bookshelves of doom

The Thief: The Queen's Thief, #1 -- Megan Whalen Turner

While the rain kept me from writing about The Thief as promised last Thursday, it certainly didn't keep me from re-reading it.  There are few things, I think, that could've made me that miserable.

So.  A bit later than promised, but... here we are.

For the uninitiated, The Thief begins:

I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison.

After drunkenly bragging in wine shops about being the greatest thief alive, Gen was forced to put his money where his mouth was and prove it.  So prove it he did -- by stealing the king's seal out from under the king's chief advisor's nose.  Of course, Gen's bragging hadn't gone unnoticed by the government, so it wasn't long before he was captured and deposited in prison. 

That same chief advisor -- the magus -- decides that there is a better way for Gen to serve the country than rotting in jail.  And so, the two of them, along with a soldier and two young students, set out on a journey to steal an object.  Gen isn't informed what their destination is, or for that matter, what he is to steal, but, when it comes to the king's prison, out is better than in.

If you haven't read the book, skip the rest, because while I'm not going to get specifically spoiler-y, your first journey with Gen should be one that you only share with him.  So go away and read it.  Seriously.  If you've been meaning to get to it for ages and just haven't found the time -- FIND IT.  You're missing out.  Not just on this book, but on the next two.  And don't worry -- what follows isn't a review or a critique -- it's a love letter.

While I wish I could read this again for the very first time, I do love revisiting it.  I feel like I catch something new every time.  I love Gen's asides, his clues to the reader about his real identity:

He wanted to know my name.

I said, "Gen."  He wasn't interested in the rest.

I love that while he lies constantly to everyone he interacts with in every way possible -- words, posture, habit, personality, history, education, intellect -- he doesn't actually lie to the reader except by way of omission.  I love that basically, he's running a long con.  I love the moments when his temper threatens to get the better of him.  I love him.  I love Sophos, Pol, even the magus.  I can't love Ambiades, but I do love Gen's interactions with him.  I love the underlying conversation about myth: how we use it and change it, how even well-known and often-told stories are shaped by the teller, how that can tell us about the teller.  I love the first meeting of Gen and Attolia.  I love Gen's reaction to being watched over by the gods.  I love watching the characters begin to suspect things about each other even as they begin to care about and respect each other.

I love Megan Whalen Turner for creating these characters and this world.

Speaking of adults reading YA...

...I've had good results using the fantabulous Bog Child as a crossover read -- and it just won the Carnegie medal*, so I have yet another excuse to display it.

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*Making Siobhan Dowd the first person to win it posthumously.

A question for librarians & booksellers:

Who reads YA?

In the community I serve, the majority of patrons who use the YA section are most certainly YAs.  There are adults who regularly check out books from that section (for themselves), but they're in the minority -- I've found that most of my adult patrons, when confronted with that 'Y' sticker, will automatically give the book a pass.

But the community is heavily skewed towards the older set, as there are a lot of retirees.  So there is that.

You?

Waiting on the punchline...

James Frey Collaborating on a Novel for Young Adults, First in a Series

See Buffy Summers kick poor mopey Edward Cullen in the face.

Why has no one mentioned...

...that there is a third D. J. Schwenk book coming out in October!?

SO.  EXCITING!

Isn't this, like, REALLY OLD NEWS?

The New York Times explores the possibility that the youth of today may not connect with Holden Caulfield.

Castration Celebration -- Jake Wizner

After walking in on her dad getting (as Fabian puts it in Pulp Fiction) oral pleasure from one of his grad students, Olivia has sworn off guys.  So seriously that not only has she started researching castration, she's also decided to write a musical called Castration Celebration at the arts camp she's attending at Yale this summer.

Before she even manages to stow her luggage in her dorm room, though, she meets Max.  Who is a total player -- a guy who doesn't know what commitment is, a guy who lets his penis make his decisions for him.  Much sparring ensues, and many sparks fly. 

Castration Celebration is full of quips, double entendres (and many, many single-entendres) and witty banter.  As Olivia's play is modeled after Much Ado About Nothing as well as her summer experience, it's got plenty of references to Shakespeare.  (And, actually, a cameo from Shakespeare himself -- not Will Shakespeare, but Shakespeare Shapiro, from Wizner's previous book.)  It's ribald and lewd and bawdy and funny.  The musical numbers -- including a song about Edward Cullen, oral sex and Bella's menstrual cycle sung to the tune of Sunday, Bloody Sunday -- are flat-out hilarious.

But.  The characters never come close to becoming real.  While their dialogue made me laugh, I never believed in Olivia or Max or any of the others.  I didn't root for them, worry about them, and, when I finished the book, I had no desire to revisit them.  They weren't unlikeable.  I just... didn't care about them.  So, by the end of the book, the humor felt tired.  Because while much of it was clever -- and it certainly made me laugh -- without an emotional core, the book amounted to a 291-page dirty joke.

I'm pretty positive that due to the drugs, profanity and all of the conversations about sex (there isn't any actual on-screen sex) this one wouldn't go over well with the folks in my previous post.  But I can certainly think of a few people I went to high school with who would've found it hilarious, regardless of the lack of depth.

Lookalike?

My co-worker pointed this one out:

 

(My apologies to Alea if she already covered this one!)

The Fugs...

...reference BOTH Sweet Valley High and Thursday Next.

Rock on, ladies.

Part-Time Indian has horrified some parents in IL.

From the Daily Herald:

The novel was chosen by a committee of English teachers at the high school and approved by department Chairman John Whitehurst. He defends the book and says the controversial passages need to be read in context.

"This book has positive life affirming values," Whitehurst said. "The main character is about the same age as our students. He's a really good kid adjusting to a new environment and looking to education as a way of getting ahead."

Whitehurst acknowledged the racier paragraphs but said the words are authentic.

It was originally required reading for all incoming freshman, but the school has introduced an alternate selection* for those who object to the language, etc. 

I think it's time to revisit that Alexie clip. (Any excuse, right?):

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*The article mentions that the title is Down River, but I'm not sure if they mean the John Hart or if they mean Will Hobbs' Downriver.  (I'm assuming the Hart.)  I checked the school website, but the summer reading page hasn't been updated.

Robert Pattinson hit by taxi while trying to flee insane Twihards.

Stop freaking out, he's fine.

Probably saved by the Power of His Magical, Vertical Hair.

Crazy though, right?  Yipes.

D.A. -- Connie Willis

Theodora Baumgarten has been awarded an insanely coveted spot as an IASA space cadet.  Even though she, unlike pretty much every person her age, didn't apply.  And even though she, unlike pretty much every person her age, didn't even consider applying, because she doesn't. want. to go. to space.

She ends up at the Academy a few short hours after her position is announced, but she certainly isn't going to take this lying down.  Not only is she going to get back to Earth -- with the help of a hacker friend -- she's going to winnow out the hows, whys and whos behind what she considers an abduction.

This is only the second Connie Willis I've read -- and so far, she and I are two-for-two.  I'm feeling the Connie Willis love.  D.A. = WAY FUN.

At 76 pages (including full-page illustrations (which oddly creeped me out a bit), biggish margins and smallish pages), it's short even for a novella.  It's more like a longish short story that doesn't have to share space with a bunch of other stories.  Which was fine by me, because, as I said, I loved it.

I enjoyed Theodora's voice, the story is funny and smart and riffs on SF (but affectionately), the slang felt right and real and never like the author was trying too hard, I believed in Theodora's friendship with Kimkim, the hows and whys and whos worked for me as did the ending.  It's one, I think, that would go over well with SF fans as well as being totally accessible to non-SF readers. 

Suggestions for more funny Connie Willis?  I've read a bit about some of her novels and it doesn't sound like they fall into that category...

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Previously:

Inside Job

Rites of Spring (Break): Ivy League, #3 -- Diana Peterfreund

First things first:

POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEE!!!

Okay, that's out of my system.

Mostly.

Even though that's out of my system (mostly), I must say that I'm pretty sure my love for him knows no bounds.

Some super-confusing time with Brandon and an ugly feud with a rival society on campus make Amy Haskel's winter absolutely miserable, so the idea of spending her very last Eli University spring break on Rose & Grave's private island is an attractive one.

Of course, this is Amy Haskel we're talking about.  And wherever Amy Haskel goes -- sometimes through no fault of her own -- there is trouble.  An accident-that-could-easily-have-turned-disastrous on the ferry ride over to Cavador Key sets the tone, and that accident is followed by out-and-out vandalism, anonymous threats and destruction.

There is a not-very-impressively-veiled spoiler in the next paragraph, but I just checked, and the back of the book also has a not-very-impressively-veiled spoiler about the same subject, so... it's your call.  If you choose to skip it, just know that anyone who loved the first two books in the series will love Rites of Spring (Break).

Some (like me), who carry an affection that tends in a certain direction ("Whoever could she be talking about?", you ask...), will lurrrve it even more.  I did feel that Amy took waaay too long in figuring everything out -- I had the various mysteries mapped out from the moment they were introduced, while it literally took the non-physically-violent equivalent of a blow to the head for Amy to start to put it together -- but as Amy's affections finally Moved in the Right Direction, I didn't mind her lack of Mystery Solving Brain Power.

As usual, I thank Diana Peterfreund for a total blast of a book -- a perfect-o chick-lit-ish beach book blend of mystery, romance, humor, smartassiness and action.  As I've said, this series is shelved in Grown-Up Land, but it's a perfect crossover for the older YA set.  Totally, totally looking forward to reading Book #4.

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Previously:

1.  Secret Society Girl
2.  Under the Rose

YA on stage.

There's a brief review of the Griffin Theatre Company's adaptation of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother at Time Out Chicago, and lots of pictures at the Griffin Theatre Blog:

 

Despite Jess' misgivings*...

I'm going to re-read The Thief.

And I'll be posting about it next Thursday -- so if you feel like re-reading (or reading for the first time!) and chattering about it, feel free to jump in, whether it's in the comments or your own post.

I'm SO looking forward to taking Eugenides home with me.

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*See comment #6.

New Attolia book.

I'd seen (on Facebook) that the new Attolia book had been announced.

Other than the title* and a 2010 release date, though, there wasn't any other info**.

Until now.

Commence hyperventilating now.

(via educating alice)

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*A Conspiracy of Kings.

**That I could find.

Gag.

If the fat sandwich didn't do you in, you should go and read* Justine Larbalestier's hella-disgusting (and hilarious) first kiss story.

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*Or re-read, if you've already read First Kiss, Then Tell.

Fathom -- Cherie Priest

Sometime in the 1930s, 18-year-old Nia is invited to take a break from working on her family's orchard and visit her wealthy aunt and cousin in Florida.  Her cousin Bernice is a New York sophisticate, worldly and -- as Nia's disapproving grandmother puts it -- "fast".

She is also, as Nia quickly discovers, extremely angry and totally bananas.  Her rage leads to a life-or-death confrontation between the girls which ends in a wholly unexpected manner:  Arahab, a water witch, takes Bernice beneath the waves -- because she needs human assistance to wake the sleeping Leviathan.

Unbeknownst to Arahab, another being witnessed the showdown -- an earth elemental who is determined to prevent her plan from succeeding.  So while Bernice is exploring her new existence and testing her new powers, Nia is going through a much slower transformation.  Their clash on the beach will not be their last meeting.

While I didn't really connect emotionally with the characters, I loved Fathom.  I loved it for its action-packedness (I read it in one sitting, occasionally having to force myself to go back and read bits more carefully because I kept getting so swept away in my WhatHappensNext excitement).  I loved it for its surprises (there was an excellent OMIGODWHAT moment).  I loved it for its Wicker Man-ish island cult, I loved it for its Battle Between Eternal Forces And How We Little Mortals Are But Pawns storyline, I loved that the elementals came off as what they were (immortal and inhuman) rather than what that type of creature reads like in many other stories (pretty much human, just wiser and more zen). 

I loved it for what I'm starting to think of as specifically Cherie Priest-ish stuff:

Her affectionate mockery of genre clichés (while still putting them to good use):

And all the candle nubs, left scattered in the grass--they weren't regular candles.  They had a greasy texture and a black coating.  Who used black candles?  No one up to any good, that's who.

Her imagery and description, as usual, were both so spot-on that I forgot I was reading and really felt like I was watching the events unfold in person.  And, as with her other books, I loved her use of real-world history and settings -- before Fathom, I never knew about the Gasparilla Pirate Festival or the Bok Tower Gardens, and now I need to visit the latter.  As well as pretty much all of the other National Historic Landmarks.

This was published as an adult novel, but as with Cherie Priest's other work, it has definite crossover potential.  Thumbs up and up and up.

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Previously:

Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Eden Moore, #1)
Wings to the Kingdom (Eden Moore, #2)

Dreadful Skin

Group seeks permission to burn library book.

Yeah.

I don't get it either.

Awesomely*, they are also demanding $120,000 in compensatory damages ($30,000) per plaintiff) for the horror of seeing Baby Be-Bop (pictured here, please don't sue me) in a library display.

They also want the mayor to resign for allowing the book to be displayed.  Or something.

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*In this case, 'Awesomely' is defined as 'totally batshittily crazily'.  There are a lot of book challenges that, while I don't agree with them, I can at least sort of understand where the complainant is coming from.  This one, not so much.  Unless they're hoping that the ridiculousity will get them more attention, and thus, support?  But then wouldn't the... I'm looking for a tactful word here... can't find one... insane nature of the suit work against them?  Or is it just about the money?

Just remember: John Green has a couple of major awards, at least one major nomination, and a bazillion starred reviews under his belt. Somehow that makes this even funnier.

WSJ doesn't know their YA.

So, I didn't link to the It Was, Like, a Dark and Stormy Night article because it was so annoying*. 

But now I am, because there are excellent rebuttals at EarlyWord (via Fuse) and Liz B.

And there you have it.

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*Dude, please.  When has teen fiction NOT been dark?  And yeah, the main character in Speak is miserable -- AFTER she was raped.  Not to mention the fact that that book is also rather amazing because it's hilarious as well as dark.  The whole article reads like the author's "facts" come from looking at a bunch of book covers and maybe -- MAYBE -- reading a sentence or two off of the backs of the books. 

Tanita's book has launched.

Go!  Win a copy!

The Angel of Death: Cameryn Mahoney, Book 2 -- Alane Ferguson

I'm a sucker for cover art that features toe tags.  I realize that might mean I have problems.

I read The Christopher Killer ages and ages ago, had on-the-cooler-end-of-lukewarm feelings about it, and never got around to posting those thoughts here.  So The Angel of Death is not my first go-round with Cameryn Mahoney, seventeen-year-old forensic genius.

Cammie has pressure on her from all different directions: she lives and works with her coroner father, who encourages her interest in forensics -- but she also lives with her Catholic grandmother, who thinks that her interest is going to send her to Hell.  She and Deputy Crowley are clearly attracted to each other, but she's still in high school AND they work together.  And then there's that whole thing with her mother:  for reasons explained and explored in the first book, Cammie's mother hasn't really been in the picture in a long, long time.  Now she's back in the picture.  Sort of.  But Cammie hasn't told her father. 

So that's a source of stress.

Add to that an extremely dead high school teacher found by Big Man On Campus Mr. HottieMcHotHot Eagle Scout Kyle O'Neil -- who takes a shine to Cammie during the investigation -- and there's suddenly a lot going on in a usually sleepy Colorado town.

I still haven't found a forensics series that I adore, adult or YA.  The subject is just, well, neat, but as of yet, the characterization and writing in every forensic mystery I've read gets overshadowed by the science -- for me, the investigation and the detecting work steal the show.  Angel of Death was not an exception, except that not much of the book dealt with the actual forensics.  So... yeah.

Part of my issue with the book was certainly personal -- among other things*, I just don't like Cammie very much.  She's prone to being amazingly tortured and angsty** ("Now everyone, it seemed, hovered over Cameryn, anxious to find out what was happening inside her head, as though they possessed a set of sharp autopsy instruments all their own, poised and ready to pick her mind and dissect her heart.") and she's very much the type of brilliant-yet-clueless heroine that I end up yelling "OH, COME ON!  REALLY?  WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?  HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO THE BAD GUY IS???  I HAD HIM PEGGED BY THE COPY ON THE BACK OF THE BOOK!" at, and so without the forensics to entertain me, this one, sadly, didn't really work for me.

But it has, like, five stars at Amazon, so I'm clearly in the minority.

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*I really did not find the dialogue believable.  Or the interactions between the teen characters.

**Just like I was in high school, so it's quite possible that the younger me would have enjoyed this much more.

Maybe you could publish it here, Mr. Burgess.

From the Guardian:

"I'm always getting asked 'is this you in this book?'" said Burgess, "so I thought I'd say what I'd done. It was also a good way of looking at what it's like being a teenager. I did it, it was finished, and my publisher at Andersen Press was happy with it. Memoirs don't sell as well as fiction, but it was all sorted, but then they had it read for libel."

Well, I want to read it.  So I hope it works out, and I hope it works out so he can publish it as an actual memoir, rather than fiction.

Catching Fire: The Second Book of the Hunger Games -- Suzanne Collins Read for the 4th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge.

I can't say much about Catching Fire, as it's not out until September and I don't want to risk spoilers.

I found it a very tense read, both emotionally gripping and action-packed.  I read it, like its predecessor, in one sitting, and except for one rather major issue with the plotting which I can't go into for obvious reasons, I really enjoyed it.

I'll write about it at length when the pub date arrives, of course. 

And I'll continue to proudly wear my mockingjay pin until then.

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Previous Challenge Reads:

The Name of the Game Was Murder
Bloody Jack
Wild Girls
Nobody's There

Nobody's There -- Joan Lowery Nixon Read for the 4th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge.

Abbie Thompson, 17, goes a little haywire when her father leaves the family, starts dating a much younger woman and buys a shiny red convertible.  So she chucks a rock through That Woman's apartment window. 

Because she has no prior record and there are clearly extenuating circumstances, the judge puts her on probation and requires that she join the Friend to Friend teens-helping-seniors program.  If she sticks it out (and keeps her nose clean) for a year, he'll give her a clean slate.

Unfortunately, Abbie doesn't get paired up with a sweet little tea-drinking, bon-bon-eating, Chinese-checker-playing, sunflower-hat-wearing grandmother-type.  No, she gets matched up with Edna Merkle, a crusty, bossy, grouchy old battleaxe who dresses like Claudia Kishi and thinks she's a PI.  Edna may be crazy (and crazy obnoxious), but she isn't stupid -- and when someone attacks and almost kills her, Abbie realizes too late that Mrs. Merkle may have been onto something big.  With the help of her 10-year-old brother and the comatose Mrs. Merkle's notebook, Abbie needs to crack the case so that someone doesn't get away with attempted murder.

Sadly, Nobody's Home was pretty weak.  It was one of Joan Lowery Nixon's later books -- it came out in 2000 and she died three years later -- and it just didn't have the spark that some of the others did.  It didn't feature much in the way of crazy-ass similes like The Name of the Game Was Murder.  Instead, it had the most cliched mid-life crisis/divorce storyline you could imagine (complete with cardboard Terrible Father, Sleazy New Girlfriend and Weepy Mother), a whole lot of stilted Scooby-Doo-ish dialogue:

"You're the worst kind of backstabbing snitch.  The world would be better off without you in it." (30)

"That car was headed right for us.  Didn't you see how fast he was traveling?  The driver didn't even slow down." (98)

"You and that old hag just couldn't mind your own business, could you!" (194)

and a plot devoid of twists.  Oh, and an awesome bit where Abbie calls the police station and they have no issue with giving her loads of information about the case.  I can take it when it's Nancy Drew getting info from the River Heights PD 24/7.  Anyone else, no go.

Not her best effort.  Rats.  But, you know how it is -- if you write over 130 books, there are bound to be a few stinkers.

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Previous Challenge Books:

The Name of the Game Was Murder (also JLN)
Bloody Jack
Wild Girls

Bloody Jack: Mary "Jacky" Faber, Book #1 -- L. A. Meyer Read for the 4th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge.

When Mary Faber was eight years old, she lost her family to sickness.  For the next four years -- she reckons, give or take -- she lived on the streets of London with a small gang of orphans, begging and stealing to survive.  When her maybe-future-sweetheart is murdered in an alley, she makes sure that her surrogate family is provided for, cuts her hair off, changes her name to Jack and goes to sea.

Life as a ship's boy on the Dolphin can be hard -- the work, dealing with the crew and the officers and the other ship's boys, all of it -- but it's also the first time in years that Jacky hasn't had to worry about where her next meal will come from.  Now she just has to be sure that no-one discovers her secret -- if it comes out, she knows she'll be dropped off at the nearest port, marooned on a deserted island or much worse, hanged.

Yes, yes.  I know.  I can't believe I'm only just now getting to Bloody Jack, either.  I felt that the romance in the middle slowed it down quite a bit, and that the ending was somewhat abrupt*, but other than that... well.  Let's just say I'm kicking myself for not having grabbed the whole series when I was at the library yesterday.

It was her voice that did it -- Jacky won me over completely and immediately.  I liked that she wasn't perfect, that she liked to wind people up and that she was a bit of a show-off; I loved that she didn't fall into the super-tomboy-tough-girl-adventurer character-type, that she was not a fighter, she didn't turn her nose up at "girl stuff", that she was quick to tears and that she rather reveled in being found attractive as a girl while still understanding the drawbacks of being a woman in her world.  I believed in her.

I loved this passage about her bout with sea-sickness:

The next day the wind and seas gets even rougher and the boat adds some new moves in its dance through the waves, which are now like mountains, and we goes up and down and now sideways and over and I don't get up for three days, 'cept to crawl to the head to spew up the vile juice in me gut through one of the holes, then I crawls back to the kip and gets sick again but this time I don't make it to the head and I had to clean it up, which makes me sicker yet.  I'm makin' me usual deals with God and hopes that Jesus will come take me in His lovin' arms, but once again He don't come and on the next day Jaimy brings me some food and I eats it and keeps it down, and on the next day I am up and I never gets seasick again.

It made me feel ill, just sitting here in my chair.  It's a good thing I wasn't reading in the car.  Oh, and the conversation the boys have about Jesus and His tattoos -- for that bit ALONE, the book would be worth reading.  I howled.  So, so, funny.  And, conversely (in that it wasn't at all funny) but similarly (in that it, alone, would make the whole book worthwhile) is the scene where Jacky is first called Bloody Jack.  But the book is worth reading for many more reasons than those two.  The major one being, as I said, Jacky herself.

I really want to know what happens next.  Grrr.

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*I realize that there are a bazillion more in the series, but it wasn't so much what happened and where it left Jacky as it was how fast it happened. 

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Previous Challenge Books:

The Name of the Game Was Murder

The Name of the Game was Murder -- Joan Lowery Nixon Read for the 4th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge.

The Name of the Game Was Murder is Joan Lowery Nixon's take* on the classic Island Mystery set-up**, but it isn't just that -- it's also a solve-the-puzzle-to-find-the-treasure story.  The difference is that the characters aren't seeking a nice treasure, like in The Last Treasure.  Oh, no.  They're looking for a hidden manuscript that contains career-ending, life-ruining secrets.

Fifteen-year-old aspiring writer Samantha Burns invites herself to her great-aunt's house for a vacation because she wants some face-time with her great-aunt's husband:  novelist Augustus Trevor.

Turns out, he's a total jerk.  He's got two sides -- nasty and nastier.  It also turns out that her visit coincides with a treasure hunt/house party he has planned.  At first, despite her disappointment about her great-uncle's disposition, Sam is excited at the thought of rubbing elbows with celebrities:  an actress, a romance novelist, a football star, a Senator and a clothing designer***.  But she soon realizes that this is no regular house party -- none of the guests are really here by choice -- their "invitations" all included the line:

"If you don't take part, you'll soon regret it."

At dinner on the first night, Mr. Trevor outlines the game he's come up with:  Each guest will receive a series of clues, and the person who solves the puzzle won't be included in his tell-all book.  Everyone else will be ruined.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who's read a single murder mystery:  Augustus Trevor doesn't make it through the night alive.  And so it becomes a race to find the manuscript before the police investigation begins:  For Sam, because she believes the manuscript will be the key to finding the murderer, and for everyone else -- including her aunt -- because if it is destroyed, all of their darkest secrets will be safe.

I can't believe I just spent so much time explaining the very simple premise of this book.  I found, actually, that as I read, I kept trying to make the story more complicated than it was:  MAYBE HE'S NOT REALLY DEAD!  MAYBE THE HOUSEKEEPER IS ACTUALLY HIM OH NO WAIT THERE WAS THAT SCENE WHERE SHE WAS IN THE ROOM WITH HIM DAMN WELL MAYBE HE'S HIDING IN THE SERVANT'S HOUSE AND THE SERVANTS ARE ALL IN ON IT AND HE'S REALLY A JOLLY NICE FELLOW AND THERE'S A GOOD REASON FOR ALL OF THIS!  (That would be The Westing Game influence.)  Let me help you out here:  He's really dead.  He's really a nasty piece of work, and he's really dead.  There.  Now you can read it and try to figure out the clues without distraction.

I'll give you a hint, though -- you don't need the clues.  If, as you read, you keep an eye out for the MOST OBVIOUS HIDING PLACE THERE IS, you'll do just fine.  And you'll probably find the manuscript a good 120 pages before Sam, despite her Puzzle Prowess.

Joan Lowery Nixon does lurrrve the similes -- a few for your enjoyment:

Finally, his pupils, swimming like fat fish in goldfish bowls, focused on me. (4)

...her golden eyes [she's a sparklepire?] trained on Thea like piercing spotlights. (20)

...her words dragged, plopping themselves down like reluctant feet. (23)

I actually stopped keeping track of them because, despite the silliness of many aspects of the story, I got pulled in -- and despite my being almost 99.98% sure about the identity of the murderer, there were moments that had me genuinely feeling the suspense.  So, fun.  I'm glad I've decided to revisit Nixon and Duncan.

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*Or at least one of her takes -- she's got so many books that I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that there are more.

**You know the one:  A murder occurs at a gathering in an isolated area while there is coincidentally a storm so that all of the characters are stuck together with a body and a killer for at least a weekend.  Think And Then There Were None.

***Who wears at one point, I kid you not, a shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest and what must be the world's largest ascot.

Nooooooooo!

I just heard back from the publicist, and Posh and Prejudice got pushed back to December.

Which means you'll have to wait ages for it and I'll have to wait even longer for the third installment. 

NOOOOOOOOOOO!

I loaned both ARCs to my co-worker and she said that while she really liked the first one, she thought that the second blew it right out of the water.  So put 'em both on your TBR lists, kiddos, even though there's going to be a horrid, horrid wait.

Thank you, Chrissy.

Bless you.  I'm sorry I've been such total crap (or more crap than usual) at emailing recently.

If this image isn't working for you, go here.

Horn Book/Boston Globe awards announced.

And the fiction winner/runners-up were...

Zzzzzz.

(I'm sorry.  I love book awards, I do, and I should Represent the New England and all, but it's the same three books that won (or were up for) every other award, so I'm unable to work up much excitement.  But, you know.  Maybe I just need more tea.)

A few links.

• Ed asks Sherman Alexie to expand on his comments about the Kindle.
• Are you following the NerdsHeartYA Tournament?
• The Orange Prize now has a teen shadow panel.  They read the same twenty books that the official judges did and came up with a completely different shortlist.  I think this is a cool idea -- a way of involving audiences that might not usually be all that aware of certain awards & books.
• A Wisconsin library board unanimously voted NOT to restrict teen access to certain books.

Posh and Prejudice: A Diary of a Chav Novel, #2 -- Grace Dent

After receiving unexpectedly fantastic grades, our Shiraz Bailey Wood, 16, finds herself with a choice:  stay on full-time at her mind-numbing minimum-wage job frying eggs at Mr. Yolk OR enroll in Superchav Academy's new "Center of Excellence" for Sixth Formers.  Despite her mother's opinion that pursuing any higher education equals "farting about after school instead of earning a living", Shiraz decides to GO FOR IT. 

And go for it she does.  The Center for Excellence pulls in students from all over the area, so Shiraz finds herself at school not just with the people she's grown up with, but with some posh types.  Which leads to a real change in perspective for her, and a whole lot of new questions, theories and dramatics about life.

Oh, I LOVE THESE BOOKS.  So much so that I've had to physically restrain myself from going all Fangirl RRROWR on the teen reviewer who has been describing Book Two as "boring and not funny" in various spots online.  I'm very proud of my maturity.  Anyway. 

I finished Posh and Prejudice* and followed it up by throwing a tantrum** because I didn't have another one.  Seriously, how long will I have to wait for Book Three?  A whole year?  Because I don't know if I can do it.  "Boring and not funny" does not these books describe.  At least for me.

Again, there are surface similarities to the Rennison books (diary format, lots of British slang, chicklitty feel), but I like Shiraz so much more than Georgia.  She's more of a real person, for one, but beyond that, she's also less selfish and more loving.  She cares.  A lot.  Her family drives her bananas and when her perspective begins to change, she definitely feels some embarrassment about them, but she loves them none the less.  And she's protective of them.

I loved that Shiraz's feelings about Wesley***, her family, her world, the new people she's getting to know and the new worlds she's beginning to explore (the world outside Goodmayes, the world of academia, the world that the posher students inhabit) are complicated.  She doesn't have easy answers and even if she was willing to ask someone, there wouldn't be any easy answers to give. 

I think these are books that can easily be read on multiple levels -- yes, on the surface, they're light and funny and some people might be tempted to dismiss them as being substanceless.  But they aren't.  Shiraz's situation -- at home, romantically, at school, her vision of the future -- is complicated.  And so is she.

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*Supposedly, P&P is being released this month, but Amazon has it listed as December and doesn't have cover art up -- I emailed LB to see what the deal is, and I'll update this, hopefully later today.  The only image I could find online was this eensy one:

**Not even remotely exaggerating.  Ask Josh.

***This storyline was especially well-done -- I don't even have a direction I'm rooting for the story to go in, because it's such a difficult, mix-y situation.  I feel sad for both of them.  And I love them both, too.

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Previously:

Diary of a Chav/Diva without a Cause

New blog alert.

And it's one that's perfect for me:  Kelly Herold will be exploring books that Crossover.

The New Moon trailer.

I see that the filmmakers decided to forgo the werewolf/clothing problem: 

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Wow.  Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson still have zero chemistry.  His makeup is still way over the top and he always looks constipated.  (Which, to be fair to RPattz, is a fair reading of the character.)

But I must say that little Taylor Lautner, sans wig, is quite... attractive. 

Frannie in Pieces -- Delia Ephron

Although Frannie's parents divorced when she was quite young, they still live close together.  Only eight blocks away.  Frannie lives with her mother and stepfather, but shares a close connection with her father.  They're both artists, and they understand each other.

Then Frannie's father dies suddenly just before her fifteenth birthday, and the world she lives in, the world full of beautiful things her father saw and shared with her, seems suddenly dangerous. 

While cleaning out his house, she finds a gorgeous wooden box with her name on it.  It contains a hand-carved, hand-painted jigsaw puzzle.  And so, in secret, she begins to put the pieces together.

Frannie in Pieces is sensitively written, in simple and effective prose.  It feels emotionally true, and the author never tries to explain Frannie's actions to the reader.  Frannie does what she does and Delia Ephron lets the reader figure it out.  Which is nice, and suggests some amount of confidence in the audience.  The inclusion of Frannie's drawings makes sense and makes Frannie that much more real.  The magical realism aspect of the story is also well done and never even threatens to overshadow the real focus of the book:  Frannie's mourning and her re-entry into life.

Frannie's mother's grief is also especially well-done.  It's understated -- her relationship with Frannie's father was (obviously) very different, and she's trying to help Frannie through her own grief -- but it's there, and I felt it even before Frannie was able to.  Oh, and Frannie's relationship with her stepfather is complex enough that it could be the focus of its own book, but like her mother's grief, it's an undercurrent.  And that adds depth to the story.

There's something really comfortable and mellow about the book in general -- some may not enjoy it because, really, even with the magic (if it is magic) and the mini-romance* and the camp sub-plot, it's a quiet, meditative book** -- and it mostly worked for me. 

The part that didn't work for me was this:  I couldn't believe Frannie was fifteen.  I kept thinking of her as about twelve, but then her age would come up or something would remind me and I'd get all distracted.  So finally I just gave up on trying to make that work and just thought of her as twelve, text be damned.  And after that I was fine.

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*Frannie's didn't work for me so well, but her friend Jenna's did -- I liked that her guy said something along the "small, good thing" line from that Raymond Carver story.  And I liked that Frannie didn't think he came up with it himself -- she thought he was quoting someone and not attributing his source.  HA!  Actually, that bit is online right here.

**Which, really, makes the jigsaw-puzzle-as-plot-device a perfect choice.

I'm reading...

...Posh and Prejudice (the sequel to Diary of a Chav) at the moment.  Two things:

1.  I love it so very much that I found it very difficult to tear myself away, get out of bed and shower this morning.  I'm very proud of myself for doing so.

2.  I think that Shiraz Bailey Wood could have a future career in writing Cliffs Notes so wonderfully entertaining that they'd be worth reading just for the sake of reading, whether you actually wanted help with the source material or not.  Her summary of King Lear was priceless.

I had no idea...

...that someone had written -- let alone published! -- an unauthorized sequel to Catcher in the Rye.

Bad Girls Don't Die -- Katie Alender

Alexis isn't a fan of much other than photography.  At school, she's pretty content being an outcast -- some might say she revels in it a bit.  She hangs out with the Doom Squad (her secret name for the Goth kids), but she hasn't had a best friend since eighth grade, when harassment from the jerk cheerleaders drove Beth Goldberg across multiple state lines to Florida.

Her mother is constantly working, her father isn't there even when he is, and her thirteen-year-old sister is obsessed with dolls.  Life isn't great, but it is what it is.  And, hey:  How many fifteen-year-olds have their own darkroom in the house?

But then things start getting weird.  While photographing her house late one night, Alexis sees a weird glowing ball outside.  She tells herself it was a swarm of fireflies. 

Then Kasey, her sister, starts acting... different.  Alexis tries to tell herself that Kasey's just going through a phase -- that she's just suffering from massive moodiness -- but deep down she's well aware that most normal mood swings, no matter how drastic, don't involve black outs and a change in eye color.

Yay for spooky ghost stories and yay for Bad Girls Don't Die.  I really liked this one.  I even read it in the car.

Although I liked it a whole lot, it should certainly be mentioned that I had a running commentary about my issues going in the back of my brain, but I mostly just ignored it because I was enjoying myself so much.  My SPOILER-Y COMMENTARY focused mainly on my issues with Alexis' denial (I understood it to a point, but only to a point -- after that, COME ON and also as the ghost had approached her as well, I'd think that she'd be more likely to figure it all out a bit sooner) and her eagerness to fall for what was very obviously a red herring (didn't she think that the story that just Came To Her might possibly be important?) and the Cheerleader with a Heart of Gold Who is Also Psychic and Omigod Actually Personally Involved in the Mystery storyline was a little much for me END SPOILER-Y COMMENTARY.

Again, despite the issues, way fun.  Genuinely creepy, with likable characters, a snarky-but-not-too-snarky narrator (Alexis describes her house's "intricately-carved" foyer as looking like "a fairy tale had exploded all over the walls"), a decent amount of action and a believable romance.  Recommended if you'd like something along those lines and aren't in a nitpicky mood.  I'll be keeping an eye out for the author's next book.

Emily Climbs: Emily Byrd Starr, #2 -- L. M. Montgomery

Leave it to L. M. Montgomery herself to explain why I love her -- and her creations -- so very much:

It was not, of course, a proper thing to do.  But then I have never pretended, nor ever will pretend, that Emily was a proper child.  Books are not written about proper children.  They would be so dull nobody would read them.

All of her friends are going away to Shrewsbury High School, and it looks like she's going to be left behind at New Moon.  But then she makes a difficult and heart-breaking deal with Aunt Elizabeth -- Emily will be allowed to go to school for three years if she vows to write no fiction at all during that time.

Emily Climbs follows our Miss Starr as she grows up (from almost-fourteen to seventeen) and begins to find her place in the world.  As you'd expect from a Montgomery heroine, she gets into scrape after scrape; despairs on occasion but always eventually throws her shoulders back, dusts herself off and tries again; is hounded by unfair gossip; discovers romance; saves at least one small child; and is occasionally is aided by the most unlikely people.  And as you'd expect from a Montgomery heroine, ultimately, she triumphs over all adversity.

Just like last time, I dog-eared practically the whole book.  Which of course, ended up being less-than-helpful.  But, for me, some of the highlights:

• Emily's musings on words and writing:  "Big words are never beautiful--'incriminating'--'obstreperous'--'international'--'unconstitutional'.  They make me think of those horrible big dahlias and chrysanthemums Cousin Jimmy took me to see at the exhibition in Charlottetown last fall."

• Her three-page diary entry refuting a city slicker's claim that nothing ever happens in Blair Water: "...Elder McCloskey, who thought it wouldn't do to say 'pants' in a story he was telling about a missionary, at prayer-meeting, so always said politely 'the clothes of his lower parts'..."

• The narrator's voice -- I quoted a bit earlier, but there are many other asides to the reader ("Remember that I am only Emily's biographer, not her apologist."), and I loved them all.

• Emily's adventures (of course), which I will not list because if you've read it, you'll remember and if you haven't, you should. 

• The fact that I came around about Teddy very early on.  I was so surprised by my abrupt emotional about-face, but there it is.  I rather love him now.  He and Emily totally belong together.  As do Ilse and Perry.  And I will be Very Put Out if it doesn't All Work Out.  I continue to be completely skeeved out by Dean.  AND HE'S A JERK ABOUT EMILY'S WRITING, ALL CONDESCENDING AND NOT WANTING HER TO SUCCEED.  I hadn't thought about it much until now, but I rather hate him.  Hence my use of the Caps Lock key.  Sorry about that.

• The Cousin Andrew plotline.

• OH MY GOD EMILY'S INADVERTENT EAVESDROPPING ON MRS. ANN CYRILLA AND MISS BEULAH POTTER!!!  I ALMOST DIED LAUGHING.  (Do you think LMM left the 'e' off of Mrs. Cyrilla's name because she's so horrible?)

• Emily and Aunt Ruth's relationship.

• Everything about the Perry and Emily alone at night misunderstanding, the Emily kissing a man on the street misunderstanding, and every other misunderstanding (and there are many) and embarrassment she endures.  Poor girl.  I certainly cringed with her, but never so much that I stopped enjoying myself.  I guess that this all falls under "Emily's adventures", but there are so many that it's worth mentioning twice.

• Horrible Evelyn Blake and the fact that Emily can be very catty.  "Evelyn is wearing her hair in the new pompadour style this year and I think it is very unbecoming to her.  But then, of course, the only part of Evelyn's anatomy I like is her back."

• The fact that Emily is a snob.  And that Ilse calls Emily on it.

• Emily's reason for feeling sorry for Evelyn Blake's failed exams.

• Miss Royal's interview.  I died.  Many times over.  Seriously.

• The beautiful parallel bits at the beginning and end:  Emily's first inkling of her feelings for Teddy early on in the graveyard, and her more breathtaking and so-gorgeous-it-hurts realization during the blizzard of just how much her feelings for him have deepened.  I love Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe, but nothing in their courtship -- not even the night that Anne thinks Gil is going to die -- touches this. 

I just requested a copy of Book #3 via BookMooch, but it'll be a while before it gets here.  Sad.

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Previously:

1. Emily of New Moon

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I read this book for the L. M. Montgomery mini-challenge.  My challenge post is here.

The September Sisters -- Jillian Cantor

Abigail Reed is two years and one day older than her sister, Becky.  Their desperation for the little attention their severely depressed mother can spare drives them to squabble and spar, but, like any pair of sisters, much of their fighting is caused by run-of-the-mill sibling rivalry. 

On the night before Abby's thirteenth birthday, Becky disappears. 

The September Sisters isn't a story about What Happens to the Missing like Living Dead Girl* or The Lovely Bones.  It isn't Becky's story.  It's Abby's.  It's about what happens to those who are left behind.

This book wasn't at all what I'd expected.  Which was a good thing -- practically everything I've picked up lately has had some sort of paranormal-oogity-boogity-twist, and I think I'd have been unhappy if this book had gone in a New Age-y Lovely Bones-ish direction.  Like I said, it didn't. 

It was set very much in the here-and-now (or, in the recent past, as Abby thinks back over the last two years) and doesn't involve any magical sisterly connection or anything like that.  Rather, it provides Abby's view of Life Before and Life After, shows how life continues for her, how it changes for her, and explores the questions:  Can the unknown (missing) be worse than the known (dead)?  Is it possible to grieve and hope at the same time?

It made me grateful for my sister.  It made me remember back to when we did do a lot of squabbling -- though I do think that Abby and Becky were much nastier to each other than we ever were -- and it made me happy that we've grown up together and are buddies now.  (Even if she still threatens me with physical violence if I don't hand over new reading material on a regular-enough basis.) 

It's an engrossing read, not at all action-packed, but not without suspense.  While the Missing Girl aspect reminded me of LDG and TLB purely because of plot similarities, the police investigation part of it made me think about of the Jon Benet Ramsey case -- how the outside world's attention and suspicion (neighbors, the press, the police), and undetermined guilt and innocence within a household could affect the people left behind**.  

So.  I wouldn't give this one to someone looking for the next cotton candy/black-and-white read, but if you know someone who'd enjoy and appreciate a thoughtful, questioning coming-of-age story with a strong voice, well-drawn characters and lots of grays, offer it up.

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*Which, by the way, you can win, along with all of Elizabeth Scott's other books.  But there is some hoop jumping involved.

**Every time I type the words 'left behind', I think of Kirk Cameron.  So let's have a little Kirk Cameron, shall we?  Heh heh.  That video never stops being funny.

Enter stage right: The Littlest Bella.

She's just as whiny as you'd expect her to be.

I concur.

Living Dead Girl:  Hardcover vs. Paperback.

I never had a problem with the original cover art, but there is something about the paperback that really works, and I think, works better.

And... thinking about that book has given me a big case of the icks again.  Thanks a lot, Alea.

Wondrous Strange -- Lesley Livingston

17-year-old Kelley Winslow is living the dream (or trying to) -- she recently moved to New York City, where she's attempting to break into the world of theater.  Due to a broken ankle on the part of the leading lady, she's just been moved up from gopher/understudy to the star of the show:  she'll be playing Titania in an off-off-off-off-off-off-off Broadway production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

18-year-old-(ish)* Sonny is a Janus guard.  He and twelve others, at the Winter King Auberon's command, guard the Samhain Gate in NYC's Central Park, the only place where everyday, run-of-the-mill fae can cross over to our world.  Eight years out of nine, it only opens for one night a year.  The last year of the cycle, the Gate is open for nine nights -- and the Janus guard is kept extremely busy trying to keep the fae in their own realm and out of ours.

This year, of course, is a nine-night year.  When Sonny meets Kelley, he knows that there's something different about her -- and it isn't only his immediate instinct to protect a lovely girl.  Though she's not yet ready to admit it to herself, Kelley knows that there's something about Sonny, too -- she shouldn't trust someone who's basically acting like, well, a stalker, but she does.  She knows, deep down, that there's something odd going on in general -- something bigger than the horse who's suddenly decided to take up residence in her bathtub -- and that it's going to be life-changing.

Theater, faeries, the inimitable Robin Goodfellow, Shakespeare, sparring royalty, action, romance, magic and mystery in NYC:  Wondrous Strange.

I'm a sucker for stories about mostly unseen magic in familiar places, as well as stories about the stage**, and obviously I like the action and romance and mystery.  So this one was a no-brainer of a pick for me.  I especially enjoyed the scenes at the theater, as well as the interactions between Sonny and the fae living in our world.  I enjoyed discovering the mostly unknown version of NYC with Kelley.  And while I saw most of the big twists coming***, there were still a lot of minor surprises that made me happy.

I did think that some of the dialogue didn't work -- occasionally it pulled me right out of the story because I just couldn't bring myself believe that someone would actually say those things aloud****.  The prose was occasionally a bit flowery for my personal taste*****, but as I said, that's very much a personal issue.  And in a book that deals with Shakespeare, I think it's quite understandable that the author'd be feeling a little flowery.

So, overall, fun.  I enjoyed it.  I think it'll certainly be popular with the urban fantasy/romance/subset:theaterlover crowd.  (That's a crowd, right?)  And I always approve of YA novels that bring attention to the classics.  Unless it's providing a positive portrayal of Wuthering Heights.  Yecch.

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*SEMI-SPOILER:  I never quite got a handle on how aging works in this book.  Maybe it was explained and I just missed it.  Does it have to do with the realm or the genetics?  I assume that the Faerie royals can majick people to retard the aging process, but I did wonder if Kelley took longer to grow up or what.  Because I thought Sonny'd been around much longer than her, but if they were about the same age when they were kids... I DON'T KNOW!  It didn't bother me while I was reading, but now it's making me a bit crazy.  END SEMI-SPOILER

**I actually wished there'd been more of that -- got any good theatre/theater book recommendations?

***BIG SPOILER:  For someone raised among the fairies, Sonny's mistake was a pretty bone-headed one.  I mean, jebus.  If it makes me say, "NO, YOU ASS!  NOOOOO!" OUT LOUD, I know that it's especially bad.  END BIG SPOILER

****SPOILER:  Like:  "To loose that insatiable, death-mad Faerie war band on an unsuspecting mortal populace here--the carnage would be unspeakable, the death toll catastrophic!"  I just... the characters in the conversation are well aware of the Wild Hunt and what it is, so it wasn't a necessary line in the scene -- it felt like the line was the author's way of imparting information to the reader.  Which pulled me right out.  Not a major issue, but stuff like that gets to me.  END SPOILER

*****The line on the back of the book is a good example of this:  "She felt his arms tighten around her as they spiraled up, borne aloft on wings that were dark as the night, bright as a new star."  Not my thing.  But, then, the Roys are known for their tendency to get all squicked out by flowery romance-y stuff.  We're all kind of like 9-year-old boys in that respect.

Diary of a Chav -- Grace Dent Reprinted in the US as Diva without a Cause

From the book description:

Chav: (n.) A British insult for white working-class people fixated on street fashions derived from American hip-hop such as imitation gold and fake designer clothing, e.g., "It's a bruv who wears crap clothing and manky gold jewelry, innit?"

As she's been "ramming the word iPod into every sentence since last June", 15-year-old Shiraz Bailey Wood is less-than-pleased to receive a diary for Christmas.  But, as there's nothing else to do, she starts writing.

And she keeps writing.

And thank goodness she did, as her hilariousity kicked me right out of my reading slump.  With her crazy family (difficult mother, nice but useless father, incomprehensible and artsy older sister, obnoxious video game-obsessed younger brother, and morbidly obese dog), her quick wit and constant stream of slang that made me wish I wasn't reading an ARC because the real book includes a glossary, Grace Dent's Shiraz Bailey Wood reminded me of a slightly older, less sheltered, working class version of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson. 

But while Georgia, over the course of at least nine books, never really worries overly much about anything other than her eyebrows and who to snog, Shiraz, over the course of one, starts to wonder if there might be more to life than the world she's grown up in and around.  Shiraz's voice is different from everything I've picked up lately, so refreshing and new -- she won me over immediately and I spent the entirety of the book rooting for her.

AND I wouldn't have guessed it from the cover (a thought that Shiraz would have labeled "prejudicial", so Shiraz, I do apologize and I was very wrong), but Diary of a Chav had depth.  It also made me laugh out loud A LOT -- so much so that as I read, I kept interrupting Josh's own reading to read bits aloud to him* -- so it wasn't the sort of depth that ever felt heavy.  It was the sort of depth that made Shiraz feel like a real person trying to figure out real stuff.  I love my Georgia, but she's a bit of a cartoon.  That can't be said of Shiraz. 

I'm looking forward to the sequel in a big, big way.

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*He laughed, too.  And he wasn't pulling the old smile-and-nod to get me to shut up.  Believe me, I know the difference.

Blame the lack of posting on Good Deed Time and one other (less admirable) thing.

No review -- or much of anything -- this morning, because I was too busy perusing the wishlist at the GuysLitWire/InsideOUTWriters Book Fair for Boys.

I ended up donating copies of Stephen King's On Writing, Graham McNamee's Acceleration and Ned Vizzini's It's Kind of a Funny Story.

If you use guyslitwire@gmail.com at the Powell's Wishlist Lookup page, you can see the full book list, and, if you've got a few spare dollars and the desire, you can very easily donate a book or two.

For a full explanation of the project, as well as complete ordering instructions (like, where to have the books shipped -- very important!) see this post at Guys Lit Wire.

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I will now go back to reading the rumors about a possible Holmes/Cruise divorce. 

Yes, I am ashamed of myself.

But not so ashamed that I will stop.

Under the Rose: An Ivy League Novel, #2 -- Diana Peterfreund

So, it's been a while since I almost got run over while reading Secret Society Girl.

I decided to be safer this time around -- I read it in the bathtub.  All went swimmingly.  (Har har.  Man, I'm hilarious.)

Under the Rose is set during the first semester of Amy Haskel's senior year at Eli University.  She'd be a busy lady even if she didn't have Rose & Grave, the secret society that tapped her -- and a few other ladies, the first women ever invited to join the almost 200 year old club -- to worry about.  And there's a lot of Digger business to worry about. 

There're the patriarchs who are still angry about the decision to admit women.  There's attrition among the club members, something that hasn't happen in like, forever.  There's conflict among the Diggirls, and between the Diggirls and the male Diggers.  Someone is sending the Diggirls creepy (and, even more worrisome to Amy, grammatically incorrect) emails.  And there may be a traitor in their ranks.

That's just club business.  There's also her complicated love life.  And the fact that she still hasn't decided on a thesis topic.

YAY.  I'm so happy that the second installment stood up to the first.  I like Amy, with her footnotes, editing geekery, conspiracy theories, tenacity (some might say mulishness) and ability to be attracted to lots of guys at the same time without always moaning on about being over-sexed *coughZoeyRedbirdcough*.   Brandon irritated me far less this time around, as he wasn't making goo-goo eyes constantly.  I actually kind of liked him.  Maybe it's the hard to get thing.  George, despite being Mr. Hottiepants, was the one I found particularly slappable this time around.

But, yes, not at all surprisingly, it's Poe that I love.  He's so cranky!  And smart!  And... and... cranky!  Love him.  I say again:  although it's set in college and was published as an adult series, I'd highly recommend it to those of you who're looking for chicklitish YA.  Way perfect for the upcoming beach weather.

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Previously:

1.  Secret Society Girl

So, I'm way behind on my blog reading (as usual)...

...but how awesome was Lois Lowry's BOB Finale post?

She rules.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group -- Catherine Jinks

Vampires.  It's been hard to avoid them over the last few years, what with their sparkly skin and their super strength and speed and extra-sensory powers, amazingly good looks and ability to sell 80 bazillion books without breaking a sweat or breathing hard.  (Or breathing at all, for that matter.) 

Nina Harrison is here to tell us the truth about being a vampire. 

Being a vampire isn't the slightest bit sexy.  Or exciting.  Or fun.  Every Tuesday night, she has to go to a meeting of The Reformed Vampire Support Group and listen to a bunch of sickly vamps whinge on and on about their monotonous lives.  That, and she gets lectured about how her Nadia Blackstone novels are propagating unhelpful and unfair myths about vampires, thus making their existence more dangerous.  This has been her life for 25 years, since 1973, when she was fanged at age fifteen.

The mysterious slaying of a fellow support group member is scary, yes.  But it's also exciting.  Because now, with a few of the other members of the group, she's going to track down the killer.

I was really excited about this one, because it sounded like such a fun take on the vampire genre and just so different from what's been cluttering up my shelves and floor and mailbox lately.  And because I loved the cover art.

I still love the cover art.  Actually, I like it even more after having read the book.

The inside of the book didn't do a whole lot for me.  Yeah, it was a cool idea, and I get that the repetitiveness of Nina's existence was very probably deliberate because that's how she felt about her life and as she was telling the story, that'd be expected to come through, BUT that kind of repetition doesn't make for much entertainment value.  For me, anyway. 

I never really felt much of anything for the characters.  While I read, I wasn't particularly concerned about their safety and mostly distracted because I couldn't figure out if Dave (a vamp in the support group) was in lurrrve with Nina or if he was secretly her long-lost, unknown father.  (Actual biological father, not her sire.  She knows who to blame her vampirism on.)  I was very surprised when, at the end of the book, the answer to that question made me smile -- that reaction suggested that I cared more than I thought I did.  Despite that, when I closed the book, I had no desire to open it again.  Or to revisit Nina & Co. at another time for another adventure.

All of that isn't to say that there aren't good things about the book -- I enjoyed seeing how Catherine Jinks played with the conventions of the genre (Horace alone made the book ultimately worthwhile for me) and the writing is smart.  And quite often witty.  

But I still didn't find it ultimately enjoyable.  My lack of emotional attachment, as I said, was the main issue -- hardly any of the characters were particularly likable (whining gets really old really fast, and most of them do a lot of it) and hardly any of the characters were all that interesting* -- but I also felt like Nina just told, told, told me the story, rather than letting me experience it.  This book is similar in a lot of ways to the Evil Genius books (tone and style, crazy plot twists), but I felt that there was much more to Cadel and his co-stars than to any of the characters in this one.

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*I can do unlikable if I'm trying to understand what makes someone tick.  But if the inner workings of the mind and heart are pretty apparent from minute one, there isn't much to figure out.

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Previously:

Evil Genius
Genius Squad