Finnikin of the Rock, by Melina Marchetta
Reviewed here.
Gladys Aylward, by Janet & Geoff Benge
Amazing story.
The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
It was okay. My siblings say that 3 - 5 are much better than the first two. I couldn't not read Riordan, though, with the level of excitement currently humming at my house. The movie releases next week.
Nehemiah, James, Ruth, Romans KJV
Lottie Moon, by Janet & Geoff Benge
Interesting bio.
Cuffies
2010 Cuffies are out. I died laughing at this story, from the category Oddest Request by a Customer:
“A child was looking for ‘the third Penderwicks book,’ which she claimed to have seen online. The title of it was Die Penderwicks. Turns out she had seen a listing for the German-language edition, not a book about the demise of the beloved Penderwicks.”
Can't you see that cover? Very Edward Gorey.
“A child was looking for ‘the third Penderwicks book,’ which she claimed to have seen online. The title of it was Die Penderwicks. Turns out she had seen a listing for the German-language edition, not a book about the demise of the beloved Penderwicks.”
Can't you see that cover? Very Edward Gorey.
Scoop of the e-e-evening: Finnikin of the Rock
First of all, how legend is it when Melina Marchetta emails you, saying she came across your name—again—and wondered if you wanted a copy of her new book? Notice: again. As in, Melina Marchetta remembers you from past reviews/interviews you’ve done.Completely legend.
Anyway, from the publisher: Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere’s walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin’s unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems — and the startling truth will test Finnikin’s faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.
If you’ve been around long, you know I adore Marchetta’s previous fiction, Saving Francesca and Jellicoe Road. Both are modern, realistic, Aussie-teen novels. I knew going into Finnikin that it was a complete departure from those books. But this I didn't expect: if I’d been given a cover-less book, I would never have guessed the author. I can picture people grinning and hinting—“You love her!”—and my self squirming and trying to figure it out, but only afterward, when I knew the answer, would I have recognized clues.
Perri and Tesadora, Raffy and Chaz.
A scene where Finnikin is in the kitchen, surrounded by strong females, all feeding and fussing. Classic Marchetta feel.
Like Jellicoe and Francesca, Finnikin is a deeply emotional novel. There is pain and darkness and true life. Those who delight in epic fantasy will fully enjoy Finnikin. The experience reminded me of reading Frances Hardinge’s Lost Conspiracy. Both authors created intricate fantasies that are quite a departure from their previous work. As I said then, complex worlds with mazy customs and tongue-twisting names are not my cup of tea. But both Hardinge and Marchetta continued their tradition of excellent writing.
Finnikin is different; it is Chai when you're accustomed to Darjeeling. However, that sort of different only means enjoyed in a different way.
Also: (drag to uncover spoilers) Finnikin, I thought, savored strongly of A Winter's Tale... which is a good thing. I love that play, with a passion. ... the dungeon "death" at childbirth, the young prince's tragic murder, the princess growing up lost and unknown, meeting her unsuspecting future lover in a foreign land... Sir Topher as Camillo, Tesadora as Paulina, Froi as Autolycus... gorgeous spots of sort-of similarities.
"Goodly Wings" BIC Day 8
Soundtrack: holst
Mood: reading!
Today's word count: 570
Thought of the evening: Forget writing. Today was Finnikin reading day. And it was good!
Mood: reading!
Today's word count: 570
Thought of the evening: Forget writing. Today was Finnikin reading day. And it was good!
It's a sunshine day...
...thanks to a little something that showed up in my mailbox, courtesy of its bloody awesome author. Get your own copy February 9th!
Kidz Book Buzz Blog Tour: Sand to Stone and Back Again
A review of Sand to Stone and Back Again by my 11-year-old brother.
I think they did a very good job describing the different pictures, showing how over time, rock and earth change, just like humans change. I love the picture of an arch that used to be a wall, but the inside was weaker and crumbled into a beautiful arch, just like the Romans used to make.
My favorite photo is of the limestone mittens. I think the page is balanced by the mittens on each side and the moon in the middle.
Moving on to the waterfall, I love it because it’s just like a Lego set you can get, with jagged edges for plants to grow on, and darker rock where the water hits.
I also like the Mexican hat. It’s awesome how it’s just balanced, without any support.I like how they describe the sandstorms, how the sand gets piled into mounds, and forms dunes. I also like the picture of the Grand Canyon. That is truly amazing. Someday I would like to go there. If I was standing at the edge, I would jump. It would be like flying, until you hit the bottom.
(Obviously, the child reads too much Calvin and Hobbs. What can I say.)
"Goodly Wings" BIC Day 7
Soundtrack: film score shuffle
Mood: steady
Today's word count: 1,181
Thought of the evening: Listening to Middlemarch on the side, trying not to compare my bloodless first-draft characters with Mrs. Cadwallader. Because that would be devastating.
Mood: steady
Today's word count: 1,181
Thought of the evening: Listening to Middlemarch on the side, trying not to compare my bloodless first-draft characters with Mrs. Cadwallader. Because that would be devastating.
Kidz Book Buzz Blog Tour: Sand to Stone and Back Again
A sample of Tony Kuyper's beautiful, conversational photography from Nancy Bo Flood's Sand to Stone and Back Again.
Clockwise, from upper left: Mexican hat, mushroom, arch, mitten, waterfall, and candy cane columns.
"Goodly Wings" BIC Day 6
Soundtrack: Bright Star
Mood: plugging
Today's word count: 1,502
Thought of the evening: I wrote out of sequence! I only skipped one scene, true, but that's a huge leap for noelkind. It's actually fun to write the interesting scenes first! And perhaps it will lead to more interesting ways to link the scenes than previously plotted.
Also: Writing 10k+ in six days? Brilliant.
Mood: plugging
Today's word count: 1,502
Thought of the evening: I wrote out of sequence! I only skipped one scene, true, but that's a huge leap for noelkind. It's actually fun to write the interesting scenes first! And perhaps it will lead to more interesting ways to link the scenes than previously plotted.
Also: Writing 10k+ in six days? Brilliant.
Kidz Book Buzz Blog Tour: Sand to Stone and Back Again
It's time for another blog tour:Sand to Stone and Back Again
by Nancy Bo Flood
ages 6 - 12
32 pages
From the publisher:
A beautiful combination of photographs, drawings, and text illustrates the life cycle of sandstone in the landscape of the desert Southwest. Written for readers age four and up, this unique book features the many amazing forms of sand--from hoodoos to arches--revealing how change creates great beauty.(In case you were wondering: a hoodoo is tall thin spire of rock, similar in shape to a totum-pole, composed of soft sedimentary rock and topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column from the elements. Hoodoos range in size from that of an average human to heights exceeding a 10-story building.)
Come back tomorrow for gorgeous glimpses of the book's photography, and Wednesday for a review by my eleven year old brother.
In the meantime, shop around these other participating blogs:
The 160 Acrewoods
SmallWorld Reads
Our Big Earth Media Co.
My Own Little Corner of the World
Dolce Bellezza
KidzBookBuzz.com
Whispers of Dawn
Cafe of Dreams
The Hungry Readers
SMS Book Reviews
bright star
finally saw bright star, and am in love, naturally. the score, the cinematography, the poetry.
and keats himself: perhaps most schoolgirls were introduced long ago, but I like having a different train table, making discoveries on my own, though later.
such as his theory of negative capability. "when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason."
christians of course understand this, but so do anti-christians like Phillip Pullman. that respect for mystery, one of o'connor's great emphases, is the place writers should seek to begin if they wish to write of Mysteries.
i was thinking about this after a discussion of ambiguous vs. straightforward christian art.
if the meaning is inescapable, there is less chance of both christian and non-christian enjoying the work. they operate on different worldviews, and draw distinct conclusions. whereas, much great art of the past is so layered, there is room for the Holy Spirit to reveal truth and beauty to both, promising more to both.
someone wondered how more christians don't view their mission as perpetuating uncertainties.
i like that very much.
and keats himself: perhaps most schoolgirls were introduced long ago, but I like having a different train table, making discoveries on my own, though later.
such as his theory of negative capability. "when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason."
christians of course understand this, but so do anti-christians like Phillip Pullman. that respect for mystery, one of o'connor's great emphases, is the place writers should seek to begin if they wish to write of Mysteries.
i was thinking about this after a discussion of ambiguous vs. straightforward christian art.
if the meaning is inescapable, there is less chance of both christian and non-christian enjoying the work. they operate on different worldviews, and draw distinct conclusions. whereas, much great art of the past is so layered, there is room for the Holy Spirit to reveal truth and beauty to both, promising more to both.
someone wondered how more christians don't view their mission as perpetuating uncertainties.
i like that very much.
"Goodly Wings" BIC Day 5
eek.
Wordcount: 363
I did skip ahead to a scene I wanted to write. Then I got distracted.
Well, at least I'm writing something every day. It's more than I've done for months.
Wordcount: 363
I did skip ahead to a scene I wanted to write. Then I got distracted.
Well, at least I'm writing something every day. It's more than I've done for months.
"Goodly Wings" BIC Day 4
Soundtrack: Pan's Labyrinth/Girl with a Pearl Earring
Mood: tired
Today's word count: A very sad 398.
Thought of the evening: I'm stuck. And so I'm about to do the unthinkable (for me): write a scene out of sequence. That's right. I'm going for the money scenes, as that Meyer woman called them. The fun ones that you're excited to write, so that, by the time you only have boring scenes left, you're so far along, it's even fun to write them.
This goes absolutely against my type-a tendencies. But I need the challenge. Huzzah!
Mood: tired
Today's word count: A very sad 398.
Thought of the evening: I'm stuck. And so I'm about to do the unthinkable (for me): write a scene out of sequence. That's right. I'm going for the money scenes, as that Meyer woman called them. The fun ones that you're excited to write, so that, by the time you only have boring scenes left, you're so far along, it's even fun to write them.
This goes absolutely against my type-a tendencies. But I need the challenge. Huzzah!
"Goodly Wings" BIC Day 3
Soundtrack: Pan's Labyrinth again. It's the perfect tone for a historical fantasy.
Mood: Glad that tomorrow is a new day
Today's word count: A sad 1,857, due to outside circumstances. But I can look at my total and say, yes! 8,593!
Thought of the evening: ...this is where things branch off... lose momentum or push on with renewed vigor. Choose your own adventure: I choose... enjoy the story!
Mood: Glad that tomorrow is a new day
Today's word count: A sad 1,857, due to outside circumstances. But I can look at my total and say, yes! 8,593!
Thought of the evening: ...this is where things branch off... lose momentum or push on with renewed vigor. Choose your own adventure: I choose... enjoy the story!
"Goodly Wings" BIC Day 2
Soundtrack: Girl with a Pearl Earring
Mood: A little weary, but still intent on persevering
Today's word count: 3,067
Thought of the evening: Music is more than the food of love. It is coffee for the typing fingers. For example, L'abandon from Coco avant Chanel? Ye gods.
Also: I spent too much time making this delicious icon for my novel. But it helped as if a kingdom cared.
Mood: A little weary, but still intent on persevering
Today's word count: 3,067
Thought of the evening: Music is more than the food of love. It is coffee for the typing fingers. For example, L'abandon from Coco avant Chanel? Ye gods.
Also: I spent too much time making this delicious icon for my novel. But it helped as if a kingdom cared.
"Goodly Wings" BIC Day 1
(translated, butt in chair)
Soundtrack: Pan's Labyrinth (thank you, cuileann)
Mood: Strangely enthusiastic! Even after
Today's word count: 2,659
Thought of the evening: Sometimes, you don't know what you want to write until you write it.
Also: I know these people better than I expected.
Soundtrack: Pan's Labyrinth (thank you, cuileann)
Mood: Strangely enthusiastic! Even after
Today's word count: 2,659
Thought of the evening: Sometimes, you don't know what you want to write until you write it.
Also: I know these people better than I expected.
(Visuals for my characters)
hear ye (self, this means you)
I've been trying not to mope this past week... trying to be cheerful in my time back home, even though I am supposed, quote unquote, to be in London right now.
(note: though travel blog is set to private at the moment, it should go public again in a couple of weeks)
My success has been varied. Some days, like today, I'm cheerful, but spend too much time doing piddly things, like making excellent homemade chicken pot pie, and watching excellent BBC thrillers (The 39 Steps... with Rupert Penry-Jones!). All well and good, but not very focused.
So. In the upcoming days until I get my visa, I am going to write. I have a whole blog full of notes for my historical fantasy, but do I apply butt to chair? No.
I was reading an author's blog, and was reminded of the fun of writing. It's fun! Why not write?
She said things like, No excuses! Write your daily word count and Skip the boring parts. If you're looking forward to an upcoming scene, just go ahead and write it.
So I'm going to write. To fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run, and to enjoy my waiting weeks.
(note: though travel blog is set to private at the moment, it should go public again in a couple of weeks)
My success has been varied. Some days, like today, I'm cheerful, but spend too much time doing piddly things, like making excellent homemade chicken pot pie, and watching excellent BBC thrillers (The 39 Steps... with Rupert Penry-Jones!). All well and good, but not very focused.
So. In the upcoming days until I get my visa, I am going to write. I have a whole blog full of notes for my historical fantasy, but do I apply butt to chair? No.
I was reading an author's blog, and was reminded of the fun of writing. It's fun! Why not write?
She said things like, No excuses! Write your daily word count and Skip the boring parts. If you're looking forward to an upcoming scene, just go ahead and write it.
So I'm going to write. To fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run, and to enjoy my waiting weeks.
SCREAM!!!!!!!! (happily)
Three of my absolute favorite books of 2009 were given Newbery awards this morning! How much better can it get?Throw in the fact that I predicted three of the five recipients? Blissful. Committee of 2010, my hat is off to you. In fact, it's on the floor.
Lovely, perfect, 100% deserving choices!
Drumroll
My plane leaves Chicago in 48 hours... how many books are in my suitcase?
Prepare yourself.
I plan to return with many more.
Prepare yourself.
I plan to return with many more.
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