A perfect blend of literary and genre fiction. It would be a great beach read (though it is the size of a medium-sized garden gnome, so, maybe on your...moreA perfect blend of literary and genre fiction. It would be a great beach read (though it is the size of a medium-sized garden gnome, so, maybe on your e-reader).
You've got your Jewish and Arabic folklore, your Lower East Side immigration history, your luscious descriptions of the fancy homes and clothes of the families of Park Avenue robber barons. You've got your complicated female friendships, a coming-of-age story and a meditation on free will. Oh, and a Valentino-hot demon made of fire.
Requisite plot summary: A newborn female golem, created to be the perfect docile wife, is dumped at Ellis Island, knowing nothing of the world. A thousand-year-old jinni is freed from his prison in an ancient lamp, but is stuck in human-looking form, without his powers. It takes a long time for their lives to intersect (this is not a romance novel, though it is a story about love and loyalty and making choices) but their separate Syrian and Jewish worlds are so fascinating, I didn't mind.
The writing is lush without being ungapatchka, the sense of place is top-notch, there's a slow build of suspense. Yum. (less)
All the sound and fury surrounding this book, veyizmir! It's an oversized screen onto which everyone and her mother can project her feelings about pat...moreAll the sound and fury surrounding this book, veyizmir! It's an oversized screen onto which everyone and her mother can project her feelings about patriarchy, feminism, power, opting out, guilt and shame. The spew of commentary started before anyone had actually READ THE BOOK (predictably) and continued among people who still had not actually READ THE BOOK (predictably x2).
This book is not the devil. Nor is it, to me, all that revelatory.
First off: Sandberg's audience is women in the white-collar workplace. The only element of the book I found truly disingenuous was the couple of times Sandberg (or her army of cowriters led by Nell Scovell) claimed the book was for everyone. It's not. It's for people like Sandberg -- white, heteronormative and well-educated.
Sandberg does not deny that bias and patriarchy exist and are a huge barrier to women's advancement. She does not blame women for failing to break the glass ceiling. She marshals a ton of stats about how stacked the deck is against women in the workplace (these were not surprising to me, though I know they were to some of my acquaintances) but she's a pragmatist; she sees her role as telling women what they can do to accomplish their career goals given the world we live in. Yes, her vision is narrow -- to her, career success is defined by money and power, rather than by helping the world in some way --but I don't think it's fair to criticize her for failing to write the book you WISH she'd written: a rallying cry for equal pay and child-friendly family leave policies. Her interest is in how to make your daily life in the office better and how to rise higher up the corporate ladder given the obstacles in your path, including the ones you set there. Her advice about taking a seat at the table is dead-on. I liked her crack on the Daily Show about how we call little girls bossy and we wouldn't say that with such LOADED intent about little boys, so let's cut it out and start saying our daughters have EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL. Funny and apt! As far as it goes, her advice is excellent throughout the book.
Just as important, her (or Scovell's) writing is engaging, funny, full of anecdotes and self-deprecating cracks. The social science is well supported by the copious endnotes but blends beautifully with the storytelling. The upshot: LEAVE SHERYL ALONE. (less)
Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous art. Will not convince a bike-fearing kid to try, though -- in some ways I like the second-person voice, but I do think it'...moreGorgeous gorgeous gorgeous art. Will not convince a bike-fearing kid to try, though -- in some ways I like the second-person voice, but I do think it'll get resistant kids' backs up. (STOP TELLING ME I CAN DO IT! I CAAAAAAAAN'T!) A third-person story about someone ELSE overcoming her fears might be more effective as a cheerleading/teaching tool, but I like the second-person voice from a literary POV.
The art is the thing, anyway -- I love the confident swoopy strokes, the cluttered yet appealing layouts and the way the gentleness, calmness and sweetness of the watercolor plays off the action-y-ness of what's being depicted. I just love the way Raschka does frames and borders with washes of watercolor. This would be a great gift for a parent who appreciates art and a kid who's young enough or brave enough not to have issues with riding. (If the kid already has issues, stay away.)(less)
Fia is a girl assassin. Her sister Annie is blind, but second-sighted -- as in, she has visions, but they're fragmented and misty and jagged. Both of...moreFia is a girl assassin. Her sister Annie is blind, but second-sighted -- as in, she has visions, but they're fragmented and misty and jagged. Both of them attend a very creepy school for special kids. Chapters alternate narrators and go back and forth in time -- Fia (assassin sister)'s voice is more distinctive than Annie (blind sister)'s, which is the only reason I took off a star. The pacing is strong, and it's a really well-constructed mindfuck. The only way Fia can outwit the girls' captors is by thinking misleading thoughts (because the bad guys have Seers who can read other people's minds) so planning ahead -- planning escape, planning not to kill, etc. is impossible without misdirection. There is a hot bad boy and a cute good boy ....though in this book, nothing is as it seems. Really, it's a story about sisterhood, and ambivalence, and feeling responsible for your sibling. I don't have a sister, and my relationship with my bro isn't knotty and intense, but I watch my own daughters and how intertwined their lives and feelings for each other are, and I think this will resonate strongly with both of them when they're old enough to read it.
WAIT I JUST LOOKED AT THE REVIEWS WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE THIS BOOK SHUT UP STUPID GOODREADERS YOU LIKE CRAP BOOKS AND YOU DON'T LIKE THIS EXCELLENT ONE WHAT IS *WRONG* WITH YOU.(less)
Is "shared-world anthology" a thing? I'd never heard the term. Four stories by four authors in four different cities, all using the same parameters: t...moreIs "shared-world anthology" a thing? I'd never heard the term. Four stories by four authors in four different cities, all using the same parameters: there is an organization called NIAD (the NATO Irregular Affairs Division) that investigates "extrahuman" crime. Each story has some kind of mystery to be solved, some kind of human/non-human interaction (you got your fey, your demons, your vampires, etc.) and a gay love story. It sounds like much too much, but to my shock, every story worked. My favorite was the first one, by Nicole Kimberling, which sets the stage beautifully with accomplished and non-info-dump-y world-building, excellent characterization, a sweet romance and lots of humor. It plays on Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market poem in a witty, creepy way. PLUS: Terrific parody of the Pacific Northwest foodie and music scenes! NIAD Special Agents Keith (human) and Gunther (human-looking but of goblin parentage, transmogrified in-utero so he can pass) have to solve a restaurant-kitchen and greenmarket-stall-based crime. Who is selling human meat? (A rare, illegal delicacy, OF COURSE.) In the process, Keith (who used to have an occasional-colleagues-with-benefits relationship with Gunther) has to confront his anti-goblin prejudice. There's lots of yummy and gross food talk and it's all so CLEVER. (Four words: VAMPIRE-RUN GOAT CREAMERY.) And the characters felt like real people. I liked the other tales to greater and lesser degrees, but was just so impressed by the shared world, which was completely consistent across the stories. (FWIW, my least fave was Josh Lanyon's, which features a typical alpha male romance novel dick character; don't wanna read about 'em in straight romance, don't wanna read about 'em in gay romance, and the crime/mystery element took a backseat to the this-guy-is-hot-but-a-dick tension. But even though it was my least fave, it was still good!) This book was a real departure for me, and I loved it.(less)
Loved the first book so much...just couldn't get into this one. Gave up 40 pages in. Life's too short. Too many shifting POVs, too much disconnect bet...moreLoved the first book so much...just couldn't get into this one. Gave up 40 pages in. Life's too short. Too many shifting POVs, too much disconnect between the funny parts and the somber-pretty-poetry parts, not enough of Karou's perspective, not enough connection and true feeling between characters. I wish there'd been more Prague and less otherworldly stuff. It's not it, it's me.(less)
I was gonna grade this on a yay-theater-geeks-yay-LGBT-friendly-kidlit scale. No need. It DEMOLISHED the curve, all by its fabulous little self. I exp...moreI was gonna grade this on a yay-theater-geeks-yay-LGBT-friendly-kidlit scale. No need. It DEMOLISHED the curve, all by its fabulous little self. I expected Nate to have a funny, distinctive voice and I expected to like the book's politics and overcoming-bullying let-your-freak-flag-fly message. I did not expect the plot to be so tight and well-structured, or for the characterization of secondary and tertiary characters to be so strong. It's definitely madcap and farcical, but in that Noises-Off-y beautifully disciplined kind of way. (Why am I using so many hyphens today? Smack me.) It's hilarious and moving, and it doesn't clobber you over the head with its It Gets Better message. It's for a younger audience than The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door, the OTHER terrific bullying-focused LGBT-friendly book I read this week; I hope it reaches every little musical-theater-obsessed kid living in a provincial town that doesn't get him. (less)
I loved this. Why are my friends not talking about this book?? GET ON THIS TRAIN, PEOPLE. Look at that kickass cover! The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door...moreI loved this. Why are my friends not talking about this book?? GET ON THIS TRAIN, PEOPLE. Look at that kickass cover! The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door is a YA version of Wonder, in that it's a humane and funny and thoughtful but not didactic look at the culture of bullying (and bonus: a coming-out story!). The portrayal of Mean Girls is just quease-inducingly dead on, and Celia is a likeable, funny heroine who will remind a lot of former girls like me of the girls like us we used to be. At first I thought her gayboy pal was a flat and shallow and perfect Sassy Gay Friend, but he turned out to have his own wonderful story -- he wasn't just a prop. (And I loved the snippets of the fictional self-help book he became addicted to.) The ending may be a smidge too tidy and hopeful, but this is YA, and I'm OK with losing a bit of verisimilitude in favor of giving teenagers hope when it seems like life dramatically sucks, as it so often does. I'd say this is suitable for middle schoolers and younger teenagers (it feels a bit young for 11th and 12th graders)...and I double-triple-recommend it for moms and daughters to read and discuss. (less)
Delicious and genre-bending. Let's see how many seemingly random descriptors I can string together: Victorian Mongolia Feminism Paranormal Steampunk D...moreDelicious and genre-bending. Let's see how many seemingly random descriptors I can string together: Victorian Mongolia Feminism Paranormal Steampunk Desert Oasis Archery "The Amazing Race" Romance. And despite the wild mix, it didn't feel half-assed or lazy. I felt that Archer did the work of researching what life in Mongolia in the Victorian/Edwardian era was like, for both men and women, before proceeding to mess with convention most delightfully. There are hot sex scenes, but also a lot of nice old-school yearning that doesn't feel contrived or irksome (as in JUST GET IT ON ALREADY, CHRIST); remember that scene in The Age of Innocence in which Daniel Day-Lewis undoes one button on Michelle Pfeiffer's glove and kisses her wrist and it is INCENDIARY? Like that. (AND YES I READ THE BOOK I AM FROM RHODE ISLAND YOU HAVE TO READ EDITH WHARTON THERE BUT I'M TALKING ABOUT THE MOVIE BECAUSE DANIEL DAY LEWIS AND DON'T YOU JUDGE ME YOU HARPY.) I liked that the book acknowledged all the gender strictures in place at the time, while finding ways (including the aforementioned genre-blender) to subvert them. And there's humor! And it's super-cinematic. Lagged a bit in the final 50 pages but not fatally. And I mentioned THE HOTNESS, right? (less)
This book is wicked nuanced (how IRKSOME in our soundbite culture!). Bazelon blends storytelling and research beautifully. Sticks and Stones offers so...moreThis book is wicked nuanced (how IRKSOME in our soundbite culture!). Bazelon blends storytelling and research beautifully. Sticks and Stones offers solutions that are really about changing the culture of schools -- they're not facile. (I am on record as loathing the movie Bully because I felt it was torture porn with a fake-y uplifting ending that made a conscious choice not to offer context or meaningful, strategic solutions.) This book addresses the role kids have in getting bullied (without being blame-y about it!) and the way power dynamics often shift -- there's a lot of research on "bully-victims." I'm impressed that something so data-filled is also such a pageturner.
The book focuses on three kids -- a flamboyantly gay 8th grader in rural NY State named Jacob who sued his school via the ACLU for failing to protect him; a girl named Flannery who supposedly bullied Phoebe Price, the Irish teen who killed herself in South Hadley, MA a few yrs ago and was criminally prosecuted for it; and an African-American girl in CT named Monique whose mom and grandma worked their asses off to keep bullies away from her and wound up tangling with the local school board, which had become pissy and vengeful about their persistence and use of the media.
Bazelon talks about which anti-bullying strategies don't work. She talks about the role of social media. And best of all, she talks to bullies -- a lot of bullies. Some understand that what they did was wrong; some do not. She also talks about how the media muddy the waters and how adults capitalize on bullying for their own purposes: publicity, furthering political careers, etc.
I read a couple of reviews that said the book was frustrating because Bazelon doesn't offer solutions...but she DOES; they just require a shit-ton of work! Making schools more tolerant places for everyone takes more than a workshop or a scattershot approach or showing a movie or releasing balloons. She offers names of curricula and tons of info on changing the culture, which is something very different from demonizing bullies. It's a lot of work to create climate of kindness, one that has to permeate the way everyone in a school deals with everyone else.
I know a lot of folks were distressed with her Phoebe Price coverage in Slate, finding it too sympathetic to the bullies. I didn't agree then, and I agree even less now. When we turn bullies into irredeemable, evil Other, and when we start waving torches and stop looking at context, we lose the opportunity to make meaningful, deep-rooted, longterm change.
My only issue with the book was I wasn't sure the structure worked; it felt a bit fragmented, going back and forth among the different storylines. Not a huge deal, but worth mentioning. (less)
I was charmed by Rogue Island, DaSilva's debut novel. I liked Mulligan as a character (I read an interview with DaSilva in which he said he visualized...moreI was charmed by Rogue Island, DaSilva's debut novel. I liked Mulligan as a character (I read an interview with DaSilva in which he said he visualized Mulligan as looking like Dennis Leary, which, um, yes, that works). And as a Rhode Islander who still misses her home state, I loved the portrayal of my corrupt, scruffy ancestral homeland. Plus as a bitter writer (for magazines mostly, newspapers occasionally -- but my dad had a column in the Providence Journal for a while, and he worked with a lot of the law enforcement, social services and newspaper folks during his day job running a community mental health center), I loved all the newsroom drama, the elegy for the dying business of publishing, the dumbing down of journalism. All super-smart and absorbing. I was less enamored of Rogue Island's plot -- the whodunit was a big duh -- and had some issues with sexism. (Hey, DaSilva admires Spillane, which means objectification of the lady bods, some iffy stereotypes of Asians, and a sexual assault written in a way that's a bit unnervingly titillating as well as gross.) In Cliff Walk, the plot is way better -- and yay, we get to mock Newport society types as well as corrupt Providence politicos! and we meet Attila the Nun, obviously based on the kickass Sister Arlene Violet!-- but the flaws in characterization are worse. I hate when white writers make street characters "talk black," especially when they use dated slang, fo shizzle. And again, I had a tough time with the portrayal of non-white women. I realize DaSilva is married to a woman of color -- his shout-outs to her within the narratives of both his books (as in, "Hey, hot black woman character I am crushing on, let us go on a date to see the excellent black poet Patricia Smith!") are sweet but awkward and fourth-wall-crushing -- but to me his love for his wife doesn't excuse his depictions of poor, cartoonishly accented non-white strippers and a love interest whose defining quality is her blackness, in a fetishistic -- to me -- way.) I also had a hard time reading for escapism a book that explicitly depicts child porn -- I was so upset and freaked and squicked, it ripped me right out of the book and made the banter-y stuff (which there's admittedly less of than in Rogue's Island) feel yucky. But your tolerance may be higher than mine. And again, I did think the plot was stronger, and I really like the development of Thanks-Dad, the publisher's privileged son who is actually NOT a dickwad. Look, I already know I'm in for the next installment. (less)
I hate animal books. Give me human beings. Trumpet of the Swan, meh. Cricket in Times Square, feh. Frog and Toad Are Irksome. Even FAKE animals, like...moreI hate animal books. Give me human beings. Trumpet of the Swan, meh. Cricket in Times Square, feh. Frog and Toad Are Irksome. Even FAKE animals, like Moomintrolls, don't interest me. Charlotte's Web is the exception that proves the rule. (OK, I am partial to Beautiful Yetta the Yiddish Chicken, but if she ever made it into a chapter book, I'd probably eat her.)
So The One and Only Ivan rocked my world(view). I was determined to ignore it until it won the Newbery, and then figured I'd read it to the girls at bedtime and get it over with. Shocker: We all adored it. It's funny enough for the 8-year-old (plus BABY ELEPHANT BABY ELEPHANT BABY ELEPHANT) and poetic and minimalist enough for the 11-year-old (who is interested in how imagery works and how not to overwrite). It's a superb read-aloud. There's a LOT of sad with the funny, but the payoff is huge and the ending is happy. Even the bad guy is nuanced, and there's also a lot of ethical-treatment-of-animals discussion fodder. Brava, Katherine Applegate. (less)
Sigh. I wanted to grab this book by the shoulders and shake it. Am baffled by why it's on YALSA's 10-best list. Really, it's the editor who needs some...moreSigh. I wanted to grab this book by the shoulders and shake it. Am baffled by why it's on YALSA's 10-best list. Really, it's the editor who needs some shaking -- Kontis is a first-time novelist (I think) and the book has that Moon Over Manifest issue of TOO MUCHNESS, too much in-loveness with its own cleverness. It could have been a third shorter -- really and truly. Kontis is too wedded to each precious turn of phrase, whether or not it adds to characterization or plot; this book is all about lush language and lyricalness for its own sake. You may have a higher tolerance for this than I do, in which case, God luv ya. But as far as I'm concerned you don't get a free pass to have no character development or internal logic just because you're writing pretty-pretty. Or, for that matter, just because you're using fairy-tale sources that themselves have no character development. In a book this long, with this many characters, we need to understand and identify with the characters if we're going to care. I couldn't keep track of all the members of the Woodcutter family, which doesn't really matter, since they all have exactly one identifying trait anyway. (Saturday: The One With The Ax! Wednesday: The One Who Is a Gothy Poetess! Peter: He Likes to Carve!) And yes, in a fairy tale people fall in love right away just because that's their role and their destiny in the narrative, but in a novel, it's irksome and feels unsustained, and Kontis just repeating how much they adore each other, in increasingly flowery prose, doesn't help.
The book offers lots of allusions to fairy tale scenes, images, tropes, but doesn't do a full retelling. It's fun to have little flashes of oh, the prince is lying in the ashes, that's a reference to Cinderella...but again, there's no real investment. It doesn't have the power or clever structure of A Tale Dark and Grimm, which uses the tales and then builds from the tales as a way to go deeper: ultimately I think that book feels so much more resonant; it's about building human connections, and realizing your parents are deeply flawed and choosing to love them anyway.
I'd give it 2.5 stars, but I'll round up to three because I did admire some of the visual set pieces (magic-bean-picking, beanstalk-chopping-down-ax-rhythm, swirling bodies on a ballroom dance floor), because Kontis's descriptive excess works fabulously when she's describing DRESSES (swoon, I'll take one of everything) and because I thought Velius was hawt. Even though I was all, WE GET IT, HE HAS VIOLET EYES, SAY IT ONE MORE TIME WHY DON'T YOU. Josie (11) gave it a B- and Maxie (8) gave it a B+ (it was a bedtime readaloud) but Maxie is not a tough room, just so you know. (less)
The art slayed me. Old-fashioned but hip and not in an irksome Etsy-illustrator show-off way. As a child I was fascinated by the concept of infinity,...moreThe art slayed me. Old-fashioned but hip and not in an irksome Etsy-illustrator show-off way. As a child I was fascinated by the concept of infinity, and Maxie is at the "what is the highest number anyone could count to" developmental stage -- I think this book could hit a lot the sweet spot for a lot of readers. I also like that it's soothing rather than terrifying (ENDLESSNESS could be very scary to a kid, I suspect) without making infinity too cozy; vastness is not cuddly. The book swings beautifully between mystery and groundedness (literally --our narrator is really into her red shoes). So well done Words and pictures go SO well together, too. (less)
Holy crap, is this good. It's based on questions posed by 5th graders visiting Close's studio and it's totally unpretentious while treating art and th...moreHoly crap, is this good. It's based on questions posed by 5th graders visiting Close's studio and it's totally unpretentious while treating art and the artist very seriously. The middle section consists of Close self-portraits in tons of different media, in black and white and in color, divided into three separate moveable segments, so you can combine the eyes of one, the nose of another and the chin of a third. (Like a make-a-funny-animal flip book, but arty-smart!)
The next time one of my kids whines about setting the table, I'm going to say CHUCK CLOSE IS PARALYZED FROM THE CHEST DOWN AND HAS FACE BLINDNESS SO SHUT THE HELL UP. (less)
I'm hardly unbiased (Gayle's one of my closest friends and as menschy a person as she is a kickass writer) but I adored this. Anyone who found travel...moreI'm hardly unbiased (Gayle's one of my closest friends and as menschy a person as she is a kickass writer) but I adored this. Anyone who found travel a formative experience in high school, college or early 20s will be transported. It's SO romantic without being at all cheesy, a gorgeous postcard to the unexpected joys of finding yourself in a new place. I was a writer for Let's Go when I was 22 (I asked to be sent to Ireland and was sent to the Dodecanese islands in Greece -- so close) (not) and Just One Day made me feel all those thrilling OMG-who-am-I-am-I-really-doing-this feelings again.
Meh. Great start, with a high school Secret History/Name of the Rose sorta vibe...and then it just gets bloodier and flabbier and sprawlier and less a...moreMeh. Great start, with a high school Secret History/Name of the Rose sorta vibe...and then it just gets bloodier and flabbier and sprawlier and less and less gripping. Once we've left the American-rich-kid-school setting for Prague (the lazy literary Prague of mists and cobblestones that doesn't feel like a real place, or even a magical not-real/real place as in Daughter of Smoke and Bone), our funny, hurting, yearning narrator loses sharpness and it's all meshuggah Dan Brown running around and bad guys in cowls INTONING THINGS. Had to force myself to finish. (less)
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