woah, the Boston Globe surprised me with their Book section. There's many entertaining interactive features, which I spent some time fiddling with.
100 New England Books list, which allows you to click "read" or "want to read" and keeps track of the total.
And top used book stores in Boston! One weekend I'm going to go on a treasure hunt and splurge at some of these stores.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Secret Society Girl
I had medium expectations for Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund. I read from a blogger whose opinion I trust that the Ivy League series is a witty, funny one, but I had my doubts. I judged the book by its cover. Girl with a green sweater tied around her shoulders? It is just too similar to the many other series about college life for the privileged. And the book's premise seemed to support this view. Amy Haskel is selected to join a powerful secret underground society at an elite university. Not only does this girl attend an Ivy highbrow school, she's also picked to be in a group that's seen as above the school's general populace. She's the elite of the elite. Yet, Peterfreund complicates this because as a member of the first group of girls to join the society, she has to defend her position.
What really drew me into the story, though, was the narrator's voice. She's smart, she's funny, and she makes convincing mistakes.
There's an interesting romantic sidestory that didn't go the way I thought it would as well.
I'll look out for more in this series.
What really drew me into the story, though, was the narrator's voice. She's smart, she's funny, and she makes convincing mistakes.
There's an interesting romantic sidestory that didn't go the way I thought it would as well.
I'll look out for more in this series.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Dust of 100 Dogs
Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King
The narrator's (and main character's) voice immediately captured me. What a strong and fierce heroine! She sort of reminds me of E. Lockhart's Frankie-Landau Banks, brilliant and sort of crazy. Saffron often has violent eye-plucking fantasies. At first the flashbacks to Saffron's past life as Emer naive (in love) Irish girl to feared swashbuckling pirate, annoyed me, but only because I didn't understand the point of them. Looking back, though, the flashbacks do a good job in laying the foundation of Emer's character. I enjoyed the 'Dog Tip' sections (Saffron recounts some of her past lives--of which there are 100--they were entertaining and imaginative. However, there was one brief moment I thought a bit off.
Here's the excerpt about the Civil War:
Besides that minor tiff, this book was a fantastic read. An angry read, but in the end hopeful. I recommend it to those who love adventure, pirates, and kickass girls.
The narrator's (and main character's) voice immediately captured me. What a strong and fierce heroine! She sort of reminds me of E. Lockhart's Frankie-Landau Banks, brilliant and sort of crazy. Saffron often has violent eye-plucking fantasies. At first the flashbacks to Saffron's past life as Emer naive (in love) Irish girl to feared swashbuckling pirate, annoyed me, but only because I didn't understand the point of them. Looking back, though, the flashbacks do a good job in laying the foundation of Emer's character. I enjoyed the 'Dog Tip' sections (Saffron recounts some of her past lives--of which there are 100--they were entertaining and imaginative. However, there was one brief moment I thought a bit off.
Here's the excerpt about the Civil War:
All of this for slavery. All of this for a white man's right to own a black man...Crazy right?OK, my government teacher in high school would have been upset at this. It oversimplifies the civil war. Yes, slavery was a large part of it, but not the whole part.
Besides that minor tiff, this book was a fantastic read. An angry read, but in the end hopeful. I recommend it to those who love adventure, pirates, and kickass girls.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Potato Peel Pie? Yes please!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is a treat. It's one of those books that you speed through while simultaneously wishing that you never reach the last page. An epistolary novel that works extremely well, even when the letter writers meet face-to-face. I fell in love with all of the characters. I'm definitely going to re-read the book to soak all the details in like the Jasper Fforde books.
One of the reasons I love the Guardian
It's just a small snippet, but how funny! Apparently Alison Uttley, writer who created the Little Grey Rabbit, fought off children with an umbrella.
Here's a quote:
Here's a quote:
As Uttley hadn't bothered to listen to a word I'd told her, she was completely unprepared for this. Dimly, she perceived an overwhelming mob running at her and with British pluck she unhesitatingly grabbed her duck-handled umbrella and waded into the attack, felling infants right and left. The kiddies paused, briefly regrouped, then broke up and ran off, screaming in terror. Uttley strode among them, lashing out freely.
Memoirs
Nowadays I'm sick of memoirs. Celebrity memoirs, president memoirs, fake memoirs, and part fiction part fact memoirs. In the fall I took a course called Modern fiction and this girl told the class that her senior thesis was on the explosion in number of memoirs in the 90s. The professor also commented that many writers today often begin by publishing a memoir (or a fictional piece, which is really a thinly disguised autobiography) and then move on to fictional works. Why!?
I feel like a lot of memoirs serve more of a therapeutic purpose for the author than actually presenting the reader with anything of real value.
Yet, from a distanced perspective, memoirs, in theory, are interesting. This La Times author discusses the ethics of memoir writing. What happens when you're telling someone else's story? What happens if you recall an event different than someone else?
Here's a quote:
What is interesting about memoirs is that they necessarily blend fact and fiction. They are derived from the 'real world.' The characters in memoirs are real people walking around and trying to go about their real lives. Fiction writers don't have this problem. None of their characters can call them up and say, "I'm nothing like that!" or "That didn't happen like you wrote it." In memoirs people can question the author's version of reality, while fiction writers freely create their own realities.
This article made me think about the Melvin Burgess kerfuffle. He's an author who's known for his controversial young adult fiction. Recently he wanted to publish a story which has strong ties to his real life growing up. His publisher decided not to publish it because of the 'invasion of privacy' clause.
Writing that invades a person's privacy...I guess this could be true, I wouldn't want thousands of people putting me under the microscope (which may distort things). Yet, no matter the story, doesn't it have the right to be told? Or is the answer that writers need to take up an ethical responsibility and inform the people that they wrote about them and give them a chance to challenge their version.
The La Times author suggests that people who have had their stories told for then take up a pen themselves. I tend to agree. Instead of laws limiting free speech, maybe people should be encouraged to speak for themselves.
I feel like a lot of memoirs serve more of a therapeutic purpose for the author than actually presenting the reader with anything of real value.
Yet, from a distanced perspective, memoirs, in theory, are interesting. This La Times author discusses the ethics of memoir writing. What happens when you're telling someone else's story? What happens if you recall an event different than someone else?
Here's a quote:
This was the beginning of my understanding of the most serious moral principle of memoir: The act of writing about another person occurs not just in the world of literature but in real life. It cannot help but change your relationship, and this should be the first thing you think about.
What is interesting about memoirs is that they necessarily blend fact and fiction. They are derived from the 'real world.' The characters in memoirs are real people walking around and trying to go about their real lives. Fiction writers don't have this problem. None of their characters can call them up and say, "I'm nothing like that!" or "That didn't happen like you wrote it." In memoirs people can question the author's version of reality, while fiction writers freely create their own realities.
This article made me think about the Melvin Burgess kerfuffle. He's an author who's known for his controversial young adult fiction. Recently he wanted to publish a story which has strong ties to his real life growing up. His publisher decided not to publish it because of the 'invasion of privacy' clause.
Writing that invades a person's privacy...I guess this could be true, I wouldn't want thousands of people putting me under the microscope (which may distort things). Yet, no matter the story, doesn't it have the right to be told? Or is the answer that writers need to take up an ethical responsibility and inform the people that they wrote about them and give them a chance to challenge their version.
The La Times author suggests that people who have had their stories told for then take up a pen themselves. I tend to agree. Instead of laws limiting free speech, maybe people should be encouraged to speak for themselves.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Guardian, Spy Kids and Summer Reads
I've recently been reading articles from The Guardian, a UK newspaper. I'm most interested in children's literature, so I was pleased to discover that the guardian has a really strong children's section, which The New York Times lacks. The Guardian also publishes short stories which tend to be excellent, though maybe a little on the depressing side. Also, I've spent a good while browsing their top tens lists. The quality of the list of course depends on its author, but there are quite a few fun quirky lists/titles that are fun to browse. My favorite is Benjamin Obler's top 10 fictional coffee scenes. Delicious.
Anyways, the children's section had a article on the recent spy kid phenomonen. Kids (both girls and boys) are just devouring spy novels with teen protagonists. The author theorizes that it's because it fulfills the "make me special" desire. I agree, but I think it's also about split identity. Many of the main characters like Anthony Horrowitz's Alex Rider, struggle with maintaining their spy life along with their everyday life. I think kids can relate especially the slightly older ones who are torn between childhood and adulthood.
Also, I was trolling the internet looking for summer book lists (even though my tbr list is quite frightening) and I came across The Washington Post's summer rec chat with their readers. I don't know if another paper has done this before, but what a cool idea. They had some recs I should check out, particularly if I'm feeling brave, like the gigantic Infinite Jest, but what was most useful was a link from one of their readers, Shelfari. It has a bunch of YA books that adults should read, over 700 recs. That's going to take me a happy amount of time to get through.
Anyways, the children's section had a article on the recent spy kid phenomonen. Kids (both girls and boys) are just devouring spy novels with teen protagonists. The author theorizes that it's because it fulfills the "make me special" desire. I agree, but I think it's also about split identity. Many of the main characters like Anthony Horrowitz's Alex Rider, struggle with maintaining their spy life along with their everyday life. I think kids can relate especially the slightly older ones who are torn between childhood and adulthood.
Also, I was trolling the internet looking for summer book lists (even though my tbr list is quite frightening) and I came across The Washington Post's summer rec chat with their readers. I don't know if another paper has done this before, but what a cool idea. They had some recs I should check out, particularly if I'm feeling brave, like the gigantic Infinite Jest, but what was most useful was a link from one of their readers, Shelfari. It has a bunch of YA books that adults should read, over 700 recs. That's going to take me a happy amount of time to get through.
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