Girl Talk with God

This book is amazing.  It just came in to the library, and at first I assumed that it was sort of a prayer guide or prayer prompt sort of thing.  But no:  it is a 230-page dialog between God/Jesus and Some Girl. A couple of excerpts, for your reading enjoyment.

God: Now take a moment to think this through.  What does the Cross mean?
Girl: Well . . . it means I should have been the one beaten beyond humanness.  And I should have been the one who was tortured, disfigured, and killed.  But You love me so much, You took my place.
God:  Right.

Girl: You know, Father, I hear the word hell a lot.  I mean, kids at school toss it around so casually.  Is that right?*
God: No.  They're using it as a cuss word.  They've reduced an actual place to a mere slang term.  And you're right, it's a word you hear often--on TV, in the hallways, at work--but again, remember the truth.  Hell is not simply an expression to use when you're angry.  It's an actualy place where people who don't know me will spend eternity.
Girl: Whew! That's strong.
God: Yes. Hell is heavy.

Girl talk is fun!


*Suck up.

You be the librarian

I need something to read.  My hot streak of good books is sputtering and dying. 

Be a dear, won't you, and leave me a book recommendation in the comments section?  I'm up for just about anything--Nancy Pearl says we must strive to read outside of our comfort zone, so give me your best shot.

Pink, by Lili Wilkinson

"When I first told my parents I was a lesbian, they threw me a coming-out party.  Seriously.  We had champagne and everything.  It was the most embarrassing thing that'd ever happened to me."

Ava is tired of being the best student at her crumby public school, wearing all black all the time, and being a Sophisticated Lesbian.  So she's made the case to her parents to let her attend a chi-chi private school, and has secretly purchased a pink cashmere sweater.  Her intellectual parents and her insanely sophisticated girlfriend, Chloe, are not sure what to make of all this.  Secretly, Ava is hoping to date boys.

This book is Australian, but I think the publishing housed washed all of the Aussie stuff out of it to make it go down smooth for the North American audience.  It could be anywhere.

Pros: 

• Does a good job of accounting for the fluidity of sexuality and sexual orientation without stooping to writing homosexuality off as "a phase" or "experimenting."
• Sometimes funny.  Not John Green or E. Lockhart funny, but a mild chuckle here and there.
• Spoiler alert.  See below if you don't mind spoilage.*

Cons:

• The characters didn't feel real to me.  Except for Ava, pretty much everyone is a placeholder--the Too Cool For School Lesbian, The Perky Blonde Popular Girl, etc.  Also, some of them pull some crazy hairpin turns, not just in mood but in personality.  It was jarring.

Recommended for: Hmm.  It is nice to have a book that deals fairly honestly with the messiness of sexual orientation.  I just wish it were a tiny bit better.  Still, I can imagine recommending this book to a teen who is questioning their sexuality, or adding it to a LGBTQ list.





*She doesn't end up dating the dude, as I had assumed from the beginning that she would.  Instead it was a more "things are messy and I'm just not sure who I am yet" kind of conclusion, which seems more realistic, if perhaps less satisfying to some teen readers.

Mercury, by Hope Larson

Mercury is a graphic novel that combines two interwoven stories about young girls in small town Nova Scotia.  The first takes place in 1859, and involves a girl who falls in love with a possibly shady character who wants to dig gold with her father.  The second is contemporary, about a girl whose house recently burned down.  How are they connected?  A magical necklace!

I liked this.  I think I'm a little disappointed because I thought I would looooooooove it.  I just like it.

Pros: I do love the art. 

Cons:  I was a little bit confused by the ending of the historical story.  If you've read it please help a sister out.

Recommended for: Teen girls and grown-ups who read graphic novels.  The switching back and forth could be confusing for a beginning reader of graphic novels.

Grace, by Elizabeth Scott

So you know, there's this future world.  And it's bad.  There's an evil authoritarian dictator who rules with fear and puts his face on cigarette packs.  Grace is a young girl who was raised by The People to be an Angel--a suicide bomber. Only she decided she didn't want to die.  And now she's on this train.

Pros:  Short chapters, short sentences, short book.  One review I read said something like, "If you found The Hunger Games overly light and cheerful, this is the book for you."  So it's got that going for it.

Cons:

• The beginning is really confusing.  I like books that just plop you down in a new world, but give me a compass or something. 
• It's told in flashback, which can be really suspenseful, but here just isn't.  I think because Scott doesn't do a great job of putting you in the action those flashbacks refer to--Grace just tells you about stuff.
• I never connected with the characters at all.  Not that they weren't likeable or pitiable or whatever, I just didn't know them well enough to care.  The "real time" action of the story takes place on one train ride, and despite all the flashbacks, I felt like I got to know the characters about as well as I'd know anyone I'd ridden a train with. I wished them well, but whatever.

Recommended for:

• Honestly, I probably won't recommend this much except for the die-hard dystopia fans who must read them all.  I was hoping that the short chapters and stuff would make it a good sci fi pick for reluctant readers, but it's too confusing for them.

They picked a Hunger Games actress

but I don't know her.  Anybody see Winter's Bone?  Thoughts?  I guess I should be grateful it's not Miley Cyrus.

Infographic: Books Everyone Should Read

Look at the size of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!  A victory for nerds everywhere. 

I can't believe 100 Years of Solitude is so huge.  I'm a fan of Love in the Time of Cholera, but 100 Years is so confusing, what with the multiple generations of people with the same name.  Of course, I think I was 20 the last time I tried to read it, and I was kind of a dumbass at 20.  (Who isn't?)  I guess I could give it another go.