What I Read Over Winter Break or Why the Kindle is so Awesome

Usually, I really miss my old job at the public library, but getting two and half weeks off for Christmas reminds me that being a teacher has its perks! I did a lot of reading on my Kindle this break, mostly Amanda Hocking's stuff. I read both books in the Trylle trilogy (eagerly awaiting the third and final installment on January 15th) and four books from the My Blood Approves series. I really enjoy Amanda Hocking's writing style and the price can't be beat. Although my husband did question all those $2.99 charges from Amazon. Side Note: Torn (Trylle Trilogy #2) had so many typos in the Kindle version. It drove the English major in me nuts!

I also read Lauren Kate's Fallen, but was so disappointed it in that I didn't bother reading the sequel. I really like her book covers, though.

One thing I love about the Kindle is that the prices for young adult books are so reasonable. I wish the adult fiction prices were as low. I just can't bring myself to pay more than $5.00 for a book that I can get from my library for free.

Books I Cannot Wait to Read:

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by Green & Levithan
Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn
Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
Captivate by Carrie Jones
I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It by Adam Selzer
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco Stork

Why I Will Be Buying A Lot of Simon & Schuster Books

Simon & Schuster has a great website that I'm loving. It has book trailers and videos of authors talking about their work. I love it because (1) the videos are not on YouTube, which means the students can actually watch them at school, and (2) the book trailer videos are really well done. I've put some of these on my library blog, and the students and teachers are loving them. I've created so much interest in these books that I'm having to order extras. The students especially like the Leviathan and The Monstrumologist videos. I have noticed that the author interviews aren't all that popular. I posted the Ellen Hopkins one, and students who already like her books are sometimes interested, but not a single person has asked about her books based on that video. The trailer-like videos are much more effective at getting readers interested in the books. (But I do have to say that the books I booktalk myself, even when I don't do a great job at it, seem to be more popular than most of the videos.)

I have been especially interested in this whole enterprise because of the really interesting research by Vivan Howard in this month's issue of VOYA. The article is entitled "Most of the Books I've Read, I've Found on the Floor: Teens and Pleasure Reading," which is a great title because it alludes to the biggest cause students reported in why they start reading less in middle school: they have a hard time choosing a book they think they'd like. The whole study fascinated me, but I was surprised by this as the biggest barrier. I was also heartened because if this is one of (or THE) biggest obstacle to adolescent reading for pleasure, it's something librarians can do something about. Anyway, if "difficulties selecting good reading material" is their biggest obstacle, these video trailers seem to be helping at least some of my students. When they were watching the videos, they were not only asking for the books, but I heard them saying things like, "This book looks cool."

So I foresee myself buying lots of Simon & Schuster books for the simple fact that these videos are getting students interested in the books and creating a big demand for them. Here's a trailer for The Hollow by Jessica Verday:

What I Read Over My Christmas Vacation

In addition some YA books I couldn't bring myself to finish and to some adult books I did finish , these are the books I managed to read over my vacation. Sorry for not doing justice to them here.

Beastly by Alex Flinn
A retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" in modern-day NYC with teen characters. I really liked it, finished it quickly, and will definitely be recommending it (Holly, be sure to check it out). I liked the modernization (including the very clever chat logs) and the little twist at the end. Since it was a very faithful retelling of the tale, however, there weren't many surprises and the problems I have with the original story (ex. lucky Beauty, she gets a prince anyway!) are still there. Plus, Beauty/Lindy in this story isn't very beautiful, so while Beast/Kyle learns that he can love someone who isn't beautiful, it seems that Beauty/Lindy doesn't really get to "learn" anything. Still fun, though.

Spanking Shakespeare by Jake Wizner
This was a quick, light read, but do teenage boys really think about sex this much? Shakespeare Shapiro thinks about it pretty much all the time. On the rare moments he isn't thinking about it, he's thinking about college admissions and how to win the school's memoir contest.

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
Deanna Lambert is still trying to live down the story (both with her father and her peers) of when her father found her having sex with her brother's 17 year-old friend in a car two years ago when she was 13. Her brother now has a wife and a daughter, and Deanna dreams of being able to earn enough from her summer job so that she can move out of her parents' house along with her brother and his new family. Definitely a book I'm going to recommend, particularly as a Speak read-alike.

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Not a YA book but one that was mentioned with YA interest in a few reviews, this is a cute, unique "sheep dective story." The story opens with some sheep in Ireland whose shepherd has been found murdered. The sheep investigate to discover the murderer. Each sheep has his/her own personality and talents, and they have their own secrets and past to uncover. There are some clever and humorous parts, many based on the sheep's misunderstanding of humans and their language. For instance, they mistakenly believe that the town minister is named "God." When one sheep observes a funeral at a cemetary and reports back to the other sheep: "The sheep stared at one another in horror. Fancy planting dead people in your garden! They liked God less and less."

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
The true story of a couple who were the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo before WWII. During the war, they were active in the underground resistance, and the book describes how they hid Jews in the former zoo throughout the war to help them escape. The book was engrossing, and this is a popular topic among teens. I highly recommend this book.

The Importance of Author Blurbs

On the Freakonomics Blog, they have been talking recently about the importance, or lack thereof, of author blurbs. At first, I was thinking that I can't recall ever reading a book based on an author blurb printed on a book, but then I remembered this. But this is the issue for me: I read the book because of what John Green wrote about it rather than the fact that he (supposedly) endorsed it. I put "supposedly" in there since Dubner points out that it is sometimes the editors writing these blurbs. I don't know, I honestly don't usually find the blurbs very helpful. But like I said, if the blurbs are well-crafted, then I guess they can be influential. Certainly I am much more likely to read a book endorsed by an author in an interview or on their blog.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

I know it's been out for a little while now, but I just got Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin from the library (thanks for taking so long, Public Library!). I've been dying to read this ever since I read a synopsis last spring. I read it straight-through in one sitting, pausing only to make a quick frozen dinner. Yeah, I liked it that much.

Naomi had a really hard fall and can't remember the last four years of her life. She has a hard time dealing with the things she learns about how her parents' relationship has changed since she was 12, and she doesn't understand things about herself, like why she is so dedicated to yearbook and what she sees in her boyfriend, Ace. And even though I really expected to hate Ace based on his name alone (and I did really dislike him at first), he became just as likeable and flawed as all the other characters. Oh yeah, and it's a love story! This very much reminded me of a great Sarah Dessen novel, and I will definitely recommend it to people who like her. Excellent reading!

Oh, question: What happened to the audiobook??????? One reason I'm just now reading this is because I was holding out for the audio version but it was canceled.

*Interesting fact about Gabrielle: she has a totally fantastic name for her dog: Mrs. DeWinter (kind of long name to say, though).

Freak Show

Several people on the YALSA book list-serv this week raved about Freak Show by James St. James, so since we had it at the library, I checked it out and read it. Let me tell you, it completely lived up to the "hype."

Freak Show is about a high school senior named Billy Bloom who starts his senior year at a new private prep school in Florida. On his first day of school, Billy decides to make a good impression by wearing a FABULOUS "retro-new wave/Vivienne Westwood/pirate look" with a ruffled lace shirt unbuttoned, tight blue pants, a thrift store military jacket, a crimson sash, and rags tied in his hair. "Don't worry. It's totally masculine. Swarthy, even. Nobody will suspect a thing [about him being gay]." On his way to school, he begins to anticipate all the wonderful things he'll be able to do there, like make new friends, join the Gay-Straight Alliance, write a trendspotting column for the newspaper, redecorate the school, start a Jackie O club, and set up a What Not to Wear booth in the lunchroom. Unfortunately, the very homogenous and WASP-y student body doesn't take too well to Billy's flamboyancy and he is immediately outcast, teased, and even beaten. Eventually, he makes a few friends and decides to run against Lynnette Franz for Homecoming Queen.

James St. James does an incredible job at creating Billy's "voice," and I just love Billy's plays-on-words. Just like everyone on the YALSA list said, the book is hilarious and I laughed out loud many, many times in reading it. But it's also meaningful, and Billy is vulnerable. It's not just silliness and laughs because Billy really does struggle with serious, big issues. Even though Billy relates his "freakishness" to what all teens experience, I think he has to confront issues even larger than the average teen. I mean, most people don't get beat into a coma for their issues, right?

The actually-gay-star-quarterback was a bit obvious, but I can live with it because of the homecoming queen story (don't want to give any more away!). I also overlook it because the book's cover is fantastic. I can't think of the last cover I've liked as much as this one. And I liked all the curly Qs in the chapters too.

You MUST read this book.

Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List

Can Rachel Cohn and David Levithan write all their future books together, please? Or even if they don't want to write all their future books together, if they could at least write more.

Now I don't know if I can say I loved NAENKL quite as much as I loved Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, but it's pretty close. Their characterization and dialogue are amazing! And I love how unlike other YA lit and YA characters they are. Also I love how they capture so many aspects of personalities and relationships that I can totally recognize from my own life. Like I did in my post about NANIP, let me post a string of unrelated observations and comments:

• I thought this book was just going to alternate between the perspectives of Ely and Naomi like Nick and Norah, so I was pleasantly surprised that it also includes perspectives of many other characters, which works out really well. And I love how good RC and DL are at the characterization and voice of each. I need to do some research to find out how they divided up (if at all?) the writing for this book.


• I loved the parts about Gabriel creating the mix CD for Naomi and how he wanted her to dissect, understand, and appreciate the subtle meanings of each song he chose. And then she didn't get any of it and made him a "bad" response CD, which he took lots of meaning from. I am totally the Naomi-type. I mean, I like music well enough and can try to determine someone's intent if they tell me they had one in making a playlist just for me. But I am not a music connoisseur, I like lots of "popular" music, and I don't know a lot of bands or anything like that. But it seems like almost every guy I know is totally into music and very snobby about it and I can totally imagine them all having this same horrified reaction to whatever music I own and over-analyzing (in my opinion) my character based on the music I like.


• Naomi and Ely's banter, much like that of Nick and Norah, is so quick and witty, it reminds me of Gilmore Girls. I love it, but I was never that quick-tongued as a teen. I don't know anyone who is. I guess Naomi and Ely are actually 19, but even so, they seem a lot older and more independent than I ever was at that age. But I also don't live in NYC.


• I love how both books are about average things that happen to teens that are made to be extraordinary, the way they feel when they happen to you. And also they have strong satisfying endings.


• Naomi's little picture symbols were a little distracting because they slowed me down, although I suppose they did contribute to her characterization.


• Such a great line. It seems like it fits so many times in your life: "I know this is the wrong choice. But it feels like the only choice. So I make it."
  
  Rachel and David, I am ready for the next List!
  
  PS- Holly, I still haven't tried that thing from N&NIP.

Anatomy of a Boyfriend

Holly told me I would like this book "because it's just very realistic." Well, Holly was right; that's exactly why I liked it. I mean, how many girls/women have not spent hours reading and rereading some guy's letter/e-mail to dissect every nuance (nuances that he probably never intended, as he just spent about 2 minutes dashing it off), only to spend another two hours carefully composing a five-line reply that is intended to look as if it, too, took only about 2 minutes? Other things from the novel that I could totally relate to and I'm sure we've all done:

• reacted naturally yet irrationally to some relationship situation


• been aggravated and/or jealous but pretended you're not because you don't want to be (or at least appear to be) a nagging/annoying/self-centered/etc. girlfriend


• felt selfishly about something when you know you shouldn't but you can't help it and you either (a) act irrationally (see above), or (b) pretend it doesn't bother you when it totally does


• been more consumed with your relationship than with things that you know are more important


• had to deal with breaking up with a partner's family as much as with him/her


• neglected friends because you're so consumed with your new relationship

Genius!

Danielle Steel has posted the first chapter of her novel, Sisters, online on Seventeen's website. I would love to know how/if this will influence teens to read the entire novel. But still, it's a great idea. I wish more authors would do this (don't know if it's more about the authors or Seventeen), but it seems like it's a great way to reach teens. I haven't read this book or maybe even any Danielle Steel, so I can't say how I feel about the contents and whether (a) I think it's appropriate for teens, or (b) whether it's something they'd like. I don't really like the general idea of teens reading too much over-sexualized adult books, but then again, I do remember my friend Leslie (now an English teacher) saying that reading adult romance novels as a teen was what got her interested in reading. So I'm ambivalent about that.

On a side note, I must say I like this cover much better than Steel's usual plain solid color ones.

Ana's Story

Okay, I am interested. I'm interested in reading Jenna Bush's Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope that is about a 17 year-old Panamanian girl with HIV, a girl Jenna met and interviewed while working for UNICEF. I admit that I always thought of the Bush daughters as party-goers and not really quite worthy of taking seriously (although I do think it's tough to be a "first child" and the public should be understanding of what it's like to be a teen). This seems like a potentially serious and interesting story, and I find it really interesting that it is targeted at teens. The story I read about it says it reads like a novel, so maybe it won't be "preachy." Could be very good. I am also interested to see the publicity events surrounding it and what Jenna will do after this. I would love to see her go on "The Daily Show" and/or "The Colbert Report!" I hope she gets a website and maybe a MySpace and all of that going if she wants to reach teens. I couldn't find any as of now. I wonder how many teens will actually be interested in reading this.

Looking for Alaska

Book: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Narrator: Jeff Woodman
Book Rating: A-
Audio Rating: A-/B+

The Book:
I didn't really care for the what-I-learned-about-life-written-in-my-final-exam device that Green used to end the book. It is a bit over-used and rather expected. The moment Miles started describing his world religion class, I feared this is how the book would end. I also like to be shown what he learned rather than told, although I realize this was a coming-of-age novel with a first-person narrator, so some personal reflection on life lessons is to be expected. I did really love the final prank (wish the book would have ended with that). (No one from Culver Creek looked up the speaker's credentials on the Internet?)

I did think the book was pretty witty and I really liked when Miles threw up on Lara's jeans and he said they were the kind that girls wear to look really good without looking like they're trying to look really good. Very insightful! Like Vegan Virgin Valentine, this is a book I would have liked a lot as a teen because it is about smart, intellectual students who are interesting and interested in the humanities, especially English. This speaks to my teen self. Green did a really great job of portraying Pudge's ambivalence towards Alaska and the very realistic push-pull of her character. The dialogue was also extremely realistic.

The Colonel was my favorite character. When he said of the labyrinth, "I choose it," I got chills. That was a critical moment in the story for me. It reminded me of this article I read by Catharine MacKinnon about how women use that as a coping mechanism to deal with the inescapable oppression of patriarchy: "Faced with no alternatives, the strategy to acquire self-respect and pride is: I chose it." Alaska might appreciate MacKinnon's feminist interpretation of the labyrinth. Is choice possible? Is it only a coping mechanism? What if you choose this as your coping mechanism, then is it a choice?

The audio . . .

The Good:
Again, I'm more into having teen-sounding narrators for first-person teen books, but since it's all past-tense, Woodman's voice is appropriate for a young adult version of Miles. The narration matched the tone of the book and its actions, and Woodman had good distinct voices for all of the characters. The Colonel's voice was just outstanding! There was the helpful music at the end of each CD to cue me to change the CD before the end, too.

The Bad:
It didn't seem like Woodman had really decided how Takumi should sound and so his voice was inconsistent and a little off from the character. However, the absolute worst thing was Alaska's voice. I loathed it. It sounded like a character from A Tuna Christmas or something, certainly not anywhere near a hot teenage girl (even giving leniency and understanding for the fact that Woodman's a guy). It was just awful. And since she's the title character, it had a pretty significant effect on the listening experience for me.