Book Binge

So...I just finished reading Red Rising, so this seemed appropriate. The review is on its way!

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust: Flavia in the New World

Twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is out of her element in this, the seventh installment, of Alan Bradley's series. The start of the novel has Flavia on a ship, mid-way across the Atlantic, bound for Canada, where she will be starting her education at Miss Bodycote's Female Academy. She barely has time to settle into her new home when a body comes tumbling down from the chimney, wrapped in the Union Jack, with an animal skull replacing its head. Her homesickness is gone at the prospect of a mystery to solve and she gets right to work. Her investigations reveals students gone mysteriously missing from Miss Bodycote's, a secret society, and a teacher with a murderous past.

********************

"The more I deal with adults, the less I wanted to be one." 

I enjoyed this book immensely. Flavia's personality was just what we've come to know and love - she's precocious, quick on her feet, and not afraid of anything. The development of the other characters - her classmates, her teachers, and even the headmistress - were all wonderful and it was easy to distinguish one from another. Miss Bodycote's school and the surrounding city are described in delightful detail, right down to the general store run by the woman who is entertained by Flavia's "charming" accent.

I was a bit disappointed, however, in how disjointed the book felt from the rest of the series. Without access to her attic library, Flavia finds herself without the solace of chemistry for most of the book.  The mystery itself sometimes seemed weaker than past plots, and I'll also freely admit that I missed Buckshaw!  The characters, the setting, the dependable Dogger and Gertrude...the story arcs that had been built up over the series were seemingly abandoned, and this new setting didn't feel quite like home. Things were touched upon briefly during this novel that I wish had been expanded upon, namely Harriets time at the school and her participation in the Nides, the secret society that Flavia is there to become a part of as well. Secrets were not elaborated on and I hope that Bradley plans on returning to those story lines later to explain in more detail.

In the end, I love this series and so I enjoyed the book. I can't wait, however, for Flavia to be back at Buckshaw, where she belongs.

(I received an advanced copy from Bantam via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

While You Were Reading: Book Adaptations and Award Season

Last week in book news:

Anarchy, the adaptation of the newly-discovered Shakespeare play, is due out in March and will be directed by Michael Almereyda. A modern take on Cymbeline, the story follows the fight for control of a city between corrupt police officers and a drug-dealing biker gang. The movie stars Ed Harris, Mia Jovovich, Dakota Johnson, Ethan Hawke, Penn Badgley, John Leguizamo, and Bill Pullman.

Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther) is developing a movie trilogy based off of the book Poe Must Die by Mark Olden. The story, set in 1840s New York City, has the famous author teaming with a renown boxer to pursue a sorcerer who murdered the fighter's wife.

Six finalists have been named for the Costa Short Story Award, given to an author of the UK or Ireland who creates "a single, previously unpublished short story of up to 4000 words written in English." A winner of the $5300 prize and two runners-up will be announced at the ceremony of January 27th. The complete list of finalists can be found here.

The winners of the 2015 Sidney Taylor Book Awards were announced, sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries, honoring "new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience."

Cutest proposal ever? Yes!

Via Buzzfeed:

This Couple's Bookstore Proposal Is Every Booklover's Dream

TBR Thursday

Between Christmas and the 2015 book previews, my TBR list has grown to epic proportions. Here's what I have coming up:

I know I'm behind the ball on Red Rising by Pierce Brown, but better late than never, right? I'm not a big fan of science fiction, so I had initially passed on this one, especially since it was being touted as YA. After hearing how amazing it was, however, I decided to give it a go. My book club will be discussing this book next week, so I'll have a review soon!

I'm also reading The Carrier by Sophie Hannah, the eighth book in her Spilling CID series. In this installment, a Gaby Struthers' plane is delayed, forcing her to room for the night with a hysterical woman who claims that an innocent man is going to go to prison for a murder he didn't commit. The innocent man turns out to be none other than Tim Breary, and Gaby begins to believe this woman's presence on the plane can't be a coincidence, since this man is the love of Gaby's life. I'm looking forward to some seriously delicious plot twists and the genius of Simon Waterhouse.

I've also received a whole slew of new books from NetGalley to review. Some are recent publications, like: 

Nick Cutter's The Deep: "A strange plague called the 'Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget - small things at first, like where they left their keys...then the not-so-small things like how to drive or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily...and there is no cure. But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Marianas Trench, an heretofore unknown substance hailed as "ambrosia" has been discovered - a universal healer, from initial reports. It may just be the key to a universal cure."

The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister: "The Amazing Arden is the most famous illusionist of her day, renowned for her notorious trick of sawing a man in half on stage. One night in Waterloo, Iowa, with young policeman Virgil Holt watching from the audience, she swaps her trademark saw for a fire ax. Is it a new version of the illusion, or an all-too-real murder? When Arden's husband is found lifeless beneath the stage that night, the answer seems clear.  But when Virgil happens upon the fleeing magician and takes her into custody, she has a very different story to tell. Even handcuffed and alone, Arden is far from powerless - and what she reveals is as unbelievable as it is spellbinding."


Others are due out soon:

Ghettoside: A Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy: "On a warm spring evening in South Los Angeles, a young man was shot and killed on a sidewalk minutes away from his home, one of hundreds of young men slain in LA every year. His assailant ran down the street, jumped into an SUV, and vanished, hoping to join the vast majority of killers in American cities who are never arrested for their crimes. But as soon as the case was assigned to Detective John Skaggs, the odds shifted.  Here is the kaleidoscopic story of the quintessential American murder - one young black man slaying another - and a determined crew of detectives whose creed was to pursue justice at all costs for its forgotten victims."

The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly: "It is a secret the Chinese government has been keeping for forty years. They have found a species of animal no one believed even existed. It will amaze the world. Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing discovery within the greatest zoo ever constructed. A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time. The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they will be struck with wonder at these beasts, that they are perfectly safe, and that nothing can go wrong. Of course it can't..."

Time to get to reading! What's on your TBR?

Books are like catnip...

All The Bright Places: An Ode to Virginia Wolfe

All The Bright Places
by Jennifer Niven
Hardcover, 400 pages
Alfred A. Knopf, January 6, 2015
4 stars

Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of their school's bell tower one fall afternoon, each wondering what it would be like to end it all, though stopping short of taking the leap after being surprised to find the other there. Finch, a self-proclaimed loner who is fascinated with death is surprised to find popular Violet in the same situation, though she won't admit to him her reasons for being on the ledge that day. While she resists his efforts to form a friendship, he arranges for them to be partners on a class project, determined to get to know her. During their year together, the two broken teens wander their state, finding beauty and happiness in odd places.

********************

"It's my experience that people are a lot more sympathetic if they can see you hurting, and for the millionth time in my life I wish for measles or smallpox or some other easily understood disease just to make it easier on me and also on them."

With this book, Jennifer Niven may have changed my mind about YA fiction. Usually I find that tales of heartbroken, "damaged" teens feel forced: rife with kids who can't send a text using full words then make melodramatic speeches (yeah, I'm looking at you, Fault in Our Stars) and parents who are a stereotype. All The Bright Places, however, manages to not only capture authentic teen voices, but also show their daily struggles (bullying, friendships, searching for identity, family dynamics, etc.) without being patronizing.

That's not to say there aren't problems with this novel. The school they attend seems woefully ill-equipped to deal with teenagers. A guidance counselor Finch sees regularly knows of his bell tower visit yet doesn't make any concerted effort to contact Finch's parents, voicemails home go unanswered for the entire year with no follow-up, Finch regularly misses weeks of school, yet there's also no fall-out.   Also, the secondary characters are not well developed and sometimes fade into the background, with the possible exception of Finch's and Violet's parents, who demonstrate their dysfunction in opposing ways.

The remarkable thing about this novel, however, is how Niven realistically portrays depression and mental illness. Finch describes his  dark times:

I get into these moods sometimes, and I can't shake them. Kind of black sinking moods. I imagine it's like what being in the eye of a tornado would be like, all calm and blinding at the same time. I hate them.

Finch copes by hiding in his closet, making his world small and manageable, until he feels "awake" again and can emerge to face everything again.  A school counselor suggests he may have bipolar and Finch fights this suggestion, afraid that he will become even more of a "freak."  Niven manages to capture Finch's desire for an understanding even as he resists the label of a diagnosis.

Strangely, even though others have said that they saw the ending coming, I was so swept up in the story and my concern for these two characters that I was as blindsided by the ending as the characters were - surprised even though, in retrospect, it was probably inevitable.   I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys John Greene and Rainbow Rowell…but also to those who don't. This book was pitch-perfect in a field of books that otherwise strain a bit too hard to hit the right note.

(I received a copy of this book from Knopf Publishing in return for an honest review.)