Booklog 9: sex, drugs, and children's lit
October? (I watched Goodbye Lenin again at the weekend, and so people who have seen that film should read in the same tone as the mum in that: "In October?")
- Junk by Melvyn Burgess
I read this as a teenager and was actually a lot less shocked by it then than I am now! Not because of the content (running away and becoming a drug addict happens, and I don't think refusing to talk to teenagers about it will help anybody) but because wow, I did not remember there being half as much really harrowing detail in it.
It's very engaging, and I think that's what really got to me: you want to believe what the main characters are telling themselves, that it's only a small bit of heroin, they're not like the real junkies, and then it gets to the point where even they can't deny it any more. I didn't remember that being quite so graphic - it comes over a lot more didactic as an adult than it did as a teenager, too. I also didn't remember quite how unpleasant the parents are. Or that the ending is quite so sad! But coming at it as adult, wow, is it realistic. That's exactly how those people (provided they hadn't died) WOULD end up. Very good, but not, um, a cheerful read.
- Trade of Queens by Charles Stross
The last of the Merchant Princes books so far, and DAMMIT I NEED MORE. This is, like, the definition of epic: there is CARPET BOMBING WITH H-BOMBS. Holy moly. It has a lot more closure than I was expecting given all that, but I still desperately want to know what happens next, and how things work out, and all about every other universe that is out there. So good!
- A Little Princess by Frances Hodgeson Burnett
I don't think I read this as a kid? But I vaguely knew the story through osmosis, and then I saw the end of the movie once, and while I find Sara Crewe a little too perfect to be believed, it was also surprisingly charming and nice. One of the morals is "be nice to people because you might be down on your luck one and day and need someone to be nice to you", and I 1. really believe that and 2. wasn't really expecting it to extend to servants and so on. And the details of what life involved as a truly poor person in the world are well done and actually quite harrowing.
I also really like that the ending in the book is not the cheese-tastic pap from the movie. I mean, it's pretty cheesy. But at least it's not magic-dad-comes-back-from-the-dead cheesy.
- The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
The latest Thursday Next. I love Thursday, and if you have enjoyed the rest of the series, you'll like this. It was rather more serious than the rest of the series, but in a way that felt, I think, earned. The big bads were very present. I mostly felt like it was waiting for the next bit to relieve the tension. But good. Thursday is fab.
Oh and I also quite enjoyed Tuesday being a proper Mad Scientist who had to go to school occasionally to learn how to be a person. (And I don't know what I think about the fact that this involves charging boys who want to see her boobs. I kind of liked that Tuesday had grudging respect for Thursday for having managed to get a £1 per flash back in the day, and that Tuesday's opinions on what she wants to do with her body are valid, but. Hmm.)
Basically: I adore Thursday!
- Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin
Short and very sad book about Thomas Coram, who I hadn't heard of before this, and what happened to children whose families couldn't care for them before there were modern social services. That part I knew about (answer: mostly they died in a variety of horrible ways) but this book is designed to basically ram that point home with a shovel. It does it well, too; just not very subtly.
- Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D Taylor
This book is also designed to teach children something, and was indeed used for that purpose with me in my year 8 English class back in the day, and that something is A Brief History Of Post-Civil War Race Relations In America.
That actually does it a disservice, though. The main character, Cassie, is literally someone who learns about her world, and through whom we the reader learn too, but she's just so great. I remember liking Cassie when I was 13, but she really is fabulous. And the way that she is taught by her family and by experience, in exactly the "this is how it is" way that I recognise from some very different situations myself... yeah. It's really, really excellent.
- The Other Side of Truth by Beverly Naidoo
This is very much also designed to teach: this time about refugee children, what they might experience and some of the reasons why they might be refugees. As with Roll of Thunder, though, the main character is fantastic. Sade is traumatised, and unable to express herself or deal with a lot of what happens, in ways that I've seen from refugee children in real life (or at least my understanding of them from outside). Little bits, like how Sade thinks of the bullies at her new school not as "bullies" but "kids with power", just rang so true that they made up for the reunited-at-Christmas ending.
- Pavane by Keith Roberts
This is a classic alt-history novel, one of the first to make that a proper separate sub-genre. The idea is that Queen Elizabeth I of England was assassinated, the Spanish Armada conquered England, and the Catholic church just got more powerful. It's very good.
It's also really weird. I'm not 100% sure what we're supposed to conclude actually happened, or how conscious/deliberate a lot of it was.... I would be fascinated to hear from someone else who's read it. It remains very compelling even while being confusing - the bit where John is screaming for repentance for having enjoyed his work gave me chills.
- Blotto, Twinks, and the Ex-King's Daughter by Simon Brett
FUCKING WEIRD MURDER MYSTERY. It's clearly supposed to be funny, but it's... kind of a mean pastiche? Of... murder mysteries/tropes about posh people/ the English? While also being what it's making fun of? I don't even know. I don't think I recommend it: it's not very long and I like mysteries enough that I finished it, but just... wow. It was one of those things where I veered along mostly thinking it wasn't that funny but then trying to quantify its not-funny, and that's never a good place to be
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/95992.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
- Junk by Melvyn Burgess
I read this as a teenager and was actually a lot less shocked by it then than I am now! Not because of the content (running away and becoming a drug addict happens, and I don't think refusing to talk to teenagers about it will help anybody) but because wow, I did not remember there being half as much really harrowing detail in it.
It's very engaging, and I think that's what really got to me: you want to believe what the main characters are telling themselves, that it's only a small bit of heroin, they're not like the real junkies, and then it gets to the point where even they can't deny it any more. I didn't remember that being quite so graphic - it comes over a lot more didactic as an adult than it did as a teenager, too. I also didn't remember quite how unpleasant the parents are. Or that the ending is quite so sad! But coming at it as adult, wow, is it realistic. That's exactly how those people (provided they hadn't died) WOULD end up. Very good, but not, um, a cheerful read.
- Trade of Queens by Charles Stross
The last of the Merchant Princes books so far, and DAMMIT I NEED MORE. This is, like, the definition of epic: there is CARPET BOMBING WITH H-BOMBS. Holy moly. It has a lot more closure than I was expecting given all that, but I still desperately want to know what happens next, and how things work out, and all about every other universe that is out there. So good!
- A Little Princess by Frances Hodgeson Burnett
I don't think I read this as a kid? But I vaguely knew the story through osmosis, and then I saw the end of the movie once, and while I find Sara Crewe a little too perfect to be believed, it was also surprisingly charming and nice. One of the morals is "be nice to people because you might be down on your luck one and day and need someone to be nice to you", and I 1. really believe that and 2. wasn't really expecting it to extend to servants and so on. And the details of what life involved as a truly poor person in the world are well done and actually quite harrowing.
I also really like that the ending in the book is not the cheese-tastic pap from the movie. I mean, it's pretty cheesy. But at least it's not magic-dad-comes-back-from-the-dead cheesy.
- The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
The latest Thursday Next. I love Thursday, and if you have enjoyed the rest of the series, you'll like this. It was rather more serious than the rest of the series, but in a way that felt, I think, earned. The big bads were very present. I mostly felt like it was waiting for the next bit to relieve the tension. But good. Thursday is fab.
Oh and I also quite enjoyed Tuesday being a proper Mad Scientist who had to go to school occasionally to learn how to be a person. (And I don't know what I think about the fact that this involves charging boys who want to see her boobs. I kind of liked that Tuesday had grudging respect for Thursday for having managed to get a £1 per flash back in the day, and that Tuesday's opinions on what she wants to do with her body are valid, but. Hmm.)
Basically: I adore Thursday!
- Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin
Short and very sad book about Thomas Coram, who I hadn't heard of before this, and what happened to children whose families couldn't care for them before there were modern social services. That part I knew about (answer: mostly they died in a variety of horrible ways) but this book is designed to basically ram that point home with a shovel. It does it well, too; just not very subtly.
- Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D Taylor
This book is also designed to teach children something, and was indeed used for that purpose with me in my year 8 English class back in the day, and that something is A Brief History Of Post-Civil War Race Relations In America.
That actually does it a disservice, though. The main character, Cassie, is literally someone who learns about her world, and through whom we the reader learn too, but she's just so great. I remember liking Cassie when I was 13, but she really is fabulous. And the way that she is taught by her family and by experience, in exactly the "this is how it is" way that I recognise from some very different situations myself... yeah. It's really, really excellent.
- The Other Side of Truth by Beverly Naidoo
This is very much also designed to teach: this time about refugee children, what they might experience and some of the reasons why they might be refugees. As with Roll of Thunder, though, the main character is fantastic. Sade is traumatised, and unable to express herself or deal with a lot of what happens, in ways that I've seen from refugee children in real life (or at least my understanding of them from outside). Little bits, like how Sade thinks of the bullies at her new school not as "bullies" but "kids with power", just rang so true that they made up for the reunited-at-Christmas ending.
- Pavane by Keith Roberts
This is a classic alt-history novel, one of the first to make that a proper separate sub-genre. The idea is that Queen Elizabeth I of England was assassinated, the Spanish Armada conquered England, and the Catholic church just got more powerful. It's very good.
It's also really weird. I'm not 100% sure what we're supposed to conclude actually happened, or how conscious/deliberate a lot of it was.... I would be fascinated to hear from someone else who's read it. It remains very compelling even while being confusing - the bit where John is screaming for repentance for having enjoyed his work gave me chills.
- Blotto, Twinks, and the Ex-King's Daughter by Simon Brett
FUCKING WEIRD MURDER MYSTERY. It's clearly supposed to be funny, but it's... kind of a mean pastiche? Of... murder mysteries/tropes about posh people/ the English? While also being what it's making fun of? I don't even know. I don't think I recommend it: it's not very long and I like mysteries enough that I finished it, but just... wow. It was one of those things where I veered along mostly thinking it wasn't that funny but then trying to quantify its not-funny, and that's never a good place to be
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/95992.html. Please comment there using OpenID.