CURRENT: 'Sprout' by Dale Peck

I could apologize for not updating, but the truth is... I'm not sorry. I've trying to read people. That takes up a lot of my time, mmm k?

I have been promoting my blog a little bit more (which gives me added pressure to update more). One of the things I've been promising people is that they can come to my blog to see what I'm reading. While this is more or less accurate, I have to say I have a newfound addiction to the reading-friendly website Goodreads. Goodreads allows you to list what you're currently reading and what page you are currently on! which has been a godsend since my bookmark is constantly falling out of my book in my bag. I know that you can also list a "currently reading" title on LibraryThing, but... they haven't given me any new Early Reviewer books in a really long time. If I sound bitter, I am. I reviewed every book they sent me so far. And a lot of them were bad.


Speaking of books (although, not bad ones) - want to know what I'm reading right now? Sprout by Dale Peck. So far, the book is cute. It's a little bit confusing, mainly because of the word choice and placement of the protaganist who is aptly named Sprout. The main gist of the plot is that this witty, smart kid from Long Island is uprooted by his father into the middle of nowheresville Kansas after his mother dies. Like a few of the YA novels I've been reading, there really isn't a chapter format - they are seperated by weird quotes. I'm meeting Sprout's favorite English teacher right now, but I have to admit that my favorite character might be his alcoholic father who, so far, is more comedic and sad than any of the other characters. I still have a long way to go, and I'm going to push through since I'm kind of interested... I just wish the title was more compelling. I usually don't write about what I'm reading this early in, but I thought it might be fun to tell you my lukewarm feelings for a book right now to see if maybe they change later on.

Look forward to some possible adult fiction and nonfiction reviews in the coming month, then I'll probably venture back into forthcoming young adult literature. Enough about me, what are you reading?

In Review: Beauty Salon

Because two books is never enough, I started in on a third:

To be fair, Mario Bellatin's
Beauty Salon is not a full length novel. It's a very tiny, thin book that ends a little after 60 pages. Hence why I chose it. I'm about halfway done. Probably the first depressing book I've read in awhile (although, The Monster Variations had it's moments). It's basically about this cross dressing hair dresser who converts his beauty salon into a clinic for the sick and dying. I guess the people are dying of HIV/AIDS, although the novella never explicitly states that. I went back to "Sky" last night during a long train ride (I missed reading that book, so...) when I could have finished "Beauty" ... I keep trying to read at work but it's just not happening. I honestly don't know how librarians find the time to read, blog, tweet and do everything else... I'm pooped. Hopefully, I'll get through both "Beauty" and "Sky" this weekend.

So Many Books...

...and you know the rest. After taking a week or two off from reading, I am now reading not one but two really interesting books that I'm really enjoying. It's hard to pick which one to finish first.

A colleague of mine put this book in my hand and told me I have to read it. He also describes it as "the gayest book ever" (which I usually reserve to "Running With Scissors" but okay) so I was initially intrigued. It's likely I'm going to finish this one first since it's on loan and I really need to give it back to the person I took it from. I kind of literally stole it off her desk, but she was watching the whole time and smiling so I guess it's okay. The format is very similar to "Sophomore Switch" (I think, at least) in that there are two different characters and chapters alternate between them. The title refers to the fact that both boys have the same name. One of them is gay and one of them is not. The way the book is written though... you could almost see the characters being the same character, so I think it's being deliberately ambiguous. Or we're already supposed to know. I'm not sure. I'm making this book sound super confusing, huh? Well, it's not... it's actually kind of sweet. The language is natural and the supporting characters, including the obese "Tiny" are a joy to discover and read about. So far, I haven't found anything I didn't like so I guess we'll see how the novel progresses. It's a little bigger than I like my books, but since it's good I guess we can let it slide.

The "Sky Always Hears Me..." might just be the first book that I have started reading that I absolutely love. I don't usually bother my friends and family about books I'm reading... I honestly didn't think I was one of those people. Turns out, with this particular book, I am. Each "break" - I call them that because the book really isn't in chapter format - are interspersed with a fortune you would get in a fortune cookie. This is partially because the main character likes writing little fortunes and leaving them everywhere and partially to give you insight into the section you are about to be reading. I usually hate books that cover a vast amount of time... probably the weakest part and only criticism of "Sophomore Switch" actually... but with this story, you don't really notice. I've been reading reviews which describe the main character as "whiny" but I'm not finding her to be so at all. More than anything, she's confused about life and her place with the people in it. Maybe I'm loving it because I'm just relating to her confusion, but I can't say enough nice things. I'm about 100 pages in. Nothing has really happened yet. Maybe nothing will. But I, for one, am I super excited to see how it ends.

That's what I'm reading. What are you?

Also, if you get a chance, be sure to check out my featured "guest spot" on the NY Librarians' Meetup Blog for the Beta Phi Mu sponsored tour of the American Numismatic Society.

In Review: The Pride by A. Campbell

Have you ever read a book and not know how you felt about it? That's my experience while sifting through Alexi Campbell's "The Pride" - a play set in two time periods, one the 1950's and the other more modern times. The book is bizarre, especially since the 1950's piece seems somewhat more interesting. Though, not by much. The story kind of drags, but I suppose that's to be expected in a play. Especially one with homosexual content where you want the readers or viewers of the work to be moved emotionally, which ultimately takes time.

If I wasn't used to reading plays (remember my wondeful work with
The Rivier Theater Company?), I probably wouldn't like "The Pride" very much. As it happens, I'm slightly into it. It's also a pretty quick read, and in dramatic stage setting terms wouldn't be that hard to produce; you would just need to find three characters to play the lead parts and learn a buttload of lines. I also think the female character, who plays an important role in the '50s story as the wife of a gay man, is a little forced in the modern version; she supposedly has one of those co-dependent relationships that gay men and straight women form that are always doomed to fail. Hmmm... maybe I'm being oddly pessimistic there? Anyway, she's just not that interesting in the modern version but then, none of the characters are. Had this book stuck to one time period, I may have liked it more. It also makes it slightly confusing, what the the characters in the past and in the future having the same names and all. Still, I'm not sad that I read it, and I might even recommend it to someone looking to do an offbeat and bizarre play.

Also, is it just me... or does "The Pride" seem like a really bad a title?

Breast Cancer & Comic Books

Yesterday, I woke up early and walked for breast cancer. I was supposed to walk in the NYC AIDS Walk. I raised money, then finally met up with a fella one night, and never ended up actually walking. While I didn't fully complete the breast cancer walk, I did get almost all of the way through it. I should have done the whole thing, but the weather was so bad I decided to duck out early before I got sick from the cold and rain. Judging on how I feel today, I may have ducked out too late :-( I raised $50 bucks (thank you my dad, Ben H. and my roommate Kay!!), which is less than the AIDS Walk but still pretty respectable. I really did it for the free t-shirt... I couldn't find the library team yesterday, so I thought I might miss out. But they're gonna send me the t-shirt anyway, so score.

To take a break from my babbling about reading and tell you a fun library story, I have this kid who comes into the library. He's I think 17 years old. I told him he should start coming to the YA events. And he just did. I've only ever asked a dozen or so kids to come to events sincerely (which is probably why my numbers aren't super big right now), but I always think, at least with people, it's quality over quantity. This kid is the only one who has come more than once, and he's now of the I would say 3 fixture YAs at my library. He told me a few weeks ago he likes superhero comics and complained the library doesn't have them. He's right. So I brought some from home and I'm letting him borrow them one at a time. Sometimes my job can be... frustrating. I mean, I always make the best of everything, but I've been a little down lately. Letting this kid borrow my comic books? This makes me feel great; it's like, why I became a librarian. Anyway, I know that's probably not that inspiration or anything, but it did give me a boost. And as my gentle reader, when I get a boost, you do too... don'tchya?

Big Gay Librarian

For the next few months, I'll be focusing on LGBTQ fiction. I've read a couple, so here they are: I'll admit it. I've picked small ones to start.

When I was still organizing my shelf, "The Slow Fix" by Ivan Coyote stood out for me. I picked it up and read it within the week. Coyote has been up for, and I believe won, some ALA awards for her writing before. This, well... it's more of a collection of essays, is pretty much autobiographical. It doesn't really follow a linear format; sometimes Ivan is talking about her girlfriend, then in the next story she's single, then back to the girlfriend for example. I enjoyed reading it. There was a story about her queer nephew who grows up to be not so queer which is sort of sad and beautiful. It's worth reading, but is super quick to read and the stories don't really compliment each other. It seems kind of like a bunch of stuff was slammed together here. Some works, some doesn't. I liked it, though, and I'm glad I picked it for my first book.

Followed by "Shuck" - a loose fictional account by a first-time author who somewhat lived what poorly named main character Jaeven goes through. I liked this book, pretty much alone among the other reviews of the book I've read. Maybe I'm easy to please when it comes to fiction. I don't think the point is to like Jaeven here... he's pretty much as unlikeable as you can get. His relationship with his roommate/friend/boyfriend is bizarre, but... well, aren't most relationships? I didn't find the book highly sexual, which I guess was a big selling or discussion point for it. Not a lot of actual sex occurs. Really there's just that art gallery thing with the goth boy towards the end. The book is very New York and got me smiling on the references (esp. Dr. Zizmor). A good read- I think I know a lot of gays who would love the book, but also probably not the best in the end.

Lantern's Light

So, if you know me, you know it's weird that I would buy a Marvel or a DC graphic novel and then not immediately read it. Well, what happened was... I got one for free. Then I put it next to my alarm clock. Then it ended up under my alarm clock. Then I would look at it every night before bed... taunting me. Yesterday, after a day filled with watching television on my computer (I quite literally ran out of 'new' shows to watch) and ordering pizza, I decided it was time to take the plunge. I finally buckled down and read that damn Green Lantern graphic novel.

And it was pretty good. It was a volume 2, which was totally also something I would not have bought myself. I would have gone for a volume 1. I'm more into DC trade paperbacks lately because the stories are usually more varied and they are much, much cheaper than Marvel ones. Sorry, Marvel. You are the bulk of my comic book collection, but I got most of that when I was paying for you. My mom was. God, I miss Tina... she certainly did spring a couple of bucks for the newest X-Men... but NO MORE! So DC? You're fun to read and you're cheap. You're like that tranny down the street who blocks my entrance into the subway.

BTW, sorry for the long space between posts. Turns out? I can't update my blog at work. It crashes not one but multiple computers, all of which are the only ones I can really use. When I'm at home, I'm more using my computer for recreational activities. While I guess you could say this is for recreation... I mean jeez. It always feel like damn work. I'm going to try harder. Would it help if I just didn't talk about what I was reading all the time? COMMENT BELOW!!

Stained in a Human Way

So after a long hiatus of laziness, I come back blogging strong. Not only am I reading one book, gentle viewers, I'm reading two. Both are kind of for two different aspects for work, so let's go over the one I'm trying to finish before we go over the one I'm kind of reading for fun.

The book in question is The Human Stain by Philip Roth. I am, by all accounts, a Philip Roth expert because I read the Wikipedia article on him. He's written a lot of books. I think the word prolific was somewhere used to describe him, but I could be making that up. Maybe I'm spoiled because I've been reading a lot of YA fiction lately. Not really into books way overwritten. The Human Stain? Kind of fits those credentials. The story has gone off on so many tangents I'm not even sure we have well... a 'where are we going' feel. The first chapter is 75 pages. I mean, I rest my case. Anyway, I'm muddling through it. I'm almost past 100, and I have just 300 more pages to go after that. When I'm page counting you know I'm in trouble. I'm leading a book discussion on the title at a library that is not my library in three weeks. Whether it's finished or not, that will be the end of The Human Stain.

Before all that was sorted, I used some mega fastly earned Random Buzz points to score an ARC of Monster Variations by Daniel Kraus. I think I got past the first few chapters. If you're reading it, or read it, they've broken into the high school at the part I'm at. It's pretty good. I'm liking the bizarre friendship between the three boys all from different social classes. It's unlike any other YA book I read over the summer. Definitely doesn't talk down to teens, definitely a spooky book I think teen boys would enjoy. Probably going to be recommended for my book committee and become part of my cadre of books I bring on outreach visits. Random Buzzers had a few left, so if you want to join and earn mega quick points, do it now. Before they're gone. Can't wait to go back and finish it... as soon as the Stain of Human proportions is washed out of my brain.

Tried for some ARCs from LibraryThing this month for the first time in awhile... nada. That's sad. I got 4. AND REVIEWED THEM! One of them was about incest. One of them was the WORST VAMPIRE BOOK EVER! Please send me more, librarything. I miss you. And your free books.