YA Friday: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Title: Howl's Moving Castle
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Series: Howl's Moving Castle #1
Genre: Middle Grade, YA, fantasy
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 2001
Source: Library
Read for: Fun, FYA Book Club

Sophie has heard of the wicked wizard Howl, a man who lures young women to his moving castle and eats their hearts. However, when another wicked and magical enemy, the Witch of the Waste, casts a spell on Sophie, she finds herself coming to Howl for help. She doesn't realize just what she is in for.

I'm not exactly sure why, but when I read Howl's Moving Castle it was absolutely the right book at the right time for me. Ordinarily middle grade fiction doesn't do much for me, and in addition this book was about as random as a book could possibly be. But for whatever reason, this book was comfort food at a time when I really needed it.

I think a large part of this book's appeal for me were the whimsical, charming characters. Each character is completely unique and quirky. We have Sophie, who talks to inanimate objects and feels the need to bustle and help people like a mother hen, Michael, who is hapless but desperate to make something of himself (especially in order to impress a certain young lady of Sophie's acquaintance), and Howl, who spends hours in the bathroom making himself look attractive and yet can't bear to have the spiderwebs cleaned out of his bedroom. In addition we experience such characters as a scarecrow that won't stop pursuing the castle, a fire demon that wants to be released from a binding contract, and a man that turns into a dog. See what I mean by random? However, the characters' interactions and quirks were nothing short of delightful.

The plot was every bit as random as the characters. Each chapter brought new episodes of strangeness and magic, from a "Waste" populated by abundant flowers to an irritated Howl expelling green slime all over his castle. Everything was absolutely bizarre, but completely entertaining and enchanting for me.

I can't quite pin my finger on why Howl's Moving Castle was so right for me at the time that I read it. Perhaps it was just masterful writing and world-creating. No matter the reason, this book absolutely delighted me despite being a style of book that I do not usually enjoy.

4 stars

Warnings: Mild magical violence

YA Friday: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Author: E. Lockhart
Genre: YA, contemporary
Publisher: Hyperion, 2008
Source: Library
Read for: FYA book club, Award-Winning Challenge

Frankie used to be unobtrusive, sweet, and intelligent. However, over a summer she grew into a face and a body that boys started to notice and even started dating the boy she'd crushed on the previous year who had seemed unreachable. However, as the year progresses, Frankie realizes that what people expect of her and what she is capable of are two entirely different things, and she realizes she wants more.

In some ways, The Disreputable History was a book that struck a chord with me. In my first degree (neuroscience), I was usually one of only three or four girls in a class of boys. I would go to study groups, and the boys would patiently explain things to me -- things I was miles ahead of them on. Usually I just laughed at them and let them explain, occasionally dropping in with a comment that would show them that actually, I didn't need their help. However, in Frankie's situation, when boys treat her like she is fragile, or only worthwhile in certain settings, she doesn't just roll her eyes and move on with her day. She takes action and makes history in her highly traditional private school. And honestly, I think it is awesome that she is willing to take charge that way, that she knows exactly what she wants (to be seen as an equal), and that she pursues it with no reservation (and with considerable imagination, I might add).

In the end, Frankie's story, while beginning because of a romance, is a story about being respected and getting to know oneself. I love that in a sea of YA fiction where many female characters have the solitary goal of being loved by a boy. (I know there are also many stories where the female characters do not base their lives on wanting to be loved. I also don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to be loved -- it's a basic human need. But I don't like to see people giving up their self-respect for love -- and that isn't love anyway, if you have to give up your self-respect. But now I'm getting extremely tangential. Not like that isn't the usual order of the day).

Another aspect of The Disreputable History that I just loved was the wordplay. Frankie reads a book by P.G. Wodehouse that cites "neglected positives" -- basically, the roots of words that have prefixes attached to them, but which are never used without the prefix (and which may not actually be words with true prefixes). For example, instead of saying she is pleased, she says she is "gruntled" (aka the opposite of "disgruntled"). Awesome, non? I love words, although I am not nearly as educated in their etymology as Frankie's son-of-a-newspaper-owner boyfriend, Matthew Livingston. In addition to the enjoyable wordplay, E. Lockhart is, quite simply stated, an absolutely phenomenal writer and lends to her work a sense of whimsy with greater significance and import behind it.

My one complaint with The Disreputable History is that despite the fact that I respected Frankie's cause and thought she was an awesome character, I never felt connected with her. I suppose in some ways she is not the most personable character -- she is acting as a criminal mastermind, and her emphasis is on craftiness and cunning, not warm and fuzzy relationships. The other books I've read by E. Lockhart have been written in the first person and I related strongly on many levels with the protagonist of those books, Ruby Oliver. I'm not sure if it was the third person or the fact that Frankie is just not a very warm character, but I didn't feel fully invested in her as a person. I was entertained by her story, I was moved by her problems, but I never felt as if I knew her.

Still, overall, a great book. It has a great message and is fantastically written. It is clear why The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is an award-winning YA novel.

3.75 stars

Warnings: Some language, some casual mentions of sexuality and making out

YA Friday: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: YA, paranormal, fantasy
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011
Source: Gift
Read for: FYA Book Club

Karou is a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague, but that is only half of her life. The other half involves some interesting creatures that the more ignorant might call monsters and mysterious errands throughout the more glamorous cities of the world -- San Francisco, Paris, London, Morocco. However, when a mysterious force threatens the only family Karou has ever known, she must search for a way to save them, and the key to why she lives her life the way she does.

I had heard rave reviews of this book before I ever picked it up, so I was very excited to find out that it was the November choice for the FYA book club. However, for the first few pages, I was completely weirded out. I was completely disappointed in the strange characters that I felt no connection to. However, as the story unfolded, I found myself investing more and more, and those strange characters became important to me -- which ends up being an important theme in the book.

I think the first thing that slowly started to win over my affections was the snappy dialogue between Zusana and Karou. Despite the fact that this weird story was taking place in a weird country I knew next to nothing about, these girls were realistic in their friendship. They made up creative insults, bugged each other, had inside jokes ("orifice," anyone?). As I read more and more about them, I wanted to be their friend; I wanted to go to Poison with them and people-watch through the creepy statues. I began to care about them, even though I found it difficult to invest in the story at first.

The second thing that drew me in was the writing. It seems that everything in the book is "aglitter," "sparkling," luminescent. Both worlds that Ms. Taylor illuminated were beautiful, but in a hard, fierce way, and I found myself completely enchanted. Even the contemporary, modern side of the story took place in a location that was so utterly foreign to me that I felt as if I was looking into a fairy tale. If you've ever read His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, I was slightly reminded of those books -- not so much in the themes and the actual worlds themselves, but in the feeling of something unique, beautiful, and absolutely complete -- I felt as if nothing was left unfinished.

What sealed the deal was the hunting cabin in Idaho. Okay, I'm kind of kidding, but my family has a cabin in Idaho, about an hour outside of Boise (and it is frequently used for hunting, although I'm never the one to put it to that use). When Karou was going back down the mountain to Boise, I knew exactly what that drive looked like, because I went on it every weekend in the summer (and quite a few in the winter as well). When she described the Boise airport, it was like I was there, because I have been, so many times. I know that part of the story probably isn't significant to anyone else, but it is so rare that Boise shows up anywhere unless you are talking about college football, and I love my hometown, so Laini Taylor won my heart when she included it in this story.

But really, all joking aside, by the time I was in the middle of the story, there was no turning back. I was invested. I loved Karou. I loved Akiva -- he was such an alien and yet such a human, warming character. I loved his capacity to feel pain and love. And as the story unravels to reveal the truth about Karou's past, it seemed both inevitable and also a complete surprise.

I also loved that there was more to the story than just telling a thrilling story. The story is about using peace to save the world -- about not judging people based on what they look like or their traditions. I was guilty of this at the beginning of the book -- I thought the chimaera were weird. I didn't like reading about them -- they were different and alien. The luminous, fierce and beautiful angels were only slightly better. I wasn't even sure about reading about Prague -- I knew nothing about the city, and it was completely different from everything that I knew. But as I got to know these characters, I found myself in love with all of them. I'm pretty distressed that I started yet another trilogy that is going to leave me hanging with my heart ripped out until I get my sticky fingers on book two, but I guess that's the price I pay when I choose to read young adult books. At any rate, I loved this one, even though at first I had my doubts. I think that like His Dark Materials, this is a book that can appeal to those who don't necessarily love fantasy or young adult books. If you ask me, I will tell you to read it, no matter what your genre preference.

4.5 stars

Warnings: Allusions to sensuality

YA Friday: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

Title: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
Author: Lish McBride
Series: I've heard there will be a sequel. I know nothing else.
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co., 2010
Source: Library
Read For: FYA Book Club, R.I.P. VI

Sam is a college dropout who flips burgers and skateboards. His life is pretty simple, and fairly enjoyable (minus the fact that he hates his job and feels like he has no idea what he actually wants from life. And the fact that his landlady won't stop hassling him about finding a girlfriend). However, after an unfortunate smashed taillight and a violent confrontation, Sam learns that there is a whole world of supernatural powers surrounding him, and that he has irritated one of the most powerful. And now that powerful man wants him dead. Crap.

This book was significantly more enjoyable than I expected it to be. While there are a few paranormal books that I enjoy, in general they aren't my first pick. I also wasn't so sure about the scary factor - I love a good creep-out, but it's always hard to tell if a book will be scary in a thrilling way or a disgusting way. However, right away Hold Me Closer, Necromancer racked up several points in its favor.

Point 1: Clever song titles at the beginning of each chapter. "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer" was stuck in my head for the week that this book was sitting on my night stand, not aided by the fact that my husband burst into spontaneous song every time he saw the book. But still, clever.

Point 2: Sam was college-age. I've seen the want for more college-age protagonists in YA fiction all over the blogosphere, and I completely agree. While Sam was not actually in college, it was great to read about someone close to my age (although I guess technically, at 23, I am a little older than college-age, even though I am still in college. Dang it).

Point 3: Sam himself. I loved this character. He was a believable guy, not too-perfect-to-be-true like most male leads, but he was still sweet. He was protective of his sisters and his female friends. He was a little bit of a softie (evidenced by the fact that he was a vegetarian). He wasn't quite sure what he wanted from life, but he was a good person and a good friend.

Point 4: Humor. This wasn't a book that took itself too seriously. I'm not afraid of books that take themselves seriously - right now Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth comes to mind, as a book in the same genre with a completely different tone - but I like a little lightness now and then, and this book supplied it.

Point 5: Still a little creep factor. I didn't want something too gory, and for the most part this book delivered. (And when there was violence, it was usually tempered by some humor and self-deprecation, aka Sam keeps getting his butt kicked because he has annoyed the All Powerful Necromancer). However, there were a couple of creepy scenes. Which I appreciated.

So, the book was better than I was expecting. Still not perfect. There wasn't a lot of depth or character development, which I think can happen with humor, but doesn't have to happen. While I enjoyed reading about the characters, I didn't necessarily connect with them. However, still an enjoyable, light read for Halloween.

3 stars

Warnings: Brief sensuality, creepy violence (think severed, cauterized heads)

YA Friday: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Title: Beauty Queens
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: YA, satire
Publisher: Scholastic, 2011
Source: Gift from Nana
Read for: FYA book club

The plane holding all fifty Miss Teen Dream contestants has crashed into the ocean, leaving the contestants dead or stranded. While isolated on the island, the survivors must learn their strengths in order to survive - especially when it starts to look like the island isn't so deserted after all.

I have to be up front and say that satire and I usually do not get along. Things always get taken a little too far for my taste - I guess I don't like seeing things that are important to me getting mocked, even though everything else is getting mocked along with it. However, Beauty Queens and I got along better than most satires I've experienced. Initially I didn't have a copy of this book, so I read the first fifty or so pages in a Barnes and Noble (I know, shame on me for not purchasing and supporting the book industry, but when you have two full-time students on one part-time income, food comes first). I was surprised at how much I was enjoying the book.

Beauty Queens is humorous. The girls face ridiculous dilemmas and suffer outrageous privations (no makeup!?!). The chapters are interspersed with commercials and messages from The Corporation, encouraging the use of certain products (Maxi-Pad Pets, pads that look like cute little animals) and endorsing TV shows about colonial revolutionary women romancing the British soldiers (basically sexualizing history). However, deviously hidden among slapstick and mockery are some serious gems of wisdom. I was truly moved by the girls' struggle to overcome the perfectionism that society had built into them. As Teen Dreams, they were supposed to be beautiful, intelligent, unique but not weird, talented, and poised. They were not supposed to deviate from the norm, but to live up to the ideal.

"The ideal? What ideal?" Sosie asked. "Says who? All they do is keep raising the bar, adding things we have to do or prettify or fix to be accepted. And we take the bait. We do it. That's what Miss Teen Dream represents. Well, not me. I'm out. I mean, Taylor, what are you going to do when your pageant years are over?" 

And also.

You couldn't be perfect enough to keep the world from betraying you. There was no way to win this game playing by the rules that had been set up so long ago. No. You had to rewrite them. You had to play your own game.

 I also enjoyed the characters. They were all unique and had their own issues to deal with. Some were smart, some were truly the "dumb beauty queens" they were expected to be. Some were in the pageant to prove a point, while others were there to feed their need to be perfect. All of them had something to overcome, and all of them were unique, with the exception of a couple of characters that were never given real names (which kind of bugged me).

As mentioned above, I do think some of the satiric points went a little too far. The book was occasionally crass, and while I think it's important that girls learn their bodies and intimate relationships are not evil, they should have some restraint and make conscious decisions rather than just going wild. I know the book is a satire and that everything must be taken with a grain of salt, but that was my biggest beef. However, overall I enjoyed the story much  more than I thought I would. It was cleverly written and had several strong points.

Remember, "It's always darkest before the ultimate sparkle"!

3.5 stars

Warnings: Language, far-too-detailed descriptions of kissing and some further escapades, some violence

Sunday Salon: Acronyms

Hello bloggies... I hope you are enjoying your  labor day weekend. I am mostly studying, not getting nearly enough reading done, but enjoying the extra time to sleep in and by with the Husband.

This post shall be acronym-laden today because I have several important and exciting announcements. First of all, ILA (aka Indie Lit Awards) nominations are open. This means that you need to go over to their website and nominate your favorite releases of 2011. You may nominate up to five books in each category. I especially must put a plug in for the non-fiction section, because I am a voting member and will read the top five selections in that category. So help me out and make sure that I have some great options. :) Nominations are open through December, and as of this year any reader may vote who is not in the publishing industry. Ready, set, go!


Secondly, I have become involved with the FYA (aka Forever Young Adult) Book Club. Each month clubs around the world read a YA book and then meets to discuss. The Provo chapter held its first meeting last week to discuss Libba Bray's Beauty Queens. It was a blast, but there were only three of us and we would love to expand and share the love. So if you are from Provo or nearby, we are meeting on September 24th to discuss Lish McBride's Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. If you want details on location, please email me and join up.

Finally, I have decided to join the R.I.P. (R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril - last acronym of the day) Challenge. I know that I have bemoaned the amount of challenges I have joined this year, and I know that I won't be finishing all of them. However, this is one that I would be completing unofficially anyway, so I couldn't resist joining the fun.
I plan on completing Peril the First - reading four books that fit in the broad categories of mystery, suspense, horror, thriller, dark fantasy, gothic, and supernatural. I have a long list of things I'd like to get through, and while I probably won't get to all of them, I can't wait. I'm also going to participate in Peril of the Short Story for Short Story Spotlight, so if you have any suggestions of spooky short stories, please let me know! My ideas for the books are:
* Nevermore by Kelly Creagh
* The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
* The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
* Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
* The Diary of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Hope your Sunday is delightful!