Here Comes the Bride!

Take a look at the newest member of my family! Will's the young guy in the tux, you know, the one standing next to the bride. Not that he hasn't been a defacto member of the family for years, but, you know. It's all official and everything now.

Plus, how awesome does my sister look? And how beautiful of a place did they pick to get married? On a lake! In the mountains. As much as I loved Iowa, and as much as I love DC, it's really obvious why Abbey never left Asheville after she graduated from college. I mean, DO YOU SEE THE MOUNTAINS?!

I cried throughout the whole thing, but the wedding was wonderful and the reception (also on the lake) was awesome and involved a lot of really tasty barbecue.

Also, I need to give credit to Terry Dawson for taking the photo. I blatantly stole it off his Flickr page because that's the kind of girl I am.

AND! Yesterday I finished another semester of grad school. I have 2 months off before I start up again with YA lit. I graduate in December, assuming I haven't failed anything.

AND! In even bigger news, you know I work full time, right? And am in school half-time? You know how I totally jacked my back a few months ago? Well, I've been in physical therapy since then. It eats about 6 hours of my week because appointments and the fact that my therapist is on the opposite side of the metro area. I got news today that Friday's appointment is my LAST ONE.

So, now I have all this free time! For reading and blogging! (Sorry Dan-- I mean cleaning the guest bedroom.)

Actually, I'm just happy because until mid-July, the only things I have going on in my life are work and well, living my life. Yay!

Reviews coming soon, I promise.

PS-- Vote in my sidebar for what I should read during the 48 hour challenge in a few weeks!

Fusion Stories! (and other ramblings)

So, May is Asian-American Heritage Month. To celebrate, 10 children's and YA authors got together to spotlight "Ten new contemporary novels by Asian Americans aren’t traditional tales set in Asia nor stories about coming to America for the first time."

Check out the list at Fusion Stories.

I thought this was an awesome idea, so to join the party, I'm reading all the fusion stories this month, substituting earlier works if the highlighted story isn't published yet.

But, first I'm going to ramble on about myself for a while, because it's my blog! I can do what I want!

Mainly, the wedding I went to this weekend was wonderfully fun AND I got to meet some other kidlit dorks, including someone who knows David Levithan. And Rachel Cohn! My geeky heart just about died! My response was "Can I touch you?!" Initially, he thought I was being a bitch, when really, I was in total AWE!

And now I'm off to North Carolina for my sister's wedding!

Also, I want to give a shout-out to Lauren. She's my new-ish coworker and she is awesome. I don't think I've mentioned that yet. But who else would randomly burst into song with you on the reference desk? Especially when said song is a medley of the Simpson's musical version of Street Car Named Desire?

You can always depend on the kindness of strangers!
To buck up your spirits and shield you from dangers!
Now here's a tip from Blanche you won't regret:
A stranger's just a friend you haven't met.
You haven't met!
STREETCAR!

That's what too much story time can do to a person!

Also, here's a video I've been watching a lot of lately:



Because do you know what's better than a Kate Pierson muppet? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Also, how awesome is it when you look like a total moody rock star while rocking out on a banjo?!

Anyway, some reviews!

Good Luck, Ivy Lisa Yee

I haven't read an American Girl book in years. Like, not since I was the targeted reading age and read all of the Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly books. Yes, only those three, because BACK IN MY DAY there only were three. Initially, there were only 3 books for 3 dolls! Yes, I was a recipient of the original Pleasant Company catalog.

Anyway, Yee's book took me right back there. And it was weird at the same time, because after reading Yee's other work (by which I mean the hysterical Millicent Min, Girl Genius) this has a very different voice. This... reads like an American Girl book, which it should. I think writing like that, in someone else's corporate voice must be very hard, but Yee's awesome at it. (Ok, I've drafted my share of press releases in hoity toity British English in the proper corporate voice. I know it's hard.)

Anyway, the book. Ivy Ling is not feeling lucky. Her best friend, Julie (who is actually the American Girl) has moved across town. Her parents are really busy and can't help Ivy with her Chinese school project. Plus, they've been eating take-away Chinese food from her grandparent's Chinese resteraunt. And Ivy's grandparents heard her complaining.

But that's not the worst of it. The big inter-city gymnastics tournament is coming up. Ivy needs to compete in the all events, but she fell off the balance beam last time and is having a hard time getting her routine right again. As if that weren't bad enough, the big Ling family reunion is coming up. On the same day as the gymnastics meet.

Ivy can't go to both, and her parents are making her decide, only they have different ideas about which one is more important.

Whatever will Ivy do?!

I loved the "American Girl" ness of it. Also, in the background material, there are some awesome pictures of Lisa Yee in the 70s.

I had forgotten how many appearance details American Girl books put in. As a kid I really liked that, but it's a little jarring to me as an adult.

Minn and Jake Janet S. Wong

This is not really a fusion story. Minn and Jake's Almost Terrible Summer is a Fusion Story, but it doesn't come out until August, so I have to wait for it. So, I read the one that came before it instead. But, as far as the reader knows, this one doesn't have any Asian-Americans in it, because the fact that Jake is 1/4 Korean comes out in the next book and causes some tension when Minn wonders why Jake didn't tell her. At least, that's what the various blurbs I've read tell me.

Anyway, in this book (a prose novel)

Minn is feeling very empty,
and very tall,
and very odd,
and very pigtailed,
and very lizardy,
and very much alone.

Because her best friend laughed at her with another girl. She ends up being paired with the new kid,Jake, who's afraid of lizards. Catching lizards is the only thing kids do in Santa Brunella. So, Minn is going to teach Jake how to catch lizards. But there are accidents and mean kids and other grade-school stuff to endure.

Very well told. Minn and Jake, as well as the rest of the kids, are authentic, and their trials and tribulations are small, as they are for most kids, but aren't trivialized, which is refreshing.

And now for some non-Fusion Stories, because who knows when I'll get to blog again?

Thumbelina: Tiny Runaway Bride Barbara Ensor

This is a retelling of Thumbelina, in the sense of straight-up retelling it with a few variations, not recasting it, a la Shannon Hale or Gail Carson Levine.

Except the ending is different. But the narrator warns us. I'm quoting from an ARC here, so it might not be 100% accurate (but I hope it is, because it's the very matter-of-fact voice that the narrator and Thumbelina use throughout)

Now you know exactly what happened and can write a book report, if you need to do that, or count this as part of your summer reading list. Nobody will mind or think any less of you if you just close the book and DO NOT READ ANOTHER WORD.

But, to tell you the truth, there is something more. If you felt there was something forced about that ending, you were right."

And that's why I loved the book. That, and the wonderful illustrations that were made by cutting out black construction paper. A nice retelling of a fairy tale that gives Thumbelina back her spunk without detracting from Anderson's original.

Clementine's Letter Sara Pennypaker

Just when Clementine and her 3rd grade teacher have figured each other out, Mr. D'Matz is going to go off and go to Egypt IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCHOOL YEAR! And the new teacher has new rules that Clementine can't guess.

If you liked the others, you'll like this. I'm seriously starting to worry about Margaret though. That girl's going to need therapy sooner rather than later. I do like how well Clementine handles her, though.

In the paint section, hundreds of little paint tubes, all neat and new, sat on the shelf. Margaret threw her hands up and backed away, as if the tubes of paint were just waiting to burst all over her clean clothes. Margaret doesn't even liket o look at things that might get her dirty.

"Quick, run over to the paper aisle!" I told her. "Just keep staring at all those nice clean stacks of paper!"

I also like how the trip to the Chinese grocery store yields a whole new host of vegetable names for her brother. Bamboo shoot, scallion, daikon radish...

On the Road Again

Well, I'm going to be in and out for the next month. I am facing down the end of the semester, 3 weddings (including my sister's!) and my college reunion.

Lots of reading will happen, but maybe not so much with the blogging. Tomorrow features 2 storytimes, classes (involving a review session AND a final presentation) and packing. Friday morning involves getting the oil changed before my flight, and then I'm off to Ann Arbor.

I get back Sunday. Then, bright and early Wednesday morning, we're driving down to Asheville for my sister's wedding. I'll get back Sunday. I'll take a final while down there. On the following Tuesday my final paper is due and I'm done with the semester! Yay! And then I'm off until mid-July when YA lit starts.

I'm tired just writing about it.

But, I'm excited for the reading all that travel means. I'm gearing up to read all of the Fusion Stories-- all of the ones that have been published are either checked out, bought, or on hold, so get ready for that!

Be sure to take the poll on the sidebar!

Also, Miss Erin pointed me to the "what's your pen name" formula. I am Mo B. Fishbein. Or Mo B. Shirley. Yeah.

I like my porn name better. First pet + street you grew up on= Blackie Hancock. Oh yeah.

Until then, here's a book I just finished reading.

The Totally Made-up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish Claudia Mills

So, because I judge books on their covers and titles, I thought this would be funny. Doesn't it sound like the title to a funny book? It's not funny.

But it is really good.

Amanda's parents fight all the time and then her mom asks her dad to move out. Amanda can't understand why her mom has to ruin everything. And how can she tell her best friend Beth what's going on? Beth's family is perfect, and Amanda's is just broken. In Amanda's withdrawal, Beth starts spending more time with Meghan, leaving Amanda feeling even more alone.

Her only solace is writing the Civil War diary of Polly Mason, a Maryland girl whose brothers have gone off to fight--one for each side. It might dorky to like a school assignment so much, but Amanda's always liked writing. And school.

I liked Amanda's feelings about her parents and how they change.

I liked Amanda's older sister, Steffi-- she's perfectly Jr. High. All anger and sarcasm, and every so often really, really nice.

I also really liked Amanda's diary. She's a great writer, almost *too* good (but then she thinks about word choice during other parts in the book when she thinks of the leaves as red and yellow and then corrects herself to scarlet and golden). The diary was engaging and contains a lot of little facts about the Civil War.

What Do I Want for Lunch?

Random musing of the day: Lunch is in 45 minutes, to be eaten on my way to a meeting. I did not pack it, I need to buy it. Starbucks or McDonalds? That is the question.

Blog musing: Well, for May's reading challenge, I've decided I'm going to try and read all of the Fusion Stories to celebrate Asian-American Heritage Month. (If you're not familiar, they're "Ten new contemporary novels by Asian Americans aren’t traditional tales set in Asia nor stories about coming to America for the first time") Sadly, not all the fusion stories are published yet, so unless someone hooks me up with ARCS of Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before by David Yoo and Minn and Jake's Almost Terrible Summer by Janet Wong, I'm going to have to substitute their other books.

But that's not bad.

Also, the Top 9 for April is up at the Amazon Store, which is where I pick my random picks of the month...

Until then, here are two totally random reviews that have nothing in common besides "I read them recently"

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street Jeanne Birdsall

Fresh from their summer adventures at Arundel (which were chronicled in The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy) the girls are back home and ready to face another school year.

Only, this school year has some challenges. Jane and Skye switch homework with disastrous results, and Rosalind has some awkward guy issues.

But, there's a lovely new next door neighbor who has a toddler son. Ben and Batty have a good time playing secret agents until they stumble upon the Bug Man.

On top of that, their beloved Aunt Claire has delivered a letter that their mother left in her keeping. A letter ordering Daddy to start dating again.

Dating means there might be a step-mother and everyone knows step-mothers are evil things. Aunt Claire and Mr. Penderwick have a deal that he has to go on 4 dates over the course of a year. The girls figure if they can set him up with the most awful women, there will never be a second date, just 4 really bad ones, and everything can go on as before.

This is before Mr. Penderwick meets someone in a bookstore and has multiple dates with her. All the girls can find out is that her name is Marianne Dashwood, she likes walking, hates flannel, and "She's sensible and clever, but eager in everything. Her sorrows and joys can have no moderation." (Really, I pegged Mr. Pen as more of an Eleanor Dashwood man myself, but that's just me)

It has the same old-fashioned splendor and joy of the first one. Well done.

Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It Sundee T. Frazier

Brendan is half-white, half-black and is a scientist. He does all sorts of experiments to answer his burning questions, which he writes down in his notebook.

What Brendan can't answer is why some white people are mean to black people, and why his mother won't let him see his grandfather.

After accidentally running into and meeting his grandfather one day at the mall, Brendan discovers that he, too, is a geologist and rock-collector. On that basis a friendship forms, but it has to be done by sneaking around and lying.

An interesting, fun read that looks at race without being depressing or beating the reader too hard over the head. I'm not sure if a I really "buy" the ending, but it was a nice read that will appeal to boys and girls.

I Waste Way Too Much Time on Facebook

Apparently, if you click on this, you'll save some rainforest...

A really long Monday Post

Mea Culpa: I made some corrections to my Minx post from last week. I thought Water Baby came out in March, but it doesn't until July.

Oh! And vote in the poll on what I should read (aka, what you'll read) during the 48 Hour Challenge!

Lust, Caution, the book, has under 60 pages of actual story (this version has a rather long introduction and afterward) so I was intrigued to see how Lust, Caution, the movie could be 2.5 hours and rated NC-17.

Ok, well, actually, I wasn't that unsure. In the book, Chang leaves a lot unsaid, or highly glossed over in a way that just wouldn't work in a movie. I feel really good movie adaptations are true to the book, while still being true to film as media. That's what I didn't like about the first two Harry Potter movies-- they were so true to the book that they failed to add anything to the story. The later movies leave a lot of Rowling's work on the cutting room floor, but they work as separate works of art (well, at entertainment at least) that add to the Potter story.

Ang Lee's take on Lust, Caution is visually stunning. If I wasn't in the mood to read subtitles, I could just watch this movie for the aesthetics. It got roundly panned by the critics, but having read the book and seen the movie... I can't understand why. I know that one review I read really confused by because it talked about Communists, even though there weren't any in the film. There are some shifts in time (clearly labeled) and the political situation in Hong Kong and Shanghai is confusing. (Japenese have occupied, there is a puppet government that Mr. Yee works for. Mak Tai Tai et. al work for the resistance, which is the Nationalist government who have fled to Chongqing.)

Anyway, I think while the movie didn't have all the taunt tension of the book, it is still wonderful.

Now, the NC-17 bits-- they're lovers, and we see that. There are 2 main sex scenes that I've been waffling on whether or not they were necessary. I'm going to say they are, just because there is such a difference between the two scenes that it's significant and I've been puzzling over why-- I have a theory... has anyone else seen this? I'd love to talk about it!

But, it has me in mind to review some specific books...

Man's Fate (La Condition Humaine) Andre Malraux

I read this in March of 2007.

It focuses on the Spring of 1927, when Communists and Nationalists are starting to break apart, right before the outbreak of the Civil War. There's a failed assisnation attempt, lots of intrigue, and it culminates in the absolutely horrifying April purge in which Chiang Kai-Shek rounded up all the Communists in Shanghai that he could get his hands on and killed them. Many of them, he burned alive.

What's really fascinating about this book is what it unintentionally shows-- it was published in 1933, before the Long March, before WWII, before the Communists won. It (accidentally) shows in the influence of foreigners in Shanghai in general, and in the early communist movement-- there are very few Chinese characters in this novel. Also is a little confusing as to what's going on and who's on what side (which is the same way I felt reading Doctor Zhivago) because the Nationalists and Communists are fighting, but they're supposed to be on the same side and then Japan throws a whole 'nother wrench into things... my comment at the time reads "lots of philosophy on state of man etc (very French) that I wasn't in the mood for."

Most intriguing is Malraux's ending conclusion that Communism is dead, especially in Asia.

Next up is Nanjing 1937: A Love Story Ye Zhaoyan

I finished this one this weekend and am still torn on it. I liked it, but I'm not sure why.

Ding Wenyu is a hapless foreign language professor and playboy and I'm not entirely sure why I liked him, or even if I did.

He attends the wedding of the youngest daughter of a family friend, Yuyuan, and falls desperately and madly in love with her.

This story is one of the growing scandal as Ding hopelessly pursues the poor Yuyuan and of Yuyuan's own marriage and how it falls apart...Yuyuan is not a strong woman, nor a helpless wallflower. Rather, she's vaguely amused by Ding's attentions, but frustrated when they start to cross the line and everyone around her treats it like a joke. She's also devastated by her the truth behind her marriage, but doesn't know what to do about it--there's only so much a person can save a relationship if the other person isn't trying.

Throughout it all is the comings and goings of officers and committees and the coming Japanese threat. (Nanjing would fall to the Japanese on December 12, 1937. They still sound the air raid sirens all morning on December 14th to commemorate the deaths (estimates range from 100,000-350,000) and at least 20,000 rapes that occurred in the 6 weeks after the city fell.)

It's not nearly as tense as you'd think, but it does cover almost the full year.

I will say that is uses the word "nauseating" or "nauseatingly" way too often to describe prose--love letters, newspaper articles, etc. I have no idea if that's the text or the translation.

I liked this book, I really did, but I can't tell you why. Frustrating.

And, now, it is nonfiction Monday. For weeks I've been saying that I don't have any unblogged nonfiction. HA! I totally did. Really old nonfiction.

Last spring, in my reference class, I had to do a paper where I asked a multi-faceted question (and answered it) and then asked a librarian and an online reference source the same question. (Does every reference class in the world have to do some variation of this assignment? I think so.)

Anyway, my question was about the evolution of communist thought and how Marxism/Leninism was different that Stalinism was different than Maoism etc. I knew a decent amount about Maoist thought, but was really just curious as to how it was different than regular Communism. (Why are the Nepalese rebels Maoists instead of straight up commies?)

The answer (in case you're wondering) is the role of the peasantry. In traditional Marxism/Leninism, the peasants are part of the petty bourgeoisie. Now, there weren't that many workers in China, so Maoism has the peasants as the workers. Tada!

So, I read some books to try and figure this out. Forgive the short reviews--I read them 13 months ago and am working solely on my notes here.

Communism: A History Richard Pipes

Very accessible and informative, this was the most useful out of everything I read for that paper.

That said, the writing was a bit uneven.

It could have used more information on some countries--Cuba, Vietnam, N. Korea, Ethiopia, and the workings of Che, but it does briefly discuss these issues.

Socialism: A Very Short Introduction Michael Newman

I do love me the Very Short Introduction Series put out by Oxford Press. They are short, yet dense, and fairly accessible. I am however, fairly distressed that there isn't yet one on Communism. My notes on the socialism one read:

More pro-socialist while pointing out how it doesn't work (what the #Q@$! does that even mean?!) Focuses more on the New Left/1968 Green Movement and feminism as modern socialist movement and welfare/social programs as evolution of how socialism can/will/does work/survive in today's Western world.

I'm not entirely sure what that all meant, but there you go!

Poetry Friday

Can we just make a general rule that I'm no longer allowed in bookstores?

Bad things happen. Very bad things. Like when I go in for 1 book. 1 particular book that I even have on reserve and walk out with... well, let's just say A LOT more than 1 book, and I might have spent 7 times the amount I meant to. Um.... yeah. Bad Jennie. NO PEKING DUCK FOR YOU!

(Yes, I was going to have Peking Duck tonight. Friday nights when Dan is out of town = chick flick + Peking Duck. Tonight's choice isn't really a chick flick, but one I'm very anxious to see and Netflix so kindly delivered in on Wednesday-- Lust, Caution. Regular readers may recall that I absolutely loved the book.)

Anyway, it's Poetry Friday! So, let's have some poetry!

Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow. --Langston Hughes

Now, Andrea Cheng (obviously) did not write that poem, but it plays a big part in her verse novel, Where the Steps Were.

Told from the perspective of elementary school students, it tells the story of one school year, the last school year before their inner-city school is closed and torn down.

Kayla's brother is in and out of jail, Carmen's mom is sick, Dawn struggles with weight (in third grade!), Jonathan is homeless after his brother tried to dry his bedsheets with a lighter before anyone noticed he had wet the bed, Anthony likes helping Miss D. before school.

Langston Hughes comes in because Kayla really struggles with reading. This poem helps her break through some of her struggles and write some poetry on her own.

The class performs a play, and is unfairly kicked out of a play. They save up money to do something, and they say goodbye to their school.

It's a quiet book, as I think most verse novels are, but good. Cheng also illustrates it with beautiful woodcuts.

Miss Rumphius Effect has the roundup! Go enjoy!