You want some rockin summer reading? Nothing heavy, but lots of fun, with maybe some thinky stuff thrown in if you feel like thinking while you scoop sand up with your toes and let the waves lull you to sleep? (or you could go to your local big mouse store & roll your eyes at the merchandising of the following characters) Jim Hines’ Princess series started [...]
Books
While I Live, the first in John Marsden’s The Ellie Chronicles trilogy, picks up where the last of the Tomorrow series left off: the war is over, much of Australia has been ceded to Indo – I mean, Nameless Enemy Country – and Ellie Linton and what remains of her friends must find a way to adapt. The Lintons live on a border property, and [...]
What I love about Francesca Lia Block is that she’s such a diva in feminist/YA fantasy that she doesn’t have to write epic novels. She’s just like “BAM HI HERE’S MY NOVEL ABOUT WEREWOLVES, SEXUAL MATURATION, THE PSYCHIATRIC INDUSTRY, AND MOMMY ISSUES. You gotta pick your jaw off the floor yourself because my nails are drying.” That is to say: The Frenzy is pretty awesome. [...]
I really enjoyed The Half-Made World. Here’s the conceit: the “Old World” is decorous and settled, the “New World” is all wobbly with potential, particularly since it’s still literally half made — plants, waters, and skies all pulsate with the potential to be something else. The Folk still live there, too, and while some have been forcibly chained and made into slave labor, others resist the [...]
Over December, I had the privilege of reading Sea, Swallow Me, a lyrical volume of short stories by Craig Gidney. Each of these stories grappled with identity, sexuality, and history using beautiful language. They also made central the experiences of African Diasporic subjects, and explored gender and masculinity in a beautiful, beautiful way. As a college instructor, I also found these stories useful because of [...]
The City of Ember: The First Book of Ember features two teen protagonists, Lina and Doon, as well as a city in crisis. Ember was established by the Builders hundreds of years ago. In their wisdom, the Builders provided the city with everything it would ever need — and they also (like Cylons!!) had a plan. This plan was that humans would eventually LEAVE Ember. [...]
Books like Sins & Shadows are a case in point for why I can’t quit urban fantasy. You got your standard PI with a past (the delightfully stubborn Sylvie Lightner), a whole lotta mystery, and some delicious characterization. Lightner’s got to find the god of Justice’s lost lover. Lightner’s a delightfully snarky, angry dynamo — the kind of fierce heroine urban fantasies so often promise but [...]
