on a quest

I am in the mood for a good fantasy novel, but I have a few requirements that are making the search a bit difficult.

I want:

• a strong female protagonist
• a magical element featuring Fae/Sidhe, but not vampires/werewolves. I am not looking for another Twilight
• High fantasy or urban dark fantasy
• a love story is fine but I do not want a romance novel
• general fantasy fiction or YA

I’m thinking something similar to Holly Black’s Tithe or the kind of strong female characters found in Robin McKinley and Tamora Pierce’s novels.

I will gladly take all recommendations

the gory details

I picked up Sarah Quigley’s TMI after reading a post about it on Cupcakes Take the Cake. And if you’re asking yourself why a cupcake blog would post about a YA book, I’ll just tell you that there is a lot of cupcake baking in this book. At times you have to wonder if these kids do nothing but bake and watch 80s movies.

While I am a fan of the Princess Diaries and the Georgia Nicolson series, I am not generally a fan of the  confessional teen lit genre. I was totally drawn in by TMI’s cover, and like the writer over at CTtC, I too wanted to know why there were cupcakes on the cover.

Like many other teen confessionals, the novel focuses on the mishaps of the diary’s wayward writer. What is different about TMI is that the diary is really a blog, raising all sorts of questions about privacy and how much teens (and adults for that matter) should share on the internet.

Labeled the “Overshare Queen,” Becca decides that it’s time to change her ways and stop sharing so many details. Instead, she decides to create a blog to write her “overshares”. Everything is going great for Becca, she has a medium for expression (and can control the need to blab all the time), and it’s completely anonymous. Except Becca’s anonymous blog isn’t as anonymous as she thinks. High school drama ensues!

For readers who enjoy teen chick lit, this is a quick, fun read.

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And now for something completely different… sort of. I just started reading Frances Burney’s Cecilia, so I’m going to be on that one for a while since school is taking up much of my free time.

viking disco inferno

I was starting to wonder about this one…

The final installment in the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? is due to be released on October 6, 2009 according to Amazon. I kind of can’t wait, though this means that this is the end of all those series I started reading when I was in high school .

Springtime in Paris

For four months I have been slowly gnawing away at my rope till it has finally frayed and parted. All that was needed was simply that the gaoler should carelessly leave the prisoner unguarded. Once his back was turned she became aware both of the horror of the prison and of light shining through the chinks of the door. — Claudine and Annie, Colette

I promised myself that I would finish Colette’s The Complete Claudine before the semester ended and now I have.

The Complete Claudine is a four novel(la) arc, introducing the reader to the precocious Claudine when she is still a schoolgirl and chronicling her experiences through young adulthood and marriage. Colette’s writing almost reminds me of Anais Nin’s without the overt eroticism. The series was enjoyable to read and very very French, but it was Claudine and Annie, the last piece in the collection that really captured my interest.

Claudine and Annie should simply be called Annie, as this is really Annie’s story, her awakening after four years in a loveless marriage that has left her emotionally stifled and fettered by insecurities. The vibrant, passionate Claudine presents a stark contrast to the timid and reserved Annie, a distinction that almost made me want to read them as doubles, Annie representing the Claudine that could have been if she had not taken action and wallowed in the sorrow that accompanied her sojourn in Paris after her marriage.

However, despite the listlessness that afflicts Annie as she records the events following her husband’s departure to Argentina, Annie’s story is more than the story of a married woman’s discontent. Like Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Annie comes to acknowledge the disatisfaction that marks her relationship with her husband and her role as wife.  Annie finds comes into being and chances an escape that may or may provide her with the happiness she seeks, but will free her, an end that I find infinitely more satisfying than Edna’s.

from the ashes

I was introduced to the works of Gail Tsukiyama a little over a year ago when I signed up to take a course on character analysis. After reading The Samurai’s Garden, I was eager to read more of Tsukiyama’s works but became sidetracked with other books in the “to read” pile(s). Last week, I finally picked up the copy of The Street of a Thousand Blossoms that had been waiting on my shelf for far too long.

Part of what I love about Tsukiyama’s writing is that she creates a kind of tapestry of lives, her characters becoming entwined and revealing the complexities of the human condition. Tsukiyama’s lyrical prose is bittersweet, capturing the imagination with its balance of joy and tragedy.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms presents a tableau, weaving together the tales of brothers Hiroshi and Kenji, and sisters Haru and Aki. For Hiroshi, the dream of becoming a sumo champion represents the path by which he can restore the spirit of the Japan. Kenji finds peace in mask-making, the art of Noh providing him with the means of expression that he lacked as a child. For Haru and Aki the pride of Japan and tradition take on a different meaning. Haru finds hope after the loss of her mother in the bright green promise of a sapling, turning to nature and botany to find her peace, while Aki turns inward, becoming the silent ghost of the piece as she falls into a deep depression and turns to her mother’s picture for solace. As their four stories become one, the reader is drawn into a tale about honor and tradition, inspiration and regret.

in-betweens

I’m reading Collette’s Complete Claudine but despite Claudine’s charm, the narrative is starting to drag a bit and I’ve decided to take a break from Collette.

I just finished reading Jane Harris’s The Observations and Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

The Observations is similar in tone to Sarah Water’s Fingersmith but the intrigue is somewhat watered down. Bessy, a 15 year old Irish girl, recollects her experience as a maid in Victorian Scotland and the discoveries she made while in the employ of Arabella Reid of Castle Haivers. Blindly devoted to her missus, Bessy’s observations are candid and engaging as she recounts how she became entangled in the events that resulted in the fall of Castle Haivers.

The relationship between Arabella Reid and Bessy, that between mistress and maid, and the observations that these two engage in make for an interesting examination of the nature of observation and power. A well-situated woman, Arabella Reid was married out from her home in Wimbledon and shipped off to rural Scotland where her education was of little value. Interested in learning more about the nature of the lower classes, Arabella takes it upon herself to begin a set of “Observations” — noting the habits of the girls that she took on as maids and the results of experiments conducted to see their willingness to serve and obey regardless of the request. Arabella holds both physical and emotional power over her maids through her observations, testing their attachment to her by forcing them to complete tests that require them to sit and stand repeatedly or walk for miles, and asking them to maintain a journal wherein they describe their feelings regarding her and the work they complete. It is not until Bessy arrives that the power that these observations hold over Arabella becomes apparent. Though Arabella initiates the observations, she grants Bessy power over her through writing.

Through writing, these two women find voice. Bessy tells The Observations, embodying her mistress in writing and controlling her narrative.  It is also through writing that Arabella wishes to gain power, hoping to be published one day as a serious scientist. As a maid and child-whore, Bessy yearns for her mistress’s love and finds a means of expression through her journal — suddenly there is someone who wants to know what she is thinking. When Arabella’s observations reveal what her mistress truly thinks of her, Bessy finds that writing can also serve her to exact her revenge, an act that drives her mistress mad. As someone from the lowest class, Bessy is accustomed to the gaze of another; through writing she becomes the one who observes.

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The relationship between women of different classes is also central to Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, as is the theme of writing and the power that this holds for women in a society that only values men. As laotong, Lily and Snow Flower are inextricably bound, a connection that suffers but is never truly broken despite the misunderstandings, misreadings, that mar their relationship. The art of nu shu, secret woman’s writing, is the means through which they record and express their joys and sorrows, but this mode of communication requires more than an understanding of the limited set of characters with which nu shu writing is composed; an emotional awareness is necessary. As Lily’s experiences cloud her reading, Snow Flower’s writing becomes subject to misinterpretation, the emotion behind her words becoming lost in Lily’s own self-doubt and confusion.

It is Lily’s regret that urges her to write Snow Flower’s tale; driven by her yearning to mend their bond Lily practices nu shu to make her misreading known and lend voice to her silent woman’s tale.

A Royal Evening

This past Saturday, Books and Books hosted the final Princess Diaries event ever, sending the series out with a royal (and chocolatey) farewell. The girls from YAthenaeum precided over the ceremony and introduced Meg Cabot, who spoke for about an hour, sharing very funny personal stories about her days as a manager for one of the dorms at NYU and answering questions from the audience. She may be one of the most personable authors that I have gone to see (and one of the best haircuts! Just had to add that. Hair envy.).

Of course, a booksigning followed the event, so I was able to get my copy of Princess Forever signed

Then there was the decadent chocolate fountain from Peterbrooke’s…
enter gratuitous chocolate picture

a bit of fluff

Watched the “City of Ember” movie last night and though it has been a very long time since I read the book, I cannot say that I recall there being giant mutant moles in the pipeworks. But I may be wrong about that. Were there really mutant creatures in the book?

Otherwise, the movie was excellent. Much more fast-paced than the book, but it still managed to remain true to the story.

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Work has been slow lately, so I’ve managed to read two books while waiting around for no-show appointments: Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and Lauren Willig’s The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.

The Graveyard Book was a wonderful read. Bod’s graveyard family is charming and not the least bit macabre, and Bod’s transition to young adulthood makes for an unexpectedly touching story. And yes, I cried as I read the last chapter.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation really was just a bit of fluff. I had it in the “to read” pile for ages, so I thought I’d give it a go. It’s a sort of romantic comedy with a historical twist, so it has its funny moments, but not enough to inspire me to read the sequels (There are about four others?). Cute and silly, but enjoyable as a quick read.

Fairytale ending

After 10 volumes (and several half volumes) Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series has finally reached an end.

Forever Princess is Cabot’s final installment in the series and manages to bring Mia’s story to a very satisfying end.

Returning to AEHS in the final weeks of Mia’s senior year, the story takes an unexpected shift, picking up nearly two years after Princess Mia ended.

Almost eighteen, awaiting to see if her father will win the first democratic election held in Genovia (after all, Mia is the one who introduced democracy to Genovia), trying to publish her first romance novel (under a pseudonym, of course), choosing a college that did not accept her because of her title, and dreading a prom invite from her too-perfect-to-be-true boyfriend, Mia is overwhelmed. A state that is not helped by Michael’s sudden return as a successful entrepreneur and scientist, and Lilly’s suspicious attempts to be nice to her.

Lies become Mia’s form of coping until these become so easy that Mia starts to believe them herself, resulting in a series of bad decisions that only complicate matters further. However, Mia soon learns that, as Dr. Knutz says, sometimes a horse only looks good on paper. Whatever that means.

Like other series that I have been following for years, I really wanted The Princess Diaries to end well and Meg Cabot did not disappoint. I was pleased that the novel picked up two years after the last installment, it made for a nice change and introduced a much more mature Mia, who may still have a lot to learn about being a princess, but is well on her way to becoming a strong, independent woman. That is one of the aspects that I most enjoyed about the series–Mia is no one’s idea of the perfect princess. She is almost never calm and collected, but then her diary would not be half as interesting if she were the perfect model of feminine poise.

drowning in ink

Weren’t all books ultimately related? After all, the same letters filled them, just arranged in a different order. Which meant that, in a certain way, every book was contained in every other!

Cornelia Funke, Inkdeath, US edition p.444

I picked up Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart a few years ago after a friend suggested that it was the perfect book for me – what bibliophile would not be intrigued by the thought of a book about books? My first foray into the Inkworld was slow, it took a few chapters for me to become truly involved with the story, but I ended up loving the story in the same way that I love the promise of magic offered by Narnia.

In found Inkspell, the second in the series, to be just as compelling as Inkheart as it continued to explore the notion of the power of storytelling and the line between the real and the imagined.

Reiterating the notion that words have a power all their own, Inkdeath presents a world where words can determine life and death, and blur the line betwen what is and what can be. Mo the bookbinder still inhabits the role of the Bluejay, becoming more than himself as he is drawn further into Fenoglio’s story. However, Meggie, his daughter and the heroine of the first two books, plays a lesser role in this tale, as Resa, her mother, becomes a crucial player in the Bluejay’s quest to restore the balance between words and Death.

Death is at the heart of this tale both thematically and as a character. Female in form and the one to have the final word, Death is the main agent in this story.

Inkdeath offered a satisfying conclusion to the series, but I found it a bit overwhelming at times. Funke has a way of writing villains who are evil in a way that goes beyond the type of “Big Baddie” generally expected in children’s books. Funke’s main villains — Capricorn, the Adderhead, and Orpheus — rely on psychological torture to torment their victims in a way that surpasses the physical violence that the lesser villains –such as Basta and the Piper — cannot match. Orpheus is an especially nasty character. Skilled in the same art as Mo, Orpheus too can control words and uses them to meet his own ends. There is a particular scene where Orpheus uses language to draw out the Bluejay’s fears, resulting in one of the more poignant scenes of mental torture in the novel.

On a sidenote… I can’t wait for the Inkheart movie as I just read this review which made me feel very optimistic about the production.