Into The Wild Nerd Yonder

Into The Wild Nerd Yonder, Julie Halpern
At 5:30 this Saturday, I walked upstairs and asked the Dude "How do you know when a book was great?" He smirked at me and answered "I'm guessing it's when you just read the whole thing in two hours." He was right. I sat down Saturday afternoon with Into the Wild Nerd Yonder, not knowing what to expect, and was immediately drawn in. The book chronicles' Jessie's sophomore year of high school, when the two best friends she has had since she was a toddler decide they want to become punks and Jessie isn't sure where she fits in any more. Based on that sentence, I'm sure you can tell that this could be just another teen coming of age story, but Julie's character is so clever, funny, and real that it loses any concerns about being cheesy. It is made stronger by the great supporting cast, including her older brother Barrett and her quirky parents. Jessie is smart and enjoys school, but worries about being nerdy, something I could definitely relate to. Is it better to be lonely and unlabeled or throw yourself in with a fun group that others call nerdy? I absolutely adored this book as it is just plain fun. I'll definitely be looking into Halpern's other novels even as I'm busy harassing all of you to read this book!

Borrowed from the library

Unexpected Heroines

Among Others, Jo Walton
I decided to read Among Others after about the third time I saw it on a "must read" list, and I agree completely with its inclusion. Among Others is a haunting young adult fantasy/science fiction book which will appeal even to those who aren't as interested in genre books. It tells the story of Mori, whose backstory is revealed slowly throughout the book. She lives in what appears at first to be standard 1979 England but turns out to be a much more deeply inhabited world, shared with fairies and witches. The world is described so well that I was surprised to find myself in Houston sun and not in rainy Wales when I finished. Mori is a fanatical reader, which I loved seeing in a fictional character. I also enjoyed the way she could be an extremely strong and mature character yet still dealt with many of the everyday social concerns of the average teenage girl. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough due to its nuanced characters and broad appeal.

Purchased for Kindle


The False Princess, Eilis O'Neal
This young adult novel generated a lot of buzz and it's easy to see why. The story is a familiar one: a young woman who, at 16, learns that she is not the princess she was raised as but a changeling brought in to subvert a prophecy. Sinda is thrust into a new life as a peasant, but she soon finds that even though she isn't a princess, she is still special. She has to try to learn where she fits in, which is not an easy task. It's rare for me to recommend this, but I think this is a book that could have a great sequel. That said, the book stands wonderfully on its own and should appeal to adults of all ages.

Borrowed from the library

The Amazing Tiffany Aching

Note: I wrote this entry after reading the first two books in the series but never published it. I've since read the last two books as well and enjoyed them just as much. Pick up the first one and I know you will love Tiffany and the Nac Mac Feegle as much as I did! Thanks for the recommendation Audrey!

The Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett
This was another Audrey recommendation and what a good one it was! I loved the matter of factness of the main character, nine year old Tiffany Aching, who reads fairy tales and thinks witches get short shrift. She won me over early on when she used her little brother as bait for a monster and attacked it with a frying pan. Soon enough she encounters a six inch tall, red haired blue skinned man, one of the "Nac Mac Feegle" or Wee Free Men. The Nac Mac Feegle were the highlight of the novel for me as they inject great humor as they go about their "stealin, drinkin, and eatin." The unlikely alliance between Tiffany and the Nac Mac Feegle becomes critical when she has to rescue her little brother from the Faerie Queen. As soon as I finished this I was ready for more!

A Hat Full of Sky, Terry Pratchett
A Hat Full of Sky is the next adventure for Tiffany Aching and the Wee Free Men. Tiffany still longs to be a witch and gets the opportunity to train and learn how to use her great natural power. Unfortunately that power is a draw for bad as well as good and Tiffany has to learn who she really is in order to save her own life. The Wee Free Men are once again at their best, and Mistress Weatherwax, the most powerful witch in the world, is unexpectedly as humorous a witch as I have ever read about. I actually preferred this to The Wee Free Men, but I'd still recommend reading both for the sheer fun of them.

For those interested in more, the next two books are Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight. They were both great reads. Also, Audrey reviewed all four books as well...check out her reviews!

Bibliovermis - The Wee Free Men
Bibliovermis - A Hat Full of Sky
Bibliovermis - Wintersmith
Bibliovermis - I Shall Wear Midnight

And the Award Goes To...

I didn't watch the Oscars last week but I did think it would be fun to do my own Oscars for reading. So, for the first time ever, let me introduce the O.S.C.A.R. (Online Statuette Commemorating Alicia's Reading). I am limiting the selection to books that I read in 2010, but they could have been written any time. For some of them I will include nominees as well as a winner.

Best Actress (Female Protagonist)
Lady Margaret Beaufort, The Red Queen
Also nominated:
Elv, The Story Sisters (my review)
Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games trilogy
Annette Vallon, Annette Vallon (my review)

Best Actor (Male Protagonist)
Henry Lee, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Also nominated:
William Marshal, The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion (my reviews)

Best Supporting Actress
Minny Jackson, The Help (my review)
Also nominated:
Geillis Duncan, the Outlander series (my review)

Best Supporting Actor
Martin, Her Fearful Symmetry (my review)
Also nominated:
Henrik Vanger, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Documentary (Non-fiction)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot (my review)
Also nominated:
Born to Run, Christopher McDougall
Superfreakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (my review)

Best Animated Film (Young Adult/Children's Literature)
The Princess Academy, Shannon Hale (my review)
Also nominated:
Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, Adrienne Kress (my review)
The Uglies trilogy, Scott Westerfeld (my review)
Odd and the Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman (my review)

Best Costumes (Best Period Fiction)
The Greatest Knight, Elizabeth Chadwick (my review)
Also nominated:
The Red Queen, Philippa Gregory
The Scarlet Lion (my review)

Have any category suggestions I should add? You may notice I didn't include a "Best Picture/Best Book" category; it was just too hard to choose! I am sure I missed some great books and characters because I didn't do a good job keeping track of what I read last year, but I'm keeping track this year so next year's O.S.C.A.R.s will have an even more exciting field!

Challenging Reading

Anyone reading this blog probably knows that I don't really need to be challenged to read more. I had already decided to track my reading more this year (thanks for the inspiration, Janssen!) just out of curiosity. This Salon article suggested quite a few challenges on everything from thick books to zombie books. I may not need help reading more, but thanks to the internet, joining a reading challenge can be a social experience as well as an intellectual one. I'm hoping joining these challenges will bring me great discussions, new reading suggestions, and interesting blogs to read.

Without further ado, here are my choices:
1) Chunkster Challenge 2011 (http://chunksterchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/12/chunkster-challenge-2011-sign-ups.html)
I love digging into big books so this is a great challenge! My only debate on this is which level to sign up for of the 4 offered. Should I go for the Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big? (description: This option is for the reader who can't resist bigger and bigger books and wants to commit to SIX Chunksters from the following categories: 2 books which are between 450 - 550 pages in length; 2 books which are 551 - 750 pages in length; 2 books which are GREATER than 750 pages in length)
...or risk failing and sign up for the Mor-book-ly Obese (description: For the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to EIGHT or more Chunksters of which three tomes MUST be 750 pages or more)
Thoughts anyone?

2) 2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge (http://jamielovesya.blogspot.com/2010/12/2011-young-adult-reading-challenge.html)
2010 was definitely a year of young adult books for me. I had no idea how much great YA reading is out there. These books are usually quick to read as well, which is great when time is limited. I'm going to wuss out here and do the "Mini YA Reading Challenge" which is 12 YA novels. I think I can easily read one per month, although since so many great series are out there I expect I'll be more likely to complete this in clumps. In fact, I'm already well on my way with this challenge as I read one YA book over vacation (and completely during 2011, not to worry!). I'll have a review up soon.

3) (sort of) I like the idea of the TBR challenge (http://www.roofbeamreader.net/2010/12/2011-tbr-pile-challenge-with-prize.html) but I don't know how many of the books in my pile have been there more than a year...I'm hoping not too many! I'm not signing up formally, but working through my big to be read basket in the library and the piles throughout the house is definitely a personal goal.

I know some of you have already committed to reading more or reading a different type of genre this year; is anyone else going to join a challenge?

A Potent Potpourri of Recent Reading

The Scarlet Lion, Elizabeth Chadwick
This is the sequel to The Greatest Knight, which I really enjoyed. It did not disappoint. While much of the first book covers William's rise to prominence, in the sequel he is already extremely powerful and no longer young. He learns that the political battlefield can be more stressful and even as dangerous as the traditional battlefield. William struggles to maintain his character and morals in a world which is increasingly filled with shades of gray. Unlike many sequels I felt the quality didn't drop off between the books. I hope Chadwick continues to write more about that time period.

Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager, Diana Gabaldon
I had heard of the popular Outlander series a number of times but didn't know much about it except that it was a "bodice ripper," aka a historical fiction romance. That was enough to keep me on the other side of the fence until Kasia of Good Finking, whose taste I generally share, said she tried it and was totally sucked in. I picked up Outlander, the first book in the series, just before I got the new day bed for the library. I spent all day that Sunday reading it and was totally hooked. The series tells the story of Claire Beauchamp, a nurse during World War II. While in Scotland she visits a stone circle and is pulled back in time to 200 years earlier, where she meets Jamie Fraser and falls in love. The book definitely has some romance aspects but I really enjoyed both the character development between Claire and Jamie as well as the modern view of historical daily life. I ended up getting the next two books (Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager) as well and they were fun reads but not as great as the first. Still, I'll probably check out the remaining volumes from the library just to find out where the story goes. These would be great vacation books.

House Rules, Jodi Picoult
I bought this because Heather had read Jodi Picoult's most recent book and highly recommended it. Unfortunately I didn't realize Heather had the most recent paperback and I got the most recent hardback. Fortunately this was a lucky mistake as I really enjoyed it and now the two of us can trade and each read some more! I won't go too much into the details of the book except to stay that it's typical Jodi Picoult, which I've written about before. That said, I enjoyed it and learned a lot about Asperger's syndrome. If you've liked her books before I'd recommend this although it's not in my top 3.

Princess Academy, Shannon Hale
The new blog I wrote about earlier this week is written by an elementary school librarian, so she reads (and recommends) a lot of young adult literature. I've been hearing a lot about the great quality of YA books out there these days so I thought it would be worth checking out. Princess Academy was a great start. It tells the story of Miri, a teenager who lives in a small village high on a mountain where everyone quarries stone to sell to the "lowlanders." Miri is petite and her father has never let her work in the quarry. She feels useless and frustrated at her inability to help. One day a messenger from the king comes to the village to announce that the prophets in the capital have seen that the next princess will come from Miri's mountain. All the young girls are taken away to learn how to be princesses at the princess academy. When Miri is taken away from her family and home she learns things that could change life for her whole village. Miri was a great character who made me chuckle. I enjoyed watching her grow and try to decide what was really important to her. Two teenage thumbs up!