Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

genre: young adult science fiction

Waverly has lived on the life-giving space shuttle The Empyrean her entire life.  Never having known Earth, she does know that she and her fellow passengers are destined to create a new home for humankind.  She knows that it is her duty to, soon, get married and have babies so that their new Earth can be peopled.  What Waverely isn't expecting is for the Empyrean to be invaded, and that terrifyingly she is separated from both her mother and her boyfriend Keiran.  Without adults to help them, both Waverely and Keiran are going to have to step up and figure out how not only find each other again, but lead their own peers in a race against time and space.

Lots of possibilities, this one - all the elements for an awesome book are present.   Most of the book we are switching between two story lines - one of which is very Lord of the Flies-esque, and part of my problem was that I didn't feel particularly close to any of the characters.  I didn't know Waverely enough to know if she was capable of the things she does, so that made me have a hard time believing it.  I did appreciate the fact that she is a strong female character - but I can't compare her to the Katniss of the first Hunger Games book because we don't get to see enough of a character arc.

This isn't to say that it's a dull ride, because it's not.  It's got its action-packed moments - there's gore and violence and things to uncover.  The plot is very intriguing and I was certainly engaged in the story - it's just that there is so much telling and not showing, so much "science fiction" jargon and obvious happenings thrown into my face that I felt like I was getting sold something that wasn't completely authentic.   There is also a religious element to it that sometimes grated on me - it's hard for me to tell where Ryan is going to take that in the next book.

I feel like I am being too hard on it.  Maybe my expectations were too high. Chances are, if you like young adult science fiction and don't mind it to be pretty violent, this one will be fine for you.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

genre: children's literature

Mr. Fox is a family man.  A provider.  He torments three nasty farmers by stealing their livestock and eating it with his wife and children in their safe hidey hold under a tree.  Well, it's safe until the day that those three nasty farmers have had enough already and decide to get rid of Mr. Fox and his antics once and for all.

I read this one out-loud to my nearly 9 year old and 6 year old sons - a HUGE hit.  I mean, begging for more every night.  Those farmers are deliciously disgusting and it's such a pleasure to see them outwitted.   Roald Dahl is a master of creating memorable characters who are full of surprises as well as characters who so nasty that you're thrilled when they fail.  The only thing I DIDN'T love is that there is some alcohol drinking and drunkenness.  I edited a tiny bit as I read - but really only maybe two sentences and my boys didn't notice a thing :)  We'll definitely do some more Mr. Dahl reading around here soon.



note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson

genre: young adult

The Fox Inheritance is the sequel/companion to the book The Adoration of Jenna Fox, which you really should read, first not only to understand this book better but because it's a really good story.  Plus, if you think you might WANT to read that someday, please do not read on because there will be spoilers everywhere.

Locke has been away for a while.  A long while.  After he was in a horrible car accident at the age of 17, his mind and memory were saved on a hard drive.  For decades - centuries, he lived in the terror of a true nowhere, a mind without a body to move or an environment to live and learn in.  His only connection to real life was Kara, another victim of the accident who was also saved, in a sense, and who Locke felt a connection through during all that time.  Without Kara and the memory of his dear friend Jenna, Locke's mind never would have made it safely into the perfect body that was created for him. 

But his "perfect" new life hasn't erased what he went through and soon Locke is ready to start finding out how much he's truly lost - and if there is anything left in this new world that he can call his own.

So. We are hearing the story from a different point of view, now, and again, Pearson takes us to the limits of ethics and makes us wonder what DOES make us human?  Is it only the skin and flesh and bones that make our form or is there something more intricate in our minds that can be moved and transferred and not loose something essential?  Or CAN that get lost and still some semblance of humanness remain?  I liked the dystopian world that Pearson has taken this story to - a world of half-alive robots and disenfranchised people on the fringes of an ever-more technical society.  Locke is a sympathetic and multidimensional character - with clear strengths and weaknesses, and the plot moves along nicely.  Maybe the lessons are a bit TOO spelled out sometimes and some thoughts are pretty repetitive but overall, I was always happy to pick it up and it read fast.  I can see that maybe it would feel a tiny bit obvious or campy to those who don't like the dystopian genre, but I think, for an unnecessary sequel, it's one of the better ones that I've read.


note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Bake Sale by Sara Varon

genre: children's graphic novel

Cupcake owns his own bake shop. He works hard to make yummy treats to sell and he plays hard on the drums in the band he and his friend Eggplant are in.  Soon, though, Cupcake has a chance to maybe go on the trip of a lifetime and he has to make some pretty tough decisions about how to spend his time and what is most important to him.

This was absolutely a delight.  Whimsical - all the characters are foods and the drawings are so fun.  Kids will probably skip over the pages that show how to make the foods, but they will doubtless appreciate the sacrifices that Cupcake makes to not only get what he wants but to stay a good friend.  Love it.  Give it to a child you love.




note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

The Minpins by Roald Dahl

genre: children's literature

Little Billy was told to NEVER go into the Forest of Sin.  It was full of terrible creatures that could stomp you flat or eat you right up.  So of course, it's the most tempting place EVER, right?  What could a little boy do but sneak out the window and make his way into that terrfying place?

What he finds there will shock, frighten and amaze him.  Because not only are there beasties that do really want to eat you, but there is also a civilization of tiny people who live in trees.  Once Little Billy makes their acquaintance, his life will never be the same.

Dahl is the king of awesome word choice.  My six year old made me read this to him MULTIPLE times:  Terrible Bloodsuckling Toothpluckling Stonechuckling SPITTLER.  Seriously.  That is just fun to read aloud.  This is a short book, too long for one sitting (we did it in maybe 5 shortish ones) but not a chapter book either.  The action ebbs and flows a bit for my boys, they got restless sometimes, although they were always happy to sit down and listen (I'd give it maybe 3.5 stars).  It is delightful, though, the way that Dahl always allows the child to be the hero of the day, it even makes me as an adult reader wonder if maybe magic is really out there and I just can't see it.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

genre: adult fiction

Reading Stegner is, for me, like curling up in some kind of mystical giant hammock.  He surrounds you.  The world he shows you makes no qualms about being filled with both the beautiful and the hard, and that one is not really recognizable without the other.

Crossing to Safety is about a friendship between two couples, that is its heart.  It's about how the lives of four people are woven together through decades of interchange, dependence (in all its forms) and shared memories.   From their early days in Madison, Wisconsin during the Depression, the Langs and the Morgans knew that what they had was a friendship that would last - but of course, years and trials can take their toll and after a while there is a solidity in just having known someone so well for so long.

What Stegner does so well is take us back and forth through time, fleshing out a relationship from the narrator's male point of view, allowing us a glimpse inside everyone's shared experience.  I love how this is a story about people who are readers and writers, striving to be a part of an intellectual community, see-ers of the world and all it has to offer.   Beyond the beautifully arching plot that follows an adult lifetime, his insights are so compatible with my own knowledge of friendships, especially between couples. 

It's like in this one story he peeled away part of what it is to be human, looking at the underneath of why we do what we do and how our relationships guide and define our lives in so many ways.  I had all these thoughts about "owing" people, how we show people how much we appreciate them and the things they do for us that can't even be defined in words.  I thought about how sometimes a friendship is flawed and unbalanced and yet looking back, those imperfections would never have been enough to dislodge that person from our heart.

I want to compare Crossing to Safety to some kind of work of genius, but I've never read anything like it.  Just trust me that its one you hold close to your heart and give to people you really care about.


note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

genre: adult fiction

In Iowa there is a family farm owned by a man named Larry Cook, who has three grown daughters. While life isn't perfect, it is routine and familiar — until the day that Larry decides to give his farm to his children as an inheritance. Our narrator, the eldest daughter Ginny, tells us what follows, a downward spiral of failed expectations, misunderstandings, jealousy and flat out insanity.

The farm itself is palpable. As a vital part of everyone's life —especially for Ginny, her sister Rose and their husbands, the farm is a blessing and a millstone and is both the impetus and the excuse for so many decisions. But it is Larry especially whose choices and influence served to dig the well of hurt that not one of them were able to avoid drinking from.

Ginny is a powerful narrator in the sense that her emotions are so raw, her revelations (both to us and to herself) are so succinct and powerful — I ached for her loss while I felt embarrassed for her weakness, perhaps because I saw in myself her same tendency to overlook things to just keep the peace.

As a painful family drama, this book is beautifully written. A harsh picture of a family falling to pieces in grand King Lear-style. I wish the language hadn't been quite so graphic because I would've felt more comfortable, then, recommending this story to friends that would appreciate its painful depth and vague yet present redemption.  It's hard for me to pinpoint WHY I liked it - it's depressing and most of the characters are just not nice at all.  I think it was the graceful and poignant style, the threads of emerging environmentalism, and for some reason (I did love King Lear also), I think stories about fathers and their daughters are just interesting.  Whatever the reason, I did like the meat of this book, as hard as it was sometimes to read.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Steampunk: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant

genre: young adult fantasy/science fiction

Do you know steampunk?  Steampunk is a combination of science fiction and fantasy, re-written history and alternate realities.  Often there are elements of (obviously) steam powered objects and robotics set within a time not too different from our own recent past, but even that isn't a given.  Speculative fiction at its heart, it's a genre as wide open as science fiction itself but with so many wonderfully unique twists and turns that you will be amazed by what the authors within this anthology have come up with.

Fourteen different authors (some very familiar, if you're a young adult fan), fourteen different stories.  Set in locations all across the globe (and beyond) in all different time periods, from ancient Rome to a post-apocalyptic future.  Talking dolls and robotic dance instructors, crazy hand-held gadgets and steam powered cars - anywhere your imagination can take you, you might find it in this anthology. The real stand-outs for me were Nowhere Fast by Christopher Rowe, The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor by Delia Sherman and Clockwork Fagin by Cory Doctorow.  But OH I liked some of the others too!  Sometimes mysterious, sometimes romantic, what I enjoyed most is that I just never knew what crazy thing I'd read about next.  Guns that can slow down time?   Orphans with robotic limbs?   Seriously.  Awesome stuff.

You can't go wrong with this collection - and that's the great thing about an anthology.  If one story doesn't catch your fancy, go ahead and try the next one.  I'd be surprised if you didn't find a new author to try.   Put on your helmet and goggles, catch a ride on a dirigible, and get ready to explore.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com