Ever Since I moved here in 1991, I've been fascinated by ferry boats. Why anyone wouldn't be interested in what amounts to a slow-moving water taxi is beyond me. Still, this program combines two things I love, books/authors and ferry boats, and while I am no longer a writer/reporter, I think that having a writer in residence aboard the water taxis that take people to the beautiful Lopez, Shaw and Orcas Islands is a wonderful idea. I may have to board one of these boats just to hang out with Ms Graville.
Image of the Day: Writer-in-Residence
Ferry Tale
Washington State
Ferries has launched--literally--its first
writer-in-residence
program. Starting last month and over the next year,
Iris Graville, a
Lopez Island author and bookseller at Lopez Bookshop,
is riding and writing
aboard the M/V Tillikum as it sails between Lopez,
Shaw, Orcas and
San Juan islands.
Graville is
working on a book of personal essays for which she has a
contract with
Homebound Publications. "Some of the themes and content
I'm writing about
include details about the Tillikum and its route,
passengers and
crew; description of my 'office'; and effects of climate
change on the
Salish Sea," she said. "I expect other topics will evolve
throughout the
course of the project."
For more
information about the program and to follow Graville's
I have five books to review, so I am going to get right to it.
Hex Hall, Demonglass and Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins are a YA fantasy trilogy that I just could not stop reading. They're published by a company owned by Disney, so reading them was like binge-watching seasons of the Wizards of Waverly Place back to back...you know you're not supposed to, but you just can't help yourself because the snarky banter and the zippy scripts pull you in and won't let you go. I loved the protagonist, who is witty and smart (until she meets a hot guy, and then all bets are off), and I loved the reform school for bad witches/wizards and vampires, Hecate (Hex) Hall. Our hero Sophie's sidekick is a ditzy little pink haired lesbian vampire, and her crush turns out to be a member of a supernatural hunters group dedicated to the eradication of magic and people like Sophie, of course. Sophie's father is a demon and head of the council who has been an absentee father for most of her life, and her mother is a Brannick, a family of red-haired supernatural hunters, who scorned her once she was knocked up by a demon. There are lots of ghosts, magical objects, spells gone awry and secrets to be uncovered, all while enjoying the snarky banter Hawkins sprinkles like salt throughout the books. Here's the blurbs: Publisher's Weekly:Hawkins's proficient and entertaining debut is jam-packed with magical
creatures and mystery. With no training on how to use the powers
inherited from her absent warlock father, Sophie Mercer keeps making
rookie mistakes that force her mother to move them around the country to
avoid attention. But when, at age 16, Sophie makes a very public error
with a love spell at the prom, she is sent to Hecate Hall, “the premier
reformatory institution for Prodigium adolescents” (aka troubled
shape-shifters, faeries, and witches like Sophie). She hits it off with
her vampire roommate, Jenna, but three gorgeous and powerful witches
have declared Sophie an enemy (she nicknames them the “Witches of
Clinique”); she has a wicked crush on someone else's boyfriend; and at
least one teacher is out to get her. When attacks on students get pinned
on Jenna, Sophie is determined to find the true culprit. Sophie
stumbles into answers more than searches them out, but the story is well
paced and plotted with tween-friendly humor and well-developed
characters, particularly awkward but compassionate Sophie. The ending
satisfies while paving the way for future books. Demonglass:Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch, which was why she was sent to Hex
Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches,
shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered she's a demon,
and her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent
on wiping her kind off the face of the earth. What's worse, Sophie has
powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is why she
decides to go to London for the Removal, a risky procedure that will
either destroy her powers forever-or kill her. But once Sophie arrives,
she makes a shocking discovery: someone is raising new demons in
secret and planning to use their powers to destroy the world. Meanwhile,
The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they're using Acher to do
it. But it's not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she? Spell Bound:
Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical
powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is
defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies-the
Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at
least that's what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery.
The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is
the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without
her magic, Sophie isn't as confident.Sophie's bound for one hell of a ride-can she get her powers back before it's too late?
I honestly couldn't get enough of these delicious and fun YA fantasy novels. They were like Harry Potter light, with a female protagonist and a lot less sexism, or brooding boys at any rate. I loved the sparkling prose and the whiplash-fast plots. I'd give the whole series an A, and recommend them to anyone who is a HP fan or a fan of Lilith Saintcrow or Devon Monk.
Summer Hours at the Robber's Library by Sue Halpern attracted me with the while book-lover's cover and the idea of reading about a library full of quirky characters. I was expecting to read about a number of readers and their book picks and preferences, but unfortunately, this library is in a dying town, and the patrons come to the library as more of a refuge and meeting place than they do as a place to read a good novel. That's not to say that the characters don't utilize the library's resources, because Rusty does, and our librarian protagonist Kit is a huge fan of books, while her charge Sunny learns to love books and deal with her bizarro parents. The library and the town become more of a backdrop for everyone's sad and lonely lives/stories. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it was slightly disappointing to this bibliophile. Here's the blurb:
From journalist and author Sue Halpern comes a wry, observant look at contemporary life and its refugees. Halpern’s novel is an unforgettable tale of family...the kind you come from and the kind you create.
People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems.
But that changes when fifteen-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. The judge throws the book at Sunny—literally—assigning her to do community service at the library for the summer. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her off-the-grid hippie parents, Sunny coaxes Kit out of her self-imposed isolation. They’re joined by Rusty, a Wall Street high-flyer suddenly crashed to earth.
In this little library that has become the heart of this small town, Kit, Sunny, and Rusty are drawn to each other, and to a cast of other offbeat regulars. As they come to terms with how their lives have unraveled, they also discover how they might knit them together again and finally reclaim their stories.
The prose in this novel is decent, if a bit slow, which makes the plot sluggish once or twice. That said, I felt the ending was drawn out and vague. We never really know what happens at the very end with Rusty and Kit...we have hopes, but we don't know for certain, and I felt somewhat betrayed by Halpern for doing this to readers. While I loved the main characters, I loathed Willow and Steve, Sunny's insane parents who were, at best negligent and at worst abusive to their child, especially when she broke her foot and they refused to take her to a doctor, which endangered her life. I just do not understand parents who put themselves and their welfare above that of their children. It's shameful. I also loathed Kit's former husband, who was an evil pedophile with an evil father. Still, I enjoyed most of the book, and I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who has ever made their own family from beloved friends, because the family they were born into is horrible for one reason or another.
Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence is a fun and spicy little non fiction book wherein Ms Spence the librarian writes letters to the books she's culling from the shelves of her local library. Hilarity and melancholy and witty, cutting reviews ensue...for the first 3/4 of the book. The last part of the book is straight up reviews/recommendations and lists. Spence writes like she has an urban dictionary in front of her, and there are lots of "yo's" and other millennial vernacular that was funny at first, but eventually got tiresome. I also found her constant pushing of the Virgin Suicides to be irritating for those of us not enamored of Jeffrey Eugenides. Still, there are a lot of good book recommendations to be had here, and some funny critical reviews of awful books that are bound for the recycle bin. Here's the blurb:
A librarian's laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving collection of love letters and breakup notes to the books in her life.
If you love to read, and presumably you do since you’ve picked up this book (!), you know that some books affect you so profoundly they forever change the way you think about the world. Some books, on the other hand, disappoint you so much you want to throw them against the wall. Either way, it’s clear that a book can be your new soul mate or the bad relationship you need to end.
In Dear Fahrenheit 451, librarian Annie Spence has crafted love letters and breakup notes to the iconic and eclectic books she has encountered over the years. From breaking up with The Giving Tree (a dysfunctional relationship book if ever there was one), to her love letter to The Time Traveler’s Wife (a novel less about time travel and more about the life of a marriage, with all of its ups and downs), Spence will make you think of old favorites in a new way. Filled with suggested reading lists, Spence’s take on classic and contemporary books is very much like the best of literature—sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes surprisingly poignant, and filled with universal truths.
A celebration of reading, Dear Fahrenheit 451 is for anyone who loves nothing more than curling up with a good book…and another, and another, and another!
While I'm all "YAY! Librarians and books ROCK" most of the time, I didn't feel that Spence was really old enough or broadly read enough to cover the really good stuff out there on the shelves of your local library. I would have liked to hear the perspective of an older, wiser librarian in her 60s or 70s who has a better perspective on the classics, like To Kill a Mockingbird or In Cold Blood because she lived through the 50s and 60s, and remembers the era in which they were written. That said, it was still a delight to read Spence's letters, and laugh or reminisce about the books she's reviewing. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to any bibliophile who enjoys reviews that are insightful and humorous.
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