Lari's Bookshelf

Click to view on Amazon The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson Genre:  Historical Fiction - YA  (Going towards the  2012 Genre Fiction Challenge !) I listened to this book on my new commute to my new job as a librarian with a large library system in Western Washington. (Yes, I've moved to a new state and started a new job, and yes, that is why I haven't been updating recently.) Anyways, this book pulled me in a few different directions.  I'll admit that I knew very little about it going in, so at first, I thought I was listening to some kind of dystopian, speculative fiction novel. We have this boy, Octavian, who is raised in this household called the Novanglian College of Lucidity. He is told that he is a prince and his mother is a princess, and he is surrounded by men who teach him latin, music, and the classics and who dress him in all sorts of finery. Also, except for he and his m...

Click to view on Amazon A Great and Terrible Beauty By Libba Bray Release Date: December 9, 2003 (U.S.) Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Pages: 403 ISBN-13: 978-0385730280 (hardcover); 978-0385732314 (paperback) Genre:  Romantic Suspense - YA  (Going towards the  2012 Genre Fiction Challenge !) Interested in something with magic, adventure, secret sisterhoods, love, betrayal, sinister forces, and more?   A Great and Terrible Beauty a young adult novel which has all of these, and it is an interesting blend of different elements of genre fiction. It is the first of a three part series. The novel is set in Victorian England, and it follows the story of Gemma Doyle. It begins in India, where Gemma lives with her parents. It is her 16th birthday, and she is in the market with her mother. They have a fight after Gemma becomes angry that her mother does not want to return and take the family back to England. Gemma becomes lost in the market ...

So how well do you know your genre fiction? Would you like to have a better comprehensive knowledge of the different genres of fiction? Are you an avid bookworm? Do you find yourself only reading one or two genres and would perhaps like to refine and expand your literary palate? Well, in keeping with the tradition of creating resolutions and goals on the new year, I'm going to try a brand-spankin' new reading challenge I have never tried before, and I'd like to invite you to try it with me! To win this challenge, one must read five novels of every genre of genre fiction in 2012. You can also win "Genre Apprentice" status by reading one book from each genre in 2012. The books can be targeted for young adults or adults and the genres are as follows*: Adrenaline Genres Adventure : This genre is action-packed and has a hero on a mission. Pacing is brisk and there is an obvious hero protagonist. There is a sense of danger and physical obstacles for the p...

Habibi by Craig Thompson Release Date: September 20th, 2011 Publisher: Pantheon Pages: 672 ISBN13: 9780375424144 Craig Thompson doesn't fail to impress with yet another beautifully crafted graphic novel. Habibi is the story of Dodola, who at the age of 9 is sold as a child bride into a marriage with a scribe. While the tragic circumstances that came with this marriage were difficult for the reader to come to terms with, Dodola is able to learn how to read and write from her husband. At the age of 12, her husband is murdered and she is taken captive into a slave ring. This is where she meets Zam, whom she  calls "habibi." He is three years old when they meet, and she is able to escape with him and they live in a boat in the desert. This story doesn't take place in any one era, and the settings vary between medieval and modern eras. As Dodola and Zam face a harsh world, the magic of stories and cultural mythologies is what keeps them together, and give...

Existentialism One of the main themes of early to mid 20th century, is this theme of the existential crisis of the individual. While planes and cars and the radio connected societies, individuals who went off to war were stripped of their humanity. World War I and II offered technological horrors never before seen, and men and women were trained to live as cogs in a military machine that was indifferent to human interests. This caused a huge internal conflict within many. There is a fabulous speech by Charlie Chaplin in the film, "The Great Dictator." Someone uploaded this and matched it with a song from the Inception soundtrack, take a few minutes to watch this: The part of the speech I want to highlight, is the part where Chaplin depicts the general sentiments that I'm trying to illustrate regarding technological advancements vs. the isolation and brutality of humanity in the first half of the 20th century: "We have developed speed, but we have shut ...

NaNo Zombie So I'm one of those crazy people who decided it would be a good idea to write a novel in November. Well, at least 50,000 words, and they may not all be necessarily good words, but nothing like a crash course in hurried novel writing to get the creative flow going! At the end of Day 6, I totaled  9,881 words. Just shy of where I need to be to finish on time if I keep going at a steady rate. If you are interested, here is my posted synopsis for my story. It's still pretty accurate, but may change: Twenty-three year old Melvina Finnson embraces fantasy and escapism to ignore the fact that she works a low wage job at one of the few remaining SuperRents in Small Town, USA. She is more than satisfied with a life filled with movies and video games she gets for free from work, and she's jaded about opportunities for her in the "real" world. As she begins to accept the fact that she is a college dropout and content with a life of perpetual distracti...

This is seriously my favorite holiday of the year. I have some pretty awesome vampire teeth I'll use to scare any unsuspecting children that come knocking tonight, and I'm painting my three year old daughter's face like a skeleton . Screw that princess shit. Speaking of Halloween, I love Halloween songs. We started the day by watching The Nightmare Before Christmas , which is arguably the best Halloween/Christmas movie ever. One of my favorite songs is "Jack's Lament," where Jack has an existential crisis, and realizes that while he has everything he has ever wanted, he still feels like he's missing something in his life: Then, after watching Nostalgia Chick's review of The Worst Witch , I learned of a music scene which sadly has escaped my radar my entire life. Until now: I can't figure out if Tim Curry singing this 80s music vomit was making me happy, sad, confused, etc. What is going on there? All I know is that my jaw dropped early...