2013's Top Literary Feuds

The New Yorker is continuing their list of the best literary feuds for a second year running.  For those of us whose lives revolve around the book industry, this list is both useful and fun. Understanding the big controversies of the year helps you to get a quick snapshot of the entire industry.

Click here for the list and with great commentary.

My favorites?

In terms of useful and thought provoking, I am very interested in the whole Buzzfeed banning of negative reviews.  Their argument for the new policy makes sense, but it is troubling to me. I need fair critical reviews in order to be able to find the best match for my patrons. But the overwhelming amount of uncritical negative reviews--book or author bashing for no reason other than to be mean-- if just as useless as only reading positive reviews.

Just for pure fun though, you gotta love "Jonathan Franzen vs. The Modern World."  Man, I like his books, but boy is he a crab. Just the feud's title put a smile on my face.

Check it out for yourself.

I have an extended review queued up for tomorrow, and then I hope to get another one up Friday and at least 1 more over the weekend.

What I'm Reading: Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Again, here's a book I finished over the summer. It is a great backlist title that I never would have read if it wasn't for Book Lovers Club.  [Click here for more on Book Lovers Club].

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt was presented by friend of RA for All, Magan, at the January 2013 meeting.  Here is what she had to say about the book that night:

This was a wonderful book that broke my heart in the best possible way.  It takes place in 1986-87 in New York City and is told from the perspective of 15 year old June right after her uncle dies of AIDS. She is a very naïve, nerdy girl who is obsessed with medieval history and wears pigtails and clothes she thinks are reminiscent of the time. The time period is spot on especially in the way they talk about AIDS and the paranoia and uncertainty.  At the uncle’s funeral a mystery person shows up and adds another thread to the story. As the reader, you know what is going on and you want June to figure it out but you know it will be painful.  Although it captures being a 15 year old at that time it is really a bit too deep for all teens. 

Magan captures the book well.  To tell you more about the plot would give things away.  This is a book that begs to be discovered. You immerse yourself in the story, and you think you know where it is going, and in some of the smaller respects you do, but in others, in the big pictures lessons and actions, you really don't.

This is a book for people who like the 80s setting, enjoy coming of age stories with a captivating first person narration.  It is about the complexity of families and their histories.  It is about relationships between family members.  [I especially liked the way Brunt portrayed and resolved the storyline between June and her older sister.]  It is about grief and how we all mourn differently. It is about first love and secret friendships.

This is also a book which takes a hard look at "the other side of the story." The other side of the early AIDS epidemic, the other side of uncle and mother's story, the other side of the uncle and his boyfriend, the other side of the sisters' story. It is all about this problem that the way one person sees things is not the true full story. And how sometimes people never learn this basic truth of life, yet June in one 6 month period, does manage this feat. And this is all accomplished by Brunt with a first person narration only.  That pov choice alone makes this "other side of the story" cautionary theme even more powerful.  This is not hit you over the head Jodi Picoult style of telling a story of a family in crisis from all of their povs.  Rather, Tell the Wolves I'm Home builds a full and detailed picture of June and her family, in crisis, through the questioning and patient eyes of one remarkable teenager.

I just realized that this book is "about" a lot of things, but please don't mistake that for it being choppy.  Rather is one of the most cohesive and compelling novels I have read in awhile.

I wrote about another debut novel, Burial Rites, the other day.  Tell the Wolves I'm Home, which came out in 2012, was also a debut novel.  Whereas I mentioned that Burial Rites had some moments where you knew it was a first novel, Tell the Wolves I'm Home did not.  I am shocked that this is Brunt's first novel.  It was well paced, moving at a comfortable speed for the layered and emotional tale she was telling.  It had well rounded and interesting characters, an endearing, yet quirky, narrator.  It captured a very difficult time perfectly.  And most importantly, the novel was heartbreaking, heart warming, moving, and thought provoking, teaching readers something about the era and themselves.

Three Words That Describe This Book: endearing narrator, moving, "the other side of the story."

Readalikes: If you want to know more about the beginning of the AIDS crisis, there is no better book than And the Band Played On by Randy Shiltz.  I read this book 20 years ago and I still think about it on a regular basis.  It is an amazing work of journalism, epidemiology, and a riveting read about the defining epidemic of my life time.

Users on Goodreads have also created this great list of books about AIDS/HIV for more reading choices.

Two other lists containing Tell the Wolves I'm Home that caught my eye on Goodreads, is this one of good books set in the 80s and this one of "Best Books on Grief."  Both are appeal factors that I think may be of interest to people who enjoyed this novel.

But what I loved most about this story, was June.  She was an extremely realistic narrator.  Yes, this is a coming of age story, but it is also a story of love and loss, of family and friendship, and of embracing life.  June is smart, but not too smart; she is naive and wise at the same time.  She is also quirky, but not totally weird.

Here are some other books with narrators who reminded me of June.  I have read all of these books and would also call them moving-- not just sad-- but moving.  Please note, these titles like Tell the Wolves I'm Home are all also great YA-Adult cross over options:

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  [Hazel and June could be bffs.]
• Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. [Rueben can join June and Hazel in the bff club]
• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
• To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
• The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Wow, I didn't realize how much I like this type of book. I have loved all of these titles.  Well, that is something new to add on my personal reader profile.

Monday Discussion: Best Books of 2013 Part 1

Today begins the annual march of Monday Discussions to the end of the year.

We begin how we do every year with your list of the best books you read this year that were published in 2013.

I'll go first.

My top book is Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, followed very closely by NOS4A2 by Joe Hill.

Click on the titles for my full reviews and to see why I loved this books this year.

Now it is your turn.

What is the best book you read in 2013 that was published in 2013?

For past Monday Discussions, click here.

What I'm Reading: Burial Rights

Earlier this Fall, I read a debut novel, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent.  Kent is Australian, but this novel is set in 1820s Iceland.  Kent was an exchange student in Iceland when she heard the story of Agnes, the last woman executed  in Iceland.

The story is very atmospheric and tense.  Agnes is sent to live with a local government official in his small home in a rural part of the country.  She asks for a young reverand to be her counselor to prepare her to meet death.

Most of the action unfolds in the claustrophobic small home of the official.  The contradiction of the domestic details with the fact that Agnes may have murdered a man and must pay with her life is jarring.

Agnes’s life story is a sad one and it is revealed very methodically.  This mimics the bleak, unforgiving, never changing landscape.  The point of view shifts about mostly between the reverend, the members of the official’s family and Agnes, the result is that we get a full picture of what is going on.

Agnes is also a very complex and complicated woman.  As readers, we are drawn into her story, both the story of her past, and the story of how she is choosing to end her days on earth.

The place-- rural, isolated Iceland-- is also a character here.  In fact, that unrelenting place drives the story’s pace.  Things thaw slowly and storms brew quickly.  This also describes how the plot moves-- methodically at times, building in tension, and then finally bursting before it settles back down again.

You feel the frozen, historical Iceland in the story; you feel the damp and cold; you smell the earth.

One final note on the writing.  As debuts go, this one is technically well written, but it is a first novel so in parts it felt a little overwritten.  As it moved toward the inevitable conclusion I also felt like the central focus began to wobble.  But, it says a lot for Kent that we all know at the outset how the story is going to end, yet she keeps us turning the pages to see what is going to happen.

Burial Rights is a moving story, that is dark but not oppressive.  It is more of a contemplation than a story.  It is all atmosphere and place, with the characters and plot taking a back seat.

I was very impressed and will have many readers to pass this novel on to.  I also highly suggest it as a book discussion option, especially for groups who enjoy historical fiction and want to read something “different.”

Three Words That Describe This Book:  strong sense of place, atmospheric, methodically paced

Readalikes:  The most obvious readalike here is Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood.  This is also a historical tale of a woman waiting to be executed, but the setting in Alias Grace is rural Canada.  Atwood’s novel is a bit more technically precise, but it is by an award winning author in the middle of her career. Kent’s novel is very good for a debut, but it is still a debut.

In terms of the sense of place, the cold, the isolation, and the problems that come with living in such a remote and frozen landscape during a historical time period [1920s], I would suggest The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.

For a book the recreates the overall feel of this novel without any obvious matching terms, I highly suggest you look at Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell. I have a detailed report of our book discussion of this title here.

Finally one of the largest appeals of Burial Rites is that it is a biographical novel about a real person.  We also know from the start that the ending will be tragic, but Kent’s writing is captivating enough to keep us reading.  For these reasons, I suggest two other titles where we already know the main characters are destined to meet a bad end.

• True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey [which is also ironically set in Kent’s native Austrailia]
• Loving Frank by Nancy Horan [I knew what was coming at the end of Mamah’s story, but other may not.]

ILA 2014: Call for Proposals

As I mentioned here, I am serving on this year’s planning committee to the Illinois Library Association’s Annual Conference to be help in Springfield from October 14-16, 2016.

As you can see, we now have  a logo. But the real reason I am posting today is that the website as well as the call for proposals just went live today!

If you have an idea for a program to present at the conference please go here and fill out a proposal.  

But more importantly, if you feel very strongly about your idea and want to talk to me about it in more depth, please feel free to contact me. I am only one vote in a group of about a dozen, but those of you who know me, know I am a loud vote.

But seriously, if I like your idea and think you will do a good job, I will go to bat for you.  Conversely, if you have only a vague notion of what you would like to share at the conference, I would also be willing to talk to you about the idea and help you to shape it into a proposal/program.

Training librarians is a passion of mine. I want all of you to succeed and I want the conference to be great, so a little extra work on my part to make both of those things happen, is well worth my time.

Also, please note that you do not have to live in Illinois to submit a proposal.  If you can get there and your idea is a good fit for us, we’d love to have you.

So what are you waiting for? Click here now.

I wil be submitting a proposal myself on Monday-- Kickstarting Your Book Club.

Tweet Your Favorite Books of the Year

In my on going effort to sort out the most useful best lists, I would be remiss to not ask you to create your own best list using #libfaves13.

Click here to see what your colleagues are deeming “best."

After a busy few days for me both work wise and personally, I am hoping to spend a good deal of time getting multiple short reviews out for a bunch of books tomorrow [and all throughout the weekend].

And then Monday, we will begin the best list parade here on RA for All.  Week one is the best book you read this year that was published in 2013.  Week two is about the backlist-- favorite book you read in 2013 that came out before 2013.

Finally, a big thank you to Annabelle from Skokie Public Library for leading the ARRT 1 year genre study on graphic novels.  We finished up with a meeting on manga this afternoon. It was a useful, informative, and fun.  You really can’t ask for more.

Goodreads and NPR Weigh in With Better "Best" Lists

In a post last month I said:

Now, whether or not your patrons will like any book from any best list is another story, and probably best saved for another post because just because a book makes a best of the year list that does not mean that it is right for every reader.

So today I will take up that promised topic by explaining myself further and giving you better tools to help your patrons.

The problem with most of the "Best" lists is that they are skewed toward literary fiction.  Now I happen to love literary fiction personally, but for the vast majority of my patrons, literary fiction is NOT their preferred leisure reading genre.

Take the most popular yearly best list, The New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books List. There are great books here, but where can a hard core genre reader find their best books?

People think they should be reading the books on this list because someone important [The New York Times] said they were the best.  And while they are very good books, they might not be to everyone's taste.  Sometimes a genre reader just needs their own  best list to look at.  They need someone who likes the books they like to make a list of their shared best.

That's why a resource like the Goodreads Best Books poll is perfect for a wider group of library patrons.  Goodreads polls their users, who are just regular readers [just like your patrons] and asks them for their favorite books in many categories.  Click here to access the 2013 winners and longer genre lists. So now a romance reader can get a detailed list of the "best" books in their favorite genre. So can a memoir lover, and so on.

This Goodreads list is where the vast majority of your patrons are going to find the right "best" book for them.

Now if you want to ditch the best list idea completely and just look for critically acclaimed books released in 2013 and search through them by genre as well as appeal factors like "rather short" or "the dark side," then the brand new NPR Book Concierge is for you.

Click here for NPR's explanation of why they ditched the traditional best list this year. [Hint one of the reasons is that they published 20 different ones last year, and really when you have 20 best lists, are your really making useful best designation?]

I think this Book Concierge works well because it mimics a true reader. Yes, you might say Mystery is your favorite genre, but you may also want a funny mystery or a sexy one.  How do you find a more specific "best" option? Well, with Book Concierge, you can trust the critics to have narrowed the whole pie down to about 200 titles worth your time and then you, the reader, use their tags to find a very specific option for yourself.

Color me impressed.

More of my reviews coming soon.

What I'm Reading: Life After Life

As I mentioned last week, the best book I read this year was Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.  In fact, I went so far as to call it a perfect book.  And for me it was, but as you read this review, please keep in mind that Life After Life is an extremely unique story.  It is definitely not a traditional novel with a beginning, middle and end (more on this below), so you need to be careful as to who you give it to.  Yes, I think it is perfect, but I also know for many readers, this book could easily be their least favorite book-- ever.

Let me give you the sound bite set up because, one, it is all you need to say to someone to feel out whether or not this book is for him or her, and two, the sound bite set up is all I am really going to give you on plot. This is NOT a plot dependent story.  In fact, having no set plot is the point of the book.

Okay, Becky sound bite:

A young woman takes a shot at Hitler and dies.  On the next page, the same woman, Ursula, is born stillborn on a snowy night in England in February, 1910. On the next page, the same woman is born again on the same February 1910 evening, but this time, she lives. Life After Life is the story of Ursula’s life as it starts, stops and begins over and over again during the first half of the 20th Century.

Even read slowly, this takes no more than 25 seconds and it describes the entire book and its appeal.

Life After Life has everything I love in a book: interesting well developed characters, a well drawn historical setting, a magical element, and a macabre undertone.  Since Ursula is reborn more times that I can remember, the novel is an interesting mix of historical fiction and alternative history.  We watch the war play out in England and a bit in Germany, with Ursula’s own personal choices making changes to the lives of others.

Because the reader is following the entire story only through Ursula’s eyes, this is a character driven story with a domestic fiction angle as well.  Lots of time is spent describing the domestic details of Ursula’s life.  And because we know much more than Ursula at times, not only because we have seen her live the same scene previously, but also, because we know that historical things like the 1918 Influenza, WWII, The Blitz in London, etc.. are all coming too, that double whammy of knowledge makes this intricately plotted story even more layered.  We have Ursula’s story, laid over history as we know it, laid over the alternative history Ursula creates by making a different choice the next time she is reincarnated. It is a fabulously woven tale in this way.

With all of the starting and stopping of the plot of Ursula’s "life”  the story I am worried people might be thinking this is a hard story to get into.  It was not.  Atkinson develops a nice pattern and reuses key phrases to keep the reader going.  I was hooked after the first 2 dozens pages as Ursula begins to live long enough to have a personality.  Then I fell into rhythm with Atkinson, and I began to compulsively turn the pages to see where both author and character would be taking me next. If the idea of this book intrigues you but you are worried about execution, I will tell you, the deft execution of this seemingly gimmicky plot is what makes it great.

I should also note that there is very little time spent by Ursula worrying about deja vu.  Rather, Atkinson hints at the fact that somewhere deep down, Ursula is aware that “she has been here before,” but that is not the point of the book.  This is not Groundhog Day, where the character is forced to keep reliving his life over until he “gets it right;” rather this is a novel that contemplates the infinite number of ways your life can be lived depending on the choices you make each and every day.  And not just you.  Some of the stories of Ursula’s life are decided by others, such as the many times we see her born and either make it through her first night, or, many times, not due to the choices of others.

Finally, the ending.  I think it is absolutely perfect! What I love about the way Atkinson tells the entire story here is that there is no beginning or end.  We begin as Ursula is taking a shot at Hitler and getting killed herself in the process and we end with the uncertainty of what will become of Ursula now. Will she be reborn again, or is she done?  Who knows.  But we are left with a perfect scene that leaves us content that it doesn’t matter. As far as the book is concerned, the ending came out just right and the story is done.

Now, all this being said, I am wise to that fact that this lack of a beginning and an end will drive some readers crazy. So while I LOVED Life After Life, I readily admit, it is not for everyone.  I hope this review helps you to decide for yourself or your patrons if this novel is worth a try.

Three Words That Describe This Book: intricately plotted, alternative history, thought provoking

Readalikes:  2013 also saw the publication of another intricately plotted and thought provoking story where the main character experiences different version of her life.  That book is The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer.

As I described the book on NoveList:

Greta begins the novel devastated by the double deaths of her twin brother and life partner. In order to get over her depression, Greta has electro-shock treatments that send her time-traveling and experiencing life with the two men in different eras.

The Greer book is less convoluted, but if you liked this idea of reliving your life and having a second (or third) try at it, The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells is a good readalike choice.

Other titles that play with the idea of a life lived over again are The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and Replay by Ken Grimwood.

Connie Willis’ epic, award winning, 2 book series that allows historians from the future to come back to England during WWII using time travel-- Blackout and All Clear-- make for a great readalike for those who enjoyed the time period and alternative history aspects of Life and Life.

But most of all, Life after Life reminded me of 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  Click here for my review of this alternative history masterpiece.  Both are intricately plotted, thought provoking, and macabre.  But more importantly, they both have perfect endings.  So many great books are ruined by authors trying to tie everything up, but in Life After Life and 11/22/63 Atkinson and King resist that instinct and just leave us with a perfect final scene.  No, we don’t have all the answers with these endings, but so what, we are content.

RA for All End of the Year Scheduling Notes

Many of you might have been expecting the Monday Discussion to begin with its annual "Best" lists this week.  I will be holding off on those until next week. So get ready.

I am going to spend this week getting caught up on reviews, so look for those coming at a fast rate, since I am very, very, very [did I mention very?] far behind.

Monday Discussion: Classic Young Adult Heroines

With Catching Fire dominating at the box office again, I thought I would use a question I saw a few weeks ago on my local NPR blog.

The question posed here by Leah Pickett was to name you favorite heroine from the children's books of your youth.  Ms. Pickett asks: "Would the fame of "The Hunger Games'" Katniss even exist without the spunky, brave, and arguably more complex heroines who came before?"

She goes on to list a few of her favorite [more nerdy] heroines from her childhood.  Click here for her complete list.

I thought we could take this question up here on the Monday Discussion since it is right up our alley.  I'll go first...

Ms. Pickett mentions Harriet the Spy and I agree with that.  In fact most of the heroines on her list would be on mine too but she did miss one of my favorite childhood books with a great heroine, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.  From the publishers summary:

When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn’t just want to run from somewhere, she wants to run to somewhere — to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and, preferably, elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing her younger brother Jamie has money and thus can help her with a serious cash-flow problem, she invites him along.

Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at auction for a bargain price of $225. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master, Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn’t it? 

Claudia is determined to find out. Her quest leads her to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the statue, and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself

As a child reading this book, I felt like I was Claudia, a suburban NY girl who loved the museums in NYC. Then, as I got older, my best friend and I would make numerous visits into NYC and the Met was always on our to-do list....every time we visited.  Not only was it free for students, but we loved looking at all of the beautiful art.  We never tired of it.  Then as an adult, my own daughter read this book and was also captivated by Claudia. Claudia and her coming of age quest have followed me throughout my life.

So that's my pick. What about yours?

For today's Monday discussion share your favorite classic youngaAdult heroine.

For past Monday Discussions, click here.