Dead and Gone
I am returning to my earlier haiku format reviews:
Things aren't going
well for Sookie, but at least
she is getting some.
(Should "aren't" get counted as one or two syllables?)
reviewdate:
Nov 4 2009
isn:
978-0-441-01715-7
Reviews
Hybrid
First off, I need to come out as a payolateer. The author sent me her book--the second YA writer to do so, the first being Jessica Dreistadt--for free to review right here on my blog. I didn't promise a good review or accept money or anything, but if I understood Lisa Von Drasek correctly at the blogging meetup, I should pay taxes on the cover price of review copies I receive.
reviewdate:
Nov 1 2009
isn:
978-098230508-9
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From Dead to Worse
With every man in her life attracted to her, why is it that Sookie can't find a decent boyfriend she can stick with? Which one would you choose?--the current contenders being, alphabetically, Bill, Eric, Quinn, and Sam. You can also consider Alcide, Calvin, or anyone else who has expressed having the hots for the telepath. I think there is one woman in there somewhere, too.
reviewdate:
Oct 24 2009
isn:
978-0-441-01701-0
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Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women
Vikki Law, who also edits a zine by and for incarcerated women called Tenacious, has written a dense (664 endnotes!), but eminently readable chronicle of the struggles and travails of women in prison.
This book is ridiculously informative, but be warned it is also meant to incite. As Vikki inscribed in my copy, "Remember, prisons don't fall on their own--they need that extra push!"
reviewdate:
Oct 22 2009
isn:
978-1-60486-018-4
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All Together Dead
It was nice to be back in the vampire book saddle again, especially after putting down the last two books I started because I couldn't get into them.
reviewdate:
Oct 17 2009
isn:
978-0-441-01494-1
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recommendation:
Maus: a Survivor's Tale, Part II: And Here My Troubles Began
The second part of Maus is even more moving than the first.
reviewdate:
Oct 15 2009
isn:
0-679-72977-1
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Maus: a Survivor's Tale, Part I: My Father Bleeds History
Sometimes when I'm not excited by the book I'm reading, I can't help but grab something I know I like from my bookshelf. This time is was Maus, Art Spiegelman's graphic biography of his parents' life and times in Poland preceding and during Hitler's reign. The book also tells of Spiegelman's relationship with his difficult father.
reviewdate:
Oct 9 2009
isn:
0-394-74723-2
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Virgin of Bennington, the
I don't know whether to identify this book as a memoir or autobiography. By the title, you'd think it was coming of age in college story, and it's definitely not that. Kathleen Norris writes mostly about her early, post-virgin 20s working at the Academy of American Poets under the direction of Betty Kray. Kray is definitely a subject worth reading and writing about, but I have to admit I was a little annoyed throughout the book that it didn't really deliver what I expected. I should probably get over that.
Quotations:
Betty intended that one of the functions of the Poets House library would be 'to gather fugitive materials such as [small-press books], magazines, chapbooks, and other ephemeral publications,' without which poets and scholars would find it "impossible to re-create the sense of a literary epoch." p.177
reviewdate:
Oct 3 2009
isn:
1-57322-179-1
author gender:
free:
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We Need to Talk About Kevin
I just spent 400 pages in the mind of the mother of a teenage mass murderer, and I'm here to tell you that is not the nicest place to be. Mama Eva and sociopath Kevin's story is told in the form of letters from Eva to her husband/baby daddy Franklin. (Don't you love the name Franklin, btw? Why is it so much more appealing than Frank or Francis?) The basic premise is that Kevin, born to a mother who has a hard time bonding with him, is pretty much a psycho from birth, but somehow while this is apparent to Eva, Franklin can't or won't see it, which leads to some strife in their marriage. At points that stress was so hard to take because it seemed so unjust to me that I might have put the book down if I weren't reading it at a friend's recommendation.
reviewdate:
Sep 27 2009
isn:
1-58243-267-8
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Rivington Street
Rivington Street starts out in pogrom ridden Russia and follows one family to the early twentieth century Lower East Side, with its pushcarts and Yiddish socialism. It is to some extent a tale of two sisters, one a garment factory union organizer and the other an aspiring clothing designer, a boss. The other strong women characters are the daughter of a selfish and sexist rabbi, a gentile suffragist, and Hannah, the old world mother of the two sisters, Sarah and Ruby Levy. I've read it a bunch of times, and it never disappoints me. I love entering the world of my grandfather's Lower East Side and the early struggles of the women's labor and suffrage movements.
Quotations:
We work as hard as any man; we think as well as any man; and we want every right and privilege the men have, including the privilege of making fools of ourselves every four years as they do by voting for capitalist parties that keep the chains fastened around their necks! p.255-56
reviewdate:
Sep 20 2009
isn:
0-688-01135-7
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Outside Passage: a Memoir of an Alaskan Childhood
In my review of Welfare Brat I remarked how impressive it is when people can remember so many details of their childhood. Scully, unfortunately, doesn't have quite the mastery that Childers does, but she reports that her sister has no memory of their childhood whatsoever, so I guess she's not doing too badly. The quality is a little uneven; some of the short, poetic chapters (64 of them in a 219 page book) are far more compelling than others.
reviewdate:
Sep 18 2009
isn:
0-375-50083-9
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free:
Night World, no. 1
Thinking about my zine, I realize that I need to start writing shorter reviews, like I did when they debuted on paper. So, this will be quick. Night World no. 1, consists of three novels: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, and Spellbinder. They all take place in the same universe but have few characters in common. I'm hoping that after we've met everyone (There are nine novels in the series.), they'll interact. However, I suspect that they'll stay as they are, primarily about the forbidden soul mate pairings of humans and supes.
reviewdate:
Sep 14 2009
isn:
978-1-4169-7450-5
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Heartbreak: a Political Memoir
Don't tell anyone, but I've never taken a women's studies class. I knew Dworkin was a controversial figure and anti-pornography activist, but not much more than that. Unfortunately, she turned me a bit against her in the first couple of chapters, with sentiments like:
reviewdate:
Sep 11 2009
isn:
0-465-01753-3
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Prom Nights from Hell
This anthology with an unattributed editor (someone had to select the authors, right?) collects stories from YA and paranormal fiction authors Meg Cabot (Princess Diaries), Kim Harrison (the Hollows series), Michele Jaffe (Bad Kitty), Stephenie Meyer (Twilight), and Lauren Myracle (Rhymes with Witches).
reviewdate:
Sep 7 2009
isn:
978-0-06-125310-2
author gender:
free:
medium:
Miranda: Motherhood and Other Adventures, #19
I meant to write about the last issue Kate sent me, too. Since I never got around to it with #18, I'd better just get to #19 right away. I will start by saying LOVE Miranda. It's one of my favorite zines.
reviewdate:
Aug 29 2009
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recommendation:
I [Heart] NYC: Well, Not Really, but I'm Trying
I ended up with a second copy of this reluctant New Yorker's guide to New York City and so had to decide whether the second one would go to the Barnard zine stacks or come home with me. I've decided I need it on hand for all future house guests. In addition to providing excellent food, entertainment, art, and cultural recommendations, Amanda writes cute essays about helping tourists take better photographs and subway incidents (maybe a little less cute, but still somehow cuddly).
reviewdate:
Aug 18 2009
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Definitely Dead
If you're paying attention--and I don't blame you if you're not--in my last Sookie Stackhouse novel review, I complained about "every unrelated heterosexual man in Sookie's life being totally hot for her." Well, that question is answered in book six of the series.
reviewdate:
Aug 30 2009
isn:
978-0-441-01491-0
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Her Blues and the Art of Feeling
I don't review every zine I read on here, but I do try to get a few lines out about my favorites. Her Blues is one of those zines that like good poetry, art, etc. captures an experience in such a way that it resonates completely with something that you thought was yours only, and reading it you feel less like a freak, less alone.
reviewdate:
Aug 23 2009
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Once Dead, Twice Shy
I was soooo excited to see this new Kim Harrison book listed in the NYPL catalog. I didn't realize when I placed my hold it was YA, which is normally even more appealing to me. Once Dead, Twice Shy is more or less a dead girl coming of age story.
reviewdate:
Aug 27 2009
isn:
978-0-06-171816-8