quick summations
okay - so if i had made new year's resolutions, one of mine might have been to update this book journal more regularly. and i would have instantly broken it, so it's an awfully good thing that i'm not the type that makes new year's resolutions. thus, one of those posts where i write all the titles of things i've read and speaking only very briefly about them. i have been reading a lot, but mostly stuff that doesn't necessarily take a lot of brain power. perhaps 'tis the season. work has been crazy enough that i don't especially like thinking when i get home and the best sort of books are things i can read in transit ...
looking for alibrandi by melina marchetta - i loved marchetta's book saving francesca, so i don't know why, when i read that, i didn't realize that she had an earlier novel? and i'm excited to hear that she has a new novel, although who knows when it will be coming out in the u.s. this one i didn't adore, but it was still pretty good. y.a., life of a girl stuff. nothing too extraordinary, but still really enjoyable and interesting. i don't necessarily think of other countries having multicultural problems, so it was really enlightening to read about it occurring. it's a wee bit date though. and the paperback cover is loads better than the hardcover that i read.
this side of paradise by f. scott fitzgerald - fitzgerald's first novel; you can definitely tell. not my favorite work by him and really pretentious at times, although overall i'm glad that i read it.
the case of the left-handed lady by nancy springer - the second in the enola holmes mystery series for (mostly) elementary school readers. it's rather good. it reminds me a bit of the sally lockhart books, only for younger kids. very enjoyable, no complaints.
living on air by anna shapiro - somewhat disappointing, in the sense that the premise and setting is something that i'm totally into, but the reality was pretty lacking. story of a girl, coming of age on long island and attending a tony private school on scholarship. her parents are unconventional and their marriage is falling apart. expectations of prep, mixed with alice mcdermott, but it was overall very ho-hum and not as well-written as i would've liked. pretty cover though.
nice big american baby by judy budnitz - short stories that i finally got around to reading because i liked the one that was reprinted in the best american non-required reading. a few of them i really liked, many of them i was underwhelmed by.
fly by night by frances hardinge - super good children's novel. sort of fantasy, or so you think, although there's commentary at the back that it's historically based on english history. about a girl, a thief and a goose. have been reading raves about it on fuse 8 for ages now, and she was totally on target.
still life by louise penny - small town canadian cozy mystery. first in a series. i decided to read it when i saw the second one blurbed in a publishers catalogue. good, not great. mostly enjoyable and well-written. i'm not sure that the characters are as endearing as they ought to have been, but i'll probably keep an eye out for the second one, which is something.
the end of mr. y by scarlett thomas - loved it, up until the epilogue, which was terrible, so i'm going to ignore it. sort of philip k. dick as a postmodern feminist scholar. or so i thought to myself as i was reading it. an academic discovers a mysterious text in a used bookstore and reading it takes her into an alternate dimension where she can enter the thoughts of others. and yet, very readable and not at all part of your typical sci-fi/fantasy genre. love her.
cupcake by rachel cohn - third (and final?) volume about the lovable cyd charrise. don't know if it's my favorite in the series, but i super enjoyed it and i think rachel cohn is tops.
american born chinese by gene luen yang - winner of this year's printz award and historic in the sense that it's the first time that the award has gone to a graphic novel. so very, very good. three stories, seemingly unrelated, come together in an elegent way as the story ends. for anyone who has ever struggled with their identity, which i think is probably all of us. you should totally read this.
popco by scarlett thomas - see, i told you that i loved her. remember when i read all of her mysteries in the course of a weekend last year? one of the things that i adore is that you can totally see that there are subjects that she gets interested in and learns about and then translates to her readers. (i'm not sure if that makes sense, but i think i'm getting a little tipsy, so i apologize.) this one centers on a woman who works for a toy comapny and includes lots of subversion and math and a little bit of romance, all of which i am in favor of.
the house of arden by e. nesbit - i have never read e. nesbit and felt it was my duty to do so, as someone who is a children's lit person. plus, the nyrb copy is so pretty. i quite liked it, and it's easy to see her influence on so many other children's authors that i enjoy. a boy, a rundown castle, a treasure. what more do you want?
the mysterious affair at styles, curtain, the murder of roger ackroyd and the pale horse by agatha christie - i've been on a wee agatha christie kick. she wrote like eighty some books, so i doubt i'll be reading her in total, but they're awfully fun diversions for now. i like them because they're quick and fun, but don't make me feel like a complete idiot. i went through a phase when i was younger, but it only lasted four or five books. styles is the first poirot mystery and curtain the last, so i thought that there was a nice symmetry in reading those two. plus, i'm a sucker for the whole set-up that she was so good at - the murder at a countryhouse sort of thing, just like those murder in a box games that they used to sell. roger ackroyd is one of her most acclaimed books, one that many have sited as the best, and i did like it, although i did figure things out in advance. that was also the case with the pale horse, which i very much enjoyed. and it was a special kick with that one, because it was later and didn't feature one of the famous detectives and had a very christie like character and offered cute little insight into the time it was written, when sitting in chelsea coffeehouses was oh so daring and nouvea. although it did make me think that the whole hipster thing, and how so little has changed with the times.
daddy's girl by lisa scottoline - not my usual cup of tea, but i needed to read it for work. completely improbable, but insanely readable. in the sense that i started it just before going to bed and reading it straight through, staying awake until way past the sun came up. the literary equivalent of a hollywood movie, but sometimes that's what you want, no?
the rossetti letter by christi phillips - also not my usual thing, but read for work. sort of phillipa gregory meets middle-aged chick lit. the two do not necessarily go together easily. i found the historical facts interesting, although their translation into fiction is sometimes awkward. the teenage character is laughable; sort of a teenager written by someone who has never actually known a teenager. and the historical/modern parts don't always meld together very well. it does paint a nice picture of venice and made me intersted some in it's history, so i guess there's that.
ivy and bean by annie barrows, the year of the dog by grace lin and toys go out: being the adventures of a knowledgeable stingray, a toughy little buffalo and someone called plastic by emily jenkins - so, when doing book recommendations for kids, i consistently feel that intermediate fiction, which is to say beginning chapter books, or things written for third graders, is my weakest area. this is perhaps because i hate junie b. jones. as such, i've felt like it would be a good idea to expose myself to a little more, and have been making an effort. these three books are part of that effort. my favorite of the three is year of the dog, which i completely adored. and the fact that grace lin seems so sweet and cool is just icing on the cupcake. toys go out was cute, although i thought a wee bit precocious (and the child i thought a bit cloying). but all the toy characters were oh so cute.the next one. ivy and bean i very much liked and am totally looking forward to reading
looking for alibrandi by melina marchetta - i loved marchetta's book saving francesca, so i don't know why, when i read that, i didn't realize that she had an earlier novel? and i'm excited to hear that she has a new novel, although who knows when it will be coming out in the u.s. this one i didn't adore, but it was still pretty good. y.a., life of a girl stuff. nothing too extraordinary, but still really enjoyable and interesting. i don't necessarily think of other countries having multicultural problems, so it was really enlightening to read about it occurring. it's a wee bit date though. and the paperback cover is loads better than the hardcover that i read.
this side of paradise by f. scott fitzgerald - fitzgerald's first novel; you can definitely tell. not my favorite work by him and really pretentious at times, although overall i'm glad that i read it.
the case of the left-handed lady by nancy springer - the second in the enola holmes mystery series for (mostly) elementary school readers. it's rather good. it reminds me a bit of the sally lockhart books, only for younger kids. very enjoyable, no complaints.
living on air by anna shapiro - somewhat disappointing, in the sense that the premise and setting is something that i'm totally into, but the reality was pretty lacking. story of a girl, coming of age on long island and attending a tony private school on scholarship. her parents are unconventional and their marriage is falling apart. expectations of prep, mixed with alice mcdermott, but it was overall very ho-hum and not as well-written as i would've liked. pretty cover though.
nice big american baby by judy budnitz - short stories that i finally got around to reading because i liked the one that was reprinted in the best american non-required reading. a few of them i really liked, many of them i was underwhelmed by.
fly by night by frances hardinge - super good children's novel. sort of fantasy, or so you think, although there's commentary at the back that it's historically based on english history. about a girl, a thief and a goose. have been reading raves about it on fuse 8 for ages now, and she was totally on target.
still life by louise penny - small town canadian cozy mystery. first in a series. i decided to read it when i saw the second one blurbed in a publishers catalogue. good, not great. mostly enjoyable and well-written. i'm not sure that the characters are as endearing as they ought to have been, but i'll probably keep an eye out for the second one, which is something.
the end of mr. y by scarlett thomas - loved it, up until the epilogue, which was terrible, so i'm going to ignore it. sort of philip k. dick as a postmodern feminist scholar. or so i thought to myself as i was reading it. an academic discovers a mysterious text in a used bookstore and reading it takes her into an alternate dimension where she can enter the thoughts of others. and yet, very readable and not at all part of your typical sci-fi/fantasy genre. love her.
cupcake by rachel cohn - third (and final?) volume about the lovable cyd charrise. don't know if it's my favorite in the series, but i super enjoyed it and i think rachel cohn is tops.
american born chinese by gene luen yang - winner of this year's printz award and historic in the sense that it's the first time that the award has gone to a graphic novel. so very, very good. three stories, seemingly unrelated, come together in an elegent way as the story ends. for anyone who has ever struggled with their identity, which i think is probably all of us. you should totally read this.
popco by scarlett thomas - see, i told you that i loved her. remember when i read all of her mysteries in the course of a weekend last year? one of the things that i adore is that you can totally see that there are subjects that she gets interested in and learns about and then translates to her readers. (i'm not sure if that makes sense, but i think i'm getting a little tipsy, so i apologize.) this one centers on a woman who works for a toy comapny and includes lots of subversion and math and a little bit of romance, all of which i am in favor of.
the house of arden by e. nesbit - i have never read e. nesbit and felt it was my duty to do so, as someone who is a children's lit person. plus, the nyrb copy is so pretty. i quite liked it, and it's easy to see her influence on so many other children's authors that i enjoy. a boy, a rundown castle, a treasure. what more do you want?
the mysterious affair at styles, curtain, the murder of roger ackroyd and the pale horse by agatha christie - i've been on a wee agatha christie kick. she wrote like eighty some books, so i doubt i'll be reading her in total, but they're awfully fun diversions for now. i like them because they're quick and fun, but don't make me feel like a complete idiot. i went through a phase when i was younger, but it only lasted four or five books. styles is the first poirot mystery and curtain the last, so i thought that there was a nice symmetry in reading those two. plus, i'm a sucker for the whole set-up that she was so good at - the murder at a countryhouse sort of thing, just like those murder in a box games that they used to sell. roger ackroyd is one of her most acclaimed books, one that many have sited as the best, and i did like it, although i did figure things out in advance. that was also the case with the pale horse, which i very much enjoyed. and it was a special kick with that one, because it was later and didn't feature one of the famous detectives and had a very christie like character and offered cute little insight into the time it was written, when sitting in chelsea coffeehouses was oh so daring and nouvea. although it did make me think that the whole hipster thing, and how so little has changed with the times.
daddy's girl by lisa scottoline - not my usual cup of tea, but i needed to read it for work. completely improbable, but insanely readable. in the sense that i started it just before going to bed and reading it straight through, staying awake until way past the sun came up. the literary equivalent of a hollywood movie, but sometimes that's what you want, no?
the rossetti letter by christi phillips - also not my usual thing, but read for work. sort of phillipa gregory meets middle-aged chick lit. the two do not necessarily go together easily. i found the historical facts interesting, although their translation into fiction is sometimes awkward. the teenage character is laughable; sort of a teenager written by someone who has never actually known a teenager. and the historical/modern parts don't always meld together very well. it does paint a nice picture of venice and made me intersted some in it's history, so i guess there's that.
ivy and bean by annie barrows, the year of the dog by grace lin and toys go out: being the adventures of a knowledgeable stingray, a toughy little buffalo and someone called plastic by emily jenkins - so, when doing book recommendations for kids, i consistently feel that intermediate fiction, which is to say beginning chapter books, or things written for third graders, is my weakest area. this is perhaps because i hate junie b. jones. as such, i've felt like it would be a good idea to expose myself to a little more, and have been making an effort. these three books are part of that effort. my favorite of the three is year of the dog, which i completely adored. and the fact that grace lin seems so sweet and cool is just icing on the cupcake. toys go out was cute, although i thought a wee bit precocious (and the child i thought a bit cloying). but all the toy characters were oh so cute.the next one. ivy and bean i very much liked and am totally looking forward to reading