Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

What a weird little book. I'm not sure if that's good or bad... it just is. This was another pick for my YA class this summer, and one that I'd been meaning to read since I heard about it on NPR a while back. Not sure I'd have finished it except for my class, though.

The beginning is... awkward, is how I'd put it. As soon as I started reading, I was like, "Wait, this is a young adult book? Ooookay." It starts with a, um, romp in the hay, as it were, between a young man and woman, and then gets into icky incest between a different young woman and her father, and abortions, and then has a, well, a gang rape. It is less than delightful. It is pretty awful, actually. Which is, I guess, appropriate. But anyway. Soon after these horrible things, the second young woman, Liga, comes across some fancy magic and gets transported into a lovely world where all of the bad people she used to know are gone and where she can raise her two daughters (yes, from the aforementioned bad things) in peace. But of course, it being magic and all, it's not perfect, and soon outsiders who have no business being in Liga's world are barging in all willy-nilly and upsetting the balance of Liga's life.

I liked the middle part of this book very much, with the outsiders and the daughters dealing with them and their lives and Liga sort of seeing what kind of world she lived in. But the beginning part was squicky, and the ending part dragged on a little long and sort of danced around whatever points Lanagan was trying to make. However, I appreciated the point that I did catch on to, that perfect heaven worlds aren't really all they're cracked up to be, and I was interested in the descriptions of the real world Liga left behind. This is definitely a good book for thinking about, and would probably make a great book club read if you had the right people for it.

Rating: 7/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2008, Orbis Terrarum Challenge: Australia, A to Z Challenge, Support Your Local Library Challenge)

See also:
books i done read
A Striped Armchair
things mean a lot

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.

The Sign of the Twisted Candles, by Carolyn Keene

I was so right, Nancy totally does get chloroformed again! Oh, Nancy, you gotta stop killing those brain cells.

Hanyway, the mystery in this book is a little different from Nancy's usual... here she starts off with a seemingly simple mystery in hand — is Asa Sidney, a relative of George and Bess, being taken care of in his inn (another inn? seriously??) as he is supposed to be? Of course, he isn't, and soon some of his other relatives are after him for his oodles of money, and Nancy tries to protect him, but then he dies and suddenly George and Bess are upset that Nancy is protecting all that fortune what was meant to go to their families, and Nancy gets chloroformed, and so does a crappy guard, and it's all just a mess until Nancy ends up solving a mystery no one even knew existed! Goodness.

I have to admit I didn't like this one as much as I liked the eight previous... I need more intrigue in my Nancy Drew. :) Let's hope that Password to Larkspur Lane is more to my style!

Rating: 6/10
(Nancy Drew Challenge, Support Your Local Library Challenge)

See also:
[your link here]

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner

Okay, so here's my thing about series books. I like them, in general, and I appreciate story arcs that cross over several books before being resolved. But. I intensely dislike it when, in the first book, the only real mystery is not solved. Give me something to feel good about, you know?

Unfortunately, that's what this book does. And I'm just not invested enough in the story to go read another book to find out what's happening. I might Wikipedia it instead.

The premise of the story is good — it's the whole reason I wanted to read the book! There are all these boys trapped in a maze, and we follow along with the new kid, Thomas, who has just come in, memory mostly wiped like everyone else's (he can remember his name, and he can remember general details about life but not specifics like if he has a family or where he lived), who nonetheless feels like everything around him looks a little familiar. And some of the other kids sort of recognize him, too, the ones who have had bad things happen to them. And this maze they're in, it moves around every day and the boys have designated Runners who go out and try to map it, even though there doesn't seem to be an exit.

Doesn't that sound kind of cool? I was intrigued, anyway. But the book... it's an action book kind of like The Knife of Never Letting Go, where there is no character development to speak of, but lots of running and jumping and climbing trees and whatnot. And it does that part pretty well, I'll grant, but it's not enough to get me to read more of the same.

Rating: 6/10
(Support Your Local Library Challenge)

See also:
Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?
My Friend Amy
Devourer of Books
Thoughts of Joy...
Library Queue

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang

This is one of those books that I've been hearing about for a long time, but that I never had any interest in reading, primarily because it was a graphic novel. It's not that I don't like graphic novels, it's just that I have a hard time reading and looking at the pictures all together and I'm not generally convinced that I couldn't have imagined a book better than it was drawn. That latter part is the reason I have trouble with movie versions of books, too.

But this book? I couldn't have imagined it better, and I really do think that the illustrations are what make this book so awesome. So if you're like me, just forget your graphic novel problems and go read this.

There are three stories all intertwined in this book; we jump from the myth of the Monkey King to the new Chinese kid in school to the all-American kid trying to escape his crazy, stereotypical, flamboyantly Chinese cousin. In all of these stories, the protagonist wants to be something he's not — the Monkey King wants to be human, the new kid wants to be an American, the American kid wants to be not related ever again to his crazy cousin. Eventualy, all of these characters meet, and they all realize in the end that what's most important is to be yourself.

And that sounds kind of hokey and after-school-special-y, but it reads a heck of a lot better and it looks a heck of a lot prettier than I wrote it. Yang perfectly captures the spirit of those middle-school years, when all you wanted was to fit in. I wish that this book had been around when I was in middle school! Could have saved myself a lot of time and effort. :)

Rating: 8/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2006, Support Your Local Library Challenge)

See also:
dreadlock girl
The Book Zombie

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.

The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson

I've had this one on my shelf awhile, and it almost went back to the library unread except that it's one of the books on my summer YA class reading list. I'm a big fan of getting things done early if they're things I want to do... just don't ask me about my final project due tomorrow!

Anyway... I have to say that if this hadn't been on my reading list, I probably wouldn't have finished it. It's very different from the books I usually read — it's historical fiction, it's partly epistolary, it's written in the tone of the 18th century, it's more of a narrative than a plot-driven story. It has a really long series title: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation. But I did finish it, and I didn't hate it, but I didn't really like it.

Here's the plot: There's a kid called Octavian who lives with a bunch of nutty scholar-types who are performing experiments on him because he's a Negro and they want to know if he and his "homo afri" brain are as good as them with their "homo europaei" brains. These aren't painful experiments; they consist of lessons in music and classical languages mostly and are just meant to see if Octavian is actually able to learn them. Not a big deal... well, until the scholars' main benefactor kicks the bucket and the new guy in charge decides to prove that Octavian can't. Then Octavian runs away and we are told his story through the letters of others as he tries to have freedom in Revolutionary War-era Boston. How fun.

I liked Octavian, and rooted for him as he slowly discovered the truth behind his living arrangments and the world around him. I liked his sympathetic friends, and I even felt for some of the not sympathetic characters because Anderson did a good job showing the flip side of the whole slavery thing. I didn't really like the long stretches of nothing happening, but I know that Anderson was making a point and I appreciate it. I guess that's how it is with more literary novels, for me — I might not really like them, but I appreciate how they're built and executed and I'm glad I've read them. Unfortunately, I think my favorite part of this book was its presentation — deckled edges and an 18th century-style title page. Lovely.

Basically, don't go into this novel expecting excitement. The full title may include the words "astonishing life", but that might be just the tiniest bit hyperbolic. :) Maybe in the second book it gets more exciting?

Rating: 7/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2006, A to Z Challenge, Support Your Local Library Challenge)

See also:
Blogging for a Good Book

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.

Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn

What a weird effing book. Seriously. I felt dirty and gross after reading it. I should have stopped at page 19 like I wanted to, but I wanted to know what happened!

This is my problem with reading mysteries/thrillers/suspense novels/what-have-you. It doesn't matter how crappy the writing or the story or the characters are... if the mystery intrigues me I get so drawn in! In this particular case, the story goes like this: A little girl goes missing in Small Town, MO, less than a year after another little girl went missing and was found dead, teeth pulled out of her mouth (yes, this book gets gory, don't read if you're squeamish!). A journalist, originally from Small Town and now working at a third-rate paper in Chicago, is sent down to get the story, with the idea that even a former local will get better info than a stranger. Of course, people who leave Small Towns don't usually want to go back, and neither does our journalist, Camille, because she's got some serious emotional baggage from a crappy mother and a dead sister and the price of high-school popularity. But she goes, and when the second girl is found dead, teeth pulled out of her mouth, the mystery gets interesting... and when things start coming to light about just how much emotion fits in that baggage Camille is carrying, it gets downright intriguing.

My problem with this book wasn't really the writing, per se, as what Flynn was writing about — the murders are gory, I can deal with that, but then she goes and throws in all this weird sex and drinking and drug use that happens in such implausible (well, to me anyway... I'm not really well-versed in casual sex, alcoholism, or recreational drug use) situations and I really had to just put the blinders on, skim through the weird parts, and focus on the investigation at hand. But even skimming those parts made me feel gross. Ucch.

And then after everything the ending feels really rushed, like Flynn knew I wasn't going to put up with her shenanigans much longer and wanted to make sure that I found out whodunnit, but considering that whodunnit is what I cared about, not Camille's sex life, I wish that Flynn had spent a few more pages making it even slightly suspenseful.

Basically, if you like really weird and awkward situations, and if you don't mind talk of self-mutilation (oh, yeah, there's lots of that) and thirteen-year-olds doing drugs, and if you don't really care about the mystery part... you'll probably like this book better than I did. It was just not the right book for me.

Question: I have Dark Places, Flynn's second novel, waiting on my shelf right now. Given my opinion of Sharp Objects, should I read the other one?

Rating: 5/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2006, Support Your Local Library Challenge)

See also:
[your link here]

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.

Booking Through Thursday — I Can't Stop!

Today's Booking Through Thursday question is: "So... you’re halfway through a book and you’re hating it. It’s boring. It’s trite. It’s badly written. But... you’ve invested all this time to reading the first half. What do you do? Read the second half? Just to finish out the story? Find out what happens? Or, cut your losses and dump the second half?"

I am so bad about this! I tend to be a pretty good follower of the 50-page rule, but so often I will get one of those books that totally hooks me for the first 50 pages, but then by page 100 I'm like... why am I still reading this? What went wrong? I don't want to be reading this anymore! But I don't always stop reading, even when I really really should. There are several reasons for this, which I shall enumerate in a list.

Reasons why Alison keeps reading bad books, even when she shouldn't:
1. It's the only book around and I need something to read.
2. I have heard good things about the book and am hoping it will get better.
3. It's a really popular/well-regarded book and I want the experience of reading it.
4. It's a mystery novel and I want to know how the mystery plays out.
5. It's a horror novel and I fear nightmares if I don't finish it.

Really, most of the time it's reason No. 1 ruling the day, which is why I try to carry around enough books to keep me amused at any given time, though clearly this doesn't always work. I'm such a lost cause.

The Summer Before, by Ann M. Martin

Hey, remember a while back when I was all excited about the return of the BSC? Yep, still excited. So excited, in fact, that I read this prequel to the series, which introduces our intrepid babysitting foursome as they prepare to start the seventh grade.

The story covers Kristy's birthday and her wish that her deadbeat dad will show up, Mary Anne's first adventure in babysitting, Claudia's first sort-of-boyfriend and the beginning of her estrangement from Mary Anne and Kristy, and Stacey's crappy New York friends and move to Connecticut.

It's about that fast-paced, too... I admit that I haven't read a BSC book in more than 10 years so they probably all are. But if I recall correctly, there was usually at least an overarching storyline to the books — this one is more vignette-y and thus a little harder to follow.

All in all, this is not the BSC book to start with. This is a book for BSC fans who want just one more story with their favorite kids. :)

Rating: 7/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2010, Support Your Local Library Challenge)

See also:
[your link here]

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.

Lord Sunday, by Garth Nix

Finally, I've read the last of the Keys to the Kingdom series, which I started reading during my first Summer Reading Project back in 2006. I would link to the page, but it is a horror of Dreamweaver that is best left locked up, lest it bite someone.

I have to admit that I went to Wikipedia before starting the book, because I had forgotten pretty much everything that ever happened, and I was still confused when I read it. So I'm going to recommend just reading these all straight through if you ever do — they're super short and it'll only take you a couple days.

It was still a good story. Lord Sunday picks up where Superior Saturday left off, with Arthur having just grabbed the Sixth Key and begun falling through a big ol' hole in the floor. It continues on in the same vein as the other books, by which I mean he goes to find the Seventh Key and the corresponding part of the Will, and gets in trouble along the way, and then totally finds them. But this one's harder to get because Lord Sunday really really really doesn't want to give the key up for some reason... and that part of the book was so close to being spectacular! So close. Suffice it to say that there is an unexpected (to me, anyway) reason for the Will's existance, and that Nix could have gone with a really cool ending but went with a sappy one instead. But I suppose, this being a book for kids and all, that it's the only ending the publishers would have allowed. At least, that's how I'm going to defend it. :)

All right, guys, what weird little kids book series should I get addicted to next?

Rating: 7/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2010, Support Your Local Library Challenge)

See also:
[your link here]

Pass me yours, if you've got 'em.