Commencement: a Novel by J. Courtney Sullivan

Commencement: a Novel by J. Courtney Sullivan; read in July, 2009. Copy purchased by me.

Description from GoodReads:

A sparkling debut novel: a tender story of friendship, a witty take on liberal arts colleges, and a fascinating portrait of the first generation of women who have all the choices in the world, but no clear idea about which choices to make.

Classmates their first year at Smith College, Celia, Bree, Sally, and April couldn’t be more different. Alone and together, they soon learn that Smith is a hothouse: of sexual discovery, political activism, female bonding, and carbohydrates eaten with abandon. And although several years after graduation they live in far-flung places, their Smith years have left them fiercely devoted to one another. Schooled in the ideals of feminism, they must decide how it all applies to their own real world in matters of love, work, family, and sex. For Celia, Bree, and Sally, it will mean grappling with one-night stands, loneliness and heartbreak, parental disapproval, and changing maiden names. But for April, whose college activism becomes her life’s work, it will mean something else entirely.

Written with radiant style and a wicked sense of humor, Commencement not only captures the intensity of college friendships and first loves, but also explores with great candor the complicated and contradictory landscape facing young women today.

Commencement is an adult novel that came out last year.  I was up and down with this novel.  I enjoyed the sections set in college; it was fun to follow the girls as they explored their identities (including politics and sexuality) and the options available to them.  The bond developed based on room location is something many college freshmen can relate to.  I grew less interested in their post-college life and found April’s storyline downright irritating and unbelievable.  All four of the main characters never felt completely developed and I was unable to care about any of them.  The author takes advantage of many opportunities to discuss feminist ideas.  This was interesting to a certain extent but I can only read so much about what private school-educated white girls think about being a woman in today’s world before it grows tiresome.

Commencement is chick lit wanting to be more literary but not quite making it.  I think with more work, Ms. Sullivan could have put together a better book, but there is too much she is trying to accomplish.  It is a decent fluff read, just don’t expect too much, and be prepared for the outlandish storyline involving April in the second half of the book.

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown by Maud Hart Lovelace; read in January, 2010. Copy checked out from my local library.

Description from GoodReads:

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are twelve–old enough to do lots of things…even go downtown on their own. There they see their first horseless carriage, discover the joys of the public library, and see a real play at the Opera House. They even find themselves acting in one! Best of all, they help a lonely new friend feel at home in Deep Valley–the most wonderful place in the world to grow up. Ever since their first publication in the 1940s, the Betsy-Tacy stories have been loved by each generation of young readers.

I enjoyed this Betsy-Tacy book immensely!  Now that the girls are twelve, they are enjoying their freedom and learning more about themselves and other people.  Betsy’s mother recognizes Betsy’s writing talent and need for her own space, so she helps Betsy set up her own writing desk.  Despite her mother’s opinion of Mrs. Poppy, the wife of the local wealthy car-owner, Betsy gets to know Mrs. Poppy and learns what a lovely, caring woman she is.  I loved this quiet demonstration of Betsy’s growing independence.  It was great fun to experience Betsy and Tacy’s first real theatrical performance through their eyes, and thrilling when Betsy’s parents encourage her to frequent the new Carnegie library in town.

Maud Hart Lovelace had a real talent for writing the girls in a very honest way.  They never act out of the ordinary for girls their age.

I am putting the Betsy-Tacy books aside for the time being so I can read other books, but I have purchased the rest of the series to I have them at hand when I want to jump back in, which I look forward to doing.

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Photo Friday

My box of books from ALA Midwinter finally arrived!  Hurray!

I’m so glad they arrived before the snow we had this past Wednesday and the Snowmageddon that is supposed to come today.  Between the Oscar movies I need to see and all these books, I have more than enough to keep myself busy.

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Random story:

I recently found one of my students looking up the following statement in Google, “when is dec 21, 2012 going to happen.”  I stopped and asked him, “Do you mean what day of the week?”  He replied, “No, I want the date it will happen.”  Really?

Thursday Tidbits – Including LOST

I had a nice little break in my week yesterday thanks to the snow!  Thursday Tidbits for this week:

• I was sad to hear J.D. Salinger had passed away last week, and I thought The Onion’s response was great.
• I am angry that Obama is cutting funding for school libraries from his budget.  He talks about students needing to receive a good education, and they need access to good learning resources for all, and how we need to provide a 21st century learning environment, yet he isn’t funding the one space in the school that can do this for every student, no matter what each teacher is doing in the classroom, no matter what kind of environment the students live in.  The Unquiet Librarian has a fantastic post about why Obama should fund school libraries that is worth reading.
• My husband and I were watching John Oliver’s new stand-up show on Comedy Central the other night.  Nick Kroll was on as a character, Fabrice Fabrice.  He was hilarious!

Lost on Tuesday night was amazing! Some of my random thoughts:

• Holy cow – underwater island?  And that was a Dharma shark swimming around down there!
• It was pretty awesome to have Not-Locke apologize to Ben for Ben having to see him as Smokey.  And to see Ben scared when the Smokey was killing those guys – it’s not often we see Ben so vulnerable.
• Back before Lost started jumping forward in time and all we ever saw was the past and current island time, I thought that a great way to end the show would be everyone coming home and landing in LA, and Locke back in a wheelchair, just making eye contact with Jack, so I was kind of excited to see that scene sort of created last night.
• It seems like everyone in the no-crash time is going to have a suckier life than when they crashed.  Granted, things look good now for Hurley and Locke, but I have my doubts.  We’ll see!
• It was fun to see old characters come back.  Hi Claire, Charlie, Boone, Artz, and Frogurt!  And in the temple, hi Cindy! I was wondering if the 2 kids she had walk in were the same 2 kids taken after the 815 crash.  I’m assuming so.
• It was weird how things were slightly different on this flight 815: Shannon stayed behind in Australia, the conversation between Rose and Jack was different, Desmond on the flight appearing and disappearing, Hurley thinking he’s lucky, no Michael or Walt in sight (I have a feeling Walt is done with the show).
• Where the heck is Vincent?
• So, I’m assuming that what the Others did to Sayid is what they did to Ben as a child. They had said when they helped Ben that he wouldn’t remember things or he’d be changed or something. So I’m wondering if the same will happen to Sayid.
• Terry O’Quinn was just amazing as the 2 different Lockes.
• So, when the Others saved Ben as a kid after Sayid shot him, they said he’d be different, and he was but he was still Ben.  So will Sayid still be Sayid, or did Jacob take over Sayid’s body as the Man in Black/Esau took over Locke’s?  My friend Amy pointed out that NotLocke/FLocke/UnLocke/ManInBlackInLocke looks like Locke, but Locke’s dead body is still laying on the beach.  So can Jacob and Man in Black take possession of bodies or just re-create them? And if they can take possession of a human body, would that body still be fragile or would it become indestructible like NotLocke is now, as demonstrated by the bullet bouncing off him in the temple.
• Thoughts on the two different universes.
• Side by side comparison of Flight 815 from the pilot and this episode.

Okay, just a couple thoughts I had. I’d love to hear what you thought of Lost!  Comment or post a link to your own blog post with your thoughts.

Oscar Nominations 2010

The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday morning; the full list can be viewed at Oscar.com.  I know it is silly, but I love Oscar season!  I’m not a sports fan, so while others get excited about the Super Bowl or March Madness, I get excited for the Oscars.  I love the silly, way-too-expensive ads, the various “experts” weighing in on the front-runners.  I love the red carpet and how pretty everyone looks while I sit on a couch in my pajamas.  I love the opening of the show and the various montages that are run to remind us how awesome movies can be – how funny, how heartbreaking, how they can take you away from life for 2 hours or cast a spotlight on a real part of life that needs to be noticed.  Sometimes I love the speeches.

I haven’t yet seen as many of the nominated movies as I’d like to since December and January were so overwhelming, but I’m hoping to catch a bunch this month.  For now, I had some reactions already:

• I think that Meryl was great as Julia Childs, and I imagine the same can be said of Sandra.  But, from my non-actor point of view, I have more respect for the work an actor must put in to creating a new, believable character than an actor who just imitates a real person, particularly when they can meet the real person or use video footage to aid them.  Having that character so close at hand allows the actor to mimic the real person rather than discover the parts that make up a person on his or her own.  I don’t feel this applies to actors playing people from before video, such as Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria.  She may have had paintings to look at, but that reveals nothing about the way a person walks, talks, sits, laughs, cries, or reacts to another person.  I haven’t seen The Young Victoria yet, but I am disappointed that Ms. Blunt was not nominated.
• Anna Kendrick was wonderful in Up in the Air and I am so glad she is nominated.
• While I know it won’t win, hurray for Up receiving a best picture nomination!  It better win best animated!
• Michael Giacchino is nominated for his Up score – this man is talented!  He also does the scores for Lost and Fringe.  Lost in particular consistently has a fantastic score, and Up’s score was so well done.

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill by Maud Hart Lovelace; read in January, 2010. Copy checked out from my local library.

Description from Good Reads:

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib can’t wait to be ten. After all, getting two numbers in your age is the beginning of growing up–exciting things are bound to happen. And they do! The girls fall in love with the King of Spain, perform in the School Entertainment, and for the first time, go all the way over the Big Hill to Little Syria by themselves. There Betsy, Tacy, and Tib make new friends and learn a thing or two. They learn that new Americans are sometimes the best Americans. And they learn that they themselves wouldn’t want to be anything else.

I adored this Betsy-Tacy book!  The three girls are growing up and for just a few days, they allow themselves to get caught up in acting older but quickly forget this.  Part of the focus of the book is on the school entertainment where Betsy and Tacy dress as cats and sing, and Tib does something called the “baby dance.”  The girls also branch out of their neighborhood into a local immigrant community where they meet a girl their own age.  Their paths cross several times in the book and although the girl cannot speak English, they become friends.  Betsy, Tacy, and Tib embrace the differences in the cultures and appreciate how they are all Americans.

Sometimes, the Betsy Tacy books show their age (seen in the next book in the series) but often the books show how no matter when we grew up or where we are from, some things about being human will always be there.

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Photo Friday

This is the stack of books I brought home from ALA Midwinter.  The box I shipped has still not arrived, which makes me fear it is lost forever.  I am particularly upset that I mistakenly put Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan in the shipped box instead of carrying it on the plane.

I’ll admit that I have no plans to read Secrets of The Lost Symbol.  It’s a published copy, not an ARC, so I grabbed it for my library.

Thursday Tidbits

Today is my 1 year blogiversary!  Happy birthday, little blog!  Just a couple tidbits for today:

• Puppy cam is back! The famous shiba inu who had her puppy cam once before has given birth to another litter.  Puppies always brighten a day!
• I have long been a fan of Joshua Jackson, and I don’t hide it.  He’s my TV boyfriend.  Here is an awesome older interview (about a year old).  He talks about Fringe and buying his childhood home.  My favorite part is when he talks about slipping and calling himself Pacey on Fringe.
• There are some exciting YA books due out this year!
• February 2nd is less than a week away!  That day will bring the Oscar nominations and the final season of LOST! So exciting!
• I sent home 3 packages from ALA Midwinter: 1 poster tube, 1 small package of books and 1 large box of books.  Both the poster tube and small package arrived last week, but my box is still MIA.  I am worried all those books will never arrive! I didn’t insure it or get a tracking number, unfortunately.
• There was a great blog blitz of bloggers putting forth unsung YA lit and it is worth checking out.  I was glad to see some great titles on many lists!

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer: read January, 2010; ARC provided by publisher at ALA Midwinter (thank you so so much, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – you were my first stop in the exhibit hall in the hopes of getting my hands on this one)

Susan Beth Pfeffer’s third book in the “Moon series” (a name adopted by fans/publishers) is written as Miranda’s diary, like the first book.  It picks up a month after Life As We Knew It left off.  Miranda confesses to not writing in a month so the reader knows right away that they have not missed anything.  It begins to rain occasionally, giving Miranda’s family hope that it will not always be cold and snowy.  Because of the spring-ish weather, Miranda’s two brothers decide to travel to a river to catch fish as a supplement to the weekly government bag of food .  They are gone for a week and return with fish AND a third person: Syl.  Syl is a young woman they met on the trip whom Miranda’s brother Matt quickly married.  Despite the reservations about such a quick marriage, the family begrudgingly accepts Syl into their home.  Learning to live and survive with a fifth person is not easy, though.

Soon, that number grows when the doorbell rings and Miranda welcomes more people into her house.  I don’t want to say anymore to avoid spoiling the rest of the book.  If you have not read the first two, you are missing out!

I love this series.  It is realistic about humanity, yet hopeful.  (I attempted to read One Second After this past weekend and besides the main character being a complete jerk, the book also made me lose faith in humankind.  If a disaster happens and things start to resemble that book, I think I’ll just kill myself.)  Miranda never becomes perfect – she is always a teenager, but she does grow over time.  Because this is written as Miranda’s diary, there is a bit of distance from Alex, whom I missed despite the fact that he does show up.

SPOILER ALERT:  I never completely bought the main romance.  I get that in this setting, people would tend to have more sudden couplings, but this was just wonky.  It went from, “Hm, a person of the opposite sex whom I am not related to is cute” to “Alex is annoying” to “Alex is a rare boy my age but not exciting” to “OMG ILOVEYOUALEXTRULUV4EVA.”  I would have bought it with more banter or fighting or conversations or stolen glances or love/hate stuff going on. But I can buy why two people in this situation would be drawn to each other. END SPOILERS

There are no miraculous recoveries here – no one figures out how to knock the moon back in to place.  Pfeffer does a wonderful job describing the terrible things that happen but building in hope that the survivors will find a way to stay alive.  While I appreciate the ending point, I am dying to know about where the characters end up and what it is like there.

Overall, I loved the book.  I don’t love it as much as I love the first one, but it is probably neck and neck with the second in my mind.  You MUST read the first two, and if you like those, you will like This World We Live In.

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ALA Midwinter – Boston

I attended ALA Midwinter in Boston last weekend and had a great time.  It was a short trip due to everything going on at home, but I was able to squeeze in a fair amount.

Friday, I attended an hour long session – YALSA 201 – about becoming involved.  It was interesting to hear the variety of things available.  I dropped in at the YALSA Happy Hour but didn’t stay long as I knew no one and couldn’t bring myself to let go of my shyness and approach groups of strangers.  So I visited the exhibit hall and was able to score a few ARCS, including the two I was really hoping for: This World We Live In and The Dead-Tossed Waves.  After the exhibit hall, I attended at one of YALSA’s ticketed events: Games, Gadgets, and Gurus.  I was able to check out some card and board games that would be great for my school library and meet some awesome people.

Saturday, I attended a YALSA leadership development for committee chairs.  It was a very positive experience and I came away with ideas for my committee, motivation for myself, and the feeling that YALSA cares about the members and their involvement and wants to make leadership within the organization a positive experience.

After that was YALSA’s all-committee meeting where I met with my fantastic local arrangements committee for Annual and we brainstormed.

I returned to the exhibit hall where I was able to pick up many more books and peruse possible library purchases.

I dropped in at the Kidlit Tweet-Up in the lobby bar of my hotel.  It was great to meet fellow bloggers and others in the Kidlit/library world.  It was particularly exciting to meet a couple people who read my name tag and said, “I read your blog!”  Sometimes I forget that there are readers out there!

That evening I went to dinner at the Union Oyster House with Susan from Wizards Wireless and PBS Booklights.  Susan and I met in grad school and it’s always great to catch up with her.  Dinner was soooo good!

Sunday I attended a Web 2.0 session, which was informative, and gave me an opportunity to meet other YALSA people.  I checked out of my hotel, grabbed some lunch, and attended the teen feedback session on this year’s BBYA list.  It was great to get teen opinions and I was able to post my thoughts on Twitter throughout the session thanks to the free wi-fi in the convention center.

I flew home that evening.  This was my first trip using Jet Blue and I was very happy with my experience.  On the way to Boston, I paid an extra $10 for a seat with additional leg room, which was worth it.  On the way home, I was able to use the TV to watch the red carpet arrivals at the Golden Globes.  (My favorite moment was George Clooney pointedly referring to himself and Billy Bush as idiots before making his escape from Billy.)  The plane landed (early!) just as Ricky Gervais was starting the actual show, so I had to rely on my DVR to catch up.  I will definitely use Jet Blue again!

It was a great weekend and so inspiring to me as a librarian.  I have attended non-ALA-related conferences (which shall remain nameless) where I come away with nothing after spending my day listening to people use the day as a bitch-session or receiving basic training on working the AASL standards into library-oriented lessons (said conferences are NOT related to AASL).  I imagine those types of things are helpful to some, but two of my grad school professors were on the team that wrote Information Power so every school library class I took was centered on that book, making it easy to adapt to the new standards.  Do other school library programs not teach the AASL standards?

I also enjoy the ALA conferences because I seem to come across more people who became librarians because they wanted to be a librarian, whereas at these other conferences I tend to meet people who became school librarians because they wanted to get out of teaching but still have summers off.

I love being a part of YALSA and hope I can continue working on committees in the future.  The members are creative, energetic, and passionate about their careers.  School librarians seem to be in the minority, so I encourage other middle and high school librarians who love working with teens to get involved!