Uncreated Conscience

Catherine Tate as Beatrice and David Tennant as Benedick

For those who aren’t familiar with the text (I highly doubt my blog readership–such as it is, ha–isn’t familiar with Shakespeare, but you never know), Much Ado About Nothing is a romantic comedy in which two pairs of lovers, Beatrice and Benedick and Hero and Claudio, get into complications on their respective ways to the altar. (Isn’t that the plot of every romantic comedy though?) Of course, that is drastically oversimplifying the plot, but after nearly two years of working in publishing, I’ve gotten somewhat better at finding what Cap’n Sweet Valley calls the “handle” (one-sentence sales pitch) of things.

But Much Ado is perhaps the best known for its verbally sparring, love-masquerading-as-dislike pair Beatrice and Benedick, arguably the most famous of the Sexual Tension Disguised as Bickering couples in media, played in this production by David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Nearly every pair of romantic leads in screwball comedies from the 1930s is modelled on them, and many books have tried to recreate that tension as well, to varying degrees of success. (Pride and Prejudice on the good end…and countless scores on the not-so-good end.)

For all that I usually dislike the trope in fiction (perhaps because of the countless scores on the not-so-good end), Much Ado is my favourite of Shakespeare’s comedies, and this was a delightful production.

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MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins

Now that the last book of this trilogy is finished, what do I have to look forward to? I feel bereft, a bit like I did at the end of HARRY POTTER. Alas, alas, alas.

(Actually, I have plenty to look forward to. MONSTERS OF MEN, for one. Also, THE CLOCKWORK ANGEL is on my list of books to read next.)

That being said, I feel the need to write a slightly longer, more emotional reaction-based review of MOCKINGJAY because ZOMG. I got this book at midnight and finished reading in the wee hours of the morning because I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. Oh Suzanne Collins. You are good at writing teh crack.

Warning: SPOILERS BENEATH THE CUT.

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So. Reviews. I did say I would write them. I seriously haven’t had time to eat, let alone blog in the past few weeks. But if you’re curious about what I’m reading outside of work, you should probably check me out on Goodreads.

The hardcover of TENDER MORSELS by Margo Lanagan

There’s not much I can really say about TENDER MORSELS that’s coherent. This novel slayed me. I closed the pages feeling absolutely gutted and wrung out, wondering if the world would ever be okay again and knowing it will.

TENDER MORSELS is a retelling of the fairytale Snow White and Rose Red (Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot), which is about two sisters, roses, a bear prince, an ungrateful dwarf, and stolen treasure.

I’m rather fond of fairytale retellings, as is evidenced by my love of Robin McKinley’s BEAUTY, Elizabeth C. Bunce’s A CURSE AS DARK AS GOLD, Malinda Lo’s ASH, and countless others. I love them as literal or as figurative as they come. I think I love fairytale retellings because the story mechanics are already in place so the author is free to take the characters and world in any which direction s/he pleases. Similarly, fairytales being so sketchy and vague themselves allow for wonderful interpretations of the source material.

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Ack, BEA is fast approaching and I still have two more books to review. Right, no excuses, JJ, just jump on it.

Review of WHITE CAT by Holly Black

WHITE CAT by Holly Black

Because I suck at writing cover copy, I’m just going to swipe the one on Holly Black‘s website.

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they’re all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He’s noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Spoilers after the cut.

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Right, so I promised to have more reviews up for you this week and I swear it shall be done. I swear it shall be done before BEA because heaven knows I’ll probably have a gazillion more books to review after having read all the ARCs I’ve stolen from my coworkers. (Muahahaha. Oh the perks of working in publishing.)

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

A while back on one of the various social media platforms I have (really, I’m starting to reach saturation point with social media) I said I wanted to be haunted by a book. Until I read BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, I hadn’t been.

Ethan Wate wants nothing more than to get out of his small town, to leave Gatlin, the South, and what he perceives as his tiny way of life. He wants nothing more than to be able to experience the outside world. One day, the outside world intrudes on Gatlin in a spectacular way in the form of Lena Duchannes, the dark haired and green eyed niece of the town shut-in, Old Man Ravenwood.

(Can you see how deliciously gothic the book is already?)

Lena is certainly different, but little does Ethan know just how different she (and her family) really is…

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Right, so last week I needed a break from my submissions pile and blasted through a pile of published books instead of muddling my way through manuscripts. I debated whether or not to review each book individually or together in one enormous post, but I decided separately would probably help the tl;dr.

Review of WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green & David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

For some reason, I keep wanting to type David “Leviathan” instead of Levithan. Anyway, WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON was the first book I purchased initially for my ereader. So this review has the privilege of being two-for-one: review of content and review of form.

First off, review of content. WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON is the story of two high school boys who both happen to be named Will Grayson, whose paths happen to cross accidentally one night and how it affects them. Except for me, the novel should have been titled TINY COOPER IS BESTEST CHARACTER EVER.

Because he totally is.

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My newest movie obsession

For the first weekend in ages, I did nothing but watch movies and it was GLORIOUS. I rewatched Dangerous Beauty and Much Ado About Nothing and then watched Amadeus no less than three times. On the same day. (I know, I know, I tend to obsession.)

I think my taste in movies can be extrapolated and extended to my taste in books. Why do I love Dangerous Beauty? It’s an intelligent historical chick movie. Also, it has courtesans and apparently whenever people think of “courtesans”, they think of me. Why do I love Much Ado About Nothing? Because it is delightful. No other reason. Seriously, it is CHARMING and the cheer is infectious. Also, a little ridiculous, but I like that sort of thing. Also, this is my favourite of Shakespeare’s comedies.

As for Amadeus, well, this is a little harder to articulate. Certainly I love Mozart and his music, but one can’t help but be gratified by a great story well-told. Revenge, passion, the nature of genius, the pain of mediocrity, humor, tragedy–this movie is wonderful in every sense of the word. I could go on and on about its brilliance, but everything I feel about this film can be summed up in its title: Amadeus, Beloved of God. One of Mozart’s names rendered into Latin (he was christened with Gottlieb, but went by Amadé in his professional life), but also a recurring theme throughout the play/movie: divine inspiration. Oh! Oh! How I love this movie so.

Anyway, despite having watched movies all weekend, what I really want to do in this blog post is was review two very lovely books, GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD by Karen Healey and THE DEMON’S COVENANT by Sarah Rees Brennan. More after the cut.

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I have (perhaps stupidly) committed myself to another blog, in which my roommate and I will document our progress as we train for the 2011 marathon. Last night Psychic Roommate and I completed our first run around the Reservoir in Central Park.

New post at Running Roommates!

Read about it here! It’s a good thing we’ve started training. There are 5lbs of post-holiday pudge I need to get rid of, 10lbs altogether I’d like to lose. Tonight I will do a nice, restorative yoga practice to recover. Running is really hard on the body! Doesn’t help I have one flat foot, loose ligaments in my shoulders, and one bum knee. I’m a young and decrepit, how sad.

But you know who isn’t young and decrepit and is instead young and awesome? Astrid Llewellyn from Diana Peterfreund‘s RAMPANT. I read this novel months ago, but never got around to giving it a proper review. Hopefully White-Harp will be chiming in with her thoughts as well via vlog. (We are ambitious, White-Harp and me.) Review follows beneath the cut.

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Last night I went to the 10 year reunion of my High Point Academy classmates and had an amazing time (but then again, we always did). I went to a small private school–36 of us in our graduating class–so in effect, these were kids with whom I grew up. For nostalgia’s sake, Mandi brought our 8th grade yearbook and I immediately turned to our “Remember When” page.

Remember when…Sarah didn’t use big words.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Although I went by Sarah in those days; it could because I was the only Sarah in that class and was thus able to avoid sharing the name with another girl.

Looking at my Remember When, I suppose it came as no surprise to anyone that I now work in publishing. :) Speaking of which, I finally got around to reading FIRE by Kristin Cashore, the review for which follows beneath the cut.

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Every year I look forward to Christmas for several reasons, not the least of which is going back home to California to get warm see my family. One of the nice things about working in publishing is that the industry takes a break between Christmas and New Year, freeing up time to read without having to worry about writing scary editorial letters (scary for me, not the author), scheduling meetings with agents, or socializing myself to death.

Husbands rest here. Photo by ColorMeKatie.

Note: I celebrate Christmas (the secular bits, anyway), hence why I name that holiday. Seasons greetings, happy Yule, happy Chanukah, happy Kwanzaa, and happy holidays to everyone who doesn’t!

One thing I don’t like about Christmas is shopping for gifts. I’m notoriously terrible at thinking of what to give people and even worse at receiving presents. My relatives asked what I wanted for Christmas this year. I was about to put down my usual answer (books or a gift certificate for books), when I realised my new job makes asking for books sort of moot. I actually couldn’t think of anything else.

However, this year, I have decided to foist my favourite books I’ve read in 2009 upon the people I love. As far as presents go, books are relatively inexpensive (compared to, say, a Nikon D60, which is what I actually want but don’t dare ask for). What follows is a JJ’s List of Awesome Books To Give People.

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