The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Richard Van Camp "The Lesser Blessed" - 5/5

I really liked this book a lot. It's very short (about 120 pages), but it felt like the right length. It's the story of Larry, a Dogrib teen in the early '80s. Things are pretty shit for Larry himself and for pretty much everyone else in the town, but it never feels over-the-top. I love Larry's voice, and I especially liked the relationship between him and Jed, his mother's boyfriend and the only decent father figure he's ever had.

Mod Note: New Co-Mod - Oyceter!

[carenejeans.livejournal.com]

*Tap tap tap* ANNOUNCEMENT. Another co-mod has come aboard! oyceter has graciously agreed to be a mod along with sanguinity and me. She will be mostly working behind the scenes, tag-wrangling, giving advice, researching links -- and of course, posting and commenting.

The comm has grown far beyond anything I imagined when I started it. I wasn't sure anyone would be interested in it besides The Usual Four Friends, and now look at the membership list. If it wasn't for sanguinity and oyceter I'd be gibbering in the corner. Well, I still gibber in the corner from time to time, but not as much! *gibbers*

And welcome again to the new people who have joined, and thanks to everyone who's posted reviews, links, and recommendations. You all put me to shame. I've only posted, I think two (2) (count 'em, TWO) book reviews since this started. And I haven't reached 50 books yet, either. *hangs head* But I sure do have a lot looooonger list of to-read books!

Thanks again to oyceter, may your bookshelves always overflow with good books. 8-)

#3, The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi

[b-writes.livejournal.com]

This was one of my favorite books in high school and I had originally not intended to re-read it for this, but I watched the 1993 BBC miniseries starring Naveen Andrews and decided I needed to revisit the book.

The Buddha of Suburbia is about lots of things; it's about living through divorce, about coming of age, about the gulf between what you think you need and what you really do need, and the still wider gulf between those things and what you actually want.

"My name is Karim Amir," the book begins, "and I am an Englishman born and bread, almost."

Our narrator and protagonist's charismatic, engaging voice carries us through the novel's ups and downs. It's the 70's sexual revolution, and Karim's family is falling apart. Karim isn't sure what he wants to do with his life, and he spends the first half of the novel drifting around England, trying to find love and get laid, though perhaps not in that order. Karim is witty and sly, and not always as clever as he thinks himself to be.

Re-reading it as an adult, I found it a sadder book, and some of the racism Karim encountered became more obvious (Karim himself rarely notes it explicitly). But I still laughed out loud at some parts, and Hanif Kureishi has a warm, engaging voice. (The BBC series is pretty good too, though I'm not sure how it feels if you come to it before reading the book; Kureishi, who also wrote My Beautiful Launderette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, worked on the adaptation.)

Crystal Rain and The New Moon's Arms

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

Here are my book 1 and 2 of the formal challenge. I suspect that I've actually read at least 15 books by POC so far this year, but I haven't been keeping track of them, so they don't count. I have been delighted to find a number of authors who are new to me and to expand my reading, especially in SF, by the way!

I know that I'm going over decidedly well-trodden ground here, so I'm going to put the reviews behind a cut. ( Read more... )

#12 Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Schuyler Van Alen is a modern goth emo teen who attends Duchesne, a prestigious, exclusive school for New York’s terminally rich. Naturally, she hates all her snobby classmates and lounges around with her equally disaffected best friend, Oliver. Her opposite number is the bitchy and elite Mimi, who isn’t happy when her twin brother, Jack, the most popular boy in school, starts having an interest in Schuyler. Mimi’s best friend, Bliss, secretly hates everything Mimi stands for, but goes along with it to be in the In crowd, until she falls for bad-boy Dylan, who is also Schuyler and Oliver’s friend.

No, Gossip Girl’s cast didn’t get renamed, I promise.

Virtually every student at Duchesne can list off a few presidents in their background and trace their lineage at least as far back and The Mayflower. There’s careful explanations about how the truly classy rich don’t show off their wealth and endless brand name dropping, exclusive clubs, exclusive fashions, etc. But then a student is found dead and drained of blood, and Schuyler and Bliss start to notice they’re feeling strange and developing strange habits. Like eating raw meat.

( more )

January books and comics

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I'm behind in writing things up and posting here, but here's what I've written up for January so far:

1/(Inwa) Nu Nu Yi: Smile As They Bow (trans. Alfred Birnbaum & Thi Thi Aye)
Burmese novel.
Beautifully written but ultimately shallow short novel about the love affairs of U Ba Si aka Daisy Bond, a gay transgender spirit medium in Burma. Longer review.

2/Jones, Edward P.: All Aunt Hagar's Children
African-American short stories.
Edward P. Jones first reached popular notice with his novel The Known World, but I love his short fiction best. Like his first collection, Lost in the City, All Aunt Hagar's Children largely takes place in and around Washington, D.C., although the newer collection focuses more on African American migration northward and covers a great historical timespan. Longer review.

3/Ghata, Yasmine: The Calligrapher's Night
French-Lebanese novel, magic realism. The ghost of Rikkat Kunt relates her life and her vocation as a calligrapher in Turkey during a period in which Arabic script and Islam fell under government-sanctioned disrepute; she gathers information while acting as a servant in the half-abandoned academy of half-dead calligraphers and is tutored by the ghosts of great calligraphers past. Longer review.

[I don't count manga towards my 50books_poc total. Personal decision, not community rules. Also, unless otherwise noted, these will have SPOILERS for the current and previous volumes and will be briefer and more focused on emotional reactions than plot description than my book posts.]

Takeuchi, Mick: Her Majesty's Dog 11
The conclusion of Her Majesty's Dog mostly delivered what I expected, in good ways and bad ways. There were a few plot twists which surprised me, but I am not invested in this series for its plot twists; I'm invested in it for the relationship between Hyoue and Amane and for Amane's character arc, both of which received loving attention.


Minekura, Kazuya: Saiyuki Reload 9
There is a page in here that just plain took my breath away, I mean literally, looking at it was like being struck and there I was, breathless; a man and a boy and black trees full of birds under a grey moon beneath a white sky left me breathless; and there is another page that made me grin so wide my face hurt, grin because oh, you, you, YOU.

Mizushiro, Setona: After School Nightmare 10
Reaction post, discussion in comments.

Conami, Shoko: Shinobi Life 1
Beni is a poor little rich girl about to commit suicide to gain revenge on her indifferent father. Kagetora is a time-displaced ninja who thinks she's the princess he's sworn to protect. Together, they fight crime misunderstand each other adorably.