Top Ten Tuesdays - Underrated

Today's Top Ten Tuesday (a blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish)is underrated books... I might have a little trouble deciding what constitutes underrated. But I do honestly love all the books I've chosen and feel like more people should read them. Even if I couldn't come up with a complete ten.


Sunshine - It doesn't seem to get as much attention as Robin McKinley's other books, which is basically a travesty in my mind. I love love love this book to pieces.

Girl, Stolen - It's just good, darn it. I love it when everything goes to hell really quickly. I love heroines who are brave and resourceful. Concept to execution, there's little not to love.

Hawkes Harbor - Same with Sunshine, this book doesn't get much mention, possibly because when people talk S. E. Hinton they're thinking young adult, not adult fantasy. But it's really very good.

Invincible Summer - hannah moskowitz has awesome hair. Also, she can write amazing books.

Almost Perfect - Though it kind of irritated me on a few levels, it is, in the end, a good love story. The bittersweet character and realistic complications of a trans-gender relationship were really interesting and something I don't read every day.

Dark Sons - Just a very good story about a kid with a real-life problem sympathizing, convincingly and heart-warmingly, with a largely ignored figures of my religion. It hit close to home, but in general it's a wonderful example of a verse novel, not to mention a great male YA narrator.

Companions of the Night - Despite its quite odd packaging and title, this book was pretty much everything I ask from a paranormal. Good characters, engaging, and with some interesting twists. It's also short and stands alone, which I always love. It's better than some big vampire series I've read.

The Shadow of the Sun - If you have an interest in the complicated and unique history and culture of Africa, or maybe you sometimes forget that there are actually individual countries in it and they aren't covered with savanna and elephants, this is a great book to read. Granted, it's a little dated, but it really brought a part of the world that I'd always glossed over to life. And it inspired my internet handle.

The Man Who was Poe - Compared to Avi's other work, you could consider this neglected. I loved it, but then, there are few literary figures I find more interesting than Poe.

What are your underrated favorites? Please link to your posts and remember to visit the blog hosters.

Top Ten Tuesdays - Trends

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish. Today's TTT is on trends: ones we like and ones we don't.

This was a little tough, but I wanted to see if I could name five trends I'd like to see more of, five trends I'd like to see less of.


Yay: Racial Diversity, especially in couples/families - The only character I can think of who is half-anything, yet with race not being a major factor, is Jake from DragonHaven. Seriously, I love mixed-race characters. I just do. There need to be more. And I have a Hispanic friends who really wants to date a black guy - sounds awesome, right? Diversity is cool. **After School Special Over**

Yay: Sub-genre fantasy - vampire detectives, comedic ghosts, etc. It annoys me when fantasy/supernatural characters are shoved into the dramatic/romantic/horror roles: the base characteristic of being such-and-such a creature doesn't have to restrain the roles a character can play. Mostly, I see this subverted in kidlit, sometimes YA. But there's always room for more in this fantasy-lover's book.

Yay: Fairytale Adaptions - They have to be good, of course, but in my mind there can never ever ever be too many. Not so sure how I feel about things like the Jane Eyre modernizations, but then I haven't really explored that yet. Also, I'd love to see people adapting Biblical or other religious stories.

Yay: Local diversity - especially for hauntings. I want to see someone whose apartment is haunted, instead of the big old house way out in nowhere. I feel like a lot of genres make use of out-of-the-way locals too much. I don't get to the city much, I want to read about cities!

Yay: Boys being kidnapped - Like, not trying to hate on boys or anything, but it is always the girl that gets kidnapped. I really like the complexity of the kidnapping trope, whether it's a the whole plot or a sub-plot. But I can't think of one example where it's a boy being kidnapped, or a woman doing the kidnapping. I can think of real examples, but not in fiction. Isn't anyone curious about how that dynamic plays out? Or, say, Stockholm syndrome between homosexuals? I mean, so many options. Explore, people. (Although, from what I myself have written, I have very little room to talk.)

Nay: The one-thing-that-changed-everything - because it is not events that change people so much as their reaction to those events. I feel like this isn't explained enough. Bella did not become a zombie because Edward left: she became a zombie because, once Edward was gone, she focused on his absence instead of the other things life had to offer her. This was not dealt with in a satisfactory way, for me. (I will make an effort not to use more Twilight in my bad examples.)

Nay: Stock Christians - So, you need to a stock unpopular for someone to bully. He could be the science geek, the band geek, the theatre kid, the alternative, the quiet one, the socially awkward. Or he could be the Christian. There is nothing wrong with having Christian side characters be bullied, but, to say they're a Christian at all, you're going to talk about religion. If that's not going to tie in somehow, then it's probably just going to get people mad and not add anything. Like that quote about not mentioning the gun on the wall if it's not going to go off. (I'm looking at you, Watching Alice.) And, is it just me, or are these characters always boys?

Nay: Non Co-dependent Relationships - as in, guy always protecting girl, never really needing help even when she's trying. Or girl is staking her whole identity on boy, and he's, well, not. Or one party is always bending to the other party's will, and when it goes the underdog's way, it's because the alpha is placating. Now, these are great examples of bad relationships, but I don't find this kind of thing appealing or romantic. A good relationship is two people meshing, each offering something, bending to each other.

Nay: Chatrooms/texting - Not a fan of textual communication, really, unless it's short and really important/interesting. That thing in Beastly? That was okay. Could've lived without it.

Nay: Bad good friends - it's one thing to have bad friends and know it. It's another to have bad friends and pretend everything's okay. It seems like, especially in romance, the main character's friends sometimes aren't very friendly. Or their relationship is so underdeveloped it's hard to tell what's going on. I mean, not everything has to be Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but really.


What trends do you love, and what are you sick of? Link to your posts, and remember to visit the original post at The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Tues

For this week's TTT, a blog meme started over at The Broke and the Bookish, here are ten books I've read that deal with a tough issue. Whether you agree may depend upon your definition of 'dealing' and possibly your definition of 'issue.' There were some I wanted to include but, uh, ran out of space.


The Book Thief - War (specifically WWII), the Genocide, Death

Bridge to Terabithia - Childhood death

Living Dead Girl - Sexual Predators/Abuse

Wintergirls - Eating Disorders

Kissing Doorknobs - OCD/Mental Illness

Deerskin - Rape/Incest

Almost Perfect - Transgender Relationships

Dark Sons - Split Families

Will Grayson, Will Grayson - Gay Acceptance

Fahrenheit 451 - Censorship


What are your top ten issue books? Or is there an issue you think isn't given proper treatment in literature? Please link to your posts, and remember to visit the meme hosters!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Think Should Be Required Reading For Teens

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks it's books that teens should be required to read. I took this literally, as in I think schools should put these books on their lists and make kids read them in a classroom setting. If I were doing books not to be read in school, I think a few things would be different.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: While it may not be the easiest read, Les Mis has some important points about morality, judgement, and government, wrapped up in a darn good story. Also, having read this made it a lot easier to learn about the French Revolutions in History.

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: This actually was part of my required reading, for sophomore year, I think. For one thing, though I may not seek out Dickens, you cannot deny that he is a powerful writer. I also think that Tale of Two Cities and Les Mis should be read in the same year, for comparison.

Looking for Alaska by John Green: I thought it would be very hard to pick one John Green book. While An Abundance of Katherines is my favorite, I choose Alaska quite easily because it's the 'grown-up' version of a book that I think should be required reading for kids, so it's like two stages of the same story. (I won't say which kids book I'm thinking of, as it gives away an important spoiler.)

The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley: Outlaws has a pretty wide appeal; it's a classic tale retold in a light that grabs the attention of romantics and the rebellious, and the basic twistedness of the Robin Hood morality would be fun for discussions.

Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare: I like Shakespeare okay, but I feel like more teens would like him if we got to read the fun plays, like Taming of the Shrew and Midsummer Night's, as well as the tragedies and historicals. Also, Midsummer would be wonderfully fun for acting projects - Julius Caesar was okay, but I'd love a chance to play Puck.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Beautiful, unique, and compelling, the least of this book's charms is that it'll help you care about history. One of the best things about this one - it can be read in conjecture with another common required reading book, The Diary of Anne Frank. (I'm a firm believer in reading more than one book on a subject, if you haven't noticed.)

A Separate Peace by John Knowles: Another that was actually on my required reading. A few kids in my class really enjoyed this, and the discussions about motive and friendship got pretty lively, so I think it's a good book to get teens talking.

Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton: To go with the above, another book about betrayal with a bit more of a contemporary setting and attitude. Also, I'm sure you could spend weeks trying to root out all the symbolism and references used in this book. I understand why The Outsiders is the most popular of her books, but for classroom purposes I think Rumble Fish is great for discussion, even though it's harder to grasp. And it's short, which is appreciated in school assignments.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton: If I hadn't had to read this book going into seventh grade, I'm not quite sure I would've written my first manuscript that year. It really turned me into a reader and got me interested in the authors behind the words for the first time. Everyone should read the Outsiders.

Only one left? I guess I'll choose The Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole. This compilation of folk and fairy tales has a bunch of great stories, both familiar and obscure. The reason I chose this over other fairytale books is that it has the greatest mix of origins I have ever seen in such a compilation, as far as countries go. The lack of world lit in my English class has always kind of bugged me. And besides, I think teens need to realize that just because Disney strips them down doesn't mean fairy tales don't have things to offer as you grow older (not that I have or ever will outgrow Disney.)

And that's my list! Did you read any books for school that you really loved or hated? Any that you wish you'd read? Comment or leave a link to your own post.

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I'd Die to Meet

Top Ten Tuesdays is a very neat weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish. So here's ten authors I'd "die" to meet.

1. S. E. Hinton: Do I need to explain this? She's a legend, right? One of my ultimate literary heroes. Plus, I really really would love to see that picture she clipped out of a magazine that inspired Rumble Fish.

2. Robin McKinley: I just love her work. I'm not even sure if I would be coherent if I met her - for one thing, I'd be repressing a masochistic desire to ask her about the loose endy bits of Sunshine. I at least know enough not to ask about sequels.

3. C. S. Lewis: While I love the Chronicles, if I had the chance to meet Mr. Lewis I think I'd be busy pelting him with theological questions.

4. Diana Wynne Jones: Meeting the person behind Howl's Moving Castle and Charmed Life - it would've been something. A true master of fantasy.

5. John Green: I want to see Holden's hunting hat in person.

6. Jackson Pearce: I loved her debut especially, and she's just awesome. Someone I'd like to have for a friend (she actually reminds of the girl who's my co-author on Spade.)

7. Neil Gaiman: Personally think he's some sort of genius. And I want to get my copy of Good Omens signed before I have the chance to drop it in the bath.

8. Edgar Allen Poe: Guy had his issues, but I'd still love the chance to talk to him. Whenever I'm in the Athenaem, I kind of daydream about him hanging around.

9. Walt Whitman: I really don't think this one needs explanation.

10. Hannah Moskowitz: This one's kind of a cop-out - I've never read one of her books. But I think magicgayfish sounds great (and she just announced that it's actual going to be a book! Hooray Fishboy!), and she just seems... cool. In the good way.


That was a bit difficult. There are a lot of authors I would love to meet, but really, most of the time I'm content just to read the books.

Which authors would you do anything to meet?

Character Names I'd Jack for my Kids

This delightful trope was stolen from Madeleine Rex over at Word Bird. The trope seems to be doing girl names (or doing both genders seperately) but I've decided to do them together, partly because I like the trend of mixed-gender naming. So just because it's a boy character doesn't mean I'd only name a boy that, or vice versa. Without further ado, here are some names I would totally jack for my kids.

Peter
From Peter Pan, of course. Not only do I adore this book and character and think reading Peter Pan to a kid named Peter would basically make my life, it's also a family name. I would've been named Peter if I were a boy, after my Uncle (who died long before I was born, but everyone loved him). Funny thing, I used to absolutely hate this name.

Charmain
Charmain Baker, from House of Many Ways. Not only is this name unique and beautiful, it also sounds like Charming and Charlemagne, so I'd give it to either gender. And there's a Peter in this book, too, so if I have twins, Charmain and Peter would make a good pair of names.

Caspian
From the Chronicles of Narnia. I unashamedly adore this name. Just the sound of it. And I rather liked the character, too. Another name that could be paired with Peter.

Sunshine
From Sunshine. Would I really name a kid this? You bet I would. My obsession with this book runs very deep. Runner-up names, in order of preference - Mel, Rae, Constantine. I'd feel weird naming a kid Constantine, and not just because it's out of fashion. Mel, for a boy, would be nice.

Robin
As in Robin Hood, from The Outlaws of Sherwood. Also, Robin Goodfellow (A.K.A. Puck) from Midsummer Night's Dream. Also, Robin McKinley, who is not a character but an author, and not any author but one of my absolute favorites.

Phineas
From A Seperate Peace. It's just a cool name, and everyone loves The Wonka.

Jean
Jean Valjean, from Les Miserables. Except I insist on pronouncing it wrong, like the material.

Any Name from As You Wish
Including Jinn, Viola, and Lawrence. The name Viola came from Twelth Night, and Lawrence from Romeo and Juliet. Jinn I just love, and jinn are one of my favorite creatures. I'm also partial to the author's name, Jackson Pearce, either of which I can imagine making lovely first names.

Any Name used by S. E. Hinton. Ever.
Seriously. Especially Sodapop, Jamie, and Rusty-James.

There you have it! I'd better have a bundle of kids. (More likely, the less unique of these names will be dispersed among my characters eventually, and since I'm not letting my kids and characters share names, my poor children will get the crazy ones.)

So, what character names would you bestow on your children? (And what are you going to say when they come home crying because the kids at school tease them?) I'd love to see a guy blogger chime in one this - girls can get crazy about baby names, but you guys must have ideas, too! Please link if you steal, these are so fun!

Review: Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

Amazon Product Description:
“Blessed—or cursed—with an ability to understand animals, the Lass (as she’s known to her family) has always been an oddball. And when an isbjorn (polar bear) seeks her out, and promises that her family will become rich if only the Lass will accompany him to his castle, she doesn’t hesitate. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle, which is made of ice and inhabited by a silent staff of servents. Only a grueling journey on the backs of the four winds will reveal the truth: the bear is really a prince who’s been enchanted by a troll queen, and the Lass must come up with a way to free him before he’s forced to marry a troll princess.”

I was excited to find this retelling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” in my library. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but my risk-taking was rewarded: this is a truly masterful retelling.

The lass, who for the better part of the book doesn’t have a name, is a interesting and compelling character. She is tough, curious, and clever, and does things I would not dream of doing. Her relationship with her brother, Hans-Peter, her pet wolf, and the polar bear really bring out the best of her character. If she’s at times a little brash and foolish - well, I love her for it. The emotions and motivations were so well played that I rarely found myself questioning her.

The book follows the plotline of the original tale astoundingly closely (with embellishment, of course). One thing that I find I can rarely say of retellings - it felt like the narrative spent just enough time in each place. The plot moved along pretty quickly. I can’t think of any time at which it became tedious or when I wanted more description. (If the author’s note is to be believed, this is reputably the work of fantastic editing.)

George’s style has an almost lyrical quality well suited to fairytales. The description is rich, but not laborious. She handled both bright and bitter moments with finesse. The dialogue is spot-on, especially the little exchanges between the lass and her wolf. Norwegian and Old Norse words pepper the story in just the right amounts, though if you’re bad with names like me you may start to confuse the lass’ many siblings.

I will definitely be seeking out more books by this author. The fact that she’s done a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses has a little less than it might to do with that. Sun and Moon won’t be kicking any books off my top five, but it’s definitely worth reading, probably multiple times.

Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Style: 4.5/5

Overall rating: 4.5