Friday, July 11, 2008
Uzumaki
In the first chapter, Shuichi becomes concerned when his father suddenly develops an odd fascination with spiral-shaped objects (i.e., snails, pottery, water spirals, etc.). This obsession gradually blossoms into an uncontrollable mania that expresses itself physically in some pretty disturbing ways. For instance, when Kirie visits Shuichi’s home to deliver a spiral bowl, Shuichi’s father shows her how he is able to stick out his tongue and roll it into an obscenely large and juicy spiral. Shuichi’s father eventually meets a ghastly demise that would make him the envy of carnival contortionists everywhere.
Each subsequent chapter features yet another tale of an unfortunate soul haunted by spirals…A mentally disturbed woman who tries to rid herself of the spiral in her inner ear (her cochlea) with a pair of scissors…A potter whose work suddenly begins to take on strange spiral patterns and the faces of dead people…and so on.
Author Junji Ito is a masterful horror storyteller with a knack for creating creepy atmosphere and bizarre plotlines. Other popular works by Ito include: Tomie…the story of an eternally youthful and beautiful high school girl whose admirers are obsessed to the point of murdering her; and GYO…fish and other sea creatures with mechanical legs attack Japan.
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Thursday, July 03, 2008
Night Road
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008
The Printz Award
The first honoree of the evening was Judith Clarke. She was honored for her book, One Whole and Perfect Day. This book focuses on families. Lily has an eccentric family and when preparing for her grandfather's 80th birthday celebration, she just wants them to be normal for one day. But of course, that's really too much to ask for! Ms. Clarke was unable to attend the reception, but she sent a video that I hope will be available later on for other people to view.The fantasy winner was Elizabeth Knox for her second book in the Dreamhunter Duet called Dreamquake. This New Zealander has a fabulous accent. Seriously, I just wanted to listen to her talk nonstop! I don't know many people who have read this book or the first one in the series, but hopefully this award will grab some people's attention! This fantasy delves into dream worlds which has always fascinated me...

The winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for 2008 was Geraldine McCaughrean for White Darkness. This survival story is set in Antarctica as teenager, Symone, discovers that the man she thought was her uncle is obsessed. Karen wrote about this one too. Karen finished this book and nominated it for our Mock Printz award and told me that this was the book that was going to win. Some years we really have a good as to what book will win or at least get an honor. This year, I don't know of a single mock Printz group that called it. Except Karen. That's pretty impressive. Karen reads a lot and loves literary books, so if you're looking for book suggestions on that level--check out her posts. Not that the rest of us aren't as good as Karen! I don't want you (or her) to think that. We don't need to feed Karen's ego! ;)Posted by Kristin 0 comments
Labels: award winners, fantasy, Kristin, Non-fiction, Real life fiction, supernatural, survival stories, YALSA
American Library Association Annual Conference

The last author I'm going to mention in this post is the winner of the Margaret Edwards Award. This award is for the life time achievement of writing for young adults (you know, teens!). This year's winner is Orson Scott Card. I was really interested in what he would talk about since he doesn't really like to discuss his books as well as the fact that there was some controversy over having him as the winner. His book Ender's Game is one of the best coming of age science fiction story I've ever had the opportunity to read. But besides that, he is an extremely gracious man. I spoke with him when I had a book signed by him. I had him sign it for my nephew who is a teen. He and his father read the series together and over Thanksgiving, he told his grandfather that he thought he would enjoy them. So my father-in-law asks me for the whole series so he can discuss them with my nephew. Here is three generations reading the same book and each finding valuable things within it to discuss with one another. How amazing is that! I'd love to hear about more experiences like that. I love how books can reach different aged readers! Posted by Kristin 0 comments
Labels: authors, award winners, Kristin, YALSA
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Newes from the Dead
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Labels: historical fiction, Karen, suspense
Friday, June 20, 2008
Blood Roses
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Labels: Karen, magical realism, short stories
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Alfred stole the Sword Excalibur...
And all he got for it was the murder of his uncle and this blog post.
All sillyness aside, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey is all about Alfred, a "normal" teen boy who has had a run of misfortunes. First his father ran out before he was even born; he's a BIG boy with a BIG head; his mom has died of cancer leaving him alone with his uncle who has big dreams that leave him susceptible to bad men. His uncle has made a deal with a man to retrieve a sword from the office building he guards as its night watchman in exchange for 1 million dollars. Alfred gets involved, even though he thinks something is fishy about the whole thing, but what can he do when his uncle threatens him with foster care?
Little does Alfred know that this one small moment of thievery will cause possibly the world's destruction. The sword is Excalibur--the legendary sword of King Arthur--and whoever uses it can control men and be unbeatable in combat. After his uncle is killed and Alfred is introduced to the descendants of the Knights of the Round Table, he realizes the consequences of his action and feels that he needs to do something to set things right--which include his death (this isn't a spoiler--he tells you in the first paragraph!); high speed chases in amazing sports cars; secret government organizations; and fights against AODs (Agents of Darkness). When I started reading the book, I asked my husband what he thought of the book and he said, that this is the most realistic book of how a normal teen is put into spy/action situations. And he was right. Alfred isn't trained in fighting techniques like Alex Rider; he doesn't have parents who are spies; or is a genius with unusual skills. He's just an ordinary boy who is big for his size and a little slow to comprehend things...And that's what makes this a fun book to read. It's action packed and full of unbelievable scenes that make this a book that should be made into a movie. It would be a great teen action flick!
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Labels: action, adventure, Kristin, popular paperbacks
Monday, June 09, 2008
Action Adventure Thieves
bit. On Friday, I read Thieves like Us by Stephen Cole. Posted by Kristin 0 comments
Labels: action, adventure, Kristin, popular paperbacks
Palace Intrigue


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Labels: adventure, historical fiction, Karen
Ghostly Romance
A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb is about Helen--a ghost who haunts hosts--people--for their lifetime. Her hosts of choice are literature fans. Her current host is Mr. Brown, a high school English teacher. No one has ever been able to see her until one day when a teen boy stares at her in his class. The boy, Billy, terrifies her and entices her to discover how he can see her when no one has ever seen her in the 130+ years she had been a ghost. Billy is actually James, a ghost of 85 years who has taken over Billy's body when he overdoses on drugs. James and Helen learn about possession and love in this lovely written tale of ghost romance. Posted by Kristin 0 comments
Labels: ghosts, Kristin, romance, supernatural





