Feed - MT Anderson

This audio book was one of the best audio presentations I've ever heard. I really want to look at the book's text and see how it's done, because the way they presented the audio was amazing. I'd HIGHLY recommend the audio of this novel.

This book is set in the future, at a time when basically everyone has some sort of computer chip implanted in our brains, and we receive information directly, kind of like having the Internet and TV commercials all directly routed into our brains. Most people never question it, but Violet's not like the others, and she wants people to think! Frighteningly, I think this story has some very real possibilities. Maybe like Orson Wells's 1984 which he wrote in 1949. A little too prescient.

Some of the material and language is more appropriate for high school than middle school, so I won't be getting this book in our library, but I'd recommend it to mature readers and high schoolers. There's a lot of cool stuff and some pretty creepy stuff, but any way you look at it, it's fascinating contemplating the future.

Wait for Me - An Na

I listened to an audio version of this book (not the best reader ever, I thought), and it took me quite a while to really get hooked. The action was pretty slow during the first part of the story. As it went on, however, the story become very compelling, and many students will determine this book a winner.

This is an immigrant (Korean) family drama where, typically, the teenagers in the family clash with the parents who have perhaps more traditional values than their children. For Mina, she has no voice of her own, even to tell her mother about important things. There is a lot of hurt in this family, often suppressed for many years, and there are many deep secrets tearing this family apart. The question is whether they will be able to find a way to work through their problems or whether things will explode to an irreparable point.

Although the immigrant issues will ring true for some, the issues of parents and children striving to find a way to co-exist peacefully will resonate with nearly all teens.

A great story by Printz Honor winner, An Na.

Heart, You Bully ,You Punk - Cohen

This was my book club pick for August, and it was definitely a heart breaker at the end. Every single person in the book group was like, "WHAT?????" It was an interesting study of three people: teenager Ann James, her math teacher/tutor, Esker, and her father. The writing in this novel is quite stunning, and upon a second reading I found more sympathy for the most troubling of the three characters, but this is one of those books where I'm not really sure if I liked it or not because there was so much I questioned about so many of the characters' behaviors. An interesting read for grown ups with lots to discuss.

The Constant Princess - Philippa Gregory

THIS was a fantabulous book about the life of Katherine of Aragon. It is quite an amazing and interesting story. I can't even imagine some of the things she lived through. And even though I knew what was coming at the end, the getting there was a wonderful journey. Great story!!

Saturday - Ian McEwan

I have to say, this novel draaaaged for the first 3/4 of it, but I was determined to finish it since I'd borrowed it from a friend nearly a year ago and it had merely languished on my pile. By the time I got to the last 1/4, though, I couldn't stop. It's kind of an interesting work, since it takes place all in one day in the life of a neurosurgeon in London, and not many books are like that. The characterization, although I expected it to be really strong based on the type of story, was not what I'd hoped for. Or maybe it was just that I never REALLY cared about the characters as much as I wanted to. It was an OK book, but not one of my faves.

Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky

This was an amazing book - one of the best adult books I've read all year! It was written by a young Russian Jewish woman in France during WWII about the occupation of the Germans in France. It was heartbreaking in its honesty and clarity. It was a different perspective than one usually sees in Holocaust literature, which I really liked.

Because the author of this book was sent to Auschwitz, this book was actually only 2/5 finished, and it is difficult to imagine the power the completed work might have had after reading this.

Amazing!

The New Yorkers - Cathleen Schine

This was a super fun audio book. It's another of my summer grown-up books. I'm not sure where I got the idea to read it. The friend I thought recommended it to me, said she's never heard of it. Whoever recommended it, good choice. Nice, light summer story. Has a sense of short stories about it at first, but then they weave together. Not a Pulitzer Prize winner, but I liked it.

6 Summer Reads

On vacation and in between vacations (well, I guess the whole summer's really vacation, but I mean vacation, vacation, like actually leaving home vacation) I got busy and did a bunch of reading. Only one of the books on this list is a YA book That book is the first on my list: Deadline (audio) by Chris Crutcher. Chris Crutcher is one of my favorite YA authors. He writes about tough experiences, and bases a lot of his writing on the work he does as a therapist for adolescents. His work, including this one, is always thoughtful and though provoking. Many of his books have been challenged because people thought they dealt with topics too mature for kids. I think this one is a little advanced for middle school both topically i na few spots and philosophically, but it is great writing and would be perfect for high schoolers.

Deadline focuses on Ben Wolf who discovers, just at the beginning of his senior year, that he has terminal cancer. his parents don't know, and since he's 18, he can decide whether to tell them or not. He decides not to. He's trying to save his family from pain. As a grown up I can see how that's never going to work, but I admire his idea of protecting the people he loves. The book is a roller coaster of emotion and has really funny parts, and really sad parts, as you can imagine. I, of course, was bawling near hte end, and if you're home reading where no one can see you, it's one thing, but if oyu're sitting in your car listening to a story while everyone in the parking lot can see you crying your eyes out, you get some looks, let me tell you!

I'll just give you a quick blurb of the adult books:

**Whistling in the Dark - Kagen I read this for my reading group. It was OK, but not great. It just never really grabbed me.
**Seven Wonders - John C. Ryan This was a fabulous quick read of seven inventions we have that if more people started using them could probably save our planet! Some of the things are (1) the laundry line (instead of the dryer), (2) the library (instead of buying new books all the time - that's a lot of paper!), (3) the bicycle (instead of cars)
**The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Bauby Incredible story (now a movie) of a very successful man in his early 40s who suffers a massive stroke and is imprisoned inside a non-functional body with a completely sharp mind. He dictated this story through eye blinks! Amazing and utterly distressing.
**Water for Elephants - Gruen I loved this story about life in a circus in the post-Depression era. It was fascinating. Great photos to accompany the text.
**Thunderstruck (audio) - Erik Larson We'd already listened to another of this author's novels (Devil in the White City) which we enjoyed, so we thought we'd give this one a try. Interestingly, he followed nearly the same format. Two separate stories that after a LOOOONG time, come together. This one, too, had a mystery as one storyline, and the other storyline was that of Marconi, the inventor of wireless communication. Imagine if he could see what "wireless" means now! A little too much of the Marconi for me, but it was enjoyable, nevertheless. The reader could have been better. His voice as a little too soothing, and I kept falling asleep. Luckily, I wasn't driving!

Airhead - Meg Cabot

Well, this was an OK Meg Cabot, but I didn't think it was her best. The reviewers really liked it, though. I liked it, too; I just didn't LOVE it.

It's a bit of a Twist on Freaky Friday and maybe sort of Frankenstein where the main character ends up a science experiment as a brain/body transplant patient. Was it coincidence or fate that super smart but kind of nerdy Emerson Watts and supermodel Nikki Howard were both at the opening of a new Stark Megastore when the ginormous TV screen crashed down? Guess whose brain got saved and guess whose body...

So now Em has to figure out how to convince people that she's really NOT Nikki, even if she looks like her, and she has to figure out WHY she has this other person's body, too. It's got a lot of funny parts when people expect her to be someone she's not, and it's got some good thought-provoking parts as well.

If you're a Meg Cabot fan, a Freaky Friday fan, an A-list girl, or one who's the complete opposite of this, you'd probably enjoy this novel. And if you enjoy this, be sure to watch for the sequel.

3 Maisie Dobbs Novels - Jacqueline Winspear

This is a great little series about a young woman detective named, you guessed it, Maisie Dobbs. The three books I've finished are called

Maisie Dobbs
Birds of a Feather
Pardonable Lies.

I listened to the first one on audio. The reader read with an English accent (the books are set in post WWI England), and then I "heard" Maisie's voice in my head with the next two. It was pretty cool.

I love Maisie's spunk and determination. She makes some poor decisions in her relationships with people, though, which is disappointing, but then again, real life sometimes is.

I'd definitely recommend this series to lovers of mystery.

The Last Juror - John Grisham

This was partly a mystery story, but mostly it was a character story. And that made it a perfect combo for me, since mystery is one of my favorite genres, but I really love books with really strong characterization. It's the most important thing for me in a book. It's one of the reasons I don't like short stories. This book was set in the South, and had some really wacky characters and some characters that were unavoidably lovable. Unfortunately, I really disliked the ending of this story, so I'd only give it three stars.

2 books by Ally Carter

During this last week of school I really needed some easy on the brain reading, so I read two of Ally Carter's books for grown-ups: Cheating at Solitaire and Learning to Play Gin. They were fine, but I have to say that Ally Carter does kids books WAY better than she does grown-up books. I totally loved and adored I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You and its sequel (unfortunately I can't remember the name of that one - hey, give me a break, it's my LAST day of school - my brain is full), and I was only middle of the road on these two. These were a little too surface-y and a little too predictable for me. Don't get me wrong, they were perfect for the week I was having, but they just weren't what I expected from her, having read the other two first. Her character development was super strong in the kids books, and there was a ton of suspense. In these grown-up books, not so much. I'm hoping she continues her spy school series - what can I say, maybe we're both just kids at heart.

Happy Summer!

2 books by Justina Chen Headly

Nothing But the Truth (and a Few White Lies)
Girl Overboard

These books are written by my dentist's sister-in-law, of all things, which is how I heard about them, and I really enjoyed them. Both books have Asian main characters, which is great, as there are not that many Asian main characters in teen writing, although more are appearing each year. Both books are very funny and have boy and girl characters, although both leads are girls. (My dentist did tell me Justina is writing her next one from a boy's perspective - yeah!).

One thing I really like about these main characters is that in Nothing but the Truth the main character is a super smart math student and in Girl Overboard the lead is a super studly snowboarder. The characters both have some big flaws, so they're not perfect (because in real life, who is?), but I really like that they're both in roles that are not necessarily traditionally thought of as "girl" roles.

Both books also deal with parent issues, and most kids, no matter what ethnic group they belong to, can relate to that!

I enjoyed both books, but I have to say I liked Girl Overboard better - I thought it was a little smoother. I'm looking forward to the next installment from Justina Chen Headly

PS I found out from the book jacket this author is one of the co-founders of that super-cool readergirlz website I like so much: http://www.readergirlz.com/issue.html
Way to go, Justina!

Hedda Gabler - Henrik Ibsen

This summer I'm planning to see a play in Ashland called The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler so my friend Susannah said I had to read the original play first. I listened to it on CD, and it wasn't read by just one person, but was actually a taping of a performance, or at least it had all the characters acted by different people.

It is a crazy play with a wild woman at the helm. I'm not sure when it is set, but it's definitely at a time when women still do not have many freedoms, and Hedda clearly longs for them. She is definitely trapped in many ways, and she does not react well to her circumstances. She's biting and can be quite cruel, as I can imagine I might be if I were in her situation. She's also somewhat obsessed with some pistols, which is not really a good thing for a woman of her temperament.

I did figure out from this why there's a picture of a pistol on the playbill, but given the fact that I'm going to see her FURTHER adventures, I was kind of surprised at the ending of the play. That's show-business I guess, hey?

A fun, very fast play that I'd definitely recommend to adults, especially this CD version available at Multnomah County Libraries.

Austenland - Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale writes really fabulous YA books - check out my previous post on Book of a Thousand Days - but this is one she did for adults. It's a play on Pride and Prejudice, focused on a character who is holding out for her Mr. Darcy to come along before she will entertain any idea of a serious relationship. Well, no, not really true. She entertains the idea of serious relationships all the time, and even has several, but Colin Firth just never shows up. Then her aunt dies and leaves her a trip to "Austenland" an interactive dramatic camp of sorts for enthusiasts of Jane Austen. She goes there thinking she'll be forced to get over her obsessions, but you'll have to read it yourself to find out if it works out that way or not. A fun, fast read (or listen to in my case) for Jane Austen fans only.

Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff

This was my book group's last book, and I thought it was fascinating. It's a fictional story about someone with multiple personality disorder. I am telling you, I would not want to have that. It must be so difficult. The story was well told and engaging, but it was pretty confusing at first because there were all these souls living in the main character's head, and it was a little tricky to tell who was who at the beginning. I don't think many middle schoolers would be interested in this, but I sure enjoyed it

Hattie Big Sky - Kirby Larson

My friend Shannon recommended this book to me, and so did Mrs. Robinson. It's another one that I'd been meaning to read for a long time but just didn't seem that interesting. Wow, was I wrong. I LOVED this book, and I can totally see why it was a Newbery Honor. the writing is delicious, the imagery top notch, and the characterization extremely strong. I felt for Hattie and rooted for her the whole way.

After reading this novel I know for sure I could never have been a pioneer woman, especially as a teenager. Hattie, however, was made of hearty stock, and she put her best effort into every step required for earning her homestead in Montana. I wonder if her uncle who left it to her in his will knew she was so hearty, didn't realize the incredible effort this was going to require from Hattie, or knew this might be her only chance so gave it to her just in case she could make it.

This book was an extremely accurate portrayal, I think, of the difficulties of homesteading and the way communities pulled together and were pulled apart sometimes, as in the case of the German immigrants in this novel. I really liked the parallels the author drew between what was happening in this novel during World War I and some of the things that have resulted from 9/11 in her additional material after hte end of the story.

I would highly recommend this novel. Available in the WOMS library.

The Final Warning - James Patterson

I got to read this book thanks to Colin W. :)

Do you think it will really be the FINAL one? I doubt it. I enjoy this series a lot, so I won't mind if there are more, but I didn't think this was as good as some of the others in the series. Speaking of which...can I just say

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

to James Patterson and the folks at his website for the TEN, yes, you read that correctly, TEN copies of the third book in the series that were sent FREE to our library courtesy of James and his website. They offered free copies to the first 1000 schools that applied, and apparently we were in the first 1000. That is SO cool.

If you have not read any of the other books in this series, you should probably start at the beginning, not with The Final Warning, and you're in for a wild ride. It's quite a series. It's also being made into a movie, I believe, which ought to be pretty interesting. I'm not sure how they're going to portray bird kids because I have a hard time visualizing them myself, but Hollywood has some great tricks up their sleeves, so I'm sure it will be good.

Science fiction fans, suspense fans and adventure fans will all love Maximum Ride. 1-3 currently available at the WOMS library; book 4 will be here in the fall.

The Big Over Easy - Jasper Fforde

I really enjoy Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next mysteries, so I decided to give this one a go, but it wasn't nearly as good as the Thursday books, so I was a little disappointed. This author generally writes for adults, although there's no reason a younger audience couldn't read them, I just don't think they'd want to read them. They're pretty literary, with references to all kinds of novels and storylines, which can make them a little confusing if you don't have enough background knowledge. I think that may have been part of my problem with this one. Th storyline in this novel revolves around the NCD, the Nursery Crimes Division, so you need to know a lot of nursery rhymes, and although I have a passing knowledge of many, I don't have a thorough knowledge of them, which really might have helped.

Based on the title, The Big Over Easy, can you figure out which nursery rhyme was the heart of this novel? If you guessed Humpty Dumpty, who had a great fall, you'd be right. Humpty is dead, and it's up to detectives Jack Sprat (who, surprise, surprise, cuts off all the fat from his bacon) and Mary Mary to figure out what happened. And each time they think they've got it, they discover they're not quite there yet.

This book is an ok read, but if you're just trying Jasper Fforde, go for the Thursday next books. The Eyre Affair is the first in the series I think.

Susan Fletcher to speak May 18th

If you have never had a chance to hear Susan Fletcher speak, this is an awesome opportunity. She's a fantastic writer who has had some amazing experiences, particularly in connection with the writing of this book. Her book Alphabet of Dreams which she'll be discussing on May 18th at the Wilsonville Public Library is an incredibly rich story and it's been chosen for the 2008-09 school year OBOB list. I'd highly recommend this as a family outing. But don't ask her to sign your shirt...only some of us get that privilege!