Technology, ethics, and some damn good reads

A friend asked me recently to suggest a book for a high school class - something off the beaten curriculum, something with teeth-sink-into-able issues, something with the appeal of The Hunger Games that hadn't been read out yet and, most importantly, something NOT ANCIENT (but maybe available in paperback).

Immediately, my mind jumped to Little Brother. I really do not understand why this book is not as big as The Hunger Games. Cory Doctorow has a cult-like following in the adult world, and the book did indeed make it to the NYT bestseller list, but somehow it doesn't fly off the shelf at the library at the rate we expected.

It's one of the best teen books I've read in ages, a story that only gets more relevant as our governments use the terrrorism scare to erode civil liberties. This cautionary dystopia is made even more chilling by the fact that it seems to be set about three weeks in the future. Didactic? Yes, without question. But so relevant, precisely-aimed and well-crafted that it remains a work a literature. And a profoundly readable one at that.

After a terrorist attack on the Bay Area transit system, 17 year old Marcus Yallow and his friends are picked up and questioned by the Department of Homeland Security based on suspicious activity like being in the area, demanding help for an injured friend, and refusing to give up the password on an encrypted phone. When Marcus defends his right to his own privacy, he is detained and tortured in what is later referred to as "Guantanamo by the sea." When the friends are finally released, the Department of Homeland Security has turned San Francisco into a police state.

From high-tech gait-recognition cameras to the hacking of the xBox, technology plays both sides in this struggle for freedom and privacy in a world of surveillance. Plenty to talk about here. The e-book is available for free download on the author's website. A great modern-day companion to 1984.

Another great technology-meets-ethics book is The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (Henry Holt, 2008). In a more distant future, Jenna (also 17) awakes after a terrible accident with absolutely no memory of her previous life. She tries to reconstruct her previous existence, but things don't seem to add up. Her parents, if they really are her parents, are hiding things from her. She struggles to escape her parents' over-protective confines and discover who, or what, she is. A story about the limits of technology, and the limits of humanity. A fabulous read with ample sparks for conversation and debate.

Mockingjay

When I got a concussion last year, I was advised not to try to read for a while. The problem was, I was 50 pages from the end of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games. Seriously, folks, just try not finishing that one. So I'd read for 10 minutes (my max) and then lie in the dark for half an hour waiting for my brain to recover and then read again for ten minutes. And if I read for more than 10 minutes I'd suddenly start shaking uncontrollably. Then I'd lie in the dark for another 30 minutes and start all over again. But I just couldn't stop. That's got to say a lot for a book.

In the middle of my recovery, I listened to Catching Fire (the second installment) on audiobook. And much as I like audiobooks (and couldn't have lived through the last year without them), it just wasn't the same as tearing through the book at light speed and getting lost in another world. It wasn't a bad production, but I can't say it was memorable either. I've heard better in the last year. There are books I'd suggest listening to over reading - this wasn't one of them.

So it is my pleasure to report that the first book I have officially devoured in only a couple of sittings is Mockingjay. And what a pleasure it was. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to sit down with a half-finished novel the day stretching ahead of me and know I was going to read the damn thing till I was done. There's really no point adding one more review to the pot, except to note my delicious relief as a children's librarian that the current 'it' book is actually both-well written and interesting. The hot teen books are always eminently readable, but I often shut off a portion of my brain to enjoy them. I'll admit I was a little traumatized by parts of the grimness and violence - I'm not good at reading about the particulars of war. But it's a fabulous smart series, and deserving of all the attention it's getting. What a perfect book to satisfy the current market hunger for teen/adult cross-over novels. If for some reason you haven't read it, and can handle a good dose of dystopia with your Saturday morning tea, this is the next series you want to get your hands on.

It's a beautiful circle for me to round out the concussion on both ends with such a different experience of this same trilogy. Reading: I've missed you!

Peeps

Westerfeld, Scott. Peeps. New York: Penguin, 2005.

It's lovely to have librarian friends. I adore that on my lunch break I can ask my coworker what to read, and she'll dip into the teen stacks and come out carrying whatever it is "everyone" is talking about. In this case, everyone is talking about Peeps, the recent vampire novel by Scott Westerfeld, author of the also popular book So Yesterday.

I'm not usually one for vampire stories, at least I didn't think I was. But Peeps is an interesting take on vampire, explaining all the myths and stories with a scientific (though no less glamorously gory) slant. In Cal's world vampires are generally referred to as parasite-positives, or peeps for short. College freshamn Cal is one of the lucky ones, not a full-blown peep but a "carrier," one who hosts the parasite without descending into madness and violence. His work is to track down those in his line of infection, the women he infected before he knew what he carried and, ultimately, to find the elusive one who infected him during a one-night stand. But the parasite is changing, the work is becoming more dangerous, and something is stirring under the city itself.

The parasite is passed by body fluid transmission, and in the interests of self-preservation and proliferation, the parasite makes its carriers perpetually horny. As a committed member of Night Watch, an ancient underground New York society that tracks down and rehabilitates peeps before they wreak havoc on society, Cal knows that he cannot risk even a single kiss without turning the object of his affection into a monster of sorts. This conveniently maintains a brooding climate of sexual tension throughout the story, without allowing it to derail into plot-less vampire sex.

The book alternates between narrative chapters and short (2-3 page) explorations of the gory but fascinating stories of read-world parasites. These chapterers are interesting, but feel somewhat forced at times. It is certainly not a book for the weak of stomach, but for those who don't mind a little bit of gore with their lunch this is a fabulous and compelling read. It may just have turned me into a vampire story reader. The elusive "everyone" did not lead me astray: Peeps is a great book and Scott Westerfeld is an author to watch.

Persepolis!

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The story of a childhood. New York: Pantheon, 2003. Satrapi, Marjane.

A break from classes has done wonders for my reading life... After hearing only high praise for this graphic novel for years, I finally had the opportunity to read it and I was not disappointed.

With equal attention to the big-picture of political landscape and the intimate details of personal narrative, Satrapi weaves a compelling and readable story of growing up in Iran in the 70s and 80s. Against a backdrop of the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the Islamic revolution and the war with Iraq, the first of the two autobiographical novels tells the story of a girl coming of age and discovering her own individuality and identity in the face of social and political pressure. It is hard not to find this spunky, intellectually curious, courageous and sometimes reckless girl absolutely engaging as she defies school rules, talks to god in secret and .

Marjane's Marxist parents are politically active but also aware of the very real risks of their choices. They may risk arrest to smuggle Iron Maiden posters and Nikes home from Europe for their daughter, but they worry when she bgins to openly defy authority at school.

These stories are told with what feels like a remarkable level off honesty, both in the text and the illustrations. The deceptively simple high contrast black-and-white drawings are by turns whimsical, funnny, descriptive, horrifying, and deeply moving - but they are always expressive and convey a sense of immediacy that comes partly from the child's perspective. This is a book that will appeal to children and adults alike. The young narrator's perspective and the accessibility provided by the format make it an excellent choice for younger readers, but the emotional and political complexity of the story are combined with a tone that is never condescending and, as such, the the appeal is not limited by the age of the narrator.

A must must must read. I can't wait to see what they make of the movie...

The Amber Spyglass

I've just, at long last, finished reading The Amber Spyglass, the final book in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. I refused to read it until I had some time off because I wanted to sink right in and live in the book for a while without having somewhere else I needed to be. It's hard to believe the series gets better and more complex as it goes on, but it does. I am too stunned to write any kind of a review of this book (not that the world needs another one) except to say that it's one of the best I've ever read. It's been a long time since I felt that bereft at having to close a book and leave a world behind. If you haven't read it (and you like fantasy even a little bit), I'm jealous.

What a lovely lovely treat. I hope the movie doesn't suck, but the movie website is fun (although a little hard and slow to navigate). Plus you can find out what your daemon is. I did. What do you think? See the post below...

(I'm not sure about the modest part.)

The Crazy Man

Porter, Pamela. The Crazy Man. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2005.

Farming in southern Saskatchewan has never been easy, but things go from bad to worse when a gruesome farming accident leaves twelve-year old Emaline Bitterman with a permanently injured leg, a dead dog, and a father who isn’t coming home. Unable to seed this year’s crop on her own, Emaline’s mother makes arrangements a man from the local mental institution to come help in the fields. The neighbours and townspeople are afraid of Angus, but Emaline sees another person struggling to recover from loss and family betrayal.

Unabashedly set in small-town Saskatchewan, the book offers a rich portrait of a farming community struggling to survive a period of dry weather and low wheat prices in the 1960s. The book is also steeped in the larger social and political landscape of the era, with references to Tommy Douglas, Marin Luther, King, the Wheat Board, and the Soviets.

The story doesn’t provide a happily-ever-after on the outside; instead, the narrative arc follows Emaline’s personal struggle to come to terms with her losses. Though the events of the story are difficult, the story itself is not depressing. The tone is hopeful, and the story celebrates the human ability to heal from hurt. Emaline embodies that innocent lack of prejudice often bestowed on child protagonists, but Porter manages to make this interaction convincing and utterly believable.

When someone introduced this book using the phrases “novel in verse” and “appeal for reluctant readers” in the same sentence, I have to say that I was entirely unconvinced. Once I started reading, however, I finished the story in a single sitting. It was compelling, moving and surprising easy to read. The free verse form is used here as a tool to sharpen and condense the language, heighten the emotion and point-of-view of the protagonist, and weed out any extraneous detail or description. The language isn’t “flowery” as some poetry-avoiders might fear, but whittled down to the essentials. Plot, voice, character (and even a sense of place) shine through with an immediacy that makes the book highly readable, while the short lines and 2-3 page sections make the text easier to scan.

Even though the cover is beautiful and the pages nicely designed, this book might be a hard sell to less committed readers, especially with any mention of poetry. A “novel in free verse” sounds unfortunately close to something good for your health. This is unfortunate since The Crazy Man is one of the most compelling and readable books of realistic historical fiction I’ve read. If it hadn’t already won the Governor General’s, the TD Book Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, I would predict a sweep of prestigious awards for this book.

His Dark Materials

Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass. New York: Random House, 1996.

Why has it taken me so long to read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy? This is fantasy at its best, the rare kind of writing that comes recommended with equal zeal from Blake scholars, adults looking for a good read, and children. This is un-put-downable, thought-provoking, beautiful writing (yes - you can have all three!).

In an alternate but parallel world, Lyra lives with the scholars of Oxford who have taken care of her since both her parents died. Or so she has always been told. A series of events lead her north to a land of snow, armoured polar bears, witches, a secret research station, and the answers to her questions about the disappearances of local children. After she discovers the horrible truth about her mother, she is determined to find her father and help him with his esoteric work involving that strange substance, the Dust, that is the source of so much conflict and fear. But she is soon to discover that the world is so much more complicated than she ever understood. And meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, everyone is watching Lyra to see if she will fulfill the destiny that has been foretold for her.

Borrowing heavily from Paradise Lost and Blake's ideas of Innocence and Experience, the story is dense and intellectually compelling while still remaining immensely readable. I'm sure I've missed more literary references than I've caught, but still I don't feel at all shut out of the story. On the contrary, this feels like an incredibly accessible book. But also the kind of book that will most surely do more for renewing current readership of Milton and Blake than any other publication in recent years (as a new edition of Paradise Lost, with forward by Pullman, will attest).

But as I make my way into the third book in the trilogy (currently and tragically on hold as homework calls), I can't help but wonder whether a book that so openly describes warring and corrupt factions of the church, and challenges ideas of religion and authority, would have come out of the United States. It was also interesting that in a story of good and evil, the sides are not easily divided - though there is clearly good, there are also many evils warring with each other, and various players will take sides with whatever faction will help them most at a moment in time. Is there more room in British publishing and culture for this kind of open and critical engagement with the world in children's literature? I like the respect that this book implies for its readership of all ages, the unwillingness to dumb-down ideas, the big questions it asks. I also like the fast pace of the action, the intricacies of plot, and the suspense that kept me reading far past my bedtime.

I'm still waiting to see where it's all heading... Excruciating to wait.

Thieves: Ten stories of surprising heists, comical capers and daring escapades

Schroeder, Andreas. Thieves: Ten stories of surprising heists, comical capers and daring escapades. Annick Press, 2005.

From the theft of the Mona Lisa to the story of an 18th century French cleric who stole and ate 15 files per week to prevent innocent people from being executed, this book offers up gripping stories of real-lives thieves from the past 150 years. The stories are dramatized in suspenseful prose that splits the difference between storytelling and journalism, offering both the historical facts and the unanswered questions for consideration. The book starts with an introduction that briefly highlights some of the stranger stories of theft in history and gives a sense of the breadth of professional thievery, and ends with the sources for this and the ten central stories. With ten years of experience reporting on famous hoaxes and scams for a national radio program, Schroeder is the perfect candidate to author a book on this topic, and he pulls it off well.

Considered in the context of the buzz about information books as excellent resources for enticing reluctant readers or supporting those learning a new language, this book does not entirely fit the model. The book is entirely text-based and so, other than the factual origins of the stories, this book resembles many fiction books. The fact that it is divided into ten short sections may make it less intimidating to read than a novel, but generally it does not have the initial appeal of many informational books based on their highly visual format, small accessible blocks of text, and appealing graphic layout. This may be partly since the book appears to be aimed at an older audience, probably up to grade nine or ten. The appeal of this book is not the format but the content: It will appeal not to those who feel novels are too hard but to those who prefer learning about exciting real-life stories. Even so, the cover does little to sell the book, with a painted bank robbery scene reminiscent of older adventure novels which somehow falls short of retro-cool. This is a shame since the content is well-written and the high-action subject matter will have great appeal to many readers.

***1/2 out of 4

Looking at other reviews: Ann G. Brouse's review in Library School Journal (via Amazon.com) agrees about the suspense and excitement of the stories, but she chooses to focus more on describing the content of several chapters which makes sense since this is the strength of the book.