Happy birthday to me!

Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all of the lovely birthday wishes I received today, and to announce a blog vacation while I get settled in for spring semester. I'll be living away from home for the next five months, and while I'm excited about living closer to school, hanging out with friends, having a shorter commute, etc., I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little terrified, too.

This truly has been the most fantastic of birthdays (and years), so thanks again for being awesome, everybody.  See you Monday!

Review: The Mumbo Jumbo Circus by Jane George

The Mumbo Jumbo Circus by Jane George
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble
YA, Contemporary/Magical Realism, 336 pages, Red Willow Publishing

• Series: stand-alone
• Pub date: April 5th 2011
• Why I read it: Circus freaks, pretty illustrations
• Disclosure: Received a review copy from the author. Thanks!

Judged by its cover: Beautiful illustrations that convey the story perfectly. Well done, indies.

Goodreads blurb:

Magic. Mystery. Mayhem. The MUMBO JUMBO CIRCUS...
When the enigmatic Ringmaster asks 15-year-old Evanja (Evan) Leane to run away and join the circus, she says yes. Anywhere’s got to be better than foster home Number Eight. Evan learns that this ragtag circus, a haven for throwaway teens, relies on more than spectacle and illusion. This circus is built on magic. Each of the teens possesses a donvrai, a true gift, that manifests only in the presence of the Ringmaster’s mysterious Ju-Ju. Unlike many of the other teens who must wait for their donvrai to emerge, Evan’s gift surfaces on her first night: she can read horses’ minds. This would be totally awesome except she has been deathly afraid of horses since foster home Number Three. But circus is a dying art. If Evan wants to save her beloved new-found home, she must concoct a brilliant horse act that will bring in the crowds. And she’d better get over herself and get on with it fast; there’s a traitor close to the Ringmaster who will stop at nothing to make sure she doesn’t succeed.  

The Long...

It's been an awfully long time since I've been charmed by a book. Enthralled, sure. Disappointed, of course. And there hasn't been much in between. Sometimes it's just as lovely to read a book for fun--adventures, magic, and kissing galore--as it is to read it because you can't even imagine breathing without finishing. I doubt The Mumbo Jumbo Circus will compel many to burn the midnight oil, but it has a whole lot of heart. And sometimes, that's all a book needs.

The biggest delight, to me, was George's vivid portrayal of circus life, and its hodgepodge mythology that felt as silly--in a good way--as it did real. From the perfect, tiny, acrobatic twins who are as vicious as they are beautiful, to the mime who refuses to say a word even outside of his act, to the gypsy with a British accent, to the goth boy Evanja Leane falls for, George's characters are goofy, bouncy caricatures of themselves, and I don't even mind. It takes me back to the Big Top I loved as a kid, popcorn, cotton candy, circus peanuts, and all.

Where George stumbles is in her "typical-teen" talk. While there's nary a morality tale in sight, thank goodness, the profanity and the cutting and the trailer parks and the sex talks get to be a little much. Still, George has more of a knack for the teen voice than most, and it was never enough to take me too far out of the magic.

All in all, The Mumbo Jumbo Circus was a great, sweet read that perfectly crystallized what being a teenager means: wanting to both go back to being a kid and metamorphose into a grown-up so very badly it feels like you might be ripped in two. Anyone looking for a childhood nostalgia trip could do much worse than this. It's even illustrated, in a quirky style I didn't love but certainly liked a lot, and George's descriptions function almost as illustrations themselves. I can't wait to see what she does next, and have to hope a little bit that it will mean a return to the characters and world she handles so well here.


...and the Short:

A sweet childhood nostalgia trip with a lot of heart. Anyone for a trip to the circus?


The Final Word: Liked it. 

Must Read Now: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Must Read Now is a semi-regular feature here at the Bookshelf, where I spotlight books that, while they're too old and too popular already for me to consider doing a full review on, I just can't stop talking about and feel the need to share. The last time I wrote one of these, I wrote about the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness. Today, I'm writing about a book I loved even more:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.

Never had a book made me laugh, cry, grin, melt, and cringe all on the same page...until The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Never had I been so emotionally affected by a book I found myself cry-laughing about it a week later...until The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Sherman Alexie hasn't just written a book, he's written a life, because Junior is hands down the most vivid character I've ever read in fiction. Writers, don't miss it. Also notable is the art, which is so perfect for the story I can't begin to imagine the book without it.

In short, I can't believe I waited this long to read this book. If you're waiting...QUIT. Just read it, and thank me later.

Now excuse me while I go re-read it.

Review: Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera

Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble
YA, Contemporary, 352 pages, Puffin

• Series: Stand-alone
• Pub date: February 5 2009
• Why I read it: Hype, cover love, current events
• Disclosure: Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Thanks!

Judged by its cover:  Amazing. Gritty and relevant to the story, love the font, and perfectly suitable to read in public so that everyone knows that you are Highly Intelligent and care a lot about Issues...if you, erm, care about that sort of thing.

Goodreads blurb:

Khalid, a 15-year-old Muslim boy from Rochdale, is abducted from Pakistan while on holiday with his family. He is taken to Guantanamo Bay and held without charge. An innocent denied his freedom at a time when Western boys are finding theirs, Khalid tries and fails to understand what's happening to him and cannot fail to be a changed young man.

The Long...

I came into this book fully prepared for loving and was left disappointed. I do not take kindly to be disappointed. So I'm sorry if my bitterness shines through.

We start in the UK, where every effort is made to portray Khalid as an ordinary boy, with ordinary friends, who likes to play not-so-ordinary video games. Very elaborate misunderstandings with certain governments ensue, and already the reader is a little dazed by the backstory Perera throws at them. There are endless prison transfers and endless other prisoners and endless prison guards, portrayed always, always in black and white instead of the shades of gray that always dominate shady politics. Khalid is obsessed with the beautiful girl he left back home; she pulls him through. There is a drawn-out ending that beats the reader with its lofty messages until we feel black and blue.

Roll credits.

I tried to love this one. I really did. Like I said, I came into it with exceptionally high hopes. A teen novel about Guantanamo Bay, one of the most disturbing and riveting human rights incidents in my country's history? What could go wrong?

Unfortunately, what always seems to go wrong when authors set out to tell a Message instead of a Story: constant nobility and morality gets boring. There's no authenticity. And the book drags on.

There are a number of excellent moments, such as when Khalid realizes that your ideas of people rarely match up to your realities, especially when it comes to the people you think you're in love with. But they hardly outweigh the bloated and frustrating wasted potential of the rest of the book.

...and the Short: 

The author seems to have set out to tell a Message instead of a Story, and in so doing wasted a lot of narrative potential. Still a few moments worth reading, but mostly it's a frustrating mess.

The Final Word: Meh.