Mister Pip is another book from the Booker short list from last year and it was fantastic. Thank goodness. I was afraid, after attempting Darkmans, that I was in for a lot of frustration as I move through the list.
I’m not really a huge Dickens fan but this book made me appreciate Great Expectations just a bit more. And also storytellers. And actors. Read this one.
I ran upstairs and stole the audio version of The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl from Prince J’s room since he wasn’t here to listen to it (though his cd player was coming on every afternoon and playing disc 2 over and over and over again.)
I’m so glad I trudged the stairs and braved the messy room to get it. Fantastic YA. Really great story. Great characters. About 10xs better than King Dork, (and there are an awful lot of similarities between the two stories.)
Please tell me there will be a sequel.
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Stuck in Neutral is a YA book from the Printz Awards list from 2001 and I loved it – until the end, but let’s not talk about the end.
I would love to see an entire series about Shawn – he’d be a bit of an anti-hero. All of the things he sees, doesn’t quite understand and wonders about. All of his insights. There are some amazing opportunities for a writer to help teens sort out situations, questions, ideas.
But then there’s that whole ending thing. Is Shawn still available for a series? I don’t know and I don’t like it.
Remember years ago when I was looking for book ideas for Michelle belle? I don’t think it was on this blog, or the blog formerly known as Daily Dose etc…, but maybe on the original home school blog? Anyway, I had a regular reader and commenter then, from Belgium I think, and she recommended “A Town Like Alice” for Michelle to read. Michelle never got around to it but I remembered it when I was creating my A to Z list but it was not an easy book to get.
I got it, on audio, late in December and as we started to listen to it TW said “And why are we listening to this?” It started sort of slowly and the narrator sounded very Moonstone like. Almost like “Betteridge” but not quite. We both thought we were in for a very long, very slow listen… we were wrong.
It did take us a very long time to finish it but that is related to the very small amount of time we’ve spent in the car together over the last month. Or in the car together, without kids. The kids don’t really enjoy listening to bits and pieces of books and I can’t blame them. I wouldn’t like listening either if I had missed chapter upon chapter.
Anyway. A Town Like Alice. Awesome. So awesome that it’s hard to believe it was written by Nevil Shute. I am not an On the Beach fan. Love this book. Love the characters. Love the story line. Love every single thing about it – except the fact that it’s over.
Now, could someone help me figure out how to find that person who recommended the book? I’d really like to thank her and I don’t seem to be able to track down her comments – they were probably lost in some blog move or another. Or they’re buried in some transferred comment format that isn’t searchable. Whatever. I can’t find her. Help! And then go reserve this book from your library – preferably on audio.
2007 was apparently a great year for the Mann Booker prize. I finished the second book from the short list last night, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which I was rather reluctant about reading until I started it. Then, I was reluctant to put it down.
I am often tired of books about Pakistan before I even start them, it seems like there are so many of them and they often sound the same. Same story, same characters – over and over and over again. Not this one. Even the 9/11 theme felt fresh and new and different.
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I’m only a year behind on reading the 2007 Mann Booker short list books but I’ll get them read before the 2008 short list comes out, and if they’re as good as On Chesil Beach it will be an easy thing to do.
I generally dislike Ian McEwan. I didn’t love Atonement and I couldn’t get through the first chapter of Saturday. I only vaguely remember The Innocent so I probably didn’t love that one either. I dislike Ian McEwan so much that I chose On Chesil Beach as the first book from the short list just to get it over. I figured nothing else on the list would be drudgery to read. Ha.
On Chesil Beach… fantastic. Fan-Freaking-Tastic. I’d be happy to own this one… and read it again.
I do believe we purchased The Lady, the Chef, and the Courtesan a few years (four years ago? five? goodness time flies) when we were in Denver… let’s see, that would have been February of 2004? Maybe I don’t know. Anyway, it’s an autographed copy and the author lives in Denver so I’m guessing we bought it at The Tattered Cover.
Thanks to my “From the Stacks” challenge, I finally found the time to read it and I’m glad. Too bad it took me so darn long to get to it. The book… surprisingly good. I’m tempted to describe it as Latin American chick lit but it’s more than that, or better than that, or something.
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More YA! Is this one on the Printz list? Is that why I read it? Or is it some leftover reserve from a GLBT YA group of books I reserved? I’m not sure but I read it and it was pretty amusing. I’m not a huge ‘zine fan but I understand the drive people feel to create them and to read them. Not being a ‘zine person or a teen, I’m not qualified to say Hard Love was an accurate representation of the ‘zine scene but it feels like it.
The book itself, pretty interesting. Nerdy but cute boy from dysfunctional broken gets hooked on ‘zines, writing and reading them, and falls for a lesbian ‘zine writer. She sort of falls for him too but, guess what – she’s still a lesbian! Awesome. Heart break all around but also some growing up and some resolutions to the dysfunction (at least on his part) begin to happen.
Not a fun book, by any means, but not one of those really really depressing YA situation novels either.
(oh! It was a Printz Award Honor Book, cool.)
We’ve been listening to King Dork in the car for ages. It’s taken much longer than I had originally expected because it’s far too mature to really listen to with small children in the car – so that cut out most of the time I’d originally allotted for King Dork – the drive to/from Charleston. Ah well, it’s finished – finally. The epilogue and the glossary almost killed us, though listening to the glossary was a lot more amusing than if we’d read it. Also, specific to the audio – the music at the end was terrific but hearing “devil head” read out loud to indicate the instances of “devil head” icon appearances within the text was not much of a pleasure. That part just didn’t work for me. (If you read the book in print and didn’t listen to the songs, check out Frank Portman’s website for mp3s.
Now, about the book. I put it on my A to Z list and was sure I would have read it early in the year. I didn’t. And then I saw sassymonkey’s review and I put it off even more. So, I was prepared to be unimpressed and now that I’ve finished, I’m not sure I am impressed. I am, however, amused. Very very amused. The number of times TW and I laughed out loud cannot be counted on two hands. Laugh out loud funny in a lot of places but a little (ok a lot) slow in others.
I think I have to drop this into my “favorites” just for the Catcher in the Rye commentary. Now, I need to go reserve Brighton Rock at my library because I do not think I have ever read it. (Have you?)
When I opened the beat up cover of Skellig pretty much the first thing I saw was the list of awards the books has won. I wish those lists were in the back of the book, not the front. I think the list turns off kids because they’ve been forced to read an awful lot of really bad books that have won (or been short listed) for all of those awards.
It would be a shame if a kid put Skellig aside without getting passed the list of awards. It’s also a shame that Skellig didn’t actually win the Printz award. I haven’t read Monster yet but I can’t imagine it is better than a book with homeschooling vs public education and a man/owl/angel. It’s also a very quick read, which I think is a plus for young adult books.