Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;...
Whether we read in Middle English or Modern English, I'm sure teachers glossed over Chaucer's sly humor and more ribald jokes (mine did). Instead of laughing over bickering tradesmen and hypocritical churchmen, Chaucer came off dry, boring and a little stodgy.
Enter Peter Ackroyd. Known most recently for his geographic biographies, Venice, London, and Thames, as well as The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, Ackroyd gives the reader a prose translation of Chaucer's poem. Not a line-by-line translation packed into paragraphs, with annotations and definitions, but a story that emphasizes the human characters that pout and whine, take offense, pontificate, and generally enjoy telling a naughty story or two. Ackroyd's uses modern prose and sentence structure while keeping the original narrative structure, characters and setting of The Canterbury Tales intact. This is a great introduction to Chaucer for those who might be hesitant to tackle the poem, to become familiar with the characters and the enjoy the stories without worrying over rhymes and poetic metaphor; on the other hand, those already familiar with Chaucer will appreciate Ackroyd's interpretation for the warmth and humor of the language without any loss of Chaucer's wit.
Enter also Penguin USA. Penguin has recently launched new paperback "packaging" of many classics and the paperback release of Ackroyd's The Canterbury Tales wasn't left behind (the original hardcover design is at the bottom of this post). Designer Ted Steam created a cartoon cover showcasing all the pilgrims from Chaucer's tales as they pass by the reader on the cover. It's a wrap-around design and worth every chuckle (I particularly like the richness of the Wife of Bath, the silliness of the three monks sharing a horse, and the student doggedly reading while on horseback). It reminds me of old movie posters like that of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Animal House where the actors' characters are charicatured in the drawing. Steam also paneled out "The Man of Law's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale" on the interior flaps. You can see an image of the entire cover at the Superpunch blog (The Canterbury Tales is the third set of images in the post; the whole post is a great overview of some of the new Penguin covers).
Chaucer is a favorite of mine and I own a number of different editions but this one shines a little brighter for the warmth of its story and clever cover art.
I received The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky on my 21st birthday from someone very important to me. He told me that it has held a special place in his heart since high school, and even stuck with him through rougher times in college. So, he imparted a copy to me, hoping I would like it.
I didn't like it. I loved it.
On the surface, the story sounds similar to many other teen lit summaries out there: a coming-of-age story of a boy writing a letters as he enters high school. But it's so much more than that--I can't even begin to stress that enough. In fact, I was pleased to find this book in the regular Fiction section at Barnes and Noble rather than the Teen Fiction section, because it's not a story that merely appeals to teenagers. Charlie, the main character of the novel, is imperfectly human (and sympathetic) at his very core; his words reach into the depths of anyone who is still striving to grow as an emotional being, or anyone who has struggled (or is still struggling) with personal discovery. It's a story with such a painfully beautiful--and oftentimes humorous--sting of reality, and by far my favorite coming-of-age story I've read in years.
You don't know who Charlie's letters are addressed to, but it doesn't matter. Walking beside Charlie on his rather intimate journey of self-growth is both rewarding and heart-warming. hands-down a must read!
Oh, and Charlie's impeccible taste in music doesn't hurt matters in the least.
I pick up any new book by Ann Brashares without hesitation and know I'll love it. The Last Summer (of You and Me) made me cry and don't even get me started on the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Brashares writes engaging books about memorable characters and this is no exception.
This is the story about love over time. Daniel remembers all of his past lives and spends them searching for and then falling in love with Sophia (her name my change, but Daniel's love for her never does). The story goes back and forth between present day with Daniel and Lucy and with Daniel's past.
My Name is Memory reminded me of The Time Traveler's Wife. In what is actually a great compliment, My Name is Memory seemed like the young adult version of Niffinegger's masterpiece. And, if what I have read is correct, this is the beginning of a trilogy. I really hope that is true as these characters were too great for just one novel.
The Summer We Read Gatsby is a charming story about two half sisters who inherit their beloved Aunt Lydia's home in the Hamptons when she passes away. Peck and Cassie could not be more different and as they go through the summer they work through their grief, their sisterly bond, and their desires in life.
Each sister has a past in the Hamptons that reconnects with each and that was my favorite part of the story. It was also fun to read all of the interactions between the two half sisters who are so incredibly different. The story is told from Cassie's point of view, but the eccentric nature of Peck is every evident.
This was an easy read and entertaining, but not a quick read. It left me wanting to relax on a hammock on the beach. This would be a great book for vacation.
A Welcome Grave (Lincoln Perry Series #3)
Lincoln Perry's back! And, once again, I have nothing but praise. A Welcome Grave is somewhat darker than its predecessors, but I again read the book cover-to-cover, unable to look away until I reached the end. With how easy Koryta makes it to empathize with the good guys, hate the bad guys, and worry through the shades of gray, it's no wonder it's so easy to be completely swept up into this not-so-fictional world.
By this book, the reader knows that Lincoln lost his job on the police force when he found out his fiancée was having an affair with prominent lawyer, Alex Jefferson, got drunk, drove to see him, and punched Jefferson in the face. So when the first lines of the book are, "Sometime after midnight, on a moonless October night turned harsh by a fine, windswept rain, one of the men I liked least in the world was murdered... The detectives went looking for suspects -- people whose histories with Jefferson were adversarial and hostile. At the top of that list, they found me..." you know right away Lincoln's in trouble. Being investigated for murder by the very department for which he used to work, Lincoln complicates matters more by being unable to refuse an assignment by the widow Jefferson, his ex-fiancée. She sends him to find her late husband's estranged son and let him know of his inheritance. Instead of the simple assignment he expected, Lincoln ends up in a jail in Indiana, and Jefferson's son ends up in the morgue. With the case against him growing increasingly strong, Lincoln must race against time to find the real killer and clear his own name.
With an unrelenting pace and depth far surpassing expectation, it's no wonder this new addiction is so compelling. More please!
For more Lincoln Perry see Tonight I Said Goodbye (Lincoln Perry Series #1), Sorrow's Anthem (Lincoln Perry Series #2), and The Silent Hour (Lincoln Perry Series #4). For Michael's stand-alone novels, check out Envy the Night and his new release,So Cold the River.
The Scent of Rain and Lightning
Whether you are a native kansan or not, this book will keep you coming back for more. A story of lies, secrets, and love keeps the pages turning late into the night.
Nancy Pickard (a Kansas native) tells the story of a young woman whose parents have been gone since she was a child; her father brutally murdered, her mother never heard from again. With the telling of the past and present, the mystery surrounding the family's past becomes only more mysterious and complex as the twists and turns shock the most perceptive readers..
Focusing on family dynamics the story highlights the importance of family for small Kansas farming and ranching communities. With beautiful scenery familiar to every kansan and a bit of local history thrown into the mix, every reader is sure to enjoy this surprising novel.
A truly "unputdownable" selection.
Also by Pickard:
Sorrow's Anthem (Lincoln Perry Series #2)
After finishing Michael Koryta's first novel, Tonight I Said Goodbye (Lincoln Perry Series #1), it took all of five minutes before I was in the car, on the way to get the next book. After a sleepless, page-turning night, I was once again impressed with the "unputdownableness" (official Barnes & Noble lingo!) of Koryta's writing.
Sorrow's Anthem is the second of (so far, I hope!) four novels starring former cop PI Lincoln Perry, only this time, the case is personal. In fact, no one even hired Lincoln. Plagued by guilt over his involvement in his childhood best friend, Ed Gradduk's, arrest, Lincoln is shocked to hear that the now ex-con is the prime suspect in a murder/arson case. Still wanting to try to do right by Ed, Lincoln seeks him out. After only a brief insight into what had happened, a police car arrives on the scene and Ed is killed in the chase, right before Lincoln's eyes. Against the advice of his partner, Joe, and against the wishes of Ed's mother and the rest of the neighborhood, Lincoln dives headfirst into the case and, inevitably, his own past. Intent on clearing Ed's name, Lincoln's fervor brings trouble down on Joe and himself as the discovery of another murder confuses the case even more.
Sorrow's Anthem is fast-faced, riveting, and explosive without being plot-heavy, as it left me feeling even closer to the characters than the first book. I will DEFINITELY keep reading and you should, too!
It’s only fair to warn the reader of the tragedy and heaviness that bursts from Every Last One like a train wreck. It is sudden and shocking, and will leave you crying in public.
Mary Beth Latham is the mother of a typical suburban family, navigating through her life with familiar, middle-age struggles: teenager angst, disconnect from her spouse, hints at a greater discontent. Yet she is completely intertwined with her family, even as they pull away from her, and she from them.
When Mary Beth’s family is violently destroyed by an unexpected act of violence, her life becomes unrecognizable; she becomes unrecognizable. Her previous discontent seems foolish in the face of such deep, profound grief. The rest of novel centers around Mary Beth’s attempt to cope with what happened – an intimate, heartbreaking look at loss and love.
Yet the beauty of this story – and what is perhaps one of Quindlen’s trademarks – is its ability to accurately mirror human emotions. Mary Beth attempts to heal, yet she knows she will never be the same person again; she knows she will never truly be ok. Her loss has changed her – ruined her – yet she has no choice but to mask her heartache and go on with her life… Like we all do.
Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #10)
I love love love the Sookie Stackhouse books! It's like jumping into someone else's weird world every time I read one. Each of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series books is deliciously entertaining and I have been enjoying reading about Sookie's life and adventures since book one!
Dead In The Family picks up after the Fairy War, which was traumatic for Sookie both mentally and physically. Things should be getting back to normal as she continues her steamy relationship with Eric, but trouble is always around the corner in Bon Temp, LA. Not only does Sookie have an unwanted house guest, but tensions are rising over the recently outted Shifters. Nothing is ever easy when Supes are involved.
These books are endlessly entertaining, but at the same time, not much happens throughout the book. Honestly, I like that. It's like peaking into Sookie's world and experiencing all of the weirdness with her. I now impatiently look forward to book 11 as Harris has kept my intrigue and has also set up a lot upon which to continue.
Tonight I Said Goodbye (Lincoln Perry Series #1)
I am not always a fan of mystery or private investigator stories, and I tend more toward fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural but Michael Koryta is speaking at my departmental graduation ceremony in two weeks so I decided to check out his books. First of all, I was thinking local, 21-year-old author... okay... I guess I could find some time to at least skim over something. I WAS SO WRONG! Less than a chapter into Tonight I Said Goodbye, I had to stop to buy the book (which I NEVER do) and couldn't put it down until I finished, despite finals and papers with rapidly approaching due dates. The next day I went and got the next book in the series. Not only did I want to read more by the same author, but I could not bring myself to say goodbye - tonight or any other time - to Lincoln Perry (the main character). Rare is the author who can develop a character SO WELL that I feel like we're old friends and I had to find out what would happen to him next!
So Tonight I Said Goodbye starts out with the plot and character development in the first paragraph and just gets better from there. I never do this but I find I cannot convey why I wasn't able to stop reading any way but to show you the first paragraph:
"The last time John Weston saw his son alive, it was a frigid afternoon in the first week of March, and John's granddaughter was building a snowman as the two men stood in the driveway and talked. Before he left, John gave his son a fatherly pat on the shoulder and promised to see him again soon. He saw him soon - stretched out in a morgue less than forty-eight hours later, dead of a small-caliber gunshot wound to the head. John was saved the horror of viewing his granddaughter in a similar state, but the reason for that was a hollow consolation: Five-year-old Betsy Weston and her mother were missing."
Within the next few pages, Lincoln Perry - former cop and new private investigator - gets hired to find out what happened. What seems like it will follow a predictable PI novel pattern soon takes off completely away from the typical template of the genre into more twists and turns than I could have imagined! Koryta does an amazing job with developing characters so that you feel like you not only know ABOUT them, but you KNOW them. The plot, while totally intense, fast-paced, and unpredictable, is also somehow completely believable.
And before you believe that I am just praising a local author... of Tonight I Said Goodbye, Lee Child said: "A terrific, first-class debut full of suspense, tension, tricks, and charm," the Library Journal claims, "The twenty-one-year-old author excels at building characters and story..." and Steve Hamilton (author of Ice Run) says, "Michael Koryta hits the ground running with this masterful debut. He's already so good, it's scary." I don't have enough room to keep on this tack but there's plenty more!
While I have my own favorite genres, I am ALWAYS willing to read something that is incredibly well-written no matter what it is about. This is one of those books. I don't care if you don't like PI novels or mystery or thrillers: it's completely and totally worth it to drop whatever you're in the middle of and read this! As much as I'd love to extol the book and the author for a few pages more, I have to get back to the next book...
In the Lincoln Perry series, the books are Sorrow's Anthem (Lincoln Perry Series #2), A Welcome Grave (Lincoln Perry Series #3), and The Silent Hour (Lincoln Perry Series #4). Koryta has also written stand-alone novels Envy the Night and So Cold the River, coming out June 9, 2010.
Jekel Loves Hyde is coming out in May!
As soon as I finished the last page of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, I immediately rushed to the computer to look up Beth Fantaskey's other books. To my dismay, there were none. So when I came across the advance reading copy of Jekel Loves Hyde, I was delighted! It didn't let me down, either!
Jekel Loves Hyde is a great love story with twists and turns and an ending as unpredictable as Fantaskey's first novel. It is also a murder mystery heavily enmeshed in the lore of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (although not a retelling).
The funeral of Jill Jekel's father opens the novel and is the introduction to the character, Tristen Hyde, the dark, unusual student from England. He waits in the back of the cemetery until Jill is about to break down and then unexpectedly approaches her and lets her cry on his shoulder, tells her "It does get better, hurt less. Trust me, Jill," then leaves.
The story resumes with the first day of school. Jill and Tristen go to school together and share a chemistry class. Jill's mother is not coping with her new life as a widow at all, and Tristen's father is distant and demanding. Both are good chemistry students and Jill recruits Tristen to help her win a chemistry scholarship. Don't be fooled by the innocent-sounding plot, however: it quickly turns ugly and gets complicated. I'm not telling any more of that though; you'll have to read it for yourself!
The story is dual-narrated by Jill and Tristen alternately, but is does nothing to alleviate the suspense. When one narrator leaves you on a cliff-hanger, you turn to the next chapter only to find that it's the other character and you have to wait! I read the book in one sitting and was dead to the world furiously turning pages until I finished (much to my family's dismay!). So for teens and older kids, it's a great book! For adults, it's a quick read but still definitely worth it so be sure to check it out this May!
Keep 'em coming, Beth Fantaskey!
Jeffrey Stepakoff's debut novel is a quick and satisfying read about young love that takes place as World War II is ending.
Lily Davis Woodward is married for only two weeks at age 17 before her husband Paul leaves for Europe to help with the war. Jump ahead three years and the entire town is anticipating the return of their sons, brothers, and husbands. Lily has spent the last three years getting their home ready and being the good southern lady her mother, Honey, raised her to be.
A chance encounter with Jake Russo is where the story really gets going. A pyrotechnics specialist, he is in town to set up the fireworks for the town's July 4th celebration. They only know each other for several days, but so much happens and, as the reader, you will be sucked into those special, passionate days they spend together.
The story is told as a a series of flashbacks so I was reminded of both The Notebook and Titanic. The story is like others you may have read before, but Stepakoff makes it fresh with his descriptions and inclusion of the art of fireworks.
Read this if you want a beautiful, quick story. This would be the perfect book to read while relaxing on a porch swing with a glass of sweat tea on a hot summer day.
This book is breathtakingly good.
Jandy Nelson's first novel is a tender, beautifully written book about grief, love, family, and self-realization. Lennie is just 17 when her beloved older sister Bailey dies abruptly and the after affects of the loss are almost catastrophic. Once a talented clarinet player, Lennie stops playing and begins to hide from everything she once knew. The sadness that comes through in the words of this book was almost overwhelming. At times I didn't think I could finish The Sky Is Everywhere because the thought of dealing with a similar loss was just too much.
There is more to the story than just grief, though. Lennie has to begin dealing with being the main player in the story of her own life..something she is not used to. She becomes close to two boys and both affect her in different ways. One is a comfort to the life she remembers, when her sister was still alive, and the other breaths a new life into her and inspires her to live, love, and revisit music.
This book reads like poetry and I absolutely can not wait until Jandy Nelson writes something else. A fantastic first novel and I hope other readers enjoy it as much as I did.
XO
After reading his short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, you understand that Joe Hill can write anything and make it believable. And he should, since he is also Steven King’s son. Horns, his second novel, is about the good and evil in all of us, about love and hate, about family and secrets, and about religion, philosophy, and revenge. The story focuses on a poor soul named Ig, who wakes up after a morning of debauchery with demonic horns on his head. They come with strange powers, and – like any gift of the devil – have consequences. As Ig learns to use the horns he is turned toward investigating the murder of his true love, Merrin, for which he was the prime suspect. You root for Ig, even as he becomes more demonic, and you loathe the villain, who is among the top creepiest you’ll ever read. Horns is a great book, and Joe Hill is a major, major talent.
I am such a sucker for a mystery with romance involved. Violet and Jay have been best friends for what seems like forever, but just as every other girl in school starts to notice him, so does Violet. She achingly tries to ignore her new crush on him as she is also haunted by a special gift she has: she can sense death and feels a certain call from dead bodies and those who killed them.
Imagine dealing with school, a hot best friend, and a serial killer on the loose who you're trying to find!
Kimberly Derting creates a great mystery as she gives both the point of view from Violet and the killer! I hope she considers making this a series or writes more mystery/love stories.
I hated the main character of this book when I started it. Samantha Kingston is one of the most popular people in her school, but she is spoiled and mean and I didn't think I could read chapter after chapter about how awful she was to her classmates and family. But...then she died and that's when I realized this was not your normal story about a stuck up high school girl.
Sam ends up reliving the last day of her life seven times as she tries to figure out what happened and why. Lauren Oliver writes a beautiful and heart-breaking story (or, stories). I was worried that each time Sam woke up on 12 February I would be bored by the same details of her day as she went through it, but even if some things didn't change, Oliver made it seem new. I ended up finishing this novel in a fervor as I just had to get through Sam's last few tries along with her. Like her, I desperately wanted to figure out the mystery surrounding her death and began to see the beauty she was missing in her life.Before I Fall touches on many different emotions and has depth that is not always seen in teen novels.
Wow. I finished this book after being completely consumed by it for several days and when I finally set it down, all I could think was, "Wow." Anna Jarzab's publishing debut is one she should be immensely proud of as I have very few complaints. The story is told from two points of view: Neily and Audrey. They begin to investigate the murder of their friend, Carly, who had once dated Neily and was cousins with Audrey. Amid the protected and dangerous world of their private school, they begin to unravel what really happened leading up to the night of the murder while they both deal with the devastating loss of their friend. Neily, Audrey, and Carly (by way of flashbacks) are all incredibly deep characters and the way Jarzab writes about their pain was breathtaking at times. It is refreshing to read about characters who are flawed, but you understand why because the author has done such a good job in her writing.
I was also impressed that this teen novel had so much depth to it. It was not just about love and school, it was about fear, loss, failure, hopes, dreams, and many other things that teens themselves go through every day. All Unquiet things is like a Judy Blume book that has been updated for 2010. And that is the greatest compliment I can give!
"...that Jane Austen is still alive today — as a vampire."
That's the premise of Jane Bites Back, the clever and highly amusing new novel from Michael Thomas Ford.
Jane Fairfax is the owner of Flyleaf Books, located in a sleepy little town in upstate New York. Jane Fairfax is also a 234-year-old vampire and the author of some of the most beloved works in English literature. Being undead isn't all it's cracked up to be, though. She hasn't seen a royalty check in centuries, while an entire industry cashes in on her fame with sequels, prequels, film adaptations, self-help books, and worst of all… finger puppets. Then, there's Constance, the novel Jane's been trying to publish since before her "death." One hundred sixteen rejection letters later, Jane finally hits on success, but at what price? Her carefully crafted existence is imperiled by the need to tour and promote her book; a scholar who knows Charlotte Brontë a little too well is threatening to expose her; and a mysterious figure from Jane's past returns to haunt her.
From beginning to end, Jane Bites Back was a fun, engaging read. Drawing on both the current vampire craze and the unstoppable wave of "Austenmania" which began with the 1995 adaptations of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, Ford successfully skewers them both. For readers who love English literature but aren't too sacrosanct about it, there's plenty to enjoy here. In addition to Austen, Lord Byron is a major character (and as big a literary rock star as ever!), serving as both irritant and potential romantic interest. Another major literary figure plays a key role in the novel, but to tell who would be to spoil a deliciously hilarious scene that comes at about the two-thirds mark.
Ford, best known for his gay-themed fiction and non-fiction, successfully makes the jump to 'chick lit' with Jane Bites Back. I've never read him before, but I was sufficiently impressed and entertained that I'm eagerly awaiting the next of his vampire Jane Austen novels, Jane Goes Batty.
This young adult series, with a supernatural twist, is kind of like a mixture of several other stories rolled into one. There is the girl who used to be popular and now has secrets and is an outcast...there is the mysterious boy she is drawn to...there is mind-reading...there are people who seem to live forever.
While the story has some holes, I enjoyed reading all three books currently published and will definitely pick up the next one when it comes out. I found Ever to be a very interesting main character and loved reading about her interactions with Damon. Without giving too much away, I liked how Alyson Noel described some of the places Ever and Damon went and definitely felt like I was there, too.
This series is for you if you want a quick, entertaining read and won't be too critical. I'm not saying they aren't good (if they weren't, I wouldn't have read them all!), but read it with an open mind and I think you will enjoy the story.
Further Reading:
Blue Moon (Immortals Series #2)
Shadowland (Immortals Series #3)
I keep racking my brain, trying to figure what the best adjective would be for me to sum up this double recommendation. I keep coming back to two: personal and epic.
The Winds of War (first published in 1971) and War and Remembrance (1978) represent a single, cohesive story that manages to capture the enormous sweep of World War II and the Holocaust, but tells it in a way readers can still feel connected to such a massive narrative. Through the fictional Henry and Jastrow famlies, readers are caught up in the currents and eddies of history and tossed around the globe, from London to Berlin to Moscow, from submarines and battleships to the most infamous of the Third Reich's extermination camps.
There's something for everyone in this story; Herman Wouk manages to expertly blend romance and melodrama with scrupulously researched analyses of historical events and military tactics that would be at home in the military history section of your local B&N. He creates a dizzying cast of characters and gives them each their own unique voice. The story centers on two families: the Henrys, a Navy family led by stalwart everyman Victor (nicknamed "Pug"), and the Jastrows — Aaron, a Jewish-American expatriate living in Italy, and his niece Natalie. Pug (who longs for command of a battleship, but instead ends up hopping around Europe as FDR's unofficial eyes and ears) and his sons Byron (a perpetual student) and Warren (a Navy pilot) are pulled into the war. Meanwhile, the attempts of Aaron and Natalie (who falls in love with, and marries Byron) to flee Europe and the Nazis are blocked at every turn, and they eventually find themselves on a collision course with Hitler's Final Solution.
While it's easy to get caught up in the family drama of Wouk's story, what impressed me most of all were his chapters of historical analysis. By and large these were presented as excerpts from the postwar writings of General Armin von Roon, a fictional German general. So not only is Wouk giving an incredibly well-researched analysis of German military strategy during the war, but he's doing it from the perspective of the other side!
The masterful writing evident in the Roon chapters is perhaps only surpassed by the addition in War and Remembrance of selections from "A Jew's Journey," a diary Aaron Jastrow keeps as he and Natalie pinball around Europe evading the Nazis, before ending up in Theresienstadt, the so-called "Paradise Ghetto." The diaries chronicle not only his physical journey, but a spiritual one as well; Aaron's ordeal reawakens his faith, expressed in some of Wouk's most moving passages.
These books certainly aren't for everyone; 1,900 pages is a lot of reading, and it took me the better part of a year to polish them off (I was reading other books simultaneously). It's well worth the effort. I came away from The Winds of War and War and Remembrance feeling not only emotionally moved, but also with a greater understanding of the Second World War and the Holocaust than before I started.
(NOTE: It's also worth your while to check out the TV miniseries The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988), both of which originally aired on ABC. They're outstanding adaptations of the novels, though the depth of Wouk's historical research isn't easily translated from the written page to the video screen.)
