I am going to try and keep track of all the books I read over here, along with the date I finished them and star reviews. If I review them, I'll link the review here.

( 2009 Book Log )

Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell

Iris Rhame and her best friend Collette are hunkering down for a long summer of more of the same--hot, sweaty days, ducking out on chores at the diner where Collette's mother works, and spending time in the cemetary, playing at being psychic and summoning the dead. They aren't expecting any surprises, because nothing ever happens in their small town of Ondine, Louisiana.

But this summer, things are different. This summer, Iris and Collette are fourteen, which shouldn't mean anything's changing, but somehow, things are. Collette is suddenly very interested in boys, and has started bringing her new boyfriend Ben into her and Iris's private games of make-believe. But even more unsettling is the fact that make-believe has suddenly gotten very real. Because Iris has contacted a ghost. A real ghost.

It seems to be the ghost of Elijah Landry, who disappeared years earlier. At first, Iris is thrilled by the adventure, but she soon decides that ghost-hunting, when it's real, is a lot scarier and a lot less exciting than she had always thought it would be. But it's too late to back out, because now she has Elijah's attention--and she won't be able to rest until Elijah can, too.

From the flap copy and the awful cover, I assumed this would be a supernatural gothic like the Betty Ren Wright books I read when I was younger, and it certainly started out that way. Two kids, a quiet town, a lazy summer, nothing much to do, and then a haunting.

But it became much more than that. A ghost story became the backdrop for a coming of age story that feels so honest and real it's heartbreaking. Watching your best friend grow into boys when you're still comfortable with everything staying the same. The thrill of make-believe, and the embarassment of having your games shared with an outsider, even if he's someone you've known your entire life. And the moment where you realize that everything can't stay the same, that you're growing up and that's as it should be, and that sometimes that means leaving parts of yourself in the past.

The plot of this book is a ghost story, but the heart is a moving story about the pangs of growing up and struggling to understand your way from childhood to teenagerhood.

And I have to say--the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of Elijah Landry is resolved in a way I never would have guessed or expected. It's a quiet thing, but it shows how far the world of junior supernatural gothics has come--or maybe just that this one is a standout.

The next stop for The Miles Between's road trip will be g33kgrrl and Chicago!

It's embarking on its next adventure this afternoon, so watch g33kgrrl's journal for more pictures and maybe anther chance to play.

And the journey continues...

The fabulous marypearson wrote this book, The Miles Between, which happens to contain a road trip. A fabulous, remarkable road trip, where anything can happen--and does. A road trip in search of one fair day, one perfect wonderful day when good things actually do happen to good people.

And in celebration of this book, marypearson has sent four copies of the ARC on a road trip of their own. One of those copies came to me, by way of sartorias, which instructions to take a picture of it in my hometown, and then to pass it on.

So naturally, I did. There are all sorts of cool and interesting things to see in Stamford, CT.

First, I took The Miles Between on a trip with me this weekend to a local vintage car show. I read a chapter or two next to all sorts of interesting cars, and imagined taking a trip in one of those babies--just jumping into the car and driving off in search of something wonderful. It seemed like an appropriate place for The Miles Between to visit.



( There were all sorts of cool old cars. )

Then, I took The Miles Between into town. Every year, Stamford puts sculptures up around town with a theme for the summer. It's a lot of fun to wander around and find them all--it's one of the really charming and cool things about my hometown. This year's theme is animals.

This buffalo's head is movable--it nods in the wind. He looked agreeable enough to hold The Miles Between on his head.


( More metal animals meet The Miles Between )

So now the fun part. The Miles Between needs a new destination for the next leg of its road trip! Do you want to read it? Want to take some pictures of it in the places you love? Then drop a comment here with your location, and I will very scientifically pick a name out of a hat and drop it in tomorrow's mail, off to its next adventure with you.

So who wants to play?

( The rules of the game. )

Poll #1422552
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

If the Doctor showed up today and invited you along with him, would you go?

Explain yourself in comments, please.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Dashti has only just started her service as Lady Saren's lady's maid when Lady Saren is condemned to seven years bricked up in a tower for her refusal to marry a man she despises. Seven years shut in away from the sky and fresh air, seven years of rationing food and fighting off rats and cold and loneliness, is more than Dashti signed up for. But she is determined to keep her oath and remain at her lady's side.

But life in the tower soon turns from miserable to life-threatening, and it is up to Dashti to make the choices that will save or damn her and Lady Saren both. And before she knows it, it seems her choices will not only determine the fate of herself and Lady Saren, but that of everyone in her country as well.

I really loved this book, and it's all because of Dashti. She is just one of those characters you want to hold onto tight and tell her that things will be okay, even when there is no logical reason that they will. She is brave in the face of odds. She is determined and loyal and clever very human and so very brave and I adore her.

The bits in the tower are okay, but it really gets good in the second half of the book. This is one of those rare books where the romance really really works for me and makes sense, and every time a niggling objection arose in my head, it was dealt with and answered in a really satisfying way.

Also, the ending made me cry. In a good way.

I fully endorse this holiday. Captain Picard was, after all, the first Star Trek captain I loved. I plan to celebrate, for starters, by using my Captain Picard bookmark.

The origin of the holiday:




Just a small sample of how awesome Picard can be:




And of course, no tribute would be complete without the Picard Song:



I am sure you will all join me in commemorating this auspicious event.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

Samara Taylor is the daughter of popular, charismatic Pastor Charlie. Everyone loves Pastor Charlie, who always knows the right thing to say and always has time for everyone. Everyone except his family. Everyone except Sam, who is alone after her mother's quiet drinking problem resulted in a DUI which landed her in rehab. Sam, who is not even sure if she believes in the God she always took for granted anymore.

And that's when tragedy strikes. A girl goes missing from their small town, and suddenly, nothing is the same. Things that Sam took for granted as safe suddenly seem threatening. And her father--and her faith--feel more distant than ever.

Sara Zarr is a master at the quiet novel that grips your heart. Even in this book, where the plot revolves around a sensational story of a missing girl, the heart of the book is still Sam's very personal and very real struggle with her faith, her family and herself.

The realistic portrait of a small town marred by tragedy--the way it changes everything, makes you mistrust things you once took for granted--it comes alive in this book. More importantly, while the central mystery never loses its hold on the reader, it also never overshadows the more interesting story--Samara's crisis of faith. It takes a very skilled writer to weave a novel that has room for both plotlines and lets the much quieter story be the more significant one.

I devoured this book in a few hours. It's a very quick, compulsive read, and Sam's honest voice pulls you in and doesn't let go. This is one of the more honest teen novels I've read in a long time--I can't recall another novel that dealt so frankly with a genuine crisis of faith. I think this is going to be a book teens come back to.

Today was excellent and exhausting.

First was BEA. If it had been a different year, I would have hit up BEA on Friday, but this year it was Shavuot, so, no. Sunday it is.

As it was Sunday, most of the good ARCs and books and stuff were long gone. But that was okay, because I still managed to snag some good stuff, and I was being very selective with what I took anyway, because I was meeting N at the Salute to Israel Parade afterwards. So anything I snagged would have to be carried on our backs for the rest of the day.

Things what happened: strange_selkie and darthrami called out my name as they were waiting for a Matthew Reinhardt signing, which was awesome. It was great to meet them both, and they also did me the service of informing me (and gifting me) of the newest American Girl--Rebecca, a Jewish girl in 1914. Oh American Girl, how your franchise has grown.

Then there was much wandering of the floor. A nice person at Bloomsbury hooked me up with the very last ARC of Liar by Justine Larbalestier, and thew in an ARC of Demon Princess: Reign or Shine by Michelle Rowan, which looks kind of hilarious.

I moseyed on past Scholastic and snagged ARCs of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and The Doom Machine by Mark Teague. At the Orbit booth I picked up a copy of Gail Carriger's Soulless.

Then, I met up with thunderemerald, rollerboogie and bookishy and we (minus bookishy) wandered the floor some more. thunderemerald used her superpower to zero in on all the free food available. I tried to talk the nice person at the Flux booth into giving me a copy of Dust of a Hundred Dogs, but I had to settled for The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don't Mind by Kristin Cronn-Mills and A Summer of Silk Moths by Margaret Willig.

Then I split off from them so I could do a quick survey of the floor before meeting N at the Parade. I was also on a quest to get more tote bags--we use them for shopping at the supermarket, and I have been waiting and waiting for BEA to come around again so I could double our supply. At first, I was not so successful, but then I discovered that all the smaller publishers and booths that don't have the big draw some others do lure people in with bags. Whee!

At Little Brown, a publicist gave me an ARC of The Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink, who was there signing, but I couldn't stay. I had to go meet N!

On my way out, I passed through Scholastic one last time. Chatted a bit with ellen_datlow. And then there, sitting on the counter, were three ARCs of Catching Fire. I snatched one up so fast. I was shocked and amazed. Apparently they had been buried under something, and only now as they were unpacking did they unearth them. YAY. I also saw a sign for Lips Touch, the new book from my fellow Cybils co-panelist Laini Taylor, and the awesome publicist went digging in their back room and found me one last copy.

I am sure if I had gone on Friday or Saturday I would have many more ARCs and books, but I am utterly thrilled with the haul sitting next to me right now.

After that I met N at the Salute to Israel Parade and we wandered around until our feet fell off and then came home.

All in all a good day and also exhausting.

Basically all anyone in the office was talking about today was how to snag an ARC of Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games.

All the conversation was about when it would be available at BEA, and if it was ticketed, and who everyone knew who could get them a copy, and who was next to read it after that person. Whispered conversations all over the place. If you came across two people talking hurriedly in the hall, it was probably about Catching Fire.

One marketing person had already snagged one--and instead of staying up all night reading it so she could pass it on, like a sensible person would, she had only read about 20 pages. This fact made its way around the hallways, and she got some serious dirty looks.

Seriously, it's like Harry Potter 7 all over again. We all have to read it NOW. We have to have read it BY MONDAY or maybe we'll get spoiled omg.

Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Camelia (sounds like Chameleon) almost died three months ago, when she bent down to pick up her earring in the parking lot and nearly got hit by a car. Before she knew what was happening, a mysterious hot guy had shoved her out of the way, saving her life, before running off when she tried to thank him.

She is, of course, determined to find out more about Ben, the mystery guy. But when she confronts him in the hall and tries to thank him, he pretends he doesn't know what she's talking about.

Camelia's chemistry teacher has an annoying practise of decreeing that whoever you're sitting next to on your first day will be your lab partner for the rest of the year. As luck would have it, the last empty seat in the room is next to Camelia--and then Ben walks in. At first, he acts like he can barely sit next to her. But then he starts to warm to her--even though he warns her that she shouldn't be friends with him, it's too dangerous.

Sound familiar?

Yeah. The plot diverges after this little bit of prettied-up plagiarism, and turns into a Mysterious Stalker novel (Camelia has a stalker. Ben wants to help her) but still--did it seriously have to rip off the most famous crappy YA novel of our time?

Camelia and Ben's relationship is hot, I'll give you that much, but seems to be based on nothing more than his looks (she describes him looking yummy and delicious and hot hot hot as often as Bella described Edward as a marble statue of a Greek god) and her fascination with his bad boy reputation (he reportedly killed his girlfriend back at his old school.)

The writing is not amazing--I get the sense that we're supposed to care about and like Camelia's neglected best friends (she ignores them in her fascination with Ben) but they're really not that interesting--they're actually kind of annoying. And Camelia's family drama is contrived.

This book would be a mild "pass" for me if it didn't rip off Twilight in an unbelievably derivative way. That elevates it to a "can you believe this book?"

Sigh. I feel like I've been disappointed by every book I've read recently. I'd really like to read a good book again.

We're having a meet and greet for one of our authors tomorrow morning, and we are trying to economize, so instead of buying a couple fruit platters and pastry platters like we usually do, I was in charge of purchasing orange juice, cream cheese and bagels.

I tried to order orange juice and cream cheese from Fresh Direct, but they require you to order $50 worth of groceries for a delivery.

So this morning, AJC (my awesome coworker, who will hereby be known in the LJ by those letters) and I went on a mission to Food Emporium to pick up the goods.

Along the way, we were accosted by a couple of women yelling "Free chocolate!"

Naturally, we had to investigate. We went to the M&Ms store, and outside it was a huge bowl of chocolate. They were giving out free chocolate.

And the person giving it out was Neil Patrick Harris.

That's right, my friends. Today Neil Patrick Harris gave me chocolate.

AWESOME.

ETA: This is what it is!

A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz

At the Barbary Asylum, every child was strictly classified: a girl was pretty or plain, clever or stupid, good or bad. Maud knew quite well that she was plain, clever and bad.

Maud Flynn, growing up in the Barbary Asylum, knows exactly how much she's worth: not much. She's willful and plain, and gets into too much trouble to be ever considered for adoption. So when Hyacinth and Judith Hawthorne waltz into Barbary Asylum looking for a child and insist on leaving with Maud, it's hard to tell who is more surprised--the headmistress or Maud herself.

At first, life with the Hawthorne sisters is a dream come true. They buy her new clothes and books, and feed her delicious food. But after the novelty of life outside the Asylum wears off, Maud begins to question the strangeness of her situation--because she is a secret child. The Hawthornes keep her confined to the third floor, and don't let anyone know that they had adopted a child.

Soon, Maud discovers the truth. The Hawthornes are mediums, and they need a child in order to bilk a wealthy woman out of her money as she tries to contact her dead daughter. Maud is willing to do anything to keep her new home and make the Hawthornes love her--but how far is too far?

There is a great idea for a story here, but the thing that really makes this book is Maud. She is just so genuine--she leaps off the page and feels like a real little girl. She's tough and proud and fiesty, but also broken inside. She rarely lets it show, but there are moments when I just wanted to wrap her in my arms and hold her. Maud broke my heart into teeny tiny pieces.

This book also has a chillingly deceptive villain, and what's so impressive is that you only see her through Maud's adoring eyes. Maud is not stupid, but she is desperate for love and desperate to be wanted, so the picture we see of the Hawthornes is colored by what she wants so badly--and yet we still have a very complete, well-rounded picture of the Hawthornes.

That's another thing I love about this book. No one--including Maud's enemies in the Barbary Asylum--is one dimensional. They are all so well-rounded and three dimensional--the villainous characters have their good moments, and the good characters sometimes have a temper and make hasty unfortunate decisions. Everyone is real.

This is the second time I'm reading this book, and the second time it has made me tear up at the end. It's a quiet book, but it's the kind of book that burrows into your heart and finds a permanent home there.

Today is the last day of April, so I will share with you my favorite favorite poem. You have probably seen it here before, but if I can't read it enough times, then neither can you.

The Ivy Crown
by William Carlos Williams

The whole process is a lie,
unless,
crowned by excess,
It break forcefully,
one way or another,
from its confinement—
or find a deeper well.
Antony and Cleopatra
were right;
they have shown
the way. I love you
or I do not live
at all.

Daffodil time
is past. This is
summer, summer!
the heart says,
and not even the full of it.
No doubts
are permitted—
though they will come
and may
before our time
overwhelm us.
We are only mortal
but being mortal
can defy our fate.
We may
by an outside chance
even win! We do not
look to see
jonquils and violets
come again
but there are,
still,
the roses!

Romance has no part in it.
The business of love is
cruelty which,
by our wills,
we transform
to live together.
It has its seasons,
for and against,
whatever the heart
fumbles in the dark
to assert
toward the end of May.
Just as the nature of briars
is to tear flesh,
I have proceeded
through them.
Keep
the briars out,
they say.
You cannot live
and keep free of
briars.

Children pick flowers.
Let them.
Though having them
in hand
they have no further use for them
but leave them crumpled
at the curb's edge.

At our age the imagination
across the sorry facts
lifts us
to make roses
stand before thorns.
Sure
love is cruel
and selfish
and totally obtuse—
at least, blinded by the light,
young love is.
But we are older,
I to love
and you to be loved,
we have,
no matter how,
by our wills survived
to keep
the jeweled prize
always
at our finger tips.
We will it so
and so it is
past all accident.

A couple of PSAs for you:

I don't know how much of a different it will make, but I am willing to try anything to say Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (including compulsively watching and rewatching episodes on Fox.com.)

The EOnline Save One Show campaign has moved into the Game Changer round--five shows are left. So go and vote for Sarah Connor! Even if you don't care about the show. I am begging you. Do it for me. I really really really want a third season. I want more of this story more than I have ever wanted more of any TV show ever.

---------------------------

There is a free panel with Neil Gaiman this Thursday night. The topic is Leaps and Bounds, Fits and Starts: The Evolution of a Children’s Book Writer. It stars Neil Gaiman, Mariken Jongman, and Shaun Tan, and is moderated by Andrea Davis Pinkney.

The description reads:

Picture books! Novels! Graphic Novels! And more! Authors and their works develop in distinctive ways. Some ideas and books are nurtured for years while others have a eureka moment. Join children’s book authors Neil Gaiman, Mariken Jongman, and Shaun Tan for a discussion about the ever-evolving landscape of children’s and young adult literature with Scholastic Vice President, Executive Editor Andrea Davis Pinkney.

More details here.

As usual, John Scalzi says it best:

Observers of the science fiction field will note the Nebula Award for Best Novel was won this year by a YA book, that the Tiptree Award is co-shared by a YA novel, and that in the Hugo Best Novel category, two and a half of the books nominated are also YA (the “half” in this case being Zoe’s Tale, written to be YA-friendly but shelved with the adult SF). This surge of recognition for YA has caused some consternation and grumbling in certain quarters. Here’s what I have to say about that:

Yes, how horrible it is that some of what’s being hailed as the best science fiction and fantasy written today is in a literary category designed to encourage millions of young people to read for the rest of their natural lives. Because God knows the last thing science fiction and fantasy publishing needs right now is whole generation of new and enthusiastic readers who might actually get hooked into the genre until they die. It’s a goddamn tragedy, it is.

YES. Yes, that.

It just so happens that we are living right now in the heyday of YA fiction. We are in the glorious golden age of the teen novel. There are some amazing talents writing YA--writers I adore turning out books that make me excited. This is a glorious time to be a children's book editor, or to be reading teen fiction, or just to care about the kidlit industry.

I spend so much time in the kidlitosphere these days that I forget sometimes that there are people out there who gripe about the attention that YA gets, or conversly, think that YA is not every bit as strong and smart and complex and fascinating and exciting and well-written as adult books (and sometimes even better.)

And then this happens. YA gets a swarm of recognition from the FSF world. As a children's book editor and a kidlit lover, I am thrilled beyond words. First of all, for the books that were chosen. The Knife of Never Letting Go was one of my standout books of the year, and I am so happy to see it get this kind of recognition. It's groundbreaking and brave and compulsively readable. And second, of course, because it's time our corner of the industry was acknowledged as sharing the playing field with the grownups.

If you are still grumbling about the fact that YA swept the FSF awards this year, do yourself a favor. Read some YA books. I'll be happy to give you a short list of recommended titles, but if you don't want to ask, the shortlists and award lists for the awards is definitely a good place to start. Read The Knife of Never Letting Go, and then come back and we can have a conversation.

YA is here and it's proud and it's good. And it's not going away.

First, sainfoin_fields wrote this ficlet for me. It is gorgeous and perfect and I adore it. And it made me hungry for more Weaverfic.

So then I found Seven Sunday Mother-Daughter Mornings.

Over the course of S2, I have grown increasingly fascinated with the Weavers. I <3 them so very much, and this fic is perfect and heartbreaking and I love it so much.

If you love SCC, read these fics, because they are excellent.

Today I got a cold call from someone who wasn't trying to hawk her manuscript and wasn't trying to convince me that she was an agent. She was actually a person with a legitimate request following the right channels. In fact, I was able to help her with what she needed and direct her to the proper party.

It's ridiculous how happy that makes me feel. And also how rare that is.

I've spent the day shaking my head at AmazonFail. Obviously because it is just wrong, but also because it just didn't make any sense to me. It just didn't make sense to me why Amazon--Amazon, of all places--would choose to do this. I know, homophobia never makes sense logically--but here even moreso.

But it had to be true, right? I mean, the sales rankings were gone, and then there was the text of the reply to Mark Probst from Amazon customer service:

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

So it was clearly happening. And it was clearly Not Okay.

But I was still puzzling over the Why.

And then, finally, I was linked to this. Which may just be a cop-out for Amazon, but my gut tells me that it makes more sense than Amazon developing a sudden case of rabid homophobia.

I'm not saying they didn't. And if I was about to make a purchase from Amazon, I would still be holding off until I found out the truth. I am reserving judgment until I have more information.

But it makes sense. Let's say Amazon decided that it made sense to remove actual adult materials from its search criterion. Which--I don't agree with that kind of censorship either, but that kind of marketing decision I can understand. What I can't understand is randomly deciding to categorize GLBTQ literature as "adult."

Ah. But the response to Mark Probst doesn't address GLBTQ lit. It reads like a form response to a standard policy explaining the policy on adult content.

And my gut tells me that there's something fishy about the whole thing, and a massive trolling--as insidious and effective as the google bomb used to fight it--that makes sense to me.

Just something to consider.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Rose is the oldest of the twelve princesses of Westfalin. She and her eleven younger sisters and the beloveds of their father and kingdom, but they don’t live a charmed life. Instead, they are cursed to spend their nights dancing at the Midnight Ball of the evil King Under Stone. Galen is a young soldier-turned-gardener, returned from the front after a long war to live with the only family he has—and to work as a gardener in the king’s garden. It is there that he meets Rose and her sisters—and there that he begins to see the dark cloud hanging over the princesses. And while the king and his court try in vain to discover why the princesses’ dancing shoes are worn out night after night, and why the girls are always so exhausted, Galen may be the only one who can learn their secret—and the only one who can save them.

This is a really engaging retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” fairy tale. The burning question in that story is always, why? Why do the princesses dance? It always bothered me that the soldier revealed and stole away their secret paradise, and in exchange got to marry one of the girls. How dare he!

So I liked the curse twist in this retelling. Here, the princesses are trapped in a truly horrific curse. Early in the book, when Rose has to go dance when she’s sick, I really felt sick to my stomach for them—I felt the awfulness of their curse in my bones. So Galen’s finding their secret is a good thing—a very good thing.

Things I didn’t like: it always bothers me a little bit when an author co-opts real geography and gives in a slightly different-sounding name. Espana for Spain. Breton for Britain. Etc. And Westfalin was clearly Germany, or at the very least Germanic. If you’re going for a fantasy world, make up your own country names and geography and religion. If you’re placing your fairy tale retelling in a real time and place, then use the real names. I don’t like the wishy-washy, can’t make up her mind version of places.

Also, I know it’s a fairy tale, but the ending felt a little too happily-ever-after for me. Really? Galen the solder/gardener gets to be the king? I would even be okay with Galen getting to marry one of the princesses, but not getting the throne, but politically—he gets to be king? Really? How does that even make sense?

Maybe I am too much of a realist. Don’t get me wrong, I like happy endings just fine—but I think this ties in to my previous complaint. If you are going to model your kingdom on real places and cultures from our history, then follow through. I can’t imagine any king willingly handing over his thrown to a commoner, no matter how grateful he was. It just feels too tidy and Disney.

I think it’s very interesting to compare this retelling with another I recently read, Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Mariller. In that story, the dancing was a wonderful thing, something to look forward to, and the danger came not from the fae but from fellow men.

Wildwood avoids the major pitfall of Princess--it is solidly based in time and place, in a Transylvania that feels real and right. The gender politics in that book made me bristle, but for the characters, not against the illogic of it. There, control over the business is wrested from Jena by her domineering cousin who thinks girls are not capable of a business mind. Here, Rose and her sisters are treated like full-fledged people by their father, the king.

Overall, I think Wildwood Dancing is the better book. The details hold together better—it feels more researched, more nuanced, more anchored in place and time—-more real. And the lush writing is gorgeous and captivating. That said, I enjoyed reading Princess of the Midnight Ball a little bit more—-probably entirely because Rose and Galen both were more likeable characters, and I didn’t want to shake either of them.