Flatland on Project Gutenberg
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Flatland is available on Project Gutenberg as a free and legal download:
ALA Awards
Every year I anticipate the January announcement of the American Library Association’s Awards (Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, etc.) with excitement and I can’t wait to read the winners! I also hope to have most of the titles in our library because that lets me know I’m on track when I select the books to order. This year, the awards were given Monday morning in Dallas, so I was dressed and ready for work and watching the streaming video at 5:45 sharp. I was planning on missing the last part of the awards to leave for school, when I got the late start call, so my librarian’s heart was warmed as I got to watch the whole thing. The big surprise was the Printz (YA Award) winner, Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.
I had just recently heard of it and I don’t have it in our library. Fortunately, I have a lot of the honor books and some winners in other categories for you while I order the winner!
Printz Honor Winners
Newbery Winner Newbery Honor
Schneider Family Award(for books that embody an artistic expression of the disibility experience)
Sibert and YALSA Nonfiction Awards
Galapagos
I haven’t read too many of Vonnegut’s books, but every time I read one I wonder why not. Galapagos was great. I chose it in honor of my daughter’s recent trip to Ecuador. She didn’t get a chance to visit the island, but did bring back pictures of another island in the area known as the “poor man’s Galapagos Island”. The book’s premise is that all of the human race was wiped out and humans re-evolved when stranded on an island when the “Cruise of the Century” to the Galapagos Islands goes awry. The narrator “lives” as a ghost a million years in the future of the 1980s voyage and is trying to figure out humans and their very big brains which evolution has since altered greatly! The book is great fun. It’s full of astute observations about our behavior and quotes from literature both real and imaginary. Vonnegut also includes a computer and some predictions of the future of the computer and Internet (1985 copyright) that are surprisingly accurate. If you enjoy Kurt Vonnegut or want to give this author a try, Galapagos would be a good choice.
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares
If you’re still in the mood for some fun holiday reading and enjoy reading about New York City and off-beat romance with some twists (like I was and do), then pick up a copy of Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares and you won’t be disappointed. Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have teamed up for the third time and created an engaging story. Lily leaves a copy of a red notebook in the wonderful Strand Bookstore in New York. That alone let me know I was going to enjoy the book, because the notebook would be found by someone browsing the shelves in the area of Salinger’s Franny and Zooey, an old favorite of mine. Sure enough, I was treated to many literary quotes, read to from Dickens, and absorbed in the love of words that Dash, who found the notebook, had. The book was light and fun and I got to visit lots of places in New York City during the holiday season.
Beautiful Days
This is the second book in a great story set in 1929 during prohibition begun in Bright Young Things. It follows a bootlegging family and a rising star trying to break into the New York stage scene. Beautiful Days is full of adventure, love, and danger and the nightlife of NYC in a fascinating era of history. Like Anna Godbersen’s first series, The Luxe, the fashion and atmosphere of the setting comes to life with the historical details. Women are just beginning to find independence in a male dominated world and Godbersen’s characters are realistic in their strengths and weaknesses. It’s a page-turner and I was rooting for the characters to make the right decisions and triumph over the adversity they faced, especially for Letty as she sought the limelight on the stage. The criminals are mean enough to keep things interesting, but the intrigue is more important to the telling than violence. Recommended for those who like Historical Romance.
Trapped
This was a bit freaky to take on during an unusually big storm in which we were house bound and without power. Seven students are left waiting for a ride at their high school as a severe blizzard moves in. When the teacher left in charge goes for help, they must fend for themselves to survive. The story is told by one of the students and the voice is realistic and the writing and plot certainly keeps the pages turning. Everything was convincing and plausible except for their phones staying charged for 3+ days! Mine was out by the end of one day. If you are looking for a quick read and like survival stories, this is a good one to pick up, but probably best to wait until any storms subside!
The Scorpio Races
This book is fantastic! Maggie Stiefvater follows up her successful werewolf trilogy with a unique fantasy story based on legends of the water horses which are horses like I’ve never read of before. The cover is deceiving. Yes, it is about a girl that races horses, but most of the horses in this race, the capaill uisce (water horses) are killers that rise from the sea to be trained for just one race each year, The Scorpio Races. In the race, not all riders survive. Told from the two points of view of Puck, the young girl who plans to ride in the race and who has lost both parents to the vicious beasts, and Sean, the current champion and trainer. Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is pitch perfect. Don’t miss The Scorpio Races!
The Princess Bride
I may be one of the few readers who had not seen the movie version of this wonderful book before reading the tale. Neither had I discovered and read this wonderful book before. I loved so many things about The Princess Bride! It was fast moving, but I think the humor was what set it apart. The concept of S. Morgenstern’s boring and long-winded passages cut from the original also made the book unique and the “interjections” of Goldman were some of my favorite parts. I also loved the pure ridiculousness of the story. It was so well written and the wonderful stereotypical and satirical characters just popped off the page! Another feature I frequently laughed aloud when reading was when we were told something occurred before__________ but after____________ . The book was just so enjoyable to read that I highly recommend it to all!
Angel Burn
I loved the premise of this story. The angels’ world could no longer support them, so they have come to earth to steal the life force of the humans and take over (most of the humans have not figured this out, however and worship the angels). They are beautiful, but most are definitely different from the protecting angel that is usually portrayed. The writing was strong, especially during the sections that described the angels and the action surrounding the hero, Alex, and heroine, Willow. I thought the writing weakened when the author wrote the romance scenes. The vocabulary and even the sentence structure seemed to become more simplistic, repetitive and a bit “drawn out”. It was still good, but just felt a little stilted to me. I also enjoyed the “road trip” element of the book as Alex and Willow tried to escape danger and stop the angel takeover. I’d recommend Angel Burn to anyone who likes paranormal books. It’s the first of a planned trilogy, but still has a sense of completion, too, which I liked. I’m looking forward to Angel Fire, out later this month!
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
I wouldn’t recommend this book to those who have to like the characters in a story, but if you can deal with that and enjoy reading about people who are truly different from the “norm” it is well written and engaging. The story revolves around the Binewski family and the Freak Show they run and inhabit. In fact, the parents created this family on purpose so that they could have this show. There is an aqua man, co-joined twins and our narrator, the hunchbacked albino, who serves the family, especially her brother Arturo(the aqua man). Some understandably unusual family dynamics emerge as Arturo’s power over the show and his family grows. I was completely drawn into the story of this family, but not as convinced by the present day story which I can’t go into without spoilers. Geek Love has been on my TBR list for a long time, and I’m so glad I read it, even though it isn’t for everyone!
Mrs. Burns
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