Something totally unexpected

I Want Candy Kim Wong Keltner

Hello. This was SO NOT what I was expecting based on Keltner's other works. Candace Ong is a young teenager (14) in the 80s, right on that verge of being last year's "Say Say Oh Playmate" hand-clapping playground champ and loving Where the Wild Things Are but at the same time hoping the Cars are singing directly to her and spending most nights masturbating with her stuffed animals.

Enter Ruby, Candace's best friend who is cooler and more grown up and ready to leave Candace behind. As Candace tries to prove to herself and to Ruby that she's just as grown up, she finds herself in way over her head.

So, technically an adult book, published by Avon, which specializes in romances and more chicklit (which this is NOT) this could be a YA novel. I think it was published by Avon as an adult title because Keltner's other books are Avon (and definitely fit in more with what they usually publish.)

What we have here is a coming-of-age book that happens FAST and in way the main character isn't necessarily ready for. It also takes a weird magical realism twist towards the end. This is gritty and full of sex as Candace tries to not let Ruby leave her behind.

I didn't really like this book. I never really connected with Candance and didn't really care what happened to her and Ruby was just a bitch. BUT it gets points for two things:

1. Keltner is very angry about the fetishization and eroticization of Asian women in Western culture. And she's not afraid to hit back in her books, and hit back HARD.

2. This was a total different departure for Keltner from her other books. She gets props for stretching and telling a difficult story in a real voice.

Book Provided by... my local library

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The Life of a Cataloguer

So... we moved... and we're breaking up the bookshelves (because we no longer have one really long wall to put them all on). So... now I have to decide which books will be downstairs and which ones will be in the guest bedroom. I know all the crafty books will be in the guest bedroom but what else?!

Also, this is creating havoc with my system for entering my books into Library Thing. I think it might just be time to take all weekend and catalog my brain out.

Anyway, you don't care about that. Here are some reviews! I'm soooooooooooooooooooo far behind that I'm just going to group them into order in which I read them. We're still back in June people!

Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbit

So...Winnie Foster runs away from home and finds the fountain of immortality and the family that drank from it and is faced with the choice to also drink from it or grow up and die...

But it's beautifully written and a classic for a reason. I can't stress enough the beautiful and wonderful command Babbit has for language and imagery. It's a book you want to sink down into on a still, hot, summer day. One of Silvey's 100 Best Books for Children.

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson Bette Bao Lord

This is the story of Shirley Temple Wong's first year in America. It's also the year that Jackie Robinson lead the Dodgers to victory. With twelve chapters (one for each month) we see as Shirley adjusts and adapts as she moves from the large family compound in China to a small apartment in Brooklyn (and how Brooklyn adjusts to her!). Funny and heart-warming... this is also one of Silvey's 100 Best, and with good reason!


Woo! June done, now July!

Because of Winn-Dixie Kate DiCamillo

Another one of the 100 Best... this is the story about the summer Opal moves to town and has no friends, but meets an ugly mutt of a dog that introduces her to the townfolk. Sweet and moving in a dog-story tyle way. Not really my cup of tea, but well-enough written that I am looking forward to reading other books by DiCamillo that have a plot that is more to my liking...

Buddha Baby Kim Wong Keltner

Sequel to The Dim Sum of All Things but even better. Funny, light Chinese-American San Fransisco chic lit with crazy escapes, a Chinese James Dean, search for ethnic identity and bi-racial relationships all mixed in. But I really missed her friend from the first book, who is sadly absent in this one. I'm totally blanking on the name. Sorry.

Esperanza Rising Pam Munoz Ryan

Esperanza lives a life of luxury in Mexico, but then her father is tragically killed and she and her mom flee to California, where they have to become field workers. A riches-to-rags story. Then her mom gets sick and Esperanza has to finally stand on her own.

This is really good and really well written, but man, I just really hated Esperanza. She was such a BITCH. But I can't fault Munoz Ryan, because I think the characters reactions and feelings were completely true to someone in her situation but I really wanted to smack her. Badly.



I then read Suite Française but I'm not going to talk about it now because it was seriously one of the best things I've read in years and desrves lots of space. Needless to say, you should read it. NOW.