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Post  stargirl Thu Jul 26, 2012 2:32 pm

Re: Barthe DeClements: there's also a fourth grade book, I think called Fourth Grade Wizards--has a couple of the characters but not Elsie, of course, since she was the new kid in fifth grade.

Re: Tana French: I read all her books in order but my sister read them totally out of order and loved them just as much as I did. I don't think it makes a difference. The books aren't traditional sequels; each book takes a minor character from the previous book and gives the character a story of his/her own--the books rarely refer back to previous books.

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Post  mayram Thu Jul 26, 2012 5:23 pm

My next book, OK, I AM NOT ASHAMED. When I was a teenager my sister and I were obsessed with this book called Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade. I have no idea why. It was about an overweight girl named Elsie who moved to a new town and the kids made fun of her, blah blah, but then she makes friends and y'know, it was a YA (or MR!) novel and it was silly but we loved it for some reason. (We both had issues with Judy Blume's Blubber, and I think we saw this as some kind of corrective. I am actually curious to reread Blubber at some point, because it just seemed assholey to me when I was younger, and I wonder if I was missing something.) So, today I was at the Newton Public Library to see some photos and there was also a book sale and I bought some silly books for 50 cents each. One was a wonderful and SUPER INFORMATIVE book called The Internet. It was published in 2002. I CAN'T IMAGINE why they culled it and sold it for 50 cents. But ANOTHER book that also cost 50 cents was called How Do You Lose Those Ninth Grade Blues? and YES, IT IS A SEQUEL to Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade. I knew there was a sixth-grade one but I didn't know it went beyond that. So my MISSION is to read this book before Saturday, when I'm going to my sister's for my niece's 3rd birthday party, and I will gift this book to her. Probably along with The Internet, which we will hide somewhere in her house. Heh. Anyway, I don't think it will be hard to read this book in four days. And I am LOOKING FORWARD TO IT.

I remember Blubber being disturbing to me as kid. The whole thing about forcing people to show their underwear always struck me as so weird.

I love these types of books though and unashamedly read them as an adult as well. There are a few I'd like to track down, I remember one about a sixth grader named Skye that was all about fears of junior high school but I can't remember the name of it. Google will probably know.

Did anyone else read the Amy and Laura books? Those really depressed me for some reason, I hated the city setting.

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Post  big chicken Thu Jul 26, 2012 5:54 pm

Amy and Laura--sisters? And they go to camp in one of the books?

Did anyone else read the series Cheerleaders about the six members of a high school squad? Although, now that I've been exposed to the cheerleading championships and Bring It On, six cheerleaders seem like a really small squad.

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Post  Kiran Thu Jul 26, 2012 6:00 pm

I did. One was a Texas transplant right? And she'd been cheerleading since like birth, and one other one had an intellectual father who didn't get cheerleading.

I also read Silver Blades, Gymnastics, the Saddle Club, The Pony Club, and the teen series of those books Pine Hollow.

I was so cool.
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Post  whatthedeuce Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:58 am

Thanks for recommending Unwind, Jude! That sounds absolutely creepy and intense. I can't wait to read it!

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Post  queenofdenile Fri Jul 27, 2012 1:32 am

I've also read Unwind, and it was definitely intense and creepy, but for me it didn't entirely work as a story about abortion. I won't get too political here, but I'll just say that the "compromise" of unwinding, to me, didn't seem like a realistic outcome that either the pro-life OR pro-choice would want. The story worked better for me as a parable about human trafficking and organ harvesting, and once I looked at it from that perspective, it was a lot more effective.

I also finished Blackout, book 3 in the Newsflesh series.
Spoiler:
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Post  stargirl Fri Jul 27, 2012 1:52 am

[quote="mayram"]


Did anyone else read the Amy and Laura books? Those really depressed me for some reason, I hated the city setting.
By Marilyn Sachs, right? Not the most upbeat books, true, but nowhere as depressing as her Veronica Ganz books.

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Post  Jude Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:46 am

whatthedeuce wrote:Thanks for recommending Unwind, Jude! That sounds absolutely creepy and intense. I can't wait to read it!

You're very welcome! Let me know what you think of it, okay?

I totally agree with you on the abortion thing, queenofdenile. I had to really suspend disbelief for certain parts of the book for sure, and that was one of the iffy bits for me as well.

Gosh, I'd forgotten just how much FUN Harry Potter is! Even from the very beginning, even knowing what will happen, even having seen all the movies. It's nice to be reminded after all this time just how well written this series really is, and how much it deserves its accolades.

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Post  Raksha Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:05 pm

I finished reading The Etched City by K.J. Bishop yesterday and since then I've been trying to figure out why I found it so unsatisfying, in spite of the excellent writing. Now I think I have it: the characters never change. The writing is beautiful and it paints such a vivid picture of a fantastic city full of wonders, but none of these wonders impact the characters. They are the same people at the end of the story as they were at the beginning. While these wonders are taking place, the emotional effect they have (if any) on the characters is fleeting. It's really frustrating and it left me wondering what the point of the book was.
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Post  gannetguts Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:33 am

Speaking of Judy Blume, I, errr, acquired a bunch and cannot wait to start the re-read. Don't know whether to start with the Fudge books or one of the others. Also currently re-reading 'Salem's Lot, but not before bed. Still creeps me out.

ETA: And I HAVE to get Tana French's latest. I'll have to check with the library. I loved her previous books so much.

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Post  mialoubug Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:30 am

I'm saving Tana French for vacation. I just started "Little Face" by Sophie Hannah and it's a bit off-center. Not in a bad way but an interesting one. Anyone read her stuff before?
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Post  choubetcha Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:35 pm

Gone Girl totally lived up to the hype! I am torn because while I liked the note it ended on, I also want a sequel because
Spoiler:
.

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Post  Instant Monkeys Tue Jul 31, 2012 8:57 pm

I finished Sybil Exposed today. DAAAAAAMMMNNNNN. As someone who was completely fascinated by the Sybil story as a youngster, and loved Dr. Wilbur (especially the Joanne Woodward version of her), I found it almost wrenching to see the story completely dismantled, but man, the author makes a damn good case. It was also a HORRIFYING depiction of psychiatry in the '40s-'50s-'60s. The drugs! The hypnosis! The assumptions based on then-universally accepted Freudian doctrine! Just crazy. Basically it sounds like Dr. Wilbur pulled the whole multiple personalities, horrific child abuse, schizophrenic mother stuff OUT OF THIN AIR. And then wouldn't back down from it because she was writing a book. While reducing Shirley (Sybil's real name) to a cowering drug addict (she got addicted to Pentothal, among the other like, twelve drugs that Dr. Wilbur put her on) who couldn't work or go to school and became financially dependent on her. No wonder there are people who think that all psychology is crap. I never thought I would begin to see the Scientologists' point.

I think the part that stuck with me the most was this anecdote about how (earlier, like in the '40s) they would give patients this drug, I forget the name, to try and chemically "shock" them to get them to stop being manic or whatever, but this drug was, y'know, poison so it caused these dramatic spasms and convulsions. So then, some guy came back from South America and had discovered CURARE. Which paralyzes you. So they would give the patients this horrific drug and then also curare to make them unable to convulse so this poison could do whatever it was supposed to be doing. Then they would say you were cured. Gawd. And that's the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, completely fascinating book.
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Post  Raksha Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:10 am

Today I finished If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous. The last 3 books I've read have had really misleading descriptions and blurbs on the covers and I'm sick of it. This book was billed as warm, funny, fish-out-of-water love story about an American who moves to a small Japanese town to teach English after her father dies. It's actually a gloomy, awkward story about a woman who moves to Japan with her obnoxious, hypocritical girlfriend and how the both of them are equal parts unable and unwilling to adapt to their new home.

The book I read before that was The Etched City, which was described as a wild adventure through a city teeming with wonders actually turned out to be another gloomy story about two miserable assholes determined to be miserable and untouched by everyone and everything around them.

And before that was Tipping the Velvet (which I believe I also complained about here), which was described as a sexy, sensual story about a young woman figuring out who she is and how to love, turned out to actually be about a depressing story about a self-centered moron who repeatedly runs off after whichever fancy catches her interest in the moment and to whom other people are at best inconsequential.


I'm so effing sick of publishers using such horribly misleading descriptions because they think it will sell better. ARGH! Next up is Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey. Someone please tell me that this one really is a dark tale about an orphan who has inherited supernatural gifts who becomes a vigilante! And please tell me it's good, too! Because the more I think about the last 3 books I've read, the more I dislike them. *sigh*
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Post  allochthonous Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:46 am

Whispers Under Ground is the third book in the Rivers of London series about the tiny supernatural division of the Metropolitan police, and I loved it. It was much better than the second book (where the plot, such as it was, basically involved Peter having sex a lot). The plots are still pretty secondary to the character interactions, but Aaronovitch continues to get London and the people who live in it in a way that few other authors (fantasy or otherwise) seem to. I wonder if the occasional pop culture references (Doctor Who, Terry Pratchett and Harry Potter all make their way in there) will date it pretty quickly, but for the moment it's a great series.

I've loved everything I've read by China MiƩville so far, so I was really disappointed that I found Perdido Street Station such a slog. Slow-moving, unbearably turgid and over-written prose and unengaging characters, all of whom end up dead or miserable by the end. It does have some brilliant flashes of originality, but not enough to sustain my interest through seven hundred(!) pages. Nowhere near as good as The City and the City or Embassytown, IMO.

So I had to console myself by rereading Northanger Abbey (I just googled "Northanger Abbey" and got "Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons". Is that a thing, and if so, why?). Henry Tilney: most fanciable Austen hero or most fanciable Austen hero? And I always forget how funny it is, what with Catharine's desparate attempts to be a Gothic heroine constantly being thwarted. Come to think of it, I belive it's the only Austen I haven't seen a TV adaptation of, which obviously needs to be rectified. Does anyone have any strong opinions about the quality of the various adaptations out there?


Last edited by allochthonous on Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:41 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post  Red Wolf Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:33 am

My copy of Whispers Under Ground just arrived today. I'd been wondering if I should read it now, or go with something else from the pile. You sold me, allochthonous. I suppose that it's what I was thinking all along. I'm getting to the point where I prioritise books by how often I read the author's blog. Aaronovitch is weekly. One other author in the pile is whenever I feel the urge, and the other is, currently, never. But we'll see if that changes. :)

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Post  Disclaimer Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:59 am

My friend gave me Perdido Street Station as a birthday present last year and explained that MiƩville was one of his favourite authors, so I haven't had the heart to tell him I ditched it after a few chapters as I found it so tedious. Perhaps I should try one of the others you mentioned, allochthonous, to relieve the gift-guilt.

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Post  allochthonous Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:54 am

Ooh, I didn't know Aaronovitch has a blog *googles*

Disclaimer, I would suggest giving The City and the City a go - it's clever and twisty, with a really original concept that plays out superbly, and is much more tightly-written and edited than Perdido Street Station (it's less than half the length!); it also comes with much less thesaurus abuse (that I noticed, anyway). I recommend it aall the time, and even people who don't "do" fantasy or sci-fi have enjoyed it.
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Post  rivki8699 Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:11 pm

ETA: And you already answered my question. Nothing to see here.
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Post  Instant Monkeys Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:49 pm

I'm reading Ender's Game at the moment -- never read it, part of the sci-fi canon, etc. -- but I have The City and the City out from the library and that will be next. I liked Embassytown a lot.
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Post  Fiammetta Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:57 pm

So I had to console myself by rereading Northanger Abbey (I just googled "Northanger Abbey" and got "Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons". Is that a thing, and if so, why?). Henry Tilney: most fanciable Austen hero or most fanciable Austen hero? And I always forget how funny it is, what with Catharine's desparate attempts to be a Gothic heroine constantly being thwarted. Come to think of it, I belive it's the only Austen I haven't seen a TV adaptation of, which obviously needs to be rectified. Does anyone have any strong opinions about the quality of the various adaptations out there?

I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit, though it's been a few years. It's not a particularly fancy adaptation, but it is close to the spirit of the novel, and I enjoyed it. JJ Feild is a charming and funny Tilney.

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Post  Raksha Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:39 pm

I finished Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey today and it was excellent! Finally, a book that doesn't suck with a main character I didn't want to smack! This was a surprisingly sweet story, considering it's set in a small town in what used to be Texas that is now an isolated, militarized buffer zone between the US and Mexico. But it was great!
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Post  Menshevixen Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:55 am

Was trying to get through 11/22/63 and just gave it up. Could not get into it. Now awaiting Code Name Verity from the library and doing my annual Yearling reread.
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Post  mokey75 Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:27 am

I finished Code Name Verity yesterday afternoon (thankfully, when I got home, and not on the bus). It gutted me. It took me a while to get into, but man, once I figured out what was actually going on, I couldn't stop reading.
Spoiler:

I was going to start Caleb's Crossing last night, and then decided that I needed something fluffy. So I'm reading Matched instead. Which actually works out, because I didn't want to lug it on the plane next week (it's a library hardcover), and CC is on my Kindle.
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Post  big chicken Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:43 am

My absolute favorite line from Code Name Verity is
Spoiler:
Sniff.

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