Patrick Swayze 1952-2009

I don't want to flood my blog with non-book related articles, but Patrick Swayze's death is something I felt inspired to write about.
I actually watched Dirty Dancing last night, and loved it for the millionth time. It is kind of the perfect coming-of-age movie. I don't know if it holds up for a new audience, but it totally worked for me when I was younger.
It wasn't even that Patrick Swayze was hot in the movie, he was just a great guy. Watching it again I noticed that Johnny and Baby had some heat between them but they also had this strong best friend vibe that makes me happy to see; a first boyfriend/love should be a best friend feeling too.
Although I admit to dating a boy once who had a Swayze-shaped mouth, so I guess he affected me more than I think.
There are total cheesy moments in the movie, too, obviously being a product of its time; air guitar? C'mon Swayzzz. But the sets, the music, costumes, the chemistry between Johnny and Baby, the easy way you could empathize with Baby's role in the family, make it quintessential for teen girls (and boys, if they want; my boyfriend recently watched it for the first time and as a grown-up and really liked it).

So here's a little tribute:

Q & A with Jenny from *Take Me Away*

I had the very fortunate chance to interview Jenny about her very cool blog, Take Me Away, for Book Blogger Appreciation Week. She was a sweetie to interview and gave great responses. Take a sec to get to know Jenny and absolutely check out her blog! Especially the picture of her sweet pooch, via her profile. Jenny loves contemporary fiction and mystery/thriller the most, but will read from any genre.

Why did you start blogging about books and has your relationship with your blog changed since you started it?

*I started blogging because I thought it would be fun to document the books I read and talk about what I liked and didn't. Yes, my relationship with my blog actually changed. When I started it was just a place to go and document the books almost like the list I was keeping anyway. I focused on mainly reviews and didn't do much else with it. I also didn't care whether or not I had any followers meaning I didn't "network" or participate in anything other than that. (I did have other bookish friends from paperbackswap.com, though). However, this past summer it changed in that I started spending a lot more time on my blog and being involved in the community. (I didn't realize before that there was such a community for book bloggers!) I've also started participating in challenges, doing giveaways, interviews, and just being more involved all together. Now it feels more like a place to go to, like my own little corner of the book world where I can talk to other book lovers and share my thoughts and what I read. It's way more fun this way!*

What advice would you truly give to someone just starting their own book blog? What would be the most imprtant thing to know?

*To someone just starting their blog I would say to be true to yourself and to what YOU want your blog to be. There are so many book bloggers out there and so much to see and do that it can become overwhelming. That's why (in the beginning especially) it's important to know what you want and to focus on that only. Then I suggest following some other bloggers and getting to know them through commenting and all that. This is a good way to make other book bloggy friends and get more ideas. But yeah, the most important thing is to make it yours and not feel pressured to be like anyone else's blog.*

Book giveaways are very exciting to host. How do you decide on a book giveaway, and where do you get the books?

*Yes, they are exciting! And I love when I am able to send a book off to someone else who I know will enjoy it as well. Usually with book giveaways I try to use books that I have already read and enjoyed and/or that I know will be popular and others will want to read. It's no fun to offer a book for giveaway and only have a few want it. As for where I get them, I'm still early in my book blogging "career" so I'm not generally inundated with that many ARC's or anything. What that means is that while I have offered an ARC in the past, one that an author sent me, and a couple I hosted for Hachette Books, for the most part I am having to buy them on my own. This doesn't bother me b/c I enjoy buying and reading the books anyway and I just sort of figure it into the "upkeep" of my blog. Once I'm way more established maybe I will have more ARC's or author/publisher sponsored giveaways. We'll see!*

Do you ever write negative reviews, or do you ever write a review of a book that you'd give one or no stars to? What's your philosophy of reviewing?

*This is a very good question, especially since it seems there is sort of a controversy about it AND because I was in this situation recently. I can be sort of sensitive sometimes and I hate hurting other people's feelings, so I do feel bad writing bad reviews. However, my philosophy is that I shouldn't have to hold back my true feelings about a book I read. I do try to say things in a nice or fair way when I review negatively. I know some people choose not to review books they don't like, and that's fine, but on the other hand I think it's good to put your negative thoughts out there so readers can have all the information they need before buying/reading a book. I think as long as you justify why you don't like the book, there's nothing wrong with it. Of course, I reviewed a book I didn't like recently and the author replied and, while she wasn't outright rude, she wasn't that nice and she did leave somewhat of an insult. =/*

What's the coolest thing you've seen a blogger post? The most unique article/entry that really caught your attention?

*This is a hard one! I can't think off the top of my head of the coolest post. I love all book reviews but especially ones that intrigue me and make me want to read the book. I will say that Joanne Rendell, the super friendly author who wrote /The Professor's Wives' Club /and /Crossing Washington Square /has written interesting entries about women's fiction and whether it deserves all the criticism it gets or if it should be considered more than just "fluff". In fact, that's a topic that the characters discuss a lot in her second book. As for a non-author blog post, I can't really think of one right now. =/*

You participate in a lot of weekly blog memes. What do they do for the blogging community and which is your favourite?

*I think memes are a fun way to keep your blog active and to participate in the community without necessarily writing an actual book review every day. A lot of times they prompt some interesting bookish conversations and a lot of times they feature books which is fun to see too. My favorite meme is Throwback Thursday... ok, I'm a little biased because that's one that I host, lol, but that's not the only reason!! This meme is for featuring books from the past. I've had so much fun reminiscing about old books that I've read be they from when I was kid or just from a few years ago. I love seeing what others use too. My second favorite meme is sort of the opposite, Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This features upcoming books and it's fun to know what to look out for! The only problem is I'm starting to run out of books I know are up and coming, lol!*

How do you balance writing your for your own blog and reading and commenting on the blogs of others? What is your secret?

*I keep trying to remind myself to focus on posting what I want before reading other blogs because I tend to totally drown in catching up on blogs and never get around to doing anything else, lol!! I think I've been doing good lately though. If I have something I want to post I do that. I then read other blogs in my google reader which I have broken up into folders so it's super easy to always read my favorites first. I have two other folders for how much I like a blog and then another folder for the newer blogs that I'm sort of "trying out" before I put it into one of the other folders. I did this so I could keep up with my favorites mostly but I've found breaking it up like this helps me to keep up with all of them anyway. I just do a few minutes here and there when I have time and comment as I'm reading if I find something to say. Then at other times I go to my gmail account and read through replies to comments (I really just skim) and then clean out that mailbox.

Thanks SO much, Jenny!

Mandy

Review *Crazy Beautiful* by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Crazy Beautiful will get it's hooks in you...no wait,.. Crazy Beautiful; you'll be hooked...hmm.

From the back cover of the galley edition:

I would give a lot to see that smile again, directed at me.

It may not be much, but I would give up everything I've got.

In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn't outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself.

Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don't scare her. They don't keep her away. In fact, they don't make any difference at all to her.

But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering. Or maybe she's just a girl who needs love just like he does.

A modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Lauren Baratz-Logsted's Crazy Beautiful strips away the original tale to get to its essence, revealing truth about forgiveness, redemption, and the power of love.

The first thing I thought when I finished reading this book was, "100 more pages, please". It was over too quickly and I felt the overall development would have benefitted. The back cover says the published book will be 256 pages but my galley comes in at 193 pages. So, more please!

Crazy Beautiful is told in the popular style of he-said-she-said, where you'll get alternating chapters from both Lucius and Aurora's points of view. In this book it led to a bit of an imbalance; I had a great view into Lucius' character, but I was left hanging with Aurora. I didn't get a handle on her character. She was just this beautiful girl with a heart of pure pure gold and a deceased mother, which only makes her more tender toward people, and especially Lucius.

Lucius, though, was moody and withdrawn, but also funny and surprising. He has this big brother antagonism with his little, popular sister and will menacingly raise his hook in the air above her head to be intimidating. Lucius is also pretty witty verbally, which I think you'd have to be if something this huge hung over your life and you went to HIGHSCHOOL and had to deal with the kids there. Some of his lines are great.

I would have loved a little more heat between the two. There isn't enough romantic lead-up to make you need for them to get together. I like witty, charged banter. And maybe more push-and-pull between them; Aurora working through her mother's death and also through her feelings for Lucius having no hands. It is just accepted that she doesn't care about looks, but she would still contemplate her feelings about this. I didn't really know what Aurora thought and felt.

But Lucius was a great character to get to know. It really was his book. When I started reading I was like, "why would you purposefully get hooks and then walk into highschool and add another layer of suffering to this whole situation; just get prosthetic hands". But there's this interesting passage in the book about some internet research Aurora is doing on prosthetics:

"This article is about soldiers wounded in Iraq," he says. "It focuses on this one double-arm amputee who uses what they call traditional metal hook prosthetics. It says he was told the myo-electric--battery-operated--hands would be the best thing for him. But he was disappointed. He says--get this!--that what the article refers to as 'World War II-era technology' is better, easier: they don't fall off his arm like the other kind is prone to do, and the hooks are more supple and reliable"

The passage goes on to say that some opt for the realistic hands for a cosmetic reason, although the hooks have better versatility and are more intuitive to use. So, neat. It made me appreciate Lucius better, knowing he wasn't just choosing hooks so he could externalize any self-hatred.

Crazy Beautiful is available now in hardcover. But I'd like to make my copy available in a book giveaway. Leave your name and e-mail address, even a comment and consider yourself in the draw. I'll call on the randomly chosen winner in two weeks from this date!

Mandy

Review and Giveaway for *Perfect Chemistry* by Simone Elkeles

*In My Mailbox*

I had a book week that made me go "woo woo". Not like a train sound; more excited-seeming. I had four specific books on my mind because of reviews I had been reading on various blogs. I was wish-wish-wishing for them and this week they appeared. Here are the galley copies I received in the mail this week:

Crazy Beautiful, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted, is this Beauty and the Beast re-imagining, set in highschool, romance between a beautiful girl and a boy who has hooks for hands. I'm about halfway through it now and it's pretty keen. I'll save more for a proper review to come. Check back in also for a giveaway of this book. Crazy Beautiful is available later this month.

Goth Girl Rising, by Barry Lyga, is a sequel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Goth Girl is back from the psych ward and truly angry at fanboy. Although I can't remember why, it's been a while since I read Astonishing Adventures. I remember a crisis at the end of the book but I don't think it needed to be avenged. We'll see. The cover is totally striking. Actually, same goes for Crazy Beautiful. By the way, after I read Boy Toy by Barry Lyga I will forever read ANYTHING he pens, EVER! Boy Toy really blew me away. Hmm, I am inspired to write a review of reading it a year ago. Check back for it. GGR is available in late October.


Hate List, by Jennifer Brown, is getting awesome blogger reviews. It is about a girl and her implication in the highschool shooting committed by her boyfriend. Dark, for sure. Can't wait to get into it. Hate List is out now.

Ash, by Malinda Lo, is a re-telling of the Cinderella fairy tale with a twist. I am the most excited to read this one after reading an impeccable review of it. Ash is also out now.

And I also want to tell you about this last book, Hauntings by Betsy Hearne. It's a collection of short stories by one author and it came out two years ago! I don't know if this copy was delayed in the mail, but I am glad I got it. The cover art looks awesome and it is a perfect chilly read for October, when I focus on the spooky side of YA (I am still open to any recommendations for YA/Teen books perfect for Hallowe'en reading, send 'em along!).

This has been my week and it makes me want to clothespin my eyes open and read all weekend.

Mandy

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

Read my feature on Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles and win a copy of the book!


Read my page-by-page review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *spoilers*

Once Upon a Time *Perfect Chemistry* and Giveaway!

I haven't had a book giveaway in a while, and they're so much fun! Lucky for me I found a second copy of a great little book I read a few months ago, Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. The Story Siren said it best when she described this book, after giving it five stars, as Pretty in Pink meets West Side Story.

It's a love story, for sure, but more is working behind the scenes. Alex and Brittany can't quite figure each other out. Is Alex really involved with gangs and violence like his reputation suggests? Is Brittany as perfect as she seems? Simone Elkeles deftly avoids romantic cliche in their love story, which is firey and exciting. I read this book in one sitting, knowing the two would probably get together but really needing to know how.

You'll totally have a crush on bad boy Alex.

Here's a scene very close to the beginning of the book:

"Next time, watch where you're goin'," he says, his voice cool and controlled.

He's tyring to bully me. He's a pro at this. I won't let him get to me and win his little game of intimidation, even if my stomach feels like I'm doing one hundred cartwheels in a row. I square my shoulders and sneer at him, the same sneer I use to push people away. "Thanks for the tip."

"If you ever need a real man to teach you how to drive, I can give you lessons."

Catcalls and whistles from his buddies set my blood boiling.

"If you were a real man, you'd open the door for me instead of blocking my way," I say, admiring my own comeback even as my knees threaten to buckle.

Alex steps back, pulls the door open, and bows like he's my butler.

Flipping through this book again I remember that it has some racy scenes and language. I kind of forgot about this because I remember this book having depth, as well. Alex and Brittany are fully-realized characters with secret personal lives, but there's also this spicy romance developing between them. Maybe I want to keep this book for a re-read....

Nope, I'm giving it away. Just leave your name and e-mail and a comment if you wish, I'll randomly choose a winner in two weeks!

Mandy

My Review of Hush Hush, more bad boy action.

My Review of Shiver, another romance told in alternating voices.

What She Said About.... *Tamora Pierce*

Tamora Pierce, author of the Alanna series (Song of the Lioness), among many many others, had this to say about Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith:

This is the quirkiest tale I've read in a long time! Guardian Angel Zachary loses his wings and his status when he interferes with his charge's good death and Miranda becomes the vampire king's newly adopted daughter. Now Zachary must pull himself out of his drunken tailspin and see if he can salvage what's left of the coolest young vampire's soul before it's too late for either of them--if it can be done. After all, in Miranda's new life she's rich, popular, adored by her new father, dressed to the nines, and immortal. What's worth losing all that for?
Just having to know how the characters were going to get around the rules of the royal household, and the deadly vengeance of Miranda's new dad, towed me from page to page. I just had to see how it came out! (Source)

Eternal is a semi-sequel to Tantalize, which is about a girl and her hot, vampire-themed restaurant. I read Tantalize a while back and thought it was quirky and funny. Eternal is a sequel of sorts, but it looks like it only shares the same world and some of the characters from Tantalize. I love the cover, we have a copy at work, and I have always wanted to read it. And I totally will after Tamora's review.

She also gave 5 stars to Graceling by Kristin Cashore, which I am really wanting to read. The sequel, Fire, comes out this month. I have a shiny, beautiful galley copy of it waiting for me to finish the first book.

I am loving that authors are making themselves so approachable online. It's very cool to know what a beloved author has to say about books you might be interested in.

Mandy

My Favourite Reads *Henry and June*

I got into reading the expurgated (abridged) journals of Anais Nin when I was in my teens and she was my favourite author for years. But, only after I had read a good 5 or 6 of her journals did I realize that there is another collection of her journals that are Unexpurgated. And these have the sexy, juicy bits in them! Funny enough, while I was reading I felt like she was censoring herself when it came to the details of her affairs. I thought it might be her uninterest in the more physical aspects of a romance (she is a very poetic, trilling writer). But, when I picked up Henry and June I realized that I had no idea.

Anais Nin is this petite, foxy French lady who wrote her journals throughout her life, but most intensely in the 30's when she was the paramour of Henry Miller. She was married to a banker and had a very vivid inner life. And Henry and June has all of the details of her affair both with Henry and his wife, June. Not to say that Anais' journals are not literary, because they are. She has this swooping purple way of documenting her world, and she is pretty self-absorbed but not without curiosity; she wants to know why she thinks and feels as she does.

As I'm writing this I'm thinking "Hey, just cuz I read these books when I was in my teens doesn't mean it's appropriate". What I think is appropriate is the sense of Anais as her own woman entirely at a time when she was expected to just sit and look pretty for her husband. She had a spectacular inner life and wanted to feel it fully, despite what others thought of her. She was concerned with being absolutely true to herself and came to see the sacrifices in that, but also the aliveness of it. She chose exactly how she wanted to live her life.

That's not to say that Anais wasn't a messed up lady, because she was. She hurt a lot of people and had a lot of unhealthy relationships, especially with her father. But the unexpurgated journals that she left behind are startling in their sincerity and truthful in her quest for self-realization. And, of course, if this doesn't hold your interest there are still the juicy bits.

Some excerpts *with apologies*:

My cousin Eduardo came to Louveciennes yesterday. We talked for six hours. He reached the conclusion I had come to also: that I need an older mind, a father, a man stronger than me, a lover who will lead me in love, because all the rest is too much a self-created thing. The impetus to grow and live intensely is so powerful in me I cannot resist it. I will work, I will love my husband, but I will fulfill myself.

At the same time I concede to myself that he knows the technique of kissing better than anyone I've met. His gestures never miss their aim, no kiss ever goes astray. His hands are deft. My curiosity for sensuality is stirred. I have always been tempted by unknown pleasures. He has, like me, a sense of smell. I let him inhale me, then I slip away. Finally I lie still on the couch, but when his desire grows, I try to escape. Too late.

Flipping through the book I'm finding little underlinings that I left years ago, not ALL the good bits *tsk*. I also find that almost every paragraph is quotable. This is a great book and followed by further unexpurgated journals. One of the lines I underlined at the time is this:

When he puts his arms around me, I think he is amusing himself with an overintense and ridiculous little woman.

All of my underlinings are in red pen and it looks like I read the book in one or two sittings because the lines and pen colour never vary. I've never seen the movie, but I originally read the movie cover version (bottom). The top cover is the newely released edition. It looks beautiful, but the girl is no Anais.

For the older reader of course.

Mandy

My Favourite Books is a weekly meme hosted by At Home With Books.

My Favourite Reads *Ender's Game*

My Favourite Reads *The Last Unicorn*

Review *Shiver* by Maggie Stiefvater

*Shelf Grazing*

Every day, usually, I do a walk through of my favourite YA and teens shelves in the store just to see what we have. It's always so exciting, kid-in-a-candy-store-like. So I thought I would share that excitement with you.
Today I found three books that I personally did not order into the store, but found their way onto "my" shelves anyway. My eye hones in on an unfamiliar spine and I mumble ohhhh and persue this creature. Today I found these books:

How It Ends, by Laura Wiess (from the back cover):

All Hanna's wanted since sophomore year is Seth. She's gone out with other guys, even gained a rep for being a flirt, all the while hoping cool, guitar-playing Seth will choose her. Then she gets him – but their relationship is hurtful, stormy and critical, not at all what Hanna thinks a perfect love should be.
Bewildered by Seth's treatment of her and in need of understanding, Hanna decides to fulfill her school's community service requirement by spending time with Helen, her terminally ill neighbor, who she's turned to for comfort and wisdom throughout her life. But illness has changed Helen into someone Hanna hardly knows, and her home is not the refuge it once was.
Feeling more alone than ever, Hanna gets drawn into an audio book the older woman is listening to, a fierce, unsettling love story of passion, sacrifice and devotion. Hanna's fascinated by the idea that such all-encompassing love can truly exist, and without even realizing it, the story begins to change her.Until the day when the story becomes all too real...and Hanna's world is spun off its axis by its shattering irrevocable conclusion.

The Monstrumologist, by Rick Yancey

I will just leave you with this book trailer because it is SO well done. Spooky business! Kind of perfect for an Autumn read. The title is a little clunky, though, and takes the scare out of the cover a bit. Maybe "Monsterologist" while tripping more off the tongue would be too juvenile?Actually I'm putting together my YA Teen spooky, scaring-pants-off list of books to read for Hallowe'en, if anybody has recommendations. My pants (or my knick-knacks, as Georgia would say) must be removed by their fright.

Gravity Brings Me Down, by Natale Ghent (from the back cover):

Sioux Smith is sharp, funny, and wry, and is pretty certain that she sees the world of high school differently from everyone else — a belief that is cemented when she makes an uneasy discovery about one of her school’s “popular” teachers. And while she feels alone at her high school and in her unique slant on small-town life, Sioux finds a kindred spirit in the most unlikely of people: an elderly stranger, who has more insight despite her progressing dementia than anyone else in Sioux’s life. What Sioux and “Miss Marple” learn about each other over tea, illicitly secreted wine, and Coronation Street, makes for a novel with heart and grit in equal measure.

I am pretty inrigued by Monstrumologist, I have to say, although How It Ends really has my attention. It has a neat premise and I kind of don't know what I'd be getting into with this one.

I love just finding books I have NEVER HEARD of! Thanks co-workers.

Mandy

Review *Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging*

From the back of the north american version:

Georgia Nicolson's life is far from simple. Her cat, Angus, is the size of a small Laborador. Her three-year-old sister may have peed somewhere in her room. And her best friend, Jas, thinks she looks like an alien just because she accidentally shaved off her eyebrows. Enter the Sex God. This just might turn out to be the most fabbity fab year ever!

My reading experience:

I've just finished reading this one and it's alright. It's completely hilarious in parts, in many parts actually, but it also has very little heart. Possibly this develops in the later books. The very little part would be Georgia's charming love for her three year old sister and for Angus, her feral cat (who is pretty awesome in the book). My overall impression of the book is that it reads like a long comedy sketch, is completely character-driven (which is always fine), but the story is shaky. It wraps up way too abruptly and I kind of didn't care about the romance between Georgia and Robbie. It had no tension and I just kind of felt bad for his ex-girlfriend. It reads like a grocery list of funny happenings.

But I enjoyed it for that. Sometimes I would go for pages where I wasn't laughing or engaged in the story but then there are these great hilarious parts that made me feel the read was worth it. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is also a hilarious coming-of-age story but it has more heart and the reader feels engaged with all the characters and situations. I didn't feel that I could cheer for Georgia.

People should definately read this book, though. Many MANY readers love it, it has won a ton of awards and honorable mentions (including being a Michael Printz Honor book and winning a Smarties Award), it's hilarious and you can read it in a day. Also, Paramount released a movie version available only in the U.K., it's called Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and combines the first two books. Apparently it's very different from the books, tonally, and the younger audience didn't like it.

Some funny bits:

I said, "She's got an en suite bathroom--that's very bad feng shui."
Jas said, "Why?" and I said, "I don't know but it's very bad, you'd have to have about fifty goldfish to make it OK again...

Libby decided that "knickers on" was a game, and I chased her around for ages before I could get hold of her. Then when I was putting her knick-knacks on she was stroking my hair, going, "prrr prr. Nice pussycat. Do you want some milk, tosser?" I think she thinks "tosser" is like a name.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison, Harper Teen, Harper Collins Publishers, this edition has extras inside like an interview with Louise Rennison, Georgia's qualities of an ace gang, and the first few pages of her second book. The picture above is the british first edition cover.

Mandy

Read my Teaser Tuesday of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging.

Wednesday Book Trailer *The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod*

I think I may begin reading The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod now that Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging is wrapping up. It just looks cool. And I found this on YouTube:

Book 1 in The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, by Heather Brewer, available everywhere on August 17, 2007!
I was hired by author Heather Brewer to create a Flash movie trailer for this novel. LOVED working on it. :) written by the creator of this trailer



It looks like Heather Brewer is up to 4 books in the series. I've heard a lot of great praise for this book and I'm pretty eager to get started on it. Despite a mountain of books to read! And it's no fair to them because I just bought Tod last week! He should be at the end of the line. Awesome cover art gets you bumped up the list.

Junior high really sucks for thirteen-year-old Vladimir Tod. Bullies harass him, the principal is dogging him, and the girl he likes prefers his best friend. Oh, and Vlad has a secret: his mother was human, but his father was a vampire. With no idea of the extent of his powers, Vlad struggles daily with his blood cravings and his enlarged fangs. When a substitute teacher begins to question him a little too closely, Vlad worries that his cover is about to be blown. But then he faces a much bigger problem: he's being hunted by a vampire killer.(Goodreads.com)

Mandy

Teaser Tuesday *Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging*

I'm currently reading Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison, the first of a huge series, upt to 9 books I think now. The first book is told as the diary entries of Georgia Nicolson, age 14, as she talks about life, parents, school, friends, and especially love. And it is a Michael L. Printz Honor book.
I have to say that while I'm not loving the book, it is freaking and redeemingly hilarious. And I seriously mean freaking; it lures from me this terrible laugh that goes "BAAAAAAA HAHHAHAHAH", with an extreme emphasis on the BAA part.

A little more?

She has a precocious 3-year-old sister who tends to leave wet nappies at the foot of her bed, an insane cat who is prone to leg-shredding "Call of the Wild" episodes, and embarrassing parents who make her want to escape to Stonehenge and dance with the Druids. No wonder 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson laments, "Honestly, what is the point?" A Bridget Jones for the younger set, Georgia records the momentous events of her life--and they are all momentous--in her diary, which serves as a truly hilarious account of what it means to be a modern girl on the cusp of womanhood. No matter that her particular story takes place in England, the account of her experiences rings true across the ocean (and besides, "Georgia's Glossary" swiftly eradicates any language barriers). (Goodreads.com)

And here are your teasers (I couldn't stop at one):

I looked at his hands...they are lovely--all strong-looking but quite artistic too. Like he could put up a shelf and also take you to a plateau of sensual pleasure at the same time.

There are six things very wrong with my life...

(5) I am very ugly and need to go into an ugly home.

What a stupid language German is. You have to wait until the end of the sentence to find out what the verb is. But my attitude by then is, Who cares??

Mandy

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by Should Be Reading.

Review and final reading of *The Hunger Games*

So now that everyone and their monkey has read The Hunger Games, I've decided to read and review it. And it is totally great. Actually, I haven't finished about 100 pages of it because I wanted to blog my way through it as I finish the book, for everyone who HAS read it and knows that it's good.
If you haven't read it, jump on that train. It is worth all the hype you've heard about it.
When I started reading, I had read no reviews of the book. I knew that people deeply loved it and that there was a question of loyalties about two boys Katniss had in her life, Team Peeta or Team Gale, and that is all. I really loved not knowing anything about the content of the book and just diving in. The Hunger Games had all of these elements that surprised me and set it apart from, say, just reading The Running Man by Richard Bachman.
So for anyone who hasn't read The Hunger Games, make it the next thing you do, and this is all I'm giving you:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*

Anyone who HAS read THG may continue on to the palace of spoilers. With a nod to Bookshelves of Doom, here is me reading the last 100 pages or so of The Hunger Games:

Chapter 21 Page 278: Peeta has just been drugged by Katniss and I am glad because I was annoyed that he wanted to drag himself behind her if she went to the mock feast/bloodbath. What good would that have done? I completely get the message he's trying to give the Capitol, but this martyr dragging issue was a little over the top for him. Katniss is awesome and can totally take care of herself. He'd probably get her killed. So, drugged you are, Peeta.

280: "I wonder what he makes of all this kissing". Yeah, poor Gale. I don't feel as connected to his character as he was only really introduced at the beginning and I haven't heard from him again. I wonder if he's behind the little packages Katniss has been getting.

285: I really don't get when the bad guy taunts the good guy whenever they have the upper hand. When you cheese people off they get angry and stronger and more determined. Stupid Clove.

287: Yeah, see? Rock bashing your head? Boasting about the people you've killed = someone willing to knock you down for your pride.

289: "I jam the needle into Peeta's arm..." *barf*
Green-an-silver moth? Hmm...

292: I love that this square of plastic that Katniss grabbed at the very beginning is a great resource throughout the book! It keeps coming in handy, this time as a canopy in the cave roof. I'm wary about Peeta. Is Suzanne Collins going to make him turn on Katniss? Or is he sincere?

295-298: kissy kissy

299: I still don't completely get the notion of sponsors in the games. What is their role? Haymitch gets to send provisions to Katniss and Peeta, but why then wouldn't he do it all the time? And why would he be so concerned about their "performance"? It's grim also because Haymitch won his own games so he knows how barbaric and horrible the whole thing is.

300: I totally know something is going to happen with the mockingjays. They're going to become useful to Katniss by the end. There has been a lot of foreshadowing.

306: Yeah, I just went through 6 pages of mushy "I've always noticed you" business and finally Katniss realizes how grim the whole thing is. If she wins, she'll be a mentor to kids entering the games from now on, perpetuating the cycle as if the whole thing is all right. And Haymitch must have killed the other kid from his District when he won in the past. And had to watch every year as he sent out two kids to die at each Game.

315: I don't get that Peeta is kind of wimpy now. I mean, the guy was harsh when he went back into the forest and killed a girl when he was running with the Career group. He was harsher and more of a survivor. Now he can't even tell that he's being loud in the forest and he seems totally reliant on Katniss.

318: NO!! Foxface ate the cheese! Realize it and look out for her, Katniss!

318, a few lines down: Foxface just died by eating the wrong berries? It doesn't seem like a good enough death for her since she was so resourceful. Also, it makes it too easy since Kat and Peeta would have had to kill her to win. The moral battle would have been more interesting. This is a little too easy. PS Katniss, told ya about the cheese.

320: Okay, okay, I guess Foxface would not have questioned berries that she thought Peeta and Kat were going to eat themselves.

"And she's very clever, Peeta. Well, she was. Unil you outfoxed her". That's a little too hammy for me. And a little too soon to be chuckling over her death, if at all?

333: The dead tributes have been turned into wolves?

341: That's pretty dark, Cato taking so long to die. I wonder what the Capitol is going to do about two tributes winning and the audience cheering for their romance? It goes against what the Capitol stands for. I bet Kat and Peeta will be forced to kill each other.

342: Yeah, I knew it. Fight to the death.

345: The Capitol didn't call their bluff. I'm surprised. Maybe they didn't think Kat and Peeta would kill themselves. Even after everything that's happened.

354: Yeah, now Kat has to return to the "real" world and realize she can never live there again after being part of the games. I'm really eager to see how it ends. Although, knowing that there's a sequel, I guess it won't really be the endong of the story.

357: I knew the Capitol weren't going to be okay with their romance and the way the audience responded to it. I guess that was pretty obvious throughout the book.

371: My stomach is in knots. I don't know what's going to happen and the tone is so chilly.

373: Oh my gosh, Peeta, grow the hell up. You guys just survived a horrific nightmare scenario and you're angry that Kat might not have been completely in love with you? Give her time and space, man.

374: Umm, as an ending to the first book in a trilogy it's okay, but I would have been so angry if it was a stand-alone novel. Generally, I didn't love that the book had a focus on Peeta's interest in Kat above the games themselves. I get that it was a rebellious provocation to show this romance and it worked in their favour. But I thought it was lame of Peeta to focus on his feelings for Kat above the fact that 22 kids died around them for weeks, some at their own hands. Kat certainly got this. I was hoping for something more from both of them in terms of how they might go against the Capitol. Maybe in the second book?

I don't know if I'm either Team Peeta or Team Gale. I'll have to keep reading. Can I be Team Rue or Team Foxface?

Mandy

In My Mailbox This Week

Only one book was sent to me this week, but it's a completely awesome, matching the first volume, copy of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. They look beautiful together on the shelf and I was so LUCKY to get an actual, hardcover copy of the book. Thank you Scholastic.

I'm just finishing up The Hunger Games and obviously loving it. I knew I would. Why did I take so long to get to it?

Two other books I bought yesterday at a great used bookstore, Casablanca, in Kitchener are Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison and The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer. I have heard SO much about these two, although I have to say that Angus... is a little out of my usual reading choices. Actually, that's not right, it isn't; initially I just thought it was going to be fluffy and not good. I kind of waited to see what people were going to say about it before comitting to reading it. Sometimes I need a little jazz around books before I pick them up. And all three of these books, for me, have total jazz.

Mandy

Once Upon a Time *The Everafter* and *Lips Touch Three Times*

This time for Once Upon a Time, where I feature the start of a book so I can get very excited about reading it although not right away because I have other things on the go, I want to show you two books that seem very cool.

The Everafter (although my advanced reading copy is titled The After, which sometimes happens where a book will change its title just before its release date) looks pretty good. The cover is beautiful, and the premise goes like this:

Madison Stanton doesn't know where she is or how she got there. But she does know this--she is dead. And alone, in a vast, dark space. The only company she has in this place are luminescent objects that turn out to be all the things Maddy lost while she was alive. And soon she discovers that with these artifacts, she can re-experience--and sometimes even change--moments from her life: Her first kiss. A trip to Disney World. Her sister's wedding. A disastrous sleepover.

In reliving these moments, Maddy learns illuminating and sometimes frightening truths about her life--and death.

And here is how it opens:

I'm dead.
Not my-parents-told-me-to-be-home-by-twelve-and-it's-two-o'clock-now dead. Just dead. Literally.
I think.
I can't feel a body anymore. No hunger--not even a stomach. No fingers to wiggle, no feet to tap.
So I pretty much have to assume that I'm...gone?
No. I can't be gone, because I'm here.
I won't say that I've "passed on" or "passed away". I don't remember passing anything on the way here. For that matter, I don't remember dying, either. There's some saying about people "dying of curiosity". But I'm just curious about how I died.

And then I flip through the first chapter and she mentions that she didn't expect to die alone because someone named Gabriel should be with her. It definately grabs my attention. The Everafter is available in October.

And another book that is available in October is Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor, with illustrations by Jim Di Bartolo, who is her husband (they have a daughter named Clementine Pie, aw!). Laini Taylor wrote the Faeries of Dreamdark series, which I haven't read yet but look neat. Here's the premise:

Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls:
Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls?
Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse.
Hatchling: Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?

And here is how it begins:

There is a certain kind of girl the goblins crave. You could walk across a high school campus and point them out: not her, not her, her. The pert, lovely ones with butterfly tattoos in secret places, sitting on their boyfriends' laps? No, not them. The girls watching the lovely ones sitting on their boyfriends' laps? Yes.
Them.
The goblins want girls who dream so hard about being pretty their yearning leaves a palpable trail, a scent goblins can follow like sharks on a soft bloom of blood. The girls with hungry eyes who pray each night to wake up as someone else. Urgent, unkissed, wishful girls.
Like Kizzy.

Whoa, chilly. It looks awesome. And the illustrations are perfect (from what I can tell. Again, the advanced reading copy only has some sketches with a banner across saying "sketches not final"). Laini has an author's note at the back which credits her inspiration in a Christina Rossetti poem, "Goblin Market", as well as the British Raj, Zoroastrianism, and the notion of Hell in different cultures. It sounds like these interests will bring a different depth to her book. I can't wait to read both of these books.

Mandy

Waiting For... *The Color of Heaven*

The Color of Heaven, when it comes out next week, will be the third and final installment in Kim Dong Hwa's pastoral Korean graphic novel published by First Second. And I can't even wait!
Who will Ehwa end up with? What will happen to her mother? It hasn't been a long wait because all three volumes of the story were published within months of each other, but I am still pretty excited.

Me on The Color of Earth:

With the depressing collapse of the Minx imprint line of comics for teen girls started by DC comics, I am always on the lookout for exceptional (or really any) comics and graphic novels for females, teen or otherwise. Which is why I am looking forward to this summer in publishing, if only for the next two installments of Kim Dong Hwa's trilogy, beginning with The Color of Earth.

I read this beautiful graphic novel quickly at first and realized that I had slowed down just to match the floating pace of the story. This is a beautiful and evocative tale set in 19th cen. pastoral Korea. Ehwa, over the course of several seasons (you really get a feel for the changing of the seasons in the story), comes of age and learns about the mystery of intimacy. Hwa uses natural imagery and parables to explain love and relationships, men and women.

Ehwa's mother runs a tavern and is single, her virtue questioned and gossiped about. Ehwa struggles to understand the men in her life and the way they behave very differently to women. The tavern men are lecherous and aggressive with her mother, but the young monk she meets on the road is sweet and unassuming.

This is a very lovely and insightful book. I'm really looking forward to the next two in the series, The Color of Water (out in June) and The Color of Heaven (out in September).

Check out the Minx line as well. Most of them are still available and in stock at the store. They are smart and egdy little comics for girls ages 15 and up. Cecil Castellucci's The Plain Janes and Janes in Love are my personal favorites.

Me on The Color of Water:

Oh Ehwa, you are so snarky and pining at times, and still a great character!
The Color of Water just came in, sequel to The Color of Earth, and my to-be-reading pile was brushed to the side as I simply ate this book up.

In Color of Earth, Ehwa was left with a massive crush on two boys, the Buddhist monk in training and the golden farm boy. As this book opens she continues in her confusion, which seems more gentle and playful than moping or obsessive, when Duksam catches her bathing, ostensibly looking to fix his “broken belt”.

I completely had a crush on Duksam! I liked him more than the monk and the glow-y farm boy. I enjoyed reading about their budding romance, even as Ehwa’s mom pines for her seemingly lost Painter Man. The snark on Ehwa’s account comes when she starts in on her mom about her taste in travelling men and she even compares the painter man’s looks to those of her own Duksam. She can be a real jerk in this volume, but she is feeling her way into her developing womanhood.

The hilarious and precocious Bongsoon plays a bigger part in this story, too, as closest gal pal after their other friend is married off to a 7 year old (it happened). Ehwa is reminded of how lucky she is that her mother cares for her so much and wishes her to choose marriage for love. This freedom is put to the test when Ehwa’s mom receives a visit and a tempting offer.

The way this book ends is frustrating, causing me to throw my hands to the skies and yell “Why, Duksam, why!?”, but I will quietly wait like Ehwa, softly confused, until The Color of Heaven reaches me (August).

Mandy

My Favourite Reads *Ender's Game*

I have huge love for Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I can't place exactly when I read it; it could have been when I was 8 or even 15, but it has the gravity in my mind where I feel like it was the first book I truly read. Funny, it is so prominent in my imagination but I can't remember basic things like Ender's sister Valentine and her role in the book. I just remember being completely thrilled by the premise and the twist ending.
Because of Ender's Game, YA scifi has a very soft place in my heart. And I never read the sequels. I tried with the second one, Speaker for the Dead (maybe?), and stopped, couldn't get into it. Maybe I could now. I'd have to read Ender's Game again, first.

What's the book about?

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. (Goodreads.com)

But way more than this! There is something amazing about the setting, the battleschool that Ender goes to. It is frightening and cool and the kids there act like the sadistic jerks they are because they're scared and the adults are lying to them. It has the feel of Lord of the Flies meets Full Metal Jacket meets The Last Starfighter. Actually, when I read Feed by M.T. Anderson last year (or so), parts in that book reminded me of Ender's Game. I think it has this cult status as being an awesome book that many people grew up reading.

I remember that when I finished the book I had this chill, knowing that not all stories are going to end well, and that adults can't be trusted in every situation. It scared the hell out of me.

Marvel recently put out a series of comics based on the books but I find them truncated enough to bug me. I picked up the first few but I wasn't won over. What I DO love are the fan book trailers all over YouTube, made by people who loved this book:

Whoa, also apparently they have been trying to make an Ender's Game movie since like 2003:

"No word has yet been received since February whether the Ender's Game movie adaptation of the science fiction novel by the same name, will move forward. The author, Orson Scott Card, has cited purity of the premise as the reason for allowing the production process to collapse. He fiercely opposes turning the story into a Hollywood plot that doesn't convey the personal and human struggle of six year old Ender Wiggin, the main character of Ender's Game around whom the story revolves" (source)

Mandy

My Favourite Reads is a weekly meme hosted by At Home With Books.

I Never Read V.C. Andrews

I never read V.C. Andrews not because I wouldn't have loved it, I just didn't even register it on my teen radar. Which is funny because I LOVED Stephen King and Anne Rice for years. No one that I knew was reading Andrews's books and I don't remember them being prominent at the library. It was only when I began working at a used bookstore that I was all like, "who is this person who has an entire shelf to herself and some truly awesome die-cut covers?". I didn't read them then, either.

It wasn't until yesterday night, reading Sara Gran's story about V.C. Andrews in the new Believer magazine, that I developed an insatiable urge to read VCA. Or at least Flowers in the Attic. Incest? Check! Creepy grandparents? Check! Vengeance and retribution? Check!

From Sara's article:

Ultimately, Andrews's novels constitute their own genre, in which secrets, lies, desire, and moral corruption all stem from--and are contained in--the family. In her world, parents starve their children, sister and brother become husband and wife, and grandparents punish grandchildren for being "devil's spawn". No one is to be trusted, and few adults are who they claim to be. Most significantly, there are no happy endings. For all their teen-girl fantasy elements, the books are also gritty, raw, and extremely dirty. There is little cynical or formulaic about them. If anything, they are too raw, too revealing of the author's own obsessions--which, as we'll see, might be exactly why no one ever talks about them.

But the part in the article that swayed me was mention of an interview with Andrews (only a handful of people have interviewed the author), where her books are likened to fairy-tales, with their sometimes gruesome origins. Andrews comments, "I didn't want a real horror, like a rapist or a murderer, but I wanted a fairy-tale horror". Which made me think that reading some of her books might not be so bad.

Sara's article starts to get away from the actual books and gets into our own teen desires and sexual abuse in and the decay of the American family in the 70's and 80's. But she gives a good re-capping of Andrews's six books (the only ones she wrote herself). Andrew Neiderman, author of The Devil's Advocate, ghost-wrote the remaining books in the series. V.C. Andrews died in 1986 of breast cancer, and a cursory internet search shows that girls are still pretty crazy for her books.

Mandy

This year is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Flowers in the Attic. Read the first page of the Believer article here.
Also, check out the repackaging of Flowers by "Virginia Andrews", pictured above. Her name is actually Cleo Virginia Andrews, but her publisher thought V.C. sounded more masculine than C.V.

Review *Harry, a History*

So because I'm participating in the Harry Potter Challenge and because it spans a year, which is more than enough time to read all seven of the books, I've decided to also read some supplementary books on Harry Potter and the HP phenom. I don't mean those books about magical creatures in particular or the science of HP. I mean specifically books that add to my knowledge of the story.

And I started with Harry, a History which is written by Melissa Anelli, who is webmistress of one of the most popular HP sites, The Leaky Cauldron. I read a review that declared the title should have been Melissa, a History and it isn't totally wrong. HAH is a fascinating read, but it is more about the events of HP mania as it affected those associated with The Leaky Cauldron. I still really liked it.

Melissa is a likeable person and you cheer as you read about the first time she meets and interviews J.K. Rowling. At the beginning when she's telling about her first encounter with the Harry Potter books, I felt a kinship with her. The first 2 or 3 books were out by the time it was recommended to her and she was unhappy with her job, unhappy with her home life and was feeling the anxiety of making something with her life, right after graduation. One day after a huge blow-up with her mom over trying to find a job, she hides in her room to re-read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone:

I ran a hand across the cover in the cheesy way people do when they look at albums in Hallmark commercials, then scurried back to sit against the wall, and opened the book for a second time.

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

I sighed aloud, as if I'd sunk into a down comforter. The ho-hum tone of the opening sentence was a complete lie, and it felt great to know it. There were giants and dragons and spells and witches and battles and friendship and magic to come, and it was all funny and warm and loving and powerful, and I hadn't realized how much I missed it.

I loved reading how Melissa would hide her love of HP and her work on The Leaky Cauldron from her co-workers who she thought wouldn't understand a grown woman's fascination with a kid's book. I also enjoyed the story of how she went from an internet reader to websmistress of a hugely popular website, just on her knack for research and love of the books. I love the purpose it gave her at a low time in her life.

Some parts of the book weighed me down, like the chapter on touring with the rock band Harry and the Potters and her in-depth explanation of fan message boards dedicated to writing fanfiction about characters hooking up and the internet wars it started. I wasn't really interested.

Instead, I loved the parts about how HP became the publishing phenom it did, with the help of loving publishers, editors, and of course booksellers. And I loved Melissa's personality, which came through as excitement for a wonderful series of books for "kids". I remember that time, before the adult HP cover art, where adults were laughed at for reading the series. Now it's no big deal. But at one point it was weird to see adults reading these books.

Some cool things I learned are that Margot Adler, the lady who wrote Drawing Down the Moon, a survey of wiccan/pagan culture, was instrumental in HP's initial popularity in publisher's circles. Also, Cassandra Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series, wrote an incredibly popular fanfiction trilogy about Draco Malfoy. Actually, after reading HAH I sent Cassandra an e-mail asking her where I could find a copy of her Draco trilogy but she hasn't responded. It was probably silly to e-mail her about it; there was some controversy about the trilogy and it led to some schisms on popular HP websites and message boards at the time. So she's probably tired of people asking her about it, also she's busy with a bestselling series. But it was neat to read about.

There's a lot about the hype and craziness that was HP around the pub date for Deathly Hallows as the end to the series in the book, which made me all nostalgic. HAH totally helped to renew my love for the books, not that I needed much coaxing.

Mandy

Follow my progress in the Harry Potter reading challenge in the sidebar to the right!

Zombie Appreciation Week

I just want to mention a very cool web event over at vvb32 reads, the Zombie Appreciation week which runs now through September 6th.

Check out a week's full of zombie book reviews, movie reviews, giveaways and mayhem. My favourite so far is the zombie search-a-word!

I was a little too late for this challenge so won't be joining in, but I'll be keeping up all week as a zombie blog voyeur.

I KNEW I should have re-read The Forest of Hands and Teeth!

Mandy

Wednesday Book Trailer *Leviathan*

I'm pretty psyched about Scott Westerfeld's newest, Leviathan. It's out in October and has this steampunk, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen feel. Actually when I first saw it around I thought immediately of The Hungry City Chronicles by Philip Reeve. Mortal Engines, book one, is a total romp with darker philosophic and social commentary and some unlikely love interest.

But this trailer for Leviathan is gorgeous. There are illustrations throughout the book; Westerfeld's blog has some images and you can also read the first chapter of his book.





In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Mandy