Category: Everything Else

W… W… W… Wednesday for January 19, 2011

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January 19, 2011

10:00 am

2 Comments on W… W… W… Wednesday for January 19, 2011

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W… W… W… Wednesdays is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

My answers:

What are you currently reading? I’m into the second chapter of Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein’s Brain by Carolyn Abraham, the first book on my Off the Shelf Challenge list. I really am enjoying it; I just keep getting distracted!

And what is this distraction? This week, I’ve been distracted by Caitlin Shetterly’s Made for You and Me: Going West, Going Broke, Finding Home, another e-ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus

What did you recently finish reading? A couple days ago, I finished the NetGalley e-ARC of The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus by Sonya Sones. Scheduled for release in April 2011, this is Sones’ first novel for adults. It’s a novel-in-poems about a woman dealing with her ailing mother, her impending empty nest, and her own aging body. It’s a lot funnier than that description makes it sound.

What do you think you’ll read next? I have yet another NetGalley e-ARC, Jane Austen: A Life Revealed by Catherine Reef. Scheduled for release in April 2011, this is billed as the first young adult trade biography on Austen. Somehow, I have made it to my 30s without ever reading any Austen, so this should be especially interesting. I do have the complete works of Austen on the nook; think I’ll be inspired to read them after this?

See today’s other W… W… W… Wednesday entries at Should Be Reading.

Book Review: Sassy: Little Sister is not my Name

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January 18, 2011

7:00 am

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Little Sister Is Not My Name (Sassy, #2) Little Sister Is Not My Name (Sassy, #2) by Sharon M. Draper

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book Source: Checked out from my library

I’m trying something new. If my family can’t call me by my real name, I’m not going to talk to them.

Sassy Simone Sanford is nine-and-a-half years old. She’s the smallest person in her family and the smallest person in her fourth-grade class. But she has a big personality and plenty of flair. In this first volume in a series aimed squarely at 3rd-5th girls, Sassy introduces herself, her friends, and her family, including professional storyteller Grammy.

When I think of Sharon Draper, I think of books like The Battle of Jericho and Out of My Mind, so this sweet and fluffy series is a nice change of pace. Sassy’s world is a pleasant one – her big issues include her frustrations with having to wear a uniform and the fact that her whole family tends to call her “Little Sister”. The descriptions of her classmates indicate that her school is highly diverse, and everybody seems to get along splendidly. Recommend especially to girls growing out of Junie B. Jones and Clementine.

A little note: I don’t know why GoodReads has this listed as book #2. It’s the first book in the series.

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Reading Challenge Update: January

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January 15, 2011

11:00 am

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Here we are, halfway through the first month of the year. Let’s see how I’m doing on my 2011 Reading Challenges.

At the moment, I’m at 1/12. Technically, I’ve finished two e-books in 2011, but I started one of them in the last few days of December 2010. The one I started and finished in 2011 was Lauren Myracle’s forthcoming YA novel Shine, in e-ARC format, courtesy of NetGalley. I’ll have a review up next week. I’ve started another e-ARC, Sonya Sones’ first adult novel, The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus. Like her YA books, this is a novel-in-verse. It’s very funny so far.

Um, yeah. Those three ARCS from Hachette are still sitting on my coffee table, and I’m waiting for the other titles on my list to show up in my library.

This one, I confess, is not going so well, either. I’m one chapter into Possessing Genius. I’m enjoying it so far. It’s just, you know, I have these shiny new ARCs calling to me from the nook….

I’ll get back to you next month.

How are your Reading Challenges going?

Book Review: Jumpstart the World

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January 13, 2011

7:00 am

5 Comments on Book Review: Jumpstart the World

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Jumpstart the WorldJumpstart the World by Catherine Ryan Hyde

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book Source: Checked out from my library

Lately I’ve been noticing how people have these ways of accidentally letting you see what’s important to them.

Just days before her sixteenth birthday, Elle moves into a new apartment. Alone. Except for a one-eyed cat she’s just rescued from the pound. Her mother would rather pay to put her teenage daughter up in an apartment in New York City than risk losing her boyfriend, Donald. The first neighbor Elle meets is Frank, an older guy who sparks an unexpected attraction in Elle. When she learns that Frank is a transgender man, it throws her into a whirl of confusion.

Jumpstart the World is a story of growing up, becoming independent, and finding one’s role in life. To teens dreaming of the day they get to move out of the family home (like the small group she begins to befriend at her new school), Elle’s situation looks great at first, but it quickly becomes apparent that being alone might not be all it’s cracked up to be. In first-person (but not present-tense!) narration, Hyde maintains a voice for Elle that reflects a slightly-more-mature-than-average, little-bit-prickly, sixteen-year-old girl wrestling with issues of love, friendship, and family. The book opens with Elle remarking on her mother’s frequent use of the words “beautiful” and “ugly” as an indication of what her mother considers important, and I was struck by how often Elle uses “weird” or “weirdly”, underscoring how much she thinks about what is normal and what is not. The focus throughout the book remains tight on Elle and her immediate situation. Details about her previous home life are sparse (whatever happened to her father?), and although the novel is written in past tense, it’s clear that these are very recent events. This realistic contemporary novel has clear appeal to anyone who has had that outside-looking-in feeling, and the conclusion of Elle’s story is both satisfying and hopeful.

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W… W… W… Wednesday for January 12, 2011

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January 12, 2011

9:20 am

2 Comments on W… W… W… Wednesday for January 12, 2011

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W… W… W… Wednesdays is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?
 

My answers:

What are you currently reading? I’m one chapter into Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein’s Brain by Carolyn Abraham, the first book on my Off the Shelf Challenge list. I’m enjoying it so far.

What did you recently finish reading? I was up until 1 this morning finishing Shine by Lauren Myracle. It’s a gripping young adult mystery set in rural North Carolina. Strong characters and just enough misdirection kept me glued to my nook screen. I read it as an e-ARC via NetGalley; the book is due out in May of 2011. Full review coming soon.

The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus

What do you think you’ll read next? Next up is another NetGalley e-ARC, The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus by Sonya Sones. Scheduled for release in April 2011, this is Sones’ first novel for adults. I’ve been a fan of Sones’ writing since reading Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy when I was in Library School.

See today’s other W… W… W… Wednesday entries at Should Be Reading.

Book Review: Grounded

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January 11, 2011

7:00 am

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GroundedGrounded by Kate Klise

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Daralynn Oakland should have been in her father’s plane that day. Instead, she was sitting at home, grounded by her mother, when a state trooper arrived to tell them that the plane’s engine failed, and that Daralynn’s father, older brother, and younger sister died in the crash. After that, nothing can be the same. Her homemaker mother stops cooking meals and takes a job preparing bodies at the local funeral home. Her grandmother loses interest in anything except playing with the 237 dolls well-wishers sent Daralynn. And her single, sophisticated Aunt Josie becomes infatuated with Mr. Clem, a new man in town with some awfully big ideas. Daralynn is just beginning to cope with her grief and the changes in her life when she stumbles on a mystery to solve.

The tiny town of Digginsville comes alive through carefully selected details, such as the K-12 school that is home to the “Mighty Moles” and Doc Lake, where Daralynn enjoys fishing for catfish stocked by the Department of Conservation. The year is left vague, but it is clearly a few decades ago, indicated by the fact that Uncle Waldo has been home from Vietnam for just six years before the crash, and a mention late in the book of events “twenty-two years after” that year. The voice of the first-person narrator, who sounds like an adult recalling her childhood, rather than a current sixth- or seventh-grader, reflects this perspective without calling too much attention to it.

There is some heavy material here, but Klise uses a gentle touch with her quirky characters. Their journey from life B.C. (“Before Crash”) to A.D. (“After Death”) is not without humor or adventure. Recommend to fans of Wiles’ Each Little Bird That Sings and LaFleur’s Love, Aubrey.

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More Debut Titles!

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January 8, 2011

7:00 am

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Remember my nice little list of 12 titles for the Debut Author Challenge?

Yeah. That list is getting a little longer.

During the week after Christmas, I got a box from Hachette. Inside the box were four ARCs of 2011 titles. One was Julie Anne Peters’ She Loves You, She Loves You Not, which I read right away and reviewed. Peters is an established YA author – one I admire and whose work I enjoy quite a lot – so that one wouldn’t count for the Debut Author Challenge. The other three books I tucked away to read after the New Year, since they were all debuts!

The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill
The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill

Dark Parties by Sara Grant
Dark Parties by Sara Grant

Forgotten by Cat Patrick
Forgotten by Cat Patrick

And then, of course, I stumbled on someone else’s list of TBR debuts, and I saw a few that I just couldn’t resist adding to my own list:

Yes, 2011 is looking like a very good year for YA debuts. And May B. by Caroline Starr Rose (April 2012) looks really good for next year.

If Not “Reluctant”, Then What?

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January 7, 2011

12:30 pm

3 Comments on If Not “Reluctant”, Then What?

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In the comments on another entry, Lauri wrote:

I would like to throw out a question. Somewhere I read a different term for “reluctant reader.” It was a more positive term. I can’t seem to remember it and am looking for any ideas.

I think this is a great question. I have to confess that I had never really thought about the negative connotations of the term “reluctant reader”. Who wants to have that label? If we think “reluctant” readers frequently just haven’t met the right book, under the right conditions, then aren’t we all “reluctant readers” sometimes? I can think of a few books I read rather reluctantly, especially as a teenager, even when I was devouring other books at crazy speed.  (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Tale of Two Cities. Sure, Dickens and I get along now, but he was not the author for me at age 14.)

Of course, resistance to individual titles or authors isn’t really what we’re talking about when we talk about “reluctant readers”. We’re talking about those kids who just don’t want to read anything. And if we want to help those kids find the right books to pique their interest, it might help to approach the whole thing a bit more positively.

So, here’s my problem: I don’t have an answer for Lauri. I’m hoping maybe one of you will. If you have a more positive term, please, share it in the comments!