Reading is Life . . . the Rest is Just Details

Randomness

2007-08-24T13:58:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged in a while, but as I have no exciting news or thoughts to report, this will be a mish-mash I suppose.

1. Author website pet peeve: If authors have written or are writing a series of books, I really appreciate when their website states a clear reading order -- I could hunt and find that information myself, but I'm grateful when the author makes it easy for me.

2. I've been reading a lot recently, trying to catch up during this break in my life, of sorts. Some books I've read recently include:

The Bronte Project by Jennifer Vandever -- Funny and thoughtful parody of academia and Hollywood, and also how reading and caring about books can influence or change our lives.

The Sharing Knife: Beguilement (Vol. 1) by Lois McMaster Bujold -- Discovering author Catherine Asaro piqued my interest in romantic fantasy and fantasy, so I've been looking for some new authors to try. I found this book through the Avon editors blog, actually, as the second book in the duo recently came out and was recommended there. I'm thrilled I tried it, as Bujold created a vivid fantasy world with engaging and lovable characters, but I can't wait to get my hands on the second book (which unfortunately is currently in hardcover . . . guess I'll have to wait till next year).

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder -- LOVE this book and can't wait for the next one. Great concept and executed very well. The story was interesting and suspenseful throughout, and the characters were all so intriguing.

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon -- I got more into this book as it went on and ended up really enjoying the whole oddness of the mystery. The characters and the relationships between them are wonderfully portrayed.

3. I've also been buying books faster than I can read them (I can't help myself when bookstores send me coupons, or when Borders has those 3 for 2 sales). Books I've recently purchased include:

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger -- I know, I'm like the last person in the US who has not read it.

Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot -- Cabot is so famous and her books so reputedly enjoyable for light reading that I thought give her a go.

Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston -- I loved Good Grief by the same author so I picked up this, her second book. However, the concept seems even more depressing to me than that of the first, so I'll see if she pulls it off with me again.

The Frog Prince by Jane Porter -- I saw this recommended on Julia Quinn's website, and a long long time ago I saw Quinn's recommendation of Gaelen Foley which was dead on the mark. Foley is awesome, go read her! Therefore I figured I'd give Porter a go.

Home Sweet Home

2007-07-10T15:39:00.001-04:00

To the great comfort of my mother, I have secured an apartment in NYC!! (She was afraid I'd end up homeless). It's in Brooklyn, about 3 miles from Coney Island. It's a little farther away from Manhattan than I'd prefer, but the rate is good, the roomies seem cool, and I'm happy to get the process over with sooner rather than being picky. I'll post pics when I get furniture and move in!

iTunes

2007-07-04T21:47:00.000-04:00

I just bought Sara Bareilles' album Little Voice in iTunes and I love it! Go listen to her!

If You Get Caught Between the Moon and NYC . . .

2007-06-18T21:13:00.000-04:00

I'm in NYC!!!!

I flew in on Friday with my dad (boy that was a nightmare . . . this is clearly not my month for air travel), and moved into my housing at Columbia University yesterday. I live in a single room in a dorm that looks over Broadway, and the area and campus are both lovely.

Today we started our courses for the Columbia Publishing Course, and heard a series of really great speakers. If anything, being here so far is starting to convince me that publishing is where I really belong -- I'm in a crowd of people who love to read and want to talk about books all the time! Heaven!

ttfn, but I'll keep updates on job prospects, etc.

This is why traveling sucks...

2007-06-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

This weekend I've traveled to North Carolina for my friend's wedding, and it has been the worst travel experience I've ever had.

My flight plan was to fly on Thursday from LA to Chicago to Greensboro, and this would have gotten me to NC by about 7 PM EST. Unfortunately, Chicago was having very high winds which caused delays and cancellations all day. We were delayed for about 2 hours in LA. When I got to Chicago, I turned on my cell after we had just landed and saw I had two voicemail messages -- as soon as I heard my mom's phone number, I knew she was calling to tell me that my flight from Chicago to Greensboro was cancelled. Yipee.

So I go to get in line to rebook my flight, but the slight problem is that a friend was supposed to pick me up in Greensboro, so my schedule was not the only one I had to keep in mind. I called the help number and found that I could get to Greensboro the next day by 5 PM and would have to fly through Dallas. Great. 5 PM was the time of the wedding rehearsal, so nobody would be able to pick me up. However, I got a flight to Raleigh-Durham, which was of course delayed, so I got to RDU around 1:30 AM. My amazing good friend Abby drove two hours to pick me up, and we arrived in Eden, NC around 4 AM.

My bag, however, did not arrive.

It is Saturday morning, and it still has not arrived. In fact, they don't even know where it is.

Which means, of course, that I had no clothes other than the ones on my back.

AND none of my friends here are my size.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR

So amazing good friend Abby also drove me to Belk at 8:15 last night (store closes at 9) and I rushed around like a madwoman to put an outfit together so I wouldn't have to wear a care bears t-shirt and jeans to my friend's wedding. I did successfully find a dress and sandals to wear, so I won't feel like a total bozo today. I know that the bride and groom would totally understand if I were a bit underdressed, but I would have felt badly and embarassed about being dressed so inappropriately at their wedding.

It's been a long two days.

Gradumacation

2007-05-20T22:23:00.000-04:00

So tomorrow I graduate. I don't really know what to say at what I'm sure is one of the more momentous events of my life so far. Tomorrow will signal the end of 4 years of very hard work and play, the end to dorm living and long winter and summer breaks, and the beginning of my entrance into the "real world."

I'll miss my school, faculty, friends, and classes. However, I also look forward to the next stage of my life, and hope the past four years have prepared me for what is to come.

All the best to the class of 2007!

Arrival of the Parental and Brother Units

2007-05-18T09:05:00.000-04:00

Last night my parents and brother arrived in North Carolina to begin the graduation weekend festivities. Yay! I don't actually graduate till Monday, but since they have to come such a long way (from California), they are coming a few days before most parents will show up. I was a little worried about them making it here yesterday, as I saw on the news yesterday that LAX had to temporarily evacuate a terminal, but though my parents were at the airport around the same time as thatoccurrence, they were leaving from a different terminal.

I'm just so excited that they are here because I don't see my family that
often during school (unlike most of my friends who go home semi-frequently). Home is so far away and I consequently rarely go home except for summer and winter breaks. I spent last summer in Philadelphia doing an internship, so I spent about 6 weeks with my family all of last year. It will be nice to spend some time with them over the weekend.

How Interesting . . . I See You Out There!

2007-05-11T10:32:00.000-04:00

My Sitemeter tells me that I'm being watched by someone at Holtzbrinck Publishers, and then someone at Penguin Putnam visited. Hello out there! Welcome to my blog!

Yesterday I started reading Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which I've had forever but never got around to reading. The first chapter is certainly heartbreaking and was very difficult for me to get through, but I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book--I'll reserve comment until then.

11 Days and Counting

2007-05-09T09:51:00.000-04:00

I finished my last final on Monday, so now I just sit around, read,
pack, and clean for the next 11 days until graduation. It's odd, having
nothing to do, that I can barely think what to do with myself.

Last night I checked out the TCM schedule and saw that this month TCM is honoring Katherine Hepburn, as this May 12th will be the 100th
anniversary of her birth. I watched one of her earlier films, Alice Adams (1935), in which she plays a woman from a working-class family who is trying desperately
to be accepted by the high society of her town. I really enjoyed
Hepburn's performance as Alice, but I found the entire movie an
exercise in painfulness. The movie contained one humiliation after
another as the Adams family tried to hide what they were and pretended
to be something different. I just have a hard time watching such movies
-- I don't enjoy watching people go through pain, physical or otherwise.

Tonight I think I'll watch Stage Door (1937).

Since this Blog is Ostensibly About Books . . .

2007-05-06T22:41:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd give a rundown of the books I've read and purchased recently:

Bought:
The Big Over Easy -- Jasper Fforde
Out -- Natsuo Kirino
Love Walked In -- Marisa de los Santos

Read:
Love Walked In -- I really enjoyed this book, though admittedly some of the plot elements were cliched, and the conclusion was perhaps a bit far-fetched in its "happily ever afterness," but I read romance novels, so that has obviously never bothered me. I just enjoyed the characters and the way it was written. I LOVED all the references to film, literature, and song -- the main character Cornelia loves many of my favorite things, including The Philadelphia Story, Cary Grant, and Cole Porter and George Gershwin songs. A woman after my own heart.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear -- I thought Winspear did a great job incorporating the history of WWI and the legacy it left in England into this historical mystery. I look forward to continuing to read the series.

Hopefully I'll get to tackle more books on my massive TBR list after my last final tomorrow! LAST FINAL OF MY UNDERGRAD CAREER! WOOHOO!

Almost Done

2007-05-03T16:08:00.000-04:00

Last night I completed the final paper of my undergraduate career -- sadly I don't feel it's my best work but at least it's done.

Unlike many other people I know, I'm not terribly sad about graduating. I will miss my friends, professors, and the campus atmosphere in general. But Wake is starting to seem just a bit too small, and I am ready for a change. I'm thrilled about the prospect of moving to New York, even if I don't know that I will find a job.

Anyway, to reward myself for finishing the paper, I went to Borders, and as usual they have a damn 3 for 2 sale . . . those always get me! Despite the fact that I have over 70 books on my TBR list, I simply can't stop buying, particularly when I see a bargain. What can I say? I'm weak when it comes to books.

YAY!

2007-04-25T16:16:00.000-04:00

Today I passed the oral defense of my honors thesis. My committee asked some good questions, some of which I responded to better than others, but they were very complimentary about my paper and oral, so that was very exciting.

Yay! I'm glad that's over. I now have one class completely done.

Thesis Defense

2007-04-24T16:46:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is the oral defense for my honors thesis, after which my committee will decide if I will actually get to graduate with Honors in English. My anticipation of this event has been increased by the fact that I know several undergraduate and graduate students who have already passed their oral examinations, and I want to join that happy group!

I'm not that nervous -- I enjoy sitting down and talking to faculty about my work, and my defense is basically a conversation with my committee. I'm also confident that the work I've done is good (though obviously not perfect by any means). However, I will have to sit down and think a bit about how I might respond to certain questions that the committee might ask. For instance, what are the weak points in my paper, what bears further examination, and how would I improve it if I were given more time, etc.

Overall I'm excited for tomorrow, but keep your fingers crossed for me.

Childless Movie Theater

2007-04-22T16:26:00.000-04:00

Anybody who knows me knows that I LOVE movies . . . I like to watch them at home, or see them in the theater. I really enjoy seeing movies by myself, even at the movie theater, which a lot of people think is weird. But frankly, who needs moral support to go see a movie in a theater? You're supposed to sit in the dark and be quiet, so having someone beside you shouldn't be a big deal unless you're planning to do something other than watching. I myself wouldn't pay 8 bucks to make out in a theater, but maybe that's just me.

So I was talking to my mom today and she said that one of the movie theaters in my hometown is being redone, and some of the theaters will be adults only -- this does not mean that those theaters will show adult films, but rather they are simply theaters in which no children are allowed.

Thank the lord. What a wonderful concept.

Children are one of the prime irritatants at movie theaters. When I go to a kid's movie, I except children in the audience. That is fine. But when I go to an adult movie at 10:15 at night, and some damn annoying parent has brought their kids, I am irritated. Get a babysitter. I understand parents' difficulties, honestly I do . . . trustworthy sitters are neither easy to find, nor cheap. But that is no reason for parents to inflict their little terrors on the rest of us at a time when we can reasonably expect to have a quiet, pleasant viewing experience.

This "adult" theater will have a separate entrance, and the food area will cater to adults. According to mom it will have a bar, and serve cuisine like sushi that more adults would eat.

I think this sounds like a wonderful idea, and I hope it meets with success. In the Netflix era it's so much easier to grab a movie from your mailbox and watch it in the comfort of your home, but there is still something about going to a movie theater that cannot be captured anywhere else.

So much YAY that I just can't contain myself

2007-04-18T16:36:00.000-04:00

Today I handed in the final copy of my honors thesis, all pretty and bound, to my 3-person evaluation committee. My oral defense is next week, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

From here on our my semester will be pretty light . . . basically 2 finals and a paper, so I'm really thrilled to be done with this project.

In my eighteenth century novel course we've been reading Fraces Burney's Evelina, which is truly fabulous, and I highly recommend it. I just can't wait to get to the happy ending!

DOUBLE YAY!

2007-04-13T13:53:00.000-04:00

I got into the Columbia program, so that is where I'll be attending. Yay!

YAY!

2007-04-10T15:46:00.000-04:00

I received notice today that I was accepted to the summer publishing institutes at both U of Denver and NYU, so yay! Now I'm just waiting to hear from my top-choice program at Columbia. Keep your fingers crossed! But it's nice to know that even if I don't get in, I can still go to New York, which is pretty important to me since I hope to get a job and move there. Attending a summer program will give me time to live in the city, find housing and a job, etc.

I am weird

2007-03-28T20:30:00.000-04:00

It's really strange, but I'm obsessed with the unplugged version of Freak on a Leash by Korn featuring Amy Lee. I'm not really a Korn person, so it's very odd, but I luuuuurve this version. I just think Amy Lee has an amazing voice, and her vocals add a lot to the song, not to mention that the entire Korn unplugged performance seems to incorporate more instruments that make the sound less grating to my ears.

I feel like I'm very behind on music because I no longer watch MTV or VH1 (ok, I admit, I watch The Hills . . . I know, I know), nor do I listen to the radio. And most of my friends don't really have similar taste as I do, so I get very few additions to my collection from them. I've taken to trying to browse iTunes to learn about new groups. While this process doesn't yield great success, it wastes a lot of time!

Rejoice!

2007-03-18T22:29:00.000-04:00

My thesis draft is finally done and really to be given to my advisor for comment tomorrow. I hope he doesn't say it sucks. I would cry.

2007-03-16T11:41:00.000-04:00

25 / 30
(83.3%)

Yay! It's really coming along, though now I'm at the harder parts that I always leave to the end--conclusions, intro, etc. And of course the major editing that will be necessary. On the bright side, this is just a draft that my advisor is going to look at . . . not that it can be bad, but it doesn't need to be "final paper" quality.

The Thesis comes along

2007-03-14T11:14:00.000-04:00

18 / 30
(60.0%)

5 new pages from yesterday, though I actually wrote 6 cause one of my previous pages was removed. I'm pleased with my progress.

Getting along

2007-03-13T11:29:00.000-04:00

I'm moving further along on my thesis, with 4 new pages from yesterday:

13 / 30
(43.3%)

Blah Thesis

2007-03-12T11:25:00.000-04:00

So I'm writing most of my English Honors Thesis over Spring Break . . . fun times! Here is a chart of my progress:

9 / 30
(30.0%)

Although in all fairness I probably have closer to 15 pages, but I'm not counting some pages that I wrote previously, which will need reediting, etc.

Blah. Hopefully I'll survive this break. Apparently I'll do nearly anything to procrastinate.

Yesterday I went running. Some time a couple hours before bed I usually give up and watch some TV . . . last night while I was doing homework, I watched much of Au Pair II. I know. I'm pathetic.

But I'm very pleased with my progress and think the week is looking good!

Our possessed ice

2007-02-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

Check out this pic of our ice trays. Isn't that weird? We've randomly had several ice cubes have a little shoot off like this one . . . there's actually another one in the back of the tray, which you can see if you click on and enlarge the photo.

WOOHOO!

2007-01-31T22:17:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited!

During my internship last summer, I got to read an Australian YA book called My Big Birkett by Lisa Shanahan to see if it was something the publisher for whom I interned should consider acquiring. I luuuuuuuurved this book. Well doing a random search I learned that RandomHouse acquired it, and it is coming out this August (in hardback!!) under the title The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It.

YAY! I'm so happy that this book is coming to the American market. It's hilarious and sweet, and I hope it'll do great.

Author Websites

2007-01-25T20:09:00.000-05:00

One of my greatest pet peeves is about authors who don't have websites.

Generally speaking, the authors I know of who do not have a website probably don't need one . . . people like Zadie Smith and David Sedaris seem to have a guaranteed audience. A website for publicity and fan-generating purposes might be unnecessary for them. I really don't know.

All I know is that I dislike when authors don't have a website.

This is partially because I feel that having a website shows some respect for the fans. It provides a space where at the minimum readers will be able to find information about upcomming releases and a bio. I tend to prefer sites with even more features than that (writing / publishing tips for aspiring writers, blogs, photos of pets, "behind-the-scenes" info on the process of each book, fun links), but I at least like the assurance of an author-owned page to tell me when the next book is expected.

Most of all I want the author to care that when I type in his or her name on google.com that the first site to pop up will be his or her own -- something individually controlled and managed. Otherwise I feel like they're sending the message "I am inaccessible and surrounded by an aura of mystery, therefore bow to me peons" or "I am an artiste and care more about my product than enticing the consumer" which might be true but seems poor business practice.

Is my attitude totally unfair? I know that websites may not be cheap if you can't build and maintain it yourself, but I also see a lot of authors who probably aren't making a living off their writing who still have them. I also understand that creating a website is an invitation to contact with the masses which many authors simply don't have time to maintain. However, I've also seen authors who explicitly write on their websites that they don't have time to answer fan mail. What drawbacks might a website have that I am missing? There must be something.

At the end of the day, I am the one who buys books. I am the consumer. And damn it, I want to be courted.

What (Little) I Know . . . Or, My Profound Thanks

2007-01-23T14:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I began my class on editing, which I thought would be useful despite the fact that the course is directed towards newspaper publications. I had been previously aware that the professor would quiz us on current events, so I studied up (a little) so I wouldn't completely embarass myself.

Let's just say that I embarassed myself.

For the most part.

Yes, I couldn't think of a single Supreme Court Justice who was neither retired nor deceased.

But thanks to Publisher's Lunch and the numerous blogs I read, I was one of two people to know who Judith Regan is, and why she has recently been in the news.

Thank you to my sources of info!

2007-01-11T19:54:00.000-05:00

Christmas, Yay!

2006-12-26T20:00:00.000-05:00

I love Christmas time because I always get new books! This year I received:

London is the Best City in America -- Laura Dave
The Thirteenth Tale -- Diane Setterfield
Artemis Fowl: The Criminal Mastermind Collection -- Eoin Colfer (a boxset of the first three books in the series)

And I'm also trying to compile a list of books I want to accomplish reading this year, though I have a feeling that yet again I'll get around to reading only a fraction of what I anticipate. During the semester I spend so much time reading for school that I'd rather just veg in front of the tube or hang out with friends during my down time. After my last semester (OMG I'm almost done) I'm finally going to be thrown out into the real world, having to handle things like finding a place to live, seeking a job, getting insurance, AHHHHH . . .

. . . so needless to say I'll probably have more pressing concerns than a book list at that point.

But nevertheless, I am compiling a list, more of authors than of books actually, though of books also. I feel a bit out of the loop for not having read The Lovely Bones, for one. Then there are all the books I have but haven't had a chance to read yet. My New Years resolution will be to read the books I buy, and not to buy unless I've read what I have.

Now I'm off to read (instead of blogging, which is yet another distraction from reading . . .)

Happy Holidays everyone!

The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe

2006-08-06T17:26:00.000-04:00

The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe

I recently finished The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe – the third novel of hers I’ve read. Apparently, this was the first book of hers which gained wide notice, and it has many interesting aspects, though in no way comes close to The Mysteries of Udolpho.

As expected, the heroine Adeline ended up in a gothic setting (in this instance, an old abbey in a forest) which is a site shrouded in mystery and intrigue. She “falls insensible” more times than a reader could count. But of course, she overcomes her trials and tribulations (through no effort of her own, but merely with the assistance of others), marries the guy she loves, comes into a fortune, and generally winds up hunky dory through a series of coincidences.

Two main things interested me about the text, and about Ann Radcliffe’s works in general. The first is the heroine herself. I once read a piece of commentary which argued that in gothic romances the fortunes of the characters are tied to virtue and morality – the heroine will inevitably triumph because of her greater moral fiber, while the villains are destined to fail. This, in and of itself, does not surprise me. The aspect that bothers me is that Adeline’s goodness and the generosity of other characters are the sole reasons she triumphs. Through the narrative, she seems consistently incapable of doing anything to help her own situation. From the beginning, she frequently laments that she is friendless with nobody to help her. These feelings are fair, but reveal Adeline’s expectation that somebody else should take care of her. She never once contemplates trying to find work or trying to fend for herself, and takes it as her due when kind people who pity her welcome her into their households. Radcliffe’s heroines in some ways are no more than rag dolls who are tossed about by other characters and who exert no influence on their own.

The second rather disturbing aspect is the treatment of servants. Radcliffe frequently takes care to demonstrate how “good” characters act with benevolence towards those in a lower class, but the understanding that there are two classes of people—those who serve and those who are served—still pervades the text. The character Peter is the most visible servant in the text, and his master almost expects superhuman performance from him. In any time of trouble, Peter is the one who has to exert himself to provide for the family. Even after a tireless day, the master expects Peter to stand guard all night . . . do they really think he doesn’t need to sleep? And yet Peter is made comical in his simplicity and devotion to his “superiors.” While I’m sure Radcliffe would have frowned on abusing or mistreating servants, this text seems to demonstrate that her notions of class difference and social standing were probably no different from the general thinking of the time.

A note on the text: I read the Barnes and Noble classics version, which was just terrible. The text was riddled with errors – on one page, the name “Louis” was spelled “Lewis” several times (so both spellings were used on the same page). Additionally, there are many poems and little quotes separated out of the text and put in italics, but for one Sonnet, only 8 lines were separated out and somehow the rest were left in paragraph form – an obvious mistake considering the title of the piece was simply “Sonnet” and any reader could tell that there were not 14 italicized lines. These obvious errors were the worst, though typos and missing quotation marks were frequent. Shame on you Barnes and Noble for publishing such a flawed text. If anybody wants to read this book, secure a different version.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

2006-07-25T19:42:00.000-04:00

On the train to Boston, I finished Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, a book I was reading because I’m planning to write a thesis on Collins, but I’d only actually read The Woman in White. I had heard several people say that of those two they preferred The Moonstone, but I disagree for reasons I will discuss later. The Moonstone, though, was very good indeed.

The basic premise is that of a perfect crime that seems unsolvable: a valuable jewel is stolen the night of a dinner party in the country, and a series of misleading clues, combined with several suspicions persons confuses the investigators. The Moonstone is written sort of like an official report that combines several narratives from different people who were in a position to have witnessed some part of a crime that was committed. For instance, one section is written by the relative of the girl from whom the jewel was stolen, one by a doctor, one by the girl’s lawyer, and oters. The voice of all these characters was fantastic – each was unique and believable. This narrative technique also adds to the sense that the crime is being “investigated,” which I imagine is part of the reason that Collins is credited with writing the first “detective novel.”

Overall the book was engaging and suspenseful. It has some interesting social commentary aspects which might be useful for my thesis . . . I haven’t actually decided what about Collins I want to address.

In comparison to The Woman in White, I have to say I think The Woman in White is far more interesting. The mystery is a lot darker in general, involving truly sinister villains, mental institutions, and an examination of life for Victorian females who, once married, were essentially trapped with no legal or monetary control over their own lives. Not only does it have an engaging mystery, but as a study of people and society I think The Woman in White reaches deeper than The Moonstone.

Next I have a biography of Wilkie Collins and a collection of three novellas: Miss or Mrs?, The Haunted Hotel, and The Guilty River.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

2006-07-16T14:37:00.000-04:00

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

So the last book I read was I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (of The Hundred and One Dalmatians fame). I had bought it on a whim because I heard it mentioned on another message board and then saw it at the bookstore and thought, why not?

The heroine is seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain who lives in a castle with her father, stepmother Topaz, older sister Rose, younger brother Thomas, and Stephen, the good-looking son of their late housekeeper who is completely devoted to Cassandra. The family is living in complete poverty because the father, who was once a writer, now spends all his time reading detective novels, and though Topaz could make some money modeling in London, the cost of living in the city would consume most of her earnings anyway.

Their landlord dies, so enter his American heir Simon, along with his younger brother Neil and their mother. As soon as the two families meet, Rose views Simon as a marriage prospect that could bring her and her family out of the poverty into which they have fallen, and so begins the main thrust of the story.

All the events are recorded by Cassandra in her diary, and so it is her point of view that the reader sees throughout.

One thing I really disliked about the narrative was that at the beginning of every section, Cassandra would write something like “something really exciting happened, but I can’t rush into it so I’m going to write pages of boring stuff before I actually tell you what it is.” Alright, the other stuff wasn’t boring per se, but I think announcing that something interesting would soon occur made me more eager to just get to it instead of wading through the whole buildup first. After a while this just got really frustrating.

Secondly, I won’t really go in depth into this, but let’s just say that my romance reading sensibilities were slightly disappointed *sigh*

Otherwise this was a pretty good read – Cassandra had a great voice which was convincing, if a little mature for a girl who is only 17. The father, Topaz, and Rose were also really well done.

In 2003, the book was made into a film, which I might think about watching when I return to school.

I Capture the Castle

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

2006-07-08T17:41:00.000-04:00

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison

Yesterday I went to the bookstore and finally purchased Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. I had been aware of this series since high school when a friend on the cross country team was reading it, but only just decided to try it out myself. It’s a YA series by British author Louise Rennison, and it’s written as the diary of Georgia Nicolson, the fourteen-year-old heroine.

Mostly, the book chronicles a school year of Georgia’s life, including her problems with her massive cat Angus, her friends, boy troubles, and family problems, and school. So, life, basically.

What makes the book great is its humor, which is both situational (for instance, the heroine accidentally shaves off her eyebrows), but also just in the writing itself – the character Georgia has a great voice that is funny and realistic. And of course, very British. Thankfully the book was not Americanized, though it does come complete with a Glossary of British slang (although I do wonder how common it is for Brits to refer to a penis as a “how’s your father,” but hey, it’s in there).

There are currently 7 books out in the series, but the volumes are all conveniently numbered, so I don’t feel the need to list them here.

Highly recommended . . . or fabbity fab fab as it were. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard while reading a book.

Jack Jones and the Pirate Curse by Judith Rossell

2006-07-06T11:36:00.000-04:00

Jack Jones and the Pirate Curse by Judith Rossell

This was another really fun read that I got to do at work. After the death of his Uncle, Jack Jones learns that he has interited a pirate curse which has been passed down in his family for several generations. Unfortunately, this curse comes along with a talkative parrot called Poll, and causes people around him to randomly turn into fierce pirates! While Jack's mother tries to find a way to fix the curse, Jack must battle 3 frightning pirates and some rather large and hairy tarantulas. Can Jack fix the curse, or whill he be running from pirates the rest of his life?

Highly recommended for young people because it is humorous and adventurous, and also easy to follow.

Misfortune by Wesley Stace

2006-07-03T13:35:00.000-04:00

Misfortune by Wesley Stace

A month or so ago I randomly purchased Misfortune by Wesley Stace, having never heard of the book or author before. Of course, this is Stace's first book so I suppose my ignorance can be forgiven. I was interested in it largely because it was set in the Victorian era, and as any of my friends know, I really enjoy 19th century books, or works set in that period.

The hero is Rose Old Loveall, an abandoned child who is discovered and adopted by Lord Loveall. Lord Loveall, traumatized by the childhood death of his beloved sister, is a bit off his rocker and refuses to recognize that Rose is, in fact, a boy. The woman he marries to make the child appear legitimate goes along with the farce of raising Rose as a girl because of her attachment to the philosophy of a particular writer, who believed in the androgynous being who is a blank slate at birth yada yada. Consequently, Rose is raised as a girl.

Obviously this fact could not be hidden forever, either from everyone else, or from Rose himself. Following the death of his father, Rose learns the truth of his gender (through a process too complicated to outline here), and it’s also revealed to his greedy family that he is not Lord Loveall’s biological child, and is thus not the rightful heir. After struggling with the gender conventions demanded by Victorian society, Rose leaves Love Hall. He goes through a long process of self-discovery, and that is as much of the plot as I’ll give away.

This book was entertaining, but in some ways unbalanced, or unexpected I suppose. The whole narrative basically concerns Rose and his discovery of his identity, and the first half obviously focuses on gender. The second half, though, returns the reader to the first chapter when Rose was abandoned, as the characters search for Rose’s biological parents and ancestral identity. This shift was unexpected simply because gender had been the major focus of the previous half, and the two aspects of identify had little to do with each other, excepting that they both dealt with Rose.

At any rate, this story certainly provokes interesting meditations on gender. Finally, in the true Dickensian spirit, the conclusion of the novel involved a bucket load of improbable fortunate coincidence, which never bothers me.

I’m interested to read Stace’s next novel, just to see where on earth he goes from here.

His Every Kiss by Laura Lee Guhrke

2006-06-24T19:19:00.000-04:00

His Every Kiss by Laura Lee Guhrke

Because the book I began yesterday is a bit long and will take me a few days, I decided to take a small break and read a romance novel today, because I hadn't read one in a while. I selected Laura Lee Guhrke's His Every Kiss. This is the third book of hers I've read, and this one is definitely my favorite so far (although she has another out this month which looks excellent as well).

The hero is Dylan Moore, a renown composer who, due to an accident, suffers from tinnitus, a condition which causes ringing in one's ears. I really liked his character, as well as the heroine. I thought Guhrke's inclusion of a child character worked really well -- I think it's difficult for authors to hit the perfect balance of making a young character charmingly precocious and not just irritating, but the character of Isabel was very charming, and some of the sweetest scenes were between she and Dylan.

I’ll have to phone my mom to see if she’s already purchased Guhrke’s newest, She's No Princess, which features Dylan's elder brother as the hero. If mom has already read it, I'll have to wait till Christmas break to read it.

My Big Birkett by Lisa Shanahan

2006-06-21T20:12:00.000-04:00

My Big Birkett by Lisa Shanahan

Today was one of the days where I feel absolutely privileged to work at a publisher. I had nothing to do, so my editor gave me a book to read that was sent to us by the Australian publisher Allen & Unwin, as they are trying to find an American distributor for this book. She told me to just start reading it and see what I thought. The book was My Big Birkett by Lisa Shanahan.

I started . . . and continued . . . and read some more . . . I laughed out loud and made funny noises all the way through reading the manuscript. My editor said that the best way to convince anyone of its merit would be to tape me reading the book and my reactions to it, lol.

It's a Young Adult novel, and I really loved it (which of course does not mean that teens would love it or that my editor will, but I sure hope she does). It was funny, but also sharp, serious, and moving. The author has a theater background, and that really shone through in the way she incorporated Shakespeare's The Tempest into the text. It's also great to read the Australian version because the author of course used phrases and slang that you'd never find in America, which made the book especially fun. I think this would be a great benefit to the book in the US, in the same way that the British series which began with the book Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging has become a success.

On the extremely low liklihood that an Australian or New Zealander happens upon my blog, I will strongly recommend this book, and I hope it comes to the US within the next year. I'm crossing my fingers that my editor likes it!

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

2006-06-20T19:39:00.000-04:00

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

I just finished Wicked by Gregory Maguire, which was an interesting read. Several people told me that it was “strange,” and that did prove to be true. I think I still liked it though. However, until I actually see the musical, I will wonder how on earth the book could have been turned into one.

The book of course details the life of the Wicked Witch of the West (of Wizard of Oz fame), using episodes from various stages of her life.

What mainly interests me is how most readers might view Elphaba. We are surely meant to sympathize with her point of view: in comparison to the selfish Glinda, the scheming Miss Morrible, or her useless father Frex, we are undoubtedly meant to favor Elphaba above all other characters. But Elphaba, in her own way, is equally self-righteous and intolerant of others. For instance, she has no sympathy with people like Boq and his wife who value being peaceful and left alone over championing a “cause,” and because she herself will never be considered beautiful, it is easy for her to discount the pleasure of being admired and of reigning over a social scene. In some ways I suppose this is a reflection of us all: nearly everyone I know (myself absolutely included) believes that his or her pet cause should become the focal point of everyone’s existence, or are at least intolerant of people who disagree with the main thrust of his or her own ideals.

Also, Elphaba’s character is complicated by the way she treats her own son. It is fair enough that she is not positive that Liir is her son. But it’s strange to me, for a person who felt so much towards her family, and towards Liir’s father, that she could not drudge up some feeling for the child which might possibly be hers.

And while I hate to bring up Sex and the City in my discussion of a vastly different book, Elphaba’s quest to be forgiven by her lover’s wife reminded me of the episode where Carrie apologizes to Big’s wife after it was discovered that Carrie and Big were having an affair. This reminded me that the urge to apologize and be forgiven is at the base a very selfish one. In a case like this, it’s all about foisting one’s own problems and insecurities onto someone else, and cleansing oneself at another’s expense. I’m perversely glad that Elphaba never gained the opportunity to apologize or be forgiven. There are some things that we should perhaps always be forced to live with until we can forgive ourselves. (As a sidenote, I’ll also add that I thought this section of the book was a bit tedious, and I think could have been cut down some)

And yet, the causes for which Elphaba fights are undeniably just. So the sum of all this, I suppose, is that Maguire created a very realistic character, because Elphaba was so flawed.

One thing I do regret is how little we learned about Glinda and the person she became following her schooldays. I was never entirely clear on what motivated her or why she acted in the way she did. Was she in fact a pawn of Miss Morrible her entire life? If so, why could Elphaba resist the spell and Glinda could not? Though Glinda displayed signs of growth following the murder of her Ama, why did she revert to her old ways instead of growing further?

In the end, I guess I think this book was clever, and the ways in which Maguire included another story were not overly obtrusive. I enjoyed the writing style, especially the humor. My only complaint is that I do think he went a bit long in some places that could have been tightened up, and there are a few little tangents (such as the bizarre brothel scene at the House of Philosophies or whatever it was) that I still don’t really understand their function in the work. I would definitely be interested to read his other works.

Links on the Sidebar

2006-06-18T15:39:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to note that links on the sidebar will be added as I think of them . . . the current list is not a reflection of all the authors I read, lol.

Keys to the Kingdom

2006-06-18T11:51:00.000-04:00

Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix

My most recent read has been the first two books of Garth Nix's series The Keys to the Kingdom, Mister Monday and Grim Tuesday. This series is directed at a younger crowd, perhaps 7-11 year olds or so. I had previously read his YA Abhorsen Trilogy which I really enjoyed, despite the fact that my father, who read it after me, found numerous faults with it. These first two books in The Keys to the Kingdom I think better display the kinds of problems my father was citing about those books.

The books are indeed fun and engaging. The hero is Arthur Penhaligon, who was supposed to die on Monday, but was fortunately chosen to become the heir to the Keys to the Kingdom. I won't go into explanations of the plot. Arthur is a brave hero who is also believable -- this fate was chosen for him, and he just wants to live life as a normal kid. He is joined by some spunky female helpers, Suzy and Leaf, who add humor.

The problem for me lies mainly in the execution. Unlike Harry Potter or other great fantasy series, Nix doesn't fully work out or explain the ways in which the plot unforlds. Often, Arthur will do something because he "feels" it will work, which works a few times but in the end is not a very satisfying plot device. There are also some very paltry explanations for big events. For instance, we learn that in the first book that part of the Will was freed by snuff, but we never really know why or how that worked. Basically, there are too many loopholes in the plot. I doubt that most young readers will notice or be bothered by these things, but I think it does reduce the pleasure adults might take in reading this series. However, I will finish out the series as it comes (the first four are out I believe).

2006-06-18T11:02:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my book blog, which was mostly started so that I can keep myself up to date on the books I read or should be reading.