Puss Reboots: Blog: August 2011

August in Review: 08/31/11

In August I finished 44 books, up one books from July. We're back in school and have gotten back into the habit of reading picture books before bed. I haven't finished Fullmetal Alchemist but I've gone through all the xxxHolic volumes I can find. I plan to get back to reading more of Twin Spica and in finishing Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

My favorite novels were two YAs: Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder and The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade. My favorite picture books were On a Windy Night by Nancy Raines Day and Square Cat by Elizabeth Schoonmaker.

Twelve of my finished books (or 1/4 of the total reads) came off my wishlist, up from one last month. I had fewer wishlist library books go back unread. My ROOB score is down to a -2.43, putting it right where I normally am in my reading. As always, I'm mostly reading library books.

Books reviewed this month

Rating out of 5 stars (as posted on GoodReads)

Five Stars:

Angelfish by Laurence Yep
Azumanga Daioh Omnibus by Kiyohiko Azuma
The Doorbells for Florence by Andrew Losowsky
The Flotsam by David Wiesner
Fullmetal Alchemist 06 by Hiromu Arakawa
Gingerbread Girl by Paul Tobin
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman
Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand
Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
xxxHolic 02 by CLAMP
Yotsuba&! 01 by Kiyohiko Azuma

Four Stars:

10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert
Around the World with Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
Mr. Sweetpants and the Living Dead by Albert E. Cowdry
Nylon Road by Pasua Bashi
The Sign Painter by Allen Say

Three Stars:

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman
The Best Cat in the World by Lesléa Newman
Brain Thief by Alexander Jablokov
The Country Child by Alison Uttley
Donorboy by Brendan Halpin
The Falling Raindrop by Neil Johnson
Kraken by China Miéville
Mañana Iguana by Ann Whitford Paul
The Night Owls by Peter Timony
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
Yummy by G. Neri

Two Stars:

The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier

One Star:

Nick of Time by Ted Bell

Books and stories read this month (reviews coming)

Personal Collection

Bombardiers: A Novel by Po Bronson
Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff
Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford
Mind Snare by Gayle Greeno
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Library books

The Absolutely Awful Alphabet by Mordicai Gerstein
Angelina, Star of the Show by Katharine Holabird
Animal House by Candace Ryan
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (audio)
Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael Kaplan
Bulldog's Big Day by Kate McMullan
Curious George Goes to a Movie by Margret Rey
Disappearing Desmond by Anna Alter
Ernest, the Moose Who Doesn't Fit by Catherine Rayner
Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger
Eye of the Crow: His First Case by Shane Peacock
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 23 by Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 24 by Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 25 by Hiromu Arakawa
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
If Rocks Could Sing by Leslie McGuirk
I'm Going to Grandma's by Mary Ann Hoberman
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder
Libyrinth by Pearl North
Monkey Food: The Complete "I Was Seven in '75" Collection by Ellen Forney
Monkey Truck by Michael Slack
On a Windy Night by Nancy Raines Day
The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane Auch
Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
Square Cat by Elizabeth Schoonmaker
Tall Blondes: A Book About Giraffes by Lynn Sherr
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Volume 8 by CLAMP
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Volume 9 by CLAMP
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Volume 10 by CLAMP
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Volume 11 by CLAMP
The Twelve Bots of Christmas by Nathan Hale
The Wayside School Collection by Louis Sachar
The Wide-Awake Princess by E.D. Baker
The Wrong House: The Architecture of Alfred Hitchcock by Stephen Jacobs
Yoko's Show-and-Tell by Rosemary Wells

Review copy

Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker
The Days of the King by Filip Florian
That Day In September by Artie Van Why
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier

ROOB score

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The Sign Painter: 08/31/11

The Sign Painter by Allen Say is a semi-autobiographical picture book. When he was sixteen the author worked as a sign painter.

Here the story is about a boy (presumably Say) and the man (presumably his teacher). They start in the city but get a contract to paint billboards along an American highway. From the picturesque mesa filled landscape, it's probably route 66 or similar.

The artwork sucked me. It's one of those books with a striking cover and equally striking artwork on the inside. The paintings are done in the style of Edward Hopper. On page 32 there's even a passing homage to Hopper's "Night Hawks."

Four stars.

The Doorbells of Florence: 08/30/11

When I have some spending money I like to check the Friends of the Library book store at my library. There's bound to be a little treasure there waiting for me. One of those recent treasures was The Doorbells of Florence by Andrew Losowsky.

The book began as a series of Flickr photos of doorbells on a trip to Florence. The photos inspired some idle contemplation of what might be behind those doorbells. And that lead to some creative writing.

The result is a slim and utterly charming volume of one page what-if stories. Each story starts with a color photograph of a doorbell. As it's a short book, it can be read easily over a morning cup of coffee or while waiting in line. But it's one that has stuck with me. Everyone I've shared the book with has enjoyed it.

The book apparently went on to inspire a stage play. I've included the link to the story below.

Five stars.

A Thief of Time: 08/29/11

I've been reading Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries on and off since college — twenty years. I haven't them in order and while things do progress through the books, it doesn't really matter to the individual mysteries.

My most recent read, from my personal collection, was A Thief of Time. The title refers to grave robbery. It begins with an archeologist finding something remarkable on a site she might not have the permits for. She goes missing shortly after making her discovery.

Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee treat the case as both a homicide and a missing persons. She has been gone for so long she's probably dead but there isn't evidence to definitely push the investigation in that direction.

Mixed in with the mystery are reflections on Navajo beliefs about life and death. There's discussion of life on and off the res. and the disputed borders. Finally, there's the permitting issue: what can be explored and what can't.

As with all the other books I've read in the series, I found it a page turner. It was a good mix of thought provoking passages and mixed into an entertaining who-done-it.

Five stars.

What Are You Reading: August 29, 2011: 08/28/11

We've survived the first week of schools. While the kids got away with a week without homework, I wasn't so lucky! There are no homework free weeks in graduate school. Despite the homework I did finish The Ghost and the Goth and I'm about halfway through Dreaming in Hindi. Both are excellent.

I gave up on a review book, The Days of the King by Filip Florian. I'm not sure if I will write a review of it or not.

We finished Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. As the book is told completely from Dashti's point of view, through her diary, the book relies completely on her ability to carry the story. As an audio book, there are long sections that are poetic descriptions of things around her. The actress playing Dashti tended to over-emote these sections, making everything overly earnest. I think this is a case where the written version is probably better than the audio version.

My current audio book is I Am Not Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos. It's odd to say the least but I'm enjoying it.

I finished four manga volumes I had out from the library. I'm up to volume 26 of Fullmetal Alchemist and frankly, I'm ready for the series to end. The final battle is taking forever. In Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle I'm up to volume 12. Things there are starting to line up more with xxxHolic.

At night the picture book reading continues. My favorite picture book was Square Cat by Elizabeth Schoonmaker. The story is charming and the artwork is adorable. The weirdest picture book goes to Monkey Truck by Michael Slack; a monkey shaped truck saves the jungle from a tsunami.

I want to finish Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan and Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly. After that I'd like to start on The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer and The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff.

Gave Up On:

The Days of the King by Filip Florian (review copy)

Finished Last Week:

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (audio) (library book)
Curious George Goes to a Movie by H.A. Rey (library book)
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 24 by Hiromu Arakawa (library book)
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 25 by Hiromu Arakawa (library book)
If Rocks Could Sing by Leslie McGuirk (library book)
I'm Going to Grandma's by Mary Ann Hoberman (library book)
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade (library book)
Monkey Truck by Michael Slack (library book)
On a Windy Night by Nancy Raines Day (library book)
Square Cat by Elizabeth Schoonmaker (library book)
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Volume 10 by CLAMP (library book)
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Volume 11 by CLAMP (library book)
Yoko's Show-and-Tell by Rosemary Wells (library book)

Currently Reading:

Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly (personal collection)
Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich (library book)
Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan (library book)
I Am Not Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos (audio) (library book)
A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks (personal collection)
The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan (personal collection)

Reviews Posted:

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman (library book)
The Best Cat in the World by Lesléa Newman (library book)
Mañana Iguana by Ann Whitford Paul (library book)
Mr. Sweetpants and the Living Dead by Albert E. Cowdrey (personal collection)
Nylon Road by Parsua Bashi (library book)
10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert (library book)
Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (library book)

What Are You Reading

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Nylon Road: 08/28/11

The graphic novel format has become an inviting medium for women to write their memories. Parsua Bashi's memoir, Nylon Road is another tale of growing up female in Iran. Readers who enjoyed the Perseopolis books will like Nylon Road.

What sets Bahsi's memoir apart is the dialog she has with herself at different ages. She examines and reexamines the decisions in her life against the person she was at different stages in her life.

Bashi's also more critical of her move to Europe. She records her culture shock and the prejudice she experience (some actual, some imagined).

Four stars.

Manana Iguana: 08/27/11

Mañana Iguana by Ann Whitford Paul was one of Harriet's recent picks at the library. On Monday (Lunes) Iguana decides to host a fiesta on Sunday (Domingo). Although her three friends are excited about the party, they don't seem very excited about helping plan or set it up.

It is a Spanish and English retelling of The Little Red Hen but recast with an Iguana, a Rabbit (Conejo), a Turtle (Tortuga) and a Snake (Culebra). Rabbit's excuse is always that he is "too fast." Turtle meanwhile is "too slow." Snake will help as soon as he has hands. Fortunately for Iguana, her friends do eventually learn their lesson (though not soon enough to attend the party).

This version though would be good in an ELL (English Language Learners) class or a dual immersion English / Spanish class. It does teach some practical vocabulary such as the days of the week, the various animal names and a couple other words here and there. It could also be easily translated either by the teacher or by the students (depending on their skills) completely into Spanish. The story also would be good for re-enactment as a student play.

Three stars.

On My Wishlist: August 27, 2011: 08/27/11

School started for me and the children. I've been so busy with my library internship that I didn't get to finish any of the books I started last week. I'm nearly done with The Ghost and the Goth and I've just started Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich. I am also reading Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly, a book that was on my wishlist since it first was published.

My wishlist remains constant at 908 books.

Upcoming wishlist reads include (they are in my hands waiting to be read):

Dreaming in Hindi: Coming Awake in Another Language by Katherine Russell Rich
Agatha H and the Airship City: a Girl genius novel by Phil & Kaja Foglio
The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Dandelion Fire by N. D. Wilson
Emily the Strange: Stranger and Stranger by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
The Yankee at the Seder by Elka Weber
No and Me by Delphine de Vigan

The Featured Wish for August 27, 2010:

cover art Pie by Sarah Weeks (recommended by the King County Library)

"From the award-winning author of SO B. IT, a story about family, friendship, and...pie!
"When Alice's Aunt Polly passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily surly cat Lardo ... and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice.
"Suddenly Alice is thrust into the center of a piestorm, with everyone in town trying to be the next pie-contest winner ... including Alice's mother and some of Alice's friends. The whole community is going pie-crazy ... and it's up to Alice to discover the ingredients that really matter. Like family. And friendship. And enjoying what you do."

I heard about this book yesterday from a review posted on the King County Library blog. It has so many elements that have me excited. First is the author, Sarah Weeks. I've been reading her books for about a decade. She write for all different ages from picture books up through full length novels.

Second is the description: a book about a missing pie recipe where the secret is in the crust. This summer my daughter and I began a new family tradition, pie baking. We go to the farmers' market and pick out the ripest fruit for that week. While I slice up the fruit, she makes the crust. I only had to show her once and she was able to run with it and make it her own. Our favorite secret ingredient is cinnamon. Five shakes is all it takes to make a regular pastry crust into something special.

According to the KCL review each chapter has a recipe that the author has tried herself. I'm curious to try some of her included recipes, after reading the book, of course.

The book is due out in October.

On My Wishlist

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Arcadia Falls: 08/26/11

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman was recommended to me by the blog, A Life in Books. The review compares it to the gothic romance novels of Barbara Michaels and I was intrigued.

Meg Rosenthal, recently widowed, and her teenage daughter move to Arcadia Falls, where she will be teaching at a boarding school that was once an artists' commune. She is also there to finalize the research on her thesis as the school will be a source of primary sources.

Shortly after arriving one of the students falls to her death during a night time event. Her death brings to light unusual similarities with the death of one of the school's founders, Lily. Fortunately for us, Meg has found the Lily's long lost diary and can compare the recorded history with Lily's version of events leading to her death.

To further complicate things, Goodman tosses in long passages of a fairy tale written at the school. It's supposed to set the Gothic mood of the novel and give clues to mysteries at hand but it didn't work for me. It read like a whole pile of filler instead of being a meaningful contribution to the novel.

Lily's story ended up being the most realistic and compelling piece of the novel. Meg is too scatter brained and passive to count as a convincing lead character. Even when she's worried about her daughter's safety, she can't manage to act decisively. She's tossed up again a pair of villains with ties to the older mystery who are constructed out of nothing but cliches that the ending is laughable. What Arcadia Falls needed was a twist ending so that everything was actually in Meg's mind.

Three stars.

Mr. Sweetpants and the Living Dead: 08/25/11

"Mr. Sweetpants and the Living Dead" is one of my favorite Albert E. Cowdrey short stories I've read in recent issues of Fantasy and Science Fiction. OK, by "recent" I mean last year. I'm a little behind on my reading.

Love is eternal, even after death. So is stalking. Five Star Protective Services is called in to protect a celebrity from his dead lover. Of course it takes a little while for the celebrity to convince security that he's being stalked by a dead man but he does. Mostly though it's the stalker who makes the truth obvious by making a nuisance of his dead self.

To make things more interesting, the protagonist and the celebrity have a history. They've known each other since well before they settled into their current jobs. There's an emotional tension between the two that sometimes gets played for laughs.

Four stars.

Waking the Moon: 08/24/11

Elizabeth Hand's books were recommended on a science fiction / fantasy reading list. I had only read one of her short stories, "The Far Shore" so I set about to read as many of her novels as I could find.

The first book I found was Waking the Moon. It starts at a prestigious university. A young woman falls in with the wrong crowd, falls in love and discovers the dark truth behind how the university and much of the world is being run. To keep the truth a secret she is forced to leave the university.

The rest of the book deals with the aftermath of those events. The main character is grown up and has been working on a digital archive and doesn't quite have the life she had once hoped for. Meanwhile her ex-roommate has become famous but dangerous.

The events way back when unleashed a sleeping goddess who is systematically planning her revenge on the patriarchy. She is blood thirsty and willing sacrifice her son as a means to reaching her goal.

Although the book is long by my standards (512 pages) it was a relatively quick read. The first third which has scenes at the university reminded me a bit of the darkest parts of Revolutionary Girl Utena which I was watching around the same time as I was reading the book. Later pieces of the book are more straight up horror and less Gothic fantasy. It was a strange but compelling book to read.

Five stars.

10,000 Dresses: 08/23/11

10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert is about a child named Bailey who was born a boy but sees herself as a girl and has plans to be a dress designer. Bailey's family doesn't want to talk about dresses or the fact that he sees himself as a she. If he'll just shut up and put up the problem will go away. Except it doesn't and fortunately for Bailey's sake, there is a dress designer down the street who is willing to support her dreams.

It's a book that was on my wishlist and I probably heard about it from the I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? blog. I honestly don't recall for sure. But we live in the Bay Area and Ewert is a local author.

I read 10,000 Dresses to both my children. Neither are gender confused but neither is exactly conventional in their boyishness or girlishness. They have nearly identical likes and dislikes except one is a girl and one is a boy. They sat and listened to the book and when I was done they began debating Bailey's gender. In the end though (when they couldn't decide) they decided that it didn't matter, but what did, was that Bailey's parents were mean. Dressmaking or wearing shouldn't be just a girl thing, they decided.

Four stars.

The Best Cat in the World: 08/22/11

Lesléa Newman, probably best known for Heather Has Two Mommies wrote a book to help anyone grieving over the loss of a beloved pet. It's called The Best Cat in the World.

Victor and Charlie have grown up together but Charlie is now an elderly and ill cat. When he dies Victor is heart broken. He can't sleep. He can't eat.

Eventually he reluctantly agrees to give a kitten home that Charlie's vet can't keep. The second half of the book shows Victor comparing Shelley to Charlie. As any pet owner knows, every pet is an individual and we have to adapt to our new pet and not expect a replacement for our old pet. It's a hard lesson for Victor to learn but he eventually does.

I read this book with both of my children. They have both grown up with Caligula cat. Although she is currently in good health, she's sixteen and cats only live so long. We have started to talk about how we will adopt a new shelter cat after Caligula. The book while it has lovely illustrations and a good message, was a bit long winded, especially for Harriet.

Three stars.

What Are You Reading: August 22, 2011: 08/22/11

School starts this week for all of us. While on our road trip, the kids and I got back in the habit of reading bedtime stories together. Those bedtime stories are inflating my numbers in the Finished List.

I finished two review books: Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker and Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier. I finished one novel: Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder, and one non-fiction: The Wrong House by Stephen Jacobs.

We are still listening to Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale in the car. It was our audio book for the return journey but it ran longer than the drive. We have one and a half discs left, or roughly an hour and a half. I am enjoying the story but the narrator (Dashti) is seriously getting on my nerves. She's so earnest about everything (Ancestors forgive me!).

The weirdest and most memorable book I read last week was Monkey Food. I'm a little younger than the author but I do still remember the 1970s. My daughter, though, is turning out to be precocious in her reading. I caught her reading over my shoulder. Although it's a memoir of childhood, there's pot smoking, frank talk of sex, nudity and so forth. I told her to wait until she's a teenager. She was disappointed but agreed to wait.

My upcoming reads will be text books. I also want to finish Fullmetal Alchemist volume 24, The Ghost and the Goth and get started on Dreaming in Hindi. There will also be lots and lots of bedtime stories.