Come Lady Death

Author: Peter S. Beagle
Rating:
Reading Level: Young Adult/Adult

Edition: Podcast/Podcastle, 2008

This is the first podcastle episode, released on April 1st, 2008. Read by Paul S. Jenkins. It's a delightfully dark piece that has a very Victorian undertone but it was first published in 1963. Just a fun "listening." It makes me really want to produce my own podcast stories -- not read by me, but produced and directed by me. That will be much fun. Wouldn't it?

The Metamor City Podcast

Creator: Chris Lester
Listening Level: Older YA and Adults

Edition: 2007/2008 Audio Podcast

I have been listening to this Sci-Fan podcast for the past few weeks... catching up their early episodes from late 2007 and approaching this year's newer productions. Every story happens in Metamor City -- a futuristic sci-fi setting with magical creatures and fantasy elements. Fairies, demi-gods, mages ride on super-motorbike like vehicles and fight each other with not only magic but modern weaponry. The main ingredients of the stories I've listened to so far are violence, magic, sex, and humor: both light and dark. It's definitely entertaining.

Behind the Rules

Author: Stephanie Burgis
Rating:
Listening Level: Adult / YA

Publisher: ESCAPEPOD.ORG
Edition: Podcast


I have been following stories on EscapePod for a while now and have decided to at least mark the days that I've listened to an episode. This one is interesting, light, exploring the idea of cloning, with a couple of instances of strong language (I would NOT have given it an R rating as the podcaster Steve Eley had rated it.)

Direct Link to the Story

Captives

Author: Tom Pow
Rating:
Reading Level: 7th and up

Pages:
Publisher: Roaring Brooks
Edition: Hardcover, 2007 (ARC)

I really appreciate the layered perspectives from all parties and the courage Tom Pow exibits as an author to not put forth a more popular view point in condamning the captors. The setting is brought to life vividly and each character and their back story convincingly portrayed.

The switch from Part I to Part II is a little too fast and it took some adjusting to change gear and expectations. To have the second part as an unpolished manuscript that Martin scribbled in one night seems a bit far-fetched, though.

Mismatch

Author: Lensey Namioka
Rating:
Reading Level: 6th-8th grade

Pages: 217
Publisher: Delacorte
Edition: Hardcover, 2006

I agree with almost every notion Namioka presents in this book: that no singular experience (no matter one's race or heritage) is truly shared by all and that one has to discover and rediscover one's heritage and relationship with that heritage over and over again: a life long endeavor.

However, these "messages" are so heavy that I felt as if being sat on by a giant troll and had the air squeezed out of my lungs the entire time while reading this book. This is not an organic story, growing out of the young couple's (Japanese and Chinese American teens) love for each other, but a plastic plant with the author's hands manipulating the shapes of the branches and the color of the flowers and all the folds of the leaves. It seems such a shame that a potentially profound story can become so superficial and the "solutions" of the cultural and racial conflicts are unconvincingly simplistic. I cannot bring myself to believe that the grandmother (who is about my own mother's age, with similar experience as a Chinese young girl in Japanese occupied China) would have accepted the Japanese family within a week of her discovery of this dating business. How can someone's life-long bias against an entire orther race be altered overnight? Anyone who does not have this specific "Asian" experience should still know that racial biases do not get resolved like this. This story's all happy endings render all the messages too lightweighted to matter at all.

Nothing but the Truth (and a Few White Lies)

Author: Justina Chen Headley
Rating:
Reading Level: 7th-9th

Pages: 256
Publisher: Little, Brown
Edition: Hardcover, 2006

I had to try twice to finish this book. During the first attempt, I got SO annoyed by the piled-on, not-always-so-clever, made-me-cringe similies and metaphors (dried shitake mushroom of a heart?) that I simply had to put it down. I couldn't believe that the author was getting away with such a case of over-writing syndrome.

However, since I had to read it for the Asian Pacific American Award of Literature, I braced myself to continue reading. Gradually, I accepted that this habit of overusing figures of speech belongs not to the author but to the narrator, who is both an over-achiever and someone who does not recognize her own strengths. Lots of humor and cultural references (although they can be somewhat stereotypical) - both realistic and with quite a bit of exaggeration make the book eventually an entertaining read, albeit a bit of a mess in plot twists and tangents. But, hey, a half-half Taiwanese-White American girl whose father went absentee when she was just a tot, whose mother is pushy and demanding, whose brother just got into Harvard, and whose first love turns out to bit quite a jerk, is nothing short of a messy situation.

Wait for Me

Author: An Na
Rating:
Reading Level: Junior High

Pages: 172
Publisher: Putnam (Penguin)
Edition: Hardcover (Galley), 2006

Mina's story is told with such quiet power by An Na that it's almost unbearable to read. So much stuff is laid on the shoulders of this one child: her mother's expectations, family secrets, lies, her sister's wellbeing... It is almost unrealistic. But it does feel real -- her relationships with all people in her life, from the former childhood friend to the new boyfriend, from her helpless sister to her dominating mother, all ring true. Suna's story is not as fleshed out, although she is given her own chapters -- they are all quite dream-like, which I believe is An Na's intention, and yet, I'm left with a sense of dissatisfaction at the incompleteness of her story, especially toward the end.

The Harsh Cry of the Heron

Author: Lian Hearn
Rating: - for the first 300 or so pages
Rating: - for the last 200 or so pages
Reading Level: HS and up

Pages: 528
Publisher: Riverhead
Edition: Hardcover, 2006

If I hadn't wanted so much to finish the series of Otori tales, and hadn't heard that the ending is truly worthwhile, I would have put down the book at page 215 or so. The first half of the book needs so much editing! Hearn's static character descriptions (a long paragraph on the appearance and the personality of each major and minor character), while charming in small doses, become an annoyance when too many new (or old but forgotten by book 4) characters are introduced this way. And the repeated explanation of "The Way of the Houou" leaves me feeling that Hearn cannot trust her readers' intelligence to have grasped the philosophical underpinning of the way of peace. The plot development is also painfully slow.

I have no problem with the fact that this is a story of Takeo and Kaede when they are adults -- but it really would have been better for me if there has been a better balance of politics and tribe skills (up the fantasy element, down play the political struggles). Someone mentioned on Amazon.com that it is disappointing how Kaede is reduced to a plain character troubled by traditional prejudice (against the twins), the lack of a male offspring, and other petty feelings. I can agree with that -- Takeo continues to be a fully drawn character but Kaede becomes quite shadowy. Her feelings are told without the possibility of deep understanding by the reader. Her final actions, however, are in keeping with her passionate nature. Her old coolness in facing adverse situations sprang from her love and trust for Takeo. Thus, she cannot possibly keep her cool when that foundation is destroyed.

But... the ENDING -- the last 150 pages or so... MY GOODNESS. I often shed tears over incidents and characters in books, but the violent sobs and non-stoppable stream of tears are uncommon, even for me. Two days after closing the book, the sorrow still tinges my mood.

Fragile Things: Short Fiction and Wonders

Author: Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Reading Level: HS/Adult

Pages: 355
Publisher: William Morrow
Edition: Hardcover, 2006

This book is such a treasure -- from the cover design to the very interesting, informative introduction, to each of the 30+ stories and poems. It is odd to think of this book with such fondness and deep, comforting satisfaction when most of the stories are unsettling, dark, often with unrestrained gore and tragic situations. I wanted to write my reaction to each of the story... but simply didn't have time. Here are some of my favorite pieces. The short summary is just so I won't forget what the stories are about...

October in the Chair
(the little boy running away, meeting a little ghost boy...)
Forbidden Brides of the Facelss Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire
(meta-fiction of a young writer, living in a world of fantasy and trying to write his own "realistic fiction")
Bitter Grounds
(a "zombie" like traveler, assuming another's identity...)
Other People
(very short and philosophical piece of demons in hell)
Harlequin Valentine
(tricking and being tricked -- do not lightly give away your heart -- pinning it on the door, with blood dripping..)
The Problem of Susan
(what happens to Susan after the Last Battle from the Narnia books...)
Instructions (poem)
(instructions to one who finds herself trapped inside a fairy tell)
My Life (poem)
(tall-tale goth and funny)
Feeders and Eaters
(a really creepy cannibal story)
Goliath
(a possible story from the world of the movie Matrix)
The Day the Saucers Came (poem)
(humorous accumulative love letter)
Sunbird
(what happens when you have eaten all the rare and precious foodstuff - and not so-foodstuff - in the world)

Sandman: The Dream Hunters

Author: Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano
Rating:
Reading Level: 7th and up

Pages: 128
Publisher: Vertigo
Edition: Paperback, 2000 (1999)

Beautifually haunting, both in text and illustration. Typically Gaiman. And I am a sucker for his style. The tenderness of a tragic love is revealed with poetic, dream-like prose. Gaiman is masterful in conjuring up not only paradoxical phrases, but paradoxical imagery and emotions: we find beauty in the macabre, humor in the tragic, hope in the despairing...

Rabbi's Cat

Author: Joann Sfar
Rating:
Reading Level: 8th and up

Pages: 152
Publisher: Pantheon
Edition: Hardcover, 2005

This amusing and thoughtful graphic novel seems to not know whether it exists to answer some really big questions (about life, love, religion, humanity, prejudice, etc.) or to further confuse the readers on all fronts! I love the Cat, and adore the Rabbi. Both are very well-drawn (in text and in pictures) characters. However, I do not take to the way how most of the panels are presented: the illustrations serve as accompaniment to the descriptive paragraphs: very few of them include dialogs between the characters.

It gets to be tedious after a while and the author/illustrator's voice/hand become too apparent for my taste. Once again, the last part of the "story" seems disjointed from the rest of the book and the sense of lacking a resolution makes me unhappy...

American Born Chinese

Author: Gene Luen Yang
Rating:
Reading Level: 7th and up

Pages: 240
Publisher: First Second, Roaring Brooks
Edition: Paperback original, 2006

I cannot pin down my own reaction to this graphic novel. It is beautifully produced: glossy paper, clean layout, the comic illustrations are quite skillfully done, and the storytelling is at moments quite intelligent. But, that what I felt most reading the book was how all parts of it are "adequate" and how I was aware of all these components at the same time finding myself not terribly moved in any way. I was not offended, either -- even by the buck-teethed, slant-eyed, Engrish-speaking caricature of a Chinese cousin (I knew that he served some form of purpose other than ridiculing the Chinese as a whole.) I felt little revelation -- even when the three story lines finally get twisted together, the surprise factor only lasted a short moment and then the bigger lingering question remains: "Are these three stories organically entwined due to an unyielding internal creative force or are they forced together because it seems like a cool idea to connect a current day ABC's destiny to an old Chinese Legend?" For me, the resolution definitely lacks the power to convince me that this tale cannot be told better.

The best part of the book actually is the very short, very straightforward, very truthful retelling of the Monkey King story -- I wanted more of that!

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah

Author: Fiona Rosenbloom
Rating:
Reading Level: 6th - 8th

Pages: 190
Publisher: Hyperion
Edition: Hardcover, 2005

It's a fun and quick read. Stacy Friedman's voice is lively and funny. The story, although utterly unbelievable, is actually charming at moments. However, it is highly predictable and sugar-sweet: everything works out in the end so do not worry about having to feel sorry for anyone.

Hope Was Here

Author: Joan Bauer
Rating:
Reading Level: 5th - 8th

Pages: 186
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Edition: Hardcover, 2000

I can see that, maybe, some readers will find parts (especially toward the end, when most things turn out exactly right) of this story a bit too good to be true, or even sappy, but I definitely ate it all up! Joan Bauer has the talent to capture many different personalities as only an observant writer would: they are just your every day ordinary people, they sound real, they act not that out of the norm, and yet, each single one of them also carries a little spotlight around that makes you, the reader as audience, see the details defined much more clearly and each of them shines with a glow that makes them a bit larger than life. Reading Hope Was Here, like reading its twin, another excellent book by Bauer, Rules of the Road, inspires the reader to examine the every day life and people with a special lens that captures what's just below the surface that makes every thing and every body that much more special. We become less lazy about what we do and how we feel. I'm surprised that no one has offered a movie deal to turn this into one of the core American Spirit (dare I say Value???), feel-good, summer family movie! It has all: quirky, interesting characters, a mystery to solve, some very witty internal monologues (and food metaphors,) lots of hope and courage, and some romance, too. It's a bit like Sideways, only it deals with the philosophy of Diner Food, not red wine, and it's about a 17-year-old girl, not a middle aged man, of course!

As I read this book that has been quite popular with my 5th graders, I was constantly amazed in wonderous puzzlement: why do my girl readers, who are mostly from well-to-do families, and who has lived the city life all along would find this book so irresistable that they excitedly recommend it to their best friends all the time? What do they see and feel in it that speaks to them so much? The interesting and witty main character (Hope) alone cannot carry the weight of the entire book... what else? I'll have to remember to investigate that one when school starts in a couple of weeks.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

Author: David Sedaris
Rating:
Reading Level: High School and Adult

Edition: Audiobook, read by the author

This one, read by Sedaris, too, was thoroughly enjoyable. Witty, at times bitter, and other times revelational, it presents the modern American life's many quirky sides. (Of course, it's such life viewed via a very strange mind indeed.)