I managed to finish two books this week, The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman and a graphic novel called 30 Days of Night, by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. They were both short and, I thought, rather average. Also one is a library book, so sending it back doesn't reduce the number of books in my house, and the other was a birthday gift, so that one is actually adding a book.
I picked up The Whipping Boy because it had won a Newbery Medal and I liked the premise. A spoiled prince and the whipping boy who takes his spankings for him run away and get caught in the clutches of criminals. Sounds fun and adventurous! Well... it is, but the characters are all so one-dimensional I didn't really care much about them. I finished reading out of curiosity rather than worry for the prince and his companion. This is a fast read and I think a lot of grade schoolers probably will enjoy it, but considering the far more sophisticated and interesting books that have won Newbery Medals, I was really underwhelmed by this book. I won't be too traumatized when I return it to the library.
30 Days of Night has a fantastic concept and rather good artwork. I love the idea of vampires loose on a city so far North that there is no sun (and no hope of rescue) for a month. It's brilliant, but the characters are so poorly drawn by the writer that it's hard to care that an entire town is being decimated. Additionally, the only way the reader would know how much time is passing is by looking at the title. The few townspeople who survive the initial massacre (which takes who knows how long) find a hiding spot, but they only way you know they have been there a while is that they are running out of food. And considering they are hiding in an old industrial furnace, how much food could there have been in the first place? So the whole thing feels like maybe 2 or 3 Days of Night.
Additional problems include a confusing subplot about someone who appears to (I think?) be a vampire flying in to the city to record the vampire attack and send the information back to his mother (also a vampire?), and the ultimate solution for getting away from the vampires.
The concept is so great, the story needed a lot more work for clarity and detail, in my opinion.
Nevertheless, 30 Days of Night probably will stay in our book collection, at least for now. I have a hard time parting with birthday gifts, I guess.
Next up in my To Be Read pile is another stripped book from my days as a bookseller. It's an anthology of science fiction stories and I have no doubt that it is headed for the recycling bin as soon as I finish it.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Snowpocalypse 7 (Or So) Creates Blogging Opportunity
Yet another blizzard here in Minnesota this weekend, and for once it started on a Sunday instead of a Friday or Saturday. So now the kids are home today for a snow day, Alex is sick, and I'm still behind on my book blogging. This probably wouldn't be a surprise, but I do have a good excuse for the last week or so: I was subbing in the nurse's office at a local elementary school. And it was busy. So both my writing and my reading (not to mention my already sub-par housekeeping) have been neglected.
I wanted to write a few words about Robert C. O'Brien's Z For Zachariah, though. I had never heard of this book before Julia randomly brought it home from her school library. Julia is only 8, and her reading level is not as advanced as this book would require, but she must have read the back of it and gotten interested. She convinced her father to read some of it to her, and I'm fine with that as long as no nightmares ensue.
What surprised me most is that, while I had never heard of this book, it's the sort of book that I love. Interactions of people - one of whom is not at all stable - after an apocalyptic event? Right up my alley! At the beginning of the story, the 16 year old main character, Ann Burden, believes herself to be the last person left in the world. There's been a short but predictably brutal atomic war, killing off everyone else, but she's safe in the valley in which she lives; the way it is constructed keeps radiation from getting into it. There are plenty of supplies for her, and she's making do alone.
Then another person finds her and she has to decide how to interact with him. When she does, she soon discovers that his history is disturbing and he might be insane. So it's a survival story in more than one way.
It's kind of funny how much I loved this book; the only other book by Robert C. O'Brien I had previously heard of was Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, which every fourth grader in America apparently had to read in the 1980s. I don't remember particularly loving or hating that book and I was frankly surprised to find that O'Brien had written anything else. I guess working in a bookstore for two years and going to library school for a while some books still somehow elude you.
Anyway, this book isn't in our collection, but if we had room it is one that I would certainly add.
I wanted to write a few words about Robert C. O'Brien's Z For Zachariah, though. I had never heard of this book before Julia randomly brought it home from her school library. Julia is only 8, and her reading level is not as advanced as this book would require, but she must have read the back of it and gotten interested. She convinced her father to read some of it to her, and I'm fine with that as long as no nightmares ensue.
What surprised me most is that, while I had never heard of this book, it's the sort of book that I love. Interactions of people - one of whom is not at all stable - after an apocalyptic event? Right up my alley! At the beginning of the story, the 16 year old main character, Ann Burden, believes herself to be the last person left in the world. There's been a short but predictably brutal atomic war, killing off everyone else, but she's safe in the valley in which she lives; the way it is constructed keeps radiation from getting into it. There are plenty of supplies for her, and she's making do alone.
Then another person finds her and she has to decide how to interact with him. When she does, she soon discovers that his history is disturbing and he might be insane. So it's a survival story in more than one way.
It's kind of funny how much I loved this book; the only other book by Robert C. O'Brien I had previously heard of was Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, which every fourth grader in America apparently had to read in the 1980s. I don't remember particularly loving or hating that book and I was frankly surprised to find that O'Brien had written anything else. I guess working in a bookstore for two years and going to library school for a while some books still somehow elude you.
Anyway, this book isn't in our collection, but if we had room it is one that I would certainly add.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Things That I Am Bad At
It turns out that one of the things I am bad at is keeping up with writing a blog. What a shock!
That being said, I have been reading... some from our book collection, some from library books. I can't help myself. Another thing I am bad at is controlling my compulsion to get books from the library even though I have enough stuff here to read to last me many, many years.
On the upside, I haven't been buying any books. The problem is that there are three other people in my family and two of them get book orders every month. Even the seventh grader (Alex) still gets them. I am fighting an uphill battle here.
I did finish Crime for Christmas, and it is gone from the house. I recycled it because it was a strip copy, leftover from my days working at a bookstore. Strip copies really cannot be passed on to others. In fact, bookstores routinely let their workers take them home, but even that is sketchy behavior.
I've finished two other books from our collection in the past couple of weeks and started another one. Yes, I'm going to blog about all of them, but going in reverse order. Why? Because I'm the blogger, that's why.
First, I just started Stephen King's newest book, Full Dark, No Stars. I received this as a Christmas gift from my sister and, let's face it, I always wind up with the new Stephen King book in my collection. They are permanent residents, but they do get re-read, some of them frequently. The unabridged version of The Stand is actually the book I read for comfort (yes, I read a book about everyone in the world dying of the flu for comfort, that's how weird I am).
I just finished reading a cute book called Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper, to Julia. She got it for Christmas and it's hers; it's going to have a permanent place at our house. There's not a lot to say about this particular novel. It's short and sweet, it has some funny parts, and it was a quick read. It's not the most memorable book of all time, but I liked the characters, especially "Just Grace."
I also just finished reading a book to myself; Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien. This particular book was from the library, but I think it deserves its own blog post... as does the book I read out loud to Julia before Just Grace. So hopefully I'll get there soon... just because I'm bad at keeping up with blogging doesn't mean I can't get better.
That being said, I have been reading... some from our book collection, some from library books. I can't help myself. Another thing I am bad at is controlling my compulsion to get books from the library even though I have enough stuff here to read to last me many, many years.
On the upside, I haven't been buying any books. The problem is that there are three other people in my family and two of them get book orders every month. Even the seventh grader (Alex) still gets them. I am fighting an uphill battle here.
I did finish Crime for Christmas, and it is gone from the house. I recycled it because it was a strip copy, leftover from my days working at a bookstore. Strip copies really cannot be passed on to others. In fact, bookstores routinely let their workers take them home, but even that is sketchy behavior.
I've finished two other books from our collection in the past couple of weeks and started another one. Yes, I'm going to blog about all of them, but going in reverse order. Why? Because I'm the blogger, that's why.
First, I just started Stephen King's newest book, Full Dark, No Stars. I received this as a Christmas gift from my sister and, let's face it, I always wind up with the new Stephen King book in my collection. They are permanent residents, but they do get re-read, some of them frequently. The unabridged version of The Stand is actually the book I read for comfort (yes, I read a book about everyone in the world dying of the flu for comfort, that's how weird I am).
I just finished reading a cute book called Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper, to Julia. She got it for Christmas and it's hers; it's going to have a permanent place at our house. There's not a lot to say about this particular novel. It's short and sweet, it has some funny parts, and it was a quick read. It's not the most memorable book of all time, but I liked the characters, especially "Just Grace."
I also just finished reading a book to myself; Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien. This particular book was from the library, but I think it deserves its own blog post... as does the book I read out loud to Julia before Just Grace. So hopefully I'll get there soon... just because I'm bad at keeping up with blogging doesn't mean I can't get better.
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