12 posts tagged “reviews”

I just realised last night as I was wending my way through the latest book Kirkus has sent me to review...I think I have the job I dreamed about as a kid.

By kid I mean teenager/twenty-something.

I remember saying on many occasions that I wish someone would pay me to read. I also wished to be paid for my writing too. Well, whaddya know!? Kirkus sends me a bunch of books each month. I read them & then I write about them. They print me my deathless prose bi-weekly & send me a check. I get paid for reading and writing!

I guess there is the drawback that my Kirkus reviews are published anonymously...but I also review for VOYA and Amazon Vines & my name's all over those reviews; so I'm good.

Good and I have well stocked "to-read" shelves.

This one on DVD. I did a request for purchase at my library...you know people, it's a fab way to save money & see movies on your own time!

C.R.A.Z.Y.

This one is a French Canadian movie called C.R.A.Z.Y.

It's about a family in the 60's and 70's. Five sons. Centers on the fourth son and his relationships with other family members. It's funny. It's slightly mystic. It's touching. And it's very real seeming. The family is Catholic. The son (Zach) died at birth but was recussitated; Mom gets it into her head that Zach has the power to heal & he seems to (the similarly "powered" Tupperware lady confirms that he's got it). Zack has one smart brother, one jock brother, one punk brother, and one chunky brother (the little one in the picture gets fat-->). Zach likes music & may be gay...but he has a girlfriend...it's all about coming of age and coming to terms with family--oh, and Patsy Cline. Loved it!

Trent said when it was over (at 2 hours and 24 minutes) that he felt we'd been watching a Canadian television show & had more episodes to turn to. Even at that length, I didn't want it to end and that's one of the hallmarks of a good movie. It sure didn't seem "long."

OK, with apologies, since  I am again not going to name publisher or author. You might be able to guess from some of what I'm about to say...but I won't confirm or deny (because I reviewed it for someone much like the two previous posts in this series)...

Will someone tell me why mega-authors feel compelled to try their hand at writing for young people?

When your every book for adults goes to the top of the bestsellers list (and I like them, really!) WHY WHY WHY do you think you can write for kids?

Look, people, writing for young people without sounding saccharine, condescending, or lame is HARD. It's harder than writing for adults. This is mostly due to the fact that you ain't a kid any more & being a kid is nothing like what you are telling yourself you remember it being. If the kid you were...read the book you just wrote, they'd probably poke you in the eye...at the very least they would throw it at you.

And publishers...I KNOW the publishing game is about making a profit. I know that if Bestseller Betty comes to you with the desire to write "Equine Magic Dream Mystery" or Bestseller Bob comes with a plan for a series "just like Harry Potter only in outerspace with aliens and a graphic novel to boot!" I'm sure you publishers know their name will sell even the most asinine, brainless barf...but please PLEASE employ some editors! Remember them? They are the ones who used to read manuscripts and tell the author that the characters were cliches, the dialog was unintentionally laughable, there's a complete lack of internal logic in the narrative, and the plot points appeared in pulp fiction when grand-dad was in diapers...

Sigh...I just read one that was all of that and a bag of poo.

My brain is bruised, but at least it's over!

Unfortunately...come on, you know what comes next! SURE you do!

IT'S THE FIRST OF A SERIES!

I write. I think I write pretty well. I've won a few local awards. I published my book a couple months ago & sold a few. (I'm too damn lazy & too easily discouraged {and distracted} to go further...but I REALIZE those are the problems).

I also review literature. I think I review it pretty well. If nothing else, in the genres I review I bring a pretty large knowledge of what has gone before & what's out there now. I write regularly for Kirkus Reviews and VOYA. I write occasionally for Library Journal. I also write for Amazon (but that's a weird arrangement). I have written for SLJ & Parent's choice & Hornbook in years past. I review graphic novels, adult sci-fi, teen fantasy and sci-fi, picture books, general kids' fiction, teen GLBT fiction, and teen and adult non-fiction about Buddhism.

Some of the stuff I get to review would just blow your mind (in a BAD way).

Now, when I was on Newbery, sometimes authors who self published would send us their books. A couple were good. Most were awful...but they were self published. They never passed by an editor.

The items I get to review are nearly always from publishing houses. 99% of the stuff that comes from the names you'd recognize (Simon & Schuster, Candlewick, etc) is good to great. --There's always that one book that just stinks despite the fact that it's by an otherwise talented author...if you ever meet me ask me about the book "Starsplit" (barf!) or "that damn bunny book." Then there are the small publishing houses. A lot of what they publish is really good too--

A lot isn't.

I'm not naming names (publisher, title, or author), but I just read a book that should come with a either a reader-proof lock on the cover or a syringe of insulin. It comes from one of those authors who seem to think that childwren just wuv sweetness! It was the most   >.<  overly precious, overly punctuated!!! chapter book I have ever read. Know what I mean??? The animal characters all had cutsie names. It was chock full of extremely lame jokes...that were then explained. The adjectives were all flat...and repetitious...two pages in I was thinking "help me!" But I soldiered on...

I need your help here...say it with me and say it loud: Stop them before they write again!

Because you aren't going to want to buy it. Released "between covers" only in a limited signed edition, John Scalzi's "Agent to the Stars" is worth hunting up at your library--unless you have between $225 and $995 (no really, check Amazon) to plunk down for it. And it's really worth it--the hunt, not the thousand bucks--sorry John, I'm cheap.

Sad thing is it used to be free. Scalzi had the whole thing on his website until nefarious Subterranean Press put out a cover-clad edition of it. Why-oh-why didn't Kirkus or Voya send me THIS to review?

It's a fine mix of "My Blue Heaven" (by Joe Keenan of Frasier fame) "The Player" and "E.T.": Tom Stein is a Hollywood agent who is asked to work up a PR campaign for real aliens who, though friendly, stink of dead fish and look like snot. Any book that can combine science fiction, fart jokes, and slam Melanie Griffith's performance in Shining Through is worth it's weight in gold--hey! You can get this one for its weight in gold!

Agent to the Stars

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

OK, the title up there doesn't refer to this first movie...Friday we watched "¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!!" "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" Now, I'm a pretty big Almodovar fan. I like his serious ("Talk to Her"). I like his silly ("Tie me up"). But this one, though it had its moments left me cold. This isn't the oldest of his films I've seen ("Pepi, Luci, Bom") so it's not that I don't like his early stuff...It's almost as if...well, nothing happened (I KNOW, Trent, that should make me like it, right? ;-)

So the "ripping good movie" was Saturday night's "Bourne Ultimatum" Went to see it with former boss Travis. What a great action flick! Usually when I watch an action movie, there comes a time when I think, "Ok, enough bang bang boom" not here. This was really well done. It definitely deserves its success unlike some of its ilk. The 140 days spent shooting shows.

The Feathered Cloak: The Trilogy of the Tree: Part I

Thankfully this most recent book for review is done. It wasn't awful, but I was glad to see the last page. I won't bee seeking out the next two in the trilogy...but I might put it in the hands of a 6th grader who has expressed an interest in Norse mythology.

And speaking of books, I am ready to part with a few more Newbery leavings. All my committee buddies donated theirs to libraries...what a mercenary meanie I am! I take mine to half price books. If it's not a good niece or nephew gift...and I don't want it...it goes to the store. I used to donate to my library, but they all end up in book sale anyway. Dayton schools are run by a nimrod who couldn't financially manage his way out of a wet checkbook...SO...that's how I justify it :-) ain't the human mind grand? 

SUNSHINE Cillian Murphy interview

Today's movie was "Sunshine" and my title refers to the beautiful and talented Cillian Murphy who played a transvestite in "Breakfast on Pluto" and who buys it here (that's not a spoiler if you've seen the dang trailer!) in the Sun.

This was what it was hyped to be: the best Science Fiction movie in years...at least for the first 2/3. At the end it devolved into a high budget "Alien" knock-off. Boyle & Garland should have left the zombies in "28 Days Later" behind and concentrated on the technology which was savior and devil in this movie. The crew of Icarus II could have been driven to the same ends by technology gone awry. The "monster" was unnecessary. One point that wasn't adequately explained: why would any bomb tossed into the Sun need to be detonated? Heat=Boom whether chemical or atomic payload.

This is a thinking person's science fiction movie...that doesn't skimp on action or effects. And the cast was really phenomenal. Wait to see Hairspray & Paprika on DVD, The Simpson's will be around all summer, Chuck & Larry is beneath you...run to your theater and see "Sunshine"

And where else can you see The Human Torch freeze? (OK, that WAS a spoiler).

No, not a recipe for a Spicy hairdo, but the two movies we've seen so far this weekend. Both are good for different reasons & I was a little disappointed in each for different reasons.

Last night after work we ran off to dinner at "Wine Gallery and Cafe" downtown in the Cannery. It was our second time there and their menu has expanded. The service wasn't that hot, but it was a new menu. Crab Cakes were MUCH better than those awful things I had in DC last month (at the Dinner with Susan Patron). We had to dash for the movie--great way to work off that fried pierogi appetizer.

SO little humorous backstory on Satoshi Kon, I was just getting into Anime when Trent moved here in 2001. I had heard great things about "Perfect Blue." Like that it was a  great movie for a non-Anime-fan. I knew he had HATED "Princess Mononoke" (which I loved) SO I checked it out of the library--it was hideously awful. Nonsensical and violent with voice-over acting that turned Trent off all non-Miyazaki anime for years. Every time I suggested he watch one with me, he'd say "I'm a Pop star!" in falsetto--if you've seen Perfect Blue, you get it.

He did like "Tokyo Godfathers" (I'm working to get him to watch "Millennium Actress" which I also love) so we tried "Paprika"--it was ok. Watching a movie in which many of the characters spout non-sense in Japanese is not the easiest thing to do. The plot is a little "Brainstorm" and a little "Dreamscape" dragged through the Japanese subconscious. I left feeling that the script was verbally translated but not culturally translated. I'd like to volunteer to fix future Anime projects in this way, send me your raw translation & I'll rewrite it so John Q American won't scratch his head so much.

This evening (after I spent the day finishing "Harry") we went out to dinner with my former boss and his wife & on to Hairspray. It was a lot of fun.

My misgivings about John Travolta, however, were born out:

1. It was stunt casting of the first degree. Which is OK because this is a camp Musical...but I'm pretty sure from his insane performance that Travolta didn't understand the role or many of the reasons his being cast were so funny.
2. I never noticed how close together his eyes are. With that wig on his head, he looked like a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome survivor.
3. His movements throughout the movie bothered me. The costumer should have weighted his fat suit. He is not a good enough actor to make the fat believable. The guy we saw do it on stage (sadly, NOT Harvey--who I worship) was much better. And of course, Divine didn't have to act fat.
4. It was about half-way through the movie when I realized who Travolta must have used for his character study once he was cast: Miss Piggy. He moved like a piece of sponge manipulated by someone watching a monitor & sounded like a community theater actor impersonating the venerable pig.

The rest of the cast was fine. Nikki Blonsky was cute & energetic with a great voice. It was nice to see Michelle Pfieffer sing again (though her "Miss Baltimore Crabs" was way too serious & should have been more camp). Who knew Cyclops could sing like that? James Marsden was great :-) Amanda Bynes was really good (if slightly too tan) & Allison Janney was hysterical.

The cameos were cute--but where was Debbie Harry? Trent said she should have been the waitress in the diner where Edna & Tracy were accosted by Velma & Amber--Debbie shoulda said, "Don't pay any attention to that bitch." Woulda been fabulous!

InterWorld

OK, I will be the first to admit that this isn't likely to get a fair review from me...but it's not going to be a review that the publisher is likely to complain about :-)

I didn't read comics until I discovered "Sandman." Once when I was in about third grade I bought a box of ten comics at a bookstore--it was a "grab box." That's all I read until graduate school in Boston. Working 3rd shift in Harvard Square stocking the shelves of Wordsworth books (I loved that job!) I started looking through the graphic novels in my Science Fiction section on break. "V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen" kinda bored me...but this "Preludes and Nocturnes" knocked my socks off. Little did I know I had already read Neil Gaiman...the year before I'd gotten a paperback of "Good Omens" because I was a newborn Terry Pratchett fan & loved it!

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere

So I started collecting the issues as they came out and bought the four collections that were out...and I have everything he's written (though I am a little behind right now--no "Fragile Things" yet)...I have "Heliogabulous" and a signed copy of "Neverwhere" and all of his movies I know about...if you are a fan and you haven't seen this:

You really must find it...of course NOW it's a comic book too.

Anyhoo, I've loved most nearlyeverything ("Anansi Boys" kind of left me cold...) and so far (1/2 way though) this is great. A good bellweather of a 'tween/teen speculative fiction book is how many times I think "Oh, Dad would love this." It's rating an 8 on that scale (out of 10).

When it arrived at the door, I was on the phone with my Godmother who was congratulating me on my poem and story publication. (You can still read them: www.daytondailynews.com/l/content/oh/story/living/2007/07/04/ddn070507lifepoetrywinners.html 

www.daytondailynews.com/l/content/oh/story/living/2007/07/08/ddn070807lifeadultstoryhm2.html

sorry about the need for registration--annoying!) The UPS guy handed me the envelope & turned around. Fran (Godmother) hung up and I opened the package--and my first though was, "Good thing the UPS guy got outta here so fast. I would have grabbed him and kissed him if I'd known what was in the package."

I promise to do my best to be fair and honest in my opinion!

And as far as the story goes--well, this is the fourth time DDN has published one of my stories...and this "printing" suffers from the same problem some of the others do. See, in my manuscripts there are "#" denoting white space. For some reason they never print either the symbol OR leave the white space. So the sections of the story run together. I TRIED to adderss this problem after the story won: knowing that time passed between the sections of the story (when the white space or symbol appear in the printed text, that's obvious...when it runs together it looks like shoddy writing) I added phrases like "the next day" or the like...it ruined the flow, but I knew it would be necessary--but I missed one. SO when (if?) you read the story, I apologize. When it comes out in book form (ha ha) it will be more apparent that the sections are different sections. :-)

Bitch and moan! I know...at least it got published.

And, yes, Mom. I AM still working on the new book :-) 

The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School

I gave up on "Bangkok 8" and am back reading things to review...Candace Fleming is a very nice lady (I met her at an OELMA conference at which I was presenting). And this is a lot of fun. It's "Sideways Stories" meets "Aesop's Fables"

Well worth your dime (well...159 dimes actually).

Next is Erik Kraft's new one...sure to also be fun. I loved his Lenny and Mel books. This one is for older readers but still illustrated.

Miracle Wimp

This isn't the cover of the ARC...this cover is MUCH better. Looking forward to it.

We saw a bunch of movies over the weekend "Year of the Dog" was probably the best. "Sherrybaby" was depressing, but not as depressing as it might ave been! There was one other...which was obviously not very memorable. My EOA is definitley getting worse!

Ciao!