I really do read more than picture books!
This week I finished two books. Today's book was Rags and Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt. This is a rather strange anthology of stories. When I picked it up, I thought that they would be based on fairy tales or folk tales but that was not the case for the majority of the stories. Also, it has a story by Neil Gaiman and I wanted to see if it was one I had read. I am delighted to announce that it was new to me and that I loved it. It was my favorite in the whole collection. Also, this was published as a young adult book but at least two of the stories, in my opinion, do not belong in a collection for YAs. Not so much because of the sex because a lot of YA books have sexual content - but they just are not stories that seem like they would appeal to teens. I did enjoy reading what the individual authors had to say about their selections.
As I said, my favorite was "The Sleeper and the Spindle" which was inspired by Sleeping Beauty. I also enjoyed Kami Garcia's take on Rumpelstiltskin. Very different from the Grimm's version but quite enjoyable. Tim Pratt did a story inspired by Henry James's "The Jolly Corner" that I also liked and which left me with a craving for Carolina BBQ.
There is a vampire story and a selkie story (which was inspired by Kate Chopin's The Awakening), and a story about a monkey's paw that grants wishes set in a dystopian future. The two stories I liked the least were Gene Wolfe's "Uncaged" and "Losing Her Divinity" by Garth Nix. I thought "Uncaged" was disjointed and predictable. It is one of the stories that I felt just did not belong in this collection. I disliked Nix's story because i did not like his characterization of Rudyard Kipling. His story was inspired by Kipling's "The Man Who Would be King" and the main character is supposedly Kipling - and I just could not see it. I could see Peachy in that role; absolutely! Or someone else that had dictated the story to Kipling. But not Kipling himself. I enjoyed the premise of the story, though - "The Man Who Would be King" is a favorite of mine.
My suggestion is - if you are a Twilight Zone fan or a Gaiman fan, borrow this one from your local library if only to read Mr. Gaiman's story.
The other book I finished this week is Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. I really liked this book. Again, it falls into the category of "I'm an adult and I really liked this book; but I don't know if a 12 year old would like this book..." So if you know of any 12 year-olds that have an opinion, please let me know? The story is about WIllow Chance. Willow is a genius. Because of her highly developed mind, she is somewhat lacking in the social graces that are normally required to navigate the murky waters of public school. As the story opens, she is about to begin middle school. And, as could have been predicted, she hates it. But she's trying to put on a good show for her parents. Did I mention Willow is adopted? Anyway - Willow is accused of cheating on standardized tests (she got a perfect score; no one gets a perfect score so she MUST have cheated, right?) and is sent to a school counselor - Dell Duke. She does not report this incident to her parents. While meeting with Dell, she meets two high school students - a brother and sister - from Viet Nam. OK - that's the set up. One day after a counseling session, they all four go for ice cream. When they arrive at Willow's house, the police are there to inform her that both of her parents have been tragically killed in a car accident. And Willow has no other relatives and really, no friends. Or so she thought. Again - I really enjoyed this book. But it's hard to figure out WHAT it is. It's not realistic fiction. But it's not fantasy or magical realism. It's funny and sad and quirky and about creating a family with what you have. And redemption. Redeeming seemingly unimportant, overlooked people. And there's gardening! (I like gardening...) Highly recommended. It might even win the Newbery; who knows?
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