Should Have Known!

I love A.S. King.  She is just such a neat, original, brilliant writer. I started Me and Marvin Gardens without realizing that it was written by A.S. King.  Now I know why,  as I look at the cover! It has her full name!  Yeah, I guess I should have figured it out, but I didn't until I saw it listed under A.S. King on goodreads!  Ha! Well when I started this book I loved it right away and I could tell that it was more than a middle grade novel.  It is weird, it is deep, it is awesome.  Now this has to be a Newbery contender!

Shorties

I do love short stories.  And I do love A.S. King.  Monica Never Shuts Up in a collection of short stories for adults.  I loved the title story!  And I really did enjoy all of the stories in the book.  So many gave me so much to think about, long after I was finished reading them.  I got this on the kindle, so that I could read-read it, since there wasn't an audio edition available.  There is only one more A.S. King book I need to read and that is The Dust of 100 Dogs.  Sadly, it is not available in an ebook or an audiobook, so that probably leaves me out. Unless someone wants to read it to me!  Until then I will wait for the next A.S. King book, which I know will be awesome!

Always More

A.S. King always offers more-- so much more, in her books.  When I started Still Life with Tornado, I think I had forgotten that.
I was listening and thinking, "Blah, this is like that horrible Wintergirls, but with a different problem."
And then I remembered that this is A.S. King.
Really, really well told story.  In just her way.  Excellent.  I think this might be my Printz pick.  This or We Are the Ants.  Just excellent.

Hang in There...

I say that to the characters in book, as most of them probably have thought that giving up and going Home was the best thing, and also to readers of I Crawl Through It.
I read some reviews in which the reader said they just couldn't finish the book.  And I completely understand.
I started it and read a book in between and thought about not going back to it, but I am really glad I did.
A.S. King is an incredible writer.  And I am the first to call someone pretentious!  (Terrible, terrible, but sadly, that is true.) but I don't agree with others who have said that King's writing here is pretentious.  I really don't.  I think that she really is just that smart.  She really is just that creative.  She really does care that much about telling the stories of teens who have experienced trauma.
Make no mistake, this IS an odd book.
It is more surreal than magical realism, but it is well worth reading.
Check out the book trailer, too.

Seeing Ants

A.S. King is just an incredible writer.  Everybody Sees the Ants is very different from the other books I have read by her.  But now that I think about it, every book I have ever read by King is different from the last, because she is such a great writer.
This one is told from a male POV and it deals with a subject very near and dear to my heart and prayers. The MIA/POW soldiers.
Lucky Linderman is named after the grandfather he has never met, the grandfather who never came back from Vietnam.  But Lucky visits his grandfather, tries to bring him home.  He also is working through his dysfunctional family and the horrible bullying that he has endured at school.
Just another fantastic book from King.

Sometimes I feel like shouting, "Glory! Glory! Glory!"

that has absoultey nothing to do with Glory O'Brien's History of the Future, but her name, Glory O'Brien, of course, reminded me of the song Were You There?  And the last verse which reads, "Sometimes I feel like shouting, "Glory!  Glory!  Glory!  Were you there when He rose up from the grave?"  This version is by Marion Williams.  It doesn't end that way, but man....what a rendition.  WOW.  WOW.  WOW.
Glory O'Brien's History of the Future is a pretty "wow" kind of book.  A.S. King really has written terrific books.  I haven't read them all, but I really hope to do so next year.  I think that next year I might take an author-focused approach and also finish up my "Reading Road Trip" deal where I am trying to read a book set in each of the nifty-fifty.
Where does Glory O'Brien's History of the Future take place?  In Pennsylvania!  I think most of her books do.  Aaaannnywayyyy....I am rambling.
This book is a must for the Amelia Bloomer Project.  It is a very odd book, but odd in a good way, as in original!  It reminded me a bit of Grasshopper Jungle because that also had a main character who was writing a history, not of the future, but of the last days of Earth.  I don't know if this is sci-fi like Grasshopper Jungle and Noggin, because modern science doesn't give Glory and her friend their super powers, they come from drinking the ground-up remains of a bat.  But natural science is still science, right? So maybe? It is like GJ and Noggin though because while it definitely is paranormal, it doesn't seem way out there, it is very realistic.  Is this a new trend in YA fiction?  Paranormal fiction that is more normal?  GOHOTF also reminded me of Sure Signs of Crazy which I read just about this time last year.  Glory and Sarah both had mothers who ended their own lives and both are concerned that they will do the same.
There are just some really great characters in here.  And a very great father.  This was just such an exceptional book, even though Glory is not a very likable character and I don't think she is meant to be. Well maybe she is just like a normal person.  No one is likable all of the time.  Well, I actually do know a lot of people who are likable all the time!  Not me!  But I do know a lot of people who are!
Anyway...great, great book!  A.S. King, great, great writer.

While My Friends Were Meeting A.S. King

While my friends were at the PaLA Conference in Seven Springs, watching A.S. King receive the 2013 Carolyn Wicker Field Award for her book Ask the Passengers, I was at home reading Reality Boy, King's newest book.  While I would have loved to meet Ms. King, I must say that I felt so fortunate to be able to read Reality Boy.  If someone would have said, "What would you rather do, meet King or read Reality Boy.  Pick one.  I would pick the book, because man, I wouldn't want to miss this book.  While I was reading it, I couldn't help but think of Honey Boo-Boo and worry that her time on reality tv is going to haunt her for the rest of her life.  Gerald was on a reality tv show when growing up, where he was known as the boy who went to the bathroom in inappropriate places when he was unhappy.  Now he is seventeen, but his time on the show and more important, his time growing up in a seriously messed up family with a total jerk for a mom and a psychopath for an older sister is still haunting him.  King is just an amazing writer.  Her characters as so real.  I have already recommended this book and will continue to do so.  Fantastic.  Just like everything I have read by King.

Thoughtful

After reading Losing It, I find myself thinking about it, a lot.  Usually I just blow from one book to another, even if the book is super good.  But Losing It has me thinking.  This is a collection of short stories from a variety of YA authors.  When I saw that A.S. King was one of them, I knew I wanted to read it.  All of the stories deal with losing one's virginity and each one is very different.  Most of the stories are set in places other than the U.S. and so that was a stretch for me, and I have admitted before that I am don't feel like I have a good appreciation for books set outside of the USA.  Naturally not all of the stories are of the same quality, but all are worthy of reading.  I especially liked Bali Rai's "The White Towel."   Interesting little book.  I will buy it for the library, but I don't think I will get it for myself.

Who Knew?

About the Pagoda in Reading, PA?  Probably a lot of people, but I didn't.  And I am kinda embarrassed, but I will admit it anyway.  Next time I am in Reading, I am for sure going to check it out.  It will be out of respect to one of best books I've read in a long time, Please Ignore Vera Dietz.  It is written by A.S. King who wrote Ask the Passengers, which I also loved.  Right now I can't find the video I saw that King made about her books, but I have to say, it was pretty awesome and I will look for this author, always.
I listened to this book and while the reading was very good, I found the narrator's tone to be pretty snarky and I didn't get the sense that Vera is a snarky girl.  I absolutely loved the father-daughter relationship in this book.  Vera's dad is a great dad.  Vera's best friend and love of her life is dead and his death was under pretty awful circumstances and Vera knows information that can clear his reputation, but she isn't ready to give it up because she is still angry at him for dying and for dissing her before his death.  Great book, truly.  Very well done and great characters.

Could win the Printz!

If you ask me, anyway.  Not that I know much.  Or have faith in awards.  As we remember 1954.  But man, Ask the Passengers has what it takes to win.  It is truly wonderfully written.  It is such a real story with real characters.  It is perfect for LGTB or non-LGTB or BTLs or AFS, or NTSB folk.  Seriously, this book is beautiful.  I mean it has nasty parts, for sure.  There are dirtbag Holocaust-deniers and gossip-mongers, and all you would expect in a small town, or big town for that matter, but the book is set in a small town.  And I would imagine, it would be a lot harder to be a gay teen in a small town rather than a big one. 
This is the story of Astrid Jones, high school teen, who has fallen in love with a girl.  She doesn't feel that she can tell anyone, even though she has a best friend who is gay.  Her family isn't horrific.  She has a sister who is a year younger, a pretty cool dad and a mom who is pretty self-obsessed, but she loves them and all. 
She also feels though, that she has no one to truly love her, because they a. don't know the real her because of her secret  and b.  well she can't love her girlfriend because that just wouldn't cut it in a small town, especially when her mom is so concerned with what others think.
The thing is, this is about more than Astrid's sexuality though.  It is about coming of age and being your own person and being okay with the unknown.  It is also about sexuality as being fluid, too.  Like "loving hearts, not parts."
Great book.  So much to talk about.  Great for anyone and everyone!