20. 12/10/09 Paper Towns by John Green (305 pages)

I bought this book a long time ago based on my love of An Abundance of Katherines. Using the end of high school as the basis for the story is kind of trite, and the wild, fascinating girl that Quentin loves is pretty much John Green's thing, but I liked it a lot anyway. Its a good mystery with a satisfyingly unsatisfying ending. At the very end of his senior year, Quentin sets off on a wild goose chase to find the girl he loves, and in the process gets to know a lot of people he had never spoken to before and Learns Lessons About Himself and Life. I liked the way the changing relationships (and Walt Whitman) illustrated the idea that people are rarely anything like we imagine them to be. Quentin was a tormented nerd who it turned out people thought was attractive, cool etc...It was unlikely, but not impossible, and a refreshing change. It felt a lot like growing up and realizing that your teenage years weren't really what you thought they were at the time. It was good, but I still like An Abundance of Katherines the best, although I may be biased.

19. 12/9/09 Ransom My Heart by Meg Cabot (396 pages)

I love The Princess Diaries. At the end of the series, Princess Mia writes a romance novel for her senior project called Ransom My Heart....and then they really published it. My sister ( the first of my acquaintance to love the Princess Diaries) bought it and passed it along. Hilarious. Particularly if you've read a lot of romance novels, which I have. It read like a real romance novel, and was better written than lots of them. The anachronistic feminism in the plot made a lot more sense when you run with the idea that a politically active teenager wrote it. I liked it, although not as much as the Princess Diaries themselves. Its not really fair to compare them however, as Ransom My Heart doesn't have Michael Moscovitz OR Lars. Should I summarize the plot? A medieval miller's daughter who is master of the bow and arrow kidnaps the lord of the manor and holds him for ransom to get money to help her sister run her brewing business. Definitely written by a high school student. Or someone who has a real gift for imitating one.

18. 12/7/09 The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart (440 pages)

I read the ARC of the first book in this series before it came out, and it was a decent read of the Harry Potter school (although it really had more in common with a Series of Unfortunate Events); there was a happy ending and the kids had personalities. The second didn't blow my mind, it was too much like the first one, and I'm not sure there was any character development at all. The four children struck off on their own and used their wits and ingenuity to thwart the bad guy and rescue the adults. Ta da! The series is ok, but I prefer Artemis Fowl or Percy Jackson.

17. 12/5/09 World War Z by Max Brooks (342 pages)

Have you read this book? If yes, excellent. If no- Do. It. Now. I read this book for the first time when no one had heard of it yet (I know, everyone says that, but I worked in a bookstore, and I took it out of the box. Really.) It blew my mind, and scared the crap out of me. This is one of the best books I've read in the past decade. Its the dead seriousness with which the author approaches the subject that makes the book work- and makes it terrfying. (Best to read World War Z in the winter, when all the zombies would be frozen). But all excellent scaring aside, its not a book about zombies, its a book about humanitiy barely surviving something really terrible and just what it did to a cross section of the population that is left. The entire book is set up as an oral history that depicts the entirety of the zombie war from individual perspectives. I don't want to spoil it in case theres a person reading this who hasn't already read the book, but I will mention two of my favorite bits as examples. One of the interviews describles how Cuba becomes a major wartime economic power and how Americans flock to there on homemade rafts looking for freedom and end up in prison camps. But rather than ending there with a fairly simplistic point, the Cuban goes on to describe how once Cuba becomes a superpower the Americans' specialty knowledge becomes necessary and both communities have to work together to make the society function. He moves beyond one point to create a whole new system- just like humans had to after the zombie war.
My favorite, favorite part, however, is horrifying, chilling, heartbreaking, and you know, blew my mind. I really don't want to spoil this, so I'll keep it to two words. If you've read it, you'll know what I mean, if you haven't, it won't mean anything.
Paul Redeker.

16. 11/29/09 Graceling by Kristin Cashore (471 pages)

Katie H made Anna read this book, who then made me read it. I'm very pleased to have been caught in that particular chain of peer pressure, because if this isn't one of the best written novels I've come across, it is one of the most satisfyingly feminist. Its the story (of the fantasy persuasion) of a girl who is born with a startling and unique ability to kill. Over the course of the book she learns to control her temper and herself, and then moves on to bigger life lessosns about having relationships with others without losing her freedom, and taking action to make the world a better place. Its a feminist story from the get-go, but it never feels like its pushing a feminist agenda. Katsa makes it clear that all she really wants is to be in control of herself and her life and so she determines never to marry. When she does fall in love, its with another great fighter who understands what she's feeling, and is more than willing to be together in an unconventional way (all the while admitting, without shame, that Katsa can kick his ass any day of the week). Best of all, Katsa never feels badly about any of it because she's a GIRL. She has difficulties and trials, but its all related to her abilities and her relationships, not her sex. Its just so rare to see a fatasy novel with likeable women, let alone truly empowered ones. Finally, a fantasy heroine who's goals have nothing to do with getting married or keeping house. (Not that there aren't any others, just that they are depressingly rare...)

15. 11/26/09 Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (312 pages)

Sookie Stackhouse's novels are getting more intense, and increasingly gruesome. The story starts with shapeshifters coming out (yay!), but is quickly followed by the crucifixion of a werepanther (yuck). By the time the mystery is solved and the installment is over, Sookie has been tortured, a werefriend is dead, and Vampire Bill seems to be back in Sookie's good books, dang it. Its hard to maintain a sense of lighthearted fun, though, when fairly major characters keep on turning up nastily dead and the heroine gets cut up by psychotic, sadomastochistic fairies. Not even kidding. On the upside, Sookie hops back in bed with Eric, which is delightful.

14. 11/26/09 The Sandman vol. 6- Fables and Reflections by Neil Gaiman (255 pages)

Have I mentioned that I really love Neil Gaiman? And that I REALLY love Sandman? It reminds me of how I used to love Hercules the Legendary Journeys when the gods would appear and get involved, only Sandman is actually quality literature. I really like this volume because it has the story of Orpheus (which is somehow enhanced, for me, by Morpheus's peripheral involvement), and also has clues in all of the stories pointing towards how the entire series will end. In hindsight, there's a very beginning-of-the-end feel to this one, which is unsettling, but its Dream's relationship with his son that I find most compelling. Yeah, the whole thing with Eurydice was sad, but talk about daddy issues...