Ok, I try not to gloat too much but I have two things to say that I can't hold in:
I just finished reading Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty, the very last Jessica Darling book. It was perfect. I feel like doing a little dance. I'll write a full review later this week. Just be sure to look out for it when it comes out next month!
And, for another book that's not supposed to come out until next month, my local Barnes and Noble had Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! on display already (I've noticed they often have books available early. I wonder if that's where Dan scored my early copy of Deathly Hallows?) How could I not pick it up?
Ok, gloating done.
This week's Weekly Geeks is all about Historical Fiction. I haven't answered the questions yet-- I'm still thinking about the answers, but here are 2 reviews of historical fiction.
The Porcupine Year Louise Erdich
In the follow up to
Birchbark House and
The Game of Silence, this is the year of travel as Omakayas and her family move from Madeline Island to the North West, facing weather, disaster, and moving into hostile territory. This is almost more episodic than the previous two, due to the ever-changing location. There is great tragedy and heartbreak in this book, but parts of very funny, and Erdich carries through the richness, closeness, and importance of family and sticking together, no matter what. I recommend starting with the other two to get a sense of everything they had to leave behind, but this is my favorite of the series so far and I think it would stand alone, just carry less impact.
Ten Cents a Dance Christine Fletcher
After her mother loses her job, Ruby drops out of school to take support the family. Like everyone in her Polish neighborhood in Chicago, Ruby takes a job at one of the packing houses. After a night dancing, Ruby runs into local bad by Paulie, who tells her that she can make a lot more money by being a dance instructor at the Starlight Academy. The Starlight, however, is a taxi-dance hall where lonely men pay tent cents a dance to hold a pretty girl close until the song ends. Not a respectable job, Ruby tells her mother she’s working as a telephone operator. Between her new job and her relationship with Paulie, she soon finds herself over her head.
Through Ruby’s eyes, the reader travels from Chicago’s white slums, to after hours clubs and all-night chop suey joints, to the fringes of the city’s underbelly in the early days of WWII. Fletcher explores Chicago’s race and class tensions with a sensitive hand, never making them the focus of her story, but using them to paint the world that Ruby inhabits. Ruby’s voice is peppered with period slang and references, but just enough to give her authenticity, but not to the point of overwhelming the text. Readers will sympathize with Ruby’s drive to help her family coupled with her desire for excitement and freedom.
One of the more unique stories I've read this year, Ten Cents a Dance, written by Christine Fletcher is written on a subject that I had yet to encounter in a young adult book. The writing was fantastic, the characters lovely, and the overall presence of the novel fresh and new. Oh...and the cover? I wanted to see the rest of that photo SO badly! Most mysterious...Definitely a winner!
Living in the 1940's during incredibly difficult times, 15 year old Ruby is forced to quit school and work to support her ill mother and younger sister. Laboring in a factory packing pigs feet into jars is not exactly Ruby's idea of glamorous and she knows that she's being made old before her time. Her joints ache, her fingers are swollen, and her heart simply isn't in her job. Can you blame her?
When a super slick bad boy gets her a job doing something Ruby really loves, dancing the nights away, she feels like she's fallen into a movie. Being paid to simply dance with men, maybe flirt with them a bit, and to often leave the dance hall for dinners and nights out on the town, all dressed in pretty clothes and her makeup done, Ruby loves her new, rich lifestyle. Unfortunately, her job is looked down upon by most people, considered almost prostitution and Ruby knows she can never let her mother find out how she is now making money for the family. Soon, Ruby is drawn so far into the world of dancing and fantasy, she begins to fall into trouble and isn't quite sure how to get herself out. She can't trust anyone in the business and isn't even sure she can trust herself any longer.
The premise of Ten Cents a Dance is mesmerizing and the descriptions of the people, clothes, and atmosphere is simply amazing. I was hooked from the first page and will definitely be recommending this book to everyone I possibly can. For sure, one of my favorites of 2008!
To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.
Got a second? Why not publish your next story?
Last weekend I took my Flip videocamera to a book party, and shot a little video project to make my interview feature more exciting. That little camera is changing the way I tell stories.
I'm not the only one. In our interview with Smith Magazine founder, Larry Smith, we spent a lot of time discussing fast and easy web applications for writers.
In that spirit, I have two great links that will help you explore the mobile writing web this weekend. First of all read Jeff Jarvis' inspiring essay about Reuters/Nokia's mobile journalism project.
This has been one of my favorite new projects, and it was cool to see Jarvis jazzed about the whole thing. If this doesn't make you excited, then you might want to check your writerly pulse:
"I can also see using such video clips as part of larger stories – they become moving and talking pictures. They become part of a multimedia narrative, now that journalists no longer need to pick one medium but can work in them all. In short, we’re not using cameras to make TV with all its trappings and orthodoxies. We’re just making video, video that’s good enough to tell a story."
Then check out the Visual Editors website. Besides having lots of video advice, they also have a great feature on using Twitter as a journalist.
I am SOOOOOOOOOOO damn jealous you got to read Perfect Fifths!
I've awarded you with a Zombie Chicken :)
The 'random' word today: daing