48 Hour Book Challenge. Oh, Yeah.

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Okay, okay. I know. I said I wasn’t going to do this again when I finished last year. I said I needed to wait a few years. But… I found myself a couple months ago thinking about what I would read “when” the 48 hour challenge came around, and how to plan for the weekend it comes around, and… I realized that, in retrospect, I had a grand time. It was fun. I’m looking forward to it. M says she wants to join me in the whole endeavor. And, yay, the sign up is here!

Follow the link for the rules, and to sign up (hope to see you all there, even those of you who just did the 24 hour read-a-thon!).

The Amaranth Enchantment

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by Julie Berry
ages: 10-14
First sentence: “I sit on a velvet stool at Mama’s feet, watching her brush her hair.”
Review copy provided by Bloomsbury.

I’m doing Dewey’s Q&A review, as part of requirement #3 for this week’s geek.

From Sherry: Is the story based on one particular fairy tale or is it just fairy tale-like?
It’s not really based on a particular fairy tale, though it does have elements of the Cinderella story. It does, however, read and feel like a fairy tale. A girl’s — Lucinda — parents are murdered, and she’s brought up being a servant in her Uncle and Aunt’s jewelry shop. Until one day, when a woman — the dreaded Amaranth Witch — comes in and leaves a stone to be repaired. That, and a visit in the night from Peter — a street thief whom Lucinda has never seen before — set in motion a series of events that end up changing Lucinda’s life.

What other books did it remind you of, if any?
That’s a hard one, mostly because I’m bad at that. I would say it feels similar to a Shannon Hale or Jessica Day George book. It’s a bit darker, though, more like the original Grimm tales. But really, it’s its own thing.

From Shannon: Did the fact that The Amaranth Enchantment was fairy tale based make it more interesting to read or less? I did find that it felt like a fairy tale made it quite interesting to read. I did like that the magic felt effortless, and wasn’t overbearing. It did have many of fairy tale elements, including the requisite bad guy, but he didn’t really do much except lurk around in the background. It really was just a tale of a girl trying to figure out how to get her old life back.

From Care: Is this the first book you’ve read by Julie Berry? Would you read another?
Yes, because it’s her first book. I would like to read more by her; she’s a good storyteller.

If you could only pick three words to describe this book, what would they be?
Unique. Intriguing. Fun.

And a bunch from Suey: Is this book a fantasy? It sounds like one.
It is but it isn’t. It’s could be called historical fiction, the country and place felt real even if it was imagined. And although there’s magic, it doesn’t really play a huge role. So, yeah, I think it’s fantasy, but not your traditional one.

What was your favorite thing about the story?
Hmmm. Tough question. I liked the mix of religion (of sorts) and history (of sorts) and magic (of sorts) to create a fairy tale (of sorts). It felt different than what I was expecting.

Who was the most interesting character?
I liked Peter best. Lucinda was interesting, but I never really quite got into her head. And Gregor (the love interest prince guy) was a bit too… shallow? perfect? good to be true? one-dimensional? for my taste. But, Peter. He wrapped me around his fingers and stuck me in his pocket from the moment he climbed in Lucinda’s window until the very end.

Thanks to all who provided the questions!

The Last Olympian

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by Rick Riordan
ages: 9/10 (depending on the reading skill level) +
First sentence: “The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the roof of my car.”

Things you need to know about this book, without giving too much away:

1. If you have not read the Percy Jackson series (I’m looking at you, Corinne), you are totally and completely missing out. However, now you can safely start the series, since the final one came out today.

2. Rick Riordan is an AWESOME plotter. He writes brilliant action, but he also does lulls and humor and keeps it all going so that you want to keep turning pages. I. Could. Not. Put. This. Down. (But then, I expected that.)

3. He also writes first person narrative really, really well. M was saying that he’s captured Percy’s voice perfectly, and I have to agree. That holds true in this book.

4. For the first time in the series, he hasn’t (I don’t think) taken on a Greek myth. There’s mythological aspects to the story, but it’s not based on any (well-known) at least. **Edited to add: Actually, a friend told me that this is the story of the Iliad. Didn’t know that. And, I have to admit, now I want to go read the Iliad…

5. There will be HP7 comparisons. But I think he handles the “understand your enemy by understanding their past” well. And it’s not too long or too boring.

6. It’s a perfect ending.

Go read it.

The Lucky Ones

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by Stephanie Greene
ages: 10-14
First sentence: “They were two little girls, six and eight.”

I picked this one up at the library because the cover caught my eye. It’s a very cute cover, isn’t it?

But. (You were expecting that, weren’t you?)

I’m halfway through, and I just can’t get into it. I can’t figure out when this is supposed to be taking place — it’s about family on an island, told from the point of view of the third child, 12 year old Cecile — is it contemporary? The 60s? The 40s? And for some reason this fact really bugged me. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters: Cecile is struggling with the loss of a relationship with her older sister, Natalie, and with the impending doom of puberty and is alternately cute and really annoying. Natalie is, however, a royal wench. I loathed her. And their mother. I know women can really be like her, but I really wanted to throttle her. And halfway through, the plot consisted of Cecile whining and trying to enjoy the vacation on the island, and everyone else being different than before. Not much to keep my attention, especially when Percy Jackson is beckoning.

And then there’s all this sub-plot stuff that I kept reading into it: why was the oldest boy, Harry, banished to Canada? Are the mom and the next door neighbor on the island, King, having an affair? Really, do I care that much?

For the record: when I announced at breakfast that I was abandoning this one, M looked a me, kind of sheepishly, and said, “Well, I thought it was good.” So, there. Someone in the age group it’s targeted for liked the book.

That’s probably a better recommendation than I could give, anyway.

The Screwtape Letters

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by C. S. Lewis
ages: adult
First sentence: “My dear Wormwood, I note what you say about guiding your patient’s reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend.”

This book is a difficult one. To categorize — where does a religious epistolary allegory go? Non-fiction? Fiction? To read — it’s a dip-in-and-put-down book, not one that can be devoured, or even read in large chunks. And, to review — what does one say about the formidable C.S. Lewis, especially about his Christian writing?

Well, for one: I’m glad I read it. It gave me a lot to think about, even if I didn’t particularly get “into” it (lack of plot, lack of characters except for Screwtape himself). And not just the idea of everyone having a personal devil, but Lewis’s idea of Christianity itself, and what it should be, and what Christians should be doing.

For two: the preface that C.S. Lewis wrote in 1960. That I found fascinating. My favorite quote in the whole book was from the preface:

I like bats much better than bureaucrats. I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of “Admin.” The greatest eveil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.

I can get behind that.

For three: Well… it’s about time I read something other than Narnia, actually diving into some of Lewis’s Christian writing. So, for that, the experience was worth it.

Will I be reading more? I’m not going to rush downstairs (yes, we own them all) to pick up another one. It’s not really my “kind” of reading. But, eventually, some opportunity will present itself to read Mere Christianity or The Great Divorce or one of the other ones, and I won’t turn it down.

Geeky Review Formats

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I wasn’t going to do this week’s geek, mostly because I don’t think I have a format, but then I saw Suey’s post (yeah, she references me, but that’s not why I’m doing this…), and I thought, hey, maybe I could explain a bit about what goes into what I write (some days, anyway). I’m going to shamelessly copy the way Suey did it, too. 🙂

1. Explain your review format – if you have one. Or maybe your rating system?
I’ve modified it over the years, so this is what I do currently. My reviews have always been my initial reaction to the book, what I thought about it and why. Currently, I always put the title in the post heading, then the author, what age range I think it’s appropriate for (or what the publishers think, if I really don’t have an opinion; I do have to admit, though, that sometimes I age the YA low because I’ve let M read it…). This year I’ve started putting the first sentence, too, and I’ve found I actually like doing that.

As for the rest, well, it depends on my mood and my creativity level. I’ve done lists, conversations, rants… I generally try to put some of the plot summary there, and most definitely what I think of it. If I’m inspired, and on the ball, I’ll add some quotes.

I would like to take the high road and say I don’t do stars or grades or ratings systems because I think they’re subjective and not at all reflective of what I write, but the reason is much more selfish: I’ve found that when I come across ratings systems in my reading, I just glance at the rating and if it’s not a 4+ or an A, I don’t even bother reading the review. And I want you to read — or at least skim — my writing. 🙂 So I don’t do the whole rating thing. See? Selfish.

2. Highlight another book-blogger’s review format by linking to a favorite example – don’t forget to tell us why they are a fave!
Most of the bloggers I read do the standard “here’s the plot and here’s what I think about it” format whenever they review. That’s not to say that it’s bad; the reviews are often interesting and insightful. However, it makes it hard to answer a question like this. Going through my feed, three stood out: Leila at bookshelves of doom stands out for her humor and her asterisk asides (I know others do them, but she was the first one I came across); Julie at Best Books has the best one line reviews (she rarely writes more than one line, too). And I adore Emily’s haikus at emilyreads.

3. Do a review in another book-blogger’s format of your latest read.
I just finished The Amaranth Enchantment, by Julie Berry (beautiful cover, no?). I always liked the reviews Dewey did where we’d ask her questions about the book and she’d answer them. So, if you’d like to leave me a question about the book in the comments, I’ll put up a post answering them sometime later this week.

4. Highlight a past review that you are particularly proud of and why the format or structure may have had something to do with it.
The most recent one that I’m particularly proud of (generally, so you know, I like my negative reviews better than my positive ones: they’re so much easier and fun to write) is the one I did of The Darcys and The Bingleys for Estella’s Revenge. While I was reading the book, I kept going back and forth between my enjoyment of it, and the fact that it was absolutely nothing like Pride and Prejudice, which mildly irritated me. So, I decided that the best way to express this was as a conversation between my intellectual and emotional (rational and irrational? scholarly and fluffy?) sides of my brain. I think it turned out well. At the very least, it was fun writing it!

Don’t forget to leave a question about The Amaranth Enchantment: what do you want to know about the book?

Extras

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by Scott Westerfield
ages: 13+
First sentence: “Moggle,” Aya whispered. “You awake?”

The thing I liked most about Uglies — and that I missed most in Pretties and Specials — was that I thought it was a brilliant piece of social commentary. As far as worlds go, the one that Westerfield has created is certainly interesting and over-the-top, but what really drew me in was his observations on beauty and acceptance of self. And that was lost in the whole sci-fi adventure story that occupied the sequels.

Well, social criticism was back in Extras, at least for the first half to two-thirds of the book, and it had me totally captivated. It’s three years after the “mind-rain”: Tally’s dismantling of the world system in the previous three books. In Aya’s city, the way they’ve dealt with it is to create a merit- and reputation-based economy: only those who are popular get the good stuff: nice houses, clothes, invites to all the best parties. Aya is an “extra”, with a face-ranking of nearly 500,000 (in a city of 1 million), she’s someone who doesn’t really matter. She is determined to change that, by “kicking” a story that will get people talking about her, thereby bumping her face rank, and allowing her to get out of the lousy dorm that she’s in. She discovers the Sly Girls, an anonymous clique that thrives off danger and having low face rankings, and infiltrates them in the pursuit of a story.

In my opinion, this is the best part of the book — Westerfield’s created a world where everyone has a say about everything, where the trivial is important, if you can get people to talk about it. (The second most famous person — Tally is first, even though she doesn’t live there — sends out feeds about what she eats and what she wears, and people all over buzz about it. It doesn’t matter that it’s totally trivial; she’s famous because people talk about her.) There’s elements of Facebook and Twitter in there — the popularity contest that is having hundreds or thousands (or millions) of followers hanging on your every twit (or whatever it’s called) or status update. It was simultaneously very enlightening and very disturbing.

However, the second half of the book veers back into sci-fi adventure territory. Aya discovers (accidentally) and kicks a story that could possibly mean the end of the world. Tally shows back up (with Shay, Fausto, and David) to use Aya (and her friends) to discover the sinister plot behind it all. And everything just gets weird. The ending is totally unsatisfying, as if Westerfield had too many ideas and just needed to end the book because it was getting too long. He abandoned the Sly Girls (which, I thought, were the most interesting part of the book), and the whole social commentary (mostly) in favor of bringing Tally back into the story (not that she was bad, it’s just that I really didn’t care for her by the end of Specials, and I’m not sure she entirely redeemed herself here).

That said, it’s a good book. Westerfield’s writing is the kind that gets under your skin: I found myself thinking in hyphens (wow, so mind-altering or that was crazy-making type of thing), like I remembered doing during the first three books. His world building is great, too. And most of the book is worth reading, so it wasn’t a total waste.

BoB Semi-final Commentary

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Match 1, Octavian Nothing really long title vs. Chains. Winner: Octavian Nothing. I’m running out of things to say about this book. It must be amazing, if people keep effusing over it. Let’s see if I’m changing my mind about reading it…. um… Nope. Betcha it wins, though.

Match 2, Hunger Games vs. The Lincolns. Winner: Hunger Games. No surprise. Really. I enjoyed reading Chris Crutcher’s commentary, though.

The real question now is: will final judge Lois Lowry go for a huge, sprawling work of genius or a hip, intense dystopian novel? (Not even going to try to answer that. But it’s fun to think about it…)

April Jacket Flap-a-thon

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The end of another month already? Would someone please tell me where this year is going? I can’t believe it’s May tomorrow…

At any rate, on with the flap-a-thon:

Caddy Ever After (Margaret K. McElderry Books): “Love is in the air for the Casson family! Four hilarious, endearing tales unfold as Rose, Indigo, Saffy, and Caddy each tell their intertwining stories. Rose begins by showing how she does special with her Valentine’s card for Tom in New York. Not to be outdone, Indigo has his own surprise in store for the Valentine’s Day disco at school. For her part, Saffy has an unusual date in a very, very dark graveyard, and is haunted by a balloon that almost costs her her best friend. But it is Caddy who dares everything — as she tells all about love at first sight when you have found the Real Thing. Unfortunately the Real Thing is not darling Michael. What is Rose going to do?”

I’ve never really liked the jacket-flaps for the Casson family books; they try to get the tone right, and end up sounding gratingly annoying. This one, however, is not too bad. Not great, but not too bad, either.

Nim’s Island (Scholastic): “A girl. An iguana. An island. And e-mail. Meet Nim–a modern-day Robinson Crusoe! She can chop down bananas with a machete, climb tall palm trees, and start a fire with a piece of glass. So she’s not afraid when her scientist dad sails off to study plankton for three days, leaving her alone on their island. Besides, it’s not as if no one’s looking after her–she’s got a sea lion to mother her and an iguana for comic relief. She also has an interesting new e-mail pal. But when her father’s cell-phone calls stop coming and disaster seems near, Nim has to be stronger and braver than she’s ever been before. And she’ll need all her friends to help her. “

This one, however, is adorable. Or at least very cute.

Fire and Hemlock (Greenwillow Books): “A photograph called “Fire and Hemlock” that has been on the wall since her childhood. A story in a book of supernatural stories — had Polly read it before under a different title? Polly, packing to return to college, is distracted by picture and story, clues from the past stirring memories. But why should she suddenly have memories that do not seem to correspond to the facts? Fire and Hemlock is an intricate, romantic fantasy filled with sorcery and intrigue, magic and mystery, all background to a most unusual and thoroughly satisfying love story.”

This is a hard book to write a blurb for, and I think the folks at Greenwillow did a good job. Intriguing, without giving anything away.

People of the Book (Penguin Books): “In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding–an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair–she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising antisemitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna’s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love. Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.”

Long, but informative without spoiling the plot. And actually very interesting.

Other books read this month:
The Darcys and the Bingleys
Pemberley by the Sea
Jane Austen Ruined My Life
The Order of the Odd-Fish
Lock and Key
The Diary of a Young Girl
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry
Inkdeath
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
We Are the Ship
Ancedotes of Destiny and Ehrengard
The Farwalker’s Quest
Aurelia
Artichoke’s Heart

People of the Book

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by Geraldine Brooks
ages: adult
First sentence: “I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn’t my usual kind of job.”

I have heard nothing but wonderful things about this book (a close friend of mine adored it, as well as many of the book bloggers I read), and so when Julie at FSB Associates wrote and offered me a review copy, I jumped at the chance. (Granted, I did wonder why she wasoffering me a popular book, a critically acclaimed book… I don’t usually get the “good” stuff.) Sure, I said, I’ve had decent enough luck with Geraldine Brooks in the past (liked Year of Wonders; didn’t like March, which just goes to show that I have vastly different tastes in books than the Pulitzer Prize committee). Why not give this one a try?

For those of you who don’t know, People of the Book is a sweeping work of historical fiction that centers around a real book: the Sarajevo Haggadah. It’s a beautifully illuminated manuscript, something that has baffled historians for centuries: Where did it come from? Who illustrated it? A situation just ripe for a vivid imagination.

Brooks grounds her work in the character of Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservator, who in 1996 was hired to conserve the book before it went on display in the Bosnian National Museum. In the process, she discovers things about the book which leads the story back through time. The format is one of the wonderful things about the book: it reads almost like several short stories, yet the overlying plot of Hanna, her life, and her connection with the book binds it together as a novel. It’s really quite brilliant.

But the thing I really liked about this one is that grounds her historical fiction in the human element. It’s a re-imagining history that feels historical, yet isn’t horribly offensive (though there are definitely some cringe-worthy moments). I also enjoyed the twist at the end, and how it all managed to get resolved. Very, very nice.

I’ll stop effusing now, mostly because I’m supposed to be hanging out with A and K, and they’re bugging me. Seriously, though: if you haven’t read this one, do. It’s worth all the praise it’s getting.