Shhh

We're reading Mockingjay. Okay, I finished at 1:30 this morning, but some are still waiting for copies to arrive. Patti and I will chat about it in a future post, but in the meantime make a comment if you have to get something out. Warning to everyone that there may be spoilers in the comments.

Scholastic video of Suzanne Collins reading the first chapter.

Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk

A man wakes up in a Spanish insane asylum claiming he is Christopher Columbus. He has no ID, nothing to tell the staff who he really is. Consuela, the nurse assigned to him listens to his tales and writes reports all the time trying to see the truth woven into his stories. She senses that when he finishes his story that the real man hidden within will reemerge.

I really liked the premise. Columbus is obviously not Christopher Columbus. This isn't some time travel story. There are anachronistic things embedded into his tales that make it clear that Columbus is a modern man who has had something devastating happen and has had a complete dissociative break from reality. Things like cell phones or cameras or cars pop into his stories with regularity.

The author also weaves a few other narratives into this novel. We follow Consuela the nurse around as well as an Interpol agent who is trying to track Columbus down. As the novel goes on the reader begins to understand how the different narratives interact and finally the truth about Columbus is revealed. It is every bit as devastating as you might think.

My one complaint is that I think Columbus' self told story was a bit long. And there might of been a little too much about odors in it for me. I know it was supposed to be earthy and romantic, but I dunno... Also I was looking for more direct correlations between his Columbus stories and his real life and there weren't as many as I had hoped for. I guess I was expecting more of an "aha" moment where the puzzle pieces fell into place.

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Book Source = ARC from staff area (book is already published)

2011 Mock Printz

Exciting news! We've decided on our 2011 Mock Printz titles. Want some even more exciting news? We're opening it up to the public this year. That means if you're in the Austin area you could join the ladies of Oops as we duke it out in our very fun Mock Printz discussion. It will be on January 4, 2011 and I don't have the official press release at this time, but as soon as I do I will post it for you.

Our Mock Printz has some limitations, mostly due to our fiscal year which demands that we figure out which books we're discussing early enough that we can buy copies of them. So nothing published past August is being discussed. That's really just an FYI though, the books we picked are going to be fantastic to discuss.

Here are the books we're reading:

Bacigalupi, Paolo – Ship Breaker
Benoit, Charles – You
Larson, Hope – Mercury
Marchetta, Melina – Finnikin of the Rock
Nelson, Jandy – The Sky is Everywhere
Perkins, Lynne Rae – As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth
Reeves, Philip – Fever Crumb
Sedgwick, Marcus – Revolver
Stork, Francisco X – The Last Summer of the Death Warriors
Teller, Janne - Nothing

As for right now, I'm going to read several adult books in a row and then start rereading all these lovely books as well as get started on our Mock Newbery titles too.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!

That is me squealing that Jaclyn Moriarty seems to be posting on her blog again!

The Deception by Lee Nichols

I'm going to keep this short since I'm just on the other side of recovery with a 5 day battle with Strep throat which kicked my butt (I had no idea Strep could be this awful).

I sort of told myself no more paranormal books, but this one came highly recommended by good people, that I had to pick it up anyway. I'm glad I did. It is a super fun read. I liked the way the romance was handled. Emma is a bit young and naive, but she is no pushover and she doesn't crave mistreatment (be still my heart). I got a little frustrated with the conversations where nothing is learned, of which there are several with Bennett, one of her love interests. I have never enjoyed that, neither in Lost or in Soap Operas (Days of our Lives if you must know I have no idea how I started, but in grade 3 it was the thing to watch) I have never thought a situation should be drawn out when a simple conversation could solve it.

Regardless, the book was fun. I liked Emma, felt sorry for her a whole lot, and enjoyed the gruesome scenes when they appeared. I thought the ending was good and liked how they left it open for sequels because there is still so much to find out. Where exactly is her family!?

Spoilers >Her Brother Max must be eeeevvvvil. That's my guess. Either that or Bennett. I did love that two ghost keepers can't be together or the stronger will leach all the power out of the weaker. Nice wrench to throw in the romantic works! And I feel like something is up with Sara and Harry. What other creatures might pop up in the sequels? < End Spoilers

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Book Source = I don't really remember. Sorry.

The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle

I’ll admit it, I really wanted to read this book because of the title and that cover photo. Those dark eyeless sockets really called to me. Spooky! And the branches in the background? Double Spooky! As far as I can tell, there were no forests or branches in this story, but luckily there were plenty of black eyeless sockets!

So yes, the story is really kind of scary. Tabby lives at a knitting school (was there such a thing? Maybe it was like a workhouse for orphaned or disadvantaged children? ) and is hand selected to be the new maid for a grand house. But when she gets there things just don’t seem right. The house is filthy. There is no master. And there is the cold, wet girl who gets into bed with her at night. Tabby soon figures out that the maid before her died and is now haunting her. When the young master arrives, he soon sees other ghosts as well. The young master turns out to be Heathcliff, from Wuthering Heights fame, as a young child.

I knew this was a prequel to Wuthering Heights, a fact which actually serviced to confuse me more than I’d like to admit since I didn’t fully read the publisher description (as is my habit). I’ve read Wuthering Heights, but it has been a really long time and to be honest I don’t remember too much about it. So I spent a bunch of time thinking Seldom House, the place where they are living was somehow related to the Wuthering Heights house…which it is clearly not. I was also a sort of thinking this was a retelling or something…which it is also clearly not. I think I might have been better off not knowing the Wuthering Heights connection and then slowly becoming aware of it as I read. The author's note is excellent and really might have been enough connection between the two novels.

If I have one complaint, it is that I wish the book had been longer so that we could have explored that freaky house a little more. I would have loved to know more about the history of the rites (like why did they keep touching Tabby with metal?), more about that wacked out village, more about how the old maid became the old maid, and so on and so forth. I did enjoy it and read it in a couple hours, but in this case a little more would have been better.

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Book Source = ARC provided by publisher

Hooray!

Uni the Unicorn says...

Happy Birthday Patti! :)

Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lish McBride

I first heard about this book back in May when Michelle wrote about it. She loved it, Sherman Alexie loved it, it had a fantastic cover. I was sort of foaming at the mouth to read it, but you know how it goes, life gets in the way...people keep forgetting to send you their arcs to borrow (Michelle and Jenn H. I am looking at you. Ahem.), all that sort of stuff.

So I finally got to read it and man, I loved it. Totally hilarious everyman main character that gets into a situation way over his head, a la evil necromancer, and finds out maybe there was a reason that it all happened. It had a great ensemble cast (and I say cast because honestly, this would be a fantastic hour long TV show). If this doesn't turn into a series I am going to scream bloody murder. I want more! In fact it is the first thing in a long time that tore me away from watching Dr. Who and Torchwood on Netflix. I think that says a lot to recommend it.

There are necromancers, werewolves, ghosts, witches, and just about every other paranormal person/thing thrown into the mix. It works because the author doesn't take it too seriously. This book, above all else, is a comedy.

Adults are going to love this as much as the teens.

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Book Source = ARC borrowed from friend

Top 100 YA Novels

A while ago Patti and I came up with our Top 10 YA Novels. Here is the first half of the grand list complied by Adele at the always interesting Persnickety Snark.

100-96

95-91

90-86

85-81

80-76

75-71

70-66

65-61

60-56

55-51

Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan

Two girls, life long best friends decide that getting into college is too hard. They've got the extracurriculars, they've got the grades, but they don't feel like they'll stand out in the sea of applicants. After watching a T.V. special on a girl who goes missing, they start to plan. What would happen if one of them went missing? Would that give them the edge they need? What would they have to do? How much would they have to plan? How exactly could they get away with it?

This novel reminded me a bit of Harmless by Dana Reinhardt, only taking the premise a step further. In Harmless the lie wasn't premeditated and was just to get them out of trouble after staying out too late one night. In Accomplice it is a deliberate act by two girls to achieve national attention. In both the lies spin out of control in ways that neither sets of girls anticipate. It is fascinating to watch the psychological issues that arise out of living a lie. And in particular a really, really big, world changing lie.

What is interesting to me is that Finn, the friend left to spin the lie as her friend hides didn't anticipate how difficult it would be. Correspondingly, it is perhaps even more interesting how little Chloe seems to care. I was left wondering exactly who Chloe was and who she had always been.

The arc of their friendship is the real strength of this novel. It explores the dynamics of friendship, its inequalities, its complexities, and what happens when people stop being polite and start being real (Ack! Forgive me! I couldn't help myself. This book is nothing like The Real World).

Anyhow, its a book that leaves you thinking. I enjoyed it.

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Book Source: Publisher Review Copy