Wait, Music is Your LIfe? Nuh Uh!

Summer Bird Blue is yet another story about someone who claims that "Music is my life!"
Right away I was turned off by that.  Because doesn't everyone claim that to be true, at one point or another?
But maybe that's the point.
Maybe that is claimed by so many characters in YA and tween fiction, to create any kind of interest at all. 
The main character, Rumi is SO very unlikable, well before her sister dies.  And the sisters are so ridiculous rude and mean to their mother, whom they readily admit is a good mom and nice to them.  It was interesting that Rumi was asexual, even if all it proved was that asexual people can be just as boring and unlikable those with other kinds of sexuality. 

My Only Regret

is that I wish I would have read If I Ever Get Out of Here BEFORE I read Give Me Some Truth.  I NEED to read everything by this man.  Shoe's poverty helped me to understand the way in which my mother grew up.  She was much luckier though, as there was no racial prejudice that she had to face.  But the description of the house and the lack of so much was right on target otherwise.  Again, so celebrating of Thanksgiving for me.  Incredible story.  Much to cry over and celebrate and inspire here. 

How Appropriate

to be reading Give Me Some Truth on the Fourth of July.   As you know, I do spend most of my life under a rock and so Eric Gansworth is a new author for me.  After having read this, I immediately purchased If I Ever Get Out of Here and that will be my next book after the one I am listening to currently.  GMST was excellent.   Ganswoth is a man of many talents and he has written a must-read.  He is a citizen of the Onondaga Nation and grew up in the Turscarora Nation, as he is the descendant of two Onondaga woman who were there when the Onondaga Nation was founded. 
This book is an eye-opener for people who don't understand what the colonists did to the Native Peoples.  And what they continue to do.  For me, it wasn't as powerful as The Absolutely True Diary, because that was the first book to really open my eyes.  I suggest reading them both.  For sure.  Required reading for everyone. 

As I Write this

I am listing to Love is a Losing Game by Amy Winehouse.  Amy, My Daughter is written by Mitch Winehouse.  I didn't really know much about her but then I read what Roxane Gay had written about her in Bad Feminist and I was intrigued.  I think this might be it.  What a fantastic talent Ms. Winehouse was.  And from stories about her, she seemed like a beautiful, giving person.  I also read this and this and this.  And indeed, many parallels can be drawn.  I really do wish that Ms. Winehouse had been able to overcome her disease.  She gave much when here on earth and she had a lot left to give. 

Ms. Paterson

is just so excellent.  Come Sing Jimmy Jo was a book she mentioned in one of the interviews she did and so I was super excited to see that it was available on audible.
I really don't think there is anyone who can create characters like Katherine Paterson.  She gives them life and SOUL.  I could feel James's heart breaking or flying high, I could feel his confusion and his certainty, his anger and his love and his worry.  How does she DO that!?!
Having been a country music fan in the 80s when this book was written, I knew just what the book meant when it talked about the changing landscape of country music.
I loved the references to the Carter Family.
I loved the whole thing.
One of the best books I have ever read.

Walter Dean

Solo by Kwame Alexander solidified a suspicion I had about Alexander. Alexander is the new Walter Dean Myers, the new Sherman Alexie, the new Gary Paulsen.  He is the new amazing.  And while it might seem cool to put him up there with those big names, I want to make sure that it is clear that I don't mean it in a "good job, dude, you are getting there, you made the big time!" kinda way, because Alexander probably always was this good.  And when I say good I mean masterful.  So I mean no, "good going kid" by that at all.  I simply think he is one of the best.

No WAY!

Did you know that Judy Collins was named after Judy?  I had no idea!  But it is true!  Cravings:  How I Conquered Food was a book I saw in a library during my recent trip out west.  We were in the library in St. George, Utah and I saw it and immediately downloaded it from audible.  Listening to this book, I completely resonated with everything Ms. Collins said about her problems with food.
I found this book to be really, really good in that I think that Ms. Collins was very humble and informative.  I really disagree with the negative comments I read about this book on goodreads and can only think that those who wrote them have not shared the same battle that Ms. Collins has, but for me, almost every sentence regarding food was met with "Yes!  Yes!  I understand!" from me.
I don't know a lot of Ms. Collin's music.  I do love the songs I do know, just two of them Send in the Clowns and Both Sides Now.   I know that Frank's versions have been panned greatly, but I love them, too.  Ms. Collins's versions are much better, of course, and only they can bring me to tears, literally.  Especially SITC.
I also loved that Collins received a call from Joan Rivers after Collins's son committed suicide.  Joan told her that she had to keep working, like Rivers did when her husband killed himself.  That was our Joan.  Reaching out to people.  Loving them.  She was not the mean person some mistake her to be.
I was also really interested in the background of dieting.  I loved hearing about Lord Byron.  I loved the quotes she chose to introduce each chapter.  I just found this book to be a great book.  I don't think that I could do the Grey Sheet deal.  I don't know if that would help me.
Now that I am struggling maintaining without feeling that I will regain, and thus ruin all my chances of being approved by David Levithan, I am willing to try anything, but I just don't know if Grey Sheet would be more of the same, regarding restricting, or it would be freeing.
In any case, criticisms that Ms. Collins name-drops are kinda weak.  And I think that her whole approach to the book is a humble one.  She is very quick to say that it might work for you, it might not.  I highly recommend this book.
The criticism that those with eating disorders must learn to "make friends with food" rather than "conquer" it is not valid for everyone.  I would that is akin to saying and alcoholic must make friends with Jack Daniels or a heroin addict must learn to just hang out with opioids.  Just something to consider.

Trilogies

When I looked on goodreads, I saw that The Gathering is to be the first in a trilogy called Shadow House.  Then I remembered that my dear friend Rachel wrote a book that was published by Chicken House, which is tied to or part of Scholastic, like this book.  And when she and her husband wrote Claws they were told to change it SO much because it was also "slated to be a trilogy." Well I loved the book.  But Rachel and her husband felt it really lost something because of the changes.  Then Chicken House lost its big money author, Cornelia Funke.  And things changed big time for Chicken House/Scholastic.  It wasn't that Claws didn't sell well.  And Claws never became a trilogy, despite selling really well regularly and also at book fairs. It makes me sad because I won't ever know what happened to the characters and also because Mike and Rachel were never able to see the work that they had imagined and created come to life as they expected.  But I guess that happens.  But it doesn't make it any less horrible.  For authors and readers.
So I wonder if Shadow House will take off, but I hope it does.  First of all, the cover is fantastic! LOOK at that cover!
Four kids end up getting invites to live or attend school or shoot a movie at a far off mansion.  And creepiness begins. The end did get a little confusing for me, but that is me!  I can definitely recommend this book!

They Hate Us Cuz They Ain't Us

When my friend Karen and I came to our new job in 2009, we were met with a LOT of hostility from women a good ten years older than we.  It is hard to tell kids that "it gets better" when at age 50, 55, etc., people still resort to the same mean tactics they might have used when they were in elementary and middle school.
It was hard.  Those women all work in different departments at our place of work now.  It is still hard. They still make snarky comments and do hurtful things.  But Karen and I found a t-shirt at that says, "They Hate Us Cuz' They Ain't Us" and that is the approach that we take to them now!  Apparently it is from this movie!  Granted, that is probably not why they hate us, but it does make us feel better.
The Haters is by Jesse Andrews, the author of Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, which I read last year, I think.  One of the few!  I really liked that book, a lot!
I liked Haters, too.  The thing about The Haters is that it would be hard to recommend this to a teenager just because there is a lot of language and penis jokes and tips on oral sex.  All done in a funny way, but yeah, I couldn't recommend this to someone who was 16 or younger.  And anyone I did recommend it to, I would give a totally honest run down of the language and sex jokes, because I can see that it would be pretty offensive.  I grew up in a house were language was rough, so language doesn't bother me.  I don't think that the language and penis jokes added anything to the book or the plot, but yet, there were "real."  I mean, there are kids who do talk this way.
Also, the description of the "jazz talk" was right on!  And this was very funny.  It just isn't for everyone!

Everyone's Got a Story...

It is only fitting that this post has a song in it.  The Scar Boys is about a band and there's a lot of music in it.  It is more than that, though.  This is one moving, terrific book.  I read somewhere that this has been compared to Wonder, as kind of the teen version of Wonder.  I would have to say that as far as quality goes, it definitely is as powerful and one-of-a-kind as Wonder.  But I don't get the sense that this was a "jump on the bandwagon of the success of Wonder" book.  Not at all.  Harry tells his own story here.  Literally.  He is writing a college entrance essay to the University of Scranton, which, I am embarrassed to say, I never knew was around, and now I find that it is a Jesuit school!  Those Jesuits are very smart, indeed!  I have mentioned America magazine before, haven't I?
Harry was tied to a tree by bullies when he was about eight years old.  The tree was struck by lightening and so he was horribly burned.  Can you even imagine that kind of pain.  It is beyond description, I am sure.  Harry's life after the burning is pretty much as you would expect it, given the human condition.  Horrible bullying, isolation from peers, pain.  But then he meets Johnny.  Johnny is a popular kid and for one reason or another he befriends Harry.  They start a band and the Harry comes up with the name Scar Boys.  This book is another one of those Music is My Life books, but not in a cheesy way.  It isn't just an excuse for the author to name drop and mention all of the bands that he or she loves.  I still really don't have any clue about punk music, but I wish that I did.  I've heard of the Dead Milkmen, but I don't know what they sound like.  I've heard of the Ramones, but I only know (and do like) the song I Wanna Be Sedated.
The ending is really, really good and I didn't see it coming at all.  Harry is a very real and likable character and I have already recommended this to many!

If You're Still within the Sound of My Voice

So this is one of the best songs ever.  And Glen Campbell has had some great ones.  This is the last book in the Secret Language of Girls trilogy.  I read the first one a long time ago and the second one since I've been doing the blog.  I highly recommend this series, but read them in order.  The friendship of Marilyn and Kate has changed as much as the girls have changed individually.  This was a very satisfying end to the series, told with the usual wisdom by the talented Frances O'Roark Dowell.  My only criticism of Dowell is that she wrote more! 

Tough Stuff...

Death and illness have always been popular topics for teen books.  Think Lurlene McDaniel and of course, The Fault in Our Stars and many more.    There Will Come a Time isn't a Jump-on-the-Fault-in-Our-Stars rip-off, though.  It is one you can definitely recommend to folks who enjoyed Fault, but this is quite the lovely book.  Very worth reading and it adds the element that the loss in this case is one twin, having lost the other in a car accident.  Mark and Grace were both in the car, but Mark survived, so there is survivor's guilt to be sure.  This book also explores issues of faith in a beautiful way.  I was so grateful that it didn't take the usual, "teens all hate or don't believe in God" path.  That's just a cop-out and not realistic.  At least in my community.  I really loved this book.  Very sympathetic characters, very real characters, no one is all good or all bad.  Complex, just like real life.  I hope to read more by Carrie Arcos very soon. 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Zarr

I've read a few books by Sara Zarr and always look forward to a new offering from her.   As usual, I was not disappointed.  Once Was Lost is my most favorite, just because of my personal experiences, but The Lucy Variations is wonderful, even to someone like me, who has no artistic talent at all, and really isn't one of those "music is my life" kinda person.    For Lucy, music is her life.  Or it was.  When she was a child prodigy on the piano and her grandfather was pushing her to be better and better and the piano was everything and everything was the piano.  And then, one day, she just walked off stage at a competition.  And that was that.  And now, Lucy is trying to find out who she is, apart from the music.  Or can the music still be a part of her life.  I loved the details of Lucy's relationships with men.  I was totally like this when I was her age.  I totally understood what she was doing, what she was thinking, how her heart was breaking.    Zarr just can really make characters come alive.  Great author.  Great book.

Music is My Life

While I have made fun of books that make music out to be some kind of magical savior, I admit that my doubt just comes from not being a music-obsessed kinda person.  When I saw the title This Song Will Save Your Life, I thought I wouldn't like it all that much.  It just goes to prove again though, that you can't judge a book by its cover or its title.  This Song Will Save Your Life was simply a great story.  One that I can easily recommend to the millions of music-obsessed folks and even to those few who aren't nuts about tunes. 
Elise Dembowski is a very real character.  An outcast in school, trying to fit in, trying to find her place in this world and she happens to find it, through music.  She's not a music maker, but a DJ it turns out.  Great look into the world of secret dance parties and DJ'ing.  An honest look at high school and how tough it is to fit in sometimes.  Sales avoids predictability and she keeps the story moving.  Just when I thought "oh here is what is going to happen now...blah..blah...same old stuff...,"  Sales avoids making the book into a cliché.  Very glad to have this from netgalley.com.

Woodstock

I've never read a book by Jordan Sonnenblick, but have heard nothing but raves about his stuff.  I was pretty excited to see Are You Experienced? on netgalley.com and thankful to get an eARC of it.  This was one really different and fun ride.  Being too young to have experienced the 60s, this time in U.S. history has always intrigued me.  I do have a friend who was at Woodstock and it was neat to talk to her about this book and find that her memories of it were pretty much online with what Sonnenblick has recreated here.  But this isn't an historical fiction piece, it's a time-travel deal. Even though  it is fantasy, time-travel, it reads very realistically and the characters are extremely likable.  It's a pretty long book, but I read it quickly because it kept my interest throughout.  I can't wait to get a copy and I know I'll be able to recommend it to many folks of all ages.

The Ending

The ending of The Last Holiday Concert was really good.  I mean, it was a happy ending, but not a sappy ending.  And it made the book so worth while.  I liked this one, too.  The main character is a well-liked kid with a great first name- Hart.  As in Hartford.  What a great name.  I also like that Hart knows it is a great name and mentions it.  He is a popular dude, but he's not obnoxious.  Even when he is put in charge of heading up the holiday concert, he doesn't let it go to his head.  Hart Evans doesn't like chorus but hates it.  And pretty much everyone in the sixth grade chorus is unexcited about the upcoming concert.  But then Hart takes over...

Ya...wow

Man. I  loved Eleanor and Park.  People told me I would.  I bought it on audible.  And man, I did love it.  Wow.  What a beautiful and sad and hopeful story of two on the fringe kids...well, who isn't on the fringe, really, when you think about it?  I mean, life is not easy.  Eleanor has it awful at home.  Her step-dad.  Oh my gosh...just a monster.  Truly.  Park has wonderful parents, but you know, he's still a teen and man, it is hard to be a teen.  What a beautiful heart he has.  Man.  I just loved this book.  You have to read it.  Right now.  You must.  You must buy it.  Recommend it to everyone.  I loved this story.  Also, set in the 80s, so a nice bit of historical fiction for today.  Great book.  Just great. 

Music is His Life!

For What It's Worth is a really good book.  I enjoyed it a ton and read it quickly, but I don't know a lot of teens I would recommend it too, because, well I don't know.  There are a ton of references to albums and bands in it, and they are actual albums and bands, not like in the bizarre Why We Broke Up, which references a million movies and movie stars that have never existed.  I knew most of the music that Tashjian mentions, but I don't know if teens do.  Maybe they do?  Maybe they don't, but just like I didn't know much about Rimbaud (okay ANYTHING) I was compelled to find out more after reading Radiant Days.  So yeah, I will recommend the book for sure to teens.  And I know I will recommend it to adults.  The book is set in 1971-1972, when Quinn heads back to school after the summer that Jim Morrison has died.
Judy, Jim and Tupac.  The three most important people in music, ever.
Anyway.
Quinn is fourteen and he is a music fanatic!  He has a sweet record collection, a mom and dad, a sister who is a freshman at Brandeis, and he lives is Laurel Canyon.  His mom is friends with Mama Cass, he actually would see people like Janis and Jim hanging out.   He gets a job helping Frank Zappa.  It's just his neighborhood, you know?  In the right place at the right time.  This year he gets his first girlfriend, so there is the young love part.  He also starts to realize more about the world around him.  Remember this is Vietnam time.  The protests, the draft, Watergate is in here.  This is would be a great book to recommend to a teen having to do historical fiction, actually.  I mean, they would enjoy it and it is also historical!
Anyway, great book!

Music

I was thinking that if you read YA books, you will find a common trait among a lot of the characters in realistic fiction ones.  They love music.  Music is "their life" and takes them to all kinds of places, or helps them escape the hard times, or inspires them, that kind of thing.
I was thinking that in real life, I know a lot of people, of all ages, who say that music does the same thing to them.  I wonder if there was a time in my life, probably as a teen, when I felt the same way.  I never was a HUGE music person.  I went through phases, a deep country one in the 80s (who could blame me, with pop music what it was then!) and then hip-hop and R&B in the 90s.  Now I don't listen to much music at all.  I went through a big talk radio phase, because everything on broadcast radio became all about politics.  While I enjoy politics a great deal, most of what I found in Pittsburgh was pretty hate-filled and one-sided, so forget that.  Then I got into Old Time Radio, which I still love.  I had a huge podcasting phase, when I did podcasts and listened to them.  Now not too much.
I have also noticed that a lot of authors put little playlists on their websites, which I think is kinda cool. I know that my interest in podcasting started to end when I gave to This American Life (no links for it because I am still mad at it!) and never got a thank you.  I know I have written about it here before, but that was when I wasn't good at tagging my posts and so I can't find it.  Anyway, after that Ira Glass just keep asking for money, and I really liked the TAL podcasts, I donated money but never got a thank you.  It just made me sad.  I've given to libraries, nanowrimo, wikipedia, political campaigns, veterans organizations, whatever, and I don't give to get a thanks, but it was just like...what the heck.  So I don't listen to TAL anymore.  I just don't have the excitement about it like I used to, because I think what the heck would it have taken to set up an auto-thank you!  Anyway, now that I have satellite radio it's all 50s music or Book Radio or Old Time Radio for me.
But reading a John Sandford book, and he's an adult writer, of course, reminds me of the role that music has in some books. Sandford must be a big music guy. Years ago I remember one Lucas Davenport book in which Weather bought Lucas an iTunes gift card and Lucas was making a list of the best songs to buy.
Virgil, of course, is always sporting an indie rock band t-shirt and in Mad River he and others debate the best country artist today.
So it got me thinking about music. I never used to use music at work, I would just sing my own songs that I knew but over the past few years I've gotten into using more childrens music as I have learned the importance of it. Plus I am a bad singer.
One of these days I do want to get around to making a list of the best songs ever. I used to put a lot of song links on my book reviews because a lot of books remind me of songs even ones I don't like.
So one of my most favorite songs ever is Some People from Gypsy. Tons of great people have done it. Of course, the Merm, Angela Lansbury, Liza, and of course, Judy and her version is the best.
Another one of the best songs of all time is Don't Rain on My Parade.
That's all I want to say today about music! :)

Getting Lost in a Book

Being Friends with Boys is Terra Elan McVoy's fourth book.  Pure was wonderful.  I loved After the Kiss.  The Summer of Firsts and Lasts was terrific.  I find it really amazing when an author can craft all of these worlds, all of these different people and they aren't all the same.  It is like McVoy has a ton of people in her mind and she just brings them to life.  Even though her books are super long, I love them and will continue to read them as they come out.
This is one of those books that you can just get lost in its world.  It has a "lesson" but its not in your face.  Being Friends with Boys is the story of Char who is, well, friends with boys.  She plays in a boy band, she confides in her guy friends, studies with them, has a boy best friend.  It can be complicated, but getting to meet her girl friends, you can't blame Char for favoring guy friends over girls.  Char begins as the manager of the band Sad Jackal, made up of her guy friends Trip, Oliver and Abe.  As school begins, things begin to get complicated, Trip is out of the band.  He and Oliver had a falling out.  Char and Trip try to remain friends, but it becomes very difficult when Sad Jackal takes on new members and Char begins to date guys.  The book is all about relationships and real life and it is quite entertaining and lovable.