Month: February 2014

Cress

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by Marissa Meyer
First sentence: “Her satellite made one full orbit around planet Earth every sixteen hours.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: Some violence, none of it gruesome. It’s shelved in the YA section (grades 6-8th), but I’d have no problems giving it to a capable younger reader.
Review copy given me by our MPS rep, who likes to enable my addictions.
Others in the series: Cinder, Scarlet

Obviously: If you haven’t read the other two, there will be spoilers.

So, our fearless (of sorts), rag-tag crew of a cyborg, a scruffy-looking nerfherder of a pilot, a disembodied android, a human girl, and a Lunar wolf-man operative are on the run from the Commonweath government. What are the most-wanted on Earth supposed to do? Especially when there’s an insanely evil queen who’s trying to take over the world by marrying the super-hot emperor? (“Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I’m swamped”) Well, hang out in space, of course. And then go rescue Rapunzel in her tower. Or Cress in her satellite, that is.

Except the rescue operation goes wrong, and our group of rag-tag outlaws are split up. Scarlet ends up on Lunar (and doesn’t figure much in the story), Cress and Captain Thorne end up in the satellite, crashing in the Sahara desert. And Cinder, Wolf, and the New Guy end up looking for the crazy Dr. Erland. As the plot thickens….

C’s biggest complaint with this one was that there were too many plot lines. Which is true, to an extent. Meyer is juggling a LOT of balls here. And there are at least 5 (if not more) story threads running through the book. BUT. I thought she managed all her threads well. With the exception of Scarlet, who really wasn’t interesting until nearly the end of the book (oh, but then her story line is tantalizingly interesting, setting up the last book in the series, Winter, well), I thought what all the characters were doing were fascinating. My favorites — probably goes without saying — are the two MAIN main characters in this one, Cress and Thorne. I adored Cress as a character: she’s a bit insecure around people, having been trapped in a satellite for 7 years. And she’s a total fangirl. But she’s also a smart hacker, and a resourceful and determined (if a bit naive) girl. And Thorne, well, let’s just say Thorne is that perfect mix between all the roguish bad good guys in all the books and movies I’ve ever loved. (It’s hard NOT to have a crush on him.)

And even though Cinder’s finally coming into her own, and there are some brilliant moments, it’s still a middle book in a series. It doesn’t stand as well on its own as Scarlet did, but I wasn’t disappointed with where the story is going. Meyer has created a terrifically interesting world, and is doing some fun things mixing the fairy tales in with the cyborg/futuristic elements. I can’t wait to see how it all ends.

From Scratch

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Inside the Food Network
by Allen Salkin
First sentence: “Before there was a Food Network, there was no Food Network, or even a world in which it was obvious that there ought to be a Food Network.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s a non-fiction book, so there’s that. And people don’t always talk nicely, and Salkin didn’t do anything to prettify it, so there’s a lot of swearing, including f-bombs. It’s in our film/TV section of the bookstore.

I picked this up because I have watched Food Network in the past (back when I lived in Mississippi and Arkansas) and I was, well, curious to see what Salkin had to say about the behind the scenes goings-on at the network.

The thing is: this wasn’t. Not really. It was a little bit: there were stories of how Alton Brown and Rachel Ray and Paula Deen and Emeril and Bobby Flay all got their shows, but it was more the story of the network as a whole.

Which means there was an awful lot about the whole business of the network. Getting it started, ad revenue, selling it, CEO changes, programming…. all of which is behind the scenes and dishy, but none of which I was interested in.

So, in truth, I actually ended up skimming this one, looking for the “good” bits (read: the stuff I was actually interested in), and then just kind of petering out near the end. I guess I wanted more gossip. (I suppose that say something about me.)  It wasn’t a badly written book, and I think someone who is interested in the business of television, or is interested in the Food Network and doesn’t mind the business of television would actually really like this one.

That someone just wasn’t me.

State of the TBR Pile: February 2014

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I don’t suppose it’s just me, but I have this habit of throwing things on this pile, and then a month (or two) later looking at them and realizing I have NO desire to read this. Right now, but maybe ever. So, I take them off. And then I feel bad: I really did mean to get to that book, I did want to at one point and time. Maybe sometime.

Still a bit of a slump, and hoping to find a great book that makes me just want to keep reading….

On this month’s pile:

The Road Home, by Ellen Emerson White (Laura has said I must. read. this. I always do what Laura says.)
The Shadowhand Covenant, by Brian Farrey (The Sequel to The Vengeeep Prophecies.)
Across the Universe, by Beth Revis (It’s about time I read this trilogy.)
The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, by Sheila Turnage (the sequel to Three Times Lucky. I’m happy just knowing this exists.)
The Diviners, by Libba Bray (for the YAckers this month.)
The Mark of the Dragonfly, by Jaleigh Johnson (same reason as last moth)
The Year of Billy Miller, by Kevin Henkes (It’s “only” an honor book, but I’m still curious.)
March, Book 1, by John Lewis, Andrew Ayden, Nate Powell (because the SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books has it on its list. And there are always good books on there.)
The Thing About Luck, by Cynthia Kadohata (National Book Award winner. I should read it. I don’t know if I will.)
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, by Holly Black (Because Holly Black. Of course.)
Landry Park, by Bethany Hagen (I should. I will. I’ll get to it. Soon.)
Red Rising, by Pierce Brown

What’s on your pile this month?

The Crane Wife

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by Patrick Ness
First sentence: “
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy given me by the Penguin rep.
Content: Multiple f-bombs and other language, some off-screen sex. Rightly sits with the adult fiction at the bookstore.

George is your very typical kind-of-loser guy. He’s divorced (nine years) with a child (who’s in her 20s) and can’t seem to keep a relationship (he’s too nice; they always break it off, but he’s always friends with them after). Even though he’s the owner of a print shop, he’s a bit of a pushover, letting his one employee, Mehmet, push him around. But, because he’s nice, because he’s George, when a crane with an arrow piercing its wing unexpectedly lands in his suburban London backyard in the middle of the night, he helps it out.

The next day, a woman named Kumiko shows up in George’s print shop. And suddenly, George’s life — and the life of his daughter, Amanda — are irrevocably changed.

Yes, this is a fairy tale. A very charming, sweet, wonderful fairy tale. Ness divides its time between George, Amanda, and Kumiko’s tales, but does so in a way that doesn’t feel awkward or forced. But it’s not just a fairy tale — or at least not just a one-dimensional fairy tale — art (in this case, paper cuttings) and a slight Japanese-inspired tale within a tale play major roles, which gives the book depth and substance.

But what I enjoyed most with this one was Ness’s use of the language. The fact that one of his characters, Rachel (who is very confused and not at all nice), speaks entirely in questions. Or the way he uses “…” to represent silence. Or the way George and Amanda think of themselves. And descriptive sentences like “He loved physical books with the same avidity other people loved horses or wine or prog rock.” (60) or “Stories do not explain. They seem to, but all they provide is a starting point. A story never ends at the end.” (141-142) or “She stopped, her face scrunching up in some really, really unattractive crying.” (161) There were others, but those are the ones that I marked.

It did all the things I want a book to do: it gave me characters to care about, and transported me away from the dreary winter months. It delighted me, and made me wish I was even a tiny bit artistic.

Delightful.

Jinx’s Magic

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by Sage Blackwood
First sentence: “It wasn’t that Jinx didn’t like people.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy snagged from the ARC shelves at my place of employment.
Content: There are some tense moments that might scare a more sensitive child. But, even though there are deaths, it’s all very abstract and kind of distanced from the reader. It’s in the middle grade (grades 3-5) in the bookstore.
Others in the series: Jinx

Jinx’s life has gotten more complicated. Not that he expected any different, really. He’s been told he’s the Listener, but no one has bothered to explain what that means. The trees he talks to are becoming increasingly more panicked because someone — well, the neighboring kingdom — is chopping them down. And Simon — the wizard Jinx is apprenticed to — is trying to stop the Bonemaster (Evil Villain) without much success or help from the other clearings in the Urwald. It’s all a big mess, really.

Jinx has two missions in this book: get Reven out of the Urwald and to that neighboring kingdom, where he is (presumably) the long-lost rightful heir. And then get to Samara to learn how to use Knowledge is Power (or KnIP). Neither is what he wants to do. (He just wants to make sure Simon doesn’t kill himself when he goes up against the Bonemaster, really.) But, do them he must, and so he does. Sort of.

This is very much a middle book in a series. It takes the elements of magic and setting that Blackwood laid out in the first book, and builds on them, but nothing really is resolved. Jinx does grow in his magic usage, though not really in his understanding, and he makes a couple more friends. But nothing is really clearer than at the end of the first book. Additionally, new elements are introduced: an impending invasion from Reven and his newfound power, the existence of an underground society for the use and freedom of KnIP in Samara (of which at least two of the characters are members), and Jinx’s role as the Listener is expanded (at least a little bit). So, the ending really is quite unsatisfying, but that’s just because it’s not, well, done yet.

It works well as a middle book, I think. But I’m reserving final judgement for the whole series until the third book comes out.

What the Heart Knows

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Chants, Charms, & Blessings
by Joyce Sidman, Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
First sentence: “
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: None. The book would go in the children’s poetry section at the bookstore.

I picked this one up because it made the list for the SLJ’s Battle of the Books and I was curious. I didn’t know it was poetry.

Let me just say, up front, that the artwork is gorgeous (you can check some of it out on this video here). I almost want to buy this book because of the gorgeous artwork. And maybe buy some notecards with it as well.

I liked the idea of the book: a series of chants, songs, incantations, and blessings. But, I just. don’t. get. poetry. So I don’t know if they were any good or not. I enjoyed some of them, and didn’t enjoy others. And maybe that’s all I need to know about poetry. I guess, sometimes, that I feel I need to have a deep connection with poetry, and I just… don’t.

I don’t know if the answer is to stop trying, or keep on hoping that someday it’ll make sense.

First Sunday Daughter Reviews: February 2014

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Whew, January is done. That means — in spite of the snow that’s threatening to come (those up north: don’t laugh) — spring is that much closer. It also means things get busier and there are holidays (even the dreaded Valentine’s Day, ugh) to distract me from the Cold and Snow. Which is something.

What did the girls read this month?

Hubby and K read this:

Which K picked out (she has a very elaborate picking scheme when she doesn’t have her  mind already made up), and thoroughly enjoyed. She said she liked Elionwy the best, because she’s “good and awesome and a good fighter. She’s very funny and talks a lot, and even though she has a bauble, she stands up for herself.” But she also liked how Taran admitted to making mistakes at the end. She’s very thoughtful, my daughter.

A had a book report on Joan of Arc due, but she still found time to read

She really loved the first one, and so requested I pick up the second. She’s liking it — there’s more conflicts than there were in the first book, which she’s liking, and bonus: Seth is a LOT less annoying — but she’s reserving final judgement until she finishes.

And C, having seen this flow chart on Tumblr (and because Days of Blood & Starlight wasn’t as interesting as she wanted it to be)decided she wanted to go on a dystopian/post-apocalyptic bender. We requested a bunch from the library, but the one she picked up was

which she’s enjoying, though she has to constantly remind herself that it doesn’t quite fit in with the Uglies universe. She misses Tally and all the rest. Also, she’s decided that Westerfeld’s novels need to be illustrated: “He describes things that are hard to imagine.”

I think I’m going to start including by 3-5th Grade Book Group choices here, just so I have a record of them. The kids — probably predictably — really liked Fablehaven last month. We had a great discussion about choices and annoying boys and whether or not magic creatures are real. I also appreciated that Brandon Mull had a lot of cool things on his website (the kids love it when there are extras). This month, we’re reading one of my favorites as a kid:

Here’s hoping the kids like it.

I’m off today for our Book Club Sunday at work before the SuperBowl, and have gotten roped into talking about good Middle Grade/YA books for adults. I think I’ve worked up a good list of already published and soon-to come out books. I’l be sure to stick them up on the third Sunday as my list this month.

Happy reading!