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You GUYS! What happened to holding me ACCOUNTABLE for blogging regularly? You need to POKE me or something!
...assuming you want me to blog at all, naturally.
Hey, remember this post from the end of the year, when I attempted to do my annual Best Books roundup and didn't have much to say?
Well, first of all I'm happy to say that, as of my birthday last week (which, by the way, I didn't get to wish my annual Happy Birthday to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lady1297 either, did I), I have accumulated (with much thanks to my parents and husband) three of those Adult-Nonfiction-Books-About-Creative-Types I did not get at Christmas: Listening for Madeleine, Imagination Illustrated, and Fearless Creating, as well as one I added to my wish list AFTER Christmas, The Bird King: An Artist's Notebook, by Shaun Tan, (actually, that one hasn't arrived yet), because SHAUN TAN-- I could just STARE at his pictures all day. There's also the whole getting-inspired-by-the-inspirations-of-others'-brilliance thing, which goes for the Madeleine L'Engle and Jim Henson bios, there, too.
But I haven't gotten a chance to just sit and READ them yet, either. Right now I'm reading a friend's manuscript, which I have gotten to fairly late to begin with (mea culpa,elouise82), because I had library books to read, and I'm still SQUEEZING time to read, and they had due dates.
But the best thing about the two library books I've just read (in the past, uh, two months... this is good for me)? They were both SO GOOD that they reminded me why I used to love reading so much in the first place. So now I'm going to RECOMMEND them with the heartiest enthusiasm!
First off, Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. Dudes, how could I NOT read a book that's gotten so many gushing reviews and is about WWII spies and resistance fighters? If I could choose just one historical time period/subject to read about, that's mine. Also Beatlemania. But mostly clandestine WWII stuff.
Here we have a work involving at least one unreliable narrator (but unreliable to WHOM?) and several storylines and lots of PLOTTING and much that is harrowing. Much that is downright DEVASTATING. BUT IN A GOOD WAY. I actually was reminded a lot of the miniseries Band of Brothers, which is my favorite of all my husband's War Movies-- but this one's more like a Band of SISTERS. A Band of TWO Sisters, but still. IT'S GOT GIRL POWER, which in itself is fascinating because you don't see many Girl Power stories in WWII non-homefront suspense-War-Stories. Certainly not in Band of Brothers. I can't tell you too much more about the plot because DUDE, you have to discover it as it goes. Just trust me. If you like the idea of Band of Brothers with Girl Power and more clandestine stuff than front-line stuff, YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK, so go read it.
SECONDLY, we'll go further back in 20th-century historicals and throw in some CREEPY HORROR as well: The Diviners, by Libba Bray. First, can I just shout out once again how much I FREAKING LOVE Libba Bray? As a person she's just freaking cool (EDIT: She just tweeted this. HOW CAN YOU NOT ADORE THE PERSON WHO TWEETED THIS?). As an author she's just MINDBLOWING. Going Bovine and Beauty Queens are two of my favorite books of the past decade, but otherwise they're not much alike. The Diviners is, also, nothing like the other books, and yet still brilliant.
What may be most brilliant about it is what, thanks to Bruce Coville's fantasy workshop at the SCBWI conference I went to, I always think of as the "Clowns of God" effect: instead of being nonstop horror (or awe, or devastation, or sadness), there are plenty of scenes of character development, setting development, and humor woven through-- making the scary bits THAT MUCH SCARIER. The setting development is EVOCATIVE. You are immersed in Roaring Twenties Manhattan, and it's so colorful and intricate and rich that you feel perfectly content and fascinated just reading a scene of ordinary non-supernatural day-to-day life... then BAM, the creepy shows up, knocking you for even more of a loop.
The story is told from many multiple viewpoints, including those of bad guys and victims, but one of the main viewpoint characters-- probably the MOST main viewpoint-- is a girl named Evie who is SO STUNNINGLY NOT LIKE ME that HER characterization fascinated me the most. She's a complete extrovert, and every decision she makes seems like the EXACT OPPOSITE of what I would do-- so for Bray to make me understand this girl, sympathize and relate with her, just feels like a HUGE accomplishment on her part. That, of everything in the book, probably impressed me the most!
So for the "if you like" recommendation: this book is Lovecraftian. But higher quality, and without the weird bits of racism and misogyny. It reminded me of playing the Call of Cthulhu RPG, 1920s-era. But with more historical accuracy and detail than Jason is likely to give it as GM (not counting anything weaponry/military related). The Call of Cthulhu game happens to be my favorite RPG, but I might just be weird that way, so maybe this doesn't sound fascinating to you at all. But I think you're wrong. It's awesome. So read this book.
Now I'm going to the grocery store.
...assuming you want me to blog at all, naturally.
Hey, remember this post from the end of the year, when I attempted to do my annual Best Books roundup and didn't have much to say?
Well, first of all I'm happy to say that, as of my birthday last week (which, by the way, I didn't get to wish my annual Happy Birthday to
lady1297 either, did I), I have accumulated (with much thanks to my parents and husband) three of those Adult-Nonfiction-Books-About-Creative-Types I did not get at Christmas: Listening for Madeleine, Imagination Illustrated, and Fearless Creating, as well as one I added to my wish list AFTER Christmas, The Bird King: An Artist's Notebook, by Shaun Tan, (actually, that one hasn't arrived yet), because SHAUN TAN-- I could just STARE at his pictures all day. There's also the whole getting-inspired-by-the-inspirations-of-others'-brilliance thing, which goes for the Madeleine L'Engle and Jim Henson bios, there, too. But I haven't gotten a chance to just sit and READ them yet, either. Right now I'm reading a friend's manuscript, which I have gotten to fairly late to begin with (mea culpa,
elouise82), because I had library books to read, and I'm still SQUEEZING time to read, and they had due dates.But the best thing about the two library books I've just read (in the past, uh, two months... this is good for me)? They were both SO GOOD that they reminded me why I used to love reading so much in the first place. So now I'm going to RECOMMEND them with the heartiest enthusiasm!
First off, Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. Dudes, how could I NOT read a book that's gotten so many gushing reviews and is about WWII spies and resistance fighters? If I could choose just one historical time period/subject to read about, that's mine. Also Beatlemania. But mostly clandestine WWII stuff.
Here we have a work involving at least one unreliable narrator (but unreliable to WHOM?) and several storylines and lots of PLOTTING and much that is harrowing. Much that is downright DEVASTATING. BUT IN A GOOD WAY. I actually was reminded a lot of the miniseries Band of Brothers, which is my favorite of all my husband's War Movies-- but this one's more like a Band of SISTERS. A Band of TWO Sisters, but still. IT'S GOT GIRL POWER, which in itself is fascinating because you don't see many Girl Power stories in WWII non-homefront suspense-War-Stories. Certainly not in Band of Brothers. I can't tell you too much more about the plot because DUDE, you have to discover it as it goes. Just trust me. If you like the idea of Band of Brothers with Girl Power and more clandestine stuff than front-line stuff, YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK, so go read it.
SECONDLY, we'll go further back in 20th-century historicals and throw in some CREEPY HORROR as well: The Diviners, by Libba Bray. First, can I just shout out once again how much I FREAKING LOVE Libba Bray? As a person she's just freaking cool (EDIT: She just tweeted this. HOW CAN YOU NOT ADORE THE PERSON WHO TWEETED THIS?). As an author she's just MINDBLOWING. Going Bovine and Beauty Queens are two of my favorite books of the past decade, but otherwise they're not much alike. The Diviners is, also, nothing like the other books, and yet still brilliant.
What may be most brilliant about it is what, thanks to Bruce Coville's fantasy workshop at the SCBWI conference I went to, I always think of as the "Clowns of God" effect: instead of being nonstop horror (or awe, or devastation, or sadness), there are plenty of scenes of character development, setting development, and humor woven through-- making the scary bits THAT MUCH SCARIER. The setting development is EVOCATIVE. You are immersed in Roaring Twenties Manhattan, and it's so colorful and intricate and rich that you feel perfectly content and fascinated just reading a scene of ordinary non-supernatural day-to-day life... then BAM, the creepy shows up, knocking you for even more of a loop.
The story is told from many multiple viewpoints, including those of bad guys and victims, but one of the main viewpoint characters-- probably the MOST main viewpoint-- is a girl named Evie who is SO STUNNINGLY NOT LIKE ME that HER characterization fascinated me the most. She's a complete extrovert, and every decision she makes seems like the EXACT OPPOSITE of what I would do-- so for Bray to make me understand this girl, sympathize and relate with her, just feels like a HUGE accomplishment on her part. That, of everything in the book, probably impressed me the most!
So for the "if you like" recommendation: this book is Lovecraftian. But higher quality, and without the weird bits of racism and misogyny. It reminded me of playing the Call of Cthulhu RPG, 1920s-era. But with more historical accuracy and detail than Jason is likely to give it as GM (not counting anything weaponry/military related). The Call of Cthulhu game happens to be my favorite RPG, but I might just be weird that way, so maybe this doesn't sound fascinating to you at all. But I think you're wrong. It's awesome. So read this book.
Now I'm going to the grocery store.
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no subject
Date: 2013-04-12 05:35 am (UTC)From:I gushed about Code Name Verity, too. Amazing book.
Almost you convince me to try Libba Bray again. I can't actually remember which book of hers I kept trying to read and just couldn't get into. But horrific monsters in the Roaring Twenties? Think I'll have to dip into that one.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-12 03:12 pm (UTC)From:I look at some of Tan's pictures and I almost weep, "Oh, oh, WHY can't I be INSIDE YOUR BRAIN?!" They're so perfect at being both weird and lovely at the same time.