Book Review - Once by Morris Gleitzman

From its brilliant first page, which will have you wondering why carrots are so important, to its startling, open-ended conclusion, Morris Gleitzman's Once will have readers spellbound.  At least, it had me spellbound.

Felix, a Jewish kid, has spent the past three years in a Catholic orphanage ever since his bookseller parents dropped him off here.  But when he realizes his parents haven't come to take him out (having mistaken the carrot as a sign that they soon would), he takes it upon himself to find them, wherever they are.  The problem is that we're in Nazi-occupied Poland and the protective bubble where Felix has spent the last three years has left him naive and ignorant of everything that goes on.  His naivete may recall, for some, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, but given his situation, it is much more believable, and not long-lasting.  As he tries to return to his hometown and find his parents, he's understandably shocked at how everything has changed.

Beloved Australian author Morris Gleitzman (of whose books I clearly need to read more!) has written a searing yet compulsively readable high middle grade/ low YA historical fiction book that was beyond captivating for me.  Anyone who recognizes the power of storytelling and fiction, will sympathize with Felix, whose imagination and capacity for telling stories gives him a chance.  This is a book that's perfect for those readers to whom you want to recommend fellow Aussie Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, but fear that its heft will put them off.  Simply, yet gorgeously written, with images and characters that you won't soon forget, this novel seriously impressed me.

I think it's time to find out what other Morris Gleitzman books have been published in the United States.

***UPDATE - Once is book one in a trilogy about Felix.  I seriously hope that the others will be published in the United States in the future, but that's not the same as me admitting that I might look for them on Amazon.co.uk!***

Moving woes, part million

This past week I've spent way too much time on Craigslist, time I'd much rather spend reading the stacks and stacks of books taking over the spare bedroom.  These stacks are out of control!  But so, it turns out, is furniture shopping.  What I'd thought would be an easy task -- there are so many antique stores out here, how hard can it be to find a dining room table and chairs, 2 desks, a TV stand -- is turning out to be more in the realm of insurmountable.  Had we known this beforehand, maybe we would've kept these same items from our Chicago apartment instead of practically giving them away because we thought we'd find something better out here.

Sure, I could find all these things, with a budget of infinity.  Or, you know, if I lowered my standards a bit instead of growing my modern design knowledge base with each tremor of the fingers across the keyboard.  But we're not working with that.  And Cragislist has made this librarian very, very cranky.  Finally it dawned on me to use another website to search Craigslist more efficiently.  But that only made me more aware of how all the amazing furniture at somewhat decent prices is actually in... New York City?  Whaaaa?

Meanwhile, Yelp hasn't made me any happier.  There must be plenty of places to find affordable, decent, used furniture in Cambridge and Somerville, right?  Then why am I only finding stuff that's $3000 and up.  

It's a humbling experience.

The only highlight was when I found a library card catalog for sale in Western Mass.  But when I emailed for the price, well, that was the end of that.  Okay, I lied, the most amusing thing was finding really cute chickens for sale... and adult diapers.  Not posted by the same person... or chicken.  Also, an airport security Playmobil set.  Yes, I am sure that in some universe I could make a table out of these things.  No, no... I can't.  This isn't some creepy version of Project Runway - Interior Design.

So, I'm hoping that tomorrow's trip to a neighborhood flea market will turn up something.  Or that, at the very least, I can develop some self-control.  Because searching every Craigslist location nearby for "farm table" and "antique table" and "farmhouse table" for hours on end.  It's just sad.  Especially when there are so many books to be read!  

Tomorrow: Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick and at least one more.  And hopefully a dining room table.  And another series win for the Red Sox.

Book Review - Three Rivers Rising: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood by Jame Richards

This might just be the first book I've read so far for BFYA that has really surprised and moved me; I just loved the experience of reading it that much.  I've become a big fan of verse novels lately.  Maybe it's because I can get away with reading several verse novels in the span of a few hours, or maybe it's because some of them are just extraordinarily well-written.  This one certainly was.

In late 19th century, upstream from Johnstown, PA, there was a fancy mountain resort, attracting all the tycoons and high society types of the day.  (Think: the fancy rich people in first class on the Titanic.)  There we find teenage Celestia, our Rose Dewitt, if you will, well-breed and primed for cotillion next year.  One day out at the lake she meets Peter, a young man from downstream working-class Johnstown, who works at the hotel (and our Jack).  

Yes, my friends, this is a love story.  And like Titanic, it's set against the backdrop of an extraordinary disaster: the Johnstown Flood of 1889, which took the lives of just over 2,000 people.  Prior to 9/11, this was one of the biggest civilian disasters in the history of the United States.  Part survival story, part love story, you'll find it hard not to race through the pages as the water overflows the dam (which created the lake at the fancy resort) and the huge wave barrels down the river, affecting town after town on its way to Johnstown, where the most casualties occurred.

This is Jame Richards's debut novel, and I can tell you that I will be for sure running out to read her next book when it hits the shelves.  This a brilliant, exciting, heart-pounding story that will easily appeal to fans of Titanic style disaster-love stories, but so many others.  Definitely one of my top favorites from the 2010 publishing cycle.

When they're playing this bad... why bother?!

I know this is supposed to be about books and reading, but I need a moment to gripe here.  When the Red Sox are playing this bad (off to a 4-9 start and just got 4-game swept by one of their main rivals, the Rays), it's really all you can do.  It's hard to concentrate on reading a book a day when your mind keeps drifting off to the horrifying image of Bill Hall trying to catch a ball (sort of his job, but clearly, a bit of a problem right now), or of J.D. Drew trying to hit, or of any of our relief pitchers trying to make an out.

Right now I'm reading Dia Reeves' off-beat, oddly funny, and totally compelling Texan (!!??!) supernatural novel, Bleeding Violet.  (I'm not always a huge fan of all things supernatural, but this one's had me hooked since the start.)  Still, it's hard to keep my eyes glued to the page when I hear the crack of the bat and have to watch another Rays home run.

I know, it's April.  I know, they can't be this bad forever.  I just need to keep my nose to the page, get sucked into a story, and pretend the 4-9 start pure fantasy.  As unreal as monsters hiding in the windows.

Book Review- Keep Sweet by Michele Dominguez Greene

So, in my efforts to get back on track, I finished 3 books so far today.  And it's only 6:30 PM.  I could possibly squeeze in one more!  But I also have Lost and Glee, so probably not.

Anyway, I finished up Keep Sweet this morning and while writing up my BFYA notes, realized that I really liked it.  This should not be a huge surprise, since the FLDS church has been a subject of interest for me for awhile.  I read Carol Lynch Williams' The Chosen One last year and also Shelley Hrdlitschka's Sister Wife, and I'm a devoted fan of Big Love.  Needless to say, I found it slightly, umm... awesome that Michele Dominguez Greene has acted in Big Love.

Keep Sweet is a slight novel (not much more than 200 pages) that follows Alva Jane, a member of the FLDS community called Pineridge.  Alva Jane grew up not questioning FLDS, but then again, it was her entire world, from her schooling to her parenting, her friends, everything.  Yet at the same time, she had to know, somewhere in her, that it was not okay to pick out her own future husband: her secret boyfriend Joseph John.  That's the prophet's job.  The thing is, keeping sweet, well, it's the secret to everything in Pineridge.  It's the only way to keep everything going as it always has been.  The women must "keep sweet," they must marry the men the prophet has picked out for them, they must produce many children, and they must start doing this as soon as they begin menstruating.

Somehow, Alva Jane seemed to think she could circumvent their way of life, that she could leave with Joseph John when he went off to college at BYU.

Alva Jane was wrong.

What follows is the horrifying but trying story of how she attempts to get out.  It seems that everything -- and I do mean everything-- is standing in the way of her making a break for it.  What seems to work so well for young men to break out of the community (or more often, get kicked out) only leads to more abuse.  As troubling as this story is, it's even more troubling to think that this is still something going on in the United States.  That there are girls like Alva Jane, who know nothing more, who have never been educated about their choices, who have never heard of "age of consent" laws, who must, well, "keep sweet."

This is a powerful story that will easily appeal to people (like myself) who are interested in these seemingly crazy subcultures that I have trouble believing still exist in the United States, but also, for anyone interested in a story of a teen trying so hard to beat the odds.

Also read today: Broken Memory by Elisabeth Combres (Groundwood Books) and Sweet, Hereafter by Angela Johnson (S&S)

I was going to blog today but...

I was going to blog today but...
...the Red Sox were losing to the Twins (and what has happened to Jon Lester?)
...the Life Unexpected season finale was too amazing and I can't focus on anything else
...I'm worried about Leonard and Penny
...I had to go out for a run
...I had to renew my driver's license
...I had to read the last manuscript for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest since the review is due tomorrow and it's 350 pages
...I had to pet the kitty
...I had to eat the leftover Easter candy
...I've only read 6 books so far in April because I've been so busy looking for apartments and moving
...I look at all the books sitting in boxes and piles in the other room and I can't even believe that these were all sent to me, to read.  It's overwhelming!  (In a good way!)

There was this Mercer Mayer book I had as a kid, one of the Little Critter ones, where Little Critter is telling you about what he meant to do, and what he did instead.  It exactly captures how I feel right now.  That despite my best efforts, I cannot seem to fit all the things I need to and want to do into the given day.  Like my manuscript, waiting to be edited and updated from my trip to Eugene.  Still waiting!  And it's not the only thing, let me tell you.  So, if blog postings are a little sparse over the next week, it's because I'm getting stuff done.  Reading books, 2 a day starting tomorrow for as long as I can go until life throws something else my way.

For now, I leave you with this.  My immediate to-read pile.  There are also to-read boxes.  Oh boy!

RIYL Gilmore Girls and Life Unexpected

I don't know about you, but I love me some (bad grammar?) former teenage parent plot lines.  Own more than one season of Gilmore Girls?  Check!  DVR Life Unexpected?  Check!

If that sounds like you, you're probably going to enjoy Natasha Friend's latest book and YA debut, For Keeps.  Like Rory and Lux, Josie Gardner's mother is roughly sixteen years older than her.  But unlike Lux, her mother Kate never gave her up for adoption, thus allowing daughter and former teen parent to have unspeakably close bonds and the ability for guys in town to view her mom as a bit of a MILF.  Josie grew up never knowing about her father.  All she knows is that he moved away after finding out that her mom was pregnant with her, and that her mom never heard anything else afterwards.  Kate is touchy about her past, we learn, as she freaks out in the grocery store upon realizing that her former boyfriend and the father of her child's parents are on the other side of the aisle.  She hasn't seen or heard from them in since Josie's conception.

Suddenly, there's a real possibility that Josie could get to know her other set of grandparents, and even her father.  And everything's up in question.

This intergenerational story set in Western Mass (which I appreciate, having grown up there) has massive appeal for daughter and mothers alike.  I don't want to reveal anything else about the book, but by the lead in you can tell that this is a year that has some major changes in store for Josie.  Definitely recommended reading for anyone currently enjoying Life Unexpected or former GG fanatics.

The true test awaits

Here we are, on the 94th day of the year, the day when everything changes.  So far, I have read 82 books (will hopefully have read 83 by the end of the day, it's only 10:30 a.m. in California right now).  I'm slightly off pace for a book a day, but not by much, considering that earlier this year I also read some adult fiction.  I'm trying to focus on this year's YA as more and more comes out, but there were times where my choices weren't fabulous, and I read a few from 2009 that I had missed.  Anyway, the point is, today, everything changes.

Today is Opening Day for the Boston Red Sox.  Since I became an adult with more free time (i.e. no homework filling up my evenings), I have pretty much devoted myself to the Red Sox, watching or closely following on Gameday, every single game, from the Opening Day until (every year, fingers crossed) the post-season games in October.  That was before I set the goal of reading over 300 books a year.  

So, today begins the ultimate test.  Can I read a book a day and watch the Red Sox, every game?  I know Stephen King has mastered the art of reading books during Red Sox games.  But let's face it, I don't sit around comparing myself to Stephen King.

Can I read these

while also watching this?

Can I do this?

And this?

At the same time?

We'll see.  Starting today, at 5 p.m. PST.