Spin by Catherine McKenzie
ISBN 10/13: 0062115359 | 9780062115355
Category: Young Adult Realistic Fiction
Keyword: Music, Writing, Celebrities, Guilt, Addiction, Rehab
Format: ebook, paperback
Kimberly's synopsis:
Katie Sandford has a little problem. She's thirty years old and finally gets her dream job interview: to work for
The Line, a music magazine. But the morning of the interview comes and she bombs! Why? Could be the serious drinking she did the night before. But redemption is here! In the form of... Rehab?
Katie must go undercover at a rehab clinic to get close to a celebrity known as TGND "The Girl Next Door". If she can get the scoop and write an expose on this "IT" Girl, then she'll get a chance at the position at
The Line. Katie accepts, but doesn't know what it will cost her.
Kimberly's review:
I really enjoyed this book. Katie's voice is strong and hilarious. The writing reminds me of
Bridget Jones's Diary. Funny, personal and blatantly honest, Katie struggles through her time at rehab. At first, I thought she just had a bit of bad luck. But after reading further, Katie's character morphs into something more. She doesn't realize that this was probably the best place she could be--not for the story, but for herself. Katie's own self destruction is uncomfortable and frustrating to watch, another reason you can't put it down. Through the entire book, I was rooting for Katie, and you will too!
I wasn't sure what to make of her target, Amber T.G.N.D. Spoiled, damaged and suffering, her character's depth becomes more apparent as you read on. And Henry is... blush-worthy.
I'm surprised that this is considered YA. The protagonist is thirty years old, and all of her friends are older as well. The writ
Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Zach is in rehab with no memory of how he got there. His therapist tells him that he was going through alcohol withdrawal so severe that he could have died, but all of the other details remain hidden in Zach’s mind. As Zach goes through therapy, learning from therapists and others going through rehab, he learns to feel emotions again even though he longs to stay in the cocoon of amnesia that he has built. This powerful novel shows the unpeeling of denial and addiction to reach the essence of memory and humanity.
This book reads like a poem, a prayer. The language is by turns languid and thoughtful and then raging and taut. Readers are not spared from the emotional onslaught of recovery and truth as Zach slowly realizes what has happened to him. The prose is an inner dialogue, a wandering but purposeful journey through memory. It is a stream of consciousness that flows like a raging river, cleansing and correcting as it goes. Zach is an amazing character who even when in denial and doubt, shines like a beacon. He is strong in the face of such overwhelming change and brave as he faces his demons.
This is a book filled with such truth and honesty that it is searing and painful to witness. It is a book that will capture teen readers and not let them loose even when they finish the novel. Highly recommended, this book is appropriate for ages 15-18.
Reviewed from library copy.
Also reviewed by La Bloga and The Picnic Basket.
Don't mess with Robert Frost
or his cabin
unless you're prepared to suffer the consequences:
Poetry Classes for the Offending (and offensive) Vandals
(Makes me want to go out and do something bad) ;}
This is rehabilitation at its finest moment.
I can't compete with the titles of the news stories below:
(For Better or Verse? Groan)
See
"Poetic Justice"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24935777/
My favorite headline: "Rhyme and Punishment"
http://www.startribune.com/nation/19461664.html?location_refer=Nation
Do you think we can petition for similar classes for picture book poets? You know. Break a meter. Toss in some off-rhymes. Steal, er, sample text from other writers. I want a poetry class. What do I have to do to get arrested around here?
Readers might remember last July when the Webmeister and I were in Berlin, we visited the Zoo and it's most famous resident, the adorable polar bear cub, Knut:
So cute, that Knut!
Well, the other day the Webmeister forwarded me some rather disturbing news about my furry now not-so-little friend. It appears Knut has gone all Britney on us.
Knut the polar bear has turned from a cuddly cub into a publicity-addicted psycho, one of his keepers has claimed.
Markus Roebke said Berlin Zoo's celebrity animal was obsessed with the limelight and howled with rage when denied an audience.
"Knut must go and the sooner the better," he said, insisting that the bear should be sent to an animal park where he received less attention
"He is addicted to the whole show, the human adulation. It is not healthy.
"He actually cries out or whimpers if he sees that there is not a spectator outside his enclosure ready to ooh and aah at him.
"When the zoo had to shut because of black ice everywhere he howled until staff members stood before him and calmed him down."
Mr Roebke added: "The trouble is that he identifies himself as a human and not as a polar bear...Knut needs publicity and that must change."
Mr Roebke is not the only observer to question Knut's sanity. In January, a prominent animal conservationist branded him "an animal psychopath".
From adorable star to "animal psychopath"? Oy!
Will Knut be joining Britney in rehab?
Stay tuned!
Last week we posted a series of articles by Philip Davis, author of Bernard Malamud: A Writer’s Life. Today is the final piece in the installation. To see the previous posts click here. This post originally appeared on Moreover.
In the beginning dogs, it is written, were the first creatures domesticated by human beings. And when the humans saw the difference between themselves and the dogs, they knew more about what being human meant. (This is the true Gospel of Otherness.) Then the humans, being more than their dogs, began to domesticate other animals, to lie amongst them. And so in time what became pastoral agriculture was born. (more…)
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