A.J. Jacobs has already improved his spirit and his mind by following the Old Testament for a year (in The Year of Living Biblically) and reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica from cover to cover (in The Know-It-All). Now he humbly — and once again with great good humor — broaches the diet & exercise craze.
I see mention of this book everywhere I turn lately, The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR. Some reviews are more positive than others, but most critics applaud his pursuit of self-improvement.
Then there are the very entertaining articles by the author himself. The Slate article about hygiene (repeating the title of which would get this post blocked by every school under the sun), the Huffington Post article about weight loss, and especially “37 Takeaways from Drop Dead Healthy” on the Simon & Schuster website where #1 (Sitting is worse for you than a Paula Deen glazed bacon donut) is later followed by #20 (Are still sitting? If you continue to do so, there’s a 43 percent chance you will be dead by the end of this list).
JACOBS, A. J. Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection. 384p. S & S. 2012. Tr $26. ISBN 978-1-4165-9907-4. LC 2011039172.
Adult/High School–After “perfecting” his mind in The Know It All (2004) and his soul in The Year of Living Biblically (2007, both S & S), Jacobs’s newest quixotic quest is to perfect his body, embarking on a two-year whirlwind tour of all the scientific and pseudo-scientific health advice he can get his hands on. Despite the hyperbolic subtitle, however, Jacobs displays admirable amiability and humility, making him a perfect guide through the morass that is fitness literature. He is genuinely interested in becoming a healthier person and takes readers through each body system as he makes improvements in his lifestyle, never claiming to have discovered the ultimate answer, but simply offering readers his usually quite astute observations as they come. The book, then, is more a personal narrative than a real health guide, but readers may be surprised at how much practical advice it contains and how aware of their own health they become. Adding to the personal narrative are several powerful chapters that recount Jacobs’s last years with his aging grandfather. These chapters are nominally connected to the main narrative by his quest for longevity (which his 94-year-old grandfather clearly has achieved), but in practice they are a moving account of what has been a key relationship for Jacobs with a truly incredible man. Between these two narratives there is more than enough for any fan of narrative nonfiction, particularly those with an interest in healthy lifestyles.–Mark Flowers, John F. Kennedy Library, Vallejo, CA
Morgan Callan Rogers has written a coming-of-age novel with a sympathetic yet tough young protagonist, enticing small-town coastal Maine setting, and a mystery. What happened to Florine’s mother? Even more to the point, will Florine do alright without her?
To tell the truth, we almost missed this one. This January title has flown under the radar for the most part, although Entertainment Weekly gave it a strong review (and a B+ rating), comparing it to movies Stand by Me and The Last Picture Show. I like our own reviewer’s comparisons even better!
ROGERS, Morgan Callan. Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea. 305p. Viking. 2012. Tr $26.95. ISBN 978-0-670-02340-0. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–Twelve-year-old Florine is carefree, roaming her small Maine fishing community with her band of lifelong friends—Bud, Dottie, and Glen. She adores her big, practical father, Leeman, and her beautiful, charismatic mother, Carly, even though the two argue over Carly’s restless nature. Nothing prepares Florine for the tragedy to come. Carly and her best friend go for a short getaway up the coast, during which Carly disappears without a trace. Florine and her father are left with open wounds that torment them with possibilities: Is she hurt? Did she leave on purpose? Or is her body left somewhere…? The novel spans the course of Florine’s adolescence, during which the Carly mystery overshadows each celebration and each tragedy. Florine is touchingly herself throughout. When Leeman seeks comfort from a local woman, who then insidiously makes her way into his home, Florine determinedly moves in with her Gran. She stubbornly maintains a mad crush on her childhood friend, Bud, despite his lengthy romance with another girl. Like Ava in Karen Russell’s Swamplandia (Knopf, 2011), Florine increasingly finds herself creating her own rules for survival, whether they appear rational to others or not. Recommend this to teens who like coming-of-age novels with strong characters and a vibrant sense of place, such as Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Once Upon a River (Norton, 2011) or Ivan Doig’s The Whistling Season (Houghton Harcourt, 2006).–Diane Colson, Palm Harbor Library, FL
from graphic novel guest blogger Francisca Goldsmith:
Blending genres in fiction can have the same enriching and expansive effect that blending varietals or spices allow. Sometimes the mixture goes wrong because the blending leaves a neither-this-nor-that overtone; the best blends, however, offer subtleties missing from “pure” strains.
Bloody Chester is that special latter sort, in which the Western and the historical and the horror and the romance are pulled into a bouquet that is exquisite and more than simply palatable. The theme of greed bubbles up through individual characters’ personas, as well as through culture-wide value systems of the period. Instead of allowing Chester to turn his back on Native American sensibilities as fully human—which many Western writers do through either choice or historic blindness—Chester is horrified to learn that the “animals” on whom a miser has performed medical experiments are, indeed, humans. Yet his outrage doesn’t verge into an anachronism for his own period: he simply sees and understands and won’t justify, but we are spared sermons or Monday morning cultural quarterbacking.
With a summer publishing date, this title seems to be available fairly widely already, making it an easy end of school year booktalk, gift or anticipation. An excellent complement to old television Westerns, current horror flicks and science fiction about the exquisitely brilliant loner.
PETTY, JT. Bloody Chester. illus. by Hilary Florido. 142p. First Second. July 2012. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-100-3. LC 2011030042.
Adult/High School–In this finely tuned genre blending of historical, Western, and horror fiction, readers are swept along as young Chester Kates (who appears and acts as though he’s in his late teens) takes on a dangerous job after effectively being run out of one Wild West town. On assignment, he finds that where he’s been sent is nearly a ghost town, its populace ravaged by some mysterious plague. And even cynical Chester is beginning to see what look like ghosts in the trees. Character development, plotting, and the careful balance of narrative regaled in words and communicated through expressive and colorful cartoons make this a complete package of adventure. The bad men have surprisingly human sides, Chester has plenty of female attention, and his own horror grows as his ethical base is tweaked by the reality that he finally discerns behind the “plague.” In the end, like many a good Western, the hero rides off, leaving the promise to those he deserts that the “railroad’s coming,” a promise that he knows carries the threat of more greed and violence.–Francisca Goldsmith, Infopeople Project, CA
Nick Dybek’s debut is about fathers and sons, villains and heroes.
The Granta New Voices program highlights six debut authors each year. Dybek became a Granta New Voice in December, and there is an excellent, extensive interview on their site about his novel. He shares this, “In children’s books the villains are usually doomed while the heroes make it to the end; in Treasure Island, for example, the reader knows Jim Hawkins will survive because he’s telling the story, but there’s no such guarantee for John Silver. It’s Silver that you need to fear for. Perhaps because of this, I was always more interested in the villains than the heroes when I was a kid. I imagined Cal, the narrator, to be similarly fascinated by the villains of Treasure Island, by the tension they produce whenever they step on the page.”
Later in the interview, asked about other influences, he mentions going “back to a couple of classic memoirs about adolescence, This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff and Stop-Time by Frank Conroy.” Granta also offers an extensive excerpt from the novel.
DYBEK, Nick. When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man. 320p. Riverhead. 2012. Tr $26.95. ISBN 978-1-59448-809-2. LC 2011049336.
Adult/High School–Loyalty Island, home to 15-year-old Cal Bolling, is a dark and murky place off the Olympic Peninsula where his father operates a crabbing boat for the local fleet owned by John Gaunt. When Gaunt suddenly dies and his cynical and unpredictable son, Richard, decides to sell the business, the livelihood of the entire island is threatened. But before the sale, Richard inexplicably decides to join the fleet in Alaska and is lost overboard. It is a tragedy that doesn’t greatly upset the families of the island who will now continue to have work. Cal, however, soon discovers that Richard is alive, chained up in the basement of Cal’s own house. He and his best friend, whose fathers are involved in the kidnapping, visit Richard even as they keep his existence secret. Cal grew up on stories of the pirate Captain Flint, who murdered his own crew after they buried chests of gold for him in Treasure Island. Just as he rooted for the doomed pirates in Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale, Cal wants Richard to somehow survive. Should the boys free him before the fleet returns and he is likely to be murdered? Should they protect the secret and save the legendary industry of Loyalty Island? It is an excruciating moral dilemma that tests their friendship, their conscience, and their allegiance to their families. Teens will appreciate the Goonies-like friendship and banter between Cal and his friend; lovers of Treasure Island will enjoy the parallels to that classic tale of murderous greed.–John Sexton, Greenburgh Public Library, NY
It all began in 2006 when four aimless young guys came up with a crazy idea — buy an old bus, fix it up, then drive around fulfilling their bucket lists while helping strangers to do to the same. Since then they’ve acquired a name, The Buried Life, and accomplished quite a bit, from riding bulls to helping to deliver a baby to becoming New York Times bestselling authors. Not to mention their show on MTV.
The book’s Youtube video will give you a flavor. The Buried Life website includes sneak peeks of anonymous answers to the title question.
The four guys who make up The Buried Life have been interviewed by show after show, newspaper after newspaper. MSNBC has posted their Today Show interview with Ann Curry, as well has an excerpt from the book.
For every book sold, part of the proceeds are donated to To Write Love in Her Arms, an organization that helps young people suffering from depression and anxiety.
THE BURIED LIFE. What Do you Want to Do Before You Die? 226p. illus. Artisan. 2012. Tr $19.95. ISBN 978-1-57965-476-4. LC 2011939318.
Adult/High School–One day, four Canadian guys, collectively known as The Buried Life, decided to make a list of 100 things they wanted to do before they died. But more than that, they actually set out to do them. Six years later, they had accomplished ¾ of them, while touring around North America helping others check items off their bucket list too. Accomplishing this feat is exactly the kind of thing college students pontificate about in dorms but few act upon. The resulting book contains stories of how these young men ended up accomplishing some of the tasks–and not accomplishing others, such as “Streak a stadium and get away with it.” (The streaking happened but not the getting away with it.) The tales from the group are the strongest part of the book, which also includes some of the desires of people they met on their journeys. These desires are illustrated a la Frank Warren’s “PostSecret” books (William Morrow), and fans of those will probably find a similar affinity for this one. The illustrated desires are a combination of deep and whimsical, such as “I would like to help find a missing person” or “I want to say MEOW during a speech.” More than a few refer to drugs and drinking, not surprising considering the collegiate target audience. The book itself is slightly thin, but also slightly inspirational and full of conversation starters.–Jamie Watson, Baltimore County Public Library, MD
Pamela Redmond’s new novel addresses the consequences of unplanned pregnancy in three different periods of 20th century America. Adoption and its effects on the mother and the daughter, the availability of birth control, the availability of abortion. Redmond shows just how complicated the decisions involved with potential motherhood can be.
In a Q&A published on her website, the author mentions that even though young women today have more choices and information than ever before, “the feelings around those choices, the difficulty of those decisions is much the same.” Why the title? “The babies to these women exist primarily as possibilities. And of course, most centrally, to the women in the story as well as to all of us, there is the possibility of who you can become as a person and what you can make of your life.”
REDMOND, Pamela. The Possibility of You: A Novel. 368p. Gallery. 2012. pap. $15. ISBN 978-1-4516-1642-2. LC 2011043159.
Adult/High School–Redmond introduces three women from three different eras, three pregnancies in three separate stories. In 1917, Irish maid Bridget leaves her job working for the Apfelmanns to marry George. When he goes missing during the Great War, she returns to her employers’ house, a single mother with baby in tow. In 1976, newly orphaned Billie travels from California to New York to meet her father’s estranged mother and starts a sexual relationship with her college best friend, Jupiter. When she finds herself pregnant, she chooses not to have an abortion. In the present, journalist Cait has a one-night-stand with Martin, gets pregnant, and gives up an upcoming assignment in Addis Ababa in favor of staying in New York, keeping the child, and writing about (and searching for) her birth parents. Her research leads her to Billie, her birth mother, and this is only the first of the connections among the three stories. Cait’s search for her birth mother is far easier than most adoptee searches as many cities do not have an easily accessible Birth Index for reference. Through these stories, readers will gain a sense of the issues surrounding contraception and abortion during each era; for different reasons, none highly religious or moral, each woman chooses not to abort her child. Give this to teens interested in the current political discussion about women’s reproductive rights as well as those wondering about adoption and how it affects both parents and adoptees.–Laura Pearle, Venn Consultants, Carmel, NY
from graphic novel guest blogger Francisca Goldsmith:
Arne Bellstorf’s graphic novel history of a very early chapter in the career of the Beatles introduces Americans not only to the feel and look of the group’s German premier, but also gives us a fine intro to a well recognized creator in today’s German comics. While we have seen increasing availability of contemporary work in translation from Belgium, France and Israel, this is among the first to reach general readers from Germany. And certainly seeing and hearing the story of the Beatles’ earliest days, which took place on stages in Hamburg’s bars, offers a genuine sense of place.
Beyond the finely detailed street scenes, band posters, and interactions among the original band members and their German hosts, we get a good look at West Germany at a time when it has been made a politically recharged nation: the Berlin Wall was erected only months before the Beatles’ premier; the town of Hamburg looks almost provincial in exterior scenes; yet the coffee shops and bars are rife not only with cigarette smoke but with political concerns.
Bellstorf tells the story through a German friend of the Beatles, Astrid Kirchherr, adding another layer to the onion of personalized history. To add a period sound to your reading, listen to the Lennon/McCartney song, in mono, from which the book’s title is taken.
BELLSTORF, Arne. Baby’s in Black: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and the Beatles. Tr. from German by Michael Waaler. 196p. First Second. May 2012. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-771-5. LC 2011049680.
Adult/High School–In the 50 years since the Beatles entered the world stage, generations have become familiar not only with their music but also with the outline of how they came to be a group. Bellstorf, however, provides a missing chapter in that story by concentrating his attentions on Stuart Sutcliffe, one of the original band members when the group arrived in Hamburg from Liverpool, and the woman for whom he left the proto-Beatles in Germany. Through appropriately scratchy gray shadows and deep black ink, readers are introduced to Astrid Kirchherr, a photographer’s assistant (who incidentally introduced what would become the early Beatle haircut by giving Stu a new look during this period), and told how she came to meet the Beatles through her friend Klaus, who took her to see them after discovering them in a nightclub. Although John and George have necessarily highlighted roles in this history, readers stay with Astrid and Stu as they become friends and lovers, and as Stuart becomes increasingly manic and ill. The relationships among the musicians, the wannabe musician Klaus, and Astrid and her mother are all brought to life, providing a narrative texture that suits any chapter of Beatles’ history. Bellstorf keeps his images relatively simple but defining features such as noses and speaking styles help readers keep track of not just people but also moods. A best seller in Germany, this book should find audiences here with ease. Make sure your Beatles collections are in good condition.–Francisca Goldsmith, Infopeople Project, CA
In her 2001 debut, Loung Ung wrote about surviving the Cambodian genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge. First They Killed My Father is among the very best memoirs with teen appeal that shine a light on recent global history, along with Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane, Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone and Persepolis.
First They Killed My Father was a national bestseller and won the 2001 Asian/Pacific American Librarian’s Association award for Excellence in Adult Non-Fiction Literature. It was included in YALSA’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound in both 2004 and 2009.
Today we review the third book in the author’s trilogy about her life. Lulu in the Sky is a story of healing, advocacy and love. HarperCollins offers a considerable excerpt on their website.
I was fortunate to see Loung Ung speak to a high school audience several years ago. She is both incredibly inspiring and charmingly vulnerable. If you are looking for an author to visit, you might consider finding out if she is available.
UNG, Loung. Lulu in the Sky: A Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing, and Double Happiness. 368p. bibliog. HarperPerennial. Apr. 2012. pap. $15.99. ISBN 978-0-06-209191-8. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–As a child in Cambodia, Ung saw her father taken away by soldiers of the new Communist regime. Her life and country were turned upside down and her family suffered from starvation and the atrocities of war. At age 10, she was chosen by her family to immigrate to the United States with her brother and his wife. These early experiences are recounted in First they Killed My Father (2000) and Lucky Child (2005, both HarperCollins). In this book, she continues to describe life in her new country. Living in Vermont, Ung became a “regular” American. While in college, she fell in love with a young man, but after serious bouts with depression and anger, she realized that she needed to come to terms with her past before she could commit to a future with someone. Her journey of trust, love, and hope was difficult, and she worked hard to reconcile her fears of abandonment, hunger, and loneliness. Her love story will keep readers turning the pages in the hopes of a positive conclusion. The author’s many trips to Cambodia as an activist working to bring humanitarian efforts to her homeland and political awareness to her new country helped to bridge her two worlds. The rich tapestry of Cambodian history and its destruction by the Pol Pot Regime is embodied in the story of Ung’s life. This book can stand alone or read along with her others for the full story. The author’s honest look at her fears and her work as an activist are inspiring and compelling. An excellent conclusion to the trilogy.–Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA
In Cheryl Strayed’s memoir she tells the story of her eleven hundred-mile solo hike along the Pacific Coast Trail, trying to find herself again in the aftermath of her mother’s early death. Strayed started in the Mojave Desert, making her way through California and Oregon to Washington State, with little experience camping and no experience with long-distance hiking.
Knopf has produced a beautiful book trailer that captures the character of her journey, narrated by the author and including photographs of her mother and her siblings, and of the trail. Excerpts of Wild are available on both The Huffington Post and Knopf websites.
* STRAYED, Cheryl. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. 336p. Knopf. 2012. Tr $25.95. ISBN 978-0-307-59273-6. LC 95020008.
Adult/High School–At first glance, Wild, which recounts the author’s descent into grief when her mother dies at age 45, and her subsequent decision to hike 1100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, does not seem like a book with significant teen appeal. The author is a 26 year-old woman untethered from her home, her family, and her marriage, overcome with loss and dabbling with drugs and an unhealthy relationship. These issues are usually just beyond the horizon of teen interest. But Strayed is a storyteller whose sharp prose, self-deprecating humor, and searing honesty will seduce readers of any age. Setting out alone on one of the most formidable hikes in North America along the spine of the Sierras and Cascades from Southern California to the Columbia River, Strayed’s naïveté about the wilderness recalls the innocence that ultimately doomed Christopher McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild (Villard, 1996). Her backpack is overloaded, her boots are too small, and her imagination incapable of fathoming the obstacles, pain, and danger that await her. But unlike McCandless, Strayed finds that it is her connection to others (and the books whose pages she burns each night after reading) in the wilderness that balances the solitude imposed by her grief and provides the insight into her own strength so she can emerge from her journey whole and renewed. Teens, especially girls, will be inspired by the author’s grit, entertained by her pluck, and totally engaged with her broken-open heart.–John Sexton, Greenburgh Public Library, NY
Jessica Maria Tuccelli’s family saga incorporates both Native American and African American history and lore, and even some hints of the supernatural. The southern Appalachia setting is an important element of the book, so it is interesting to read the author’s description of how she found the setting for her story.
You might also enjoy a listen to some of her musical influences on Largehearted Boy.
TUCCELLI, Jessica Maria. Glow: A Novel. 336p. Viking. 2012. Tr $25.95. ISBN 978-0-670-02331-8. LC 2011037553.
Adult/High School–Tuccelli’s debut novel is a sweeping account of multiple generations covering more than 100 years of life in and around a small mountain town in Georgia. The story opens in 1941 when Amelia, a young mother, is threatened as a result of her involvement in the NAACP. Feeling the urgency of the threat, she puts her daughter on a bus to escape danger. Ella never makes it and is left for dead on the side of the road until her rescue by two women who play a central role in uncovering the rich layers of the child’s family heritage. This is a dense novel told from multiple points of view that vividly portray the harsh realities of slave life in the old South and the racism and oppression still in existence as the novel opens. Native Americans are not spared either; their brutal treatment is told via Amelia’s stories, a descendent of the Red Tail Hawk clan. However, readers can’t help but be enchanted by the many likable characters, including Willie Mae (one of Ella’s rescuers), a former slave, a medical practitioner of sorts, and a believer in ghosts (she’s not the only believer); and Riddle, once a recluse, who becomes an overseer on a plantation and falls in love with the housekeeper. What shines through so many of the family stories over the many generations is the sense of compassion, hope, love, and the ties that bind the families together. Because it can be confusing with the shifting time periods and narrators, readers may need to keep the family tree bookmarked! Recommend this one to teens who enjoy Southern historical fiction, family sagas, and spunky heroines.–Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA
Angela Carstensen is Head Librarian and an Upper School Librarian at Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City. Angela served on the Alex Awards committee for four years, chairing the 2008 committee, and chaired the first YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adult committee in 2009. Recently, she edited Outstanding Books for the College Bound: Titles and Programs for a New Generation (ALA Editions, 2011). Contact her via Twitter @AngeReads.
