State of the TBR Pile: July 2016

July 10, 2016booknutgirls 1 Comment

It’s high summer here, which means the garden is in full swing, I’m headed down the canning road, I’ve got the camps at work under way, the family is off for vacation (without me this year… boo), and I’ve got a stack that needs to be read and no desire to read it. There’s something about summer that begs me to be outside in the pool, or puttering in the yard, or catching up on the movies and TV I don’t watch during the winter… I don’t want to curl up with a book (unless it’s really good) and read. I’d much rather be doing.

So, if I’m completely honest, maybe the top five or so on this pile will get read.

Sailor Moon vol 6 by Naoko Takeuchi
The Cricket in Times Square by George Seldon
The Crimson Skew by S. E. Grove
Insert Coin to Continue by John David Anderson
Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
The Twits by Roald Dahl
The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Jackaby by William Ritter
Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter
Beastly Bones by William Ritter
With Malice by Eileen Cook

What’s on your TBR Pile?

Smoke

July 8, 2016booknutgirls Leave a comment

by Dan Vyleta
First sentence: “‘Thomas, Thomas!’ Wake up!'”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered from the ARC shelves at my place of employment.
Content: There’s a bit of violence and some swearing, but aside from it’s length (it’s huge) there’s nothing I wouldn’t expect a high schooler to be able to handle. It’s in the adult fiction section of the bookstore.

Imagine a world where everyone’s bad thoughts, awful actions, impure intentions come out of the body as smoke. The more wicked the action, the darker the smoke. And it doesn’t just come out of you, it stains you, eats away at your heart. Grim, no?

Thomas is a latecomer to the posh boarding school for the upperclass where they teach you how to control your smoke. It’s not really working for him; he’s convinced that because his father murdered someone, he’s destined to be black at heart. He makes friends with Charlie, a son of a prominent Lord. Everything is going as well as can be until Thomas and Charlie make some discoveries, and their lives change forever.

It’s a weird conceit: a Dickens-era London with this smoke (is it magic? It it destiny?). It’s getting at class issues (the more upper class, the less likely you are to smoke for various reasons), and issues of pre-destiny. It’s interesting. It’s an interesting bit of story weaving; there’s some dark characters, and a bit of twisty action. Even so, I found myself impatient with the book. It’s really long. Like REALLY long. I get impatient with really long books. But, I persevered. And, while this won’t be my favorite book this year, it was interesting. And I’m definitely intrigued with the ending.

So, maybe it was worthwhile.

A Gathering of Shadows

July 6, 2016booknutgirls 1 Comment

by V. E. Schwab
First sentence: “Delilah Bard had a way of finding trouble.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: A Darker Shade of Magic
Content: There’s violence, some mild swearing, and a couple of f-bombs. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore, but would be good for high schoolers as well.

It’s been four months since the end of Darker Shade and Lila has moved on. She secured a position on a ship (well, secured makes it sound like she wasn’t underhand in the dealings…) of a privateer. She’s enjoyed her time at sea, developing an intriguing relationship with the captain, Alucard Emery. Among other things, he’s taught her magic. And with the Essen Tasch — magic games between three countries — coming up, she’s intrigued. So much so, that she finds a way to get into the games.

Kell, on the other hand, has felt his life constrict. He is not trusted by the king, who has increased the guards around the king. He and Rhy are not prisoners, but close. So, when Rhy comes to Kell with an idea — compete in the Essen Tasch — Kell is intrigued. And, eventually, convinced.

A quick side note — much more than the action-packed first novel, this one felt like it was full of exposition. We learn about Lila learning magic. We read about Kell’s restlessness. But nothing much happens. And, I have to admit that I lost patience with that.

That said, I did finish it, and the ending was, well, a lot more exciting than the rest of the book. And I’ll probably read the next book.

The BFG

July 4, 2016booknutgirls Leave a comment

by Roald Dahl
First sentence: “Sophie couldn’t sleep.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s a small bit of violence, but for the most part, it’s easy enough for the youngest of the grades 3-5 set. It’s in the Middle Grade section of the bookstore.

Sophie is up late one night in her orphanage when she sees something coming down the street. That something turns out to be a giant, who plucks her out of the orphanage and takes her back to his land. He says it’s because he needs to keep her safe, because there are other, bigger, badder giants around. And he’s not wrong: the giants back at the stomping ground ARE bigger, badder and meaner.

(And that’s where Dahl’s overall themes come in: the BFG is the “runt” of the pack and is constantly being picked on. He’s also more evolved, and smarter, and just better than those bullies.)

Sophie experiences life with the BFG, and together they decide that the other giants need to be stopped (mostly because they eat children; though the BFG’s argument for it was pretty persuasive…). So they go to the Queen (really, my favorite part), convince her of the existence of the giants, and get her help in stopping them.

Perhaps it’s just the order I’ve read these, but this one is now my favorite. I loved the Seuss-like wordplay that went on with the way the BFG talked. I liked the friendship between Sophie and the BFG, and I thought their solution to the problem was pretty ingenious. It’s a delightful book, much less dark than Matilda or as mean as Charlie. So far, this one is the best.

Monthy Round-up: June 2016

July 2, 2016booknutgirls 2 Comments

I meant to put this up a couple days ago, but like many things these days, it slipped my mind. Better late than never, I suppose. My favorite for the month was this one: