Sunday, December 26, 2010


FINISHED:
Clements, Andrew. (2004). The last holiday concert. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Westerfeld, Scott. (2010). Behemoth. New York: Simon Pulse.

[LOVED LOVED LOVED the first one in this trilogy.]

*

Wednesday, December 22, 2010


FINISHED:
Bacigalupi, Paolo. (2010). Ship breaker. New York: Little Brown & Co.

[.]

STARTED:
Clements, Andrew. (2004). The last holiday concert. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[REALLY like Mr. Clements, haven't read this one, and wanted something seasonally appropriate...]

*

Wednesday, December 15, 2010


FINISHED:
Cunningham, Michael. (2010). By nightfall. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

[.]

STARTED:
Bacigalupi, Paolo. (2010). Ship breaker. New York: Little Brown & Co.

[Been WAITING to read this one - such great things have been said about it.]

*

Friday, December 10, 2010


FINISHED:
Teller, Janne. (2010). Nothing. New York: Atheneum.

[Whoa.]

STARTED:
Cunningham, Michael. (2010). By nightfall. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

[Thought it was time to read a "big boy" book...]

*

Thursday, December 9, 2010


FINISHED:
Railsback, Lisa. (2010). Noonie's masterpiece. San Francisco: Chronicle.

[.]

STARTED:
Teller, Janne. (2010). Nothing. New York: Atheneum.

[Lots of great reviews.]

*

Wednesday, December 8, 2010


FINISHED:
Black, Holly, and Justine Larbalestier, eds. (2010). Zombies vs. unicorns. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.

[Which is cooler: zombies or unicorns? This anthology of 12 short stories, 6 featuring zombies (on whose side editor Justine Larbalestier firmly falls), and 6 featuring unicorns (the team led by editor Holly Black), aims to settle this debate once and for all. The stories themselves run the gamut: a girl rescues a newborn unicorn from a carnival sideshow at a time when unicorns are running wild and murdering with their poisonous horns; a take on a babysitter horror story where a college student ends up sitting for a famous actress’ adopted, reanimated children; a man is beheaded after being accused of sexually assaulting a princess, but when the princess gives birth is becomes clear that the baby’s father was actually a unicorn; and a group of high school students are determined to have their prom despite the fact that their town is becoming overrun with zombies, many of whom are their family members and fellow students. Interestingly, two of the zombie stories are written in 1st person and are not explicitly about homosexuality, but in both there are references, or a sense of equation, between homosexuality and being a zombie. In one of the stories, after the female narrator and a female friend become “blood buddies” with a bit of zombie blood, the friend cryptically says, “Like, if Dr. Bill saw you and me next to each other, he’d figure out what we were.” Each story is preceded by a witty tete-a-tete – palate cleansers that involve the editors stating their arguments, relating to the upcoming story, on behalf of their preferred beast. For the most part, every story is a compelling gem – some funny, some eerie, and some just plain bizarre – making the debate of “zombie or unicorn” that much more difficult.]

STARTED:
Railsback, Lisa. (2010). Noonie's masterpiece. San Francisco: Chronicle.

[Reading for ACL Distinguished.]

*

Thursday, December 2, 2010


FINISHED:
Williams-Garcia, Rita. (2010). One crazy summer. New York: Amistad/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Black, Holly, and Justine Larbalestier, eds. (2010). Zombies vs. unicorns. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

*