Honestly, I haven't been this excited for a book since Harry Potter
Earth Hour last night meant my roomie and I went for a walk rather than sit in our super-dark apartment. Naturally we ended up in a book store. This resulted in me having the BEST NIGHT EVER, literally dancing out the door of the store after purchasing Karen Healey's Guardian of the Dead. For some reason, I had assumed it had not come out in North America yet. Foolish, yet fortuituous, because it meant stumbling across that pale white mask was just that extra bit more exciting.
I danced about the store, hugging it to my chest, and the guy at the cashier remarked on how creepy the cover was. "ISN'T IT?" I gushed, and then bounced giddily when he told me I'd also saved 4 dollars on the last day of their YA promotion sale. BEST EVER? OH NO, IT GETS BETTER.
Because then, my roomie and I skipped (okay, not literally all the way) home to our cozy flat, and brewed up some tea, and curled on our couch to read our respective books and then we ATE FUDGE and did not go to bed until after midnight.
COULD A DAY SO GLORIOUS TRULY BE REAL???
Tea + Fudge + Comfy Couch Cushions + Guardian of the Dead + Almost Infinite Supply of Awesome Books Read this Weekend = BEST EARTH HOUR EVER
Starring:
The Totally Awesome Guardian of the Dead, which was fun and scary and surprising. I love Ellie, I love Mark, I love everyone in this bar. (I think Iris was my favourite, although she did not appear as much as I would have wished. Mostly because what I saw, I adored, and so could have had her around the whole time. Also, moar Kevin.) Definitely recommend this as an Awesome Young Lady Protagonist Fantasy Novel.
Moment I totally fell in love with Ellie: She loves Classics, and during class on The Odyssey gets into a spirited debate in which she defends Circe against the judgements of the hot boy with whom she is intrigued.
(n!S: Circe is my homegirl and I love her forever even if she is dangerous - Odysseus would never get home without her! All you victorian academics who give Kalypso a free ride 'cause she's pretty and feminine and act like Circe is totally evil, screw you! Does Kalypso give Odysseus directions? NO. But oh nooo, it's Circe who's the Bad Woman. FFFFFUUU./tangent)
Excerpt:
"Circe's pretty selfish," he offered, lowering his hand and glancing at me. "Penelope's selfless, but Circe just wants to control men. She gets what she wants from them, and then she doesn't care."
I wasn't going to let even a cute guy get away with that.
"She wants to be safe," I argued. "You think the men would let her get away with being powerful? She has to protect herself. There're all those lines about her house being made of stone, and the wild animals under her command. Security precautions. Penelope wouldn't need to unpick her work every night if she had some other way to keep those guys off her back. But the Greeks didn't like women with magic - look at what happened to Medea and Ariadne."
And then they get into an intense intellectual argument, and lean at each other while the rest of the class watches, and it's all exciting classics which is actually super resonant with later stuff that is yet to be revealed, but mostly OH ELLIE - "Security precautions." I love her.
I was a little worried, to be honest, about what it would be like to read a book by someone whose blog I've been following for...almost two years? Girls Read Comics is basically responsible for reviving the comics love I had as a little kid, and getting me into Birds of Prey and Catwoman and Blue Beetle, and then I started following KH's personal lj, and hearing about all of the work that went into this novel.
I normally ignore author's biography's - I rarely read interviews, although I love CBC radio sessions, so having this weird awareness that yes, in face Karen Healey is a real person, with friends and favourite songs and a life is very different from how I usually read novels. To be honest, mostly I read things by authors who've been dead for over a century.
Beyond the knowledge that the chapter headings are New Zealand pop hit titles, however, I don't think my reception of it was really altered at all by having followed her journal. It's a great story, and Ellie is funny and angry and awesome, and four chapters in I was already hugging it to my chest.
What is altered, however, is my reaction afterwards regarding feedback. If this was fic, I would leave a comment, 'cause damn, it's good. But I feel weird imagining commenting on her journal, because in my head there has to exist this very definite divide between pro-writers and myself as a reader.
Additional awesome YA books read this weekend:
What Would Emma Do by Eileen Cook - Awesome Emma is desperate to get out of her small, super-Christian town and go to U of Chicago on a track scholarship. Ethical dilemmas arise, however, when a popular girl overdoses in what everyone else in the town assumes is a terrorist attack (possibly instigated by the violent video-game playing unpopular loser boy who happens to be a Jew OH NOES). Emma knows different, and has to decide between coming forward and losing her chance at a scholarship, or staying quiet and losing her faith.
Emma is allowed to be hypocritical and awkward and touchy (aka a Teenager) and it is wonderful. Also, cute unpopular loser boy is awesome, but not the main issue. Her friendship with her best girlfriend and best guyfriend is given just as much, if not more, attention, and it's just generally adorable and great. Quick read, good fun. (Tad frustrating is the portrayal of small town religion as a monolithic, mostly hypocritical institution, but the book is nuanced enough to suggest this is mostly because of Emma's particular perspective.)
Paper Towns by John Greens
OMG so awesome. There is a road trip sequence in this book which made me howl with laughter. The main focus is one guy, Q, and his friendship with Radar and Ben as they search for Margo, but the two girls in the book, Margo and Lacey, are just as fully formed characters, who relate to each other and the guys in satisfying ways. Also, there is a whole bit about how the main character had to get over imagining Margo as this perfect, untouchable iconic woman and realise she is a person, with a personality and fears and interests and it is AWESOME. Also, Ben is sort of like Howard from The Big Bang Theory, if Howard were in any way not repulsive. He idealises Lacey, who is pretty and popular, and is obsessed with getting a girl (ANY GIRL WILL DO) to go to prom with him. But then he actually gets to know Lacey and like her as a person, and it is adorable and wonderful. Lacey is most definitely my favourite. She makes grocery lists for their timed rest-stop pauses (5 minutes and no longer) and orders the guys to memorise their items and recites them. She is like the leader of a SWAT team, and I adore her. So good.
The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci
I've read a few things by Castellucci before (her graphic novel for the Minx line, for one) and she's generally pretty good. Nothing world-shattering, but reliable. This novel follows the trend of solid and entertaining for younger readers. Libby is bored all the time, and is realising her friends are sort of boring too. She signs up for a zoo internship on a whim, meets Tina (unwillingly nicknamed Tiny by Libby's asshole friends) who is a teenage Little Person who wants to be an actress, and ends up actually interested in her own life. Slight but readable. I liked it, and would probably have loved it if I hadn't happened to read Paper Towns and Guardian of the Dead in the same weekend.
Things not read: ANY OF MY LOLLARD SERMONS FOR WEDNESDAY OH GOD DOOOM
I danced about the store, hugging it to my chest, and the guy at the cashier remarked on how creepy the cover was. "ISN'T IT?" I gushed, and then bounced giddily when he told me I'd also saved 4 dollars on the last day of their YA promotion sale. BEST EVER? OH NO, IT GETS BETTER.
Because then, my roomie and I skipped (okay, not literally all the way) home to our cozy flat, and brewed up some tea, and curled on our couch to read our respective books and then we ATE FUDGE and did not go to bed until after midnight.
COULD A DAY SO GLORIOUS TRULY BE REAL???
Tea + Fudge + Comfy Couch Cushions + Guardian of the Dead + Almost Infinite Supply of Awesome Books Read this Weekend = BEST EARTH HOUR EVER
Starring:
The Totally Awesome Guardian of the Dead, which was fun and scary and surprising. I love Ellie, I love Mark, I love everyone in this bar. (I think Iris was my favourite, although she did not appear as much as I would have wished. Mostly because what I saw, I adored, and so could have had her around the whole time. Also, moar Kevin.) Definitely recommend this as an Awesome Young Lady Protagonist Fantasy Novel.
Moment I totally fell in love with Ellie: She loves Classics, and during class on The Odyssey gets into a spirited debate in which she defends Circe against the judgements of the hot boy with whom she is intrigued.
(n!S: Circe is my homegirl and I love her forever even if she is dangerous - Odysseus would never get home without her! All you victorian academics who give Kalypso a free ride 'cause she's pretty and feminine and act like Circe is totally evil, screw you! Does Kalypso give Odysseus directions? NO. But oh nooo, it's Circe who's the Bad Woman. FFFFFUUU./tangent)
Excerpt:
"Circe's pretty selfish," he offered, lowering his hand and glancing at me. "Penelope's selfless, but Circe just wants to control men. She gets what she wants from them, and then she doesn't care."
I wasn't going to let even a cute guy get away with that.
"She wants to be safe," I argued. "You think the men would let her get away with being powerful? She has to protect herself. There're all those lines about her house being made of stone, and the wild animals under her command. Security precautions. Penelope wouldn't need to unpick her work every night if she had some other way to keep those guys off her back. But the Greeks didn't like women with magic - look at what happened to Medea and Ariadne."
And then they get into an intense intellectual argument, and lean at each other while the rest of the class watches, and it's all exciting classics which is actually super resonant with later stuff that is yet to be revealed, but mostly OH ELLIE - "Security precautions." I love her.
I was a little worried, to be honest, about what it would be like to read a book by someone whose blog I've been following for...almost two years? Girls Read Comics is basically responsible for reviving the comics love I had as a little kid, and getting me into Birds of Prey and Catwoman and Blue Beetle, and then I started following KH's personal lj, and hearing about all of the work that went into this novel.
I normally ignore author's biography's - I rarely read interviews, although I love CBC radio sessions, so having this weird awareness that yes, in face Karen Healey is a real person, with friends and favourite songs and a life is very different from how I usually read novels. To be honest, mostly I read things by authors who've been dead for over a century.
Beyond the knowledge that the chapter headings are New Zealand pop hit titles, however, I don't think my reception of it was really altered at all by having followed her journal. It's a great story, and Ellie is funny and angry and awesome, and four chapters in I was already hugging it to my chest.
What is altered, however, is my reaction afterwards regarding feedback. If this was fic, I would leave a comment, 'cause damn, it's good. But I feel weird imagining commenting on her journal, because in my head there has to exist this very definite divide between pro-writers and myself as a reader.
Additional awesome YA books read this weekend:
What Would Emma Do by Eileen Cook - Awesome Emma is desperate to get out of her small, super-Christian town and go to U of Chicago on a track scholarship. Ethical dilemmas arise, however, when a popular girl overdoses in what everyone else in the town assumes is a terrorist attack (possibly instigated by the violent video-game playing unpopular loser boy who happens to be a Jew OH NOES). Emma knows different, and has to decide between coming forward and losing her chance at a scholarship, or staying quiet and losing her faith.
Emma is allowed to be hypocritical and awkward and touchy (aka a Teenager) and it is wonderful. Also, cute unpopular loser boy is awesome, but not the main issue. Her friendship with her best girlfriend and best guyfriend is given just as much, if not more, attention, and it's just generally adorable and great. Quick read, good fun. (Tad frustrating is the portrayal of small town religion as a monolithic, mostly hypocritical institution, but the book is nuanced enough to suggest this is mostly because of Emma's particular perspective.)
Paper Towns by John Greens
OMG so awesome. There is a road trip sequence in this book which made me howl with laughter. The main focus is one guy, Q, and his friendship with Radar and Ben as they search for Margo, but the two girls in the book, Margo and Lacey, are just as fully formed characters, who relate to each other and the guys in satisfying ways. Also, there is a whole bit about how the main character had to get over imagining Margo as this perfect, untouchable iconic woman and realise she is a person, with a personality and fears and interests and it is AWESOME. Also, Ben is sort of like Howard from The Big Bang Theory, if Howard were in any way not repulsive. He idealises Lacey, who is pretty and popular, and is obsessed with getting a girl (ANY GIRL WILL DO) to go to prom with him. But then he actually gets to know Lacey and like her as a person, and it is adorable and wonderful. Lacey is most definitely my favourite. She makes grocery lists for their timed rest-stop pauses (5 minutes and no longer) and orders the guys to memorise their items and recites them. She is like the leader of a SWAT team, and I adore her. So good.
The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci
I've read a few things by Castellucci before (her graphic novel for the Minx line, for one) and she's generally pretty good. Nothing world-shattering, but reliable. This novel follows the trend of solid and entertaining for younger readers. Libby is bored all the time, and is realising her friends are sort of boring too. She signs up for a zoo internship on a whim, meets Tina (unwillingly nicknamed Tiny by Libby's asshole friends) who is a teenage Little Person who wants to be an actress, and ends up actually interested in her own life. Slight but readable. I liked it, and would probably have loved it if I hadn't happened to read Paper Towns and Guardian of the Dead in the same weekend.
Things not read: ANY OF MY LOLLARD SERMONS FOR WEDNESDAY OH GOD DOOOM