Reading: What Makes a Book Unsatisfying?
This post was first published in March 2010, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. As I wind up the first draft of a new project–I’m in that mad, almost love-drunk rush that comes with knowing the end is nigh–I keep drifting back to these three questions: 1. Can I wrap this up without leaving a tangled mess of loose ends? 2. Have I revealed enough for the end to work, or is it just a poorly fashioned deus ex machina? 3. Am I forcing my leads into roles they...
Read MoreReading MG: Modernizing Mythology in Carolyn Hennessy’s Pandora Series (minor spoilers)
Carolyn Hennesy’s Pandora series is like Kim Possible–in Ancient Greece. It’s fun. It’s a little flirty. It’s original. It’s kind of educational. It’s also not exactly accurate… Mythology is one of my passions. In high school, I devoured everything that could possibly have had “gods” splashed across the cover. And I still love it, though I’m especially partial to The Greek Stuff: I read both Bulfinch’s and Edith Hamilton to...
Read MoreWill Grayson, Will Grayson: The Good Side
Will Grayson, Will Grayson gets so many things right it’s almost painful to read. There are so many things to love about this book. Written by YA power duo David Levithan (Boy Meets Boy, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) and John Green (Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines), it’s ridiculous and absurd and somehow wonderful, like a Benny Hill/Monty Python/It’s a Wonderful Life mashup suffering from ‘roid rage. It is almost everything I wish I could be...
Read MoreBeautiful Creatures: A Real Review (minor spoliers)
Read my earlier, list-style review of Beautiful Creatures. Reading Beautiful Creatures is like spending an afternoon strolling through a lemon grove, digging up a cemetery, and hanging around a Southern gothic mansion. It’s vibrant and thoughtful storytelling, with real depth of character, the sort of YA novel I wish I’d read as a teen. Ethan is haunted by dreams of a girl he’s never met, a girl who’s falling, whom he can’t save; Lena is a girl who’s...
Read MoreBeautiful Creatures: A Half Review
Beautiful Creatures is a marvelous, challenging book, completely outside my regular taste–and I love it. Generally speaking, I don’t read romance. I’m not against the idea of it, but I prefer stories where love isn’t the driving force solely for love’s sake. But every now and then, a book hits me–really hits me–and I find myself questioning everything. Beautiful Creatures is one of those books. Written by duo Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl,...
Read MoreWhy Book Awards Need Shortlists, & Moon Over Manifest
The day the Newbery & Caldecott award winners were announced, two things happened: kidlit lovers grew outraged at the authors, Clare Vanderpool (Moon Over Manifest) and Erin E. Stead (A Sick Day for Amos McGee) getting bumped from The Today Show, and booksellers scrambled to get copies of Moon Over Manifest. So far, the buzz about Moon Over Manifest is excellent–I’ve heard only good things, and I have a copy waiting on my Kindle. Why do I have a copy on my Kindle, rather than a...
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