Chopsticks

Chopsticks Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral

And, for our final book in Books in Stuff Week (which was much longer than a week!) we have something completely different!

Chopsticks is less a book in stuff and more a (almost) wordless novel. It's told mostly in photographs with some ephemera-- concert programs, ticket stubs, newspaper articles. There are some captions and letters, and text message chats, so it's not entirely wordless, but it's a similar effect.

Glory is a piano prodigy known for mixing classical pieces with pop culture themes, motifs, and musical references. She plays sold out shows across Europe. Frankie is the boy next door, whose family just moved from Argentina. Frankie is all Glory has outside of piano and her over-bearing father/teacher. Glory is all Frankie has in this country he hates and doesn't fit into.

But soon, Glory is falling, all she can play are variations on the Chopsticks waltz over and over and over and over and over again, ruining sold out shows. (As the jacket copy explains, it's the F and G notes moving apart and together over and over.) But as she unravels, we start to see another side and have to wonder how much is true, or even real.

Have you ever seen He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not? The twist and plot are very different, but there's something about the structure and how twists are revealed, as well as some undefinable things (and it's been years since I've seen the film) that really connect the two in my mind. After finishing Chopsticks, I had an overwhelming urge to see the movie again.

I liked the format, I liked the story. Even though I knew more about where it was going than I reveal in my plot summary, I was still surprised by a lot. I think it would make an excellent book discussion group-- there's enough in the plot to dissect, but the format and design will add more.

While it's not as ground-breaking as it could be, or as earth-shattering as it should be (but that might be because they jacket copy reveals waaaaaaay too much about where the plot is going, taking a lot of oomph out of it) I still really enjoyed it.

Now, this was also released as an app. From this review (which is super-spoilery) I learn that the app adds some stuff to the book-- you can hear the music, watch the videos they're watching, text conversations appear in "real time" instead of all at once on the page, and some items we see on the page can be moved in the app to reveal more. But, it's also a bit glitchy (one of the youtube videos isn't available anymore, the music and video isn't actually in the app, it's all external links). I haven't seen the app. I want to play around with it, but it's $7, and given that I already spent money on the actual book, I'd rather spend the money elsewhere. Also, it's something I'd save for the larger screen of the iPad.

I think this is something we're going to start seeing more of as authors play with adding content to their stories.

If you've played with the app and read the book, which would you recommend?

ALSO-- Frankie is Argentinian and I assume Glory's mother was Latina (her maiden name was Torres and Glory speaks fluent Spanish.) While race and language play a part in Frankie's story, it's not a huge part of the book, which focuses more on Glory's piano and Glory and Frankie's relationship.


Book Provided by... my wallet

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Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures Caroline Preston

In 1920, Frankie Pratt dreams of escaping her small New Hampshire town. A scholarship to Vassar looks like the ticket, but money's still too tight. Inspired by Frankie's very unsuitable boyfriend, her mother finds a way. From Vassar to New York to Paris and back, Frankie tries to find her way in a glittering world. It's a book with speak easies and exiled Russian nobles, avant garde literature, and false friends.

Format wise, it's a scrapbook. Preston collects vintage scrapbooks and used vintage pictures, ticket stubs, guide book pages, newspaper articles, advertisements and more to illustrate the story. Visually, it looks a lot like an olde time Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff, but most of the story is told in Frankie's captions and explanations of the items she's saved. Some "explanations" are more like short diary entries (never more than half a page) of memories/events/conversations to remember.

I liked Frankie. I liked how she went out an saw the world and tried to make it as a writer without too much angst about not getting married and settling down like many of her friends. There wasn't too much "this isn't what women dooooooooooo" whinging on or explanation. Also, given the format there isn't a ton of explanation/instruction/info-dumping about the time period and events, which is always a danger in historical fiction. But, there are some nods to the modern reader. Oliver goes to write for a magazine that Frankie's sure will fold in a few issues. There is much talk of the magazine as it's starting, and it's funny joke when we finally see what it is. (I won't ruin the surprise, but it's still very much in print.)

I am still unsure how I feel about the ending. My spoilery thoughts are here.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It's a great addition to the format, and while there are some great books in stuff written for adults (e Squared, The Boy Next Door) this is more literary in tone (even though it uses fewer words) and also much more visual in nature.

And while it is an adult book (or "New Adult" if that's a thing now-- it starts at the end of high school and ends 8 years later) it does have older teen appeal.

Book Provided by... my wallet

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Mo Yan

Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for Literature!

He's my favorite author and he's had Nobel hype for years. It's so exciting that he finally won!

The first book of his that I read was Red Sorghum. It was assigned for a Chinese Literature in Translation course. I was only auditing the class and could only read part of it before I had to turn my attention elsewhere. But, I liked it so much that I went back and finished it after the semester was over.

The movie Red Sorghum dramatises the first part of the novel. The opening scenes of Happy Times are based on one of the short stories in Shifu, You'll Do Anything For a Laugh.

The Garlic Ballads is my favorite book by him.

I prefer is earlier stuff to his later stuff. The shorter works are tighter and more accessible. His later works seem like a Nobel bid, but are still very good. Overall his writing is marked by a visceral lushness that I'm not used to seeing from Chinese prose, which is usually sparse in its descriptions. Many of his works are touched by a magic realism that brings to mind Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

AND! When writing up this blog post I see that many of his works are available for FREE for Amazon Prime members through the lending library and many are priced at bargain prices to own the Kindle version. Take advantage while you can, especially of the three titles I mentioned in this post.


Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Shooter

Shooter Walter Dean Myers

Len and his friends were bullied in their high school. They enjoyed letting off steam at the shooting range, but one day Len takes it too far by bringing his guns to school and opening fire before ultimately committing suicide.

The book takes place after the shooting and mostly told in interviews by police and psychologists with Len's friend Cameron. There's an interview with another friend, Carla, newspaper articles, and then Len's diary itself.

The "stuff" format works a bit differently here-- with the exception of the diary (which is included at the very end) it's telling a story of something that already happened, looking back. Usually, "stuff" is used in a hyper-real time so the reader can put together the clues to piece together the story to find out what's going on the same way/time as the characters piece together the story of their lives.

While this stands apart from many other "stuff" novels, the format does work really well for what Myers is doing. The different interviewers are going after different information for different reasons. Cameron's story is different than Carla's and different from Len's. Not only in terms of perspective, but some evidence directly contradicts other evidence and the format offered without extra commentary allows/forces the reader to come up with their own conclusions as to where the truth and blame lie in this tragedy.

It's not my favorite Walter Dean Myers title, but it's still interesting and good, as well as important.

Random thought-- I've never met Myers or heard him speak, but I have a very vivid image of him and the way he sounds that's entirely created by mashing up photos I've seen of him and the description of his class visit and voice in Love That Dog. I trust Sharon Creech hasn't steered me wrong, because I love the Walter Dean Myers in my head.


Book Provided by... my local library

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Nothing but the Truth

Nothing But The Truth Avi

Lest we think that "books in stuff" is a new narrative technique, let's turn to a classic-- one I read when *I* was a tween.

Phillip is a high school freshman whose English grads are keeping him off the track team. Phil's convinced it's because his English teacher hates him. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact he doesn't try and disrupts class all the time. Trying to get transferred out of her homeroom, Phil hums along with the morning announcements playing of The National Anthem. Unfortunately, the rules state that students must stand as "silent and respectful attention" and so he's sent to the office. Given a pattern of behavior it escalates quickly. When his next door neighbor finds out, he uses it as part of his local election campaign and it quickly spirals into a national issue and no one's lives will be the same.

Told in memos, script-style dialogue, journal entries, speeches, newspaper articles, letters, phone messages, etc. The reader gets to see many sides of this story and draw their own conclusions about what really happened and who was at fault. Because of the documentary format, we also have much more information that any of the characters. We know why they do what they do, but we also know why their read of the situation is so incorrect. (And when it comes to why Phil's failing English, we get his teacher's true feelings on him, but also his answers to test questions.) Avi does a wonderful job of showing us the situtation through Phil's eyes (both in his journal entries and conversations with friends) but also how other people see the situation (conversations teachers have, the teacher's letters to her sister) but also some completely unbiased evidence (the test answer in question.)

I really liked this book when I first read it (when it first came out in 1991) and love it even more as an adult. (Partly because of life experience, partly because of the way politics and the news works today, it's just become more and more believable.)

It's heartbreaking and Phil is so infuriating (not as much as his father though. UGH HIS DAD.) This is a perfect book discussion book because there's so much there and so much in real life to tie it into.

There's a reason why it was a Newbery Honor. THere's a reason why it's still in print and still assigned reading in many schools.

Book Provided by... my local library for this rereading, but originally my parents bought it for me as part of my book order. Mmmmm... book order. I really miss book order. I can't wait until the Kung Fu Princess gets her book orders... They still do book orders, right?!

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Cathy's Book: If Found Call 650-266-8233

It turns out that I had A LOT of "Books in Stuff" waiting to be reviewed, so we're doing another week!

Cathy's Book: If Found Call 650-266-8233 Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman

Cathy's not having a great time lately. Her boyfriend suddenly dumped her, she has a weird mark on her hand, and her dad's dead. Add in best friend drama and bad grades, and well...

But things take a decided turn for the bizarre when Cathy starts looking into WHY Victor dumped her. He's either a murderer, messed up with the Chinese mob, or a vampire. Or all of the above. Soon Cathy is in way over her head as she tries to save Victor, and, more importantly, herself.

Format-wise, the book is Cathy's journal, complete with doodles and comments and notes in the margins. Extra evidence is included in a package in the back--pictures, newspaper articles, Cathy's full-color drawings of characters, lipstick shade tests [there's a CoverGirl tie-in/marketing component], old letters, birth certificates, a marriage licensee... I liked the touch that a photograph of Victor with a phone number on it is torn into 4 pieces that the reader can put back together. This is fun, but not strictly necessary. It's all discussed in the text, but the addition of it is pretty cool, especially as some of it's ripped up. (The paperback includes photo-pages of the evidence instead of the actual ephemera, which isn't as fun, but much more practical for libraries!!!)

In addition to the book, there are websites and phone numbers to call, voice mail boxes to hack into and a huge online component. This provides additional information, but nothing terribly vital (so, it's fun for fans, but you can enjoy the book without it.) You can also do what I did and google around to find some sites that have done all the hard work for you (what can I say, I'm LAZY.)*

As far as the actual story, it was pretty fun. I liked the story and the format. I liked that all the extra stuff was there, but ultimately wasn't required--it adds to the story for those who want to go the extra mile, but people who don't or can't go those extra steps can still enjoy the book.

Bonus points for having a large Chinese-American cast.

This is pretty telling about my ultimate feelings on the book-- when I finished it, I liked it enough to buy the sequel, but couldn't read it right away because of school. It's been 4 years, and I haven't read it yet, but I still have it, because I still *want* to read it. Just not enough to bump it up the stack. Does that makes sense?


*This is also my complaint with Pottermore. I want the extra info about the book and characters, but I don't want to go around collection random trinkets and all that other stuff to get to it. Annoying.

Book Provided by... my wallet

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An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries

An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries Nina Schindler, translated from the German by Rob Barrett

You gotta love a book that references Leonard Cohen on the second page. With a big ol' picture of him, too.

Tim's a student who sees the woman of his dreams. He doesn't know her, but her address falls out of her bag, so he takes a risk and emails her. Only... it wasn't her email address. Amelie is NOT the girl of Tim's dreams, but her reply charms him, so he writes back and writes back, until she caves. It's a very sweet relationship the develops as Amelia tries to figure out what to do about her new feelings for Tim and some negative feelings with her very serious long-distance boyfriend.

Format wise, this one's much closer to Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf as we get a much better visual on the notes, flowers that are also sent, phones used in text messages (you actually tell the who's texting who because their phones are different.)

Interestingly, even though this is a German book, it takes place in Canada.

It's a short, sweet read that's a great use of the stuff format.

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Ashbury High

So here's a weird thing where I've already reviewed the 4th book in this loosely connected series, but not the first three.

Now, I've written about my undying love for Jacyln Moriarty before. In 2010, she topped my list of Unsung YA Authors. When I turned 30, the first book in this series made my list of the 30 Most Influential Books in My Life (so far). It caught my eye when I was shelving books at the library and was the first YA book I had read since I was a teenager (not counting rereads of teen favorites or Potter.) This book is pretty responsible of the monster you know and love today.

Now, when I first read the first two books in this series, I wasn't reviewing everything I've read. The third one, however is a legitimate OUTSTANDING REVIEW. The other two were re-read for my YA lit paper and when I re-read them, I was committed to reviewing everything I read... I could easily get away with not reviewing them BUT. THEY ARE AWESOME SO I WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT THEM.

Feeling Sorry for Celia Jacyln Moriarty

Elizabeth has problems. Her best friend, Celia, is missing. Her father's moved back to Australia from Canada. To top it all off, the new English teacher wants the Internet Generation to rediscover the JOY OF THE ENVELOPE and is making the students at Ashbury (posh private school) become penpals with students at Brookfield (public school a few blocks away.)

This book is told entirely in letters. Some letters are obvious-- notes between Elizabeth and her Mum, the letters between Elizabeth and her penpal Christina. Some come from not-actual-characters, such as the The Association of Teenagers (which does things like inform Elizabeth that the new zit under her nose is utterly disgusting) and the Best Friends Club (which does things like harp on how much progress Elizabeth is making in finding Celia.)

I loved the hilarity of the notes Elizabeth's Mum writes, always asking her to cook elaborate desserts and come up with slogans for bizarre products (she words at an ad agency.) I loved the slow-building friendship between Elizabeth and Christina and the juxtaposition of their friendship with the deteriorating one Elizabeth has with Celia.

It's been a while since I've last read it, but as I was dipping in to write this review, I ended up rereading large chunks of it. Elizabeth is not a drama queen and when confronted with real drama, she takes it in stride, but she's still very vulnerable. The letter-writing assignment allows her to open up to someone new, something I don't get the sense that she does a lot with Celia, as she tries to keep Celia grounded.

The Year of Secret Assignments Jaclyn Moriarty

So the Ashbury Books are more like companion novels than actual sequels.

It's a new year at Ashbury and three best friends-- Emily, Lydia, and Cassie are subjected to Mr. Botherit's JOY OF THE ENVELOPE and each have three Brookfield Boys (BOYS!) to correspond with over the year.

There are no letters from fake organizations this time. We get the letters from the boys and the notes the girls pass back and forth. We get the legal memos between Emily and her lawyer-parents, transcripts of meetings, pages from Lydia's writing prompt notebook, school notices, and diary entries.

There's the heavier component-- Cassie's dad died last year and things have been hard since then (she's in therapy with her mom and she's not off the deep end, but well, her dad died, that has to completely suck and there will be consequences). To top it off, her Brookfield pen pal is a complete jerk but she keeps writing to him and he just gets worse. (The original Australian title of this one is Finding Cassie Crazy. I like Year of Secret Assignments better.)

Emily and Lydia get very close to their penpals (Charlie and Seb. My oh my how I adore Charlie and Seb) and quickly discover that the boy Cassie's been writing to doesn't exist. MYSTERY!

On the surface, the three girls are your stereotypical rich shallow girl but over the course of the book, you see some depth. Emily's hilarious though, in that she wants to be a big-time lawyer but she's not that smart. She uses lots of big words, but always uses the wrong ones. There's some great romance going on and Elizabeth and Christina make small appearances.

This is the most light-hearted and funniest of the bunch.

The Murder Of Bindy Mackenzie Jacyln Moriarty

No more JOY OF THE ENVELOPE. Readers may remember Bindy's amazing typing skills from the dramatic climax of Year of Secret Assignments. So this one is mostly told in Bindy's journals and transcripts that she keeps of the conversations she overhears around her.

Poor Bindy. Bindy's incredibly smart and gifted, but annoying and unpopular. It's not hard to see why no one really likes her. Think Hermione before the bathroom troll incident. And then multiply it by 5. That's Bindy. But that's ok, because Bindy doesn't have a high opinion of her peers either.

This year, Ashbury's developed an experimental course called Friendship and Development. All the students are placed in small groups that meet for an hour a week with a facilitator to talk about their feelings and offer support. (Emily and Elizabeth are in Bindy's group.)

Something weird is going on though, Bindy's sleepy all the time. She's become careless and is losing her edge. She feels sort of ill. She can't sleep. She's hallucinating. Is someone trying to kill her?

As unlikeable as she was, Bindy broke my heart. Her parents have moved away and so Bindy's living with her aunt. Bindy doesn't understand why people don't see the world she does and finds her classmates rather bewildering. Friendship and Development is actually good for her in helping her understand other people.

And she's just... unraveling. Something's going on and it looks like Bindy might be going crazy. Or someone really is trying to kill her.

The original Australian title is Becoming Bindy MacKenzie which is much more fitting (if not as grabbing.)

It's a wonderful character study, even if the it did not end up going where I thought it was going to go. Bindy's a wonderful person.

It was also great to see a lot more of Emily and Elizabeth, but through Bindy's eyes.

The fourth book in the series is The Ghosts of Ashbury High, which I reviewed here.

Books Provided by... my wallet, ultimately. I originally read Feeling Sorry for Celia and Year of Secret Assignment from the library, but then went out and bought them, because I like them THAT MUCH.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Paul is Undead

Paul Is Undead Alan Goldsher

Basic premis-- zombies walk among us. There are different types of zombies, depending on where the zombie was created. Some function well in living society, some are scary death monsters. Some play a mean guitar and turned some other good musicians into a band. Because Liverpool zombies are strong and artistic.

Except Stu, Stu became a vampire. And Ringo, Ringo's a ninja. (Yoko is, too.)

John Lennon had a vision of the first undead rockband. A zombie band, which caused some friction with another Liverpool band that was made up of living members, but called The Zombies.

Overall, it's the history of the Beatles, but with zombies. Pete Best gets fired because he refuses to turn. John didn't die in 1980, because he was already undead. Mick Jagger's a zombie hunter (they could have done a lot more with that plot line. It kinda fizzled.)

Overall... I liked most of it. The zombie stuff was pretty graphically gross, which isn't my cup of tea, but makes sense in a zombie novel. But there's also a lot of comic grossness, like that'll often rip their arms off to better beat each other with them. There's a good dose of teen boy humor in here.

I think Goldsher was really clever in how he made the zombie Beatle thing work. He especially excels at the strained relations between members. No one's dead, but everything still went down, so they're not exactly talking to each other and John's version of events often differs from other people's.

Format wise, it works really well-- (ok, the pictures were gross, but, that's a cup-of-tea thing, not an actual complaint.) It's an "oral history" so the conceit is that Goldsher is a rock journalist interviewing all the actors involved, and so it's all transcript form, piecing together different interviews like you would in a documentary. This really allows the strained-band-politics to shine. Interspersed are interviews with zombie experts, newspaper articles, and excerpts from books about zombies, to help with the world building, but in a really unobtrusive way.


My only real issue is that, after awhile, the premise wore thin and it wasn't enough to sustain such a long time span of band history or 300 pages of book. It got to the point where I was invested enough that I wanted to finish it, but had to slog through the last bit to get there.

Book Provided by... my wallet

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Ginny Davis

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff Jennifer Holm, illustrated by Elicia Cataldi

Ugh. How have I not reviewed this one yet? It's been a favorite for years. Ginny Davis is starting 7th grade, trying to navigate the waters of middle school. She's feuding with her best friend, hoping for a lead in ballet, and trying to keep her dog from eating her science project. Some things are big (her brother getting sent to military school, setting up her mom with the insurance salesman) but most are the minor dramas of the everyday (trying to get back the yellow sweater from your former best friend). Through school assignments, to-do lists, and IMs with her friends, we get a great sense of Ginny's voice.

This is also designed superbly well. It's full color and we don't really get any diary entries or conversation transcripts--this one's pure ephemera. When there are notes on the fridge, we see the fridge in the background. We can see the ever-increasing amount of magnets from the pizza delivery place.

It's a good story about the ups and downs of 7th grade and a super-easy handsell (just show them a random page spread.) It's also pretty funny. I especially like the comics Ginny's older brother draws (guest artist Matthew Holm of Babymouse fame) and the notes from "The Management" aka, Mom.

Eighth Grade Is Making Me Sick: Ginny Davis's Year In Stuff Jennifer Holm, illustrated by Elicia Cataldi

So, there was a lot of buzz this summer that Holm had a new book coming out, but I was over the moon when it came in at the library and I saw that it was a sequel to Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf!

Ginny's back, this time tackling 8th grade and there are some MUCH BIGGER things happening this year. At the beginning of the book, the family is moving to a bigger house. Then Mom gets pregnant, Ginny tries out for cheer and gets a boyfriend. But after Mom quits her job to be a stay-at-home mom and Bob gets laid off and the baby comes really early and Ginny's grades start slipping...

I have two minor complaints--

1. WE WANT MORE GRANDPA JOE! You can never have enough Grandpa Joe. He's the nice old guy who sends you money for things your mom says you can't have-- everyone's dream grandpa. Also, very funny. MORE GRANDPA JOE.

2. It's not as long as the first one. Now, Holm doesn't short the story, it didn't have to be longer, BUT. I can't get enough of Ginny and her family (and that's the thing-- even those these books about Ginny and it's mostly her stuff, you really get to know and care about the rest of the family) and so I just want MORE MORE MORE MORE. (Yes, I'm greedy.)

A nice bonus on this one? There's a LOT of YA book love. And it's pretty subtle. Books that Ginny's reading (mostly about vampires) are part of the background and they're *excellent* choices. They're all great books that teens actually read on their own for fun. (Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith! Also, Babymouse Mad Scientist.;) ) Also, her English teacher ROCKS. They have to read classics and contemporary and he chooses AWESOME contemporary titles (Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins!) So yeah, good book love that's super subtle.

Another awesome bonus-- Ginny's romance. NO DRAMA. It's pretty awesome that way. Also, they're so nerdy together and aren't self-conscious about that. It's super-nice to see a romantic subplot without angst and drama.

With the BIG STUFF going on in this one, it's a bit heavier than the first one, but I really hope this isn't the last we've seen of Ginny.

Also, MAJOR MAJOR props to Elicia Castaldi. So much of this series is the design. A bad design would have killed the story. But this design is SO GOOD and it makes the story. It adds SO MUCH. And it just works SO WELL.

Book Provided by... my local library

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e2

e Squared Matt Beaumont

I loved loved loved Beaumont's e and The E Before Christmas* so I was super excited to see this title!

The first two were told all in email, but as technology has changed over the years, the book did to! We still have email, but also IM, internet news articles, ebay listings, texts, photo attachements, blog posts and comments,etc.

Beaumont is truly a master of the e-format. Many authors who write email novels are writing standard epistolary novels, but with a to and from field. Beaumont understands that not only are emails different than letters (shorter, for one) but also really gets the form-- you have to really pay attention to the date stamps, because they matter. Also, lots of misunderstandings involving accidentally cc'ing someone, not understanding spam, and those annoying people who send crap company wide or don't know the difference between "reply" and "reply-all."

The favorite characters from e are still there and there are many new ones as they've moved on to a new agency that's one of those super-dysfunctional too-cool-for-work hipster places. Relationships are on the rocks and the products they're supposed to create campaigns for are unbelievable.

I super love the text messages between the kids and their parents, especially how the kids then go turn around and have a completely different text conversation with their friends. It's so true.

British comedies that capture voices and technology perfectly? YES. It's super-smart, snort beer out your nose laugh-out-loud hilarious, and expertly crafted. This is a series you must read.



*Interestingly, this was originally only issued in e-book, back in 2004, before e-readers. Dan and I bought it, printed it out, and took it to Kinko's to have it bound. My how things have changed! I thought about getting e2 on Kindle, but the reviews all said that the email formatting was off so it was hard to read to/from fields and date stamps. So I bought it in paper. Heh.


Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

No Crystal Stair

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the life and work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Guys, there is a reason this fantastic book won the Hornbook/Boston Globe award for fiction.

The son of a storeowner in Newport News, Lewis Michaux was in and out of trouble as a child and young man. Inspired by Marcus Garvey's work to connect African-Americans with Africa, Lewis found his calling when he opened up the National Memorial African Bookstore. People told him it wouldn't succeed, but with excellent salesmanship and a natural charisma, Michaux's bookstore became a landmark and an important meeting place and resource. People came to talk to him and learn from him just as much as they came for the books. He even had a library in the back where you could read and learn for free.

Michaux was Micheaux Nelson's great-uncle (she explains the "e" in her author's note.) She set out to write a biography of her relative, but so many details couldn't be tracked down (including what year the store opened!) that she just didn't have enough material, so she took what she did have and filled in the gaps and wrote a fiction book.

As she said at the Horn Book Awards "When a writer begins to invent, you need to own up to that & call it fiction" (*cough*kadirnelson*cough*)

Now this is a book told in stuff, so let's talk format.

Most of the text is told from different characters--Lewis, Lewis's family, store customers, authors, etc. Many are real, a few aren't. Most characters only speak for a few paragraphs. Mixed in are newspaper articles, photographs, and excerpts from Michaux's FBI file. These are all actual source materials and not fiction. There's some other (real) ephemera, too--newsletters, funeral notices, business cards, advertisements, etc. Running through it are R. Gregory Christie's sketches, which really add to the feel of the book.

It's fascinating reading, especially as it paints the different views within the black community during the 50s/60s/70s. Lewis and his brother differed over many things, but towards the end, especially Lewis's relationship with Malcolm X. (Malcolm X frequently spoke at the store and often got mail there. Michaux was supposed to be on stage with him with Malcolm X was assassinated, but was running late.) How much FBI material there is on him, and why, is chilling.

It's also a wonderful story about the role a bookstore played in history and the community, and everything that a bookstore offers beyond merchandise.

The "stuff" format allows Micheuax Nelson to seamlessly blend the non-fiction material she had with the fiction she created (what's what is explained in the author's note.) It also leads to a more vignette-y type narrative, which allows her to cover 70 years of his life, which out it getting bogged down or too long.

It's an important book in that it highlights a fascinating part of America's past. But it's a good book because Micheaux Nelson can tell a story. The weight of history doesn't pull it down, the extra material adds to the engaging nature of the narrative instead of detracting. She not only tells us the story of her family, but paints a wonderful picture of Harlem and the greater scene without it getting in the way of what is, at its heart, the story of a man trying to get a neighborhood to wake up and read. It all ties together in a fantastic package that deserves many more awards and a hell of a lot more buzz than it's been getting.


Book Provided by... my local library

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Books Told in Stuff Week

When I was in grad school, my final paper for YA lit was on "Books Told in Stuff." I've long been a fan of alternative storytelling techniques and telling a book in "stuff"-- newspaper articles, notes, conversation transcripts, and other ephemera has long been a favorite method of mine.

In my paper I looked at the how and why this technique was popular with teens. One big thing I looked at was how these books often appeal to reluctant or struggling readers, even though their structure demands a pretty high reading level.

I use some pages from Jennifer Holm's most excellent Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff as an example. One on page, we see a cut out from a magazine the recommends a bubble bath and a makeover. We see a receipt from the drugstore for hair dye and bubble bath. On the next page, we see a bill from a hair salon for corrective color, a blank check, and a bill from the plumber to repair the jacuzzi after bubble bath got in the jets.

In a traditional narrative, many of the dots are connected. It would tell us "Ginny read an article on how to feel better about herself and followed it's advice. However, it went wrong and when she tried to dye her hair, it turned out really ugly and she broke her mom's bathtub, making her feel even worse." And there'd probably be a hiliarious scene involving breaking the bathtub and just how horrible her hair looked. But, we don't need that, we can see from a few scraps of paper what happened.

So, why do readers that shy away from traditional narrative not have issues with filling in such huge plot holes? Mostly, because that's how we live our life. We overhear snatches of conversation without explaining it to ourselves. We see pieces of evidence, such as some bills and receipts and easily put together the story of our lives and the lives around us. Books told in stuff present the story that same way we live the story.

Plus, they're just really fun. SO! This week, all books in stuff, all the time.

Enjoy!

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Bloggiesta Finish Line

So, I knew I wasn't going to get everything done because my list was insane. I did a lot of work and while I didn't get done what I thought I'd get done, I did get a LOT done!

1. Review books. I have 57 books to review. I'll be happy if I get 10 done. I reviewed 7. I got a few comments on the size of my backlog. That's one of the reasons why I love Bloggiesta-- even though 57 is a lot of books, the size of my backlog is smaller every Bloggiesta!

2. Deal with my Google Reader. This mainly means geting caught up on blog posts. I have over 6191 unread blogposts (OMG I KNOW.) So, I will read as many as possible, but the hard part will be heavy use of the "mark as read" button. I also want to clean out my stars. Most are books that I want to read, so I want to write at least 5 "reviews that made me want to read the book" posts. Others are videos I wanted to watch or things I wanted to pin when I was reading my reader when I couldn't watch videos or pin things. I read over 1700 posts and deleted a bunch of others. I also deleted several feeds-- some are blogs I don't really like, some that are defunct, and several that I for some reason have multiple feeds for. I cleaned out a TON of stars--over 80. Of course, I ended up just transferring most to Evernote or Pocket thanks to some super-helpful mini-challenges. I didn't write any of the "reviews that made me want to read the book though.

3. Change domain hosts. YES! I have two blogs and this took longer and was much more complicated than I thought it would be, BUT it's all done and I didn't have a lot of the negative "side effects" that a lot of people have and my blogs were only offline for about half a day.

4. Work on upcoming secret blog project-- buy domain name, work on layout, pick at least 20 themes, sketch out at least 10 blog posts. YES YES YES. I didn't think I'd get much done on this, but I bought the domain name (when I was transferring the others) and set up the basic design and about pages. I'm not sure how many themes I picked, but way more than 20. I didn't sketch out 10 blog posts, but I did preliminary notes for more than 10.

5. Clean off the bedroom bookshelf-- specifically, the library books cubby (I have too many checked out, I'll never read them all) and to-review cubby (Review and move!) and the ARC cubby (which ones am I actually going to get to?) Nope

6. Tag old posts. (Um, this probably isn't going to happen, but it's something I want to do, so let's put it on the list, ok? )Nope

7. Try again to make a video or two for Library Noise. Nope

8. Write new storytime intro posts and update the existing ones on Library Noise. Nope

9. Write that post I gotta write. Nope

10. SLJ round up. Nope

11. Do that review app. Nope

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Bloggiesta Starting Line

It's Bloggiesta Time!

So, here are my goals.

1. Review books. I have 57 books to review. I'll be happy if I get 10 done.

2. Deal with my Google Reader. This mainly means geting caught up on blog posts. I have over 6191 unread blogposts (OMG I KNOW.) So, I will read as many as possible, but the hard part will be heavy use of the "mark as read" button. I also want to clean out my stars. Most are books that I want to read, so I want to write at least 5 "reviews that made me want to read the book" posts. Others are videos I wanted to watch or things I wanted to pin when I was reading my reader when I couldn't watch videos or pin things.

3. Change domain hosts.

4. Work on upcoming secret blog project-- buy domain name, work on layout, pick at least 20 themes, sketch out at least 10 blog posts.

5. Clean off the bedroom bookshelf-- specifically, the library books cubby (I have too many checked out, I'll never read them all) and to-review cubby (Review and move!) and the ARC cubby (which ones am I actually going to get to?)

6. Tag old posts. (Um, this probably isn't going to happen, but it's something I want to do, so let's put it on the list, ok?)

7. Try again to make a video or two for Library Noise.

8. Write new storytime intro posts and update the existing ones on Library Noise.

9. Write that post I gotta write.

10. SLJ round up.

11. Do that review app.

Obviously, not all of that's going to happen, but that's the list of stuff I *want* to do, so let's see how much we can get done, ok?


Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

The Serpent's Shadow

The Serpent's Shadow Rick Riordan

In this conclusion to the Kane Chronicles, Carter and Sadie have a desperate plan to save the world from Aphosis (the giant snake who wants to turn the world into a giant ball of chaos) but there's only a slim chance it will actually work and a rather large chance it will kill both of them in the process. But, first, there's a school dance to attend.

I continue to enjoy the dual narration between Sadie and Carter, especially with the asides and interjected comments to each other. I think this would work really well in audio and wish I had listened to this series instead of read them. I also like how Carter and Sadie are often on different missions, so you have multiple storylines to follow. It keeps the action a bit fresher and doesn't get bogged down in "and then we fought this random monster, and then we fought this demon, and then we fought this minor god, which can happen near the middle of his Greek/Roman books. Not that I don't LOVE them, but...

I think Riordan wraps the series up well (and props for only being 3 books!) but there are still some open doors, including hints at an Olympus crossover (But first, doesn't he have a Norse series in the works?)

Final Verdict: a good, strong conclusion to a fun series. If you've read the others, be sure to read this one, too.


Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

In the Bag

In the Bag Kate Klise

YOU GUYS! Why didn't anyone tell me that the fantastic middle grade author Kate Klise had an adult book out?! And one that I think has great cross-over appeal for teens.

Andrew's on his way to Madrid where he's designing an art exhibit. When boarding, he accidentally bumps the arm of a woman in first class, spilling her wine on her shirt. He can't keep his eyes off her (although all he can see from his vantage in coach is her feet) and, when at baggage claim, takes a chance and slips a note into her purse.

Daisy is one of the best chefs in Chicago, but after leaving yet another restaurant, she's on a much-needed vacation in Paris. She thought it would be relaxing and rejuvenating and a chance to bond with her daughter, before Coco goes to college in the fall. Everything goes horribly wrong from the beginning-- first someone spills wine on her and then the sleaze leaves a note in her purse-- who ruins silk blouses as a pick-up tactic? Then, Coco is in a horrible mood because...

Coco is horrified when she discovers that she picked up someone else's identical bag at baggage claim and now has nothing that she needs.

When Webb gets to Madrid with his father (Andrew, of course) he finds that he has someone else's bag. Someone who actually irons their jeans. Luckily, someone that anal also has a contact card in the pocket, so he sends an email and sets off a chain reaction...

And when Daisy's oldest friend needs help with an exhibit she's curating in Madrid after the caterer backs out... well.

Told in all four voices, this is a fun rom-com of a novel with hilarious touches (stinky cheese and Amish extremists!), complete with over-the-top ending. The dinner in Barcelona is priceless. I especially enjoyed all the little misunderstandings. Daisy's convinced Coco's always checking her email because she's missing prom and there's some drama back home (nope, just Webb.) I think Klise is trying to say something bigger here about love and connection in a digital world and generational divide but... that part doesn't work. Luckily, when she tries to make these points, it sounds authentic in the character's voice and blends in seamlessly with the plot, so it doesn't get in the way.

Bonus points for multiple narrators, various lyrics analysis of "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park." Also... did I mention the Amish extremists?

A very fun read for teens and adults. (I would totally read an adult book by her that's done in the style of Regarding the Fountain. Yes.)

Book Provided by... my local library

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A Midsummer Tights Dream

A Midsummer Tights Dream Louise Rennison

After the summer holidays, Tallulah is back at Dother Hall in the Yorkshire Wilds, hoping to become good enough to earn the golden slippers of applause. Of course, Dr. Lightowler still hates her. And Charlie still has a girlfriend. And Alex is off at uni. And Cain licked a snowflake off her nose. But Ruby has the owlets and the mad twins are as mad as ever. Tallulah's friends continue to be a laugh riot, as do her teachers.

Big problems-- Dother Hall has a tax issue and might shut down (and, of course, continues to fall down around everyone's ears.) Also, the local girls are NOT HAPPY with the Dother Hall girls stealing their men.

I still cannot get over the fact that Rennison named her broody, dark Yorkshire men Cain, Ruben, and Seth. And then when Beverly's mum starts hunting Cain across the moors? DYING OF LAUGHTER.

I love Tallulah's outlook on life. I love down-to-earth Ruby and Mr. Barraclough's pie tribute band. I love all the broad Yorkshire dialect that's a bit more fun that what you read in The Secret Garden.

But seriously, I just live for the drama of the town, especially between the Eccles lasses and the Hinchcliff lads. Oh yes.

Book Provided by... my local library

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The Diviners

The Diviners Libba Bray

At a party gone boring, restless flappers unknowingly raise a once-buried evil. In Ohio, a careless Evie reveals something she shouldn't and is sent to live with her Uncle Will in New York City until the scandal dies down. In New York, Memphis runs numbers by day and writes poetry by night. He used to be a healer, but lost the ability when it mattered most of all. Theta is a glamourous Ziegfried girl just trying to forget. Mabel's parents are communist organizers but all she wants is to catch the eye of Jericho, Uncle Will's assistant at the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition and the Occult, aka the Museum of the Creepy Crawlies.

It's 1926 and their stories collide as a gruesome serial murder strikes the city. Uncle Will is called in to aid the investigation as the murders are steeped in the occult. Evie knows her supernatural powers can help, but she'd rather drink and party to forget that she even has them. The investigation leads them to the Great Awakening, WWI, and beyond our world as commets and dreams are portents of things to come...

Sprawling and epic, this is paranormal/horror/historical fiction. It lacks the zany humor of Going Bovine or Beauty Queens but that's ok, because it would be really out of place here! The action and focus frequently shifts between characters and storylines, interspersed with set and mood pieces to paint a picture of the city, the country, and the time period. It's dark and atmospheric. I love how even though it's historical fiction, it's also haunted (literally and metaphorially) by history, especially Sprititualism and the Great Awakening movements, both of which appear in US history classes but can be hard to make sense of in a broad survey class setting. I loved the miltary mesting aspect. We tend to see army conspiracies and top secret projects taking place in WWII, but not WWI.*

Now the immediate storyline wraps up by the end of the book, but it's also very very very much the first in a series. Lots of smaller plots become larger questions that are no where near answered by the end. In the hands of a less skilled author, this entire project would be a hot mess, but Libba Bray makes it brilliant and spooky.

*This makes sens because WWII saw things like the Holocaust, Unit 731, Enigma, and the Manhattan Project. Also, the post-WWII era saw the space age and TV and was such a period of massive change that military secrets in the recent war made more sense, storytelling wise. It was tapping into a different psyche.)

ARC Provided by... the publisher, at ALA.

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Nonfiction Monday: Reading Magic

Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever (updated and revised) Mem Fox

So, this isn't a book for teens or kids or with kid or teen appeal, but it is a book on child literacy and how to make kids readers, so I think it's still a good Nonficion Monday fix.

At work this week, I wrote an informational sheet for parents about why reading aloud to your kids is super-duper important and really good for them. When I was googling around for some sources to back up the things I've been taught in my youth services career, I found a lot of references to this book. I read the first two chapters on Google books and then went to the bookstore on my lunch break to just buy it. (I would have purchased immediately if it were available as an ebook, but alas and alak.)

I KNOW reading aloud is important to kids. You don't need to convince me. In those first two chapters I had the info I needed for my project, so why did I feel compelled to buy the book to tell me something I already know?

Well, as you hopefully already know from books such as Where Is the Green Sheep?, Fox is a really good story teller and writer. I wanted to read more.

Her basic premis is that we need to read aloud to our kids all that we can and that if we do, they will easily learn to read and become life long readers. Sadly, there's a lot of "research shows..." "experts say..." "studies prove..." but NO SOURCE NOTES. No bibliography. Nothing. There's also no real data, just lots of story after story about her own daughter, her editor's son, some neighborhood kids, and other kids she's come across in her work. Fox was an early literacy prof for a number of years and as she says in her introduction, "I speak with the authority of an international literacy consultant and the intensity of a writer, but I'm most passionate when I speak as an ordinary mother" and that shows. I don't doubt the studies and experts and research exist, but I want sources (mostly so I can follow up and read that research! Because I am a literacy nerd and I need data when I talk to parents about the best way to prep their kids for school.)

Because the evidence is all anecdotal, I think she oversells the benefits of reading aloud. Although she qualifies it at the end that "most children don't learn to read at home. They learn soon after they start school..." during most of the book, her case reads that if you read to your kids a lot, and play literacy games with the text, your kid will teach themselves to read at age 3. And that's not the case. Some will (Dan did) but not all. I mean, her chapter called "The Proof" is only one story about a kid named Justin who could identify his favorite books at 6 months and sit for an hour reading 20 books in a row and at 21 months he had a speaking vocabulary of 500 words and could sight read 20 words. Fox has never met Justin, his mom just emailed her via her website.

I trust what she's saying, I don't doubt her overall point... BUT.

I think the chapter on *how* to read aloud to kids is great. New parents are freaked out about everything and tend to overthink it. The chapter does as good of a job as possible explaining vocal inflection in an entirely written medium. They're things I don't think about a lot as I've always been very good at reading aloud (probably because I was read to so much as a child) but it's a great chapter that I'd also recommend for new youth services librarians who do programming. (I had to read a story as part of my job interview. It's a skill you need to have!)

Her take down of phonics as a reading instruction method is WONDERFUL and while it's not totally applicable to the thrust of this book, I'd LOVE to hear to talk about programs like Accelerated Reader.

There are some great new-to-me points as well. She completely convinced me to never answer "well, why don't you try to sound it out" when asked what a word is. I'm not sure that's something I'd do as a librarian, but I'm sure I would have done it as a mother. But, as Fox explains, when you stop to sound it out, you lose your flow in reading. You forget the rhythm and language, plot and characters of the story. Stopping for that one word makes the rest of the book that much harder. Having someone *give* you the word lets you continue at speed.

Despite my issues with the scholarship involved, I did really enjoy the book, even though I already knew and preached the importance of reading aloud to young children (I mean, Dan read aloud to the Kung Fu Princess before my epidural wore off. Her first read-aloud experience was The Economist.) I think the anecdotes-as-proof style reads more easily/less academically to the lay person (especially as this is targeted at new parents who are probably very sleep deprived) BUT, a few pages of source notes at the end would have been most beneficial.

I don't regret buying it though. It was an easy, fast read and has me all jazzed up about why I do what I do.

Check out today's Nonfiction Monday roundup over at Wrapped in Foil. Be sure to check it out!

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Random Thoughts

1. For some reason, writing anything (especially reviews) has become much easier if I do it longhand. This is a new development, so I've been doing lots of writing longhand and then typing it up later. This is a bit of an issue, because when I get my mojo flowing, I write quickly (I can't write as quickly as I can type) and then when I go to type it up, I have a hard time reading what I wrote. My handwriting is awesome.

2. I was going to write up some blog posts and reviews tonight but instead ended up rereading large portions of Finnikin of the Rock. As you do. I don't know how many times I've reread the entire book, and how many times I've read certain scenes over and over again. (If I had a paper copy instead of a Kindle one, I've read them so many times the spine would be broken to the those places, the book falling open to exactly where I need.)

3. New job has started their fall programming season, so storytime's back on! There will be new posts on Library Noise this week! With new songs and rhymes and new age groups! It's crazy!

4. I have a lot of blogging work to do. I feel like I've just been treading water on the blogs this summer as I've gone through some weird slumps (both reading and writing) and changed jobs. Luckily, Bloggiesta is coming very soon! And signups are starting, so you should go sign up. I'm making my to-do list!

5. I have some overdue books at the library. I should read them. But instead, I will be rereading more Finnikin. I need to reread Froi of the Exiles before the third book comes out, but I'm still conflicted about Froi. Ooo! Also, I realized that I never actually read the Lumatere short story that was in last month's Review of Australian Fiction! I wasn't in the right head space when I bought it and forgot to go back to it!! This is better than finding a forgotten $20 bill in your pocket when you put your winter coat on the for the first time of the season.

The Secret of the Fortune Wookie

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee Tom Angleberger

It is a dark time at McQuarrie school--Dwight has transfered to Tippet Academy and taken Origami Yoda with him, leaving the kids at McQuarrie without his sage advice. Then Sara shows up with the Fortune Wookie, who's growls are translated into advice by Han Foldo. Dwight threw them down to her from his bedroom window, so Tommy and Kellan assume they're infused with some of the Origami Yoda's force. Still, they're on the case...

The Fortune Wookie gives good advice, but some of the truths the kids have face are painful. When investigating the Fortune Wookie, they stumble across another mystery--Dwight has turned totally normal. No more origami, no more weird sayings, totally and utterly normal (and kinda boring.) What gives?

Angleberger stays strong with this third installment of the Origami Yoda series. I'm a bit biased because I'm a total Han Solo girl and we get wonderful classic Solo lines sprinkled throughout the text. I also love that Sara gets full props and credit for knowing her Star Wars (the guys are all super impressed at her knowledge of minor characters. Also, she does an excellent Wookie growl.) AND AND AND AND AND! God bless Tom Angleberger for not giving the girl a Princess Leia origami. I mean, Princess Leia is AWESOME (how many diplomats do you know who can rock a blaster like that? PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!) but Angleberger didn't give the girl and girl. It made my fangirl* heart swell to a new size.

I also really like how Darth Paper Strikes Back and Fortune Cookie stay funny while still tackling some big issues. I love how the McQuarrie kids accept Dwight as Dwight. And I"m very, very afraid for the next book. It's not as cliff hanger-y as Han being frozen and taken back to Jabba and Luke finding out that Vader is his father but... Dark times are coming. You may not be afraid but... you will be. You will be.

*as a fangirl of Star Wars and of Angleberger


Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Emily and the Scot

Emily and the Scot Kathryn Smith

So, I had both Kathryn Smith books out from the library and didn't realize that they were related, so I read Emily and the Scot first, even though it should go second.

I liked this one more. After the scandal Richard caused in Anna and the Duke, Emily's become obsessed with playing by society's rules. Her brother created too much talk and she has too much to overcome to slip up on any rules of propriety. Despite the scandal, she's still determined to marry for love, so she turns down her friend Alexander's offer of marriage... only to find out afterwards that he had placed a wager on her acceptance on the books at White's. Horrified, she flees to Scotland and her brother Ewan's castle.

Which is where she meets Jamie, Ewan's cousin (on his mother's side, and Emily and Ewan are only related on their father's side, so it's not weird. Even though would that have been weird by the standards of the day? If they had been actual cousins?) ANYWAY.

I liked this one more because Emily and Jamie... whoo boy! They are like oil and water and a series of misunderstandings certainly doesn't help matters. The chemistry. Hotcha cha cha.

I think I liked this one more because (a) Scotland! Lovely! (b) I go more for the personality conflict between leads. In Anna and the Duke, they liked each other from Day 1. There were a TON of obstacles in their way, but I enjoy a romance where the main obstacle are the characters themselves. (Paging Lizzy and Darcy!)

Another fun read, perfect for the hot and muggy days at the end of summer.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Anna and the Duke

Anna and the Duke Kathryn Smith

So, I picked this up because I loved God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire) by Kate Locke and when I heard her speak at ALA, I learned that Kate Locke = Kathryn Smith.

It was also interesting because I hadn't read any teen romance before. WAIT A MINUTE HOLD UP you say. Jennie, you read ALL THE KISSING BOOKS in the world. YOU ARE OBSESSED WITH MEG CABOT, you read teen romance ALL THE TIME. And it's true, I do. I mean, I loved The Season so much that when Sarah MacLean started publishing adult romance, I read it without question and rediscovered how much I enjoy the genre. But what I mean by this, is I haven't read any of the teen series put out by the big romance publishers. (Exception being Harlequin, but none of their teen stuff that I've read has been a kissing book. At least that I know. Sometimes with their teen stuff is hard to tell that it's Harlequin.) And Anna and the Duke is an Avon True Romance for Teens. And, as such, it feels much more like an adult romance novel than the other historical fiction teen kissing books that I'm used to. In fact, it's exactly like a historical fiction bodice ripper (complete with marriages!) BUT bodices don't actually get ripped and it's rather chaste.

Anyway, the story.

Anna is engaged to marry Richard, the heir to the Duke of Brahm. She's ok with it, until she meets a stranger in a bookstore that makes her heart beat in a way that Richard never has. To complicate matters, the mysterious man is the Scottish Ewan MacLaughlin, the recently deceased's Duke of Brahm's secret son and actual and rightful heir.

As Richard's fiance, she sees how unhinged he's become and how far he's willing to go to become the duke he always assumed he'd be. She warns Ewan, and as they try to keep one step ahead of Richard (and Anna's horrible mother, who wants her daughter to be a duchess more than anything) they can't hide their feelings from each other for long.

I never really connected with Anna, but I looooooooooooooved Ewan. He had a lot more going on, as he tries to reconcile the reality with what he had always thought about his missing father. I loved the general story of a small-village Scots trying to navigate London society (even if he already had some titles before Duke). And oh, the verbal dinner table battles between Ewan and Richard were just delicious.

I didn't love it as much as God Save the Queen, but it was a fun and enjoyable read.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Redshirts

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas John Scalzi

First off, I read and enjoyed the hell out of this book BEFORE I knew just how much I loved John Scalzi.

I enjoyed this book so much, I want to go read his other stuff, even though it's pretty standard SciFi which is not a genre I tend to read unless Han Solo is on the cover. (Not that I don't enjoy SciFi when I do read it, it's just something that's lower on the list of genres I enjoy, so I just tend to not pick it up.)

ANYWAY.

So the basic premis is that (Andy) Dahl, (Maia) Duvall, (Jimmy) Hanson, Finn, and Hester are all new crew members on the Intrepid, the Capital Ship of the Universal Union.

While they're excited to be at such a prestigious posting they quickly realize a few things-- the Intrepid has a startling high death rate. Away missions are suicide, unless you're a senior officer. Decks six through twelve have an even more unusually high death rate in battles. Every so often, things stop making sense and you find yourself saying the stupidest things, then it stops.

They meet Jenkins, who tells them what's going on, and warns them to steer clear of THE NARRATIVE.

But Dahl has a few ideas up his own sleeve and is tired of what's happening, and is going to fix it.

This book is in no way, shape, or form about the nameless red-shirted crew members on Star Trek who die right before commercial break so Shatner can get all dramatic. Nope. nope. nope. Not at all.

It's an entertaining premise, but I was worried going into it-- was the premise enough to carry the entire book? Or would it be a joke that got old in 50 pages but I still had to slog through the rest?

NO WORRIES. It's a joke that holds. Part of the reason is that Scalzi creates real characters and real relationships. Even though it's satire, it has much more depth and meaning than I was expecting. It's a great look at making your life (and death) matter, the art of writing, and taking charge of your destiny. All while being really funny. (I want a science box!)

With the exception of Star Wars, I'm not a huge SciFi nerd. I've never actually seen an entire episode of Star Trek (any version.) I haven't watched that much SciFi TV since SeaQuest went off the air. But Scalzi didn't just dash off a 314 page joke. He wrote a really good, really funny meta-story.

I mean, when one of the officers gets clued in to what's going on? BRILLIANT. (And hilarious.)

So, while this is part send-up, part love letter to cheesy SciFi, it's also a really good story, so you don't need to be well-versed in your cheesy SciFi to enjoy it.

I mean, it's a book that makes me want to read more in a genre I typically skip.

Like I said on the top, I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Enchanted

Enchanted Alethea Kontis

This is one that came across my radar on Amazon last winter. Fairy tale retelling! YAY! Of course I wanted to read it.

Then the reviews started coming in and they all said it was really, really good. They said it was awesome. There was a lot of hype for me when I picked up this book.

Look, y’all, I know you said it was awesome, but OMG IT IS EVEN AWESOMER THAN YOU LED ME TO BELIEVE.

Monday’s child is fair of face
Tuesday’s child is full of grace
Wednesday’s child is full of woe
Thursday’s child has far to go
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath day
Is blithe and bonny and good and gay.

Sunday can see how the rhyme is true for her sisters, but “blithe and bonny and good and gay” feels more like a curse than anything. Sunday’s not dark and gloomy like Wednesday, but she’s not ALWAYS happy. There is more she yearns for than her too-full house, built around a doorless tower that has an uncanny resemblance to a shoe.

Then she meets Grumble, a talking (enchanted) frog. She’s not around when her kiss does its thing, so she doesn’t see that the man he turns into is the Prince, a man despised by her family. In order to see Sunday again, to get her to know him as a man and not just a frog, the newly returned Prince Rumbold decides to hold 3 balls, inviting every eligible girl in the land...

*whew* how many fairy tales and nursery rhymes did you pick out in that brief introduction? Because there are even more. Some are major, and some are minor but all are deftly woven together in something much, much more.

For Arilland is a kingdom where faerie blood runs through the veins of many. Where immortality is a dark seductress of the wealthy and two faeries, Joy and Sorrow, have played with other’s lives for far too long. And Sunday is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, Joy and Sorrow are her aunts, and Sorrow is Rumbold’s faerie godmother...

Sunday and Rumbold each have secrets in their past that they need to discover and wrongs that need to be righted before things can work out.

It’s so well done and perfectly paced. There is so much going on without it ever being cluttered or confusing. I want so much more about this family and this world (Thursday is a Pirate Queen-- surely there is more to be told!) And Sunday is so wonderful. She’s the right balance of strength and weakness, of confidence and doubt. She’s so real and believable.

I also LOVED the omnipresent 3rd person narrative. The focus shifted between Sunday and Rumbold without being too much in their heads and it worked so well. We don’t see a lot of 3rd person in YA and when we do it’s usually 3rd person limited, but 3rd person omnipresent is the *perfect* choice for this. We need to see what’s going on in the cottage and in the castle.

You guys, not only did this live up to the hype, it blew the hype away.

I know you said it was awesome, but it was even better than that.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.