This is a weekly round that includes info about my life, the blog, my reading, bookish news, and awesome blog posts I read. It’s inspired by the many weekly posts out there such as It’s Monday! What are you reading?,Sunday Post, and Clock Rewinders.
I missed the last spin and I’ve really fallen behind with my classics club list so I thought I should participate in this one. I didn’t really pick from every category. I basically picked a few I’m dreading and mostly books that I already have copies of on my shelf. Wish me luck! You can read more about the classics spin at The Classics Club Blog.
- Atwood, Margaret: A Handmaid’s Tale
- Baldwin, James: Giovanni’s Room
- Bronte, Charlotte: Vilette
- Burnett, Frances Hodgson: A Little Princess
- Carroll, Lewis: Through the Looking Glass
- Dante: Inferno
- Dickens, Charles: A Tale of Two Cities
- Faulkner, William: The Sound and the Fury
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott: This Side of Paradise
- Gaskell, Elizabeth: Wives & Daughters
- Hardy: Thomas: Tess of the D’Urbervilles
- Hesse, Hermann: Steppenwolf
- Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Kerouac, Jack: On the Road
- Milton, John: Paradise Lost
- Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Green Gables
- Pyle, Howard: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
- Salinger, J.D.: The Catcher in the Rye
- Salten, Felix: Bambi
- Wilde, Oscar: The Importance of Being Earnest
Necessary Noise was assigned to me for my YA class. I’ve actually already read it once, but I had so much trouble writing a review, that I decided to reread it so I could review every story individually. That’s why I’m now participating in Short Story Saturday, created by Lauren at 365 Days of Reading. I plan to keep participating after I finish working through this book so I can get exposed to more short stories and more authors.
I want to take a moment to explain this anthology a bit, as Michael Cart does in his introduction. When we think of family, sometimes our view is skewed by what we have or what we think is normal. Family used to mean something very different to most people: a husband, a wife, 2.5 children, and a dog. In Necessary Noise, this idea of family is thrown out to make room for the reality of families today, whether that means a single parent family, a child with homosexual parents, or a family found in friends. Families come in different shapes and sizes and this book does its best to celebrate that.
Story: “A Family Illness”
Author: Joyce Carol Thomas
Anthology: Necessary Noise: stories about our families as they really are
Summary: This is a dialogue between mother and son about his mental illness.
My thoughts: What a haunting story! Most of it keeps a good pace and sense of suspense. It’s what I think any good short story needs. There’s full character development, which is crucial in so few pages. The ending, however, felt too much like an ad for schizophrenia awareness and I the pop-culture references are dated. I think those would hit the mark with the intended audience, unless they had a thing for 80s music. Still, it’s a powerful story and great abstract prose.
Disclosure: I borrowed this book from the library.
Book Information
Joanna Cotler Books, 2003
Hardcover, $15.99
ISBN 9780060274993
Also in this series
Hardware
Siskiyou Sloan and the Eye of the Giraffe
Necessary Noise
The Throwaway
Visit
A Woman’s Touch
Sailing Away
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Snowbound
This is what I’m talking about! Tough topics are what I’m all about. They’re so much more realistic that way. I can definitely come up with a list for this. In fact, my problem was narrowing it down to ten. Here’s what I came up with. I included some classic tough topic books. There’s a few books on cancer because I got weirdly masochistic when my father was sick and read every book about cancer I could get my hands on.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen
Don’t Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Wake by Abria Mattina
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Black Bird, Volume 13 by Kanoko Sakurakoji
I can’t tell if things are winding down with this series or if it’s just moving toward a new conflict. I have two more volumes to read of what has already been released, and I know another volume is coming out soon or has come out recently. I guess I’ll just keep reading and see. It’s nice to know I’m catching up though. In the previous volume, Hoki was on his way to challenge Sho after he tried to take down the Daitengu. Of course, that’s basically a suicide mission so Kyo is pitching a fit, but he’s still injured from his face off with the uncontrolled Zenki. Misao is trying to heal him as quickly as she can. Hoki ends up facing Sho, but neither attacks the other. Hoki finds this strange and speculates that there may be something wrong with Sho. Meanwhile, Misao and Kyo are having some cute flirty time when she opens a door and suddenly finds herself thrust into Sho’s hideout with no way back to the village. There’s some good development for Sho in this one. I’m never sure what to think of him. One moment he’s sweet to Misao, the next he’s trying to kill her or use her as bait to get to Kyo. Misao seems to think he deserves her pity. She’s just too sweet and it gets her into trouble all the time. She’s so trusting. It’s nice to see that she has some resolve where Kyo is concerned though. The ending was a little crazy. I don’t think I’ve come across a cliffhanger that intense in this series yet. It was a good volume. A few more weeks and I’ll be caught up on this series.
Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.
Book Information
VIZ Media, 2007
200 pages
ISBN 9781421541778
Also in this series
Volume 1 – Volume 2 – Volume 3 – Volume 4 – Volume 5 – Volume 6 – Volume 7 – Volume 8 – Volume 9 – Volume 10 –Volume 11 – Volume 12
Manga Mondays is hosted by Alison Can Read.
