where have you been?

Well, it sure was fun reading all of that YA lit but it's high time I posted to my blog about something other than lit reviews. So, nothing better than posting little bits of miscellany that's drawn my attention this past week or so!

I've gotten pulled into the World of Google recently, having iGoogled (creating a personal Google webpage), changed over to a gmail account (Google's web-based electronic mail), re-entered the world of chat with Google's gmail application, and begun an RSS reader (Really Simple Syndication--a way to organize and read blog postings without going to each individual blog). And that's not to mention that this blog is hosted by Google. "Egads, man!" you must be thinking, "why not marry it if you love it so much?!" Well, I just might . . . if I can find a state willing to wed man and technology.

All kidding aside, it is making me wonder what the implications are, of my creating a one-stop shopping area on the Internet, via Google. I certainly have been visiting Google more often, sometimes to the point of having a good portion of the time I'm on the Internet being centered on a service Google offers. What this must be telling Google about my Internet habits, I can only guess . . . .

What else have I been busy with? Reading blogs. Lots of blogs. Mainly about the iphone, which I'll go into in just a moment. But for something other than the iphone, this item about fan fiction (also called fanfic) that was posted to the blog Boing Boing caught my attention. Check it out!


So, back to the iphone. I'm in love with it--more like lust. Alana, Sam's sister, got one recently through her business and I got to play with it. Her son, Jordan, thinks it's magic and says "I want to play with magic, mommy" when he wants to see pictures or YouTube videos on it. How could you not want something that kids think is magic?

I've been trying to get Sam to not be dead-set against me buying a $400 frivolity. In order to win her over, I've been coming up with reasons why the iphone would help me out in my everyday life. Or even when it would help me in my not-so-everyday life. This post about how the author's iphone saved a friend's life is my most recent argument. It's a good read, actually (not like the usual "thank you iphone!" dreck that's out there) and it's written by a librarian who likes to hike (sound like anyone to you?).

Review: Twisted

Anderson, Laurie Halse (2007). Twisted. New York: Viking, 250 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: Tyler was the kid in school who was constantly picked on until he did the "Foul Deed"--but after paying his debt to society through community service and enduring the punishment of working as a landscaper over the summer, Tyler returns to school stronger than the bullies and with the new reputation that comes from perpetrating the "Foul Deed." Soon Bethany Milbury, the hottest girl in school--and unluckily for Tyler, the sister to Tyler's tormentor and daughter to the boss of Tyler's father--takes notice of Tyler and starts to come onto him. But after a bacchanal party, pictures of a dead-drunk and nude Bethany Milbury surface on the internet, and Tyler finds that his new persona and the "Foul Deed" begins to haunt him again as doubt is cast on his self-proclaimed innocence.

I thought Saint Iggy was a heart breaker, but this book almost had me in tears by its end. Laurie Halse Anderson takes Tyler from his previously wimpy and pariah-like figure, builds him up into someone seen as mysterious and dangerous by his classmates and sought after by the hottest girl in the school (isn't that what every teenage boy wants?), and then drives him right back down into the mud--even lower than he was when he started, more dejected and faced with a situation that seems like there's no way out of. Adding on to the already perilous situation of being accused of another crime, Tyler is forced into confrontation with his father, who cares more about his work than he does his family. Halse Anderson uses this situation in expert fashion, examining the character of such a man and his impact on his maturing son--a son who is physically stronger than his father, and is struggling to become emotionally stronger.

Booktalk Hook: When I got to the part of the book where Tyler almost commits suicide, the book had me reading as quickly as I could--it was such a perfect crescendo to the plot line, and I had no idea how it would play out. Would he do it? He certainly had reason enough to. For the booktalk, I'd have a hard time not reading pages 209-210, where this monumental struggle begins.

Review: Re-Gifters

Carey, Mike; Liew, Sonny; Hempel, Marc (2007). Re-Gifters. New York: DC Comics, 148 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: Dik Seong Jen, known as Dixie to her friends and classmates, has two monumental events to get through in the next couple of weeks--one, her crush, Adam, has invited her to his birthday party; and, two, the upcoming Hapkido martial arts tournament, which she and Adam will be participating in. Thinking that she has found the perfect birthday gift for Adam, Dixie gives him an expensive Hwarang warrior statue (using her money intended for the entrance fee for the tournament)--but Adam, clueless as ever, re-gifts it to his crush. Just before facing Adam in the Hapkido final, and torn about whether to throw the fight or not, Dixie is re-gifted the Hwarang statue and realizes that Adam doesn't care about her, leading her to defeat him in the tournament finals and begin dating Dillinger, the bad boy character that gave her the statue.

DC Comics' minx imprint intends to create graphic novels that appeal to a younger female audience and so far they've done a pretty good job, offering a unique and varied line of graphic novels. Re-Gifters is less cutesy than their past releases, because Dixie is a very aggressive character (her best friend says she's "as spiky as a porcupine") and a bit of a tomboy, but having such a character in the story shows that minx is not willing to stick to the norm. The story was enjoyable and I think that the re-gifting idea worked really well, with the sequence of givers and receivers driving the plot--and how embarrassing is it to get someone what you think is the perfect gift, then to be re-gifted it yourself? Perfect way of describing the awkwardness that is adolescence.

Booktalk Hook: If I were to booktalk this, I'd do it alongside either other minx offerings, or with other books that describe a similar situation, of love spurned. Or if I were doing it as a stand-alone booktalk, I'd have to start off by asking if they've ever re-gifted something, or if they've been the recipient of a re-gifted item.

Review: Astro Boy

Tezuka, Osamu (2002). Astro Boy: Book One. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse, 222 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: Astro Boy is the product of a mad (and brilliant) scientist, Dr. Tenma, who sought to replace his recently deceased son by creating a robot, one that resembles his son and is superior to any other robot. In this collection of Astro Boy stories Dr. Tenma is back at it again, having created an army of cybernetic robots that have a terrible secret--each robot contains the brain of a dog, so that they aren't inhibited like normal robots from killing human beings. After Astro Boy discovers the secret behind this robot army, he stops at nothing to defeat the evil masterminds who have created these monstrosities

Osamu Tezuka is considered to be the grandfather of Japanese manga and Astro Boy was his first effort, which became wildly popular in both Japan and the United States and is considered to be a manga classic. This collection, reprinted in an effort to collect all of the Astro Boy comics for American readers, is a perfect example of why Astro Boy became so popular. The story opens with a high-speed car chase where unknown villains kidnap the prize dog of Mr. Mustachio--the mentor to Astro Boy--and then takes the reader on the oddest journey, where aliens (the cybernetic dogs) with weird behaviors appear, who then attack space shuttles on their way to the moon and mysteriously disappear. Astro Boy is then sent in to deal with it, leading to a story packed with action, adventure and mystery.

Booktalk Hook: In order to booktalk this work, I think I would collect some of Tezuka's other works and booktalk them as an "introduction to the grandfather of manga." Tezuka had such an interesting and varied series of works--from sci-fi stories, such as Astro Boy, to historically-driven works such as Buddha and Adolf, to supernatural tales like Vampire.

Review: Not the End of the World

McCaughrean, Geraldine (2004). Not the End of the World. New York: Harper Collins, 244 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: Not the End of the World is a retelling of the Biblical Flood, told primarily from the perspective of Timna--a daughter of Noah, previously unmentioned in the Bible (no thanks to a patriarchally-centered society). The story follows Noah and his family as they are tossed about on the Flood's waters, forcing them to deal with the atrocities of the Flood on humanity (having to deny people floating in the waters safehaven because of God's perceived command), on the animals (what do you think a caged tiger does if a rabbit happens to wander into its cage?), and on the family itself. Unknown to her family, Timna rescues a young child and his baby sister, and then struggles with her father's view of the action as being wicked (and considering the children demons because of it) and her maternal instincts of protecting the child; eventually, because of this action, Timna is exiled from the ark (a trick played on the men by Ama, Noah's wife, who said she would kill Timna for smuggling the children aboard) but finds the dry land that has protected other survivors.

I found the story to be a feminist recasting of the story, where Noah's sons (minus Japheth, the youngest and, by virtue of this, the most caring and effeminate) are your atypical male--smelly, grunting, unthinking, reactionary, quick-to-kill and even quicker to fall for lies. Noah isn't spared from this perspective either, where he does not question God and the devastation that the Flood wreaks on the world, and is viewed critically because of this--but not as critically as his sons. The women of the story, meanwhile, are closer to perfection to the men, as they are constantly outwitting the men, are compassionate, and eventually gain a greater understanding of the Flood's meaning than do the men. Perhaps the highest praise I could give about this book is that the more I think about the story, the more I get out of it--because, at first, it seemed to be about living with stinky animals and how much that sucks but, as the story continues, it really becomes a story about how a young adult begins to realize that their parent isn't always right and the complex relationships of family, and, by extension, the complex relationship of mankind to their Higher Authority.

Booktalk Hook: I certainly wouldn't booktalk this at a Christian youth group, because it challenges the story of the Flood on so many levels (but how great is that?). But I'd love to booktalk it at the library--I'd start with asking people if they've ever gone on a long-distance car trip with their family. What would that be like if you had thousands of animals aboard? Do you think your family would come out of it intact?