2011 May » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Classics Circuit: Austen vs Dickens

Posted by Anastasia on May 13, 2011 13 Responses »

May 132011

Jane Austen. Charles Dickens. Two authors I hadn’t ever really read before– half of Pride and Prejudice and a bad run at Great Expectations in high school don’t really count. Neither does, I think, A Christmas Carol, the only Dickens I’ve ever fully read. It’s so different from his other books that it’s not a “proper” Dickens experience, at least in my mind. So! I looked forward to finally finishing a book by each author.

Well, er, that didn’t exactly work out. I finished my Austen book, Northanger Abbey, but I’m only 7% into my Dickens book, The Pickwick Papers. I guess I should have checked lengths of the books before I picked them– I went with Northanger because people said it was funny, and I picked Pickwick for the same reason. But Northanger is WAY shorter than Pickwick, and Pickwick is so large it’s actually a chunkster! And here I was thinking I could finish it in two days. Yeah, er, no.

That was a boo-boo. But don’t despair! I’ve still got Northanger done and I can at least talk about the first 7% of Pickwick, and so here’s my post.

We would totally have been BFFs, I just know it.

Northanger Abbey

Okay, so I don’t know what was up with me not finishing P&P, but I just wasn’t into it back then (like over a year ago, I think). Northanger, though: I was totally into Northanger. I love it when authors get all snarky and sarcastic and make fun of each other, and I especially love it when they manage to do all that and yet still have likable characters and a coherent plot. Northanger is fun because it’s Austen being smart-alecky and because the characters are all so adorable.

Catherine and Mr Tilney? omg, so cute. Mr. and Mrs Allen? Adorable old(er) people! Captain Tilney and Isabella Thorpe? …okay, less cute. But basically everyone else, even General Tilney (who desperately needs to get remarried, by the way), were lovable in some way, which made reading Northanger Abbey an extremely enjoyable experience.

Also, the snark. I love the snark. I love how Austen deliberately made Catherine almost the exact opposite of the then-conventional romantic heroines. It made things so much more interesting! I mean, Catherine loved DIRT when she was younger! When was the last time you read about a heroine rolling around in the mud, even during her childhood?

I also love how Austen would set up events that, in a conventional romance, would mean heartbreak and tears for hero and heroine for at least three chapters– and then she’d cut it off at the knees. “Oh, you think it’s going to happen like this, do you?” she’d sneer. “Well, it’s really going to happen like THIS!” And then I’d laugh so hard that breathing became difficult for a while afterwards.

One of the more interesting rants Austen went on in Northanger was about the fact that the literati didn’t like “novels,” that they thought “novels” were trashy and if they read them they immediately disparaged them afterwards. Saying “oh it’s only a novel,” and the like. (“Written by some WOMAN.” Jane Austen, please marry me.) I equated that to how the literati think of what we call “genre novels,” where anything but straight up fiction is uncouth and only losers read vampire novels (or novels by women about “womanish things”). Interesting how things haven’t changed much from Austen’s time, eh?

So basically, in conclusion, I love Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey rocks, and I really want to read The Mysteries of Udolpho now.

"Fear me, schoolchildren (and Anastasia Finch)."

The Pickwick Papers

Like Fleur, I wanted to read The Pickwick Papers mostly because of Little Women. Also because I was told it was Dickens’ funniest book– but mostly because of Little Women, actually.

We got off to a rocky start, Pickwick and I. I’ll admit to being prejudiced against Dickens from unhappy English class experiences in high school, and I’ll admit to even being somewhat afraid of actually trying to finish one of his books. They’re normally depressing, his books, and I don’t like being depressed while I read, usually. But he also deliberately provokes me with his writing style. Compared to, say, Jane Austen’s writing, Dickens’ is a much tougher steak to chew. While I don’t entirely mind working to understand a book (looking at you, Mr Joyce), I do mind not understanding what the hell just happened in a scene because I couldn’t parse the sentences.

Turns out that, like Joyce, I just had to stick with it to be able to understand it. (Thanks for that tip, Jo M.!) By the time I reached chapter two I was going strong and really getting into the story. I even laughed out loud at one point in chapter three! Charles Dickens! Made me laugh out loud! Never thought I’d ever type those words, to be honest.

While I’m only 7% (somewhere in chapter four, I think) into what is, for me, a very long book, I think as long as I keep a steady pace I can make it through to the end. I’m interested in seeing what’s going to happen with the Pickwicks’ stranger (who is definitely a rascal), and more of the Pickwicks’ adventures. I just hope I have the stamina.

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Thursday Tea (May 12): Rebecca

Posted by Anastasia on May 12, 2011 6 Responses »

May 122011

The book: I’m actually spending today reading The Pickwick Papers for tomorrow’s Classics Circuit post, but as I don’t want to give anything away I’ll talk about my other current read: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

I’m actually a little surprised at how much I’m enjoying it! For one thing, it’s got one of my main squicks– older man with way younger woman (21 years apart, I think?)– but for once it’s not bothering me! It’s also got that near-purple prose that gothic novels tend to have, but instead of annoying me, I’m finding it enthralling. I’ve just gotten to the part where they first arrive at Manderlay, and the housekeeper is just starting to be all horrible. Yay!

I must just be in the rare perfect mood for a book like Rebecca (and the writing must be really, really good for that matter). On the other hand, I’ve been in that mood for over three days now, so maybe it isn’t as rare as I think it is. I think it helps, too, that I’m reading a vintage copy from 1966, with the red-edged pages and everything. Here’s what the cover looks like:

Perfect, right? Gothic novels should all have covers like that, with yellowed and slightly worn pages, and they should be able to fit in your pocket when you want to go out wandering on the moors. (Not that we’ve got any moors here. Pity.)

The tea: I decided to try something different and went with a honey tea, the sort you drink when you’ve got a sore throat. (I’m not actually sick, by the way.) It tastes pretty good, even though…it expired two years ago. I’m not sure whether to be horrified or impressed.

Do they go together? Oh sure, if only because I surprisingly liked both the book and the tea, and they both don’t seem like things I’d normally like. It’s nice to find new things I enjoy!

Other tea drinkers

Sarah McCoy, who is drinking Red Rose Orange Pekoe and reading The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen.

(Leave a link to your TT post in the comments and I’ll add you to the tea drinkers list!)

REVIEW: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Posted by Anastasia on May 10, 2011 8 Responses »

May 102011

35. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Publication: Bloomsbury USA Childrens (December 1, 2008), ebook, 400pp / ISBN 1582349908
Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: Buy it
Read: April 9, 2011

Source: Bought

Summary from Amazon:

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.

Review

This is my fourth attempt at writing this review, and while probably won’t be perfect I have to get something out so I can stop obsessing about it. This book? The Goose Girl? Is magnificent. It’s got everything I like in a book: characters with fully developed personalities and lives, character growth and development, excellent writing, a bit of romance, princesses who kick butt (although not physically in this book), intrigue, betrayal, and snarky geese.

I like revisionings of old fairy tales, not only because I think old fairy tales are boring and sexist and racist and etc., but also because I like the way that authors take those original stories and twist them into something that modern readers can appreciate. The original Goose Girl story is seriously boring, with the standard crap characters and questionable motives for everything. The remade Goose Girl story is fabulous, with– well, everything I said it had above. It takes the basic original story and give flesh and life to what before was really bare bones stuff. It makes everything so much more vibrant and fun to read but still retains that air of magic that all the best fairy tales have. I really enjoyed the whole thing.

This is my first Shannon Hale book and I can’t wait to read another. I love her writing, and I love her characters, and I’m definitely going to continue reading this series. I really want to know what happens to the secondary characters, and to Ani and her romantic whatsit! Also, I’m kind of wondering if something’s going to happen to Ani now that her magical secret is out– the need to keep quiet about her ability to talk to animals (and control the wind?) was made into this big deal in the beginning of the book, and then nothing happened once it was revealed to everyone. Is there going to be a backlash or what?

I look forward to finding out!

And

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Pre-BEA Prep Post #2: Cheap food options

Posted by Anastasia on May 9, 2011 6 Responses »

May 092011

Post #1: What to bring to a hostel

Okay, so: I have set myself a strict budget for this trip and I’ve already spent about two-thirds of it on travel and accommodation. That means I have to be picky about tourist-y things, souvenirs, and food. Souvenirs are easy because I’m planning to mostly buy postcards and take pictures. Tourist-y things are still up in the air, but I won’t be doing the helicopter tour or anything like that. And finally– food!

I like eating and I love food, but I’m not the sort of person who likes spending time in uber fancy restaurants. Where do I like to eat? I like the sort of places you’d expect a just-recently-graduated college student to like: cafes, food carts, and little hole-in-the-wall type places.

I decided to do some research on where the cheap-but-good places to eat in NYC are, and I found these two articles: Meals for $10 or Less in New York City and Meals for $5 or Less in New York City. They both list lots of places where you can get cheap, good food all around New York, including in Manhattan where I’m going to be. I’m particularly looking forward to chowing down in places like Gray’s Papaya, Patsy’s Pizzeria, and Great NY Noodle Town!

Another site I found is New York Street Food, a website that does what it says on the tin. The only pushcart sort of things we get here in Albuquerque is ice cream and MAYBE a burrito cart, so I’m excited to try some different street food in NYC!

I’m still looking for more breakfast-type places, but I figure I’ll just run into a cafe or something. Anyway, what sort of places do you like to eat at? Are you a fine dining sort of person, or a street cart sort of person? Both? Somewhere in between?

The Sunday Salon (May 8): Must collect everything

Posted by Anastasia on May 8, 2011 8 Responses »

May 082011

The Sunday Salon (May

This was going to be a whole big rant about how Tokyopop is going under and how I’m freaking out that if I don’t buy the rest of a TP series now I’m never going to be able to complete those series because the books will be out of print and vastly overpriced on the secondhand market, and then I’d never be able to look at my bookshelves again because all I’d see is an incomplete set. But then I was, like, a) that’s a boring post and b) maybe no-one else is as dedicated to completing series like I am and so they wouldn’t care about my trials and tribulations of tracking down cheap copies of The Kindaichi Case Files graphic novels to complete my collection. So this is an abbreviated version of that post.

See, it’s not even that I’m fanatical about completing every series I own. For instance, I’ve only got one of the Swallows and Amazons books but I don’t really feel the need to complete my collection (yet, anyway). But with Tokyopop’s books it’s different, because translated books always take more money to publish than untranslated books. That means it’s highly unlikely that some of the TP series won’t be republished for a while, if ever. The more unpopular series will definitely get pushed to the back-burner (Kindaichi!), so if I don’t want to wait however many years to read the second series of Jing: King of Bandits, and if I don’t want to end up paying $50 per book (not that I’d pay that, anyway), I should probably get that series now while I still can.

But! That’d be breaking my “no buying paper books” policy for this year. And that’d be really sad, but…I’m kind of making a special exception for this month. Plus, I’ve totally already broken it and bought five paper books. So! Might as well not look back, right?

Books read this week:
41. The Warrior Heir – Cinda Williams Chima [rating: TBD] e
42. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen [rating: Buy it] e
43. Silver Phoenix – Cindy Pon [rating: Buy it]

Books reviewed this week:
33. Dragon and Thief – Timothy Zahn [rating: Buy it] e
38. Kat, Incorrigible – Stephanie Burgis [rating: Buy it] R

Currently reading:
I’m about 20 pages into A Sorcerer and a Gentleman, but I may put it down for something else. It started off really good, but then it slowed way the heck down and I’m just kind of feeling “meh” about it right now.

Oh! Okay. Just found out it’s the second book of a series. Do I need to read the first book before I read this one? Maybe it’ll be more exciting if I do.

REVIEW: Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis

Posted by Anastasia on May 7, 2011 5 Responses »

May 072011

38. Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
Publication: Atheneum (April 5, 2011), ARC, 298pp / ISBN 9781416994473
Genre: MG Historical Fantasy

Rating: Buy it
Read: April 16-17, 2011

Source: Publisher

Summary from Amazon:

Katherine Ann Stephenson has just discovered that she’s inherited her mother’s magical talents, and despite Stepmama’s stern objections, she’s determined to learn how to use them. But with her eldest sister Elissa’s intended fiancÉ, the sinister Sir Neville, showing a dangerous interest in Kat’s magical potential; her other sister, Angeline, wreaking romantic havoc with her own witchcraft; and a highwayman lurking in the forest, even Kat’s reckless heroism will be tested to the upmost. If she can learn to control her new powers, will Kat be able to rescue her family and win her sisters their true love?

Review

There’s one word that’s been showing up in every review of Kat, Incorrigible, and that word is “cute.” Is this book cute? Hell yeah this book is cute– this book is so cute it almost make my head explode from the onslaught of overwhelming cuteness contained within its pages.

But just in case you don’t like cute books, I’ll give you a few other words to describe Kat, Incorrigible: funny, entertaining, exciting, and fun. Kat, the title character, is quirky and sparky and, if this were an urban fantasy book instead of a historical fantasy and if Kat were an adult instead of 12 years old, would probably be one of those kick-ass heroines who wear lots of leather and never chafe.

Kat is now one of my favorite YA heroines. I love her to death, not least because she’s smart and clever but also because she’s human– she has faults and she can’t figure out everything for herself, and it’s obvious she has some growing up to do. Luckily she’s got two wonderful sisters to help her when she needs it! (I love her sisters. They remind me of Elizabeth and Jane from Pride and Prejudice. Or maybe Jo and Meg from Little Women.)

It’s the interaction between the sisters and their love interests that makes the book cute, really. The plot is where the excitement happens, with conspiracies and dangerous magic users and an almost gothic subplot involving a wife who was possibly murdered by her husband. There’s also a highwayman, and romance, and an evil stepmother who isn’t completely bad, and lots more interesting things besides!

Kat, Incorrigible is also the start to a series, so while the various subplots tie up rather neatly in this book, there’s definitely room for continuation of the main plot. I can’t wait to see what Kat does next, especially after what happened at the end of this book which I can’t talk about for fear of spoilers. But it was a clever and dangerous thing she did, and I hope she can actually pull it off. She probably will– in some adorable and feisty way, no doubt!

And

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Other reviews:
Fyrefly’s Book Blog: “I hesitate to use the word “romp” for fear of cliche, but it really feels appropriate here; there’s plenty of sneaking around in crumbling abbeys and being threatened by highwaymen to go along with the period dresses and society etiquette and marriage negotiations. It was a little predictable in places, but overall, it was the perfect light-hearted read to improve my mood after a long day.”

Steph Su Reads: “Unlike other historical fiction heroines I’ve encountered in the past, Kat’s modern-day stubbornness and rebelliousness feels perfectly natural. She is at that wonderful age when she can resist societal conventions without appearing petulant or immature, and she defies all our expectations, much to our endless delight. She has moments, for example, when she consciously refuses to act like the silly, spineless heroines in her sister’s favorite gothic novels, the similarity to some 21st-century YA lit too good to go ignored. It takes great skill to write a historical character with modern appeal, but Stephanie Burgis does it like she was born to write this.”

Books, Movies, and Chinese Food: “While the story is pretty cute, I felt like it dragged a bit at times. I don’t mind books that have magic in them but there were places where I got rather confused about the use of it. Not that I think that I’m super intelligent or anything, but I wonder that if me, being a 20 something adult, got confused, would a reader of the targeted age group understand it better than I did?”

Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf: “If there’s one thing that makes a book addicting, it’s action, and Kat, Incorrigible had plenty of it to say the least. There wasn’t a moment where I wasn’t dying to know what would happen next to Kat and her friends, family and foes, thanks to Stephanie’s Burgis’ writing, and if that didn’t happen, I was probably laughing out loud or possibly rooting Kat on…”

The next book isn’t coming out until April 2012 in the US! It’s coming out in August 2011 in the UK, though…I bet I can get it from BookDepository when it’s released! Right?

Also, in the UK Kat, Incorrigible is called A Most Improper Magick, which actually sounds a bit more fun to me than “incorrigible” does.

REVIEW: Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn

Posted by Anastasia on May 6, 2011 4 Responses »

May 062011

33. Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn
Publication: Starscape (July 1, 2010) originally published 2003, ebook
Genre: YA Sci-fi

Rating: Buy it
Read: April 8, 2011

Source: Bought

Summary from Amazon:

Orphaned, 14-year-old Jack Morgan, raised to be an assistant to his now-dead con-man uncle, Virgel, is on the run after being framed for a crime he didn’t commit. He is hiding out in his uncle’s spaceship–whose computer program, Virge, is a virtual Virgel–on a remote, uninhabited planet when another spaceship crashes after a fierce battle. The only survivor is the K’da warrior Draycos, a dragonlike being who cannot live apart from a symbiotic relationship with a humanoid host. Teaming up to clear Jack, the boy and Draycos embark on a fast-paced chase across space and into danger.

Review

What do you think when you look at the cover and title of Dragon and Thief? I know what I thought: I thought “okay, dragon, thief, illustrated cover– this must be some sort of fantasy, possibly urban, most likely set in the present day. I hope it’s not full of tropes. That’d be really annoying.” Finding out it was really a sci-fi action/adventure novel with aliens and space ships and other planets was really fantastic!

I haven’t read a lot of YA sci-fi books (if we’re not counting dystopia books as sci-fi), but the ones I have read have tended to be hit-or-miss. Either the balance between the characters and the setting is off, or the world is boring, or the plot is ridiculous. The ones that’ve hit, though, have hit hard– and Dragon and Thief is a hit! Everything, except for one thing, is perfect.

I like action/adventure books. They make me feel like something more exciting is going on than what normally happens in my life, which at this moment is coffee-internet-books-internet job-coffee. Soon it’ll be travel-ESL-foreign language-coffee-internet-books, but right now it’s a pretty tame life. Fast-paced adventures about a kid thief and an alien poet-warrior fighting against a corporate conspiracy and other Big Stuff brightens up my day!

As a bonus, Dragon and Thief isn’t just action-packed excitement. There’s also a heavy dose of That Emotional Stuff, with hint of future character development of at least the two main characters. Character development! The thing I love best! In sci-fi? Hell yeah.

I love the characters, who ring true to life (as true as a space alien poet-warrior who looks like a dragon can ring true, anyway). Jack is exactly the sort of character that I like: he doesn’t annoy me with pretending to be full-on adult and he isn’t so bizarrely naive that the fact that he’s still alive is a shock. He’s a thief, yes, which means he’s clever and precocious and a bit more adult than the usual 14 year old, but he’s also not an adult yet and it shows.

Draycos, meanwhile, is an adult, but he’s also an alien and way out of his element. He’s more stable and level-headed, and he sort of reminds me of the stereotypes of Japanese samurai, and yet for all that he, too, is vulnerable in certain ways. His development is more subtle and it doesn’t really show up until the next couple of books, but even in this one you can see how he’s adjusting to being partners with Jack and being in an alien world.

Also, on a completely different note, it’s nice to read a book where humanity’s journey into space doesn’t automatically mean dystopias and horror. Plus there’s aliens! I love aliens.

The only thing that was off about Dragon and Thief was the lack of female characters, which is a Big Issue with me. A single female character showed up at the end, but I think she got maybe one sentence of dialogue.

While we’re at it, can anyone tell me why there’s such a lack of female characters in action books starring male protagonists? Would it have been so difficult to make the villain in this book a female? Or the dragon– couldn’t the space alien dragon be a female? Or Uncle Virgel could have been Aunt Virgel! Why must every major character be male? Or every secondary character, for that matter? Where are the women?

I read this tip for writing stories once where the author said that for every character where you’d automatically think “female” or “male,” she’d switch it up. So a nurse character would be a dude, and a senator character would be a lady. I found her stories really fresh and exciting, and even though they starred male protagonists I never felt the lack of a female presence. Just because your protagonist is a dude doesn’t mean everyone else needs to be as well, see?

Anyway, I was disappointed about that whole thing but that’s really the only thing that I was disappointed about. And luckily in later books there’s more female characters that play larger parts in the plot! (Although they’re still way less in number than the dudes.) Dragon and Thief is a very good start to a series. It just needs more WOMEN.

And

Get your own copy @ Amazon or BookDepository.com and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog!

Other reviews:
Shannon McDermott: “The universe of Dragon and Thief is basic, well-constructed sci-fi: other species, megacorporations, an international government, a level of technology set solidly between Star Trek and our own. The plot flows along smoothly and takes some quick bends. Some important questions are left unanswered, a consequence of being the first book in a series.”