Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd - Holly Black & Co.

Summary:

Goodreads -  Acclaimed authors Holly Black (Ironside) and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof) have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!


Thoughts

I rarely read short story anthologies because I have such a hard time getting into them, but I saw this was at the library so I thought...well why not?  And I'm so glad I did.  As I read each of these stories I kept feeling like "This is my home. These are my stories." - even when they were in a "geeky" matter I didn't know anything about.  With the exception of maybe two of the stories that I read, I wholeheartedly loved everything in this collection (even if I kept thinking all the characters were gay and then discovering I'd gotten the genders all wrong. Ah the pitfalls of short stories in first person).

This collection seriously has something for everyone - cosplaying, role playing, academic debate, LARPing, computer games, dinosaurs, fanfic, theater, Buffy - you name it, it's in here.  And I think it's amazing how drawn into each story I got into, even when I didn't have a clue about what they were talking about, I well and truly cared about the characters.  Which completely bypassed all my normal issues about short stories - since I tend to be pretty character centric, it's hard for short stories to be able to draw me in enough to really care about the characters because the stories are...well...short.  Some of them I actually would have LOVED to have gotten a whole novel out of the story - David Levithan's in particular. (Which shows me that I need to go pick up one of his books immediately. It's not like they aren't already all on my tbr list anyway, I just haven't done anything about it yet. Which will be remedied. Soon.) His was also the only one featuring anything other than a hetero relationship, which actually made me kind of sad because as I mentioned earlier, I actually assumed 75% of the relationships were same sex at the start of the stories haha.   A lot of the stories also had a focus purely on family or friend relationships, and you all know how much I go gaga over that sort of thing!

Sadly I didn't get this post up before the book expired on my kindle, so I lost all the notes I'd taken on the stories I loved, but since there were only two I didn't, just assume that the rest are all pure love for me, because they are.  The only two I didn't love were Scott Westerfield's and Barry Lyga's.  Scott Westerfields was just kind of...weird. And psychotic.  It creeped me out too much to love haha, and while I loved the concept of Barry Lyga's (his was about dinosaurs), the ending definitely didn't make me feel good.  But only two out of an entire collection is like a crazy difference than what I'm used to - I tend to be the reverse!  So I'm glad I picked it up and highly recommend this, regardless of how you feel about short stories or books about geeky things (because let's face it - if you're reading this blog, you definitely will be able to connect to at least a few stories in the collection regardless).


TL;DR

I don't read short stories. Ever. I get supremely bored by them.  But this collection was well worth picking up, and I'd recommend it to all readers because there's something a story in here for everyone.

Mini Reviews: Being Henry David by Cal Amistead

Soo...last week I got an e-mail from NetGalley being all like "Yo gurl where you been? Remember those books you got for free like a year ago? You totally owe us some reviews. PAY UP."  So I thought maybe I should get on that.  Unfortunately I actually DID mean to put up reviews for this before my hiatus...but now I've kind of forgotten a lot of stuff.  Commence mini review #1!

 

Summary

Goodreads: Seventeen-year-old "Hank" has found himself at Penn Station in New York City with no memory of anything --who he is, where he came from, why he's running away. His only possession is a worn copy of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. And so he becomes Henry David-or "Hank" and takes first to the streets, and then to the only destination he can think of--Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Cal Armistead's remarkable debut novel is about a teen in search of himself. Hank begins to piece together recollections from his past. The only way Hank can discover his present is to face up to the realities of his grievous memories. He must come to terms with the tragedy of his past, to stop running, and to find his way home.

Thoughts

This book was interesting...in a way that at times I didn't entirely love, but in the end did touch me. I think my biggest problem is that it reads like an MG book, but the main character is 17.  A lot of the romance here felt awkward and forced (that might be why it felt like MG to me...that's how I feel about most hints of romance in MG books). And some of the lines both grossed me out immensely and made me laugh - with gems like "Music creates a bond between us, an intimacy. Like touching her with music instead of fingers."  I just...eww! I could totally get behind everything the author was communicating here...until those last three words. And I felt like that was what a lot of the book was for me.  As a whole this book was a great coming of age novel that deals with all sorts of different issues that comes along with that - relationships with girls and family, choosing what to do when you graduate high school, how transformative music can be.  I can get behind all of that, and these parts were my favourites.  But then there would be something like the line above and it would jerk me out of the story.  I don't want to make this sound like I hated the book, or even really disliked it because I didn't. I think it has a really heart warming story - I definitely teared up in spots (although admittedly that isn't hard to do in my case) and I really ended up caring for the characters.  In fact, I really want to more about what happens when the book ends! As much as the romance didn't work for me as a whole, there is a part towards the end where the main characters really connect through music. It might sound corny, but I have been there, where someone you are performing with can specifically draw something out of you that you couldn't have done on your own.  Music really can just...electrify a relationship.  It's parts like these that I think are really powerful in this book (it's clear the author is a musician) and that really made it for me. 


TL;DR

Overall while I feel like this book can have success with the age group its marketed at, I think it will have more success with a slightly younger group (maybe early high school kids or middle school).  And I think it might be the perfect book for a specific kid and that it might really open things up for them. I just don't think it's as a whole going to hold a lot of interest across a wide audience.

Sure Signs of Crazy - Karen Harrington

 Summary

Love can be a trouble word for some people. Crazy is also a trouble word.
 
I should know.
  You've never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she's never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two.
Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home.

Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family's Big Secret. She makes unexpected new friends and has her first real crush, and instead of a "typical boring Sarah Nelson summer," this one might just turn out to be extraordinary.


Favourite Lines:

Lisa is wrong about kissing and love.  It might make you pretty at first, but it makes you look stupid, too.

It's funny how you don't know you are a bunch of pieces until someone hugs you together.


Thoughts

This book makes you feel so many things at the same time!  Sarah often wonders in the book if feeling two things in the same moment makes you crazy, and if that were the case this book would have definitely put me well into the category of madness.

It's definitely a character centric book.  Not a lot actually happens action wise.  A lot of what "happens" in the book are things that took place in Sarah's past, and observations of how the past has impacted the adults who surround her currently.  It's just amazing to see how all the characters grow - but you aren't seeing them grow, you are seeing Sarah seeing them grow without her always recognizing the growth.  Wow.  Isn't that just a mind ...word I can't find a substitute for?

Karen Harrington did an absolute fantastic job of writing a 12 year-old narrator.  There's a fine balance in showing the naivete of a preteen, but at the same time capturing the way children often know more than you'd think.  Or how they only understand a part of a more mature subject.  In a lot of ways Sarah reminds me of Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird.  I'd say this is likely on purpose, as Sarah confides in Atticus Finch through letters.  She's a little older than Scout was I think, but she still captures that sort of heartbreaking quality as she says things that show horrible events...but she says them in such a funny manner and with such a blunt focus that you're torn between laughter and feeling sort of horrified!  It's difficult to describe, but if you've read To Kill a Mockingbird, you should understand what I mean.  Sarah's voice is so incredibly sincere and it's just...well.  I've already said that it's perfect for a 12 year-old who is going through some incredibly heart breaking situations.  I don't have a better way to say it, other than that Sarah is probably the most sincere narrator I've come across in modern literature.  

The only criticism I have is that Charlotte, Sarah's babysitter, acts less like someone in her 20's and more like someone who is sixteen.  I mean, I'm in my 20's and she sounded like a kid I would have student taught.  I had a hard time remembering that she was getting her PhD!  But that is such a small quibble in the grand scheme of things.  This book is just a really special book.  It's a book that kids can read, and a book their parents will love too.  It would be a wonderful book to pair with To Kill a Mockingbird...and everyone should read this.  It's not just for people like me who read younger literature, it's the kind of book EVERYONE should read.

Overall

Read this.  This is easily in my top 10 books for the year.  Maybe even top 5? In any case.  I repeat:  read this!

Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern - Todd McCaffrey

 I received a copy of this from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Summary

From the publishers:
When Anne McCaffrey passed in November 2011, it was not only those closest to her who mourned her death; legions of readers also felt the loss deeply. The pioneering science fiction author behind the Dragonriders of Pern® series crafted intricate stories, enthralling worlds, and strong heroines that profoundly impacted the science fiction community and genre.

In Dragonwriter, Anne’s son and Pern writer Todd McCaffrey collects memories and stories about the beloved author, along with insights into her writing and legacy, from those who knew her best. Nebula Award–winner Elizabeth Moon relates the lessons she learned from Pern’s Lessa (and from Lessa’s creator); Hugo Award–winner David Brin recalls Anne’s steadfast belief that the world to come will be better than the one before; legendary SFF artist Michael Whelan shares (and tells stories about) never-before-published Pern sketches from his archives; and more.

Join Anne’s co-writers, fellow science fiction authors, family, and friends in remembering her life, and exploring how her mind and pen shaped not only the Weyrs of Pern, but also the literary landscape as we know it.

Contributors include:

• Angelina Adams
• David Brin
• David Gerrold
• John Goodwin
• Janis Ian
• Alec Johnson
• Georgeanne Kennedy
• Mercedes Lackey
• Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
• Lois McMaster Bujold
• Elizabeth Moon
• Charlotte Moore
• Robert Neilson
• Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett
• Robin Roberts
• Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
• Wen Spencer
• Michael Whelan
• Richard J. Woods
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Thoughts

Oh wow.  I had no idea what I was getting into when I read this book!  For some reason I thought it was going to be a dry collection of stories about Anne, it would be a quick, informative read and then I'd be on my way!  I was so wrong it's laughable!  The only thing I got right is that it was very informative.

Firstly, it's clear that any stories involving Anne could never be dry.  It's amazing how clear an image of her I got - it didn't matter if it was family, friends, colleagues, or fans - no matter how these people knew Anne (and see?  I can't call her Anne McCaffrey after reading this book), they all painted the picture of the same person.  Warm, loving, snarky, hard-working, extremely supportive - the story written by her daughter referred to her as a "universal mum".  I'm not really sure how to review short stories honestly, so I won't bother to separate them because all of them were absolutely wonderful to read.  I had to limit myself to one chapter at a time though as I do much of my reading on the train and if I wasn't laughing out loud then I was failing horribly at trying not to cry which made me look a bit mad!

I came to this book as a fan of Anne McCaffrey's, but not a particularly knowledgeable one.  I must have read Dragonflight a million times and have read whatever other books she's authored I stumbled upon, but I had never really thought much about the creator behind them.   I have only recently started thinking about the impact of female writers in fantasy and science fiction in an era when they had to really fight to be recognized.  I didn't understand the full impact of Anne McCaffrey's achievements as a writer and as a woman, but while none of the stories harped on all of her achievements, it became quite clear to me that she paved the way for all the female sci-fi writers we have now.  Perhaps still in a minority, but I believe it is a growing minority.

This book also solved a big mystery for me - why do so many sci-fi series become co-written or taken over by other authors?  I'd always thought of it as a cop out sort of thing (probably because most sci-fi I read is YA sci-fi and they don't do that as of yet).  I'd never thought of it as a nurturing sort of thing that could launch another writer's career as well as bring in fresh ideas and characters into an already existing world.  And considering how much I love fanfiction, it's no surprise that I LOVED the idea of being able to create your own characters and work side by side with an author to add your characters to her world!

Most surprising to me was how approachable Anne was.  Every single story mentioned it - but at first I just thought it was something you said about someone.  In fact at first I thought most of the great things about Anne were exaggerated because people often do that after someone has died.  But then EVERY story mentioned these things about her - particularly how approachable she was, and I began to realize Anne really was all those great things!  One of my favourite stories in the book was a hilarious story of a fan, Charlotte Moore, meeting Anne.  I won't get into the particulars, but at one point when she was in high school she'd sent Anne an e-mail.  She got a response - but also a reprimand as Anne knew one of the teachers at the Charlotte's school (I think it was a teacher) and had heard that Charlotte was not applying herself in classes, so in her e-mail she'd said "So STUDY, twithead!"  I thought this was hilarious - and it was sort of amazing to me how she responded with such familiarity and not a stock e-mail sort of thing.  I was flabbergasted when I found out she would just let anyone into her home!  Fans would go to Ireland, call her up, and stop by for a visit!  I'd never heard of anyone doing that for complete strangers!  She apparently was extremely generous financially as well as everything else, and helped many young people get started on their career.  Not just family friends or aspiring authors either!  Reading these things about anyone, let alone an author you admire, was absolutely amazing.

This book was extremely moving.  You don't have to be a fan of Anne McCaffrey's, you don't need to know a single thing about her or her books.  This book is a fantastic collection of stories about a powerful woman's life, as well as enlightening on sci-fi writers in general.  I would highly recommend you read this - I told you, I don't do non-fiction or pseudo non-fiction, but I absolutely loved this book!

The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern #1) - Shannon Hale

Summary: 

Goodreads:  Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, spends the first years of her life under her aunt's guidance learning to communicate with animals. As she grows up Ani develops the skills of animal speech, but is never comfortable speaking with people, so when her silver-tongued lady-in-waiting leads a mutiny during Ani's journey to be married in a foreign land, Ani is helpless and cannot persuade anyone to assist her.

Becoming a goose girl for the king, Ani eventually uses her own special, nearly magical powers to find her way to her true destiny. Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can become queen of the people she has made her own.

First Line:  She was born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kilden ree, and she did not open her eyes for three days.


Thoughts

I never believed such a short story would hit me so hard!  This story was...oh it was painfully beautiful to read.  Not particularly how it was written - don't get me wrong, I love Shannon Hale, but it wasn't the prose that I'm talking about.  It was the story.  I don't really know how to explain what I mean.  I got sucked into this story in a matter of pages - sucked in so deeply that I could feel my heart racing, something that usually only happens at particularly dramatic parts of a story I absolutely love (for example, when Darcy confesses to Lizzie).  The whole book felt that way.  Shannon Hale is an expert story teller.  Some authors are great for action, others for their beautiful prose, or their world building.  Some have lively characters, some have heart-wrenching plots.  Shannon Hale is a story teller.  I don't have any other way to describe it.

I absolutely loved what Hale did with this story.  The Goose Girl is one of my favourite fairy tales.  I'd always wondered the plausibility of the servant girl tricking everyone.  I mean...I guess it wasn't that I didn't believe she could trick everyone, I just never understood how the details of this event would go down.  Hale explains everything!  And she makes it so much more real.  I mean, as often happens with fairy tales, the servant and the princess don't even have names in the original!  Hale not only fleshes out the story behind everything, but our characters are really brought to life, particularly Ani who I absolutely LOVED.  It gives everything in the story more impact - there is a particularly heart wrenching scene...I can't say anything because of spoilers, but she did something I didn't believe was going to happen (I don't know why...I mean it's been years since I read the fairy tale, but it's a fairly essential part of the original plot).  Also interestingly...in the fairy tale the horse is given a name, as is the goose boy, despite the fact that the servant girl is the antagonist and the princess is the protagonist.   I mean I know this is common with fairy tales, but it seems odd to me and maybe sexist?  I haven't decided if that's what I think it is.  In any case it has no bearing on this story since Ani's name is ridiculously long haha

My only complaint about this book?  I would have loved it was longer.   I loved that it was not romantic centric, choosing instead to focus on Ani and her confidence as a person and ruler, as well as her trust issues with friends, and her magic.  But I would have loved more time spent with the love interest, showing them falling in love, instead of it happening in a short time period in a fairly quiet way.  I don't have any issues with the quiet, it was more that you don't get more than a couple chapters (if that) with them.  It doesn't make the romance unbelievable - it doesn't feel like an instalove sort of situation, I just simply wanted more romance for me to swoon over!  I wouldn't change a single thing other than that.


Would I recommend this book?

Absolutely.  I think it is a great read for preteens as well as teens (although there may not be enough swooning for teens who love their romance in books).  Light fantasy readers, and of course fairy tale obsessors like me will also really enjoy this book!

Bechdel Test: 

A day in early summer when Ani was five, the two companions sat in an aspen's dappled shade on the edge of the garden swan pond.  Ani loved the birds that were as big as she and begged them to eat bread out of her hands.  When the bread was all gone, they shrugged their wings and shronked at her.
"What did they say?
"They wanted to know," said the aunt, "Was there more bread for the eating or should they go back to the pond."
Ani look  at the nearest swan straight in one eye.  "No more bread.  You may go."
The swan shrugged his wings again.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't think he speakd your language, duckling."  The aunt turned her profile and one eye to the swan and made a sound like the swan spoke, not quite a honk and almost a whine.  The swan padded back to the pond.

This is a conversation between a young Ani and her aunt. Luckily there are all sorts of conversations like this throughout the book since Ani is usually with a good mix of guys and girls.  It's a nice change, and the book isn't focused on the guys so much as her reclaiming her birthright and dealing with her fears at being caught speaking to animals.

Tam Lin - Pamela Dean

Ok I lied.  I forgot I had a baked potato in the oven (and it is perfectly crispy!)...so eating isn't procrastinating (even if I am having dinner at midnight).  And now I'm reviewing, so that's good right?

Summary

Goodreads: In the ancient Scottish ballad "Tam Lin," headstrong Janet defies Tam Lin to walk in her own land of Carterhaugh . . . and then must battle the Queen of Faery for possession of her lover’s body and soul. In this version of "Tam Lin," masterfully crafted by Pamela Dean, Janet is a college student, "Carterhaugh" is Carter Hall at the university where her father teaches, and Tam Lin is a boy named Thomas Lane. Set against the backdrop of the early 1970s, imbued with wit, poetry, romance, and magic, Tam Lin has become a cult classic—and once you begin reading, you’ll know why. This reissue features an updated introduction by the book’s original editor, the acclaimed Terri Windling.

Thoughts

I'll be honest, I felt like I should have liked Tam Lin. And I tried, I really did.   First and foremost, you need to be a serious reader to get through the book.  The pacing is extremely slow and 80% of it is witty dialogue quoting literature and making obscure references.  It was also difficult to get into because it is set during college in the 70's, whereas I am currently doing my masters close to 40 years after this takes place, and it is amazing the changes between then and now.  It's not something I really thought much about until I was reading the novel and kept having questions about why things were being a certain way (like why she kept calling the dorm building...oh yeah...no cell phones.  And birth control was still in it's early stages as far as the pill form goes).

Here are my biggest complaints:

Janet is extremely smart, focused, and worldly for an eighteen year old.  She talks like she is a graduate or doctoral student as do all of her friends.  I can speak from experience that while many of my undergraduate conversations freshman year were very specific to music (as this is my major), they were less debates and usually involved drinking and the statements "word" or "that's like...so deep."  Not actual debates backed up with a variety of references.  At times this was like reading someone's thesis!  If they had made her about 5 years older at least I might have found this believable.  Despite the difference in era, teenagers haven't changed that much in my opinion.

It's clear who Janet is meant to be with: spoilers

The plot is extremely slow and so much time is spent on the first year - almost the whole book, and then everything else is brushed over.  However, Tor points out it is in following with the pacing of the ballad (you know the thing the entire novel is based on).

There are so many parts where the mystery is built up, but then it just disappears into another 50 pages of dialogue about Shakespeare.  It was so frustrating!  And then after all that build up, even after the pages and pages ignoring the mysteries, the resolution is so quick!  I think the climax and resolution are the most glossed over things I've ever read.

It was also very hard for me to relate to Janet.  She can be such a snob!  I felt bad for her poor roommate Christina who Janet really looks down upon just because she can't catch all the quotations from every obscure novel ever.  Or every Shakespeare line ever written.  I mean who CAN do that when they are 18?  I had an easier time relating to Christina who was much more like your average undergraduate student - smart, well-balanced, not necessarily rational 100% of the time.

What I did like was the witty dialogue (even if I found it pedantic at times) and the way Dean delves into literature and philosophy.  Even if I didn't like the balance (note: it was the entire novel) it was very interesting.  It was also refreshing to read a mature take on romance and sex after so many teen novels where it's the sudden unexplained attraction followed by loads of angst.  Even if I found Janet's rationality and maturity unconvincing for her age, it was nice to not have Mary Sues, etc.  That being said this IS a romance about a woman fighting for her man...and maybe the last 3 chapters are spent on that, whereas that is the subject matter for the whole ballad!  Overall, I would recommend this for more serious minded readers (or people like me who are REALLY into fairy tale retellings).  Otherwise I can't see this being for most readers due to the pedantic writing, slow plot, and very little real romance.

I will also add the disclaimer that I have enjoyed other works by Pamela Dean and this shouldn't deter you from exploring those!

You might like:

                                    

The Secret Country Reviews                      Fire and Hemlock Review

Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson

Synopsis                                    

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Peaches comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.

Thoughts

I am surprised this story is marketed for teens.  I know that retellings of children's stories and fairy tales are typically the young adult/teen genre, and there was no adult material that would have made it adult literature (that being said there is plenty of risque material in teen fiction these days), but the general feel and mood of the novel just doesn't belong in the teen section. The novel is primarily comprised of introspection and observation - there isn't much action.  I've found, generally speaking of course, that if a teen novel is introspective, it is mostly just very angsty, and this novel wasn't like that at all!  I do wish I had read Peter Pan more recently - it's definitely been over a decade since I read the book and probably close to a decade since I last watched the Disney version, so I have only some very vague recollections of the original storyline.

Even though the book isn't action packed like I would have expected from a story with Peter Pan and pirates involved, this isn't a dull story.  Anderson's writing is very beautiful and her insights into how humans interact emotionally and mentally are exquisite.  The whole novel is told through Tinkerbell's POV, which at first I found very odd since the reader is mostly attuned to Tiger Lily's thoughts.  Once I got used to it however, it was very effective.  Tinkerbell can't speak, but it is explained in the beginning of the book that because they don't have verbal communication, fairies are extremely attuned to thoughts and emotions.  This gives Tinkerbell a way to go in depth with Tiger Lily's thoughts, but at the same time she is often blocked out from them depending on how in control Tiger Lily is of her feelings.  It gives the reader an interesting combination of third person omniscient and first person - all filtered through the biased, if reliable, point of view of Tinkerbell.

I found Anderson's depictions of what it is like to fall in love for the first time, as well as how the relationship progresses, and how teenagers deal with each other throughout the whole ordeal very realistic.  Or at least significantly more realistic than much of what I'm reading in this genre at the moment.  Don't get me wrong, I'm as addicted to fantasy love fluff in the teen section as much as the next person, but it just doesn't have any substance to it.  This book is all about substance.  It deals with every possible type of relationship - family, society, love, friendship.  You name it, it's in the book.

Overall I loved the book.  It just wasn't what I was expecting, which is hardly the books fault (although perhaps somewhat the marketing people's fault).  I honestly believe this book is marketed to the wrong crowd, and I would have picked it up much sooner had I realized this.  I thought the depth of characters, especially with a darkness not found (to my memory) in Peter Pan, was fantastically well done.  The slow pacing of the book might not be for everyone, but again I think that is also fixed as people become aware that this book is not geared towards the people it is marketed for.  The main reason I am not giving it an A+ is because I still have mixed feelings on using Tinkerbell as the narrator.  While it gives the reader a larger yet more personal scope than using only third or first POV, it can be jarring at times, as well as the marketing issue (I know I am harping on this, but I think it is important that people come to this book without the preconceived notions I came to it with), but Anderson's characters more than make up for it.



Recommended


                                  
Peter Pan Book Review                         Cinder Book Review

The Thirteenth Tale - Dianne Setterfield

 

  Rated: A++


Synopsis:

When Margaret Lea opened the door to the past, what she confronted was her destiny.
All children mythologize their birth...

So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself — all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.

Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

The Thirteenth Tale is a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life.


Thoughts:

Diane Setterfield's language is exquisite in this book.  From the first page of this novel I was sold.  I have read many reviews of this novel where the author was dreading the read (although all of them agreed it was worth the read).  I was even more surprised when some reviewers had said that the book was only a pretty good read, or that they found the narrator boring.  Well of course in comparison to Vida's story, the narrator is boring!  Margaret is used as our link to reality - she could be any one of the readers, whereas Vida's story is as dark and mysterious as any tale you would find in a gothic novel.  Again, I am stuck for words in describing my favourite novel.  If I had to pick one book that I would call my favourite novel of all time (although it would really be impossible for me to pick ONE book!), this novel is probably the closest I could choose.  I found the story original - you would never expect what happens in this novel.  The twists are almost unreal - but they stay plausible through Setterfield's expertise in prose and her control of her characters and plot. 


Anyone who thinks this is just a cute beach read would be mistaken.  The amount of color and depth this novel evokes is peerless.


Overall:

A fantastic read, especially for those who love the way words roll off your tongue, surprise twist, plot and character complexity, or for any true book lover. Dianne Setterfield has given us everything that makes a perfect novel: beautiful prose, a complex yet plausible plot, and excellent character depth.

Recommended

Book lovers.  Lovers of gothic mystery and prose.  Lovers of the unexpected and beautiful.  I could not recommend this book more.

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Book Review                     Book Review

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Rated: 7 stars




Synopsis

"I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers."
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb...

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends — and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society — born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island — boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways

Thoughts

Set during WWII on a small island off the coast of England during German occupation, this book is narrated almost entirely through letters. This means that the POV gives a lot of different perspectives - kind of in first person, kind of in third person, it can cover a large assortment of experiences and emotions. I also liked how a book united a community during a Nazi occupation and how this book created relationships that spanned over countries. Very book empowering :-).

2/3 of the book have great character development and tension built up from the war as well as personal relationships. It is a little vague where the story is going however. The ending, sadly, falls short in comparison to the rest of the book. It is very cliche - a romance sprouts out of nowhere in the last few chapters of the book, finishing the novel. It seems very abrupt and out of character. There is a reason for this. Unfortunately the author died before she finished the book, leaving her niece to finish the book. I have to congratulate the niece for having the guts to pick up a story and try and match the style.

Overall

A decent read, relatively light-hearted for a historical fiction novel, especially during this time period.

Recommended

Historical fiction readers, chick lit, and anyone looking for a good, light read.

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Book Synopsis

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secreats - an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.


Thoughts

The synopsis (found on the back cover of this book) does no justice to the story - only the last sentence really touches on what this book really is. While Daniel's search for Carax moves this story - the search delves into the government corruption and police brutality in Spain caused by a government being overthrown, pushing the whole country into a state of terror. Although this is set maybe a decade after things have started to settle, this fear is only slightly below the surface. This search is more about the mysteries of life and human nature than a search for a book or author. Character development and plot is outstanding - taking you from a young boy to a full grown man, growing from a simple book to a number of lives intertwined in one story.

I found that the story line actually reminded me a bit of The Thirteenth Tale (in my top five books of all time) and Wuthering Heights with its darkness and mystery as well as many of the subjects discussed in the novel. Zafon has been compared to Umberto Eco in this novel, but I find that Zafon's language is more alive than Eco's. Although the prose is not as beautiful as Setterfield's in The Thirteenth Tale (That would be impossible), I found that it was interesting and varied - easily accessible, but not dumbed down by any means.

One of my favourite reads this year by far; this story will take hold of you and won't let you go for days after you've put the book down.

Overall

An absolutely fantastic book - well-rounded, well-written.

Recommended for:

Everyone, but especially the true book lover.

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