Chronicles of a Book Evangelist

Link Trove #20

The Reader by Maja Lindberg on Etsy

So I know that a little over a month ago I said I wasn't going to participate in any reading challenges or official reading commitments for a while -- and I'm not! not really! -- but there have been quite a few popping up that have really caught my eye.  Also, Flannery from The Readventurer has invited me to participate in a read-along of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest... and I'm doing it!  But it doesn't really count as a challenge or commitment because I make no promises to post a review. Some of the others that have tempted me recently are:

Reading Challenges:

• YALSA’s 2013 Hub Reading Challengebegins at 12:01AM EST on February 3 and ends at 11:59PM EST on June 22.  The goal is to read/listen to 25 of the 83 titles on the list of eligible titles, all of which were either winners or honor titles for various awards.  Considering how few of this years winners I had actually read, this would have been a great challenge to participate in!  Plus, those who complete the challenge are eligible to submit a response for one of the books they've read to be published on The Hub, and are entered to win a grand prize of a YALSA tote bag full of 2012 and 2013 YA lit! 

• Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer is hosting a "Take Control of Your TBR Pile Read-a-Thon" from March 15th to 18th.  I could really use something like this!  I've got scads of new books that I genuinely want/wanted to read piling up, but I can't seem to get myself motivated to actually read them.  Instead, I've reading and rereading (mostly rereading!) sequels to my favorite urban fantasy series, as well as my favorite old gothic novels.  It's fun and unchallenging reading, but it doesn't exactly make for new material for the blog! 

And now for a list of (some of) the cool links I've been finding around the web -- I usually only post about 1/3 or 1/4 of what I've found. Perhaps I should start doing this twice a week!

Interesting Reads:

• Sarah from Clear Eyes, Full Shelves had a great opinion piece on the "rights" and "wrongs" of reading -- or rather, how there isn't a right or wrong way to interpret what you read.  She brought up many good points, and the discussion continues to be engaging into the comments.

• Kelly from Radiant Shadows really caught my attention with her post on the Bechdel Test in YA.  It really surprised me when I thought about how few books I had recently read within the genre would actually pass!  For those who are unfamiliar with the Bechdel Test, it is a test measuring female presence in fictional media.  To pass the test, if must 1) include at least two named women, 2) who have at least one conversation, 3) that is about something other than a man or men.  Kelly does a much better job of talking about it, so check that out!

New to the Online Reading Community:

•  A brand new website just launched called Bookish. From what I've read, it is pretty similar to Goodreads or LibraryThing, with an added component of reader advisory-ish picked book recommendations?  In my experience, computer generated book recommendations are rarely as successful as reader advisory, you know, from a librarian or fellow book lover.  We'll see.  (via Tor)

• I've also recently stumbled upon Books That Changed Me, a tumblr where you can submit a response/review/essay/call-it-what-you-will about a book or books that have changed you in some way.  It is a fascinating look at how different people read books, and what they take away from them.

And Just for Fun:

• Presidential Monsters! Action figures that are a mash-up of the residents of Pennsylvania Ave and our favorite horrific creatures.  I seriously want to buy Wolf Bill for my mother. (via Tor)

Review: Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: September 1st 2010

Goodreads Description:

Natalie Sterling wants to be in control. She wants her friends to be loyal. She wants her classmates to elect her student council president. She wants to find the right guy, not the usual jerk her school has to offer. She wants a good reputation, because she believes that will lead to good things. 

But life is messy, and it's very hard to be in control of it. Not when there are freshman girls running around in a pack, trying to get senior guys to sleep with them. Not when your friends have secrets they're no longer comfortable sharing. Not when the boy you once dismissed ends up being the boy you want to sleep with yourself - but only in secret, with nobody ever finding out.

Slut or saint? Winner or loser? Natalie is getting tired of these forced choices - and is now going to find a way to live life in the sometimes messy, sometimes wonderful in-between.

Review:

 I have been sitting here, staring at my computer screen for a very long time, watching the cursor blink and not really knowing what I want to say -- or perhaps it is that I don't know how to say everything I want to say.  I want to be writing a review of a different book.  The book I thought this was. The book I think Siobhan Vivian meant to write.  I am going to take a flying leap of faith with my assumptions and describe the book I think Vivian meant this to be:  This was supposed to be a book of messages to young girls everywhere, teaching them what feminism really is and what it really means, showing them that they are all feminists (or at least should be).  It was supposed to highlight a lot of the ways that we ladies fail ourselves and each other on our journey to equality.  It was supposed to set up common stereotypes of feminists as strawmen, then burn those stereotypes down to the truth underneath.  Not That Kind of Girl was supposed to be really amazing, which made Vivian's failure to deliver all that much harder to take.  Here are the primary ways I think Vivian failed in the execution of her ideas:

• Natalie is clueless about much of the history of the feminist movement, especially for someone who considers herself qualified to lead discussions about feminism for her classmates.  She is beyond just man-hating into people-hating in her quest for completely independent success.  She looks down on everyone around her, refuses their help as insufficient or unworthy, and demands an even higher unnatural level of perfection from herself.  She is also completely and selfishly insensitive in her interactions with Autumn, the only person who would count as a friend rather than a project or a mentor.  It feels like, in Natalie, Vivian just adds more nasty layers to the man-hating feminazi stereotype, while failing to ever adequately address them.

• Spencer was supposed to be (again, I think) an example of a sex-positive feminist that fights against slut-shaming.  And, in some ways, I guess she does.  Some of the best, most positive things said in this book come from Spencer at the lock-in.  However, there is a BIG difference between a young woman who owns her sexuality and feels positively about herself, and a young woman who uses her body to get attention and reinforcement from others.  Spencer never feels comfortable or complete by herself in this book; she always needs affirmation of her worth from someone else -- whether that is Mike, Natalie, or the guys in the hall.  And here is the kicker for me -- she is FOURTEEN years old!!!  I think the important question to ask is, HOW and WHY a girl this young learned to be this proficient at using her body to build her feelings of confidence and self worth.  Vivian does sex-positive feminist ideals no favors with her portrayal of Spencer.

• The guys.  Oh, goodness, the guys in this book!  None of them -- not even Connor -- are well written.  Feminism isn't about being elevated above men, but rather about achieving equality for all individuals -- regardless of sex or gender.  Equality would be some of the males in Natalie's life being something other than douche-bags or door-mats.  In Not That Kind of Girl, there really is no in-between.  Mike should be brought up on statutory rape charges; Connor needs some self-confidence because he deserves way better than Natalie gives him; and Principal Hurley needs, at best, to take some sensitivity training classes or, at worst, needs to be fired for being a chauvinistic ass who unfairly distributes discipline.

• So, taking the first and third points from above, let's now talk about the romance between Natalie and Connor.  Or perhaps not, because there wasn't any.  Natalie was using making out, and finally sex, with Connor as a distraction from the inflated responsibilities she put upon herself.  Connor was making out and having sex with a girl that showed him absolutely no respect, going so far as to not acknowledge him in public.  They felt awkward around each other when not kissing, and rarely talked about anything that was important to either one of them. There is nothing healthy or romantic about this relationship.  I get that Vivian was trying to say that you can have a healthy relationship while still being a strong and independent female, but there is just so much wrong with the sexual relationship portrayed that I think her message gets lost.

Despite all these issues, though, Not That Kind of Girl still managed to be a pretty decent read.  I enjoyed it, and really wanted Vivian to successfully get to where she was trying to go.  I genuinely liked Connor and Autumn, and wouldn't have minded reading more about them.  It is only upon reflection (and yet more reflection) that my concerns about her portrayal of feminist issues overrode my enjoyment of her story.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars ~ I liked it! I wouldn’t reread it, but I enjoyed it. 

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository | Indie Bound | Fish Pond

Review also appears on Goodreads; I purchased my copy for Nook from Barnes and Noble.

Link Trove #18

Smart Owl by Amy Hamilton

The print above is "Smart Owl" by Amy Hamilton, and the Art Print size is available for only $17.  My bird girl's (whose favorite books include Owl Moon and Owl Babies) has her 4th birthday coming up -- as well as a redo of her big girl room.  I see a framed "Smart Owl" in her future.  Now that I've mostly stopped curling my toes at the cute owl, on to the links!

Censorship:

• Following a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Davis School District has returned "In Our Mothers' House" by Patricia Polacco to school library shelves.  It was removed from shelve after a group of parents petitioned the school for its removal.  You know, because we can't have a book that represents a same-sex household as normal or anything! (That was extreme sarcasm, for the record.)

• The New York Times had an interesting question in their Room for Debate feature, What’s ‘Just Right’ for the Young Reader?  The various perspectives were all interesting to read, though I must admit that I still think Sendak said it best, "I don't believe in children, I don't believe in childhood. I don't believe that there's a demarcation. 'Oh, you mustn't tell them that. You mustn't tell them that.' You tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it's true. If it's true, you tell them."  In all fairness, that is essentially what a few of the debaters, especially Lisa von Drasek, said.  I also found the opinion of Betsy Bird, who wrote "kids are excellent self censors," to be particularly interesting in terms of this next piece:

• Susane Colasanti's When It Happens will stay in the teen section of IL library, despite a parent's attempt to remove it.  The unsuitability of the reading material for her daughters' age group was pointed out to her by -- wait for it -- her daughter.  As Leila from bookshelves of doom responded:

Discounting the whole challenge thing, this story was actually a nice example of a younger reader holding her hand up and saying, "WHOA. THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR ME."  I mean, obviously, the parent took that statement and went a step further to "IF IT'S NOT FOR YOU, IT'S NOT FOR ANYONE YOUR AGE", which is problematic, but still."

• Oddly enough, Maggie Stiefvater was also recently weighing in on the issue of age appropriate content, albeit in a much more light-hearted fashion.  After mentioning that she won't let any of the children in her family read her current books until they are 30, she announced that she will be participating in a middle grade level project with scholastic.  Very cool.

For The Girls:

• Elizabeth Burns of A Fireplace, A Chair & A Tea Cozy raises an interesting question about the importance of (or lack thereof) including menstruation in stories about teen girls with her post It’s That Time of the Month.  I highly recommend reading the comments as well as the post, as there are lots of interesting things being said, and good books being recommended.

• Jezebel managed to scare the crap out of me with their article about teen girls meeting strangers in real life that they met on the internet.  According to a new study released by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 30 percent of teenage girls have met an internet contact without confirming their identity beforehand.  YIKES.

To Lighten Things Up:

• McDonald's in the UK is replacing its Happy Meal toys with books.  How awesome is that?!  Now, if they could just make this an international policy!

• Maureen Johnson is offering up some awesome swag in the form of custom stickers and an autographed bookplate to anyone who preorders Madness Underneath from an indie bookstore.  Check out her website for a view of the stickers and a list of participating bookstores.

• Finally, a lovely quote from Ursula K. Le Guin found via teaching literacy:

"While we read a novel, we are insane—bonkers. We believe in the existence of people who aren’t there, we hear their voices… Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed."