Fight Club, Chuck Palahnuik

 

With a full-time job, I've got less time and energy to write anything about the books I'm reading, but here's a quickie. While it took me a while to get into this book, it eventually pulled me in. A more nuanced portrayal of the narrator's struggles and relationship with Marla awaits any fan of the movie who makes it through the first 20 pages. While Palahnuik's prose and character descriptions are spare, he manages to fully flesh out the story and personalities involved.

Inkheart Series: Inkheart, Inkspell

When I first heard of Claudia Funke's Inkheart series, I heard wonderful reviews from other middle school English teachers and kept it in my mind. After reading the first two books, Inkheart and Inkspell, a few months later, I am declining to read the finale, Inkdeath. While I liked the first book well enough, Inkspell was a slog and I considered putting it down at multiple points after the first hundred pages.
The basic plot is that Mo, AKA Silvertongue, is father to Meggie and a bookbinder. He travels hither and yon, replacing binding on books. In the modern times, when mobile phones exist. While these service exist for libraries, specifically academic libraries that purchase books for over $100, this is not a common profession and lent an aura of unbelievability, even for a fantasy novel. This detail, and the way the characters from this world lived immediately irritated me, but I had heard good things about the series, so I opened my mind to a good story. Mo's wife is not around, and after a mysterious stranger appears, he finally tells Meggie where her mother is. When Mo reads aloud, he can read things and people out of books, but he cannot control how he does this, and something comparable leaves this world, presumably for the book. When Meggie was a baby, he was reading Inkheart aloud, and several character came out, and Meggie's mother disappeared. The characters from the book that came into this world include Dustfinger, a firebreather and dancer, Capricorn, a villain who wants Mo to read out another evil character, and some minions. The first novel concerns the defeat of Capricorn and has many amusing part with a book-worshipping aunt. The two books I read would appeal to most book and fantasy lovers. Inkheart concludes with some of the novel-within-a-novel's characters still in the real world, but most vanquished, and could have ended there satisfactorily.
Unfortunately, Funke decided to tie up every loose end, taking all the characters back into the fantasy novel, starting wars, creating political schemes, and generally dragging down the entire action. I finished the book, but very slowly, and only to see if I might be at all interested in the finale. I was not.
If you love all books and the topic of bibliophilia, and all fantasy novels, then you might enjoy the entire trilogy. I recommend reading the first novel. If you can't get enough, then continue. If you found it decent, stop where you are.

Farmer's Boy Food

Over at The Hairpin, Jia Tolentino documented every meal that Almanzo eats in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy, one of my favorites from the series. It's just as I remember, with lots of hearty food, and yet again, I was left wanting pie. All the pie.

Chaos Walking Series: The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, Monsters of Men

Patrick Ness's dystopian series Chaos Walking is great and original. I devoured them quickly, in large chunks. That being said, only a couple weeks after reading this series, I am already forgetting most of the details, including the protagonists' names. Toby and. . . completely forgot the girl's name. Upon checking, it's Todd and Viola. Oh right, I was annoyed by the single reference to Twelfth Night, but nothing after that.
The basic plot is fascinating. In The Knife of Never Letting Go, we're introduced to Todd, who is a couple months away from the birthday on which he becomes a man. He lives in a village on a distant planet the consists entirely of men. When settlers reached this planet, they were attacked by the alien inhabitants, who we defeat, but not before infecting the human with the Noise germ, which causes the thoughts of all men and animals to be audible, and killed all the women. When Todd is forced to flee his village and encounters a girl settler in the swamps, he discovers that the entire narrative of his life has been a lie.
In The Ask and the Answer, the story concerns how Todd and Viola, the girl settler, survive the burgeoning war between Todd home village and other villages, including plotting by the women healers and new discrimination against women. The series completes with Monsters from Men, in which the warring humans incite a new war with the indigenous Spackle. These two books have a shifting point-of-view between Todd, Viola, and even a Spackle, showing how the actions of beings are misinterpreted by others.
This series has many good qualities, the least of which is that Ness appears to have thought out all three books in advance, instead of tacking the last one and a half on to drag out the series (I can't yet speak for the free prequel, The New World). Unfortunately, the characters are completely forgettable, with little personality. In addition, the way they never learn from their mistakes annoyed me to know end. I totally recommend this series, but advise you not the expect your world to be changed.

Every Day

I have been trying to get a different book of David Levithan's for a couple months at my library, but they only had Every Day, so I grabbed that one. I am thrilled that I did, because this book is phenomenal and so original!
Every Day is told from the perspective of A, a soul (mind/human spirit?) who does not own a body. Instead this person involuntarily switches bodies at midnight, waking up in a new body each morning. The body always belongs to someone the same general age and within about two hundred miles, and never is visited again, but otherwise there is no pattern or continuity. A attempts to live the day as the person would have done so, but without mining his or her brain for too much information. A basically lives by the campsite rule, leaving each person as A found it. Of course, since this is a book, A's situation can't remain the as is. A falls in love with the girlfriend of a boy whose body he or she's inhabiting, and begins to change his or her ways. A begins to influence the bodies, making these people do things they might not ordinarily do, just to see this girl.
While the romance is interesting, the concept just blew me away. It raised up so many questions for me that would be great to explore with students. What is identity, when you've got to live a new life every day? What is the moral choice, to live the life of another every day, live your own life, or to try to improve the life of the person you're inhabiting? Does A have the right to try to have a relationship with this girl?
In addition, A's descriptions of their earlier life were fascinating. As a mother, I ached for a small child, learning that they're the only one living as a transient being with no body. I'm keeping an eye out for Levithan's accompanying book, Six Earlier Days, which appears to only be available in digital form. I've read a few of Levithan's other books by now, and so far this is the best.

The Silver Bowl; The Cup and the Crown

 

I have been wanting to read more fantasy for the upper elementary set, and Diane Stanley's The Silver Bowl and The Cup and the Crown satisfy my requirements for and original plot and complex character quite nicely. The books concern Molly, a girl sold into service to the royal family. As she works as a scullery maid, she learns of a curse on the royal family and her own psychic powers. Determined to save the young prince Alaric, she and her friends plan his rescue and attempt to lift the curse. The book has accurate and interesting details about the goings on behind the scene of a great castle that will appeal to young historians, and positive messages about loyalty and friendship. Molly is a plucky and resourceful girl, and the interplay between elements of fantasy and historical fiction are pleasant, almost making the book into magical realism.
Like most sequels, The Cup and the Crown is less engaging, though Stanley creates wilder adventures and more outlandish characters. Now Molly has been elevated in status, and the king sends her on a quest to find a Loving Cup so that he can propose and be assured of his betrothed's love. She and her friends trace her grandfather, a silversmith, back to his land of origin, where Molly learns of her family's history. While the original characters ring true, Stanley add in so many ridiculous storylines that the charm of the first book is almost lost. The ending is hurried, so there is likely a third book in the works. While I plan to read it, I will do so hoping that Stanley regains her simply narrative style and not longer neglects the realism of character that kept the first book grounded.

Sarah's Key

 

I suppose, in my mother's way of speaking, that I'm being punished for checking out a book right under another reader's nose. I should not have read Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key. That book has left me haunted and depressed. This is not to say that the book was not good. Let me explain.
The book consists of two alternating stories. Sarah, a Jewish girl from Paris, is part of the major round-up during the Holocaust. Not understanding her situation, she leaves her four-year old brother locked in a secret cabinet in their apartment to stay safe. She holds the key and is determined to rescue him before it is too late. Julia, an American ex-pat journalist, lives in Paris with her cruel, philandering, Parisian husband and becomes interested in the round-up of thousands of Jews held in the Veldrome d'Hiver and Sarah's story. She investigates what happened to Sarah as her marriage and life in France fall apart.
This is a powerful book about innocence lost, guilt, and the end of love. But as a mother to two children under five, there are certain things I can no longer read, that now horrify me and haunt me. While I am continuing to read and enjoy de Rosnay's other books, I wish I had left this one alone. Her language twists and turns beautifully, and she has a flair for description, but the imaginary reality of Sarah's Key is too much for me to handle.

I am an unscrupulous acquirer of books.

Today I snatched a library book almost from the hands of someone else who wanted it. I've been trying to justify my actions, so that when I read the book, it won't be tainted with guilt. Here's the story of my crime.

I've been wanting to read Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key for a few months, but it's never been on the shelves. I've been checking and checking in the Fic D section, to no avail. There are other books in that area written by authors with de Something last names, so I figured that was where the book was located. Because I usually go to the library with my impatient-for-the-children's-section sons, I only have a few moments to grab books not in the YA or children's sections. Today, I made sure to check the online catalogue, and realized that my library is not consistent with how they consider de Something last names. It's under Fic Rosnay.

Feeling stupid, I took my son to the library. After we dropped off our books, I heard a woman at the circulation desk saying, "It's called Sarah's Key, and it's not on the shelf even though the catalogue says it's available." I realized immediately what mistake she was making, and hustled over to the R's with my son, plucked the book off the shelf, and quickly walked back to circulation. The patron and librarian were heading to the R's, with the librarian saying something about putting the book on hold if they couldn't find it. As the desk was now empty, I used the self check-out before any holds were created and continued to the children's section.

I felt triumphant then, but now feel a little guilty. This woman wanted the book as much as I did, but I got there about a minute earlier, and had done my searching at home. Chance? Library skills? Ruthlessness?

Has anyone else done anything slightly immoral to acquire a book?

Banned Books: Judy Blume is Awesome

Read about Judy's efforts that helped keep a book on library shelves. I suppose I'm going to have to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I'm also going to have to start reading some of the commonly banned books. It seems that if something has sparked this type of negative reaction, it's usually a good book. What were some of your favorite books growing up that were contested?

Library of Congress: Books That Shaped America

The Library of Congress, whose website I have woefully been neglecting to visit, has put out a list of books that had a great influence on the United States, based on a current exhibition. These aren't meant to be "Best American Books," but many of are, all the same. Looking at this list, I definitely agree that their choices deserve to be on that list, but wonder what's left out. I'm wracking my brain for other influential works.
I am thrilled about this list, as it's alerted me to a great resource that I've neglected. Also, I've been thinking of a reading project, and think this might be it. I'm been thinking of reading an author's entire oeuvre, but maybe this is more useful. I'll decide and post about it soon.

Because of Mr. Terupt; Mr. Terupt Falls Again

After reading Rob Buyea's two Mr. Terupt books, about a gifted elementary school teacher and former wrestler, told from the perspective of his seven different students over the school year, all I can think of is that elementary teacher Buyea's nickname on the wrestling mat must have been Boo-Ya! Please, if anyone reads this and knows, please let me know. It doesn't appear that he's on Twitter, so I'll check around.
While Because of Mr. Terupt and Mr. Terupt Falls Again will appeal to students in upper elementary who want more excitement and true friendship (that is, all of them), reading it as an adult was mind-numbing. The first one went quickly enough, but I don't plan on reading any more in the series. The books are innocuous, and I like how Buyea introduces the concept of a changing narrator, but I just felt like he was writing about the teacher he imagines himself to be. In addition, as a teacher, the practical details that he fudged (yes, I know about artistic license) distracted me too much. Seven students in a class? Maybe a special ed class. Don't get me started. But I am constantly distracted by incorrect details in books and movies. This book is overwhelmingly fine.

Judy Blume

Vulture, which associated with New York Magazine in some way, has a lovely, lovely infographic of Judy Blume's life and career, including a timeline, guide to books by age, history of protests to her books, and so much more. For anyone who grew up with Judy's books (yes, of course we are on a first name basis), this is a wonderful reminder of the great books she has written. I'd almost forgotten about Iggie's House, one of my favorites, because only one library I ever frequently had it. It doesn't mention every book of hers, but enough to convince me that I need to reread them all. My favorite? Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself.

Throwback Thursday! The Christmas Killer

Back in my youth, I read books like those by Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine, involving ghosts, haunted dresses, stalker girlfriends, and serial killers. I preferred the serial killer ones, which seemed less cliched and less spooky. Mainly, these books came from the library and were quickly read and forgotten. One of the few scary books that I actually bought was Patricia Windsor's The Christmas Killer. Why, I know not. To find out why, I reread while visiting my parents last month.
I am still not sure why I bought the book. Maybe I had read it already, and wanted to do so again and again. Most likely, it caught my eye (c'mon, a Christmas serial killer!) and I got it at a book fair or similar.
Windsor's story is simply enough. Rose, a teenager who takes dance lessons, has a twin brother, with whom she used to share dreams. When girls in the area start disappearing in December and showing up murdered, her brother begins acting weird. She begins dreaming of the girls, and the chapters from the perspective of the murder show that he dreams about her. The mystery and identity of the killer come out, but not before Rose is accused of witchcraft and almost murdered. Nothing too unusual, but nothing bad. There is a bit of looking into the causes of the killer's psychosis via the switching perspective. Rose's dreams about the murdered girls are actually frightening, while the big twist is no more predictable than any other book of this type. For students who like being scared, but are beyond Goosebumps, this book should work.

Humorous Reading

I got the link to this list of humorous kid's books and started thinking, what funny books have I read recently? I've read a lot of great books, but not much in the way of humor. One amusing book that I read last spring was Lois Lowry's The Willoughbys.

It's about a family with old-fashioned children who seem to live in an old-fashioned story, but don't fit with their parents. Similar in style to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate  Events, The Willoughbys is less grim and dark, but more appealing to children who are already great readers of classics. Lowry's riffs on the unfortunate orphan and countless books containing similar characters will make children chuckle gently, even if they don't laugh uproariously.

Virginia Reader's Choice Announced!

The Virginia State Reading Association sponsors a yearly "battle of the books" for primary, elementary, middle, and high school level books. Virginia students read them over the year and vote, usually through their libraries.  You can read more about it at the VSRA website. The winners were announced last week, and included Matthew Cody's Powerless, a fun and original superhero story. Other winners are: Amanda Noll's I Need My Monster, Eric Wight's Rankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom, and Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's Dash and Lily's Book of Dares. I tried to read as many of the nominees as possible, but unfortunately they were so popular that I could only get a few from my public libraries. But, they're on my to read list, and look forward to taking my time about it. Another librarian who's read all the primary, elementary, and middle grade books for the last year says they are all fantastic.

The Storm Makers

Jennifer E. Smith's books have been recommended by many reliable sources, so I grabbed the single book my library had in. Perhaps her other books are better, but The Storm Makers is fairly mundane. The girl and boy twins, whose names are not necessary, have moved from Chicago to rural Wisconsin. Their father has decided that small-time farming will support the family better than having both parents work full-time while he works on an invention and the mother paints (yes, illogical details are distracting and annoying to me). The twins are growing apart as they enter their teens. Strange things begin happening with the boy, and it turns out he is the youngest Storm Maker ever, one of a group of people who can control weather and earth. Complications ensue.
While the concept of a teenage boy able to control weather is interesting, the story devolves into a power struggle within the Storm Makers association. Shockingly, the smooth man in the black suit is evil while, the young woman mechanic and absent-minded drifter are good. Even more surprisingly, the struggles regarding the Storm Makers serve to bring the twins back to each other. To read a book about siblings struggling with strange powers and conflicts between them, read Katherine Catmull's Summer and Bird. It's a completely different book than anything I've read this year.

Paper Valentine

This book kept getting recommended to me after I looked up information for The Tragedy Paper, so I was very hesitant about reading it. Luckily, except for a romance between two teenagers not suited for one another, they have nothing in common! Brenna Yovanoff's ghost story romance murder mystery, Paper Valentine, is completely engaging, with interesting, conflicted characters and a not-too predictable serial killer.
Hannah, a popular indie chick, is being haunted by her best friend Lillian, who died months ago from an eating disorder. Lillian's not accusing or blaming, but is ruining Hannah's nerves all the same just by her presence. Meanwhile, Lillian's death has shaken everything that Hannah counted on. Her group of friends, of which Lillian was the ringleader, is falling apart. Hannah's falling for a delinquent whom she has bullied and been bullied by in the past. And Lillian's pressuring her to find the serial killer who's been preying on middle school girls.
While Yovanoff throws too many bells and whistles into the book, it works out, though the romance seems slightly insincere. The mystery and Hannah's struggle to become a person independent a friend to lead her are both intriguing, and Lillian is the best ghost I've seen in YA for a while.

The Tragedy Paper-POSSIBLE SPOILERS!

I'll attempt to summarize and review the book without major spoilers, but I'm not sure if it's possible. Every time I have attempted to review this book, I got more and more worked up, until I was going to my husband in the other room about every five minutes. It got so whenever he saw me, he'd say, "And another thing!" He now knows the entire book and all its problems.
 Elizabeth LaBan's The Tragedy Paper concerns a senior at a private boarding school and the boy who lived in his room the previous year and left him an account of the tragic events that occurred to him and the girl he pined over that winter. Tim, who has albinism, says to current senior Duncan in the account that it can be the basis of his Tragedy Paper, a type of senior thesis that students must write for their English class. Over the school year, Duncan listens to the CDs Tim left, learning from them how to have a better senior year, and eventually how the mysterious tragedy of Tim came to happen.
While written well enough, the tragedy is not particularly tragic, simply unfortunate. The villain of the book is not particularly villainous or even plotting against Tim, just a jerky rich kid who treats everyone insensitively. The lessons Duncan learns from Tim aren't actually profound. I don't agree with the analysis (clumsily laid out in a discussion between Duncan and his English teacher) that Tim has a tragic flaw, or what it is.Most of the problems in his life are simply an exaggerated version of what every teenager goes through. He feels embarrassed about his appearance and standing out. He feels like an outsider with few friends. He is upset when people are unfair. He makes some dumb decisions, hiding what he perceives to be flaws, and it causes a major problem for him.
I just can't understand why this book is getting so many accolades. It's fine, but overall, it's about uninteresting, unsympathetic teenagers who don't really have big problems, so they create them. This is the most irritating book I have read in at least six months.

First Light

Rebecca Stead's first novel is the most original I've read since I've immersed myself in constant reading again. First Light is the story of a boy who accompanies his scientist father and mysterious mother to Greenland for two months, just as he begins to get the headaches which have been plaguing his mother as well. It is also the story of a girl who lives underground, surrounded by ice, wolf-dogs, and the fear of the outside world.
Both Peter and Thea are looking for answers, both to concrete and abstract questions. Peter wants to know what will stop his headaches, what his parents are searching for, and what the mysterious items are that he's found hidden in the ice. Thea want to know how to find a way to the surface, despite her society's fear of witchcraft accusations, as they are running out of space and supplies. When the two finally meet, there are both questions and answers.
Stead's fantasy blends magical realism, folklore, modern issues, and the discoveries of coming of age in a truly unique way. The descriptions of the people dwelling under the ice alone are worth reading the book, but there are many other reasons. While First Light is completely different from Stead's other works, it is just as appealing.

Powerless

Kids love superheroes, but they envy them and covet their powers. So what if an ordinary child met some child superheroes? That's the situation Matthew Cody puts his protagonist Daniel in Powerless, a fantastic book that I'm hoping he has a sequel for in the works. When Daniel's family moves to Noble's Green to came for his ill grandmother, all his new friends are slightly strange. He finds out the whole truth once they save his life, including that they lose their powers upon turning thirteen.
Daniel battles jealousy at being ordinary even as he attempts to help his extraordinary friends. He learns of a old town mystery complete with a mysterious old man, evil villain, and comic books. Cody's book will appeal to boys and girls who like superheroes, and ordinary heroes too. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Super.

The Casual Vacancy

It's taking me forever to write this review, perhaps because J.K.Rowling's first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, is such a behemoth. At 512 pages, this work rivals a Harry Potter book, as it does in scope. Talking about Rowling's first serious work is daunting, when one considers how major is was for her. But into the breach.
This is not a book for children, or even high school students. I doubt I would have enjoyed it much in college. The Casual vacancy is about small, petty people, doing small, petty things in a small, petty town. A town council member dies unexpectedly, leaving the council in a uproar and his circle of acquaintances (both friendly and not) reeling. While most of the book deals with the townspeople's relationships, a significant portion concerns the town council's upcoming decision whether the allow a methadone clinic to continue renting space in a town-owned building. The clinic mainly serves residents of a public housing area that is on the outskirts of town, and many consider a part of the neighboring larger city. Many debates over class and belonging are sparked by this town issue.
The characters are well-drawn and realistic, but perhaps too much. Even the sympathetic characters are deeply and inherently flawed. While this initially drew me in, after a certain point I began to care for no one because they were all so despicable or weak. Rowling also went too far in making the book adult and serious, leaving out much of the humor that made the Harry Potter books so charming, and leading me to skip over some parts with too much council details. Yet I enjoyed this first serious work. Seeing Rowling find her style when not distracted by fantasy is fascinating.

Liar and Spy

So Rebecca Stead is definitely my favorite juvenile author, or at least she would be if she had more books published. I might like Liar and Spy more than When You Reach Me, her Newbery winner. While with her previous book she played with the time travel genre and showed her inspiration from Madeleine L'Engle, in this she experiments with mystery and seems inspired by the complex yes simple emotional mysteries of E.L. Konigsburg (whose recent death saddened me and all children's book lovers).
Georges is dealing with various negative changes in his life, like a friend who has abandoned him, moving, and a mother working constantly due to his father's job loss. His new and only friend is a homeschooled oddball in the same apartment building named Safer, who insists that one of their building's residents is a criminal. He begins to investigate as Safer's assistant, dealing with his MIA mother and teasing at school. While less involved and mysterious than When You Reach Me, Liar and Spy is more emotionally true. Readers will wonder about Safer mystery, and after they read, who is the liar, and who is the spy.

When You Reach Me

Rebecca Stead has definitely written a book that librarians and English teachers will love, but When You Reach Me will also appeal to kids who like fantasy and learning about philosophy through books. This Newbery winner chronicles Miranda's life in the late 1970s, as her friendships change, mysterious and frightening events happen, and her mother prepares to be on a game show. The protagonist is obsessed with Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, but is puzzled by a new acquaintance's explanation on time travel, and why he punched her friend Sal, and why Sal now no longer wants to be friends, and who is leaving notes in her bedroom, and how to herself and her mother out of a life rut, and so many other things. As Miranda begins to unravel the mysteries of the people in her life, she grows up and learns to accept both happiness and tragedy in life.
I read this book in one evening, and know that upper elementary and even lower middle school students of all stripes would enjoy it. There's mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, and emotion. Both boys and girls will like it. One of the most charming parts was its setting in a time that is close enough to be familiar, but just foreign enough to be exotic. I am thrilled to discover Rebecca Stead.

Hidden

Ellen Frost's Hidden has a thin premise and thinner story, but this story of two girls joined forever by a crime works at showing the redemptive power of truth and forgiveness. When Darra's father steals a minivan that hides a sleeping Wren, both eight-year-olds have a experience that changes their lives forever. When they re encounter each other at camp as teenagers, then girls have to overcome feelings of loss and resentment. While their emotional journey via swimming and other camp activities is simplistic, the story of the girls is a new twist on overcoming barriers and an incredible story of self-discovery. Older middle-school students with an interest in drama and secrets would find Hidden fascinating.

Something Like Hope

For multiple reasons, I did not want to like Shawn Goodman's Something Like Hope. Firstly, the cover is saccharinely ridiculous, with its open-mouthed girl, staring into oblivion, and failed-perspective geese. I also mistakenly thought it was a historical novel about the Civil Rights Movement, of which I have read too many within the last few years. They were mostly good, but I'm a little tired of them. Secondly, and more importantly, this is a book about a teenager in a juvenile detention group home, written by a school psychologist who has worked in such homes. Generally, these types of books are not well-written, but simply special pleading for the group involved.
Luckily, Something Like Hope is pretty decent. It's simply written with a narrator who is likable despite her violent tendencies. Shavonne has been in the home since she was fifteen, gave birth during the time, and is now nearing her eighteenth birthday and the possibility of freedom. She is mainly trying to ignore the mistreatment from the guards and problems of the other residents. With the help of a new psychologist and her own strength, she attempts to work through the tragedies in her past.
Some problems I had with Something Like Hope are the psychologist as hero (though Goodman didn't focus on him too much), the simplified therapeutic breakthrough, and the pat ending. I do feel that he really captured Shavonne's character and made her seem real, instead of a caricature. The emotion of Shavonne's biggest struggle, that concerning her young daughter, actually made me cry. The struggles of the other girls were handled in a balanced manner, showing how, while there were underlying causes to their antisocial behaviors, those behaviors were still harmful to Shavonne and themselves. The language was realistic and graphic, but based on my teaching experience, not gratuitous. A high school or mature middle school student would enjoy reading about Shavonne's journey into maturity.

The Scorpio Races

When I saw one of Maggie Stiefvater's books on a list of award honoree's (either Newbery Honor or Virginia Reader's Choice finalist), I sighed and put it on my list of books to read, but not happily. I had read Shiver and decided not to read any of its sequels, despite my usual need to know how it ends. I was pleasantly surprised with at least the idea and plot of The Scorpio Races, even though I didn't particularly like the book.
Stiefvater wrote this book about two teenagers on an Irish island whose surrounding sea is populated by carnivorous, vicious water horses, inspired by Irish, Manx, and Scots folklore. These horses become aggressive in the fall, coming on land and attacking (mainly livestock). At the their peak time of aggression, island men trap, train, and then race the water horses in the major event of the year. The story centers around two orphans, a boy who wants to win the water horse he's ridden to victory for four years, and a girl who needs to save her family's home, who alternate narration. Promising, yes?
Steifvater doesn't follow through with her promise. While the story should have been interesting, I skimmed through many sections. The plot was hidden among leaden dialogue; the characters were barely discernible; the action was boring. I actually enjoyed Shiver more than this book, so I doubt I will read any more of Stiefvater's work. What did please me is learning about the legend of the water horses, which I'll read more about--from other sources.

The Glass Castle

In the genre of memoir, a common sub-genre is that of the abuse memoir, recounting a child in which the author was abused by caretakers and how that person escaped. All of these abuse memoirs are tragic and inspiring; many are interesting and well-written too. Within the abuse memoir, there exists a sub-sub-genre, in which the abuser is remembered for the horrible things he or she did to the child, but also for the way he or she brought excitement and enthusiasm to life, how he or she had a never ending sense of adventure, and how the child's life was so much richer for having him (for it's usually a him) in her life. Reading out to these books, it's obviously that the author is still in the abuser's grasp. Jennette Wells' The Glass Castle is one of these books.
This is not to say that The Glass Castle is not a completely enthralling book. While not a YA book, this memoir will fascinate mature high school students and adults. The accounts of her parents' horrific neglect, including refusal of medical attention, almost allowing them to starve and freeze, and simple lack of affection, and how the children dealt with them are fascinating. I found it an interesting psychological study between Jeannette Wells and her older sister, in how they reacted to their parents' neglect.
Yet the main reaction I had to this book was anger. Anger at Wells' parents for their horrible treatment of their children, anger at the witnesses who ignored it and made it worse (they were callous even for the time period), and even a little anger at Wells for her lack of anger at her selfish parents. This is not a book that will leave me soon. Whether that's good or bad, I'm not yet sure.

Bonechiller

While Graham McNamee's Bonechiller is a an award-winning thriller/folk tale, plot-wise, it's not much more than that. The monster and teenagers who are trying to escape its clutches are fairly typical, the maladjusted Danny, a badass girl boxer, a geek with mad stats and computer skillz, and his crazy, pyromaniac brother. The monster attacks one winter night in the small Yukon town, leaving Danny confused and haunted. Eventually he and his friends find a pattern of child and teen disappearances, and work to find a way to save their friend.
While I don't think this book deserves its accolades, the setting truly sets it apart from other monster stories. McNamee's descriptions of the snowy landscapes show the desolation and cold affecting the characters as they succumb to the monster's poison.
As a side note, I had never heard of the Wendigo, a human-eating monster in American Indian folklore until last fall, on a episode of The Grimms. Since then, I've come across it in multiple stories. It seems that popular culture is finally beginning to take advantage of the rich history of stories available.

Dare Me

I've been reading mainly YA and juvenile fiction, just because it tends to go quicker and I'm trying to get through as many books as I can before I get slammed with assignments. Megan Abbott's Dare Me is not, though it reads like one. I simply grabbed it from the new books shelf as my toddler tugged at my arm (without looking at the cover). When I began reading and realized that it was a cheerleader book, I gritted my teeth and kept reading. The dialogue is ridiculous, as is the whole concept of cheerleaders as goddesses of the school. These girls are supposed to be in the current day, and Abbott does a good job of capturing the use of technology, but it feels dated in the depiction of cheerleaders. While I'm sure that many schools still exist in which football players and cheerleaders rule the school socially, in my experience this is no longer true. High school society is segmented enough that many student openly mock these social groups and are admired for it. Many schools are so large that no one social group can claim hegemony.
Despite this theory that makes the book possible, the Abbott does excel in showing the difference between traditional and competition cheering, which is a sport. The mystery develops so slowly that I didn't even realize the book was a mystery until the chaos had enveloped all major characters. As the book reached its end, it actually improved, which is uncommon. If a reader is interested in books analyzing the high school social scene and the cruelty of young women, Dare Me the answer, though most readers, even many high school girls, will be disgusted at the drama of everything.

The Time Traveler's Wife

It's a novel for adults, but Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife will certainly appeal to teenagers, especially romantic girls whose idea of true love involves sacrificing one's entire self. This is not to say that I disliked the book; it was engaging and really interesting how she structured it so that the reader could understand what was going on. Unfortunately, the two main characters were both plot structures on which the reader could place their fantasies, instead of developed personalities. Their conversations were insipid; their interactions contrived. The main reason to read this book is the plot, which is fascinating and keeps the reader intrigued no matter how dull the characters are. I definitely recommend this to high school girls who want an interesting, romantic take on time travel, and even many boys.

The Montmaray Journals

This lovely, lovely trilogy by Michelle Cooper should thrill any student who enjoys historical fiction, in particular girls. Consisting of A Brief History of Montmaray, The FitzOsbornes in Exile, and The FitzOsbornes at War, the books are structured as the journals of Sophie FitzOsborne, a princess of the tiny fictional island nation of Montmaray, whose populace numbers less than ten in the years leading up to the Second World War. Sophie recounts the royal family's hardscrabble existence on the island in pre-war years, their exile to England because of a German takeover, and their efforts to help the Allies and reclaim their home during the war. As this nontraditional royal family, most of whom have distinct voice and character, navigates the harrowing time, Cooper includes many less-known aspects of wartime England. Sophie is an energetic narrator who incorporates her own perspective into her tales of both a teenager's coming of age and the world's struggles.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

I finally got around to reading Brian Selnick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret, unfortunately after watching Hugo, the film based on it. Obviously, there were no major surprises for me, but the book was still impressive. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the story of an orphan who lives in a Paris subway station as its secret clock repairman in the 1930s, shows how kindness and caring can open a person's heart, in addition to being an homage to the early days of film. Told with words, drawing, pictures, and film stills, it is a tale of discovery for all the major characters, whose stories echo one anothers. For children who do not want to think too much about their material, the book is simply a good story about how a boy finds a home, with a little mystery built in. The difference between Selnick's words, drawings, and the film stills make the book attractive for a variety of different types of readers. It is ambitious for a work geared toward upper elementary and middle school readers. I plan to purchase it eventually for my children.