Starred Review – Page 152

Mar 23, 2016

Review of To Hold the Bridge, by Garth Nix

To Hold the Bridge

by Garth Nix

Harper, 2015. 400 pages.
Starred Review

This is a collection of stories by the brilliant Garth Nix. Based on the copyright page, most were published previously, but not necessarily in the United States. (Garth Nix lives in Australia.)

They are uniformly well-written, but there is a tremendous variety of topics. The title story is set in the Old Kingdom world of Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, Across the Wall, and Clariel. There are also stories set in the world of his other novels A Confusion of Princes and Shade’s Children.

But there are a wide variety of things going on here. His magic always was original. There is a dark twist in a lot of the tales, but this book makes for tremendously enjoyable reading.

I liked the story about the granddaughter of William the Conqueror and the Sword in the Stone. It turns out the magic of the Britons, holly and forest magic, conflicted with the iron magic of the Norman conquerors. This story is an example of Garth Nix’s complicated magical rules which he communicates to the reader through the eyes of his characters who already understand it. He never descends into expository hell, the bane of many fantasy writers. And he can even pull this off in short stories.

Besides revisiting his own worlds, he also goes into the worlds of The Martian Chronicles, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hellboy, and Sherlock Holmes — introducing his brother Sir Magnus Holmes, who is a specialist in occult magic. I especially liked the retelling of Rapunzel, where Rapunzel cleverly exploits the requirements of how a witch must treat a guest. Though the witch does some clever exploitation herself.

There are two vampire stories and a zombie story (which is also a unicorn story) and a story about a witches’ school (another one that’s especially good). I did mention there’s a wide variety in these tales. It took me a long time to read, because each story is so satisfying in itself, it’s easy to stop at the end of a story.

A magnificent collection by a master world-builder who also knows how to show you the hearts of his characters.

garthnix.com
epicreads.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Mar 17, 2016

Review of George, by Alex Gino

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

George

by Alex Gino

Scholastic Press, New York, 2015. 195 pages.
Starred Review
2016 Stonewall Children’s Literature Award

I’ve got a transgender adult daughter, so I was ready for this book, about a transgender 10-year-old. But it opened even my eyes.

The story is simple and well-told. The narration talks about George as “she,” but the people around her treat her as male and assume that she is male, even when they’re trying to be supportive and encouraging.

At the start of the book, George’s teacher is finishing reading Charlotte’s Web to the class, and George can’t keep from crying when Charlotte dies – which of course attracts jeers from boys in the class, including one boy who used to be George’s friend.

George’s teacher tries to be supportive.

“It takes a special person to cry over a book. It shows compassion as well as imagination.” Ms. Udell patted George’s shoulder. “Don’t ever lose that, George, and I know you’ll turn into a fine young man.”

The word man hit like a pile of rocks falling on George’s skull. It was a hundred times worse than boy, and she couldn’t breathe. She bit her lip fiercely and felt fresh tears pounding against her eyes. She put her head down on her desk and wished she were invisible.

George’s class is going to perform a play of Charlotte’s Web. George wants with all her heart to be Charlotte, but is told that there are too many girls who want the part.

This book helped me get inside the head of someone who is figuring out who she really is. And showed me just how difficult that would be – to understand, and then to try to tell the people around you.

This is a children’s book about what it feels like to be transgender. Wow. Perhaps it will help some transgender kids feel less alone. But maybe even more important, perhaps it will help other kids experience empathy, which is one of the best antidotes to bullying. It would be harder to mock someone for being transgender after you’ve read about George just wanting to be who she is.

And it’s also a great story about a kid who wants to surprise everyone by really shining in her class play.

alexgino.com
scholastic.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Mar 8, 2016

Review of Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit

Current Issues, Musings, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Men Explain Things to Me

by Rebecca Solnit

Dispatch Books, Haymarket Books, Chicago, Illinois, 2014. 130 pages.
Starred Review

I’m afraid most intelligent women need to hear nothing more than the title of this book to give a knowing smile. Rebecca Solnit starts the essay with a particularly stunning example of a man who knew nothing about a topic Rebecca had written a book about, trying to explain things to her. He even mentioned an “important book” she should have read, which it turned out he had not actually read but had read about in the New York Times Book Review. This was the book she had written.

I like incidents of that sort, when forces that are usually so sneaky and hard to point out slither out of the grass and are as obvious as, say, an anaconda that’s eaten a cow or an elephant turd on the carpet.

Yes, people of both genders pop up at events and hold forth on irrelevant things and conspiracy theories, but the out-and-out confrontational confidence of the totally ignorant is, in my experience, gendered. Men explain things to me, and other women, whether or not they know what they’re talking about. Some men.

Every woman knows what I’m talking about. It’s the presumption that makes it hard, at times, for any woman in any field; that keeps women from speaking up and from being heard when they dare; that crushes young women into silence by indicating, the way harassment on the street does, that this is not their world. It trains us in self-doubt and self-limitation just as it exercises men’s unsupported overconfidence.

Now, she does make clear that she’s not talking about all men, nor even the majority of men. But there are men out there who don’t respect women’s knowledge or opinions and feel they automatically have more important things to say. My first Master’s degree was in mathematics, and I always felt like I had to prove myself. And always, I must admit, took great delight in getting higher scores than my male classmates on math tests – which was more about me than about them. But where did I get the idea I had to prove myself?

The rest of the essays in this book talk about other ways women are silenced and marginalized. There’s also some discussion about marriage equality in that context.

The phrase [“marriage equality”] is ordinarily employed to mean that same-sex couples will have the rights different-sexed couples do. But it could also mean that marriage is between equals. That’s not what traditional marriage was. Throughout much of its history in the West, the laws defining marriage made the husband essentially an owner and the wife a possession. Or the man a boss and the woman a servant or slave.

Another essay is about a powerful international figure who raped a hotel maid in his luxury suite – and how that can be a metaphor for many things.

The opening essay begins with what is really a humorous scene. But this is not a humorous book. Overall, it’s about feminism and how we’ve made progress, but there is still progress that needs to be made.

Rebecca Solnit will make you think and consider and speak.

rebeccasolnit.net
TomDispatch.com
haymarketbooks.org

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Mar 6, 2016

Review of Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie

Adventure, Fiction Review, Science Fiction, Starred Review 0

Ancillary Mercy

by Ann Leckie

Orbit Books, 2015. 359 pages.
Starred Review

Wow! I suspected that I would appreciate the second book, Ancillary Sword, much more after reading the third book in the trilogy, and I was absolutely right.

Yes, you need to read this trilogy in order. It’s a unit, and everything comes together in this final book.

Book One, Ancillary Justice was about Breq, who was once the ship Justice of Toren and is now a lone ancillary, seeking revenge on the tyrant who destroyed most of her and the captain she loved. In the process of revenge-seeking, she starts a civil war, or at least makes obvious that a war is going on.

In Book Two, Ancillary Sword, Breq is Fleet Captain of a new ship, Mercy of Kalr, with a crew of humans, but with access to everything the ship senses. She goes to a distant planet and deals with politics and intrigue on the planet and its orbiting space station, which has its own AI.

In this third book, Ancillary Mercy, the part of the Lord of the Radch that hates Breq comes to the planet looking for her. Breq still wants revenge, and Breq is definitely in danger, and plot threads are woven in intricate ways.

I can’t say a lot about the plot, since I don’t want to give anything away from the earlier books. By this time, I’d gotten used to everyone being referred to as “she.” One thing I especially liked about this book was that even with the large cast of characters, there’s growth in almost all of the characters. Some things Breq was doing as a matter of course in the last book, she’s now questioning. And Breq’s lieutenants face their own challenges, and even the station and the ship come up with some surprising character development.

These books make you think about humanity and gender and perspective and justice and love and relationships in whole new ways — all while telling an intricately woven, imaginatively inventive story with thrillingly dangerous action sequences. (Yes, Breq’s trend of getting seriously injured in each book continues.)

I can’t wait for my son to read it so I can discuss it with him! (He gave me a copy of the first book for Christmas.) This book is mind-blowing and amazing.

annleckie.com
orbitbooks.net

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Mar 5, 2016

Review of When Dad Showed Me the Universe, by Ulf Stark and Eva Eriksson

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

When Dad Showed Me the Universe

by Ulf Stark
illustrated by Eva Eriksson

Gecko Press, 2015. First published in Sweden in 1998. 28 pages.
Starred Review

This book is completely charming.

One day Dad said he thought I was old enough for him to show me the universe.

The pictures show a little boy about preschool age. The dentist Dad puts on a black beret, a leather jacket, and tall boots. We go with the pair on their walk to see the universe.

“What actually is the universe?” I asked.

“The entire universe,” said Dad, “includes everything, my friend.”

The way there was straight ahead and then to the left.

I like the moment when they go to buy provisions for their expedition, because it reminds me of Winnie-the-Pooh’s “Expotition to the North Pole.”

They walk through town and see the night begin to fall and the shops closing. They go out to a field with no street lights, where people walk their dogs during the day.

I love the way, when they get there and Dad asks if he can see, the little boy notices all sorts of things on the ground:

I could see, even though it was almost dark.
I saw a snail from the universe creeping over a stone.
I saw a blade of grass swaying in the winds of the universe.
There was a flower called a thistle.
And there was Dad, staring at the sky.
“Yes, Dad,” I whispered, “I see it.”
All of this was the universe!
I thought it was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen.

Then Dad tells him he’s supposed to look up, and we see all the stars stretched out. Dad points out all the constellations, including Big Dog, and there’s a moment of child-sized humor when Dad steps in something left by Big Dog.

When we got home, we had sandwiches and hot chocolate.
“So, how was the universe?” asked my mother.
“It was beautiful,” I said. “And funny.”

And so is this wonderful book, a quiet story about a boy, with his Dad, seeing something he will never forget.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Mar 4, 2016

Review of The Accidental Highwayman, by Ben Tripp

Fantasy, Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Accidental Highwayman

Being the Tale of Kit Bristol, His Horse, Midnight, a Mysterious Princess, and Sundry Magical Persons Besides

by Ben Tripp
read by Steve West

Macmillan Audiobook from Tor, 2014. 10 hours on 9 discs.
Starred Review

I’ve meant to read this since it came out in 2014, and finally got around to it when it came out in audio form. (With thanks to my sister-in-law Laura for encouraging me to do so.) This was just as well, since the narrator is an outstanding reader and has a marvelous British accent, so it was a great listening choice.

As the subtitle tells us, this book tells the story of Kit Bristol, set in the 1700s in England. He’s the only servant of a reclusive aristocrat, and one day his master comes home having been shot. It turns out he was the famed Whistling Jack, and through one thing and another, Kit ends up taking up Whistling Jack’s commitment to help a princess fleeing an arranged marriage.

It turns out the princess is the daughter of the king of Faery, and he is power-hungry and wants to form an alliance with King George III. On top of that, there’s a soulless duchess after Princess Morgana and a vindictive redcoat obsessed with capturing Whistling Jack and seeing him hanged.

Kit and Princess Morgana go through an amazing variety of outlandish adventures. There were times when I couldn’t see how he could possibly survive (even knowing he must, since the story is told in first person).

The only thing wrong with the book? The story doesn’t end at a good place at all. Yes, part of their adventure does come to conclusion, but our two main characters are by no means safe and happy at the end. So that means I’ll be looking eagerly for the sequel.

This book is good for swashbuckling fun with fantasy. The narrator is wonderful, and this would also work for family listening. Kit does get into danger, but it’s young adult reading more because Kit is a young adult than because of any dark subject matter. Ben Tripp is also an illustrator, so having listened to the book it sounds like I missed out on illustrations, though at least I got to enjoy a British accent to make up for it.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library audiobook from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Mar 2, 2016March 2, 2016

Review of This Bridge Will Not Be Gray, by Dave Eggers and Tucker Nichols

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

This Bridge Will Not Be Gray

story by Dave Eggers
art by Tucker Nichols

McSweeney’s, San Francisco, 2015. 104 pages.
Starred Review

This Bridge Will Not Be Gray is a picture book about the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a long picture book, but otherwise fits picture book format. Every spread has a cut-paper pictorial background, and no spread has more than a few paragraphs of text, if that.

This isn’t the fancy, realistic-looking cut paper of Steve Jenkins. This is simple, with basic shapes. People are shown as heads of various colors (such as blue and green and red). But the simple style does work. Dave Eggers takes us through the design process of the Golden Gate bridge, beginning with the beautiful bay itself.

It is interesting to me that the reason the Golden Gate Bridge ended up reddish-orange in the first place was that was the color they painted onto steel when it was shipped to make it rust-proof.

They hadn’t actually decided what color to paint the bridge, but plans were to paint it gray.

When Irving Morrow was on the ferry one day, he watched this orange steel being assembled, and he had a thought. He thought that this color was beautiful.

And when Irving was asked what color he thought the bridge should be, he said, Why not leave it this color? And people said, What? And they said, Huh? And they said, Irving, you are nuts. No bridge had ever been orange. Who had ever heard of an orange bridge? No one had, because no bridge had ever been this color. This is true: no bridge in known human history had ever been orange.

And for a good portion of the human race, because something has not already been, that is a good reason to fear it coming to be.

But as the debate continued about the color of the bridge, an interesting thing happened. Other people noticed the same thing Irving had noticed: that this accidental orange somehow looked right.

That gives you an idea of the conversational style of the book. The simple graphics accompany it and add up to a lovely and informative story of how one of the most beautiful bridges in the world was built.

The Golden Gate Bridge, which is orange, is the best-known and best-loved bridge in the world.

It is best-known because it is bold and courageous and unusual and even strange. It is best-loved because it is bold and courageous and unusual and even strange. And it is all these things because Irving Morrow, and thousands of others said:

“This bridge will not be gray!”

It is especially fitting that the author, the illustrator, and the publisher live and work near the Golden Gate Bridge.

mcsweeneys.net

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Mar 2, 2016

Review of The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Princess in Black
and the Perfect Princess Party

by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale
illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Candlewick Press, 2015. 90 pages.
Starred Review

The Princess in Black is back! This time it’s her birthday. Twelve princesses and their pets have come for the party, which Princess Magnolia wants to be perfect. But every time Princess Magnolia gets ready to open presents, the monster alarm goes off!

The Princess in Black must fight the monsters and send them back to Monster Land. But Princess Magnolia doesn’t want her guests to know that she is really the Princess in Black. Not even the ever-so-good-at-hiding Princess Sneezewort. Princess Magnolia keeps coming up with different activities – hide-and-go-seek, races, a labyrinth, to cover up for her absences fighting monsters.

My only disappointment? I was hoping to see Duff the Goat Boy investigate his own monster-fighting powers. But there will be more books. There is time for that.

Like the first book, this one will span a wide age range. An easy reader, it will booktalk well with the younger grades of elementary school. Boys and girls both enjoy these books. Yes, Magnolia’s a princess, but she’s also a superhero! My two two-year-old nieces will enjoy it because there are plenty of pictures. And plenty of princesses as well.

This is a wonderful series with plenty of imaginative touches. There is repetition so helpful for beginning readers and simple language, but humorous twists which reward reading. The party keeps on getting interrupted, and readers will enjoy the way things slightly change each time.

Book Three is out — I was going to post its review when I realized I hadn’t posted this one yet! All are wonderful and bring something new to the party!

squeetus.com
candlewick.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com, and then given to my niece.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Feb 26, 2016

Review of Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie

Fiction Review, Science Fiction, Starred Review 0

Ancillary Sword

by Ann Leckie

Orbit Books, 2014. 356 pages.
Starred Review

Ancillary Sword is the sequel to the astonishing Ancillary Justice. Breq, the former AI controlling a ship and multiple ancillaries, now in one isolated body, is now the captain of a ship, Mercy of Kalr, and holds a rank of Fleet Captain. Because Breq still has implants to connect her consciousness with her original ship, she can instantly receive information from Mercy of Kalr, though not as effectively as when she had more bodies.

In this volume, the events in Ancillary Justice have touched off a possible civil war between different bodies of the Lord of the Radchaai (more fun with consciousness and perception). Breq has gone to a distant planetary system, hoping to help the sister of a former captain she loved who was killed around the time Breq’s ship was destroyed.

The gates ships use to travel between planetary systems are down, so Breq is seemingly isolated once she arrives. But a military ship, Sword of Atagaris, accosts them as soon as they enter the system. Something strange is going on.

Breq goes onto the space station and sets up quarters where she is not welcome. There are political undercurrents to navigate and plots and counterplots.

This book was always interesting and absorbing, but the plot path wasn’t as clear to me throughout as I would have liked. The conflicts Breq faces are mostly local, and it’s not entirely clear how it fits in with the civil war she may have touched off.

I have a strong feeling I will like this second book better after I’ve read the third book (and this is the advantage to reading a trilogy after it’s already complete), which I’m going to do as soon as possible. Then I think I’ll understand better how it all fits together.

The author still pulls off showing her readers how it would feel to see the world through multiple perspectives all at once. And how it would feel to look at the world without seeing gender.

As a side note, there’s an interesting scene when they come to the planet and there’s a Genetalia Festival going on and garlands of brightly colored penises on the wall. Breq is told, “The Athoeki weren’t very civilized…. They mostly aren’t even now. They make a division between people with penises and people without.” Imagine that.

Again there are mysteries for Breq to solve and motivations to uncover. And we get to enjoy world-building done by a genius. I’m very curious what’s going to happen next.

annleckie.com
orbitbooks.net

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Feb 20, 2016

Review of Patterns of the Universe, by Alex Bellos and Edmund Harriss

Art, Mathematical, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 1

Patterns of the Universe

A Coloring Adventure in Math and Beauty

by Alex Bellos and Edmund Harriss

The Experiment, New York, 2015.
Starred Review

I was going to wait until I’d colored more patterns to review this book, but now I’ve decided that having read all the text, I can tell about how fascinating it is.

Toward the end of 2015, I started hearing about the latest fad for adult coloring books. I saw this one based on math, and knew how I wanted to try participating in the fad! I asked for it for Christmas, and two of my sisters sent me a copy. That turns out to be a good thing. I’m going to color one and copy pages out of the other. I think I will copy the pi-related coloring page to give as a prize for our scavenger hunt on Super Pi Day (3/14/16). I’m also thinking about having a math coloring program at the library and using various pages, along with my own coloring sheets. (I figure copying a few pages will tantalize people into buying the book!)

The idea is wonderful: Mathematical patterns to color! There are 57 designs to simply color, and then my favorites are 12 more designs that you help create.

Some of the designs are based on Voronoi diagrams, transformations, fractals, tilings, knots, polyhedra, Fibonacci numbers, and, yes, prime numbers.

The one pattern I have already finished coloring is the Sevenn — a Venn diagram of seven sets. And coloring it made me glad I have another book from which I can make copies and try it again.

The later, more interesting (to me) patterns come under the section heading “Creating,” as opposed to simply “Coloring.”

This is where they have more patterns involving prime numbers and randomness, as well as cellular automata, Latin squares, and space-filling curves.

Here are the instructions for the pi-related coloring page:

PI WALK

The digits from 0 to 9 represent the directions in the key at right. Choose a color for each of them. Starting at the dot, draw a short line (about half an inch) for each of the digits in pi (given above) in the direction of that digit. So, start with the 3 color in the 3 direction, then continue from that point with a new line in the 1 direction in the 1 color, and so on.

When I looked at this section, it occurred to me that my mathematical knitting projects are an example of mathematical coloring — with yarn!

They did have a way of coloring prime numbers. Personally, I think my own way is more interesting, assigning primes a color and then coloring each multiple according to its prime factorization, whether in a grid as in my original sweater or the prime factorization blankets, or in a line in the prime factorization scarf or the prime factorization cardigan. However, the cool thing is there are quite a lot of new ideas that could be translated to knitting — and this book got my brain spinning in new ways.

It also made me realize that I could make my own coloring sheets. My knitting is coloring with yarn, and why not make these patterns available for people to try with their own colors? This book was the nudge that got me to pull out the diagrams and post them on my Sonderknitting page. I’m not an artist, so they are simply made with tables, but I think the prime factorization chart is especially helpful for learning about primes. And the prime factorization charts in other bases are helpful for understanding other bases. The Pascal’s Triangle charts show you pretty patterns from Pascal’s Triangle, and the normal distribution chart gives you a gut-level feeling for the normal distribution that’s different from what you think when you see a bell-shaped curve.

I’m looking forward to what new ideas will spark as I color the rest of the patterns in this book! And I’m also looking forward to seeing how pretty these patterns will turn out and what new insights I’ll get. It’s a win all the way around.

alexbellos.com
maxwelldemon.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own copy.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?