Attention Twilight fans!

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
Main characters:
Kelley – 17 year old living on her own in NYC, understudy to the role of Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, actually the long lost daughter of Auberon the Winter King
Sonny – looks like a 19 year old, handsome dark-haired, silver-eyed, but was stolen by the fairies as a baby and is really centuries old. His job is to guard the Samhain Gate between the fairy and mortal worlds. Conveniently this gate is located in Central Park, near where Kelley goes to practice her lines.

Wondrous Strange is one of those dark “tales of faerie” that seem to abound these days – think Holly Black & Melissa Marr in particular. Sonny is set to guard the Samhain Gate during the 9 days before Halloween. There is intrigue, adventure, romance, and lots of NYC settings.
On a more positive note, Kelley is not as annoying of a heroine as Bella (of Twlight fame), and their relationship while suitably angst-ridden is not as ineqitable as Edward & Bella’s.

New Additions to the Library

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud wrote about comics before comics were cool. In this groundbreaking comic book, McCloud dissects the intricacies and detail of how comics create story and convey emotion. A lot to expect, for sure; but this book makes the case. Not only does McCloud draw the connection between comics and cave art, but he argues for their rightful standing in art, literature and communication. In doing so, he can prove many of his own points, for this thoughtful, well-crafted comic book is an example of the heights to which comics can reach. If you have ever read a comic or ever plan to (that includes the newspaper cartoons, comic books, graphic novels, even airline safety cards!), you owe it to yourself to give Scott McCloud a look.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa is graced, although not in a good way. Her special skill is killing people. She's not particularly happy about this, but what can she really do about it? Her uncle uses her services for his own political gains, while she tries to use her unusual abilities to protect those in opposition to her uncle's tyrannical rule. On one of her assignments, she encounters Prince Po who seems to be graced with a fighting ability which equals, or at least challenges her own skills. She knocks him out, hoping that she has seen the last of him (and his lovely eyes), but that is not the case. This book could have been so much less than what it seems in the beginning, although it's a fairly good start, but what it turns into is one of the best books I've read in 2008. It's not so much the plot, or the great characters, or even the fully realized fantasy realm that's created. It's that something other that makes one put a book down, sigh, and say " Wow, that was really really good!"

Hilary McKay Casson series -

Indigo's Star
This is one of those books that could easily be tagged as "family", but it 's really so much more. The Casson family, in between their messiness and their obvious love for each other, have to deal with a lot of stuff. It's unusual in a a book geared for this age to find characters and situations that treat the audience as full participants in the story, but this one really does. I've read 3 of the 4 books in the series, and while I'm eager to read the last installment, I'm going to wait for a bit. It's not just that I don't want it to end . . . it's more that I want to savor this series. I really like living in their world, and I just want it to last a bit longer.

Summer Reading . . .

Well, I've had a very full summer . . . a bit of sailing . . . cooking/shopping at Farmer's Markets . . . watching far too much reality TV (especially ABDC & Project Runway),and in between all these distractions, I've been reading a bunch of books!

One of my top summer reads is

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

It was one of those books that got great reviews that I never read, until Sophie, my 7th grade daughter said that I should. I wasn't quite convinced, yet. Then at some point, I picked it up and just couldn't stop! What did I like about it? Certainly the plot is entertaining - a girl in a private school discovers a secret male society that she is determined to infiltrate, but it's more than that. I appreciated her cunning, certainly, but I also loved not only her voice, but the interplay between the various charecters. It also made me think about political protest in a ways that were playful, dramatic, thoughtful and just plain fun! A good read on many different levels