Monday, August 16, 2010

Blog Fail.

Yeah I failed at my summer reading goals.
Going Bovine was deadly slow and i could not bring myself to finish it. I got about halfway through and decided to stop punishing myself. It did bring up one of my biggest questions/dilemmas about YA/lit for young readers. I fully support characters who are real and relatable rather than idealized "good children". YA is not about setting examples and teaching young people a lesson like it was in the 70's. but here my question lies: does that make it ok for a main character to be a bad person? Cameron, the protagonist of Going Bovine is selfish, lazy, judgmental, and just kind of a jerk. granted, i didn't finish the book to see if he found a reason to change, but really? why am i supposed to care about this jerk? Also, he smokes pot. i get it, teenagers smoke and drink and take other illegal substances. but do we have to condone that in their literature? am i being judgmental? or is it totally a bad idea for that to be a character in a PRINTZ WINNING novel???? What do you think? am I wrong? I'm still not sure where i stand on the issue of non-likable characters for young adult readers. I know that I do NOT like to read about a character I don't like.

I read another book recently.
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd is an anthology of short stories and comic strips by popular YA authors about all things "Nerdy". If there is anything remotely nerdy about you, you will love at least something in this book! It's a beautiful collection from some of YALit's big names. It covers everything from Scifi nerds to theatre geeks. Every story feels absolutely sincere and the comics in between are a blast! If you're not a geek, you can learn a lot about people, and if you are, this book will speak to your heart. You may not love every single story, but I found the majority of them entertaining and enjoyable. This book would be great for young adults and some stories would fit well into the classroom. I am PROUD to be a geek and am grateful that these authors are telling young adults that being a geek means so much more than getting shoved into a locker by the football team. I also loved how after each story there was a short author bio that told the reader a little something about the geek inside of that author. loved it!

I also saw Scot Pilgrim vs the World this weekend. I haven't read the books, but I actually prefer to see a movie first(the book is always better and this way I am never disappointed). This movie was a lot of fun. The characters were just quirky enough to be highly entertaining but not so much that you felt it was quirk for the sake of just being quirky. It was definitely more of a video game concept than the super hero theme that I had guessed from the preview. However it still holds its appeal to a viewer like myself with little to no knowledge of video games. Michael Cera is as endearing as ever. I loved the message. Definitely an enjoyable day at the movies. Not one I need to own in my collection, but if made me want to read the books, and I would definitely watch it again!

not sure what is up next.
I'm trying to read Allan Moore's From Hell.
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sales Catwoman: When in Rome
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
and for the hospital waiting room read Robin Palmer's Cindy Ella

Any suggestions from the internet community?

2 comments:

  1. I agree. Going Bovine was horrible. I am glad you didn't waste your time finishing it like I did. What was the Printz committee thinking?

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  2. In my experience, the Printz committee likes to pick books that are "different" rather than really high quality. I have really enjoyed a couple of the Printz Honor books a lot more than the winners.

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