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This post written by Clint The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray
by Chris Wooding
[cover name=thehauntingofalaizabelcray]
Alaizabel Cray isn’t exactly haunted. Ghosts don’t follow her around and cause trouble. She’s more possessed. Sometimes. Plus, monsters are drawn to her.
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray is set in London during the Victorian period, although they never say what year. The Victorian period feels right because houses and streets are still lit by gas lamps and horse-pulled carriages are still the main form of transportation. However, history doesn’t exactly match up. In this world, the United Kingdom lost a war with the Prussians and, not too long after that, monsters called wytch-kin started taking over part of London.
Two of our main characters, Thaniel and Cathaline, are professional wytch-hunters who run around London at night and do their best to kill wytch-kin. While hunting a Cradlejack, a wytch-kin that abducts babies, Thaniel stumbles across a dirty, crazy woman who doesn’t seem to mind hanging out near the Cradlejack. Feeling sorry for her, Thaniel takes her home and, much to his surprise, nurses her back to sanity. Not too long after that, Thaniel and Cathaline discover that they are all in the middle of a supernatural plot that threatens to destroy the entire world.
One thing I have always wanted to see in a book is a villain who says something like, “Yeah, I’m evil, but I don’t want to destroy the world. I live there!” We get one of those in this story. However, despite the fact that he sounded like he was off to save the world, I found his actual role kind of disappointing.
Some people put this book under horror. I don’t think that’s quite right. It’s more along the lines of supernatural investigation. It has monsters and a serial killer, and there a couple of slightly gruesome scenes, but nothing that bad.
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This post written by Clarissa The Contra Costa Library system has several summer reading programs from June 8 to August 17. You can join online and compete to win prizes.
If you’re at least 18 or have graduated from high school, you can join the adult summer reading program. The county-wide prizes include a one-night stay at the Renaissance ClubSport Hotel Walnut Creek for one winner and a dinner for two at Stanford’s Restaurant and Bar Walnut Creek for another winner. Each library and the website will give another winner “a book lover’s bag filled with goodies.”
If you’re in 6th-12th grade, you can sign up for the Teens Read summer program. It sounds like some prizes are available starting at just 20 hours, and you can use just 6 words to tell them about the books you’ve read. Prizes include pizza coupons, paperbacks, and a grand prize drawing for a Wii.
By the way, audio books count too!
If you have kids or younger brothers and sisters, check out the programs for kids ages two-5th grade and even birth-24 months.
If you live or work in another county, there are lots of other programs–for example, the Alameda County system has several programs this summer, including a weekly drawing for adults who read books related to the Bay Area or by Bay Area authors. You might as well try to win a prize!
This post written by Clint City of Thieves
by David Benioff
[cover name=cityofthieves]
The siege of Leningrad lasted for 872 days and was one of the bloodiest battles in World War II. Over a million people died, but David Benioff’s grandfather survived and had a lot of interesting stories to tell. City of Thieves is based on tape recordings of these stories.
Lev, David’s grandfather, is a Russian firefighter who gets arrested by the Russian army for looting a German corpse. He is thrown in jail with Kolya, who was arrested for deserting the army to hang out with some of his girlfriends. Lev and Kolya are going to be executed, but the Russian colonel makes a deal with them. His daughter wants to get married, but they don’t have enough eggs to make a cake. Remember, this is Russia during World War II, and the Germans have completely surrounded the city. If Lev and Kolya can find enough eggs for the cake, they won’t be executed.
Lev and Kolya hunt for eggs in war-torn Leningrad, but have no luck at all. On their way, they talk about literature, life in the city, the horrors of war, and romance/sex. After they find the last living chicken in Leningrad, who can’t possibly lay all the eggs they need in time for the wedding, they hear about a chicken farm, but it’s out past the German lines. After a nice dinner of chicken soup, they leave the city and sneak into German territory.
During their search they encounter all kinds of strange and disturbing people and situations. This story is often funny, but it takes place during a horrible battle. Things are not pretty. People are eating rats and boiling the glue from books and doing much worse things just to keep from starving to death. Things don’t get any better when they leave the city, either. This is war, and neither side is playing fair. The Russians are desperate and willing to do anything to defend their homeland, and the Nazis are, as you might guess, even worse. There are a couple of scenes that I could have done without, so if you don’t like horrible things happening to people or animals, you might want to skip this one.
You can read an excerpt online at the publisher’s website.
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This post written by Clarissa Magic Bites
by Ilona Andrews
[cover name=magicbites]
Kate Daniels is a kind of soldier-for-hire in an imaginary version of Atlanta, carrying a sword, some words of power, and no tolerance for fools. In this world, sometimes magic flares up and the electricity goes out, and sometimes magic goes down and the spells that she has protecting her house from bad things fail, and creeping vampires get in. (Vampires are incredibly disturbing and unnatural in this series–not sexy at all! Shapeshifters–people who can turn into animals, etc.–on the other hand, can be dangerously attractive.) In Kate’s world, there are rules about magic, about vampires, about shapeshifters, and about how all of these things interact. Kate’s not really fond of rules, though, which is one reason she’s a mercenary and not part of any organization. But in order to avenge the death of someone important to her, she agrees to work with an organization. That makes life complicated. There are a lot of complications coming her way–plenty of danger, a little romance, yikes! Kate is the kind of person who kicks butt first and asks questions later, but she’ll figure it all out eventually. Assuming she can get a handle on her drinking problem …
One of the best things about the book is that you can tell the author has really thought through the setting. A lot of recent supernatural investigation/urban fantasy novels focus on either romance or sex and don’t spend a lot of time creating a cool, detailed world, but this author has really put a lot of thought into how things work. That’s appreciated. (There’s some romance, but it’s definitely not the main feature.)
This is Ilona Andrews’ first book, and English is not her first language. If you’re really sensitive to grammar, you might notice a couple of awkward spots, but overall, the writing is fine. People who have read the second and third books say that they get better and better. (Plus, it’s great to see more published authors whose first language isn’t English! Andrews’ first language is Russian, and you’ll see some references to Russian culture and language in the story, which is cool.)
You can read an excerpt online at the author’s website.
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This post written by Clint Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven
by Tadashi Ikuta and Naomi Kimura
[cover name=projectxchallengersseveneleven]
7-Eleven started off in 1927 in Dallas, Texas. Now it is one of the largest chain stores in the world, with branches in eighteen countries. Did you know that the whole thing is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd. in Japan?
If you expect the story of 7-Eleven in Japan to be boring, think again. The people who do Project X are very good at putting together stories like this. They focus on the people involved, and they create a fairly good mixture of drama, facts, and occasionally comedy. Yeah, I laughed once or twice while reading this.
I have a couple criticisms of this book and the whole series. First, the translation from Japanese isn’t great. It’s okay, but not perfect. Second, they focus a little too much on the drama and human interest and not enough on the story itself. Other than that, though, I’m pretty happy with it.
Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven tells the story of the first 7-Eleven to open in Japan. 7-Eleven was not originally interested in expanding to Japan, and most people in Japan weren’t really interested in getting 7-Eleven to open stores there. A couple of Japanese executives had to work really hard to get their own company interested in talking to 7-Eleven. Then they had to work hard to get the American 7-Eleven interested in looking at Japan. Once both companies were talking, they had to find some place to open a store and make it popular. Fortunately for them, a young man who owned a liquor store volunteered to convert it into Japan’s first 7-Eleven. However, business was slow, and for a while, it looked like 7-Eleven would never work in Japan. Then it exploded, and now the Japanese branch is the most powerful. (Not to mention inventing “conbini,” Japanese convenience stores, which have practically become a way of life in Japan. Here’s a Washington Post article.)
If you enjoy this, there are two others in the Project X Challengers series. One is about the first instant ramen, and the other is about the Datsun 240Z sports car. All three focus on the people and try to blend drama and humor in with history.
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[linkplus name=”Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven” url=”http://csul.iii.com/record=b24775827~S0″]
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This post written by Clint Bone
by Jeff Smith
[cover name=bone]
Bone begins with the three Bone brothers, Fone, Smiley, and Phoncible, lost in an uncharted desert. They are separated by a swarm of locusts (in a desert?) and each make their way to a lush but very strange valley full of talking animals, quirky people, and monsters. The cousins eventually meet up, but they discover that there are dark forces at work in the valley, and that these forces have taken an interest in the Bones.
Fone seems to be a normal guy. He’s nice, but maybe a little bit naive.
Smiley is easygoing, but he does love to play pranks. He also smokes and gambles and can be talked into doing things he probably shouldn’t do.
Phoncible, also known as Phoney, is the real troublemaker. He’s greedy and dishonest, butt he doesn’t seem to be very good at being dishonest. He tries hard, though.
The story is a good mix of serious and silly. I’ve only read the first volume, but I have heard that it gets a little more serious and eventually turns into an epic fantasy, which some people compare to Lord of the Rings.
There are a couple different editions of Bone. Some are in color. Some are black and white. Usually there are nine volumes in the series, but there is also a 1,332-page single-volume edition.
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This post written by Clarissa Planetes
by Makoto Yukimura
[cover name=planetes]
A lot of people think this might be the best science fiction manga (and anime) ever–and even if you don’t like manga, but you’re interested in space exploration, or you liked Apollo 13, The Right Stuff, etc., you should find this somewhere. Planetes is an extremely well-drawn and well-told story about several different people who work in space; although the focus of the story changes in different volumes and chapters, the multicultural core characters are debris collectors who clean up the garbage that (even in our time) is cluttering up outer space. One of the characters has a tragic past. Another dreams of owning his own spaceship (almost to the extent of losing his own humanity). Another is trying to remind him that compassion and love can co-exist with ambition and survival in space. Another wants … actually, who knows what Fee wants, except to keep everyone else from screwing up or getting themselves killed or slacking off too much. The characters have to deal with the normal daily-life stuff of their personal demons, their relationships, and their jobs; their bigger goals; and the background problems of terrorism and corporate/governmental questionability as humanity expands toward Jupiter. This excellent series avoids the over-the-top silliness that can make you roll your eyes at some manga; the adventure is just grand enough and the touching moments are just pointed enough. You can finish the series in only 5 books (the last two are both labeled volume 4–part 1 and part 2), which is also nice.
(Warning: volume 3 contains some nudity.)
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[linkplus name=Planetes url=”http://csul.iii.com/search/X?SEARCH=t:(planetes)+and+a:(yukimura)&SORT=DX&l=eng” series=true]
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This post written by Clarissa The Tokyo Look Book: Stylish To Spectacular, Goth To Gyaru, Sidewalk To Catwalk
by Philomena Keet
[cover name=thetokyolookbook]
Unlike Style Deficit Disorder, this book wanders around Tokyo exploring various fashion “tribes” of the city, including flashy “gals,” Victorian doll-like gothic lolitas, cosplayers, and chic Ginza-neighborhood fashionistas. If you read manga or watch anime, you’ve probably seen all of these types. If you’re interested in high fashion or street fashion, you’ve probably seen these looks copied by American or European designers. This book includes five themed chapters with lots of candid photos of normal people in their outfits, photos of their accessories (even their manicures!), as well as explanations and interviews with both designers and fans, information about shops and costs, etc. Several reviewers noted that this book was interesting because it includes more guys and more people who are over 18 compared to other books on Japanese fashion. It also includes not just the typical “freaky” or subcultural fashions that foreigners usually focus on, but also mainstream examples of work clothing, upscale thirtysomethings’ fashions, and the expensive kimono that young women wear for their coming-of-age-ceremony when they’re 20 years old.
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[linkplus name=”The Tokyo Look Book” url=”http://csul.iii.com/record=b25337090~S0″]
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This post written by Clarissa Style Deficit Disorder: Harajuku Street Fashion
by Tiffany Godoy
[cover name=styledefecitdisorder]
Remember when Gwen Stefani was trying to borrow the Japanese street fashion image? You can read about the real thing in this book, although Japanese fashion changes pretty quickly–so once you’ve read about the terms and brands in this book and The Tokyo Look Book, you’ll have to go online to catch up with what’s popular now. This book explores the different aspects of Harajuku, which spawns tomorrow’s trends and often results in US fashion designers running several steps behind the random creativity of Harajuku’s strange mix of DIY teens and haute couture. There are about 200 photos, and essays by Japanese and American fashion editors, fashion designers, makeup master Shu Uemura, etc., covering everything from history to music to magazines. This isn’t just a picture book: many of the essays are pretty serious (so yes, you could probably use this as a reference in certain classes!) and some Amazon reviewers called this book a “must-have” for anyone serious about fashion design or Japanese pop culture.
You can read some of it online through Google Books.
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This post written by Clint Jumper
by Steven Gould
[cover name=jumper]
Jumper tells the story of a young man who discovers that he can teleport. He steals a million dollars and then travels the world, eating at nice restaurants, attending plays, and foiling terrorists. There is a movie based on this book, but it tells a very different story.
Warning: Domestic abuse is a major theme in Jumper. The story has a good ending, but if you would rather not read a graphic description of the main character’s father attacking him on page 2, you might not want to read this.
You can look it up on Wikipedia.
You can read some of the book online through Google Books. Also, the author is telling the story through Twitter, if you like Twitter.
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