her strained relationships with her parents -- seem less angsty.

It also helped that the book was one long letter from mother to daughter. It would seem, with something like this, that there would be a self-help feel to it: Bishop, after all, is exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters and (as I well know being on both sides of that equation) that is a tricky one. There is a need to be a parent, to set boundaries, to make sure that your daughter is safe. And yet, there's is a desire to connect as women, as people who have gone through (or will go through) many of the same experiences. It's this tension that Bishop is exploring, I think, and the letter format pushed that tension more into the background and less of a central theme. It's still there, it's still present, but the book reads less like a "what to do when you're girl goes astray" and more like a memoir, which helped.

And Bishop writes quite elegantly, as well. It's a slim novel, and never did a feel that there was more -- or less -- than should have been told. As a reader, you only find out about Elizabeth through incidental comments Laura makes, and that's as it should be. It's Laura's story, Laura's memories, and Bishop doesn't do anything to take away from that. He also quite skillfully handles the passage of time, both flipping back from the present to the past as well as Laura's traveling through high school. It didn't feel choppy or jumpy at all.

It was a surprisingly good novel, one that I can see myself dipping into and out of as my girls get older (and perhaps passing on to them).

Fantastic Mr. Fox

by Roald Dahl
ages: 8 to 11
First sentence: "Down in the valley there were three farms."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I'm not quite sure what I expected when I started this. It's Dahl, so something weird, obviously. And Hubby's been raving about it for years: it was his favorite Dahl as a kid. So, something... fantastic, hopefully.

And so I was surprised at how little I liked it.

It's not that it was bad or poorly written. It was fine; it's Dahl after all. But... perhaps that's the problem. It's very Dahl. On the one side of the ring are three horrible farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean. They're disgusting, they're mean, they're... well, horrible. And on the other is Mr. Fox and his family -- wife and three kids. They have to eat, of course, and what better catch is there than the ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys from the horrible farmers. So, Mr. Fox (being a fox), steals them for his family. The farmers get wise, and eventually try to catch Mr. Fox. They shoot his tail off, and then stake out his house. Mr. Fox (being a fox), is much to wily to catch, and he and his family dig ever deeper into the hill. There ensues a huge siege by the farmers; eventually the foxes will starve and come out, right?

And this is where the weirdness starts. Mr. Fox gets his friends -- Badger, Rabbit, Mole -- and they start digging. Amazingly, they hit right in the middle of each of the three farmer's storehouses, creating a grand feast for all of the now-trapped underground animals, and so they never, ever have to go outside again. And... that's it. That's the story. It's short, it's for younger kids, but I'm not satisfied.

Really. That's it. Huh.

I like Dahl's weirdness, the fact that the horrible people get their comeuppance. But, there just wasn't enough to this story. It wasn't developed enough, even for a middle grade book, and it just ended, which was highly unsatisfying.

Sigh. Some books were just meant to be read as kids, I guess.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

by John Green and David Leviathan
ages: 14+
First sentence: "When I was little, my dad used to tell me, 'Will, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.'"
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

So, to be easy about this, I'm just going to agree with what everyone else said.

(Basic plot, if you're the 10 people who haven't read this: Will Grayson -- WG1 -- is a nodescript loser who's friends with Tiny Cooper. He accidentally meets Will Grayson -- WG2 -- a troubled gay teen, at a porn store in Chicago. Don't ask. Somehow their lives intertwine. There is humor, angst, and lots and lots of singing.)

1. "Tiny Cooper. Best. Character. EVAH. Just saying. Normally I don't like people who act like stereotypes, especially GLBT stereotypes because it's, as one character says multiple times, "bad for the team." But Tiny - he's MORE than a stereotype. He's himself, and I absolutely fell in love with him. Not sure I'd want to be his best friend, but I'd love to give him a big hug." - Amanda, The Zen Leaf

2. "The book's compulsively readable and both Will Graysons undergo a great deal of character development. In fact, each Will Grayson is getting to know himself, something that most teens can identify with. And now that I think about it, I think both Will Graysons are learning some of the same things - learning to stand up for himself, learning to take risks, learning to define himself in the context of friendships, and learning not to blame the world for not meeting his own expectations. They're both learning all of these things, but in different ways, on different paths." -- Abby (the) Librarian

3. "It took me a bit to get used to the sections where the Will Grayson writing them didn't use capitalization, or really any sentence structure at all. That writing method always bothers me, but you get used to it eventually." - Kelly, The Written World

4. "I love that cover. It's so pretty. I see it as an abstract representation of the color and excitement of the ending scenes (Tiny's play). Also, I loved the name of the band the characters are obsessed with: Neutral Milk Hotel. It's just odd enough to work. " -- Nancy, Bookfoolery and Babble

5. "Will Grayson, Will Grayson has a lot going for it. The concept of the two guys with the same name with stories running in parallel, until they converge briefly only to diverge again, is great. The two writers have different writing styles which are evident by the obviously different voices making the characters sound nothing alike." -- The Book Smugglers

6. "I love finding books that are savvy, smart, silly, funny, intelligent, irreverent, and honest. This is one of those books. Put it in the hands of teens, let them see themselves in it because we are all of us there in this book. Gay and straight, we are there, and we can hear the truth and love being spoken in this novel." - Kids Lit

I think that about covers it.

Sunday Salon: Linky Goodness

I thought, today, that I'd share a few links for things that have caught my eye around the blogs/Twitter this past week.... (Granted, you all may have seen all of these already, but hey: this is about the speed I'm driving this week.)

First off, since BEA is just around the corner, and I'm suffering from intense BEA jealousy (want to go, but can't) since it seems that it's just about all anyone can talk about. Sigh. Thankfully, Danielle at There's a Book (along with a few others) came up with Armchair BEA for those of us who are left at home, wishing we could join in the fun. A week's worth of posts, discussions, longing... and, yes, there's a hashtag: #armchairBEA.

Second -- an event I've been thinking about for a couple of months now, musing over what books to go on my reading pile -- it's Mother Reader's FIFTH (!) annual 48 Hour Book Challenge. Basic rules... it's June 4-6th; what you do is pick 48 hours in which to read as much as you possibly can.Sign up for the challenge in the comments. I've got a trip up to Salina for a doctor's appointment for M, and Hubby and M will be gone on the 5th, but I'm not going to let that deter me. Let the reading commence!

And for other odds and ends...

One more reason why you shouldn't trust Wikipedia... Neil Gaiman confesses to making stuff up about American Gods... it's an interesting ethical dilemma, though.

Shannon Hale has an interesting post over at squeetus on the monetary side of becoming an author (which reminded me of John Green's posts on advances and economics of publishing from a while back). I was interested in it, mostly because C has determined that she's either going to be an actress or an author, and when she gets "rich and famous" she's going to buy me a mini. I hate to be the one to burst her bubble....

A few lists of Top 10 Children's/YA books (via 100 scope notes. Thanks!) for historical fiction, graphic novels, sf/fantasy from Booklist. I've heard of, but haven't read, most of them. Interesting what they picked, though.

And, finally, just because it's hilarious... 10 words you need to stop misspelling.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde
ages: adult
First sentence: "The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

If I'm being completely honest, I wanted to read this book because of the movie Dorian Gray that should be coming out sometime this year (at least in the US). It caught my fancy, and I realized that while I've seen several adaptations of The Importance of Being Earnest, I've never actually read any Oscar Wilde. Shame on me.

And, after finishing this, really shame on me. Wilde is a superb writer. Terribly funny -- that wonderful British dry wit you have to love, self-deprecating and dismissive -- and, at the same time, incredibly thought-provoking. I found that I couldn't stop thinking about this book.

For the three of you that don't know the plot, I may just have to spare you. I've tried writing a plot summary of the book, but it's not working. It's about the characters -- Dorian, the young innocent, who wants to stay young and beautiful, and, in the end, is willing to sell his soul to do so; Basil, the painter who paints the portrait, who pins all of his artistic hopes on Dorian; and Lord Henry, the worldly, snide, philosophic man who leads Dorian -- whether intentionally or unintentionally -- into a hedonistic lifestyle that ends up corrupting Dorian.

It's also about the ideas: the place of beauty and art in our lives, the purpose of beauty in our lives, in addition to the moral weight of art, as well as whether or not we should be asking art to carry our morality or for artists to express our morality. It's heady stuff, ideas that begged to be discussed long and thoroughly over a good dinner. (Hmm... food's still on my mind.)

That's not to say Dorain Gray is an easy read; it's not. It can be funny -- Lord Henry, with his posturing and glib opinions often made me laugh -- but it's also incredibly creepy and highly disturbing. Which, honestly, is as is should be. If it were just glib and funny, then I think much of the impact of what Wilde wanted to get across. I can see how this would not have gone over well in Victorian England; Wilde is putting forth ideas that are challenging to our expectations of art and morality, and challenges of that sort never go over well.

Still, it's an incredible book, a fascinating book. And I can only hope the movie can begin to do it some justice. (*fingers crossed*)

God Went to Beauty School

by Cynthia Rylant
ages: 12+
First sentence: um... it's a book of poetry. This doesn't really fit.
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I picked this up because the title, of all things, cracked me up. Sure, God went to beauty school. What's with that? I needed to know.

It turns out that it's a collection of poems about things -- human things -- that God experiences. It's simply written, thoughtful, and at times both hilarious and moving. I like Rylant's version of God: an interesting combination of human and divine; wondering at all the little things that we often take for granted. It's a delightful collection, spiritual in nature, yet not overly religious. And, above all, thoroughly enjoyable (And I say that I don't like poetry!)

One of my favorites:

GOD BOUGHT A COUCH
He ordered it from Pottery Barn
and He had a little trouble
because His credit card
billing address didn't match
the delivery address.
They weren't totally convinced
He was God.
Because for one thing
He got His credit card
bills in Hell
(just His quirky
sense of humor)
and He wanted the
couch shipped to Heaven
(the old one was too hard),
but they didn't buy it
until He told them
how He made the first
rhinoceros.
He had it all down,
the DNA, the chromosomes,
and especially the
Holy Spirit.
Nobody is as convincing
about the Holy Spirit
as God.
They asked Him did
He want corduroy or leather.
He said, "What do
you think?"

One of the best ways to spend 30 minutes, I promise.

10 Questions for Pam Bachorz

Pam Bachorz's debut novel, Candor (my review, because it's been a couple of months), has arrived with a bit of a splash. I haven't read a single bad review of it (I swear), and it made the short list for this year's Cybils Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction. It's my pleasure to have her as a guest on my blog today, talking about Candor, writing, and reading. You can find out more about Pam at her website and on her blog.

MF: Candor -- to me -- was a very creepy place -- from the basic housing development all the way through to the brainwashing. Where did you get the idea?

PB: Candor, Florida was in part inspired by my born paranoia. Brainwashing has freaked me out since I first heard kids at school talking about hidden messages that you could hear when you played a record backwards. Then we moved to a small planned community in Central Florida, and I was surrounded by perfection: white plastic picket fences, lush flower beds, pretty houses and smiling people. There was a truck that drove around every night, spraying mosquito repellent from the back, and one night it passed me as I was walking the dog. I wondered what was really in that mosquito spray--what if it was Prozac? Maybe that was what made everybody so happy... and willing to mow their lawn every three or four days! From there it wasn't a big jump to thinking about brainwashing. Candor, Florida was born.

MF: Planned communities gone awry? Not too far-fetched.... Music plays an important role in the town, as well as in Oscar's business... is there some reason that you chose music as a vehicle for the brainwashing, or was it just convenient? (I don't suppose you've toyed with the idea of a playlist?)
PB: I played with lots of ideas, but I wanted to pick a brainwashing method that wouldn't be illegal. You can't BROADCAST hidden messages but there's nothing to stop you from slipping it into publicly-played music (I think... I'm no lawyer, but that's what I discovered with my research). I liked using music because it's something that can pervade every moment of your life--and the town I lived in actually had these disguised outdoor speakers that played background music in the downtown area.

I actually DO have a short playlist on my website.

MF: While we're on the subject... why brainwashing as a tool for control?
PB: Well, first and foremost, it is just plain creepy. It overwhelms and leaves little room for doubt or weakness. You don't have to remember to take it, like you would with a pill, and you also can't resist it... unless you plug your ears 24/7. Or unless you're CANDOR's main character Oscar..

MF: My oldest -- who also loved the book -- saw some parallels to Lois Lowry's The Giver. Do you consider this book to be dystopian/science fiction? Why/why not?
PB: I am so flattered by comparisons to THE GIVER. I do think both books share a fear that people would give up their own free will, and their children's free will, in exchange for perceived perfection. And that, to me, is definitely dystopian.

MF: I didn't find many of the characters to be sympathetic, though Oscar grew on me by the end of the book. Do you have a favorite character or scene?
PB: I'm a mother and I love all my characters like I birthed them. Even when they're very, very bad I can't help but to love them. Oscar is my favorite, if I have to choose one, and in fact he STILL shows up in my imagination to tell me things! I like the flashback scene with Oscar and his parents christening the bricks with applejuice--I like seeing what Oscar lost when his mother was gone.

MF: You've created a whole faux website for Candor, which I simultaneously found amusing and not a little scary. What prompted you to do this?
PB: Glad you enjoyed it and also glad it freaked you out! I thought it would be a fun way to extend the reader's experience with CANDOR and it might also attract a few new readers. I also thought it would be a cool way to get people thinking about how easy it is to deceive. But mostly, I did it because it was fun.

MF: Can you tell us a bit about the process of writing Candor? How long did it take, how much did it change from your initial idea...?
PB: Hoo boy this one took awhile. Start to finish, it took 5 years--but in that time I also had a kid, wrote two other (forever shelved) books, and moved to a new state. When I started writing the book, it was told from Nia's point of view and Oscar was the janitor's son! So it saw a ton of change before the finished product. Once Oscar announced to me that A. I had him all wrong and B. this was HIS story, it flew... probably 9 months from starting the rewrite to selling the book.

MF: Who, or what, influences your writing?
PB: Anything and everything. I am very inspired by dramatic, energetic music--my fingers fly when I listen to the Fratellis, Evanescence or Lady Gaga! I read YA constantly, everything from historical romance to sci fi to realistic fiction. But probably my biggest, most lasting influences are the authors I obsessed over as a teen and pre-teen: Lois Duncan and L.M. Montgomery. No wonder I like a combination of creepy and star-crossed romance.

MF: Are there five books that you think everyone should read?
PB: Well, I think there's no one universal book that's perfect for every reader. And thank goodness for that; how boring things would be if there was one universal taste. I do think most everyone would love these three: THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY, by Adam Rex, because it makes me laugh; CROSSING STONES, by Helen Frost, because it is simply beautiful and it made me cry; and DEADLINE by Chris Crutcher because the characters leap off the page and yes, again, it made me cry. And then there is ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, by LM Montgomery (sentimental and spunky perfection) and the creeeeepy DOWN A DARK HALL, by Lois Duncan. I swear to you, I think about DOWN A DARK HALL every single day. I think I read it ten times one summer.

MF: I've not, aside from Anne, that I've read any of those. They all sound excellent. Last question: If you don't mind telling us, what can we expect next from you?
PB: I am in complete rewrite mode on my next release, DROUGHT, schedule for Winter 2011 publication with Egmont USA. It's another dark, twisty tale but in a very different setting. This time the main character is a girl! A girl with a Very Big Problem... and a Very Big Gift.

MF: Thanks, Pam, for your time!
PB: Thanks again for featuring me!

Confections of a Closet Master Baker

One Woman's Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker
by Gesine Bullock-Prado
ages: adult
First sentence: "I saw the devil at age three and he gave me chocolate."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I needed something light, something foody, something not-YA, yet something interesting, and when Andi reviewed this, I knew that this had to be my next book. And, thankfully, it was everything I wanted it to be.

One part memoir of a childhood, one part food-lover's delight (including recipes!), one part Hollywood insider (sans names, except for older sister Sandra, though), this book follows Gesine (pronounced Geh-see-neh) Bullock-Prado's path from high-powered Hollywood executive to the owner of Gesine's Confections in Montpelier, Vermont. It's not a comfortable journey; baking increasingly becomes self-described social misanthrope Gesine's obsession before she left Hollywood, and the store had some fits and starts before becoming a smoothly operating business. And the book isn't exactly even either: told in hour increments mirroring the arc of Gesine's day, it's often uneven, sometimes telling the same stories more than once, and often the lack of chronology in the stories is quite jarring.

But, given that, Gesine's a likable person and, Hollywood gossip aside, it's an interesting story. She grew up in Germany and with her descriptions of food and customs and traditions, made me long to visit there again. I know I have to try every single recipe (well, not the carrot cake) in the book. It was comforting to read about of someone who adores baking, someone who finds satisfaction in creating something delicious to eat. And, no, it's not the best-written book ever, though she is often funny, sometimes sentimental, and occasionally wandering, you can't help but love her and want to sit down with her, eat something delicious and chat a while.

Which, I'd like to think, is what she wanted you to think when she wrote this book.

Sunday Salon: And Now for Something Completely Different

It's been a while since I've done anything really non-bookish here. And it's also been a while since I've shared pictures of my lovely girls. And it's been a while since I've bragged about M... and so I thought I'd combine all three today. This past year, M has discovered that she loves photography (like mother like daughter?), and that she has a talent for it. She's basically taken over my "good" camera (as opposed to the everyday one that the rest of the girls use), and loves walking around the house taking pictures.




Her favorite subjects, though, are her sisters. And, perhaps not surprisingly, they love to have their pictures taken.

K being sassy:


I love A's freckles!


And she's really not like this all the time, but C does pouty SO well.


And, as everyone knows, it's hard to get one of yourself, when you're the photographer. Good thing M's resourceful.


Aren't they great? (And yes, I am proud of all of them!)

My Double Life

by Janette Rallison
ages: 13+
First sentence: "I didn't want to write this."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.

Alexia Garcia has lived a quiet life with her mother and grandmother in Morgantown, West Virginia. It's not been easy with her mother working all the time, but it's been okay. The only weird thing is how much Alexia looks like mega superstar Kari Kingsley. And so when a picture of Alexia goes viral on the Internet, and Kari's manager comes calling, offering Alexia a job as Kari's double, what is Alexia supposed to say? Especially when she realizes that it'd be a chance to meet her father. What she doesn't expect, though, is how complicated it'll be being Kari and staying true to herself.

Yes, this is fluff. Complete with a swooning romance with a hot guy. But, contrary to the impression that the cover gives, it's well-written, enjoyable, fun fluff. Sure, it's got the whole princess-and-the-pauper thing going, but it managed not to be cloying. It was neither "oh look Alexia is so poor, isn't that horrible" or "rich people are SO incredibly spoiled." Yes, there were elements of both; Alexia does deserve more, and Kari is quite spoiled. But I felt that Rallison walked a nice balance between the two extremes. It also helped that Alexia is a winning main character: struggling with wanting to connect with her father, star-struck with being out in California, and just plain unsure of herself. She's smart and caring, and it's thoroughly entertaining watching her figure out the ropes of Hollywood. And when the ethical stuff comes knocking, as it most surely will, she handles it with grace and dignity. It's fast-paced -- if there's one thing that Rallison has down it's pacing; there's no real lag time -- and funny. I'm not sure how "accurate" the Hollywood insider stuff is, but it really doesn't matter; it's a good portrait of what us normal everyday mass types think being a megastar would be like. And sure, the ending's too perfect, as well. But you know? It didn't matter. Everything turned out happily-ever-after, and we had a perfectly fun, fluffy ride along the way. You can't get better than that.

Since I'm feeling like passing my ARC along, I'm going to do a quickie giveaway on this one. One entry for commenting here. One more for Tweeting this (let me know, either on Twitter -- I'm @book_nut -- or commenting here). You have until tomorrow -- Friday, May 7th -- at noon CDT. I'm willing to ship worldwide. Good luck.

Library Loot 2010-17

I have a reason for the piddly loot today: the library is closed for construction for the next two weeks, and I can only pick up holds. I feel like a part of me has gone missing. As does K... she was visibly upset when we went today and she couldn't browse the books or the movies. It may be a long month...

Most of these books are ones that people mentioned they loved -- either here last week or on Facebook. Others are ones that I've read reviews where people have loved them. Either way, I'm hoping to snap out of my slump.

What came in this week:

Adult Fiction:
Germinal , by Emile Zola
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery
Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence, by Nick Bantock
The Last Chinese Chef, by Nicole Mones

Non-Fiction:
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, by Elizabeth Gilbert
French Milk, by Lucy Knisley
Confections of a Closet Master Baker: One Woman's Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker, by Gesine Bullock-Prado

YA Fiction:
Crossing Stones, by Helen Frost

The roundup is either at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader or A Striped Armchair. Obligatory FTC note: the links are provided through my Amazon Associates account. If you click through and actually purchase one of these books, I'll get a teeny, tiny payment. But, since no one ever does, and it's SO much easier using the associates account to put up these links, I'm going to keep doing it.

Academy 7

by Anne Osterlund
ages: 13+
First sentence: "Aerin tried to ignore the bloodstain on the control panel of the Fugitive."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Perhaps it was because Hubby and I just discovered Firefly (yeah, yeah, I know: we're behind the times), but this book really hit the spot this past week. The quick description: it's a space drama with a bit of mystery and a dash of romance. I could easily see how this would transfer, quite well actually, to the screen: while its pacing is slightly off (too much too fast at the end, with a whole chunk of time just skipped over), it's a thoroughly enjoyable jaunt into a fascinating universe of Osterlund's imagining.

Aerin's on the run -- escaped from the slave planet where she'd been living for the past six years since her father's death -- when she's intercepted/rescued by a trade ship. The captain ran some tests, and it turns out that Aerin's smart enough to be accepted into the Alliance (the central governing body of the group of planets) top school, Academy 7. There, she finds her top competition is Dane Madousin: son of the top general in the Alliance's military, he's never really been challenged in much of anything before. They both rise to the competition, and building upon a tentative friendship, slowly discover much about their parents' pasts, which, invariably, effects their shared future.

Much of the mystery is related to the pasts of Dane's and Aerin's parents; unasked questions gone unanswered for most of their individual lives. And yet, those unasked questions shaped their views of the present. And all this is sounding much hokier than it comes off in the book. We're privy to both Aerin's and Dane's thoughts and their individual insecurities and determination help make the book quite compelling. However, in retrospect, much of the book isn't really about Dane and Aerin; it's about the consequences of their parents actions. Which makes me hope for a sequel: I want to know more about Dane and Aerin, and how they choose to move forward after the revelations at the end of this book. It also helps that the universe is really quite cool.

Radiant Darkness

by Emily Whitman
ages: 12+
First sentence: "Persophne. Daughter of Demeter, the harvest goddess."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

You know the story: Persephone, the daughter of the goddess Demeter, is walking through the fields of her mother's realm, when Hades, god of the Underworld, opens a chasm in the ground and snatches Persephone away. Demeter is so distraught that she ceases to help mortals until their suffering is so bad that Zeus interferes, demanding Persephone's return. Except, she's eaten some pomegranate seeds, which binds her to the Underworld. The compromise is that she spends some time up on Earth with her mother, and the rest in the Underworld with Hades.

Except, as Whitman's imagined it, that isn't the story at all. Or, more specifically: not all of it. Whitman takes the basic myth and expands it, changing the motivations. Persephone -- thank heavens -- is no longer a passive character, totally at the whims of more powerful gods, but a acting, thinking, feeling person. She dislikes her mother, from whom she can't seem to get much approval and who doesn't accept that Persephone is growing up. She falls in love with Hades; though they sneak around behind Demeter's back, he doesn't kidnap her. And most of all, this Persephone makes choices.

Unfortunately, many of those choices were based on faulty information: both Hades and Demeter chose to refrain from telling Persephone information that would have helped her make better choices, or helped her be more at ease with the choices she did make. And this grated; both Hades and Demeter filled parental roles: they knew better than Persephone, and therefore limited her. Hades, especially, grated: he was trying to fill both the role of lover and parent, which kind of made him seem Edward-creepy. Most of the time, I wanted to smack him. And while we're told that Demeter's actions were motivated by love, we never really saw it. (Either that, or it's some funny kind of love...)

All of that added up to making the book kind of... flat. I really wanted to like the book. I did like Persephone, as a character. And Whitman's vision of the Underworld was interesting; it became not just a place for the shades to reside, but an actual kingdom, something that Persephone could work with and improve. (Though, as M pointed out, my perceptions of Greek mythology may be forever warped because of Percy Jackson.) But the gods-being-gods aspect of it kept me, at least. from really enjoying the story.

Sunday Salon: On Objectivity, Niceness and Dialogue

This was not the Sunday Salon post I had originally planned, but a couple of things conspired to bring it about. First, was Liz B's very thoughtful (and eloquent) response to the Faking Nice in the Blogosphere essay in the Huffington Post. Second, was a conversation I had with a commenter on a recent post of mine. Add musing about Lenore's post on bloggers' unforgivable sins/pet peeves (which I followed mostly on Twitter), and you've got a post that's begging to be written.

Once upon a time, when I was in school, they told me that journalists are supposed to be objective. Get every side of a story, they said. Tell the facts, they said. We're here to give the public the truth, they said. And, for the most part, I believed them. I believed that I could be objective about the story I was reporting on. I believed there was a way to get the whole truth, to fully inform the public.

Then again, I was a naive 20-something college student.

See, leaving aside debates about the metaphysical here, I've come to believe that there is no "truth". There is no objectivity. Instead, there are only various sides to a story. A reporter, a reviewer, a person telling their neighbor what happened at school yesterday: all of them are constantly choosing what information to put in and what information to leave out. If you, for whatever reason, believe one newspaper, one TV news station, one reviewer, one blogger to be telling the "truth" about something, then, my friend, you are seriously misguided. What you are getting is one perspective. Which is a whole other ball of wax.

Now, you may find you agree with that perspective. That is entirely your prerogative. Or you may not. Again: that's your prerogative. In fact, to throw in my two cents about the Huffington Post essay, that is one of the things I love about book bloggers. See: everyone has their own individual take on books; if you're a serious blog reader (or even a serious reader looking for recommendations), you'll read a fair number of blogs to get a wide view on a number of different books. You find the ones you like, you respectfully disagree with others, and we're all happy.

Except when we're not. See, it's the respectfully disagree clause that gets me. One of the things about blogging and opinions is that they're personal. As an aside -- that's one of the things I think contributes to the value of the lit blogsphere: there really is no pretense of objectivity here. We all have our individual views, our individual biases, and we're not really afraid to get personal, to honestly speak our minds, especially when we're discussing what we think about the books we read.

However, that leads us sometimes to give offense. Authors, publishers, other readers don't particularly like it when our opinions don't fully mesh with theirs. Which is why they told us, in school, that journalists (or reviewers) needed to be objective, impersonal. If we didn't bring our bias into it, then we were above giving offense, we were above opinion, above debate. Honestly, though? That's all really bull. And I think, on some level, we know it. In America at least, we are constantly throwing terms like "liberal bias" or "conservative bias", or in the Huffington Post's case "niceness" and "rigor", around, which means -- honestly -- that we don't really believe in total objectivity.

I really shouldn't wonder, then, that we've forgotten how to have a dialogue. See, I have my opinions -- and that's all I'm expressing here -- and you have yours. Sometimes, Heaven be praised, we agree. Other times, we don't. And, you know what? That's not the end of the world. I respect that you didn't like a book I loved, and I hope the reverse is true. I respect your honest opinion of my reviews, whether you think they're too chatty (yes, I've been told that) or too nice or too honest and mean (yes, I've been told that, too).

However, I do have a caveat: when we are having a discussion -- whether it be in comments or as blog posts -- I would appreciate it if you quoted my reviews correctly; not what you think I said, but what I actually wrote. I would also appreciate it if we could have an honest, open discussion (I know I circumvent this by sometimes calling authors arrogant asses, and I apologize for that; I could choose my words more carefully) without name-calling, sarcasm, or prejudgment.

I know I'm asking a lot, but there it is: it's my blog you're visiting, be nice. They're my opinions you're reading, take them for what they are. I would only expect that you'd expect the same from me.