Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral (4 stars)
I came across this totally by accident, just by browsing the shelves at a local bookstore. The story told via photographs and other interactive elements intrigued me, of course, and the artwork/design is masterfully done. This is one book you'll definitely want to read closely, as tiny details really do matter. Nothing is quite what it seems here, and so the open nature of the story leaves the resolution open to the reader's interpretation (reminds me of As Simple As Snow, in that sense). This is one of those books where you can't take anything literally. Well done and creative -- I recommend it.
Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter (4 stars)
This short novel contains a dreamlike quality, despite the horrors of both the World War I setting in France and the rural desolation of the Appalachian Mountains. I liked how Ritter told his two stories through alternating chapters, and the hint of magical realism gives the story the feel of a modern-day fable. Things didn't wrap up as smoothly as I think they could have, which is perhaps more a fault of Ritter's first-novel skills than anything else. Still, I breezed through this quickly and thought it was beautifully written, if a little overdone in some passages.
Feed by M.T. Anderson (3 stars)
I see a lot of opportunity for talking about technology, knowledge, consumerism, and more with students through this novel. However, for just my own personal reading entertainment, I wasn't particularly engrossed. There were parts that were done exceptionally well, but for the most part, I was just completely annoyed by the narrator and his friends.
Magic or Not? by Edward Eager (4 stars)
Cami brought this home from school; it was given to her as part of some reading initiative. The author's name was familiar to me, in the same vein as Joan Aiken or E. Nesbitt. And even though these were quite the kinds of books I would have ADORED as a young reader, I don't think I read many of them. Perhaps Half Magic? That one sounds familiar, but I'm just not sure. Anyway, this one was great fun -- it's the nostalgic kind of magic realism that seems so common to a certain type of novel for young readers, and reading it was so familiar and comforting. Just the kind of thing to pull me out of my recent reading funk.
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher (4 stars)
I see that this installment of The Dresden Files is getting some really mixed reviews -- probably to be expected with the turn the series has taken. I liked going back and seeing some of the events that have shaped Dresden; those things were hinted at in previous books, but in this case, we get some nicely detailed full chapters. I also like seeing how Dresden has to adapt to what has happened to him, and the look at how other characters have adjusted to the most recent events (although a few of those glimpses are pretty perfunctory and just felt tacked on -- Thomas is the most obvious example). While it felt like it took a bit for things to get rolling in terms of moving toward some kind of resolution here, Butcher starts with the action right off the bat, so there was always something going on. I enjoyed this one more than some of the most recent contributions to this series.
Swamplandia by Karen Russell (3 stars)
I really enjoyed Russell's collection of short stories. Her writing is just as excellent here -- her prose is muscular, descriptive, stark, often witty. She excels at creating mood and atmosphere; her settings are well-drawn, and her characters are quirky and flawed, possessing voices that draw you in to them easily. You'd think that all of those things would combine for an excellent book, but I didn't find that to be the case at all. This really dragged for me; reading it felt like walking through the swamps she so easily describes. Maybe it's the bleak situation of the Bigtree family that sucks at your feet like quicksand. Maybe it's the dark sense of foreboding because you KNOW that this, this cannot be a good idea, that made me reluctant to keep reading more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time. Whatever it was, reading this book was slow going for me, which is not normally the case.
Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch (5 stars)
I was a little worried when I started this book. I've been on quite a YA kick and sometimes adult literary fiction fails to grab me quickly enough after so many YA novels. And with my recent experience with Swamplandia, I just wasn't sure that I'd enjoy or appreciate this. Boy, was I wrong. Birch's narrator Jaffy is a marvelous storyteller -- his voice is authentic and immediate and so enjoyable. And Birch's style, her prose -- ahhhhh, what a treat. There's nothing here for the faint-of-heart, as other reviews have noted, but Jaffy's journey is one that you must take. Unless 2012 turns out to be a bumper crop of books, this one will definitely be on my "best of" list.
The Magic Half by Annie Barrows (4 stars)
A cute little novel from the j-fiction shelves -- Cami is a fan of Ivy+Bean and really liked this one as well. Suspenseful and even a bit unsettling, but full of good writing, strong heroines, and great action. Cami is my reluctant reader, and there were several nights in a row where I had to *make* her stop reading to go to bed. Always a good sign.
Wilfair by Alysia Gray Painter (3 stars)
The basics of this are good -- interesting characters and setting, although the narrator seems a bit young for 19. Still, it's a fun little romance, although I didn't care for the "to-be-continued" type ending. What I liked least was the overwhelming amount of clever wordplay and general overwriting it contained -- the author could've cut about half of it out and still been left with a fun YA novel with a distinctive voice and style. Instead, there was a lot here that I just skimmed over because it felt unnecessary.
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