Fanfiction: Jane

April Lindner's Jane is a legal fanfiction AU (alternate universe) of Bronte's Jane Eyre, with Jane as a freshman in college left penniless while Rochester is a wild rock star planning his comeback tour. Although Lindner's Jane doesn't have quite the fire of Bronte's, the story still works for me as a thoughtful homage placing many of the same themes in our modern world.

Lindner skips most of Jane's childhood, choosing rather to start as Jane leaves college to find work as a nanny. Her cultural blinders help her -- Rathburn has specifically requested someone who is not a fan. From here on the parallels to the original keep right on track -- the kindly housekeeper, the sweet child with French interests, the strange drunken woman on the forbidden third floor, even the Bianca woman making a play for Rathburn.  A few differences appear -- there is no question that the child is Rathburn's, Jane's uncaring relatives are her siblings, not her cousins, and the saintly St. Johns are not distant relatives.  These were fun to read as I wondered how Lindner would echo the plot; the celebrity rock star status works well as a social divide, and there's a subtle difference in the ploys of a successful photographer (modern Bianca) versus a marriageable heiress (real Bianca).

It's a fun experiment for fans of Jane Eyre, although clearly there isn't much suspense since we know how the story will go. Apparently Lindner is now writing an homage to Wuthering Heights, which isn't quite as tempting since I didn't really like the original. On the other, she did interesting things with Jane Eyre...

I wonder if this counts as literary fiction? It takes place in Connecticut, which I need for my Where Are You Reading challenge.

Otherworldies

The cover of Otherworldies amuses me because it has nothing to do with the contents of the book.  Well, maybe it's a picture of what the protagonist will look like in five or so year; it sure doesn't look like the twelve year old girl in the story. It also promises a lot more vampire than Jennifer Anne Kogel's text delivers. It's especially funny compared with another Reading My Library Pick, Izmaylov's Galacterian Legacy, which had a cover picture of a girl five years younger than the protagonist. Good thing I picked out both books; they average each other out.


Otherworldies is about Fern, a girl who is horribly bullied by her peers at school, because she is sickly, sunburns easily, and prefers wearing her brother's hand-me-downs to designer clothes. She has a twin brother who loves and tries to protect her, an older brother who also loves her, and a hyper efficient single mother who expresses her love through high expectations and constant protectiveness. Oh, and she's also a vampire, but she doesn't figure that out for a few hundred pages (no one shows her the picture of her older self from the cover, I guess).

What makes this story interesting is the realistic stuff -- the mean kids at school, the vindictive teacher, the worried mother, the frustrated brother. But if the paranormal extras weren't there, it would be too easy to get impatient with whats-her-name; the fact that her problems stem from her extreme otherness keeps her more interesting and sympathetic. I admit that I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book; I had it pegged as an almost-YA vampire book, but its firm roots in kidlit kept the focus on character, danger, and plot rather than silly romances, so I ended up quite liking it. I'll see if my 7th grader wants to plow through it before he leaves for vacation (he's got two days left!).

Well, actually I'm posting this long after he returned from vacation, and I couldn't get him past the cover, which screamed "vampire love triangles" at him. Too bad, he would've liked it.

Lonely White Girl: Something To Hold

I picked up Katherine Schlick Noe's Something To Hold from the library's children's section of new books mainly because it takes place in Oregon, although in the time between check out and actually opening the book I read a different book set in Portland. Oh well, I still enjoyed this one.

Noe's book recalls her childhood spent on various Indian reservations in the early 1960's. Her father worked as a forester for the Bureau of Indian Management, just as main character Kitty's father does, and the author's note explains how much of the book was based on her own experiences. The past setting is specified by both details of their shopping and by society's expectations -- only boys play baseball or ride in the parade, for example. Kitty and her family are among the few white children at the local school, and they face uncomfortable times and find outsiders even more clueless about the lives of their friends.

Kitty makes a credible journey from the basic assumptions of her time ("everyone's family comes from somewhere) to an understanding that her classmates did indeed come from here and to notice some of the prejudice and misunderstandings faced by her friends. But she also struggles with making friends, worrying about the dangers faced by both her father and her friends, and has adventures ranging from sneaking into a work site to facing down a forest fire.

I've read a bit about how American Indians feel about literature about their lives (see Oyate.com) and Noe does a lot of things right -- she's not writing about Native Americans, she's writing about kids who are Wasco, Paiutes, or Warm Springs tribe members. I think they'd wish for more books that placed the tribe member at the center, but this story is clearly the one that Noe had to tell. She even gives Kitty her own name (Schlick) to underline how personal this novel is.

Normal Again

Well, I'm almost back to a normal reading program after spending the summer starting a book a day, and then avoiding that book because pressure gets me down. Now I'm back to just reading whatever I want. And I want books that are on my lists. You know that Facebook thing where there's a word find and LOVE, FAMILY and FRIENDSHIP are spelled out horizontally to make them easy to find? Well, I missed them completely and found LIST going diagonally down the side. That's where my OCD heart lies.

So, I'm reading a book from my online TBR list, a book to satisfy my book challenges, a book for a book club, a book from my shelves, a book from my library's shelves, a book I grabbed for fun from the library, and a leftover book from this summer's reading fun. Oh, on my NOOK I'm reading one book from my library and one book that I own. And when I switch books, I cleanse my reading palette with a few pages of a book from my TBR bookcase. And this insanity makes me deeply happy.

I'll go check in with Book Journey's weekly round-up of what everyone has read, is reading, and will read, and then, since most of my selections are children's books, I'll also check in with the kidlit version at Teach Mentor Texts. I haven't really gotten back in the swing of reviewing these books, so I'm afraid I'm a rather dull entry to both these lists, but I'm trying to jump back on the horse. In a mixed-metaphor kind of way, of course.

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• The Clone Codes, Patricia McKissack (and family). For my elementary school book club.
• Master of None, Sonya Bateman. On of Felicia Day's Vaginal Fantasy bookclub picks, although I think they switched this one out for not having any romance. Well, any sex.
• Wild Girl, Patricia Reilly Giff. Another elementary book club pick. I was supposed to read these over the summer.
• Trial By Desire, Courtney Milan. NOOK. Fun little romance about a woman hero and a man with mental illness. 
• Buffy and the Heroine's Journey, Valerie Frankel. Interesting literary essays on my favorite vampire series.
• Stink: The Ultimate Thumb-Wrestling Smackdown, Megan McDonald. Another elementary book club pick.
• One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia. There were a lot of these elementary book club books. I've been meaning to read this one anyway; it won all the awards.
• The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas: Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars #1, Tracy Mack. I'm finally getting back to my Reading My Library plan.
• Sassy #1: Little Sister Is Not My Name, Sharon M. Draper. Elementary book club choice, and it's by a famous YA author.
• Year of the Tiger, Alison Lloyd. This is for the third L shelf in my library's kidlit section.
• The Lions of Little Rock, Kristin Levine. This is the 2nd L shelf. And it's a book I've heard about.
• The Woodshed Mystery (Boxcar Children), Gertrude Warner. This was the last book for my summer reading sprint. Whew!
• Taken At the Flood, Ken Catran. Book-a-day pick at the end of the summer reading sprint.
• The Snow Pony, Alison Lester. For my Reading My Library quest, chosen because I like her picture books.
• Warp Speed, Lisa Yee. This is a Cybils pick.

And these are from the week before:

• United Tates of America, Paula Danzinger. Summer reading book.
• Turn Homeward Hannalee, Patricia Beatty. Summer reading book.
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor. Best of the Best pick.
• The Cow-Tail Switch, Harold Courlander. Summer reading book.
• Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan. Summer reading book.
• Three Stuffed Owls, Keith Robertson. Summer reading book.
• A Child's Delight, Noel Perrin. From my TBR list.
• The Ghost Belonged to Me, Richard Peck. Summer reading book. A reread.

What am I currently reading? I left some in-progress books at home during my gallivanting, and I cherry picked from my options to things I thought I'd enjoy.

• Ghost Dog Secrets, Peg Kehret. This is for my elementary book club. I have about four to go.
• I Am Not a Serial Killer, Dan Wells. I got this to match with I Hunt Killers, the other YA book about a boy worried that he might be a serial killer. It's my library free choice book.
• The Azalea Assault, Alyse Carlson. First in a murder mystery series, and it takes place in Virginia! Which I need for my Where Am I Reading challenge.
• The Code Book, Simon Singh. This is for my primary book club, the real-life grown-up one.
• The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller. Book from my shelves. Well, technically, from my brother's shelves.
• The Heart of Christmas. NOOK. I got this for the Courtney Milan story, but I'll try the others as well.
• Dragon Ship, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. NOOK. I bought the next Liaden book directly from Baen. Their no-DRM policy is very appealing.
• The Curse of the Wendigo, Richard Yancy. (audio) Another Best of the Best audio finalist. The boys both like it so we only listen when we're all in the car.
• Team Human, Sarah Rees Brennan & Justine Larbalestier. Started on the plane last July, but the onslaught of past-due library books made me pause it.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. I'm stalled on this one too. I think I'll try it again on my NOOK.
• Phoenix In Flight, Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge. NOOK. I paused this one because  I wanted my Liaden fix.
• Close Range, Annie Proulx. Dipping book. I'm finding the stories very depressing.
• The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Another dipping book. The plot is about to start.
• Knight of a Trillion Stars, Dara Joy. Too rapey to be as much fun as the cover predicts.
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. I'm finding the American history through this lens fascinating.
• Honored Enemy, Raymond Feist. I think the badder guys are about to show up again.
• Smart But Scattered, Peggy Dawson. I read a chapter to reward myself for finishing something.
• Fire, Kristen Cashore. I'm rereading this to celebrate reading Bitterblue.

I've also got a pile of unfinished summer reading books, which I'll probably work through in the next few months:

• Rufus M., Eleanor Estes. I like the innocence of their problems and solutions.
• Tales From Silver Lands, Charles Finger. These are better a few at a time than all at once.
• Pinky Pye, Eleanor Estes. I bought a bunch of Estes at one time. I'm not sure I've read this one before.
• The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Eleanor Estes. See above.
• Ecstasia, Francesca Lia Block. I find her mythic stories harder going than her Weezie Bat books.
• Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant. I'm not liking the dialect, and I think the guy I hate is supposed to be the hero. Oops.
• Tricksters, Margaret Mahy. I have no excuse for not finishing this yet.
• Tessie, Jesse Jackson. The author makes me giggle.
• Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. I had too many Dolittle books back-to-back.
• The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. I lost this while reading it, but now I know where it is.
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. Mixed-up fairy tale.
• Redskin and Cowboy, G. A. Henty. Waiting for the boy to run away from home.

What will I read next? The rest of the elementary book club books, then my real life book club book, and then Team Human. Those are my priorities.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 66/73. I think I'm in good shape for finishing by Christmas.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 15/21. At least one of my current books is set in South America. And one book took place partly in Mexico, so I may count that.
3. Where Am I Reading?:  34/50.  Currently reading a Virginia book.
4. Science Book Challenge: 2.1415/3.14159. I'm not sure I reviewed the last one, though.
5. Reading My Library:  Finished four, reading to march forward again.
6. Eclectic Challenge: 10/12. I need literary and a classic. Still.
7. Best of the Best: 31/25. Inching slowly along; I'll see how far I get before next year's lists come out.
8. Summer Reading Goal: All over but the cleanup. My shelf look bare! Now I can unload the books in boxes onto it!

Buffy and the Literary Establishment: Buffy and the Heroine's Journey

Librarything sent me an Early Reviewer copy of Buffy and The Heroine's Journey: Vampire Slayer as Feminine Chosen One, by Valerie Estelle Frankel, but unfortunately it got buried under my Summer Reading Program and I've only just finished. I always like reading critical essays on Buffy; it combines the halcyon days of college English class essays with the pop culture phenomenon of a Whedon epic. Frankel's book does a good job of taking both these communities seriously.

The chapters do a good job of explaining the classic steps of the Heroine's Journey, one that differs in many respects from Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, with an eye to the different expectations for a woman. I wish it spent more time locating these expectations in specific cultures rather than assuming that these definitions of feminine and masculine strengths and weaknesses were universal. Also, the Buffy story spans a movie, seven years of television (plus a spin-off) and then a year of comics, so that I never worried about how Frankel would find an example to support almost any thesis she wanted to defend. So the essays had the feeling of undergraduate strength rather than completely persuasive texts. 

I appreciated Frankel's clear language and limited use of academic jargon. It's a book I'll give to my eighth grader if he wants to get a sense of what his essays should start looking like, and since he's a Buffy fan, he'll probably appreciate these examples more than ones on Pride and Prejudice or Moby Dick.

New Library Year

I returned a satisfyingly heavy pile of books today, although I admit one was unread. I'm getting back into balance after this summer's forced march through a large chunk of my unread books, discovering that I'm not very good at reading what I've ordered myself to read, but that I'm usually right and should just read them.

I came home with five seven books. (I almost forgot about the two that my eighth grader absconded with, to my warm fuzzy joy.)

• Eternal Pleasure, Nina Bangs. The Vaginal Fantasy alternate pick, apparently about men who transform into dinosaurs and the women who love them. X says that if I like it he'll try it.
• Oracle's Moon, Thea Harrison. I think this was last month's alternate pick.
• Super Human, Michael Carroll. The next book in the Best of the Best list.
• Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters,  Lenore Look. Part of my Reading My Library Quest, which had been mostly suspended over the summer.
• Commander Perry In the Land of the Shogun, Rhoda Blumberg. I think this is the last of Perrin's suggestions.
• Foiled, Jane Yolen. From my TBR list. Already confiscated by X.
• Zita the Space Girl, Ben Hatke. The next Cybils book. Also confiscated. 

I also got two CDs, one by Robyn and one I forget.

This left me with 38 items out on my card, WAY under my age, so I can go buy a book if I want. In fact, I did -- Gone, by Michael Grant, although X probably will read it first. But I'd still like to get that number down into the twenties.

I'll go share my Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, where all the library addicts compare their treasures.

Library Confessions

Again this week I returned two books unread, and now I have about five to finish before next week. Also, one is due but I'm only 100 pages from the end, so I'll sneak it in tomorrow. Whew!

I talked my sons into accompanying me to the library, but then they said they only meant into the parking lot, so I went on my own. I had two books on hold (both titles from Perrin's A Child's Delight, a collection of essays about overlooked children's books), but since I was on my own I paused to see if any of the Quick Pick books were from states missing from my read-across-America challenge.

Eight books later they sent a search party in for me.

I came home with ten books, although one was bought from the library sale table:

• The Rat-Catcher's Daughter, Laurence Housman. Perrin recommends the other brother.
• The Vision of Stephen, Lolah Burford. Another rec.
• Hiss of Death, by Rita Mae Brown. Takes place in Virginia.
• Hot Water, Erin Brockovich. South Carolina.
• Hell Is Empty, Craig Johnson. Wyoming
• Chihuahua of the Baskervilles, Esri Allbritten. Colorado.
• Wild Wild Death, Casey Daniels. New Mexico.
• Rock Bottom, Erin Brockovich. West Virginia.
• The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Not southern after all, but maybe a literary fiction?
• All Seeing Eye, Rob Thurman. Looked like fun, although I'm not sure where it's set. Hey, I could get lucky!

I also got three CDs, chosen in haste without looking at the covers. In the car I discovered that we'll be listening to Bruce Springsteen, the soundtrack to Rio, and something called The Healing Harp. One of these will not be popular.

This left me with 37 items out on my card, under my age but still not very good. I'd really like to bring that number down to the 20's. I'm avoiding the hot picks table for a while, even if they have a rare state. Unless it's Rhode Island, which is really hard.