For Jenny Baker: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

Jenny asked if I'd read The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau and I hadn't, so I did.

It was good. Plot was good. Character development was good. Ending was good---I skipped to end by about page thirty. Read it. Nice! So I went back and read the book. The writing is decent---not art, but decent. (Stephanie Meyers proved that artistic writing isn't what sells anyway. Plot sells. Character sells.) Jenny, Emma can read this and be fine. Nothing questionable. I'm not sure that I'll go on to read the rest of the series today, but someday I'll own the series for my kids when they are tweens.

It reminded me, actually, of Margaret Peterson Haddix's Running out of Time. Similar plotlines. Young hero and heroines find themselves in the middle of a community experiment gone bad. The adults won't solve the problem, or admit there is one, so it's up to the youth. Who face danger head on and, with cunning, face the problem. I think that Ember and Running would be nice compliments for discussion. You could have Emma read both and then talk about the similarity in themes. That would be good, actually.

The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs

I just finished The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs. Subtitle: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. I had already read Jacob's The Know it All (One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World). Here's what I can tell you about Jacobs:

1. He's a decent writer. Witty. Clever. Intelligent.
2. He isn't afraid to talk about his own insecurities and neuroses, which is nice, because his issues make my own insecurities and neuroses look farily normal. Comforting to find such humanity.
3. He obssessively pores over the Internet looking for blog posts about what people think about his book. (AJ, if you are reading this, leave a comment and I will send you and Julie and Jasper and Zane and Lucas some of my killer vegan peanut butter cookies. They're good even though I am not a vegan.)
4. He is the editor of Esquire, so he can not be depended on to edit out sketchy ideas or sketchy scenes or even his own sketchy thoughts. Since I am something of a prude about what I'll read---I skip passages when it looks questionable. I can't tell you for sure, but I'm usually correct, and what I skipped was sketchy.
5. I laugh out loud when I read his work. He is funny. Funny, funny, funny. If he were put in the same room with my brother Aaron, he would find his match for funny. So funny.

Having said that, I enjoyed the book. My favorite theme was that religion can't be something we just do and study---it really is about what we become because of what we know. And that holiness is found in the mundane.

Marianne, I think you'd like this one.

If you liked Guernsey

If you like Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Peel Society, you should try The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. It's delightful. Not as good as Guernsey (in my opinion), but good all the same and worth reading. I'm going to try more Sandra Dallas someday and report back. I tried to do her Alice's Tulips and didn't care for it. But maybe that book was the runt of the litter. I'll give Dallas another chance.

*Have you met Charlie Ravioli? If not, you should. He's one funny guy.

There are many things I studied in graduate school that I haven't thought about since. But there are a few pearls that come back every now and then. One is the theoretical work of Wayne Booth, who wrote The Company We Keep. The gist is that when re read, we create a relationship with characters or authors, etc. Like . . . once you've met Alice in Wonderland, they you have a relationship with her, of sorts. That's the way simplified version, buy you get the idea.

But on that note, you need to meet Charlie Ravioli. He's one funny guy. I found him in the book Through the Children's Gate, by Adam Gopnik. Gopnik is a fantastic writer. This guy knows how to capitalize. He gets a little parenthesis happy---which is like speaking my language becuase I am (unedited) the queen of dashes. In this book, Gopnik writes a series of personal essays about his experiences returning back to the US after living in Paris for five years. I haven't read the whole book, but what I have read is superb. Funny. Insightful. Intelligent. Witty. Entertaining. Thought provoking. Good stuff so far. Can't vouch for all the content, but what I have seen is just fine.

Anyway. Charlie Ravioli appears in the essay "Bumping into Mr. Ravioli." It's worth finding the book in the library or going to Borders to sit in their comfy chairs just to read this chapter. Really. It's good.

So go read it. And then come back and let me know that you know him so I can say something like, "I felt like I was talking to Charlie Ravioli . . . " and you'll know what I'll mean and we'll both sigh and say, "Yeah. That Charlie Ravioli. It's like that sometimes."

I do this with Emmanuel Levinas and my cousin Dave. We nod. And we get it.

But trust me. Go meet Charlie Ravioli.

Seer and the Sword, City of Masks

I don't get much time to browse in the library anymore. When I take the kids, I spend most of my time trying to keep the kids from pulling the books off the shelves. So when I want new books, I have to look fast. Usually I come up with duds, but sometimes I find some good stuff. Which is what I was lucky to find on my last trip---really good stuff. I was in the mood for more YA lit, so I pulled two from the shelf. Both good. Both well done.

The first is The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley. Fantasy, with a good strong female character---which isn't what you always find so that was a nice suprise. Nice writing. Good plot. Little nuggets about human nature. Good. Perfect for a tween, nice escape if you are an adult and you just want a pleasant YA fantasy. There are more in the series and I'm glad. If I get lonely for the characters, I'll go read the rest.

The second is The City of Masks by Mary Hoffman. Fantasy again, this one with an alternate world much like Venice, Italy. The fun thing about this book is the it delves into 1700 Italy (sort of). Not history heavy, which wouldn't work in a YA novel anyway, but there's enough truth about the past to make it authentic and interesting. Hoffman likes Italy and you can tell. This book also had another delightful heroine with a strong mind and spirit. Yet another book in a series. Yet another series I wouldn't blanch to read.

So there are two books that I would've recommended to the tween crowd who want something clean, well written, interesting, and worth reading.

Bravo, Hanley and Hoffman. Well done.

(End note: If you don't like fantasty, don't understand fantasy, and don't ever want to read fantasy, skip these. It's OK. The authors will never know and I won't be offended.)

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

I've been plowing through Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang for some time now. Writing is good, and Jung's insights, about humanity in general in the context of Chinese history, are good as well.

But it's long. It's way long.

It's way, way, way long.

I don't have a problem with long books, just as I don't have a problem with long conversations. But both need to end when it's time to end. And when I'm falling asleep either having a conversation or reading a book, it's probably time to just say, "Oh, that was lovely to see you. I'll be going now."

The basis for the book is that Jung's grandmother was a concubine during the end of the reign of the warlords in China. Her mother was a part of the Communist revolution, and Jung herself experienced Mao's cultural revolution and the aftermath (as heretofore mentioned in the bland Red Scarf Girl). Jung chronicles their lives and loves, their living and their struggles. Their determination and their strength. Great plot.

It's not that I'm bored with the book, I've just had enough. I've eaten all the turkey and stuffing I can hold and gone back for seconds on chocolate pie. Finite. Ja acabou. Ja esta. I'm done, thank you, that was lovely.

If you are a purist who needs to know how it ends, I'll tell you because I've skimmed it. Jung's family gets old and dies and Jung moves to London. Where she is happy.

Once again, if you are interested in Chinese history, this would be good for you. And it's fine with me if you stop at about page 360. That's about where the meal ended for me.

Meg in Sheridan

Meg in Sheridan,

I keep meaning to mention . . . if your library doesn't have the books that you are looking for, you can write them a letter and suggest they purchase specific titles. (Some libraries have this feature in their library websites.) I find that most libraries (and Netflix, for example) are looking for things that people want to read (or watch). So if you suggest, maybe they will listen.

Good luck!