Blind Faith

Well, school is finished for the semester and I'm back. I have read lots of great books in the last few months, but we'll see if I get them all back-blogged. The most recent one I've finished is Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger. I actually met Wittlinger when I was at the ALAN workshop (a two-day extravaganza for teachers and librarians all about YA lit.) in Nashville. She spoke in a breakout session about beauty, and was very funny and insightful. This is her newest work.

In Blind Faith, 15-year-old Liz watches her mother throw herself on her grandmother's casket, and the spiral shifts downward from there. Liz loved her grandmother, Bunny, who was full of verve and life, but Liz's mom, Christine, had a special relationship with Bunny, one that is very different than the one Liz has with her own mother. After Bunny's death, Liz feels terrible, but Christine sinks into a deep depression, not getting out of bed or wanting to open her pottery shop, much less work on pots. Soon, though, she gets cleaned up to go to Singing River, a Spiritualist church. There, ministers mediate between the living and the dead, and Christine believes she is receiving messages from Bunny, much to the aggravation of Liz's father, who is staunchly against organized religion. Liz, trying to please her mother, agrees to attend one Saturday, and isn't sure what she believes. It all seems like a big hoax, but the ministers do seem to know some things they couldn't without Bunny's help.

A family, meanwhile, moves in across the street with the crabby old lady who lives there. Courtney, a younger girl, quickly introduces herself enjoys spending time with Liz and her two dogs. Her older brother, Nathan, is Liz's age, but he seems moody and unhappy to be living with his grumpy grandmother. Soon Liz finds out why she hasn't seen their mother: she has leukemia and has come back to her estranged mother's house to die. Neither she nor Nathan, though, can find the courage to tell Courtney. As the relationship between Liz's parents worsens, Liz is more and more confused about death, grieving, relationships with her mother, father, and Nathan, and the changes she sees in her familiar world as a result of growing older.

This is a beautiful story, showing the nature of mother/daughter relationships and the ways in which we grieve, as well as the normal but excruciating evolution everything familiar seems to undergo as we grow from child to adult. Wittlinger always seems to find the right words to create an entirely believable teen world that reflects the experiences of the "good kids" rather than the stereotypical problem teens.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

I did this review for class so I figured I may as well post it! I did it in the style of a review journal I use frequently: VOYA (Voice of Youth Activists). Here is a link to their website, which explains the Q/P rating system.

5Q • 4P • S
Cohn, Rachel, and David Leviathan. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Knopf, 2006. 183 p. $16.95. 0-375-83531-5.

Nick is the straight bassist in the Hoboken-based queercore punk band playing at tonight’s show. Norah is the privileged niece of the club owner, daughter of a music exec, and is only out tonight to make sure her friend Caroline doesn’t die in a drunken stupor. In a panic, Nick asks Norah to be his five-minute girlfriend when he sees his recent ex and her new fling headed his way. So begins our eight-hour glimpse into a budding romance set on the backdrop of Manhattan and its punk music scene. Told in alternating chapters from both perspectives, we learn that Norah’s thrown away an acceptance to Brown to be with a boyfriend for whom she’s never been good enough, Nick pines for a girl who never took their coupledom seriously, and that both are ready (and perfect) for each other. The skill of both authors create a depth which shows even Caroline and Nick’s ex as three-dimensional, and our heroes’ realizations about life, love, music, and drag queens never seem scripted. Allusions to vintage and modern punk will seem like gifts to teens in the know, and may create a new generation of rockers. Sexual scenes and strong profanity may restrict at least your recommendation to older teens, but the situations are realistic. This reviewer was gratified to see that these two ultra-cool characters are “straight-edgers” and prefer to enjoy their club scene without drugs or drinking. Destined to become a cult favorite, Nick and Norah will steal readers’ hearts.

My South Park Self

Cool, huh? I haven't had time for much of anything, but I did start a catalog of books I've read. You can see it at www.librarything.com/catalog/acajjou. I may begin adding my reviews there, but I'm so busy this semester I can't promise anything...

Peter and Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

This delightful book seeks to set the record straight about Peter Pan’s origins. Peter, a young boy living in an awful orphanage in England, is sent with several younger boys to the ramshackle ship, the Never Land. The cruel first mate tells them that they are being sent to King Zarboff the Third's court to work as servants, since he and his man-eating snake go through servants so quickly. Once aboard, Peter snoops around for more edible food and meets Molly, the aristocratic young girl who becomes his friend. It is through her that Peter learns about “starstuff” and the noble “Starcatchers.” The mysterious starstuff falls from the sky periodically and gives strange powers, including the power of flight. Obviously, dishonest people can become dangerous if they get their hands on it, so a group of guardians called Starcatchers formed to find and dispose of the starstuff. A large trunk of it somehow got on the Never Land, and now the infamous pirate Black Stache is after them!

This book is tons of fun, as one would expect from the humorist Dave Barry. I’d not previously read Ridley Pearson’s books, but he is a popular adult writer. The twists and turns that explain the origins of many of Barrie’s fantastic features such as the mermaids and, of course, the fearsome crocodile are inventive, and a reader familiar with Barrie’s work will have some satisfying “Oh, yeah, I think I know where this is going” moments, though the overall story is not predictable. This is a great book that is appropriate for the whole family, and would make a great read-aloud.

Inheritance Series, books 1 and 2

Over a year ago, now, I read a book that lots of teens were talking about, and that I’d hardly seen since it was always checked out. That book was Eragon, written by Christopher Paolini. I’ve just now finished listening to its sequel on CD and figured I’d review them together, since most of the plot points I’ll mention come from the first book. Paolini was merely 15 when he wrote Eragon, and boy, did it show. He borrows heavily from the symbolism, culture, and atmosphere of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Anne Perry’s Dragonriders series, and other fantasy epics. The prose is crowded with adjectives that mostly sound like they’ve come from a thesaurus. The title itself is a semi-obvious rip on Tolkien’s hero, Aragorn. Despite its flaws, however, the story has a lot of action, adventure and drama and because it is drawing heavily from really great works of fantasy literature, has fascinated a new generation of readers who have not had previous contact with these works and therefore cannot judge it against them. Recently, I picked up the second book, Eldest, on audio, read by Gerard Doyle. The writing style had by that time matured, though the heavy influences remain. The story was better, and I can see the potential for Paolini to become a decent writer in about five or ten years’ time. What really kept me going, though, was the reading. Doyle was excellent. I believe he has narrated many audio books, and I am eager to find more.

In any case, the story of the first book involves the teen Eragon, an orphan who lives with his uncle and cousin in a small village on the edge of the Spine, a mountain range into which most humans won’t venture. Eragon, of course, does, and finds a funny blue stone, takes it home, and it hatches into Saphira, his very own dragon with whom he has a telepathic bond. The king of the land is a mad-evil-dragonriding-magician who had wiped out the other dragons and dragonriders and stockpiled the remaining eggs. Saphira’s egg was stolen and he is desperate to get it back. He sends awful creatures – the Razak, similar to the Nazgûl in spirit – to hunt Eragon. He flees the village with the wise village storyteller Brom to find the rebel faction, the Varden. Magic, battles, strange acquaintances, etc. later, they reach it and the end of the first book.

The second book, Eldest, takes right up where Eragon left off, and now Eragon is accompanied by an elf-girl with whom he’s falling in love and a gruff but friendly dwarf. They are all off to the elf stronghold to finish Eragon’s training and the face-off against the mad king commences as the 2^nd book ends. I’ve glossed, I know, but it would take much more time to give a better accounting. If you’ve read many fantasy novels, you already have a general idea of what’s going on and what to expect next.

These books are okay if your expectations haven’t been set too high (as mine had). Hopefully, I’ve set them fairly low for you, and there’s no where to go but up. I hope, if you decide to read it, you enjoy it much more than I did.

Lack of Posts

Apologies to all anxiously waiting for further book reviews! I had two ultra-busy weeks at work, enjoyed the third week on vacation, and this past week I've been catching up. Fortunately, I have been busy reading AND knitting in the past four weeks, so I have lots to share. These catch up reviews will be quick and dirty, but maybe you prefer that anyway...

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

Virginia Shreves thinks she must have been switched at birth. She is blonde, unpopular, overweight, and can’t speak French. The rest of her family (mom, dad, older brother and sister) is dark, beautiful, thin, popular, and speak fluent French. Furthermore, Virginia’s best friend is away for the year and she’s all alone at school. She’s begun an unfulfilling and secret relationship with a classmate that she can’t even speak to in school. When her mother decides to be more proactive about her weight problem and under the pressure of disapproving parents and cruel classmates, Virginia begins a dangerous starvation diet. Before it goes too far, though, her brother Byron is sent home from college under allegations of date rape. Virginia is shattered and must reevaluate her idea that Byron and the rest of her family are perfect. She returns to overeating for comfort but with a little help slowly finds herself as a confident individual who’s come to terms with her imperfections.

The glittery cover and weird title initially put me off of this book, but I was interested in reading it as a Printz Honor book (the Printz is like the Newbery award for teen books) and one that has recently been banned in several school libraries around the country. Virginia is a good narrator – funny, self-depreciating, and ultimately strong, and any girl who is or was unhappy with her image will see some hope there. Supporting characters such as Byron and Froggy Welsh the Fourth (her secret boyfriend) are complex and we learn more about them as Virginia does.

Issues include: body image, date rape, eating disorders, sexuality, rebellion, dysfunctional families, occasional profanity.

Feed by M.T. Anderson (Audio)

Titus is a typical teen in the US in some unspecified time in the future. There are flying cars, vacations to outer space, domes over underground houses and subdivisions that control the weather and light, conceptionariums for custom test-tube babies, and a host of other technological advances that have contributed to a planet maimed by pollution and resource stripping. However, the most pervasive advance is the Feed – an internet-like system that is surgically implanted into children’s brains and grows up with them. Titus goes to the moon with some friends for spring break and meets Violet, the strange but beautiful girl who actually reads and writes, is interested in the news, and wants to go to boring places like the mountains. She tags along with them to a night club where a political hacker gets into their system and they must go to the hospital for tests before being reconnected to the Feed. In the hospital, Titus and Violet get to know one another and embark on a romance. Life soon returns to normal for Titus, but a Feed malfunction in Violet’s system wreaks havoc on their relationship, their lives, and their perception of the world around them.

I took the advice of others on the listserv YALSA-BK (you can join, too! See info at http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/yalsa-bk) to listen to Feed before reading it. It was good advice. Much of the book is dialogue, and the rest is told from Titus’ perspective, so just begs to be heard. The performer, David Baker, perfectly emulates the bored teens’ slang, tone, and timing, which turns out to sound somewhat like the “Valley Girl” and “Surfer Dude” slang of the 80s, and underscores the teens’ disconnection from real life. (Interestingly, Titus’ parents also use this slang, but in more mature voices, and this also shows that the suburbanites of mainstream America are also unaware or uncaring about the state of their country and their world.) This was a disturbing and thought-provoking read. I would love to do a book discussion with it and see what others think!

Issues include: technology, pollution, big business, advertising, world politics, some sexuality, realistic profanity, conformity, illness, class division, consumerism, alcohol use, drug use.

Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas

Steve York, who two semesters ago was a straight-A honor student, is failing his senior English class, stoned most of the time, and isolated from his peers at his new San Diego school. A surprisingly sympathetic guidance counselor gives him two options – retake English during the summer and thus delay graduation, or write a 100 page paper on the subject of his choice, to be turned in a few pages at a time. Steve decides to write the paper and after a few corny attempts at fiction, goes with what he knows and thus begins the real story. Turn back to Steve’s sophomore year. He’s living in Houston with his father – the rigid and strict former astronaut whom Steve blames for his parents’ divorce and avoids at all costs. His countercultural tendencies lead him to befriend a group comprised of the school club G.O.D. – the Grace Order of Dadaists, formed to fulfill a bet. Through the club, Steve meets Dub, his first love, and we learn that their relationship is key to Steve’s move to San Diego and plummeting prospects. In the end, Steve confronts and conquers his demons and we’re left with hopes for his future.

I really enjoyed this book. Published in 1996 – the year I finished my freshman year, I identified with the characters, the pop culture references and general mid-90s atmosphere and attitude of the novel. The characters participated in a lot of the behaviors that I stayed away from in high school – the usual sex, drugs (weed), and alcohol – but they’re realistic depictions that I recognized in my peers and sometimes in friends. However, I was completely reliving my high school days with the characters activities and motivations: hanging out, staying up late, resisting the mainstream to the point of being pretentious in our need to prove our disdain for the popular crowd, the naïveté and bluster of those days, the joy of finding a class or a teacher that really understands and challenges you, discovering friends through mutual music tastes, and all of the heightened emotions and strong ideals. It didn’t make me want to be in high school again, but it did create a nostalgia and I enjoyed looking back at my experiences. I would only recommend the book to older high school students and young adults as far as content goes, but I really think that those a couple years away from high school would be at the ideal stage to really appreciate the deeper themes.

Issues include: divorce, sexuality, drug use, alcohol use, realistic profanity, dysfunctional families, conformity.

First Knitting Post!

So here is my latest knitting project. It's for Ameetha's new baby; I've never knit clothes for a baby before, and I've never done a sweater pattern of any size before. I've learned a lot from this, and I've been working on it for a looong time. I'm using the "baby wrap top" pattern from from the book Special Knits by Debbie Bliss. She has some really lovely stuff. I substituted a baby alpaca yarn (shed by baby alpacas, not necessarily intended for babies) and it is VERY soft. I did the trim in an eggplant purple - which is hard to tell from the pictures, sorry, and the bulk from a cream color. I've gotten tired of traditional pastels for babies. The other first from this project was embroidered embellishments. Anyone can tell that my little lazy daisies are lopsided, turned in funny directions, different sized, etc. I think it gives it character. Plus, I don't think I could get them any better.

Why isn't the top on the baby, you ask? Well, despite the misleading pictures I've posted, it's not finished. Like almost every other knitter I've met or read about, I'm not a big fan of finishing. By which I mean weaving in ends, joining pattern pieces, picking up to make collars, sewing on ribbon and fastenings, etc. This is the real picture of this piece, and the reason it's been almost 6 months since I've started:

Lookit all them ends! It's awful! I've actually considered cutting out all of the embroidery and gifting the top plain just to avoid it. Plus I don't actually know the best way to secure these ends so that they don't pull free or get pulled by tiny hands.

Wish me luck.