Holden 2010

Every now and then I hear a yuppie call to her child by the name of Holden.  This always give me pause.  Not because I am a yuppie too.  Not because I’d love to have my own mad tofu-eating toddler running around Golden Gate Park.  But because of the name.  Holden.  Really?  You named your kid after the narrator of The Catcher in the Rye?  The kid who tells his story from an insane asylum?  The kid who gets kicked out of five schools?  Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Holden-hater.  I like The Catcher in the Rye.  But, I am an English teacher — it’s practically a requirement. The novel is an annual favorite, and it’s on every “classics” list.  It is a holy text.  Maybe that’s why South Park decided to slaughter the sacred cow on their episode: The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs.  The no-neck boys from South Park eagerly read the novel after their teacher promises that it is racy, censored and controversial.  Grossly disappointed, they decide to write their own banned book, a book that causes readers to vomit.  Vomit a lot.  

And this brings me back to my English class.  No, the students don’t vomit excessively.  I’m sure they watch South Park, but more importantly, The Catcher in the Rye was chosen by several of them for an independent-book-report-project-make-a-poster-use-the-rubric-you’ve-had-two-months-to-work-on-this-!-!-extravaganza.  Yesterday presentations began.  (My students are AMAZING!)  Does Holden still resonate with today’s teens?  Does Holden transcend the decades of teenage angst?  According to Boy-Who-Should-Wear-a-Bike-Helmet, “Holden is a whiner and a complainer.  He needs to step up to the plate and make something of himself.”  Hmmmm…What could this mean?  Has Holden fallen from grace?  Will the next generation name their sons after Atticus, not HC?!  

Upon further questioning, Boy-Who-Should-Wear-a-Bike-Helmet revealed that he doesn’t think there are any excuses for being kicked out of school repeatedly.  He thinks Holden is spoiled.  And that, no, his relationship with Phoebe does not redeem him.  Neither does anything else. 

It makes me wonder if times have changed.  Do teens identify more with the protagonist who is not an anti-hero, but a true hero?  Maybe in uncertain times, teens want to read about people who can suck it up — stiff upper lip and all of that.  Or maybe Holden hits too close to home and what some dislike about him is that he has qualities they themselves have.

Regardless, Holden lives on.  I expect to teach him — or one or three — in a few years.  

WWJDD?

Yo bro!

Beloved Nephew is only eight years old, but I am compiling YA fiction for him.  I like to plan ahead.  I picked up Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver for his four-years-down-the-line-collection.  It is the first of a series of six books (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness) about Torak, a young boy faced with defeating a hidden enemy, one hiding in the form of a monstrous bear.  Thus, begins Torak’s quest in hunter/gatherer Europe.  Along the way he acquires a wolf cub that has also lost his family.  Torak faces different challenges — surviving in general –, meets a hostile clan and makes a new friend, a girl named Renn.  She helps him as he pieces together an offering of “brightest souls” for the World Spirit.  

For the sake of full disclosure, I must admit that I am a complete sucker for The Hero’s Journey and quests, vision or otherwise, of any kind.  Metaphors for life, all of them.  I’m not surprised that I enjoyed Wolf Brother, but what stands out to me the most is the setting of the story.  Can a genre be historical fiction-ish?  Reading a story set in pre-history appeals to me, as does a forested, wild Europe.  

While I think this is a book that both boys and girls will enjoy, it is definitely a 12-14 year old “boy book.”  It is a coming of age adventure novel that expresses a boy’s worst fear — death of father, while assuring him that with courage, self-reliance and by remembering his father’s wisdom, he too can go forth into the wilds of the unknown.  

Die hard readers might enjoy visiting or becoming part of this online community for Torak fans: http://www.torak.info/index.php?categoryid=1

In 2014, I think this is a series Beloved Nephew will enjoy.

The 6 Rules of Maybe

1. Respect the power of hope and possibilities. Begin with belief.  Hold on to it.

Perhaps it should say don’t fall in love with your sister’s husband, because that is what Scarlet does, and when that happens all the anger, and hurt, and confusion of her life comes pouring out in some not so attractive, but entirely understandable ways.   The thing is I get that Scarlet is angry at her sister for a while lot of reasons but I am not so sure she treats her all that well for someone who is supposedly a caretaker, and this may be the part that Caletti didn’t quite capture me with in this novel.  That said I love Deb Caletti’s novels (The Nature of Jade is my favorite).  She writes literary romance quite well.

If I were to dissect Scarlet – I’d point out that falling in love with Hayden is the easy way out, no risk taken.  Like her sister who won’t fall in love – no risk.  I get that falling in love with your sister’s husband is not ‘safe’ but it is because Scarlet can’t act on it, not really, and it keeps her from truly engaging with the world around her – recognizing the obvious in people her own age.

This is of course Caletti’s point – no risk, really no possibilities of truly experiencing love, hope, even life.  So sometimes you have to leap, move to Africa to start a cocoa plantation you bought over email, say no to the marriage proposal so you don’t settle, let yourself fall in love with the father of your child, and kiss the boy who you hadn’t thought of kissing before.

You know I said Scarlet isn’t engaged with the world around her, and that isn’t really true – she cares about her neighbors, to the point of creating something wonderful for one of them.  And she sets up a couple at school (with some serious consequence) but all of that is a bit of not engaging with herself you know, not noticing the friend that takes advantage, or the source of why she is really pissed off, and how to respond to that.

It has taken a bit to write about this – I wasn’t totally sure about what to say.  It was a hard book to get my head (and my heart) around.  Caletti does that for me sometimes, but ultimately I end up respecting the story, and fundamentally the writing.

Banned Books Map

Here is an interesting mash-up.

New Sara Zarr

I love this cover – book isn’t available until October, but I am looking forward.

Jellicoe Road

Sometimes when I finish a book I need to write an immediate response – turns out Twitter is fabulous for this.  The problem is with books I love, the books that without sounding like a cheesy cliche – the ones that get into my soul I have this immediate reaction, and then I want to savor.  I want to think about them, and figure out what I liked so much, and then I never, ever blog the book.  This is what happened with The Book Thief.

So I finished Jellicoe Road, and I twittered, and then I did daily mundane things, and I knew if I didn’t sit down NOW I wouldn’t, and then I’d miss the opportunity to tell you to read this book.  It isn’t that the plot was so outstanding, I mean you know that Taylor’s life is entertwined with Hannah’s story of the five kids.  But I like the stories, Taylor and the kids.  It isn’t that the characters were so inviting. Taylor is a bit of work, and I wished for more of some the other secondary characters like Raffy and Jessa. Which isn’t to say that they were repelling.  It isn’t that I developed a bit of a literary crush on Jonah Griggs, which is to say that I did of course.

But Melina Marchetta loves language.  The book is lyrical in the way it tells the story.  In that way it reminds me How I Live Now.

I just randomly opened up the book and found this:

The world sways and I sway with it until it is like being in a hypnotic dance, almost enticing me to step over.

or

She’d get bored being good.  She’d get bored trying to go clean.  She got bored being my mother.

(I like the parallelism.)

So the story in a nutshell: Taylor’s mother left her in a 7-11 on Jellicoe Road, Hannah took her in.  But Hannah is gone. It is territory war time with the Cadets and the Townies, and Jonah Griggs is back and the Brigadier, and there is a story to untangle that may tell Taylor more than she wishes to know.

Very good, I loved it.

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The Luxe

I just added a browse inside widget of this book.  I read it in Febuary while I was in Yelapa.  I didn’t like it enough to continue with the series but I did go to Borders and read the endings of the two that came out just to sort of know the endings.

Perpetual Check

Anyone familiar with Rich Wallace will find familiar themes in this book – competition, big fish in a little pond, parental conflict.  Wallace manages to make chess a contact sport, particularly because of the “little league parent” father.

Zeke and Randy hail from Sturbridge, a small Pennsylvania town Wallace sets his stories in.  They are chess players, good enough to make the regional tournament.  But that is where the similarities end.  Zeke’s father has raised him as if he is something special, an elite athlete.  Zeke knows better but it takes much of the book to admit that to himself. The description of his father’s athletic career is telling.

They never hear the end of how Mr. Mansfield was a year-round athlete back in high school, playing on the kick off and punt teams in football, getting some decent time on the JV basketball squad before being cut as a senior, and earning a letter in baseball despite spending most of the season recording stats from the bench (p.38)
Mr. Mansfield needs to relive his athletics and victories through his kids because HE NEVER HAD ANY.   Also interesting how it is always Mr. Mansfield – as if he has no first name.

Randy has given up sports, even he admits he is a little soft, but it in his eyes it isn’t quite the sin his father and brother think it is.

Zeke and Randy do not get along, they don’t like each other, and as the dual narration illustrates they do not understand each other.  Their true feelings and motivations go undiscovered as they try to survive their father’s pressure.

There is no major event that the plot swings on, it is more a character study.  Zeke isn’t a particularly likable character, he takes advantage of his brother and treats him poorly.  But he is hiding more than Randy, making him a more complex character.  In some ways the father is nothing more than a stereotypical “stage parent” but it isn’t too distracting as his role is to allow the boys to develop.

Not my favorite, but it was ok.

Book Ads

Every night when I go to bed I hear this ad (A Long Way From Chicago)on the radio.  There is another one I hear once in a while for Esperanza Rising.  They are part of the Lifelong Literacy campaign from the Library of Congress.  One of the things that I like about the ad is that it doesn’t identify either book as a “children’s book.”  The Physics Teacher asked me if I knew the book, because he was hoping I could tell him what happened next.  He recognized that it was probably YA or middle grade and was hoping I knew what happened next.  I told him to read the book.  🙂

I wonder about this ad campaign.  I used to hear James Patterson ads on the radio – they always make me gnash my teeth – so there must be some evidence that audiotory advertisement works or is it that Patterson’s books make such an obscence amount of money that throwing it away on radio announcements is ok?  But do you think an adult listener would be interested enough to try and find the book and read it?  Or will they just pick it up for the kids in their life?  Does advertising on the radio work for books?

I know one of the reasons I hear the ads so much is I am listening to local sports radio, small station, small town.  They play ads over, and over, and over.  And they rely heavily on PSAs which of course this is.

Has anyone else heard them?  Do you think they work?  What do you think about the ad?

Breaking Dawn with Spoilers

I knew Stephenie Meyer couldn’t finish off a series without pissing off a bunch of her fans but holy crap she really stepped in it didn’t she? Read some of the reviews floating around out there…… to people like me who have nothing invested in the series it is a little amusing.

I went to the release party because I went with someone I hadn’t seen in a while and it was great to catch up. But then there I was trying to work and the book was sitting there sort of taunting me – so I read it.

Up front – I enjoyed Twilight, tolerated New Moon, hated Eclipse. I am no fan of Bella, think Edward is a control freak, and Jacob is a remarkable ass. I read to see how she would wrap it up, out of some sense of professional obligation, and because I enjoy the discussions with Twilight fans. I am not rude about my opinions to them, and I am genuinely interested in their feelings about the book.

So – I was totally surprised at getting sucked into this book.

The first part seemed to be more of the same, Bella annoying the hell out of me not wanting a wedding, all insecure, and somewhat resentful of having to go through this to get what she wants. Edward being over protective, and amused by her antics, and Jacob being melodramatic. And of course I knew she was pregnant many many pages before Bella did, god that girl is freakin’ dense. The foreshadowing dreams were not exactly subtle, you knew immediately what was coming. Even if “Vampires can’t have babies.”

I liked the switch from Bella to Jacob. First off could you imagine being in Bella’s head during that pregnancy where she is all self sacrificing, and watching Edward be the protective ass he usually is. GAH! No thanks. But also I guess I felt a little more for Jake, who did kind of irritate me in a nonspecific way before. But imprinting?????? Again saw it coming several pages before hand, and I still don’t know what I think. I’m not all freaked out about the infant thing, it just seemed a mighty convenient way to deal with Jake, and give Bella a family she wants. I sort of can understand how you can make the leap that Jake’s attraction to Bella has always been about the child she was fated to have.

See this gets at one of things that interests me on a philosophical level – what is the role of fate? I was bothered at the end of Eclipse because Bella just sort assumes it is fated she be with Edward, and there doesn’t seem to be free will. But since there is all this talk about choice, it was like she was manipulated into believing in fate. And then the same sort of conflict happens in Breaking Dawn – lots of talk about free will with Jacob leaving the pack and whether or not the Cullens broke the treaty but . . . becoming a vampire isn’t really Bella’s choice, it is the only way to stay alive after “giving birth” to a baby she isn’t supposed to be able to conceive. So again its like the fates intervened or something, particularly given all the dreams Bella had before she even got married. And that is how I can understand the weird Jacob-imprints- Bella’s- child. I don’t know enough about Mormonism to understand how Meyer might view all this, it is just something I wonder about.

As for the rest. . . well you had to have a happy ending, beat the Volturi, expose their nefarious plans blah blah blah. If there was a part I could have stood being edited it down it was the wait for the Volturi to come. But you know, whatever.

I thought the kid was a little creepy honestly.

Can’t wait to talk the fans I know.

Oh- and I didn’t think the writing was any worse than in the first three – come on people, she always wrote a little florid and over the top, with lots of snarls and hisses.