State of the TBR pile

Finished:

Ash, by Malinda Lo

Once Was Lost, by Sara Zarr

The Midwife's Apprentice, by Karen Cushman (audio)

The River, by Mary jane Beaufrand

******************
Currently reading:

Jellicoe Road
by Melina Marchetta

FOREST BORN, by Shannon Hale

FOREST BORN
by Shannon Hale

(Bloomsbury)

This book...I took four days to read it. FOUR. The first day I burrowed into the loft of the Wendy House and drifted off to sleep holding it like a doll after a few dozen pages. The second day I skipped altogether, hoarding the pleasure. On the third day I took a few more sips, and on the fourth I finally caved and read through to the end in a gulp.

Of course the story is as delightful as ever, everything you could want from a Bayern book in the way of plot and characters, but it's the way Shannon Hale chooses and arranges her words that sends me into unabashed fits of bookswoon. It's so lush and distinctive and downright delicious. When I grow up, I want to be able to use words like that. Until then, I will satisfy myself with reading every last book Shannon Hale's ever written. Twice.

(Available in September)

Poetry Friday

Damn Thirsty

First

The fish needs to say,

"Something ain't right about this

Camel ride --

And I'm

Feeling so damn

Thirsty."

~Hafiz

(I don't actually get it, but who cares?)

******************

Currently reading:

The River
by Mary Jane Beaufrand

When to shut up

In 2007, two biographies of Walt Disney hit the market. Book A is smartly packaged, heavily marketed by a major New York publishing house, and is currently being sold all over Walt Disney World. Book B is under half the size, modestly packaged, and was published with relatively little fanfare by a university press. M'kay?

If I were Author B, I doubt I'd be able to help feeling a little (or a lot) discouraged and overlooked. I might be inclined to discuss Book A on my website to point out to potential readers how it differs from mine. However, I hope I'd draw the line at compiling and posting a list of Book A's factual flaws. Even if I gave in to that temptation, maybe I'd at least be able to resist posting an announcement that a member of Walt Disney's immediate family sent a fax to executives of the Walt Disney Company, protesting their support of Book A on the grounds that it's a "monstrous piece of libelous junk." If nothing else, perhaps I could manage not to mention my spouse's opinion that Author A "full of himself."

Because for the love of Pete, dude, was there a closeout sale on sour grapes and ammunition? Is that why you keep shooting yourself in the foot?

Book B is certainly more succinct, more scholarly, and possibly more accurate. (To his credit, Author B also maintains a list of his own errors on his website.) Learning about some of the errors in Book A makes me feel like maybe I should deem Book B the more worthy biography. But I don't, and it has as much to do with Author B's attitude and behavior as his writing. Maybe that exposes me as a shallow reader, but the fact remains that no matter how well intentioned an author may be, picking apart someone else's work in public makes you look like a jackass. It simply cannot be done gracefully. And you know, maybe I'm not so shallow after all, because it strikes me suddenly that someone who doesn't foresee the folly in this sort of public criticism also might not have the most nuanced handle on another human being's personality, behavior, reactions, and relationships. So there.

(Yeah, I'm playing coy with names and titles. Something tells me Author B would not take kindly to my assessment, and I'm hoping to avoid self-Google-inspired wrath. I'm sure you can figure out the specifics.)

*********************
Currently reading:

Once Was Lost
by Sara Zarr

Galley lust comeuppance

I probably deserve this for flaunting Fire, Forest Born, AND The Miles Between, so all you fans of schadenfreude will be happy to know that at least half a dozen people I know are reading Catching Fire and mine has. Not. Come. Yet. *chuff*

State of the TBR pile

Finished:

The Indigo Notebook, by Laura Resau

The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson (audio)

Next week:

Ash, by Malinda Lo

Once Was Lost, by Sara Zarr

The Hate List, by Jennifer Brown

FIRE, by Kristin Cashore

FIRE
by Kristin Cashore

(Dial Books)

Perhaps I can finally admit this publicly: I wasn't as crazy about Graceling as the rest of you were. A rip-roaring good read, no question about that, but I wasn't head-over-heels for Katsa's story. But now there is Fire, and this time, I am officially in love. Kristin Cashore, you are my new literary crush.

You probably recall that my default attitude when it comes to pre-/sequels is that of a first-class ass? I may have to recant. Fire is precisely the right combination of familiar and fresh, and I did not want it to end. Where Graceling blazed, Fire smolders. Richer, deeper...

What? You want to know about the plot? Pfft. I can't be expected to trifle with minor details like plot when I'm gushing. Suffice it to say that if you loved Graceling, I cannot begin to imagine how Fire could disappoint you. Okay fine, one hint: Leck.

(Available in October)

Poetry Friday

Because my German buddies are in town:

Auf dem See

Und frische Nahrung, neues Blut
Saug ich aus freier Welt:
Wie ist Natur so hold und gut,
Die mich am Busen hält!

Die Welle wieget unsern Kahn
Im Rudertakt hinauf,
Und Berge, wolkig himmelan,
Begegnen unserm Lauf.

Aug, mein Aug, was sinkst du nieder?
Goldne Träume, kommt ihr wieder?
Weg, du Traum! so gold du bist:
Hier auch Lieb und Leben ist.

Auf der Welle blinken
Tausend schwebende Sterne,
Weiche Nebel trinken
Rings die türmende Ferne;

Morgenwind umflügelt
Die beschattete Bucht,
Und im See bespiegelt
Sich die reifende Frucht.

~Goethe

(English translation here.)

*******************
Currently reading:

Ash
by Malinda Lo

THE MILES BETWEEN, by Mary E. Pearson

THE MILES BETWEEN
by Mary E. Pearson

(Henry Holt)

I am not going to tell you one concrete thing about this plot. You don't need to know anything. Just climb aboard and join the ride. If you've read Mary Pearson's last book, you're likely bracing for a surprise already.

Wait for it...

...wait for it...

...you won't be disappointed. I, for one, am grinning and immensely satisfied.

(Available in September)

Audio about-face

If you're keeping up with my online reading journal, you may recall that last month I claimed full cast audio performances don't do much for me. I take it back. Most of it, anyway. The catch: I need a book with first-person narration. Otherwise the narrator's voice jars me every time it butts in for a "he said" or a "she said." When narrator and main character are one and the same, it feels more like storytelling and less like a recital.

Enter Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale.

This was already one of the butt-kickingest books under the eternal blue sky, but giving it a narrator and music to match? *swoon*

State of the TBR pile

Finished:

Forest Born, by Shannon Hale

Also Known as Harper, by Ann Haywood Leal

The Miles Between, by Mary E. Pearson

I'm not even speculating about next week. We've got friends coming in from Germany (yay) and my grandpa's just gone and landed himself in the hospital (urg). No matter which event dominates my attention, I don't see much reading going on. I've got some reviews and whatnot stocked up, though, so from your end everything will seem as usual. (Lucky you.)

*****************

Currently reading:

The Indigo Notebook
by Laura Resau

THE BLACK BOOK OF COLORS, by Cottin and Faria

Ahem. THE coolest concept book, ever:

THE BLACK BOOK OF COLORS

by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria

(Groundwood Books)

Close your eyes and look at this. Black pages. On one side, braille text, describing colors in terms of sound, smell, scent, and texture. On the other, black-on-black line art printed in raised UV coating, so you can feel the image. Like so:

Red is sour like unripe strawberries and as sweet as watermelon.

It hurts when he finds it on his scraped knee.

But black is the king of all the colors. It is as soft as silk when his mother

hugs him and her hair falls in his face.

I really can't express how brilliant I think this is without falling back on profanity-littered gibbering. Just try it; there's regular text printed in white, too, for those of you who have to cheat. But take my advice and indulge: ask someone to read it aloud so you can shut your eyes feel the illustrations. So %@&#ing cool.

My only gripe: the braille isn't embossed prominently enough for someone like me to actually read it by touch. Maybe someone who's a fluent tactile reader could handle it, though?

****************

Currently reading:

The Miles Between
by Mary E. Pearson

Poetry Friday

I dare you to resist:




*******************
Currently reading:

Also Known as Harper
by Ann Haywood Leal

Publishing and Light Bulbs

PUBLISHING AND LIGHT BULBS

Q: How many copy editors does it take to screw in alight bulb?
A: I can't tell whether you mean 'change a light bulb' or 'have sex in a light bulb'. Can we reword it to remove the ambiguity?

Q: How many editors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Only one. But first they have to rewire the entire building.

Q: How many managing editors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: You were supposed to have changed that light bulb last week!

Q: How many art directors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Does it HAVE to be a light bulb?

Q: How many copy editors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. The last time this question was asked it involved art directors. Is the difference intentional? Should one or the other instance be changed? It seems inconsistent.

Q: How many marketing directors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: It isn't too late to make this neon instead, is it?

Q: How many proofreaders does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Proofreaders aren't supposed to change light bulbs. They should just query them.

Q: How many writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: But why do we have to CHANGE it?

Q: How many publishers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Three. One to screw it in, and two to hold down the author.

Q: How many booksellers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Only one, and they'll be glad to do it too, except no one shipped them any.


(Thanks to Kelly DiPucchio for forwarding this to the Mich-Kids listserv ages ago.)

*******************

Currently reading:

Forest Born

by Shannon Hale

FAT CAT, by Robin Brande

FAT CAT

by Robin Brande

(Knopf)

Cover blurb:
You are what you eat. . . .
Cat is smart, sassy, and funny—but thin, she’s not. Until her class science project. That’s when she winds up doing an experimenton herself. Before she knows it, Cat is living — and eating — like the hominids, our earliest human ancestors. True, no chips or TV is a bummer and no car is a pain, but healthful eating and walking everywhere do have their benefits.
As the pounds drop off, the guys pile on. All this newfound male attention is enough to drive a girl crazy! If only she weren’t too busy hating Matt McKinney to notice. . . .

Man, oh, man, is this a fun read - I'll bet it's fun even if you haven't recently discussed veganism and writing over a sushi lunch with Robin Brande herself. The characters are sharp and witty and they like science. (Ok, there's one snappy poetry chick, but she's not one of those dreamy, brooding types I'm getting so tired of.) The chapters are blessedly short. Also, Robin is clever enough to never, never divulge Cat's numbers. Not her before weight, not her after weight, not her total pounds lost, not even her BMI. Fat, like beauty, remains in the eye of the beholder.

There's only one thing that sucks about this book: it's not available until October.

*****************

Currently reading:

Also Known As Harper

by Ann Haywood Leal

State of the TBR pile

Finished:

The Good Master, by Kate Seredy

When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson (audio)

Fire, by Kristin Cashore

Next:

Also Known As Harper, by Ann Haywood Leal

The Indigo Notebook, by Laura Resau

A you-had-to-be-there sort of thing

Shannon Hale's brand new author trailer:



Spiffy enough all by itself, but I freaked out because THERE'S A PICTURE FROM HALFWAY DOWN THE STAIRS at 1:23! (It's the one with the caution tape on the shelves.) I realize that's not as much fun for the rest of you as the trailer itself, but that's ok. You had to be there.

And, um...actually, I wasn't there that day. Because I am a solid gold nitwit. There's a dent in my tush from where I've been kicking myself ever since.

Thanks to Shannon herself for the link. Someday I WILL meet her.

**********************
Currently reading:

Fire
by Kristin Cashore

Poetry Friday

[I had no idea how LONG this poem was...]

Home, Sweet Home

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
The birds singing gayly, that come at my call --
Give me them -- and the peace of mind, dearer than all!
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild,
And feel that my mother now thinks of her child,
As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door
Thro' the woodbine, whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

How sweet 'tis to sit 'neath a fond father's smile,
And the caress of a mother to soothe and beguile!
Let others delight mid new pleasures to roam,
But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet, home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

~John Howard Payne

WOO!

...is what I hollered into the empty house when I opened up the mysterious envelope from Uncle Penguin Putnam:

Author Poll

Lately, Barbara O'Connor and I have been kicking around some of our favorite books and authors and considering what makes them favorites.

Which made us curious about which books and authors our other reader-/writer-friends favor.

Who do you think are some of the most skilled authors for young people? And are they also your favorites?

What are their strengths? (Dialog, setting, character development, plotting, etc.) Any particular books you love that stand out as stellar examples of one or more elements?

*****************

Currently reading:

When Dad Killed Mom
by Julius Lester

Fondling the Newbery

I have handled many a Newbery book. Once, I draped my arm around a Newbery-winning author (click here for proof). And now, I've even touched a Newbery medal:

[cue the choir]

That is Marguerite de Angeli's 1949 Newbery medal for The Door in the Wall. Right there in my hot little hand. It's larger than I realized -- more like the circumference of a Coke can than the size of those gold stickers we're used to seeing. Speaking of stickers, the real medals are a lot more stately, being bronze and all. Almost makes those shiny labels look chintzy in comparison. Also, it's engraved with the author's name and the year, and comes in a hinged, velvet-lined presentation box. (Or, at least it did back in 1950.)

Another interesting tidbit: A while back, I was somewhat scandalized to learn from Kirby Larson that there is no Newbery honor medal. Now I know why. The image on the Newbery honor sticker is in fact a duplicate of the BACK of the Newbery medal:

Thanks to Jamie and Jan at the DeAngeli Library in Lapeer for unlocking the showcase and letting me go all paparazzi on their special collection.

*****************

Currently reading:

The Good Master
by Kate Seredy

TALES OF THE MADMAN UNDERGROUND, by John Barnes

TALES OF THE MADMAN UNDERGROUND by John Barnes

(Viking)

Meet Karl Shoemaker. His dad's dead, his mom's a lush, and his house is a litterbox. If he wants a shot at normal, Karl's figured his only chance is dodging his usual ticket for group therapy sessions at school - the Madman Underground. Trouble is, that means dodging his best friend at the same time. Also, there's this new girl who so clearly does not fit into Operation Be Normal, yet what self-respecting misfit can resist an unattractive, sharp-witted girl-genius?

532 pages, gang. I read 'em all, and liked it. These kids are all effed up - and that's kinda the point - but somehow the plot doesn't get hung up on all the terrible horrible awful no good very bad things they have to deal with at home. Voice, character, and relationships drive this bugger home. For the right kind of kid, it's going to strike a dead-on bull's eye.

(Available in June)

State of the TBR pile

Finished:

The Black Book of Colors, by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria

Alvin Ho, by Lenore Look

Little Audrey, by Ruth White

Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry (audio)

Make Lemonade, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

The Touch of Magic, by Lorena A. Hickok

Next:

The Good Master, by Kate Seredy

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson (audio)

The Indigo Notebook, by Laura Resau