Mia's Favorite Book of 2008

I am sitting down to write this recommendation, still a little speechless after finishing Tender Morsels. I know for sure that it was my favorite thing I read in 2008, and that it is a book that will stick with me for years to come...but it isn't an easy thing to read. Liga survives the first fifty pages of the book so I had to, as well, but her story was heartbreaking and filled with abuse and sorrow. Because of this survival and heartbreak, she is granted a magical intervention and finds herself living in a paralell world where everything is gentle, good, and pure. In this environment she raises her two daughters, an interesting twist on the Snow White and Rose Red fairytale. But the three women's world begins to unravel as the barriers between their home and reality start to break down. Bear-men begin to appear, some to befriend the women, and others to lure them away. This is a story that will leave you shocked but hopeful. I found myself as absorbed in Liga's world as if I, too, lived there. In Australia, where author Margo Lannagan lives, it was marketed as an adult book. But its question about good, truth, and finding your place in the world are relevant for insightful and mature teens as well as adults. I think everyone should read this book. I think it should win heaps of prizes for its language as well as its characters and themes. I think if you are looking to escape from a dreary winter day into a gripping (if disturbing at times) book, this is the one.

Mia Says To Read This Now

Every now and then I read a book so powerful I want to recommend it to everyone, teens and adults, cousins and college professors. The Knife of Never Letting Go is one of those. It is a story of a futuristic world in which a new planet has been settled, but all the women wiped out by a mysterious virus. The men were also afflicted by a virus that opened their minds so that they can hear each other’s thoughts. Not in a cool telepathy way, in an overwhelming buzz of memories and dreams and hopes and fears and daily drudgery; it is Noise. Everything in the life of Todd Hewitt changes when he one day discovers a thing so unheard of, so feared, that it sends his world into chaos—a pocket of silence in the swamp near his village. What is causing the silence, and why is it so dangerous? Discovering the answer to these questions sends Todd fleeing for his life, leaving behind everything he has ever known, with only his dog of questionable intelligence, Manchee, as a companion. This is an action-packed thriller of flight and refuge, suspense and mystery as Todd begins to unravel truths that have been kept hidden from him his whole life. Not only is it a fast-paced adventure, it is also a thought-provoking work of philosophy that raises big questions that beg to be discussed. It is a story of survival, but it is also one of the most compelling romances I have ever read. I would recommend to fans of everything from Artemis Fowl to Twilight. Please, please, please go read this book and then come talk with me about it!

P.S. It is also noteworthy that this book reveals itself to only be the first installment in the story, with a GIANT CLIFFHANGER ENDING.

I hope someone reads this blog: and other six-word works of literary genius

It may just be literary folklore, but the tale remains that someone once challenged Ernest Hemingway to write a story in only six words. He came back with "For sale:baby shoes, never worn" and some claim that he called it his best work. The fine folks at SMITH Magazine decided to take the idea one step further, and asked people to submit six-word memoirs. How would you, how COULD you, sum up your life in only six words? The results are surprising, funny, poignant, and yes, short. Many are compiled in this fine volume, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. You can also submit your own or read others added daily to the website www.sixwordmemoir.com. Ever have extra time at the library waiting to get on a computer? This book is the perfect way to spend it, and may even inspire you to write your own six word memoir.

Spooky Stories

As established in my former post about Coraline, clearly I am a big wimp when it comes to scary stories. When I was little and my brother and I would suggest that our house might be haunted, our mother's response was "Our house isn't that old, and we knew the people who lived here before us." This logic was enough to calm my wildly over-imaginitive childhood fears. All of this went out the window, though, when I moved to Scotland in college. Of course, I was much older and should have been wiser (and braver) but the thing about Scotland is that it's a really really really old place. And I didn't know the people who lived there before me. In fact, the city I lived in, Edinburgh, has a reputation for being one of the most haunted cities in the world, and with good reason: Lots of gruesome stuff happened there. Among the legendary creepy true stories of the city are the tales of graverobbers who would supply the surgeons at the medical college with bodies for anatomy study in the early 1800s. Fleshmarket by Nicola Morgan explores not only the true history behind these legends, but also raises questions about medical ethics, and shines a light on the plight of the poor people of Edinburgh in the 19th century. I loved reading this book because it was set among streets that are still there today, that I had walked on-- and in the instances when my imagination spooked me out, had run away from. If you are looking for a blend of true history and horror leading up to Halloween, look no further than Fleshmarket.

p.s. Edinburgh today is a very lovely city with lots of tea and nice people-- if this book makes you curious come talk to me more about living there!

Girl Power from Across the Pond- New Young Adult Books

Ivy by Julie Hearn
Ivy has lived her whole life in the slums of Victorian London, neglected and unloved. Yet something about Ivy compels people. It’s not just her strange beauty and bright red hair, but something deeper. Suddenly, Ivy finds herself caught up in the world of the Pre-Raphaelite artists as one of their models. Will this be Ivy’s new place in the world, or will her addiction to laudanum and secrets from her past rise up to destroy her?


Clubbing by Andi Watson Art by Josh Howard
Have you ever felt like you were stranded in the middle of nowhere? Maybe because you got a little bit arrested and your parents are sending you to live with you grandparents in the English countryside? Such is the plight of Charlotte, who finds herself transplanted from the London goth club scene to the scenic lake district, working at the golf resort owned by her grandparents and trying not to die of boredom. But she’s not the only one close to death. Suddenly Carlotte finds herself unraveling the mystery of a local suicide…or was it murder? Part of the joy of this graphic novel is the artwork, the other part is the British slang language it is written in. So don’t make me natter in your lug holes any longer- bog off to the local library and check it out!

Are you braver than a librarian?

Hello Intrepid Readers of West Springfield Library!

In honor of darkening days, crisp nights that make you feel like going to bed early and reading, and yes, Halloween, I would like to make a confession and issue a challenge. First comes the confession: I, Mia Cabana, a grown-up who does all sorts of relatively scary things like flying in airplanes, scooping gunk out of the sink drain with my bare hands, and living in Brooklyn, have been too scared to finish reading a children's book. Not just any children's book, though. A REALLY CREEPY one. I am talking about Neil Gaiman's Coraline. Now, this story isn't scary in a blood and guts kind of way, but it is eerie. It is weird. And my over-active imagination got the better of me so that I just had to put it down and stop reading. To this day, I have still never finished the story of Coraline, her secret passage, and those oh-so-shiver-inducing characters with the black button eyes.

SO! I put forth the challenge! What is Halloween about if not proving how you laugh in the face of fright? I invite you all to laugh... at me. Read Coraline. If you really want to impress me, read it in a strange place like a haunted closet or under your bed with a flashlight. Then come tell me how awesome it is, and maybe maybe Maybe I will be brave enough to finally finish reading it myself.

p.s. It has also just been published as a graphic novel. I can't decide if the pictures will make it more scary, or if what I am imagining in my head is more scary than any picture could be...I felt this way about the Dementors in the Harry Potter books/ movies, too.

New Young Adult Fiction-- August Edition

"But Mia," you are all saying, "August is over!" I know, I know. I was a little behind with my reading and my posting this month in the wake of our summer reading program ending and getting ready for all of our Fall storytimes. But that is not to say we haven't gotten some great new titles in, hopefully while many of you had a chance to read them before homework takes over your lives. Here are reviews of a few, and a few more that I had really good intentions of getting to, but in the interest of getting this post up before Thanksgiving, I'm including them as suggestions rather than personal reccomendations reviewed by moi.


Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
So, there probably isn’t much that needs to be said about the final book in the Twilight Saga. For one thing, if I say too much and spoil the ending for everyone you’ll probably come after me like the Volturi on a justice mission. For another, many of you probably went and got it the instant it came out and read it feverishly all in one night. I certainly couldn’t put down Breaking Dawn; Meyers creates as many questions as she answers, but also gives the readers all the romance, suspense, and Cullen-adoration we have come to expect. A satisfying ending to the epic romantic vampire love story.

Woolvs in the Sitee by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Anne Spudvilas.
Enlightened people know that picture books aren’t just for 5-year-olds. In fact, I would never let a little kid read the haunting, dark, beautiful book Woolvs in the Sitee. Ben is hiding in the basement from the woolvs—the only person he sees is his upstairs neighbor Missus Radinski. She doesn’t believe Ben about the woolvs—“She thinks I’m, torking abowt those luvlee wyld creechis, running in the woods. That’s not wot I meens.” Will Missus Radinski believe Ben before it’s too late? With pictures reminiscent of Jean-Michele Basquiat (artist of the streets and illustrator of his own nightmares) that compliment the oddly poetic text, Woolvs in the Sitee is a short but powerful read.

Crazy Diamond by David Chotjewitz
German pop star Mira M. is found at the height of her success floating face down in the Hamburg aquarium. Was it suicide? Murder? Mira’s story is legendary already—smuggled into Germany from Yugoslavia in a Marshall Amp case by her uncle, befriended by a group of refugees from Ghana, with one fateful song she instantly rises to international fame. But this same fame might be what brings about her downfall, as events are unraveled through the voices of her friends , rivals, and her own restless ghost. A compelling window into a European punk-rock scene, this book asks what the price of fame really is.

The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante
For Agnes and Honey, two things in their lives gave always been constant: they have always been best friends, and they have never known a world beyond Mount Blessing, the commune where they have spent the first 13 years of their lives. But ever since turning 12, when Agnes was presented with a copy of The Saints Way and Honey wasn’t, they have begun to grow apart. When a surprise visit from Agnes’ grandmother brings many shocking truths to light, the girls must make big decisions and face questions of right and wrong, truth and justice. Told in alternating chapters by Agnes and Honey, their two unique voices and perspectives make this book as readable as it is thought-provoking.

I've heard great things about Little Brother by Cory Doctorow...can someone else please read it and tell me how awesome it is so that I will have no choice but to go home and stay up all night devouring it? Same goes for The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt... But for now I better get working on September's next crop of fabulous new stuff.