Book Review: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Feel the cuteness!

Another BEA 2010 book (Someday, I will get through them all. Drat you college, cutting into my recreational reading time)!

*Blogger Bragging Alert* I had the pleasure of meeting Maryrose Wood twice! once at the Teen Author Carnival and again at BEA, and let me tell you, she is as adorable as this cover. But let's face it, you're here for the book, not the author. Onwards!

Miss Penelope Lumley has just graduated - a year early - from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and is on her way to an interview for her first job; the lord and lady of Ashton Place need a governess. Upon her arrival, Penelope is rushed through a very strange interview, which is periodically interrupted by mysterious howling which provokes very strange reactions from Lady Ashton and the servants. When Penelope is finally presented with her new charges, she realizes that nothing at Swanburne has prepared her for the job she must now undertake.

The Good: This is an utterly charming, witty, hilarious, and downright cute book. It's age appropriate in all the very best ways. Maryrose Wood gives us relatable characters and a compelling mystery, entertaining readers without ever condescending. Fans of Lemony Snicket will find a fast friend in the Incorrigible Children.

The Bad: It's part of another series. Oh, my poor wallet! *sobs* Also, I don't know nearly enough young readers to recommend the Incorrigible Children to. Go forth and spread the word, internet! Away with ye!

The Rest: Wood writes in what I've dubbed The Nanny Voice, an aloof yet warm tone, interspersed with cutting asides and brief lessons in grammar, history, and more. Reading it, I felt like it was written by a lovely old governess whose too fond of me to be as strict or terrifying as her job might demand.

Final Thoughts: If anyone had handed me this book when I was between the ages of 8 and 13, I would never have shut up about it. Ever. Do the world a favor; give some child you know the chance to talk your ear off about a book instead of Justin Beiber. The book doesn't have that silly haircut.

My Rating: 5/5 Mushrooms all the way.

What Are You Reading 7/26

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (...more  

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths--for good and evil--of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

- from Goodreads

 I got my hands on this long awaited anthology at BEA. I love it. I'm almost finished with it. But even having not finished it, I can tell you with great authority that you should go out and get it the DAY IT IS ON SHELVES. Or you can pre-order it. That works, too.

Eat (brains), Love (unicorns), Pray (for bigger guns),
Maria D


Ps - TEAM UNICORN FTW

Book Review: Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah Beaudonte, with the help of the handsome Rhode, has been able to realize the dream of all vampires – to be human again. Now as a raven-haired, sixteen-year-old, Lenah believes her greatest challenge is fitting in at her new school. But the challenges have only begun. The vicious coven Lenah once ruled is threatening the new-found pleasures of her human life, including the one guy who makes her feel most alive, Justin. Can this ex-vamp survive in an alien time and place, or will her past come back to haunt her…forever?

Infinite Days is one of my BEA books that I picked up without much enthusiasm. The editor promoting it did a wonderful pitch and it interested the heck out of me, but the bottom line was and still is that I am officially vampired out. I can't even bring myself to read the latest Sookie Stackhouse book! But Emma of Booking Through 365 was reading it and tweeting her reactions and asked me to give it a try and see if I agreed with her. What was supposed to be a quick skim to get a sense of the writing and characters, turned into me reading the whole book. And as soon as I'm done writing this review, I'm clicking the "delete all" button on that memory; because I'd much rather devote that people-ram to things like Zombies Vs Unicorns and Inception. You know, things that don't suck.

The Good: The Premise

Rebecca Maizel takes the vampire genre the next step further and explores what would happen were a vampire to regain her humanity (though I realize while typing this that the sixth Vampires Diaries book beat her to the punch a bit). Through Lenah, we see her rediscover humanity for the first time in 500 years. But more importantly, we see the collision of her previous existence with a new, normal, human life.

The Bad: The Execution

I think I said it all whilst "Tweeting While Reading:"

Maria_Disidoro

    I somehow expect a 500+ year old to be deeper than "I hope that jailbait guy in the next room is thinking about me cuz I'm thinking about him" 11:59 AM Jul 20th via web

The Voicing

Maizel's writing is better than much YA I've seen, but when it comes to Lenah's voice, she tries to strike a balance between old-world-vampire - ala Anne Rice - and contemporary teenager and fails at both.

Final Thoughts: I can't judge this book objectively because, as I said above, I am tired of vampires. And this book, while having the potential to be really interesting, trips up so much, in the voicing, the characters, the basic plot (when you're writing about subject matter - like vampires - that's going to be compared to another popular book - like Twilight - don't actively court those comparisons) that I have a sad now because of it.

But a few points that I couldn't file under Bad because it's strictly things that bothered me and which bother me in other novels as well.

How is shoving a girl who's been asleep for 100 years into high school supposed to help her adjust to modern living? Set her up with a laptop and digital tv, and we spare her the horror of cliques. By the way, why are all high schools in YA filled with 'Mean Girl' cliques? I know I was only in real high school for a year, but that was long enough to notice that we had no such things. Sure there were some popular kids and some less popular kids but we weren't The hills or Melrose Place or anything so stereotypically stupid. And friends who demand the group dress alike and have matching accessories; what's with that? Why is high school used as the standard of humanity? I promise all you people still trapped in high school that it's not.


Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel is set to hit book stores August 3, 2010

My Rating: 2/5 Mushrooms

TBR 6/8/10 - The Emperor of All Maladies

Among the books I go at BEA a few weeks ago (have I blogged about BEA yet? I haven't, have I? Bad Maria. I'll fix that. Promise) is The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Normally, I stay away from nonfiction. With some notable exceptions, I find most of the popular stuff dry and uninteresting. Give me ghosts and bloodshed with my internal turmoils, please and thank you.
 But The Emperor of All Maladies really caught my attention at BEA. The book is presented as a narrative of the history of cancer, with cancer treated as a character and antagonist, not just a disease, an unfortunate side effect of life. Mukherjee gathered the questions about cancer which he's been presented with as a doctor and asked as a student, and tried to answer as many as he could in this novel.

The Emperor of All Maladies interested me on two levels. First, there's a history of cancer in my family - two grandparents were claimed by it - , and judging from the pitch the editor gave a the BEA panel, this book may have some of the answers to questions I was too young to ask when my grandparents died. Second, it has history. I love history. I love history so much, I plan on being a history major. History is awesome and the only form on nonfiction you can give me with a guarantee that at some point I will read it. Also, history.

I have no clue when I'll get around to reading this - sooooo many books from BEA to read - but my interest in it will boost it higher in the pile after I finish Juliet*.

 -Maria D

*Yes I'm still reading Juliet no my mom won't give it back she hides it when she's not reading it and THIS IS WHY I CAN'T BRING NICE THINGS HOME