All posts in: book lists

book lists
08 Jan 2013

middle school realism: where art thou?

I was recently charged with a task I thought would be straightforward and fun – assemble five great realism titles, published relatively recently, that will appear on the Grades 6 through 8 summer reading list. Oh, I like realism! And kind-of-YA! Straightforward! Fun!

Yeah, no, it sucked. It was REALLY HARD!  I browsed through all my 2012 review journals, blog-surfed, awards list, my own reading… and pickings were surprisingly slim. Where is all the middle school realism hiding, friends?

This struggle could have been due to my strangely particular parameters – no fantasy, of course, but no mysteries, and no historical either. But once you eliminate those, you are not left with much. I know that fantasy and sci-fi have taken over the YA market, but I think that YA has a steady niche for new, contemporary realism authors to squeeze in. I’m afraid, though, that the slightly-younger-YA scene is a little more decimated.

 

This struggle could also be a product of my own reading tastes. Yes, I adore realism – I do now, and I did when I was in middle school. The 90s, however, seemed to provide a little more fodder for my tastes than these aught-10’s seem to be providing. I’ve told you a million times about how much I love Alice McKinley, who fits neatly into that little bump between MG and YA. I was also a fan of Todd Strasser (How I Changed My Life was probably my favorite), Ron Koertge’s Confess-o-rama, and everything Judy Blume. Some of my favorites did qualify as young-YA, some as definite middle grade. Maybe this is why the 6th to 8th grade range is hard to nail down – it straddles publishing ranges, library shelving arrangements, and my it’s probably just much simple to write/publish a book with “up to 5th grade”age range or “9th and up.” It’s straightforward. Easy. Fun.

Anyway, I wish there were more realism titles published for this age group, more resources for promoting and discovering new books and authors, because it would have made my job easier, yes, but also because I think middle school is an important reading age. At least it was for me – what all of those above books have in common is that someone put them in my hand. Christmas presents, birthday gifts, recommendations from my librarian mother. A grown-up found them for me, gave them to me, and because I wasn’t a competitive reader, had little to no established reading tastes, and because my parents didn’t allow me to own video game consoles, I read them. And I liked them. And they helped me become the reader I am. As much as I love that boy wizard, I think that most boys and girls should enter high school having read something other than Harry Potter, just in case they might like it.

In case you have a 2010s middle schooler to hand a book to who doesn’t want to read any of my 90s wonders above, here’s a rather short list of some of the titles I did manage to pin down:

 

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book lists
20 Dec 2012

Bomb by Steve Sheinkin

#3: Bomb: The Race to Build –and Steal — the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon

by Steve Sheinkin

Once upon a time, I heard Mr. Steve Sheinkin give a speech regarding a little book he wrote about Benedict Arnold. Sheinkin, if I recall correctly, charmed all of us graduate students. This is probably not saying too much, since in the midst of seemingly interminable swamp of academics, job juggling, and constant overachieving anxiety, the promise of a free glass of wine and a plate full of cheese was enough to charm us – the presence of any young-ish, attractive-ish man who knew how to sting together a witty sentence or two was enough to send us into conniptions.

“Charming,” I recall thinking, “but the chance of me reading a book about Benedict Arnold is just exceeding, overwhelmingly slim.”

It took me about 25 years to actually give a rip about history. I don’t know what’s to blame – uninspiring public school curriculum, torturous memories of My Brother Sam is Dead and Sign of the Beaver, the overwhelming reading assignments in HIS 107, general Gen X/Y narcissism. I don’t even remember what tipped me over, but I get it now. The feeling of fascination when you learn something about your world that you didn’t know, that you probably couldn’t ever imagined. The feeling of incomparable smallness when you realize how much in the world you have missed, that you will never fully understand, that you will never experience. The feeling of divine interconnectedness when you realize that these fascinating events, these people who will never meet, the heroes, the villains – you are all part of this world puzzle, your life significant and insignificant in equal measure.

Maybe if I’d read Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb: The Race to Build — and Steal — the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon when I was an eleven or twelve year old, then I would have caught the bug. It’s one thing to read in a textbook that World War II ended when we dropped an atomic bomb on Japan. It’s quite another thing to have Sheinkin tell you, piece by piece, week by week, how political decisions led the US to pursue an atomic bomb, how a motley crew of the finest scientists were recruited to leave their careers and studies and figure out just how build one, how German, Russian, and American spies risked their lives to keep nuclear secrets from the enemy, or destroy the enemy’s attempts. This is nonfiction, yes, but this is nonfiction that rollicks and rolls and  reads like a spy novel… but a spy novel populated with geeky scientists, so much better than an actual spy novel.

So, Sheinkin has thus succeeded in making rote history (that I was supposed to learn about in five or ten history classes of my youth) interesting. Good job, Steve – your skills in plotting and tension are admirable. But what about all that feeling… that part that makes history not only interesting but meaningful. Well, let me assure you, Bomb has this in spades. With very careful research and top notch characterization, Sheinkin lets you know who each character is and why you should care about them, and why you should care about their contributions to history – large or small – and how their bits of influence have impacted our country, our culture, our world. This is especially commendable because, as you can imagine, the cast of characters that had their hands in the nuclear race and surrounding political conflicts, was vast. You will get to know them all.

And in case that wasn’t enough, I will tell you that the ending punched me square in the gut. I raced to finish, I was horrified of what I read, I stayed up late but wasn’t sure I’d be able to sleep.

This was a long way of saying, yeah, I’m gonna read that book about Benedict Arnold.

 

2
book awards
12 Dec 2012

2012 Best MG/YA Nonfiction Reads

Quick disclaimer: these nonfiction books (as well as all the other books included in this Extravaganza) have been selected not based on any professional criteria other than my own enjoyment. This is by no mean a definitive report – in fact, I read two brand new nonfiction books since I set up this post a few hours ago that I might have liked better. Also, I had an extreme problem picking just four and have second, third, and fourth guessed my own choices. Sooo… here we go!

Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for Cure

by Jim Murphy and Alison Blank

What keeps me coming back to nonfiction is the fun of exploring something entirely new that you never new existed before you cracked open the book. The lure is important though – some books can feel dry or off-putting and reading feels more like homework than like fun. Some adult nonfic lures me, but on the whole, nonfic for kids and teens does the lure-in so much better. If I like a book, and it’s about something really weird, then I give the book that much more credit. See: tuberculosis. If you have been in my life lately, you will have observed me throwing tuberculosis, weird old medicine, and the dangers of antibiotic resistant microbes into casual conversation. Aren’t you glad you don’t actually know me in real life and have to talk to me? More ramblings here.

Tales from the Top of the World: Climbing Mount Everest with

Pete Athans

by Sandra K. Athans

Extreme mountain climbing has been a popular topic for nonfiction and memoirs for a number of years, but I am pretty much not interested. Too macho? Maybe. Mostly, I think that mountain climbing just sounds like a bad idea; expensive, cold, dangerous… all adjectives I avoid in my daily life. However, I found this slim nonfiction title about climbing Mt. Everest to be completely interesting, maybe because it was so straight forward and detailed – minimal machismo. Athans walks the reader through each rest area and pass, talking about the landscape, the health challenges that climbers face, and basically takes the reader along the journey up the mountain. Sidebars that retell dangerous and heroic and tragic moments inject just enough suspense. Maybe next year I will finally get around to reading Into Thin Air.

The Mighty Mars Rover:

The Incredible Adventures of Spirit and Opportunity

by Elizabeth Rusch

I live with a space and science geek, so I opened this book having a small inkling of how FASCINATING and AMAZING our space journeys have been during the past 8+ years. But I had no idea that we’ve had two crazy robots rolling around on Mars for SIX YEARS! Also, that they are adorable and there are bunches of scientists who have devoted their professional lives to crafting and caring for them, even though they are oh, on a different planet. Also to note: robots that can only roll a few feet a day should not be this interesting – kudos to Rusch for turning wheels in the sand into something page-flippingly interesting.

And I hope that Spirit comes back to life.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95

by Phillip Hoose

Birds. Books. Battlestar Galactica.

We may have reached the slap-happy point of this exercise.

I just talked about this book last week. My opinions still stand. Also, Mr. Hoose has informed me that I need to go look at some birds, so I will go consult with Peach – I’m pretty sure she knows where all the good bird-viewing windows are.

 

Up next… THE TOP TEN! Dun dun dun… catch up here.

book awards
11 Dec 2012

Best Re-Reads of 2012

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

As a lifelong, persistent reader of YA, there is something quite strange about re-reading a book that I read when I was actually a teen. I can see the gaps in my reading – things I missed, things I thought were one way but ended up another. And sometimes books disappoint – fatal flaws, annoyances, show themselves to Adult Jessica where Teen Jessica didn’t notice. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, however, does not disappoint. This was my third reading, and it’s such a small, thoughtful, complex little book that stands the test of Teen Jessica.

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

A few years ago I decided I wanted to re-read the Sarah Dessen oeuvre, but I severely overestimated my free-reading time during grad school. I could sneak in a book here or there, but 10 books? Consecutively? No. So my re-read project is now taking a number of years. This is another Re-teen Re-Read, one that actually improved upon a re-read. More about that here. And I really need to get a new hobby other than Dessen-gushing, I know. I’m a sad soul.

Reluctantly Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

What’s weirder than a Re-teen Re-Read? Re-reading books you loved when you were eleven-years-old. Oh, Alice. I don’t know why I decided to pick this up a few months ago – I’ve tried to re-read Alice before and never made it further than the first two, so I thought I’d jump in where I hadn’t been in years. And gee golly, I just like Alice an awful lot. She is smart and punchy and nervous and fun. She invites her seventh grade English teacher on a date with her Dad, for goodness sake! Yes, the series kind of morphs into an elongated YA after-school special, but these early Alice books are still golden in their own retro kind of way.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

I am really not going to bore you with any more Happiness Project related analysis, complaints, conversation, championing, etc. You can get that here,  here and even here. I will just say that I decided to re-read this book at an excitingly stressful time of my 2012, and it made feel more grounded, in control, and yes, happy.

 

Up next… KIDS’ NONFICTION! Get excited.

book awards
09 Dec 2012

Best Adult Reads of 2012

Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren

It’s not often that eighteen-year-old girls are handed the chance to make loads of money on the sheer benefit of being young and beautiful. Modeling. Reality shows. After leaving home at seventeen and dropping out of NYU theater the next year, Lauren steps slowly into the sex industry – a waitress, a dancer, and escort. So when she aces an “audition” that ends up being a screening for future harem girls for the Prince of Brunei, it doesn’t seem so far out of the realm of possibility. Maybe even fun, to be pampered for months overseas, and to be paid handsomely for it. This could easily be a salacious tell-all of a story – that would be fascinating enough, right? But instead, Lauren crafts a true literary memoir; the big “reveals” of harem life are experienced through Lauren’s own innocent eyes, her own personal growth (or not) reliant on her successes in the harem and out. It’s a fast read, a fascinating read, but more meaty than you’d expect.

Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

I have expressed my complicated fondness for Rubin’s Happiness Project many times on this blog. I found her follow-up – Happier at Home to strike up similar emotions. As the title would imply, Rubin’s focus is narrower in this second book, focusing on how her physical space, family activities, and personal attitudes can impact happiness. I like this because I am a big, fat homebody. I also roll my eyes at this because Rubin’s agenda seems Upper-Class-Super-Privileged-White-Family-Living-in-Manhattan enough without a chapter on scented candles. But at the same time, I just ate it up. I am a fickle creature. Rubin herself justifies the decision to write yet another personal memoir, despite implications of banality or self-centeredness, by asserting that she herself learns more from reading “one person’s highly idiosyncratic experiences” than anything else, and thus offers her own idiosyncrasies to the mix. And maybe that’s why I hang on to this questionable love for Rubin’s work – she is reviving the spirit of Benjamin Franklin, the new/old art-form of the domestic memoir.

Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel

You probably know Alison Bechdel from her brilliant, almost Gothic memoir, Fun Home. Or maybe you’ve heard of this thing called the Bechdel test? Either or, Bechdel is in fact a woman of known genius. Are You My Mother is her follow up, another graphic memoir that gives the same raw, detailed attention to her mother that Fun Home gives to her father. Are You My Mother is more cerebral, more academic than Fun Home – more about an adult coming to terms with a childhood than with a child living through it, which makes for a denser, less palatable read. I could handle three, four pages at a time before my brain was full. But oh, when I finished, it felt like a true accomplishment, finished something meaty and rich. Warning, though: if you are a smart oldest child, you will probably pathologize yourself and want to run out and read The Drama of the Gifted Child and cry.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I managed to sneak one in under the wire, simply because once I started reading, stopping was not much of an option. I won’t say much, since everyone and their best friend has read this book and has something to say about it. Also: spoilers. But what made this book stand out beyond just another Murder-Mystery-Suspense-Fiction title? Flynn has managed to write a MurderMysterySuspenseFiction title where characters are motivated by more than the typical human tendency toward rage, passion, madness, and self-interest… but are also motivated by the deep insecurities and pain we feel in our major relationships, pain we don’t dare speak aloud. This book twisted me up, because the rantings of insane, reckless people were also things I would write in my own diary. Well played, Flynn.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Look, guys. Despite what I try to convince myself, I like books that have entire chapters devoted to scented candles. Books with pink covers. Home decorating, cookbooks, midwife memoirs. My reading tastes generally veers toward the feminine.

So it takes a lot to get me into a book that celebrates the macho. And as Bourdain exposes, the world of commercial cooking is decidedly macho. A haven for the macho, perhaps, full of sex and drugs and staying up all night and day and unspeakable filth and health code violations. And yes, Bourdain is macho, full of sex and drugs etc, but he’s also a funny, respectful, and forthcoming guide into this underworld, capturing the grit of this culinary landscape while still managing to make even me, girly, wimpy me, think that working in a kitchen might be amazing.

Not that I would. But I entertain the fantasy. I watch No Reservations.

In summary, I have a heaping crush on Anthony Bourdain.

Up next… Books I’ve Already Read! Because why stop at just once!

book lists
08 Dec 2012

Best Middle Grade Fiction of 2012

The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt

Born in 1883 and raised by his aunt and uncle, Amos Kincaid is nearly a young man before his father – a transient trapper – returns for his son. Adjusting to sleeping out of doors, a father he doesn’t know, and the hard labor and hard realities of life in the late 19th century is hard enough for schoolboy Amos, but he is haunted, too; by his beloved aunt’s violent death, an unexplained, somewhat scary ability to find water, and maybe by the actual ghost of his mother, a spirited, independent woman who died too young in childbirth. Oh, and then by the way Amos? Let’s go on the Oregon Trail!

As mentioned, I am not typically a historical fiction reader. However, this book came into my life in that strange time when I ran out of This American Life podcasts but before I discovered many others. I consulted The List of Important Audiobooks and this was all I could get from the library. So I tried it out, and just like so many This American Life’s before it, the storytelling, the careful description, the quiet, unrolling tension reeled me in. I especially appreciated how Holt blends history with mysticism in a way that makes you feel like maybe dowsing, nature spirits, ghosts? Maybe it all just used to exist and it died out, and while history as history might be boring, but history as magic? That I can get behind. Apparently.

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

It is true that I will probably love anything that Ms. Telgemeier decides to commit to paper. First of all, I am partial to realistic graphic novels, those that do not include superheroes or supervillians or superanything. I am a bit biased. I also love Telgemeier’s style, all bright colors and thick black outlining.

Throw middle school romance, accidentally dating boys who are gay, and theater? Hook, line, sinker.

Longer review here!

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Everyone said omgWednesdayWars! So read Wednesday Wars and I didn’t think Wednesday Wars was the Most Amazing Book Ever, so when everyone said omgOkayForNow I said eh.

But then I recovered from previously stated podcast obsession and wanted another audiobook and well, this one was on the list. And maybe we are talking about the healing powers of audio, but I found Okay for Now to be completely, 100% endearing. Doug Swieteck has just moved to stupid Marysville, Pennsylvania where life is becoming increasingly unbearable. Life at home is bad, life at school is bad, his brother is in Vietnam… ugh. Slowly and against his better judgement, Doug starts to settle in, and his perception of himself, his famiyl, his future, and his town completely, 100% changes.

But I am making this book sound boring and moral and blah (which is kind of how I found Wednesday Wars). Yes, there is a lot of moralizing here, and plenty of EDUCATION IS THE KEY TO YOUR FUTURE! posturing (and a kindly librarian, natch), but there is so much plot silliness that I forgot about the rest. Doug babysits for an oversized brood of children, delivers ice cream to a reclusive, crotchety Broadway playwright on the weekends for pocket change, and hides a signed baseball jacket, and convinces the cute spitfire who hates his guts to be his girlfriend. Maybe in print these plots would be spiraling, but again, the Healing Powers of Audio.

Also, Doug spends a lot of time drawing pictures of birds and figuring out what happened to some original Audobon drawings, which, for some reason, allures me. So sue me. Or blame Mr. Hoose.

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Sometimes your friends all grew up reading fantasy. Sometimes they all read the same series of books and melt into puddles whenever it comes up in conversation. Sometimes you see the author of said series give a speech that both lights you on fire and infuriates a number of other librarians… and you still wait another two years to read it.

And then, surprise surprise! You like it!

Gen is a boy, a thief, who talked a big game in the local mead house and landed himself in the King’s prison. Before he can figure out how to escape from jail, Gen is called into the king’s chambers – they need him for an unnamed task in an unnamed location. The caravan, headed by the King’s wizard, leaves tomorrow. Even though Gen is still a prisoner, he milks his position as Required Talent for some kind of unknown heist, but in the end, he has no clue what is going on… or does he? Or doesn’t he? Or does he? Aasfdkan23RAf who knows?!?

First of all, Gen is adorable. He’s smart, he’s clever, he’s cocky, he’s also probably 14-years-old. You want to say “awwww what a sweet little kid,” but then he also might betray you and everyone in your family. He’s a keeper of a protagonist.

Also, Turner knows how to build a world that doesn’t make it feel like a world is being built, and craft a traditional high fantasy that feels nontraditional, feels fresh. A traditional high fantasy that fantasy haters can enjoy. That’s saying a lot!

Also, I spent money on the sequel, which given my stinginess and extreme glut of books on my shelves… is probably saying even more.

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

I have expressed my fangirl-dom already… you can read my gushings and glowings here.

But what sticks with me, months after reading, is this: yes, Liar & Spy is fairly quiet realistic fiction about a young-ish kid going through a tough time. This is stuff that has been written about time and time again for young-ish people. But what makes Liar & Spy rise above the rest? Stead understands emotion and understands story, and understands how to craft a story that carries that emotion AND stirs up your primitive love of a good story. I spent half of this book wondering what was really going on in Georges’s life and the other half biting my nails, fearing what might be really going on in Georges’s life. That is skill. That is what makes a powerhouse.

 

book awards
07 Dec 2012

Best Reads of 2012

Welcome to my Best Reads of 2012 extravaganza! I am glad to have you. I hope you are not suffering from End of the Year Book List Fatigue. Personally, I don’t think that such fatigue is possible – if you claim to possess it, you are probably also a practicing hypochondriac, so I do not believe you.

These books are my favorites that I’ve read in 2012, but not limited to books published in 2012, because that list would be very short and wouldn’t be very much fun for me to curate.

I have a full-time job now, and I am still reading like a freak for Cybils, so you will have to wait until tomorrow for the fun to start.

You will also have to deal with my questionable graphic design skills. Ah, last year I had just moved my blog to this new space and I was all hearts and rainbows and Photoshop – I was going to have the prettiest blog in town! Look how the mighty have fallen – not only is my blog mostly the same, I have been doomed to using Powerpoint to craft all of my amateurish images.

Also worth noting, read that last linked post carefully for some heavy career foreshadowing! Creeepy…. also I should probably edit that up quickly.

ANYWAY, on with the show? I’m excited. I read some good books this year. Here is a schedule of upcoming events. Pencil them into your calendar.

 

Saturday, December 8th – Best Middle Grade Fiction Reads

Sunday, December 9th – Best Young Adult Fiction Reads

Monday, December 10th – Best Adult Reads

Tuesday, December 11th – Best Re-reads

Wednesday, December 12th – Best Kid’s Nonfiction Reads (special Cybils edition!!)

 

Thursday, December 13th through Friday, December 21st – Top 10 Best Reads!

 

10. Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

9. Titanic: Voices From the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

8. Rookie Yearbook One edited by Tavi Gevinson

7. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

5. Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach

4. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

3. Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

2. Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet

1. Habibi by Craig Thompson

 

 

All books, all the time, until Christmas. At which point we will all receive a stack of holiday gift books, and read ourselves into a stupor until the New Year.

Exactly how life should be.

See you tomorrow!

book lists
24 Nov 2012

reading wishlist: i am out of time

I calculate my yearly reading quota from January 1st to December 31st; some years I am cramming books into that last week between Christmas and New Years, desperately trying to hit my arbitrary quota of 100.

This year, I am done with weeks to spare – Ask Elizabeth was my glorious 100th book of 2012 – but I am still feeling antsy. While my reading year still has weeks to go, my fiscal reading year – which is relevant for my Annual! Book! Review! Extravaganza! – is only two weeks away.

Aaand I am staring down two weeks of nonfiction after nonfiction after nonfiction.

This is fine, but at this point, my free-ranging anxiety reminds me of all those books that everyone said were AMAZING that I just didn’t get to read. Would any of those books have made the top 10, if only I’d turned off Skyrim for a few hours back in June and picked up the damn book? And what about all those books I started but never finished? WHAT ABOUT THOSE BOOKS?

Here is a handful that I just wish I had time to read:

Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

I really did like The Scorpio Races, and I really did start reading Raven Boys. And yeah, it started slow, but I would stick it out! I would!

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Okay, I could just cut and paste the above sentence and place it here. Actually, I could probably cut and paste the above sentence 9 more times here. I actually did read enough of this one to get to where things got exceptionally interesting, but there was a vacation-related library-book snafu, and I had to return it.

Better luck next year? I now have an ARC in my Drawer of Shame at work, so no more untimely due dates.

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

This is the first time I’ve had a particular interest in the adult National Book Award category, but the youth category was just too all over the place this year (and *cough* Sheinkin got robbed *cough*). I have heard some good reviews of this Erdrich book, and it’s only just over 300 pages – not too long to scare me.

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

This one shames me. I have my copy, fresh, never been read, waiting for me. BUT ALL THE NONFICTION GAAAHHHHH

How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a good feminist manifesto. And everyone went a bit gaga over this one in the summer. And I have my copy. It’s sitting there, taunting me. I could also cut and paste this sentence about eight times. What it is about library holds… you wait and wait and wait and then as soon as you have no time to read anything, all 25 come in at once?

Okay, so maybe I am the only human in the world with that problem. Carry on.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I think Code Name Verity takes the award for Most Personal Recommendations from Friends… that I have completely ignored. Actually, I didn’t completely ignore them… I worked on reading this for a few weeks, but this was in my late summer reading doldrums, and eventually I decided to read some fluffy lifestyle-y nonfiction instead.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

My new job has made me much more aware of trends in adult books than I usually am, and subsequently, I am more susceptible to book hype. I was number 600 and something on the hold list for this summer’s obsession – Gone Girl – and now that it was arrived, I am not even sure that it is a book that I would actually like. I’ve read a few pages and I think if I’d picked it up at a bookstore, I would put it right back down.

However, 50% of people I know who have read it say it is thrilling and disturbing and at least an interesting read. The other half said it was crap and didn’t finish.

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

I have long loved Austin Kleon’s blog for his lovely, hand-written note-taking – something about the way he combines information with visual design just pings something in my soul. I also love books on creativity! I would probably adore this book.

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Dear Libba Bray – Your books are huge. I was reading this book and then I stopped because it wouldn’t fit into my purse. Can you please divide your books by two? Thanks. Sincerely, A Concerned Reader

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

As we have determined in today’s post, I am a reading procrastinator with no patience who is highly susceptible to both hype and feel-good-prose. If I wasn’t such a procrastinator, I would probably like this hype-worthy, feel-goody book that is full of short, palatable essays. The end.

 

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book lists
09 Nov 2012

these books are weird

I am a fan of the weird, a champion of the weird. You blog people probably know more of my weirdness than most people I know in real life, just because, well, you are also blog people so you are more attuned to the weird, but rest assured – my actual weirdness runs deeeeep. The Boy gets a lot of my weirdness, not all… pretty sure the only people who see the 100% weird are my sisters, and maybe my parents who watched me grow up so they can extrapolate.

Anyway, I was a weird kid who liked weird books for kids, and I continue to like weird books for both adults and kids.

It is saying a lot when a book out-weirds me.

So, without further ado…

Picturebooks that appear to be weird for weirdness sake:


Parrot Carrot by Jol Temple, Kate Temple and Jon Foye

Cecil the Pet Glacier by Matthea Harvey and Giselle Potter

An allegory-based business book with a title that is both inexplicable and phallic…

Letting Go of Your Bananas by Dr. Daniel T Drubin

Hey, that reminds of another book about bananas that I weeded from a library this week.

As much as I love retro children’s lit, a library is not a Museum of Books – it is time to say goodbye to some real oldies. I looked at this book for awhile and I couldn’t figure out why I though it was so funny, silly, weird.

Then, while I was trying to Google the title of this Banana Book because I forgot it, I realized that I was probably thinking of this awful library book, which is both weird and horrifying. Maybe all books about bananas are inherently questionable?

Anyway, I digress. We will conclude with Dame Darcy’s Handbook for Hot Witches

This book would just be normal teen-nonfiction weird, but if you can read all those swirly little words on the cover, you will see that Hot Witchery includes every skill from “Love Spells,” “Glamour Tips,” and “Banjo Playing?”

Now excuse me, I need to go eat a banana and work on my love potions.

book lists
23 Oct 2012

reading wishlist: books for grown-ups

Not all the books I come across in my work duties are completely horrifying. Some of them are enticing.

Aaaand most of them are for adults.

What can I say? It seems that despite the circles I tend to run with, the general populace of Boston has yet to catch onto the kidlit bandwagon.

We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy by Yael Kohen

As a nerdy child, I used to take nerdy pride in watching the British Whose Line before Drew Carey made it a household name, memorizing “Chopping Broccoli,” staying up late to watch Monty Python on PBS; my recent love affair with all things podcast has rekindled all that. I have always liked female comics more than men (sorry, dudes), and I’d love to learn more.

A Working Theory of Love by Scott Hutchins

Apparently this book is about a broken marriage, a father’s suicide, a one-night-stand, and a super computer. I do not know how this all adds up to sound like a good book, but there you have it.

How Should A Person Be? by Sheila Heti

Another book about a failed marriage! This, however, is a memoir, and whatever review I read recommended it to fans of HBO’s Girls, which I am.

Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory by Mickey Rapkin

This book I have checked out from the library 5 times in 5 years. Now, this book has become a movie that I am obsessed with, so many I will check it out for a 6th time.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Okay, so this one doesn’t come out until like, May, but oh, oh, oh, I want. I loved French Milk. This is her follow up, but more about food, which, oh, I love.

Friends Like Us by Lauren Fox

A glowing review from Allison at Allison Writes, a plot that covers high school, college, and beyond. Sold.

Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel

I love it when a graphic novel for adults gets a good buzz going… this is a story about 19th century New York, riverboats, reclusive authors, and maybe a mermaid.

18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done by Peter Bregman

This is one of those books that had me by the title – Mr. Bregman, how did you know that I suck at focus, get distracted way too often, and never feel like I’m being productive in the right way.

I now realize that maybe this title is pandering to my various insecurities. I don’t think that bothers me as much as it should.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Would I like to read J.K. Rowling’s latest title? Why yes, I would. So would 600+ other citizens of Boston, so this one will have to wait awhile.

Motherland by Amy Sohn

This title could probably be classified as Aspirational Mommy-Chick-Lit or some other semi-derogatory non-genre. No matter. I am completely down with reading fictional Park Slope family and social mama drama. I might save this one for next time I’m in a slump and need a little… uh…fluff.

 

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