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melwilBTW: If anyone's interested in looking at all the (new) books I've read this year in one place - I've set up an account at Library Thing for that purpose. You can find my profile right here and then look at my catalogue from there.
Book 62: Charm School by Anne Fine
"All day I want to see your Prettiest Eyes and your Prettiest Smiles!"
Bonny (I had to check the name - it was a real memorable book) has to take a class at the local community centre while her mother brushes up on accounting skills. The only available class is Charm School. Charm School is full of vapid, pretty little girls who mince around and only know how to fight for the'Glistening Tiara'. Bonny is a tomboy who can't see any sense in this, manages to avoid it, and then destroy it.
According to the back cover, Anne Fine is an author who makes readers laugh. Not with this book. The set up is flimsy, the characters are flimsy, and the resolution is . . . flimsy.
2.5 out of 5
Book 63: The Sleep-Over Secret by Judy Katschke
"I have just one question," Mary-Kate Burke said. She unwrapped her peanut butter sandwich in the school lunchroom. "Why do they call them sleepovers if nobody ever sleeps?"
So. Mary-Kate and Ashley. Having a sleep over. Ashley wants to impress the cool girl from school. They play Truth or Dare. Mary-Kate reveals a secret that even Ashley didn't know about . . .
Pretty run of the mill television novelisation. The most interesting (and disturbing) part was the subplot involving the girl's father (are these girls always mother-less?) and his student/the girls' baby-sitter.
I came. I read. I probably won't read again.
2.5 out of 5
Book 64: Spy High: The Frankenstein Factory by A. J. Butcher
Senior Tutor Elmore Grant sighed and ran his hands through his worryingly greying hair. It was a gesture he allowed himself only when sitting alone in his darkened study at Spy High, as he was now.
Late last year I found a series of books called CHERUB. These were fantastic British books, full of good characterisation and interesting plot lines.
When I first picked up The Frankenstein Factory, I was hoping it would be similar - an American version, if you like. Unfortunately it was not to be. The storylines are set in the future, and the enemy seems flat and unthreatening - unlike the very real threats in CHERUB. Also the characters seem more set to stereotypes - Ben the rich boy-leader, Eddie the goof, Jake the troubled bad-boy, Lori the beauty, Callie the uber-smart street kid, and Jennifer the cold martial arts expert. Finally, no real justification is given to why these spies are chosen as teenagers.
The book probably suffered because I was comparing it to the CHERUB series - on it's own, it would probably stand up better. It did become more interesting as you got into it, although it felt a little predictable from place to place.
A 3.5 out of 5
Book 65: Stealing Stacey by Lynne Reid Banks
It was mid-afternoon when we finally turned off the road and drove along the dirt track for about a mile. On each side of us was just more desert, not empty desert but red sand dotted with low bushes and a few mulga trees, mostly dead. Then I saw the station.
There's nothing worse than picking up a book about your country and seeing how wrong someone can get it. Lynne Reid Banks doesn't get it Simpsons-wrong here, but she doesn't get it right either.
Stacey is a London school girl - bored with school and constantly in trouble. Her mother's been trying to hold it together since her father left. Then one day her Australian grandmother (speaking in a way that would put Alf Stewart to shame) turns up, her mother leaves, and her grandmother 'steals' Stacey, taking to outback Australia.
Here's where it seems a little off. Stacey refers to Perth as a 'big city', which I'm sure no London-er would ever do. She measures distance in miles, but doesn't understand inches. Her grandmother constantly refers to the local Aboriginals as a mob, and they are described as angry and vengeful - and threatening when they are drinking.
The overall picture is disturbing. Lynne Reid Banks has a reputation as a decent children's writer, and this book may be received better than it deserves to be.
3 out of 5
Book 66: Finding Serenity edited by Jane Espenson
Damndest thing about Firefly is that sometimes it made me feel like I was coming home
Wow. This has to be the best book of essays I've ever read. 20 essays (plus an introduction and a glossary) all about Firefly. The essays cover everything - from music and design, to gender issues, to comparisons with other television shows, to why Firefly was cancelled. Most of the essays are well researched, intelligent and funny - only one or two that were more difficult to read for one reason or another.
The best thing about the essays was that none of them were too long. Some fandom based essays are too long - either taking forever to get to the point, or going off on tangents that have nothing to do with the fandom being discussed. These were shorter, and got to the point, with plenty of references to the source material.
Highlights include More than a Marriage of Convenience discussing Zoe and Wash's marriage, Thanks for the Reenactment, Sir looking at Zoe and Jewel Staite's look back on the television series. The essays were written before the movie came out, and it's interesting to look back and consider how things are the same or different.
5 out of 5
There are still three more books to catch up on, but I'm too tired for that now.
Book 62: Charm School by Anne Fine
"All day I want to see your Prettiest Eyes and your Prettiest Smiles!"
Bonny (I had to check the name - it was a real memorable book) has to take a class at the local community centre while her mother brushes up on accounting skills. The only available class is Charm School. Charm School is full of vapid, pretty little girls who mince around and only know how to fight for the'Glistening Tiara'. Bonny is a tomboy who can't see any sense in this, manages to avoid it, and then destroy it.
According to the back cover, Anne Fine is an author who makes readers laugh. Not with this book. The set up is flimsy, the characters are flimsy, and the resolution is . . . flimsy.
2.5 out of 5
Book 63: The Sleep-Over Secret by Judy Katschke
"I have just one question," Mary-Kate Burke said. She unwrapped her peanut butter sandwich in the school lunchroom. "Why do they call them sleepovers if nobody ever sleeps?"
So. Mary-Kate and Ashley. Having a sleep over. Ashley wants to impress the cool girl from school. They play Truth or Dare. Mary-Kate reveals a secret that even Ashley didn't know about . . .
Pretty run of the mill television novelisation. The most interesting (and disturbing) part was the subplot involving the girl's father (are these girls always mother-less?) and his student/the girls' baby-sitter.
I came. I read. I probably won't read again.
2.5 out of 5
Book 64: Spy High: The Frankenstein Factory by A. J. Butcher
Senior Tutor Elmore Grant sighed and ran his hands through his worryingly greying hair. It was a gesture he allowed himself only when sitting alone in his darkened study at Spy High, as he was now.
Late last year I found a series of books called CHERUB. These were fantastic British books, full of good characterisation and interesting plot lines.
When I first picked up The Frankenstein Factory, I was hoping it would be similar - an American version, if you like. Unfortunately it was not to be. The storylines are set in the future, and the enemy seems flat and unthreatening - unlike the very real threats in CHERUB. Also the characters seem more set to stereotypes - Ben the rich boy-leader, Eddie the goof, Jake the troubled bad-boy, Lori the beauty, Callie the uber-smart street kid, and Jennifer the cold martial arts expert. Finally, no real justification is given to why these spies are chosen as teenagers.
The book probably suffered because I was comparing it to the CHERUB series - on it's own, it would probably stand up better. It did become more interesting as you got into it, although it felt a little predictable from place to place.
A 3.5 out of 5
Book 65: Stealing Stacey by Lynne Reid Banks
It was mid-afternoon when we finally turned off the road and drove along the dirt track for about a mile. On each side of us was just more desert, not empty desert but red sand dotted with low bushes and a few mulga trees, mostly dead. Then I saw the station.
There's nothing worse than picking up a book about your country and seeing how wrong someone can get it. Lynne Reid Banks doesn't get it Simpsons-wrong here, but she doesn't get it right either.
Stacey is a London school girl - bored with school and constantly in trouble. Her mother's been trying to hold it together since her father left. Then one day her Australian grandmother (speaking in a way that would put Alf Stewart to shame) turns up, her mother leaves, and her grandmother 'steals' Stacey, taking to outback Australia.
Here's where it seems a little off. Stacey refers to Perth as a 'big city', which I'm sure no London-er would ever do. She measures distance in miles, but doesn't understand inches. Her grandmother constantly refers to the local Aboriginals as a mob, and they are described as angry and vengeful - and threatening when they are drinking.
The overall picture is disturbing. Lynne Reid Banks has a reputation as a decent children's writer, and this book may be received better than it deserves to be.
3 out of 5
Book 66: Finding Serenity edited by Jane Espenson
Damndest thing about Firefly is that sometimes it made me feel like I was coming home
Wow. This has to be the best book of essays I've ever read. 20 essays (plus an introduction and a glossary) all about Firefly. The essays cover everything - from music and design, to gender issues, to comparisons with other television shows, to why Firefly was cancelled. Most of the essays are well researched, intelligent and funny - only one or two that were more difficult to read for one reason or another.
The best thing about the essays was that none of them were too long. Some fandom based essays are too long - either taking forever to get to the point, or going off on tangents that have nothing to do with the fandom being discussed. These were shorter, and got to the point, with plenty of references to the source material.
Highlights include More than a Marriage of Convenience discussing Zoe and Wash's marriage, Thanks for the Reenactment, Sir looking at Zoe and Jewel Staite's look back on the television series. The essays were written before the movie came out, and it's interesting to look back and consider how things are the same or different.
5 out of 5
There are still three more books to catch up on, but I'm too tired for that now.
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no subject
on 2006-04-14 07:38 am (UTC)Oh yes! I just finished that a week or two ago. I was very impressed.
And I loved the one on Zoe and Wash's marriage.
I'll be seeing Jewel Staite next month :)
no subject
on 2006-04-14 09:53 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-04-15 05:28 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-04-14 12:51 pm (UTC)If the book is based on the TV series Two of a Kind, then the father/babysitter UST is *totally canon*. (And they left us a 'shippy cliffhanger where she was going away FOREVER and he realized he loved her and was running to catch her and WE DON'T KNOW IF HE DID. WE WILL NEVER KNOW!!!)
no subject
on 2006-04-15 05:30 am (UTC)This subplot revolved around her staying at the house to help supervise the sleepover, and one of her classmates coming to deliver the pizza. For some reason she didn't think this would look bad . .
no subject
on 2006-04-15 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-04-14 02:09 pm (UTC)