This past month, I traveled a fair amount and so had the chance to read and listen to quite a bit more than usual. You’d think I’d have TONS of recommendations, but there were four books I just couldn’t finish, despite great reviews, and one audiobook I actually stopped listening to before the end—really atypical for me since I’ve found that listens frequently improve a book I’m having trouble with. So, sadly, there are no listens this month. 🙁
With no further ado, my recommendations from November are:
READS
Benoit, Charles; You (HarperTeen; 2010): Know how you sometimes talk to yourself? How you sit there and wonder what the hell you’re doing? How it’s sometimes easier to take a step back from yourself, as if you’ve suddenly become this really interesting bug no one’s ever seen before? How, if you employed second-person narration as an internal thought, your high school English teacher would ding you? That’s You. Known for his adult mysteries, this is fellow Dear-Teen-Me author Benoit’s first YA novel, one that employs that second-person narration to tell the story of Kyle Chase, an angry hoodie and misfit. Soon as I saw that, I thought: Aha, gimmick. Well, maybe. Not really. This is a book about choice and its ramifications–essentially, an extended flashback told in the second person. The story itself is fairly straight-forward, although there’s a fabulous twist at the end which is why, I think, Benoit made the narrative choice he did. While the narrative style is somewhat distancing and a tad pedantic . . . that’s the point, dude. Hoodie and all-around misfit Kyle Chase has made a bunch of very bad choices. Some are irreparable, and by the last page—when this short, nimble story has come full-circle—you understand that Kyle’s taken that huge step back from himself so he can look down and wonder: Dude, what did you just do? Sure, this could’ve been told in first- or third-person, and I think the story would be just as powerful. But a good story is a good story, and Benoit tells his exceptionally well. If this isn’t nominated for an Edgar, there is no justice in the world. Recommended for ages 13-up.
Dunkle, Clare B.; The House of Dead Maids (Henry Holt & Co.; 2010): If you ever wondered what happened before Wuthering Heights, Dunkle proposes to answer that in this prequel to Emily Brontë’s masterpiece. The Brontës’ real-life servant, who supposedly told many a ghost story to her young charges, serves as the model for Tabby Akroyd, an 11-year-old girl hired out to the mysterious, brooding manor, Seldom House. There, she is nursemaid to a young and imperious charge–a savage little boy she calls “Himself”–and discovers an unsettling truth about Seldom House: the manor’s haunted by the ghosts of dead maids, just like her. While the book’s not that scary–Breathe by Cliff McNish (Carolrhoda; 2006) is much creepier–the historical backdrop and climactic showdown provide their own satisfactions. Recommended for intermediate readers, ages 11-15.
Ellis, Stephanie; No Safe Place (Groundwood Books; 2010): If you’ve followed headlines at all, you know that refugees from various parts of the world go through hell, and a bunch are kids. Ellis’s short contemporary follows three orphans–one each from Iraq, Russia and Roma–thrust together purely by chance and circumstance. The plot follows their flight and unlikely friendship. The writing is very spare and a little understated, which is somewhat problematic. More mature, socially-aware teens will probably find this a tad simplistic, and there have been other, stronger adult books that look at the same issue (Tess Gerritsen’s fabulous Vanish, one of the better installments in her long-running Rizzoli-Isles series, jumps to mind). Still, most teens do not follow headlines, haven’t a clue what kids without guardians or parents really go through, and are—face it—a little complacent. This story manages to present its facts baldly and without excessive moralizing and reminds readers: there are lots more kids in the world who would happily trade an iPhone for a full belly and a safe place to sleep. Just depends on your perspective. Got a teen looking for a social agenda? This is a good place to start. Recommended for ages 13-up.
Giles, Gail; Dark Song (Little, Brown: 2010): I love Gail Giles. Her dark, psychologically complex books are wonderful (Shattering Glass is one of my favs, and the audiobook is equally superb) and this book trends that way as well. Like Benoit’s You, this is a story about choices—bad ones, as it turns out. The book follows Ames Ford: a kid with money and a storybook family who discovers that truth is malleable and things are not what they seem. (A hint: No, her dad’s not a serial killer.) Once the truth comes out, Ames’s world rapidly deteriorates, something reflected in her physical surround (as her family is forced to give up their post home for one that, well, a self-respecting cockroach might think twice about) and Ames’s alliance with new boyfriend, Marc. While this book is not as nimble or well-plotted as Giles’s previous efforts—the complete personality turnarounds/makeovers are a bit too radical to be believed and the end is both abrupt and just too tidy—I get what Giles is driving at: when reality sucks, desperate people allow themselves to believe all kinds of lies. Recommended for very mature teens, ages 16-up.
Junger, Sebastian; War (Twelve; 2010): I already wrote about this book in my 11/28 post, Love in War. All I can add is: Go. Read. Then, maybe, read this again.
LOOKS
As is my wont, my movie pick is a look back.
The Mist (Dimension Films, et. al.; 2007); dir. by Frank Darabont.
Another confession: I’m probably the only person in America not blown away by AMC’s new series, “The Walking Dead.” I had hoped to be; Frank Darabont has done some of the more successful adaptations of Stephen King’s works, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, among them. So while TWD just doesn’t float my boat, the series prompted me to revisit Darabont’s most recent adaptation of a work by King, the 1986 novella, The Mist (first published in the collection, Skeleton Crew). The basic story follows what happens after a freakish mist engulfs a small, lakeside town. Thomas Jane, in a pre-Hung role (a very fun television show, by the way; do check it out) stars as David Drayton, a man struggling to save both himself and his young son from nightmarish monsters–not all of whom happen to live in the mist. While the film is pretty faithful to the novella, the end is completely different–and, to my mind, much, much better: a real gut punch. Frances Sternhagen, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones and Marcia Gay Harden (in a standout role as a splendidly religious manic) round out a fantastic cast. Reason enough to watch this very fine film.
