Bookwormish, 3rd quarter of 2018
Oct. 7th, 2018 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starfishstarTOP BOOKS:
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia – A wonderful story about a girl who keeps her offline life (quiet, friendless, and she likes it that way) and her online life (famous but anonymous creator of a webcomic) determinedly separate. Until they collide. It’s also about anxiety in a way that feels real, and a developing romance but in a way that doesn’t feel like the usual clichés. I really loved this.
Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos – I read a lot of YA books about kids with anxiety and/or depression (for obvious reasons of self-identification) and I swear this is one of the best I’ve read. It’s real and complicated and wonderfully written and funny, too. Highly recommended.
The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit – The brilliant Rebecca Solnit, continuing to tackle some of the most important topics of our times with incisive intelligence and compassion.
The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin – Jemisin’s trilogy is intense, epic in scale and theme, and something I’ll be thinking about for a while. I think I actually need to reread book 3, because there’s just so much in there.
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden – An important, early book in the LGBTQ+ YA canon. The book itself was great, but it was the author’s afterword that moved me to tears, where she talks about her own youth, and how there wasn’t anything like this book (lesbian teen protagonist AND a happy ending), so she wrote it.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – A painful book about the complete and brutal destruction of a young Black girl’s self-image.
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro – As always, Ishiguro is writing about memory, the past, and how we grapple with it. But this book, more than others of his, moved me with the personal story between the main protagonists: amidst the epic events of a country in turmoil is the small but powerful story of an elderly couple who have little left but their unbreakable love for each other.
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman – Yes, I fell for both the movie and the book… Aciman is wow, such a writer. This is one of those books that’s so deep inside the narrator’s thoughts, you wonder that anyone even dared to try to make it into a film. It’s a beautifully written, in-depth examination of a young person not only in the process of falling in love, but also growing into who he himself is.
MORE GOOD BOOKS:
I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman – A superfan and a boy band mega star briefly intersect. And it’s way, way, way more complex and thoughtful and intricate than you would possibly imagine from that description. Once again, Alice Oseman is writing about fan culture in all its goods and bads; about mental health; and about the crucial importance of friendships (she writes books where the end game isn’t two people getting together romantically) – and I love her for all those things.
History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera – Silvera’s books always have a twist I don’t expect; in More Happy Than Not the twist was of the sci-fi sort; here the twist is simply that human relationships are always more complicated than you assume.
Deutschland: Ein Wintermärchen by Heinrich Heine – On a visit back to Germany, I finally read Heine’s classic about visiting back to Germany. All this time that I’ve been meaning to read it, and I didn’t even know it was a satire! It was a quick and fun read (not what I expected to say about a German epic poem…)
Geekerella by Ashley Poston – A sweet modern Cinderella retelling, where instead of a royal ball, it’s a fan con and a cosplay contest!
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson – A classic from my own youth that I somehow never read back then. I do wonder how this book would come across to teens themselves, would it make sense to them? But for me with an adult’s hindsight, it served as a portrait not only of a very specific place and community (a tiny island where all of life revolves around fishing), but also of the ways we judge our parents harshly for their choices, but maybe come to understand them better when we grow up and have to make choices of our own.
EVEN MORE BOOKS:
From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón – A much odder book than the other one I read by Sjón; there’s a lot of interesting stuff here about Iceland’s past, but there’s also a lot of surrealism and I think there’s a lot I didn’t get!
Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith – Such a slim book that the story almost feels told in summary form, but it’s a good portrayal of the process of grieving, and then learning how to incorporate grief into life and continuing to live.
Growing Anyway Up by Florence Parry Heide – An interesting and compassionate story of a girl learning to cope with her OCD.
The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne – A. A. Milne, he of Winnie-the-Pooh, wrote a murder mystery? Obviously I had to read it! It’s a classic cozy mystery, and good fun. Also I love that apparently Milne was initially most known for his humor writing; then he dismayed everyone by turning his hand to detective fiction. Then once he was famous for that, he dismayed everyone again by writing stories for children. :-)
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith – I am always here for nonfiction about octopuses! Especially about their intelligence, so alien to us and yet undeniable. And insightful quotes such as: “The chemistry of life is an aquatic chemistry. We can get by on land only by carrying a huge amount of salt water around with us.”
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy – I adore Julie Murphy (I still think about how much I loved Ramona Blue) and I think the concept of this book is incredibly important (a fat girl reclaiming how she defines herself, instead of letting society define her). Some elements of the story felt somehow a bit rushed and unfinished to me, and I wished it could have been developed a bit more. But I’m thrilled that it’s now going to be a movie, and I hope it’s awesome!
Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai – Another thoughtful story from Selvadurai about a boy growing up in Sri Lanka, navigating teen life as well as past losses and the growing realization that he’s attracted to boys.
Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block – This was clearly a seminal book for many people, so I put it on my list to read. In a way it felt oddly curtailed; a lot happens but it’s almost all told in summary. But I can absolutely see how important it was to those who read it at the time (late ‘80s), with gay characters and a strong female character who knows what she wants in life and makes it happen.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Watched by Marina Budhos – A Muslim teen in New York is roped into spying on his own community for the police. In some ways the plot didn’t quite gel for me, but the portrayal of his relationship with his family is wonderful.
Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo – DiCamillo’s books are always sweet and whimsical, yet with a swirl of serious, real-life emotion hiding within.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – Fantastic concept; doesn’t always work in the execution (writing style, pacing, etc.) But it’s apparently being made into a film and I think that’s a fantastic choice – the story is so visual and full of action, and it would make a great film.
The Merry Spinster by Mallory Ortberg – Fairy tale retellings with dark, weird, humorous twists.
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell – I admit I wearied of the chapters that were too much the “animals” half of the equation (extended descriptions of different animals Durrell observed during his childhood on Corfu), but the chapters focusing on the wacky going-on of his family were a lot of fun.
.
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia – A wonderful story about a girl who keeps her offline life (quiet, friendless, and she likes it that way) and her online life (famous but anonymous creator of a webcomic) determinedly separate. Until they collide. It’s also about anxiety in a way that feels real, and a developing romance but in a way that doesn’t feel like the usual clichés. I really loved this.
Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos – I read a lot of YA books about kids with anxiety and/or depression (for obvious reasons of self-identification) and I swear this is one of the best I’ve read. It’s real and complicated and wonderfully written and funny, too. Highly recommended.
The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit – The brilliant Rebecca Solnit, continuing to tackle some of the most important topics of our times with incisive intelligence and compassion.
The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin – Jemisin’s trilogy is intense, epic in scale and theme, and something I’ll be thinking about for a while. I think I actually need to reread book 3, because there’s just so much in there.
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden – An important, early book in the LGBTQ+ YA canon. The book itself was great, but it was the author’s afterword that moved me to tears, where she talks about her own youth, and how there wasn’t anything like this book (lesbian teen protagonist AND a happy ending), so she wrote it.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – A painful book about the complete and brutal destruction of a young Black girl’s self-image.
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro – As always, Ishiguro is writing about memory, the past, and how we grapple with it. But this book, more than others of his, moved me with the personal story between the main protagonists: amidst the epic events of a country in turmoil is the small but powerful story of an elderly couple who have little left but their unbreakable love for each other.
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman – Yes, I fell for both the movie and the book… Aciman is wow, such a writer. This is one of those books that’s so deep inside the narrator’s thoughts, you wonder that anyone even dared to try to make it into a film. It’s a beautifully written, in-depth examination of a young person not only in the process of falling in love, but also growing into who he himself is.
MORE GOOD BOOKS:
I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman – A superfan and a boy band mega star briefly intersect. And it’s way, way, way more complex and thoughtful and intricate than you would possibly imagine from that description. Once again, Alice Oseman is writing about fan culture in all its goods and bads; about mental health; and about the crucial importance of friendships (she writes books where the end game isn’t two people getting together romantically) – and I love her for all those things.
History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera – Silvera’s books always have a twist I don’t expect; in More Happy Than Not the twist was of the sci-fi sort; here the twist is simply that human relationships are always more complicated than you assume.
Deutschland: Ein Wintermärchen by Heinrich Heine – On a visit back to Germany, I finally read Heine’s classic about visiting back to Germany. All this time that I’ve been meaning to read it, and I didn’t even know it was a satire! It was a quick and fun read (not what I expected to say about a German epic poem…)
Geekerella by Ashley Poston – A sweet modern Cinderella retelling, where instead of a royal ball, it’s a fan con and a cosplay contest!
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson – A classic from my own youth that I somehow never read back then. I do wonder how this book would come across to teens themselves, would it make sense to them? But for me with an adult’s hindsight, it served as a portrait not only of a very specific place and community (a tiny island where all of life revolves around fishing), but also of the ways we judge our parents harshly for their choices, but maybe come to understand them better when we grow up and have to make choices of our own.
EVEN MORE BOOKS:
From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón – A much odder book than the other one I read by Sjón; there’s a lot of interesting stuff here about Iceland’s past, but there’s also a lot of surrealism and I think there’s a lot I didn’t get!
Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith – Such a slim book that the story almost feels told in summary form, but it’s a good portrayal of the process of grieving, and then learning how to incorporate grief into life and continuing to live.
Growing Anyway Up by Florence Parry Heide – An interesting and compassionate story of a girl learning to cope with her OCD.
The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne – A. A. Milne, he of Winnie-the-Pooh, wrote a murder mystery? Obviously I had to read it! It’s a classic cozy mystery, and good fun. Also I love that apparently Milne was initially most known for his humor writing; then he dismayed everyone by turning his hand to detective fiction. Then once he was famous for that, he dismayed everyone again by writing stories for children. :-)
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith – I am always here for nonfiction about octopuses! Especially about their intelligence, so alien to us and yet undeniable. And insightful quotes such as: “The chemistry of life is an aquatic chemistry. We can get by on land only by carrying a huge amount of salt water around with us.”
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy – I adore Julie Murphy (I still think about how much I loved Ramona Blue) and I think the concept of this book is incredibly important (a fat girl reclaiming how she defines herself, instead of letting society define her). Some elements of the story felt somehow a bit rushed and unfinished to me, and I wished it could have been developed a bit more. But I’m thrilled that it’s now going to be a movie, and I hope it’s awesome!
Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai – Another thoughtful story from Selvadurai about a boy growing up in Sri Lanka, navigating teen life as well as past losses and the growing realization that he’s attracted to boys.
Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block – This was clearly a seminal book for many people, so I put it on my list to read. In a way it felt oddly curtailed; a lot happens but it’s almost all told in summary. But I can absolutely see how important it was to those who read it at the time (late ‘80s), with gay characters and a strong female character who knows what she wants in life and makes it happen.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Watched by Marina Budhos – A Muslim teen in New York is roped into spying on his own community for the police. In some ways the plot didn’t quite gel for me, but the portrayal of his relationship with his family is wonderful.
Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo – DiCamillo’s books are always sweet and whimsical, yet with a swirl of serious, real-life emotion hiding within.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – Fantastic concept; doesn’t always work in the execution (writing style, pacing, etc.) But it’s apparently being made into a film and I think that’s a fantastic choice – the story is so visual and full of action, and it would make a great film.
The Merry Spinster by Mallory Ortberg – Fairy tale retellings with dark, weird, humorous twists.
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell – I admit I wearied of the chapters that were too much the “animals” half of the equation (extended descriptions of different animals Durrell observed during his childhood on Corfu), but the chapters focusing on the wacky going-on of his family were a lot of fun.
.
