2010 January » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

TSS (January 31): John Green's books & January Wrap-up

Posted by Anastasia on January 31, 2010 No Responses »

Jan 312010

I’ve just finished reading all of John Green‘s books, and while their main failing is that they’re basically all the same (nerdy guy falls in love with quirky, out-of-his-league girl and hijinks occur) I a) really like his writing and b) can forgive for being so one-note because his books are so much his. The things he writes about are the things he’s done, or seen, or heard about, and you can really tell that he’s present in all his books. I said on Twitter that his books are like bits of himself that have budded off into their own universes, and I think that’s about right.

Anyway, he’s written three books: Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns. Paper Towns is my favorite and, I think, the best, but I’m going to be reviewing that with Alita so I won’t talk about it here. Instead I’ll talk a bit about LFA and AAOK.

Looking for Alaska is John Green’s first novel, and you can tell. It’s not as deep-thinking or as elegant or stylish as his other books, and his protagonist isn’t as likable, and generally I just felt dissatisfied. But it does try to talk about an important issue– the death of a friend and potential love-interest– and it does it without becoming trite or overdone. I liked nearly all the characters, though some where better fleshed-out than others, and the details included in it kept it from becoming cliched. I mean, how many books have you read set in an Alabamian boarding school? I didn’t even know they had boarding schools in Alabama!

An Abundance of Katherines is John Green’s second novel, and it’s more light-hearted than Looking for Alaska. The protagonist is weird boarding on unbelievable, but by the end I liked him well enough. I liked the secondary characters, too, and the love interest didn’t even annoy me with her “look how quirky and different I am!” routine, mostly because she wasn’t trying to be weird. She just kind of was, naturally, like Quentin (the protagonist) was naturally weird. It’s set in Tennessee, which was an interesting all on its own. It also made me interested more in math, which was a surprise. And the writing was more vibrant, I think.

Sunday Salon Stuff

Books read this week:
18. Dream-Weaver – Louise Lawrence [rating: 2/5]
19. The Court of the Air – Stephen Hunt [rating: 4.5/5]
20. Paper Towns – John Green [rating: 4.5/5]
21. Barefoot Gen Vol. 2 – Keiji Nakazawa [rating: 3.5/5]
22. An Abundance of Katherines – John Green [rating: 4/5]
23. The Third Magic – Welwyn Wilton Katz [rating: 3.5/5]
24. Bite Me! – Dylan Meconis [rating:4.5/5]
25. Looking For Alaska – John Green [rating: 4/5]

Books reviewed this week:
11. The Shadow Guests – Joan Aiken [rating: 3.5/5]
12. The Floating Island – Elizabeth Haydon [rating: 4.5/5]
14. Posted to Death – Dean James [rating: 4/5]
15. The Doom Machine – Mark Teague [rating: 4/5]
16. Voices – Ursula K. Le Guin [rating: 4/5]

Currently reading:
Technically I’m still trying to read Changer, but I think I might give that up because I don’t think I care what happens in the last half of the book. Same for The Hobbit. I think I might read Isaac Asimov’s autobiography instead.

January Wrap-Up

Basically I just read a crapload of books, which is what I wanted. I think my monthly reading goal is basically 25 books, which means I should have read 300 by the end of the year. And that also means that maybe I can finally get a good chunk of my TBR pile conquered, but by the looks of it the siren call of my library won’t be easy to beat.
Continue reading »

Review: Voices by Ursula K. Le Guin

Posted by Anastasia on January 31, 2010 No Responses »

Jan 312010

16. Voices by Ursula K. Le Guin
Publication: Harcourt Children’s Books (September 1, 2006), Hardcover, 352pp / ISBN 0152056785
Genre: YA/Teen, Fantasy, Dystopian
Rating:
Read: January 21, 2010
Source: Library
Summary from Amazon:

Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools, and temples. But that was long ago, and the conquerors of this coastal city consider reading and writing to be acts punishable by death. And they believe the Oracle House, where the last few undestroyed books are hidden, is seething with demons. But to seventeen-year-old Memer, the house is a refuge, a place of family and learning, ritual and memory–the only place where she feels truly safe.

Then an Uplands poet named Orrec and his wife, Gry, arrive, and everything in Memer’s life begins to change. Will she and the people of Ansul at last be brave enough to rebel against their oppressors?

Review

I’ve never read an Ursula K. Le Guin book before, although technically I was supposed to have read Left Hand of Darkness in my dystopian fiction class. Obviously I didn’t, and in fact I’ve been somewhat intimidated by UKLG’s books. I’m not actually sure why I was so intimidated, but I think it must be the same sort of thing that kept me from reading James Joyce and William Faulkner until a couple of years ago. It’s a kind of “am I smart enough to read this and understand it?” thing. “This book is too highbrow for me.” I’m not sure where I got that notion, but I’ve had it for a while.

It wasn’t until I started reading bits of Ms Le Guin’s blog posts (specifically this one) that I thought I might be brave enough to try one of her books. So I raided my library’s shelves and brought away two: Voices and Powers.

Voices is a YA book, but it’s got so many layers of meaning and complex moral situations in it that I could write at least two good essays just analyzing the meaning of the title in relation to the rest of the book. I love how complex it is, and I love how it forced me to look at things that make me uncomfortable– like slavery and rape and one nation conquering another– and to analyze why they make me uncomfortable and what that means for the people in the story. This is a book that makes you think, but it does it in such a gentle way that if you aren’t paying attention I think you could miss some things.

What I actually liked best about Voices is how Memer, the protagonist, starts out thinking one way and yet by the end she changes. Not a lot, but just enough to keep her and her town from becoming another version of the people that conquered them. It’s a lesson in peace and communication and negotiation, and while it isn’t always what I as a reader want in a story (I know I’d have loved it if the conquering peoples got punished just a little bit more for being such bastards), people aren’t completely good or evil in real life, and they aren’t complete heroes or villains in Voices, either. They’re complex!

I also love how it made me pay more attention to the conquered rather than just the conquerors. In history classes we tend to only learn about who overtook who, and we don’t get a lot of info about what happens to the people who were overtaken. It’s easy to get caught up in “heck yeah, the Romans conquered yet another country! Woo!” and never think of the other side of things. Voices has made me think more about the effects of war and conquest, and I truly appreciate that. But then, it’s not even as simple as conquerors = evil and conquered = good, and Voices showed that, too.

There were some things about Ms Le Guin’s writing style that bugged me, but I truly enjoyed reading Voices (hell, I finished it in one afternoon!) and I look forward to reading all her other books I can get my hands on. I’m not afraid of them any longer, nope.

And

Find your own copy @ Amazon or IndieBound

Other reviews: Stuff As Dreams Are Made On | The Written World

Review: The Doom Machine by Mark Teague

Posted by Anastasia on January 30, 2010 3 Responses »

Jan 302010

15. The Doom Machine by Mark Teague
Publication: The Blue Sky Press; First Printing edition (October 1, 2009), Hardcover, 320pp / ISBN 0545151422
Genre: Sci-Fi, MG/YA
Rating:
Read: December ?, 2009-January 21, 2010
Source: Library
Summary from Amazon:

When a spaceship lands in Vern Hollow, Jack’s hometown, he and his no-account inventor-uncle Bud are busy trying to fix a car driven by Dr. Shumway and her daughter, Isadora. Although Uncle Bud secretly knows the aliens are after one of his inventions, everyone is surprised when the space aliens capture seven of Vern Hollow’s residents and take them into outer space on a wild adventure…

Review

I haven’t read a lot of 1950′s sci-fi novels, but I have seen some movies. They tend to be cheesy and completely out of the realm of possibility. The Doom Machine was not actually written in the 1950′s, but it does take place there and it’s basically like a cheesy 50′s sci-fi movie but better. Or maybe “tolerable” is a better word. Perhaps “rip-roaring fun” would be the best thing to say. Also: “giant spiders from space.”

Now, I don’t want to give too much away, because some of the best stuff comes up in the second half of the book and you should really just read it for yourselves. But basically: take two spunky, brilliant kids. Add some aliens that look like giant spiders with fingers. Sprinkle in a pinch of time travel, journeys across space, visits to other worlds, more aliens (ones that don’t look like spiders), humor, exciting adventure, and science. And you get The Doom Machine!

Probably the best part was how some of those 50′s sci-fi movie tropes were obviously included (spaceships shaped like saucers, for instance) but they weren’t annoying or cheesy; they were just fun instead. I really liked Isadora, who’s smart and a bit stuck-up but with a good heart. Jack was an interesting character, too, although I don’t think get got as much personal growth as Isadora did. I liked how he was the smart aleck troublemaker kid, but one who really loved engines and could supe up anything to go beyond the factory standard.

I haven’t read a sci-fi novel in a while where the aliens look nothing like humans (except maybe the fingers), and that was really nice after watching so many Doctor Who episodes where every freakin’ alien just looks like a human in a costume. And I liked that it went beyond “what are the aliens doing on Earth omg we much bomb them with big bomb-y things.” I don’t know of any 1950′s sci-fi movies that took their heroes and heroines out into space with the aliens! (Do you?)

Plus, you see, it was hilarious and weird and awesome.

The Doom Machine was a nice break from the norm, and it was a truly enjoyable break. There were some times where the characters didn’t seem like they were all that they could have been, or where the tropes got a little overboard, but overall I really liked it.

And

Find your own copy @ Amazon or IndieBound

Other reviews: Book Aunt | Phoenix Book Company Blog

Review: Posted to Death by Dean James

Posted by Anastasia on January 29, 2010 2 Responses »

Jan 292010

14. Posted to Death by Dean James
Publication: Kensington; F edition (April 1, 2002), Hardback, 242pp / ISBN 1575668858
Genre: Mystery, GLBT
Rating:
Read: January 20, 2010
Source: Library
Summary from Amazon:

Amateur sleuth Simon Kirby-Jones, who has appeared in short stories by Edgar-nominee and Agatha-winner James (Closer than the Bones), is sure to revolutionize the traditional British cozy and win the hearts of fans everywhere in his first full-length mystery. Simon is not only American and gay but also a vampire whose sun sensitivity and blood sucking urges are controlled by medication. (Garlic, though, can be deadly.) Thrilled to be living in England, he is eager to make the village of Snupperton Mumsley his home, where he plans to write more of his well-known historical works and lucrative pot-boilers. Seeking to become part of the community, Simon joins the fundraising committee of St. Ethelwold’s, the local church. At the first meeting an argument erupts between Lady Prunella Blitherington, matriarch of the village’s first family, and Abigail Winterton, the town busybody and postmistress, about the choice of the play to be presented as the fundraiser. When Abigail, disliked by almost everyone, is found murdered the next day, Simon determines to find her killer and in so doing discovers all the sordid secrets of Snupperton Mumsley.

Review

I know I have a multitude of problems with most of the cozy mysteries published in the last ten or so years, but somehow if it’s set in a small English countryside town I can let anything slide. Take this book, for instance: the protagonist solves the mystery for no other reason than pure curiosity, even when the police are doing a somewhat decent job of it already. But I didn’t mind!

I also have a lot of problems with modern vampire stories, where they always seem to have much of the benefits and none of the setbacks (except an allergy to garlic and the ability to be killed by a stake in the heart)– neutered vampires, I call them. I’m pretty bored with neutered vampires; I want my vampires to have bite, you know? Simon’s a neutered vampire who can even go out during the day and doesn’t feel the need to drink blood…but I didn’t mind!

Imagine how shocked I was when I finished it and realized I had let myself enjoy something I’d probably normally hate.

I think partly it was the small English town thing and also because the protagonist, Simon, is so charming and likable. I think basically Posted to Death tricked me into liking it with its quirky characters, charming protagonist, and its light/kinda fluffy writing that didn’t take itself too seriously. I think the author knew the plot was ridiculous, and s/he just ran with it. So while normally I’d pretty much hate this book because it has a lot of the things I hate, I actually enjoyed it a lot!

And yeah, Simon’s that stupid kind of vampire, but I didn’t mind until the end, when I realized that there’s really no reason for him to be a vampire except that he vaguely used his extra-good hearing to eavesdrop.

I think that pretty much sums up my problem with this book: while I enjoyed reading it, and I liked basically everything about it (the setting, the characters, the uber-Britishness of the townspeople, the crazy dialogue that sounds fake but is surreal-y serious, etc), some of the details didn’t really seem important to the overall mystery. Like Simon’s vampirism, for instance. He doesn’t use it to investigate, really. There’s no real point to it, except to make the story a bit more interesting, I suppose.

Hopefully in the next book Simon gets to put his vampire abilities to better use, although I still think it’s a cop-out that he doesn’t need any blood whatsoever and gets to offset his bloodthirstiness with two pills (taken daily). At least he wasn’t neutered romantically even though he’s neutered vampirically– he has a least three potential love interests, including one that I’m hoping turns out happily-ever-after later on.

Anyway, the mystery was very Midsomer Murders, with some twists. I was lured along with a red herring for most of the book, but it was a fun ride. If you’re like me and aren’t sure about cozy mysteries and/or modern sorts of vampires, I’d recommend giving this book a shot anyway. It might just trick you into liking it, as well. (And then at least I wouldn’t feel like a hypocrite.)

And

Find your own copy @ Amazon or IndieBound

Other reviews: Have you reviewed this book? Let me know and I’ll link to it here!

Thursday Tea (January 28): Changer

Posted by Anastasia on January 28, 2010 No Responses »

Jan 282010

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 book: I’m currently about one-thirds into Changer by Jane Lindskold. She’s a local sci-fi/fantasy author, and I’ve read another of her books before (and got her autograph last summer!). This one’s set in Albuquerque/Santa Fe, with King Arthur and other mythological creatures/people. And wolves (JL loves her some wolves).

It’s pretty good, and I’m enjoying it. The only thing is that I dislike a main component of the story: how the various religions and their pantheons are being handled. I’m not even halfway through the book so I can’t make a completely informed opinion yet, but I definitely feel uneasy about what I think was done. Basically, I think JL is trying to combine different corresponding gods of various pantheons together to make them trace back to one person– like Athena is Minerva is Sophia is Menrva. For the Greek/Roman pantheons that makes sense, but to combine nearly everything else INTO the Greek/Roman/Scandinavian pantheons?

It just makes me uncomfortable, almost like it’s saying those religions don’t have value on their own because they have a few of the same sorts of deities as this Western religion does. You know? I don’t know if that’s what JL is intending to say, but that’s how it comes off to me, a bit. I suppose I just think that there’s not reason NOT to have a buttload of different gods running around. Combining them doesn’t do anything except lighten the character listing, I think.

What’s the best way you’ve seen multiple gods/pantheons handled in a story? I think for me it was Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. Everyone was there, separate but equal (kinda), and I don’t think it got overwhelmed with too many characters. Although it was a little lacking in anything other than Greek/Roman/Scandinavian/Egyptian/African pantheons.

The tea: I’ve been exploring Satellite‘s tea range lately– they have a few specialty tea drinks I can’t really afford (dirty chai, I’m looking at you), but they’ve also got relatively cheapo fancy tea blends I can afford. So far I’ve tried Moroccan Mint, a sort of green mint-y tea that I hated, and White Pomegranate, a white fruit-y tea that I loved. Today I tried Spicy Darjeeling, which lived up to its name for sure.

It was horrible! I don’t know if I let it steep too long or what, but even after adding sugar and milk it was horrible. Never trying that again, no way.

Do they go together? It’d be awesome if I could link my distaste for the tea to my distaste for certain plot elements in Changer, but I don’t think even I could make that work. But I didn’t have enough of the tea to make a proper judgment, either, so I’m going to forgo this question until later.

What are you drinking/reading this Thursday?

Review: The Floating Island by Elizabeth Haydon

Posted by Anastasia on January 27, 2010 7 Responses »

Jan 272010

12. The Floating Island by Elizabeth Haydon
Publication: Starscape; 1st edition (April 1, 2008) (originally published 2006), Paperback, 368pp / ISBN 0765347725
Genre: MG/YA, Fantasy
Rating:
Read: January 18-19, 2010
Source: Bought
Summary from Amazon:

Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme—known as Ven—is the youngest son of a long line of famous shipwrights. He dreams not of building ships, but of sailing them to far-off lands where magic thrives. Ven gets his chance when he is chosen to direct the Inspection of his family’s latest ship—and sets sail on the journey of a lifetime.

Attacked by fire pirates, lost at sea and near death, Ven is rescued by a passing ship on its way to the Island of Serendair. Thankful to be alive, little does Ven know that the pirate attack—and his subsequent rescue—may not have been an accident. Shadowy figures are hunting for the famed Floating Island, the only source of the mystical Water of Life. They think Ven can lead them to this treasure and will stop at nothing to get it—even murder….

Review

This was a surprisingly good book! I say “surprising” because based on that cover I figured it would be a ham-fisted epic fantasy thing with elves and wizards and what have you. My prejudice against it got so bad that I was wondering why the heck I had even bought it, because it’d probably be horrible. Well. It’s not horrible. In fact, it’s very, very good.

Probably what I like best about The Floating Island is how the world, and the narrative, feel like these massive exciting landscapes that need desperately to be explored. And they need to be explored by the wonderful protagonist, Ven, who’s not human and doesn’t want to be. I can’t even remember the last book I read with a protagonist who wasn’t human (or a cat). I thought that detail was really refreshing and interesting.

Ms Haydon’s writing is really good, too. It’s a great fantasy she’s written, with fantastically exciting plotlines and a world that’s somehow been built from very little description– it’s like she’s sort of sketched out a map with lots of bits missing (we only see two small islands in this book) but with the potential for great places to be added in. I really want to know more about the world she’s created, what the people are like and how they live and what they do for fun. And, most of all, what sort of adventures they go on!

Luckily Ven is going to chronicle those things for me (and you!), and I can’t wait to read the next book. Don’t be fooled like the cover like I was. This book is definitely worth picking up!

And

Find your own copy @ Amazon or IndieBound

Other reviews: BookWrites | Bookmobile.cjb.net

Okay, wait. I just realized that the cover has a dragon on it…but there’s no dragon in the book! I don’t think a dragon was even mentioned! Wth? Not only does the cover has to be ugly, it has to be unimaginative as well? Ugh.

The inside illustrations are done by Brett Helquist, by the way. They should have just gotten him to do the cover, honestly.

Review: The Shadow Guests by Joan Aiken

Posted by Anastasia on January 25, 2010 No Responses »

Jan 252010

11. The Shadow Guests by Joan Aiken
Publication: Starscape (February 17, 2003) (originally published 1980), Paperback, 192pp / ISBN 0765345307
Genre: Paranormal, MG/YA
Rating:
Read: January 17, 2010
Source: Bookmooch
Summary from Amazon:

After the mysterious disappearance of both his mother and older brother, Cosmo is sent away to live with his eccentric mathematician aunt. Lonely and confused, Cosmo must also deal with being the new kid at school. Not an easy assignment! But things take a weird twist when Cosmo is visited by ghosts from the past. Ghosts who claim to need his help fighting an ancient curse!

Only in time will Cosmo learn that he is at the center of that ancient…and deadly…curse.

Review

I’m not sure exactly where I heard of this book, but it was either through one of you lot or through one of those “if you like that book you might like this one” things. Whoever it was must ave known my taste in books quite well, because I really like this book!

Immediately, the writing reminded me of a kind of mix of Diana Wynne Jones and the Green Knowe books. Well done, there. Then the plot reminded me a little of a Rosemary Sutcliff book if RS had done books set in modern times with ghosts. Well done there, too. Cosmo, the protagonist, goes to a boarding school during the week. I love boarding schools! And stories set in them! (Although the paranormal bits in this book all take place at Cosmo’s weekend home.) And, finally, the clincher: Cosmo is an inquisitive, bright, friendly kid who loves the outdoors and writes in a journal and tends to repress things a little bit. Yay!

The ghosts were, for the most part, not scary. In fact, everyone who learned about the ghosts somehow weren’t scared of them and yet absolutely believed in them. A little bit strange, but it was nice not to have to worry about Cosmo having to force his family to believe him about the ghosts and they won’t, and then something happens to convince them and it’s all tiring. Just accepting things are a bit weird in the family was a nice change. Plus, actually, they should be used to weird things happening in their family anyway– they have a curse on them that works.

I think also that my having to accept that everyone else accepts ghosts so matter-of-factly made me accept other things that maybe I wouldn’t have normally. It’s like, this book is already weird enough, so everything else weird that happens must fit in somehow. Now, does that make this a bad or a good book? I enjoyed reading it. But the plot is sort of mad. Don’t know.

I really liked the writing, and how the plot sort of just…flows. It all flows together and it’s really relaxing for some reason. The atmosphere is really lovely, too; it takes place in Oxford and a bit of the country, and it’s very British and wonderful. However, there were some unanswered questions and other strange plot points that kept me from absolutely loving the book. And the end! It was ambiguous (and depressing, in a way). I really dislike ambiguous endings in kidlit.

But the rest of The Shadow Guests, the bits I did like– I liked a lot. I’ll definitely try out a few more Joan Aiken books! But I hope the others don’t force me to accept insane plot points like this one did.

And

Find your own copy @ Amazon or IndieBound

Other reviews: The View From the Foothills (which brings up some good points about the boarding school) | BookLoons Reviews

Time for an anecdote: when I told my mother that I was reading a book called “The Shadow Guests” she immediately asked if there was ghosts in it. How did she know that? She’s never read the book before. Is “shadow guests” slang for ghosts? It must be, but I’ve never heard of it.