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1andreablythe
Due to my time constraints, some categories will require more books to read than others with a total of 100 books to read in 2012.
1. Hello, I Love You (2/6)
I've read one book by an author and loved it. Now I want to read at least one more by the same author.
2. Oh, How I've Missed You (2/6)
Books by an authors I once loved, but haven't read in a long time. OR, rereads of favorite books.
3. It's a Smoldering World After All (3/7)
Apocalyptic and Post Apocalyptic books, as well as some dystopian novels.
4. Unicorns from Space! -- Science Fiction (5/10)
5. Unicorns from Space! -- Fantasy (7/10)
6. I Don't Wanna Grow Up (5/9)
Books for children and young adults.
7. Bam! Pow! Wham! (6/9)
Graphic novels and comics.
8. Just the Facts, Ma'am (5/8)
Nonfiction.
9. The Universe in Verse (6/9)
Poetry.
10. From my Bookshelf (2/8)
I have a tendency to jump at the new and shiny in bookstores and the library, rather than reading the stacks already on my shelves. This is meant to rectify that.
11. From the Modern Library's 100 Best Books (5/10)
There are actually about 200 books, since there is also the publicly voted list (with some overlaps). I'm working off the list from 2009, which is posted on my blog.
12. Miscellany (4/8)
The catch-all category for whatever doesn't fit in the above.

2andreablythe

Hello, I Love You
Books Completed: 2/6
1. Howard's End, by E.M. Forster (****)
2. Skin Folk, by Nalo Hopkinson (*****)
3. Habibi (graphic novel), by Craig Thompson (****)
Possible Candidates:
Michael Ende - Mirror in the Mirror
Nicholas Kauffmann
Malinda Lo
Naomi Clark
Laurie Colwin
Kelly Link
Karen Finneyfrock
Richard Matheson
Cormac McCarthy
John Steinbeck
Connie Willis
Samuel R Delany
3andreablythe

Oh, How I Missed You
Books Completed: 2/6
1. Paradise, by Toni Morrison (*****)
2. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury (*****)
Possible Candidates:
Neil Gaiman
Stephen King
The Poisonwood Bible or some other Barbara Kingsolver
Her, Second Edition, by Cherry Muhanji
4andreablythe

It's a Smoldering World After All
Books Completed: 3/7
1. Z: Zombie Stories, edited by J.M. Lassen (****)
2. After the Apocalypse, by Maureen F. McHugh (****1/2)
3. The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham (****1/2)
Possible Candidates:
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Postman, by David Brin
5andreablythe

Unicorns from Space! – Science Fiction
Books Completed: 4/10
1. Stories for the Nighttime and Some for the Day, Ben Loory (****1/2)
2. Great Classic Science Fiction (unabridged audio book) (****)
3. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov (****)
4. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein (****)
5. China Mountain Zhang, by Maureen F. McHugh (*****)
Possible Candidates:
Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valente
Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham
Contact, by Carl Sagan
The Wind-Up Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi
6andreablythe

Unicorns from Space! -- Fantasy
Books Completed: 6/10
1. I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive (audio book), by Steve Earle (*****)
2. A Rope of Thorns, by Gemma Files (****)
3. Born Wicked, by Jessica Spotswood (****)
4. Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson (****1/2)
5. Ganymede, by Cherie Priest (****1/2)
6. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (*****)
7. The Waking Moon (published on wattpad), by T.J. McGuinn (*****)
Possible Candidates:
God Stalk, by P.C. Hodgell
7andreablythe

6. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
Books Completed: 5/9
1. Imaginary Girls, by Nova Ren Suma (*****)
2. The Probability of Miracles, by Wendy Wunder (*****)
3. I am J, by Cris Beam (*****)
4. Scarlet, by A.C. Gaughen (***1/2)
5. Valiant, by Holly Black (****)
Possible Candidates:
Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater
The Diamond of Darkhold: The Fourth Book of Ember , by Jeanne DuPrau
Cold Magic, by Kate Elliot
Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray
8andreablythe

7. Bam! Pow! Wham!
Books Completed: 4/9
1. Amulet, Book One: The Stonekeeper, by Kazu Kibuishi (*****)
2. Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (****)
3. Rasl, Vol. 1: The Drift, by Jeff Smith (****)
4. Dead West, written by Rick Spears, illustrated by Rob G. (***)
5. Teenagers from Mars, written by Rick Spears, illustrated by Rob G. (***)
Possible Candidates:
Nylon Road: A Graphic Memoir of Coming of Age in Iran, by Parsua Bashi
Cathedral Child, by Lea Hernandez
9andreablythe

Just the Facts, Ma'am
Books Completed: 5/8
1. Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror, by Jason Zinoman (****1/2)
2. Fast, Cheap and Under Control: Lessons from the Greatest Low-Budget Movies of All Time, by John Gaspard (****)
3. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, by Mary Roach (*****)
4. Forgotten Bookmarks: A Bookseller's Collection of Odd Things Lost between the Pages, by Michael Popek (****)
5. Giving Up the Ghost: A Story About Friendship, 80s Rock, a Lost Scrap of Paper, and What It Means to be Haunted, by Eric Nuzum (****1/2)
Possible Candidates:
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, by Hayden Herrera
Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?: What it Means to Be Black Now, by Toure
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women, by Geraldine Brooks
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait, by Frida Kahlo
Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain, by Lori Tharps
Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . ., by Phillip Plait
From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, by Pascal Khoo Thwe
Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality, by Manjit Kumar
Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America And American in Iran, by Azadeh Moaveni
Color: A Natural History of the Palette, by Victoria Finlay
The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey, by Che Guevera
10andreablythe

The Universe in Verse
Books Completed: 4/9
1. Love in a Time of Robot Apocalypse, by David Perez (*****)
2. No Surrender: Poems, by Ai (*****)
3. The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You, by Caits Meissner and Tishon (****)
4. The Black Unicorn: Poems, by Audre Lorde (****1/2)
5. Lessness, by Brian Henry (***1/2)
6. Poems of Stephen Crane, by Stephen Crane, selected by Gerald D. McDonald (****)
Possible Candidates:
Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
Dear Anais: My Life in Poems For You, by Diana M. Raab
A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel, Fourth Edition, by Tom Philips
Come All You Ghosts, by Matthew Zaapruder
The Realm of Possibility, by David Levithan
Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
11andreablythe

From my Bookshelf
Books Completed: 2/8
1. The Yo-Yo Prophet, by Karen Krossing (****)
2. Mumbai Noir, edited by Altaf Tyrewala (****)
Possible Candidates:
TBA
12andreablythe

From the Modern Library's 100 Best Books
Books Completed: 5/10
1. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron (DNF)
2. Anthem, by Ayn Rand (***)
3. An American Tragedy (audio book), by Theodore Dreiser (***)
4. Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (****)
5. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (*****)
Possible Candidates:
Of Human Bondage, by W. Somerset Maugham
The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy
13andreablythe

Miscellany
Books Completed: 3/8
1. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros (****)
2. Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman (***1/2)
3. The Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri (****)
4. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin (****)
Possible Candidates:
As my mood takes me.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, by Jacques Tardi
14VictoriaPL
15andreablythe
16AHS-Wolfy
17lkernagh
18DeltaQueen50
20andreablythe
22neverstopreading
23andreablythe
A Canticle for Leibowitz was great! Have you read the sequel. Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman? I may read it this year.
25andreablythe
26GingerbreadMan
27andreablythe
Ooooh. I'm glad to hear Mirror in the Mirror is good. :)
29andreablythe
I'm currently reading Howard's End by EM Forster, The Yo-Yo Prophet by Karen Krossing, and Love in a Time of Robot Apocalypse (poetry) by David Perez. Enjoying them all at the moment.
30andreablythe
Category: Hello, I Love You
Book that made me fall in love: A Room with a View
Howards End is a tale that expresses the circularity of life, how things thought lost come around again in unexpected ways. It begins with one Schlegel sister falling rapidly in love and then out of love with the youngest Wilcox son while visiting at Howards End. This scandal in minuscule goes away, but manages to tie a knot between these two families, so that their lives become interconnected in unexpected ways as time goes on.
I didn't love this novel quite as much as I loved A Room with a View, but it was still a lovely story about how some people deliberately misunderstand each other, while others make similar efforts at understanding (which becomes in and of a conflict), how people make mistakes and are forgiven, and how life can come around to happiness if only you have a good home to take root in.
31lkernagh
32christina_reads
33psutto
I enjoyed reading room with a view in Tuscany last year on holiday but it didn't inspire me to seek out more of his work for some reason...
34andreablythe
Both are quite good. :)
>32 christina_reads:
It was so lovely! It made my list of favorite reads in 2011, and it will be one of the rare books that I actually reread from time to time.
>33 psutto:
I haven't seen either. (I have seen Remains of the Day, which I had originally confused for Howards End for some reason and have since realized was not written by Forster at all. Oh, the mind does funny things. lol.) I definitely want to see A Room with a View, which I heard was a wonderful movie.
35andreablythe
Category: The Universe in Verse
Love in a Time of Robot Apocalypse is a collection of poems that approaches the ways things fall apart and how we hold ourselves together, about how intimate connections get screwed up and how people connecting to people is the way we salvage hope with each everyday apocalypse.
His poems drift through a science fiction wonderland, while being anchored in a reality that is as haunting and brutal as any fantastic story that would appear in a movie. He writes of his love affair with Sarah Connor (of The Terminator movies series), and it reveals what loving has the potential to be when everything else is falling apart. "The Time I Caught My Parents Doing the Viennese Oyster" is a funny and eerie rendering of a child accidentally stumbling upon his parents having sex. Meanwhile, "Tickle Me Elmo on Black Friday," written from the point of view of Elmo, is one of the most disturbing things I've read, the images lingering with me even now as I continue to think about it.
I loved the collection, and I'm thrilled that I own it, so that I can continue to return to it whenever the mood strikes me.
36mathgirl40
37andreablythe
I am a recent fan. Just discovered his writing in the last few months and now I want to read ALL his books. :)
38-Eva-
39GingerbreadMan
40andreablythe
Heh. Thanks. :)
41andreablythe
Category: From My Bookshelf
PS. This was an ER book.
Yo-Yoing is a much needed balm and relaxing hobby in Calvin's life. Abandoned by his father after his mom died, he lives with his grandmother, who is growing ill and a little senile. On top of that he is puny and the target for Rozelle and her tough girl gang. But it's yo-yoing where Calvin finds peace, or at least it was until he tests out street performing and finds himself caught up by Rozelle, who insists on being his manager.
This was a light, engaging read, which had a clean weave of subplots. Calvin is an interesting character, a genuine nice guy and average high school kid with a variety of frustrations that he has to face. There's no big revelations here, no mad, high tension adventures, no overwrought romance, merely a kid dealing with real problems and overcoming them.
42pammab
Dang, but you've sold me on Love in a Time of Robot Apocalypse. Sounds brilliant.
43_debbie_
44mamzel
45andreablythe
I hope you love the book as much as I did. :)
>43 _debbie_:,
I've read some really bad poetry before, so I know what you mean. I usually won't bother with a poetry book unless I've read and liked a few poems by the poet. That way I know there's a chance that I'll like the collection.
>44 mamzel:
I have seen a truly awesome yo-yo-er, but after reading the book, I totally want to do a youtube video search. So, I'll definitely check out Tommy Smothers.
46andreablythe
Unicorns from Space! – Science Fiction
Ben Loory presents a strange and wonderful assortment of short stories. Each one offers simple and clean prose reads like a classic fable or fairy tale, many of them merely a few pages long. There are almost no names in the entire collection, it's always the man, the woman, a girl, a boy, so that it could by any woman or any boy. It could be you; it could be me. A man who meets his shadow, a octopus who lives in an apartment in New York, strange malevolent creatures live at the bottom of swimming pools, a fish magically appears in a teapot, and a TV reveals all the possible lives a man could have lived. I read through this collection quickly and eagerly, joyfully engaging in the odd worlds Loory created.
47-Eva-
48andreablythe
49-Eva-
50andreablythe
51clfisha
52andreablythe
53andreablythe
Category: I Don't Wanna Grow Up
From the inside flap: "Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.
But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood."
Reading Imaginary Girls is like walking through the halls of a haunted house. Everything on the outside is normal, but strange things happen from time to time and you can't be sure whether the ghosts are real or if its just your imagination. Events in the book are subtly strange in this way, and the surreal tone of the tale is entirely appropriate, because hauntings abound. The lost town Olive haunts the bottom of the reservoir, Chloe is haunted by the memory of the dead girl, Ruby is haunted by the secrets she tries to hide.
The title is also wonderfully appropriate, as the uncertainty of what is imagined and what isn't unfolds throughout the story. Not to mention, what makes a girl imaginary? Is Chloe imaginary because she isn't entirely her own, because she's possessed by Ruby, and willingly so, as she offers her devotion wholeheartedly to her sister? Is Ruby imaginary, because how can that kind of girl, the kind of girl that gets everything and anything she wants really exist? Or is the imaginary part of Ruby based on how Chloe sees her, how Chloe idolizes her and in a way shapes her with that idolatry that no person can live up to? And London? Oh, there are many, many ways that London could be imaginary, if she exists at all.
Imaginary Girls is a book that is multidimensional and achingly beautiful, one that leaves questions to sit with on rainy Sunday while outside the water swirls. It's a book I want to hold in the hollows of my heart and never, ever let go.
54-Eva-
55andreablythe
57andreablythe
58-Eva-
59andreablythe
Ah, an ideal world (or maybe and ideal me, is more precise).
60-Eva-
61andreablythe
62GingerbreadMan
And finally Imaginary girls sounds like something Shirley Jackson could write. Which is as good a thing as it gets in by book :)
63-Eva-
I wasn't aware he was a fellow Angeleno, but I found it on the "Local Writers"-shelf at the bookstore and I now have a copy! No idea when I'll get to it, though... :)
64andreablythe
I'm definitely going to have to read some Keret then. :)
>63 -Eva-:
Hah. I had to look up Angeleno (I notice you've added to the TBR list though, hehe). I hope you enjoy the read when you have time.
65-Eva-
66andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space! -- Fantasy
Doc is a screw up, a heroine addict haunted by the crooning, grumbling ghost of Hank Williams. He's resigned to his existence as a peddler of cut-rate health care and illegal abortions in the back room of an old boarding house. Until he meets Graciela, a young Mexican woman, abandoned by her lover in Doc's hospital room. After incurring a cut on her wrist that won't stop bleeding, miracles begin to happen. Doc begins to find peace in his life and Ol' Hank ain't happy it.
A gritty tale set in 1963 underworld of San Antonio, Texas, I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive is lyrical in its descriptions of dope hustlers and prostitutes living down on their luck, just trying to get by. People are people in this book, and allowed to be both good and evil all in the same day. Doc is a straightforward, no nonsense kind of guy, who believes he's going to hell and has decided to not be too much worried by it. He's a man swallowed up by the lonesome of living in the world, which is in part why Hank haunts him, as they share that in common.
I think I'm rather in love with this book, and even more so for listing to Steve Earle read his own story. He has that kind of gravely, down home, singing lonesome voice that makes your heart ache, which is no surprise, as Earle is also a Grammy award-winning folk singer.
67lkernagh
68andreablythe
69andreablythe
70GingerbreadMan
72andreablythe
Anyway, my poems:
"An Ifrit in San Francisco" was published in Scheherezade’s Bequest
and
"Comfort at Last" was published in Z-composition
(^_^)
Opps. Edited to add the links.
73andreablythe
Young Esperanza shares her life as she grew up on Mango Street, sharing stories of her family and neighbors around her in a series short vignettes. There's no straightforward, chronological storyline, rather the novel is formed as a series of snapshots from a child's memories. Some are sweet and funny, others are sad, but an overall portrait of the street can be discovered by the time the story is done. And while there is no coherent overarching storyline, there is the thread of Esperanza's point of view and personal growth that holds the vignette's together. The 25th anniversary edition also has the bonus of an introduction by Cisneros, which tells how she came to write Mango Street and how she managed to eek out a personal space for herself, despite her Hispanic parents and heritage that tends to be protective of its women. The introduction, too, is written in the clean and sparse, and poetic style that offers an easy an enjoyable read.
74-Eva-
I started The House on Mango Street once but it didn't grab me, probably because of the episodic nature you mention, and then I returned it to the library so I never finished. Sounds like it's worth it, though, so I'll put it back on the list.
75andreablythe
I wouldn't say Mango Street is for everyone. I can definitely see how the episodic, disconnected nature of it might turn someone off.
76Bcteagirl
77andreablythe
Thanks! I'm looking forward to reading Windup Girl, too. Are you a big fan of steampunk?
78Bcteagirl
79andreablythe
81GingerbreadMan
82andreablythe
84The_Hibernator
85lkernagh
86andreablythe
87andreablythe
Category: Bam! Pow! Wham! (comics)
This book has been recommended to me several times, but I hadn't had a chance to go seek it out yet. However, it just so happened that my local Los Gatos Library was having a grand opening today and I stopped in (the new building is rather fantastic, btw). Upstairs, I found a presentation going on in which Kasu Kibushi created sketches of his fantastic world and talked about how he made his work.
Technology is rather awesome. We got to see the sketches go up on the big screen as he drafted them out on his computer tablet. Made me wish I was a better artist and that I could just throw stuff out like that. Anyway, I bought Book One of Amulet and got it signed. He included a cute little sketch of one of the characters, too (see below).


Of course, I had to read it right when I got home. I was hooked right away and breezed straight through. After facing a tragedy in which their father dies, Emily and Navin and their mom move to the families old home in a small town to build a new life for themselves. But there is something mysterious about the basement, and a tentacled creature appears, grabbing their mother and dragging her away into a strange world. Emily and Navin set chase to rescue her.
Book One is the set up for the series, so there isn't room for complete character development yet. Hints are there, though, and the three family members are sweet and loving and rather likable.
There's some really great ambiguity going on, too. It's not entirely clear. The potential ally my be a dangerous threat, and the supposed enemy may not be all that evil. I really like that depth, which will allow a larger more complex story to potentially unfold.
The art is gorgeous -- bright and colorful sometimes and shadowy and mysterious, all depending on the mood. The only frustrating thing is that I now have to go out and buy the other four or five books in the series. I'm that hooked.
88-Eva-
And that's when it goes on my wishlist. :)
89andreablythe
90andreablythe
So, I think Sophie's Choice (audio book) is DNF for now. It's due back at the library tomorrow and as I have ten discs left to listen to, there's no way I'm going to finish it. It doesn't help that despite some great scenes here and there, I'm kinda bored by this one. I just don't love it enough to be willing to pay the late-fee fines. I may come back to it at some point (I haven't gotten to the choosing part of Sophie's Choice and I am curious about it), but then again maybe not.
91-Eva-
92andreablythe
93mamzel
94andreablythe
95GingerbreadMan
96clfisha
97andreablythe
Yeah, that the feeling exactly.
>96 clfisha:
I think the only time I wanted to pretend a book didn't exist was when I tried read the novelization of Stargate, which I threw across the room.
98cammykitty
99psutto
100andreablythe
>99 psutto:, Bad reviews can be great fun to read. It's easier to be creative about what you don't like than what you do. Perhaps because it's easier to know and describe what you don't like about something.
101andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space! – Science Fiction
Just as the title says, this audio book included eight unabridged science fiction stories, all of which were rather fantastic. In "The Door in the Wall" by H. G. Wells, a gentleman relates the story of his friend, who wandered through a strange door in a wall as a child and discovered a magical garden and he spent the rest of his life desiring to go back. Not really scifi, but it was an enjoyable story.
"All Cats Are Gray" by Andre Norton, is about a woman known for always having the inside scoop. She tells a spacer at a bar one evening that she knows where a spaceship, thought to be haunted or cursed, is going to be. The two go to investigate. This story was by far my favorite in the set. I loved the tone and the main character, who is very catlike in manner herself, is rather awesome.
"Victory" by Lester del Rey presents a disturbing look at interplanetary war, showing just how ugly and how brutal war can be. It's very dark with not much light at the end of the tunnel. Even so, the way the story was told and the way the characters evolved in such a small space put this at the top of my list, too.
"A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum is about a spacer's adventures in the martian landscape after his ship crashes. The aliens in this are very alien to the point of being incomprehensible, and I like that the language barriers are an integral part of the story.
"The Moon Is Green" by Fritz Leiber is a strange and haunting tale about a post-apocalyptic world. A woman is trapped behind lead shutters with the rest of humanity, due to the radioactive fallout from nuclear war. I loved it, even though I hated the voice of the actress who read the story, who would go from talking very soft (forcing me to turn up the volume), to suddenly being very loud (and thus blowing out my ears).
"The Winds of Time" by James H. Schmitz is an adventure about a spaceship that is knocked out of regular space into the time stream. Lots of stereotypes abound -- mad scientist, strange and plucky and clever hero, woman who is only there to have someone for the hero to save and explain things to -- so not a great story, but was fun enough to keep me entertained.
In "The Defenders" by Philip K. Dick, the people of earth are stuck beneath the surface, hiding from the radiation as their robotic servants work above ground to continue the war. Still a good story about the harmful nature of war, despite the more obvious moralizing tone.
"Missing Link" by Frank Herbert was my least favorite of the collection. It involves the discovery of an alien race and how the humans approach them and tried to pull them into their federation. It annoyed me in the way humans come off as superior and how everyone interacts and all that. Only shrug-worthy.
102cammykitty
103andreablythe
104andreablythe
Category: I Don't Wanna Grow Up
When the bad news comes down that there is nothing more the doctors can do for Cam's cancer, her mom insists its not over and drags her daughter up to Promise, Maine, a mysterious town that is supposed to be capable of granting miracles. Though Cam is an avid disbeliever, certain that everything has a scientific explanation, she can't help but admit that strange things -- a field of purple daisies, flamingos well outside their natural ecosystem, a boy who seems to magically appear to help at the exact perfect moment -- do happen in Promise.
I love Cam. She has a snarky tone and always throws out random science facts, which was fun. She was sympathetic and had her down moment, but she's not a complainer or much of a moper. She's simply matter of fact about her situation and her reality.
I also really loved the mom, who was presented as a mom should be, very loving of her daughter and practical where practicality is needed. It's refreshing to see a parent in a YA novel not be absent or a complete idiot. She's a part of the story and a part of Cam. So is Cam's sister, who is cheerful and girly and wonderfully surprising at times.
I loved the mixture of miraculous and scientific in this book, which allows you to choose for yourself whether you believe the events can all be explained or if there is some mystical influence taking place. It's a wonderful, joyful, heartbreaking story, that will definitely go on my list of favorites.
105andreablythe
Category: Bam! Pow! Wham! - Comics
Brás de Oliva Domingos lives in the shadow a famous and renowned author in Brazil. He tries to find his own voice as a writer, as he works at the local paper writing obituaries. This graphic novel is a touching journey of one man's life, jumping back and forth from adulthood to childhood and back again.
One of the things I love about this book, in addition to the quiet tone and gorgeous art, is that each chapter ends with Brás's death along with his obituary as it would have read if his life ended at the moment. You get a sense of what he learned and what he would never learn, never get to do at that moment. It made me think of how life is like that sometimes, full of endings, everyday finalities, which allow us to open the door to new beginnings.
106pammab
Glad you had such an enjoyable book!
108andreablythe
I don't mind single parents that much, as long as they are made to be well rounded. But, yeah, lots of orphans and distant parents, which is not great. I kind of get why they do it in these stories, because it's kind of hard for a kid to go off and have an adventure if the parents are doing like they should and making sure they are home at a decent hour.
Another books with parents I like is the Inkheart trilogy. I thought each of the parents behaved reasonably under the extreme circumstances.
>105 andreablythe:
It's very cool. I hope you read and enjoy it. :)
109andreablythe
Category: Hello, I Love You
Book that made me fall in love: A Book of Tongues
A Rope of Thorns is book two in a trilogy, so if you don't want any spoilers, I suggest you stop reading and go devour A Book of Tongues first.
Book two has Reverend Rook and his Lady Ixchel constructing "Hex City," built on blood and carnage, but also the only place where hexes can live in peace with one another. Meanwhile, Chess, the red-headed little man of grit and violence, barely in control of his new abilities, seeks his revenge against his former lover, Rook, while avoiding the attacks of angry hexes, Pinkerton agents, and other darker creatures, with Ed Morrow along for the ride.
As the middle book in the trilogy, A Rope of Thorns widens the the scope of the story, interweaving new characters and plotlines into Gemma Files' vision of a blood soaked west.
As always, violence follows Chess wherever he goes, as well as a strange new red weed that is spreading through the desert in the wake of his footsteps. But Chess has changed. He still laughs at the world and it's brutal misery, but his laughter is more bitter and without glee. The unfolding of Chess's character that began in the first book, continues in the second. His layers are stripped away and the profoundly human that lays at his core is unveiled. I'd be madly in love with him, if it weren't for the fact that he is fictional, gay, and unlikely to take my affection kindly.
The addition of Yancey Colder into the story is wonderfully refreshing. She's a spiritualist with her own unique power and is drawn into Chess's circle of violence. She's a strong female character, one who knows how to act quickly and smartly in the face of threat, and who manages not to be crushed under the weight of disaster that transpires.
Morrow, too. I find I'm even more fond of him in this book, because for all that happens, he stays loyal and true to his friend, Chess. He's a good brave man, who knows that justice isn't always what's written down in legislature books.
Most every one is given a wider breadth in this one, though the Gods that are playing board games with the world remain somewhat one-dimensional. Though, as they are far from human, I suppose that's to be expected.
Like the first book, there's plenty of sex and gore in gripping, graphic detail, and the story moves along at a fast pace. I'm looking forward to reading the final book, A Tree of Bones. Based on the ending of book two, I can't even imagine the carnage that's going to take place then.
110psutto
111GingerbreadMan
>108 andreablythe: I'm a playwright, and have written quite a few plays for teen audiences, and share your feelings about how parents are often portrayed. I wrote a "hopeless in the eyes of his teenage daughter, but trying hard, and in the end making a small sort of difference" dad for a play that was much talked about just because of that. It's been a bit of a defining role for some of the actors who have played it over the years. Why it's easy to fall into the absent/abusive cliché, I think, has to do with the fact that there's a very present tension field in the imbalance of power between young people and adults. An automatic difference in status, so to speak, that's probably tempting to exploit. I try to think about that when I write, not to step into any easy solutions that tend to be traps.
>109 andreablythe: I went to look at your review for A book of tongues instead, and added it to my list. Thanks!
112andreablythe
I hope you both enjoy A Book of Tongues! :)
>111 GingerbreadMan:
A playwrite! How awesome. Is there anyway to read or see any of your plays? Are they available?
113-Eva-
115-Eva-
116clfisha
117andreablythe
lol. Um, thanks. (That'll be THANKS once I read the books and love them. ^_^)
>116 clfisha:
I'm definitely going to pick them up, no matter if my TBR list is too long already!
118andreablythe
Here's a meme I found on a friends blog, because it's fun! Yay!
The book I'm reading: I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov, which is enjoyable, but very old fashioned in tone and sentiment. I'm also reading The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You, a lovely book of poetry by Caits Messner and Tishon that I got through their kickstarter project, as well as Z: Zombie Stories, a young adult story full of exactly what the title says.
Books I'm writing: I'm inching along with the Untitled Werewolf Novel, and the way things are going with my Fay Fairburn stories, I may just end up with a novel out of that.
The book I love the most. There are so, so many books I love, but a couple of new favorites are Imaginary Girls, by Nova Ren Suma, and The Probability of Miracles, by Wendy Wunder.
The last book I received as a gift: I think it was a cookbook of simple, low-cost recipes that I never actually use.
The last book I gave as a gift: I bought The Last Days of Dead Celebrities, by Mitchell Fink, from the $2 bin at B&N for my sister, cause she likes that sort of thing, but I haven't given it to her yet.
The nearest book: I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov, which is currently sitting in my purse, along with an issue of NANO Fiction.
The book I want someone else to please write for me: Oh, goodness, I don't know.
119cammykitty
120GingerbreadMan
121andreablythe
Lol. Yeah, it's so true. :)
>111 GingerbreadMan:
Ahhhh. That's too bad. Guess I'm going to have to take a trip if I want to see them then. :)
122andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space! – Science Fiction
I, Robot is the classic science fiction novel that sets down the Three Laws of Robotics: "1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws."
The novel is an episodic historical account, as told by robopsyschologist Dr. Susan Calvin, of the development of robotics and how it affected the development of the human world. Each chapter is story told by Calvin about robots interacting with humans, most of which have a problem with robots, which is either caused by some conflict within the three laws or solved by enacting one of the laws. As such, while each story was interesting on its own, there was a bit of redundancy in structure that began to get old after a while. My favorite stories was the first in which a young girl loves her robot playmate and the final two in which the Stephen Byerley character appears.
I was less attached to the humans in this book, who came off as rather one dimensional and cold. Rather it was the robots I liked and cared about, many of whom showed more emotional depth than the people. This also creates an interesting quandary for me. While the people in the book insist the robots are just machines and therefore believe it's okay to treat them as slaves, I can't help but feel that the moral compass is more confused due to the fact that robots feel. If a robot is sentient and has emotions, then it could be considered alive even though it's been constructed, in which case it could demand rights. There is certainly an interesting discussion point there, which I'm sure someone has brought up before (I may have to do a search for essays on the topic).
On top of that, there's the fact that the book is a bit old fashioned in terms of how it depicts women. Sure, Dr. Calvin is a genius and considered at the top of her game throughout the book, but Asimov also felt the need to write a story proving she's a woman because she falls for a man, dresses womanly, and acts vindictive. I'm not against love stories or women falling in love or whatever, but this one annoyed me because her actions seem out of character.
At any rate, despite some flaws, this is an entertaining set of robot stories and definitely worth a read.
123cammykitty
124The_Hibernator
125andreablythe
It's possible that robots were just easier for him to "get" and portray than people, though The_Hibernator makes a really interesting argument for the robots being the moral compass of the story, while the humans are more corrupt.
>124 The_Hibernator:
I haven't read any other Asimov either, but that is a totally valid reading of I, Robot, and something I hadn't considered. It would make sense, and regardless of whether Asimov intended to emphasis the lacking moral compass in humans, it can still be interpreted that way, because many of the machines certainly seem to have a higher morality than the people. In fact, Dr. Calvin on a couple of occasions states that she thinks that robots are superior than humans and that she thinks humanity is able to be better merely because the robots take charge of many matters.
126andreablythe
In the meantime, I shall be attending my first SciFi/Fantasy con EVER! and not only shall I be attending, but I shall be doing a reading and be on panels! (This is where I tell myself not to panic O.O)
Anyway, if any of you will be at FOGcon in Walnut Creek, California, I would be down to do a meet up, and these are the programming events I'll be doing:
Saturday, March 31
9-10:15 a.m. – I shall be doing a reading with Alyc Helms and Norm Sperling. (Have no idea what I’m going to read yet, though.)
4:30-5:45 p.m. – Panel: You Are Not Your Rejection Slips
Sacramento Room
Learn techniques for coping with the inevitable ups and downs of a writing career. How can you maintain a sense of self-worth after a hundred rejection slips? How do you handle the feelings of being simultaneously the most brilliant writer ever and the biggest pile of s*** in the field?
Moderator: Cassie Alexander
Panelists: Andrea Blythe, Gabrielle Harbowy, John Joseph Adams, Christie Yant
Sunday, April 1
9-10:15 a.m. – Panel: Loving Something Problematic
Salon B/C
Most of us have at least a few books, movies, or TV shows that we love that are also problematic in their depiction of race, gender, class, or something else. How can we be fans of these things while still acknowledging their flaws? How can we discuss the flaws in these works without incurring the wrath of devoted fans?
Moderator: Liz Argall
Panelists: M. Christian, Andrea Blythe, Carolyn Cooper, Nalo Hopkinson
Happy Friday, everyone! (^_^)
128-Eva-
Exciting!!! Hope it goes well!
129GingerbreadMan
130andreablythe
131andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space! – Science Fiction
The lunar colony has been treated like a dumping ground for criminals and delinquents by the people of Earth for decades, overlooked by a "Warden" who mostly sticks to his home. There are no laws on Luna, and yet the conflux of prisoners, miners, and free borns from many nationalities and backgrounds has created a sort of ordered anarchy in which all "rules" are simple, unspoken and enforced by the populace who must take responsibility for their own actions.
Manny is an apolitical type and a mechanic, who works to repair the main computer that runs the entire systems of the lunar colony. Only, Manny has discovered that the computer, known as Mike, has developed a personality and fond of good practical jokes.
When Manny witnesses a riot during a revolutionist political rally, he quickly gets wrapped up in helping Wyoh, a political activist, and the Professor, an anarchist with a desire for revolution. The three of them, together with Mike the computer, end up setting out on a complex plot to enact revolution and earn Luna her freedom.
The novel unfolds over the entire course of the revolution, which includes thousands of people making up the plot and spans several years. Thus at times, the narration becomes distanced from the personal as Manny relates events as he remembers them, kind of like a historical account.
The characters are great, though sometimes they do get lost in the epic sweep of the revolutionary narrative. I also loved how Heinlein developed a slang unique to Luna, a kind of mishmash of abbreviations and words from many languages. The lingo is easy enough to follow and fun to read, while being entirely plausible sounding. Great book.
132GingerbreadMan
133andreablythe
Category: From the Modern Library's 100 Best Books (Reader Voted List)
Told from the point of view of Equality{insert string of numbers}, the novel looks at a future society in which everyone is equal because all personal identity has been erased. The only purpose of a person's life is to serve the group and society is terrified and hateful of anything new or original.
It was easy enough to read, but I wasn't stoked on this one. While I like the use of "we" to replace the first person narrative in order to show the group mentality, I didn't understand the {-point-} {+point+} of other aspects of the weird writing style, for example. I assume Rand intended it to serve a purpose, but I have no freaking idea what it is. There isn't much scene description either, no painting this world and making it a whole.
Because what would be the point of that. The world presented here isn't meant to be complex beyond the simple moralizing fable Rand tells. The entire purpose of the unfolding story is clearly meant to teach that group-based societies and mentality are evil (reference to communism much?) and should never ever be put above the drive of the individual and of the ego.
It's too black and white, too clear cut for me. The world is full of gray and multitudinous color. There is good and bad in everything. It's layered and complex. Anthem doesn't even sport the dumbed down simplistic fun and spectacle of an action story. It's just simplistic and readable, but ultimately dull.
134GingerbreadMan
135andreablythe
... well, at least Anthem was short. I'm definitely note looking to read anything else by here, even if it means I must leave the list incomplete.
136andreablythe
I've read a couple of Heinlein books, and Stranger in a Strange Land is on my list of favorites. He's not a perfect writer (no one is), but he is very interesting to read.
137AHS-Wolfy
139The_Hibernator
140andreablythe
A lot of people seem to love Rand (she is at the top of the Reader Voted section of Modern Library's 100 Best Books list), but I can't quite figure out why. Perhaps its an American thing? Hurray capitalism and all that? I just don't know.
141Morphidae
142andreablythe
I hadn't known about the controversy, but now that you mention it, it totally makes sense in regards to how the Reader voted list is assembled.
143The_Hibernator
144andreablythe
Yeah, I'm proud to be American, too, but that there is a certain kind of American-ness which is uber-proud of itself and "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" and so forth that ignores lots of problems in the nation and world, while claiming to be intellectually sound.
It's funny, cause I wouldn't think of Rand's work being particularly intellectual (there are plenty of professors and academics I know, who scoff at Rand's books), but I suppose like many things, there are many different shades or kinds of intellectuals in the world, who associate themselves with varying types of intellectuality.
145The_Hibernator
146andreablythe
Oh, goodness gracious. *headdesk*
147andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space! - Fantasy
This is an ER book.
Set in an alternative history, one in which witches were the leaders of the Americas until a religious group, called the Brotherhood took power and persecuted all witches, this novel follows the lives of Cahill sisters. All three sisters are forced to hide the fact that they are witches or risk being sent to an asylum, a prison ship, or death.
Cate Cahill is almost to her 17th birthday, when she will be forced to make a choice, either declare her intent of marriage, join the Sisterhood (rather like nuns), or have the Brotherhood choose a husband for her. She thinks she has her decision figured out, but she discovers her mother's diary and the secret of a prophecy that could change everything and puts both her and her sisters in danger.
Cate is the narrator of the story, and is a typical older sister, feeling that she must protect her sisters. She's taken on the mother role, trying to maintain discipline and keep her sisters safe in a dangerous world. There's a strength in her, more than just her rather remarkable power, but strength in how she chooses to face the world and take on what burdens she must. Her choices each have positive and negative, giving them proper weight. It's right that she weighs them so carefully and I never felt she was being stupid for considering and reconsidering in each case. It was always appropriate.
I rather like her love interests, too, especially the slightly nerdy one. I'm smiling just thinking about how sweet he is. In general, I think Spotswood did a good job with all the characters in the book, offering up surprises here and there that seem logical as you look back on them.
The secrets and the intrigue that propels the plot is also fun. I'm very interested to see what happens in upcoming books, whether the sisters can face the prophecy and whether they can get our of the tangled web of a mess their in. I kind of hope that Spotswood shifts to another sister's point of view in the next novel, not because I didn't like Cate (her character was great), but because all three sister are interesting enough to carry their own story.
148andreablythe
Category: Bam! Pow! Wham! - Comics
I was, and still am, madly in love with Jeff Smith's Bone series, so when I saw a new graphic novel volume sitting on the library shelf, I had to read it right away. Smith steps away from the mystical and into straight science fiction with Rasl.
Rasl is an outcast, a former scientist, not art thief, who accomplishes his crimes by jumping back and forth between alternate worlds. A strange ape/lizard-like man is tailing him through the worlds, however, a man who works for the Compound and wants something Rasl has taken.
Being book one, there is a lot of introduction and explanation to get out of the way, but Smith expertly weaves it into the action of the story. Already he's brought several characters into life that are interesting, ones that I can't wait to know more about, and I'm sure they will all grow to be more complex and interesting as the story continues. I kinda wish I had some to this with story complete, because now I've got to impatiently wait for the next compilation.
149andreablythe
Category: It's a Smoldering World After All
This anthology is a compilation "young adult" stories of the undead. There are many kinds of stories here -- some apocalyptic, some not. There are several stories about survivors against the horde, and several about young people who either by choice or accident join the horde (there's an interesting theme of community in such stories, of loneliness and the need to be part of a group, even if the group is the dead). And many varieties of story in between. Here are a few that stuck with me:
This is the third (or fourth) time I've read "The Wrong Grave," by Kelly Link, in which a young man digs up his girlfriend's grave to get back his poetry, only to find he's dug up the wrong one. It's just as creepy and fun to read the third (or fourth) as it was the first.
Marie Atkins' "Seven Brains, Ten Minutes" has to be the most viscerally horrifying of the lot. In it a young man goes to desperate (and disturbing) extremes to rescue and impress a girl he likes, leading to an ending that is terribly and delightfully unsettling.
Like most of Catherine Valente's stories, "The Day's of Flaming Motorcycle," is hard to sum up, but it's certain intellectually fascinating in the way it approaches the zombie. The story of a girl living in a town full of zombies -- without much hassle -- is entertaining, but there's also an underlining sense that this story should be analyzed in more detail, because it means something.
Then there's "The Human Race," by Scott Edelman, which is so, so heart-wrenching. About a girl whose family dies in a terrorist explosion while traveling in London. While she's traveling there to identify and collect her family's remains, a worldwide zombie outbreak occurs. I won't say more than that, because it's really a beautiful story that deserves to be taken on its own merits.
and finally - SPOILER - Johnathan Mayberry's story, "Family Business," is interesting to me from a conceptual point of view. I like the idea of respect for the dead, even if the dead are trying to kill you. In it a boy learns the "hunting" business from his brother, who leads him beyond the fences of the community to hunt the undead. But it's shown to be more complicated than just killing zombs, as there is an emotional reality that lies behind the dead walking.
It reminds me of a scene in Walking Dead, where the survivors say, "We bury our own, and burn the rest," which is to say, we take a moment to respect those who meant something to us and give them proper burial. Mayberry's story makes it clear that every zombie belongs to someone (is someone's father, mother, brother, sister) and therefore deserves a respectful burial.
However, I'm not sure I'm in love with the execution of the story, as ever step of the hunting trip leads the character to this ultimate understanding. The problem is that I could feel the straight line of the argument that was being mounted (not just for the character, but for the reader, too), and so the effect came off preachy. So..., not my favorite of the stories, but still very, very interesting.
150cammykitty
151GingerbreadMan
152andreablythe
Yeah, so many books are part of series that it's hard to want to get into them, because they make the TBR list grow instead of decrease.
153andreablythe
I've read a couple of her short stories and they've definitely been good, though tend toward more intellectual complexity -- not a bad thing. I have Palimpsest on my bookshelf at home, but haven't read it yet, as I've heard it's very complex and at least one friend suggested I should start with one of her other works first.
154GingerbreadMan
Managed to use enjoy/ed three times in two sentences there - misspelling it once. Oh, dear.
155lkernagh
156psutto
157andreablythe
158andreablythe
It started out Saturday with my reading (well, technically it started Friday, but I didn't feel like dealing with traffic). My reading went well, though there were only a handful of people or so in the room, so very small, but that's fine. I read a bunch of my poems, and got a good response from those present. I also got to hear Alyc Helms read from her unpublished novel, The Adventures of Mr. Mystic and the Dragons of Heaven, which seems like it will be a rather fun urban fantasy/superhero novel when it's published (she's shopping it at the moment).
About midday I went to Nalo Hopkinson's presentation on everyday culture. So many people tell her they don't have any culture, and she asserts that they certainly do. As a way of presenting that, she had the group play ring games, hand clapping games, and other yard school games, which filled the morning with rhyme, rhythm, and laughter. It was very joyful.
I also saw here do a reading of her new book, a YA novel called, The Chaos, which I had to immediately go our and buy. She signed it for me with a smile. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading it, as I recently read her book Brown Girl in the Ring (which was wonderful and I'll review later).
The first panel I was on was called "You Are Not Your Rejection Slips," in which a couple of editors and my fellow authors and I discussed how to handle rejection. It was a good panel, I think. It's a hard subject for me to feel that any new insights to discover, because rejection is just so normal for a writer; there's no getting around it. It's hard for me to judge, because I was one of the speakers and I was rather nervous. At one point, I opened my mouth to speak and then froze up entirely, but I think I finished well.
That night, I attended a panel about Body Image and it was absolutely amazing. It didn't deal so much with body weight, but rather delved into more difficult topics, such as how gender (male, female, transgender), race, disability, or many other factors in a person's life can contribute to how people see themselves and how they are seen by other people.
One of the things discussed that sticks with me is the concept of "helpfullness," and how it can actually be very injuring or harmful, especially if the help is unasked for. It can be things like telling someone a new diet for them to try out, telling a transgender man that if he cut his hair he would look more masculine, or telling someone with a health issue about this great new thing that might fix it. The problem with helpfulness like this is that it assumes that the person being addressed hasn't had the presence of mind to think of this "great new idea" before. But even more so, the panel said, it stems from a place of discomfort and fear, because the underlining message is, "Who you are makes me uncomfortable, so here are some things you can do that will make you fit how I think you should be, so I can be more comfortable."
Much, much more was covered and discussed. The entire discussion was very respectful of each opinion throughout, and the result was incredibly powerful.
That night, mslorelei also gave a rather awesome (and x-rated) reading a story she wrote. The story is (I believe) a part of a new ebook of hers that just came out (called On Display), which is very cool. I really liked how the story was about two people holding on to love, as well as being rather sexy. :)
On Sunday morning, bright and early, I was on a panel called "Loving Something Problematic," which discussed how you balance loving a book, movie, game, etc., when that thing you love clearly has some elements that are troubling, such as racism, sexism, or other isms, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt.
Again, I was very nervous about being on this panel, especially as it was a more challenging subject. I kind of approached the discussion from the point of view that I was new (within the last couple of years) to the concept of white privilege and issues of racism, transmisogyny, ablism, and other new isms that I had been recently learning.
My fellow panelists, Nalo Hopkinson, M. Christian, and Carolyn Cooper, were great, and Liz Argall was fabulous as the moderator. I started to shrink into my shell at the beginning, and at a well timed point, Liz addressed a question directly at me. As soon as I started speaking, I started to relax into a little bit more and was able to better insert myself into the conversation.
I wish I could present you with some of the great things my fellow panelists said, but I was so busy trying not to dissolve under my nervousness and trying to be present enough to communicate that I don't exactly remember the details all that well. I'm told the panel went well though, and before we knew it the time was up and we had to let another panel come in. Pretty much everyone there wished the discussion could have gone on longer, so that's a really good sign.
So those were the main highlights of the con for me, though there was a ton more that went on and several times I wished I could time travel or duplicate myself so I could go to more than one panel at a time. I can't wait for next year, and I'm eager to try out some larger cons.
For the future, I will definitely be getting a hotel room, rather than drive back and forth from the con. The late night and early morning drives was torture, and contributed to my state of absolute exhaustion. It was worth it, though. SO much fun. (^_^)
159-Eva-
160andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space! -- Fantasy
Following economic collapse, Toronto dissolves into such chaos that the central city, known as "the burn", is abandoned by Canadian government. Those who live there do so without proper infrastructure, no electricity or plumbing, no hospitals, no police, etc. Yet, these people manage to create lives in the slums, small businesses built in what ways they can (one person fixes shoes by replaces the soles with old tires), and doing what they can to avoid the dangerous gangs that proliferate.
Ti-Jeanne is a woman who feels trapped by the burden of her baby son, while wanting to end her relationship with her drug-addicted boyfriend Tony and dealing with her gruff, overbearing grandmother. On top of that, Ti-Jeanne begins having frightening visions, which means she's inherited some of her grandmother's gifts. Ti-Jeanne can't seem to escape her attraction to Tony, especially after he gets in trouble with the gangs and seeks her help.
Nalo Hopkinson draws on her Caribbean roots to infuse this novel with such folk creatures as Jap-Jabs and duppies and other strange spirits. It's a richly textured novel with a well-realized sense of place and community.
Ti-Jeanne is a strong character, a woman who may not always be sure of herself, but has the strength to act when action is required. And as a whole, the characters in this book are complicated and interesting, with the main villain Rudy being truly terrible and terrifying. A really great book that has me wanting read a lot more of Hopkinson's work.
As I mentioned, one of the presentations at FOGcon was by Nalo Hopkinson, in which she played ring games, one of which was the "Brown Girl in the Ring" game (here's a link to the words and here's a video of a disco star singing it is in 1978), which is quoted several times throughout the book. I didn't understand the quote when I read it the first time, but seeing Hopkinson in a group, singing the rhymes and showing how the game is played (one person stands in the center, while other stand in a circle around her singing, then the girl in the center makes a body movement, which the circle repeats, at which point someone else is chosen to be in the center), added a whole new element to the reading of the book. It makes me want to go back and read the book again and see how that new understanding of the game may change how I perceive the text.
161andreablythe
162GingerbreadMan
I read Brown girl in the ring a few years ago. I wasn't quite as thrilled as you (gave it a 3,5, I think), bit I liked it and have vivid memories of it. I think her very natural post-colonial perspective was the book's strongest point.
163AHS-Wolfy
164andreablythe
165andreablythe
Category: The Universe in Verse
A gorgeous collection of poetry, which presents narrative style monologues from the point of view of a variety of people, men and women of different stations. One series of poems looks at the lives of Irish settlers, and others look at the lives Japanese or other heritages. Almost all are underscored with subtle subversive discussion, while being vivid and detailed portrayals. Most of these poems are fairly easy reads (while still being intelligent and evocative) and I would recommend them for those who don't often read poetry.
.
22. Dead West, written by Rick Spears, illustrated by Rob G. (**1/2)
Category: Bam! Pow! Wham! -
In the wild west, a group of white settlers bring their claim to the land and order the local natives to leave, only to slaughter them when they don't. The sole survivor of the tribe comes back to the settled town years later, and performs a ritual to raise the dead, thus unleashing his vengeance upon the townfolk.
First, if we look past the issue of how native americans are portrayed -- on the one hand, simple victims, and on the other hand, perpetrators of of mystical and evil power -- the story still doesn't have much going for it other than action and bloodshed.
The art is okay, very scratchy and gritty in style, which actually works for the story, but there is zero character development for anyone in the book and I'm not sure why I should care if any of the townfolk or the cowboy who comes to their rescue should live or die. Overall, I wish Sparks had put more thought into the story, at lease in an effort to make the people likable and interesting, but as he didn't I'm afraid it all just falls short.
166andreablythe
Category: From the Modern Library's 100 Best Books
An epically long look at the life of Clyde Griffiths, an ambitious young man who wants to escape the poverty of his youth and replace it with wealthy, prestige, and social status. Along the way, he becomes entangles in the "dark side of the American Dream."
I am starting to loose faith in the Modern Library's ability to choose so-called "great" books. While I think a truly great book goes beyond just entertainment to where it makes the reader think or expands their point of view, I don't see why so many "classics of great literature" have to insist on a kind of dark drudgery. Dreiser, for example, rehashes scenes, dialog, events multiple times, and maybe that's necessary in a book that involves a trial and thus requires multiple interpretations of the same events. However, I really think this book could have done with an editor to hack away all the superfluous repetition that beleaguers the point at every turn. (I almost gave up at a couple of points, but each time figured, welp, I got this far. I may as well see it through.)
And yet, I didn't out right hate the book, because even though Clyde is greedy, selfish, and in all rights rather unlikeable, I found it interesting that even as I came to realize just how awful a human being he is, I also found myself siding with him against the law and society that also wasn't all that likable (though for entirely different reasons). So there are definitely some interesting complexities there.
I suppose the only "good" character in the whole book is Clyde's mother, an unordained preacher whose entire faith lies with God, which isn't surprising as Dreiser's message seems to be that people need to give up the selfish and destructive pursuit of things and seek a simpler more godly life.
Definitely not a favorite.
167cammykitty
169andreablythe
Yeah, I think that's it, more or less. There's a whole bunch of books, I think, in which the writing is only good, but they become classics because they are "saying something." *shrug*
>168 pammab:,
Heh. Thank you. :)
170andreablythe
Category: I Don't Wanna Grow Up
From the book flap: "J always felt different. He was certain that eventually everyone would understand who he really was; a boy mistakenly born as a girl. Yet as he grew up, his body began to betray him; eventually J stopped praying to wake up a "real boy" and started covering up his body, keeping himself invisible - from his family, from his friends...from the world. But after being deserted by the best friend he thought would always be by his side, J decides that he's done hiding - it's time to be who he really is. And this time he is determined not to give up, no matter the cost."
This is a rather sweet and moving story of a young trans man claiming the right to be himself. J is an interesting character faced with a difficult reality. He is who he is, but the world doesn't see him that way. Declaring his existence, even at the risk of losing all the people in his life whom he loves, is vital to his survival. Besides any thing else, for J, would be a lie.
People are complicated, and this books respects that fact. Family and friends surprise, and strangers alike (some of whom are also trans), all end up surprising (in both good and bad ways) J at various points. Sometimes funny and often touching, this story brought me to tears several times. It's a great book, which I encourage many, many people to read.
171andreablythe
Category: The Universe in Verse
This Kickstarted funded book, published by Well&Often Press, presented a first collection of poetry by two New York poets. The book is presented in thematic groups that portray the rawness of youth and friendship and love and hurt, with a backdrop of pop culture and the urban world. Both poets have a clear and distinct styles, and their work is highlighted well within this book.
I'd like to do a longer more in depth, text-based review later on (but I keep running out of time), so for now I'll just say that this is a fantastic collection with deep and resonant work.
172andreablythe
Category: Just the Facts, Ma'am
I'm a huge fan of horror movies and I love seeing behind the scenes of how movies are made, so it's no surprise that I would totally dig Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror, by Jason Zinoman. The book presents a history of how filmmakers, such as Wes Craven, Roman Polanski, George Romero and others, took the old schlocky stories (Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.) to the next level, with stories that push the boundaries of politics and social commentary, as well as gore.
Zinoman didn't go into deep analysis of the film (I'm sure there are plenty of other books that do), but explored the lives of the directors and writers that became known as auteurs in the industry (whether or not it was truth), revealing how they came to develop the movie that are now classics of horror. Keeping in mind that I did not live in the era and have not seen several of these movies (though I have heard and know about all of them), I can't judge whether the author's point of view accurately reflects the movies or the time in which they were made, but I can say that it worked for me. I was thoroughly fascinated and entertained, so much so that I plowed through the book in under two days. It was a great, fun read, and I now need to do a marathon and see all the movies that I have not seen.
The one flaw, for me at least as I have a deep love (read: obsession) of lists, is that the author did note compile of filmography of movies mentioned in the book. How else am I supposed to easily quantify which movies I have and have not seen?
So lacking a proper filmography, I skimmed through the book and made my own list of all the movies discussed or mentioned, and posted it on my blog.
174mamzel
175andreablythe
PS. I had to look up what a "sextant" was on the assumption it probably had to do with astronomy and not what it sounded like. Lol. :)
176mamzel
177andreablythe
178andreablythe
Category: Oh, How I Missed You
"They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time." These powerful first lines set up this beautifully written and complex novel that explores what utopia means and the cost required to maintain it.
Ruby is a small town, founded by black families who persevered through the roughest of times to make a home for themselves away from the threat of whites and the shame of being rejected by other blacks. Built 90 miles from anywhere, Ruby has been able to preserve and protect itself from the influence of the outside world, in addition to creating a complex mythology around its founding that sustains it. The families live in peace without threat of violence, drugs, television, or the miscreant behavior of mistreated children.
Meanwhile, far on the outskirts of this small town is the Convent, once the home of nuns aiming to plant a seed of culture in young native girls, is now a last refuge for lost women, who have been shattered by their lives. Each reach the Convent, one way or another, by accident, and intending to stay only a few days, end up staying years.
The novel interweaves the history of Ruby and its founding families and the lives of these women, and true to Morrison's style, nothing is simple, not people, or towns, or history, or stories.
One of the things I remember from when I first read it in class was the question of who the "white girl" was. Race is an important question in the book, or I should say, it's an important question and focus for the townsfolk of Ruby, who pride themselves on being dark-skinned blacks, as opposed to the light skinned blacks who rejected them, not to mention the whites they were trying to escape and avoid. However, among the women who live at the Convent, the story is different. Race is less of an issue, and Morisson never makes it clear who the "white girl" is, and though we spent a lot of time in class trying to debating it, in the end, I think perhaps it doesn't matter, because these women (after a long false start), began to create a kind of paradise for themselves that was not at all built on race, but on something else entirely.
Paradise is a rich, complex book with rich, complex write that you could pick up 50 times and come away with something new each time. It requires a certain amount of focus, of paying attention to get through, but it is absolutely worth the effort, and is a beautiful read.
179cammykitty
180andreablythe
The list of films mentioned turned out to be surprisingly long, because a lot were only mentioned in brief. Though I'm fine with having made the list myself, I wish the author would have hand selected the horror movies he thought important (though the main few are clear), so the list would be more focused.
182-Eva-
I know what a sextant looks like - I learned that at an early age from the Tintin comics, but I have no idea what it actually does. It's to do with navigation, yes? :)
183andreablythe
Thanks, japaul. :)
I've only read Morrison's Paradise and Beloved, but I've read both multiple times, because the writing is just that good. I need to get to reading some of her other books, though.
>182 -Eva-:
The eclipse was great fun.
When I looked it up, the sextant was noted to have to do with both navigation and astronomy, as it's a device used to measure the distance between the horizon and the objects in the sky.
184-Eva-
185andreablythe
(though I admit I giggled at it as an adult, because the name is silly sounding even non knowing "tant" means "lady")
186japaul22
187andreablythe
188andreablythe
Category: The Universe in Verse
African folklore collides with the modern world in this provocative collection of poetry. Lorde explores darkness here, the beauty of black and the deep abyss of sorrow. A common style in these poems is to have one thought collide with the next, a line of text in the middle rubbing against both of the lines above and below it, so that it becomes torn between two different meanings.
Many of these poems are laced with anger and many lovingly paying homage to people either real and mythical. It's a beautiful and brutal collection that lingers, leaving one with a sense of uncertainty to the places they've just been.
189andreablythe
Category: From the Modern Library's 100 Best Books
From the book description: "Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, Tender is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise."
Tender is the Night is about loving as an act of faith, the kind of long term loving that involves taking in all the flaws of your lover and absorbing them until two people merge into a gentle and vulnerable intimacy. Apparently, the story is grew from Fitzgerald's own experiences with loving Zelda, which can definitely be seen in the tender, bruised way the story is approached.
I never appreciated Fitzgerald's writing while reading Gatsby in school, but his style is crisp and clean, the kind of writing that bring physical and emotional vividness without belaboring the point (so, I'm definitely going to have to try Gatsby again). Though sorrowful, there's a sweetness to this book as well, the way one nostalgically looks back on a rough and hurtful memory with a smile.
190VictoriaPL
191andreablythe
I'm thrilled to be included in this issue with so many clearly talented writers. I loved C.L. McFadyen's evocative poem, "The Bottom of a Circle," and Val Dering Rojas' "Things That Are Still Broken" made me deliriously happy. And then, there's the flash story, "I Would Rather Death by Chocolate," by Elizabeth Akin Stelling, which is a lovely exploration of sweetness, along with so many more great works.
192andreablythe
Yes! I didn't know much of anything about Fitzgerald or Zelda until I watched the highly stylized versions of them in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. Now I'm very curious about them both, and may even pick up a biography or two.
194andreablythe
195DeltaQueen50
196RidgewayGirl
I like that.
197cammykitty
I haven't read Audre Lorde recently. You're making me think I should pick up some of her poems again.
& I'd love to see your list of horror movies.
As for Morrison, I saw a display of her books at B&N under new releases. Most of them clearly weren't new, but there was one title I'd never heard before. I think she has something new out!!! Group read anyone??? When it finally comes out in paperback?
200GingerbreadMan
Paradise was the last book of Morrison's I read before "letting her go", so to speak. I kept slipping on it while reading, and remember virtually nothing. Perhaps I should try a re-read?
201andreablythe
>197 cammykitty:,
Lorde's book was a great read, but also kind of brutal. She's good at emotionally gut-checking the reader.
The list of horror (and other movies mentioned in Shock Value movies is here: http://blythe025.livejournal.com/337599.html
And yes! Morrison does have a new book out, called Home. I'd be down to do a group read. Would be fun! :)
.
>200 GingerbreadMan:
"Slipping on it" sounds like a great description of what could happen while reading; she packs a lot of information into a single paragraph or a single sentence.
I'd say go for a reread, if the writer or story draws you enough to try it, but as not all great writing works for everyone, you certainly don't have to. Just because I love her work, doesn't mean you will. I, for one, can't stand Crime and Punishment, despite all the people who love it so and tell me I should love it, too. I've tried to read it several times, but at a certain point, I gave up on it in favor of books I did connect with.
202GingerbreadMan
203andreablythe
Oh, okay. That is different, and I've had that happen with writers before, too. Maybe instead of trying to reread Paradise, you might want to try one of her other new books, like the one she just published, Home.
204andreablythe
Category: Hello, I Love You
Book that made me fall in love: Brown Girl in the Ring
Hopkinson's eerie and haunting collection of short stories influenced by her life and roots, both her Caribbean cultural heritage and her experiences living in Canada. With powerful, vivid prose, Hopkinson unveils strange, unsettling worlds in which an ordinary eggs give birth to strange, deformed monsters, glass storms cut up everything in their path, and trees take flight. Many of these stories explore darkness. "Snake" is an absolutely terrifying tale from the point of view of a child molester and killer, "Tan Tan and Dry Bone" tells the story of a girl weighed down and burdened by not only her own guilt, but by a horrible creature bent on sucking out the last of her happiness, while my favorite, "The Glass Bottle Trick" is a Caribbean spin on the bloody Bluebeard folktale. But no matter how unsettling or terrifying, the stories are bolstered by beautiful imagery and prose that slips between the surreal and the realistic. A fabulous collection.
205andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space! – Science Fiction
China has become the dominant in the world, and after the Cleansing Winds campaign in the U.S., socialism is the norm. The U.S. is not quite a third world country, but it is close, and many people living there hope to find their way to China, where there exists the most advanced technology and the best, most respected Universities.
Zhang, sometimes called Rafael, has strikes against him in this world. As an ABC ( American Born Chinese) he's at the top of the chain for being a foreigner, however the fact that he is only half Chinese (his mother is Latina) and is bent (homosexual) means that his prospects in the world are somewhat limited. The first could keep him from getting and keeping a descent job, the second could get him a trip to a prison camp or a bullet to the back of the head.
One of the things I loved about this book, along with the clean writing style, is how McHugh shapes a complex world, when she could have easily fallen back on socialism cliches. Instead she looks at the world from many levels and from many cultural points of view, while showing the intricate and subtle ways the dominate culture infiltrates everyday life. (I especially like that "Marx", "Lennon", and "Mao" are used as curse words, the way "Jesus Christ" is now.)
Part of how she accomplishes this is through the presentation of a variety of characters, who are all complex and interesting. Though Zhang is the main character and his quest to define himself is the main arc of the novel, in every other McHugh switches to a short story from the point of view of a different character. Each of these characters' lives intersects with Zhang's in some small way (a great, simple way to keep the story coherent), but their stories are their own and each, like Zhang, is trying to find a way to define themselves, to pursue their own passion and possibly achieve some measure of contentment and peace, if not outright happiness.
This is a beautiful book, one that's been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time, but that I am so thrilled to own, because it's definitely a favorite.
206pammab
207andreablythe
208andreablythe
Category: Oh, How I Missed You
The Martian Chronicles is a collection of short stories that have been strung together into a novel, which presents earth's colonization of Mars. The first expeditions meet with challenges from the Martian natives, who are an advanced race in their own right. In one such story, "The Earth Men," the company lands hoping to receive acknowledgement and fanfare in this first interaction with an alien race, only to find the Martians to be bored and annoyed by their presence.
As the colonization continues and more and more humans come to Mars, we see new kinds of stories, stories of people reshaping a stranger world, of strange people finding peace in solitude away from the red tape of Earth, of people fighting back once Earth tries to bring it's red tape to Mars. Some stories are better than others of course -- and certainly, being written in the '50s, there's not much space for women who are little more than background -- but on the whole they are stories with interesting characters, stories that analyze humanity and society by situating it on an alien world.
I actually picked up the book to reread just a few days before Ray Bradbury passed away, the coincidence of which added a new level of poignancy to the reading. I remember being immediately smitten with the book when I first read it in school. "There Will Come Soft Rains" remains one of my favorite shorts stories, and in rereading it again now, I'm still amazed by the way he spun the story and how it still both moves me and gives me chills. Really a fantastic book -- just one piece of evidence showing how amazing Bradbury was, and I'm already looking forward to reading it again someday.
209-Eva-
210andreablythe
While I've read so many of his books, there are so many more that I haven't. I really need to pick up more of his work.
211andreablythe
Category: Miscellany
What begins with young girl trying to remember her deceased father by planting beans in an abandoned, trash-filled lot outside her apartment building, turns into a community project that brings light and peace to people who were once strangers. This is a sweet and simple tale. Each chapter is a piece of flash fiction told from the point of view of various people who witness and participate in the plots of flowers, fruits, vegitables that grow the reclaimed lot. You don't get deep into the lives of each person, rather you see the growth of a community and how people can come together over small joys.
212andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space!
In this his fourth installment of Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series air pirate Adan Cly is called by his old flame Josephine Early to come to Texian occupied New Orleans to assist her with a strange piloting job, one that involves a lot more challenges than it first seems. This book features airships, steam-powered vehicles, zombis, strong women, rebels hidden in the bayou, and other delightful oddities.
Rather than write straight sequels, Priest tells new stories with new characters that integrate old ones. I love the way she continues to unveil more and more of her Clockwork Century world in this by introducing new characters in new locals, while interweaving old characters we know and love. Because of this, you don't have to read the books in order (each stands on its own), but it's fun to do so, as cameos of characters we loved we loved in previous books are present (and some questions are answered). This, combined with the awesomeness of Josephine and other new characters and the fun action-packed new storyline, fills me with glee. This is probably my favorite book series, one that continually keeps me entertained.
213-Eva-
That's good to know! I haven't started the series yet, but it's on the wishlist. Is this is the series thats printed in brown ink? I hesitated when I saw it at the bookstore because it felt like it would be hard on the eyes, but now I can't remember if it's this series or another one. Safest to put it on the ereader wishlist, maybe. :)
214andreablythe
215-Eva-
216andreablythe
217lkernagh
Well, that is good to know! I read Boneshaker last year.... overall a good read for me, and I just haven't gotten around to continuing with the series.
218clfisha
219andreablythe
Another example are the books in Ursula K. LeGuin's Annals of the Western Shore, Gifts, Voices, and Powers, which each have a different lead character each time, but tie into the old stories in subtle ways.
220andreablythe
Category: From my Bookshelf
(This is an ARC from the EarlyReviewers Program.)
I don't read much noir, so I don't have many expectations as to what it's supposed to be or not supposed to be. My understanding is of a dark, seedy underworld kind of story, usually with a detective lead into a dangerous, possibly deadly, situation by a beautiful and dangerous woman.
There are a certainly a few detectives and a handful of dangerous women in this collection of noir stories set in Mumbai, but the range of seedy underworld stories stretches beyond that trope, many presenting plots and story lines that seem to be unique to India. There are stories about conflict between Muslims and Hindus, of terrorism, of the many layers of justice, of independent women, and much more. I was especially interested in the two hijra (transgender) stories, each with a different take on what it means to be transgender in India.
The stories are entertaining overall, making it a fascinating and readable collection that rarely offers hope or happiness, which is, I suppose, fitting for the dark realm of noir.
221-Eva-
222andreablythe
Category: The Universe in Verse
The poetry here is of a more post-modern cerebral variety, not so much providing emotional oomph, but rather more of an intellectually isn't that neat. Absence, what is unsaid, blankness, erasure, as the title implies is as important as the visible words on the page. Many of Henry's poems drift across the page in jagged lines, leaving visual white space abounds, while many other poems have words and phrases blacked out, omitted, and still others feature lines crossed out by still visible. What is said, what isn't said? What's more important?
I'm not sure there's an answer, and Henry doesn't give you one, purposefully not connecting the dots, but rather colliding phrases in ways that makes you sure something is missing and then leaves it to the reader to determine if and what it is.
I think this kind of poetry is perfectly fine, and I'm certain there are a number of readers who would be jazzed by the intellectual spirals this kind of work could create, however, it doesn't resonate for me on anything more than a "that's neat" level. I read through the book fairly quickly, and with the exception of one or two poems, found not much that lingered after I put the book down -- another form of "lessness", I suppose.
223andreablythe
Category: Bam! Pow! Wham! (comics)
Teenagers from Mars enters a strange meta world. In the city of Mars comic books are reviled by adults and loved by the youth, who act in direct rebellious opposition. The main character is a young comic artist, who falls for a girl and in order to empress her performs an act of vandalism, which quickly spirals out of control.
The book isn't meant to be real life and it certainly riffs off real situations (the comic book scare of the fifties with its panicked parents and burning of books), but it exaggerates it, bringing it to the point of satire. The line between youth and adulthood is perfectly clear. Adults (with a few exceptions of drug addled hippies) are suit-wearing fascists, who blow things out of proportion and hate comics. Adults, the book declares, have something missing, and this is made clear by the fact that several of the most dangerous antagonists are literally missing body parts.
Meanwhile, the teens and the kids are the epitome of cool. They rob graves, go to parties and get painted up as zombies (both of which make me now note the theme of death and dirt as further separate from the sterile environs of the adults), and they have a devil-may-care/rebel-without-a-cause fatalistic attitude. And in a way, they are cool (sometimes I really want to have the ability to just not give a sh*t), and the kids do relate to each other in ways that are meaningful.
Similar to many superhero comic stories, and perhaps inspired by them, the clear duality of good and evil sets the plot up to follows the tropes of a hero creation myth. How do our wayward teens strike out against the fascism of the adults, how do they fight back?
Overall like both the art and the story better here than I did reading Rick Spears and Rob G.'s other book Dead West, though even here the quality of the drawings fluctuates and some panels seem to have been handled more lazily than others, which is rather annoying when it happens during a full page dramatic scene. I'm not really sure where I stand on Teenagers from Mars. I kind of want to like it, but in the end I kind of don't. So, I guess I'll just sit in the middle somewhere and see what others think.
224andreablythe
Category: Just the Facts, Ma'am
I love film making, I love the process, and I love books that tell stories about the process. and books about film making and and filmmakers allows me to live vicariously through the creation process and learn about how it all comes together. Fast, Cheap and Under Control looks at the experiences behind some great low-budget movies to offer advice to potential future film makers, but the stores told are often entertaining enough to be of interest to non-film makers, too. One of the main lessons in this book is if you really want to make a movie, just get out there and do it. Persistence is the key to getting a movie made, not necessarily money. Though the chapters on each movie were short (and I kind of wished for more stories about some of them), I really enjoyed this glimpse into the process.
225GingerbreadMan
>222 andreablythe: an intellectually isn't that neat - great way of putting it!
227andreablythe
Link! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN5f6oiYLJA
228cammykitty
Good review on Skin Folk. That's on my Mount TBR.
229andreablythe
230-Eva-
231andreablythe
Yeah, I'm sure always some conflict comes up when there are lots of voices to be heard. One thing is learning not to get too attached to how you think it's going to go, unless you're the director and thus make the final decision.
I think the movie works as it is, though. The ending is not what I would have done, but I can't say whether it would have been better or worse to do it my way. Probably it would have been just different. :)
232-Eva-
233andreablythe
234andreablythe
Category: It's a Smoldering World After All
(I could have also put this in my "Hello, I Love You" category, because she wrote the fabulous China Mountain Zhang.)
In this collection of stories McHugh explores the ways life goes on after or in the face of catastrophes big and small. "The Naturalist" looks at the days of a criminal, who is banished to the zombie-infested outskirts of the world and expected to die—instead he becomes fascinated with the dead.
Set in China after a bird flu epidemic has killed thousands, "Special Economics" is about a woman who finds herself trapped within the economic system of a large corporation.
In "Useless Things" an artist, who creates true-to-life baby dolls, home has become a stopping point for immigrants and vagrants expecting a little kindness in the desert.
"Going to France" is the story of a migration of people who have literally learned to take flight, and a mother and her unwanted daughter make their way across the dilapidated landscape of the U.S. in collapse in "After the Apocalypse."
Those are just a few of the stories that stuck out most in my mind. McHugh touches on the human side of disaster, which comes to be in her stories, ultimately mundane. Life goes one, hearts get broken, we close ourselves off, or open up to new possibilities. I enjoyed each of these stories in turn, with "The Lost Boy: A Reporter at Large" being the only one I didn't quite connect with. A fantastic collection of stories, which I would recommend even if you don't often read science fiction or apocalypse stories.
235pammab
236cammykitty
237DeltaQueen50
238andreablythe
239andreablythe
40. The Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri (****)
Category: Miscellany
Jhumpa Lahiri's collection of stories explore the ways we either connect, or, more often than not, fail to connect to the people in our lives. Her stories are on the long side, more novellas or novlettes than short stories, which has given her space to more fully explore the daily space of the familial (and occasionally friend) relationships she is presenting. The stories are pondering, almost slow, and often melancholy, but each one is beautifully written.
41. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (*****)
Category: Unicorns from Space!
A young boy has lived on his grandfather's tales of grand escapes from monsters and of the peculiar children who live in an orphanage on an island in Wales. Having believed his grandfather as a kid, he feels betrayed as he grows up to find the stories unbelievable and the photographs presented as evidence as most likely fake. But when a terrible tragedy occurs, he decides to journey to Wales to find out the truth.
This book, which is already very well written and quite captivating, is made all the more so by the insertion of strange and eerie photographs of kids doing apparently strange and eerie things. It allows a suspension of disbelieve that wouldn't be nearly as complete without them, especially as the photos are real, found photos that for the most part have not been doctored by the author. This was a lot of fun to read, and I sure hope there is a sequel.
42. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (*****)
Category: From the Modern Library's 100 Best Books
I remember being completely confounded by this book in high school. It was required reading, after all, about which we were forced to discuss the symbolism of the green dock light and the rain and many other things, all of which felt like work and was entirely uninteresting to me at the time. Not to mention that my reading interests were less focused on the poetry of language than the entertainment of the plot (Stephen King was a big hit with me at the time).
Reading it again now, I am struck with how profoundly beautiful this book is. The writing is clean, simple, and gorgeous, and while many of the characters in the book are not easily likeable, they are certainly fascinating. The Great Gatsby has now been added to my list of favorites.
240christina_reads
Apparently there is also a new film version coming out soon. Baz Luhrmann is directing, so at least you know it will be pretty!
241andreablythe
And, yes! I have heard of the movie! I am so excited I must use all the exclamations!! Because I love Luhrmann movies and it looks sooooo pretty!!
A'hem, actually knowing that the movie was coming out, combined with my recent read of Tender is the Night (also great), is why I decided to pick up Gatsby again. (^_^)
242-Eva-
The photos in Miss Peregrine's are fantastic, aren't they. I must admit, I thought the story a bit thin in comparison. Last I heard, the sequel was scheduled for Spring of 2013, but I'm not sure that's still the case.
243GingerbreadMan
244andreablythe
>243 GingerbreadMan:
Eva, there are 7 stories in Unaccustomed Earth, but the last 3 are interconnected, making them more like 3 chapters of a longer story.
The photos are so awesome, they have the potential to outshine the story, for sure. I think the story would have been good without them, but it amazing with them. It's the way they work together that makes the entire thing great. :)
>243 GingerbreadMan:,
lol. Danke.
245GingerbreadMan
246-Eva-
248cammykitty
251andreablythe
A baby book category is a great idea, though probably for next year. :)
253andreablythe
254andreablythe
Category: Unicorns from Space! -- Fantasy
So, I found out via twitter that Margaret Atwood has joined and has been promoting this site called wattpad. Essentially, its a way for writers to post stories online and connect with readers. Normally I wouldn't look twice at this kind of site, in part, because its a self publishing venue in which there is no way to earn money (it's completely free all around), but I figured since Margaret Atwood and has posted some of her poems, it lends the site some credibility and so I would check it out.
As to be expected, since there is no filter system (no editor selecting what appears and what needs more work), you get a lot of writing on the site that is not great (in fact a portion of it is really bad). You kind of having to skim through first pages and opening lines until you find something that's worth reading. There are recommended stories and poems, which I tend to go to first, and various ways of searching to come up with unique reads, but there's a ton of content on there to sort through to find something you like.
Despite that, I did find The Waking Moon, by TJ McGuinn. The book description: "Paulette’s life is in shambles. Her sister is dead, her mother is a drunk, and she’s been forced to transfer into a chaotic public school full of bullies. Things go from bad to worse when, one night while driving them home from dinner, her intoxicated mother hits and kills a teenage boy and is sent to jail. Now Paulette is truly alone. But when the teenage boy mysteriously comes back from the dead looking for Paulette, she finds herself face to face with the purest love on earth."
McGuinn presents a story with clean, crisp prose. I say this not just in comparison to the work on wattpad, but in comparison work published in general. It's good clean writing that draws you into the story from sentence one. Paulette is an interesting character, who is understandably downcast, based on the various problems she has to face. Life is rough, but she's not so despondent as to be depressing or boring. I was definitely on her side.
The character I absolutely fell in love with, though, was the one friend she made in high school, Rhodes. He's quirky and fun, and sticks up for Paulie. He's kind to Paulie and though he's fallen for her, he doesn't push her too hard. He does make mistakes (at one point, jealousy rears its head), but he's quick to back off and apologize for him. He even manages to respectfully help her out of her clothes, when she's injured, which is tough thing to do when it's someone you're crushing on. He's a character that I wish was real, cause I would love to have him be my friend in real life.
The super-haught dead boy (whose name I can't remember) is rather generic and bland in comparison to Rhodes, who has so much personality. In fact, I didn't quite get why she falls for him, except that there is an immediate emotional connection based on common tragedy.
The story overall held my interest the entire way through, and I found myself crying by the end. Definitely worth reading, and I hope I get to read more work by McGuinn in the future.
Finding other works on wattpad that I liked as much is slow going. I have found some "good" stuff, and lots of "okay" stuff, but not much that falls into the "great" category. There is definitely some of that in there, though.
My Thoughts on Wattpad as a Writer
Writers post stories (either short stories or novels in serialized format or snippets or poetry), which readers can vote or comment on, and they can "fan" their favorite authors to find out when something new is posted. According to the website, it has millions of readers every month. It also has an associated phone app and the option to promote your story on other sites (such as GoogleBooks, Sony eBookstore, and Scribd). All of which, suggests that there is an opportunity to connect with readers. You still have to find ways to promote your work on the site by chatting with readers and commenting on other works, and so forth, which is a lot of work in itself.
Though, I'm aiming to be professionally published, I can certainly see the appeal of instant gratification provided by self publishing your work (in any format). So, though I initially intended to join the site simply to read Margaret Atwood's poems and to explore, I couldn't help but post something of my own. The Poetry Project, as I'm calling it, will be a place where wattpad readers can suggest prompts that I will respond to with an original poem. I do have two poems completed ("Dreaming of Water on These Hot Sunny Days" and "The Butterfly Effect"), both of which you can read without being a member of wattpad. And I'm considering posting some of my Fay Fairburn stories on there, since I've already posted them on my blog, anyway.
I can already see that it's a lot of work to get attention and move up in the stats (really based on popularity), which is fine — but it is something I also recognize as a distraction from doing the work to prepare and submit manuscripts for professional paid publishing, which is not so fine. I've been holding off on doing the final work to edit and submit some of the short stories I've written — there's fear involved of the I'm-not-good-enough variety — and I really need to make sure that happens. So, I'll keep with wattpad for a while as a side project to see how it goes, but only under the provision that it doesn't keep me from my main goals.
255-Eva-
256andreablythe
258andreablythe
259andreablythe
Category: It's a Smoldering World After All
One of the reasons I enjoy reading post-apoc books is the aspect of how one survives in a world that has fallen apart. Triffids provided this and more. The book follows a John, a man fortunate to miss out on a great cosmic display of lights due to an injury and thus in one of the rare few who does not go blind. This is the primary disaster, which is quickly followed by the threat of the triffids, over-grown genetically modified walking (yes, you read that right, walking) plants cultivated for economic reasons. John wades through the disaster and meets various groups surviving in its wake along the way.
What makes this book more than just a story about the apocalypse is the philosophical bent throughout, as the characters not only survive, but choose how to shape their own survival in a way they can live with. How much should you sacrifice to save others, if you can? Is it better to focus on saving as many people as possible, or only the few who are truly valuable? How do you cultivate hope for the future when there seems to be none? What shape should a new formed society take after a disaster of such epic proportions? What myths do we tell the children who grow up after?
Though the triffids at first glance seem ridiculous, exaggerated, Wyndham puts just enough science into their back story to make them probable in society focused on economic gain, and though the date of the book means that some of the portrayals of women are a bit antiquated, Triffids overall is a fascinating and entertaining read.
.
260andreablythe
Category: Just the Facts, Ma'am
Mary Roach takes a look at the on-the-ground research performed to simulate the realities and dangers of space. The greatest challenge by the space program was and continues to be manned flights with all the unique complications of keeping a human body functioning and safe. The research — the effects of zero-gravity on bone loss (via volunteers who lay in bed for weeks on end), the psychological issues in dealing with enclosed spaces (locking astronauts into enclosed chambers for weeks to months), nutrition (from sandwich cubes to free floating sandwich mishaps), the disposal of feces and urine (don't ask, but the term "fecal bag" was used), and more — she describes with both respect and humor, which she backs up with stories from those who have actually visited space.
While most of the book describes what has already taken place in the field, she notes that every step, beginning with sending up chimps or dong to first orbit to landing on the moon, is all leading the one more step in space exploration — the next big leap being a manned mission to mars.
Mary Roach loves the strange underbellies of science, the less glamorous aspects no one tends to talk about. Like her, rather than being repulsed by the knowledge of astronaut nausea or fecal bags or the absence of bathing in zero-g or any of the other repulsive things they have to endure, I find that I have more and more respect for those who venture into space and push the boundaries of what is possible.
261clfisha
262GingerbreadMan
263-Eva-
264andreablythe
Nope, never dry. In fact she's one of my favorite writers at the moment, fiction or nonfiction.
>262 GingerbreadMan:
I guess, I'll have to work on a good bullet for next time. ;)
>263 -Eva-:
I know! I can't wait to see what in the world of science she explores next. :D
265andreablythe
Category: Miscellany
A married woman has an awakening of spirit after falling in love with a young man on a vacation by the seaside, which leads her to new social and spiritual freedoms. It's interesting that despite her husband's insistence that his wife must be ill to behave this way, many of her friends and allies (and some strangers/acquaintances) remain true and support her. Told with sparse prose, this story is considered a strong feminist tale, and considering the period in which it was written, it certainly is. Though it's old fashioned by today's standards, it's still a beautiful, touching story.
266cammykitty
267andreablythe
Really? Wow. I didn't know that.
It's amazing to me how such beautifully written stories can be so knocked down. It's one of those things that makes me suspect that if she had been a many, she wouldn't have been so slammed.
270andreablythe
Category: The Universe in Verse
Stephen Crane wrote one of my all-time favorite poems, which I discovered because Stephen King quoted it in Four Past Midnight. The untitled poem goes:
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter - bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
It's a brutal and evocative poem, grim and incredibly appropriate for the beginning of a collection of Stephen King horror stories. This poem can be found in this collection.
Many of Crane's poems explore similar themes. They allegorically present lonely wanderers trudging forward to face strange encounters in an hostile world, and yet, there is a light too, for though god as presented in these poems is often uncaring or cruel, also "the voice of God whispers in the head / so softly / that the soul pauses."
It's interesting that in the forward the editor Gerald D. McDonald notes that in its original editions Crane's poetry was presented in all capital letters, whereas McDonald choose to remove this in this collection. In Crane's originals the word "GOD" would have been all caps like all the rest of the text, and therefore did not afford any special importance to the word. Whereas, McDonald's choice to upper and lowercase the text (into more proper grammatical format) means "God" is now capitalized as religion dictates it should be, which certainly changes the effect.
I wouldn't call it beautiful. Crane's poetry is terse, straightforward, and blunt rather than lyrical, and often delves into dark unpleasant realms, but it's poetry that lingers, squatting in peripheral of the mind.
271GingerbreadMan
272andreablythe
273cammykitty
Love the Crane poem. I had a friend who would recite the whole thing often, and deliciously.
274andreablythe
Category: I Don't Wanna Grow Up
I love the Robin Hood myth, the Merry men, Maid Marian, all of it. So, when I saw Scarlet (with its really gorgeous cover) in the library and learned that it was a retelling of the myth with Will Scarlet -- thief, knife expert, and sneak -- as a girl, I was stoked. I love retellings, and I especially love retellings in which typical male roles are presented to women. They fill me with joy.
Unfortunately, I built up a lot of expectations in my mind before reading, and the book went contrary to my expectations. There are things I liked and things I didn't like with the end result being that I really want to like the book as a whole, but can't quite love it.
First, what I liked. I love Scarlet. I love that wears boys clothes and tucks her hair up under a hat, that she could chop it off, but chooses not too, because it something that's hers, her own personal secret. I loved that she's tough, she's slick with knives, clever with plans, and is one of only ones of the group that can sneak in an out of Nottingham castle through secret passageways. The men turn to her in working out plans, trusting her skills in dire situations. And I like that she's though she'll stay silent and hidden, but when she wants to speak, she's smart mouthed and opinionated (in fact her voice throughout the book is consistent and very well done). She would give up her food to someone less fortunate even if it meant she had to go hungry. She's also guilt-ridden and dark humored, which is hard sometimes hard to read, but you get the sense that hard living has led her to be that way and she doesn't wallow all the time. Often she desires to run away from the situation, the boys, everything, but she sticks around despite the risks and makes sh*t happen.
I also love Much, one of Robin's crew, who only has one hand, but still keeps up with the rest of the group. He's good with the villagers and is kind in a true and honest way. He's also the only one who shows and receives kindness from Scarlet without expecting something sexual to come of it.
Then there's the stuff I didn't like as much..., which I can't really talk about without throwing in a few spoilers, so fair warning:
SPOILERS AHEAD
Robin Hood was not the hero I was expecting. He's handsome (stormy eyed) and smart and uses the bow, but Scarlet outshines him with her agency that he seems pale in comparison. Yes, he's young and inexperienced (and very moody) in this version, but Scarlet keeps telling the reader what a hero he is, what a great leader he is, but we never really see either of those things acted out with the exception of him occasionally barking orders and helping a villager out. There's only one scene with Robin using his bow, and all the planning comes from Scarlet. Since this is supposed to be a team and Scarlet is supposed to be such a lone wolf, I would have liked to see Robin have a little more cleverness and agency of his own so that he wasn't quite out shadowed.
But that's a small concern for me compared to his continual jealousy because of Little John (which I will get to in a bit), and his turning into a complete ass-shat when he learns her true identity. His explanation for all this bad behavior was "I hurt you to hurt myself," which is such BS and I can't believe Scarlet would accept that as an excuse. I do think the characters work well together as a couple, because of they are both wounded people trying to find some redemption for themselves, but I'm still annoyed with the instant turn around at the end.
There's a general sense and belief among the men that a women, even Scarlet, MUST belong to a man. A general belief in ownership is involved, which fits the time period, but is still very annoying, especially when it comes to Little John and his pursuit of Scarlet after he sees her in a dress. He starts flirting with her and toying with her, and no matter how many times Scarlet says, "No, John, I'm not interested in you as a mate," John says the equivalent of "You don't know your own mind" or "You know you want to," which makes me very uncomfortable. There are some confused emotions for Scarlet, because she sees him as a teammate and a brother, and when she's at her most low, John shows her kindness, which she accepts because she's so desperately in need of kindness. But every time John takes this acceptance of a kindness as a tease, a sign that she really MUST be attracted to him, even though she says she's not.
What makes it worse is that compiled on top of John's inability to accept her "No" is that Robin doesn't believe her "No" either. Because John likes her, she must be with John, thinks and speaks Robin. Scarlet even shouts at them all, saying that they don't take her feelings into account, and they absolutely do not, which is an awful situation, especially if they are supposed to trust each other. The only one who gets her feelings is Much, and he's not given much say.
This feeling of ownership by her companions is especially disheartening in the face of the main villain, who is another man treating her like an object, wishing to possess her. Though the boys are not as extreme in their sense of ownership, it still rings ugly to me.
Then there is Scarlet's SECRET IDENTITY, which I pretty much figured out as soon as she blushed when Robin glanced her way. She's Maid Marian. I get why the author made this choice. Gaughen loved the myths, but never liked Marian, because she always thought of her as weak (which is pretty much how I feel about Buttercup in the Princess Bride). So, she changed things up and made Marian a thief and knife thrower. Cool.
I don't mind too much that Scarlet and Marian are the same . . ., except when I picked up the book, I kind of hoped and expected to have Scarlet be a different character. For all the times Marian has to be rescued, I never thought of her as weak. She had a different kind of strength from the men, an ability to stand tall and help the cause as a lady from a different front. She had to smile in the face of her enemies while secretly helping Robin. She was clever in her own right. But she was always the only woman in the stories, the only women among all the men, so I kind of feel that by melding the two characters together, Gaughen lost the opportunity to have not one, but two strong women become part of the Robin Hood myths -- one who stood tall as a lady, and one who was a thief and knife thrower. I would have liked to see that.
She made another choice, and that's fine. Scarlet is a great character. But I can't help but be a bit disappointed nevertheless.
So..., look. There are things I really love about this book, and there are things that really annoy me, too. That leaves me with mixed feelings. Will I read more books by Gaughen in the future? Most definitely, yes, because I do think she's a great writer even if this book was contrary to my expectations.
276cammykitty
277-Eva-
Lots of lovely potential - I do enjoy retellings as well. I did read the spoiler bit and I think I'd have almost exactly the same objections. :)
278christina_reads
279andreablythe
It did have lovely potential, I just wish that potential had panned out more to my liking.
.
>278 christina_reads:,
No, I haven't read that one yet. (I was going to say I haven't read anything by Robin McKinley, but after double checking, I realize I have read Deerskin.) I'm definitely going to add it to my list. I think Robin Hood retellings may be my next reading obsession.
280lkernagh
281andreablythe
Transformations (poetry), by Anne Sexton
Sisters Red, by Jackson Pearce
and Ash, by Malinda Lo
for your Fables retold category. :)
283andreablythe
(^_^) Thanks!
284RidgewayGirl
285andreablythe
I've been curious about Cinder. Keep meaning to pick it up. Glad to hear it's good.
287-Eva-
288andreablythe
* * *
49. Habibi (graphic novel), by Craig Thompson (****)
Category: Hello, I Love You
Book that made me fall in love: Blankets
Habibi is a beautiful book. I mean that, first and foremost, in the literal sense. The hardcover edition is physically gorgeous with an maroon embossed cover and a heft and weight that reminds me of a spiritual tome, like a Bible.

(All photos of the book taken by Parka81 on flickr.)
Open it up and the beauty continues. Craig Thompson blew me away with the art he produced for Blankets and his ability to capture emotion and soul in his art. His skills have, if anything, improved since then. Habibi is visually rich, interweaving Arabic script with detailed patterns and characters that come alive on the page. If I could do nothing other than flip through the pages and immerse myself in the art, this book would still be worth reading.



Beyond the art the story is beautiful, too. As the website notes, "Habibi tells the tale of Dodola and Zam, refugee child slaves bound to each other by chance, by circumstance, and by the love that grows between them. At once contemporary and timeless, Habibi gives us a love story of astounding resonance: a parable about our relationship to the natural world, the cultural divide between the first and third worlds, the common heritage of Christianity and Islam, and, most potently, the magic of storytelling."
While being sold as a slave, Dodola saves Zam from death and after they escape into the desert (where they live in an abandoned boat stretched across a dune), she begins to raise him as though he were her brother/son. They're love and friendship grows more complex as they grow older and as life confronts them with its brutality and tears them apart. Through all the uncertainties and fears, poverty and despair, there is always a thread of hope, as Dodola and Zam and each turns to scripture and stories to sustain them.
That said, there are definitely problematic issues of Orientalism and cultural appropriation. For more information on that, I turn you to this article, "Can the Subaltern Draw?: The Spectre of Orientalism in Craig Thompson’s Habibi," by Nadim Damluji. While I was certainly immersed in the story, I was also wondering about the stereotypes he was using to tell the tale. I certainly recognized a few (the sex-obsessed sultan, for example), but I was there were others that I was less certain about. It's a great analysis of Orientalism in Tompson's book and I highly recommend reading it, if you're interested.
I'll end with saying that despite the few reservations I mentioned, I rather loved this book and its beautiful art.
289andreablythe
Category: I Don't Wanna Grow Up
This is a follow up book to Tithe. Though set in the same world, Valiant follows a new set of characters. When Val catches her boyfriend and her kissing on the couch, she runs away from home and lands in New York City. She creates a new identity with herself and meets new friends, other teenagers living in the NY subway system. Through them she discovers the world of faerie and the many folk who live in the city despite the great amount of iron that could do them harm.
I love Val. She a great character, on the one hand noble and giving, willing to sacrifice herself for her friends, and on the other hand throwing herself into action (a way to combat prior complacency) to such an extent that she makes terrible and terrific mistakes. I like her, even when she's screwing up, even when she's stupid or mean, because it's clear that for all her self destruction there is a chance she could pull herself free of the rut she's dug for herself, and that underneath it all she has the will and good heart to do it.
At its core, Valiant is about figuring out and making sense of who you are as a person. It's about Val growing up and taking ownership of her life, but it's also about friendship and love and loyalty and the willingness to take risks in the name of what's right, in other words, being Valiant.
Though Val is a complex character, the plot itself isn't especially complex. But that's okay, because it's a fun, quick read, and altogether thoroughly enjoyable.
Edited to fix grammar mix up.
291andreablythe
Whoops! LOL. A grammar mix up. Val's boyfriend is kissing her mother.
And Blankets really is rather lovely.
292andreablythe
Category: Just the Facts, Ma'am
Michael Popek has been involved with his parents used book store for most of his life. Over the years, he's found a multitude of bookmarks left behind in the used books sold to his store, from old photographs to letters, receipts, gift cards, and advertisements to razor blades. He describes the experience of finding these things as leaving him with "a lingering wonder, a sense of misplaced nostalgia, a touch of the voyeuristic thrill that comes from peeping into someone else's life."
Popek has shared this experience by publishing photographs and scans of a few of his bookmark finds along with photos of the books in which they were found. It's fascinating to see what's left behind inside what books, so much so that I read through the entire book in a matter of hours (okay, it's not so hard since it's mostly photographs). Sometimes the pairing of found bookmark is perfect (like an old baseball card found inside a book about baseball) sometimes the finds are ironic or contradictory (I can't remember an example at the moment, sorry). But it's definitely a fun glimpse into the strange worlds of other's lives.
Of course, I had to leave my own "forgotten" book mark between the pages when I returned it to the library. Just the receipt for the books I checked out with this one. I'm curious what the person will think of my contribution, though I'll never know as I didn't leave any identifying contact information. Hehe. (^_^)
If you want instant gratification, you can check out his blog, which also host his daily finds of forgotten bookmarks.
293cammykitty
296clfisha
and adding @50 to my wishlist, I collect bookmarks so I know I will find that fascinating
297psutto
298andreablythe
I love Black's faeries, too. Nasty and fascinating and capable of having heart, too. She creates such a complex faerie world. I just love it. :)
>294 pammab:,
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the article, too.
>295 -Eva-:,
It's definitely worth a shot. Also, though some of the portrayals of people in the main storyline are stereotypical, what the book certainly does well is look at the Qu'ran as a comparison to the Bible and Jewish scripture, noting the simularities in all three religious texts in terms of the old testament.
>296 clfisha:,
The bookmarks were definitely fascinating. I hope you have fun with it.
>298 andreablythe:,
That's so cool! It's hard to tell in terms of the found bookmark just how long ago it was last opened -- maybe the last person who read it just happened to have the old postcard on hand. Regardless, it's still a great find. :D
300andreablythe
301andreablythe
302-Eva-
303andreablythe
OH!
It seriously took me SEVERAL minutes to figure out what you were talking about. I had NO idea that link was there! lol.
(And yes, I'm being all dramatic like with the capitals.)
305andreablythe
(Because I'm a dunce and didn't use the link below.)