Possession stories are all about girls becoming young women and how poorly everyone else deals with the change from sweetly innocent and virginal chilPossession stories are all about girls becoming young women and how poorly everyone else deals with the change from sweetly innocent and virginal child to totally-asking-for-it-slut whom guys will start terrifying on the street, never mind if she's ten. It's a time of incredible vulnerability for the girl, both emotionally and physically, because not only is she changing but so is the way everyone reacts to her.
When one of four smart, popular, best friends starts behaving strangely after a failed LSD trip their sophomore year in high school, Abby has to discover and name every awful thing about being a 16-year-old girl in 1988. It's a substantial book, as you can imagine. There's class and wealth and power in Charleston, which might as well be a small town given the insularity of this private school. There's all the public pressure on girls to protect their virginity and their drinks from drugs which facilitate rape, with no equivalent pressure on the guys not to rape. On the contrary, every movie of the decade showed that incapacitated hot chick = major score for the nerdy guy. There's sex and drugs and rock and roll in the chapter titles. There's a very narrow range of acceptable looks: clothes, of course, but makeup, hairstyles, body shapes, and everyone is policing and judging girl’s appearance all the time. There's an expectation of all-around excellence from the girls and women that is rather at odds with the expectation of marriage to a good provider followed by a couple of kids and well, really, nothing else except chauffeuring for a few decades. There’s the destructive economy of Reaganomics played out in downward mobility for some, limited access to health care, undisguised systemic racism, there’s urban legends and satanic panic, and the stigma of mental health issues. There are earnest Christians being brought in to proselytize in school assemblies, when every student understands football is more important.
And against all of that there is friendship and being seen and known and having shared jokes and memories and an entire shared lifetime by 16. The importance of having your friends stick with you when everything is awful and adults don’t listen, don’t understand, and don’t help. Hendrix evokes the lives of teen girls in a way that doesn’t feel weird or clueless and he shows how helpless a bright 16 year-old is when everyone turns against her.
The amazing thing about Hendrix is that he understands and respects both genre horror and the real horrors that genre reflects obliquely. He makes the most of both of them, with a gentle mockery but very serious intentions. Unlike the books and films he evokes he shows real insight and empathy for the lives of women. One is tempted to say "uniquely."
Library copy Read for American Horror Story...more
Next time I decide to read this it will probably be for Halloween bingo, because this hits a lot of squares, including Halloween itself and carnivals.Next time I decide to read this it will probably be for Halloween bingo, because this hits a lot of squares, including Halloween itself and carnivals.
It's fall in small-town Ohio, and Mab is almost finished restoring the old rides and statues in a small amusement park that's being refurbished. Mab unwittingly sets free a demon, and then all Hell is breaking loose. There's a little murder, a lot of mayhem, sex, beer, demon-possessed teddy bears, and a nice array of weapons.
Crusie and Mayer work so well together: it's witty and clever and exciting and sweet, and flows smoothly through all of its moods without a false note.
In a perfect world, Crusie and Mayer would write more of this kind of thing, and they would all be optioned for Netflix. In a pretty good world, other writers would mine the same vein. Who doesn't want more banter and brawling with a side of hellmouth?
Started Thursday evening after a disappointing showing on my certification exam: Reader, I failed it. A pleasant historical work about a real person, Started Thursday evening after a disappointing showing on my certification exam: Reader, I failed it. A pleasant historical work about a real person, only with demons being real. The dragon I kept expecting, based, no doubt, on a misreading of a review, did not ever appear. As much as I respect her dragons, they weren't missed. So first half is Sharon K Penman sort of thing about Renaissance Florence, a topic about which I knew nothing. I was digging it, but not unable to put it down Friday to go to work. And then Friday evening I got farther in, and could not put it down at my usual bedtime, and having gotten through that slight bit of sleepiness there was no impediment to my reading straight through to the end at three am. Well worth the mostly sleepless night. It just get better and better and better. I love all the choices Walton made, and fully expect this to be a book I regularly reread, because I love the idea so much. Library copy...more
Prophecies, Libels & Dreams: Stories - Ysabeau S. Wilce It would be five stars if the Flora novels weren't so good. Same universe, some of the same Prophecies, Libels & Dreams: Stories - Ysabeau S. Wilce It would be five stars if the Flora novels weren't so good. Same universe, some of the same characters. I love the framing : these are fragments being discussed by a future historian, there are sources cited, and judgment of the veracity of the stories.
Paranormal romance is way better when it follows a Buffy outline with clever teens fighting evil and still maintaining their grades. I like it funny. Paranormal romance is way better when it follows a Buffy outline with clever teens fighting evil and still maintaining their grades. I like it funny. In this case, the librarian is evil, is stealing bits of souls or whatever, and is planning to destroy everyone in the school. Fortunately, that's not going to happen until after opening night of the school musical, Sweeney Todd, which of course demons just love.
More than anything, this book glows with the love of putting on a show. It also highlights how important the stuff kids learn outside of class is. This is for people who don't believe all the drama in highschool has to do with mean girls, in fact, friendship among Cyn and her girls is more important than anything else.
1990 June 8 1997 Jun 01 1998 Jan 30 1999 Jun 17 2002 Jan 31 2012 May 15 2014 Aug 1 2017 Oct 7 It's my favorite book. I picked up a copy at the first and only 1990 June 8 1997 Jun 01 1998 Jan 30 1999 Jun 17 2002 Jan 31 2012 May 15 2014 Aug 1 2017 Oct 7 It's my favorite book. I picked up a copy at the first and only BEA I ever attended. I didn't know either of the author's names. Because it's my favorite book, I made it a point to read it aloud to both of the Offspring during their first weeks of life. They've always liked me reading to them.
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I've never dropped a copy in the bath, but I imagine mine does look well-loved. There aren't any surprises in a sixth read, but the delight remains. Now that I've read most of Gaiman's published work and most of Pratchett's, it is fun to see things that show up in other places and other forms. What I noticed most this time is that their notion of eleven-year-olds is rather more childlike than mine, not to mention much smaller. (I'm short, which means eleven-year-olds are as tall as me, if not actually towering over me.)...more
I like Will, and his very pressing day-to-day concerns, his practicality. This is where the sThe Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman 21 Jul 1997
11 Nov 2000
I like Will, and his very pressing day-to-day concerns, his practicality. This is where the series really engaged me, because I could relate to Will better than to Lyra.
2 Oct 2016 I really hate this cover. While it isn't clear what Will's ethnic heritage might be, the text is clear that he has black eyebrows. Straight black brows.That is, however, the only thing about it I dislike. We've changed from the steampunk fantasy world (armored talking bears!) that Lyra is from, to our own world in the present. There is something wrong with Will's mother, and his father has been missing his whole life. Suddenly there are strange men harassing his mother and searching for something, and it all goes pear-shaped very quickly. Fortunately Will knows how to blend, and he knows enough to take advantage of a fortuitous window into another world. Lead by a cat, of course.And then we're off on a constantly moving adventure that covers a tremendous amount of ground in multiple worlds, brings back characters from the first book and introduces many more, and a really astounding number of incidents occur, and so many plotlines. It never is entirely clear how long the whole story takes, but I love every minute of it.
***
9 January 2020
I remembered so little: Will, his mother, Lyra, the knife. I'd forgotten everything that wasn't about them, and a surprising amount that was.
I am amused that Pullman is considered an atheist. Perhaps he self-identifies as such, I don't recall. But if he doesn't believe, it isn't because he hasn't heard. This story is steeped in the folklore of the Judeo-Christian God. It seems clear to me that he is only interested in this one particular god out of myriad pantheons and faiths. I find Pratchett's indiscriminate but amused disbelief more compelling.
Harry is a young woman, orphaned, and sent out to live near her brother who is in the army and posted at the back of beyond in a new colony of the QueHarry is a young woman, orphaned, and sent out to live near her brother who is in the army and posted at the back of beyond in a new colony of the Queen. [For Homeland I read Britain, for Damar I read Afghanistan, for Queen I read Victoria, although one doesn't have to.] Harry soon finds that she is among a select few, including the commander of the post, who truly love the land. Shortly thereafter she is kidnapped and trained as a rider and a fighter of the Hillfolk, for it seems she is a chosen one, destined to play an important role in their war against the Northerners, a brutal race of non-quite-humans.
the wonderful thing about Harry is her stoicism. Most of the time she has no idea what's going on, and no control over events, but she copes. She is too proud to not try, but also polite and respectful. She even manages to maintain a sense of humor about this role she has to play. Plus, she gets a fabulous clever horse and a large hunting cat.
As an adventure novel it's excellent. I thought the training was handled well, not too slow, but with as much emphasis placed on understanding the people and their customs as on mastering swordplay. The only thing that keeps it from being perfect is the melancholy: Harry isn't homesick especially, but she's so stoic and dislocated that the reader can't help absorbing some of that distance and sadness.
There's a world, rather like ours, but with all the magical creatures we've come to expect from high fantasy. Mr. Chesney, from a world like ours, hasThere's a world, rather like ours, but with all the magical creatures we've come to expect from high fantasy. Mr. Chesney, from a world like ours, has found his way in, and has found a way to entrap pretty much everyone and everything in legal contracts requiring various services. The primary service is tours for people like us, "Pilgrim Parties" which amount to live-action role-playing of fantasy adventures on a simply massive scale. It's an astounding lucrative business for Mr. Chesney, but the unwilling participants of Derk's world have had it. This is the story of how the tours go awry in ways both comical and tragic.
A little like Terry Pratchett, the screwball comedy reminds me of Connie Willis, and the result is clearly the same woman who wroteHowl's Moving Castle. Perhaps a shade too mushy for most middle grade readers, but an excellent fantasy choice for fans of YA, with elves, and dwarves, and even flying pigs.
I really enjoyed reading the Chinese-mythology influenced fantasy adventures of the 17 year old heroine. The demons are overcome a little too easily, I really enjoyed reading the Chinese-mythology influenced fantasy adventures of the 17 year old heroine. The demons are overcome a little too easily, perhaps, but she still displays plenty of cunning and fight. I look forward to reading more in the series. (I don't much like destined love, but that's just me)....more
A retelling of Faust, with a young demonologist attempting the classic three wishes, and an unfortunate Rincewind trying to explain why he can't proviA retelling of Faust, with a young demonologist attempting the classic three wishes, and an unfortunate Rincewind trying to explain why he can't provide them. My favorite part is the Helen of Troy bit. Possibly a good place for a younger reader to start, a theory not yet tested.
Angels don't particularly interest me, but demons have dramatic potential. I love the whole opening section where we get to know Karou, and her blue hAngels don't particularly interest me, but demons have dramatic potential. I love the whole opening section where we get to know Karou, and her blue hair, and her strange family and history, and her tiny perfect friend, and Prague itself. It feels wonderfully modern and hip and funny as well as just a bit off. And then it seriously goes off, and I loved it even more. the twists were good, everything felt natural when it was revealed, but I didn't guess too soon. Mostly I loved how kick-ass cool Karou was. Excellent fantasy.
9/1/2012Yay, finally! I feel like I've been waiting for this forever.
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Ah, yes! That adds depth and complexity and fleshes out the backstory nicely. 9/1/2012Yay, finally! I feel like I've been waiting for this forever.
***
Ah, yes! That adds depth and complexity and fleshes out the backstory nicely. Have I mentioned before how much I love the art? Gorgeous. Someday, I'm going to be able to sit down and read the whole series straight through, and that will be wonderful. I'm too impatient now, I want a new one before I even finish the one I'm reading.
Library copy. I sat down and read volumes 5 & 6 back to back, so I'm not sure I can distinguish them in my mind. Like Runaways, my previous favorite starring teens, you've got magic, teens mostly trying to do the right thing, some helpful adults, lots of gore and tragedy. It's entertaining as hell.
I loved Bartimaeus, his snarky tone, his irascible nature. Nathaniel, like his master, was extremely well-drawn, and consequently, annoying as hell. SI loved Bartimaeus, his snarky tone, his irascible nature. Nathaniel, like his master, was extremely well-drawn, and consequently, annoying as hell. Stroud kept me walking that tightrope of being sympathetic to him in his quest for revenge, and also made me want to shake the snot out of him and force feed him a clue or two.
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