Dystopia Challenge Wrap Up

This year I participated in Bookish Ardour’s Dystopia Challenge at the level of “Asocial” (5 books).  I read:

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
4. Matched by Allie Condie
5. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

I loved all of the dystopian worlds by these authors. My favorite was The Hunger Games Trilogy. Yes, this trilogy deserves all of the hype. I hope the upcoming movie does the first book justice.

I also read Across the Universe by Beth Revis. This novel ranks as my next favorite dysptopian novel that I read this year, after The Hunger Games Trilogy. Across the Universe is dysptopian/space odyssey/romance/mystery. Elder is easy to fall in love with, though not the perfect guy. I highly recommend it.

Currently, I’m reading another dystopian novel: Wither by Lauren Destefano. So far, it’s climbing up my chart of favorite reads this year.

December’s Fantasy Art Inspiration

Happy Holidays! Here is Arthur Rackham’s rendition of Santa–thinner, more dignified and less jolly than our modern version. I’m particularly fond of his curled boots.

I haven’t been writing, reading or updating this blog that much lately. I’ve been busy having a baby! But, I plan to post my yearly reading challenge wrap ups soon and catch up on what other bloggers have been up to. Hopefully, I’ll use some of this maternity leave to work on new stories as well.

 

October’s Fantasy Art Inspiration

Happy Halloween! Here is an illustration by Arthur Rackham of Lizzie in Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”:

 

North Country Author Talk

This upcoming Tuesday I’m presenting to the SOAR group:

North Country Authors [F-11-43]

Presenter:	Jim Barry, Amanda Von Hoffman Jones, Diane Crump, Roger Watters, Guy Calandra
Location:	Partridge Knoll
Classes:	4 Sessions 1.5 hours
Dates:	Tue 2:00 PM 10/04, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25

This course offers participants a potpourri of local writing talent. Each week one of the authors will speak about her/his literary work(s). Some of the topics that may be addressed: author’s writing background, the writing process, publishing and marketing, the book’s purpose/content, selected passages for reading aloud, writing activities for the class.

Coordinator Jim Barry is himself a writer, along with being a frequent SOAR presenter, board member and co-chair of the Curriculum Committee.

The authors are (in this order):

Amanda Von Hoffman Jones, Behind Green Glass, a young adult fantasy novel

Diane Crump, Memories of a North Country Grandma, a poetry book for children

Roger Watters, From the Avenues of the Mind and Toothpick Forests, poetry and short story books

Guy Calandra, The Inside Word: An Inside look at the Family of God, a book melding together the author’s science and religious backgrounds

 

Teaser Tuesdays 9.27.11

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser: 

“Father says you’re mad,” I said. “Are you Mama?”

~page 8.

On Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

One of my tasks at the public library is to “finish processing books” which is a fancy way of saying I take a new book, glue in its pocket, make sure the spine label matches the pocket information, stamp it twice with our library’s name and release it to the public. Of course I also read the jackets of the books that look interesting and check out the ones I like most before they reach the shelves. Good times.

A few months ago, I finished processing Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children. It’s one of the most uniquely designed novels I’ve ever seen.  I wanted to read it immediately, but I put it on the shelves because I didn’t want to hoard it while I was in the midst of another thick novel. A patron checked it out, and I snagged it when it was returned.

The story turned out to be a strange and lovely as the physical design. Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children reminded me of a vintage X-men–a wise woman provides safety and instruction to Peculiars from all over the world, helping them understand and use their special gifts. Miss Peregrine’s orphanage exists in Wales in the 1940s, in the midst of WWII.

It’s difficult to review this novel without giving away its secrets. The novel takes place in the present…sort of.  The narrator Jacob is a rich but socially awkward sixteen-year-old who seeks to learn more about his grandfather, a Jewish orphan who lived at Miss Peregrine’s orphanage as a teen. Jacob learns that he isn’t just suffering delusions; instead, the world is a darker more magical place than he realized.

For me the highlights of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children were:

• The vintage photographs. They are real, gathered from several collectors. Ransom Riggs fashioned his story around these bizarre photographs.
• Jacob’s voice. He’s an honest, intelligent but flawed character.
• The descriptions and metaphors. They are far from cliché.

I wonder if there will be a sequel. I feel like the novel is strong on its own, and that somehow the story might suffer if continued. However, I’d love to read any other story by this author. I hope he is working on something new.

 

 

Teaser Tuesdays 8.30.11

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

“And then she rushed at me and threw her arms around my neck, the flame in her hand snuffing out just before she touched me, her skin hot where she held it. We stood like that in the darkness for awhile, me and this teenaged old woman, this rather beautiful girl who  had loved my grandfather when he was the age I am now.” (page 173 of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children).

On Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

“I clung to my rusted dreams during the times of silence. It was at gunpoint that I fell into every hope and allowed myself to wish from the deepest part of my heart”(page 172).

In Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys tells the story of the Lithuanians who were deported and forced into labor in the 1940s through her narrator Lina, a 15-year-old aspiring artist. The Soviets imprison Lina’s father and take Lina, her younger brother Jonas and her mother from their home in the middle of the night. They join other Lithuanians labeled “thieves and prostitutes” who are actually people who are considered political threats.

Lina and her family struggle to survive beatings, scarce food rations, mental torture and arctic winters. Lina escapes through her art, sketching her experiences and impressions of those who surround her. She must hide the subversive drawings from the vigilant NKVD.

I really liked the character development in this novel.  The characters grow and change, and they aren’t always predictable. Brave characters have moments of weakness; selfish ones show unexpected kindness.

Lina’s mother is definitely the heroine of this story. She’s the best mother, sacrificing everything for her children, encouraging them in the worst of situations. Her compassion towards strangers and even her enemies is inspiring without being nauseating.

 I could barely read the last fifty pages through my tears. So much of this story is heartbreaking, but definitely worth the read. I absolutely loved this novel.

On Clare Dunkle’s House of Dead Maids

 

This book wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. I thought that it was a prequel to Wuthering Heights and it is…sort of. More accurately, House of Dead Maids is a fictional tale about what inspired Emile Bronte to write Wuthering Heights. I guess I was confusing Dunkle’s narrator, the maid Tabby Aykroyd, with Bronte’s character Nelly Dean. I’ve read Wuthering Heights twice, but years ago, and I can’t remember many of the details.

So, Dunkle wrote a story inspired by Wuthering Heights about the inspiration behind Wuthering Heights. I kind of like the circularity of it. Attaching your novel to a classic is an ambitious move on an author’s part. There are bound to be lovers of the classic predisposed to pick apart your novel. I also think that it’s a very straightforward move on the author’s part. Writers are influenced by the books they read; so much writing is inescapably derivative. A retelling, prequel or sequel openly acknowledges that influence.

House of Dead Maids differs from Wuthering Heights by being YA horror instead of a tragic romance. While I don’t think this novel will give me nightmares, the youth of the main characters made the story particularly frightening at moments.

Tabby, the narrator, is sent to Seldom House as a nursemaid to the boy who will become known as Heathcliff. He’s a brat and I wanted to put him in timeout for most of the novel. However, like Tabby I cared for his well being and he had his endearing moments. Tabby is only twelve years old, struggling to be an adult as she and Heathcliff are haunted by the former maids and masters of Seldom House. Seldom House is almost like a character itself instead of a setting, heavily inspired by Wuthering Heights, though more sinister, especially after the mystery is revealed.

House of Dead Maids can stand on its own as a story. At the same time, it did make me want to reread Wuthering Heights. I liked House of Dead Maids better than Dunkle’s By These Ten Bones and less than The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy.

I enjoy the style and brevity of Dunkle’s novels. I don’t see many novels under 300 pages these days. I love to read mammoth 500+ page novels as well, for different reasons. Sometimes I want a story to last for days; other times I like reading a complete tale during a few lunch breaks. In content and page length, Dunkle provides variety from the typical YA novel.

Teaser Tuesdays 8.2.11

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 
My Teasers:

This time, I heard no footsteps, but I could feel that she had fled.

“The ghost girl?” asked Himself quite calmly as I lay back down, and I marveled that such a young girl did not cry.  (pg. 55, The House of Dead Maids by Clare Dunkle.)