Recently Read

My review queue is still a little backlogged, but I will set aside some time this week to go through it. In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of some of the books I’ve this week.

Kin and Kith, Books 1 & 2 of The Good Neighbors, by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh are graphic novels about a girl named Rue discovering her faerie heritage. To make things more interesting, her grandfather (on her faerie mother’s side) wants to take over her city and she’s the only one who can stop it. Although I’m not overly fond of the illustration style (it’s not bad, just not my preference and I’ve run into a few consistency issues), and although I’m not fond of the sometimes stilted prose, I find the overall story to be entertaining—so much so that I can’t wait to see what happens in the third book.

wtf by Peter Lerangis was a romp with a darkly humorous twist. If you’re into character-driven novels, then this really isn’t it, but it’s great mental popcorn. The story is told in short vignettes that follow the actions of six prep school teenagers over the course of one night involving a car accident involving a deer, drug deals gone wrong, and horny couples hooking up in front of strangers. Even with that tidbit, I should mention there’s nothing entirely explicit. Yes, those things are on center stage, but many of the gritty details are left out. Overall, good read.

The Clearing by Heather Davis is my favorite read this week. It’s beautiful and sweet and a bit sad. After leaving an abusive relationship, sixteen-year-old Amy moves in with her great-aunt Mae. While in her care, she discovers a mist lining the forest and through it a clearing where she meets the eighteen-year-old Henry. Over time, the two fall in love, but there’s one problem: Henry (and his mother and grandfather) are stuck in 1944. It’s then up to the two of them to decide if and how they will be together.

Planned Reading

I think I may have strayed into book limbo; a place where I want to read, but have hit a reading slump. In any event, I hope I get out of my little funk soon because there’s a busy reading week ahead.

Pens & Other Cute Things

(I love those little index tab stickers!)

I went shopping at JetPens again. I only needed to get some pen refills, but I came away with seven new pens and some adorable index tab stickers. You can read all about it (and see pretty pictures) at Today, I Wrote…

It’s Thursday and you know what that means…another edition of Booking Through Thursday is here.

This week’s question is: Which do you prefer? Lurid, fruity prose, awash in imagery and sensuous textures and colors? Or straight-forward, clean, simple prose?

Florid or unadorned prose? It’s a difficult decision to make if you enjoy both. But, my preference often depends upon mood and whether said florid prose shifts into the realm of purple and whether the unadorned prose is so sparse as to remove all color.

Two good examples to illustrate my point are The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (review) and I heart you, You haunt me by Lisa Schroeder (review). (Bet you thought I was going to say Shakespeare and Hemmingway, didn’t you?) I enjoyed both of these books although the former was especially florid:

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.

While the latter was spare in its language:

I pull out the bikini.
The one Jackson bought me.
The one I wore that day.

I can’t wear it.
I won’t wear it.
Never
ever
again.

I should throw it away.
But Jackson gave it to me.
It’s the last thing he gave me.
So I’ll keep it.
But I won’t wear it.

To me, it all boils down to deftness of the writer and whether I’m in the mood to savor a book or devour it.