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Tag: Literary Gossip

This Week in New Books

Th1rteen R3asons Why, Jay Asher (288 pages) – (Thirteen Reasons Why) Hannah Baker committed suicide and left several cassettes (those analogue recording things) for Clay Jensen, explaining the thirteen reasons why she killed herself. The cassettes send Clay on a night-long trip around town, learning the truth about Hannah and also himself.

First line: “Sir?” she repeats. “How soon do you want it to get there?”

The Piper’s Son, Melina Marchetta (328 pages) – five years after Francesca was saved, Tom needs a bit of help, as the back cover says: “Thomas Mackee wants oblivion. Wants to forget parents who leave and friends he used to care about and a string of one-night stands, and favourite uncles being blown to smithereens on their way to work on the other side of the world… in a year when everything’s broken, Tom realises that his family and friends need him to help put the pieces back together as much as he needs them.”

First line: The string slices into the skin of his fingers and no matter how tough the calluses, it tears.

Darklight, Lesley Livingston (310 pages) – the follow on from Wondrous Strange. Kelley is propelled out of rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet and into the Otherworld where she is reunited with Sonny but caught in faerie stuff, which is nearly always potentially deadly, and always intriguing.

First line: The old man lay crumpled on the flagstones in front of a Park Avenue brownstone, his lifeblood oozing from five small holes in his neatly buttoned tweed vest like sap from a maple tree tapped in spring.

The Season, Sarah McLean (343 pages) – Anna Godbersen says, “The Season is frothy, girly, wicked, and wise to the tender, tenuous and sometimes very strong ties between young people throughout the ages.” In other words, in a similar vein to The Luxe, The Season follows elite young women, this time in regency London (being regency it’s probably too early for an exclusive academy though). Lady Alexandra Stafford is more interested in adventure than romance, which proves to be a recipe for espionage, murder, mystery and action. Looks gripping.

First line: The rain fell steadily on the slick rocks marking the edge of the Essex countryside, where the land fell in sheer cliffs to a frigid winter sea.

Wish, Alexandra Bullen (323 pages) – Olivia’s twin sister Violet is gone, leaving her (Olivia) broken hearted. One day a magical dress arrives on her doorstep, entitling her to one wish. She wishes for Violet back.

First line: Some girls are wishaholics.

Sweet Little Lies, Lauren Conrad (309 pages) – subtitled: an L A Candy Novel. Jane and Scarlett are on the reality TV show L. A. Candy. Being in the spotlight means that Jane is tabloid fodder when photos of her are leaked to the press. Secrets and lies…

First line: Jane Roberts sat up on her white chaise longue and gazed at the horizon between the vast blue ocean and the vast blue sky.

This is just a small sample: more next week. Have a good weekend!

Read These New Books

Once again, here’s a large selection of new books, from fairies to vampires to werewolves to survivalists to society’s elite (pirates and witches).

Rapture of the Deep, L A Meyer (454 pages) – for lovers of the Bloody Jack adventures, here’s the next. Jacky thinks she’s getting married, but actually she’s being kidnapped by British Naval Intelligence and made to dive for treasure near Havana, which isn’t necessarily such a terrible thing when you’re the piratical spy type.

First sentence: “Ah, and it’s a bonny, bonny bride ye shall be, Jacky.”
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Re-Gifters, Mike Carey, Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel (graphic novel) – Dixie is a soon-to-be maybe champion of hapkido (a martial art), but her life gets complicated when she meets and falls for surfery boy Adam. Winning her championship and also Adam could be tricky: there are lessons to be learned for Dixie.

Tallow, Karen Brooks (404 pages) – The Curse of the Bond Riders Book 1. Tallow is rescued as a child by a candlemaker. As he grows up, his mysterious and deadly talents are revealed, and all manner of ominous people – both enemies and allies – become interested in him. A fantasy story based on historical Italy with excellent reviews!

First sentence: “I know you’re out there.”
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Splendor, Anna Godbersen (394 pages) – the last of the Luxe novels, or at least I think it is. Will Diana and Henry find a way to be together without having Manhattan’s society up in arms?

First sentence: Fifty years ago every American girl wanted to be a European princess.
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Battleground, Chris Ryan (305 pages) – the SAS supremo writer is back again, this time with the story of 14 year old Ben who finds himself kidnapped in Afghanistan. Which sounds bad, but worse is the fact that he discovers they’ve got a nuclear weapon on them.

First sentence: “Ambush!”
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X Isle, Steve Augarde (477 pages) – see what he’s doing with the title? X Isle is the only way out after the floods come and devastate the globe. Sounds like a grim disaster novel (Adrienne might like it!).

First sentence: The steady chug of the diesel engine drew closer, and eventually the salvage boat emerged from the mist, a blank grey shape steering a middle course between the ghostly lines of chimney stacks that rose from the water.
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Destiny’s Path, Frewin Jones (329 pages) – book two in the Warrior Princess series, good news if you’ve already read the first one. Branwen is still uncomfortable with the idea of being the Chosen One, but then she’s shown a vision of life if she abandons her destiny, and it’s pretty bleak.

First sentence: Branwen Ap Griffith pulled back on the reins and her weary horse gradually came to a halt, snorting softly and shaking its mane.
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Ash, Malinda Lo (264 pages) – A fairy tale; Ash, recovering from the death of her father, dreams that the fairies will “steal her away” then meets Sidhean (a fairy). Because stories need a complication to work (truly they do), she also meets Kaisa (not a fairy) who teaches her to hunt and with whom she becomes friends. The result? A literary tug of war.

First sentence: Aisling’s mother died at midsummer.
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We Were Here, Matt de la Pena (356 pages) – Miguel is sent to juvi, then escapes with Rondell and Mong (great names, together), hoofing it to Mexico where he hopes he’ll have a chance to start over. A story of self-discovery and learning to forgive yourself (among other things).

First sentence: Here’s the thing: I was probably gonna write a book when I got older anyways.
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Taken, Nora McClintock (165 pages) – stress extreme. As mentioned in this post, Stephanie is captured by a serial killer then escapes (good for her) and must survive in the middle of nowhere (bad for her).

First sentence: My stomach clenched as the bus rumbled across the county line.
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Once a Witch, Carolyn MacCullough (292 pages) – Tamsin pretends to be her talented witchy older sister, which might seem like a good idea at the time, but one thing leads to another… this book contains it all; fantasy, romance, witchcraft and time travel.

First sentence: I was born on the night of Samhain, when the barrier between the worlds is whisper thin adn when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.
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Ghost Town, Richard Jennings (165 pages) – I’ve filched this from the catalogue because it’s way to complex for me to explain: “Thirteen-year-old Spencer Honesty and his imaginary friend, an Indian called Chief Leopard Frog, improbably achieve fame and riches in the abandoned town of Paisley, Kansas, when Spencer begins taking photographs with his deceased father’s ancient camera and Chief Leopard Frog has his poems published by a shady businessman in the Cayman Islands.”

First sentence: “Well, I guess that makes it official,” I said to Chief Leopard Frog.
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Destroy All Cars, Blake Nelson (205 pages, plus appendices) – James Hoff is into the environment – he wants to, as the title suggests, destroy all cars. His ex-girlfriend, Sadie, is also into the environment, but James thinks she’s soft, merely wanting to build cycleways. Naturally there’s going to be some sort of romantic showdown that may well be a bit messy.

First sentence (sort of): We stand at the edge.
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Suicide Notes, Michael Thomas Ford (295 pages) – Jeff’s in a psychiatric ward, recovering from a suicide attempt, and learning valuable lessons from the “crazies” around him. “Compelling, witty and refreshingly real.”

First sentence: I read somewhere that when astronauts come back to Earth after floating around in space they get sick to their stomachs because of the air here smells like rotting meat to them.
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My Vicksburg, Ann Rinaldi (149 pages) – set during the American civil war. Claire Louise is forced to make a difficult choice between saving a friend’s life and being loyal to family (and state).

First sentence: The only reason we came back to town, and stayed during that terrible nightmare of a time, those forty-seven days of confusion and heartbreak that made up the siege of Vicksburg, was because of Sammy the cat.
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I Lost My Mobile at the Mall: Teenager on the Edge of  Technological Breakdown, Wendy Harmer (319 pages) – the mobile in question even has a photo of Elly’s friend standing next to Hugh Jackman, no less, so it really is a big deal!

First sentences: My name is Elly Pickering. I’ve lost my mobile phone at the mall and am now facing certain death.
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Changeling: Dark Moon, Steve Feasey (325 pages) – Trey Laporte is back, which is just as well since Lucien is lying in a coma and Trey can save him. The back of the book says it so much better: “… to succeed he must face his biggest challenge yet: a portal to the Netherworld, an Icelandic zombie, an evil sorceress, and Trey’s nemesis, the dark vampire Caliban.” All zombies should be Icelandic.

First sentence: The vampire Lucien Charron lay motionless on a high-sided bed in his Docklands apartment.
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Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical (199 pages plus a small graphic short story) – Some famous YA authors contribute to this collection, including Annette Curtis Klause (Blood and Chocolate), Margo Lanagan (Tender Morsels), David Almond (Skellig) and Cynthia Leitich Smith (Tantalize).

First sentence (Aimee Bender): Mom bought me the razor when I was thirteen.
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Nothing Like You, Lauren Strasnick (209 pages) – update: now that I’ve had a read I can summarise. Holly is nearly finished high school and gets herself into really messy relationship issues. This is a well-written book about figuring out the important things in life, learning from mistakes, and love (kind of reminds me a little bit of Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr). A good example of a realistic, non-romantic first person narrator.

Very briefly:

Avalon High: Coronation: Volume 3: Hunter’s Moon, Meg Cabot (graphic novel)

What happened when Blair and Chuck and that grew up?

iwillalwaysIf you’re wanting to know, you might like to reserve I Will Always Love You, an addition to the Gossip Girl series started (but not finished) by Cecily von Ziegesar.

I Will Always Love You documents what Serena et al get up to when they return from their respective colleges for their summer breaks (four in total). There’s bound to be hookups, fights and, well, gossip, but hopefully not that song by Whitney Houston.

New Books to be on the look out for

What do the next few months look like in YA literature? We’ll let you know when they arrive, but you can reserve some of them right now if they grab your fancy.

Witch & Wizard, James Patterson (December). A futuristic dystopian story about Wisty and her brother Whit, who are imprisoned seemingly without reason and then discover they have strange abilities and powers.

Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (October). A steampunk effort from Scott Westerfeld, where World War I is fought with strange machines and futuristic biotechnology.

Once Was Lost, Sara Zarr (October). Sara Zarr’s previous novels, Story of a Girl and Sweethearts, are thoughtful, realistic insights into life. In Once Was Lost, she examines tragedy and the effect it has on hope.

Going Bovine, Libba Bray (September/October). This couldn’t really be more different from the Gemma Doyle books. Sixteen year old Cameron is in hospital with Mad Cow disease. Visited by Dulcie, a punky angel, he’s given hope when she tells him it’s possible to find a cure. So he sets out on a road trip to find it, with a little help from a gamer dwarf and a gnome. I’m not making this up. You can even watch Libba Bray being interviewed about it, dressed up as a cow.

 

Some others that we will be ordering soon:

Splendor, a Luxe novel, Anna Godbersen (November). Luxe fans: this is the fourth and final book. Dangerous secrets, difficult decisions and unexpected happinesses (but for how long?) all feature in a dramatic showdown.

Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider), Anthony Horowitz (November). Alex gets caught up in an epic plot that could destroy an entire East African country. Heavy.

The Looking Glass Wars, Archenemy, Frank Beddor (October/November). The conclusion to the Looking Glass Wars trilogy. Everyone in Wonderland is creatively depleted, including Queen Alyss who must join forces with the evil Redd to keep things from turning worse than pear shaped (as the caterpillar oracles predict). But is this a good idea?

Top 10: Series about fabulous rich girls

The success of the Gossip Girl series has led to a number of similarly-themed series. They tend to have several things in common: the main characters are girls, who are rich, or share the same social circles as the über-rich, and they go to an exclusive private school; the books are usually set in (or near) New York; and most of the characters favour style over substance (afterall, it’s difficult to be friendly towards someone in a denim skirt). Sometimes they’re undead, or even just dead.

So here’s a list (in no particular order):

1. The Gossip Girl – The series so popular it’s now a television series! It’s set on the Upper East Side of Manhatten, which is New York’s Oriental Parade, only vastly more wealthy and stylish. No beach, however. The books are about a group of friends/enemies, their designer clothes and parties. The Gossip Girl herself anonymously writes about them. The school is called the Constance Billard School for Girls. There’s a gazillion books in the series.

2. The It Girl – The ‘It Girl’ in the title went to the Constance Billard School for Girls but was so poorly behaved she was sent to the very exclusive Waverly Prep boarding school. She will do anything – anything! – get to be one of the Waverly elite. This series is one of the two Gossip Girl spin-offs (all were created by Cecily von Ziegesar, but most are written by other people).

3. Gossip Girl: The Carlyles – The Carlyle triplets move from Nantucket to NYC after the death of their grandmother. They go to Constance Billard (and St. Jude’s School for Boys, for one of them is a boy) and quickly prove to be even more vicous – and fabulous – than Serena, Blair, etc. (Official website for Gossip Girl.)

4. The Ashleys, by Melissa De la Cruz – At Miss Gamble’s Preparatory School for Girls the three reigning princesses of popularity are all named Ashley; hence ‘The Ashleys’. New-comer Lauren is determined to enter their group. This series is set in San Francisco, and not New York, which is a shame but there you have it. (Official website.)

5. The Clique, by Lisi Harrison – The Clique are a group of girls who are the top of the popularity food chain at their private school.  The books are notable (according to the Library School Journal) for the characters’ cruelty. Awesome! It’s set in Westchester County, New York, where the X-Men hang out (incidentally). Who would win in a fight? The first book was made into a direct-to-DVD film, newly arrived at the library. (Official website.)

6. Inside Girl, by J Minter – Fourteen-year-old Flan Flood’s family are all incredibly beautiful socialites, but she decided to break with tradition and goes to a typical public school. It’s a spin-off from another series by J. Minter, The Insiders, which is more in keeping with the other series in this list. Set in and around lower Manhattan. (Official website.)

7. Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard – Three years ago the leader (Alison) of a group of girls disappears. Now someone calling themselves ‘A’ is threatening to expose the secrets of the group, who all fit the Gossip Girl mold. With a bit of mystery thrown in, the series has been called ‘Desperate Housewives for teens.’ (Official website.)

8. Blue Bloods, by Melissa de la Cruz – Set amongst Manhattan’s elite teens, Blue Bloods throws vampirism into the mix. (Official website.)

9. Vampire Academy, by Rachelle Mead – St Vladimir’s is a private academy (in Montana, not NY) for vampires and the half-vampires who protect them. The series is notable for being set in a gritty and dark world which doesn’t hold back. Perhaps not so in keeping with this list, but the academy is about as exclusive as it gets and one of the main characters is a princess. A vampire princess. (Official website.)

10. The Luxe, by Anna Godberson – Most reviewers remark that this series is essentially Gossip Girl – Manhattan, rich glamorous people, and so on – set in 1899. I’m not sure what the ‘Luxe’ in the title refers to, but funnily enough 1899 was the year that Lux soap was launched in the UK. (Official website.)

Writers’ rooms

Have you ever wondered what a writer’s room looks like? The Guardian has a running feature on the rooms of many authors, like Jacqueline Wilson (very tidy) and Russell Hoban (very messy).

What does your writing space – assuming you have one – look like?

I wish mine had Alain de Botton’s chair.

Sweet Valley High Strikes Back

The Sweet Valley High series is to be reprinted and – since it originally came out in the 80s – it will be updated to reflect changes in things like technology and fashion. So instead of the girls writing diaries, phoning one another and wearing pastel leg-warmers, they will write blogs, IM and text, and wear footless tights.

(We still have many of the original SVH books in the library, if you’re keen.) 

and also: Demonata 7… and also also: The Carlyles

Demonata 7 is called Death’s Shadow (Darren Shan – available May 2008). So what’s going to happen? “Bec is back to face the Demonata. After centuries of imprisonment, she’s more powerful than ever, but the demons no longer stand alone. Something else has crawled out of the darkness with her. Lord Loss is no longer humanity’s greatest threat!” (thanks to Amazon.co.uk)

Visit the author’s site to keep up with the play. Speaking of which, Darren Shan’s pretty with it – he has a myspace account too. The other Demonata books are here.

The new stuff just keeps pouring in. For a complete change of scenery, the new Gossip Girl book is The Carlyles. The Carlyles are, according to Amazon.com, the “most fabulous sixteen-year-old triplets to ever inhabit the Upper East Side.” The book’s going to be available some time after May this year, but you can reserve it now.

Book CoversIt’s an unlikely combo, I know: Darren Shan and Cecily von Ziegesar. I couldn’t help wondering what would happen if they got together and collaborated on Demonata #8 / The Carlyles #2… 

Grimm