The Killer's Cousin - Nancy Werlin

Another thriller.

I was long overdue in my reading of The Killer's Cousin. I should have read it ages ago, back when I was still at the Monkey, since Nancy Werlin is a Boston writer and all (she lives in Southie, according to the book jacket, but it's from '98, so she may've moved by now).

David has just been aquitted of murder in his hometown, and so he's moved up to Cambridge, MA, with his uncle's family to re-do his senior year.

This book was geniunely creepy--not just because of anything supernatural (although there is some of that in the book), but because of the family dynamics:

I'm imagining things, I thought. Shadows, noises, atmosphere... I looked at Vic again, and Julia saw me do it. She said smoothly, "Lilian, ask your father if he'd like seconds."

I blinked. I recieved my plate back. Lily said, "Dad, would you like some more stew?"

Yes, please, Lily," said Vic.

I watched as Vic passed his plate to Lily, who passed it on to Julia, who filled it generously and passed it back via Lily to Vic.

"Thank you," said Vic to Lily.

"He says thanks," said Lily to Julia.

"He's welcome," said Julia.

"She says you're welcome," said Lily to Vic.

The other part of the creepiness is Lily. She's the creepiest eleven-year-old that I've ever read about:

The expression on Lily's face made me stop talking. "You interrupted me," she said.

I opened my mouth to apologize, and then closed it. When had control slipped from me to Lily? She was standing there, facing me, perfectly self-possessed despite her rage.

She waited until she was sure I wouldn't interrupt her again. Then she said, "You told my father to talk to my mother instead of me." She leaned forward suddenly. "Didn't you?"

The answer popped from my mouth. "Yes," I said.

Lily caught her breath. "I knew it was your fault."

It was fun reading about the Cambridge area--Nancy Werlin obviously knows it well--but it was a little depressing when David goes shopping in Harvard Square and goes to both WordsWorth and Tower Records. What's even left in Harvard Square? The Gap? Yuck.

Sir Walter Scott.

So, has anyone read anything by him other than Ivanhoe? I loved it (loved it so much that while I was reading it, I skipped out on a party to continue reading it), but I've never read anything else by him.

Help me out here!

I love getting money for Christmas.

I'm going to buy the first season of Buffy tonight.

The Baconator would be so proud.

I'm sorry, did I miss something?

Since when does the $20 dollar bill sport a picture of George Washington?

Oh wait, that's right--never.

So why is wheresgeorge.com tracking bills other than ones? I just got a twenty from the bank, and the where's george info on it just looks DUMB.

Philip Pullman responds. Again.

"Finally: is HDM anti-religious, or isn't it? Religion is something that human beings do, and the story is on the side of humanity. The feelings of wonder and joy and awe that human beings have always felt in the face of nature and the mystery of our lives have sometimes taken religious expression, and sometimes poetic; and sometimes they've been expressed in writing about science. I think I tried to give those feelings expression in the form of a story. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. That's what the story is for.

As for what it's against - the story is against those who pervert and misuse religion, or any other kind of doctrine with a holy book and a priesthood and an apparatus of power that wields unchallengeable authority, in order to dominate and suppress human freedoms. In Lyra's world, that power is wielded by a mighty and corrupt church, which differs in some ways from the church in our world just as the everyday lives of the characters do. In our own world, that sort of power has been wielded at various times in the name of religion as well as in the name of 'scientific' atheism. It's wielded politically, and it's wielded culturally; sometimes it`s a religious police force that beats women who aren't wearing the correct dress, and sometimes it's a cowardly press, cringing in front of corporate power, that cackles and jeers whenever it sees something it thinks it's safe to criticise."

Loot.

I fell in love with the big bowl from this set (Fire King, from the '50s) over the summer, but we couldn't get it because we were broke. And I made myself forget about it.

So I was totally unprepared when I opened one of my presents from Josh and there it was, in all of its red polka-dotted glory.

In other news, I couldn't find the LEGO Millenium Falcon anywhere, so I ordered it on EBay, then it didn't show up in time, so I broke down and tried WalMart, found it there, bought ANOTHER one, gave the WalMart one to Josh for Christmas (he was SO HAPPY), and then received the EBay one in the mail yesterday. So now we have two. 

Realm of Possibility -- David Levithan

I think that this book is going to win the Printz award. I'd put money on it.

There are a lot of verse novels out there. I think that this one blows most of them right out of the water. It's beautifully written, it's a special book, and everyone should read it--when I finished it the first time, I turned back to the beginning and started again.

Twenty teenagers, twenty poems, twenty perspectives. My favorites? At the moment, "The Patron Saint of Stoners" and "The Day". "TPSoS" is about a girl trying to buy pot for the first time. And "The Day" is about a boy, back at school for the first time after a break-up--the poem is in alphabetical order by line. I got to the 'R's before I realized it--which says a lot for the writing.

Read it.

She Went All the Way -- Meggin Cabot

Eeew.

Books by Meg Cabot should not include scenes that involve the words:

moist

thrust

hard

spurt

moan

Her novels should also NOT include:

"...hard and insistent against her through the front of his borrowed jeans."

"...sensitive pink nipples..."

"...heavy in her hand..."

And the worse line EVER:

"So you are a natural redhead."

Gack.

HP5 release date?

According to Mugglenet.com, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released Saturday, July 16, 2005. Whether this is true or just a rumor, I don't know. I couldn't find anything about it at JK's site. I did get really, really distracted, though--it's a very cool website.

Does this strike anyone else as creepy and wrong?

From the BBC:

"A US firm says it will turn your cremated ashes into a diamond for the loved ones you leave behind to cherish."

Oh, come on. Is it REALLY that hard to get these things right??

From stuff.co.nz:

The word "challenges" – a main theme of a two-day White House economic conference that ended on Thursday – was misspelled on a large television monitor that stood in front of Bush during a panel discussion.

"Financial Challanges for Today and Tomorrow," the message proclaimed in dark blue capital letters against a bright yellow background.

I guess that the folks at the White House want to make sure that everyone knows that they aren't part of the "educated elite".

The Golden Compass movie might end up being a big pile of crap.

So, yeah. I'm a little concerned about the movie. You know that they cut out all references to God and the Church, right? Let me repeat that:

there will be no references to God or the Church in the film adaptation of The Golden Compass.

For those of you that haven't read the book (What do you mean you haven't read it?? Go read it!!), it's a re-write of Paradise Lost. So cutting out God is kind of a problem. Slightly.

The former director (more on that in a bit) said that New Line Cinema is concerned:

""They have expressed worry about the possibility of perceived anti-religiosity,"..."

No frigging duh. Have you ever read an interview with Philip Pullman? His views about Narnia aren't exactly wishy-washy:

You're not alone in attacking Lewis but you are really vehement in your criticism. You've called his books 'detestable'. Why do you feel so strongly about them?
Because the things he's being cruel to are things I value very highly. The crux of it all comes, as many people have found, with the point near the end of the Last Battle (in the Narnia books) when Susan is excluded from the stable. The stable obviously represents salvation. They're going to heaven, they're going to be saved. But Susan isn't allowed into the stable, and the reason given is that she's growing up. She's become far too interested in lipstick, nylons and invitations. One character says rather primly: 'She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown up.'

Who knows, though? Maybe the movie won't even happen. They apparently threw out the screenplay that Tom Stoppard wrote. Let's repeat that one, too, just for good measure. They threw out the screenplay that TOM STOPPARD wrote. Who does that? And Weitz just resigned.

Man, I'm pissed.

Hey everyone, Saddam ate beans and emitted stinky air.

Check out the Iraqi graffiti at Harper's.

Score!

As a library employee, I'm eligible to go to the Scholastic Book Fair warehouse sales, where all of the books are 50% off of the cover price. Granted, you only have the selection there, but check out what I got--

Goose Chase, by Patrice Kindl
(I might already have a copy of this. Actually, I'm almost positive that I do. But just in case I don't, I bought it. Because everyone should have a copy of Goose Chase).

Sorcery & Cecilia, by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
(Yeah, I know that I've already said that this book is wonderful. Well, it is. So everyone should own--or at the very least, read--this one, too).

Tangerine, by Edward Bloor
(Josh probably inwardly groaned when I got this one, since I talked about the book for at least two weeks straight after reading it. It rocks. I did not, however, buy a copy of Crusader, because it stinks).

Sahara Special, by Esme Raji Codell
(I've been meaning to read this for a long, long time. Now I have no excuse).

The Judy Moody Boxed Set, by Megan McDonald
(Judy Moody should just get it over with and kick the crap out of Junie B. Jones).

The Game of Sunken Places, by M. T. Anderson
(If it's by the author of Feed, I'll read it).

Indigo's Star, by Hilary McKay
(When I saw this one, I did a classic Leila "OOO!" and grabbed a copy, totally startling the lady next to me. Everyone should read Saffy's Angel. Everyone. And then you'll understand why I was so excited.

And all for $30. Kickass.

Eminem is cool.

I finally saw 8 Mile. Love Eminem now. The part at the food trucks was priceless--it would be perfect on a mix tape. Not that people really use tapes anymore.

Brittany Murphy, on the other hand, replaced Juliette Lewis as the perfect 'white trash' actress. In Juliette Lewis's case, it was mostly a Good Thing. In Brittany Murphy's, it is not.

Regarding the Sink - Kate and Sarah Klise

Flo Waters returns!

Not surprisingly, Regarding the Sink was a blast. Maybe not as great as the first one, but still worth the twenty minutes read.

And it looks like there's going to be another one:

Regarding the Trees: A Splintered Saga Rooted in Secrets

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett do the Apocalyse.

Yeah, yeah, I finally read Good Omens. I think that Neil Gaiman really tempered Terry Pratchett's usually outrageousness, which was why I ended up liking it so much more than any of Pratchett's solo books. Together, they actually really, really reminded me of Douglas Adams.

Terry Pratchett's finest creation is the character of Death. I love him. He's just so cool. I loved the scene where he was playing the trivia game with the biker gang.

I also loved the scene where the Satanic nun is trying to help the new father of the Antichrist (he doesn't know--there was a baby-switch) come up with a name:

"Have you picked a name for him yet?" said Sister Mary archly.

"Hmm?" said Mr. Young. "Oh. No, not really. If it was a girl it ould have been Lucinda after my mother. Or Germaine. That was Deirdre's choice."

"Wormwood's a nice name," said the nun, remembering her classics. "Or Damien. Damien's very popular."

There were so many references to The Omen that now I really want to watch it. Again.

Phew. Things are less scary now.

U.S. Eases Publishing Ban on Iran, Cuba, Sudan

MoorishGirl's take on the OFAC garbage:

"And perhaps that is the biggest indication of how low we have sunk as a nation. That the man who, in 1989, had to defend his right to free speech from religious zealots, should in 2004 have to defend others' right to free speech from OFAC zealots."

For those of you that miss being at the store...

Furious George and the Cross-Country Crime Spree

I used to play this in the chapter book room all the time. HA!

I hope that she's not talking about Lauren...

Throw the book at bossy club member

Oh, man.

A lady just called and asked if we had, "The Fountainpen". I asked her if maybe, possibly, she was looking for The Fountainhead. It took a bit of convincing, but eventually, she saw it my way.

Love David Levithan.

Hopefully, I'll get to posting about Realm of Possibility soon. In the meantime, here's an interview with him:

What's new in teen fiction: the gay kid no longer gets run over by a bus

GAAAAAAAAAAH! Scary.

I'm not sure if this can be described any other way:

In an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American companies from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first obtain U.S. government approval.

Holy crap. Wow. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that this stuff stull happens, but, WOW.

Doctors at the Austrian clinic that treated Ukraine’s opposition leader confirm there was a plot to kill him

Speaking of Gail Giles...

It hasn't hit the news yet (and it probably will, because the ACLU is already involved), but Shattering Glass has been banned at King's Park High School in Suffolk County, New York. A teacher had assigned it, a parent complained about the language, the teacher then made the assignment voluntary, but the principal pulled all 35 copies from the school library anyway. Because, as we all know, if ONE PERSON has an issue with a book, nobody should be allowed to read it.

Playing in Traffic -- Gail Giles

Gail Giles = Modern Noir

I thought I knew where Playing in Traffic was headed from the beginning. Of course, I thought I knew where Dead Girls Don't Write Letters was headed, too, and Gail Giles tricked me then. So I should have known better. But this one seems so clear. Even from the beginning:

I was the ghost of school corridors.

Skye was the devil.

And I was doomed from the day she spoke to me.

I saw what was coming well before Skye asked Matt for a huge "favor". But so did Matt. And as the story continued, I kept thinking, "There is no way. There is no way that he'll go through with this. He's too smart. He knows that she's a liar." But, it being a book by Gail Giles, I still couldn't be sure. And for real, I didn't know for sure what was going to happen until the very last page.

I did find the style a little off-putting at first--kind of the way I find Koertge a little off-putting. But I stayed with it, and I got so engrossed that I was a couple of minutes late to work the morning that I finished it. I could not put it down. It's a totally worth-it read. As are the rest of her books. Love her.

Yeah. So if you need yet another reason to hate rich people, here you go...

We watched Lawn Dogs the other night. Urg. It was a super movie, but, MAN. Rich people suck. Gated communities are creepy. Sam Rockwell, on the other hand, is still hot.

Faerie Wars -- Herbie Brennan

I didn't expect to like this one so much...

I find it amusing that the publisher got Eoin Colfer (the author of Artemis Fowl, which is extremely popular despite its EXTREME SUCKAGE) to plug this book. While I do think that AF fans will like it, I think that the quote will only serve to turn others (those of us with taste) away. Ignore the quote. Or, rather, read the quote and pretend that it came from someone else.

Faerie Wars is a good book. It's funny, the plotting is well-done, I liked the characters (especially the ultra-paranoid Mr. Fogarty, but I'm a sucker for crotchety old men), the demon was a riot, I liked the blend of sci-fi and fantasy (and I usually don't), and I'm planning on reading the sequel.

When I hit this bit, I knew that the book was going to be fun:

His father said quietly, 'I'm not having an affair with Anais. Your mother is."

Not only did this book make me laugh out loud a few times, it gave us an explanation for alien abductions. Really. What more could you want?

NO FAIR!!

My mom got a snow day today. I think that snow days might be the only thing that I miss about high school.

Question for the geeks out there:

Is anyone planning on going to the Sci-Fi Marathon in February? Steve?

I've gotta say, I'm pretty tempted, even though I haven't been able to make it all the way through one yet...

As a rule, I usually detest fan fiction, but...

It's hard to resist it when it involves the Babysitter's Club getting mauled by vampires.

And if that puts you into the Babysitter's Club mindset, try the Babysitter's Club quiz. Any quiz that gives you the option of answering "I am technically retarded" is worth taking. For real.

Rock Star Superstar -- Blake Nelson

It was fun, but...

Rock Star Superstar wasn't all that I had hoped for. It started off well, with one of the high school characters dressing like a 'punk-rock librarian'. But it lost most of its charm for me when I hit this line:

"Do you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asked.

I'm sorry. I refuse to believe that ANYONE actually says that past second grade, much less as a junior in high school. It was so lame tht I had to put it down for a few days.

I went back to it, though, because minus the ASS dialogue, the story itself was pretty good. Despite what you may think while reading the quick synopsis--a boy deals with being in a band that might have the chance to really hit it big while trying to navigate his first real relationship--the story IS really believeable, as are the relationships. So yeah, except for a few groaners, it was good.

And if you want to read a review of it by someone who thought that it was REALLY good, take a look at Reading Rants.

Oh, right, and you didn't show any ads about the election, right?

"It went against our long-standing policy of not accepting ads that deal with issues public controversy," said the NBC spokeswoman.

Super. Note that these are federally funded programs.

Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell -- Susanna Clarke

Loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is shortlisted for the Whitbread, and it's a well-deserved honor.

The story starts in 1806, England is at war with Napoleon, and magic hasn't been practiced for hundreds of years. When the Raven King disappeared from England, magic seemed to just--fade away. There are still magicians:

They were gentleman-magicians, which is to say they had never harmed any one by magic--nor done any one the slightest good. In fact, to own the truth, not one of these magicians had ever cast the smallest spell, nor by magic caused one leaf to tremble upon a tree, made one mote of dust to alter its course or changed a single hair upon any one's head. But, with this one minor reservation, they enjoyed a reputation as some of the wisest and most magical gentlemen in Yorkshire.

Before the first chapter is finished, however, it is revealed that there is indeed one practical magician in England--Mr. Norrell.

And the story goes from there. A character is raised from death, magic is used to aid Lord Wellington in the war, we get to meet mad King George, the fairy-folk are as they should be--heartless, self-absorbed and cruel, and yes, the Raven King does make an appearance.

For a book that I enjoyed so much, I think it's a little odd that I never got attached to the characters (with the exception of John Childermass and Stephen Black). But I don't think that's a problem with the writing or the book--I think it was deliberate. It reads like a history book, but an incredibly engrossing and interesting one.

And a bit of advice: If you do decide to read it, make sure to set aside enough time to read the third part all at once. Otherwise you'll be late for something.

Dylan McKay and Theo Huxtable on a roadtrip.

Due to our love of Babylon 5, we watched the pilot of Jeremiah recently. We hadn't realized that the show originally aired on Showtime, so when Malcolm Jamal-Warner started swearing, it was a little jarring. (I suspect that they wanted to separate his character from Theo on The Cosby Show right away). To make things more bizarre, there's a character named Theo. So that makes conversation about the show rather confusing.

It was pretty awesome, and now I'm all upset, because apparently there's a complete first season, and then part of a second season, and then the show seemed to enter production hell/limbo. So it looks like the show probably won't be finished. Why? Why is it always like that? The good shows never last. Grrrr.

I should also finally admit this: I've always had a soft spot for Luke Perry. Oh, and he plays a 27-year-old on this show--I double-checked, and in real life, he's turning forty next year. Awesome. Love him.

Dude.

I'm sorry, I can do the whole respect-other-people's-opinions thing, but I think from now on I'm only going to respect theirs if they respect mine. That sounds fair, right?

From al.com:

Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed.

"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.