Audiobook: Northanger Abbey

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by Jane Austen
Read by Donada Peters
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Next up on my “reading Jane Austen” this year project was Northanger Abbey. It was more of a whim; I haven’t listened to any Austen in a while, and I was at the library, and this one just jumped out at me. I remembered reading it a while ago (2008, it turned out; follow the link if you want a plot summary), but I didn’t remember much else. I was excited to get going.

But… when I put it on, I realized that it was the same reader as Madame Bovary. Remember when I didn’t know if it was the book or the reader?? I’m here to tell you that it was at least 60% the reader. Because, while I plowed through this one (it’s JANE AUSTEN, and I can’t bail on her), I didn’t get much out of it. Peters’ voice grates on me, and I ended up tuning things out and missing huge chunks of the story.

Things I did get: John Thorpe is a complete jerk. Boorish, manipulative, and possibly one of the worst male characters Austen invented. He’s not a cad, or a rake, or even a Bad Guy. No: he thinks he’s Noble and Right, but he’s a bully, and that’s what makes him so terrible.

Along the same lines, General Tilney is shallow and boorish as well. Maybe they needed to exist so that Henry — who is a little on the dull side — would shine.

That said, Catherine herself is a silly, silly girl. Emma is, too, but in a completely different way. Catherine lets her imagination run away with her, but that’s really all she is. (Emma’s a snob, but there’s some growth there by the end of the book.) I didn’t feel like there was any growth, any reason for Henry to fall in love with Catherine other than she was pretty and nice. It was kind of unsatisfying, in the end. Which, by the way, I felt was rushed, a little.

Still not my favorite Jane Austen, but I also have to blame the reader for my lackluster reaction to this. Maybe sometime I’ll see if a different person read another edition of the audiobook and see if I have a different reaction.

Confessions of a Hater

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by Caprice Crane
ages: 14+
First sentence: “High school was pretty much like this huge party I wasn’t actually invited to, but I still had to show up to every day.
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Review copy passed off to me by a manager at work.
Release date: August 27, 2013

Hailey Harper has always been the outsider. Especially since her older sister, Noel, was SO cool. Hailey figured her high school career was doomed to the fringes, never being one of the Cool Kids. Then her dad got a job in Hollywood, and they moved across country. In the process, Hailey found Noel’s diary “How to be a Hater”, and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to remake herself into someone Cool.

And she does. After a stint with the most popular girls in the school (she dumped them), she gathered together a group of girls, started calling themselves the Invisibles, and set out to Redefine Cool. Which — because this is bookland and not realland — they do.

I’m going to stop here and just say this: if you’ve seen Mean Girls, then you’ve read this book. Sure the premise is age-old, but I don’t think it was too much to hope for something unique and original. But — I even rewatched the movie halfway through just to make sure — this really is just Mean Girls rehashed. (Admittedly: I did kind of like the Invisibles “valet” parking prank comeback.) Aside from having the same plot arc as the movie, I felt like Crane was always trying to do too much with the book. Parent having an affair? Check. Friend on drugs? Check. Teen pregnancy? Check. Awkward blow job? Check. (Though, in retrospect, it was kind of funny.) Sensitive and Caring male? Check. Head Bitch turns out to be not so bad? Check. I wanted to shake her and say, “You don’t need SO much in order to have a good book!!”

Disappointing.

Clockwork Princess

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by Cassandra Clare
ages: 14+
First sentence: “‘I’m afraid,’ said the little girl sitting on the bed.”
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Others in the series: Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince

(Obviously, spoilers. You’ve been warned.)

Over the past two months, things have been quiet in London. Jem and Tessa are preparing for their wedding, Will’s sister Cecily is at the Institute training (Will’s not terribly happy for either of these events), Gideon Lightwood is crushing on Sopie (the maid), when their peace is shattered by Gabriel Lightwood announcing that his father has arrived at the final stages of Demon Pox (gotta love that), and transformed into a giant, man-eating worm. This sets in motion a chain of events that will end with the London Shadowhunters facing down Mortmain and his Insane, Evil plan.

It sounds simplistic, but in reality it’s more complex. Charlotte is facing down Counsul Josiah Wayland and his sexist ploy to oust her. In fact, one of the things that bugged me most about the book was Wayland’s character. I didn’t think, in the first two books, that Wayland was a sexist jerk, and so his attempts to oust Charlotte (going as far as trying to bribe the Lightwood brothers) felt off to me. I wanted there to be an ulterior motive. There wasn’t: he really was a sexist jerk. (He was also a 19th-century man, so there’s that.) However, he got his comeuppance in the end, which made me (unreasonably) happy.

In addition, we FINALLY get to know how Tessa came to be. It took most of this book, but in the end, it was worth it. As was the ending: Tessa thoroughly rocks as a character. She is both feminine and strong, a remarkable combination. (Additionally: Clare’s resolution to the love triangle was brilliant. Seriously.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this conclusion to the series. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series. I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed it without reading The Mortal Instruments first, because much of what I liked was seeing how the two fit together (like when Magnus and Henry perfect the Portal!). But the characters were great, the storyline fantastic, and they were a lot of fun.

I’m so glad I made the time to read these this summer. Now to go see the movie. (Tonight, hopefully.)

Counting by 7s

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by Holly Goldberg Sloan
ages: 10+
First sentence: “We sit together outside the Fosters Freeze at a see-green, metal picnic table.”
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Release date August 29, 2013
Review copy snagged off the ARC shelves at work.

Every once in a while there comes a middle grade book that’s perfect. I know, I know: that’s a lot to live up to. But, really: this one is.

To begin with it has an age-old, very tired, depressing premise: 12-year-old Willow Chase’s parents have died in a horrible car accident, and now she has to Deal With Things. But, Holly Goldberg Sloan (whose first book, I’ll Be There, was also magnificent) is such a talented writer she takes a cliche situation and turns it on its head.

Willow Chase is an exceptional girl. She’s a quiet one, obsessed with numbers (counting by 7s, mostly), medical conditions (as in human ones; she’s great at diagnosing things and diseases fascinate her), and plants (her backyard in Bakersfield, CA is practically a garden of Eden.). She’s black, but her adopted parents are white. And she wasn’t fitting in in her new middle school, which is how she ended up in counselor Dell Duke’s office for cheating.

In fact, she was with Dell and two other kids he counsels — a Vietnamese brother and sister: Mai and Quang-ha — when she got the news that she was now an orphan. And that’s when the real story starts. Willow, naturally and believably, doesn’t quite know how to deal with the sudden death of her entire family. (Her parents, conveniently, don’t have siblings or parents either.) But rather than leave Willow to the system, Mai steps in an makes a difference: she convinces her mother to take Willow in.

The real heart and soul of this book — and the real reason it’s so perfect — is that Sloan never makes it feel depressing. In fact, even though Willow’s going through a hard time and Sloan never forgets that, it’s an incredibly hopeful one. She plays with the idea of family and of connectedness in unexpected ways. On top of being absolutely refreshing with her subject matter, she never talks down to her reader. Sure, her sentences are simple — it is a middle grade book after all — but they are never simplistic. She respects her characters and her readers, and knows how to pick the best words to make the book flow, even when it’s being simple.

In other words: practically perfect in every way.

Clockwork Prince

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by Cassandra Clare
ages: 14+
First sentence: ” The fog was thick, muffling sound and sight.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Clockwork Angel

Picking up pretty much exactly where the first book left off (spoilers for that, of course): Mortmain is still at large, Will is still cursed and angsty about it, Jem is still dying, and Tessa still doesn’t know what she is. Mortmain, for this book at least, stays well in the background as other interests take precedence: the head of the London Institute, Charlotte, is being challenged for her position by Benedict Lightwood,  and has been given an ultimatum: find Mortmain in two weeks, or lose your position.

So, the Enclave at the Institute sets out to do just that, and gets bogged down in some interesting messes. Jessamine is stepping out with Tessa’s (evil) brother Nate; Benedict is messing around with some less-than-nice elements;  and Mortmain is a whole lot older than he looks and has been planning his revenge for a long, long time. And that’s not even mentioning the whole Jem-Tessa-Will love triangle. Or Will’s search with Magnus (yay!) to end his curse.

(As a side note: M has said she needs a t-shirt that says: “Magnus Bane is more fabulous than you.” She found this one, which is close enough.)

It’s very much a middle book in the trilogy, except I think Clare handles it better than most people. Mortmain is gone, but she gives us a very real villain in Nate, and Jessamine’s deception and treachery is quite delightful. Perhaps one of the things I liked best was seeing how all the names fit in with the first series (which, I suppose, is one reason to read those first, but I think it would work the other way, too). And seeing how much the Shadowhunters have changed. It frustrated me that I still had no answers about Tessa, or why Mortmain wants her, but I was able to roll with it. Speaking of Tessa: she’s a fabulous character. They all are. (Even angsty Will.) I don’t know why it is that I like these characters better than the ones in the Mortal Instruments. Perhaps it’s because the world seems more complex. Or maybe it’s just because I’m comparing them to Clary and Jace and so on, and finding these characters more interesting. (Or maybe just because I like Victorian London better than contemporary NYC. It could be that.) What ever it is, I’m happily moving on to the last book, just to see how it all ends.

Clockwork Angel

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by Cassandra Clare

ages: 14+
First sentence: “The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
You don’t have to read The Mortal Instruments series first, but I think it helps.
Tessa Gray is an orphan on her way to London to be with her older brother when she’s kidnapped by a couple of women calling themselves Dark Sisters. They force her to wake up a latent power she has, called Changing, saying they’re prepping her for the Magister. She manages to escape with the help of a couple of Shadowhunters — Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs — who take her back to the Institute in London. Where Tess learns about the whole Shadowhunter world, and the fact that no one knows quite who she is. Oh, and that the Magister isn’t going to give up looking for her. 
There’s more to this — of course there is — including a wicked cool twist I didn’t see coming. I enjoyed seeing the Shadowhunter world from the perspective of Victorian London. And the smattering of steampunk with the automatons was a nice touch.  In fact, in many ways, I liked this one better than the Mortal Instruments. It’s funnier, it’s more intense, and it’s got a more interesting plot. Oh, and Tessa is a WAY better heroine than Clary. Sure, it’s kind of confusing: you never find out what Tessa is, or why the Magister wants her. And the beginning leaves your head spinning. But the end is completely worth it.
On to the next one.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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It’s my favorite time of the year: the call for Cybils judges!! It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s… well, fun AND exciting. And a lot of work. But fun (and exciting) work. I’ve done this for several years now, and I have to say that one of the reasons I keep my (almost 9 years old) blog going is so I can be a part of this. (*fingers crossed*) You want to be a part of it too? Check out the call for applications and throw your hat into the ring.

ALSO: the announcement for the 7th annual KidLitCon was announced. So far it’s just the city — Austin, TX — and the dates — November 8 and 9th. If you can, I’d strongly encourage coming. It’s a blast.

Anna Was Here

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by Jane Kurtz
ages: 8+
First sentence: “I was attending the weekly meeting of the Safety Club and thinking about my birthday party when the best thing and the worst things of my entire life filled me up and knocked me flat.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: August 29, 2013
Review copy given to me by a manager at the store.

Anna Nickel is a preacher’s kid, which she doesn’t really mind. Her dad’s just one of the ministers at their church in Colorado, and they’ve got a comfortable life. Then, her dad decides that he needs to uproot everything and move to Oakwood, Kansas — where he’s from — and be the temporary main preacher in the church there while they figure things out.

Anna, and this is a huge understatement, doesn’t want to go.

She protests her new pink room by sleeping in a sleeping bag in the hallway. She flat-out refuses to go to school. Even her usual pick-me-up of Preparing for Any Disaster (tips included in the book) doesn’t work. She doesn’t want to meet new relatives. She just wants. to. go. home.

But she’s only not-quite-10, so of course she can’t. And she has to learn to adapt. Even if it is against her will.

This was an okay book as far as middle grade fiction goes. I liked that — aside from Anna’s dad being overly involved in his work, which makes sense given the situation — the family was a good, solid one. I liked that Kurtz knew how to deal with religion and religious people; she didn’t make them out to be goody-goodies, or angsty, or unreachable. They’re just people trying to muddle through. But aside from that, the book is really flat. The entire conflict was that Anna didn’t want to move. I understand that — I experienced that — but it got old pretty fast in the book (at least for me). I wanted there to be some additional conflict, something more than just not liking small-town Kansas. Or moving.

But, that may have been adult sensibilities coming through. It really is hard to find a good MG book with a decent, together family. So there’s that. At least.

The Running Dream

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by Wendelin Van Draanen
ages: 12+
First sentence: “My life is over.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Sixteen-year-old Jessica is a runner. A good one, too. But only hours after she set a new league record in the 400 meter, an out-of-control truck hit the school bus that was transporting the track team, killing one member and injuring Jessica severely enough that they had to amputate her leg.

And for a runner, that is the worst thing possible.

This book, thankfully, is not about the accident. Though there is some talk about insurance and liability — the driver of the other vehicle doesn’t have insurance coverage — it is mostly about Jessica’s recovery. It’s not an easy one: she has to learn to adapt to only having one leg, and the stares that generates. Then, she has to adapt to wearing a prosthetic leg (I didn’t know about the cost of prosthetics or about the time and logistics involved in getting them). And then, finally: she and the track team raise the money to get her a running prosthetic.

And along the way, Jessica makes friends with Rosa, a math genius with cerebral palsy, who wants to be seen for herself and not her condition.

In fact, that’s the whole message of the book: the call to see people for who they are not for what hinders them. However, while I felt the book definitely had a message, it was done in such a way that it didn’t feel preachy. I actually understood Jessica’s pain — emotional more than physical — and her uncertainty and doubt. I actually cheered when she made milestones, and was touched at the outpouring of goodwill from the community. Van Draanen created characters and an inspirational story to surround her message, and so her message went down smoothly.

In fact, I thought this book was sweet and touching. And definitely worth the read.