bookshelves of doom

If you need a Black Books fix...

...at the moment, they're all available online.

I, of course, own the boxed set. 

Tra la, tra la.

Books I'm DYING to read.

I shall keep this down to three, and those three shall be right off the top of my head:

The third book in D.M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo series.  (I thought it was going to be titled Factotum, but then I think I saw something about a series reboot in the States, so maybe it'll be called something else.  (Question:  HOW THE CRAP HAVE THESE BOOKS NOT CAUGHT ON HERE?  ARE PEOPLE REALLY, TRULY UNAWARE OF THEIR UTTER AWESOMOSITY?  Should 'awesomosity' have an 'e'?  It didn't look right with an 'e'.  Then again, it's not like it's a real word, so I guess I can spell it however the hell I want.)

Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock.  I'm sure I don't need to explain myself.

Kiss in the Dark.  (Otherwise known as:  Scarlett Wakefield, #3.)

You? 

What should I be watching out for?

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David Levithan on The Catcher in the Rye.

From the WSJ:

Holden Caulfield is the embodiment of what we mean by the phrase “young adult” – too young to be a grown-up, but too wise to the world to be completely innocent. He’s caught in the in-between, and that in-between is what all young adult authors write about.

(via Gwenda)

Calling Teen Readers:

Be sure to nominate/vote for your favorite books of 2009 over at Teenreads.com by February 1.  From that list, a list of five finalists will be compiled, and you'll be able to vote for the 2010 Teen Choice Book of the Year.

Lauren Conrad on The Great Gatsby: "It’s a fun story."

More scintillating scintillatingness at Entertainment Weekly.

Trock.

I am, as ever, COMPLETELY behind in my pop culture.  I have only just discovered the delights of Time Lord Rock:

(I mean, OBVIOUSLY I remember this one:

...but I didn't know that the genre had MADE A COMEBACK!)

Dust up over Anne Frank's diary in Culpeper County, VA.

Due to a parent's concern about the sexual passages in The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition, that version will no longer be taught in Culpeper County's eighth grade English classes.  It will be replaced by the version edited by her father.  (Or the play?  The articles I read seemed a bit fuzzy on that point.)

The director of instruction for the system, Jim Allen, explained:

“What we have asked is that this particular edition will not be taught,” Allen said from his office Wednesday morning. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of this. So we listened to the parent and we pulled it.”

Well, hoo boy: that backfired, for a couple of reasons -- first, the challenge procedure wasn't followed (according to their policy, there should have been a written complaint and a challenge committee formed), and second, not all parents in the area share the challenging parent's views.  As this commenter at the Star-Exponent put it:

“How can you censor the thoughts and dreams of a young girl? Do you not think in the diaries of eighth-grade girls at (Culpeper Middle School) they aren’t talking about their bodies? Don’t you see this is a wonderful opportunity for our children to feel like they have something in common with Anne Frank as opposed to (MTV’s) Snookie from ‘Jersey (Shore)’?”

(I think there's a double negative in there, but I'm sure you get the gist...)

I'll be interested to see how this one plays out.

Mod Wolves.

We started watching the second season of The Mighty Boosh last night, so I'm feeling the need to share this clip from the first season -- because it fills me with joy.  As I said on Facebook last night, I LOVE VINCE NOIR:

J.D. Salinger, 1919-2010 -- with bonus Howard Zinn obituary*!

Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up.  I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something.  Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery.  People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap.  Who wants flowers when you're dead?  Nobody.  

--J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 20

• LA Times
• The Guardian
• The New York Times
• The Washington Post
• The Telegraph
• And of course, the tweet heard 'round the literary world. 
• But don't let all of the Salinger coverage completely distract you from Howard Zinn.  Do be sure to at least read this obit -- I read most of it aloud to Josh and we giggled all the way through it.  (In a nice, friendly, happy way.)

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*I'm not being a jerk -- it just seems like authors have been dying right and left lately.  Sad.

Sonya Sones challenged; Marjorie Rawlings to stay in Honors English classroom.

• One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies has been officially challenged in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  A sixth grade student brought it home from the Theisen Middle School library, her mother read it, and, as she (the mother) put it: 

"To the author's credit, it's a good story line, but it contains sexual content that my child, at that age, doesn't understand".

While it's certainly commendable that the parent in this case is closely involved in her daughter's life, it's unfortunate that she:

A)  Seems to feel that because she doesn't want her daughter reading the book, all other parents would feel the same way, and
B)  Isn't accounting for the fact that this is a middle school library, and that

i)  sixth graders are very different from eighth graders, not to mention that
ii)  sixth graders vary, too.

Anyway, the Reconsideration Committee has heard her complaint and there will be a public hearing on February 18.

• A review committee has recommended that The Yearling, which was challenged by a parent for its use of the n-word, stay in Chipley High School's 10th grade Honors English program.  The challenger has stated that she'll appeal the decision.  As is common in cases with complaints of this nature, it seems that the challenger wants to, in some way... ignore history.

Thank you, Feiwel & Friends.

While we are probably all, at this point, somewhat used to the beauteousness that the art department at Feiwel & Friends turns out on a regular basis, this one is something special.

PREDICTION:  This book cover is so very gorgeous that it will tempt so very many readers currently unaware of Ellen Potter's fantabulous storytelling, characters and general writing skillz (Yep, I am so jazzed that I resorted to pluralizing the work 'skill' with a 'z' and I kind of want to punch myself in the face for doing it but I am too happy and excited to go back and re-word...) that, with this new book, she will become the NYT Bestselling Author with Legions Upon Legions of Fans that she SHOULD be (because I have complete faith that the inside of the book will be even better -- which in this case, is saying something -- than the outside):

 

(I'm a little bit scared of the girl -- she looks like she could dole out Serious Death Glare.)

As many of us are extremely interested in How Cover Art Comes To Be, Ellen Potter's post about her experience with the process is worth a read.  And, of course, the artist should get a standing ovation.

(Second link via Fuse#8)

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Previously:

My Reading Highlights of 2009.
Pish Posh
Slob
Under the Radar Recommendation:  The Olivia Kidney books
2. Olivia Kidney and the Exit Academy
3. Olivia Kidney and the Secret Beneath the City

Free Holly Black!

Holly Black's short story "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" is available for free right now at the BSCreview -- give it a read, it's very much worth it.  I loved it.  (Are we coming to the end of this surge of the romanticized vampire trend?  OH MY GOD, I HOPE SO.)

The story is from The Poison Eaters and Other Stories.  If the YA librarian from my library is reading this, she should order it if she hasn't already.  Doing that will:

A) Save her from my nagging, and
B) Allow me to expend my energy on something else.  Like nagging the director to buy this book.

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Mysterious Benedict covers to be "adjusted".

School Library Journal reports that Little, Brown has said:

“The character’s skin color is accurately reflected in the interior, black-and-white illustrations in all the books. While Sticky’s complexion is different relative to the other characters on the covers, the difference is subtle and therefore the jacket illustrations do indeed seem misleading.”

While that statement strikes me as somewhat... disingenuous, I do realize that it isn't really possible for Little, Brown's Publicity Director to say something along the lines of, "You know what?  You're right.  We screwed up.  [Edited to add: AND WE'RE SORRY.]" 

Anyway, I'm glad they're fixing the covers.

In related news, see The Book Smugglers' new feature Cover Matters, as well as the new Readers Against WhiteWashing Facebook group.  And if (SOMEHOW) you've missed all of this, there's a good rundown over at Racebending.

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Previously:

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Puzzling Change of Skin Color

The dictionary...

...back in CA's fourth and fifth grade classrooms!

And you can even use it... as long as you get your permission slip signed!

"Maybe in Vermont, mud season, how maple syrup is tapped from trees and family structure of this type is accepted."

The amazing quotes from book challenge stories never cease in their hilarity.  Anyway.

Remember the Postcards From Buster: Sugartime! controversy?

As it was five whole years ago, you'd think it would all be over, right?

Wrong.

Now it's the print adaptation that's got people upset. 

From Tulsa World:

The book is a condensed version of the episode. Of the story's 31 pages of text and pictures, two short passages mention the same-sex couple; one picture at the book's end features the two same-sex couples and their children together; and a drawn picture of one of the couples is in a scene's background.

The two passages state: "Buster went to visit his mom's friends Karen and Gillian. They had three children ..." and "Lily's moms, Tracy and Gina, were very good cooks."

The review committee has voted 6-1 to keep the book in the school's library, and the school board will decide today whether or not to abide by that decision.