People all over the world are donating money to the Red Cross and similar immediate-relief efforts to aid the victims of the Katrina. By all means, do so. In fact, follow this link to do so. Agencies Supporting Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts at MSN. You can take your pick of agencies.

Just please, think about giving your money to these people too.

The LLA Disaster Relief Fund is now accepting monetary donations to assist school, public, and academic library restoration efforts in southeastern Louisiana.
Please make checks payable to: LLA-Disaster Relief and mail to:
LLA
421 South 4th St
Eunice, LA 70535

from the Louisiana Library Association Homepage

What about after? What about when people come back to the places they lived? By that time, certainly many months in the future, the focus of the media will be diverted away from New Orleans and onto other things, but rebuilding money needs to come from somewhere.

School, public, and academic libraries have been devastated as surely as have private homes. Their facilities have been destroyed, their collections carried away or irretrievably damaged. But it's the nature of the beast that libraries come way down the list. Help make sure New Orleans and surrounding areas can rebuild their libraries as well as their homes.

And if you know or are anybody who worked for the New Orleans Public Library, please go to The NOPL Blog and post contact information.

A book rec tomorrow, I swear.

Adding another link: PaperBackSwap.com

This is an online book club where you can swap books with other members for the price of postage. It's great for people like me who a) have about five zillion books languishing around that used bookstores won't take and b) have a list as long as their own arm of older books they just can't find anywhere. Fix both problems at once.

Nicely browsable and searchable, with publishers' blurbs and reviews.

Here's an oldish favorite . . . I don't know how often I'll be updating, because the fall semester starts today. Oy! On the other hand, it's my last semester. Huzzah!

Book: Sorcery and Cecilia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot
Authors: Caroline Stevemer and Patricia C. Wrede
Originally Published: 1988

18-year-old cousins Kate and Cecilia thought that their lives were going to be dull this spring of 1817. Although Kate is in London for her first Season, her gorgeous sister is there too, pretty much ensuring nobody's going to look at Kate. Poor Cecy is stuck at home in Rushton, where nothing ever happens (except for that dust-up about Squire Bryant's goat). Their entertainment becomes writing long letters to each other.

Except all of a sudden, Kate and Cecy find themselves hip-deep in the doings of wizards in both London and Rushton . . . wizards who don't want to be interfered with. Why did an ominous woman try to serve Kate chocolate that burned a hole in her skirt? Who is the Mysterious Marquis, and why is he after that chocolate pot? Why does James Tarleton keep trying to sneak around, apparently spying on Cecy? (He's very bad at it, too.) And how the heck did their shy little friend Dorothea suddenly become the reigning belle of the neighborhood and then of London? Working together through their letters, Kate and Cecy are going to get to the bottom of this . . . hopefully before the wizards figure out what they're doing!

From the moment you meet Cecy (discussing a proposed visit to the oh-so-dull Reverend, she tells Kate that "I am determined to have the headache on Thursday if I have to hit myself with a rock to do it) and Kate (recounting a visit to the Elgin Marbles, she tells Cecy that listening to other people talk about them is enough "to make the eyes roll right back in your head with boredom"), you have to like them. Funny, caring, clever, and still just teenaged enough to be real, these are girls you want to have on your side in a battle against unscrupulous villains.

It takes a little while for the plot to get going, but when it does, readers discover a fast-paced and ofttimes hilarious magical adventure in an alternate Regency London where magic is accepted and wizards are commonplace. This book is often described as Jane Austen with a dash of magic, and I have to agree with that. Lively, ever-so-slightly screwball, and just romantic enough, this book is just plain old fun.

The story of this book is almost as interesting as the plot. Patricia C. Wrede convinced Caroline Stevemer to play the letter game, a writer's exercise in which letters are written in-character and neither player is allowed to tell the other what's going to happen next. At the end of it, being professional writers in their own rights, they realized they had a book, and thus Sorcery and Cecilia was shared with the world. Wrede (as Cecilia) and Stevemer (as Kate), luckily have similar enough styles that the switch is not jarring, as might be expected. A sequel, The Grand Tour, was published in 2004, and Wrede carried on with the idea of this alternate England in her two books Mairelon the Magician and The Magician's Ward. Go find them!

Quick post in order to furnish y'all with a new website I've found.

Kid-Lit.com

Not, as far as I can tell, affiliated with the KIDLIT-L listserv (which by the way, can someone out there in BloggerLand tell me what the correct address is for that? I've been trying to subscribe for weeks, without success). This website was started by a mom looking for books for her kids. It features a database, which you can search by all sorts of different criteria, like the reader's age, gender, or reading level, and genre, keywords, and even ethnicity of the book's characters. Pretty handy. Plus you can look up particular books to see what real kids think of it, and whether you agree.

The database does not include picture books and concentrates mostly on chapter books for readers between 6-12 years. It does include YA books, but under the lump heading of "12+". Still, it's well worth putting on your favorites list, if you ask me.

Book: What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows
Author: Nora Raleigh Baskin
Published: 2001

Twelve-year-old Gabby doesn't get this whole "woman" thing. How is she supposed to know what it's all about? She hasn't had a mother since she was three. She does the best she can, keeping a list of all the things that are apparently necessary to being female, as best she can tell. These include: drinking gelatin to keep your nails strong, how to make veal scallopini, and putting lotion on your elbows. But she has the haunting feeling that's not all there is to it.

Then she meets Taylor Such, the new girl at school. As they become best friends, Gabby slowly learns that even girls with moms aren't too sure what they're doing on the best of days. Along with this knowledge, she gets the courage to confront the actual events surrounding her mother's death.

Baskin has a gift for mingling silly and significant with ease and without fear. Taylor and Gabby ring true as twelve-year-old best friends, with goofy in-jokes and believable rough spots, and Gabby's relationship with her brother Ian is also realistic--neither too close nor too antagonistic, but the blend of the two that exists between just about any siblings. There are some plot threads that seem to get lost, but Baskin thankfully avoids the sweeping happy ending in which all problems are miraculously fixed. Gabby remains somewhat uncertain about womanhood, but she's a little more comfortable with that uncertainty now.

Overall, this is a great, funny book for girls and women, with or without mothers. If you're twelve, this will seem like your life. If you passed that age a long time ago, reading this book will make you laugh and be grateful you're never going to be there again.

Go here to see the 2005 results of the world's favorite, and possibly only, bad-writing contest.

While the entries are deliberately awful, the site also features lines from published fiction by people who may have thought they were being deep and evocative, and just sound damn silly.

Bulwer-Lytton Contest Main Site

Because God knows we all need to laugh ourselves blue in the face every so often.

It's new links day here at Confessions of a Bibliovore. Aren't y'all about to just expire with excitement?????

New Blogs

Dave Barry's Blog - If you, like me, miss Barry's weekly dose of ludicrosity, drop into his blog. He highlights everything we always loved, like weird headlines, proposed band names, and downright tastelessness. Ah, simple joys.

New Websites of Interest

History House - Nothing I like better than irreverence, as readers of this blog will know. But I also like carefully researched, accurate, and who-the-hell-knew-that??? history. Which is why History House is an old fave, because it combines the best of both worlds. Unfortunately dormant now (sob! sob!!) the columns archives is still good for some great time-wasting, justifiable because, hey, we're learning! Don't forget to check out (HAR!) their multitudinous reccommendations for history-type books.

Fark.com - We live in a stupid, stupid world. Fark.com (unlike, say, NBC news) openly acknowledges this and invites you to enjoy the absurdities.

Richie's Picks - I actually get Richie's Picks in my email. He sporadically sends out emails with a chatty discussion of his latest book. I like it because they're not the ones that get all the press and hoo-ha. Check the website to browse for archived reviews.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog-slogging.

Quick post because I have been bad and not blogged for ten days. And I know you've just all been on tenterhooks, waiting for my next words of wisdom. Right? Right?? (Say yes.)

Book:The View From Saturday
Author: E.L. Konigsburg
Published: 1998, winner of the '98 Newbery

Take four extraordinary kids--Noah (fact: loves facts), Nadia (proud owner of a genius dog), Ethan (winner of the all-county Quietest Kid Competition), and Julian (sweet, perceptive, and of course picked-upon), and put them together with their brand-new teacher, the wheelchair-bound Mrs. Olinski. What do you get? A) The Souls, b) the first sixth-graders to compete in state Quiz Bowl c) a group of really good friends, d) all of the above.

I do hope you picked D.

E.L. Konigsberg has a certain dreamy, quirky style that not every kid will take to. If you recognize the name, she's the one who wrote From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (also a Newbery winner). What I love about her is that she's not afraid to weave in complex ideas and unusual characters. The way the novel is structured is also unexpected. Using the state Quiz Bowl finals as a framework, she takes the time to tell the intimate story of each one of the kids, and also Mrs. Olinski. How did they get where they are today? How did they become friends? Why the heck did Mrs. Olinski pick them? What exactly is the meaning of kindness and meanness, and what is their effect? You'll have to read and find out.

Like another favorite author of mine, Margaret Mahy, this book feels as if it should be pointless, but somehow isn't. It's not a sure-fire favorite for every kid, but try it and see. You might be surprised. Mrs. Olinski was.

Ha. You thought I was lying, didn't you? Confess! that when you read "I'll do a rec post soon I swear," you went, "Uh-huh Bibliovore, sure. Whatever."

O ye of little faith!

Movie: Charade
Director: Stanley Donen (who? yes, I know.)
Released: 1963

Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) has decided to leave her husband. But when she gets home from a ski trip, she finds that he's left her first . . . the apartment is stripped to the walls. And then she finds out that not only has he left her, and Paris, he's left the land of the living, too.

But hubby did leave her something to liven up her days--a little matter of a lot of missing money, and some very nasty guys that want it back. Now the only person she can trust to help her out as she scrambles to find the money, evade the bad guys, and keep herself alive is the man played by Cary Grant.

Thanks a lot, hubby.

I saw this movie a few weeks back and just rolled on the floor. Sure, it's about spies, murders, and nasty stuff, but it's also hucking filarious. That being said, it's a great suspense movie, too. Like the title implies, you never really know who you can trust or what their motives are, even up to the last moment.

Audrey Hepburn, while initially wide-eyed and naive in that way she does so well, has smarts of her own to counter Cary Grant's dizzying shifts in character. I said "the man played by" up there because this fella changes names about as often as he changes pants--an element that contributes both to the humor and the suspense. Nice one!

Sure, it's a forty-year-old movie and at times shows it (they smoke like very elegant chimneys, for one thing) but it's also fabulously written and genuinely entertaining. If your local video store doesn't have it, tell them they suck and go find it at the library.

Of interest to me and anyone else who loves books, or for that matter, movies: Books vs. Movies

Check out the movie theater these days, folks. You might as well be at a bookstore. Although the last time I checked, Barnes and Noble doesn't sell Junior Mints at a 375% markup. I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Witness some of these titles shared by celluloid and paperbacks:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Howl's Moving Castle
War of the Worlds
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

. . . and that's just a list of the ones I've read.

This isn't a new trend. Hollywood has been doing this since basically the beginning of Hollywood. It's a great Blockbuster drinking game . . . walk down the aisles and take a chug for every movie that you know there's a book of. The drama section alone will put any self-respecting English major under the table. Of course, then you'll get kicked out of Blockbuster's for public drunkenness, but you should have known better than to take my advice about hot drinking spots. Sheesh.

What would happen if we all took a moment to read some of the books made into movies? That's my challenge to you. Liked the movie? Check Amazon, see if there's a book. (Tie-in novelizations don't count. Sorry. They just don't.) If you find an actual book, published before the movie came out, buy it or take it out of the library. Read, then report back. Over and out.

P.S. I swear I'll do a rec post soon. I sweeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar. Honest!

Another eensy update, this one somewhat less light-hearted:
37 Confirmed Dead in London Blasts

Why are people like this? Why do people do this? I've never understood. Least of all do I understand their belief that they're doing God's will. I've always believed that God goes by many different names in our world, but I have to say of this: that's not my God.

I lived near London for about four months, and I'm trying to picture the London I trundled around in, underground map and digital camera in hand, as Ground Zero. People I may have passed on the street are dead now. Britons I knew (and in some cases still correspond with) are reeling in shock and horror. Some of them may have lost friends or loved ones.

Why do people do this? How can they make this kind of choice?

If anyone's read Caroline B. Cooney's The Terrorist, about a young boy killed in a London subway, the victim of a terrorist bombing, please write in and let me know how it is.

Eensy update, because this made me giggle:

Handicapping the Great 20th Century Novels A tool to decide which door-stop, drinks-coaster, insomnia-curing tome to take out in public and pretend you're enjoying next. Although we all know that what's really on your nightstand is a well-worn copy of Searing Jungle Passion, Dead Before Dessert, or The Ultimate Spider-Man Showdown. Which is cool, as long as the damn TV is off.

Plus I really do think we need a variation of this concerning 19th century British literature.

Guess what! The long-awaited update is here!!

Book: Parsifal's Page
Author: Gerald Morris
Original Publication: 2001

Piers was born the son of a blacksmith, but secretly he dreams of the glitter of court, the majesty of chivalry, and the glory of knighthood. When a knight comes to his father's forge to get a suit of armor, Piers jumps at the chance to become his squire (changing his name to "Pierre" along the way). But he quickly finds out that not only is the life of a knight rather different than he was expecting, all the things he's ever heard about knighthood might not work so great in real life. But if knighthood isn't about chivalry, fair ladies, and glorious battles . . . well, what is it about then? From Arthur's Round Table to the land of Faerie and all the way back home again, Piers is going to have to figure it out on his own.

Gerald Morris has made a writing career out of retelling Arthurian romances, infusing them with an irreverence that helps readers explore past the surface glitter, just as Piers/Pierre does. Kids unfamiliar with either the original Arthurian stories or Morris's earlier books (Parsifal's Page is the fifth in the series, collectively called "The Squire's Tales"), may get slightly lost in the cast of thousands. However, Piers is the P.O.V. character for it all, and even though the actual events of the plot may seem slightly random, the focus on his maturation and deepening understanding remains consistent. Pick this book up for a blend of adventure, legend, fun, and thoughtfulness.

I went to the American Library Association's Annual conference last week, and surely did have myself a blast. I've always been psyched about my choice of life's work, but I'm even more so after the conference. I know there are plenty of burnouts (I knew one, and it was a sad thing), but being around all these people who love what they do shows me that if you can tough out the rocky parts, the rewards are numerous.

In honor of the fun I had, here is a quick ALA 3BT in the tradition of Clare of Tunbridge Wells. Go see the original.

1. Librarians a couple of years away from retirement who were still genuinely and passionately interested in issues like censorship, emergent literacy, bilingualism, attracting kids to the library, and all sorts of other stuff. Show me where that happens in the business world. Yuh-huh. I thought so.

2. Eating lunch with Debbie of Akron, Ohio, who just got a shiny new young-adult librarian and doesn't know what to do with her, so she picked my brain, apparently on the assumption that being as close to young-adultness as I am, I'd have some idea. Also, on the strength of an hour's acquaintance, she gave me her card and said, "Contact me if you ever feel like working in Columbus (her old library system, and apparently a crackin' good one) and I'll get you connectd." Wowzers.

3. Walking into the expo center with a purse and walking out with two bags that bulged with posters, books, candy, pens, pencils, notepads, business cards . . . ALL FREE. Yeah, buddy, you heard it here, FREE BOOKS. Snazzy-cool advance reader copies, because if you get a regular person hooked on you, you've sold a few books max, but if you get a librarian hooked on you, they'll be pimpin' 'til the cows come home because we want the world to read.

I also met up with Beth, of Beth's Blog a.k.a. Sum of Me fame, and we went to see the Taste of Chicago, which is a big fest with all sorts of food from all over the city, from deep-dish pizza to hyper-spicified Indian food. If you're in Chi-town around this time of year and you don't go . . . well, you're just silly, that's all. We had some adventures, recounted here, but all in all it was a good time, and I wish I'd been able to shoehorn some more hangin' out time into my weekend. We got to talking about censorship, and stupid book-banning reasons, and I thought, "I need to do a blog entry about that!" But I won't just yet, because I still need to research. Just know it's coming up.

Also coming up: more recs! I promise! Besides another book about knights 'n' stuff, there's a movie and a TV series that I think everyone should be watching. Having tantalized you, I shall now sign off. Muaha.

C'est moi! And that's about all the French I know, but that's okay, because this post's book comes from the U.K.

Book: Doing It
Author: Melvin Burgess
Published: 2004 (in the U.S.)

No, this is not a heartwarming history of the Nike Corporation. And don't we all thank God for that.

Meet Jon, Ben, and Dino. They are teenage boys, which means they have exactly one thing on their mind. But how . . . how . . . how to get it? Dino goes after Jackie, the most popular girl in school who unfortunately will do everything but it. Jon attempts to deny his attraction to his friend Deborah, for the basic reason that she's rather plump. And Ben's actually getting plenty . . . from a teacher. All together now . . . euwwwwwwwww.

As each boy sinks himself deeper in his own personal quicksand, they learn that there's a lot more to doing it than just . . . well . . . doing it.

This book has gotten a lot of negative press for its provocative title, graphic scenes, and what some people feel is an unsympathetic and one-dimensional portrayal of the teenage girls. My answer to one and two: Burgess is not attempting to titillate. Both stem from honesty. As for three, I was actually surprised at how that honesty extended to his female characters, even though he focuses mainly on the development of the blokes. This isn't a story just about sex, but about how sex (and dealing with its peripheries) affects teens and adults.

All the way from Ben's twisted and tangled relationship with Miss Young, to Dino's shooting himself in the foot, and Jon's desperate concern over Mr. Knobby Knobster (take three guesses), Burgess reveals a range of comedy and drama as well as a genuine understanding of, and compassion for, the sheer thorniness of emerging sexuality and oncoming adulthood. If you're not going through that process right now, take a moment and remember it before you pick up this book. Yes, the story is frankly X-rated, but wasn't high school?

This post has very little to do with books either. Well . . . peripherally. (And now I'm looking at that wondering if it's spelt right.)

This is an idea I got from Beth's blog, to list your various links and why you linked them. Considering how new my links are, and how dreadfully random they are, as a group, I thought it would be a good thing to do.

My website - Like it says, shameless pimping. I just want more traffic. It's my webspace for the many fandoms for which I write fanfiction. Want to know which ones? Guess you'll just have to visit. See that there? That was sneaky, wasn't it?

The Feel-Good Librarian - As many of you may (or may not) know, I'm studying to be one of these. A librarian, that is. And this is the blog of a public librarian who loves to share stories of the reference desk. Some of them are hilarious, some are brain-boggling, and some are touching, but all are worth reading.

Three Beautiful Things - This blogger has taken it upon herself to note three things each day that give her pleasure, and to share them with the world, or at least that portion of it that visits her blog. Which you should do.

The Vampire Librarian - The blog of an academic librarian who works the graveyard shift at a big university, and consequently gets all the . . . errrr . . . interesting people.

The Laughing Librarian - Again with the librarian blogs. What can I say? I'm single-minded. Just library humor to give you a giggle.

Fetu's Lantern - My pal Andi's brand-new blog, in which she writes about writing. And Phantom of the Opera. But more about writing.

Sum of Me - Beth's blog about . . . stuff. Beth stuff. Another writing pal.

Romancing the Blog - A blog all about writing and reading within the romance genre.

Teenreads.com - A site that spotlights some of the best stuff around for teens these days. And there's a lot of good stuff. Bear in mind, folks, that you do not need to be currently undergoing puberty to enjoy YA fiction. You just need to remember it, even a little.

So now that you've seen what I like, do you all out there in blogland have any suggestions for me? I welcome them. The comments section works and everything.

Yes, that was shameless pimping again.

I did promise you knights 'n' stuff, didn't I?

Book: Pagan's Crusade
Author: Catherine Jinks
Published: 2003

The time: 1187. The place: Jerusalem. The events: the Crusades. Here comes Lord Roland Roucy de Bram, the dashing Knight Templar, one of the glorious and heroic guardians of the holy places and the pilgrims that come to see them . . . and here comes Lord Roland's squire, muttering and swearing and generally snarking on everything in sight. Meet Pagan Kidrouk, the most unlikely Monk of War since, well, ever.

From the moment I met sixteen-year-old Pagan, with his irreverence and determined cynicism, I had to keep reading. Note this exchange, early on when Pagan is signing up for the Knights Templar. "Birthplace." "Bethlehem. . . . Don't worry. It wasn't in a stable." Hehehe! And yet Pagan's not rock-hard, either. Even as he decries the unbelievable stupidity of what he's doing, he finds himself bonding with Lord Roland, who really is as good as he seems, and learning that there are some things worth laying down your life for. Just not the ones everyone says.

Like Pagan, the book itself is a strange blend of hilarity and seriousness, with Pagan's opinions on greedy pilgrims trying to make a buck off each other juxtaposed with graphic descriptions of siege warfare. Catherine Jinks is reportedly a medieval scholar, which I believe, because this is not a sweet and fuzzy, noble and heroic portrait of the times. It's gutsy, gritty, bloody, and confusing, with people who complain, steal, lie . . . actually, it feels a lot like today, except without indoor plumbing.

Jinks utilizes something close to a stream of consciousness technique, with first-person present tense, so it feels as if you're actually sitting in Pagan's head, listening to his thoughts. It may bother some hardcore nitpickers that Pagan and his companions have such modern sensibilities and speech, but for me, it made it more immediate and real.

Pagan stars in two more books, Pagan's Exile and Pagan's Vows, and appears in one more, Pagan's Scribe. Go out and find them!

Okay, this isn't a proper booky post either. I have a literal backlog of good books, but for some reason haven't sat down to blog them.

Most of the reason is right here--my personal website. I've had a site dedicated to my fan writings on Angelfire for, oh, eons nows. It was only about half-built, and usually updated whenever I visited and went, "Geez, this is old!" Anyway, a few days ago, I decided that I was going to buy myself some webspace and not subject my readers to Angelfire's addy evilness anymore.

This I did. And this is also the reason why I've had time to read, but not to blog. Because, frankly folks, I would rather read than blog. I really truly would. There are just those times when I come across a book that turns me into a bibliovangelist for a short period of time, and that's when I post for you all.

Also check out my new fave links on the side there. My success with HTML on my own site went right to my head, and I got wacky with the HTML from Blogger.

Coming soon: Lots o' teen and kids' books, featuring knights 'n' stuff. I promise. Honest.

Of possible (nay, probable) interest to my readers, I have here a link passed on by Arleen, who swears she reads this blog.

Rex Murphy's Cross Country Checkup

It's apparently a biennial list of really good books from Listeners Like You. Suggested drinking game in honor of Arleen: take a slug every time you come across a book you've read, or even heard of.

I'm going to start doing stuff like this from now on, trying to update more often. Even I have a life beyond books, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

No, I'm not sick. I've just gotten the chance to read some great books lately. Also the free time to blog. Very important conjunction there.

Book: 24 Girls in 7 Days
Author: Alex Bradley
Published: 2005

With all the books out there about girls wigging out over prom, it's an unexpected and charming reversal to find one about a guy doing the same. Jack Grammar has been shot down by the one girl he got up the guts to ask, and is now convinced that the so-called best night of his life is going to be anything but. That's before his best friends put up a personal ad just for him on the school website, and suddenly he's the hottest commodity at his high school. With seven days to go until prom, he somehow has to pick one girl to go with, which means twenty-four dates to find the girl of his dreams. And who's this mysterious FancyPants who keeps emailing? Hope he took his vitamins.

While this seems like a dumb romantic comedy from the premise, Alex Bradley has put a lot of thought into his characters. Jack is probably the biggest sweetheart that it's possible for a senior in high school to be, and definitely the biggest one I've ever read. Thoughtful, intelligent, and (when it comes to girls) posessing all the finesse of a Hereford on acid, he's the kind of guy who was probably all over my high school, except I was too busy being a high school girl to notice. His two best friends are generous of heart and not too swift of mind (at least when it comes to their little plot) but really do mean well.

Our hero, searching for that one perfect girl, does not (as most romantic comedy writers would do) have a string of the worst dates known to man. Actually, many of them are pretty good. The focus is squarely on Jack, the development of his ideas about relationships, and his gradual understanding that he's the only one who can make prom night special. If he gets to share it with a really special girl, well, that's a bonus. For a book that's sweet, funny, and (most importantly) avoids or overturns expectations, pick up 24 Girls in 7 Days. You too, guys. You know you want to.

Look! Another update! Omygaw!!!!

Book: Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Published: 2002

Books like Coraline regularly get banned for being too dark for young kids. Which is crap, because this is the kind of freaked-out, completely creepy book that kids eat up with a spoon. The problem is, it's too dark for their parents.

Coraline's got an okay life . . . not really ideal, though. She's just moved into a new flat (apartment, for us Yanks) and she doesn't know anyone but her parents and the neighbors. The two old ladies downstairs can't stop talking about their acting days, and the old man upstairs is training up a mouse circus. And they all insist on calling her "Caroline" . . . ugh. To make things worse, her parents (while affectionate) work at home all day long, and tell her to make her own fun. Sigh. So she explores.

The first time she opens the weird little door in the middle of the sitting room, it's bricked up. The second time, though, it's not. Instead, it leads to . . . somewhere else. Somewhere where there is another mother, and another father, who look just like hers but give her everything she wants. Normal food instead of her real father's weird recipes, all the coolest toys instead of "make your own fun." At first, the black buttons they have in place of eyes don't even bother her.

But soon she gets the feeling something's seriously wrong, especially when she goes back to the real world and discovers that her real mum and dad are missing. Who is the other mother? And why is she so insistent on keeping Coraline in the non-world, where everything beyond her house vanishes into mist?

Coraline doesn't know, nor does she know how she's going to beat the other mother and get her real parents back. But she's about to find out.

Coraline is the kind of no-nonsense, cool-headed kid we'd all love to be. Even though she initially follows the siren call of an ideal life, she's got the sense to see when things aren't what they seem, and to wonder why. The book is somewhat slow-moving, but that's deceptive. It's very hard to stop reading, mostly because of the creepy factor, which crawls up your spine and lodges itself in the deepest corner of your mind, the one that still knows there are things under your bed unless the lights are on. The angular pen-and-ink illustrations by Dave McKean help this along. I defy anyone not to be creeped out by the drawing of the other mother. Urrrgh!!

You have to read this book to the end. Don't put it down in the middle, or it will haunt you the rest of your life. Yes, it makes all the hairs on your body stand on end, but when you reach "THE END" you have the most incredibly satisfied feeling. Neil Gaiman is good at what he does.

Yes, I know. I am a rotten excuse for a blogger. I have not updated in two months. I prostrate myself in shame. Shame, shame, shame. I flay myself with wet noodles. Flay, flay, flay.

Okay, that's over with.

And so is my second semester of library school. Woohoo! It was one that just about killed me dead, for reasons I could not and cannot fathom. Anyhoo, it's over now. Not that I actually disliked reading all those kids' books, but the pressure's off.

So in celebration of having time to waste on fluff, here is some of my favorite fluff.

TV Show: Sex and the City
Creator: Darren Star
Airdates: 1998-2004

Darren Star did good when he named this show, because its two preoccupations literally are: sex, and New York City, and an unabashed enjoyment of both. This isn't thea-tah, folks, or avant-garde film. This is a fun, funny, frank show about sex and relationships that doesn't pretend to be great art, and thank god for it.

The premise is simple. Take four single gals, add them to New York City, and stir in men. Lots of men. Bake for six years. At the end, they're still almost as mixed up about life and relationships as they were in the beginning, but it's been a fun trip all the same, and one that strikes a lot of chords. Everyone's got their favorite SATC gal, and mine is cynical, take-no-shit Miranda. Bad-choice-poster-girl Carrie has her fans, as do slutty-and-proud-of-it Samantha, and prim, idealistic Charlotte.

It gets some flak for talking about *gasp!* sex, but come on, it's part of life, and women do talk about it. Sorry to burst your bubble. It also uses New York City as almost a fifth main character, highlighting her flaws and her charms evenhandedly. It almost makes me want to move there, but I don't have the money.

The show has its flaws, sure enough. Does anyone else regularly want to smack Carrie until her head spins? Uh-huh, raise those hands high. And there are some character continuity nitpicks I have that may drive me bananas. Still, this is a show with some incredibly quotable lines, like:

(upon seeing some naval fellows on the street)
Samantha: Ladies! Seamen, twelve o'clock!
Miranda: I pray when I turn around that there are sailors, because with her, you never know.

Talk all you want about Mr. Big, Steve Brady, Trey MacDougal, or any of the other guys that spin in and out of these womens' lives, but for my money, the most important love story in this show is the four-way relationship between the main characters. Even when they disagree (which happens plenty), they're there for each other with flowers, sympathy, alcohol, chocolate, and if need be, dildos.

I watch this show when I have some time to fill up and I just want to have fun. Sanitized episodes are airing on TBS, but go to your local library or Blockbuster to find the DVDs instead.

And I will try to update more often.

Okay, I don't have time to do a proper long-version post, but I do want to share some of the stuff I'm reading. Like I warned you, all of this is for my Children's Lit class. Okay, it's a lot of picture books, but heck, I had fun reading them even in the absence of rug rats! This is not in my usual format since I basically cut and pasted from the reading log I'm keeping.

Title - King and King and Family
Author - Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland
Culture/Country - homosexual characters
Age - Preschool to 2nd grade
Summary/Review - The two kings go on their honeymoon, seeing many animal families and hoping for one of their own someday, a dream they realize in an unexpected way. Cute art. The strength of this book in its simplicity - the story isn’t about homosexuality but about a fun trip and the ultimate goal of forming their own family. I'm told the prequel is better.

Title - Daughter of the Sea
Author - Berlie Doherty
Culture/Country - not stated but probably Scotland or Cornwall
Age - middle grades
Summary/Review - A middle-aged married couple has just about given up on children of their own when the husband finds a baby in the sea and brings her home. But they always know that someday she’ll have to return . . . It's a very short book, and I wish the author would have fleshed it out some. It may be confusing to kids who have never heard of selkies.

Title - The Tale of Despereaux
Author - Kate DiCamillo
Illustrator - Timothy Basil Ering
Culture/Country - unnamed fantasy land, somewhat English Medieval
Age - middle grades
Summary/Review - Desperaux, a mouse, has fallen in love with a human princess, and when she’s kidnapped by the evil Chirascuro, he’ll break every rule of mousedom to rescue her. A sweet book that draws heavily on chivalric ideals. Good illustrations, soft charcoal and line drawings. The POV jumps around considerable and the narrator speaks directly to reader, which may be annoying depending on your preference. I liked it. Short chewable chapters make it a fast read. The story encourages looking at things from different points of view. You even feel for the villain(s). The portrayal of women was a little 2-D, but not horribly so.

Title - The Divorce Express
Author - Paula Danziger
Culture/Country - America
Age - middle grades to early teens 6-9?
Summary/Review - A ninth-grade girl struggles to adjust to the new custody arrangements, where she has to leave New York City and all her friends behind to live in rural Woodstock for the week, and only visit the city on weekends. I like the inversion of divorce stereotypes; father has day-to-day custody and is an artist, mother is more focused on career and success. It's very short and funny. There's a neat B plot about replacing cafeteria food through civil disobedience. I do wish some parts were fleshed out.

Title - What Happened to Marion's Book?
Author - Brook Berg
Illustrator - Nathan Alberg
Culture/Country - America
Age - K-2
Summary/Review - Marion looooves books, but when she gets raspberry jam on a library book, she has to figure out how to clean it up so nobody finds out. Sweet, but a little preachy. Good for introducing kids to the library and responsibility towards books. Marion's gyrations trying to get the book clean are funny, especially since it's not hard to figure out what's going to happen.

Title - No, No, Titus!
Author - Claire Masurel
Illustrator - Shari Halpern
Culture/Country - America
Age - Pre-1
Summary/Review - Puppy Titus wants to be a good farm dog, but he doesn't know exactly what a farm dog does. Eventually he figures it out. The cut-paper illustrations are bright and colorful, and Titus is very cute.

Title - My Little Sister Ate One Hare
Author - Bill Grossman
Illustrator - Kevin Hawkes
Culture/Country - America
Age - K-3
Summary/Review - Hilarious! The narrator's little sister goes through all manner of animals, counting up from 1 to 9, always with the dire prediction that she would "throw up then and there. But she didn't." Ten peas, however, defeat her. The bright oil-crayon illustrations display the progress of the meal in energetic, tongue-in-cheek fashion.

Title - Beatrice Doesn't Want To
Author - Laura Numeroff
Illustrator - Lynn Munsinger
Culture/Country - America
Age - Pre-2
Summary/Review - A book to warm a librarian's heart. Beatrice has to tag along with big brother Henry to the library for three afternoons in a row, and she resists the whole way. On the third day, tired of her whining, Henry sends her to storytime, and she finally finds something to like at the library. The sibling relationship is realistic and funny, and the colored-pencil illustrations are whimsical, expressive, and detailed.

Title - The Caterpillar and the Polliwog
Author - Jack Kent
Illustrator - Jack Kent
Culture/Country - America
Age - K-2
Summary/Review - The caterpillar is very proud that she will turn into a butterfly someday, and brags about it to everybody. The polliwog, enchanted by the idea, determines that he will turn into a butterfly too. While watching to see how it's done, he turns into something else completely! Good to go along with a science unit. The simple, cartoonlike illustrations make it clear what's happening while the polliwog remains oblivious.

Title - Maybe My Baby
Author - Marilyn Janovitz
Illustrator - Marilyn Janovitz
Culture/Country - America
Age - Pre-1
Summary/Review - For the animal lovers in the crowd. Each page features a different parent/child couple from the animal kingdom, and various interactions. At the end is a human mother and her baby, finally asleep. Detailed, accurate, and lovely colored-pencil illustrations make this a great book to look at as well as read. Good for displaying that affection is not limited to humans.

Anyway, I've got a lot more, but I'll dole them out. It's a long semester yet . . .

It having been forever (okay, a month) since I updated, I decided I would rectify this by blogging an old favorite.

Book: So You Want to Be a Wizard
Author: Diane Duane
First Published: 1983

Thirteen-year-old Nita is absolutely sick of being beat up, but fighting back seems to help just about as much as doing nothing. Hiding out from her tormentors in the library one day, she finds a book titled So You Want to Be a Wizard. Joke, right? Wizardry doesn't exist.

Except that when Nita takes the Wizard's Oath, she finds out that--oops--it does. And being a wizard isn't just about waving wands and reciting spells to get those bullies off her back. It's about danger, responsibility, sacrifice, working with other wizards, and fighting the Power that wants to grind down the universe.

Hey, the book did warn her.

So You Want to Be a Wizard is the first in a series of seven (soon to be eight) books about Nita Callahan and her partner in wizarding, Kit Rodriguez. You can probably read them out of order--they're more or less standalone novels--but it's better to read them straight through.

I've loved these books for years. They're in the same vein of Diana Wynne Jones and Madeleine L'Engle, in that while magic exists, it's not fun and cute, but powerful and dangerous, even when it's good. And when it's bad . . . hooo boy. Duane pulls no punches--her characters face moral dilemmas and terrible choices, even as they're in the middle of regular growing-up traumas. Probably what I like best is that Kit's ethnicity is never a Big Huge Thing, but instead just another part of his identity. But that's just me.

Read them for the magic, the moral dilemmas, the warm and real (and not always simple) friendship between Nita and Kit, the humor, the strange and unexpected beings they encounter (sharks, sentient white holes, and mobile Christmas trees are just the beginning, trust me), the . . . oh, just read 'em.

I know, I usually don't update so quick, but I had to blog this one. Seriously. Just had to. I'm ignoring my other homework to do so. This means you have to go read it!

Book: Whale Rider
Author: Witi Ihimaera
Published: 2003 (in the U.S.)

You may have heard of the movie, which won all sorts of awards and stuff a few years ago. That's why I initially picked this up. I can't compare them, because I haven't seen the movie yet. But now I damn well want to.

Koro Apirana, a Maori chief in New Zealand, is horrified and disgusted when his first great-grandchild is born a girl. He needs a boy to carry on the chieftainship and preserve the swiftly-dying Maori traditions. Ignoring the multitude of signs that baby Kahu is exactly the one to carry on, he starts searching for a boy among the other families of the tribe, with little success, and rejects the love Kahu offers him every day. Lucky for little Kahu, she's got her Nanny Flowers and her uncle Rawiri to back her up. Still, all she wants is her great-grandfather's love and approval. Interwoven throughout is the story of an old bull whale, coming to the end of his life and still longing for the golden human master he knew in his youth. When Kahu and the old bull whale meet . . . well, you'll have to read it and find out.

This book reads more like a legend than your usual novel, with unexpected snippets of novelesque narration. Ihimaera doesn't pull any punches--he shows a brutal roadside accident and the death of hundreds of beached whales with the same matter-of-factness as he shows a school play that the great-grandfather (predictably) didn't show up for. The novel is mostly narrated by Kahu's uncle Rawiri, which allows us to see her birth and early years. Some parts switch to an italicised narration of the whales' experiences in the sea.

It's a little confusing at times, but the legendary feel and your immersion in Maori culture make this an addictive read. I closed the book with the feeling that Ihimaera no doubt wanted to evoke: that Kahu was destined for great things. I'm also extremely interested in finding out more about the Maori culture. Well, what are you waiting for? Go pick it up!

Quick note to say that this blog is probably going to be very heavy on the children's books from now on. I'm taking a children's lit course in my master's program right now, and we have to read 115 (!) books. Gee, that's going to be a hardship for me, right?

Book: Away Laughing on a Fast Camel
Author: Louise Rennison
Release Year: 2004

A hoot. A hysteria-inducing lunatic farce of teenage girlhood. Bridget Jones without the cigarettes or the booze, not from lack of trying on Georgia's part.

Fourteen-year-old Georgia Nicolson is heartbroken. Her boyfriend, Robbie the Sex God, has gone away to Kiwi-a-gogoland (New Zealand), leaving her in crap old England with her parents, who don't even have the decency to be boring. Her dad has just bought a weird three-wheeled car, and insists on driving it. (!!) Her mum has the hots for a doctor and insists on using Georgia as an excuse to see him. Her baby sister Libby has just acquired a cat, Gordy the cross-eyed mad offspring of Georgia's own mad Angus. Euwwwwwwwwwww.

Luckily, even love and family can't get Georgia down for long. She, and all her fab mates, are up to all their usual lunacy in no time at all, like disco-dancing to break up the boredom in English class, rating their dates on the snogging scale, sticking their eyelids together with too much false-eyelash glue, and learning to fathom the minds of boys. (The secret, apparently, is that they're all quite mad. No argument here.)

Georgia is half a parody and half completely true to life. She's boy-crazy, self-absorbed, ditzy, and mouthy. She's also sweet to her baby sister, very very funny, and genuinely trying to figure this all out. I love Georgia because she reminds me of just why the teenage years sucked.

It's not especially deep or meaningful. It's just good clean fun. In fact, read the whole series, not necessarily for clarity (although it would help) but also because they're all this lunatic and delicious. Although I should insert a caveat--don't read them all in a row, or you'll stop laughing and start getting annoyed. Just have one on hand for those gloomy days when you really need to snort milk out your nose. Also, do not do NOT skip reading the glossary in the back of each book. It translates a lot of the slang and the references--not only for the American audience, but also for the audience that isn't, strictly speaking, Georgia Nicolson. Some unnecessarily, but most of it comes in handy.

Collectively, they're known as the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series. It goes:
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging
On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God
Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas
Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants
Away Laughing on a Fast Camel
Check out Louise Rennison's web site for excerpts, etc. The next one, Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers, is coming out in June of 2005. Fabulosity!!

Book: Holes
Author: Louis Sachar
Original Release: 1998

This is a cool book.

I've liked Louis Sachar for a long time. His Sideways Stories from Wayside School is a classic of screwball grade-school humor. But when I set Holes down, I said, "Shit, this man can write."

Twelve-year-old Stanley Yelnats (IV) comes from a long line of guys who just can't win. They blame the famous Yelnats bad luck on the dirty rotten no-good pig-stealing Stanley Yelnats the first, who incurred a gypsy's wrath just before leaving the old country. Now, wrongfully accused of stealing a pair of famous shoes from charity, our Stanley gets sent to Camp Green Lake, where bad boys get turned into good boys by means of digging holes.

There's no lake.

For that matter, there's no green.

There are, however, a lot of holes. Along with a Warden who puts rattlesnake venom in her nail polish, a sadistic guard called Mr. Sir, the fatally poisonous yellow-spotted lizards, and fellow campers who put Stanley right at the bottom of the pecking order. Welcome to the next eighteen months, Stanley.

From these very basic beginnings, Sachar spins a story where three different storylines tangle like creeper vines. The first storyline is the tale of Stanley Yelnats the first's exit from the old country, and just what he did to make that gypsy mad. The second is the tale of Green Lake at the end of the 19th century, and how it came to be neither green nor lakey. The third, of course, is our own Stanley's experiences at Camp Green Lake, and how his actions put right the wounds of the past, whether he knows it or not.

There's an element of magical realism to this story that I wasn't expecting but enjoyed quite a bit. Also, the guys in Stanley's cabin aren't misunderstood puppy dogs. They're as hard as rock, and you have to watch to catch any hint of vulnerability. Sachar doesn't fall into the trap of making them all reform into model citizens, even though they're affected by Stanley as much as he is by them. Stanley's one friendship, with the silent and mysterious Zero, isn't cemented in an instant, but is a believable process.

Pick this up for a memorable, truthful, funny story.

Movie: "Holes"
Director: Andrew Davis
Original Release: 2003

My motto (or one of them, at least) is "the book is always better." That being said, there are a few movies that come close to matching the book. "Holes" is one of them. It helps that they got Louis Sachar to write the screenplay, so he knew what to leave in and what to take out.

I don't need to recap the plot (I hope!). While Disney went with big (or at least respected) names for their adult actors, they were smart enough to use relative unknowns for the kids' roles. Possibly the most famous (relatively speaking) is Shia LaBeouf, who's been on the Disney TV show "Even Stevens" for several years.

Sigourney Weaver (the Warden) and Jon Voight (Mr. Sir) make great, slightly loopy villains. LaBeouf brings out Stanley's shy awkwardness without it becoming too annoying, and the interaction between him and Khleo Thomas (Zero) makes their characters' evolving friendship believable. While the jumps between past and present take some getting used to, once you sort it out, it works pretty much as in the book. The sweet (and doomed) romance in the Green-Lake's-past storyline especially got to me, but you all know how much a sucker I am for that stuff.

Possibly my largest gripe is that they completely changed Stanley's physical type. In the book, he was very overweight, and while he lost some, he certainly didn't slim down to the toothpick proportions of LaBeouf. The official reasoning was that a severely overweight actor would have too much difficulty with the physical portions of the acting, especially during the high-temps on-location shoots for Camp Green Lake. Hmmm. Anyway. I still liked it. A good idea is probably to read the book first, though, or you might have a hard time sorting out who is who with all the different storylines.

Merry Christmas, y'all! Or whatever holiday of your choosing.

So I've been a real mystery woman lately, but tonight I will change all that!! Momentarily anyway. Sigh. It's been a busy semester.

*shrug* Busy semester notwithstanding, I've been reading some kickass books and watching some kickass stuff, and I'll just share a couple with y'all tonight.

Television Series: Firefly
Creator: Joss Whedon (also known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and various feature film scripts including Toy Story
Airdates: 2002 only

The story of Firefly is conclusive evidence that networks are on crack. This is a show with great writing, great acting, original and carefully crafted background, and real entertainment value. So naturally it was cancelled after 15 episodes. Sheesh!

I'll admit it; the thing that first attracted me to Firefly was the quotes on IMDb. I love Joss Whedon's dialogue. The man and the writers he hires play with language like it's silly putty. They take stock dialogue and go to town on it. Check out this sample:

[standing over his wounded opponent, refusing to kill him]
Mal : You know, they say mercy is the mark of a great man.
[stabs the man]
Mal : Guess I'm just a good man.
[stabs him again]
Mal : Well, I'm all right.

They also take stock stereotypes and turn them inside out. Mal, the captain and arguably main character, has that ol' tragic past . . . on the losing side of a civil war, he now has to live under the rule of the Alliance he once fought. He has lost all the beliefs and ideals that drove him throughout the war and now has what can best be described as a nihilistic outlook on life. Instead of pouting and brooding all around Serenity like a big ol' anchor, he is often the driving force behind the plots, as well as having some of the best lines, and is doing his utomost to live his life the best way he knows how.

Every character seems to be a stock sci-fi character with some unexpected twist that humanizes them. Zoe, the stone-faced second mate, is married to the court-jester pilot, Wash, who plays with toy dinosaurs and can do things with the wheel that make the Blue Angels look like chumps. Kaylee is the brilliant mechanic who likes teddy bears, flowers, and ruffles. Book is the ship's chaplain who knows an unsettling amount about guns and crime. Jayne is the thuggish mercenary who names his guns and sends money home to his mom. Inara is a highly respected, classy, and ladylike prostitute . . . who actually likes her job. Simon is the spoiled rich boy doctor who will go to the ends of the universe for someone in pain and through hell itself for his baby sister. River is the psychic genius who has at best a waving acquaintance with sanity.

This isn't a shiny glossy techno-cool sci-fi universe, either. It's gritty, run-down, dangerous, and with a western-frontier ethos that is an unexpected but completely believable touch.

The show also has the classic Whedon touch of strong character-based stories, and constantly asking questions about ethics, morality, and humanity that can't be tidily answered in one hour minus commercials. I really, really wish they hadn't cancelled this show. Oh well . . . the movie's coming out next April, and the DVD's are available now. If you have RealPlayer and plenty of hard drive space, check out this page for rough'n'ready versions of the episodes: Hello Cowgirl

I recommend "Serenity" or "The Train Job" for a neophyte, since they're both pilot-type episodes (after viewing "Serenity," FOX asked for a more action-packed, shorter pilot. Again with the crack.) Anyway, they're good introductions to the world and the characters.

Book: Weetzie Bat
Author: Francesca Lia Block
Original Release: 1989

This is a special and unusual book, and not for everyone. If you're very conservative, very grounded in reality, and get annoyed by lavish and poetical prose, don't read this. If you're just the opposite, run don't walk.

This book doesn't have a terribly cohesive plot, but I'll try to nutshell it. Teenaged Weetzie Bat (and that is her real name) loves L.A., and is looking for someone that will love it with her. Her best friend, Dirk, is also looking for a good man to love. Three wishes from a magic lamp bring them Duck for Dirk and My Secret Agent Lover Man for Weetzie. But now Weetzie wants a baby . . .

Like I say, this is not your run-of-the-mill teenage story. It creates its own logic, and you find yourself going along with it. Weetzie's sweetness and optimism are occasionally too light and bright for me, but Block's later books feature somewhat darker characters. In the end, Weetzie Bat is a story about the families we create and the life we make for ourselves from day to day. "I don't know about happily ever after," Weetzie says, "but I know about happily."

Hookay, folks, that's it for tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to post something new soon.

Hey all! I’ve got an unprecedented three--count ‘em, three--items for y’all today. So let’s get started, shall we?

By the bye, I’ve given up on the “Genre” classification. I never know what to write.

Book: The Arm of the Starfish
Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Original Publishing Date: 1965

You probably know Madeleine L’Engle best from A Wrinkle in Time, and that may well get blogged one of these days too; it’s an old favorite. This book actually has as minor characters Calvin O’Keefe and Meg Murray . . . although they’re adults, and married (yes, to each other), with a veritable stable of offspring. But they’re not the real focus of the book.

The main character, Adam Eddington, is another old favorite, mostly because of the next book down. In this one, he’s a sixteen-year-old student looking forward to a summer working for a famous marine biologist before heading off to college. Exciting? Yep. A huge chance to learn? You bet. Dangerous?

Oh yeah.

To poor Adam’s astonishment, he is tossed willy-nilly into a world of international intrigue that he has no clue how to deal with . . . except he has to, because from the moment he meets gorgeous Carolyn “Kali” Cutter in the airport, he’s in a game that doesn’t have a back door out. And he has to decide what side he’s on, because another thing this game doesn’t have is a fence to sit on.

This isn’t my favorite Madeleine book, because Adam’s initial waffling annoys me. Maybe it was because I know who the bad guys were right from the off. I don’t know if that’s because I knew them from another book, or if it’s just that obvious. But Adam is genuinely confused, and he genuinely does his best to work things out and do the right thing. He starts out the book feeling arrogantly grown-up and cosmopolitan, (he’s going to Berkeley after the summer; apparently a wunderkind. Cripes, remember when people could still do that?) and discovers in the course of the book, that being grown-up has way more duties and responsibilities than maybe anyone is prepared for. (Preach it, sistah Madeleine. This grown-up thing sucks.)

One last note: if you’re expecting more visits to Camazotz and tessering, forget about it. This is a book rooted firmly in our world, which is dangerous and terrifying enough for anybody.

Book: A Ring of Endless Light
Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Original Publishing Date: 1980

This is a deeply special book to me, because whenever someone in my life dies, I re-read it to get a handle on death. Because that’s exactly what Vicky Austin, the main character, is struggling to do. The book starts out with the funeral for the sudden death of a family friend, and it goes from there. Vicky feels surrounded by death every day, from news of horrendous accidents in the paper to her own grandfather’s slow death of leukemia to a sorta-kinda-ex-flame who’s just attempted suicide. (More on Zachary Gray later.)

The huge story question--and it is a huge one--is, can Vicky come to understand and accept death, and still be able to celebrate life?

To really confuse her (like she wasn’t already), she’s suddenly got three guys to juggle. Leo, the son of the family friend who died, makes it pretty clear he wants to be more than a friend. Unfortunately for him, he’s nobody’s Prince Charming, least of all Vicky’s. She describes him as a basset hound at one point (not unkindly), and that pretty much sums it up. Then there’s Zachary Gray, who is sophisticated, gorgeous, and more than a little bipolar. As noted above, he’s recovering from an attempt at suicide, and over and over again tells Vicky that she’s the only thing keeping him wanting to live. Which is a horrible thing to tell anyone. And then there’s Adam Eddington, back again, one summer after the events of The Arm of the Starfish. On the outside, he seems way steadier than Zachary. But even he’s messed up in his own quiet way, still struggling with the events of the earlier book, and pushing Vicky away every time things start to get more than friendly.

The only place Vicky feels at peace and in control is with the dolphins. They’re Adam’s special project (marine biology, remember?) and he’s exploring human/dolphin communication. He recruits unscientific Vicky to help him out, and she succeeds beyond his wildest expectations--and hers. Playing and working with them, she’s able to forget about the confusion and difficulties in the rest of her life.

But death lurks in the background, and it’s not going to go away.

As noted above, this is a special book to me. Vicky’s romantic, poetic nature echoes my own in some ways, and her horror over death and struggle to fit it into life have helped me to come to terms with things in my own life. It’s not a typically plotted book--sometimes it seems to meander--but that’s because the story question is so amorphous and philosophical. It’s not a terribly light read. Sit down with this one for the first time.

Oh, and DO NOT--repeat, DO NOT--watch the horrible Disney adaptation. Quite aside from the fact that they have Mischa Barton as Vicky (arggh! Did they not read the book? Vicky is a normal girl!), they absolutely butchered the story. With a hacksaw. They made it about the dolphins. Jeezus christ!

And neither Adam nor Zachary are remotely as cute as they should be, unless you really go in for that middle-school look. Eurgh. Did they even read it???

Movie: O Brother Where Art Thou
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Original Release Date: 2000

I first wanted to watch this movie because it’s based on Homer’s Odyssey and I’m a gigantic dork. But I fell in love with its random humor, its fascinating sepia-toned photography that evokes the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, and most of all, the music. I’m still a bluegrass lover.

Slick-talkin’ Ulysses Everett McGill has four days to get to his family home before a flood washes away the treasure he’s got stashed. He takes with him his chain-mates, hard-edged Pete and sweet-hearted Delmar, and they bumble their way across 1930’s Mississippi, going through about fifteen cars, lots of money, and meeting some of the strangest people you’ll ever be privileged to view on screen, including a crew of white-sheeted Christians on their way to be saved in the river, another crew of white-sheeted Christians performing a lynch-mob, some “sy-renes” washing their scanties in a creek, a guitar player who’s sold his soul to the devil, and a one-eyed Bible salesman.

Joel and Ethan Coen use both the sepia photography and the bluegrass music to evoke the Great Depression. Unlike musicals, where the characters burst into song for no apparent reason, these characters (usually) have a fairly good and logical reason for gettin’ tuneful. Most if not all of the songs are traditional bluegrass spiritual songs (even “A Man of Constant Sorrow”, which I could have sworn had been written for this because it fits so well). As my friend and I reminded each other so often during the movie, don’t look for logic. Just go with the story, which creates its own logic.

By the way, how much do I love it that the only people Ulysses McGill can’t outtalk are his own wife and daughters?

Suggested drinking game: take a slug for every time you recognize a reference to the Odyssey, Homer, or the ancient world. Unless you’ve got a really hard head, you’ll be under the table by the time Ulysses refers to himself as “the damn paterfamilias.”

Wow! That's it for today, folks. I got books to read and movies to watch. And there's this rumor about homework . . . I'm hoping it turns out false.

Hellooooooooo everyone! I've been busy lately . . . started my graduate program, and am wading through roughly 1,296,088 pages of theoretical crud. This means I can't read as much good stuff, worthy of posting here. Also that I have no time or energy.

However, I promised myself that I would blog this book.

Book: Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Genre: Erm. Horror? Except . . . not.
Original Publishing Date: 2003 (fittingly enough, in October!)

I love Robin McKinley. She just writes whatever story comes out, and other people categorize it. She won the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and an Honor for The Blue Sword. Her Spindle's End is my favorite ever version of Sleeping Beauty. But enough gushing over past books . . . let's have a look at this one.

Rae "Sunshine" Seddon thinks she has a pretty weird life. She gets up at four in the morning, gets home at insane hours, and all her friends come from one place. Don't get weirded out yet--she's no Queen of the Night, just the Queen of the Kitchen at her stepfather's coffee house. It's a life that works for her, though, so she's reasonably content.

Until the night the vampires got her.

No, actually, it wasn't so bad when the vampires got her. It was when she got away that she started to worry about herself. Because, you see, nobody gets away from vampires. And nobody--nobody--helps a vampire to do the same.

All of a sudden, Sunshine is hip-deep in a world of vampire gang wars, Special Other Forces (think demon police, and you won't be too far wrong), and the unsettling realization that magical abilities from her father's side and a possible drop of demon blood from her mother's are gonna make things really interesting for her from now on. Not to mention her strange connection to the vampire she saved, Constantine, who's reminescent of Buffy's Angel, only not as chatty. (Actually, there's a lot about this book that may remind you of Buffy. Heck, Amber Benson, who acted on the show for a couple of seasons, even wrote a rec for the cover!)

And there are still cinnamon rolls to be made at four in the morning.

McKinley sets her story in a sort of alternate Earth, where things that go bump in the night are very real, and very dangerous. She has a slight tendancy to go off on tangents whose story purpose I never did figure out, but I can ignore that for the atmosphere and the experience of R McK writing. She doesn't pull any punches when it comes to gory details, although she doesn't go overboard with them either. The end is unsettling, and more than a little pessimistic, but I still want to read it again.

Signing off now . . . happy reading!

Hello, all my three readers! Do I even have that many? Ah well.

Just a movie for tonight, folks. It's late.

Movie: Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Genre: Drama? Comedy? Blood-splattering? Martial arts? Can't honestly say. Erm, okay, Action would be my best guess.
Original Release Date: 2003

I watched this last night on DVD, and I really liked it. Yes, 450 gallons of fake blood were used. Yes, there is a scene where she rips out a man’s tongue with her teeth. (Not shown, but implied, thankfully.) However, it’s also morbidly funny, beautiful to look at, and very powerfully written. Also, apparently, it’s jam-packed with homages to kung fu films that I’ve never seen, so that element was lost on me, but I still enjoyed it. Hard to pull off. The anime section especially was really neat.

I’ve seen one other Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction, and I found that I liked the same things in both--the characters, the plotting, and the visual style. So Tarantino has become an admired filmmaker for me.

I especially like the way Tarantino does characters. This could very easily have been just a gore-splatter-fest without any real element to keep us interested. However, he gives even the villains (the main ones she fights in this movie at any rate) a background and a fullness of character that I have to admire. The Bride skates close to the edge of being someone you hate, but there are a couple of moments that save her. Good thing, cuz it’s her story and there are precious few other characters to root for. (Buck who likes to f*ck? Or maybe the sheriff who calls her a c*cksucker as she lies mostly dead and beaten all to hell at his feet. Eh. Maybe we pull for the Bride because she’s the closest thing we have to a hero in the entire movie.)

The purity of her revenge quest reminds me of a Greek tragedy . . . the Oresteia coming to mind. That marvelously intellectual remark being made, I’ll say it wasn’t my idea. I read the liner notes. However, it rings true. The Bride has one aim in life, and one only--to make them pay. Not terribly complex, but powerful enough to pull us through the movie and bring us back to see “Kill Bill Vol. 2.”

Which I haven’t yet. I will.

This blog has been in the Blog Protection Program. Its name has been changed to protect the innocent.

Okay, I'm lying. The truth is, after I got home from England, the original purpose was pretty much hollowed out, and I had other things on my mind, like leaving home and spreading my wings. (Fly, my pretty! FLY!!) So now, my wings being spread wide and not having hit the ground yet (well, a couple of times, but I bounce real good) I decided to start this up again.

One of my favorite parts of the Bloody Yank blog was my Book of the Day. This should surprise no one who knows me; I was an English major and am studying to be a librarian. I just love a good book. Hell, I love a good story, period. So this blog will be a record of everything I read or watch.

My tastes are . . . eclectic. I read kiddie books all the way up to adult, but I'm kinda narrow where genres are concerned. Don't do the horror thing, for one. I watch very little TV, so you won't see much of that on here. I love a good movie, but I also love escapism, so you're probably not gonna see this year's Oscar contenders on here.

If you don't like what I'm reading or watching, bear in mind I'm not saying YOU have to read or watch it. I think you should, especially if you like the sound of it. But don't anybody flame me and say, "Why are you recommending this, it sounds so stupid." I'll smack you with a trout, then tell you to use proper punctuation. We all have different tastes.

That little caveat being noted, I shall proceed.

Book: Taming Natasha Nora Roberts
Genre: Romance
Original Publishing Date: 1990

I love Nora Roberts, and I love this book in particular. Part of it is nostalgia--I very clearly remember buying it at about the age of thirteen from a used-book store. Part of it is because it's just a damn fine story. Spence, a single father and music professor, and Natasha, an ex-dancer who now owns a toy store, feel the sparks from moment one, but the scars on their hearts from disastrous relationships make the trip a little bumpy. This is not a book with high external drama, though. The most hair-raising episode is probably a six-year-old with chicken pox--which is plenty hair-raising for her daddy. Near the end of the book, one character says something that rings true for the entire book. "With you it isn't dreams and knights and princes. With you, it's real and solid. Day-to-day. Ordinary--ordinary in the most beautiful way." Sigh!!

The original is somewhat hard to find, but they're churning out reprints of all Nora's old stuff like crazy. One of the reprints should be easy enough to find, probably packaged together with a related story.

Movie:A Night at the Opera
Genre: Comedy
Premiere Date: 1935

Yeah, buddy, it's the Marx brothers! Woohoo!

If you haven't experienced the random lunacy of the Marx Brothers yet, I'd start with A Night at the Opera. I did, about ten years ago, and I laughed as loudly then as I did last night. Duck Soup may be more famous, but for my money, ANatO is the better movie.

The plot is practically peripheral, but here goes. Rosa, an opera singer, performs opposite a real jerk (whose name is quite frankly not worth remembering), when she would rather be singing with Ricardo. (If she's smart, she's doing more than singing--Allen Jones, who plays Ricardo, is not hard on the eyes.) But how to replace the jerk with the hunk? That's the plot in a nutshell.

Wait, who do the Marx Brothers play? Basically themselves. Groucho is a wheeling, dealing con man who wangles the deal to get Ricardo onstage opposite Rosa, and Chico and Harpo are the two bumbling helpers. Don't worry about the plot holes. They're basically there for the Marx Brothers to drive through.

Favorite bits: the stateroom skit, wherein fifteen people fit in a "stateroom" the approximate size of a flea's studio apartment, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the middle of Verdi, complete with peanut vendor, and the contract scene.

Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho): It's all right, that's in every contract. that's what they call a sanity clause.

Firoello (Chico): Ha ha ha ha ha ha... you can't fool me. There ain't no Sanity Clause.

That's it for tonight, chickies!

So I was lying around yesterday, going, “Oh, gee. No class tomorrow. How boring. What am I going to do with myself?”

Then I hit myself in the head and said, “Girl, you are half an hour from LONDON. Possibly the kewlest city in the world. Definitely the one with the most history, not counting Rome and Athens and okay, Jerusalem, and . . . never mind that. It’s famous, okay? Furthermore, you will only be in this favored position for another month, half of which will be taken up with insane exams and huge papers that you should have started already but you’re too lazy. WHAT ARE YOU WHINING ABOUT?”

So I decided to go to the Tower of London, which I haven’t seen yet. It was a lovely day, and I say that in both senses of the term. It was clear and blue-skied and sunny, without being broil-your-skin-off hot. (In fact, this whole spring has been extraordinarily dry for London. The natives must be getting antsy. “Rain!” they say. “We need rain! Grey skies! Mizzling! Cold wind off the Thames! This way we can mutter about the weather and make our mates jealous by going to Spain, where it is after all supposed to be sunny!”) For me personally, it was also a fun, non-stressful day.

First off, the Tower of London is a bit of a misnomer. I was expecting a tower . . . one. Sticking straight up out of the ground like, you know, a tower. I always wondered how they could fit all that stuff into one little tower. Well, now I know. The Tower of London was originally built by William I (yep, that William) as a living quarters, and he’s not going to live in one little tower. It was this way up until one of the Henries, Hank I, possibly. The reason it’s also a prison is because the medievals were damn efficient. “Hell!” they said. “It’s already got a big freakin’ wall and great defenses and some semblence of plumbing. Just dig another room and you got yourself a place for the criminals! Why build another great honkin’ building? What, are we made of money?”

Over the years, the single castle has evolved into a massive complex with seperate living quarters and incredibly expensive gift shops. People actually still live there today, although nobody’s imprisoned. Even when people were imprisoned, by the way, they were never in jail as we think of it. They had a full set of rooms with all the modern conveniences, like chamber pots and servents to throw the chamber pots at. Sometimes they were even allowed to go hunting. The only thing they didn’t have was permission to just stroll out the front gate and continue their lives as usual.

Naturally, I saw the Crown Jewels, which were . . . glittery. And . . . yeah, glittery. They don’t actually belong to the Queen herself, by the way. They belong to the Kingdom of England, which is an important distinction that I hope no royal forgets after a bad day at the races. It was beautiful jewelry, but there were some ceremonial things included that just made me blink. Things like the Sword of Offering (which sounds like something from a Dungeons and Dragons game) are fairly logical in their origin. The Orb is kind of mysterious, but it’s a pretty kingly (queenly) thing, so okay. But . . . the Ceremonial Spoon? What, in case the Queen suddenly has the urge to eat some Ceremonial Porridge? I’m still mystified as to the origin of this part of the coronation ceremony.

Interestingly, a lot of recent royals have had their own coronation crowns made for them, starting with George IV. Ah, yes, you can always count on good ol’ George IV to spend lots of money for absolutely no reason at all. However, I believe Queen E just used Queen V’s crown. Good for her.

As you can see in the photos here, I managed to get a few shots of the Tower Bridge, but it was so sunny that my camera had problems. But the Tower of London was really pretty neat, and worth the trip. Word of advice: if you can, do what I did, and go on a weekday morning. If you go on a Saturday afternoon, the lines will be insane.

Book for today: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. “Please, sir, can I have some more?” is the famous line from Dickens’ second major book. This is actually a very small episode that takes place quite early, but it’s an example of Dickens’ withering scorn for the treatment of paupers in Victorian England. If you’ve only seen “The Muppet Christmas Carol” and you never realized what a social satirist the man was, Oliver Twist features a scathing indictment of workhouses and smug middle-class morality. Don’t get me wrong, he shows us a picture of the criminal underworld that’s tabloid-sensational. But he also understands the forces that drive his characters. The only complaint I have about this book is that while it is called Oliver Twist, the little main character has very little to do with the determination of his own fate. He virtually disappears in the last quarter. Still, it’s Dickens, and it’s worth reading if you have time.

Okay, quick quick post just to let y'all know that my pictures are FINALLY up! Hooray! Cue the Funky Chicken Dance! Pop on over to my account at Yahoo Photos and give them a quick peruse. There's a lot of stupid ones in the Spain section, because I didn't feel like culling it down. Lots of palm trees and flowers.

Oh--and the rude American story I promised . . . okay, here goes.

So I'm in the hostel in Madrid, wonderful but thin-walled. Thursday night, my friend and I walk in to see the hostel owner (Spanish-speaking only, remember) talking to some American kids in the room next to ours. The guy at the door was looking at her with this totally "Dur?" look. You know the kind I mean. In frustration, she turns to us and asks Jen to translate her request for them to keep it down. Jen did so, and the kid got all offended: "I knew what she was saying!" Doubtful, but if he did, he could have at least nodded or something.

That's not the end of it. Flash forward now: it's about 10:00 on Friday night. I'm hopping an 8 am bus for Sevilla the next morning, and I know I'm not going to get much sleep on Saturday night because I'll be on the bus back to Madrid in order to catch my Sunday flight. Monday I start classes again, bright and early. Right. So I need sleep. Plus I really am tired from my day. BUT the same kids from next door start talking really loudly. I mean, it's one thing when it's a soft background mutter--you expect that in hostels. But this was LOUD. Things like, "Oh yeah, in seventh grade I was like really tubby" and so forth. I could honestly hear every word, crystal clear. After about an hour of praying for them to shut up, I gave up and knocked on their door. Following is a transcript of the conversation.

Me (trying to be nice about it): Hi. I realize it's not that late, but I've got an early bus to catch and the walls are pretty thin here, so could you just be a little quieter?

Kid (overflowing with attitude): Well, we're not going to stop talking.

Me (taken somewhat aback): Um--okay, but I just want you to know I can hear every word.

Kid (even more belligerently): What are we supposed to do, talk in a whisper?

Me (thoroughly exasperated): Fine. I'll wear headphones or something. I just wanted you to know that I can hear you talking. (I leave.)

And they CONTINUE talking, without any effort whatsoever to lower their voices. Around 1 am, exhaustion overcomes me and I pass out. About 5ish, I wake up to hear noise still coming from the room, but it sounds more like a TV or radio. I've become convinced that they left it on to spite me.

I realize that the condition of being an ass is not limited to Americans alone, but there seems to be a special brand of it that only we posess, this kind of the-world-is-my-McDonald's-Play-Area-and-screw-you-if-you-have-feelings-about-that. It was flabbergasting. I mean, did you ever once notice an apology in there? Anything that even hinted of it? No. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. No wonder most of the world hates us. I hate us, and I am us.

Okay, this was a lot less quick and somewhat more bitter than I meant it to be. I'll recommend a good book so as not to end it on a sour note.

The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson. I'm actually not sure if she's available in the States, but I hope so, because she's a major bestseller over here. Anyway, this is not your normal sunshiney perfect-world children's book. Tracy Beaker's mum has left her in state care for the past several years. Tracy ain't no Oliver Twist, though. She gets in fights with the other kids, lobbies unashamedly for her favorite adult to adopt her, and generally looks out for Number One. But there's real sweetness under her shell. The other big thumbs-up to this book is the ending, which is not saccharine-sweet, everything-gets-fixed, happily-ever-after. Jacqueline Wilson isn't afraid to show us the way that some kids' lives really are, and how they really deal with it. Go see if you can find her.

I'm back! I'm alive! Okay, yes, it's been four days since my plane landed, but they've been busy days.

Spain was FANTASTIC. I loved the country, even when people were giving me the fishy eyeball because I couldn't halfway speak their language. (My great-grandmother is rolling in her grave. Twirling, actually.) It was warm, if overcast most days, and just lovely. Unlike my last trip, I didn't go haring all over the country. A little bit of haring, but much more relaxing.

Our base of operations was Madrid. We stayed in a lovely little hostel called Hostal la Luz, on Calle Fuentes. Just a recommendation for y'all. I don't know if they have a website, but they're listed in the Let's Go guidebooks for Spain and Madrid. It was nice and clean, and for the money, the room was great. A quick word of warning: the hostel owner spoke no English, so make sure you have a Spanish-speaker in your group if you ever end up there.

We saw lots of things around the city, like the Prado, the Palacio Real, and lots of resturants. Mmmm. Tapas (a light dinner consisting of nibblies and alcohol), chocolate y churros (a dessert that is beyond description and really just has to be experienced), paella (puh-leez tell me you know what this is), and, to my shame, McDonald's. Hey! I was hungry!

On Thursday we went to Toledo, which is between an hour and two hours south of Madrid by bus, so you can do it as a day trip. It's an incredible city, just unspeakably gorgeous. It looks very very old, and that's because it is. (Huh. Who would'a thought.) Ancient Moorish architecture is side-by-side very modern buses and cars, and strangely enough it all seems to work. I took over forty pictures on my camera because it is just that gorgeous. It's on a hill, and in the middle of the hills, and it all just keeps rising and rising until it starts falling. I can tell you, it's great for your eyes but not so hot for your legs. Ouch. We visited the el Greco Museum. He was an interesting painter--painting in the early Renaissance, but his paintings actually look almost Impressionistic, because the brushstrokes are very loose and soft. The el Greco "look" is very famous, that pale, bony face that evokes an impression of holiness, but nobody ever talks about how strange he is for a Renaissance painter. At least not that I've heard, but then again, I'm an English major.

On Saturday, we hopped an extremely early bus and went to Sevilla. Since I didn't get very much time in the city, I don't have a very strong impression of it. We got to see a cathedral, not terribly different from the one in Toledo (aside from the Moorish tower that the Christians just kept around because it was useful), and then the Palacio Real in Sevilla. Apparently, a long time ago, kings didn't have capital cities, but traveled around to all the major ones throughout the year. In each city, naturally, there was a royal palace for them. The one in Sevilla is modeled on the Alhambra--very Moorish in design, even though it was built by a Christian king. I liked it a lot better than the Palacio Real in Madrid, which was coldly grand and very intimidating. The Sevilla one was cosier, warmer, and to my eyes, more beautiful. Eventually, you'll see the pictures.

Update on the photos: I am in the process of uploading them now. But I've got a LOT of pictures, so it's a long project, and it'll be spread out over some days. I also have a limited amount of space on my yahoo account, so if you see a picture there one day and it's not there the next, that's because I'm in a constant state of culling them down. Sorry . . . blame Yahoo. Yes, blame Yahoo for all your troubles, including the ones that are totally unrelated to me. You may also notice that there are no pictures of actual people, not even me. This is because I'm not comfortable with having my picture up for all to see, and for all I know, my friends might be the same way. So just shut up and enjoy the scenery, at this link. I've reorganized them into photo albums of where I've gone, so if you have no interest in, say, Greenwich, you don't have to click. I can't put up a little blurb about each one, though--there's just too many, and we'd all get bored.

That's enough for this blog entry, I think. I won't spoil it by ranting about rude Americans, although I've got a doozy of a story to tell. Next time.

Books for today: Two For the Lions by Lindsay Davis. This is one of that quietly huge subgenres, Roman murder mysteries. Ancient Rome, which is you know me, is right up my alley. Wooohoo! I have to say, the best part is the detective, a middle-class Roman called Marcus Didius Falco. He's been described as Columbo in a toga, and I can definitely trace a resemblence. He's definitely in this business for the money, although there's not much of it, and he has an unexpected chivalrous streak. Watch out for his gal, Helena Justina, who's as sharp as a javelin and definitely no clinging Roman maiden. The mystery is kind of hard to follow, and the ending is . . . strange. But if you're a fan of Ancient Rome and great characters, pick this or any of the other ones up.