For this week’s Tune in Tuesday, I’m going a little retro with a song that came out in 1996 — although honestly, I have no memory of listening to it in the ’90s! But it came on the radio the other day and has been in my head ever since. The intro sounds an awful lot like John Lennon’s “Imagine,” but I can overlook that (mostly because I hate “Imagine,” but that’s another story). Here’s Oasis with “Don’t Look Back in Anger”:
Month: June 2014
Review: Mrs. Ames
E.F. Benson, Mrs. Ames
This novel is a precisely drawn satire of life in an English village in the early 20th century. Mrs. Ames has been the leader of society in Riseborough for many years, due partly to her commanding presence and partly to her distant familial connection with a nobleman. The other residents of Riseborough both admire and resent her for her position, and many of the local gossips would be glad to see her fail in some way. So when a (relatively speaking) new arrival, Mrs. Evans, begins to set herself up as Mrs. Ames’ social rival, the entire town waits with bated breath to see whether their queen will be dethroned. Meanwhile, both Mrs. Ames and Mrs. Evans dimly begin to realize that their lives are unfulfilling, but their search for deeper meaning takes them down drastically different paths, one of which may lead to scandal and heartbreak.
I expected this book to be nothing more than a light, witty comedy of manners — which it is, but it also took a more serious turn than I anticipated. The various social machinations of the ladies of Riseborough are very funny; there’s a particularly wonderful scene in which Mrs. Evans hosts a masquerade ball and several ladies (tragically, yet hilariously) show up wearing the same costume. But for me, the more compelling story was Mrs. Ames’ slow realization that her dreary, respectable life isn’t making her happy. It’s only when she begins to identify with a cause greater than herself that she actually finds contentment — even at the moment when all her respectability and social standing is taken away. So oddly enough, this comedy of manners turns into a coming-of-age story, and I found it a surprisingly thought-provoking read.
Once Upon a Time VIII Challenge Wrap-up
Yesterday marked both the first day of summer and the last day of Carl’s Once Upon a Time VIII challenge.
Participants were encouraged to read books that fit within the genres of fantasy, fairy tales, mythology, and/or folklore. Here’s what I read:
- Polly Shulman, The Grimm Legacy
- Lauren Owen, The Quick
- Anne Sexton, Transformations
- Juliet Marillier, Blade of Fortriu
- William Ritter, Jackaby
- Robin LaFevers, Mortal Heart
My favorite book in the bunch was either Jackaby (think BBC “Sherlock” plus paranormal beasties for a YA audience) or Mortal Heart (final book in a trilogy about lady assassins in medieval Brittany). My least favorite book was The Grimm Legacy, which had a cool premise but just felt too juvenile for me. If you participated in this event, what were your favorite books? Did you read as much fantasy as you wanted to?
Edited to add: I have now reviewed all the books I read for this challenge; see the links above!
Review: Rose Under Fire
Elizabeth Wein, Rose Under Fire
Rose Justice is an American pilot who has just come to England to help with the war effort. Though women aren’t allowed to fly planes in combat, she is able to get a job with the Women’s Air Transport Auxiliary ferrying planes back and forth within Allied territory. At first Rose sees her work as a grand adventure, a fascinating change from her sheltered upbringing. But her life is instantly, horribly changed when she is captured by the Germans in the middle of a routine flight from France to England. She is immediately arrested and transported to the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbrück. There Rose confronts the hideous realities of this war for the first time, including the brutal scientific experiments performed on a group of young women known as “rabbits.” But depsite the horrific treatment Rose endures, she forges close bonds with a small group of fellow prisoners and somehow manages to hold onto hope.
This companion novel to Code Name Verity is equally powerful and moving, although it struck me in a very different way. I loved CNV for its suspense, its elements of espionage, and its intense portrayal of friendship. This book is not as suspenseful; we know from the start of Rose’s narrative about Ravensbrück that she is remembering her experiences after she has escaped. It’s also not as personal (if that’s the word I want) because while Rose forms incredibly close bonds with her fellow prisoners, the emphasis is less on individual relationships and more on the experience of Ravensbrück as a whole. Neverthless, this book did strike me on a very deep personal level. It’s easy to become a little desensitized to the atrocities committed by the Nazis, simply because we’ve heard about them so many times, but this book certainly made them vivid for me. The most horrifying thing is that similar atrocities are still occurring in parts of the world today. So this is not an easy read, but I think it’s a very important one.
Tune in Tuesday with Katelyn: I’m’a pick you up in a Cadillac
Sometimes I like to think of myself as a music snob, scorning the top 40 radio stations in favor of something a little more sophisticated or “cool.” But then I find myself bopping along to a catchy pop hit, and I have to admit that sometimes I just want to listen to some Katy Perry or Ke$ha! So here’s the particular pop hit that’s been in my head all day: “Classic” by MKTO. Watch the video if you’ve got a few minutes — these boys are adorable!
Review: Mambo in Chinatown
Jean Kwok, Mambo in Chinatown
Charlie Wong is a 22-year-old woman who lives with her Pa and her younger sister, Lisa, in New York City’s Chinatown. Although Charlie has lived her entire life in the U.S., she has very little contact with the world outside Chinatown. She works as a dishwasher in the restaurant where Pa makes noodles, but she dreams of a different life; so when she learns that a ballroom dance studio is hiring a new receptionist, she jumps at the opportunity. At first, her impulsive decision seems disastrous — she’s too shy, her clothes are all wrong, and she has trouble reading and writing down the dancers’ appointments. But when, due to a scheduling error, she is forced to teach an introductory class, Charlie realizes she has a gift for dancing. As Charlie learns more and more about ballroom, she also becomes more confident and optimistic about her future. But when her sister Lisa falls ill, and Pa will only use Eastern methods to treat her, Charlie wonders if she can truly reconcile her two different worlds.
This book is the literary equivalent of a feel-good movie; maybe it’s not great literature, but it’s entertaining and heartwarming. I really liked Charlie, even though her character arc is somewhat unbelievable (she goes from being a receptionist to a teacher in a matter of months!). She feels shy and perpetually clumsy, and she doesn’t really know how to react to this unfamiliar world of ballroom dancing. Watching her struggle to open up and be more confident was a pleasure, and I felt I could relate to her to some extent. I also enjoyed the portrayal of the Chinese community in this book, as Charlie begins to question some aspects of her upbringing while embracing others. I especially liked that Pa, the voice of tradition in the novel, is portrayed as a sympathetic character even though he doesn’t agree with all of Charlie’s choices. There’s also a sweet romance and a few tidbits about ballroom dancing, which I enjoyed. Overall, I’d recommend this to fans of chick lit or feel-good stories — it definitely left me smiling!
Review: Death at the President’s Lodging
Michael Innes, Death at the President’s Lodging
This first installment of the Inspector Appleby series is a classic locked-room mystery set in the fictional St. Anthony’s college, where its president, Dr. Umpleby, has just been murdered. Because of the prominence of the victim, Inspector Appleby is summoned from Scotland Yard to assist the local police. He soon learns that the layout of the college would have made it impossible for someone without a key to access the scene of the crime. Therefore, suspicion centers around the other fellows of the college, most of whom either had a key or could easily obtain one. As Appleby begins his investigation, he notices strong tensions among these men and uncovers various professional rivalries. He also begins to realize that the case is cluttered with many side issues and diversions. But as he sifts the relevant facts from the distractions, Appleby eventually reaches a conclusion as bizarre as it is shocking.
I’ve now read two mysteries by Michael Innes, and what I’ve learned is that I love his solutions, but I’m not terribly fond of how he gets there! In most mysteries that I read, there’s not a lot of irrelevant information; every fact the detective discovers is a clue. In this book, on the other hand, much of what Appleby discovers isn’t relevant to the solution of the murder. This is certainly more realistic than, say, a Poirot mystery, but it made the reading experience more difficult for me. I also didn’t like the relative lack of character delineation. It’s been less than a month since I read this book, and already I couldn’t tell you the main suspects’ names! Nobody (including Appleby) has much personality, so the murder is more like a logic puzzle than a dramatic event involving actual human beings. All that said, I really did love the solution to this one, which got downright farcical in places! So overall, I’m glad I read this book, but I doubt I’ll get sucked into the rest of the series — which is probably a good thing!
Review: Across a Star-Swept Sea
Diana Peterfreund, Across a Star-Swept Sea
In this post-apocalyptic retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel (!), Earth’s civilization has been all but destroyed, thanks to the horrific unintended consequence of genetic engineering known as Reduction. Now, the island of Galatea seeks vengeance through revolution: aristocrats are being captured and forcibly Reduced, their minds irreparably damaged. Meanwhile, the neighboring island of Albion seems more interested in flirtation and gossip than in Galatea’s problems — except for the Wild Poppy, who daringly rescues Galatean aristocrats out from under the noses of the rebels. No one suspects that the Wild Poppy is really Persis Blake, a seemingly idle and frivolous courtier of Albion. In order to maintain her cover, Persis must befriend Justen Helo, a Galatean scientist whose family is famous for curing the initial Reduction. Justen seems to disagree with his country’s violent policies, but can Persis trust him? And will she be able to maintain her cover as their relationship deepens?
The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of my all-time favorite books, so I was really excited to discover this retelling with a sci-fi twist! I think the novel does a good job of following the original story while not being a scene-for-scene copy. While the original novel is mostly told from Marguerite/Justen’s point of view, this version is largely from the perspective of the Pimpernel character, Persis. In fact, one of the most fun aspects of this book is that the characters are gender-flipped! I did have one large-ish problem with the book, though; most of the larger narrative of How We Got To This Point was totally lost on me. There were some wars, and some people got Reduced, and the people who didn’t became the new aristocrats, I think? To be fair, it’s not that complicated…I’m afraid I just didn’t want to pay that much attention! Still, I picked up enough to get the gist of things, so I guess it doesn’t matter that much. Overall, I didn’t love the book, but it’s still a fun read for Pimpernel fans, especially those who also like YA.
BEA Day 4: The Wrath of (Book)Con
Finally, it’s my last post about BEA 2014! (But you can still check out parts one, two, and three.) The biggest lesson I learned from BookCon is that I will (most likely) NOT be doing it again! It was absolutely INSANE. The prior days of BEA were limited to people with some type of connection to the publishing industry, but BookCon was open to the public; anyone who bought the (relatively inexpensive) ticket could come. As a result, the Javits was almost unbearably crowded, and the lines were ridiculous.
I had just two goals for the day: (1) get Cary Elwes’ autograph and (2) see the interview with Amy Poehler and Martin Short. First, Cary Elwes was set to arrive at 11:30, so I (feeling very wise and superior) decided to get in line at 10:00. And the line was already HUGE, snaking up and down corridors multiple times! Also, the poor girls in charge of wrangling the line didn’t really seem to know what they were doing. They kept directing us to move to different places and to shift positions…as a result, I’m pretty sure I ended up ahead of some people who got there before me. And meanwhile, some people came up to the line and jumped right in the middle of it, presumably unaware that there was a whole other segment of the line that they’d missed! In short, it was utter chaos. Fortunately, I did eventually get to the front of the line! This is what happened:
CARY ELWES: Hi, what’s your name?
ME: Christina.
CARY ELWES: Hi, Christina, I’m Cary. *extends hand to shake*
ME: *shakes hand* *swoons*
So that was pretty awesome. And I did talk to some really nice people in the line, so it wasn’t a total drag to be waiting there!
Then I immediately got in line for the Amy Poehler event, which was supposed to start at 12:30. I got in line at 11:30, and once again, the line was incredibly long already! I did eventually get a seat in the events hall, but I was in the very back, and I could barely see anything. (It didn’t help that some woman in front of me thought it would be appropriate to stand up so she could film the whole talk on her phone.) At least I could still hear them, though, and it was a thrill to listen to Amy Poehler (whom I love from “Parks & Rec”) talk about her career and her upcoming memoir, Yes Please!
(Books and swag from BookCon. Note the awesome button in the bottom right corner!)
When that was over, I thought about going to a couple more panel discussions…but honestly, I was wiped out! I went back to my hotel to chill out and read. In the evening I went to a local pub for the “Meet and Drink” activity sponsored by Katelyn from Tales of Books and Bands (host of the Tune in Tuesday meme!), Andrea from The Overstuffed Bookcase, Alexa from Alexa Loves Books, and Jen from YA Romantics. It was really fun to meet some great bloggers in a less hectic setting — and I definitely needed a drink by the end of BookCon! 🙂 I’ve begun following a bunch of new-to-me blogs, and I hope to increase my participation in the blogging community in the future!
This is what my suitcase looked like on the way home from BEA. My dirty clothes were flung haphazardly into a backpack. I’ve got my priorities straight!
BEA Day 3: Author Anticipation
My thoughts on Day 3 of BEA! Also check out Day 1 and Day 2.
Friday was an early day because I’d bought a ticket to the Children’s Author Breakfast, which featured Jason Segel, Carl Hiaasen, Mem Fox, and Jeff Kinney. The breakfast itself was TERRIBLE (stale bagels and muffins, anyone?), but the talks were an absolute joy. Jason Segel talked about how his own childhood nightmares inspired his forthcoming children’s book — and how he used to wear a Superman cape under his clothes for a long time as a kid, “just in case.” Carl Hiaasen talked about adapting his eccentric character Skink for a younger audience, expressing shock that anyone would ever want him to write a book for children. Mem Fox read from her forthcoming book Baby Bedtime, which may or may not have caused me to tear up (hint: it did!). And Jeff Kinney made a convincing case for why his Wimpy Kid is a better protagonist than Harry Potter. 🙂 Even though I don’t tend to read a lot of children’s lit, I’m really glad I went to this event!
After the breakfast, I rushed over to the Quirk Books booth to snag one of their totes:
It’s the one that says Totes Books — adorable, no? And by the way, if you need tote bags, BEA is definitely the place to be; I came home with 4, and I could have gotten a lot more if I’d wanted them! I also love that Chronicle Books number (black with the glasses logo).
Then I went to something called “Hot Fall Fiction 2014,” but I’m pretty sure I left before it was over, because it was clearly a device for publishers to peddle a select few books from their fall lists — and I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the books. So instead I picked up a few more galleys from the exhibitors’ booths, including Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers, which I ended up reading on the train ride home!
(My book haul from Day 3.)
Then I went to an absolutely fascinating panel called “Girl Books, Boy Books, and Gender Hooks,” which was about the way female-authored fiction (both literary and genre) is marketed and packaged differently than male-authored fiction. Author Jennifer Weiner was there with some very sassy, pointed remarks about covers of books written by women — the pink or lime green backdrop, the images of legs and shoes, the faceless girls, etc. The panelists also talked about women in the publishing industry, critical responses to female-authored vs. male-authored books, and more. I basically came away from this panel feeling sad that women (in general) will read any type of book, but men (in general) won’t read a book that seems too “girly.” And of course, there are no easy answers about how to change these behaviors.
Anyway. So after lunch, which was a truly terrible $6 hot dog from the Javits Center (seriously, GO ELSEWHERE FOR FOOD when you go to BEA!), I lined up for a copy of Morgan Matson’s Since You’ve Been Gone. She was giving out new hardback copies and signing them, which was amazing! I read the book while I was still in NYC and thought it was an absolutely perfect summer read! I later waited in Elizabeth Wein‘s line, hoping against hope that she would sign my copy of Code Name Verity that I’d brought from home, because I love it SO MUCH — and she did! And when I tweeted about it excitedly, she actually responded! So that was definitely a highlight of BEA for me.
Finally, I attended yet another panel, this one entitled “The Journey of a Book: From Writer to Reader.” I wasn’t expecting it to be about one particular book, but it was — and it turned out to be better than I expected! The book in question is The High Divide by Lin Enger, which will be published by Algonquin in September. Mr. Enger was there, as were his agent, his editor, and the person in charge of the marketing campaign for the book. Each person talked about his/her role in creating the book, and they all answered questions about their part of the process. It was fascinating to see the journey of this book from start to finish!
So that was the end of my participation in official BEA events. BUT. I heard through the grapevine that a bunch of YA authors would be at a children’s bookstore called Books of Wonder and that Maggie Stiefvater would be among them. Now, I knew Ms. Stiefvater would be coming to BEA on Saturday to sign copies of Sinner, but what I really wanted was for her to sign my copy of The Scorpio Races, which I LOVE. So one of those lovely girls whose names I can’t remember (I am the worst networker ever!) suggested that I’d have better luck at Books of Wonder than at BEA itself. And y’all, I am so glad I took that advice! The authors present were Garth Nix, Jennifer Armentrout, Alethea Kontis, Maggie Stiefvater, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Gretchen McNeil, and A.G. Howard.
Sorry about the poor image quality, but let it be known that I am not using a zoom. THAT IS HOW CLOSE I WAS TO GARTH NIX. Ahem.
So these authors were a lovely bunch; they talked about their latest releases, answered a bunch of really interesting questions from the audience, and graciously signed our books. And Maggie Stiefvater drew a horse on my copy of The Scorpio Races, and I love it forever. I’m so glad I decided to brave the NYC subway and go to this event!
You Book Me All Night Long 