The Bookshelves of Doom

I'm moving.

2005-02-03T16:42:00.000-04:00

Okay, kids. I've had it. Blogger sucks my butt.

I'll be at bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com.

It'll be a little while until I'm totally up and running--I'm manually moving all of my book reviews--my personal stuff may or may not make it over. We'll see.

Anyway.

2005-02-02T15:33:00.000-04:00

This bites.

2005-02-01T13:40:00.000-04:00

So, my template continues to do horrible things. I think I might take my blog elsewhere before I lose everything on it. Favorite blog software, anyone?

Beastly Blogger.

2005-02-01T11:21:00.000-04:00

My template got erased, so I need to re-enter everyone's blogs and stuff. If I miss yours, let me know.

Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence -- Paul Feig

2005-02-01T08:56:00.000-04:00

Fans of Freaks and Geeks will find a lot of the stories in this book familiar. Remember the stuff that Sam and Neil and Bill went through? The creator of the short-lived best-show-ever lived most of it--and in most cases, even more painfully:

More laughs exploded, and I knew that I had just witnessed the birth of something horrible. It was bound to happen and, in all honesty, I don't know why it didn't happened sooner. The word "fag" had started to float around on the outer fringes of my peer group right around the fifth grade. But I guess that in grade school, a fig-filled cookie was funnier that a cruel term for something we didn't understand. However, as I was about to find out, junior high was where the term flourished, and I had just been dubbed the Keeper of the Flame. As Mr. Parks tried in vain to quiet the class and regain order, I sat in the stunned realization that I had just seen the next several years of my life laid out for me. Fig Newton was dead. Long live Paul Fag.

Oddly enough, at points, it really reminded me of the Wonder Years--but never syrupy and often excruciatingly painful (and funny--don't forget that it's hysterically funny!). I've always considered my middle school experience to be pretty miserable, but I'm not sure if I can really claim that anymore--compared to Paul Feig, my 5th-8th grade years were all sunshine and daises. Read it, cringe and laugh. Then watch Freaks and Geeks again.

I saw this over at Canuck Librarian.

2005-01-27T16:54:00.000-04:00

Asteroid named after ‘Hitchhiker’ humorist

In related news, have you seen the cast of the Hitchhiker's movie? La la la... Sam Rockwell is playing Zaphod--for those of you who don't know the SR formula,

Sam Rockwell X 2 = blissful swoon.

People really do believe junk like this.

2005-01-27T13:15:00.000-04:00

So, I hadn't even bothered to post about the SpongeBob thing because I thought it was so silly. Don't these people remember how stupid Falwell looked when he denounced Tinky Winky?

Yesterday, I heard a kid tell a bunch of other kids that if you watch SpongeBob, you're more likely to "end up gay". Sigh.

Running with Scissors -- Augusten Burroughs

2005-01-26T19:04:00.000-04:00

To everyone who recommended this book to me:

THANK YOU!!

I loved it. I marked so many pages (with bookmarks, I hate dog-eared pages) that I finally had to stop because I ran out of scrap paper. I read so many passages out loud to Josh that he went to work the next day talking about the book I was reading--not the book he himself was reading. I laughed so hard and so often that I had to put the book down at points. I LOVED IT.

Tracy, what was it that the people in the book group objected to? Was it the sex? Because, damn it, there was only about 6 pages of it. Out of 304! Granted, it was graphic, sketchy, and disturbing, but come on! Or were they upset about something else?

For the uninitiated, Running with Scissors is Augusten Burroughs' memoir of his childhood. Things start out semi-normally, with his parents on the verge of divorce:

My father's face grew red as he added a splash of tonic water to his glass. "Deirdre, will you settle down. You're hysterical, just hysterical." Because he was a professor, he was in the habit of repeating himself. She stood up from the sofa and walked slowly across the white shag carpeting, as if finding her mark on a soundstage. "I'm hysterical?" she asked in a smooth, low voice. "You think this is hysterical?" She laughed theatrically, throwing her head back. "Oh, you poor bastard. You lousy excuse for a man." She stood next to him, leaning her back against the teak bookcase. "You're so repressed you mistake creative passion for hysterics. And don't you see? This is how you're killing me." She closed her eyes and made her Edith Piaf face.

You may notice that his mother is a tad dramatic. Well, don't get the idea that the father lacks drama--a few pages later, he chases her around the house and tries to brain her with a fondue pot. Shortly thereafter, they split up and Augusten's mother decides that she can't handle the strain of raising him--so she gives him to her psychiatrist. Keep in mind that this is a man who believes that he's receiving messages from God through his own poop.

What about Hope; would she ever get married? "See all that corn? Hope's going to marry a farmer."

The house is filthy, filled with the psychiatrist's many children, his aptly-named grandson Poo and quite a few of his patients--former and current.

This is completely unrelated, but one of my favorite passages was about smoking:

Smoking had become my favorite thing in the world to do. It was like having instant comfort, no matter where or when. No wonder my parents smoked, I thought. The part of me that used to polish my jewelry for hours and comb my hair until my scalp was deeply scratched was now lighting cigarettes every other minute and then carefully stomping them out. It turned out I had always been a smoker. I just hadn't had any cigarettes.

LOVED LOVED LOVED it. More than David Sederis. Much more, actually. So, again, thanks for the recommendation!

Educating Esme: diary of a teacher's first year -- Esme Raji Codell

2005-01-26T18:38:00.000-04:00

November 3 Assembly today. National anthem. Oh, no, I thought. Will they...? "...land of the free and the home of the brave!: A small group of voices enthusiastically added the postscript. "Play ball!" Mr. Turner stepped up to the mike. "All right, who did that!" Nobody peeped. They had no homework today, as a reward for showing good judgment when it counted most.

Apparently, Miss Pointy in Sahara Special is not a fictional creation. She IS Esme Raji Codell. The book was a riot--I laughed out loud on a pretty consistent basis, and kept interrupting Josh's reading to read him parts, which is always a sure sign of greatness in a book.

It chronicles her first year teaching--a fifth grade class in Chicago. She deals with a horrible principal, very little funding, a major lack of enthusiasm on the part of many of the volunteers and other teachers, abused kids, a book thief, as well as the regular teacher stuff. Add to all of this the on-going war with the principal about whether or not she's allowed to have the kids call her Madame Esme:

"The ACLU?" His eyebrows draw up fearfully. "Is that the teacher's union? You didn't call the teacher's union, did you?"

A lot of people that reviewed the book at Amazon seem to think that she's really conceited, too hard on her co-workers, etc. She didn't strike me like that at all, she seemed more frustrated than anything--and if you can't vent in your diary, where can you vent?

Snowmen.

2005-01-26T13:56:00.000-04:00

A guy who posts at Somethingawful.com created some of the Calvin and Hobbes snow art. Way cool. (There are lots more pictures at the site--you need to scroll down to see them).

Meet Me in St. Louis

2005-01-26T13:54:00.000-04:00

A warning to anyone who hasn't been unfortunate enough to rent this movie.

It's the WORST MOVIE EVER!!

I swear. There's that horribly annoying St. Louis song that they sing 3 billion times, NO plot, some wretched children (The kind that try really, really hard to be cute. Yuck.), and Judy Garland looks like a MAN. A MAN!!

Oh, wait. There was a plot. They just introduced it about 15/16ths of the way through the movie.

Finally. Someone on the side of sanity weighs in.

2005-01-25T15:38:00.000-04:00

Two Pleasant Valley parents are challenging the decision to restrict the use of a book with a gay character in the district’s elementary schools, saying the decision violates constitutional protections for teachers and students, the process was not as open as it should have been, and the board violated its own policies.

The Starlite Drive-In -- Marjorie Reynolds

2005-01-25T13:44:00.000-04:00

This book has one of the best first paragraphs that I've read in a long time:

I wasn't there when they dug up the bones at the old drive-in theater, but I heard about them within the hour. In a small town, word travels like heat lightening across a parched summer sky. Irma Schmidt phoned Aunt Bliss and delivered the news with such volume that her voice carried across the kitchen to where I was sitting.

This book reminded me of Lone Star. Without the incest. It was hot (Indiana summer, not Texas) and it started with old bones being discovered, then switched to flashback. Okay, other than that it wasn't really similar. Although I could picture Chris Cooper in a movie version.

Callie Anne lives at the Starlite Drive-In with her parents. Her dad runs the place and her mom hasn't left the house in five years. Then a drifter named Charlie Memphis comes to town.

The weird thing about the book was that even though it's marketed as a YA book, and it's about a YA... it didn't really feel like a YA book. Maybe because the story is told by Callie Anne when she's grown up, in her mid 40s?

Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

2005-01-25T13:41:00.000-04:00

I'm so immature. But c'mon. It's really, really funny.

Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking miniature US flags into piles of dog poo in public parks.

Trying not to hyperventilate.

2005-01-25T13:29:00.000-04:00

Not succeeding.

Chris Crutcher. New Book. May 2005.

HOORAY!!

I need to go and find a paper bag to breathe in.

Problem.

2005-01-25T09:52:00.000-04:00

I have a backlog of ten books to post about. Crap. I need to get the internet at home. But first, I need to make my computer work.

A proud moment.

2005-01-24T17:10:00.000-04:00

We're reading The Blue Sword in one of my book groups right now, and one of the girls is totally in love with Corlath.

Aw yeah.

Let Me Go -- Helga Schneider

2005-01-22T15:15:00.000-04:00

I don't read non-fiction very often, but someone recommended this one to me, and I'm glad that I read it. Well, as glad as you can be about reading a Holocaust memoir.

When Helga Schneider was four years old, her mother abandoned the family to join the SS, specifially to be a guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Ravensbruck. She only saw her two more times. The first visit (thirty years later) didn't go well, to put it very mildly:

"Hold your hands open," you said. I'll never forget that. You had pulled me by one arm, as though to tell me a secret, into the bedroom of the little apartment in the suburb of Mariahilf; and you had opened a little box: It's a standard gesture, one that usually heralds a present of some kind. "Hold your hands open." And then you filled them with rings, bracelets, cuff links, pendants, brooches, a watch, and a handful of necklaces, large and small. For a moment I looked uncomprehendingly at all that gold. They I understood, and it was as though my hands were on fire. I pulled my palms apart, and the jewelry clattered onto the floor. You stared at me, puzzled.

Another thirty years later, they met for the last time. Her mother was 87 years old, dying, and unrepentant. About everything. There are moments that it seems like she might almost be putting on a show for Helga, but overall, no. She was unrepentant.

It's a little book, easily read in one sitting, but I had to put it down and walk away from it a few times. I read it a few days ago, but it's stayed with me--parts of it keep coming back to me. Rough, emotional, raw. But worth it.

Bucking the Sarge -- Christopher Paul Curtis

2005-01-22T14:12:00.000-04:00

Here it comes. Sparky was about to say something about the only thing the thief had left in my wallet. I'm not ashamed, I'm not trying to hide anything, it was a condom. To be real, it was the oldest condom on the face of the earth. It'd been in my wallet so many years that I'd had to give it a name--I called it Chauncey. Chauncey and that wallet had spent so much time together that it wouldn've been a crime to separate them, not that there was any chance of that happening anytime soon. They're been together so long that Chauncey had wore a circle right in the leather, and a circle ain't nothing but a great big zero, which was just about my chances of ever busting Chauncey loose and using him.

Very different for his previous books, in that the setting is modern-day Flint--and that it is most definitely a YA novel. The major similarity? It was as good as his first two books. Easily.

My study of philosophy has taught me that there really are certain advantages to having the coldhearted, moneygrubbing, beastly sadist who runs your life be blessed with a good vocabulary and a real active imagination.

The Sarge is the biggest slum lord/loan shark in Flint. Her schemes would put Dr. Evil to shame. Luther T. Farrell, 15-year-old future philosopher, is her only son. He's been working for her, living in and running a group home for older men, since he was thirteen. All he really wants is to get out. And to win the school science fair for the third year in a row. To do that, he needs to beat the secret love of his life, Shayla "Queen of the Damned" Patrick, who just happens to be the local undertaker's daughter.

Luther's best friend, Sparky, doesn't get it. He thinks that Luther has it made, since he has credit cards, money, and an illegal legal driver's license. Sparky hade decided that his only way out of Flint is to team up with local lawyer Dontay Gaddy (1-800-SUE-EM-ALL) and get some quick money. Sparky's attempts at getting injured create some of the funniest scenes in the book.

A cry for help.

2005-01-21T13:58:00.000-04:00

Someone has donated money to our library to specifically get recent (within the last 5 or so years, I'd say) YA books dealing with alcohalism and physical/verbal abuse. Fiction and non-fiction. Our YA librarian asked me to get a list together. Any ideas?

An apology to David Boreanaz

2005-01-19T20:14:00.000-04:00

I can admit when I've been wrong.

I'm sorry that I ever bad-mouthed Angel. I always thought that he was too tortured and annoying.

Watching the series on DVD has changed my mind. Specifically, actually, this line (which I don't have exactly right, but you get the gist of it):

Well, over the last hundred years, I really perfected my brooding skills.

That did it for me. He's hilarious. In my (new) official opinion, Angel is great.

The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green -- Joshua Braff

2005-01-19T19:44:00.000-04:00

Zach Braff's brother wrote a book.

I'm still ten good minutes away from blessing the challah and I decide to play a game I call "the Unthinkable." If I were to life the bread as I utter the blessing and hurl it in a tight spiral at the refrigerator. If I were to ram ny nose into the braided loaf or sit on it or have it drop from my butt like an enormous turd. If I put it in my mouth and thrashed my head back and forth like a Doberman, leaving nibbled bits of challah bread in our soup bowls and the creases of our laps. Or if I molded it into a big braided schlong and bumped it repeatedly against Asher's forehead.

Family life, New Jersey, the 70s. This was an extremely funny, realistic, smart book. It just felt real. Abram Green, the father, is self-centered, cruel, and obsessive about his need for people to love him--not a winning combination, but a really well-written character.

What more can I say? I've had a really, really long day. I'm exhausted.

It was a super book.

This is so depressing.

2005-01-18T17:03:00.000-04:00

"Troops from the US-led force in Iraq have caused widespread damage and severe contamination to the remains of the ancient city of Babylon, according to a damning report released today by the British Museum."

Amelia Peabody would be pissed.

Newbery and Caldecott winners.

2005-01-18T13:57:00.000-04:00

Newbery Winner:

Kira-Kira -- Cynthia Kadohata

Newbery Honor:

Al Capone Does My Shirts -- Gennifer Choldenko

The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights -- Russell Freedman

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy -- Gary D. Schmidt

Caldecott Winner:

Kitten's First Full Moon -- Kevin Henkes

Caldecott Honor:

The Red Book -- Barbara Lehman

Coming on Home Soon -- Jacqueline Woodson

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale -- Mo Willems

Hooray for Knuffle Bunny!

So behind...

2005-01-18T13:56:00.000-04:00

I have a big pile of books to post about. I tried to type some up this weekend, but I watched Buffy instead.

Bad Leila. Bad.

So Yesterday -- Scott Westerfeld

2005-01-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

Okay. I loved this one. Again, granted that I really have a thing about the anti-consumerism books, but this one was great--and the narrator manages to tell the story without using any brand-names. (Well, almost none).

According to the book, there is a pyramid of cool. Here it is, top to bottom:

Innovators: "When you meet them, most Innovators don't look that cool, not in the sense of fashionable, anyway. There's always something off about them. Like they're uncomfortable with the world. Most Innovators are actually Logo Exiles, trying to get by with the twelve pieces of clothing that are never in or out of style. Except, like Jen's laces, there's always one thing that stands out on an Innovator. Something new."

Trendsetters: "The Trendsetter's goal is to be the second person in the world to catch the greatest disease. They watch carefully for Innovators, always ready to jump on board. But more importantly, other people watch them. Unlike the Innovators, they are cool, so when they pick up an innovation, it becomes cool. A Trendsetter's most important job is gatekeeper, the filter that separates out real Innovators from those crazy people wearing garbage bags."

Early Adopters: "Adopters always have the latest phone, the latest music player plugged into their ear, and they're the guys who download the trailer a year before the movie comes out. (As they grow older, Early Adopters' closets fill up with dinosaur media: Betamax videos, laser discs, eight-track tapes.) They test and tweak the trend, softening the edges. And one vital difference from Trendsetters: Early Adopters saw their stuff in a magazine first, not on the street."

Consumers: "The people who have to see a product on TV, placed in two movies, fifteen magazine ads, and on a giant rack in the mall before saying, "Hey, that's pretty cool." At which point it's not."

Laggards: "Proud in their mullets and feathered-back hair, they resist all change, or at least change since they got out of high school. And once every ten years they suffer the uncomfortable realization that their brown leather jackets with big lapels have become, briefly, cool. But they bravely tuck in their Kiss T-shirts and soldier on."

Not only is there all of the above wonderful-ness, there is a kidnapping, a huge conspiracy, lots of action, a romance, and some really interesting and informative digressions, including the answer to this question: What actually was the deal with that Pokemon episode that gave people seizures?

Unfortunately, I only know two other people who have read (or attempted to read) this one. One liked it until the end, which she said was "too crazy", and the other couldn't finish it. So am I crazy for loving this book as much as I do? C'mon. Help me out.

Vegan Virgin Valentine -- Carolyn Mackler

2005-01-18T13:41:00.000-04:00

This book didn't live up to its name. Or its cover.

Part of my irritation with it probably was due to the vegan thing. But not completely--she actually wasn't one of the annoying, super-self-righteous vegans. Well, mostly. Her reason for doing the vegan thing was much more about her taking control of her life--basically, the author could have easily made her anorexic, but chose to go for the less tortured approach. Which is good, I guess.

I just didn't find the main character all that sympathetic. Especially at first. She just seemed like someone that I'd want to slap. I was reminded of Catalyst a bit, (which I also didn't like very much) but only because of the over-achiever thing. Maybe I'm just not into over-achiever angst books. "Oh, my life is so hard, I just got accepted early-admissions to Yale. Waaaaaaaaa."

And I didn't find the romance realistic. The nuts-and-bolts of it worked, but I don't think that he'd actually go for her. She was too neurotic. Although, she did act differently at work, so maybe he liked that side of her. I don't know. I still don't buy it.

The major problem, really, was that it was the same exact book as so many others. It's just the one that you'd give to a vegan girl that wanted a fluffy book. (As if!)

The DVD jackpot continues.

2005-01-15T14:44:00.000-04:00

Last night, we went to the big city (Portland) to get my comics. We'd also planned to hit Best Buy and buy the second season of Buffy, but on a whim, we swung by Bull Moose first. What do ya know? They not only had the second season of Buffy, but they also had the fifth (and last, sniff) season of Babylon 5. Since they were both used, we got two for the price of one. Hooray!!

Now I just have to get over my urge to watch TV all day long. Other wise, I won't win the Chrissy vs. Leila Read-Off. Sigh. Life can be so hard.

PS. In regards to the reading thing, I will say that it isn't the reading part that is difficult--it's the writing part that's really slowing me down. Damn.

In other news...

2005-01-15T13:17:00.000-04:00

I think that I am officially a grown-up.

I was at work a few nights ago when I realized that I had been walking around with my fly down for a good half-hour.

And it didn't even faze me.

A few years ago, I would have agonized for hours... WHO saw me? WHAT did they say about me later? WHY didn't they TELL me?? OH MY GOD, THE HORROR!! Etc.

But not the grown-up Leila. I just zipped it back up, noting my polka-dotted underwear, giggled self-deprecatingly, and went about my business.

Al Capone Does My Shirts -- Gennifer Choldenko

2005-01-15T12:04:00.000-04:00

Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. Alcatraz sits smack in the middle of the bay--so close to the city of San Francisco, I can hear them call the score on a baseball game on Marina Green. Okay, not that close. But still. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cooks or doctors or electricians for the prison like my dad does. Plus there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers, and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it.I'll read anything about Alcatraz or Al Capone. That isn't to say that I've read much about either. But after this book, I'm hooked. The author included a bibliography, so I'm going to see what I can dig up.

Basically, if you liked the first two books by Christopher Paul Curtis, I think you'll like this one--the subject matter and characters are totally different, but it's really well-written humorous historical fiction that incorporates actual events (like when Al Capone's mother comes to visit him and her corset sets off the metal detectors) with great characters. So it's similar in that way.

GC did a great job with Moose's sister Natalie--she's autistic, but autism hadn't been identified in 1935. So the family is on the verge of institutionalizing her (after trying everything from prayer circles to voodoo) which was a very common practice at that time.

The only thing that didn't do it for me was Moose attraction for the warden's daughter. She's hot, sure. But she still totally sucks. Okay, yeah, she helps him out once. But she still has her own agenda. Oh, and the warden is kind of a stinker, too. They might grow on me if I re-read the book. Maybe. But I doubt it.

Sahara Special -- Esme Raji Codell

2005-01-14T09:38:00.000-04:00

This book can speak for itself:

"Maybe we should ask Sahara what she wants," Peaches suggested, with her usual sad-happy smile. "Is this Christmas? Are you the Special Needs Santa Claus? Ask Sahara what she wants!" Mom twisted in her seat and made a noise between a cough and a laugh. "Look, I don't have time for this. I know she's capable of fifth-grade work. She reads at home. She reads plenty. I think she writes, too," she said accusingly. I didn't look at her. She whirled around in her chair and growled at me, "Sahara, tell them you like to write." She was telling it true. I read at home, and write, too, but whenever I write, I make sure I'm by myself and then, when I'm done writing, I rip it out of my notebook. I hide it in a binder behind section 940 in the public library, where all the books about Somewhere Else are located. This very paper, for instance, will someday be an archaeological find. Someday, someone will reach behind section 940 and find the dusty works of me, Sahara Jones, Secret Writer, and that person's life will be made more exciting, just by reading my Heart-Wrenching Life Story and Amazing Adventures.

I don't think that we have Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year, but now I HAVE to ILL it.

Obviously, I need to read this book.

2005-01-10T20:32:00.000-04:00

A few citizens in the district, including some parents with no children in district schools, wanted "Rainbow Boys" by Alex Sanchez removed from Owen-Withee Junior and Senior High School.

"A whole bunch of people went to the School Board to ask them to remove it, and they wouldn't remove it," said Holly Strickland of Owen, who home-schooled her kids and who said she hasn't read the book - only reviews of it. "To us, it's a homosexual recruiting tool. We're going to try and bring it up again. We're going to try and reason it out of there on the vulgarity issue."

A "homosexual recruiting tool"??? What does that even mean?? Are they building a secret army?

Mediator 6: Twilight -- Meg Cabot

2005-01-10T19:22:00.000-04:00

First off, if you haven't already started reading these books, DO! They're like Buffy, except that Suze deals with ghosts instead of vampires. She's pretty fashion-obsessed, so she gets really, really mad if the ghost (or living person) she happens to be fighting with messes up her Jimmy Choos.

So the Princess Diaries books have become the lamest of the lame. Big deal. Mag Cabot still has it. Twilight was AWESOME. Awesome awesome awesome. A.W.E.S.O.M.E. Kickass. Rock on.

Four words: Mediators can time travel.

I'm a little worried that this might be it, though. The next book in the series (if there is one) will be make-or-break. I'm actually not all that hopeful--this will probably, sadly, be the last good one. Oh well. I just ordered the first five books in the series, so I can just re-read these six to my heart's content.

(And yes, I know that I already own most of them, but a) they're all still packed up, and b) I wanted the ones with the new covers).

I continue to love Christmas money.

2005-01-10T13:45:00.000-04:00

We finally bought the first season of Buffy last night. (And then proceeded to watch four episodes in a row. At this rate, we'll have to buy the second season on Thursday--or suffer Buffy-withdrawal. Nobody wants that).

Also, we are the proud owners of the Napoleon Dynamite DVD. SWEET!

Finally, I broke down and bought Mediator 6: Twilight. (I guess that 'broke down' isn't really an accurate description, considering that my eagerness to get the book into my clutches, I practically knocked the shelf over). I read it this morning, before work--I'll post about it later today. (Want a hint? IT RULED).

Lois Lowry's The Giver is being challenged in Missouri.

2005-01-07T16:15:00.000-04:00

"This book is negative," said Cerise Ivey, one of five parents who have fought the book's inclusion on student reading lists since the fall of 2003. "I read it. I don't see the academic value in it. Everything presented to the kids should be positive or historical, not negative."

Yeah, because god forbid that we prepare them for life or anything. Sheesh.

This lady is a BIG BABY.

2005-01-07T13:14:00.000-04:00

Living in fear of bookstore 'tude

What? Does she not realize that EVERYONE, in EVERY KIND of work where you have to deal with the public, makes fun of customers? Lady, it ain't personal. It's about US staying sane.

Indigo's Star -- Hilary McKay

2005-01-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

You know how in some books, the characters explain things purely for the audience? If the author is a good one, it isn't as obvious, but they still usually do it. One of my favorite things about HM's books is that she doesn't do that. If two characters are talking, they won't go over things that are already understood between them, even if it will make it easier on the reader. When people in her books have conversations, they have REAL conversations like REAL people.

The dust jacket describes Indigo's Star as being a companion to Saffy's Angel. While it isn't necessary to read them both, but they're definitely better together. And as far as I'm concerned, the more that I get to read about the Casson family, the better.

Indigo has just gotten over mono and has to go back to school--after a semester away. He's dreading it, due to the gang that has made it their personal business to make his life miserable. But there's a new kid at school, an American named Tom, who quickly becomes friends with Indigo--as well as the new tormentee.

Although Indigo is the main character, it was Rose that stole every scene she was in--for anyone who has read The Exiles (and sequels), she's a LOT like Phoebe (including a large mural on the kitchen wall that serves in the same capacity as Phoebe's zoos). She's just had to get glasses, and due to being upset about it & pouting, she refused to pick them out. So her father did:

"Come over here," said Caddy to Rose, and steered her across the room. "Put them on again! There! Look!" Rose looked and found she could see a very plain child watching her through a small bright window that had suddenly appeared in the kitchen wall. "See," said Caddy. I told you they looked cool!" Then Rose's mind did a somersault, like a slow loop-the-loop in the sky, and the child in the window resolved itself into her own face reflected in the kitchen mirror. "Oh!" she exclaimed, outraged. "Horrible, horrible Daddy!"

Of course, all of the other Cassons make appearences--there's a priceless moment when Saffy and Sarah defend Indy at school--Sarah threatens to run the bullies down with her wheelchair--Caddy continues to date everyone under the sun--and, through Rose and her hilarious letters to her father, we get more information about their parents' relationship.

I love Hilary McKay! Love love love her! She is so great! Every single time I read one of her books, I'm happy for a week afterwards! I can't stop using exlamation points!

Okay, cheerleading session over. Read these books.

Bones and Silence -- Reginald Hill

2005-01-06T13:33:00.000-04:00

I still don't know how I lived with Collomia for as long as I did without reading any of the Reginald Hill mysteries. As I read it, I kicked myself for waiting until now--but now that I've had a little more time to reflect, I'm happy that I still have 20 of them left.

I realize that this book is pretty late in the Dalziel and Pascoe series, but it was the earliest one that I happened to have at home (pub. date 1990--the series started in 1970), so I read it anyway. Phew. If they're all like this one, it really is a wonderful set of books. (Not that I ever doubted you, Collomia).

It was just a joy to read:

The tenant of Badger Farm turned out to be as stingy with words as he was with fuel till Dalziel's threat of RSPCA and Environmental Health inspectors touched a lingual nerve. Then he recalled noting Bluebell's arrival some four weeks earlier. He kept a close eye on it for a while, suspicious that it should remain so long in such an unattractive mooring. But once assured that its sole occupants were a man and a woman with no kids, no dogs, and no desire to trespass on his land and bother him for milk, eggs, or fresh water, he'd lost interest. He was a man of no curiousity and less sympathy. He remarked that he'd spotted the man wading around in the canal a couple of times with what he assumed was a fishing rod. "Though what the stupid sod was looking to catch, God alone knows. There've been no fish in that cut since the First War." "You likely pointed this out" said Dalziel. "Nay! Let folk find out their own errors, that's my way." It seemed a not unattractive philosophy, so Dalziel did not tell the farmer that he'd set the RSPCA and Environmental Health people on to him anyway.

Reginald Hill isn't one of the annoying authors that re-introduces everybody at the beginning of every book--it took a little while to catch up, but I eventually had everyone straight. I did, however, go ahead and order the first book in the series, A Clubbable Woman, over Alibris--it seems to be out of print, in the States, at least. It will be a lot of fun to read them all in order--if I can handle the waiting. I hate waiting.

Oops.

2005-01-05T13:11:00.000-04:00

So I hit a couple of used bookstores (used book stores? Stores where they sell used books) this morning, looking for copies of Smith for one of my reading groups. First of all, Smith unfortunately seems to be tragically difficult to locate--what is wrong with people? Why do they not realize that it's one of the BEST BOOKS EVER?

Yeah. So. Anyway. Even though I didn't find any copies of the book that I actually needed, I walked away with a much lighter wallet.

Ballet Shoes, by Noel Stretfeild

Theater Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild

Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome

Chancy and the Grand Rascal, by Sid Fleischman

All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren

The Sign of the Chrysanthemum, by Katherine Paterson

The Dead Secret, by Wilkie Collins

A Passage to India, by E. M. Forster

Jade Green: a ghost story, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

The Wreckers, by Iain Lawrence

The Ogre Downstairs, by Diana Wynne Jones

Finn Family Moomintroll, by Tove Jansson

Last Term at Malory Towers, by Enid Blyton

In the Fifth at Malory Towers, by Enid Blyton

Five have Plenty of Fun, by Enid Blyton

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, by Suzanne Fisher Staples

The Starlite Drive-In, by Marjorie Reynolds

An Acceptable Time, by Madeline L'Engle

The Drackenburg Adventure, by Lloyd Alexander

The Cuckoo Tree, by Joan Aiken

I suspect that I already own some of them, but whatever. So I have a problem. Big deal. They're books, not crack. Right?

PS. Just so everyone is still clear on this: I DO NOT like Enid Blyton. I just buy her books to torment her fans.

My grandparents and my uncle make the paper. Cool.

2005-01-04T11:35:00.000-04:00

Ship's bell comes 'home' from its World War II service

Retired commander's son buys historic memento on eBay.

Hmmmm... the 50 Book Challenge

2005-01-04T08:55:00.000-04:00

So there are a bunch of bloggers at LiveJournal that have joined up for the 50bookchallenge. The point is to try to read (and write about) at least 50 books over the course of the year.

While I don't think it'll be too difficult for me personally, it should be interesting to actually keep a running tally of how many books I read in a year...

The Laughing Corpse -- Laurell K. Hamilton

2005-01-04T08:05:00.000-04:00

A book has to be pretty darned entertaining for me to read in a moving car. So far, Laurell K. Hamilton has a pretty good track record with me--two for two.

Chrissy was worried that I'd freak out about the rather graphic child-murders. Nope. Those parts didn't bother me much. (Okay, I admit that it was horribly disgusting when Anita and Merlioni have the gross-out contest at the crime scene). Usually, though, it's the little things that really get me--like when Anita shoves her thumb into a bad guy's eyeball and pops it! GROSS. I had to put the book down for a few minutes after that one. Just thinking about it gives me the willies.

But, as I've probably said before, what I like the most about the series is the politics:

Vampirism had only been legal for two years in the United States of America. We were still the only country where it was legal. Don't ask me; I didn't vote for it. There was even a movement to give the vamps the vote. Taxation without representation and all that. Two years ago if a vampire bothered someone I just went out and staked the son of a bitch. Now I had to get a court order of execution. Without it, I was up on murder charges, if I was caught. I longed for the good ol' days.

(Note the 'if I was caught'--that's a perfect example of the Anita Blake attitude).

For people who don't know the series at all, not only is Anita Blake a vampire hunter; she's also an animator. (An animator raises the dead--apparently, as a child, before she learned how to control it, zombified roadkill followed her around a lot). Of course, as an animator, Anita has a special interest in the dead--so she takes issue with the fact that it's perfectly legal for people to raise zombies and use them as slaves. (Chrissy, I will admit that I did find the idea of raising zombies to be sex-slaves to necrophiliacs rather disturbing).

All of this is leaving out the whole Jean-Claude Master-of-the-City thing, but I haven't hit any raunchy sex scenes involving him (yet), so I'll let that one go. For now.

So I saw bits and pieces of Final Destination 2.

2005-01-03T08:56:00.000-04:00

It could have been so good--I loved the big set-ups, and then the Mousetrap-like sequences where all of the conicidences came together and kicked the crap out of someone. But it all fell apart when one of the kids was in the hospital and all of the equipment started moving by itself--no more coincidences, Death just got all Freddy Krueger on their asses. Which was really, really lame. What happened? Did the producers only pay the writers for a certain amount of script pages? It was like reading one of the John Bellairs books that Brad Strickland finished--you turn the page, and all of a sudden, you're somehow reading a completely different book, even though it's about the same characters and has the same basic plot.

I gave up on the movie at that point, but Josh said it got even worse after that.

Here Today - Ann M. Martin

2005-01-01T12:55:00.000-04:00

I still think it's weird that Ann M. Martin has started writing good books.

Apparently, A Corner of the Universe was not a fluke. Her newest book, Here Today, is great.

In 1963, Ellie's mother, Doris Day Dingman, was crowned the Bosetti Beauty at Mr. Bosetti's supermarket. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the Dingmans began to fall apart. Most of this happened in the second part of the year--a year that had gotten off to a pretty good start, considering they were the Dingmans.

I will admit to especially liking historical fiction that's set in the 20th century. But regardless of that slight lack of objectivity, this was a super book.

The Dingmans live in the town of Spectacle (Ellie calls the residents the Spectaculars), down a cul-de-sac called Witch Tree Lane. The kids that live on the street are all close friends, and they're all outcasts at school--Holly Major doesn't know who her dad is, and her mom has never been married; the Lauchaires are from Belgium, speak French, and are always a mess; the Levins are Jewish bohemians; Miss Nelson and Miss Woods have lived together for years and are not related. The Dingmans? Well, how easy do you think it would be to have that last name? Or a mother that has re-named herself Doris Day, is an aspiring actress, and who will do ANYTHING to become one?

Awesome.

The Killer's Cousin - Nancy Werlin

2004-12-31T15:51:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-30T17:43:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-30T17:20:00.000-04:00

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

The Baconator would be so proud.

I'm sorry, did I miss something?

2004-12-30T16:55:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-30T15:13:00.000-04:00

"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.

2004-12-28T13:43:00.000-04:00

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

2004-12-21T09:54:00.000-04:00

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

2004-12-21T09:17:00.000-04:00

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?

2004-12-21T09:12:00.000-04:00

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?

2004-12-18T15:56:00.000-04:00

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??

2004-12-18T10:48:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-18T09:39:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-17T16:51:00.000-04:00

Check out the Iraqi graffiti at Harper's.

Score!

2004-12-17T09:13:00.000-04:00

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

Sorcery & Cecilia

(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

Crusader

Sahara Special

(I've been meaning to read this for a long, long time. Now I have no excuse).

Judy Moody Boxed Set

(Judy Moody should just get it over with and kick the crap out of Junie B. Jones).

The Game of Sunken Places

Feed

Indigo's Star

Saffy's Angel

And all for $30. Kickass.

Eminem is cool.

2004-12-17T09:11:00.000-04:00

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

2004-12-17T09:08:00.000-04:00

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

2004-12-17T09:06:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-15T20:09:00.000-04:00

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

MoorishGirl's take on the OFAC garbage:

2004-12-15T20:04:00.000-04:00

"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...

2004-12-15T18:40:00.000-04:00

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...

2004-12-15T18:37:00.000-04:00

Throw the book at bossy club member

Oh, man.

2004-12-15T14:23:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-10T15:18:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-09T17:50:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-09T15:11:00.000-04:00

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

Speaking of Gail Giles...

2004-12-09T14:56:00.000-04:00

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

2004-12-09T14:48:00.000-04:00

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...

2004-12-09T09:53:00.000-04:00

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

2004-12-09T08:58:00.000-04:00

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!!

2004-12-07T13:42:00.001-04:00

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:

2004-12-07T13:42:00.000-04:00

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...

2004-12-07T09:39:00.000-04:00

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

2004-12-07T09:37:00.000-04:00

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?

2004-12-03T15:10:00.001-04:00

"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.

2004-12-03T13:36:00.000-04:00

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

2004-12-03T09:29:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-03T08:47:00.000-04:00

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.

2004-12-01T18:04:00.000-04:00

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.

Speak -- Laurie Halse Anderson

2004-11-30T09:17:00.000-04:00

I finally got up the courage to read Speak.

I know that it's wrong for me to have waited so long--it's an important book, one that everyone ~~in this field~~ should read at least once. At least.

It affected me pretty much the way that I thought it would--it threw me for a total loop. I actually read it weeks ago, but I haven't been ready to talk about it until now. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to get all mega-sensitive and Hunter-esque on you guys. (God, she'd probably be so happy to know that her name has ended up in my vocabulary, even though it's totally not flattering. I hope she isn't reading this. If you are, did you pay Steve back yet? I think that you might owe him some money).

But, regardless of how ironic and funny and good this book is, it's a really, really, really painful one. And an angry one. Especially if you go into it knowing exactly what's going on from the beginning.

Anyway. Hmmm. Apparently I'm not as ready to talk about this one as I thought. Well. I highly recommend it, at any rate.

Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen -- Wendelin Van Draanen

2004-11-30T08:55:00.000-04:00

Sammy Keyes continues to rock.

In Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen, we get:

Sammy's thirteenth birthday
Casey Acosta
an Elvis impersonator
a new place in town that teaches pro-wrestling
a lot of dead cats
an AWESOME fight with Heather Acosta AND Tenille AND Monet
a secret that Sammy's mom has kept for almost ten years
some great moments with Officer Borsch
and yes, a psycho kitty queen:

...something catches my eye. Something pink off to my left. Behind some bushes. Along the far side of Hudson's porch. So instead I whisper, "What was that?" "What was what?" Hudson whispers back. I stand up and tiptoe the length of Hudson's porch. And when I sneak a step down the side stairs and peek around the bushes, I choke out, "Aaarrh!" and jump back. Right on the other side of Hudson's bushes is one of the scariest sights I've ever seen. A super-sized, batty-eyed Barbie.

If you haven't read these books, (adult or otherwise), start! They're so much fun. Sammy is as tough as Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, as well as a million times cooler than Nancy Drew, as well as (gasp!) a REAL character, not a cardboard cutout.

The Golden Hour -- Maiya Williams

2004-11-29T19:16:00.000-04:00

Proof that Maine isn't boring.

There's a town in coastal Maine called Owatannauk. Yeah, big deal, you say--there's a ton of coastal towns in Maine with weird names. That doesn't mean that Maine isn't boring. (You say).

Maybe so. But, according to Maiya Williams, for two hours during the day (the Golden Hour and the silver hour, (otherwise known as dawn and dusk)), in Owatannauk, Maine, you can travel in time. You can only travel by appointment, and only someone who lives in Owatannauk can make the appointment for you.

I love time travel stories--IF the time travel is done well. (If not, I end up picking everything apart and getting all irritated. Yes, I know. It's a rough life that I lead). I really liked the way that time travel worked in this one--I liked that the author had created a system of rules that made sense (the more you time travel, the more static electricity you generate, so a lot of people in the town don't have electricity at all--stuff like that), and that it was actually dangerous. (Of course, the kids would head straight for Paris, 1789).

The author clearly did a lot of research about the time period as well, so I'd totally recommend it to a student who needed a historical fiction novel and didn't want a dull one. Any book with a guillotine on the back cover has to be entertaining. It's a rule.

Speaking of RULE... The Popplewells' aunts--the ones that actually live in the town--are AWESOME. I love reverse psychology. (Ask Briana).

"Sister, I believe that young man is going to go exactly the opposite of what you suggested." Gertrude, who had been sitting under the staircase, emerged from the darkness. "Your overcautioning and mystified gobbledygook has only emboldened him to explore that rundown resort with his friends." "Yes," said Agatha. "I was worried that his fear of ghosts would keep them from going there. I had to give him a push." "And brilliantly so, Sister. It is time."

It looks like there's going to be a sequel. Fine with me. I just hope that there's a map in it. I need to find this town. Josh and I are totally moving there.

Eeeeew.

2004-11-27T16:16:00.000-04:00

I finally saw Super Size Me. I won't be eating fast food in a long, long time.

The main question that I came away from the documentary was this: What is the point of having a public relations department if they refuse to talk to the public?

Um, isn't there a huge budget deficit?

2004-11-27T16:11:00.000-04:00

I'm sure glad that the guys and gals running our country have their priorites straight...

The Senate voted 65-30 for the legislation late on Saturday that sets aside funds for a range of priorities including a presidential yacht, foreign aid and energy.

A presidential yacht??? WTF?! How did that even make it into the bill?? I'm so disgusted.

Yes, but the major question is: When is it going to be released HERE??

2004-11-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

Based on a novel of the same title by the British children's author Diana Wynne Jones, "Howl" is less Miyazaki's attempt to wow shojo manga fans (though wowed they will be) than further proof of why his status as the world's greatest living animator is still secure.

Although Diana wasn't involved with the film (other than meeting with reps from the studio), she's been quoted as saying, "It's fantastic. No, I have no input - I write books, not films. Yes it will be different from the book - in fact it's likely to be very different, but that's as it should be. It will still be a fantastic film."

This whole buying-for-wholesale-through-the-library thing is getting addictive.

2004-11-22T19:29:00.000-04:00

This book came for me today. I love it. There are some unbelieveably cool patterns in it.

Yeah. So, I'm totally going to hell.

2004-11-22T18:34:00.000-04:00

More at somethingawful.com. Some of them are horribly, horribly funny.

So what if it's hard to find books for a while?

2004-11-19T14:34:00.000-04:00

I found this via Readerville:

In San Francisco, for this week only, a bookstore has allowed an artist to organize its inventory by color.

The Year of Secret Assignments -- Jaclyn Moriarty

2004-11-19T09:04:00.000-04:00

Another awesome Aussie author. (Ah, alliteration!)

The Year of Secret Assignments was a blast. It's an epistolary novel, like Ella Minnow Pea.

For an English project, the students at Ashbury High have to become pen pals with their rivals, Brookfield High. And, with quite a bit of moaning and groaning from some of the parties involved, they do.

The Ashbury girls:

Lydia:

I'm having trouble concentrating because Tic Tacs keep hitting the side of my head. What should happen is this: You should send me some dope and I should sell it. Or use it. We should do it regularly. You send it, and I sell it. It would be a bit like drug trafficking. I've heard that Brookfield has a marijuana plantation instead of a sports oval. So I guess it's easy enough for you to get. Or are they strict about who can pick it? I hope not.

Emily:

1. My Name: Emily Thompson (aka: Em) 2. My Interests: Well, there's too many to write out! My hand will fall off from the repetitious strain injury! But okay. You twisted my arm. I'll choose the top three! (a) Shopping Shopping, shopping, shopping! HEY, DID I JUST USE UP MY THREE? OOPS!

Cassie: In actual fact, I always think it's funny when a teacher tries to be cool. Most people want to slap them across the face, but I want to sit them down, like with a hand on their forehead, and say, "It's okay, you're a grown-up, you're allowed to be a nerd, just breathe in and out, that's all you need to do, " and they would look up at me confused but also relieved and teary-eyed.The Brookfield boys:

Sebastian

It's great that you're a fish, because I'm a heron of the kind that flies around the sky and then swoops down to the ocean and screws your brains out. You thought I was going to say I was the kind of heron that swoops down and eats you, didn't you? I was, but I thought that might be offensive.

Charlie

Well, I have to say that your letter was a bit of a shock. Maybe it's a girl/guy thing? Do you want to ask the teacher if you can write to a girl in my class instead of me? Or else, I've got a sister if you want to write to her? Just say the word, if you do. Seriously, what grade are you in? No offense, but do you realize you talk like an eighty-five-year-old?

Matthew

Eat shit and die, private school slag.

Those quotes are all from their first letters to each other. As you might suspect, a lot changes over the course of the book--and it's over 300 pages long, so there's quite a bit of room to maneuver. There are a LOT of laugh-out-loud parts in it--when Emily gets mad, her letters are PRICELESS. When I hit the halfway point, I started doing the read-super-fast-just-so-I-could-find-out-what-would-happen thing. So I'm going to buy it and read it again.

Because, as we all know, it's much better to go out and shoot something than it is to wear a dress.

2004-11-18T09:06:00.000-04:00

"It might be fun today to dress up like a little girl -- kids think it's cute and things like that. And you start playing around with it and, like drugs, you do a little here and there (and) eventually it gets you," Davies told reporters.

Sometimes, it is really, really hard for me to stick to my try-to-respect-other-opinions-and-beliefs thing. Really, really hard. "...eventually it gets you". What does that even mean??? Does she not have bigger things to worry about? Where to people come up with the time for this crap?? Because that's what it is. Crap.

Of course, I try less hard in a case like this--where ONE parent dictates what the ENTIRE school does. ONE parent. So, obviously, she couldn't care less about respecting the beliefs of others. It's her way or NO WAY.

Obviously, I'm feeling a little cranky this morning. Reading the news is NOT HELPING.

Hooray!!

2004-11-18T08:53:00.000-04:00

Pete Hautman won the National Book Award for Godless. The National Book Foundation has a full list of the winners.

Judy Blume was honored with the Medal for Distiguished Contribution to American Letters--she was the first YA author to recieve the award. I heard part of her acceptance speech on NPR this morning, and it sounded great--as she's a huge freedom of speech activist, she was talking about (not surprisingly) censorship. Rad.

Marvel Entertainment is not made up of superheroes--actually, they're a bunch of big babies.

2004-11-17T20:55:00.000-04:00

"Asking City of Heroes to police their users to ensure that they don't replicate Marvel characters is like asking a school to police its students to make sure none of them show up for Halloween in a homemade Spider-Man costume," said Cory Doctorow, a renowned writer and advocate for free speech and fair use. "It's unreasonable bullying, and it is bad corporate citizenship."

What do I care? I got a growth on my pecker.

2004-11-17T15:44:00.000-04:00

This movie is a must see for everyone. Well, for everyone who has a sense of humor that is anything like mine, anyway.

Bubba Ho-Tep is a story of epic proportions: Elvis (the guy with the walker) and JFK (the guy in the wheelchair) are living in a Texas nursing home, where they do battle with an ancient Egyptian mummy.

I feel that I might need to own this one, because it was really dang hard to send it back to Netflix.

If you love me,

2004-11-16T16:35:00.000-04:00

buy me this book.

The True Meaning of Cleavage -- Mariah Fredericks

2004-11-16T13:07:00.000-04:00

cleav·age (klvj) n.

1. The act of splitting or cleaving.
...
6. Informal. The hollow between a woman's breasts, especially as revealed by a low neckline.

A lot of boppy teen-angsty high school books are really entertaining and have fun characters, but usually none of them (except sometimes--hopefully--the protagonist) are real people. (I mean, really. Lilly Moscovitz? There's not a whole lot there). The True Meaning of Cleavage does it right. The characters are real people; no one is completely, utterly awful, and no one is perfect.

A brief synopsis of this book makes it sound like one of those generic, run-of-the-mill YA novels: Jess (the geek) and Sari (the pretty rebel) are best friends, they start high school, Sari falls psychotically in love (her description) with a senior, problems ensue.

Jess would be happier with the more black and white world of science fiction (or, like I said, of many other books in Cleavage's genre): A lot of people ask me why I love science fiction so much. Here's what I'll tell them if they ever ask me again: In science fiction, people are either good or evil. If they harm someone, it's because they want to. If they're good and they want to save people, they have the power to do that. There are no screw-ups in sci-fi. Nobody who would like to do the right thing but can't quite get it together. Nobody who doesn't mean to hurt someone but does it anyway. There's good and there's evil; you love one and you hate the other. And that's that.Happily, Mariah Fredericks wrote this book in color.

Awwwww....

2004-11-16T10:58:00.000-04:00

Happy 30th Birthday, D & D.

PS. I miss you, Dixon Ticonderoga.

If anyone would know how to do it right, he would.

2004-11-16T09:57:00.000-04:00

Okay, so this weekend, I took Chrissy's advice and watched Blade 2.

While I was very, very happy to have Kris Kristofferson in the sequel, I don't buy it for a minute. What? Did he miss his head when he shot himself in the first movie? What is that?

I almost fell over when I realized that Ron Perlman was in it. He shows up in the weirdest places. I thought that he was kind of underused, though. It's RON PERLMAN!! He can do more than sneer and beat people up!! That's okay, though.

And what is with the 'romantic' death scene with Nyssa seeing the sunrise? Every other vampire that is exposed to sunlight either blows up or screams in crazy agony for a while, but noooooooooo, she just gracefully turns into ash. Bah.

The best part, hands down, was when that horribly annoying Scud kid blew up. Awesome. I hated him.