365 Days of Books

Giving Chase by Lauren Dane is a suspenseful romance. Well-written sex scenes spice up the story. Maggie has three possible romances start during Giving Chase: Shane the Sheriff, his brother Kyle, and the seemingly safe Alex. None of the three relationships takes an easy route and the passion and frailty of all the characters come through strongly.

Barefoot Gen: The day After by Keiji Nakazawa - a memoir in graphic form. This is an extremely disturbing and intense eye-witness telling of life in Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped. The author was 7 when he and hismother survived the bombing and intense fires and radiation poisoning following the bombing. His story is told as if happened and felt to him so that telling the hallucinations from non-hallucinations is difficult.

Promethea Volume 1 by Alan Moore - graphic fiction. Sophie Bangs is a college student interested in the myths around Promethea. She gets more than she expected when she interviews a woman who was and is Promethea and finds the myths, gods, worlds taking over her world and body.

Meridian Volume 1 by Barbara Kesel - graphic fiction. Crossgen created the Sigilverse first and wrote its history and people before separating out and telling its stories as different series (Sigil, Mystic, Meridian, and Scion). Meridian was enjoyed by the whole family and there was hoarding that had to be dealt with severely! The hero of Medidian is Sephie who reminded me quite a bit of the hero of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Sephie is a sheltered, athletic daughter of a leader. Her neighbours love her and cherish their life in harmony with thei hovering islands. When she receives the mysterious sigil mark her father is killed and her uncle wages war on her island state. She sees how her uncle separates some beings into worthy and others into unworthy and experiences the degradation off the environment that other states live with. Very good!

The Usurpers Crown, Scorcerers Treason, and The Firebird's Vengeance by Sarah Zettel. Scifi/fantasy. These are all novels of Isavalta. Isavalta is a world that borders on our world and can be reached by those with the skills or talents to sail through the seas of dreams/death/gods. The main ourworld characters are Grace and Ingrid (sisters) and Bridget (Ingrid's daughter) and Anna (Bridget's daughter) each of these women finds her life entwined with the politics and people of Isavalta and they are changed by their experiences. Nice story lines and the plots and people were not difficult to remember and keep separate (and yet related).

Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix. This book falls into line with Margaret Haddix' other books about our future and genetic engineering. Bethany is suddenly dumped with an Aunty she knew nothing about while her loving and sheltering parents kiss her and run to keep her safe. What mystery is this and who is at risk? What makes a person a person and individual? What do we do when we realize our parents are flawed?

The Forest in the Hallway by Gordon Smith. The jacket blurb sounded interesting and I liked the cover artwork; that got the book home with me from the library and onto the top of my reading pile. The story did not live up to the jacket. There are a lot of details and interesting characters but they are disjointed and not fully developed. For instance, words on a page have actual power when said and blown on and this is brought forth several times but then dropped, there is an interesting alarm system at the witch's house but it seems to be described for the coolness of the idea, used briefly, and then gone. (sigh) written down it sounds fine and good but in the reading it was unsatisfying and distracting. I would have preferred a series set in the universe with more time and story given to the different ses of characters and magical ideas.

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein - a memoir. Harry Bernstein was part of a poor Jewish family with an alchoholic father living in a small town in England during WW1. Their street is divided between Christians and Jews and while they shop from each other and mingle when necessary (Christian women light the fires for Jewish families on the sabbath), generally the two keep separate lives. The worst thing that can happen is for a Jewish girl to fall in love with a christian boy. At least it seems that way until the war brings its horror to the street and love brings life. It's an interesting story but overwritten. It is disconcerting to have the story told in adult words with adult hindsight with the interjection of verbatim toddler words in the author's voice. I think the editor could have helped a lot more.

I am working from my library lists and the stack of books next to my desk that are waiting to be put away.

The Last Green Tree by Jim Grimsley I confess that I do not remember anything about this book other than that I read it and didn't dislike it.

Peeps and The Last Days by Scott Westerfield. I read a slew of his books and some are better than others. These two are good and include the same group of characters who are changing and maturing (in all too normal, messy, ways). I am not enthusiastic about so many of the vampire based books marketed to teens (especially girls) but I felt that this set was less about the sex and more about the relationships and setting up a good history. The characters are diverse and some of the plot ideas are intriguing.

Less successful (because I didn't realize that it was from a separate series and not the first in the series) was Midnighters #3: Blue Noon by Scott Westerfield. I just didn't care about the characters and their problems seemed too complex to pick up from context reading.

I don't know how I missed blogging these three but since January I've read Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. Two girls, 14 and 11, declined to read the books based on what the girls thought were depressing cover blurbs. I was impressed. True, some of the plot is predictable but I enjoyed the world and the characters and the message and issues about body appearance and environmental concerns are interesting laid out. I look forward to reading Extras though I will probably check it out from the library rather than buy it.

And now for something completely different...Stork Naked by Piers Anthony. Am I getting old? Am I jaded? Have I lost my sense of humour? I used to love Piers Anthony's pun filled books but this time I was overwhelmed by the puns and felt that they almost wiped out the storyline. They weren't fun after the first few pages.

I was sure I had blogged this book earlier this Spring (sigh). Driving with Dead People by Monica Holloway - a memoir. It doesn't take long to see that the Holloways have some serious problems. Monica might identify her father's obsession with filming roadside accidents as strange but his real problem is the physical and emotional/psychic abuse that he heaps upon his wife and children. Monica grows up in a household where everyone walks in fear of being screamed at or having her pants pulled down in public. When her parents divorce, her father refuses to be involved in anything more than the legal documents require of him and her mother goes off to school, falls in love, and leaves her two daughters at home to care for themselves. The two high school girls manage to hide their abandonment from most of the town. while Mr. Holloway was the more outwardly abusive, both parents should be charged with abuse. Monica, finds herself as an adult and builds herself into strength. She helps her older sister through a suicidal time and comes to realize the greater damage her father did to them all. She later comes to deal with her father even though she knows that it may break the quiet relationship she had built with him.

Permanent Rose by Hilary McKay. Predictable.

Murkmere by Patricia Elliot - interesting but slow in parts. Aggie is a peasant with a secret, she can read. She is sent as a companion to the Manor House where she meets people with darker and more dangerous secrets. Can she make it through alive? Can she separate the good people from the evil people? Yeah, well, you already know the answer but the story gets you to that answer along a path that seems familiar but twists nicely.

Chicks with Sticks - Knit 2 together by Elizabeth Lenhard - a novel aimed at teenage girls with KNITTING. It could be good but settles for an amble through banality. A 14 year old friend and I laughed at how these teens whipped off lace work in between classes at high school. C;mon people! There are only 5 minutes between classes and 30 minutes for lunch PLUS if you are going to knit after eating you would want to wash your hands carefully and not have the yarn anywhere near grease. There are others in the series;I am not interested.

The children of Men by PD James. I was steered toward this book by previews of the movie. After all, the book is always better than the movie, right? I was intrigued by the movie sysnopsis that I read because they left so much unsaid about motivations and the source of fears but I talked to several people who saw the movie and they couldn't explain those things even after seeing themovie. The book did explain some more about the realitionship between the hero and the villain (and lesser villains) and while I understand some of the late middle age man angst - it didn't ring true to me as a strong enough goose for the character.

Worldweavers: Gift of the unmage by Alma Alexander Very cool. Thea is the 7th child of 2 seventh children and much is expected of her talents which then fail to appear. Her mother falls to hiding the scrapbook that she started with such fanfare. Thea is sent off for a dreamquest which leads her to unexpected moves and then to a school especially for people who have no magic in this magic filled world. When something dark threatens all magical people, Thea must blend together different cultures and magics to find the antidote.

Getting the Girl by Markus Zusak - Cameron isn't as cool, buff, or dynamic as his brothers but even as he acknowledges his weaknesses he sees possibilities for friendship and love. Not bad, a rough and tumble family.



Cobwebs by Karen Romano Young - I really liked this book! Highly recommended! Nancy had a lot to deal with in her strange family. Her mother stays in their basement apartment, her father walks the roofs, her grandparents are ailing but still make mysterious visits to strangers. What is Nancy's place in her family? What are her talents (hint: she knits!) And who is that mysterious boy?

Prince Across the Water by Jane Yolen is another of her fabulous historical fictions. I highly recommend it as well as her other two "Queen's Own Fool" and "Girl in a Cage". All three books do not hide the misery and fear of war but neither are they overly gory. In each story, the motivations and characters are truely human and understandable in the context of the story.

Fighting Ruben Wolf by Markus Zusak - this is the first of the Ruben Wolf books that I read. Cameron and his brother Ruben wander about town not exactly looking for trouble but always finding it. The family is having a hard time and Cameron and Ruben sign on with a fight manager to make some money. Ruben is all looks and glory but Cameron fights with the strength of his fear and persistance.

A Scholar of Magics by Caroline Stevermer - I found the beginning of this book so dull and tedious that I didn't finish it before it was due back at the library and I had no interest in renewing it. I'm told that it got interesting later on but I never made it past the first few chapters.

Easter Everywhere by Darcy Steinke - a memoir. Darcy's mother is at times suicidal as she contemplates how insecure her life is and Darcy's father flits from job to church and back with a strong conviction but more ideals than focus. My father is a preacher and flawed as any other human but we were lucky (?) that he and my mother considered our whole family as important a calling from God as any other mission. Darcy seems to realize the dysfunction relatively early but seeing it and dragging yourself to health are two different things.

Feather in the Storm: A Childhood Lost in Chaos by Emily Wu - a memoir. Emily's parents were considered enemies of the state and their reeducation was brutal and longtermed. With each wave of reordering in Maoist China the family moves up and down in society living separately in reeducation camps or together in university housing, getting a living wage or starving and working for nothing, getting an education and working in the fields.

Sold by Patricia McCormick - Lakshmi lives with her family in rural Nepal. Her stepfather drinks away their money and her mother always seems to defer to him even when her baby's health is at risk. Lakshmi's father arranges to send her to the city to work as a maid so that she can financially help the family. At least that is what he tells her and her mother. Instead she is sold and smuggled out of the country into India where she is held at a brothel. Lakshmi tries to withstand the pressures and horrors of being a prostitute but she is drugged and starved into submission. Her life as a prostitute is spirit breaking but she keeps the secret goal of buying herself out of slavery and going home. There are a few "bright" points; Lakshmi makes a friend of a prostitute and her family and they nourish her with affection and the local Chai boy sometimes gives her free tea. Later this same boy helps by bringing in a foreigner who wishes to help release girls and women from sexual slavery.

Without a Map: a memoir by Meredith Hall. Meredith's father has left for another woman and her mother is determined that no blame should fall on her or her children. Everything seems "ok" until Meredith's mother falls in love and takes a Summer job leaving Meredith unsupervised for long hours at the beach. Fascinated and scared by a brash young man, Meredith responds to his flirting. Soon she is pregnant at 16 and her life as a good girl and student are gone. She tries to hide her pregnancy but on the day it is discovered she is evicted from school, her mother arranges to throw her out, and all her friends desert her. She is sent to live with her father and his wife but they are not much better; they try to keep her hidden in their house and leave her alone for weeks at a time. Under terrible pressure Meredith gives the baby up for adoption and finds she still is not allowed her old life back. She goes from feeling loved (if somewhat mneglected) to unloved and unloveable. Her struggle to emerge and see herself as a worthy person is heartwrenching.

Best New Paranormal Romance edited by Paula Guran I picked this up by accident (I missed the word romance) but I really enjoyed. These are beautifully written stories with a good range of styles and plots.