Angieville

I can't believe it's been six years. I still have a hard time thinking about it. Today I simply wanted to link to Meg Cabot's arresting account of her experiences that day in New York City. Because it's important to remember. 9/11/01

Best reads of the past month: The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold I was really looking forward to this sequel and was happily anxious to hear it picked up right where Beguilement left off. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The problem was simple--nothing ever happened. They traveled here. They were ostracized there. Dag went to fight malices over here. Fawn sat around trying to blend in over there. There was none of that exquisite tension that propelled the first book forward. The two main characters seemed so tired and, well, apathetic about the whole thing that I couldn't help but feel the same. The thing is, the writing is so good. And the characters are as well. They just weren't present this time around and I missed them. It felt like the Spark and Dag I loved were being impersonated by slightly lackluster simulacra. But. The ending did leave me with the distinct feeling that the real deal would be back in the next installment ...

The best reads of the past month: Ninth Key , Reunion , Darkest Hour , Haunted , and Twilight by Meg Cabot I blew through this series and it was sort of a blast. The not-so-faint hint of menace in these books shows that Cabot can turn her hand to any genre she wants and still tickle her audience. The Suze/Jesse/Paul triangle worked for me and I liked how Paul inhabited the gray area between irredeemably vicious and uncertainly vulnerable. Happily, Cabot worked out the perfect ending. I've been on a real paranormal/urban fantasy jag lately and this series was just the thing for a lighter dark mood. The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares I haven't read any of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books and I haven't seen the movie. But when I read about Brashares' first adult foray, it sounded like the right time to give her a shot. The Last Summer is just lovely. The writing tripped along as pleasantly as waves washing up on Fire Island. Main trio Alice, Pau...

Best reads of the past month: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris There's nothing like a new Sookie to cheer you up. And this one (#7) is the best one since #5. Harris skillfully weaves in threads from each of the previous books in complex, riveting ways. It becomes very clear that the events of the past six books have changed Sookie. Her life is not what it was when she met her first vampire (who shall remain nameless here) in a bar in Bon Temps. This theme dovetailed particularly well with the focus on how Louisiana itself was altered by Hurricane Katrina. I like the direction Harris is taking with Sookie and Eric's relationship. I like that she's given her a friend in Amelia. I like where this series is going. Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Sandell When I heard about a retelling of Tennyson's Lady of Shallott, I was so in. I mean, I'm nothing if not up for a good Camelot tale. When I heard that, like Tennyson's version, it was entirely in verse, I wasn't...

Best reads of the past month: Requiem for the Devil by Jeri Smith-Ready This one hurt. Of course, I knew it was a sequel to Paradise Lost going in, so I don't really have grounds to complain. It's in turns beautiful, dark, and thoughtful. And I knew how it was going to end from page one. But it still hurt. Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot Okay, I think I've burned my way through all of her adult works currently in print. This one's a mystery and the first written in traditional format. Grab yourself a DoveBar and nestle in. Just in Case by Meg Rosoff Proof in print that How I Live Now was no fluke. Holy crow, this book is good. Rosoff's books are always painful, but this one is painful on an existential level. Think The Stranger meets Great Expectations . Keep 'em coming, Ms. Rosoff. Keep 'em coming. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer What to say? It was wonderful . It was awful . As good as its predecessor, but Very Different. A word to the wise: if you thought...

Best reads of the past month: Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti (This book was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2004. It's good. So very good. I felt I had been in Ruby's shoes. I felt disturbingly comfortable in them. I wished I'd read this book when I was a teenager. It's the kind of book you want to give your daughter and say, "Read this. Know you who are.") Blood Red Horse and Green Jasper by K.M. Grant (The first two in The de Granville Trilogy. Grant tells a ripping good story of two brothers who go to war, the girl they left behind, and the wonderful warhorse Hosanna. The third book comes out next March. sigh.) The Princess Diaries Vol. 3-7 by Meg Cabot (So this series continues to make me snicker--in a good way, particularly when Ms. Cabot incorporates the Princess Diaries movies into her storyline as movies made about Mia's life. Hilarious.) Boy Meets Girl , The Boy Next Door , and Every Boy's Got One also by Meg Cabot (M...

Life's been a bit busy lately and so I've combined the last two months this time. Best reads of the past two months: Sacred by Dennis Lehane (best one in the series so far, hands down) Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris (not enough Eric, but Quinn's a tiger and that's cool) The Dream-Maker's Magic by Sharon Shinn (last and probably best in the trilogy; when it comes to trilogies, my favorites tend to be the middle books, so this one was a pleasant surprise) The Princess Diaries Vol. 1&2 by Meg Cabot (picked up against my better judgment, turns out it's laugh-out-loud funny; i love being proven wrong when it comes to books) Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (not a resolution in sight, but Ranger's there being all Rangery, so all is right in Plumland) Best rereads of the past two months: Homecoming , Dicey's Song , A Solitary Blue , Sons From Afar , and Seventeen Against the Dealer by Cynthia Voigt (Finest Kind) Sunshine and The Blue Sword ...