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Claire is now in her thirties, but she STARTED OUT as a teen detective: first, running around Brooklyn solving mysteries with her two best friends according to the tenets laid out in Jacques Silette's detective handbook/philosophical treatise Détection, and then, investigating the disappearance of one of those friends.
She never found her.
It's been years since she's been in New Orleans—she left after her beloved mentor was murdered—but now she's back, investigating the disappearance of a District Attorney who went missing during Hurricane Katrina. It's full of great descriptions and depictions of post-disaster wreckage, New Orleans culture, and gentrification; the dialogue is excellent, there's a fantastic sense of place and atmosphere, and the mystery itself is tight tight tight. It's about innocence lost and about lost innocents, about history repeating itself, about different ways of dealing with tragedy and about how easy it is to lose one's self.
All that would be fantastic on its own, but where the book really shines is in Claire's voice, which reads both totally original AND classic noir. She's got a deep well of sadness and anger, but she's also understatedly hilarious. To say that she's not entirely reliable is probably an understatement—she's got a history of psychiatric problems as well as a penchant for abusing drugs and alcohol on a regular basis—but, at the same time, I never doubted that she was speaking her own truth.
I had a few issues: there is some unnecessary repetition in description and explanation (her truck, what wet is, info about OPP), but more bizarrely, there is a refrigerator that mysteriously appears out of nowhere (at first I chalked it up to her semi-instability, but as there was never another moment like it, I'm pretty sure it was a weird continuity error):
Newish appliances in the kitchen and a hole where the refrigerator had been. p28
Next I took prints from some spots around the house a visitor was likely to touch, labeling them as I went. The doorknobs. The refrigerator. p36
And, this is completely a matter of personal taste, but the Quaker parakeets as a metaphor for the forgotten/lost/unwanted of New Orleans was a little too LOOK IT'S A METAPHOR for me.
But, overall, HOLY COW I LOVED IT, and I'm going to request book two from the library TODAY.
I read this YEARS ago, and apparently never wrote about it. Which is sad, because it was great.
It's about a 10-year-old girl detective who skulks around a shopping mall, trailing suspects and investigating imaginary mysteries... until she disappears, never to be seen again. Twenty years later, a mall security guard—who was a classmate of hers—spots her on the surveillance footage...
June, 1950. When we first meet eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, she's tied up, gagged, and locked in a dark closet. Not for long, though: her older sisters Ophelia and Daphne may have her beat in terms of pure physicality, but they'll never be a match for her brain.
So when a real tangle of a mystery arrives at Buckshaw—quite literally at the front door—Flavia isn't just intrigued: she's ecstatic. She doesn't know what the dead jackdaw means, or why it has a Penny Black postage stamp impaled on its beak. But she does know that it means something to her philatelist father: and whatever it is, it isn't good. When she finds a dying man in the cucumber patch later that night—a man who she saw arguing with her father just hours before—the mystery becomes that much more intriguing... and with her father as the most logical suspect, her need to find out the truth becomes that much more urgent.
I love these lists and look forward to them every year—because it's fun to see how many of the books I've read, but also because I always find some new-to-me treasures.
Putting this list together, oddly enough, was inspired by a sweet, sad, lovely coming-of-age story about Mira Levenson, a twelve-year-old British girl of Indian and Jewish descent who's journaling the last month of her beloved grandmother's life (among many other things).
Although the Rwandan Genocide wasn't the primary focus of the book, it was an integral part of Mira's new, more complex understanding of the world (not to mention her crush, Jidé), her discovery and exploration of it was a huge part of her coming-of-age journey, and the scenes of her doing research made me wonder what fiction was out there. (Hence, as I said above, this list.)
In addition to all of the book's other virtues—seriously, it's so, so good—there's also a really nice thread about how her PARENTS react to and deal with Mira's maturation. On the one hand, they want to protect her from the horrors in the world, but on the other, they realize that she's growing up, and that learning about and understanding these hard things (as much as understanding is possible, anyway) is a part of that process. It's just really nicely handled.
I'm so very much looking forward to the sequel, which is out in September.
This one is heavily based on interviews with Rwandan refugees, and chronicles the life of a young Tutsi girl who witnessed her mother's murder when she was five years old. Now fourteen, living with the Hutu woman who took her in, still wracked by nightmares, she has to decide whether or not to testify in Gacaca court. According to the reviews I've read, the prose is quite spare, but Combres doesn't pull punches about the subject matter.
This fictionalized biography, translated from the original German, got multiple starred reviews as well as a Batchelder Award. It's about eight-year-old Jeanne d'Arc Umubyeyi, who was ultimately her Tutsi family's only survivor. The book doesn't only chronicle the violence, but the regular life leading up to it, and oddly enough, every review I've read has made me think of Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now, because the book is narrated by a child who is experiencing all of the trauma of a horrific event, but without any real understanding of the political situation that lead up to it.
The descriptions of these sound somewhat didactic to me (the Hankins title alone is pretty cringeworthy), but they both seem to have had decently positive receptions, so, onto the list they go. The Walters is about a fifteen-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a homeless soldier whose last mission was as a peacekeeper stationed in Rwanda; the Hankins is about a fifth grader who discovers genocide isn't just something that affects far away people—it's something that has touched people he knows. These two and the Combres were originally published in Canada.
What with the popularity of steampunk, there are a WHOLE LOT of books that feature airships. As there are SO MANY, I've tried to focus on stories in which the majority of the action takes place ON AN ACTUAL SHIP.
In Emilie and the Hollow World, which I wrote about over at Kirkus, Emilie stows away on a MAGICAL SUBMARINE and has a very Jules Verne-y adventure. It is an AWESOME book, perfect for readers who're always looking for old fashioned adventure stories. Shipwrecks, sunken cities, action, adventure, different cultures and species, politics and family drama, a plucky heroine (who, by the way, is described as having "brown skin and dark eyes," as are most of the other people from her region), a super blend of fantasy and science fiction elements, a strong emotional core, humor, heartache, and even a smidge of romance.
In Emilie and the Sky World, our heroine—who is now employed by the folks she stowed away with in the last installment—heads into the sky (duh), where she has ANOTHER adventure, this time involving a patchwork planet, a missing expedition, an intelligent plant-based lifeform, and yes, there's another stowaway. Like the first book, it's super-fun in every way, and this one has the added excellence of multiple storylines about trust, friendship, and family dysfunction that play off of and complement each other really nicely.
I LOVE THIS SERIES, AND WANT MORE PEOPLE TO READ IT.
In this book—I still haven't read Curtsies & Conspiracies, so I can't speak for that one—Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is located on a bunch of connected dirigibles. Which adds even more entertainment value to a world and plot that is already bursting with it.
How have I not written about these? Traction cities! Pirates! And yes, LOTS OF AIRSHIP ACTION! Just looking at the cover art makes me want to read them all over again.
Okay, these were actually published for the adult market, but there were some sexytimes that OCCURRED on an airship in the first book, and one of the main characters in the second one is an airship captain, so I'm including them.
Girl stows away on an airship to avoid an arranged marriage, but it turns out to be a smugglers' ship; adventures and romance ensue. This one is due out next week, and is the first in a SIX-BOOK SERIES.
I know, I KNOW. I'll get to them! (Especially the Oppel series, as the comparisons to Verne and Stevenson are PULLING ME IN. I think I might even have Airborn on my Kindle. But then again, Josh loved Leviathan, so I should probably buy the other two so that we have them in the house...)
Multiverse story about a boy from our world who hooks up with the crew of the airship Everness (and gets romantically involved with the captain, I think?) and proceeds to have lots of adventures. The cover art of the first one, especially, doesn't do much for me, but the book itself sounds SUPER, so I'm bumping this one right up the list.
A society girl is accused of unlawful magic and is headed for a live of slavery as an airship battery... or something like that. Every description I've read has been slightly different.
This is actually the sequel to Innocent Darkness, which appears to be a futuristic-steampunk-faerie-reform-school mashup. After the events of the first book (which, based on the descriptions I've read, sounds ridiculously fun), the heroine joins the crew of an airship. SO ONTO THE LIST IT GOES.
ANOTHER airship hijacking, this one was apparently at least partly inspired by A Night to Remember. It's had pretty mixed reviews, but I'm curious enough that I'm planning on giving it a try.
Did I miss your favorite? Let me know in the comments!
Teenage assassins are a dime a dozen in fantasy and in dystopia, and they aren't ALL that uncommon in historical fiction, but they appear far less often in contemporaries—even stories about teenage spies usually cast the protagonist in an unquestionably heroic role (like Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series) or focus on less-problematic skills (like Robin Benway's safe-cracking heroine in Also Known As and Going Rogue).
So, let's look at a few slightly more Questionable Characters!
Four years ago, he learned the truth about his parents, and four years ago, The Program took him in. He was trained physically, mentally, and emotionally, and now he works for them. They give him a target, he infiltrates that target's life, gets close enough, and then moves in for the kill. (Literally.) Then he moves on. Always moving, always alone.
He doesn't know it yet, but this next job will be different.
I Am the Weapon will not be a good fit for every reader: If you dislike the present tense, it won't be a good fit, ditto sentence fragments and antiheroes. Me? It was a GREAT fit.
Benjamin (not his real name) has a voice that is strong and distinct, both emotionally distant and emotionally fragile. He reads like someone who has been programmed, but not entirely brainwashed—he feels trapped in his situation, but hasn't entirely reconciled himself to it; sometimes, he reads like a sociopath, but it's always clear that it's a created state, not a natural one—because he remembers his past, remembers how he came to The Program, he doesn't entirely trust them, isn't entirely in their corner. But he doesn't feel that he has any direction to move in OTHER than theirs, so he falls back on the rules of the game again and again as a way of justifying his actions and of convincing himself to keep moving forward, of not giving up. His keepers see him simply as a tool, as an asset, as a weapon to point at their enemies... but he's more than that: he's a survivor.
Because of his emotional and mental conditioning, because of the way he's lived for the past four years, he doesn't entirely understand human connection—even though he craves it. Although he has been programmed to follow orders, to kill without hesitation or regret or guilt, he remembers the warmth and love he knew as a child, and those memories, in tandem with getting to know his target—not to mention his target's beautiful daughter—are making it more and more difficult for him to perform his duty.
As I read, I found the romance element FAR less interesting and satisfying than in Benjamin's slowly-growing friendship with bullied hacker Howard, but ultimately, Zadoff makes it all work, AND HOW. The sequel is due out in a few weeks (<--Oh, look, it's a Little, Brown title, so Amazon won't let us pre-order it, the jerks), and I'm VERY MUCH looking forward to reading it.
While neither one focuses on a teenage assassin—Miller's is about a pickpocket and Jinks' is about a hacker—and while an argument could be made that they're science fiction OR fantasy OR both, really, I'm including them anyway. They're both about schools for the criminally-minded, and both include characters who're being taught to be assassins. While I was a big fan of both books, I felt that How to Lead a Life of Crime, especially, deserved WAY more attention than it got when it came out.
This one has been promoted as a story about a teenage girl who happens to be a serial killer, but everything I've read about it suggests that she's actually an assassin with little-to-no conscience. Which is different. Judging by reader reviews at Amazon and GoodReads, response has been EXTREMELY VARIED, so I just ordered a copy so I can make up my own mind.
Boy is forced by his mother to take their Lithuanian exchange student to the prom, it turns out she's an assassin. Hijinks ensue! In the sequel, Perry runs into Gobi in Venice, and there are MOAR HIJINKS. These sound like big, action-movie-esque fun, and I'm going to make a point of reading them soon.
So, I'm sure you've got others to recommend, right? Right?
While there are DEFINITELY some titles I'd swap out for other picks, it's a much more eclectic list than I expected to see—and there were even some (three) that were completely new to me.
If you've got readers clamoring for the gruesome, then look no further: This book is so gross! SO GROSS! Lots of gore, lots of poop, lots of hideous goings-on at the local slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few young omnivores go vegetarian after reading it.
What would you do if the zombie apocalypse started in your own town? Middle school baseball players Rabi, Miguel, and Joe don't just fight for their lives, they try to follow in the footsteps of their hero Spider Jerusalem—the fact that they were Transmetropolitan fans made me shriek with joy—to reveal the corruption and greed that caused it, as well as the people who are still trying to cover it up.
Holy cow, for a small book, it deals with a LOT of stuff, and it deals with it in depth. The banter between the boys is excellent and funny, as are the dynamics of their friendship: they always have each others' backs, there's complete trust and affection there, and they all know how to play to each others' strengths.
They all have large issues to contend with—Rabi is the main target of a racist bully on their team, Miguel's parents have been deported due to their immigration status and lives in fear of the rest of his family being picked up next, and Joe's father is a mean drunk—but while the issues certainly have a bearing on the storyline and on their worldviews, they're dealt with in a pretty matter-of-fact, non-preachy way. The immigration storyline, especially, was well-handled: Bacigalupi doesn't get into the politics, he just tells a story in which a kid has to deal with a situation that is (and has always been) completely out of his hands, but that has a direct impact on his future. Basically, Bacigalupi focuses on people, rather than on policy. Interwoven into all of it is a dark thread about money equaling power, but it does end on a hopeful note that suggests that information, knowledge, and—this is so awesome—STORY will eventually punch through it all.
It won't be for everyone—like I said, SO GROSS—but I really enjoyed it.
These books are new to me: according to the website, it's a series of stand-alone horror/romance graphic novels. In this first one, high school softball star Dicey Bell and science geek/gamer Jack get paired up for a class project, sparks fly, and then they have to team up to fight a zombie uprising. So it looks like it's the old Opposites Attract And Have To Find A Way To Contend With Their Differences Amid Unrelated Chaos storyline. Of which I am a fan, so I'm going to pick it up soon.
I had so much fun putting together yesterday's list about Norse mythology—and, to those who have asked, I'm planning on reading Icefall and West of the Moon ASAP—that I'm doing another one today. This time, as you've likely gathered from the title, I'm focusing on young pianists.
I chose the topic largely because I recently—FINALLY—read the first book on the list.
I've come to the conclusion that Sara Zarr is incapable of writing a flawed book. If you're a fan of contemporaries and she's NOT on your radar, WELL. I think said radar might need some recalibrating.
Lucy Beck-Moreau is a child of privilege, a piano prodigy who was on the fast track to fame and fortune, when, in a moment of grief and rage, she quit. It's been eight months since that day, and she hasn't played since. Now, all of the family's expectations—along with the resulting pressure—is on her younger brother's shoulders. Due to the unexpected death of his instructor, the family hires young Will R. Devi, and his influence sparks Lucy's reevaluation of her life choices, her relationship with music and with her family, and her future.
It's about music; about art; about beauty; about snobbery and elitism; about grief; about trust and manipulation and spite; about how a clash between two stubborn people can ultimately result in both sides losing; about economic class and using people to further your own ends and living THROUGH other people and about CHOOSING YOURSELF. All of the relationships are so complex—Lucy and her mother, her father, her grandfather, her brother, her best friend, her teacher, and, of course, Will—that I really don't think it would be possible for me to praise it highly enough. Lucy's various relationships with adult males are particularly interesting (and in two cases, HUGELY UNCOMFORTABLE, so much so that I moaned, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO DON'T GO THERE DON'T GO THERE more than once while reading, but I should have had trust, because GO THERE ZARR DID, and it was SO WELL DONE) and, yeah. SUCH A GOOD BOOK.
The Ultimate Dust Bowl Sobfest. I very clearly remember reading this one on my lunchbreak at the bookstore, and crying so much that the manager sent me away to go and take a SECOND LUNCH BREAK. Beautifully written.
The plot of this one—child piano prodigy grows up and is no longer interesting to the public, so his mother decides that they will market him as a MUSICAL MEDIUM WHO IS CHANNELING A LONG-DEAD GYPSY COMPOSER, WHAAAAAAAT but then his older brother starts to suspect that his little brother is ACTUALLY BEING POSSESSED, DOUBLE WHAAAAAAAT—immediately makes me think of Lois Duncan's Down a Dark Hall, what with Franz Schubert possessing Kit and all. And now I just want to read Lois Duncan all day long.
Actually, I know that I read this one, but I can't remember a thing about it beyond the format—it's a collage-style story told mostly in photos, IMs, drawings, and ephemera—and that it's about a pianist. I should probably revisit it, because the more I think about it, the more I remember, and I'm suddenly suspecting that it's one that's worth a re-read or two.
A Maine girl wants nothing more than to play her piano, escape her hometown, and go to Julliard. Then, a MYSTERIOUS NEW TATTOOED BOY arrives in town, and paranormal complications ensue. Despite the Maine connection, I'm inclined to skip this one—I'm a little bit MYSTERIOUS NEW BOYed out.
Two books about young prodigies reevaluating their respective futures: one has a wrist injury that allows her to take a few weeks off and explore ballet (really?), and the other weighs her life of never-ending practice, pressure, performance against first love, friendship, and free time.
There are plenty of others where the prodigies are secondary characters—Geoff Herbach's Stupid Fast, for one—but these are the major ones ABOUT pianists that I came up with. Did I miss anything super?
Although winter is still a recent memory (for me, anyway!), summer reading lists are already starting to appear. Two have popped up in my feed so far:
Horn Book: 2014 Summer Reading Recommendations. "Educationalists will tell you how important it is for children to keep reading throughout the long summer break lest their ever-evolving literacy skills erode. Fine. That does not, however, excuse the frequently dreadful list of recommended or — eep — required reading that schools shoot out as one last salvo of homework just as everybody is looking forward to a nice break."
SLJ: Classics are Cool, But… | Summer Reading for Grades 9-12. "Summer Reading, summer snoozing–some teens can’t seem to tell the difference when it comes to a recommended list. The last thing many young adults want is someone telling them what to read, especially during vacation time. Entice your students with new, high-interest titles that are both literary and potential crowd pleasers."
I invited Laura Lam here last year to talk a bit about the various inspirations behind Pantomime, and I'm so pleased to have her back to do the same with Shadowplay. Both books are part of a larger story about Micah Grey, runaway, aerialist, and now... MAGICIAN.
I've gone on and on and on about my love for Pantomime—I'm so pleased that it has a spot on this year's Cybils YA Speculative Fiction shortlist—so I was deliriously happy to finally get my hands on the sequel, Shadowplay. It picks up shortly after Pantomime left off, with Micah on the run and being hunted by not one, BUT TWO different groups, and it has the same blend of feels-like-fantasy-but-is-secretly-science-fiction, AMAZING worldbuilding, strong character development, a narrator with an original voice and perspective, but who is infinitely relatable, and Shadowplay is topped off by an extremely satisfying romantic arc! Like Pantomime, the storyline has threads of trust and family, identity and friendship and justice, and it's as satisfying intellectually as it is emotionally.
I can't wait for the next one.
And now, here's Laura!
I love lists, and really enjoyed coming up with a list for Bookshelves of Doom a few months ago about books that shaped my first book, Pantomime. I’m glad to be back to talk about books that helped shape the follow up, Shadowplay. For the first book, most of my research was on life in the circus and intersex history and issues. For the sequel, most of my research was on magic, illusion, and spiritualism. There’s a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
Hiding the Elephant, by Jim Steinmeyer. I really enjoyed this book and it was probably the most useful for drafting Shadowplay. It's told in a conversational style and Steinmeyer explains how a lot of historic tricks worked. I learned how to describe the Pepper’s ghost that appears in Shadowplay from this book, and learned a lot about Robert-Houdin and Houdini, and many other lesser known magicians. Longer review here.
The Giant Taschen Book of Magic from 1400s-1950s. This was my husband’s present to me when I got my book deal for Pantomime. It’s so huge that at the moment the only place I can store it is under my computer monitor, but I still take it out and look at it occasionally. It’s incredible, full of gorgeous colour plates and great essays (first in English, then French and German) as well as countless photos with captions in all three languages. Can’t recommend it enough. I write a longer review of it here.
Hocus Pocus, by Paul Kieve. Aimed for younger readers, but it’s from the magician who worked on the set of Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban (when the map folds up on the table in the film, it was Paul Kieve underneath the table pulling the strings). It was a fun, quick read, and I’ll probably buy it for one of my nephews when they’re a little older. Longer review here.
The First Psychic, by Peter Lamont. This is the biography of Daniel Dunglas Home, one of the most famous psychics in the Victorian era, who was never caught using any tricks, even though what he did seemed to be impossible. Very fascinating. Longer review here.
Writing the Other, by Nisi Shawl & Cynthia Ward. I kept hearing about this short work about writing about the Other around the internet and read it. It was an excellent short work about diversity and the common pitfalls people can fall into when writing about people different to themselves, often unthinkingly. Definitely impacted certain aspects of Shadowplay, specifically regarding sexuality and race. I didn’t get around to writing a review of this one on my blog – though I should have done!
Carter Beats the Devil, by Glen David Gold. My agent gave me this book as a present! It’s a fictional telling of Carter as a magician in San Francisco. Very detailed and beautifully written. I based Maske, the magician in Shadowplay, a bit on Carter mixed with Robert-Houdin.
The Prestige, by Christopher Priest. I saw the film when it came out and it (and the Illusionist) were both great visual research. I read the book and loved it – thought it was fantastic. It sparked the idea for the magician duel I have in Shadowplay, though I take a very different focus. A few people have called Shadowplay a YA Prestige, which sort of fits, much like Pantomime was often compared to The Night Circus.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. I read this when it was hyped around its release. I did enjoy it, though wow, it’s a lengthy book! These are magicians more in the traditional magic sense versus illusion, but the delicate Victorian culture and such matches with Shadowplay as well, and I’m sure it had an effect on the book somewhere along the way.
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. I studied this at university and I think it had a large effect on Shadowplay. Maske could also be likened a little to Prospero – a man thrown out from his rightful profession unfairly, struggling for redemption. The Tempest is also quite dream-like, and many secrets are revealed in dreams in my book.
Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling. I would be remiss not including the series I’ve read at least a dozen times as a teenager. I was a huge HP nerd – waited in line for the books at midnight, dressing up with my friends as witches and wizards, reading fan fiction, the works. I think the fact that this book has a trio could be linked back to the original trio I read so often as a teen – Harry, Hermione, and Ron. I also think Rowling’s rich approach to worldbuilding influenced me, as well as having little hints in earlier books that come to prominence in later installments.
So, those are some books that I’m sure had an influence, but I’m sure there’s more that have influenced me in ways I don’t realise. I enjoyed all then of these, so if you haven’t read ‘em, I recommend picking them up for a bit of magic.
There are a lot of ways that books can help you feel more connected to other people and to the world: you can recognize yourself in a character, you can relate to a situation, you can share an emotion. More rarely, an author can describe the world in such a way that you think, "OH. S/HE GETS IT."
I always get that feeling from Stephen King's descriptions of Maine: he captures the everyday weirdness of our culture without overdoing it, satirizing it, or caricaturing it the way that so many others do. I got that same feeling from Robin Wasserman's Ode to King, The Waking Dark, in a different, but almost more personal way: I felt like I was reading a story by someone who shared some of my deepest fears, but also some of my greatest hopes.
In The Waking Dark, it's regular people who are the monsters. But it's also regular people—through shining acts of bravery, selflessness, loyalty, kindness, hope—who bring about their own salvation.
It's an outstanding novel, and as in many of King's stories, the small-town setting plays a large part in it: random brutality is scary, sure, but it's terrifying when neighbor turns on neighbor, preacher on parishioner, husband on wife, father on son. Add to that a small-town setting that's inescapable—as someone who spent my childhood and teen years in a small town, let me tell you: sometimes they can seem inescapable on the best of days, even without armed soldiers guarding the town lines and former friends turning murderous—and you've got the perfect backdrop for a horror story that will give you chills even in broad daylight.
And now, I'll turn it over to Robin:
Maybe it’s because I grew up in the soulless suburbs, my adolescence spent shuffling between the multiplex and the mall with the occasional Baskin Robbins detour to spice things up, but I have always been fascinated by small towns. Cities, I understood. The city was field trips and special occasions, noise and traffic and Broadway shows. The city was My Future, the place I would escape to in that hazy someday when high school ended and I could finally live out the Rent/Fame/Desperately Seeking Susan life of my dreams. There was no mystery there. I knew (or at least, thought I knew) every detail of what that life would be.
Small towns, on the other hand? That was a mystery. That was a life I could barely imagine, because the small towns I knew best only existed in fiction…usually, the kind of fiction that came with vampires and carnies and evil clowns hiding behind every picturesque general store. I spent most of my teen years escaping into fictional worlds, retreating from the agonies of adolescence into scarier but more conquerable horrors. And the best of these horrors were almost always to be found in small towns, where friendly faces hid dark secrets, where innocence butted up against ancient sin. It’s no wonder that when I set out to write my own horror novel, I dreamed up Oleander, Kansas, full of cornfields, cheerleaders, ministers, meth dealers, and many, many secrets. People often ask me why I set The Waking Dark in a small Midwestern town, and I always tell them: Where else?
Here, in honor of its publication, are some of my all-time favorite scary small towns:
Derry, Maine – from Stephen King’s It There are some King fans who swear by Castle Rock (setting for The Dead Zone, Cujo, The Dark Half, etc), but for me, it’s all about Derry. This small town in Maine has been home to massacres, fires, and lynchings, not to mention your run-of-the- mill “murder by evil, balloon-dispensing sewer creature”—probably because it’s the ancestral home of Pennywise the Clown, who you do not want to meet. Terrible, nightmarish things happen in Derry…and, most terrifying of all, no one in Derry much seems to care.
Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine – from Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot For the first half of the book, this town is nowhere near as terrifying as most of King’s settings. Sure, you wouldn’t want to live there, but you could probably stop by for a burger and shake without getting murdered. Then come the vampires.
Green Town, Illinois – from Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes Never, ever go to a traveling carnival...especially at 3 AM. That’s what I learned from this book. Also, if a guy covered in tattoos, some of which seem to be the faces of people you know, introduces himself as Mr. Dark, probably best to run home, hide under the bed, and wait until the wind blows the smell of cotton candy way out of town.
Somewhere near Monroeville, Iowa – from Daniel Kraus’s Scowler I don’t exactly know where in Iowa Ry Burke’s farm is supposed to be (the story never leaves the bounds of its property), but I know I wouldn’t want to be stuck there. Especially not with a psychopathic father and three talking dolls, one of which seems to really like killing things. The most disturbing book I’ve read all year, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Wind Gap, Missouri – from Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects Someone in this creepy little town is murdering young girls and stealing their teeth. Need I say more? (You may wonder what they’re doing with the teeth…and I promise, whatever you’re thinking? It’s even worse than that.)
Colleton, South Carolina – from Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides The thing that always gets me about this book (which, for some reason, I read over and over again when I was 17) is that, despite all the horrors visited on the narrator’s childhood, he can’t shake his enchantment with the island where he grew up. It’s in his DNA: “My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call.”
Oelwein, Iowa – from Nick Reding’s Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town Oelwein is a real town, and Methland is a real life horror story about how economic devastation and meth infestation have formed a cancer that’s metastasized across small town America. Oelwein comes to life as a place full of people struggling desperately to save their home from obsolescence and ruin. (Also, the book is an amazing read and one of the huge inspirations for The Waking Dark.)
Honorable mention to…
Twin Peaks I know, I know, it’s a TV show. But it managed to scare the crap out of me when I was eleven years old and all these years later I’m still terrified. This is a town that contains the Black Lodge, Owl Cave, the Double R Diner, One Eyed Jack’s (supposedly across the border, but close enough), the Saw Mill, the Road House, and Bob. I’d say more, but I’m too freaked out to keep typing. Watch it for yourself.
Here's another Teen list at The Bookbag. (<--This one is actually comprised of titles I haven't heard of, maybe because it's a UK site? I'm pretty on top of UK titles, though. I dunno.)
Cybils nomination time is fast approaching, and while I haven't decided what I'll nominate in the YA category, I know what my pick will be for YA SF/F: Sarah Beth Durst's Conjured.
It's an outstanding read in every way: voice, character, world-building, plotting, and emotional impact. It's multi-faceted and multi-layered and has fabulous re-read potential. It's not an easy read—it requires patience from the reader, as well as a willingness to actively work at understanding Eve's perception of the world—but that makes it all the more satisfying when everything comes together.
It's dark and scary and confusing, but it's also romantic and hopeful and contains moments of pure joy. It's about what it means to be human, about how our understanding of the world is colored by experience, and it's a fantasy, a mystery, a cop drama, a fairy tale, and a romance all rolled into one.
It's a fabulously excellent book, and I hope you read it soon.
And now, here's Sarah!
Thanks for inviting me here, Leila! Hi, everyone! I'm Sarah Beth Durst. My new YA book Conjured is the darkest, wildest, and creepiest book I've ever written. It's about a girl in the paranormal witness
protection program, who, haunted by visions of carnival tents and tarot cards, must remember her past
and why she has strange abilities before a magic-wielding serial killer hunts her down.
I loved writing the creepy parts.
Okay, the other parts were fun too, especially Zach's lines. But the nightmarish visions...
When I was a kid, I used to lie awake at night, convinced that the sound of my heartbeat was actually the
sound of footsteps coming slowly and steadily toward my room. But I couldn't run to my parents for help
because if I left my bed, then the invisible giant snakes under my bed would bite my ankles. As they do.
(My husband tells me I wouldn't have had this issue if I hadn't gone to a preschool that kept a massive
boa constrictor as a pet. I've pointed out that they also had a goat, and I never had any weird satyr
dreams. He says that's not the same at all.)
Anyway, that feeling of dread was what I drew on when I wrote this book, and taking that old feeling and
wrapping it in words was... weirdly fun. Or maybe the word I want is cathartic.
The novel is told in a very tight point-of-view -- the idea is for the reader to experience what Eve is
experiencing. I tried to wrap myself in her shadowy world and see it through Eve's eyes. I really wanted
to recreate that middle-of-the-night feeling of disorientation and an atmosphere of claustrophobic chaos
as she gropes toward understanding (and then has it ripped away from her).
So for my list of Friday Faves, I picked books that reek with atmosphere. These books smother you with
it until you're breathing their air. They wrap themselves around you and pull you into their world. You
emerge from them in a fog, the real world tinged with the feel of that darker world, as if it has left behind a
thin film on everything.
In no particular order, here are books that have smothered me with their atmosphere:
All of Nina Kiriki Hoffman's YA books have a delicious haunting quality to them. Her prose is always
beautiful, and her characters are always entrancing. I think my all-time favorite of hers is A Fistful of Sky, but for sheer atmosphere, I have to highlight A Red Heart of Memories and its sequel Past the Size of Dreaming. They're about Matt, Edmund, and Susan, three teens with odd powers and
painful pasts. The sequel centers around a haunted house.
Jamie accidentally stumbles across a game played across parallel universes by scary, powerful beings
called Them. But just describing it like that doesn't do it justice. Jamie is lost, and he spends the novel
trying to go home again. His fate has haunted me for over twenty years.
Nithlings! Fetchers! Ahhhhhh! This series is about a boy named Arthur Penhaligon who basically has
to save the universe. Nearly every page has some brilliant, imaginative creation -- many of which are
thoroughly and awesomely creepy.
I first read this book when I was about ten years old. And then I read it again. And again. And again...
It's a supernatural romance about Laura, a girl whose brother's soul is slowly being sucked away by a
creepy villain named Carmody Braque. She turns to a witch, Sorry Carlisle, for help, but he and his family
have an agenda of their own. Mahy's The Tricksters is also deliciously creepy.
Alice Bell thinks her father is crazy. He insists no one leave the house after dark because of
the "monsters." When Alice convinces her family to go out one night, her family is killed by zombies in
front of her. Needless to say, this leads Alice to have a lot of issues. This book is dark and wonderful,
and I can't wait for the sequel.
Emma can talk to dead people. This is not a good thing. People who have this power usually turn evil
and use the dead to work evil magic. People who have this power usually need to be killed as quickly as
possible. This book is very compelling and reeks of atmosphere.
Actually, the Neil Gaiman book I found to be the most scary and creepy is his picture book with Dave
McKean, Wolves in the Walls. But since we're talking novels here... this book is about Nobody
Owens, who was raised by ghosts in a cemetery. The ghosts were charming, and the killer Jack
freaked me out. His novel Coraline is also quite ghoulish, and because of that book, I will always find
Lalaloopsy Dolls to be profoundly disturbing.
You want a book full of atmosphere? This one. It drips with it. It oozes it. This book is about Briony, a
girl who has been stuffed full of so many secrets and lies that her self-worth has been seriously warped.
This trilogy is full of angst, romance, and melodrama (in a good way). It always reminded me of a
romantic Bluebeard, except the heroine saves Bluebeard instead of needing to be saved. Like The Changeover, I read these books eons ago, but they've stayed with me.
Set in England in 1852, this book drips with classic Gothic atmosphere. Think Jane Eyre and Wuthering
Heights with clockwork gadgets. Katharine is sent to her uncle's estate with instructions to declare him
insane but instead discovers a clockwork factory that is the hope of hundreds. Definitely a novel you can
sink into on a dark, chilly night.
Okay, so I have a new patron who has just discovered Percy Jackson, and is IN. LOVE.
Knowing that he's blowing through the series at, like, MACH ZILLION, I threw this list of Percy Jackson readalikes together this morning at work:
First of all, there's Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series, which is set in the same world as Percy Jackson, and features the same blend of humor and action and smarts as well as appearances by all of your favorite characters, but it stars a different trio of characters.
Also by Rick Riordan are the Kane Chronicles books, a trilogy about Egyptian gods suddenly released into the modern world, and the two siblings who are tasked with setting things to right.
If you especially like Percy for the humor and action, you might want to try the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. Artemis is a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind who gets more than he bargained for when he kidnaps a fairy... who just so happens to be a cop!
Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasantisn't a cop, he's a detective... who is also a walking, talking, wise-cracking, nattily-dressed skeleton. Super funny, super exciting, super AWESOME.
Jeff Smith's comic Bone ran for 13 years, and it's about the adventures of cousins Fone Bone, Phony Bone, and Smiley Bone. There's plenty of humor, especially at the beginning, but it's also an epic fantasy that deals with themes of friendship, family, heroism, and power.
In the Fablehaven books, by Brandon Mull, siblings Kendra and Seth go to stay with their grandparents for the summer... and discover that not only is their grandfather the caretaker at a reserve for magical creatures, but that their grandmother is missing.
The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott, is the first book in a series about Sophie and Josh Newman, fifteen-year-old twins who get pulled into an age-old battle between good and evil... but, according to an ancient prophecy, no one knows if the Newman twins will ultimately fight for or against the powers of Good. Like the Percy books, it's chock-full of magic, mythology, and adventure.
In The Shadow Thieves, by Anne Ursu, trouble is a-brewing in the Underworld, and it's starting to affect our world. In order to stop a quickly-spreading plague, cousins Charlotte and Zee have to do battle to gain control of Hades and put things right. Like Percy Jackson, it's funny and fast-paced and exciting!
If it's the Greek mythology that you love, try on Tobias Druitt's Corydon series for size: it features the gods and beasties you got to know in the Percy Jackson books, but it's actually set in ancient Greece!
Carolyn Hennessy's Mythic Misadventures series is also set in ancient Greece. It starts with Pandora Gets Jealous, a frothy adventure about thirteen-year-old Pandy, who releases the Seven Deadly Sins out into the world, and is tasked by Zeus to recapture them.
Although Cornelia Funke's Inkheart books don't deal strictly with Greek mythology, they do feature a similarly irresistible premise: twelve-year-old Meggie's bookbinder father has the power to read fictional characters to life! It's an adventure and a mystery, but it's also a story about the love of stories.
Before The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins wrote Gregor the Overlander, the first book in a series about a boy who dives into a laundry chute after his little sister... and winds up in another world. Adventure, magic, epic battles, and an ancient prophecy: Gregor has it all.
Lastly, as Percy Jackson is so often included on lists of Harry Potter readalikes, I'll do the same here: after all, both series start out with an eleven-year-old boy discovering that he not only has magical powers, but that he's fated to change the world... and both boys become best friends with a somewhat bumbling boy and a super-smart girl!
Since, as I said, I kind of threw it together, am I missing anything major?
I wrote about Jonathan Stroud's The Screaming Staircase weeks ago at Kirkus, and I'm still so crazy in love with it that I got all frothy-gushy about it this morning, just because Josh made the mistake of using the word 'sword' in conversation.
It pubs on September 17th, and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it until then... all I want to do is squee and squee and squee some more with all of the library patrons who I'm sure will love it as much as I do.
Anyway! It's smart, it's scary, it's exciting, it's funny, it's got loads of atmosphere and great world-building and DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I LOVE IT?
Um. I think I should probably just turn this post over to Jonathan Stroud right now before I embarrass myself further. Here he is!
One of the pleasures for me of my new series, Lockwood & Co., is that it gives me the
excuse to equip my heroes with whopping great swords. Well, they’re rapiers, actually,
which is important for reasons I’ll come to in a moment; but since my heroes are modern-day kids, the effect is still quite startling. Here’s the set-up. There’s an epidemic of
hauntings in Britain, and Lockwood, Lucy and George are psychic investigators. Like
other psychically talented children up and down the country, they’re on the front line in
the battle with the supernatural enemy. Since ghosts are vulnerable to iron (among other
things), iron weapons come in handy. And what could be better than a natty sword?
But not any old sword. No. As an avid reader, and as a watcher of movies, I learned
early on that a sword (and the ensuing swordfight) is a clear philosophical expression of
the character’s personality. Read about Conan the Barbarian, for instance, and you see
someone who uses his monster broadsword to cleave skulls with appealing energy and
brio; he’s not, however, the man to come to for subtlety, sophistication or aesthetic
finesse. By contrast, heroes with lighter swords tend to be elegant, refined and classy.
Men who wield them are masculine, but sensitive. The women? Strong but feminine.
Hence the rapiers for my mixed-sex heroes of Lockwood & Co.
Anyway, to celebrate the publication of the series, here’s a handy guide to some of
the sword-swishing heroes that I’ve most enjoyed…
My first literary pin-up. It helped that Robin was seared onto my consciousness thanks to
his Errol Flynn incarnation, but he was also the star of numerous retellings that I adored
when I was small. Robin was of course a bowman, first and foremost, but he was pretty
nifty with a sword too, as Basil Rathbone’s ghost will tell you.
Another of my childhood heroes, although the interesting thing about him was that he
didn’t actually use his sword that much. Most of the time he relies on his intelligence
(plus large pointy stakes etc) to get him out of trouble. This points the way towards the
fact that the most satisfying swordsmen (and women) are clever as well as skilled.
This indomitable moustachioed Ancient Gaul always goes round with two things at his
belt: a gourd of magic potion brewed by his druid, Getafix, and his faithful short sword.
Most of his scraps, admittedly, involve simply punching Romans, but his cliff-top sword-fight with evil chieftain Whosemoralsarelastix in Asterix and the Cauldron is classic
Hollywood material.
The swordsman as pure Romantic hero. For maximum effect, Hope’s novels demand to
be read in one’s teenage years. The doomed romance with a beautiful woman promised to
another, the honourable suppression of one’s desires, the final dual to the death with the
devilish Rupert of Hentzau… What wistful, spotty youth could ask for more?
One half of Leiber’s ground-breaking swords-and-sorcery duo, the diminutive Mouser
teams up with the giant barbarian Fafhrd for many disreputable adventures. The classic
story of their meeting, Ill Met in Lankhmar, combines swashbuckling heroics with an
appealingly sour, downbeat tone. A swordsman for a slightly older, more jaded palate.
For large portions of Vance’s masterpiece, Aillas is a vagabond king-in-waiting, enduring
various picaresque adventures. Unshowy and supremely practical, he resorts to swordplay
only when pushed; nevertheless, he is formidable in battle, and fully prepared to slice a
treacherous fox-headed witch in two with one blow of his sword. And quite right too.
Okay, this is a cheat. Did Monkey actually have a sword? Nope. He had a magic staff,
with which he duffed up demons and other evil-doers – but I’m going to say that’s
near enough. Not only that, Monkey also had cloud-walking boots, once peed on
Buddha’s hand, and, with his general irreverence, impudence and all-round cool, is
easily the greatest anti-hero in classic literature. The hairy model against which all later
swashbucklers must be measured.
Okay, I'm back to gush just a teeny, tiny bit more: HOLY COW, I LOVE THE GREY MOUSER SO MUCH. Third childhood crush, after Disney's foxy Robin Hood and Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert Blythe. I discovered him before Howl, even! SWOON. Obviously, his inclusion on the list is YET ANOTHER point in this book's favor.
Cori McCarthy's Color of Rain is not a book I'd hand to someone who is concerned that YA fiction has become too dark. It deals, after all, with human trafficking, with sex work, with emotional and physical abuse, with fear and depression and loss. Over the course of her journey, the heroine, Rain, not only walks through Hell, but for a time, is a resident there: for a time, she abandons all hope, and for a time, she shuts down, stops thinking, feeling, caring.
But she fights, and she survives. And ultimately, she makes her way through and out of the dark... not unscathed, but whole.
It's a tense, smart, compelling, disturbing, original read. And I find it ever-so fitting that Cori McCarthy decided on Traumatizing (In a Good Way) Reads for her theme. So, without further ado, here are seven traumatizing books that inspired her to write Color of Rain:
A story about a girl who does anything and everything
to keep herself afloat through a dreary, unfortunate series of fate face-slaps. Jane was
always in the back of my mind when I wrote Rain; I wanted Rain to have that same
brave face no matter what. Unshakable to the very end!
This YA sci-fi really stands out. And if you think Rain is chilling
and bleak, try this book on for size. It offers lessons about defending individuality in
such arrestingly artistic ways. Plus, who doesn’t love a book that starts with, “We went
to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck."
This book goes too far. It uses stunning poetry to
weave a wretched, disturbing story into the reader’s mind. That story has stayed with
me for years, like it or not, and while I was writing Rain, I was aware that I needed to
go too far as well. I needed the reader to understand that what Rain was doing was not
okay, not for her, not for anyone. And also to demonstrate that, like the teenage sex
trade, this sort of thing happens.
This is another story about a girl who will
do anything and make the hardest decisions. Keturah is headstrong and steady. She’s
wise beyond her young age and does not shift from sacrifice. I hope that Rain’s terrible
choices feel as necessary and (somewhat) noble as Keturah’s do.
Ah, you might be surprised here, but this book gave
me shivers. I’m a little shocked by some of the most deliciously romantic things about
Edward. To me, he always felt on the edge of being overly obsessive and possessive.
Dangerous—not because he is a vampire—but because he yearns to own Bella. I didn’t
realize that I had drawn on my reaction to Twilight when I wrote Rain until someone
referred to Johnny as the anti-Edward Cullen. I’m not going to lie, that one made me
giggle quite a bit.
This collection of three short stories is kind
of mesmerizing and so hot and heavy—in weird ways, I should point out. I’m not sure
that I knew how sexy of a tone I could get away with while writing YA until I read this
book. Like Tender Morsels, it feels daring and strange and dark in ways that you can’t
always put your finger on.
This book made me cry silent tears that streamed
until I gave up on tissues and just let myself puddle. It’s a quieter coming of age story
than all these other books, but it has a slamming, important heartbeat. Every time I
read it, the main character, Miracle, proves how much a person can go through while
retaining their humanity, sanity and willingness to love.
I read Gayle Forman's Just One Day very early on this year, and it's stayed with me for all of these months. On a regular basis, I see or read or hear something that reminds me of it, and that only serves to make me A) want to re-read it, and B) want to read the sequel. (OH MY GOD, ESPECIALLY B! BUT ALSO A.)
It's a coming-of-age story, yes, but it's a coming-of-age story that plays with how we try on and try out different roles and personas and faces—as the love interest is an actor, that part of the story resonates that much more—and it's a story about exploration, about testing boundaries, about taking chances, about risk, about the power of attraction, of connection, of love. It's a story about growing out of friendships, and about growing out of ourselves, and it's about actively growing—choosing to change—into a new self.
It's so, so lovely, and if you're a fan of contemporaries and you HAVEN'T read it yet, I do hope that you will. It's THAT GOOD.
But, enough of ME. Here's Gayle:
There are many reasons I love travel, but the reason I love it most is the reason I hate
it most: It pushes me out of my comfort zone, and as everyone knows, that can be a,
well, uncomfortable (and embarrassing and maddening and frightening) place to be.
It’s also the place where growth happens, which is probably why travel tends to be so
transformative.
Travel is not the only road to transformation. It’s just a really efficient (not to mention
fun) one because it deep-ends you way out of your comfort zone (or at least it does the
way I do it). I love all manner of stories and novels that thrust readers far from home (real
or metaphoric) watch them flounder and then allow them to grow. Here are six of my
Grow-Your-Comfort-Zone novels.
There is so much to love in Alexie’s heartbreakingly funny novel about Junior, a misfit
squared. As if it’s not enough to be born poor, Indian, and living on the Rez, Junior
also suffers from a series of congenital health issues. On top of that, he’s smart. Really
smart. So smart that he winds up transferring from the reservation school to a rich school,
where he and the school mascot are the only Indians. What could be a tale of Poor Indian
Getting Picked On By Whitey turns out to be much more nuanced story, with Junior
developing deep relationships with his new friends at his school, and seeing relationships
on the reservation challenged, and as a result, not fitting in quite anywhere. He gains
things, and loses things along the way, important things—this book will break your
fucking heart—but in the end he grows. And so will your heart.
Poor Jane never really has a comfort zone. An orphan living with her aunt’s family, she’s
an outcast there. Then she’s an outcast among outcasts at Lowood School. It’s not until she
comes to imposing Thornfield Hall and meets the intimidating Mr. Rochester that she
begins to find some semblance of home. After finally, she thinks, creating a family of her
own, she learns Mr. Rochester’s terrible secret (at the altar, no less). And then she’s cast
out of the only home she’s ever known. Le sigh. Jane’s life is a series of sink or swims.
But our Jane, she always swims. And she always grows stronger. Also, hello. Rochester.
Original book boyfriend.
As the title suggests, everyone in Jhumpa Lahiri's debut collection of stories is out
of their element. In the title story, Indian Americans on holiday back in India spend
a day out with a tour guide, a native Indian, himself thrown out of his comfort zone
by what he sees as his sudden intimacy with the glamorous Americanized woman in
his backseat, herself completely out of her element in her putative homeland. Other
stories show the delicate dance between two worlds (one of them, or both of them, often
bewildering) of immigrant Indians living in the US. Lahiri’s stories are less about grand
transformation than confusion, misunderstanding, longing, and cracks in the heart. But
there is something universal in these feelings—of being unmoored, of knowing where
you are, but not where you fit—that these stories capture perfectly.
If anyone needs booting out of her comfort zone, it’s 16-year-old Francesca Spinnelli.
She’s being suffocated it, by the casual cruelty of girls who have made her squash her
authentic self. When Francesca winds up at Saint Sebastian’s, an all-boys school just
gone co-ed, the timing wouldn’t seem ideal—her mother has just fallen into a major
depression. Yet being in the school, among mostly boys, turns out to be just the shakeup
Francesca needs to find the strength to deal with her home crisis and rediscover the
person she was meant to be. Australian author Melina Marchetta is one of my favorite
writers. I love all her books, but this is the one I’ll want my daughters to read first when
they’re old enough.
The entire experience of reading the multiple, interweaving stories in Mitchell’s opus
can be discomfiting (and exhilarating) in and of itself, and I found reading the book
itself to be transformative. All of the stories of feature characters thrown out of their
comfort zones: a sick young man harboring an escaped slave on a ship, a senior citizen
incarcerated in a draconian nursing home, a young woman investigating a nuclear power
plant. But perhaps no one is thrown out of her comfort zone like Somni 451, a genetically
engineered fabricant (clone) in a dystopian future Korea who, suddenly, achieves
consciousness. Her riveting story is the linchpin of this whole wondrous book. Which
you should read it. And don’t tell me you’ve seen the movie. That doesn’t count. The
movie didn’t come close to touching the book’s weird genius.
Pretty much everyone in Patchett’s novel is thrown out of their comfort zone after the
guests at the ambassador of an unnamed South American’s country’s residence are taken
hostage. It might sound like a tense thriller—and there are elements of that—but it’s
really a series of love stories, between one of the captors and a quiet translator, between
a star opera singer and the executive of a major electronics company, and between the
“terrorists” and the hostages. Loyalties are tested, right alongside them, assumptions
and suspicions. Music plays a major part, in bringing very different people together
and, ultimately, transforming a hostage situation into something of a sanctuary. A
heartbreaking, soul-lifting book.
The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door had me at hello—REVENGE in huge font on the cover, sartorial choices that are reminiscent of Gingerbread, but with a more confrontational pose—and when I actually opened the book and started reading, I just loved it more and more and more with every page I turned.
Celia is angry, irritable, empathetic, creative, funny, smart, and completely believable. She's a huge reader—she has a crush on Diana Wynne Jones' Howl!—and her poetry, as in Sharon Creech's Love that Dog, reflects what she's currently studying as well as allowing her to mull over some of the stuff that's going on in her life.
Additionally? Her poetry? Makes for genuinely enjoyable reading.
Ask a reader to name a revenge tale and this might be the first on her list. Alexandre Dumas also wrote The Three Musketeers, and these books are famous for a reason. Big emotion, big action! They blend fast-paced story telling with emotionally charged scenes. Read them when your life is sitting still and you need to feel swept away.
Forget the pies, this is the scene from Titus that will be seared into my memory forever and ever and ever. Oh, Shakespeare: you really did write something for everyone.
People pop off Hamlet as the Shakespeare’s most revenge-happy protagonist because of the revenge Hamlet wants back at the people who murdered his father. But, I think the darker and more terrifying revenge scene lives in Titus Andronicus. Let’s just say that someone in the play eats a meat pie, and the meat used in that pie was once a couple of characters.
*Note: if you plan to read Titus Andronicus, go ahead and schedule your therapy appointments now. It’s sort of like the Shakespearian answer to that movie Saw.
Who can resist pairing revenge with the madness of Captain Ahab, stalking through the wild southern ocean bent on killing a predatory animal for being predatory? This is one of my favorite books and should be on your shelf if you have a curiosity about American history, the sea or just enjoy a solidly built story.
For a really fun Moby Dick experience, check out Moby Dick Big Read, where you can hear people like Tilda Swinton and John Waters read chapters aloud.
What’s up with so many revenge stories being written by men? Good thing we’ve got Emily Bronte and her dark story of Heathcliff, whose true love didn’t find him worthy of marriage due to his station in life. Chew on that for a number of years and see if you don’t find yourself walking back over the moors, intent on ruining some snobby elites’ privilege party.
Karen Finneyfrock is the author of The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door, and can be found online at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.
What with my soft spot for books about spiritualism, I enjoyed Dianne K. Salerni's We Hear the Dead wholeheartedly. It's a fictionalized account of the rise and fall of Kate and Maggie Fox, the sisters who are credited by many for bringing the Spiritualism Movement into the mainstream.
Her most recent book, though, I LOVED. The Caged Graves features a pitch-perfect depiction of the complex relationships found in a small town, complete with decades-old rivalries and alliances; a mystery that involves murder and lost treasure and rumors of witchcraft and vampires; it's atmospheric and spooky, with lots and lots of great Gothic-style chills; Verity is a heroine who is bright and plucky and flawed and, my favorite, A PRODUCT OF HER OWN TIME PERIOD, rather than just a modern-day girl swanning around in a corset; a slow-burning romance that grows out of trust and friendship, rather than springing fully-formed out of simple physical attraction and raging hormones; and an Author's Note that gives us details about the real-life inspiration for the story.
If that sounds at all enticing, you should read it. It's excellent across the board, and you will not be disappointed.
If you've already read The Caged Graves and are looking for more creepy fun, take a spin through Dianne K. Salerni's list of her own seven favorite Gothic novels. If you're still waffling about picking it up, I suspect that her good taste will win you over:
A young woman leaves her position at a girl’s school to become the governess of a former student at the haunted Chateau Moura. I don’t know how many times I read this book as a teenager. It’s rather like a retelling of Jane Eyre, except with creepy animal killings, secret passages, a suicide that might have been murder, and a ghost with bloody pulp for a face. (I’m fairly sure that’s how it was described in the book.)
Two sisters live in a mansion, ostracized by the townspeople and blamed for the mysterious poisoning that wiped out the rest of their family. The arrival of a cousin upsets their world and stirs up old talk of murder and witchcraft. This book was my first introduction to the unreliable narrator, and Mary Katherine Blackwood is as creepy as she appears on the cover of my edition.
I could have put almost any Mary Roberts Rinehart mystery on this list. I read as many as I could lay my hands on, compulsively. But The Album was one of my favorites. Five connected families live in the five houses on The Crescent, making thirteen residents altogether (not counting the servants!), all hiding their own secrets and family skeletons, until the day old Mrs. Lancaster is “brutally and savagely done to death with an axe.”
Everyone is familiar with Rebecca, but I prefer the lesser known Rachel and the shocking end of this book. When Philip’s cousin Ambrose dies of a strange illness shortly after marrying the enigmatic Rachel, he immediately suspects her of murdering her new husband for his fortune. Philip isn’t expecting to fall in love with Rachel himself—or to subsequently fall ill with the same symptoms that killed Ambrose.
Mary Stewart is another mystery writer I read compulsively, but The Ivy Tree is probably the one I re-read the most, trying to catch all the clues strewn about by the unreliable narrator. After Mary Grey is nearly assaulted by a young man over a case of mistaken identity, it seems unlikely that this same young man could talk her into impersonating his cousin, Annabel Winslow. However, she does agree to impersonate the missing heiress – but not for the reason you think.
This is one I read as an adult, re-read, and recommended to all mystery lovers. Barbara Vine (really Ruth Rendell) has several really good psychological mysteries, but Anna’s Book is particularly “gothic.” The diary of an Edwardian-era Danish immigrant to the UK is published by her daughter and unexpectedly becomes a best-seller. But, as her granddaughter discovers, it is the pages that were ripped out of the original diary which contain the key to two unsolved mysteries: a gruesome multiple murder and the disappearance of an infant.
This was another book I read as an adult, and it’s got to be the most gothic of all gothic books. I don’t think it’s missing a single element of the genre: a family secret that traces back through generations, ghosts, witchcraft, murder, suicide, insanity, and a creepy old house. It seems impossible that anyone could read a 900+ page novel in one sitting, but I did.
Dianne K. Salerni is the author of the The Caged Graves and We Hear the Dead, and can be found online at her website, her blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
Although it's certainly not the only YA space opera in existence, I credit Beth Revis' Across the Universe trilogy—comprised of Across the Universe, A Million Suns, and Shades of Earth—with bringing the subgenre to a more broadly mainstream readership... WITHOUT sacrificing the science fiction elements or simply setting a popular storyline in outer space.
In other words, this is not Twilight or The Hunger Games or Harry Potter in space. Each installment of Across the Universe is something different—the first book is a murder mystery, the second a political thriller, the third a frontier adventure—but they're all tied together by the overarching story, by ongoing themes of growth and independence and choice and sacrifice and leadership and love, and by the coming-of-age of the main characters.
The trilogy is exciting and romantic and epic and surprising and original; it stars a refreshingly difficult heroine and showcases OUTSTANDING character development; each book is very much one part of a larger whole, but still works as a satisfying story unto itself; as the best science fiction stories do, it explores current-day issues in a futuristic setting WITHOUT being overly obvious or preachy; it's atmospheric and claustrophobic, it contrasts the wondrous vastness of space with the frustration of being stuck—maybe forever—on a ship that may never reach its destination; it's realistic in that the characters face difficult, complicated situations to which there are no easy answers...
I could go on, but that's enough from me, take it away, Beth!
When I finished the first draft of
Across the Universe, one of the first things I did was go to
my small local indie bookstore and ask for all the YA science fiction
they had. I wanted to know the market inside and out. And what I
found was…no market. My bookstore had three SF novels on the YA
shelf: Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games, Stephanie Meyer's The
Host, and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. And while
I’d read all three, what I wanted was more: more variety, more
diversity, more space, just more.
Fortunately, in the past few years,
there’s been a boom in YA SF. There is a lot more available—and
more coming. I actually had a really hard time narrowing down this
list to just ten titles! In the end, I decided to restrict myself to
works that were published between 2011 and the end of this year.
Although two of my selections are dystopians, I tried to err on the
side of sci fi. So, without further ado, here’s some of my personal
favorite modern YA SF—in no specific order, as I love them all
equally.
Pia is a child of science—literally.
Born in a science commune hidden in the jungle, she has been raised
to be the perfect scientist. As she learns more about who—and
what—she is, she must decide whether it is worth it to choose her
own destiny, or take the one carefully planned for her. This novel
has some of my favorite elements of sci fi: a healthy mix of
philosophy, action, and possibilities.
Of all the novels on this list, Memento
Nora scares me the most, because it is eerily close to being true
already. Nora lives in a world where people have given up their
freedoms due to fear of terrorist attacks—and many choose to give
up their memories, too. When she decides to hold on to her
memories—despite the bad ones—she realizes just what true
terrorism is.
I love a time travel novel. The first
of a trilogy, Hourglass tells the story of Emerson, a true
Southern girl who sees ghosts. Except they’re not ghosts. They’re
echoes of the past—a past that Em can travel to. With hot boys, a
healthy dose of snark, and an appropriately twisty plot, this book is
such a fun read.
Cinder is so high-concept that
you can tell what the book is by looking at the cover—it’s a sci
fi retelling of Cinderella with a cyborg instead of a princess.
Brilliant, am I right? Cinder has cyborg-feet, a
Prince, an evil queen that lives on the moon, and such an
entertaining voice that I couldn’t put the book down. The sequel,
Scarlet, tells the story of Little Red Riding Hood with a Wolf
who’s a spaceship captain, and I am chomping at the bit for the
next title coming, Cress, which features my favorite fairy
tale, Rapunzel.
Beautifully told, this novel is a
retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion in a far-future New
Zealand. This isn’t a novel about an apocalypse—it’s about what
happens after, to the ones who live far past a world event that rocks
the whole world. But it’s also a love story, a commentary on
technology, a story of class and prejudice, and so much more.
Did I mention that I love time travel
novels? I so do. Pick this one up for the hero, Jackson. He starts
off as a jerk with a special talent for falling back in time, but
when something truly traumatic happens, he finds himself stuck in the
past—and given a chance to save the life of the girlfriend whose
death he’s partially responsible for. Jackson’s older than most
YA characters, and definitely a boy—but all the more realistic
because of it.
Lydia Kang is a genius. No, I’m not
exaggerating. She’s a doctor. She knows science inside and out. And
it shows in this smart novel of a future where genetics have gone
awry. Ostensibly, this novel tells about a group of teens on the run;
their genetic mutations and anomalies have made them very special to
the wrong people. But more than that, this is a book about loving
someone not despite their differences, but because of them. And I’m
not talking about just romantic love (although there is that), but
also familial love, friendship, and more.
This is a book about parallel worlds.
In the multiverse, there are many different copies of people in
different worlds. In her world—this world—Sasha is an ordinary
girl. But in another world, she’s a princess. Dragged across the
multiverse, she must learn what happened to the original princess,
how to save the people she’s come to care about, and, maybe, how to
get home.
Perfect Ruin, by Lauren DeStefano Coming October 2013
A mix between science, alt-history,
fantasy, and something unique all its own, Perfect Ruin is the
perfect follow up to the Chemical Garden trilogy. Fans of Avatar:
The Last Airbender will love the unique wordplay of the new world
Lauren’s created, and those sick of dystopians will love the
utopian portrayal of Internment at the start of the novel. The best
part? Internment is truly a unique setting for a cast of amazingly
unique characters. You will love them all.
These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner Coming December 2013
I was so lucky to get an early copy of
this book! This is exactly the sort of sci fi I wished I’d had
growing up. It starts off in what is essentially a Titanic of
the stars, a luxury spaceship that provides a contrast between the
two main characters—a girl born to opulence and a poor boy who’s
risen the ranks of the military. When the ship crashes—and they’re
the only survivors—they must find a way home on an inhospitable
alien planet. You will absolutely, positively not be able to guess
the end of this explosive book.
This one’s not YA, but it reads like
one (in that it’s not hard SF, has a quick pace, is more focused on
characters than most adult SF, etc.). It’s an absolutely
fascinating look at a possible future where, if you’re hot and
young enough when you die, you can be frozen, revived only if you’re
willing to be a contracting bride for the very rich. There’s some
adult language in this one, and some racy ideas, but nothing too
inappropriate on-screen, so mature readers will definitely be able to
get a lot out of this adult title, and I highly recommend it. It’s
a modern Philip K. Dick / Twilight Zone hybrid.
Beth Revis is the author of the Across the Universe trilogy, and can be found online pretty much everywhere, including her website, her blog, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter.
I read lots of blogs, I get recommendations from friends and family and library patrons.
I pick up books that are mentioned in the acknowledgements of other books.
I pick up books because I like their cover art, and I pick up books because I am horrified-yet-fascinated by their cover art.
I pick up books because they've been blurbed by a trusted source. (But I avoid putting TOO much stock in blurbs.)
I pick up sequels and books by authors I've read and enjoyed.
When I'm feeling ridiculously nerdy, I search Novelist for specific topics and read a bunch of books along similar lines (hence lists like this).
I buy used and new and I check books out of the library, and I get quite a lot of unsolicited review copies in the mail.
Like I said: A VARIETY OF SOURCES.
What I DON'T use very often are Book Recommendation Engines. Not because I have anything against them, just because I tend to find them and play with them and then forget what they're called.
SO. LET'S MAKE A LIST.
I shall use Howl's Moving Castle and The Book Thief as my test subjects.
Your Next Read:
"At YourNextRead we only feature books you have told us you have read, enjoyed and recommended for others to read. If you do not understand what you are meant to be looking for then YourNextRead is for you...!"
For fans of Howl's Moving Castle, YNR recommends: Castle in the Air, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Fairest, The Lives of Christopher Chant, The House of Many Ways, and Dragon Slippers.
For fans of The Book Thief, YNR recommends: The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, I Am the Messenger (twice!), To Kill a Mockingbird, Night, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (*shudder*).
What Should I Read Next?:
"Enter a book you like and the site will analyse our huge database of real readers' favorite books to provide book recommendations and suggestions for what to read next."
For fans of Howl's Moving Castle, WSIRN? recommends: Ghosts I Have Been, I am Mordred, The Perilous Gard, Erec Rex, The Children of Green Knowe, I am Morgan le Faye, Rowan of Rin, Restoree. (As it's such a long list, I only listed the first eight... but as I scrolled down, it continued to get more and more bizarre, with recommendations like Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School and Rooftop. ROOFTOP. To be fair, Sorcery & Cecilia was there, too.)
For fans of The Book Thief, WSIRN? recommends: Daughter of Venice, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, The Clothes on Their Backs, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, Guernica, Alone in Berlin, Midnighters #1, and An Acquaintance with Darkness. (Further down? ONE FISH TWO FISH RED FISH BLUE FISH. I don't even. Boy in the Striped Pajamas shows up, too: although my hatred will never abate for that book, it makes more sense as a pick than DR. SEUSS.)
Bookish:
"Bookish is an all-in-one website that uses patent pending technology to provide a book-centric, contextual and personalized experience, all with the goal of helping readers find their next book. We serve smarter book recommendations, original book lists and articles, and author and book pages for classics and new favorites."
For fans of Howl's Moving Castle, Bookish recommends: Abhorsen, Calling on Dragons, Sleeper Code, Rose Daughter, and Spindle's End. (Sleeper Code?? Calling on Dragons is a good call, though.)
For fans of The Book Thief, Bookish recommends: Where Things Come Back, Skullduggery Island (?), and Mattoo, Let's Play! (????)
There's other content, too: both pages link up to an extensive list of the author's other books as well as user reviews; The Book Thief is also included on a list called YA FOR BOYS (<--sideeye) and has a section devoted to favorite quotes.
BookLamp:
"Much like Pandora.com was created to provide a practical outlet for the Music Genome Project, we created BookLamp.org to allow readers and writers to use the tools that we’ve developed over the years. BookLamp is the public face and home of the Book Genome Project, so please check it out and let us know what you think."
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE IS NOT INDEXED. Which is, obviously, a travesty.
For fans of The House of Many Ways, BookLamp recommends: Stopping for a Spell, Earwig and the Witch, The Servants, Magyk, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Re: the Shirley Jackson, I don't even.
For fans of The Book Thief, BookLamp recommends: Speak Through the Wind, Faith, The Blind Contessa's New Machine, Amagansett, The Rosary Girls. As I haven't read ANY of those, I can't offer up any pithy wisdom.
Hunch:
"Hunch’s ambitious mission is to build a ‘Taste Graph’ of the entire web, connecting every person on the web with their affinity for anything, from books to electronic gadgets to fashion or vacation spots. Hunch is at the forefront of combining algorithmic machine learning with user-curated content, with the goal of providing better recommendations for everyone."
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE IS NOT INDEXED. See above for my opinion on that matter.
For fans of Diana Wynne Jones, Hunch recommends: A.A. Milne, Nicholas Christopher, William Golding, Markus Zusak, China Mieville, Philip Pullman, Susanna Clarke, Katharine Kerr, and Margaret Atwood. I especially approve of the inclusion of Mieville, and Zusak was a rather hilarious coincidence. (Either that or I'm just getting punchy. There are waaaaaay more of these websites than I thought.)
For fans of The Book Thief, Hunch recommends: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Water for Elephants, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Middlesex, The Shadow of the Wind, The Kite Runner, and The Hunger Games. So, mostly other Book Group Picks?
TasteKid:
"TasteKid is a discovery engine that provides on spot, relevant, music, movies, TV shows, books, authors and games recommendations, based on one's existing preferences. The purpose of these recommendations is discovery and taste exploration. Sometimes, less known items are recommended instead of more similar, yet much more popular ones, in order to increase the chances of discovering something new."
For fans of Howl's Moving Castle, TK recommends: House of Many Ways, Castle in the Air, Terrier, Lirael, Abhorsen, The Princess Bride, Stardust, Through the Looking Glass, Harry Potter, Fruits Basket, and a few others.
For fans of The Book Thief, TK recommends: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Messenger, Fault in Our Stars, The Night Circus, Paper Towns, Shadow of the Wind, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Sophie's World, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, I Capture the Castle, and a few others.
Bookseer:
While it has a great look, this one just uses Amazon's top recommendations, so I'll just list the first of each list.
For fans of Howl's Moving Castle, Bookseer recommends: Castle in the Air.
For fans of The Book Thief, Bookseer recommends: Divergent. AHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Non-title-based recommendations:
Gnooks: "Gnooks is a self-adapting community system based on the gnod engine. Discover new writers you will like, travel the map. of literature and discuss your favorite books and authors." This one is by author, not title, and so while it's not particularly helpful in this case, it's still WICKED COOL.
For fans of Diana Wynne Jones, Gnooks points us to: Patricia C. Wrede, Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, Tamora Pierce, Bruce Coville, Gerald Morris, AND MANY MORE.
For fans of Markus Zusak, Gnooks points us to: Hugh Laurie (<--based on his ONE book, I guess?), Carlos Ruiz Zafron, Jonathan Stroud and David Levithan.
Which Book: "If you're not good at remembering book titles, or if you are the sort of reader who likes to choose by browsing round a little and seeing what tempts you, whichbook is the perfect solution to help you find what you are looking for." This one uses sliders, so you can search for a sad-funny-disturbing-optimistic book, or a happy-serious-safe-bleak one, or anything in between.
Related, but no robo-recommendations:
BookLikes: "Discover great books by exploring blogs and let others discover best books thank [sic] to your book reviews. Writing reviews was never so easy, fast and engaging - connect your review with a single book or whole book series."
As far as I can tell, this site is just trying to be a mashup of Tumblr and GoodReads?
BookVibe: "BookVibe digs through your Twitter stream to show you books being discussed by your friends (the people you follow). We have bought a ton of books ourselves from our friends’ “book streams” and we hope that you will enjoy seeing what books your friends are talking about. We compile this for you on one handy page and send out a weekly email digest highlighting books from your book stream."
No robot recommendations here, either, though I signed up for it anyway because I'm a sucker.
And then, there are the personal reading databases that double as recommendation engines:
GoodReads:
"Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Our mission is to help people find and share books they love." AND TO PROVIDE A SPACE FOR PEOPLE TO BRING THE DRAMZ AND GET INTO BIG NASTY (though entertaining) KERFUFFLES. ALSO, IT'S OWNED BY AMAZON.
The recommendation engine is vaguely based on user ratings rather than on the plug-in-a-title-get-a-recommendation model, and in my experience, provides bizarre results. Last time I checked, it was telling me I'd like nonfiction about punk rock.
Not that I have anything against nonfiction about punk rock, but judging by the almost 1,500 books I've rated, you'd think that the computer would be able to tell that my reading tastes lie in a different direction.
Shelfari:
"Shelfari introduces readers to our global community of book lovers and encourages them to share their literary inclinations and passions with peers, friends, and total strangers (for now). Shelfari is a gathering place for authors, aspiring authors, publishers, and readers, and has many tools and features to help these groups connect with each other in a fun and engaging way. Our mission is to enhance the experience of reading by connecting readers in meaningful conversations about the published word." ALSO OWNED BY AMAZON.
For fans of Howl's Moving Castle, Shelfari recommends: a bunch of other books by Diana Wynne Jones.
For fans of The Book Thief, Shelfari recommends: In My Hands, Milkweed, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Tunes for Bears to Dance to, Something Remains, Diary of a Young Girl, Tales from the Secret Annex, World War II, Never Let Me Go, Edelweiss Pirates: Operation Einstein.
LibraryThing:
"LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth."
For fans of Howl's Moving Castle, LT recommends: Castle in the Air, The Pinhoe Egg, A Sudden Wild Magic, Sabriel, Sorcery and Cecelia, Spindle's End, So You Want to be a Wizard, Searching for Dragons, Rose Daughter, and A College of Magics.
For fans of The Book Thief, LT recommends: I am the Messenger, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Thirteenth Tale, The Help, Water for Elephants, Behind the Bedroom Wall, Room, People of the Book, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. (That list seems to start out with related titles and then just devolve into Common Reading Group Picks.)
LibraryThing offers lists of BOTH LT recommendations AND user recommendations for both titles, which is a super feature: in both cases, the user recommendations seemed more accurate to me.
Not launched yet:
Valioo: "You shouldn't waste time or money with the wrong books. Life is too short for such mistakes. We are developing a quick, fun and easy way to rate your books and receive highly personalized recommendations."
WE'LL SEE.
PHEW. What have I learned?
That while these various recommendation resources are certainly entertaining, and could definitely point readers in some INTERESTING directions, that none of these engines can really hold their own against a one-on-one with a reader's advisory expert.
Duh, right?
Anyway, I'm sure there must be more: which ones did I miss? Also, do you use them, and if so, which one is your favorite?
Thus far, Megan Shepard's The Madman's Daughter hits the most Gothic-y Gothic heights I've seen in a YA novel yet: it's a reimagining of H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau from the perspective of his abandoned daughter Juliet, and it's darkly romantic and scary and lush and grotesque and JUST WONDERFUL.
But if you wanted to hear me gush on and on about it, you'd already have clicked through to my review. So without further ado, here's Megan!
Compiling a list of my favorite Gothic literature requires a certain
ambiance: a steaming cup of tea, a cat in lap, preferably lightning crashing
beyond the window. I’ve liked Gothic literature since before I even knew
what it was, when I used to daydream about sword fights and desolate
moors and tragic lovers going mad. (Yes, I was a strange kid. I think
that surprises no one.) I’m delighted that many Young Adult authors are
beginning to write more in this genre, though of course Gothic sentiments
have been present in YA literature for decades (VC Andrews’ infamous
Flowers in the Attic comes to mind, perhaps also elements of
Robert Cormier’s brilliant The Chocolate War). Below are some of
my favorite Gothic classics, Gothic fiction for adults, and more recent YA
Gothic fiction.
This chilling YA mystery deals with a ghostly Jack the Ripper stalking
the modern-day streets of London. When American Rory Deveaux
moves there to attend boarding school, the last thing she expects is to be
swept up in “Rippermania” and worse, to become the killer’s target. This
supernatural thriller has plenty of humor, romance, and shocking twists to
satisfy the most devout Gothic devotee.
What could be more Gothic than an orphaned governess falling in love
with the brooding and mysterious Mr. Rochester? Oh yeah, lots of secrets
in the attic and gasp-worthy twists. Originally published in 1847, Bronte’s
classic is one of the defining novels of the Gothic genre and a must-read
by anyone who enjoys a desolate atmosphere, haunting mood, and an ill-fated romance.
The atmosphere is languid, dark, and mysterious in this forthcoming YA
novel about teenaged Violet White’s eccentric New England family. When
a handsome and devilish stranger rents her family’s guest house, Violet is
in for a romantic—and dangerous—summer. River West is all charm and
secrets, but when odd and deadly occurrences start appearing at the same
time he does, Violet wonders if River is the boy of her dreams or a devil in
disguise. A chilling and beautifully written romantic thriller.
With a main character named Mary Shelley Black, I knew I’d love this
historical YA filled with ghosts, war, and an unusual romance. Set against
the backdrop of WWI and the Spanish influenza—an epidemic that feels
like a sinister, lurking character—the séances and spiritualism of the
book will satisfy the reader in all of us who craves a good Gothic tale. An
atmospheric and creepy novel steeped in both historical realism and a
dose of the supernatural.
Family secrets and obsessions run wild in this Gothic tale about a
biographer who received a mysterious letter in the mail from a famous
author wanting to tell her life story. The creepy elements leap off the page:
ghosts, sprawling estates, moors, and tea. Aren’t you just dying to know
what the thirteenth tale is? A Gothic story for true bibliophiles.
The Bronte sisters really nailed the Gothic genre, didn’t they? Also
published in 1847, Wuthering Heights is another deliciously romantic
Gothic classic spanning generations of tortured souls on the windswept English moors. The passionate love affair between Catherine
and Heathcliff is bursting with revenge, forbidden love, and a legacy of
unrequited love.
Though more straight-up horror than Gothic, this YA ghost story still has
plenty of creepy Gothic elements: a cursed girl, a loner boy, legends
and lore. Following in his father’s footsteps, Cas Lowood is a hunter of
murderous ghosts. When he tracks down the legendary Anna Dressed in
Blood, however, he discovers a tragic and lovely soul behind the ghost.
How can he kill the girl he’s starting to fall in love with?
I’ve been a fan of Spanish literature since spending a year studying at the
University of Seville; Carlos Luis Zafron is one of the best modern Spanish
writers. This book, set after the Spanish Civil War, follows Daniel, son of
an antiquarian book seller, as he tracks down the fate of a mysterious
author and finds creepy similarities to his own life. With section headings
like “Cemetery of Forgotten Books” and “Remembrance of the Lost,” this
book takes readers on a wild tale of madness, love, and mystery.
Danielle Levine attends Meadow Oaks, a school for "high-potential students with learning disabilities". In addition to chronicling her senior year in OCD, the Dude, and Me—a year that includes required participation in a social skills class, an introduction to the community and culture surrounding The Big Lebowski, and a new friendship that helps her begin to re-enter the world—Danielle includes her correspondence with her English teacher and her school therapist, both of whom end up being hugely helpful, and hugely awesome.
So it's fitting that for this guest post, author Lauren Roedy Vaughn chose to write about her favorite mentors in literature. Take it away, Lauren!
Dr. Robert Brooks is a clinical
psychologist serving on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. He’s written
many helpful books, and he lectures worldwide. He speaks often about the
powerful role of “the charismatic adult,” (a caring mentor) who provides
invaluable support. According to Dr. Brooks, nurturing mentors help struggling
young people “gather strength.” In my book OCD,
The Dude, and Me, Danielle Levine transforms, in great part, because of the
presence of charismatic adults. I’d like to present a few of my favorite reads
that offer characters whose lives are enriched or could have been enriched from
such mentors. Stories of this nature inspire us to show up for the kids in our
lives and affirm that the time and energy we give to them matters in the
richest terms.
Caitlin Smith is a young girl with
Aspergers; she sees the world in rigid, black and white terms, but that doesn’t
protect her from the discomfort of loss. Faced with the challenge of trying to
process her brother’s violent death, Caitlin needed guidance. Thank goodness
Ms. Erskine wrote into being a loving father and a skilled school counselor who
could serve that role well. They provide Caitlin with the closure she insightfully
seeks.
Melinda Sordino is unable to verbalize
the trauma of being raped, and she retreats from the world and suffers outcast
status. Her sensitive art teacher, Mr. Freeman, assigns a project through which
she is able to find her voice and heal. Thank goodness for Mr. Freeman’s
vision. His lesson plan was life changing. A powerful story told with
authenticity.
The opening of this touching story reads,
“Bradley Chalkers sat at his desk in the back of the room—last seat, last row.
No one sat at the desk next to him or at the one in front of him. He was an
island.” As a special education teacher, I was hooked from the get go. I think
I said aloud, “Oh, someone please help Bradley Chalkers!” Luckily, someone
does. The newly hired and controversial
school counselor, Carla Davis, connects with Bradley and teaches him that he is
not the monster he thinks he is. Through the tears, I cheered a lot during this
read.
I love a good story about a hero who is
helped along the way. This book fits the bill. Marcelo Sandoval is seventeen
and is described as having "a cognitive disorder." His father believes he needs to spend some
time "in the real world," so Marcelo goes to work at his father’s law firm for
the summer. Marcelo learns that "the real world" is complicated and fraught
with hypocrisy. Through the support of Jasmine, his supervisor in the mailroom,
Marcelo finds the strength to make a difficult moral choice. I’m so glad you
weren’t alone while facing a moral crisis, Marcelo!
Mr. Frumbles suffers from a classic
case of undiagnosed ADHD, and I worried about him (with good reason) throughout
his entire day in this well illustrated story. Mr. Frumbles, the poor pig, did
not have a moment’s peace from the time he woke up and put his bathrobe on
backwards until he made it home in the evening and flooded his house while preparing
for his bath. If Mr. Frumbles procures a life coach or a loving someone who can
help him strategize and plan for his daily events, he may not have to end
another day by saying, “This has been a really bad day!” I hope so. Poor, Mr.
Frumbles. I’ve known lots of students who could relate to his mishaps.
This is a well-known and well-studied
book in many languages. Recently, I reread this painful tale, and I kept
thinking, “Meursault is on the autism spectrum. He is being dangerously
misunderstood. A psychologist or special educator could explain, to him and to
all involved, why his reactions seem out of place.” My heart broke page after
page. The lack of a charismatic adult in
Meursault’s life was literally a matter of life or death!
One of my galley group teens came into the library last week to pick out a new book to read. As she was browsing the shelves of ARCs, she asked me "where are all the kickbutt girls in YA without the romance? Every YA book has to have a romance plotline! Why can't the girls just be awesome?" She then picked up an advanced copy, read the cover copy, and sighed "See? This one would have been so good before it got to 'and then she meets boy' here."
Her comments got me thinking-where are the awesome girls without romance?
Coming up with them is harder than you'd think.
Sarah very rightly suggests Code Name Verity (there's a subtle romance in there, but it's not at all front-and-center).
• There isn't one in Etiquette and Espionage, though Gail Carriger definitely laid the groundwork for one in the future.
• There isn't an overt one in Martha Wells' Emilie and the Hollow World, but again, there's the distinct possibility that there'll be one in the sequel.
• The narrator in Life as We Knew It had a crush at the beginning, but that didn't go anywhere and then it turned into ALL SURVIVAL, ALL THE TIME. But that might not count, either, because it depends on how we're defining The State Of Being Kickbutt.
• There are romantic doings in the third Kiki Strike book, but not so much in the first two? I think?
Other than those, most of the romance-free action-y reads I can think of are A) middle grade, or B) about male protagonists, or C) not at all recent.
As my sad brain is even more sadly failing me at the moment, I did a little bit of looking around and found these:
• A few reviews of Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Every Other Day mention that it's a standout in the paranormal genre because it doesn't feature a romance: apparently, there's the potential for one, but nothing overt.
•Io9 lauded Jonathan L. Howard's Katya's World for being romance-free: There's a lot of talk about how awesome female heroines are these days, but fifteen-year-old Katya is the real deal. She's stubborn and tough, driven by her desire for respect. She's also really smart in a believable way. Plenty of other characters figure things out, but often at the same time as Katya or just after she points out something important that she's noticed. The reader doesn't ever feel like the adults around her are idiots, but rather that Katya has actually earned her place among them. Katya's also entirely unburdened with a romance. So that's getting bumped WAAAAAAAY up on my TBR list.
There MUST be more, though, yes?
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*Not to say that girls in straight-up contemporaries aren't awesome, but judging by the other titles listed in the original post, I'm guessing that she's using "kickbutt" literally, which suggests, you know: action sequences and whatnot. Tangential question, because I am too lazy to Google it: Is there a contemporary along the lines of Girlfight? Except, rats, Girlfight had a romance. Wow, this is a ridiculous sidebar. Moving on.
