bookshelves of doom

The Big Read V: The Woman in White -- Wilkie Collins

Holy cow, I can't believe I've gearing up for the fifth Big Read.  Although maybe I shouldn't count BRIV, as I totally bailed on it.  But I do count BRI, BRII and BRIII as complete successes.  And it would be confusing to use the same number twice.  So.

There was a bit of dissent, and I did give it quite a bit of thought.  Ultimately, I decided to go with my first choice. 

For The Big Read V, I (and any of you who would like to join me) will be reading Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White.

Why did I decide to go with it?  Two reasons.

First, I want to re-read it.  And, you know.  My house, my rules.  Second (and far more importantly), I'm kind of scared of CC.

So.  This is the schedule I'll be following:

January 6:  The First Epoch:  The Story Begun by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-VIII

January 8:  Walter Hartright, Chapters IX-XV

January 11:  The Story Continued by Vincent Gilmore; The Story Continued by Marian Halcombe

January 13:  The Second Epoch:  The Story Continued by Marian Halcombe, Chapters I-V

January 15:  Marian Halcombe, Chapters VI-X; Postscript

January 18:  The Story Continued by Frederick Fairlie, Esq.; The Story Continued by Eliza Michelson

January 20:  The Story Continued in Several Narratives (This is a really short section, which will allow for any needed catching up.)

January 22:  The Third Epoch:  The Story Continued by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-VI

January 25:  Walter Hartright, Chapters VII-XI

January 27:  The Story Continued by Mrs. Catherick; The Story Continued by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-VII

January 29:  The Story Continued by Isidor, Ottavio, Baldassare Fosco; The Story Concluded by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-III

If you'd like to read along with me, awesome!  If you'd like to blog along with me, even more awesome -- when you post, just let me know so I can compile a list of links as I've done in the past.

I'm going to use a library copy (or my own if I can find one up in the attic), but it's in the public domain, so it's available at Project Gutenberg and other places online, and I'm sure there are bazillions of used copies for sale at all of the usual places.

I'm looking forward to this one -- I hope there's a lot of conversation!

The Doctor, computer saleman.

And, as a bonus, here's Kyle MacLaclan selling stuff (and watch for Jon Pertwee at the end!):

Lots more at Forbidden Planet.

Melissa Marr has released an excerpt of Radiant Shadows!

The prologue and Chapter One!  Free!  At her blog!

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Previously:

Wicked Lovely
Ink Exchange
Fragile Eternity

Recent Dress #4.

Josh made me sit on the woodpile (but do note that he was nice enough to put a jacket down so I wouldn't snag my tights):

My hair is doing something insane (which everyone really should be used to at this point, but this picture was taken after work today, so I have an excuse for once), and I'm making my classic "I hate having my picture taken, so I'm not going to even pretend to enjoy this and even though it's me who wants to document my sewing projects, I'm going to act like a complete puke the entire time the camera is pointed in my general direction" face, but if you ignore all of that, you'll notice my awesomely massive collar.  The fabric of the dress is a medium brown with a white pinstripe, and I tied my (well, Josh's, but I borrowed it) tie with an Atlantic knot. 

I used this Simplicity pattern from 1970, and I made it a size bigger than I'd usually wear, both because I thought it would be more comfy that way and because I was being lazy and didn't want to fiddle with re-sizing the pattern:

Even though it looks short on the middle lady, either her legs are three miles long or I'm a stump, because I had to hack a good five inches off of the bottom before it hit me above the knee.

The Blonde of the Joke -- Bennett Madison

Val Martinez sits in the back of the classroom, she doesn't make eye contact with people, she doesn't talk back to teachers, she doesn't talk, period.  She's pretty much invisible.

So she's understandably surprised when Francie Knight decides that they're going to be friends:

Francie was that kind of girl.  You know the type I'm talking about.  Blonde.  Big boobs.  Total slut.  The kind of girl who doesn't need a name.  It's always the blonde, isn't it?  I guess certain things will turn your hair gold.  Francie's hair was hell-of-gold.

As for me:  my hair was brown like something you looked for and looked for and couldn't find until your mom told you to check under your bed, and then there it was, crumpled in a dusty corner where you couldn't reach it.

Francie teaches Val the ins-and-outs of shoplifting, and together, the two of them set out to claim the entire world for themselves:  one tube of liquid eyeliner at a time.  In a voice both hard-boiled and innocent (I know that sounds strange, but she is), Val narrates a story about the rise and fall of friendship, about secrets hidden in suburbia, about being lost, about finding magic in the world and in yourself, about quests and belief and trust, and about becoming who you are, even if you aren't exactly sure what that means.

At least, I think that was what it was about.  The Blonde of the Joke felt like two books in one.  The first half chronicles the relationship between the girls as well as Val's re-creation and re-invention of herself, while the second half isn't quite as easy to describe.  Fittingly, considering the happenings and tone of the second half of the book, the turning point came with Francie and Val's viewing of Blue Velvet:

After the turning point, Val and Francie's story gets stranger and stranger, but I found it no less engrossing -- even though, by the end, I still didn't have answers to a whole lot of questions, and I'm pretty sure that Val didn't, either.  But then, who has all of the answers? 

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Book source/other info:  Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee; read for the RRRead-a-thon.

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I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program.  Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC.  So, I will spell it out:  if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money.  Why?  Dude.  Because in the future, I need to pay someone to entertain Josh while I participate in a read-a-thons.  He's extremely distracting!

This is What I Want to Tell You -- Heather Duffy Stone

Best friends Noelle and Keeley have been inseparable for practically forever.  While they were always two, they were often three:  Noelle's twin brother, Nadio, was the third in their trio.

But after Kelley returns from a summer in England -- the first time that she and Noelle have been away from each other for more than a few days -- everything is different. 

In alternating voices, Noelle and Nadio tell a story about: the end a friendship that had seemed unbreakable, about the beginning of a romance that crept up on everyone, about quiet estrangement, about secrets and lies, pain and first love, about what family is and about how who we are shifts and changes, again and again and again.

From This is What I Want to Tell You:

Noelle: 

I can't tell you exactly what happened, but I can tell you part of it.

My part.

I once read that you should always write about what you know, that what you know will tell the best story.  What I know now is that the stories people tell are always about our insecurities, about the things we left behind, and about the things we wish we could do again.  The real story isn't about what you know; it's about what you wish you knew then.

Nadio:

It is hard to picture what last summer felt like.  I know I was someone else then and I probably couldn't have imagined who I'd become--who we'd all become--but now that I know, part of me wants to remind myself what it was like before.  I told Noelle about the way I'd written to our father, on invisible pages but with permanent ink.  We need to do that, she said, we need to tell this story, even if the pages are invisible.

I started reading this one and it just... grabbed hold of me.  I read from the first page to the last and I didn't put it down once.  Nadio and Noelle have voices that are distinct -- I never mistook one for the other even though the author used the same style (very spare on the punctuation, no quotation marks) throughout -- but also similar.  They echo and complement each other, in realization and experience.  And although we never get to see the world through Keeley's eyes, her emotions and experiences are a slightly-not-parallel version of Noelle's.

I saw a review that called this book 'melodramatic', which I really don't agree with -- while there are events that could have come off that way, I felt that the writing was so strong and the characters were so real that it never veered in that direction.  Many times, I knew what mistakes the characters were making -- mistakes that I've seen characters make a million times before -- but I never felt even remotely frustrated with them or with the book.  Maybe because I really believed in them, believed that they were all figuring these things out for the first time. 

What more can I say?  Something -- a lot of things -- in this book resonated with me.  And I don't think I'll be alone in that.

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Book source/other info:  Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee; read for the RRRead-a-thon.

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I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program.  Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC.  So, I will spell it out:  if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money.  Why?  So I can build an arena in which to hold an Epic Battle between RPattz' hair and Taylor Lautner's abs.  And you're invited.

Read. Read. Read-a-thon!

I've decided (at the very last minute) to jump in on today's 24-hour Read-a-thon.

I figure it'll give me a good excuse to get some of my Cybils reading done.  It has nothing to do with just, you know, wanting to read all day or anything.  I swear.

Anyway, onward!  I shall begin at 9AM, which, according to my computer, is in seven minutes, and periodically, I'll post reading responses and whatnot.

So here I am, next to the wood stove with a cup of tea and a pile of books.  According to my husband the weather fanatic, we might actually get snow today, which would make for the coziest day EVER.  (As long as, you know, I stay inside.)

[ETA:  Rather than writing lots of separate posts, I'm going to compile all of the read-a-thon activities here.]

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Books read:

This is What I Want to Tell You, by Heather Duffy Stone
The Blonde of the Joke, by Bennett Madison

My stats:

Hours reading:  5.5
Hours writing/socializing:  4

Due to my inability to remain undistracted by my husband (who, it must be said, put forth an AMAZING effort), those are my final, completely pathetic, stats.  I'd like to say I'll do better next time, but unless he'll be away for the weekend, I'm not making any promises.

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Breaktime Shindig #1 (courtesy of I Heart Monster):

Sarah has two (new to her) very beautiful cats.  Who may or may not be aliens.  Also, she herself is lovely in real life.

The title of Ash's blog -- English Major's Junk Food -- made me laugh out loud.

BrownGirl BookSpeak is new to me, but I'll be keeping an eye on her from now on -- her writing voice is understatedly hilarious.

I've always loved the header over at Biblio File, but I've never mentioned it.  So here I am, mentioning it.

Sasha has books lingering on her Currently Reading list, and she's actually going to DO something about it!  I am inspired.

I need more books on my TBR list Iike I need a hole in the head...

Second half of the sentence #1:  ...SO I'm glad to see that I've already read most of these recommendations, including Sunshine, His Majesty's Dragon, the Earthsea books and Eon: Dragoneye Reborn.  I read a good number of the Pern books back in middle school, but the only part of that series I've been interested in revisiting is the Harper Hall trilogy.  I'm sad that she didn't mention Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, though.

Second half of the sentence #2:  ...BUT what's one more?  After all, it's free.  And a whole pile of people have recommended that I read Charlie Huston.

I am not Bill Cosby.

So, due to my newfound obsession with vintage sewing patterns, I have a few saved eBay searches.  Including one for "Mondrian sewing patterns", in the hopes that it'll turn up something along the lines of this famous dress:

So, obviously, I was all atwitter when I opened my email and saw that I had a hit.

My excitement didn't last long.

BEHOLD THE HORROR:

 

And I don't like how it's waving at me.   It's creepy. 

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have -- Allen Zadoff

15-year-old Andrew Zansky is the second-fattest guy in the sophomore class.  Tenth grade begins pretty much the same way as ninth:  ten minutes in, he's already been harassed by Ugo the Bully and cheated on his diet.  It looks like this year will involve lots of hanging out with his best friend, Eytan, and the other kids in the Model UN.  Just like last year.

This year, at least he has April -- the gorgeous girl he met at a function his mother was catering -- to fantasize about.  Why not, right?  It's not like he's ever going to see her again. 

Wrong. 

Not that it really matters -- it isn't like Andy has a chance, or that he will ever make a move. 

But.  O. Douglas, star quarterback, golden boy and dreamboat, has suddenly shown some serious interest in Andy Zansky.  And Andy finds himself pulled into a world where getting the girl just might be possible.

I really enjoyed Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have.  I loved Andy's voice, which was funny and confessional (And after noting that the author has the same initials, I wondered just how confessional it was!), self-depricating and genuine, fresh-to-the-ear but familiar-to-the-psyche:

There's a lot of fat in our family, but there's some thin, too.  Dad is thin and athletic, and my sister Jessica is super skinny.  She's also a super bitch, so there's clearly no correlation between being skinny and being nice, at least in her case.

That's my family.  Some of us are fat, some are thin.

It may be true that we have a glandular problem, but if so, it's extremely selective.

The storyline kept me wondering -- with so many people suddenly being so nice to Andy, I kept waiting for the situation to change, for the Big Reveal, for the twist.  Because, after all, it's hard to imagine a world in which a Big (literally) Nobody gets scooped up by the most popular group in school, no strings attached.  Don't get me wrong: it's always refreshing to read about football players and cheerleaders who AREN'T Satan's Spawn.  But I reserved judgement for quite a long time -- because I cared about Andy, and I didn't want him to get hurt.  Emotionally OR physically.

I'll let you find out for yourself about whether or not there is a twist.  Just know that this is a good one.  It's about friendship, trust, branching out, finding out who you are and what you enjoy, about learning to see.  In some ways, sure, it's a story that's been told before.  But the characters are real, right down to the minor ones, and Andy's voice -- and the emotions under his voice -- ring true.  Thumbs up. 

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Crossposted at Guys Lit Wire.

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Book source:  Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee.

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I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program.  Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC.  So, I will spell it out:  if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money.  Why, you ask?  Well, gosh.  Tomato sandwiches aren't free, you know.  Especially in December.

Oh, and I forgot to mention...

...now that Issue #2 of TBRT is printed and shipping, I'm now taking submissions for next June!

Which, considering today's 70° day, doesn't seem so very far away.

The 2009 William C. Morris Debut YA Author finalists are:

Ash, by Malinda Lo

Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

The Everafter, by Amy Huntley

Flash Burnout, by L. K. Madigan

Hold Still, by Nina LaCour

I've read a whopping... none of them.  Yeesh.  Man, my reading has been so very down this year.

More info at the ALA's WCMDYAA page.

Another New Moon parody...

...that made me laugh so hard that I felt physically ill.

(And that's a good thing.)

Chuck Bass = Heathcliff.

Wow, so not only has the Twilight saga made the Brontë books super-popular among the Twihard set*, but now there are at least three movies in the works.

Chuck Bass as Heathcliff, though.  Oh, god.  Does this mean I'll actually GO to the Wuthering Heights movie?

Probably.  And I'll probably find his assiness likable.

I have no shame.

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*Which is, you know, great, except that many of them probably think Heathcliff is a dreamypants dreamboat who looks just like Robert Pattinson's hair, when in actuality, BLECCH WITH A DOUBLE TOPPING OF BLECCCCCH.  Which makes me wonder -- would they swoon over stupid Maxim de Winter, too?  YUCK.  YUUUUUUUCK.

**This footnote isn't actually attached to anything.  Just wanted to share:  Yesterday, I displayed Look For Me By Moonlight on the front desk with a card in it that read, "An antidote to Twilight".  So far, every patron's response has been, "'An antidote to Twilight?'  Why would you need one?"  But I know that someone understanding will come along.  Eventually.

Things that drive me bananas, #43.

People who use the term "graphic novel" as a catch-all term for any book in comic format, EVEN IF IT'S A MEMOIR.

According to the Wikipedia page, it can be used in that way, but I protest.  Strongly.  On the grounds that IT MAKES NO SENSE.

Because we've all seen enough Best Of lists.

The AV Club (god bless 'em) has posted a Best Bad Movies of the '00s list. 

As I read it, I kept saying, "C'mon guys, C'MON!  Where's the Wicker Man remake?  It's GOT to BE HERE!"  I'm sure you'll be very relieved to know that I was NOT disappointed, and so there was no tantrum thrown and my head did not explode.  Phew.

Anyway.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll be adding many of the titles to my Netflix queue.

Upcoming title match.

Due out this month (or next month?):

 

Due out in June 2010:

 

The Fforde is on my RIGHT AFTER THE CYBILS pile (which is achieving epic proportions).  He and I have a pretty hit-or-miss relationship, but I generally always at least give his new ones a try.  I'm not familiar with the Kessler/Kittredge title, though I believe that it's the second in a series.

Thumbs up on both counts.

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is going to be a miniseries.  If it's done right, I think it could be vastly superior to the book -- while I enjoyed what I read, it never totally grabbed me because it read like The Abridged Edition: WITH NEW ZOMBIE ACTION!! , and so the joke got old and I never actually finished it.  But a movie version could work.  If, as I said, it's done right.
• And in other Quirk Books news, that hilarious Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters trailer (though I'm still not sure why the sea monster is living in a lake...) is going to be screened in movie theaters.  Which I think is a move that is just made of awesome.

Haven't seen New Moon yet?

Now you don't have to bother.

Whew.  I'm in pain from all of the laughing.

I love the library booksale: Part II.

As if the title isn't enough:

the first sentence of the back cover copy reads:  "She was to be the filling in a Wizard Sandwich."

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!
 

I love the library booksale.

It's the only place where one will find this book:

 

and this book:

 

next to each other.  

I just...

...was inspired re: Christmas presents.

Obviously, I can't say anything, as there are spies everywhere.

But post-Christmas, there will be pictures.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this gem:

My apologies to those of you who were already subjected to this monstrosity on Facebook. 

Alice McKinley, Nancy Drew, and Wilkie Collins.

Planning some post-Cybil reading:

This review of the new Alice McKinley book made me laugh like a loon AND get all nostalgic.  Now I want to go back and re-read the series.  And then get caught up.

Speaking of books that are maddening AND wonderful... this blogger is running a Nancy Drew challenge next year.  She's challenging people to read all 56 of the original books (well, the yellow versions) in a year.  As the challenge allows for skipping those we've already read, I'd only need to read 46, which sounds so much more do-able than 56.  I'm still debating.

As I didn't run a Big Read this month, I'm thinking about running one in January.  And I'm thinking about making it Wilkie Collins' Woman in White, in honor of its 150th anniversary.  This was the article that inspired me.  Sound fun?

Now shipping TBRT#2.

I just got back from the post office, where I shipped off the first batch of TBRT#2!  (WHEW.)

Those of you who pre-ordered (as well as, of course, the featured authors) should expect to see them soon, soon, soon.

Hooray for the USPS.  I love those guys.

Twilight/NewMoon and the National Domestic Violence Hotline's Am I Being Abused? questionnaire.

While I think that this blogger did a bit of reaching on some of the questions, there were enough easily answered with a big fat YES to creep me right the hell out.

I mean, yeah.  It's pretty apparent even without the list, but somehow the checkmarks make it that much more yicky.

On the hilarious side of things, there's the first two paragraphs of this AV Club review.