WIKI!

We've just completed the first round of my wiki book review assignment & had some fun results. Not sure what a wiki is? Check this out:



The freshmen have completed their own wiki pages & posted their book reviews there. Hopefully, they'll continue to use the pages to write about what they're reading. Several have already done so (Go Katherine & Alicia!!). There's so much potential for using wikis in the classroom & library - I'm really looking forward to exploring it more.

B

I'm BACK!

Busy busy busy.... I'm mostly recovered from Electric Coffeehouse IX (pics are here & here) and Thanksgiving, so I'm back to posting. I want to thank Mrs. Willard for contributing to the blog - nice to have you on board. I'm still in the middle of several things, including Hello, Groin by Beth Goobie and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin.

"Groin" is interesting, but I think the audience may be a bit limited. It's about a teen girl, Dylan, who is struggling with her sexual identity. SHE knows who she is, but the rest of the world doesn't and she's torn between keeping her social status and being herself. The book has a distinctly Canadian feel to it (now there's something you don't hear every day...), and I'm still on the fence about it overall. I'll post again after I finish.

"Memoirs" has more broad appeal. I think this one's going to be very popular around here. Naomi takes a header, whacks her head, and forgets everything that's happened to her in the past 4 years. It turns out that's a lot of stuff. Her parents divorced, she's dating a popular guy & hanging with his friends, she's co-editor of the yearbook, etc. As she rediscovers her life, she finds a lot to question. I think a lot of us wonder what it would be like to get a blank slate. This is an interesting twist on that idea.

I've also been reading the Tom Strong comics by Alan Moore. I really like some of his other stuff (V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Watchmen, Top Ten). This is an odd mix of adventure/superhero, with a lot of different "devices" in play. There are stories within stories, lots of different time periods, incredibly cliched characters and dialogue (deliberately so), etc. I'm warming up to it. Top Ten was similar for me - I wasn't sure at first, but wound up really loving it. Moore is one of the most interesting comics writers out there - always pushing the envelope and bucking convention.

Later!

B

Wuthering Heights

From Mrs. Willard: I just finished reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. It took me many weeks to read it, and I can't say it enriched my life much. It's a classic, but I kept asking myself, "Why is this a classic?" Heathcliff loves Catherine with a love that transcends her death, but sets out to make life miserable for her survivng family members. He just doesn't seem to be able to move on

I'm more interested in sharing why I picked it up in the first place. Stephenie Meyer mentions Wuthering Heights often in her third book, Eclipse. I wanted to see what insights I could gain to Meyer's characters from this classic book. Unfortuately, it didn't help me understand Edward or Bella any better. Maybe it reflects the deep love Edward feels for Bella, or maybe it reflects the love triangle with Jacob, Edward and Bella. Sometimes reading a book that an author mentions takes you in a direction that enriches you, sometimes it doesn't. The important thing is to keep reading, and searching until you find something that interests you. Talk with your friends about their reading, because their insights will different than yours.

Maybe someone who has read both these books will post a comment and share their insights. I hope so.

Alaizabel Rocked

It took longer to finish than I expected (mostly because I've been crazy busy), but I really liked The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding. It reminded me at times of Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels. Wooding's imagining of a turn-of-the-20th Century London overrun with supernatural creatures is creepy and atmospheric, and the mystery he weaves there is sustained and deep. There is one "reveal" at the end that I almost wish he had left unexplained, but that's a minor quibble.

I've just been given a few of Alan Moore's Top Ten graphic novels that I've started, so I'll be reading outside the library collection for a few days. On Saturday, I went to the Rochester Children's Book Festival, which was pretty cool. The vast majority of authors/illustrators there were for younger kids, but I did get to meet Leander Watts (author of Beautiful City of the Dead, Stonecutter, Wild Ride to Heaven & 10,000 Charms). He signed our library copies of the latter 3 ("City" is always out, and my favorite of the bunch) and said he's got a number of things in various states of completion. There won't be anything new soon, but we'll likely see several in a short period of time when he starts to finish them. It's always interesting to meet an author. Unfortunately, things were pretty busy & I only got to speak to him for a moment.

There are lots of new things in the library in the past few weeks, and I'll be trying to tackle as many as I can. Stop down & see what we have, and let me know if you read something you really liked (or didn't like!!).