2011 January » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

MINI-REVIEWS: Walt Disney’s Way, The Boxcar Children’s Mysteries #1, Scrapped Princess: A Tale of Destiny

Posted by Anastasia on January 31, 2011 4 Responses »

Jan 312011

04. Walt Disney’s Way by New Word City
Publication: FT Press (February 1, 2010), ebook, 139kb / ISBN
Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Rating: Bin it
Read: January 14, 2011

Source: Downloaded (when it was free)

Review

So, yeah: this isn’t really a “book,” it’s more like a short pamphlet or something. Also, it’s boring as hell. Good primer for Walt Disney’s life, and if you’re a business person you might be interested by the end where it details how to emulate the good bits of Disney’s business sense, but if you’re looking for an actual biography or, like, anything more detailed than a Wikipedia page, look elsewhere.

05. The Boxcar Children’s Mysteries #1 by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Publication: Albert Whitman & Company (December 14, 2010), ebook, 1552kb / ISBN
Genre: Children’s Fiction

Rating: Borrow it
Read: January 14-15, 2011

Source: Bought

Review

Hey, it’s a reread! Yay! On the other hand, I probably could have picked a better book to reread. My favorite thing about the Boxcar books when I was younger– the last time I read this– was that it’s about kids who live on their own in a boxcar, and they’re all self-sufficient and stuff. That’s good stuff! It’s exciting, and when you’re a kid you might not notice the…er…other stuff. The stuff where all the girls are super happy to do household stuff, know how to make fabulous dinners, and can sew whatever the hell they get their hands on. And the boys (well, the oldest boy, at least), are the providers who get jobs and bring home the bacon and stuff.

WOW. I mean, yes– it’s an old book. It was written originally in 1924, before women’s lib and before people generally started wanting their kids to be kids instead of little versions of adults. But still. How could I not have noticed that when I was younger? I guess I was too busy thinking about how much I wanted to live in a boxcar to worry about the job I’d be stuck with if I actually did live in one with my stupid brother.

Ms Chandler Warner did seem like a sweet lady, though, just one that was stuck in the so-called standard roles for women and men. This bit from the Boxcar Children Wikipedia page is so sweet and cute, I can’t feel overly angry towards her:

As she wrote the story, Warner read it to her classes and rewrote it many times so the words were easy to understand. Some of her pupils spoke other languages at home and were just learning English, so The Boxcar Children gave them a fun story that was easy to read. Warner once wrote that the original book “raised a storm of protest from librarians who thought the children were having too good a time without any parental control! That is exactly why children like it!”

10. Scrapped Princess: A Tale of Destiny by Ichiro Sakaki (translated by Paul Kotta)
Publication: TokyoPop (October 3, 2006), Paperback, 200pp / ISBN 1595329846
Genre: Light Novel, Fantasy/Sci-fi

Rating: Borrow it
Read: January 23, 2011

Source: Bought

Review

This book has a PRINCESS in it, and it’s so awesome. Don’t take too much heart into the fact that I rated it “borrow,” because I’m pretty much going to rate all light novels “borrow.” They’re fun to read and very enjoyable (for the most part) but they aren’t the best written things out there.

Anyway, what I really liked about Scrapped Princess is that though it’s got the “hidden princess who is secretly the thing upon which the future of the world resides” trope in it, it does some unusual things in the actual story. For instance, Pacifica (that’s the princess) was adopted by some ex-soldiers and raised as there own. When she finds out she’s a princess? She does not immediately abandon her adopted family, nor do they abandon her! In fact, one of the main themes is how even if you’re adopted your adopted family is still your FAMILY, your family who loves you and wants to protect you from insane assassins and the king who wants you dead! I thought that was really wonderful, and pretty unusual in a story where the more standard thing would have been for Pacifica to wander off alone somewhere.

I also liked the blending of fake historical past with almost steampunkish technology– a thing that’s not overly unusual in anime– and I liked the characters, and the action was great! It was a lot of fun, for real.

Unfortunately, there’s 13 volumes in the series (plus some short stories), and TokyoPop only licensed the first three. I’m going to Google around and see if anybody else has licensed (or translated) the rest– but I’m very annoyed by this! Just FYI.

Not all heroes are created equal

Posted by Anastasia on January 30, 2011 2 Responses »

Jan 302011

There’s an amazing discussion between N.K. Jemisin and Sam Sykes about the Chosen One trope in fantasy/sci-fi stories at Sam Sykes’ blog! A bit from it:

Most fantasy novels elide all this by making their Chosen Ones “good rulers” or “blessed by [deity]” or somehow superior, or by making the people-to-be-ruled somehow happy to be stuck in a system they can’t control, and happy to have yet another (good) dictator. But most of the fantasy novels we’ve heard of are British or American, and most British and American people are unexamined or enthusiastic classists, so most of us *don’t* have a problem with it. It’s what we’re used to. As long as there are writers and readers who feel this way, the Chosen One narratives will still have a place.

Check it out: The Chosen Jerk: Jam Session with N.K. Jemisin

TSS (Jan. 30): Schedules & IMM (13)

Posted by Anastasia on January 30, 2011 9 Responses »

Jan 302011

The Sunday Salon (Jan. 30)

Last week I talked about turning off my clock and not paying attention to time. I’ve still got the clock turned off, but I’m watching time a bit more than I was before, mostly because I’ve started to stay up past 3am and waking up past 12pm, which isn’t what I necessarily want. I don’t mind staying up late, but I HATE waking up past noon. I don’t know why– wait, yes I do. It’s because if I don’t wake up in the actual morning part of the day, I feel like I’ve missed whole heaps of it, even if I wasn’t going to do anything other than check my email. I don’t like feeling like I’m missing out on stuff, so I AM going to make more of an effort to go to bed a little earlier and wake up a little earlier. Obviously if I ever get a frickin’ job I’ll HAVE to do that anyway, but it’s good to do it just for myself, too.

In other news, it’s the end of the month which means a Monthly Review post is coming up on Tuesday. I’ve got plans for the blog which I hope will turn out alright– but you’ll hear more about that on Tuesday. Meanwhile, I wanted to talk a bit about how I think I’ve gotten into my blogging groove, and how I did it.

Before, when I was still in school, I had a vague idea of what sort of posts I would do each week. Reviews three times a week, Sunday Salon on Sunday, and, if I remembered, miscellaneous other memes and posts throughout the week. It wasn’t exactly structured, but it was, somewhat, of a plan of action.

Sometime last week I happened upon Clare‘s blogging schedule, where she’s got each day planned out for what’s being posted. It was a revelation! Make a schedule for what sort of posts to do each day? Wow!

I had never thought of that before, which is probably why my blog posts were so slapdash in previous months. I think it’s a really good idea, actually, to have a solid schedule for each day of blogging. It keeps me focused, knowing what post needs to show up when, and after a week of following my own schedule I’m really liking it. I’m writing more posts in advanced now, I feel more energized and excited about my blog, and I feel way more on top of things than I ever did before.

Here’s my blogging schedule:
Sunday: The Sunday Salon & In My Mailbox
Monday: Review
Tuesday: Buy My Books OR Birdwatching (every other week)
Wednesday: Review
— First Wednesday of every month: Classroom takeover
Thursday: Thursday Tea
Friday: Review
Saturday: Freebies (every other week) OR discussion post
— Last Saturday of every month: Out Soon

And then, obviously, if I want to do a photo post or a quote post or something, I can slip that in with the other (scheduled) post.

I really like my schedule! The only thing I’m worried about now is getting into a rut instead of a groove, or to have people be bored with my posts. But these are early days yet, and I don’t feel stuck at the moment so I’ll stick with it for now.

Do you have a schedule for your blog posts? Do you think having a schedule is a good idea?

Books read this week:
11. Jackaroo – Cynthia Voigt [rating: Buy it]
12. The False Princess – Eilis O’Neal [rating: Borrow it] R
13. Dust – Elizabeth Bear [rating: Buy it] e

Books reviewed this week:
07. The City of Ember – Jeanne DuPrau [rating: Buy it] e
12. The False Princess – Eilis O’Neal [rating: Borrow it] R
DNF: The Odyssey by Homer

Currently reading:
Cat in the Mirror by Mary Stoltz. It’s good! The writing sort of reminds me of Louise Fitzhugh and E.L. Konigsburg, especially with the neglectful/self-involved parents and troubles at school. But with time travel!

In My Mailbox (13)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren (who was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie‘s This Week in Books). Basically you just post about new books that came into your house over the past week, whether in the mail or by getting them at the library or by buying them in a store. Capiche?

For review:

Bought/Downloaded:

Nom-nom-nom

Posted by Anastasia on January 29, 2011 4 Responses »

Jan 292011

It’s actual cake, yo. A CAKE THAT LOOKS LIKE A BOOK. ♥

Out Soon (February 2011)

Posted by Anastasia on January 29, 2011 2 Responses »

Jan 292011

I, like many other people, have an intense need to know what’s being released soon in the book world. Otherwise I might miss something, and that would be disastrous! So here’s a list of some interesting-looking books that are coming out next month. I hope y’all find it useful! And if I’ve missed something? Let me know in the comments!

(Partially inspired by The Story Siren’s New Reads feature, except I’m not ambitious enough to do it weekly.)

For a bigger list of books that are coming out beyond next month, check out the Out Soon page!

Feb. 1st:

Anya’s War by Andrea Alban Alban (historical fiction).
Death Cloud (Young Sherlock Holmes) by Andrew Lane (YA mystery).
Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper (YA historical fiction).

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (urban fantasy).

Feb. 8th:

Devil-Devil: Introducing the Sergeant Kella and Sister Conchita Series Set in the Solomon Islands by Graeme Kent (mystery).
The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier (YA fantasy).
A Red Herring Without Mustard: A Flavia de Luce Novel (Flavia De Luce Mysteries) by Alan Bradley (mystery).

Feb. 15th:

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran (historical fiction).

Classics Circuit: The Odyssey by Homer

Posted by Anastasia on January 28, 2011 15 Responses »

Jan 282011

Okay, so two things:
1. I feel like an uncultured swine
2. I’m sort of unapologetic about it?

So, yeah: I never did much Classical stuff in ANY of my days at school. I think the most we did was a half-hearted attempt at Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar? So I never got indoctrinated into the Classical camp, and I’ve never read any of the Classical stories, either. I arbitrarily picked The Odyssey because I sort of remembered it had something to do with Odysseus, who I sort of remembered had something to do with maybe the Cyclops or something (I’m not really up on my Greek mythology, either). I didn’t know about how long it was, or really what it was about, and all I knew was that I had to get the Fagles translation because that one was the best one.

I got about 43% into it and then I just got bored. I was bored, y’all! I mean, I wasn’t bored because of the repetition, because I knew why it was there (oral tradition meant needing that sort of thing more than we’d need it today). I wasn’t bored because of the characters, necessarily– they were pretty fleshed-out people, with multiple dimensions and what not. And I wasn’t bored because of the story, either! Well, mostly.

To be honest, if I had been more into the story I would have forced myself to keep reading. But it was just okay.

You know that thing, where you’re sometimes SO saturated with something, with secondary source-somethings, that by the time you get to the original source you’re sort of…wiped-out by it all? And it’s almost like you don’t NEED to read the original source unless you’re super into doing that sort of thing? So, like, that’s what’s going on with me. Even though I don’t know ALL the details re:Greek mythology, enough of it is familiar that, in reading the Odyssey, I just feel like I’m reading stuff I’m already familiar with. And that’s kind of boring.

It’s like eating carrot cake every day for a month, and then the next month switching to red velvet cake. The red velvet may be more expensive and better-made and all-around lovelier, but you’re still stuffed full from cake and the red velvet ends up tasting like carrot.

So there it is. I can’t really get into The Odyssey, at least not enough to make myself finish. Maybe later, when I feel like it, I’ll finish. But for now? It’s a DNF (great translation nonetheless).

Don’t forget to check out my Classics Circuit partner for today, fictional100, who is writing about Oedipus the King!

Thursday Tea (Jan. 27): Dust

Posted by Anastasia on January 27, 2011 7 Responses »

Jan 272011

Thursday Tea is a weekly(-ish) meme hosted by yours truly. To play along, all you need is a cup of tea, the book you’re currently reading, and the answers to the following 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 you think the two go together.

The book: I’ve barely started Elizabeth Bear’s Dust, January’s pick for the Women of Sci-Fi Book Club. I should have probably started it sooner, but oh well? Here’s a summary of what it’s about:

On a broken ship orbiting a doomed sun, dwellers have grown complacent with their aging metal world. But when a serving girl frees a captive noblewoman, the old order is about to change….

Ariane, Princess of the House of Rule, was known to be fiercely cold-blooded. But severing an angel’s wings on the battlefield—even after she had surrendered—proved her completely without honor. Captive, the angel Perceval waits for Ariane not only to finish her off—but to devour her very memories and mind. Surely her gruesome death will cause war between the houses—exactly as Ariane desires. But Ariane’s plan may yet be opposed, for Perceval at once recognizes the young servant charged with her care.

Rien is the lost child: her sister. Soon they will escape, hoping to stop the impending war and save both their houses. But it is a perilous journey through the crumbling hulk of a dying ship, and they do not pass unnoticed. Because at the hub of their turning world waits Jacob Dust, all that remains of God, following the vapor wisp of the angel. And he knows they will meet very soon.

The tea: I found my Christmas teas! Didn’t actually feel like drinking them, though, so I went with Earl Grey again. I do so love Earl Grey.

Do they go together? Not really. I don’t know why, but I just never associated sci-fi books with tea, even though one of the most famous sci-fi books around features tea (or at least the pursuit of it) pretty heavily. I suppose I just think sci-fi = adventures in space = no time for tea drinking? Which is bonkers, I admit.

What sort of tea do you think would go with this book?

What’s your Thursday Tea?

If you’d like to participate, please feel free to use the image in your own post! Here’s a code for it; just copy-paste it into your own Thursday Tea post.
<a href="http://birdbrainbb.net/"><img border="0" src="http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/369/thursdayteanew.jpg"></a>

And you can link to your post in this Mr Linky, if you want!