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Bibliobimbo
If there was a Reader's Anonymous, my family would probably have shunted me off into rehab already.
The Meaning of Life . . . and Other Stuff (Amelia Rules)
A solid entry in the Amelia Rules series, but a definite let-down from earlier volumes, and it does not stand on its own--you need to have read the previous books for this one to make sense.
Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and other Boneheaded Bureaucrats are Turning America into a Nation of Children
Well, who'd have thunk this dyed-in-the-wool lefty-liberal would like a book that's blurbed on the back by such conservative stalwarts as Tucker Carlson and David Boaz? Chalk it up to my ingrained civil libertarianism. Harsanyi makes some great points about the government's continuing intrusion into every aspect of everyday people's lives. I didn't agree with everything he said; two examples where we will have to agree to disagree involve consumer safety laws (I think businesses should be punished when they put the public at risk) and laws regarding pet ownership (years of rescue work means that I will nearly always be in favor of laws meant to help animals, unless they are absolutely draconian). But for the most part, I agree. I don't need the government telling me what I can or can't do with my body, whether it's getting a tattoo, eating trans fats, or getting an abortion. Honestly, doesn't the government have bigger problems than making sure everyone makes the right decision all the time?
I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets!
An interesting collection of a forgotten artist. Hanks created comics in the early days of the medium, quitting around the beginning of WWII. The stories are fairly much the same--they mostly feature Stardust, a "super-wizard" of technology who lives in space and Fatomah, guardian of the jungle. Both of these creations have amazing superpowers, and are utterly invincible. Which quickly removes any narrative tension from the stories--neither character is ever in any danger, there is never any question of them being defeated by the bad guys. The only question is why it takes them so damn long to stop whatever evil plot is underway (usually after people have died, tornadoes have been unleashed, giant panthers have been let loose in New York, etc.) But, the artwork is quite fun, almost Crumb-like and amazingly colorful, and the details are a hoot. Fatomah flies on her natural "superiority" and the pseudo-science nonsense in the Stardust stories must be read to be believed. Probably the most interesting part of the book is the short comic at the end by the editor, who hunted down Hanks' son, only to find out Hanks was a good-for-nothing abusive husband and father who abandoned his family. Whoops. was that a spoiler? Anyway, I enjoyed it.
Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality
An interesting, though brief, overview of the concept of heterosexuality. Said concept is amazingly recent; prior to the 18th century, people didn't define themselves by who they were attracted to. In the West, most sex acts were considered sinful anyway if they didn't lead to procreation, and there was no real difference between performing "sodomy" (non-procreative sex) with someone of the opposite gender and someone with the same gender. Very informative, and a definite commentary on the human need to categorize and put things into binaries.
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)
Just go read it. You'll be glad you did. Unless you're the kind of person who's easily offended by swearing and generally bizarre-itude. If so, don't read it. Everyone else should read it, though.
 - Jenny Lawson)
Jane Austen: A Life
A basically strong biography marred by the author's sometimes overreaching. Unfortunately, we have have little idea about much of Austen's life; this occasionally leads biographers to extrapolate based on little to no evidence. The most egregious example, in my opinion, was the dreadful Becoming Jane Austen, but this particular biography was also full of the author's opinions, such as saying Austen broke her engagement to Biggs-Wither because he compared unfavorable to Lefroy. Is that possible? Yes. Is it provable? Hardly. But on the whole, a good biography of Austen and her family.
Rise: The Story of the Egyptian Revolution As Written Shortly Before It Began
Collection of Egyptian comic strips will draw immediate comparisons to Doonesbury. A funny look at life in another country-many things are the same, but some are completely different.
Why We Broke Up
For a while now, I've been in a reading slump. I just haven't been able to really get into anything. However, I read this and Hark! A Vagrant! at the same time, and my reading mojo is restored. I would describe this book as a Manic Pixie Dreamgirl story from the point of view of the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl. Cinema-freak Min tells us the story of her relationship with uberjock Ed, using the items in a box she is returning to him after they break up. The artwork is fantastastic, and Handler writes teen girls very well for someone who has (to my knowledge) never been one.So, no spoiler in telling you Ed and Min break up (it's right in the title), but the story is still totally engrossing. It's like one of those mysteries where you know what happens at the end, but you're still reading madly to find out why. I mean, yes, it's obvious that two people who have absolutely nothing in common are not going to have a long-term relationship. But still.Min reminds me of a Francesca Lia Block character. Her and her friends are just so darn quirky, but in a realistic way. I totally knew people like this in high school. Ed and his popular friends are very realistic also. They're stereotypical, but in the same way the jocks you went to high school were stereotypical. Which is to say they come across as real (sometimes douchebaggy) people.This is a very badly written review, but I had to put my thoughts down because I just thought it was so great. I probably haven't enjoyed a YA "romance" this much since Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Honestly, I am more of a scifi kind of person, but this was so good, and I plan on recommending it to all the teens that come into the library.
It Looked Different on the Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy
All I can say is, I was reading this in my office, and I started to laugh out loud, and had to pretend I was coughing so our bookkeeper wouldn't think I was a freak.
Embassytown
I am always amazed by the amount of world-building that goes on in one of China Mieville's novels, the intricate plotting, the amazing elaborations on his original ideas. It makes me ashamed. He puts all this effort into writing these books, and I am such a lazy reviewer that all I can say is "That was AWESOME Y'ALL." But it was. A novel with so many layers, so much depth to it that I had to take frequent breaks to let what was written slowly absorb into my (tiny little) mind. Another winner.
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales / With an Introduction by Lemony Snicket
Like all story collections, a mixed bag. I might have given this a higher rating, but I was a little disappointed that some of the stories didn't seem to match the pictures. In fact, I'm a little disappointed that this anthology actually happened, as the enjoyment in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is that of creating your own stories to go with the wonderfully evocative pictures. However, without that baggage, this is a pretty decent short story collection. I hadn't realized that Steven King's The House on Maple Street was based on a picture from The Mysteries--duh! I particularly liked Jules Feiffer's story about a demented children's illustrator.
The Spirit of Christmas Past : Evocative Memories of Years Gone By
Full of good pictures of holidays past, marred by some slight errors. Focuses firmly on Christmas as celebrated in England.
Success Secrets of Sherlock Holmes: Life Lessons from the Master Detective
A brief summary of the personality traits the author thinks made Holmes such a success. I'm not normally a fan of self-help books, but who doesn't want to be more like Sherlock Holmes?
Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England
This fascinating description of the Victorian home is just the kind of book I love, filled with detail about ordinary people's lives during the nineteenth century. Bill Bryson referenced it in his excellent At Home, and I'm glad I was able to find a copy at my local library. Although, I must say, as the book focused on the home it also focused on the lives of Victorian women, and that was somewhat depressing/shocking. Sure, everyone knows women couldn't own property or have custody of their children after a divorce, but who realizes that they weren't supposed to tell their husbands when their children were sick or eat spicy foods? And one really has to feel bad for the children who were dressed in what sounds like 70 pounds of clothes and supposed to be mostly segregated from their parents. Read it and be glad you live in modern times.
Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (The Abhorsen Trilogy)
Sweet Lord, I finally finished it! I started this book a couple of months ago, and I would get into it for awhile and then put it down without any desire to pick it up again. This should have been a book that I loved--I really enjoyed Sabriel, the first book in the series, and this one is about a librarian. However, I really could not empathize with Prince Sameth and his situation at all. Every time Nix shifted to his viewpoint, I just lost all interest. Why wouldn't he tell Sabriel he didn't want to be, couldn't be the Abhorsen? Why didn't Sabriel and Touchstone realize that his skills weren't Abhorsen skills? Why was he so whiny? Argh! When I finally got to the part where Lirael met Sameth, the book went much faster because I wasn't subjected to his viewpoint in huge chunks. Despite it's difficulty keeping my interest, I'm still giving this book 4 stars because Lirael is such a cool character (although a bit too much of a stereotypical librarian; she decides to work in the library because she hopes she'll never have to talk to anyone) and there were parts, especially toward the end, when I couldn't put it down. However, I think I'll be taking a break before I move on to the third book in the trilogy, Abhorsen.
