Showing posts with label children's books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children's books. Show all posts

Friday, January 1, 2021

Reading in 2020 Vision

Last year I was actually able to meet all 24 of Book Riot's 2019 Read Harder challenges, so I figured why not try for it again in 2020? And unlike for 2019, most of the 2020 challenges actually sounded interesting and potentially like actual challenges.

Due to the global pandemic, I read a lot more e-books than usual, which made some of the challenges based on page numbers a little more tricky as "pages" in e-books can be more or fewer than the same book in print. So I tried to base my titles for those challenges on what the print book length was in my library's catalog record.

Once again, my book tastes include children's, teen, graphic, and audio book titles. Every one of those is a valid reading choice, and I have no interest in those who want to argue otherwise. In fact, in some cases, those were requirements of the challenge!

As always, I link to my LibraryThing reviews of each book; click on the titles for more on my thoughts and feelings for each title. Just because I include a title here does not mean I enjoyed it and/or recommend it.

Some titles would fit into multiple categories but I tried as much as possible to contain them to one "best fit" category. However, I did put multiple titles under some challenges if they fit the category and were not used elsewhere.

In the end, I was able to meet 23 of the 24 categories, a respectable achievement even if not a perfect one. For most of the categories, I actually read several titles that fit that challenge. For the one challenge I didn't meet and for the titles that were more of a stretch, I'm not overly concerned because most of these challenges were ones I had done already in the past and will likely do again in the future; it just wasn't in the cards for this year. 

While overall I enjoyed doing this challenge again this year, I'm not sure that I will do it again next year. There are already so many reading commitments on my plate between book clubs and awards committee work, and this sometimes feels like another assignment, leaving me with no time to read books entirely for personal enjoyment and no other reason/deadline.

Without any further ado, here are the 24 challenges and the titles I read to meet them in 2020.

1. Read a YA nonfiction book
Super You is one of those stretch books; the author's introduction says it is for teens to women in their 40s, which is a pretty big range.

2. Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color
On Beauty is a loose retelling of E.M. Forster's Howards End for the new millennium, with a cast consisting largely of Black characters. More to the Story is a middle-grade novel that is a modern retelling of Little Women with a group of Pakistani-American sisters. Pippa Park Raises Her Grade is another middle-grade book; this one loosely uses the framework of Great Expectations to structure its narrative of a Korean-American girl trying to fit in. A Song Below Water features two Black teenaged protagonist who live in an America where mythical creatures such as sirens exist, but those mythos are often different from the traditional ones; for instance, being an eloko makes one beloved rather than feared.

3. Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman
Blue Monday by Nicci French is perhaps a bit of a stretch book as well; the description said it was about a missing male child, but the prologue opens up on a missing female child.

 4. Read a graphic memoir

5. Read a book about a natural disaster

6. Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author

7. Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII
Set in the 1st century AD, the 1960s, the 1950s, and the 1980s, respectively. I'm not sure if I'm ready to accept the 1980s as "historical fiction," but if the shoe fits...

8. Read an audiobook of poetry
  • Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson 

9. Read the LAST book in a series
Hush Hush is the twelfth book in a series and there appear to be no other books in that series since this title's publication in 2015. So it seems to fit the bill here, although this is one of those 'letter of the law, not spirit of the law' situations because I believe the idea behind this prompt to finally finish a series you had started rather than accidentally picking up the last book in a series, as happened here. Murder at an Irish Christmas is the most recent (October 2020) book of the Murder in an Irish... series but it won't actually be the last forever, as there is Murder in an Irish Bookshop scheduled for release in February 2021.

 10. Read a book that takes place in a rural setting It seems like Book Riot is considering things set in small towns as "rural" as well, so this challenge was not as difficult as I thought it might be. These are set in small towns in these places, respectively:
  • Norway (a remote mountain village is the tableau for this tale)
  • Alaska (a town with a small population is the reason for this true tale)
  • Ireland/Indiana/Ohio (being in a small town plays a big role in these mysteries)
  • Ireland (same as above)
  • Minnesota (the woods and preserving them are a central part of this book)
  • Vermont (a dairy farm is the setting for the majority of this book)
  • Florida/Montana (nature, particularly wild and endangered animals, are critical to this story)
  • New Mexico (NM being a U.S. territory at the time plays a significant role in the plot)
  • Vermont? (a hobby farm is featured in this story; I don't think a specific location is ever given but the author lives in Vermont so I assume it was set there)
  • Sweden (assorted farms, forests, and other rural places are the backdrop for this magic story)

11. Read a debut novel by a queer author

12. Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own The C.S. Lewis books are actually quotations-style books, not strictly memoirs. But many of the quotations are direct from his more autobiographical books. Those are some real streeeetch ones. Pure is part memoir, part interviews, and part statistics -- all compelling.

 13. Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before
This is maybe one of those stretch books, as the BookRiot recommendations for this challenge all seem to be nonfiction rather than a YA anthology of magical realism. But food was a big part of this book and it embraced several cuisines that I wasn't well-versed in previously.

 14. Read a romance starring a single parent

15. Read a book about climate change
After reading Wilder Girls, which was on Book Riot's suggested list for this challenge, I realized that "about climate change" was also being very loosely defined and therefore included The Last Man, which I had read earlier in 2020 but not specifically for this challenge.

 16. Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman
The hardcover edition is 496 pages while the paperback edition is 512 pages. So maybe cutting it close there, but I think it still counts. I ran out of time to read the book I initially intended to read here. It awaits me in the future...

 17. Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)

18. Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community
The communities are Jewish (times three), LGBT, Central American immigrants, Black/Asian immigrant families, and Black respectively. 

19. Read a book by or about a refugee
I was actually in the middle of reading The Night Diary already when I noticed it was on Book Riot's suggestions for this challenge ... lucky coincidence for me. The others I read later in the year also by coincidence. (Well, I intentionally read them all, but had another reason for reading them beyond this challenge.)

20. Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK
Listen, Slowly is set in Vietnam.

21. Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non)
The three Shane Burcaw books are nonfiction about the author's life with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Penguin Days is a fictional book that features a protagonist on the autism spectrum (because this challenge appears to be including neurodiversity and mental illness under the umbrella of "disability"). 

 22. Read a horror book published by an indie press

23. Read an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical)
  • Done in the past and likely to do in the future but was not done in 2020

24. Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author

 *Begun in 2019 but finished in 2020.
^Begun in 2020 but finished in 2021.
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Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Reading Harder in 2019

So at the end of last year, I said I probably wouldn't continue on with the 2019 "Read Harder" challenge from Book Riot because I wasn't that thrilled with the guideposts set for this year. However, very quickly into the first week of January, I realized I was already reading books that fit some of the categories. Well, once the game was afoot like that, I knew I was hooked. Every time I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. (Okay, I'm done with random book/movie quotes now.)

I still maintain that some of this year's prompts are just plain dumb (Goodreads reviews are meaningless to me, for example), but some of them are interesting. Being a voracious reader of all types of books over many years, I think I have managed to read something that fits each of these categories before, but it's still fun to try out a challenge for the year.

Once again, my book tastes include children's, YA, graphic, and audio book titles. Every one of those is a valid reading choice, and I have no interest in those who want to argue otherwise. As always, I link to my LibraryThing reviews of each book; click on the titles for more on my thoughts and feelings for each title. Just because I include a title here does not mean I enjoyed it and/or recommend it.

 Some titles would fit into multiple categories but I tried as much as possible to contain them to one "best fit" category. However, I did put multiple titles under some challenges if they fit the category and were not used elsewhere.

In the end, I was able to meet all 24 of the 24 categories, which is the first time I've hit every mark with this challenge. And with time to spare! Helps to start early, me thinks.

Without any further ado, here are the 24 challenges and the titles I read to meet them in 2019.

1. An epistolary novel or collection of letters

2. An alternate history novel
An alternate World War II is in both books, although it's a smaller subplot within the latter as opposed to being the whole basis for the former. 


3. A book by a woman and/or AOC (Author of Color) that won a literary award in 2018

4. A humor book
North by Northwest is not actually a book but a recording of a stand-up routine. However, I found it my library's audiobook collection and, hey, what are books but storytelling anyway? I'm counting it. Especially because Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat? was supposedly a humor book, but wasn't actually funny! Feminasty was a humor book but is one of those 'laughing-so-we-don't-cry' types of comedy. 
5. A book by a journalist or about journalism
By a journalist, and about journalism. 


6. A book by an AOC set in or about space
This is one of those "streeeetch" books. The main character is obsessed with astronomy and rocket science in particular. He does go to a rocket festival and meet folks with similar interests. He even has a dog named Carl Sagan, named after the person he repeatedly refers to as his "hero." However, it takes place here on Earth and is about a lot of down-to-earth problems.


7. An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America
The book never really specifies where it's set beyond "the city." I presumed that references Mexico City, where the author was born and currently lives.


8. An #ownvoices book set in Oceania
This book is set primarily in New Zealand, with brief forays into Australia and Papua New Guinea.


9. A book published prior to January 1, 2019, with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads
I get that the idea is to the read an under-the-radar book instead of a buzzed about one (pardon my mixed metaphors), but I still think this is a dumb “challenge.” Who cares about Goodreads reviews?

In the end, I included one book just to tick this challenge off, but it was literally the one and only book I read this year that I bothered to look at the Goodreads number for (and I merely glanced at the number of reviews, didn't bother to read any). I was reading this book anyway at the time I decided to look at the Goodreads number, so it's not like this prompt actually challenged me in any way, shape, or form. What a waste of a "challenge."

And, for all I know, plenty of other books I read this year would have fit into this non-challenge. I just didn't care enough to look up any other titles via Goodreads.


 10. A translated book written by and/or translated by a woman
Written by a woman, and translated by a woman.


11. A book of manga
A manga series I actually like! Who knew? Not me, if I hadn't done this challenge!


12. A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character
Yup, I'm using the same series for two categories. Oh well. At least I am using different volumes. Chi is an adorable kitten who is the protagonist of this manga series.

Fox 8 was on Book Riot's list of recommended titles for this challenge and it sounded interesting to me, but it's worth noting that it's actually a short story, not a full-length book or even a novella. 
13. A book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse
In his memoir, Eddie Izzard discusses his dyslexia, amongst many other topics. As a nice compare and contrast, Fish in a Tree is a fictional account of a schoolgirl with dyslexia, written by an author was says "my own life inspired the story. Although I’ve never been tested for dyslexia, I have been suspicious that I have at least a touch of it. I was in the lowest reading group in grades one through six."

The Kiss Quotient is a romance novel with a protagonist who has Asperger syndrome; the author is also on the autism spectrum. Superstar is a middle-grade novel about a child on the autism spectrum; Rules also features a child with a diagnosis of autism, although he is the protagonist's younger brother.


14. A cozy mystery

15. A book of mythology or folklore

16. An historical romance by an AOC

17. A business book
I would not have thought of this as a "business book" (my mind conjured up tomes about how to run a corporation), but I'm glad that Book Riot had it on their suggested list because I loved it and told many other folks about the story it contained. 


18. A novel by a trans or nonbinary author
Technically, it's a book of short stories, rather than a novel. But it's still fiction, so I think it's close enough for this challenge.


19. A book of nonviolent true crime
I would not have thought of this book as a "true crime" book if I had picked it up independently, but Book Riot listed it as a suggestion for this prompt. It sounded interesting -- and it was!


20. A book written in prison
This was a bit of a stretch because she was out of prison when it was written, but she does discuss her time there, so I'm counting it as a close enough.
21. A comic by an LGBTQIA creator

22. A children’s or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009
  • Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt (2016 Schneider Family Book Award Winner)
  • A Moon for Moe and Mo by Jane Breskin Zalben (2018 Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor Book for Younger Readers)

23. A self-published book

24. A collection of poetry published since 2014
This children's poetry anthology was published in 2018.


Here's to happy reading ahead in 2020!


*Begun in 2018 but finished in 2019.
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Saturday, December 31, 2016

"Read Harder," Take Two

Last year I enjoyed taking on Book Riot's 2015 "Read Harder" challenge, nearly hitting every mark in the challenge. (See the full details of my wrangle with the challenge here.) So I was excited to see that they were doing a second year of the challenge, and decided to start right away in January this time.

Despite this early start, I ended up doing less well with hitting all the marks than I did last year. Changes in my career and personal life resulted in reduced free time for reading, a shorter commute (less time for audiobooks), and a book club responsibility that dictated some of my reading choices for me. So out of the 24 categories, I was only able to meet 16 -- more than half but not particularly great. What can I say other than there's always next year...

Here are the 24 categories from the 2016 challenge and the books (with links to my reviews) that I read for each category. For the most part, I tried not to repeat books even if they fell into multiple categories, instead picking the "best fit" category in which to place them.

Yes, once again, I stretched here and there to meet a goal, doing things like including children's literature. But again, if you don't like children's literature, I'm not sure that we can be friends. :)
1) Read a horror book
2) Read a nonfiction book about science
3) Read a collection of essays
A bit of a stretch, but I did view this memoir as more of a loose collection of essays than a strict beginning, middle, and end kind of book.

4) Read a book out loud to someone else
Perhaps not what the designers of this challenge were thinking of, but I read these books aloud several times to numerous audiences and loved throwing myself into the various voices every time! (And I also read aloud many, many, many other children's books throughout the year.)

5) Read a middle grade novel
6) Read a biography (not memoir or autobiography)
7) Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel
8) Read a book originally published in the decade you were born
 9) Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award
10) Read a book over 500 pages long
  • The Art of Fielding by Chad Harding*
11) Read a book under 100 pages
12) Read a book by or about a person that identifies as transgender

13) Read a book that is set in the Middle East

14) Read a book that is by an author from Southeast Asia

15) Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900
16) Read the first book in a series by a person of color

17) Read a non-superhero comic that debuted in the last three years
18) Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie. Debate which is better
  • Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James & Death Comes to Pemberley, starring Matthew Rhys, Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Goode, and Jenna Coleman [Screen version better]
  • Laura by Vera Caspary & Laura, starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, and Vincent Price [Book version better]
 19) Read a nonfiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes

20) Read a book about religion (fiction or nonfiction)
21) Read a book about politics, in your country or another (fiction or nonfiction)

22) Read a food memoir

23) Read a play
24) Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness

I must admit I wasn't necessarily thrilled with some of the individual touch points for this year's challenge. While last year had some arguably too-broad topics (e.g., graphic novel), this year's challenge became arbitrarily too specific (e.g., non-superhero graphic novel published within the last three years). I appreciate that the challenge's designers were looking to broaden people's understanding of graphic novels beyond Batman and Superman, but the "debuted in the last three years" part was a silly addition in my opinion. What's the point of that? I read a ton of great non-superhero comics this year that I couldn't include here because they were published in 2006 or 2012 or what-have-you. Finding ones that actually fit the category were just dumb luck after picking up graphic novels I was going to read anyway, and it turns out I liked some of those ones less than the others that were slightly older.

Some other categories were also a little too specific for my liking (e.g., read the first book in a series by a person of color -- why a series? why the first book?), but overall I like the idea of pushing oneself to read books that might otherwise have passed you by because you were too busy reading the same old, same old stuff you usually do. Once again, I'll be looking forward to next year's challenge and seeing what new reads lie ahead.

*Books began, but not finished, in 2016. 
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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Miss JJ Tackles the "Read Harder" Challenge

A friend of mine has been blogging throughout the year about the Book Riot's 2015 Read Harder Challenge. I found the challenge intriguing (although I maintain that its name could use something more accurate, as it is a challenge about reading more broadly, not necessarily "harder," whatever that vague nomenclature means), so I've been checking in throughout the year to see how I'm doing on it meeting all its criteria.

That being said, I also have to admit I didn't go too far out of my way much to pick up books that fit into 24 categories laid out by Book Riot, somewhat defeating the purpose of the challenge. Still, I'm glad to find that my usual reading habits - fueled by personal and automatic recommendations, various review sources, advanced reader copies, and book club choices - actually make for a pretty well-rounded reading experience.

As you can see, out of the 24, I was able to tackle 23 - nearly all, which I'm chalking up as a win, even if some titles were a bit of a stretch. I ended up using some picture books to fill a couple of categories but, hey, don't knock children's literature if you want to be friends with me! :)  Of those tasks that I didn't get to this year or stretched to meet, I have read those types of works in the past, so I feel okay about not hitting those marks in 2015 specifically.

Below is a list of the 24 categories from Book Riot's challenge, followed by the books (with links to my personal reviews) I read this year that fit into that particular category. Throughout the year, I ended up reading more than one book from certain categories; however, if a book fit into more than one category, I kept it within just the "best fit" category. So an audiobook by an author from Africa went under the latter category (which would otherwise be empty) rather than going in the former category that already had a few contributions.

My hope with this post is that you might find some books of interest to you and/or find some titles from any of these 24 tasks that you weren't able to complete - or did complete and are now hungry for more books from the same category! But please note that I'm not necessarily recommending all of these books whole-heartedly; in fact, some were very bad reads in my opinion. So buyer beware - read the reviews before you make a decision on a title that catches your fancy.

1) A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25
2) A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
(These first two tasks were the most difficult because books don't generally list an author's age at the time of the writing. It's possible I read more books that fit these categories but was unaware of it. In some cases, it's very difficult to learn the age of an author at all unless they are very famous author ... which usually doesn't happen under the age of 25!)

3) A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people)
4) A book published by an indie press
(Like with #1 and #2, this was a rather difficult one because it's not really something I'm consciously aware of when picking a book. It's possible I read other books that fit this category during the year, but I didn't quite realize it at the time.)

5) A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ
6) A book by a person whose gender is different from your own
(NOT reading a book written by a man would be the greater challenge. There were many others that fit this category, but I didn't feel inclined to list them all. I chose these two because with the time period they were written in, 1940 and 1929, respectively, they are more male centric than others simply written by a man. Suffice to say, this task "challenge" was met several times over. And over again. Many of those books are listed here elsewhere.)
7) A book that takes place in Asia
(Note: None of these take place fully in Asia, but they do have numerous scenes set in Japan and Malaysia amongst the three of them.)
8) A book by an author from Africa
9) A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
10) A microhistory
11) A YA novel
12) A sci-fi novel
13) A romance novel
14) A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade
15) A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)
  • Emma by Alexander McCall Smith (modernization of Emma by Jane Austen)
  • Jack Maggs by Peter Carey (parallel novel to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens) *
16) An audiobook
17) A collection of poetry
18) A book that someone else has recommended to you
19) A book that was originally published in another language
20) A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind
21) A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realize that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over)
22) A book published before 1850
(Okay, yeah, you got me - This was a re-read. But it's been around a decade since I read it last, plus this time I went with an audio version rather than a printed copy. So, kind of like new?)

23) A book published this year
24) A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)

* These were books that I started this year but did not finish by the end of it. Hence why there is no link to a review. [This post was updated February 2016 to add a linked review for Jack Maggs. And again ... finally ... in July 2016 to add a linked review for Salt: A World History.]

As the year comes to a close tonight, I'm glad that I worked on this challenge during 2015 and am looking forward to trying out the 2016 challenge! Happy new year and new reading to all. :)
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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Drum-roll Please, Here They Are ... The Best Books of the Year!

Well, it's that time of year again! Everyone is making their "best of" year-end review lists, and I am no exception. As I've done for the past few years, I'm rounding up here the best books of 2014.

The list is once again broken up into two categories - children's books and books for adults. Although it seems like ages ago already, I was working in a day care for the first half of this year so the list is rather heavy on board books and picture books this year. These are all great reads to share with your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, etc.

On this list, graphic novels are indicated by this symbol ^ after the title, and nonfiction titles are noted with a ** after the name. Any books that were re-reads for me have a (2) after the title. As these books are all great, I did not further rank them; the list order is not be taken as such a representation. Rather, it is organized alphabetically for ease of use. All the books are linked to my LibraryThing reviews of them so you can find out more information about that book and why I've chosen to place it on this list.

Please note, as always, this list does not necessarily represent books published in 2014 but rather books that I read throughout the year. These are the books I enjoyed the most and/or lingered in my mind the longest after finishing them. Hopefully this list will prompt you to pick up some books gathering dust on your shelf or give you some new recommendations for great reads - for you or for the children in your life!

Miss JJ's Best Books of 2014

 Adult

 Before Watchmen: Nite Owl/Dr. Manhattan^ by J. Michael Straczynski
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
The Biting Solution: The Expert's No-Biting Guide for Parents, Caregivers, and Early Childhood Educators** by Lisa Poelle
The Bridge by Iain Banks
Dr. Seuss from Then to Now** by the San Diego Museum of Art
The Guy Not Taken: Stories by Jennifer Weiner
Let's Pretend This Never Happened** by Jenny Lawson
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith
The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits** by Les Standiford
The Oscar Wilde Collection by Oscar Wilde
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
These Few Precious Days: The Final Year of Jack with Jackie** by Christopher Andersen
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Twelve Years a Slave** by Solomon Northup
Unbroken** by Lauren Hillenbrand
Watchmen as Literature** by Sara J. Van Ness
The Wordy Shipmates** by Sarah Vowell
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood


Children's

 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss
Are You My Mother? (2) by P.D. Eastman
Big Dog, Little Dog by P.D. Eastman
The Birthday Box/Mi Caja de Cumpleanos by Leslie Patricelli
Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin
Bugs Galore by Peter Stein
The Cat in the Hat (2) by Dr. Seuss
Circle, Square, Moose by Kelly L. Bingham
Colors versus Shapes by Mike Boldt
Dear Zoo (2) by Rod Campbell
D Is for Dragon Dance by Ying Chang Compestine
Do You Know Pippi Longstocking? (2) by Astrid Lindgren
A Drop of Rain by Wong Herbert Lee
The Dark by Lemony Snicket
Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly by Jane O'Connor
Fancy Nancy's Marvelous Mother's Day Brunch by Jane O'Connor
A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer
Five Green and Speckled Frogs by Priscilla Burris
Five Little Ducks by Raffi
Frog and Toad Are Friends (2) by Arnold Lobel
Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather by Bruce Koscielniak
Gerald McBoing Boing by Dr. Seuss
Go to Sleep, Groundhog by Judy Cox
Happy St. Patrick's Day, Curious George! by H.A. Rey
Help! We Need a Title! by Herve Tullet
Honk! Honk! by Mick Manning
Honk, Honk, Goose! by April Pulley Sayre
Huggy Kissy by Leslie Patricelli
I Can Lick Thirty Tigers Today! by Dr. Seuss
I Love My Daddy Because ... (2) by Laurel Porter-Gaylord
I Took the Moon for a Walk (2) by Carolyn Curtis
I Was Kissed by a Seal at the Zoo by Helen Palmer
The Journey by Sarah Stewart
Just Say Boo! by Susan Hood
Katie and the Spanish Princess by James Mayhew
Katie and the Starry Night (2) by James Mayhew
Katie and the Sunflowers by James Mayhew
Katie Meets the Impressionists by James Mayhew
Katy Duck Is a Caterpillar by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear by David Bruins
The Library by Sarah Stewart
L'il Rabbit's Kwanzaa by Donna L. Washington
Look, Listen, Taste, Touch, and Smell: Learning about Your Five Senses** by Pamela Hill Nettleton
Mix It Up! by Herve Tullet
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? (2) by Dr. Seuss
My Many Colored Days (2) by Dr. Seuss
No Biting! by Karen Katz
No More Biting for Billy Goat! by Bernadette Ford
No More Hitting for Little Hamster! by Bernadette Ford
No No Yes Yes by Leslie Patricelli
The Number 2 (Numbers in My World) by Ella Hawley
The Number 3 (Numbers in My World) by Ella Hawley
The Number 4 (Numbers in My World) by Ella Hawley
Oh, The Places He Went: A Story about Dr. Seuss** by Maryann N. Weidt
One Moose, Twenty Mice by Clare Beaton
One Smart Goose by Caroline Jayne Church
Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me by Eric Carle
Press Here (2) by Herve Tullet
Purple Sock, Pink Sock by Jonathan Allen
Quiet Loud by Leslie Patricelli
Scratch and Sniff Shopping by DK Publishing
A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play by Marilyn Singer
Teeth Are Not for Biting by Elizabeth Verdick
Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
Ten Grouchy Groundhogs by Kathryn Heling
Touch the Art: Brush Mona Lisa's Hair by Julie Appel
Touch the Art: Feed Matisse's Fish by Julie Appel
Touch the Art: Make Van Gogh's Bed by Julie Appel
Up the Steps, Down the Slide by Jonathan Allen
Visit to the Dentist by Eve Marleau
Whatever After: Fairest of All by Sarah Mlynowski
Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli
Zero the Hero by Joan Holub
Z Is for Moose by Kelly L. Bingham
Happy reading my friends and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!!


Key:
^ = Graphic novel
** = Nonfiction title
(2) = A book I re-read
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Sunday, January 5, 2014

Happy New Year! The Best Books of the Past Year (2013)

So perhaps it's a bit ironic that my last entry was titled in part "We Had the Greatest Expectations" as I had the greatest expectations of staying more on top of updating this blog. Alas, several months past with radio silence from me. While I've been at least occasionally doing some arts and entertainment type things I'd like to share with you all (or you all who are still kicking around here from time to time), I've been short on time to ever write about any of it. Now that it's a new year, I won't make the same mistake as before of promising to make updates more timely as, let's face it, that's not my forte. But I did want to pop in for a quick post with the obligatory year-end list (although it's now already the new year!). As I have done for the past few years, I'm providing here a quick list of the books I found the most compelling reads during 2013. Note, as always, these are not necessarily books released during 2013, simply books that I read during the last year and that have stuck with me. Hopefully this selection might prompt you to pick up some new books for your TBR pile!

Without any further ado, here's the list itself. It's broken down into two major categories: adult books and children's/YA books. Graphic novels and nonfiction books are indicated by these symbols respectively: ^ and **. Any books that I was re-visiting for a second read are marked with a (2) after the title. Each title is hyperlinked to my review of it on LibraryThing for anyone looking for more information on that particular book.

The Best Books of 2013
 
Adult

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Collected Stories by Graham Greene
The Dinner by Herman Koch
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic**^ by Alison Bechdel
The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper Clubs by Dana Bate
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
Maus: A Survivor's Tale**^ by Art Spiegelman
Murder at the Frankfurt Bookfair by Hubert Monteilhet
We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver


Children's/Young Adult

123 versus ABC by Mike Boldt
Bear and Bee by Sergio Ruzzier
Fancy Nancy and the Boy from Paris (2) by Jane O'Connor
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rosseau** by Michelle Markel
How Are You Peeling? by Joost Elffers
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion by Mo Willems
What's So Terrible about Swallowing an Appleseed? by Harriet Lerner


** = nonfiction
(2) = re-read
^ = graphic novel

Happy reading to all and to all a good night!
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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Best Books of 2012


Sadly, I haven’t been updating this blog as much as I would like lately, although I’ve been doing plenty of arts and entertainment things I would love to tell you all about … someday.

Last year, I managed to be on time for a change and got in under the wire with my end-of-the-year roundup of everything I had been reading. This year, however,  I have been particular neglectful of this blog and even though I was keeping notes on what I thought were the best books I read this year, I’m only just now finally culling that list.

Let it be noted that while I’m calling this the best books of 2012, most – if not all – of these books were written prior to that time period. It’s just that I finally got around to reading these books during 2012.

Unlike last year, I read very few young adult novels this year, so I collapsed children’s and YA books into one category, listed here underneath the adult books I read. Graphic novels and nonfiction books are indicated by these symbols respectively: ^ and **. Any books that I was re-visiting for a second read are marked with a (2) after the title.

Hopefully anyone reading this blog and looking to tackle that next read can glean some new titles from this list. Each title is hyperlinked to my review of it on LibraryThing for anyone looking for more information on that particular book.

Adult books

1984 (2) by George Orwell
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Batman: The Long Halloween^ by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
The Beach Bum’s Guide to the Boardwalks of New Jersey** by Dick Handshuch and Sal Marino
Cranford (2) by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath
The Colossus and Other Poems by Sylvia Plath
Frankfurt Pocket Guide** by Thomas Cook Publishing
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café (2) by Fannie Flagg
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris** by David McCollough
The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler
Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose and Diary Excerpts** by Sylvia Plath
A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages** by Kristin Chenoweth with Joni Rodgers
Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse by Lee Goldberg
Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars** edited by Rob Thomas
Psych: A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read by William Rabkin
Psych: Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin
The Question: Pipeline^ by Greg Rucka and Cully Hamner
Sleeper: Season 1^ by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Sleeper: Season 2^ by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Winter Trees by Sylvia Plath
What I Did by Chris Wakling

Children’s/YA books

Being Teddy Roosevelt by Claudia Mills and R.W. Alley
Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia** by Jeanette Winter
A Boy Called Dickens** by Deborah Hopkinson and John Hendrix
Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman** by Marc Tyler Nobleman
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
Fannie in the Kitchen: The Whole Story from Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements by Deborah Hopkinson and Nancy Carpenter
The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum** by Candace Fleming
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems
Library Lily by Gillian Shields and Francesca Chessa
A Little Princess (2) by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rules, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought)** by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt
Mice and Beans by Pam Munoz Ryan and Joe Cepeda
Peek-a-Baby: A Life-the-Flap Book by Karen Katz
The Penny Pot by Stuart J. Murphy and Lynne Woodcock Cravath
Tickle Time! by Sandra Boynton
Where Is Baby’s Birthday Cake? by Karen Katz
Where the Wild Things Are (2) by Maurice Sendak

** = nonfiction
(2) = re-read
^ = graphic novel
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Saturday, March 31, 2012

Fighting for Survival: The Hunger Games


Hello blogger friends! I know it’s been some time since I’ve updated last, but I haven’t forgotten about you!! The past month or so I’ve been so caught up with work that I’ve hardly had any time to do anything arts and entertainment related, let alone have time to write about it. But I’m now back and hoping to backtrack to some of the things that have happened in the past month. I’m starting with the most recent in the hopes that it will be the most relevant.

With that, it’s time to talk about The Hunger Games! Yes, those Hunger Games that have dominated all the pop culture channels lately. I read the first book back in my YA lit course for grad school and, like most of my classmates, moved on to the second book as quickly as possible … and then sadly had to wait for the third book to be released! Once it was out, I devoured that book as well. All that being said though, I had some concerns about the books, and I was fairly apprehensive when I heard that a movie version was in the works. A movie seemed to me the worse idea for this concept – it would be too violent and too much like the reality show known as the Hunger Games that the books are criticizing.

But when the movie’s trailer came out, it seemed like it was going to be fairly good adaptation of the book. However, the trailer ended the story right at the part where Katniss is entering the arena, so my fears about all the gore to follow were still not assuaged. Soon the movie was getting all kinds of buzz (mostly good; for instance, this article with the sub-head of “Just go see it.”) and knowing that the author had been on board as a screenwriter also was a plus. So when a friend asked if I wanted to see the movie on opening weekend, I decided to go for it and hope for the best.

[Please be aware that in discussing the film, I will reveal some spoilers. If you haven’t read the books and/or seen the film yet and you want to go in without having anything given away, you’ll want to stop here and come back later.]

Overall, it was a fairly decent adaptation of a book, although our little group of movie-goers felt that if we hadn’t read the book beforehand, we might have missed out on a lot of the underlying story. Since it was such a concern of mine going in, it’s worth noting early on that the movie dealt with the violence well – it was not too gory like I feared but it still got across the idea that this was a bloodbath and not something we’d want to emulate. For instance, the opening scene in the arena was shot in quick sequences that showed there knife fights going on along with some accompanying blood, but mostly it cut from one fight to the next so quickly that you didn’t get too much up close and grisly details. (To be honest, it was better than a lot of episodes of Criminal Minds actually, and I’d like to point out to that show’s producers/writers that this movie is a perfect example of how you can get the creepy point across without being overly explicit. As much as I like that show for its characters and psychology, they can be totally over the top in the amount of blood and gore they feel the need to display. Side rant now done; proceed on to The Hunger Games review continued.)

Likewise, the movie started out with a number of quick shots, trying to tell visually and succinctly that District 12 was a poor, starving town. I think it got that point across, especially in contrast with the later scenes in the Capitol. Still, as I mentioned above, even in a two and an half hour long movie, there was still so much left out and left unsaid. For instance, Madge doesn’t give Katniss the mockingjay pin; instead it’s just some little trinket that Katniss picks up. Even though this seems like a small change, this is huge in my opinion because it changes the symbolism, and as anyone who has read all three of the books already knows, the mockingjay increasingly becomes an important symbol to Katniss and the rest of the districts. Another significant change is that when Gale says he and Katniss should make a run for it and live in the woods, it’s after they’ve seen the hovercraft but, unlike in the book, they do not see the capture of the people that the craft is chasing. For people who haven’t read the book, I would imagine they are thinking at the moment, why don’t Gale and Katniss just head for the hills then? I also didn’t think it was as obvious to non-readers that putting one’s name into the Reaping lottery multiple times meant more food or that winners of the Hunger Games not only live but are set for life then with food and shelter. It’s also unclear that Peeta’s action of throwing bread to Katniss was while she was starving to death and was the turn-around point in her life when she pulled herself together to start providing for her family. Again, this is a huge deal because, as Katniss explicitly says in the book, Peeta being a tribute along with her is probably her worse-case scenario (other than Gale being the male tribute). In fact, there was so much back story that could not be included in the movie that our whole little group felt that one entire movie could have been made of everything leading up to the arena, and the movie could ended there like the trailer did. We concluded that we would have all preferred a miniseries that would have allowed for much more detail.

When we get to the Capitol and the preparation for the games, there were again some really great visuals. There was one particularly haunting scene (an addition to the movie, not to be found in the book) where Haymitch watches a family in the Capitol – a young boy has just received a sword as a present from his parents and is chasing his sister around with it. It’s such a revealing glimpse into the mindset of the people of the Capitol for whom this death match really is just a game where they get to root for their favorites and then go home with no blood on their hands. Other great visuals include the fashion choices of the Capitol citizens, especially the nearly unrecognizable Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, which really makes you think about the absurdities of what we consider beauty. Obviously we don’t consider the Capitol’s “crazy” hairstyles and fashion choices our beauty, but stepping back objectively, the plastic surgeries and every else we do to change our natural states (i.e., plucking eyebrows, shaving legs, straightening or curling hair, applying makeup, wearing heels, etc.) must look crazy and absurd to an outsider. On that note, Katniss while in District 12 looks too clean and put together for a girl on the brink of poverty who spends her days in the woods hunting animals to feed herself and her family. It would make more sense when they prepared Katniss for the games by plucking her eyebrows and washing her skin and waxing her legs if her eyebrows weren’t already perfectly tweezed and her skin already glowing and her legs already bare. Sometimes Hollywood is so obsessed with showing ideal bodies that they can’t even give a less-than-perfect “before” for their make-over roles. Not giving any voice-overs to Katniss during this time (unlike the book where we are privy to all of her thoughts), I think viewer also misses out on how this is a critique of the celebrity image. Of course, I also thought the books could have been more explicit at times with this critique because sometimes it came across more as Katniss suddenly becoming a girly girl who felt like detailing every item in her new-found wardrobe.

The time in the arena itself seems to go pretty fast. While this makes sense in many respects (time constraints particularly, but also trying to downplay some of the gore so that the movie could still attract its core YA audience with a PG-13 rating), I think it undermines the point that is like a war for the teens who go into the games. It is not a blitz that comes and ends quickly; it is a long and trying, not to mention, traumatizing event that even the winners cannot come out of unscathed, physically or emotionally. As one person in our group put it, “There was no hunger in the Hunger Games.” This was true; unlike in the book, where Katniss isn’t just battling her fellow contestants but also starvation and dehydration, the movie version has Katniss finding food and water pretty easily. If I recall correctly, in the book weeks go by within the arena whereas in the movie it seemed only like four or five days.

The ending of the movie was a bit odd to me also. It puts less of a point on the danger that Katniss and Peeta are now in and that they have to keep up the “show” if they intend to keep alive. President Snow’s comments to Katniss are by no means as threatening as they could be and, unlike in the book, Peeta and Katniss seem blissfully unaware of any trouble on the horizon and are smiling happy together instead of an angry Peeta realizing that he was being used by Katniss in the arena. While movie series are always trying to leave a hook to pull the reader into the next movie, I was surprised that this movie did not take the bait that was left there by the book of uprisings in the districts and etc. to pull viewers back for the next one. A somewhat recent Slate article wonders how the third book will play out on the big screen; I’m more concerned about how the second one will as that was the weakest link in my opinion. And this first movie surprisingly left no clues as to how that one will play out.

All and all though, I was pleased with the movie, given the limitations of transferring a story from the medium of a book to the medium of film. So much of the book is in Katniss’s head that it’s hard to really get that to film, especially when the filmmakers decide to not have any voiceovers. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss is very good at expressing things without it being said, but still there’s much that left missing, and sometimes this leads to far too many close-ups of her face, especially in the beginning of the movie. Showing some other points of view helps to elucidate at times, especially when the gamemakers or Cesar step up to explain something. Some of the scenes between President Snow and Seneca Crane, however, just felt like too much. Considering all the parts that had to be sacrificed due to time limitations, I would have rather not had these scenes in their place. While I can no longer find where I read this, I also heard one critic rail that the movie made President Snow out to be “the” villain instead one of many complicit in this society, and I could see how these scenes would add fuel to that fire.

There were also some very emotional and touching scenes in the movie, like when Prim is called but Katniss volunteers or when Rue dies, both of which brought tears to my eyes. The young actors playing these characters were both great in their roles, as was nearly all of the rest of the actors in the movie. Woody Harrelson as Haymitch was the only exception. He was too much the caricature of the drunk in his first scene but then somehow after that he seems to have it all together. He’s really not the bitter and broken man that he is in the books – someone who has been ravaged by his time in the arena. I’ve mentioned it before but I think there can’t be too fine a point on that idea: Even when someone wins The Hunger Games, they are damaged by it. Like a solider, they suffer from PTSD and are never the same again. Again, I can’t remember where, but I recall reading that the Haymitch character was cleaned up somewhat for the movie to be more fitting for a YA audience, but I think it’s a disservice to the character and the themes of the story.

In terms of casting, I had a little concern about the diversity. No, I’m not saying that having an-all Caucasian cast was what I had in mind and having any black characters somehow ruined the movie, like a bunch of ignorant people have said. Quite the opposite – there were no Latino actors as far as I could see and there was only one character was possibly Asian. There was definitely some attempt to make sure some black actors were in the movie, but the choices seemed odd. For instance, when cutting to the scene of the uprising in District 11 after Rue’s death (one of those great moments in the movie when you get to know more than Katniss; she doesn’t find out about that uprising until the second book), we see that most of the people in the crowd there are black. It just seemed a poor choice (and fulfilling too many tired stereotypes that black people are more violent than other racial groups) to show a riot being largely conducted by black people against the dressed-all-in-white peacekeepers. Likewise, in the Capitol, it seems like the audience is largely white while the more servant-like roles (i.e., both Katniss’s and Peeta’s designers) are black, another old stereotypical movie role of the “mammy” character. It seems that the dystopian future is still stuck in a lot of old racial stereotypes. It’s not like any of us want to go live in Panem, with its yearly gruesome festival of sacrificing teenagers, but it’s not encouraging to find that even when looking forward to the future, we can’t imagine a world with a different view toward innate skin colors.
All that being said, I mostly agree with my friend who came away from the movie still feeling like she'd still recommend The Hunger Games books to many but was less sure about recommending the movie. I think I'd recommend the movie only to readers of the book, mostly for comparison purposes, but I'd tell non-readers that they absolutely had to read the book before even considering taking a trip to their local movie theater.
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