mangofandango (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mangofandango) wrote2007-07-02 09:51 am
mangofandango) wrote2007-07-02 09:51 am
book log!
LJ is quiet today! I need entertainment and distraction, people!
I need to log some books that I've read, and also do some work. But um, work? Not so much working for me right now. I will try book logging instead.
I did some reading during ALA and the 24 total hours we spent in the car.
"Perfect: a novel" by Natasha Friend (YA)
This is a novel about a girl with an eating disorder, and we've all seen that a zillion times before. However! I liked this one a lot. It has the appeal of a great, attractive cover and a premise that gets teen girls in the door, and then it sort of takes them in directions that most ED novels don't really go. I liked it for focusing on ED differently - it is more clearly a lesson learned sort of experience for the protagonist, and one that she works out because she feels it needs to be fixed. It doesn't dwell on some of the things that make most ED books a little bit like porn for disordered eaters. I'd buy this for my junior high kids in a minute, and plan to do so when I do book buying later this summer.
"Parrotfish" by Ellen Wittlinger (YA)
Okay, so I was super excited to read this book, because I'd heard Ellen talk about it a lot at various ALA events, and it has such a great premise and perspective. Also, I got to read it within the first 24 hours that it was available, and it still hasn't been released to the public, so that is kinda fun. So, this is a book about a transgendered teen. It's not (just?) a problem novel, though, and that's what is unique about this book. It's not that the transition for Grady isn't a problem, it's just that it assumes a supportive (if sometimes challenged) family, and a whole lot of hope for the future. "Luna" was also a great book on this issue, but it was handled very differently - it addressed the very real negativity inherent in the trans experience and wasn't as hopeful, though it was possibly much more realistic. Ellen Wittlinger talked about the fact that estimates say that about 50 percent of trans teens attempt suicide at some point...and that's why books like these are so important. Also, it was handled in a way that I feel comfortable giving it to junior high kids, and getting their little minds opened a bit sooner certainly can't hurt (though yeah, there's major possibilities here for challenges, but that's what I'm good for as the librarian, right? :))
"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman (for grownups! and maybe teens too. ;))
A re-read, because it's awesome, and because they're working on a movie, and because Beth just put out some Stardust perfume oils. It was good to revisit.
"Ghost Girl: A Blue Ridge Mountain Story" by Delia Ray (middle grades)
This was a Great Stone Face book award nominee this year, and I haven't really been able to sell it to the kids because I didn't know enough about it. So I read it, and I liked it, but I didn't love it. I had big time sympathy for the main character, and I think the book is interesting in that it's a historical subject that isn't often addressed, but I felt like the ending was unsatisfying in some ways.
"An Abundance of Katherines" - John Green (YA)
This one won the Printz award, but I honestly didn't love it. I really liked "Looking for Alaska" by the same author, but this one just left me a little bit cool, a little bit outside the story. Okay, I feel dumb saying this, but the math focus kinda lost me, and I didn't really love the characters, even though they were well-drawn and theoretically interesting. I found it a little bit too odd. Also, too old for my kids, so knowing that helps. My response to this one is very "eh".
"Gingerbread" by Rachel Cohn (YA)
I liked this one, even though it seemed very Francesca Lia Block to me and that made me feel like it was lightly ripped off. It's edgy, and it knows it, and that's fun and appealing - but it's also a little self-conscious. However, I enjoyed it, and I liked that it actually deals with some real stuff while being all self-consciously edgy, and I liked the protagonist. I have no deep thoughts on this one, though, really.
"A Child Called It" - Dave Pelzer
Yup, I read this one. I hadn't ever read it before, and it's so infamous, I felt like I should. And I really find it to be a strange book. People read it and treat it as if it's some sort of uplifting story of survival, but really, what I got from it was very different. The book cover even labels it an "inspirational story". I see it as the product of a deep and terrible injury, the detailed purging of almost unbelievably horrific stuff. The book focuses on that so much, and I understand it as a psychological recovery tactic, but I don't see it as uplifting at all, except in the sense that he survived. The book doesn't focus on survival, or rebuilding, or even really trying to understand and synthesize much. It's a ferociously detailed description of horrific abuse. I'm interested in reading the second book, though, because the part I find compelling about this story is the aftermath - how do you rebuild your sense of self after being so dehumanized? What was wrong with this child's mother, to make her so sadistic? What happened to his brothers, who were treated like kings by comparison and encouraged to treat their brother like he wasn't a person? I assume the second and third book address those things, so that's the stuff I really want to know about. I find the popularity of this particular book in the series kind of...confusing, without the other two. Are people really just morbidly curious, or...?
"Al Capone Does My Shorts" by Gennifer Choldenko
This was a totally unique book - how many times have you heard of a YA novel about the children of prison employees on Alcatraz (in the 19...30s, I think?) and their antics? Not many. It was fun just for that reason, but the layers that show up when we get into the main character's issues with his autistic sister (in a time when autism was treated very, very differently) add a lot of complexity. I liked this one a lot.
"Sex and the Slayer: A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan" by Lorna Jowett
Okay, this one really stimulated both the gender studies geek and the Buffy geek in me, so I really enjoyed it. I took issue with some of her points, or rather, I found myself interpreting things much differently, at times, than the author did - but that's part of the fun, and also part of her point. I would definitely recommend this book to feminist Buffy fans.
I need to log some books that I've read, and also do some work. But um, work? Not so much working for me right now. I will try book logging instead.
I did some reading during ALA and the 24 total hours we spent in the car.
"Perfect: a novel" by Natasha Friend (YA)
This is a novel about a girl with an eating disorder, and we've all seen that a zillion times before. However! I liked this one a lot. It has the appeal of a great, attractive cover and a premise that gets teen girls in the door, and then it sort of takes them in directions that most ED novels don't really go. I liked it for focusing on ED differently - it is more clearly a lesson learned sort of experience for the protagonist, and one that she works out because she feels it needs to be fixed. It doesn't dwell on some of the things that make most ED books a little bit like porn for disordered eaters. I'd buy this for my junior high kids in a minute, and plan to do so when I do book buying later this summer.
"Parrotfish" by Ellen Wittlinger (YA)
Okay, so I was super excited to read this book, because I'd heard Ellen talk about it a lot at various ALA events, and it has such a great premise and perspective. Also, I got to read it within the first 24 hours that it was available, and it still hasn't been released to the public, so that is kinda fun. So, this is a book about a transgendered teen. It's not (just?) a problem novel, though, and that's what is unique about this book. It's not that the transition for Grady isn't a problem, it's just that it assumes a supportive (if sometimes challenged) family, and a whole lot of hope for the future. "Luna" was also a great book on this issue, but it was handled very differently - it addressed the very real negativity inherent in the trans experience and wasn't as hopeful, though it was possibly much more realistic. Ellen Wittlinger talked about the fact that estimates say that about 50 percent of trans teens attempt suicide at some point...and that's why books like these are so important. Also, it was handled in a way that I feel comfortable giving it to junior high kids, and getting their little minds opened a bit sooner certainly can't hurt (though yeah, there's major possibilities here for challenges, but that's what I'm good for as the librarian, right? :))
"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman (for grownups! and maybe teens too. ;))
A re-read, because it's awesome, and because they're working on a movie, and because Beth just put out some Stardust perfume oils. It was good to revisit.
"Ghost Girl: A Blue Ridge Mountain Story" by Delia Ray (middle grades)
This was a Great Stone Face book award nominee this year, and I haven't really been able to sell it to the kids because I didn't know enough about it. So I read it, and I liked it, but I didn't love it. I had big time sympathy for the main character, and I think the book is interesting in that it's a historical subject that isn't often addressed, but I felt like the ending was unsatisfying in some ways.
"An Abundance of Katherines" - John Green (YA)
This one won the Printz award, but I honestly didn't love it. I really liked "Looking for Alaska" by the same author, but this one just left me a little bit cool, a little bit outside the story. Okay, I feel dumb saying this, but the math focus kinda lost me, and I didn't really love the characters, even though they were well-drawn and theoretically interesting. I found it a little bit too odd. Also, too old for my kids, so knowing that helps. My response to this one is very "eh".
"Gingerbread" by Rachel Cohn (YA)
I liked this one, even though it seemed very Francesca Lia Block to me and that made me feel like it was lightly ripped off. It's edgy, and it knows it, and that's fun and appealing - but it's also a little self-conscious. However, I enjoyed it, and I liked that it actually deals with some real stuff while being all self-consciously edgy, and I liked the protagonist. I have no deep thoughts on this one, though, really.
"A Child Called It" - Dave Pelzer
Yup, I read this one. I hadn't ever read it before, and it's so infamous, I felt like I should. And I really find it to be a strange book. People read it and treat it as if it's some sort of uplifting story of survival, but really, what I got from it was very different. The book cover even labels it an "inspirational story". I see it as the product of a deep and terrible injury, the detailed purging of almost unbelievably horrific stuff. The book focuses on that so much, and I understand it as a psychological recovery tactic, but I don't see it as uplifting at all, except in the sense that he survived. The book doesn't focus on survival, or rebuilding, or even really trying to understand and synthesize much. It's a ferociously detailed description of horrific abuse. I'm interested in reading the second book, though, because the part I find compelling about this story is the aftermath - how do you rebuild your sense of self after being so dehumanized? What was wrong with this child's mother, to make her so sadistic? What happened to his brothers, who were treated like kings by comparison and encouraged to treat their brother like he wasn't a person? I assume the second and third book address those things, so that's the stuff I really want to know about. I find the popularity of this particular book in the series kind of...confusing, without the other two. Are people really just morbidly curious, or...?
"Al Capone Does My Shorts" by Gennifer Choldenko
This was a totally unique book - how many times have you heard of a YA novel about the children of prison employees on Alcatraz (in the 19...30s, I think?) and their antics? Not many. It was fun just for that reason, but the layers that show up when we get into the main character's issues with his autistic sister (in a time when autism was treated very, very differently) add a lot of complexity. I liked this one a lot.
"Sex and the Slayer: A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan" by Lorna Jowett
Okay, this one really stimulated both the gender studies geek and the Buffy geek in me, so I really enjoyed it. I took issue with some of her points, or rather, I found myself interpreting things much differently, at times, than the author did - but that's part of the fun, and also part of her point. I would definitely recommend this book to feminist Buffy fans.