2012 book 211

Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle
This is one of those books I've been meaning to read for years, and was finally spurred to do so by Christina telling me she was sure I'd like it. And I did! It's the story of a teenage girl growing up with her somewhat eccentric British family in a falling-apart castle in the 1930s, and what happens when the new young estate owners come to town (don't worry, Smith makes all the Jane Austen references for you). I think I liked how things wrapped up; I might have to think about this one for a little while. A-.

2012 book 210

Chelsea Cain's Kill You Twice
Another strong contender in the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series. I don't really have too much else to say about it--there's another serial killer, Gretchen knows stuff, plucky colorful-haired Susan wants to write a story on the case, etc etc. It's a solid story though, I look forward to finding out where the series goes next. B+.

2012 book 209

Graham Joyce's Some Kind of Fairy Tale
Really great story about a man whose sister went missing twenty years ago, and now she's back--but doesn't look any older, and claims she was living with fairies. I especially liked the writing here--it's told from several viewpoints, and the structure really worked. I'll have to check out more by Joyce. A/A-.

2012 book 208

Michael Underwood's Geekomancy
For someone who loooves pop culture as much as I do, you'd think pop culture references would never get old--and reading a book that's all about Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Princess Bride, and spends a page and a half discussing the joys of Community, should be way up my alley. But it had some of the same problems Ready Player One had for me--eventually, all those references get tiresome and feel shoehorned-in, and also, the action scenes in both books were really not that interesting to me. I just wanted the fight scenes to be over and for the plot to commence.

All that and I haven't even mentioned the plot, which focuses on a likable geek girl who works in a comic shop-slash-coffee shop (again, this should be right up my alley) and discovers a world of magic where geeks can get geek powers from geek media (ie, sword-fighting abilities from Princess Bride). Great concept. And like I said, likable protagonist (and her crew of girl friends were cool too). The overarching plot was a little weak and two major twists were easy to predict, but it was a fun read. Not really my thing, but recommended for those geekier than I. B.



__
A review copy was provided by the publisher.

2012 book 207

Ron Rash's Serena
I was excited to reread this for book group--it was one of my favorites of 2008 and I didn't remember a thing about it--but it wasn't quite as awesome as I remembered. It's compelling stuff--a timber baron brings his ruthless new wife down to the mountains of North Carolina during the Great Depression--but it was just a bit over-the-top. Soon to be a movie starring, I believe, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, both of whom seem hopelessly miscast. B/B+.

2012 book 206

David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas
I've been meaning to reread this for ages--it was one of my favorite books of 2004 and I'm still mad it didn't win the Booker Prize--and now seemed like a good time, since a) all I remembered was the comet birthmark, and b) the movie is coming out soon and I figured it'd make more sense if I knew the story going in. Because of course the structure is complicated, the interrelated characters are complicated, and most of the stories are complicated. But all are completely wonderful, still. A.

2012 book 205

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
It's easily been ten years since I've read this, and I'd forgotten how funny it was--and how light, since Bilbo is unconscious for most of the action scenes! But seriously, now that I've read it, I don't at all understand why Peter Jackson thinks it needs three movies. Total overkill.

2012 book 204

David Levithan's Every Day
Confession time: I've never really read anything by Levithan before, except the book he co-wrote with John Green--and I only liked the John Green parts! But the premise of this was interesting enough to combat my lack of interest in the author, and I'm so glad it did, because this book was pretty great. It's about a person who wakes up every day in a new body, and just tries to keep their lives on track--until he falls in love with one's girlfriend. Really fascinating stuff. Levithan is mildly heavy-handed with the gay-friendliness and the body-positivity, but I'm not really going to complain about cute gay couples.  A/A-.

__
An e-galley was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on August 28th.

2012 book 203

Megan Abbott's Dare Me
Completely ridiculous mystery about a pair of frenemy cheerleaders and the coach who comes between them. It starts off okay--the stuff with teen girl friendships is strong--but halfway through somehow becomes super boring, even though there's now a dead body to contend with. It's not very believable and it's way too slow for a story that feels kind of low stakes. C.

2012 book 202

Georgina Harding's Painter of Silence
It's post-WWII in Romania and a young nurse encounters a deaf and mute patient, a boy she grew up with. The plot is a little slow but the depictions of the city and the time period are stellar. B.

__
An e-galley was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.

2012 book 201

Patrice Kindl's The Woman in the Wall
Man, I cannot believe I'd never heard of Patrice Kindl before this year--I can't think of another YA writer who can write such different styles of books (based on the three I've read so far). The title of this one is a bit misleading--the woman in the wall is actually a very shy girl who builds herself a secret room and passageway in her house, gradually completely disappearing from her family. And then they kind of forget that she exists. And it's a totally great story. A/A-.

2012 book 200

Debra Dean's The Mirrored World
Apparently based at least a little bit on a true story, this novel centers on two cousins growing up in Russia in the 1700s (across the reign of three Empresses). Great insight into the roles of women during that period, and I loved all the historical details. Xenia's motivations in the second half of the book are a bit vague, but of course she's not the narrator, and Dasha is particularly likable. Definitely recommended for fans of historical fiction, and makes me want to read all sorts of other novels set in historical Russia (any recommendations?). B+.

__
An e-galley was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on August 28th.

2012 book 199

Justin Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan's Team Human
If you're one of the people who finds Twilight super annoying and mildly disturbing, this book may be more up your alley. It's still a YA paranormal romance type of book, but narrated by a very snarky girl who has no love for vampires--especially when her best friend falls for one. Pretty strong world-building and all around a very fun read. A-/B+.

2012 book 198

Daniel Friedman's Don't Ever Get Old
It's hard to go wrong with a mystery narrated by a super old and super cranky Jewish retired homicide detective named Baruch "Buck" Shatz, especially when the mystery features his law-student grandson (with the also hilarious nickname Tequila) and the hunt for some Nazi gold. I will say that it is a little bizarre how many characters annoyingly try to get an 87 year old guy to hunt down Nazi gold, and it's not too hard to figure out who's behind everything, but the narrative voice makes up for a lot of that. Cranky old Jewish guys are the best. (Side note: would he really watch Fox News? None of my cranky old Jewish relatives do, to the best of my knowledge.) B.

__
A digital review copy was provided by the publisher.

2012 book 197

Rachel Hartman's Seraphina
So I have this general rule--a completely random one, really--where I avoid reading fantasy books with dragons. I mean, you have to draw the line somewhere. But this was getting really positive reviews, and then I found out that this Rachel Hartman is the same Rachel Hartman who wrote one of my all-time favorite graphic novels, and all rules went out the window. (Plus, this book turns out to be set in the same world!) Anyway, it's about the half-dragon musical prodigy Seraphina, trying to hide her dragon-ness in a world with an uneasy peace between humans and dragons. Lots of political intrigue, interesting mythology and world-building, a little bit of romance, and some humor. I look forward to reading whatever comes next in this series, even with dragons! A-.

2012 book 196

Tana French's Broken Harbor
I really enjoy French's Dublin Murder Squad series (the last one, Faithful Place, was excellent), but this one was not entirely up to snuff for me. I think if it had been edited down a bit more, been a bit shorter, it'd have been a lot stronger. Anyway, one of the detectives who I guess is a secondary character in one or more of the other books (I remember nothing about him, but there are references to some mysterious previous case) and his rookie partner are assigned to solve the murder of an entire family. But obviously it's not going to be that simple, especially when the detective has family ties to the neighborhood of the victims. I liked the resolution a lot, just thought the whole thing dragged a bit, especially with all the foreshadowing that things were going to go badly. B.

2012 book 195

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens
Sometimes you just want to reread something light about the apocalypse. :)

2012 book 194

Amos Oz's Elsewhere, Perhaps
I first read this book in a Jewish lit class in college and it stayed with me to the point that when I later studied abroad in Israel and met a girl named Inbal, one of the first things I said to her was "Your name means the clapper of a bell!" (This must have been very weird but she kindly befriended me anyway.) (That knowledge comes from a recurring motif in the book, though I no longer recall what it symbolizes.) Anyway, I deeply loved this book but haven't read it in a long time (since before I started this blog in 2004, in fact), mainly because I was afraid it wouldn't hold up. Luckily, for the most part, the story of the goings-on at a kibbutz in the 70s does hold up, due primarily to Oz's clever 1st-person plural narrative voice. And of course, I personally still find the themes of Jewish/Israeli Old World/New World conflict interesting (not to mention all the gossip and shenanigans that go on). A-.

2012 book 193

Shannon Hale's Princess Academy: Palace of Stone
I started to write that this was a super cute follow-up to the super cute Princess Academy (a 2006 Newbery Honor book), and then realized that was kind of a weird thing to say about a book about a political revolution. Which this is. We find Miri and several of her Mount Eskel friends in the big city to learn new things and hang out w/ their friend who's about to marry the prince--only soon Miri finds herself befriending revolutionaries, and agreeing with their cause! Can she help make the country better--without hurting her best friend? Talk about your high stakes. And things do get a little intense--but this book is still super cute! I enjoy all Hale's books (adult, YA, graphic novel, whatever), but Miri is especially likable. B+.

__
An e-galley was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in August.

2012 book 192

Amanda Coplin's The Orchardist
Lonely gruff old man farmers are basically my favorite literary archetype, especially when they're aiding pregnant girls (See Kent Haruf's Plainsong for another find example of this trope). Of course, this book takes a far different tack than Plainsong--for one thing, it's set in the late 1800s, and for another, there are two pregnant girls--sisters--fleeing something pretty horrible. The story also goes in a completely different (and generally unexpected) direction (really, the only similarities are lovable old farmers and pregnant girls). Plus, there's some interesting insights into the not-entirely-fully-formed legal system of the time. I will say that I found end mildly unsatisfying, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the rest of the book. B+.

__
An e-galley was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in August.