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For two weeks, I am only at my desk 2.5 days out of the week. The rest of the time I'm at various book events (committee meetings, evaluation sessions, previews, etc.), and it was at one of these book events that I learned the following (which, okay, I could have learned on Amazon but I didn't): The third Christopher Paolini Inheritance book, Brisingr, is going to retail for $27.50 USD and finish at 896 pages. Holy crap. Also, I learned that it will not be a trilogy, but a "cycle." No word on how many books will eventually end up in said cycle. But OMG. I'm getting tired just thinking about it. I have no plans to read it, because I didn't read book 2 and couldn't finish book 1, but I have to wonder: Is every one of the words in those 896 pages really necessary? Tags: books
126:  hyper
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I. Television. A. Numb3rs i. I am going to miss Megan so much! a. I wonder if Larry is going to move out east with her. b. Figures the one female character who never put up with any of Don's crap is leaving. I mean, I know Diane Farr is pregnant again and leaving the show and really, who could blame her? But I'll miss her. ii. I threw up in my mouth a little at the idea of Charlie and Amita getting married iii. Colby is NOT to start dating Liz under ANY circumstance. iv. I really, really miss the Don&Charlie interaction this season. There's been less of it in season 4 than in any of the others. I'm sure some of it is because of on-set strife, but isn't that why it's called ACTING? v. For next season: Even less interaction? Charlie and Amita getting married? New cast member. Who? B. Supernatural i. It's so obvious they're short on episodes this season. I do like the episodes I've seen but there aren't enough of them and I feel like the important storylines are rushed. ii. Dean HAS to die and go to Hell. He's going to be dead all summer and I'm going to cry. I think the reality of this is just starting to hit me. I know he's coming back because the show is going into a fourth season, but WAH! iii. I do like Bela but I'm pretty over Ruby. iv. In the meantime, I've signed up for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) spn_summergen. Because I don't have enough to do! C. America's Next Top Model i. Order of elimination for finale: Anya, Fatima, Whitney ii. I still miss Lauren iii. Tyra's megalomania is SO GRATING. II. Books A. Books I've read lately and liked/am liking i. A Little Friendly Advice by Siobhan Vivian ii. All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard iii. Adios to my Old Life by Caridad Ferrer iv. the Sorority 101 series by Kate Harmon v. Paper Towns by John Green vi. This is What I Did by Ann Dee Ellis B. Books I've read lately that didn't really do it for me/are not doing it for me i. Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne ii. Generation Dead by Daniel Waters...but as this one goes on it's getting better. C. Reading list for after ALA Annual i. Black Hole by Charles Burns ii. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill iii. Mac OSX Leopard: The Missing Manual by David Pogue iv. Whatever else from the adult fiction section looks interesting, because I have to read adult fiction while I still can. III. Other life things! A. I freakin LOVE my new MacBook Pro. Lily the iBook had to go to the big hard drive in the sky, so now I have a new 15.4" MBP. I'm probably going to get a skin for it from SkinIt, because everyone and their grandmother has a MacBook and although I love my Lenore sticker, I'm going to need something a little classier if I'm going to be taking the laptop to conferences. They have skins with fleur-de-lis on them, w00t! B. Running is going pretty well. I've decided that when I can run from my apartment to the town high school and back (3.7 miles), I get a pink 8GB iPod Nano. C. Lots of writing and speaking engagements coming up, so yay for that. Maybe a few of them will pay. Tags: books, spn
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Instead of writing booktalks, I'm blogging. Yay! While reading this review of Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr, I thought, "Yes, yes, okay, I agree..." and then it all came to a screeching halt. Let it be known that I did not like Ink Exchange by any stretch of the imagination. While the ideas might have been strong, a lot of things about that book annoyed me: poor writing, tattoos always make you cool and interesting, dialogue that was funny when it shouldn't have been, too many adjectives, etc. But I thought that the Smart Bitches had really good insight to the themes of the book until I read the final line: Henderson’s assertions that 12 year old girls ought not read this book because of her mistaken perception as to the sexuality within the story are infuriating in light of the manner in which this book explores profoundly important issues. I can think of few books that should be required reading for teenage girls, but this is certainly one of them. It’s painful, and it’s important. And then I almost took Smart Bitches off my RSS reader. (I didn't though, because I like what they say.) Why? No one book should be required reading for teenage girls, or anyone else, and people who say things like that in a review irk me. (Call me a prude, too, but 99 times out of 100 I would not recommend Ink Exchange to a twelve-year-old. Message is one thing, execution of it is quite another.) No one book can speak to all people. To think otherwise is ridiculous. I also think a lot of readers would get so bogged down in the poor mechanics of this particular book that they'd miss the message the reviewer thinks is so important. I was talking about this with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lizzb over IM, and here are some other phrases we think all reviewers, whether they review for professional journals or blogs or whatever, should never never never never use: - "Well-written" (And that means what, exactly?)
- "Everyone must read this" (Everyone? Really?)
- "A must-have for all libraries" (Sorry, not unless it's guaranteed to circulate)
- "Has an important message" (Why is this always such an issue with children's books? We never require adult books to have a message!)
- "The next Harry Potter/Twilight/Percy Jackson/Elsewhere." (I should clarify this: I have absolutely no problem with reviewers who say something like "Harry Potter fans will like this" IF they can specify why. Most of the time, they don't/can't.)
- "For your sophisticated readers" (Who is "sophisticated?" And how insulting!)
- I gave this to my son/daughter/niece/nephew and he/she loved it! (No one cares.)
The thing that amazes me most? That reviewers for professional journals use these useless phrases at all. In a blog you can make your review as long or short as you like, but in a journal you're limited to 200 words, 250 if you're lucky. In 200 words I don't have the space to use "well-written," a phrase that means nothing and doesn't fulfill the purpose of a review. I have to tell the reader if the characterization is good, if the writing style works, if it'll circulate (which is not an easy answer to give), and say what generally makes it special or not, plus a quick plot summary. Writing this entry didn't make my booktalks go away. Back to work. Tags: books, reviewing
126:  cranky
780: it's hard to leave when you can't find the door
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On a YA lit listserv I mostly lurk on, someone expressed great dismay and anger that One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke got a Printz honor this year while Mistik Lake by Martha Brooks did not. Now, I have not read One Whole and Perfect Day so I have no opinion on it whatsoever, but I'll tell you the reason why I think the Printz committee shut out Mistik Lake: It's because Mistik Lake is a seriously flawed book in many, many ways. First, the writing is very thin and overly ambitious. The author introduces a lot of characters but never fully develops any of them. The...I guess you'd call her the main character, Odella, has a lot of the markings of a Mary Sue: She has an unusual but never explained name, she is always heroic in the face of tragedy, everyone seems to love her. Brooks gets so busy explaining the effect of Odella's mother's life on everyone that no one character's reaction ever really comes to fruition. I have absolutely no problem with books where the life of a character who never appears on screen affects everyone who appears on-screen. In fact, I find those books fascinating if they're done well. Here, Sally's (the mother's) tragedy affects everyone in the book, but everyone around her is such a saint that she's always viewed as poor, poor Sally. Sally packs up when Odella is a teenager, moves to Iceland to be with her lover, later husband, and dies in a car accident a few years later. At the end of the book (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS) the reader learns that Sally and her husband (whose name I can't remember because I borrowed the book and had to return it, sorry) had a baby. That almost made me throw the book across the room. Tinhattery to follow. First, Odella and her sisters Janelle and Sarah were supposed to love this little baby they'd never met, who was flown from Iceland to Canada not long after her mother's death. Because everyone knows that babies have the magic power to bring destroyed families together. Second, because Sally had a baby I really believe that the author wanted us to see her as a Truly Good Person, because you can't speak ill of a dead mother. Third, the introduction of the baby in the very final pages seemed to send a message to the reader that Sally must have found True Love, because having a baby with someone else must mean it's True Love and you have a Forever Bond. Because Sally found True Love, Odella has to forgive her for her abandonment. Not forgiving her for the abandonment might hurt the baby, because Baby can't think bad thoughts about her mother. I'm not saying that Sally didn't truly love her new husband. That's entirely possible, but you'll never know because the book doesn't cover it. I guess the reader is just supposed to understand all that because of the presence of the baby. But the message I really think Odella got in the end? Mommy loves the baby more than she loves you. The secondary plotline (and oh yes, there was a tertiary plotline, too) about Odella's great-aunt Gloria being a lesbian was nice, but the book could have survived just as well without it. I know there are supposed to be parallels between Odella's falling in love and Gloria's falling in love with a woman named Violet, but it's an apples-and-pineapples comparison. Gloria was a pretty cool person, probably the one person in the book with any idea of what it means to love, but she couldn't save the underdeveloped, melodramatic, whiny disasters that were all the other characters. In short, a book where the setting is the best character in the book does not deserve an award. It'll probably get a spot on BBYA for reasons I'll never understand, but it was rightfully shut out of the Printz. Another big complaint I've seen centers on Shaun Tan's The Arrival being shut out for the Printz. To that I reply, Well DUH. Maybe I'm a snob who doesn't understand the truly progressive nature of the graphic novel but The Arrival, as beautiful and moving as it is, is not literary because it's got no words in it. Graphic works that incorporate words can certainly be literary, because the words and pictures depend on each other to move the story along (see American Born Chinese). But because there are no words in The Arrival, it misses the chance to paint its picture for the reader in words. I'm sorry it wasn't eligible for the Caldecott because it certainly could have given ...Hugo Cabret a run for its money. It's a fascinating book I'd recommend to those who love graphic works, but again, it's not literary and didn't deserve to be honored at the Printz. I have a headache that makes me want to rip half my brain out, so the Happy Galley Post of Midwinter 2008 will have to wait. I will say, though, that I'm really looking forward to reading a lot of what I picked up. Tags: 2007, books, ya
126:  discontent
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Oh, ALA, why do you insist on holding Midwinter a week earlier than usual this year? I am sprinting to read everything I need to read. But, on to my 2008 Printz predictions. Disclaimer: I do not serve on the 2008 Printz committee and although I know people on that committee, this post does not contain any of their opinions, only mine. Also, I have yet to predict a Printz winner. The closest I've ever come was 2007, when I picked two of the four honor books. That said, on to my picks for the 2008 Printz Award: The book most likely to win: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It's received more critical acclaim this year than any other YA book, and deservedly so. And how amazing would it be for a funny book to take The Big Award? The books I don't think will win, but that I think deserve honors: A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd, Boy Toy by Barry Lyga, The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt, Click by Linda Sue Park, et.al. If Part-Time Indian doesn't take it: The New Policeman by Kate Thompson. The books I still have to read: Before I Die by Jenny Downham and The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean. Why this post is so short: Because I'm back at work after two weeks of vacation and I can't find my desk. Also it is really cold in my office and my fingers hurt. I did go to see Sweeney Todd and although the singing could have been better, I was extremely impressed by the acting. Tags: books, ya
126:  cold
780: I'm not here for your entertainment
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I don't know why I bother reading anything Slate writes about YA literature. All it ever does is get my blood pressure up. Their latest offering is no different. Her Dark Materials: Should children read Philip Pullman's trilogy—or the incest classic Flowers in the Attic?Why does it not surprise me that this article is written by the same woman who completely missed the point of one of last year's Printz honorees and the National Book Award winner The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation? At least she had the smarts to not compare Pullman's writing style to Andrews's. To start on what bothers me about this article, here's a list of the books the author mentions: Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman Forever by Judy Blume One of these things is not like the others. Can you guess which one? That's right, it's Flowers in the Attic, and that's what makes me the most angry about the article. Bazelon is comparing apples and pineapples. Flowers in the Attic, unlike HDM and Forever, was never intended to be sold or marketed as a young adult novel. I can't expect that much from Bazelon, who appears to have never read an actual YA novel in her life, or at least talked to a YA librarian (given that she mentions Sula, Black Boy, and Huck Finn as "classics of YA literature" rather than The Chocolate War, The Pigman, and The Outsiders). Every YA librarian...well, this YA librarian, anyway...will tell you that two of the most popular authors among middle school students are V.C. Andrews and Stephen King but I sure as hell wouldn't put them in the YA section of the library. If Bazelon is going to call FitA a "preteen classic" then it only seems fair to me that she give Stephen King's work the same label and compare HIS books to Pullman's. Fact is, though, FitA is not a preteen classic. It's a book written for adults that has been co-opted by the preteen audience. One cannot call it a preteen book just because it has a preteen main character. If that's the case, then we're going to have to call The Kite Runner, The Lovely Bones, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, etc. YA, and the authors wouldn't like that because, well, YA books don't normally get the big sales and publicity of adult titles. I get asked a lot what separates a YA novel from an adult novel with a YA main character, and this is the answer I give, one that I believe applies to the FitA/HDM comparison: In a YA novel, the main character is describing the events as they happen with only as much wisdom and insight as he or she has at the time. In an adult book with a teen main character, an adult is looking back on events of his or her adolescence and writing them with some degree of adult wisdom, however small. YA books concern "today" and "tomorrow" and adult books with teen main characters concern "yesterday." This is why I don't consider Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep a YA novel; it's told from the perspective of an adult who is describing her teenage years. FitA is not a YA novel because (and please correct me if I'm wrong; it's been a while since the reread) Cathy is telling the story at the time of the end of Seeds of Yesterday. The series is a retrospective, not a narration of the events as they occur. The second paragraph of the article reads: But the depth of my Pullman devotion doesn't make me want to give his books to my two boys, who are near his intended audience. Pullman's work is a hybrid: It's sold to adults as complex fantasy, and to the 12-year-old crowd as Harry Potter-plus. In some ways, the trilogy is part of the coming-of-age tradition of literature for young teens (and inevitably, somewhat younger kids, too). It tells the growing-up story of Lyra and Will, Pullman's wild and enterprising child characters. But it's a complicated and dark and unsettling coming-of-age.... Maybe this is an idea that's more horrifying to read about as a parent than as a child, but giving Pullman to my still-small sons, even a couple of years from now, is an experiment I'm not about to conduct.1. Harry-Potter-plus? It's all about comparing the apples and pineapples today, isn't it? Not all fantasy works for a YA audience are good next reads for Potter fans, and Rowling and Pullman set out to accomplish two entirely different things in their works. I'd be kicked off CHILD_LIT for saying this, I know, but I don't think the two should be compared. 2. A complicated and dark unsettling coming-of-age? Really? The YA world doesn't have any of those! Okay, that was mean, but I couldn't resist. 3. Part of this rant is tied into something that Bazelon is not responsible for, and that's what I like to call the My Child Is A Genius Because He Read Harry Potter Effect. In my personal and usually not humble opinion, Harry Potter was often marketed to too young an audience. It's a YA series if I ever did see one but parents for years have been pushing it on their second- and third-graders. After all, if their kids can get through that big book, they must be smart! But the thing is, Harry Potter was never intended for eight-year-olds any more than FitA was intended for twelve-year-olds. Consequently, two things happened. First, more fantasy series for the middle-grade crowd got published. YAY! There is no bad in that. Second, YA fantasy suddenly became the desired purchases/library checkouts by those parents with genius children who did not understand the idea that YA literature is about content AND vocabulary. I think that might be some of the reason behind my annoyance over the HDM media frenzy. Those books, despite the look of the movie, do not belong in the children's section of a bookstore or library. Your child is not a genius because he read HDM at eight. It just doesn't work that way. A book is more than the words on its pages. 4. The plural of anecdote is not evidence. And I'll leave that at that. And yes, I understand that the point of the article is about the secrecy and defiance of the preteen reading experience, but that doesn't change the fact that the basic comparison is flawed. I really don't see kids reading Pullman with the same "OMG I know I'm not supposed to be reading this" savor that they read Andrews and King. Chances are, most middle-school students will not try to shock or impress their classmates by reading HDM because, yeah, that's what Stephen King and V.C. Andrews are for. Tags: books, rants, ya
780: been caught stealing once when I was five
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Sometimes a book has to be written about. The books I like to write about are one of two extremes: Either they're incredible or I can't imagine how they got past an author, an agent, and at least one editor. Today's book, which I can't ignore writing about any longer, is the former. Boy Toy by Barry Lyga. Barry Lyga likes to do the Sarah Dessen & Lara Zeises thing and set all of his novels in the same place, and have characters from novel X show up in novel Y. I kind of like this, because it's a fun thing for current readers to play along with but new readers don't notice any sort of break in the text. As he did with his first novel, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (which I did love), Lyga sets Boy Toy at South Brook High School in Brookdale, MD. The protagonist of BT is senior Josh Mendel, a star student and athlete who is also the school pariah. Five years before the book begins, Josh was in a closet with Rachel, the girl he liked. Their seven minutes in heaven was cut short by Josh's behavior: He not only kissed Rachel, but he ripped her panties and touched a little more of her than she wanted. She broke away from him and things have been nothing short of embarrassing and stilted between Josh and Rachel ever since. That is, when his careful plan of avoiding Rachel goes awry. What no one knew at the time of the panty incident was that Josh was sleeping wtih his history teacher, Eve. He was behaving towards Rachel in ways that Eve taught him. And now, just months before Josh's high school graduation, Eve is out of prison having served five years of her fifteen-year sentence. Reading about Eve's release stirs feelings in Josh that he thought he'd shelved. He thought he'd become used to the strange looks, knowing that everyone knew he was the one who slept with his teacher even though his name never hit the papers. In a cathartic turn of events for Josh, he sees he's not the only one who was affected long-term by his relationship with Eve. Rachel's got some loose ends to tie up with Josh before they both graduate and decide where to go on to college, and if there's anyone Josh could never hide from, it's the only girl he's ever known who could strike him out. I've read a lot of books recently by YA authors who like to pile on the issues: abuse, divorce, dysfunctional families, sex, drugs, rock and roll, what have you. Most of these books have one sad thread in common, that they are so focused on getting these issues on the page that there's little to no development, or the reader gets to the end of the book and feels like she's the one that needs therapy, not the main character. Now, I like a good book full of issues as much as the next reader, but the problem is that too many of them are handled by writers who, although they know how to handle the issues carefully, aren't that great at what they do. The results are anything from novels where you get to the last page and say, "Hey, what about X?" to novels where the entire plot happens in the last 15 pages. I was glad to see that Boy Toy fell into neither of these traps. On the whole the book is incredibly well paced, suspenseful, and full of characters you actually come to care about. Everyone in this book has dimension. Some of my colleagues have said that Josh's flashback telling of the growth of his relationship with Eve was distracting, but I don't see a better way it could have been done. Had Lyga chosen to tell the story as it happened, starting with Josh as a seventh-grader and ending just before high school graduation, the reader would not get the sense of growth and perspective that Josh has (somewhat stubbornly) gained over the years. The book would be completely different, and not in a good way. And if your soul doesn't drop through your knees during chapter 24, then you probably don't have one. Read more of Lyga's thoughts on "issue" books at his blog. I am NOT lending this galley. It is staying right in my office next to some of my favorites from last year. :P Tags: 2007, books
126:  intimidated
780: I talk about something you can sure understand
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Ever since ALA I have been feeling tired and achy all the time. The achy is the same achy I've had for the past year and a half or so, which means I really need to get in gear and call my doctor for that specialist referral. But that's neither here nor there. ALA! It was fun! I felt like I was so much busier at this conference than at others, though. Lots of meetings, discussions, dinners, and the ultrafabulous Printz lectures. Things I learned/did in DC: 1. Markus Zusak is hot, but much shorter than I imagined he would be. I'm 5'4", and when I was talking to him I was wearing 4" heels and we were just about eye to eye. Still, he thinks Henry is adorable, all asleep next to my copy of The Book Thief. 2. OMG I have a lot of work to do this year. But if all my projects go as planned 2008 will be fabulous. 3. The exhibits were a little disappointing with regards to how many books they had, but I could deal because I picked up most everything I wanted at Book Expo. Best Exhibitor of the Conference Award (which is just my personal thing, not anything official), given previously to Hyperion (BEA 2007) and Little, Brown (ALA Midwinter 2007) goes to Penguin, whose rep said to me as I looked at books: "Are you on our book mailing list?" When I replied that I would like to be, she said, "Give me your card, and we'll get you going." YAY FREE BOOKS FROM PENGUIN, and specifically from Razorbill, which is one of my favorite all-around imprints. THANK YOU. 4. DC: Not really a walking city in terms of placement of hotels in relation to the convention center, but I needed the walking anyway. 5. Nick Hornby has a YA novel out this fall. I got a galley and am excited to read it. 6. Two of the four Printz honor books this year are tied into the theme of difficult times and choices in history. I remember this girl I knew in high school who was convinced that had she lived during, say, the eighteenth century or so, that she would be different from all those doormat women who just cooked and cleaned and had babies. She would have stood up for everyone's rights, she declared, and been thoroughly modern. I couldn't help but think at the time, though I didn't say to her, "No, you probably would have just been like everyone else. A relatively small percentage of people, and smaller now that the earth's population is so large, ever make history. Had you really been as outspoken as you think you would have been, your chances of being beheaded or at least sedated were much higher than you'd like to think. And also, you probably wouldn't have been educated enough to stand out in the way you'd like to. Sad but true." This idea high-schoolers get, that they would have been different somehow during the times chronicled in The Book Thief and Octavian Nothing, is common. It's easy to understand why they would think this way: They've never known a time before the Equal Rights Amendment, before Title IX, before Brown vs. Board, etc., and they've always been taught that these decisions led to more equality, a more enlightened way of public education, if you will. It's completely obvious to them that slavery was wrong, that people are all human regardless of color (Octavian Nothing), and that the Holocaust and more specifically, the Hitler Youth (Book Thief) were also wrong. Reading their history books, most of them would have no problem saying without much thought, "I would never have joined the Hitler Youth." And you know what? I don't fault them for it. Most of them don't have the perspective presented in Octavian Nothing and The Book Thief, both of which show that standing against a hostile, pervasive regime is not as easy as it looks. Liesel joins the Bund Deutscher Mädel in The Book Thief not because she's anti-Semetic or even agrees with Hitler's political ideals, but because that was simply what girls did and a girl could not risk the kind of ostracism that would come from not joining the BDM. When her foster father resists joining the Nazi Party, life gets very difficult for the family in their small German town. No one thought to say to the Novanglian College of Lucidity, "Hey, stop your experiments on Octavian because we're all human and he's not a science project!" because at the time Octavian Nothing takes place African people were not considered equal to whites. It's how things were. This idea, of "that's how things were" is something not explored much in today's high school history classes (at least, not the ones I know of, though I don't doubt there are fabulous history teachers out there who are making an effort to do more than just have students memorize names and dates and places), and I'm so, so very glad that Octavian Nothing and The Book Thief, two books that don't apologize for history but instead make the reader take a critical look at it through the use of authentic language and sympathetic characters, were honored this year. 7. Oh, and I really liked Gene Yang's Printz acceptance speech, too. He took the best potshot at the moron MySpace users who felt qualified to say that his book was bigoted and should be burned without actually having read it. American Born Chinese was not the book I would have chosen for the Printz (that would be Octavian Nothing), but I do think it's wonderful and Yang's speech, with some visual history of the depictions of Asian-Americans in comics and popular culture, gave me a deeper appreciation for the book. Seven is enough for now. Books: Finished Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. It seems that every year there's one YA novel that gets incredibly polarized reviews. Half of the reviews say things like "stunning" or "one of the best books this year" and half say, "deplorable," "lacking," etc. In 2005 this book was Doing It by Melvin Burgess, and in 2006 it was King Dork by Frank Portman (oddly, both are books I feel sort of "meh" about). This year's book seems to be Wicked Lovely, which...wasn't. I have to say I mostly side with the 2Q 2P it got in VOYA. Well, I definitely side with the 2Q, but I would have given it a 4P. I know I'm not much of a fantasy reader, but I don't think my problems with this book have to do much with my liking or disliking fantasy. The whole book was...let's compare it to a road trip from Pittsburgh to New York. Stay with me here. You set out from Pittsburgh on the Penn Turnpike, but there are so many things along the Turnpike to distract you. You get off in Hershey to eat chocolate and get a manicure, and in Reading to go outlet shopping, and in King of Prussia for the mall, and Philadelphia for some cheesesteaks and to see the Liberty Bell. By the time you get to New Jersey you've already deviated from your trip several times to look in detail at shiny things. You stay for a while on the New Jersey Turnpike because there's not a lot to look at, but you do get off around exit 7 for Six Flags. That was fun, yes? Back on the Turnpike, things are pretty boring for a while until OMG THERE'S AN IKEA IN ELIZABETH. Now you're loaded down with Swedish furniture and glass candleholders and back on the road, and... Hey, where are we going again? And what's all this stuff in the car? We don't need all this stuff! And I feel kind of bloated from the cheesesteaks. Wicked Lovely suffers from this road-trip problem of too many distractions, not to mention the completely unbelievable dialogue, the predictable ending, and the up-and-down temperature obsessions (cold things are not sexy, as much as I hate summer). The author often leads the reader off the road into something shiny and then says, "No, wait, back to the story!" I got tired of a hundred pages of "Aislinn can see faeries but can't let anyone know." I understood that very well by page ten. I didn't find the Summer King the least bit alluring, and Beira, the Winter Queen, was evil-overlord laughable, not frightening. Urban fantasy is the hot new thing in YA (and also dead or dying main characters) and I have no doubt this book will have an enthusiastic audience, hence why I would have given it a 4P, but although it's not the worst book I've read this year it pales in comparison to a lot of other YA. Current favorite distraction: reversathon. Running career: Not going well. Ow ow ow my left shin has been hurting for WEEKS. Must find different route that does not have me running downhill on concrete. Life in general: Busy. Ask me in September. Tags: 2007, books
126:  distracted
780: it's so contagious, I cannot get it out of my mind
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Everyone I know has a to-read list/pile/stack of post-its/folder of del.icio.us tags. Book descriptions come our way...well, mine at least...and I think, "I'll read that as soon as I'm done writing this review, or reading this stuff for a work project, or whatever." Between having a life and being a librarian, my to-read pile never has fewer than twenty books in it. Yesterday, however, I finished one of the books in my to-read pile, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. To write a short review in the style of the book: Holy FUCK this book was fucking great! It's like about this straight bassist in a queercore punkish band, Nick, who just broke up with his ho-beast girlfriend, Tris. Only Tris fucking won't not come to his gigs in NYC and so when he sees her at one of his gigs one night he grabs Norah and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes. I didn't know stream of consciousness writing could be so damn good until I read this. The book takes place over one night where Nick and Norah kiss, fight, break up, get back together, fight again, get back together again, and play out one of the hottest non-sex sex scenes in teen literature (right up there with Order of the Poison Oak). And then I read Crackback by John Coy, which suffered the fatal disease of Too Many Plots, Not Enough Character Development and the world looked a little less shiny. But such is life as a reader. Off to move Naomi and Ely's No-Kiss List to the top of my non-required-reading pile. Tags: 2007, books, ya
126:  determined
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Yesterday I: Sat in the Lincoln Tunnel and panicked about being late for a book event. Heard about a lot of cool upcoming books. Had lunch with Jerry Spinelli, who is very wonderful. Came back to the library and proceeded to a co-worker's wake. Wrote 685 words of my reversathon fic. Listened to a lot of Avril Lavigne. Was reassured by lizzb that I am not, in fact, insane. I think I now understand the meaning of the word "whirlwind." --- I went to the grocery store the other day and found a 20-ounce bottle of Vanilla Coke!! My happiness knows no bounds. Now all I have to do is find it in Diet and my life is perfect. --- Those of you who watch America's Next Top Model know who James St. James is. Who knew he was a writer as well as a style maven? His YA novel, Freak Show came out last week and I snagged a copy from a nearby library. Let me tell you, people. This book is FABULOUS. DIVINE. GO OUT AND READ IT RIGHT NOW. Plot: Redneck Florida is anything but ready for sixteen-year-old drag queen Billy Bloom. Influenced by his mother, Billy has grown up on a diva diet of sequins, of Westwood and wigs. Back in Connecticut, Billy was pretty free to be who he was, but when his unstable mother sends him to live with his old-money town-founder dad in Florida, his flamboyant outfits and Lizaesque dialogue make him the target of spitballs and beatings. When his classmates put him in a coma, the only people who stay by his side are Flip, the star football player and Blah Blah Blah, a gossip fiend who loves Billy's openness. Despite his classmates' cruelty Billy is determined to make it through school, and with Blah Blah Blah's help he concocts the ultimate be-yourself plan: He's going to run for Homecoming Queen. Why you should read it, darling: The dialogue, both inner and outer, makes this book. It's over-the-top and spangled, just like Billy, but the book is just the right length to keep it from putting the reader off. The ending is just imperfect enough, and the...I'll call it a relationship to avoid spoiling you, gentle readers...between Flip and Billy is really well done, so teenage. Also, I don't know of any other YA books that fall in the "queer" description if you're categorizing LGBTI/GLBTQ books. Billy describes his sexuality as "largely theoretical," and rather than focus on the "OMG, what sexuality am I" aspect that a lot of other YA books do (which doesn't make them wrong or less important, just different from this one) it focuses on theories of identity, popularity, and friendship. Or at least, that's what's there under the satin and ruffles. I also read Beauty Shop for Rent...fully equipped, inquire within by Laura Bowers, which I meant to post on earlier. I think what I'm finding in 2007 is that there aren't as many literary YA behemoths as there were in 2005 and 2006, but the "lighter" fare is amazing, so much better than it's been in years past. BSFR centers on fourteen-year-old Abbey, who is determined to escape a legacy of teenage pregnancy and become a millionaire by the time she's 35. She's wise about investing, works at her great-grandmother's (Granny Po) beauty shop, and saves, but all her careful financial planning can't seem to bring her the thing she wants most: her mother. When thirty-one-year-old Gena rents Granny Po's beauty shop and gives it the makeover of a lifetime, everyone in Abbey's circle of friends and family is transformed in ways that were impossible before paraffin treatments. The intergenerational relationships are sheer delight, and Abbey's angst over her mother is realistic but doesn't make you want to throw yourself out the window, either. Again, a great book for discussion, especially mother/grandmother/aunt/significant elder female-daughter/granddaughter/niece/youn g woman you're mentoring book groups. -- Today, I heard a tale from a YA librarian in the Midwest who is facing a parent who wants to ban a graphic novel from her library. This parent believes that no person, child, teen, or adult, should read this particular graphic novel and it should not be in the library in any section. (I don't want to go into what the GN is, but I will say that I know many teens who love it and it's certainly appropriate for a teen area; I bought it for my last library.) The librarian, superheroine that she is, did everything all librarians are supposed to do when faced with a challenge to materials: She collected reviews, articles about the importance of GNs in libraries, and lists of recommended GNs that include the challenged novel. She informed her director about the challenge, and her director stands behind her, which is good because... The parent will have no part of any of the librarian's reasoning. The graphic novel corrupts society, said the parent, and the librarian could never understand and is not truly qualified for her job because she... ...wait for it... is not a parent. How APPALLING is that??? I told some of my coworkers, all of whom have children, about the parent's reason for not listening to the librarian, and they all thought it was horrible. I can sympathize very much with the librarian, because I've caught this crap from some people at outlying libraries, too; that because I don't have children there are some things I could just never understand. The thing is, when you're working with children in a public library you don't have to have them, you only have to listen to them (and respond appropriately) and use your knowledge to serve them as best you can. I know of people who believe that people who don't have children should not be allowed to work with them, which is ridiculous and heartbreaking. I'm better at my job than many librarians who have teens at home. The thing is, they have THEIR children, and their children serve as a comparison point for all other teens. This is normal; Dog knows I certainly compare other cats to Beezus and Henry. But normal everyday comparisons are one thing and telling someone she's basically incompetent because she works with young people but doesn't have any at home is quite another. The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence." I'll be following this librarian's story. She'll be meeting with the director and the parent soon. I'd go into my related rant on how awful it is that Mr. Cedar, an Eagle Scout, does not feel comfortable volunteering with a local Boy Scout troop at another time. -- I can't spoil anyone about Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End because I haven't seen it. Maybe next Tuesday. Nothing worse than a movie theater on weekends. Even Orlando Bloom wet is not enough to brave the wilds of stupid people who think their movie commentary is oh so funny. Hey, genius, if you were half as witty as you think you are, you'd be writing for television and movies instead of sitting in a theater eating popcorn. Now please be quiet, you're ruining my pirates. -- So much to write, but so much to read before that. Tags: books, books i'd pay retail for, fangirling, libraries, rants
126:  giddy
780: your bridges were burned and now it's your turn to cry me a river
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The good: Mr. Cedar and I did not have water in our apartment yesterday. We're fine. The cats are fine. My coworkers are fine, except for two who had water in their basements. The bad: I got back from my run last night (I forgot gloves. How do I do these things? I was so freakin' cold.) to find that I had no heat or hot water. It's 48F degrees out. Temperatures here will not reach 60F until Saturday, which is about when we expect to have our heat and hot water back. So I smell and I'm shivering because I don't have a shower at work, nor do I belong to a gym. Sorry. The story from the apartment office is that fuel lines are backed up all over the town, and our entire complex is out, and I did see workers in a spot where I usually don't see them this morning. More bad: Many libraries in my system had to close yesterday due to flooded parking lots. One library had a flood in its children's section and that library is closed. I don't know what the damage is like, but I do know that that particular library's children's section is in the basement, so it can't be good. Another library's children's section flooded, but even though they had much damage to their carpeting, 98% of their books are still intact. My coworker took pictures of his neighborhood, which also flooded, but since they're not public I'll leave you with this picture of Bound Brook and this one of New Milford. Part of the road I have to take to get to a meeting this afternoon is flooded. Currently reading: Does my Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah. Pakistani-Australian Muslim private school student Amal has been inspired by Jennifer Aniston to wear the hijab full time. It's a decision she makes confidently and with the support of her closest friends and family. She's also the only Muslim girl at her school, and is met with opposition from mean girls and less-than-tolerant faculty. It is funny and witty if a little heavy-handed at times, and definitely worth a read. Randa Abdel-Fattah, if you ever read this, THANK YOU for writing this book. Not only is it something we desperately need in the YA world, but you handled it so beautifully, with a warm, charming main character who will inspire readers to be not only tolerant, but confident. Currently watching: Flavor of Love Charm School. Pure comedy gold, but it works best if you've seen both seasons of Flavor of Love. You just KNOW that the person who said, "Hey, we should totally get Flavor Flav to do The Surreal Life" that fateful day at a conference table now has the corner office and his/her own personal secretary, and probably lunch delivered from Spago every day. I'm not sure who to put money on just yet, but I'm leaning towards Toasteee and Goldie. Scuse me. Jennifer and Courtney. Currently annoyed by: Reviewers, writers, publishers, librarians, readers, etc. who cite every dogdamn children's and YA fantasy book or series as "The next Harry Potter" or "The ______ Harry Potter." I'm SICK of it. CAPSLOCK SICK OF IT. I don't want to hear about your dragon rider!Harry Potter or your black!Harry Potter or your green!Harry Potter or your time-and-space-travel!Harry Potter or your girl!Harry Potter. Yes, yes, readalikes, blah blah blah, but none of this "It's the next Harry Potter" actually tells me anything about the quality or content of the book. I don't want to hear how your book is leikomg So Much Better than Harry Potter, because in some ways it might be and in some ways it might not. Eragon certainly wasn't. Stephen King said it best: Harry Potter is Harry Potter, you dolts. Believe me, I appreciate what Harry Potter has done for the publishing industry, plus I love the books. But calling so much fantasy "the next Harry Potter" is akin to calling every chick lit YA book "the next Gossip Girl" or every GLBTQ book "the next Boy Meets Boy." Some of the stories are similar, yes. Pendragon and Harry Potter both use elements of the hero's journey and both have megalomaniac, melodramatic villains. But comparing D.J. MacHale's writing style to J.K. Rowling's is comparing apples and pineapples. She writes better emotions, and he writes better action sequences. Where she has maybe 3 multidimensional peripheral recurring characters, he's got about 7 or 8, and that's on a much smaller scale. Bobby Pendragon is not "the next Harry Potter," he's just Bobby Pendragon. And I like that on its own. So reviewers, writers, publishers, librarians, readers, etc., please do tell me about your really cool upcoming fantasy series about Native American time-traveling gnome hunters. I want to at least take a look at it. But please don't tell me it's the next Harry Potter, because it probably isn't. Tags: 2007, books, rants, tv
126:  thirsty
780: everybody's talking all this stuff about me, why don't they just let me live
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1. I am not signing up for this year's percy_ficathon because I am still writing the fic I was supposed to turn in for last year's percy_ficathon. I also did not tell the mods I needed someone to pinch-hit for me. This, my friends, is how NOT to be a good member of the fandom. That is, in fact, a really good way to make people hate you and if the ficathon mods ban me forever, I deserve it. I still feel horrendously guilty about it. That's the only ficathon fic I've ever signed up to finish and didn't, even though I thought I would. Someday I'll finish the fic I owe. loupnoir even did a really terrific beta for it. Lately I've just had a hard time facing fandom. I feel like I've come to a standstill. I don't feel like working on my fics, and I can't work on Morality... until after Phoenix Rising anyway. And anyway, I promised myself I would only sign up for two fic fests this year: Remix and Smutmas. I think fandom is fun. I think fandomers are a great group of people. But I'm feeling burned out. Some of this, I'm sure, has to do with my job. The job I took last year has about ten times the responsibility and demands of the job I had for three years before that, three years in which I produced some pretty good fic but couldn't get that far in my career. Now I have an amazingly cool job and am making a little progress, career-wise, but fandom has taken a far back seat. I don't want to leave. I've been here nearly 5 years and it's important to me. I LIKE writing fanfic. It's fun and for the most part relaxing. Most of what I know about writing and reading I've learned in fandom. Because of fandom, I'm a better book reviewer. Right now, however, it feels like One More Thing To Do. My burnout is leading me to fade away. 2. Speaking of Job, if you've been IMing me during the day for the past few weeks and I haven't responded, it's because Job has eaten my brain. I have a huge presentation to do on Thursday, and I had only about a month to get all the prep work done and the handouts printed. I haven't seen the surface of my desk since January. So most of what I've been reading for the past month have been the books on the summer reading program. I have, however, read Devilish by Maureen Johnson (fun read, delightful concept, fabulous characters, but took much too long to get to the point) and Beastly by Alex Flinn (urban retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with just the right use of melodramatic fairy tale language against the New York backdrop). Now that I'm done with Big Project #1, I have to work on Big Project #2 and then do a reading sprint to get everything read that I need to have read by June. 3. I continue to run according to my training program but I don't seem to continue to get any better at it. I continue to eat less and exercise more, but my scale does not move (although I do have more muscle definition and look a little better than I have). As Georgia Nicolson would say, it is Vair Vair Frustrating. If I had shower facilities at work or a gym closer than six miles from said work, I would start working out on my lunch break, too. 4. Henry chipped one of his front teeth. His adult teeth are in but his head is still kitten-size, so he looks like a little gray-and-white spotted vampire. He's going to the vet on Monday. 5. I saw Blades of Glory because Mr. Cedar wanted to and, well, it was better than The Phantom Menace. It was not as good as the Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean trailers that came before it. 6. Team Brittany! (Also teams Natasha and Jael.) Team Anyone-But-Renee. 7. Are praetorianguard and I the only ones watching the Pussycat Dolls: Search for the Next Doll? Have the idiot judges complaining about Anastascia's "weight gain" noticed that she's about five inches taller than all the other girls? That aside, I want a pink feather boa. 8. If I wanted to get someone a custom-lettered t-shirt, what's a good website to purchase it from? 9. All my reading enthusiasm are belong to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. SOMEONE has the latest Gossip Girl book AND a preview of the upcoming prequel, plus some other books that look pretty fantastic. But someone DOES NOT have an advance of Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer and there will be a separate post on that. 10. I have these in green and I now want them in brown and black. Because you know what they say: If the shoe fits, buy it in three colors. Tags: 2007, books, fandom, tv
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I love PubRants, a blog written by literary agent Kristin Nelson. She agents YA, among other genres, and always has fascinating things to say. Monday's post (why is my RSS reader always so slow to pick up posts?) was on "What They [Editors] Want." Agent Kristin attended a meeting at Penguin Children's Group and heard editors speak about what they'd love to see. The list included YA psychological thrillers, paranormal YA that is NOT centered around vampires and werewolves (is the YA world as sick of glittery vampires as I am? and I was surprised that they mentioned werewolves but not faeries, as I can think of many more faerie than werewolf books...but maybe faeries are the new vampires?), and middle-grade boy reads. Many of the items on the list are things children's and YA librarians would like to see, too, especially with this year's overwhelmingly girly Newbery books. But I'll save the rant on Newbery books being pushed on all kids for another day. I have nothing to rant about regarding Agent Kristin's post. I do, however, have to rant on this comment, which ends, I'm getting into YA and am glad to see that the genre is expanding outside of the bubble-headed "Gossip Girls" type stuff.Well, gee, the YA world thanks you ever so profusely for realizing that there are more than eleven books on the YA shelves at your local bookstore/library. Look at a calendar, people. It's 2007. Seventeenth Summer is over sixty years old. The Pigman is nearing fifty. Forever recently turned thirty. YALSA is fifty. The Printz Award is seven. Surprise, surprise, the YA genre has always been more than Gossip Girl. And even as the Gossip Girl readalikes hit the market, a lot of not-Gossip Girl is out there, too. YA is just as diverse and literate as adult fiction and has been so long before Cecily von Ziegesar turned her computer on to write the first book in the series. Gossip Girl adds to the diversity of the genre. It gets all the press because it was the first book of its kind regarding the life of rich kids in NYC with all the brand-dropping, but let's not forget Blair and Serena's big sister, Lila Fowler. (The comment below that one straightened her out a little. But probably not enough.) Oy, and "high-concept" books, too. I can't deal with the stress of that post right now. Tags: books, rants, ya
126:  annoyed
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Once upon a time, I sent an email to zeisgeist in which I lamented my nonstop reading of YA novels. You see, it's something I'm supposed to do as part of my job, but when it comes to attempting to think creatively, it kills my muse. I could write a YA novel, I wrote to Lara, and I could have it be a retelling of my favorite fairy tale, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Oh. Like East by Edith Pattou. Well, that's all right, I continued. I could write a book about a percussionist in a family crisis. Or the time it takes to rebuild a damaged reputation. I could write about kids at a summer arts camp, or I could write a book about anything I wanted, as long as the whole thing was in sestinas. Or maybe the future effects of consumerism. Frankenstein meets My Fair Lady. Or maybe something pink and fluffy, but with a message of substance. Except I can't write any of those books, I realized, because they've all been written already. Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. Story of a Girl. Dramarama. Keesha's House. Feed. Shattering Glass. Most everything by Meg Cabot. If I didn't read so much, maybe I'd have more confidence in the thought that I could write a YA novel. But on the other end of that sword, it's really, REALLY easy to tell when a YA author hasn't read a lot of YA. The voice is usually wrong somehow, whether it sounds too old and clearly adult, or too young. But in today's USA Today Books section, this appears, and it makes me think that maybe I'm going about this project all wrong. If publishers are selling adult novels on familiarity (which, yes, has been done in YA for years but didn't really make me feel much better), then maybe I could build a novel around that idea of familiarity, tell something that's already been told. Then the challenge is to make it sellable to those that have already seen the original, and not necessarily make it better, but make it different. (But not too different, because then you lose the whole familiarity argument and then it becomes a round of "There's a Hole in my Bucket, Dear Liza, Dear Liza.") Working with this familiarity is the entire foundation of reader's advisory, anyway. "I liked The Chocolate War. What else do you have like it?" Now, reader's advisory has crossed into movies, and not just movies made from books. YA librarians know this well; when we're faced with that kid whose mom has dragged him to the library because he just has to read something on The List (Accelerated Reader, summer reading list, pick your poison) for school the question of "What do you like to read?" doesn't work so well. I've taken to asking those reluctant readers, "What TV shows or movies do you like? What do you like to do in your spare time? Have your friends mentioned any books lately that they thought were good?" So I guess I could say that it's the publishers who are late to this party, not me, but that doesn't make me feel any better. I think this is why I write fanfiction instead of original works. At least then, I KNOW I don't have to try being original only to find I'm writing a story that someone else has already told, and better. Enough procrastinating. I have sixteen book discussion guides to write in the next ten work days. Tags: angsting, books, writing
126:  working
780: if I'd only thought of something charming to say
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Trying very hard not to crack up from all the stuff going on with work and writing and fandom and reading and attempting to have a life. ( What I've been reading! Reviews in 10 words or fewer )Writing: Working on remix_redux fic, horrible horrible fic for Paintbrush & Quill at Phoenix Rising, also presentations for same. To say that I have felt less than inspired to write fic these days is somewhat of an understatement. Work: Writing twenty booktalks, twenty sets of discussion questions, stuff for the upcoming countywide summer reading program. I put together 120 forms with "please return to me by Friday, March 29th" and this year, March 29th is a Thursday so now I have to reprint them all ARGH. Thank you: To those who wished me a happy birthday last month. I did have a very happy birthday except for the getting-older-and-have-accomplished-noth ing-in-life part. Mr. Cedar took me for a day of shopping and dinner and bought me, among other things, The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. Oh, damn, I had new pictures of Henry to post and I forgot to upload them. Next time. Tags: 2007, angsting, books
126:  anxious
780: tell me baby, what's your story, where you come from and where you gonna go this time
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Release date of Harry Potter 7, yadda yadda yadda. In the squeeing over the release date, I noticed this: The retail price on this book (hardcover edition, not the deluxe, afaik) will be $34.99. Compare this to the cover price of HBP: $29.99. Compare those to Eldest by Christopher Paolini, which is 704 pages and retails for $21.00 This could mean several things: 1. The books will have a supershiny cover, be printed on some kind of special paper, maybe have the edges done the way the Series of Unfortunate Events is, or have other decoration that drives up the price. 2. We get some kind of goodie with it. A CD, perhaps, or a pen? I love pens. 3. These are going to be the biggest books any of us have ever seen short of the OED. I'm off to the gym. I'm going to need to step up my weight training regime if I'm going to be schlepping that thing around. Who wants to join me? Tags: 2007, books, harry potter
126: intimidated
780: there's a lot of honey in this world
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...I learned from books I read in 2006. Stephen King and Neil Gaiman say all the time that the way to become a good writer is to be a good reader, and although I may not have aspirations of publishing, I do have aspirations of being very good at this fanfic hobby of mine. So here is what I've learned from my past year of reading, and where I learned it. How to write: an incredibly scary story with no blood or otherworldly monsters: The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin an omniscient protagonist, and peripheral characters: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak free verse: Burned by Ellen Hopkins action scenes: the Pendragon: Journal of an Adventure Through Time and Space series by D.J. MacHale language without which there would be no main character: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson humor that doesn't sound like it came out of a generic teenage sitcom: Born to Rock by Gordon Korman descriptions, corruption, and a main character that always enthralls even if you don't like him: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud minimalist: The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci life during and after traumatic events: It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini travel, or a life that is influenced by place as much as people: Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kristen Miller a short story no one can forget: White Time by Margo Lanagan comfort, wit, everyday humor, and charm: Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins (Notice that I did not include a list of how to write Mary Sues, overwrought descriptions, oceans of unreadable angst, teen books that reflect the author's minimal knowledge of what a good teen book looks like, stories without focus, characters no one cares about, 300-page books that feel like 700-page books, or stories of great concept that fall flat on their face in execution. I read plenty of those, believe me, but it's a sunny, Lush-scented day in the land of Cedar, so I think I'll save those for a blistering day with PMS and no chocolate.) Tags: books, books i'd pay retail for, writing
126:  full
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Admittedly, my primary reason for not becoming a school librarian seems illogical: I am not a morning person. But trust me, you wouldn't want me trying to teach your kids anything at 7:30 in the morning. I haven't been to bed before midnight in quite some time, and I usually don't function very well before 9 a.m. Ever since I was a little kid, I've been a night owl, and even though school librarians are often paid better than public librarians, public libraries open at nine or ten in the morning. Circadian rhythms aside, while booktalking last week I was again reminded of why I made the right decision (for me) to work in public as opposed to school libraries. I met with a group of school and public (but mostly school) librarians last week for a booktalking session. We all read 2-5 books, write up reviews, and share them. These meetings are great because they're a chance to look through books you might only have seen reviews for, and to hear about new titles. It's also a chance for public and school librarian interaction, which there's never enough of, imho. No bad here, really. One of the books I booktalked was Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle. This book is in my ten favorites of the year, I think. It's about a boy, Ruben, twelve years old, living in a small Rhode Island port town during Prohibition. Because his town is easily accessible by water, it becomes a hotspot for rumrunners. Eventually, the town becomes ruled by organized crime, and Ruben doesn't know who to trust anymore. There's action, a great look at a shady side of American history (and a time that is very much glossed over in schools), the tiniest bit of guy romance, and grit. Reviews have been muchly favorable, and it's a book I think I'd like to use with a summer reading group. As part of my booktalk, I mentioned that this was a book for approximately sixth through ninth graders, based on the storytelling and the age of the main character. When I got done booktalking, one of the school librarians said to me, "Do you really think that book would be appropriate in a middle school? I'm worried about the rum." I assured her that the main character never drank the rum, and yes, there was kidnapping and offstage murder, but no drinking or sex. I think it's a book that fans of the Stormbreaker books (that's another story altogether, not for this entry because I shouldn't comment on books I haven't finished) and other action or historical titles would enjoy. "Are you sure?" she asked again. "Well, maybe I'll have to check it out." I respect school librarians very much. They have to go through a hell of a lot of training and continuing education in order to support their teachers and curriculum. But I could never, never do it. I am too addicted to books that have sex, drugs, and rock and roll and love recommending them too much. I couldn't pass over Theodora Twist because of the sex scene, knowing there's so much in that book to discuss. I do understand where the school librarian's concern comes from. I know it's real, and from working with school librarians I know it can be hard to develop reading lists and recommend books. I'd just rather not have to worry about it on a daily basis. Sort of ETA: I started this entry yesterday morning, and yesterday afternoon I read a LTTE in School Library Journal from a school librarian who was outraged that SLJ's starred review of Black Hole by Charles Burns did not explicitly mention the nudity and sex scenes in the book. The reviewer's response was that he did describe a mature, frightening graphic novel using words like "dark" and "unsettling." The book is about a sexually transmitted disease and the isolation it brings to those infected. The reviewer, btw, works in a high school, just like the person who wrote the complaint. The two letters made me think even more about the different collection development views between school and public librarians. Neither is wrong, of course, but each has vastly different audiences and purposes to consider. Being a reviewer is a constant battle of the middle: To spoil or not to spoil? Is nudity worth mentioning? How explicit does sex have to be to warrant a mention in a review? I don't know the answers to either of these questions (although really, if the ending of a book sucks, please tell me so I don't buy it and then have kids returning it and whining about how much the ending sucks), and the reviewer of Black Hole handled his criticism with far more grace than I probably would have. I am ITCHING to talk fandom but I can't right now. But have a link, all those who like to write by Evanescence: What's the saddest song ever? Science knows.Tags: books, i work with crazy people
126:  tired
780: I'm the narrator and this is just the prologue
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We all like words. What are your favorites, from the utilitarian to the extravagant? Please note that any words you list here may be appropriated by me for a project. </cryptic> Nouns, verbs, and adjectives are all welcome. Quickly, life: Mail two days ago included a very large envelope of galleys from Random House (thank you!), including robbiewriter's Better Than Yesterday and Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes, but alas not including Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky. Maybe there will be copies of that at Midwinter. If anyone out there is from Viking Children's Books, I would so love a copy of halseanderson's upcoming book. Please thank you. All clothes this season are ugly and unflattering. I refuse to buy clothes until next fall, when skinny jeans and batwing sweaters are long out of style. Someday I'm going to find the person that invented trousers tapered at the ankle and give them a stern talking-to. Who wants to discuss the finale of Flavor of Love 2 with me? Anyone? Tags: books, writing
126: working
780: we were barely seventeen and we were barely dressed
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Because I promised a book post. Nominating season for the YA lit awards and booklists is over, so that means I now have eight million tons of books to get through. I don't mind. Because I am so far behind on book blogging, though, my picks for the Printz will have to come later. Recently read: Jake Reinvented by Gordon Korman. It's a retelling of The Great Gatsby and while it has Korman's trademark humor and cleverness, it felt rushed. I understand his focusing just on one aspect of the story, the romance that Jake puts himself aside for, but there was too much plot that I knew should happen, having read The Great Gatsby, that didn't. Teens who haven't read Gatsby probably won't notice a thing. I have a lot of romance readers who will enjoy it, and I think it's a romance even guys could get into. Born to Rock, also by Gordon Korman. Love. This. The pacing is a million times better than Jake and the main character is a hoot. Leo Caraway, staunch Republican, finds out that his biological father (who knew?) is a punk superstar. It's a little dense in places, but I think guys will like it. And girls. Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone. Alex Flinn recommended this book to me after we got into a discussion on opera. One thing I mentioned to her was that I could never make it as an opera singer, even though I love to sing, because I'm a mezzo with 34D breasts. I'd never be able to play Cherubino. We got to talking about breasts, and she recommended this book. ( Playing the drums in a red bra will kill you. TMI. )God Went to Beauty School by Cynthia Rylant. I showed this book to a coworker, and she plans to use it with a CCD class she teaches. She said to me, "This part about taking a bath? I think my teens will love that, 'cause they're totally at that stage where their bodies are freaking out on them. Can you order me ten copies?" I ended up eating lunch at the YALSA ALA preconference in June with Patti Campbell, who is a YA lit goddess, and she thought the book was blasphemous. That's one way of looking at it, but not the way I saw it. I thought it was a really different, beautiful interpretation of how God might view the world, and it was also one of the funniest books I've read in a while. Much, much more appealing than Boris, I thought. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. Well, part of A Northern Light. I'm on page 50 and am just not loving it. I keep waiting for something to happen, but I realize the happen has already happened, so now I have to wait for the backstory. I don't hate the main character, but I think I'm just trying to get more into the setting. I must have missed something important, because Mattie's life seems to jump around a lot. True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet by Lola Douglas. So. Good. Not Great Litrachoor, but damn, it's fun. Teen actress Morgan Carter nearly OD's, lands herself in rehab, and finds herself starring in what she dubs the Witless Protection Project. For a year, she'll live as Average Teen Girl in Indiana. If you're a fan of the Little, Brown brain candy series (The Clique, Gossip Girl, etc.), you'll love this book 'cause it's about a thousand times better. Morgan is likeable and has a lot of depth, though she doesn't see herself as deep, and the peripheral characters make the book. Read it immediately if not sooner. Q&A by Vikas Swarup. Adult. Not YA. Indian import about an eighteen-year-old man, an uneducated laborer, who wins a billion rupees on a quiz show. After the taping, he is arrested and accused of cheating on the show. He is rescued from the brutal police by a lawyer who promises to be his advocate. As they watch the DVD of the show, Ram Mohammed Thomas explains parts of his life that relate to each question and shows that while he may not know who the current president of the US is, he knows all about fallen Indian movie stars. You know what this is? This is The View From Saturday for grownups. The writing is easy to read, but it will make you think about the ideas of wisdom versus intelligence versus knowledge, and it's just like Regis Philbin once said on Who Wants to be a Millionaire: It's only easy if you know the answers. An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries by Nina Schindler. It's a cute sort of accidental love story, told in letters and text messages. I like the alternate format very much, and although the main characters are on the old side for a teen novel, it's very appealing. Alice, I Think by Susan Juby. I don't get why everyone is falling all over themselves about this book. My teens find it funny, but I don't. I guess I'm jaded and old, because the ignorance level of the main character astounded me despite her saying how many magazines she read. Teach Me by R.A. Nelson. ( cut for length and gender theorizing )Teen advisory board members here. Me go now. Tags: books
126:  accomplished
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