2009 September » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Library Loot (#1)

Posted by Anastasia on September 11, 2009 No Responses »

Sep 112009

Library Loot meme Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Eva and Marg that encourage bloggers to talk about what books they’ve gotten from their library during the week. Anyone can participate any time during the week, so feel free to write up your own post and link it using Eva’s (or Marg’s) Mr Linky!

I’ve gotten some good books this week, though I’ve read most of them already (whoops). As a (slightly) interesting aside, my library takes all the jackets off the hardcovers, and so a lot of the ones below are new to me. Considering how much importance I place on a book’s cover as to whether or not I’ll actually read the book, not having seen the covers before now is probably a good thing.

Format totally stolen from Eva.

King Dork by Frank Portman. Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman (review). The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones (currently reading).

The Charioteer by Mary Renault. Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan. A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (why does it say “by the author of Feathers” on the cover of Feathers? Uh, no shit?). The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson. Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome.

Secret Water by Arthur Ransome (sounds vaguely like a thriller, but it’s not). We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome.

Three of these were gotten because I’d read some really good blog reviews of them lately (the Renault and two Woodson novels), one I deliberately got because I’d read another book by the author (King Dork) that I found on the new books shelf (Andromeda Klein), three arrived through inter-library loan (the Ransomes), and the others I found browsing through the stacks. I brought eight of them home today and was so overwhelmed I didn’t know where to start! I love having choices, but sometimes it’s too much. (Only slightly joking, here.)

(I ended up picking The Uninvited.)

What did you get from the library this week?

Review: Her Wiccan, Wiccan Ways by Traci Hall

Posted by Anastasia on September 11, 2009 No Responses »

Sep 112009

Her Wiccan Wiccan Ways Her Wiccan, Wiccan Ways by Traci Hall
Publication: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (April 8, 2008), ebook
Genre: Paranormal, YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon
Read: July 2009

In one sentence: Adorable, spooky, and filled with lovable characters. (Can’t believe I managed to stay away from puns with magical-related words. “It’s enchanting!” There’s one.)

The cover is ugly, the title is suspect, but it was free and I had nothing else to read, so I read it I did. And SURPRISE! It was nothing like I expected, and I am so glad of that. I was expecting it to be badly written and boring, but it’s actually really cute and not badly written at all, and, well– you’ll see.

Summary from Amazon:

Rhiannon Godfrey is a psychic prodigy, but her parents don’t see things her way. They think she needs a -normal- high school experience-she wants to stay in trendy Vegas. In the small farming town of Crystal Lake, being Wiccan doesn’t exactly help the Godfreys blend in.

Beyond angry, Rhiannon neglects to inform her parents the farmhouse they just bought is haunted. Instead, she decides to use the resident ghost to prove that she belongs back in Dr. Richards’s Institute of Parapsychology. Not that dispelling ghosts is her area of expertise, but really, how hard can it be?

And then there’s Jared Roberts. Totally hot. For a cowboy, that is. Only problem? He comes with an evil twin sister, the shallow and popular Janet. Janet’s only goal is to make Rhee’s life miserable. So when she and her friends decide it’s time for a little payback, Rhee goes to her mother’s book of spells. Janet needs to be taught a lesson, and what harm can come from a few words?

Just one little spell.

I can’t really tolerate books that treats Wicca as if it’s the only sort of magic any modern pagan would be doing and/or that it’s a substitute for every other kind of witchcraft/magic (see here for more on that). So I was happily surprised when Ms. Hall seemed to get everything right– at least to my admittedly close-minded requirements– plus she managed to create really fun characters, a believable teenage-centered plot, and a series I will be happy to continue reading.

Though Wicca plays a large part in the story and in the characters’ lives, they don’t use it as anything than what it is: a new-ish religion with some nifty magic things and a lot of nature-related spiritualism. Rhiannon does spells, but they’re fluffy and relatively harmless, and she hasn’t got a big head about it. It’s just matter of fact, like a Catholic would be about communion. That was a terribly exciting thing for me to have in a book, since I’m so used to Wicca being treated rather lackadaisically (see Halloweentown, for instance). But even better than the Wicca aspect is the characters!

It’s pretty tough to make your teens actually sound and act like teens, especially when you’re also dealing with magic and psychic powers, but Ms. Hall manages to do it here. Huzzah! I was surprised once more to find that I liked Rhiannon, even if she’s a bit flighty and refuses to tell anyone anything until it’s nearly too late. I thought her parents were adorable and quirky, and though her friends don’t really come on the scene until later, I thought they were interesting and wanted to know more about them. Even the bullies seemed like real (brainless) bullies without being over the top.

The little bit of romance between Rhiannon and Jared was cute, though slightly in the background to the paranormal stuff. And that paranormal stuff? Yeah, it got spooky. I’m pretty freaked out by ghosts as a rule, though, and it doesn’t take much to freak me out when one’s involved in something I’m reading.

I really like this book. It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s a little bit scary, and I’d definitely recommend it for anyone interested in paranormal YA books. I have no idea if Ms. Hall will continue not disappointing me, but I’m super happy that I found one good fictional Wiccan-centered book, at least.

What’s your favorite witchcraft/pagan-centered paranormal YA book?

You may also want to check out this lovely documentary sort of thing on a modern Wiccan living in Ireland. It’s three parts, and it’s really good.

Other reviews: I Read What?? | ParaNormalRomance.org

Thursday Tea: September 10 (King Dork)

Posted by Anastasia on September 10, 2009 No Responses »

Sep 102009

Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by yours truly. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the answers to these questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.

The tea: I’ve got this mysterious Chinese tea my coworker gave to me last year. It’s for allergies and general aches (including bug bites!), and it works really well except that it tastes horrible. Even with sugar it tastes horrible, and I think it’s because the instructions are wrong. The instructions say to stick an entire box of (loose) tea into one cup, and one box is about three or four servings of any other loose tea. (The boxes are packed inside a bigger box; they’ve basically portioned out the whole thing so you don’t have to scoop out anything. Just dump the box in and go.) But it’s way too much! It makes the tea all bitter and yucky, and I only used it before when I was in dire emergency of some pain reliever.

Image from Chinesegifts4u.com

However, if you steep a box in an entire pot of water (a big pot, not a little one), add a lot of sugar (no milk) and a little courage, and it tastes quite nice. I have some really annoying bug bites on my legs and, after drinking a cup of distilled Mysterious Chinese Tea, I felt much better. They stopped itching (nearly) completely! That’s pretty good, eh?

My box says it’s “Kamwo Tea,” though that doesn’t turn up much in Google. But according to this it’s got thirty different ingredients in it. Is that good or bad?

The book: At the moment I’m nearly done with King Dork by Frank Portman. I read Mr. Portman’s second book, Andromeda Klein, last weekend, and as soon as I got back to the library I got out King Dork. Instead of talking about it like I’ve talked about other Thursday Tea books, I’ve decided to post this little bit of something I wrote on Tuesday. I was originally going to stick it in my review of King Dork, but I think it’s too nonsensical and so I cut it. I’m still rather fond of it, however, and so I’m sticking it here instead. Think of this like a DVD extra. (Edited to add: spruced it up a bit more. It’s an even better DVD extra now! Well, I hope.)

Like Catcher in the Rye, where every copy in a public library is stained and scribbled upon and generally disgusting, the copy of King Dork I read was stained with a mysterious brown liquid near the top and smelled of sweaty gym socks. Did I care about this? Only as much as that I made sure only to touch the bottom of the book, which was luckily pristine white, and to never let my nose stray too far near the text.

So, rather a lot.

Of course it’s not the outside of a book which is really important, but the inside (though a nice outside makes for a more pleasant reading experience overall), and the inside of King Dork is rather wonderful.

Insert other review-type stuff here. Then:

Part of the problem I have with juvenile male protagonists in literary YA fiction that I don’t have with juvenile female protagonists (or either gender in a YA fantasy) is that a lot of times the male protagonist will do or think something that makes me recoil with all the horror of Older Sister Walking In On Younger Brother Masturbating. Things like that happen a few times in King Dork, and I’m sure that if a boy was reading it he’d not only think whatever the protagonist was doing was brilliant, he’d also think “I’ve done that.” Much like how I commiserate with whatever female protagonists do in chick lit or a Sarah Dessen novel. It’s just a matter of perspective.

Do they go together? Not particularly. Tom (the protagonist of King Dork) has only been drinking soda and coffee during the course of the book, and I just don’t think he’s a tea sort of person. At minimum he’d maybe drink iced tea in the summer, but probably never actual hot tea.

What are you drinking/reading this Thursday?

Book Trailer Tuesday: Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters

Posted by Anastasia on September 8, 2009 No Responses »

Sep 082009

I have no idea if this is a meme already, but I’m starting my own either way. Tuesdays, awesome book trailers, pretty easy.

Featured this week is my most favorite book trailer that I’ve seen (and remembered) this year: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters! It’s memorable because it’s awesome.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jZVE5uF24Q]

What’s your favorite book trailer this week?

DNF: Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Miller

Posted by Anastasia on September 8, 2009 No Responses »

Sep 082009

DNF: Lonely Werewolf Girl Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Miller
Publication: Soft Skull Press (April 20, 2008), Paperback, 560 pages / ISBN 0979663660
Genre: YA, Urban Fantasy
Rating: N/A
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Read: Did Not Finish
First sentence: Kalix was lost.

I wasn’t sure whether or not I should post this, but since I did plod my way through about a third of it before giving up, and since I did get it from a publisher, I feel as if I owe a bit of something.

Summary from Amazon:

While teenage werewolf Kalix MacRinnalch is being pursued through the streets of London by murderous hunters, her sister, the Werewolf Enchantress, is busy designing clothes for the Fire Queen. Meanwhile, in the Scottish Highlands, the MacRinnalch Clan is plotting and feuding after the head of the clan suddenly dies intestate. As the court intrigue threatens to blow up into all-out civil war, the competing factions determine that Kalix is the swing vote necessary to assume leadership of the clan. Unfortunately, Kalix isn’t really into clan politics — laudanum’s more her thing. Even more unfortunately, Kalix is the reason the head of the clan ended up dead, which is why she’s now on the lam in London. . . This expansive tale of werewolves in the modern world — friendly werewolves, fashionista werewolves, troubled teenage werewolves, cross-dressing werewolves, werewolves of every sort — is hard-edged, hilarious, and utterly believable.

I started reading Lonely Werewolf Girl in January (or possibly last December). It took me about two months to get to page 250, whereupon I stuck it on my nightstand and left it for “another day.” I cleaned off my nightstand this weekend, and, not having read a single paragraph since placing it there, I decided to finally remove Lonely Werewolf Girl. Honestly, there’s no way I’m going to be able to finish it. If I could actually actively dislike a book, it’d be this one. Not hate, because I think it has potential for someone to like it– but that someone isn’t me. (I feel guilty enough as it is without hating the entire book!)

I hated all the characters but one (Kalix’s fashion designer sister). The writing was much too stilted and plain for my taste. The storyline was okay but I kept getting bogged down in everything that I didn’t enjoy and it all went to pot.

I liked the unusualness of the werewolves and how they’ve set up their world (in clans, very Scottish and with castles and everything), and sometimes the story got so interesting I did want to continue (this is how I made it to page 250, by the way). But unfortunately it’s not interesting enough for me to want to pick it back up again and so I think I’d like to give it away.

First person to comment on this post asking for the book gets it. It’s quite big, however, so US only, please. (Sorry about that, but I honestly can’t afford the $12+ it’d undoubtedly cost to ship internationally.) I’m going to be sending it Media Mail rate.

Other reviews: The Browser’s Bookshelf | All Things Girl | Enter the Octopus

Review: Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman

Posted by Anastasia on September 7, 2009 3 Responses »

Sep 072009

Andromeda Klein - HB Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman
Publication: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (August 25, 2009), Hardcover, 424 pages / ISBN 0385905122
Genre: Urban Fantasy (kinda), Fiction, Teen
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Read: September 2009
First sentence: The Universe is huge.

In one sentence: Realistic, quirky, relatable characters with an intriguing story and a lot of magic.

I found this on the New Books shelf at my library on Friday, and after checking to see what sort of book it was I decided to grab it before anyone else could get it and read it immediately. I finished on Saturday and WOW! I love it. It’s long, but it’s totally worth it.

Summary from Amazon:

Andromeda Klein has a few problems.

Her hair is kind of horrible.

Her partner-in-occultism, Daisy, is dead.

Her secret, estranged, much older and forbidden boyfriend-in-theory, has gone AWOL.

And her mother has learned how to text.

In short, things couldn’t get much worse. Until they do. Daisy seems to be attempting to make contact from beyond, books are starting to disappear from the library, and then, strangely and suddenly, Andromeda’s tarot readings are beginning to predict events with bizarrely literal accuracy.

Omens are everywhere. Dreams; swords; fires; hidden cards; lost, broken, and dead cell phones . . . and what is Daisy trying to tell her?

In the ensuing struggle of neutral versus evil, it’s Andromeda Klein against the world, modern society, demonic forces, and the “friends” of the library.

The book as a whole is sweetly awkward, quirky, and fun-in-a-slightly-dark way (like a clown crying while telling jokes, for example). Some parts remind me a lot of my own high school (and middle school) experiences, which is probably why I identified with Andromeda so much– she could be an alternate me, and Daisy could be an alternate version of my best friend from that time. It was a little bit spooky, but mostly it was very cool.

I really liked Andromeda (not just because she’s an alternate me). Even when she’s acting crazy and ridiculous, mostly regarding boys and how she lets people treat her (read: like a doormat), I was interested in her life and what she was going to do next. I loved how she treated books like sacred things, and how she wanted to save the best books from being discarded from the library where she works. I also was really interested in how she preferred the more traditional sorts of occultism and shunned the more New Age, fluffier magic; it was very refreshing since so many new books seem to have only the Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer-Wicca-magic-thing and I hate that. It’s nice to see a character actually do something different for once, and as a bonus Andromeda doesn’t even call herself a witch (she’s an “occultist”), nor does she cut herself and recite depressing poems to the moon (um, for example).

Andromeda is refreshing in a non-occult way as well. Many times did I giggle when she misheard someone: “vacuum” for “bathroom,” “Sylvester Mouse” for “some extra hours,” and so on. And I liked how she’d say that the person meant to say “pagan” but said “bacon” instead, like it was their fault and not her hearing. She’s quirky and funny while not being over the top and, yeah, I really liked her. The other characters were sort of negligible, and I still don’t have any idea what the heck is up with her parents and I have no idea how Andromeda managed to stay with them for so long when they’re NUTS. Some of the secondary characters are better than others, but the book is really about Andromeda and so I tended only to care about them in relation to her life.

The book itself does move sort of slow, I suppose, but I didn’t mind as I was too busy being proud that Andromeda knew so much about the occult when she was so young, enough to rattle off names and dates and numbers and so on when I can’t even remember what I ate for lunch last Monday. It was much like watching my kid brother in a quiz bowl beating out the competition because he knew who the 15th President of the US was, or something. And since I was interested in the occult as a kid I actually recognized and understood most of it (though I never managed to make it through any of the actual books Andromeda talks about. Too boring for a 12 year old.) but I don’t think you need to be an occultist yourself to get it. Pretty much everything is explained, so I’m sure no one would be left behind or get frustrated, and then, instead of focusing on the little stuff (like Hebrew letters) you can focus on the plot and how it ends up working out so satisfyingly! I love satisfying endings.

The events in Andromeda Klein can be interpreted in two ways: either she really is doing magic or she’s projecting things out of her psyche in some Freudian, psychological way that I don’t care to learn about because it’s boring (no offense to psychologists). I choose to go with she really was doing magic and she wasn’t projecting, though I admit it’s a little interesting to consider it the other way– it gives the book a whole different feeling, as well. But, yeah, I like the urban-bordering-on-fantasy way best. It’s more fun.

I couldn’t help but think of Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Headless Cupid, one of my favorite books, and it does very much feel like that book but set in a different time/place/situation. It was sort of comforting, too, I suppose because I love The Headless Cupid so much. (It also reminded me of Sarah Dessen’s Keeping the Moon, another favorite book of mine. Not that Keeping the Moon has any magic in it; it’s the characters and how they act/talk that triggered the reminding.)

And now, some graphic geekery: I like the cover of Andromeda Klein quite a lot (it’s sort of adult and slightly dangerous-looking), but I like the cover for the single even more:

Andromeda Klein single

The songs are quite good, too, of course! You should be able to listen to “Andromeda Klein” by clicking this thing here (lemme know if it doesn’t work, okay?): [bandcamp track=2361909958 size=short bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB]

And if you liked that, you’ll love Mr. Portman’s Andromeda Klein playlist. I certainly did!

Get your own copy of Andromeda Klein at Amazon or your favorite independent bookstore!

Other reviews: The Gulf Stream | The Heart is a Lonely Reader (scroll down a bit) | Girl Detective | Valet Reader

APFOL: August 28-September 5

Posted by Anastasia on September 5, 2009 No Responses »

Sep 052009

Remember a few months ago when I’d do a link post with things I’d saved into my Delicious account, and it was awesome? Well, the thing I used to automatically do that broke when I updated Firefox, and I never got around to a) find something else that’d work and b) replicating the effort myself. But now I think I want to (option b, that is), and I hope this first effort isn’t too bad. It’s basically just what I’ve been saving into Delicious, but without tags and fancy colors.

So! I present to you, my lovelies, Awesome Post Full of Links #1: August 28-September 5! (Pretend I’ve made a nifty graphic.) It’s kind of long, so I’ve stuck it under a jump (this doesn’t affect anyone who’s reading this in a feedreader).
Continue reading »