Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Despite loving all of Melina Marchetta's realistic fiction, I had never gone back and picked up her debut novel, Looking for Alibrandi . I thought it was high time I did.  Synopsis: For as long as Josephine Alibrandi can remember, it’s just been her, her mom, and her grandmother. Now it’s her final year at a wealthy Catholic high school. The nuns couldn’t be any stricter—but that doesn’t seem to stop all kinds of men from coming into her life. Caught between the old-world values of her Italian grandmother, the nononsense wisdom of her mom, and the boys who continue to mystify her, Josephine is on the ride of her life. This will be the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family’s past—and the year she sets herself free. Looking for Alibrandi  is not as smooth and finessed as Marchetta's later works, but it is still an excellent book. Josephine is typical of Marchetta's main characters: self-absorbed at times, flawed, sometimes whiny, and y...

A couple weeks ago Kelly Jensen from Stacked started an interesting discussion on Twitter about how we use the word "unlikeable" when describing characters and what we really mean by it. This is something Kelly has explored before in things she's written ( here and here ) as particularly regards female characters. This discussion promoted a thoughtful response from Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy in which she said everything I basically wanted to say on the subject. Particularly, think about your reasons for not liking character. From Liz's post: " And that’s when “like” is about more than the character and the book: when it’s really about “not liking” rather than liking, and it’s about the character not doing what the reader wants when they want it... What confuses me about some of this is that often, there would be no reason for the book — no plot — if the character did the “right” thing from page 1. Or, that the character is dealing with some ...

Top Ten Tuesday  is a Meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish This week's TTT topic: Favorite Books in X Genre I decided X=Retellings Tam Lin Retellings (I know it's a ballad but it's old and there are faeries. I count it)  Cinderella:  12 Dancing Princesses and Frog Prince (a two for one!): Sleeping Beauty:  All things Hans Christian Anderson, but particularly The Snow Queen: My favorite fairy tales are "Beauty and the Beast" and "East of the Sun, West of the Moon", both of which derive from the myth of Cupid (Eros) and Psyche.  Consequently, I judge retellings of these much harder than any others. Here are my favorite retellings of all three: What are some of your favorite retellings?

All the Truth That's In Me  by Julie Berry is a contender in this years SLJ Battle of the Books which is why I read it. (In fact, you can go to the site and see how it fared in the first battle today.) I would not have read this if it had not been a contender, and now that I have I'm torn. There are some amazing elements in this book, but one thing brought the whole experience down for me. Crashed it down in burning flames actually.  Synopsis: Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember—even if he doesn’t know it—her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose:...

I read  The Ability  by M.M. Vaughan last year and really enjoyed it. I love boarding school stories, mysteries, and fantasy. It was a  perfect fit. I was really excited about the sequel  Mindscape .  (This is a review of an ARC I received in exchange for a fair review.) Synopsis: Everywhere that Christopher Lane turns, he sees the face of the boy he killed. There is no escape from the guilt, not even on his return to Myers Holt—the secret London academy where he and five others are being trained to use their mental powers, their Ability. But now that the threat of Dulcia Genever has been dealt with, his friends are too busy working for the police, entering the minds of some of the country’s most dangerous criminals, to sympathize. Chris’s teachers are already concerned enough about him, especially when Chris starts to wonder if the boy may not be a figment of his imagination after all. Meanwhile, alone in Darkwhisper Manor, Ernest Genever is enjoying w...

The battle commences on Monday. I did a prediction post earlier this week, but this is where I will do my typical breakdown of the entire round with my hopes and dreams for each outcome. I still haven't read Midwinterblood . My library still hasn't purchased a copy. At all. I don't even know what to do with that given it just won the Printz and we have all his other books. I didn't buy it because I thought for sure they would have it by now, and I had to buy two of the other books. I'm a girl on a budget. Ah well. 15/16 is not bad. Better than some previous years. Links are to my reviews. Monday, March 10 All the Truth That's In Me  versus The Animal Book Judge: Vaunda Nelson  My Pick: All the Truth That's In Me I had some MAJOR issues with All the Truth That's In Me . (My review will post on Monday. I just finished it yesterday.) However. The Animal Book , while delightful, is basically a coffee table book for kids. I'm sure we n...

The descriptor for Better Off Friends  by Elizabeth Eulberg is: Harry Met Sally for Teens. This is a perfect description exactly. I love a good friends to love story and enjoyed reading this one immensely.  (This is a review of an ARC received from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.) Synopsis: For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can't be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan's friends. They are platonic and happy that way. Eventually they realize they're best friends -- which wouldn't be so bad if they didn't keep getting in each other's way. Guys won't ask Macallan out because they think she's with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can't help but wonder . . . are they more than friends ...