Book Review: Fabulous Terrible by Sophie Talbot

You’re a foster kid who somehow manages to get a full ride plus expenses to Trumbell Woodhouse, the most exclusive boarding school in the nation. You hope you’ll fit in despite your secret: you get visions of the past, present and future that you can’t control. But even weirder, once you get to the school, you begin to suspect that the campus holds a secret as strange as yours and that someone’s out to get you…

That’s right, YOU are the main character of this story which is written entirely in second person. It’s a conceit that actually worked well for me – reading this book made me feel like I actually was attending this glamorous school. I picked up my brand new laptop, visited my mysterious advisor, did a difficult Greek translation and made some nice new friends.

I was really impressed with the writing. The dialogue and inner monologues were snappy and hip without resorting to the kind of pop culture name dropping that ages a book all too quickly. The supporting characters were painted with just enough brush strokes to make them distinguishable and memorable. Case in point: Emily, your friend from back home. When you’re applying to schools and start getting rejections, she suggests she burn them to make you feel better, even though she’s not allowed:

“Emily got in trouble for starting fires at recess. She was burning up her exams marked lower than a B-. Ever since, she has had to fight a pyromaniac rap.
She led you to the backyard and lit the letter and envelope with a match. She did seem to get a gleam in her eye while the paper burned. Actually, over the next week, she got that gleam five more times when she burned five more rejections.”

Many mysteries are brought up during the course of the novel but only one is really solved by the end. I guess this means I’ll have to read the sequel (which comes out Jan 25, 2009). It will be my pleasure.

NOTE: I just happened to pick up a copy of Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty today (which I haven’t read yet – I know, a travesty, right?) and just by reading the jacket copy, I see some major parallels between its story and Fabulous Terrible (including the title!). Both have characters that have visions going off to boarding school and running up against secret societies. But I’m going to look at it as homage rather than rip-off. What do you all think?

Waiting On Wednesday (2) The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Been seeing this one around the blogosphere a bit and I love the cover. Plus it's is a post-apocolyptic love story set in the wake of a zombie-creating global virus. And really, aren't those the best kind of love stories?

Here's a summary (edited down), taken from Author Carrie Ryan's actual query letter to her agent (read the whole letter at Fangs, Fur and Fey):

Generations after the zombie apocalypse known as The Return, Mary's life is as circumscribed by her community's strict religion as it is by the fences that form her village's only defense against the hordes of the undead -- the Unconsecrated -- who dwell in the surrounding forest.

When the Unconsecrated breach the fences and overrun the village, Mary has to brave the deadly Forest in an attempt to discover if there is a world beyond the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is not coming out until March 10, 2009 but lucky Sarah at Reading, Writing and Musing has a copy that she's reading RIGHT NOW! I hope she'll let us know how she likes it.

The book was also blurbed by none other than Scott Westerfeld (among others). He said "A post-apocalypse romance of the first order, elegantly written from title to last line." Read more about that at Carrie Ryan's blog right here.

Anyone else as excited about this as I am?

Want to see what other forthcoming books bloggers are lusting over or join in the fun yourself? Check out Waiting On Wednesday's host Jill's post for this week now.

Library Thing Tuesday (21) + Pic of Emmy

For this week's Tuesday Thingers, Marie copied the list of the most-challenged books of the 1990s straight from the ALA website. We are supposed to bold what we've read, and italicize what we have in our LT libraries.

I've read 29 of them (8 of them for school) though not all of them are listed in my LT library since I have mostly catalogued books I've read in the past few years.

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

I actually planned to read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 by this week in honor of Banned Book Week since it's about a dystopia where books are banned and burned in fear that citizens will think for themselves. But I am way behind on my reading due to the fact that I've lots of visiters in the past weeks and more work than usual.

I finally got around to watching The Lives of Others, a German movie about the extreme censorship in the DDR (East Germany). I can't believe it took me so long, but it is so worth watching (yes, I even teared up at the end).

And now, the Emmy story and picture of the week:

We were in the kitchen eating lunch and tidying up when we realized we hadn't seen Emmy in a while. She normally hangs around in the same room we're in, especially when we are eating. So we were looking for her and calling her name... and guess where we found her bathing herself?

Zoom out a bit... and you see she wasn't thrilled about being disturbed!

WG #19: Favorite Books of 2008

The year is only three-fourths over, so this list will likely grow/change by the end of the year, but Dewey wants our lists now so here's mine (with links to my reviews):

Picture Book:
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace

Middle Grade:
The Big Splash by Jack Ferraiolo
Joy of Spooking: Fiendish Deeds by PJ Bracegirdle

YA:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart
Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman

Adult:
No One You Know by Michelle Richmond
Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek

What are your favorites published this year?

Book Review: The Fire by Katherine Neville

I absolutely adored Katherine Neville’s The Eight when I read it some years ago. In fact, it’s one of the few “already read” books that made it over to Germany with me to sit on my keeper shelf. It was full of adventure, exotic locales, and mysterious characters and had one of the coolest endings ever. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out about the sequel, The Fire, and that I’d be getting it from the Library Thing Early Reviewer program.

The Fire, like The Eight, follows two timelines, one past (in this case 1822) and one present (2003). In the past, sultan’s daughter Haidee flees with a priceless treasure from her palace in Albania as it is being overrun by Turks. In the present, former chess prodigy Alexandra learns that she’s a player in “The Game” when she is invited to her mother’s birthday party only to discover that she has vanished.

If you’ve read The Eight, then you know what “The Game” is. If you haven’t read The Eight, then I highly suggest you read it first. Otherwise, you’ll get its magical story distilled in a few paragraphs of dry summary, and by only reading The Fire you’ll probably think “The Game” is pretty pointless as well. That’s because Neville never manages to demonstrate what’s actually at stake, or even introduce any real drama or urgency to Alexandra’s quest (Haidee’s story is woefully relegated to serious back burner status). There is a lot of talk about the white team and the black team but the one person who emerges as a “villain” cannot even be taken seriously.

Alexandra is a sympathetic character with a doozy of a back story, but she’s never proactive – she merely reacts to situations during the entire book. (NOTE: I think that conceptually, this had something to do with her favorite chess strategy – The King Indian Defense – but practically, it is highly frustrating).

Neville has certainly done her research, and if you like conspiracy theories, complex riddles, and the fictional integration of real historical personalities like Lord Byron and Thomas Jefferson, then this might be up your alley. For me though, it was too much talk, too little actual story, especially in comparison to the fun that I had reading The Eight.

The Fire will be released in hardcover on October 14th.

Graphic Novel Review: The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci

After a terrorist attack in Metro City, Jane’s family moves with her to a “safe” suburb. She starts a new school, makes friends with three girls who are also named Jane and inspires the kids at her school to celebrate art and creativity.

The Plain Janes is a short graphic novel that is quick to read but also explores some weighty themes such as healing after trauma and the importance of civil liberties and freedom of expression.

Jane is very atypical in that she rejects the cool crowd and chooses to hang out with “misfits” because she doesn’t want to be sucked into living a cookie cutter existence. The Main Jane had personality to spare (especially considering the format) but the other Janes (Science Nerd Jane, Mono-brow Jock Jane, and Pudgy Drama Geek Jane) were very stereotypical and kind of got on my nerves. Still, I have high hopes that they’ll come into their own in the sequel, Janes in Love. It came out this week, and I’m looking forward to picking it up.

Book Review: The Triumph of Deborah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy

The Old Testament is full of great stories that you don't necessarily need to be religious to enjoy. Deborah, whose story is found in the book of Judges, was the only woman in the Bible to serve as prophetess and judge. The Triumph of Deborah fleshes out the story told in Judges 4 and 5 – that of the war between Canaan and Israel and how 40 years of peace was achieved in the land - and “fleshes” is really the right word here because there is a lot of bare flesh in this fictional account.

You see, although the narrative is ostensibly about efforts to bring about lasting peace, the main thrust of the story is actually a love quadrangle between Deborah, her army leader (the very lusty Barak) and two Canaanite princesses he takes into his household, the icy yet beautiful Asherah and the humble (and half Israelite) Nogah. Barak’s steamy encounters with all three are described in lavish detail.

Despite all their bed hopping, the characters do find time to participate in other activities. Deborah plans war strategies, settles disputes and has visions. Nogah learns the art of scroll writing. Asherah plots and schemes. Barak wages war and oversees work in his fields. The pace is good, the plot entertains and historical detail enriches understanding of Israelite and Canaanite culture.

The language is very… ornate. I even had to laugh out loud at some of the phrasing in the early chapters (which I can’t repeat here since I sent the book home with my stepmother to read). But once you get used to it, it actually does work for this story and time period.

What I liked most about this novel was the characterization of the female characters. Deborah, Nogah and Asherah were all strong women in very different ways despite their apparent weakness for Barak. Jael, she of murdering the sleeping enemy leader with a tent pole fame, even shows up to steal a couple of scenes (would you believe she has a thing for Barak too?).

The Triumph of Deborah is now available in paperback.

Waiting On Wednesday (1) The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King

Jill at Breaking the Spine is hosting a cool new meme called Waiting On Wednesday where we talk about an upcoming book we are really excited about.

My pick this week is A.S. King's The Dust of 100 Dogs.

I first heard about this over at Reviewer X's blog (here's a post where she mentions it, but it was an earlier post and her countdown widget which caught my attention months ago) and I must say that the description is super cool:

In the late 17th century, famed pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of sailing into early retirement with unfathomable wealth and her one true love when she was fatally cursed with the dust of 100 dogs. Three hundred years later, after 100 lives as a dog, she finally reincarnates into a human body again—with all her memories intact. Now she’s a contemporary American teenager, and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica. (Young Adult - language, swashbuckling, and elusive pirate nookie.)

It even has an official website with an excerpt: http://www.thedustof100dogs.com/

HELP! I don't think I can wait until Feb. 1, 2009 to read this!!

What upcoming books are you really excited about?

Bloghopping Challenge

As I was reading through J.Kaye's latest blog posts, her spotlight on Alpha Heroes blog and her bloghopping challenge caught my eye.

So I decided to join the fun. The idea is to visit 10 blogs you never have before and leave comments on posts that interest you. Go here for full list of instructions.

Here's my trail:

Left a comment on Alpha Heroes bloghopping post. What a fun idea! It's a romance blog, a genre I haven't read for a long time.

Chose Allison's Attic of Books at random from the BBAW list. She's a Tuesday Thinger, so I may have been here before.

Chose 5 Minutes for Books from Allison's blogroll as it was the most recently updated. I see they host the What's On Your Bookshelf carnival. Maybe I'll join in for September.

Clicked over to Rebecca Reads through her comment on Carrie's Unique Children's Books post. She has a post about Sandra Boynton's books and I commented that I like Barnyard Dance. I buy it for many of my friends' kids.

Clicked on Naked Without Books on Rebecca's blogroll. Commented on the post about Dewey's Readathon October 18th which I won't be able to join because of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Lizzy's Literary Life called to me from Bybee's blogroll. She has a great review of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a classic short story. Gotta read this one soon - thanks Lizzy!

Love German Books was on Lizzy's blogroll so I just had to click over. This is a neat discovery for me - someone writing about German books in English. Especially since I have pledged to read more books in German. She has posted an interview with Julia Franck, last year's German Book Prize winner for Mittagsfrau (a book I picked up at last year's Frankfurt Book Fair but haven't read yet), about her book being translated into other languages.

Went back to the BBAW list and picked I Smell Books because of the blog title. I commented on her review of Sarah Addison's The Sugar Queen. She also did a post mentioning her favorite blogs and from her list I picked...

Lit Chick. She apparently has free book friday and her latest giveaway is for The House at Riverton by Kate Morton which I really want to read. So I entered the contest.

I then end my exploration of 10 new blogs at One Minute Book Reviews where I read a couple of her reviews but discover I can't leave a comment because I don't have a WordPress account.

What new blogs have you discovered lately?

Library Thing Tuesday (20) + Pic of Emmy

Today's Question: Favorite Authors. Who do you have named in your LT account as favorite authors? Why did you choose them? How many people share your choices? Can you share a picture of one of them?

My Answer: The following are listed as my favorite authors on Library Thing:

Margaret Atwood, Douglas Coupland, Jasper Fforde, Sebastien Japrisot, Barbara Kingsolver, David Mitchell, Joyce Carol Oates, Daniel Handler, Melissa Walker, Scott Westerfeld.

If an author is on this list it means I have read at least 3 of their books, enjoyed them and would be interested in reading more books by this author. There are many other authors I like a lot but have only read two (or one) of their books so far and I sort of made 3 my rule.

I share at most 3 of the 10 with other members. I am the only one to have Melissa Walker as a favorite so here's her awesome picture.

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We enjoyed our trip to Goerlitz (very beautiful old town on the border with Poland), Dresden and Erfurt (where we had a tour of the largest freestanding bell in the world - so big that all 8 people on our tour could fit under it).

Emmy quickly made herself at home at the catsitter. My friend Charlotte T. sent me a text picture message with the following picture, saying she'd have to bill me for the downtime caused by bad kitty: