BeSerene's Lucky 2013: Books Read, Part Second

Welcome to the second thread of the year, featuring books... and book pandas. Also, sometimes squirrels.

Goals for 2013:
1) Read the books.
2) See goal #1.

First thread of the year (2013) is found here:
BeSerene's Lucky 2013: Books Read, Part First

Threads from 2012 may be found here:
BeSerene in 2012: A Very Good Year (for Books)
BeSerene in 2012: A Very Good Year (for Books), part 2

If for some strange reason you wish to revisit the abysmal year that was 2011, the threads are here:
BeSerene's Reads of 2011: the Beginning
BeSerene's Reads of 2011: the Next Chapter

To see my masterlist from 2010, in which I read considerably more books than I have in more recent years, visit my second 2010 thread:
BeSerene's Reads 2010, Part Two.

2013 reading goal: 75

The year so far...

Reads of 2013: 42/75

Fantasy
-- #1: The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne Valente (YA)
-- #2: Hounded by Kevin Hearne
-- #3: Hexed by Kevin Hearne
-- #4: Hammered by Kevin Hearne
-- #5: Tricked by Kevin Hearne
-- #9: Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger (YA)
-- #11: Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia McKillip (short stories)
-- #13: The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell (children's)
-- #15: Horns and Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson (children's)
-- #18: The Doomsday Vault by Steven Harper
-- #20: Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal
-- #23: Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones (YA)
-- #24: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainini (YA)
-- #29: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
-- #35: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (YA)
-- #39: Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger (YA)
-- #41: The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne Valente (children's)

Science Fiction
-- #14: Prophet of Bones by Ted Kosmatka
-- #19: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
-- #32: The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
-- #36: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
-- #37: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
-- #38: MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
-- #42: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Mystery
-- #16: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
-- #21: The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
-- #34: Help for the Haunted by John Searles

Historical Fiction
-- #27: A Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb
-- #33: The Solitary House by Lynn Shepherd
-- #40: A Fatal Likeness by Lynn Shepherd

Contemporary and/or Literary Fiction
-- #6: Me Who Dove into the Heart of the World by Sabina Berman (YA)
-- #10: Jumping the Scratch by Sarah Weeks (children's)
-- #12: Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale
-- #25: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
-- #28: Push by Sapphire

Biography/Memoir
-- #8: Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff

Other Non-fiction

Graphic Novels
-- #17: Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi (children's)
-- #22: Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy Bastian
-- #26: The Resurrectionist by EB Hudspeth
-- #30: Primates by Jim Ottaviani
-- #31: Soulless: The Manga, volume 2 by Gail Carriger

Miscellaneous (weird stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere)
-- #7: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (children's)

The Book Panda brigade... on parade:

And the first review of the new thread is...

#16


The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
I had been meaning to read this book for ages and I am rather glad that I finally got round to it. This delightful mystery, set in 1950s England, is beloved for a reason. Many reasons, actually. To start, Flavia de Luce, amateur chemist and child sleuth, is a ridiculously entertaining narrator. Discovering the story of a murder -- and all the convolutions associated with that event -- through her eyes makes it a strangely cheerful endeavor for the reader. There were even moments, whilst reading, that I actually laughed out loud. Her eleven-year-old enthusiasm and her ageless dry wit transform this book into something distinct in a crowded mystery field.

While the book is not always the most elegant of its genre -- a certain mid-book monologue, for example, clunks along awkwardly for a few pages -- it is vastly entertaining. The mysterious murderer can be puzzled out before Flavia herself gets there, but then the fun becomes watching her put together the hows and wherefores and all the other pieces. All together, this was good fun, as such mysteries ought to be. I am so glad Mr. Bradley chose to start his series and I look forward to reading more.

I accidentally posted in your old thread (because I was so far behind that it took me ages to read), so I'm posting it again here:

Doing some major catch-up (the story of my life), I've been hit by a couple of book bullets from ages ago: the Newbery winner and the Detroit book. I'm also somewhat tempted by Horns and Wrinkles.

Hi! Delighted to see that you found the new digs. :)

And no worries about being behind -- I haven't been thread-visiting in ages, it seems. I swear I will pay back the visit... sometime!

I hope you do enjoy those books that struck you. ;)

I'm here, too.

#17


Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
I picked up a used copy of this graphic novel, not knowing anything about it, and read it through in about half an hour. A quick read, aimed at older children (middle graders), it combines a gentler manga style with a typical fantasy quest plot (our heroine must use an inherited amulet of great power to save her family and -- one assumes -- the world). The art is a good mix of cute and cool, without being astonishing (although the last few images are pretty awesome, but I won't spoil their content for you). There were some great emotional set pieces and the atmosphere created by the visuals worked well (probably the best element of the book). The story was entertaining, but not engaging enough to prompt me to seek out more. As it is Volume One of an already five-volume series, I doubt that I will be keeping this one, but may pass it on to my nephew or another young reader who would enjoy it more thoroughly, since I am clearly not the target audience.

>5 beserene: I'll let you know what I think of them in a few years when they finally make it to the top of the stack ;)

>6 ronincats:: Hi Roni! I am very glad you are here. :)

>8 _Zoe_:: Oh, amen to that. My TBR mob just keeps growing and I have no idea what's even in it anymore. Sometimes things swim to the surface of the soup and then I read them. One never knows what it will be though. :)

Huh. I just realized that I started my second thread on the exact same day last year too. Must be something about April 21st that makes me want a shiny new thread.

Carrying on another grand tradition, though... I did happen to go to a book sale today (the RIF benefit sale, which I love, and I only spent $16 all together, in case anyone needs to hear my justification). I got piles of things for my nephews and almost-niece and then I got a few things for myself. Okay, okay... more like 20 things for myself. But who's really counting?

Oh, right, I am.

Here are a few highlights from my stack of keepers:
The Midwife's Apprentice (I picked this up because it was a hardcover and was super excited to discover it is SIGNED!)
Toys Go Out (bought a few copies of this for the kids, but I shall keep one for my house because of the Zelinsky illustrations)
The Tale of Tawny and Dingo (because I love finding old animal books by authors I loved as a child)
The Old Man of Lochnagar (a children's book by the Prince of Wales, printed in Great Britain)
a vintage (30s) copy of Alice in Wonderland with the Tenniel illustrations
a couple of kids' books by Sharon Creech
an old ARC of Diana Wynne Jones' The Merlin Conspiracy
among other things

Happy New Thread, Sarah, and HAPPY NEW BOOKS!!!
I need to go back to the old thread to finish and also need to read *Sweetness*. You and I must have been the last two hold-outs, and now there's only the one.

Well, get on the bandwagon, girl! It really is quite charming.

And thank you for the good wishes.

And welcome. :)

Yay! New thread!

Welcome! :)

Hi Sarah! Nice to see that Flavia got a good review. :)

Gratuitous panda for you:

I would add a gratuitous panda too, if I knew where to find one!

>16 UnrulySun:: OMG I love that panda. He's like a book panda... but he's catching up on his news. Lol. Thanks!

>17 alcottacre:: No worries, Stasia. It's always good to see you, with or without panda.

Hi, Sarah!

*Whew* I was worried that my panda-less state would be to my detriment.

#18


The Doomsday Vault by Steven Harper
I picked up this book almost on a lark, having used its first chapter (featured on Tor.com) as an example of "steampunk atmosphere" for my science fiction class. It has taken me a while to get around to reading the rest of the book and, though it has some flaws, I have to say that the whole package is pretty darn entertaining. The novel, which is thoroughly saturated in a steampunk sensibility seasoned with heavy doses of adventure and romance as well as a pinch of humor, concerns Alice Michaels, daughter of a baron, and Gavin Ennock, son of nobody in particular. The perspective of each guides the novel, in separate chapters, as we watch their respective adventures unfold and then collide. Gavin is navigating the skies in an airship until he is brought violently to earth; Alice is just trying to navigate society without ruining her marriage prospects until she is brought violently into contact with Gavin. And then the real adventure gets started.

On their adventure, our heroes encounter clockwork cats and giant mechanical men and something suspiciously like a tricked out Ent. In fact, there seem to be very few limits on the "technology" of this steampunked vision of the world, which often defies physics and sometimes defies credulity as well. While it is delightful fun to explore a setting where just about anything can be invented, there are a few moments in which the reader's patience is tried by just how randomly things are juxtaposed: electricity, steam-power, clockwork, a bit of magic perhaps... even implied nanotechnology (!) are all in the ether here. The mad inventors of the world are sufferers of a "clockwork plague" -- and Alice and Gavin must battle the zombies that are in the unlucky end stages of that plague on more than one occasion -- but they seem unlimited in what they can create and what power sources they can use. That openness defeats some of the tension, sacrificing real emotional stakes for ooh-shiny-toy plot points.

And, yeah, did you catch that there are zombies? Also, air pirates. And a mysterious police force. And a mechanical butler. And tea. There is definitely tea.

So, in sum, this is a novel that tries to encompass everything steampunk is and beyond. Frankly, sometimes it tries too hard, and that overexertion shows itself particularly in the last third of the novel, where both the pacing and the characterization seem to come over all wobbly. It overreaches with such unadulterated glee, however, that it still manages to be a ripping good time. I found myself turning pages and wanting more even when it colored outside the lines of good sense. While it is not as hysterically clever as Gail Carriger's Soulless series, this novel may appeal to fans of her work or other folks who don't mind when their steampunk is inconsistent and irrationally, sometimes hilariously, ambitious.

That one is in my tbr pile here, so it's good to know that it is entertaining.

Roni -- you snuck in a picture of me! Upside down! On a branch! :D

I do love that panda pic. And I hope you find the book as entertaining as I did. It really didn't make any sense about half the time, but it was fun. Sometimes that's okay.

Hello Dear One

I'm stopping by to wave hello.

*waves back* Hi Linda! Thanks for stopping by! It's always delightful to see you on the thread. :)

Oops, I missed your second message, Stasia. I am glad to have reassured you. You are entirely welcome here. If the lack of fuzzy critters continues to concern you, however, please feel free to bring a panda substitute. Might I suggest a chunky squirrel? They seem to fit in 'round the place too. :D

Hi there! I see that you've read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I hope you continue on with the series! I'm currently up to date, and I've enjoyed all of them. Flavia is such a fun character, isn't she?!

Karen O.

Hi Karen -- welcome. I am planning to continue the series, though I don't actually have any of the subsequent volumes yet, so I'm afraid it will take a little time for me to get to them. They are totally on my list, though, and thanks for reinforcing the recommendation. I am glad to know that the series continues to be enjoyable. And I do adore Flavia. She is a kindred spirit -- not because I am really into poisons or anything, but because I recognize the value of a productive obsession from personal experience. And, also, who doesn't love quirkiness? :)

Adding The Doomsday Vault to the BlackHole. It sounds like a book I would get a kick out of!



(Is a pink panda, OK?)

Yay! I like that pink panda. Adorbs. Pandas of all colors are welcome here. Because, as we know, pandas embrace diversity. :)

And I am glad that you added the Harper to your stellar bibliographic event horizon. I forgot to mention that Steven Harper is one of our Michigan writers -- he lives about an hour south of me -- and I met him at the last con I went to. He's pretty nice, and he is a teacher in addition to writing his goofy and entertaining novels, so well worth supporting such an author.

You are a sass. I love your sass. And yes, red pandas are welcome too. Lol. :)

I'm starting my volunteer job at the Zoo on Sunday (well, starting my training for the job...) so I'll have tons of (real) panda photos for you after that, I promise :-)

Oooooh! That sounds lovely, and not just because it means panda pictures for me. I hope the volunteering goes really well and that you learn all sorts of brilliant things to share with us. (Do any of your pandas read books? You'll have to tell us their preferences. ;) )

Considering pandas can't even manage to have sex on their own, I doubt they are literate :-)

I bet the red pandas can read, though. They are smart and devious (mostly due to the fact that they are raccoons and not pandas....)

#35 by norabelle414> That reminds me of



It's terrible but it seriously cracks me up every time.

>36 leahbird: My work computer blocks that picture as "adult/pornography" so I'm sure it's excellent ;-)

That picture is hilarious. Koalas are cute when they are not angry. And I do love red pandas, who are clearly the most adorable little devils nature ever produced.

But, dude, you totally harshed on my beloved panda. Clearly, they can't manage to have sex because they are too busy reading and thinking really deep thoughts about Carl Honore's theory of slowness. Or snacking. Or something like that. Hey, a panda has a lot to do, you know? Sometimes sex just goes on the back burner.

Oh my god, I'm a panda and I didn't even know it. Crap.

Lol. Welcome to the club.

You can't go wrong with a cute panda or twenty!

The picture in 36 really made my day! *snort*

I missed the move. But luckily I've found it :) Looking forward to seeing what comes next

Yesterday at zoo volunteer training I had to watch videos of giant pandas trying (and mostly failing) to have sex for almost an hour. It made me think of you.

Catching up from last thread... I love the squirrel shenanigans & hope they return!

Also, welcome to your friend Whitney!

From this thread.... PANDAS!! So cute! Nora (44) I'm curious as to why they made you watch an hour of panda almost-sex??

I'm wondering the same thing! :D Why are the sex-tapes important?

Sarah, I saw this book at the middle-school book fair this evening:


OMG the expression on the poor pandas' faces! Priceless!

LOL! Poor pandas.

To cross-post from my thread:

The problem at our zoo is that neither of the zoo's pandas have ever had sex with a panda besides each other, so they have NO IDEA what they're doing. And they only have 24 hours once a year in which they can try. So we watched a video of them flailing around not knowing what they're doing. One of the ways that zoos try to remedy this is by showing the pandas videos of other pandas successfully having sex, to see if they can learn from that. (This method has supposedly worked in China but has not yet worked anywhere else.) So we watched one of those videos.

Wow. You watched a panda sex tape and thought of me. I... um... yeah, I have no idea how to follow that.

:D

(Cracking up over here.)

Well, that wasn't meant to be a conversation-killer, but I suppose it was :)

I just finished reading Ender's Game. Strangely enough, it is a book that I'm sure I started before -- and, as a Science Fiction instructor, I have found myself speaking about it as if I had read it -- but apparently must never have finished, or even gotten very far. Because, yeah, about a third of the way in I was like "wait a minute... I don't remember this".

Anyway, it is a true SF classic. Not sure I have much more to say, really, but I'll ponder it and put something official up later. Now that my grades are in for last semester, I might get to read another book. Woo!

Welcome to summer, Sarah! The semester ends today at the university where I work and I am so ready for all these pesky students to just GO HOME and let me once again find a parking space downtown. :-)

LOL. I know exactly how you feel. Campus is such a pleasant place in summer, with all the students gone. :D

Although this summer, half of our campus is under construction, so it's not so peaceful as it should be. And most of the entrances are blocked. It all makes me glad that my summer class is online.

Oh, I hear you. Construction season is the only thing I don't like about summer. Right now two of the main routes I can take from home to campus are under detour because of roadwork. Bah humbug, if that's not too weird to say in May instead of December.

Bah humbug is an all seasons sort of sentiment, in my opinion. :)

So, I've actually read some books lately... I just appear to be too lazy to put up proper reviews. But I know that I owe 'em, no worries. I swear I'll put them here eventually.

In the meantime... Ender's Game is awesomely disturbing, which you likely already know; Without a Summer is the best volume of its trilogy so far, which you should know; and The Weed the Strings the Hangman's Bag makes me giggle inappropriately, which you have no good reason to know since that is counterintuitive in a mystery series but is never the less true.

That is all. Carry on.

Hi Sarah

I love the Panda photos! Here is another one to make you smile.


glitter-graphics.com

I absolutely love that this thread is full of panda pictures. MAKES ME HAPPY INSIDE!!! *squeeeeee*

Hi Sarah! I love that you're giggling during the Flavia book. If you don't laugh, you're doing it wrong. ;)

Those sliding pandas are cute.

Oh, giggles all around for Linda's sliding pandas GIF. Adorable!

>56 Whisper1:, 57 & 59: Oh dear heaven, the sliding baby pandas... they are all the cute. I second Faith's squee. Thanks for that, Linda, it definitely made me smile. :)

>58 UnrulySun:: Glad to know I am not alone at giggling madly whilst reading the Flavia books. There are just so many things in there. It was the sudden reference to Pepys that really made me lol, but so many great funny moments. Now I need to get the next volume in the series.

#19


Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
What can one say that hasn't already been said? This is a true science fiction classic. Card's disturbing yet thoroughly engrossing story of future war that relies on the strategic creativity of super-intelligent children -- and one boy in particular -- crawls under your skin and stays there. The story's twist only makes the reader more aware of the stark contrasts of perception and manipulation that are the text's underlying themes. One the surface, this is another science fiction novel about defeating aliens, but underneath it is so much more. The work stands alone. Read it.

#20


Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal
Sometimes a little patience pays off. As I recall, when I started this charming Regency fantasy series, I found it entertaining but felt the world was a little thin. With each additional volume, however, the characters, their rules of magic, and their alternate Austen-esque setting have grown on me. In this, the third volume of the continuing series, I finally felt that all the pieces had settled together to feel both comfortable and fresh. Our main characters, the married glamourists Jane and Vincent, seem like old friends at this point; their story relies on human folly and foible even more than magical elements, and that only makes it stronger. In fact, the fantasy portions of this world here take a back seat to the political and personal events, which perhaps makes sense given the elegantly limited form that the magic takes. In other words, with its Regency politics and its true love and its family drama, this book felt quite like the Austen works from which its author draws inspiration. And that is a true compliment.

Full disclosure: I have now met the author a couple of times and hearing her speak about her process has not only increased my regard for her as a writer, but helped me see more clearly the ways that she works, specifically and deliberately, with elements from Austen and other Regency novels. And she has proven, in person and in her books, that she has done her homework (and extra credit as well -- the woman makes her own Regency gowns, for goodness' sake). That makes me appreciate the books more. Either way, though, I think this is the best of the series so far and I look forward to the next installment.

#21


The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
Oh how I love that Flavia de Luce. The precocious 11-year-old narrator of Bradley's mystery series is ridiculously charming, occasionally unreliable, and often downright hilarious. I never tire of Flavia's version of events -- even when she sounds more like 50 than 11, which does occasionally cause the narrative to wobble -- and this, the second installment in the ongoing series, only makes me want more.

In this particular volume, Flavia works to unravel the mysterious death of a puppeteer, along with an older mystery, which seems to be consistent with Bradley's pattern thus far. The story is glossed with the sepia-toned nostalgia that current retirees seem to have for the mid-twentieth century, which gives the novel both a measured pace -- the main mystery doesn't even start until midway through the book -- and a melancholy humor, yet both seem to work well even for the reader who didn't grow up in the 1950's. It helps that the sibling and family dynamics here are just oddball enough to be relatable to virtually every reader and that the side characters are all either charming or intriguing, or sometimes both, just as they should be. It also helps that Flavia's childish-yet-intellectually-advanced obsession with chemistry and poisons provides enough awkward hilarity that the reader is both uncomfortable and warmly content at the same time. If you spend too much time examining the details of this book, you might notice that it really shouldn't all mesh -- for goodness' sake, Bradley has crammed references to Pepys and details of chemical experiments and an absurd amount of pure quirk into what otherwise might be a cozy -- but somehow, in the most unlikely ways, this book just works. Don't try to figure out why -- just enjoy it.

And, speaking of absurd quirk, I also finished...

#22


Cursed Pirate Girl Vol. 1 by Jeremy Bastian
This hardcover edition collects the first half of the Cursed Pirate Girl comic, which is the brainchild and artistic expression of Bastian, who draws all of the scenes at actual size and does all of the lettering himself. Anyone who has seen the book will instantly recognize what an insane amount of work it is. Half of the joy here is simply peering at the super-detailed ink drawings and trying to figure out what figures are dancing in that tiny bit of decor at the back (trust me, they are there).

The other part of the work is, of course, the story -- and potential readers should be warned that only half of it is here, since Bastian is still creating issues of the comic. This isn't technically a graphic novel, so you should expect that cliffhanger at the end. Even so, the story of the young girl off to magical seas in search of her pirate-captain father is intriguing, as long as you like your comics with a healthy dose of the surreal and the absurd. Bastian's images and plot points don't always make sense -- his people feature absurdly proportioned heads or monstrous features, his dead don't always stay dead, his animals are sometimes animals and sometimes not, his main character is the most unlikely of bloodthirsty pirates but she is surrounded by even more unlikely friends, enemies, and events -- but both will keep you turning pages.

This is an elaborate comic fantasy that deserves more attention. In addition, the book itself is a thing of beauty, with true deckled edge pages and an embossed cover, which makes one want to hold it and open it again and again. If you aren't familiar with how remarkable independent comics can be, you really should be. Start here.

All caught up on my blurbs! Woo! :D

Glad to hear that about the Kowal books, Sarah. I'll be looking forward to reading the third.

I've got to move Ender's Game up in my list of books. Thanks for reminding me!

>61 beserene: Re: Without a Summer - I love it when authors actually do their research for Regency and other period pieces. It really shows in their writing (as opposed to "I've seen the Colin Firth version of P&P seventeen times so I can write a Regency book!")

Yeah, me too. Research, even in fantasy novels, just makes everything feel that much more solid and believable. And we avoid perpetuating any irritating anachronistic errors that throw one out of the story. I remember meeting Mary Doria Russell, another writer who does historical research, and just being blown away by how thorough she was. I am so impressed by that kind of dedication and it definitely makes the books better.

Roni and Melissa, I hope you enjoy those. I think you will. :)

Read a book all in one sitting last night...

#23


Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
This isn't going to be a review... really, it's more of a babbling adoration, because I cannot even express how much I loved this book. Having read Howl's Moving Castle and other bits of Jones' impressive body of work, I knew she was an extraordinary writer, one you could go back to again and again and still find wonder waiting in her stories. But I had, until last night, never read 'Dogsbody'. I had not even heard of it until I picked up the recent Firebird reissue. And I really, really wish I had. I wish I had known of this book years ago. I wish it and I were by now old friends. Because it is that good.

The story is otherworldly and original, though it does flirt with the generally familiar tropes of fantasy enough for comfort. Sirius, the dogstar, is convicted of murder and sentenced to life as an earthbound being -- a dog. The first part of this book is taken up, in beautiful and precious ways, with Sirius figuring out just how to be a dog. But he also has hope that his sentence will end better than it began -- he is looking for something, a powerful and dangerous thing, and if he finds it he may be able to return to the heavens where he belongs.

His search is a part of the plot, of course, but so is the development of his relationship with his owner, an extraordinary girl to whom the world has been and continues to be unkind. This is really the core of the story; the way the almost-dog and the girl bond is familiar to anyone who has ever truly loved and been loved by a dog; it is a miraculous relationship, both joyous and melancholy, though of course in this fantasy novel it runs into some unusual challenges.

The pacing of the story, the growth of love and the strain on those relationships, the search -- all of this is pitch perfect. But the end of the book leaves you feeling both heartbroken and transcendent. It is pure, perfect magic. I will not spoil it for you, but I will tell you that I wept and now just looking at the cover raises up a wave of emotion. This is a book about a girl and her dog, and the most powerful things in the universe, which are not always what you might think. This is a story that is immense and distant, yet also small and personal, mythic and yet so real. I think it may be one of the most wonderful books I've ever read. And it is one that you should read too.

Hi Sarah! Dogsbody sounds pretty neat, and your rave remarks have made me add it to the WL. :)

Did you happen to see the pandas in the headlines today?
http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/pandas-and-more-caught-on-secret-cam-1369932747-s...

Oh, that sounds so good!

>70 rosalita:: I'm not even sure I did it justice. Another reviewer described it as "reading like a Greek myth", and I'm not sure that person meant it entirely as a compliment, but I think it's quite apt -- it has the same loose elegance, but has intense emotional resonance at the same time. Of course, I did read it in one sitting, which tends to heighten the emotion for me, but still... pretty amazing. In case you couldn't tell, I really think it's good. And I really hope you get to enjoy it too. :)

>69 UnrulySun:: Glad you added it, and of course I hope you like it, because I *kind of* liked it. You know, a bit. And I think more people should know about it. :)

As for the pandas, I had seen some of those photos in a WWF email, last week, I think -- I almost posted them here, but I was concerned that you all might be tiring of my weird panda obsession -- but I was delighted to see a few that I'd not seen before in that article. Thanks for sharing it! So interesting to see pandas in the wild!

No! I for one love your pandas. And I love it even more when someone can rave about a book. That's what a great book does to you-- make you so excited you HAVE to share. :)

I read Dogsbody over and over again as a mid to late 20 year-old (I would have loved it as a child but it wasn't published then) and happily bawled my eyes out every time. Glad you loved it too.

In my opinion, Sarah's thread can never have too many pandas!

68> Dogsbody is my favorite DWJ book, and that's saying a lot. I think it was the first one I read, long years ago - not certain, I might have read something else first, but that's the book that hooked me on her.

Long overdue catch up on your thread Sarah and I'm so glad I timed it to join in with the Dogsbody love. I only really discovered DWJ a few years ago thanks to LT and have been slowly working my way through her books. She's an amazing writer and Dogsbody is one of my favourites :-) I'm tempted to reread it now actually....

Here are The Backstreet Boys with some pandas:



You're welcome.

#77 by norabelle414> That is so totally random and weird that I cannot stop laughing!

>77 norabelle414:-78: Yep. Also, that is the first time in my life I've ever wanted to be near the Backstreet Boys. :D

>73 ronincats:, 75-76: Oh, lovely. I'm so glad that you all adore it too... people were looking at me funny. I'm astonished that I had not even heard of Dogsbody until the reissue -- I started reading DWJ more than a decade ago, but didn't get much beyond Howl's Moving Castle and its companions before distraction. I loved her writing though. And now I love it more.

>72 UnrulySun: & 74: I'm delighted to know that the pandas are pleasing. Because pandas just make life better. True story.

For instance, this panda right here...


Now, don't you just feel better already? I know I do. Also, I'm going to take that panda's advice and go to sleep. :)

I think I'm having a book hangover from Dogsbody. I picked out the next book to read, but just haven't been able to start it, or anything else. I keep reading a few pages of this or that and putting it back down. Oh, DWJ, you ruin me for other writers sometimes.

But that hasn't stopped me from buying books. I just had a birthday of some significance, and as part of the celebrations my dear friends including our own David joined me for a road trip to Kalamazoo, where there were art fairs and Greek festivals AND a library sale. Woo!

David kindly bought most of the books I wanted at the sale -- they were going for $2 a bag upstairs -- and then I purchased some from the downstairs shop at $1-$5 each... but basically, for less than $20 I came home with over 40 books, about 37 of which I am going to keep. Not bad at all, I thought.

Among the keepers...
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
The Wolves of Andover by Kathleen Kent
Melusine and The Virtu by Sarah Monette
Captain Alatriste and The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez-Reverte
the first volume of Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
two Heritage Press editions, Jude the Obscure and the first volume of The Forsyte Saga, complete with slipcovers
Spells of Enchantment, a vast fairy tale compendium edited by Jack Zipes, which I had from the grad library for like 4 years but did have to give back when I left school... so now it is my very own!

and many more, mostly library discards, but good finds anyway from Damon Knight, Sheri Tepper, Kage Baker, etc.

It was fun times all the way around. And my poor, suffering friends helped me carry my four bags of books -- along with each of their bags -- several blocks to the car. I love my peeps.

They also got me some nice books for my birthday, including the new annotated Little Women, over which I about collapsed from sheer joy, and A Humument, which is fascinating, AND Detroit City is the Place to Be, which has been on my wishlist for an age.

So, all in all, a fabulously bookish birthday week. :)

Oh I LOVE book sales like that! Bringing home bags and bags of books, and not spending a ton? WIN!

And... happy birthday? Did we miss it here?!

Yeah, book sales like that are pretty great. I think there is another one next weekend, closer to home, that I might go to. We shall see. :)

And no worries about missing my birthday -- I don't think it's listed on my profile here, so how were you to know. It was a couple of days ago.

Woo hoo! Happy Birthday! Here's to good friends who know how to celebrate birthdays and to marvelous library sales! I have to stop now; I've used up all my exclamation points.

Happy belated birthday Sarah!

We DID miss your birthday!! Silly girl you have to tell us these things. So, you're what, 19 now? ;)

Go ahead and celebrate again today, it's okay.

Thanks for the good wishes.

And yes, clearly I've been 19 and holding for... um... rather a long time now. :D

Cool things:

Finished a book, The School for Good and Evil, which I will tell you about later...

AND

David and I went to a book rep breakfast at our local indie bookstore this morning and got, like, two dozen ARCs each! Squeee!

Treasure include The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (will be out in September); The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (out in October); The Good Lord Bird by James McBride (out in August); 'Someone' by Alice McDermott (out in September); The Silver Star by Jeanette Walls (out this week); Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper (out in August); The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan (out in November); This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett... and many more.

I also got a dozen titles for the kids at the Young Authors' Conferences that I am coordinating this summer. After collecting them, through the generosity of Schuler and several publishers, we have enough ARCs to give every kid two free books at this point. Yay!

So, we owe great thanks to the Schuler events coordinator, Whitney, for inviting us, and big thanks to the publishers for giving out all the cool ARCs. Woo!

>87 beserene: That sounds amazing! I'm so jealous.

I'm totally GREEN!

WOW! Hook a friend up with that next time! haha

I already have The Coldest Girl in Coldtown on preorder because it just looked good. LMK if you like it (if you get to it before September that is)!

And that's really cool you can give the books to kids.

Wonderful reaction to Dogsbody, beserene! That was one of my favorite books as a kid and I still have my copy (*cough* it may have been my sister's copy). I haven't been able to bring myself to reread it, though; as roni said, it made me cry every time...

>91 bluesalamanders:: Thanks, Blue. I wanted to reread it right after I read it. I imagine it will be one I return to again and again in future... sometimes that kind of crying is a really good thing.

>90 UnrulySun:: I have quite the ARC stack now, but The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is one I am REALLY excited about (I love Holly Black) so I will probably boost it up the pile a bit. I'll keep you posted. And, yeah, we were super lucky to get into this thing -- our friend Whitney is cool like that, so she hooked us up, but if I could I would bring you all in with me. Maybe next time I will try to grab some dupes to send out to you! (Though I already looked like a total book hog, between my own stack and the YAC stack, but hey, totally worth it.) :)

>88 norabelle414: & 89: Um... yeah, it was pretty amazing. :D Can't deny it, even though it provokes jealousy. I took way more books than most of the booksellers there, so I don't know if they will ever let me go back!

#24


The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainini
Even now, several days after finishing it, I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. As a fantasy novel for children and teens, it hits all the usual sweet spots with interesting twists. It's both a school story and a contest story -- imagine if Harry Potter had suffered the Triwizard Tournament in his first year, and you might get a sense of the combination here. It centers on a school that teaches both potential heroes and future villains -- hence, the title -- and so we get to revel in the fun of classes on poisonings alongside how to be a proper princess. It also, refreshingly, features not one but two female protagonists and a number of strong, or at least intriguing, characters of each gender. The relationship between these two girls, one in each school -- and neither exactly where she expected to be -- is the core of the book.

And that core is fascinating, emotional, and likely relatable for a great many young readers. As an adult reading this, though, I felt the constraints perhaps a little more than the target audience would. The pacing and the whiplash reversals of characters and loyalties happen at too breakneck a speed for me, much of the time. This was, I think, the first kids book I've ever read where I had to flip back and reread portions just to remember who was on who's side now. Or even who was talking. As I recall -- however distantly -- adolescence is like that sometimes, so I suppose those hurtling plot points and flip-flopping friendships make a kind of sense. There are moments where the tumbling plot slops out of its bounds. There are also moments where, it seems, even the author loses track of the details.

That said, however, I found myself turning pages and eager to see what would become of all this switching and swerving. Flaws and all, this book compelled me all the way through to the end, which winds up being pretty perfect for its story. Though there is much familiarity crammed in here, there is also a great deal that feels fresh and clever. And, really, what more can one ask? While it isn't perfect, I think it is worth the time, especially for those young readers who are already fans of its genre.

#25


We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
I have long been a fan of Karen Fowler's short stories, ever since grad school when a professor recommended her collection Artificial Things, which flirts readily with science fiction and, often, takes disturbing turns. Her novels, however, have never really grabbed me. Until now. I read through this one in the space of two days, eager to get home to it when I was off on necessary excursions. It is a fascinating work of not-quite-linear narrative, with a teasing pace that layers on the intrigue. And, as I implied above, Fowler is comfortably accomplished at the art of the disturbing turn. This book has its share of them.

It is a novel that takes the tone of a memoir, told in pieces by a woman whose early life was defined by the presence -- and then absence -- of an unusual family member. The book would actually work even better if it didn't reveal, on the back blurb, that the sister whom our narrator, Rosemary, is missing happens to be a chimpanzee. The novel itself takes its time in revealing that, just as it takes its time with every major reveal, tantalizing the reader with a drop of foreshadowing before twisting off in another direction, just in the manner of uncomfortable recollection.

Uncomfortable recollection sums up the tone of the novel. But it is also compulsively readable. Rosemary's narrative folds back on itself several times, conscious of the details that are being avoided. Avoided, that is, until the very best, or last, moment. The characters, all deeply flawed, are fascinating, but their life events and intersections, as unfolded through Rosemary's slow striptease of emotional avoidance, are the best parts of the book. Well worth the read.

#26


The Resurrectionist by EB Hudspeth
More of a curiosity than an actual narrative, this book purports to be the "lost" writings of Dr. Spencer Black, a nineteenth century physician who worked to prove that mythological creatures were a real part of our evolutionary past. Dr. Black, as an invention of the artist who authored this text, is clearly a bit of a nut and sets out to "prove" his theories in ways that don't make sense even to the most unscientific readers. But his story isn't really the point of the book. The real point is to admire the extraordinary anatomical illustrations that fill the second half of the volume. Detailed skeletal and muscular diagrams of chimera, mermaids, and even dragons are featured in the "Codex", Dr. Black's only preserved record, of course.

As an artistic endeavor, this book is worth admiring. As a piece of literature, it wavers between mildly disturbing and benignly boring. For those who are fans of this kind of quirky false-history, it works reasonably well. Those looking for a complete and engaging narrative, however, should walk on by.

You got me with Dogsbody - I immediately added it to my TBR list, and now I think I'll go see if my library has it. Thanks for the glowing recommendation!

Karen O.

Yay! Another reader for Dogsbody! I hope you enjoy it. :)

We are completely beside ourselves sounds interesting. I may have to look it up :)

Interesting is the perfect word for it. And maybe also wonderfully unsettling, but that's two words. It came out just recently, so it might not be at libraries yet, but it is well worth reading whatever your preferred method of accessing it. I like it more the more I think about it. Sometimes that's the best kind of book. :)

Gosh I've been away a long time!! Happy belated (very belated, I'm sorry) birthday!!

And I have to echo that there are NEVER too many pandas! How can there be too much cuteness???

Hmm... I have the Hudspeth on my WL based on another LT'ers review, and it sounds quirky enough that I might really enjoy it.

I've never even heard of Dogsbody before reading your thread. Great review and thumbs up! On to my huge wish list it goes!

SARAH!! You need some pandas.

>100 TinaV95:: Welcome back, Tina. And thank you for the good wishes. :)

>101 UnrulySun:: You are so wise. Pandas were just what I needed.

Oh, and also books. But I solved that latter issue myself, because I went to a library sale today. It was $5 a box. So I bought two boxes, but here is the amazing thing... I DIDN'T EVEN FILL THE SECOND BOX ALL THE WAY. I think there might have been something wrong with me. I shared a pile of books with my family, have set aside a few for my usual book friends, but I did still end up keeping almost two dozen for myself.

Among the treasures:
Love, in a nice first edition
The Rose of Sebastopol, which I bought mostly for the beautiful cover
Author, Author, which just seems like my type of book
The Woman Warrior, which every woman should own, right?
half a dozen Penguin 60th anniversary mini-classics (short stories by Wilde, Conrad, etc.)
Wit, the playscript
The Namesake, which I've been wanting to read

and some other stuff. Woohoo! It's lovely here -- I'm surrounded by books. :)

Hi Sarah! A box and a half of books sounds like fun!

Hi! It was fun, indeed. Though I'm going back through my pile of keepers today, to see if there are any that I really won't get round to reading, like... ever. Because sometimes I get these urges to not keep quite so many books.

Don't worry... such urges always pass quickly. :)

I am reading as well, but A Half Forgotten Song is taking me a really long time to get through. Not that it's bad, at all, it's just dense and serious and melancholy, so I keep putting it down in favor of watching old episodes of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer". Oh, and also my job has been keeping me really busy. Yeah, let's go more with that second reason... forget I said anything about Buffy.

*cough*dammitNetflix*cough*

>104 beserene: Yeah, I just started watching Supernatural on Netflix. I'm hoping to get through all 8 seasons before the 9th starts in October. It's my best friend's favorite show, but so far I just find it exceedingly sexist. I'm alternating it with episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch though :-)

Haha, Sarah. I ♥ Buffy! It's probably the only show (along with Angel of course) that I've watched completely through more than once. Or twice. Or a dozen times, whatever.

I stumbled onto the original Beverly Hills, 90210 and watched the pilot and two episodes... I was a kid when it originally aired and thought it was sooooo dramatic and racy and grown up. Um... yeah. No. It's an after-school special! So cheesy and full of morality lessons. But the clothes! I love seeing the fashions and hearing the slang from the 80s and 90s.

Nora, Supernatural didn't hold my interest. It was just okay, but so formulaic that there were no surprises each week.

Finally finished A Half Forgotten Song... possibly may have something to do with the fact that I did not watch Buffy today. Maybe.

I'll let you know more when I've thought on it a bit, but in general I thought the book was quite good.

>105 norabelle414:: Sabrina is a good antidote to sexism. Or, you know, you could alternate "Supernatural" with something more similar in tone, yet still feminist in large part. Something, perhaps, like... Buffy? :D

>106 UnrulySun:: This is actually my first time through Buffy. I've seen some episodes, but didn't watch regularly because I was just old enough (just out of high school when it started, as I recall) to not want to watch a "high school" show, even though I liked it. So now, at 35, I am reliving my late teen years.

Interestingly enough, I did watch 90210. Religiously. With all my friends. And when we couldn't watch together, we would call each other and shriek madly at the television when something "scandalous" (in the, as you rightly noticed, after school special sense) happened. We lapped it up. But I can't imagine sitting through it again, now that I am a grown-up (of sorts). *shudder* Some things from childhood one ought not repeat. 90210 is one of those for me.

Oh... I suppose I should disclose that I have never actually seen Supernatural. This is the one with Dean from Gilmore Girls in it, right?

Now there was a show that I could watch over and over again. God, I love Gilmore Girls.

>107 beserene: Wellll half of the reason for Sabrina is sexism, the other half is that I like to alternate a drama with a comedy. Supernatural is the one with Dean from Gilmore Girls. Though it's weird because on Supernatural his name is Sam, but his brother's name is Dean. Super confusing.

Mmmmm, Gilmore Girls. Have you seen this: http://www.librarything.com/profile/rorygilmore ?

Oh dear lord, I love that Rory Gilmore has a fake library here. That is just made of win.

Also... HOLY CRAP THIS WHOLE NEW DESIGN THING IS FREAKING ME OUT.

But that's just me, because I don't take change well. I'm sure that I will love it in time.

Everything you said in #109: ditto.

:)

Hey Sarah!

This weekend I'm on panda pregnancy watch at the zoo. I get to sit in the panda house for two hours in the middle of the night and record Mei Xiang's behavior every 10 minutes. I know you're jealous.

Also, the panda at the Atlanta Zoo just gave birth to twins.

>112 UnrulySun:: Aw. Hi!

>113 norabelle414:-114: Another aw, for the twins. And... YES I AM SO JEALOUS. That is really cool. You'll have to tell us all about it after the weekend.

In non-panda news, I finished more books... and yes, I know I still haven't written up the last one. I hang my head in shame. So, A Half Forgotten Song is still waiting for its blurb, Push needs me to decide what to say about such a wrenching book, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane has to wait until my gushing oh-dear-god-I-love-it heart has simmered down a bit. But I'll get there.

Um, did I mention that I got hugged by Neil Gaiman the weekend before last? No? Must have slipped my mind. But not really. Because Neil Gaiman is awesome. He signed my book. And hugged me.

It was... yeah. That.

Yeah I read that on David's thread!! Love it! Sounds like Neil was a real gentleman about everything and made his crowd happy.

Anxiously awaiting your review!

He was incredibly gracious. I've been a fan of him as an author for a long time, but that evening I was truly impressed by him as a person.

Review... argh. I'm thinking, I'm thinking...

:)

#27


A Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb
I've owed this ER review for rather a long while, but in fairness, it did take quite some time to get through this book. Don't get me wrong -- that's not a bad sign. Webb's blend of historical fiction, contemporary suspense, and unsentimental romance is dense in a deeply intriguing way. I wanted to sink into it and watch the drama unfold, but the content itself is so full, so thick, that it was hard to get entirely carried away by it. Even so, the characters and the mysterious events of their lives engaged me. The character of Charles Aubrey, the artist and object of fascination to the main characters in the book, was so authentically created that I had the urge to Google him so I could look at his art. It doesn't exist, though the author's note reveals that Aubrey the character was based on a real-life artist... one whom I shan't reveal here because... spoilers.

There is a lot in this book -- a father, our main character, coming to terms with the break-up of his immediate family and the history of his extended family; an old woman revealing the tragic secrets she has held since girlhood; that girlhood and the changes as it grows to womanhood amid inexplicable and unpredictable people; a new romance growing in spite of trying circumstances and potential legal trouble -- it pretty much has it all. The description is rich and the mood of the entire book is deliciously dire with a surprising hint of the gothic. Taken all together, it's a very good package. If you enjoy genre-blending drama, heavy on the heavy but never the less enjoyable for its demanding nature, this is a book for you.

#28


Push by Sapphire
Full disclosure: I watched the movie that was based on this book several years ago and never planned to read the book at all, since the film was such a brutal experience. Then, one day amid the book piles, I happened to pick it up. And couldn't seem to put it down.

This is not an easy book to read, both because of its subject matter -- a teen is sexually, physically and emotionally abused by her parents throughout most of the book -- and because of its style, which mimics the learning process as the main character grows from functional illiteracy to personal fluency. Though it is hard to get through many passages, it is easy to appreciate the book's importance and the way that it represents a perspective rarely captured. Here, it is presented without condescension.

Those who read the book will have a better, truer experience than those who watch the movie, largely due to the style mentioned above but also because the book allows the reader more access -- and therefore more relatability -- to the main character. Fascinating, engaging, sometimes even repulsive, Precious is a main character who will not be forgotten. And hers is an experience that should be remembered so that we might fight against its reality. Brace yourself.

An awesome day today, my darling LT peeps. Helped run a Young Authors' Conference for local teens and therefore got to hang out with Jim C. Hines and the amazing Mary Robinette Kowal. Lots of great conversation, writing advice, and general hilarity. I am exhausted but so, so content.

But have I figured out what to say about the Gaiman book yet? Hmmm...

Wow, that sounds like fun, Sarah!

Thanks, Roni. It was a lot of fun.

And then Mary Kowal got stuck in Kalamazoo and so I drove out there last night, had dinner with her, and got to have a bit of a writing date with her and another friend. Hanging out in a Kzoo coffee shop, writing and chatting with pro writers... yeah, rough life. :D

But dang it... I still don't know how to write a review for Neil Gaiman's amazing book.

PS: I have stalled out a bit on The Shining Girls but I did read Jim Ottaviani's non-fiction graphic novel, Primates, which was interesting, if a bit thin on the details. Not much for the reading department, but there you go.

#29


The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
I read this slim novel weeks ago, but it has taken me an age to decide what to say about it here. The bottom line, of course, is that I loved it. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't. As with other Neil Gaiman books, this story is rich in atmosphere, deeply connected to folklore, and striking in its certain balance between the personal and the mythic.

In this particular case, perhaps unusually so, the personal weighs in more strongly and that, as it happens, just makes the novel even better. Our main character, who is remembering a sequence of mysterious, magical, and scary events from his childhood, is entirely human and intimately us -- the reader, every reader. He is also indelibly Gaiman; an author who has always had a distinct, strong "voice", Gaiman has given this novel an extra dose of his particular verbal lilt and his unique sensibilities.

The combination of the intimate and the universal is yet another dichotomy that the novel balances perfectly. It's important that the main character is not just relatable, but under our own skins. The story unfolds like one of our own memories, just slightly off kilter, not quite as it would have been possible -- a little bit creepier, a little bit darker than we would really want to face (and Gaiman's descriptions are, as ever, wickedly cool and coolly disturbing) and yet perfectly real for all of that. I use the word "real" deliberately here -- in the end (which of course I will not spoil), this book is very much about memory and the way the past sits within us, sometimes clear and sometimes misty. That closing note, that last scene, which acknowledges the truth of memory, should resonate as real for every adult reader.

And, in case there was any question, this is a book for grown-ups. That is not to say that only grown-ups can read it or that there is anything deeply inappropriate in it -- certainly not. You know what you are getting into by the name on the cover. But this is a book that strikes a spark of recognition in those who have known nostalgia, who have trekked a distance from their pasts, and who can feel the unreliability of memory. So much so, in fact, that when one pauses on the white space at the end of this novel, one might wonder if perhaps the things that one has just witnessed, in the literary sense, are real after all, only we have... well, you'll know when you read it.

And that is the real beauty of the book -- it brings back one perfect, ephemeral state of childhood; for just one moment, as the final page glides into place, it turns us into true believers. Briefly, after, when the book is closed, all the ordinary world seems vividly wrong. The sensation passes, I assure you. You'll be left quite bereft when it does. But that one, pure moment is something every reader should experience.

Wonderful review. I'm ashamed to say that this one has been sitting untouched on my nightstand since the day it came out... I don't know why I can't seem to pick up a book right now, but this is the one I'm pushing myself towards.

After that one, I find I have not much to say about the light books with which I followed the Gaiman. I am all spent on the deep stuff. :)

#30


Primates: The Fearless Science of jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani
This non-fiction graphic novel is both fun and educational. Really. The art is simple and cute, while the text fills in some unusual details. I learned that these three women, world-renowned scholars, conservationists, and primatologists, were all students of the same researcher, Louis Leakey (something I hadn't known before). In fact, the book is largely centered on that connection. That means that there is not much detail here beyond the development of ideas related to Leakey and how each scientist got her start, so those who are already familiar with all three will not find much revelation, but since the brief book will take you all of 30 minutes to read, it's worth a look anyway. I enjoyed the personal feel of the interwoven stories, which was successfully supported by the visuals. Overall, while not mind-blowing, this was a neat package, perhaps perfectly situated to intrigue a new reader into learning more. And I think that's exactly what it was meant to be.

Also, I met Jim Ottaviani at a local reading and he is a very nice guy who likes science. A lot. In case you wanted to know.

#31


Soulless, volume 2 by Gail Carriger
The second of the manga versions of Carriger's fantasy-steampunk-humor-romance romps, this is pretty darn entertaining. While the art is sometimes a little more precious than it needs to be, it's solidly within the manga style and it definitely adds an interesting dynamic to the pared-down text -- one that is a little bit sexy and a little bit adorable. Those familiar with Carriger will appreciate the humor and the visual interpretation; those unfamiliar might find that this whets the appetite for the more detailed novels. Also, how can we not love a comic version of Ivy's hats? ;) Seriously. Just read it. You know you want to.

>124 leahbird:: Leah, don't push yourself toward it -- you don't want to feel pressured with this one. Instead, just find an afternoon when you are feeling a little nostalgic, make yourself a cup of tea, and pick it up. Let it draw you in. Because it definitely will. :)

And thank you for the compliment.

I feel like if I could just manage to pick it up I'd be hooked but I keep looking at my bookshelves and thinking "Netflix sounds good." ;)

Sarah, that is a marvelously well-written review of The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I actually had to put it down for a while in the middle, I was so creeped out!

You are having such amazing author experiences--I am green with envy.

>127 leahbird:: I know the feeling. I want to finish reading The Shining Girls, but instead I keep watching Buffy. :/

>128 ronincats:: Thank you, Roni. I know just what you mean about the creepiness... it really does feel like its right under your skin as you read. Extraordinary.

And, I have to admit, I have been so fortunate this summer to meet and even spend time with some great authors. Part of it is thanks to my job, of course, but part of it is just paying attention to who is going to be where and then getting there. And that part is helped immeasurably by having friends who do the same and more. I am blessed and grateful for all of it.

If ever you have plans to come to MI, let me know and we shall find a good reading to go to. :)

I have never, ever been to Michigan, but if ever I am, it's a deal!

Sarah! Hi! I have been away from the threads for a while, plus I totally lost track of your thread. Sooo much cool stuff to discover when I find my way back! I am tempted by many of the things you read, but you confirm that I really, really must get around to reading some Neil Gaiman soon (well, apart from Good Omens which I have read, and which is awesome).
So, because I lost you for ages, and because I am trying to do a little bit of drawing every day at the moment to try and flex my very underused artistic muscles, I thought I'd draw you a reading panda. So, here he is:

#123 Sarah, I think you have may have tipped me over into wanting to read the new Gaimam novel - I'd been disappointed with the last Gaiman book I read and decided to take a break for a while but maybe I should try The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I'm back from vacation, but I didn't read nearly as much as I wanted to. I finished The Shining Girls and read The Solitary House as well, but that's about it. Blurbs to come, I promise.

>131 HanGerg:: Aw, Hannah, he's great! Thank you. Hooray for book pandas!

>132 souloftherose:: Do give it a shot -- this new one is so short, it's very much worth a try even if you aren't already on the Gaiman bandwagon. I hope you like it. :)

Welcome back Sarah! I'm picking up The Shining Girls from the library today, finally!

Awesome! I thought it was pretty cool, so I hope you like it too. :)

So, I've been pretty quiet about book purchases for a while... not that there haven't been purchases, I just haven't confessed them. But I have to share how ridiculous the past week has been.

It started last Saturday, when my sister decided she and her husband had to clean out their book collection. So, being the kind sibling that I am, I rehomed an entire bag (and took another whole box to sell back at my local used bookstore, to split the credit with my sister). Taking one for the team, obviously.

I actually skipped my usual monthly library sale on Saturday, which I was quite proud of, but then I went and made up for it on Thursday, which was the members preview of another local library sale. Okay, I more than made up for it, because between the sale and the downstairs shop, I dropped $75 and brought home another 3.5 bags of books. Unfortunately, I didn't take my LT catalog into the sale with me, so that 1/2 bag (and a bit more) were duplicates. Lol. Go me.

And then tonight I used that book credit (and almost double it again in cash, since I never keep my purchases under the amount of a credit) to buy another half dozen books.

So, for those who are counting, I've purchased or acquired more than 100 books just this week. After weeding out the dupes and the "what was I thinking?" books, I've added about 70 books to my library. This week.

If I keep this pace up, the size of my library will double in the space of one year.

I may, in fact, have an out-of-control addiction. :)

Also, for those interested, here is a selection of the treasures amongst those 70 keepers:

The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Clark (Signet classic edition)
As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and Light in August by William Faulkner (matched set of Vintage paperbacks)
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (bought new)
The World's Great Letters (big old hardback doorstop of a book)
The Forsyte Saga by John Galworthy (vintage hardcover from Scribner)
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler (another vintage hardcover)
The Painter of Battles and Purity of Blood by Arturo Perez-Reverte (hardcovers)
Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury
A Passion for Books and First Words (because I can't resist books about books)
Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore (a cull from my sister -- and something I was amazed she would ditch)
A Burial At Sea by Charles Finch (the one I was missing! Hooray!)
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein
Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons
A Red Herring Without Mustard (the third Flavia de Luce mystery, bought new because I could not wait)
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paolo Coelho (a beautiful first edition hardcover)
Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Eleanore Stewart (which just seemed interesting)
and Reflections: On the Magic of Writing (bought new because it was necessary to my life. Really.)

I have to stop typing now. But there were a lot of quite interesting books in the piles.

I know I have a problem... but sitting here surrounded by books just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

PS: The giveaway box is full again. Let me know if you need a book. :D

Aaand the madness continues. We were in Grand Rapids today, to see the Titanic exhibit (which is pretty cool -- I recommend it if you get the chance) and stopped at a bookstore, the main GR location of our beloved Schuler. And they had a used section. And I came out of there with a full-on STACK of about 16 books.

I can't help it. I was stressed out. I'M AN EMOTIONAL BUYER, OKAY!!!

Oh, but the lovely books...

The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George
The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming
The Human Division by John Scalzi
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
Blade of Fire by Stuart Hill
two more Arturo Perez-Reverte books
City of Orphans by Avi
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
a book about Affirmed: The Last Triple Crown Winner, with whom I feel a particular bond
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
and several more.

David found some treasures too -- actually, he found some awesome stuff, including Little, Big, Krampus: the Yule Lord, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, The Fifty-Year Sword and a collection of SF stories, Metatropolis (of which I was totally jealous), nearly all of which were in absolutely pristine shape despite being in the used section.

Used bookstores are so awesome.

That is all.

WOW!! So many books! And some great titles too. I have to say I envy your rapid-fire exposure to bookish things. Every day is like your birthday! :D

Used bookstores are definitely awesome.

It's true -- every day is like my birthday, as far as books are concerned lately.

But, to be fair to myself, the rest of life has been filled with disasters. Car breaking down (thrice in one month), wall crumbling in my house due to water leak, which exposed a whole ton of mold inside the wall too, getting thrown from a water slide tube and bruising half my body... all these things and more in one month. True story. August 2013. This may help you understand my whole "I'm an emotional buyer" comment. :D

So, it's been a bang-up month for books. And otherwise just a bang up.

But, hey, books! Woo!

Books! Woo!

Oh, I have recently stopped confessing many of my book purchases on my thread. It's just too hard to put in writing the addiction!!

:)

You did make a MAJOR score! Yay for you!

Thanks for joining in the joy. :)

Despite being tired as heck from my new work schedule (morning classes all 5 days this semester, plus evening classes two nights a week), I went to a reading this evening -- Holly Black was at my local BN -- and you will be proud (or maybe a bit sad) to know that I purchased only one book, a hardcover copy of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. So, that's kind of amazing. And probably, as behaviors go, won't last.

I also finished a book last night: Help for the Haunted, which I enjoyed, though I wasn't sure I liked the ending all together.

So, that's three blurbs I owe now -- the Searles book, plus the previous reads, The Shining Girls and The Solitary House. I swear, I will get to them. I'm just really sleepy at the moment....

Zzzzzz.

PS: I just startled myself awake for a second because I realized all my recent reads have been about murder. Well, that's a cheerful trend. Sweet dreams for me!

And sweet dreams for you, without the sarcasm part. :D

There's a baby panda at my zoo! It's a girl!

Oooh YAY! Congratulations to the adorable mom and to the zoo. That is very exciting. Also, fuzzy. And cute. :)

3 weeks old:

That nose!
*falls over dead from the cuteness*

I know! I just want to go up and *mmmmwah* that nose. So flippin cute!

Hey, we need to get that panda a book. :D

So, it's been a while since I posted about books I read. Here we go...

#32


The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
It took me considerable time to work through this sci-fi thriller. The non-linear narrative, while elegant in its jumps and twists, took concentration and patience. Often, I found myself flipping back to previous chapters to check dates or details, in order to reconstruct events in a more accessible line. But that effort is part of the beauty of the book. The tangled narrative creates an appropriately unsettled tone that is perfect for this tale of a serial killer who jumps through time and the girl who escaped him once but must now try to stop him. It wasn't the easiest read on the block, but the experience is delicious in its details and well-crafted in its form and pace. Each chapter creates is own contained tension while also contributing to the pieced-in picture that the reader is working to form, resulting in an even greater sense of satisfaction than usual when one finally reaches the conclusion. Worth checking out for those who like their books to intrigue and challenge, and for those who can handle some pretty graphic descriptions of killings (just so you know).

#33


The Solitary House by Lynn Shepherd
This historical murder mystery was directly inspired by Dickens' Bleak House. In fact, if you have not read that classic -- or at least watched the recent PBS Masterpiece adaptation on television -- you are really missing a great deal of the fun because in-jokes and literary allusions abound here. Lynn Shepherd's conceit is that her narrative takes place dovetailed alongside that of Dickens -- we meet some of the same characters, following hints that connect to that other plot, which is supposed to be happening at the same time -- but our main character is one Charles Maddox, a Victorian detective, recently departed from the police force, who begins by taking one small case and ends up investigating multiple connected murders. One of those murders is a death pulled directly from Dickens, so the whole package ends up feeling like one has peeked "behind the scenes" of the great man's work, with a book that holds its own cleverness reasonably well. The danger here, of course, is that the Shepherd's book could easily come up feeling like a poor copy, but there is enough diversion and invention here that the reader will be kept entertained at least. There are moments where one sees the effort to force the connections, resulting in a few contrivances that may distract some readers, and Shepherd's language choices take some getting used to, but overall this literary-themed mystery is enjoyable enough that I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

And most recently...

#34


Help for the Haunted by John Searles
John Searles' quiet thriller spins out it's web of plausibility slowly and carefully. We are introduced to the daughters of two murdered spiritualists -- a couple who spent years helping those who are haunted or possessed -- through the eyes of the younger daughter trying to keep secrets in and horror out. The perspective in this novel is one of the best uses of point-of-view I've seen in a while -- the reader peels back the pages of this family's history with the same pace and the same occasional confusion as that young woman. We see what might be true and what should be doubted with the clear trust of a child, a teenager, a daughter. The puzzle pieces come together in measured fashion throughout the novel -- until the very end, when the reader is jolted into a sudden understanding of something we might have thought was a throwaway line 200 pages ago. Whether you will take pleasure at the twisting reveal or hum with rage at having your attention tricked toward other distractions depends on what kind of reader you are. Either way, this is a pretty good mystery to take on.

#35


The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
I thoroughly enjoyed this stand-alone (for now) novel that approaches the idea of vampires with fresh energy and clever ideas. Here, vampirism is treated like a virus, rather than something more akin to demonic possession, and the world has created "coldtowns" in which to quarantine those infected. Tana, our heroine, has had a near-miss with the virus before, but when she is a teenager she has the extraordinary bad luck to come face to face with the full horror of it and as a result travels to the nearest coldtown. Once inside, as you might guess, terrible adventures ensue.

While some moments of the novel feel overly convenient -- like a certain cache of weapons under a bed -- for the most part this story feels inventive and engaging, with solidly cinematic pacing. Tana's personality fluctuates in interesting ways, but at the same time she is relatable -- her context makes the reader understand even those parts of her motivation that are left unstated. The people she encounters inside Coldtown are intriguing, sometimes in uncomfortably creepy ways.

And the creep factor is high here. For those who associate Black with the younger fairy stories of the Spiderwick era -- this is not that kind of story. Blood abounds here -- it doesn't just splatter, but also spurts, cascades, soaks, pools, and gushes. That might seem obvious in a vampire novel, but seriously -- no punches pulled on the descriptions in this novel. Strangely enough, little seems gratuitous, even with the volume of gore-tastic detail, because part of the point of the novel is the brutality of the virus and its vampire, as well the casual cruelty of the bystander. We are all made bystanders here, through the novel's cheerful indictment of current media culture and YA-typical attitude toward social norms.

In short, this is a YA vampire novel that will engage even those who think they've read it all in that genre, with some typical flaws at the start but a love-hate ending that will either delight you or drive you to unresolved despair. For me, the last note was perfect. And I don't even really like vampire novels.

I've seen a few good reviews of The Shining Girls but your review is the straw that knocked over the TBR pile, or something like that. It sounds like something I'd really like, so onto the list it goes.

Thanks? (I think.)

Thanks. Glad to add to someone else's TBR mob for a change, rather than just populating my own. :)

I was a little surprised by how many negative reviews there were here on LT for Beukes' novel, but they are mostly complaining about characterization and cliche. I'll admit there is some thinness in those areas, but I think it all works. I'll be curious to see your thoughts once you've read it.

Oh, and apparently I'm supposed to be talking like a pirate. Arrr!

Hi Sarah!
I've added The Shining Girls to the WL.
Hope you're having a panda-ful week!

Yay! And thank you for the panda-positive wishes. Last week was a bit of a bear -- and not the cute, fluffy kind -- but I'm hoping that this week will feature more panda-ness and less grumpiness. :)

A little over one month old!

Aww... it's so fuzzy! :)

So, around here it is officially pumpkin season. So far, I've had pumpkin ice cream (mmm... from our university dairy store) and pumpkin donuts, with pumpkin bisque, pumpkin ravioli, and other delights to come soon. There are signs for pumpkin lattes everywhere, pumpkin decor is starting to sprout, pumpkins are appearing in markets and grocery stores... And as much as we all roll our eyes at pumpkin-flavored every-damn-thing, pretty much everyone agrees that the only thing that trumps pumpkin in a Michigan October is an apple.

Then I saw this: http://www.edisproduction.de/2013/09/19/red-panda-freaking-out-over-a-pumpkin/

And now I realize that the only thing that really trumps a pumpkin is a red panda. :D

OH MY GOSH that is so cute!!

I guess you saw these guys already?

Dropping by to cheer Sarah up, now that the government shutdown has turned off the Live Baby Panda Cam. Hang in there!

I am in such despair. Pandaaaaaas!!!

Here's something to cheer you up:



Cute, no?

Adorbs.

And now I kinda want gummi bears. Huh. That is some good advertising right there. :D

BTW, on a non-bearish note, I finished Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake a couple of weeks ago and had a great discussion of it with my new book group, but I can't seem to write a sufficient review. I think this might be because the book is so damn awesome, my words are inadequate to the task. So that might give you an idea of how I felt about it.

Sarah, I loved 'Oryx and Crake' as well, and you're right — it's hard to explain why it's so great. Atwood just gets all the little things exactly right, and they add up to a great book. Are you planning to read the sequels?

I am, in fact, reading The Year of the Flood right now. I don't find it quite as engrossing as its predecessor, but I do feel compelled to see how these characters end up in relation to those we already know.

I love Atwood. I always feel completely inadequate when I read her stuff.

Oh, I know. She's one of my writing heroes. I'm on the library waiting list for MaddAddam, the final book in the trilogy.

>166 beserene: Fair warning - you won't find out how all the different characters click together until the middle of Maddaddam. But the characters in TYotF are fascinating in their own right.

Also, the National Zoo's Panda Cam is back up.

YAY PANDAS!!!

Okay, I've finished The Year of the Flood -- oh, that last paragraph just sent a delicious shiver down my spine!-- and I'm going to start MaddAddam shortly (though perhaps not tonight -- it is quite late). I'm excited to complete this extraordinary trilogy. So many pieces to put together! So much awesome! I'm having a moment. Pardon me, I think I just have to step away and breathe for a minute.

Wow, pandas AND finished 'Year of the Flood'. No wonder you are so excited, Sarah! I am on the library reserve list for MaddAddam, so you will have to let me know what you think of it.

I can't imagine having to wait for this third one if you have already read the others. It must be torture. Argh!

Yeah, it kinda is! The good news is the list of people in front of me was in the triple digits when I signed up, and now I'm down to No. 21. So, progress.

look at her precious little face!!

AAAAHHHHH!!! I can't take the cute!!! OMG.

Also, rosalita, here's hoping that today you move to... at least 20. Good, round number. I'm crossing my fingers for you!

And I did start MaddAddam and am really enjoying it so far. Not to rub it in or anything. :)

I was going to be pouty and jealous that you are already reading 'MaddAddam, but then I looked at that adorable panda face in Nora's last post and all the mad just melted away. :-)

And I just checked my online holds, and I am indeed No. 20. You have mighty powers, young lady!

Yep. I'm magic like that. :D

Vote to name the baby Giant Panda at the National Zoo!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialreports/name-the-panda/

My vote is for Ling Hua :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, Sarah!

Thanks Roni! A very happy Thanksgiving to you as well. :)

In book news, I finished MaddAddam a while back, then read Curtsies & Conspiracies, A Fatal Likeness and The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two. Obviously, I am WAY behind on my blurbs. Alas, alack. I hang my head in shame.

I'm now reading Red Rising, which I got on ER.

I've also bought lots of books. Which should surprise no one. But I have decided that I will be following The Rule this December, which means no more book purchases -- technically no purchases of any kind -- for myself for a whole month. I have palpitations just thinking about it, but I think I will survive.

I just finished Curtsies & Conspiracies! Loved it. I got Soared Over Fairyland, too (god, those titles are long) but I haven't read it yet.

Hi Sarah!

Hi! :)

>181 bluesalamanders:: Glad you liked it too, Blue. I think you will like the Valente as well, once you get done reading the title. :)

So the baby panda is named Bao Bao - is that the name you picked? Very cute.

I'd like to say I'm all caught up on book talk in this thread, but I'll be honest -- I mostly just looked at the panda pictures. But they are SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!! :P

Yay Bao Bao! Book talk? What book talk? It's all pandas all the time! And, of course, it is perfectly fine that everyone just comes here for the pandas. Story of my life, in fact. I think that's probably a step up from just coming for the food.

*passes around the snack bowl as we all settle down in front of the panda cam*

Sarah, just realized that I didn't get around here to wish you a Merry Christmas. Hope you had a good one.

Belated Merry Christmas from me as well.

Merry belated Christmas! Hope it was a wonderful, Panda-ful day of joy!

Popping by for some Happy Holiday wishes to you, Sarah!

As an aside, my daughter has decided that pandas are her favorite now! So we had a pandaful Christmas at our house. I hope you did as well. ;)

Thanks, all. I've been ill for several weeks -- right at the end of the semester, alas -- so I haven't been up to much and missed several of the intended celebrations, but hey, that's the way it goes. Life is a little short on pandas at the moment, but I'm sure that will change.

I hope you all had merry holidays as well. :)

You have seen Smithsonian's cover for the month (plus the article - but I haven't read that yet, just seen the cover)? A few extra pandas to close out the year and start the new one.

I got to visit the baby panda at the zoo last week :-) I'm not allowed to post any pictures yet, but once I am I will definitely have some for you.

Sarah, I'm sorry to hear you were sick. What a rotten time for that to happen. I hope you're back on your feet very soon!

>194 jjmcgaffey:: I have not seen it yet! I'll have to keep an eye out. Thanks. :)

>195 norabelle414:: I cannot fully express my jealousy. Seriously. So jealous.

>196 rosalita:: Thanks, dear. This really sucks. It's New Year's Eve and I'm supposed to be going out with friends, but I feel like crap so I might end up staying home. Again. Which is what I've been doing for about a month now. Grrr.

And it's December 31st and I just realized that I don't think I actually read a book, a whole book, the entire month of December. Or, if I did, I can't remember it. But I really don't think I did. My head is fuzzy.

Ugh, I hate everything.

But mostly I hate being sick.

Happy f*cking new year everyone.

Happy frollicking new year? Who cares about a book in December, just feel better Sarah!!

Happy New Year, Sarah! Here's a video of a baby panda riding a rocking horse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4pvFkRr8pI

>199 UnrulySun:: Thanks for the well wishes. :)

>200 norabelle414:: Aw, that was adorbs. Life is so much better with pandas.

So, I made a 2014 thread. Woo.

Here it is: http://www.librarything.com/topic/163569

Feel free to drop by. I advise that you dose yourself with vitamin C and zinc before doing so, but you are most welcome.

I'm coming over to the new thread, but I'm armed with Lysol!