Spider Bones Takes Tempe to Hawaii

Spider Bones was neither Kathy Reichs' best Tempe Brennan novel nor her worst. It was, instead, a good solid entry into the Tempe series. By the thirteenth novel in a series, I am primarily looking for a) more information about the main character b) some pivotal character growth and development c) a good, solid plot. Reichs delivered on all fronts, although perhaps not entirely to my satisfaction. However, Reichs also did one better in her change of setting. While beginning in Tempe's second home of Canada and also visiting in North Carolina, Tempe and friends then move their location for Spider Bones to the sunny islands of Hawaii.

When a body washes up on a lake shore in Canada, the circumstances are slightly unusual. As a result, Tempe is called in to investigate. No crime is uncovered, but a glitch in the identification of the body sends Tempe back to North Carolina. The man identified is both from Tempe's city -- a coincidence that has a way of popping up in Reichs' books a little too often -- and also already dead. In Vietnam. More than thirty years ago. Suffice it to say, Tempe has her work cut out for her. She contacts the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) offices in Hawaii for further analysis and to gather information on the body found all those years ago. Tempe travels to Hawaii in order to fulfill her responsibilities to the man identified in Canada and gets the opportunity to work with former colleagues at JPAC.

I was pleased with the location change Reichs offered in this Tempe novel. Hawaii was a nice change of scenery after many books set in Canada and North Carolina (although I enjoy those settings equally). I also always enjoy returning to a character who I like as much as I like Tempe. There are several series that I follow without fail, and Tempe ranks right up there with Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone, and Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski.

Reichs offers readers a glimpse into part of Tempe's life rarely seen before, her relationship with her daughter. She also brings Ryan back into the picture as he travels to Hawaii with his own daughter. However, the romance between the two is still as frustrating as ever. Reichs seems determined to drag that aspect of Tempe's life out with little conclusion thus far. (Which is not to say she doesn't give readers a little of what they would like to see... But no spoilers here! You'll have to read for yourself!) All in all, I was happy with Spider Bones and another slice of life for forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan.

Reichs, on her real-life connection with JPAC, and the story she tells in Spider Bones:

Kathy Reichs on Her Novel Spider Bones

Kathy Reichs also recently released a new YA novel titled Virals, which was named one of Amazon's Best Books of the Month in November 2010. It follows a storyline similar to the Tempe books, and actually works as a kind of spin-off. It stars Tempe's niece Tory and is set off the coast of South Carolina. I haven't read it yet, but I plan to (especially as I seem to be reading more and more YA lately). Visit Reichs' website for up-to-date information on the Tempe Brennan series novels, her new YA series, and the Fox television show Bones.

Book News: Teacher Protests, Lisa Simpson's Reading List, & Why Borders Went Bankrupt

I'm not going to make a habit of using this blog as a political platform. However, because it's been in the news and because it relates to education (and therefore, reading and books, in my opinion), I want to call attention to the protests going on in Wisconsin. (And Ohio. And Tennessee. And many other states.) As an educator, I feel the bills being presented in state legislatures across the country are decidedly anti-teacher. Consequently, they are also anti-education and anti-student. Teachers are expected to do a difficult job, all while facing a nation full of critics. I love this article, written by educator Shaun Johnson, whose perspective is interesting because of his wife's attending medical school. It discusses the ironies of "grading" educators based on student achievement scores by wondering how this would fly if it were doctors being compensated based on whether or not their patients are successfully "cured."

Also in my "dislike" radar this week (although I have to be fair and say that I have not seen it): the documentary Waiting for Superman, "a deeply personal exploration of the current state of public education in the U.S. and how it is affecting our children" (quote pulled directly from the movie's website). Given that most of the clips I've seen blast public education rather than focus on "exploring" it, I have to question how much of a positive impact the documentary will have on education.

Barnes & Noble announced this week that it will begin selling self-published e-books. According to book news blog Galleycat, the bookseller conducted its first training class on using the self-publishing software PubIt! in its Santa Monica location on Thursday night.

In fun book news this week (somehow I missed this, but Galleycat mentioned it last week), there is now a Lisa Simpson Book Club Tumblr blog. The bookworm cartoon character (who I've even likened myself to) discusses her favorite reads, all mentioned in previous episodes of The Simpsons.

One update on previously mentioned news: A former Borders employee offered six reasons why he believes the bookseller went bankrupt, via Galleycat. One thing he mentions? Their focus on selling music rather than books.

Also, a book making lots of news this week (I've seen it mentioned at least twice in the past two days): Poser: my life in twenty-three yoga poses by Claire Dederer. NPR interviewed Dederer last weekend about the book, then when my Bookmarks Magazine arrived earlier in the week, they had also reviewed it. Bookmarks states that the book is not really a yoga book, or a how-to book, but a personal memoir that is " actually a book about life." Since I LOVE yoga and memoirs I can't wait to pick up this book.

Learning to Swim Author Sara J. Henry On Moving North, Swimming Lake Champlain, and Raiding Her Father's Library

On Tuesday, Sara J. Henry's debut novel Learning to Swim hit store shelves. I read it, loved it, and reviewed it. Today, she's here for an interview to tell us more about Learning to Swim and my new favorite character, Troy Chance. The novel has gained recognition from authors such as Daniel Woodrell (Winter's Bone, subsequently made into the award-winning film), Meg Waite Clayton (The Wednesday Sisters), and Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet). Without further ado, the author herself:

So, it was killing me as I read – how much of the protagonist Troy Chance is you, or should I say how much of you is in her? 

SJH: I think it’s common for first-time novelists to use a great deal of themselves in their first-person main character. Mine lives in the house where I used to live in Lake Placid and worked at the newspaper where I used to work, and many of her experiences and feelings are mine. We both like bicycles and computers and dogs and kids. And when I write her, I am her.

Are you a swimmer? Have you ever dived into Lake Champlain?

SJH: I love being in the water, but can’t say I’m much of a swimmer. I essentially learned to swim when I was living in Lake Placid – all my friends did the weekly mini-triathlons, and I was determined to. All I could do was the side stroke, but it got me there. While on a magazine assignment to a swim camp I was filmed underwater while attempting to do the crawl, which showed all the things I was doing wrong.

A diver I’m not – I think I only dived in anywhere twice, and that was to pass a water safety class I took in Ottawa. I’ve crossed Lake Champlain on a ferry, but don’t know that I’ve actually been in the lake.

What is the actual swim blog that's quoted throughout the novel? Is there an actual blog, or is it a compilation (or is it simply fictional)?

SJH: It’s an actual swim blog suggested to me as a possible source for my section titles. I pulled those quotes almost at random and stuck them in, but they seemed to fit those sections.

I know you have ties to the south (Nashville, I think). Why New York and Vermont? Isn't it cold there? It seems like such a foreign place to a southerner like myself...

SJH: I was born and grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and lived for years in Nashville. My first full-time job was in Adirondacks in upstate New York, the sports editor on the  daily newspaper there, and I nearly froze my tail off, before I learned how to dress for the weather (layers, lots of layers, and Sorel boots with thick wool liners). Later, at a crossroads in life, a friend who lived in Vermont said, “Why don’t you come up here and work at the bike shop?” – I’m glad no one suggested going to work on a freighter or moving to Antarctica. But in many ways Vermont suits me – I run to the grocery store or post office in my ripped painting overalls. In Nashville (at least in Green Hills or Brentwood) I think you might be arrested for that.

Have you read Kathy Reichs' Tempe Brennan series (I won't say Bones series, because I think the books are very different)? I thought about the deep south/ Montreal connection from her books as I read your book.

SJH: I’ve read one and I remember that the southern scenes resonated with me. I like the idea of using place as essentially a character in the book, and in the sequel I’m finishing up now that comes into play even more. 

I love your references – AND, I got them. Maura Tierney, Groundhog Day, Highlights magazine, Perry March and Susan Smith (those two you explain in the book). Do you think most readers would have connected so thoroughly to them? References I "get" make a book so much richer to me, yet authors sometimes leave them out.

SJH: It’s a tricky line to walk.  I originally had more references but because I didn’t want to date the book or confuse or frustrate the reader I took some out (and the copyeditor, I seem to remember, wanted me to take them all out). But readers are a lot smarter than people give them credit for, and these and other references seemed integral to the book. And in these days of Google, if you don’t get something you can look it up in a heartbeat.

I took out most restaurant names, because restaurants change hands so often. But when I talk about getting an ice cream cone at Stewart’s or a certain type of bagel at Great Canadian Bagel – you can walk into those places and buy those foods there. And I counted the number of steps from that house in Lake Placid up to Stewart’s, a walk I took often when I lived there. I do love my ice cream. 

Not to dwell on other series, but there seems to be something intrinsically Kinsey Milhone-like about your main character, Troy Chance. I also mentioned that I see  similarities between her & V.I. Warshawski. Do you have influences from authors like Grafton or Paretsky? I suppose I also see Harry Bosch in Troy, since we met at a Michael Connelly event.

SJH: I read Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky, years ago, as well as Karen Kijewski Stabenow, and loved that there were series based around a strong female character. But I’d say the authors who influenced the most were the ones I read when I was very young: Mary Stewart and her romantic suspense novels (if you haven’t read Nine Coaches Waiting, do so! I think I even named one character after a character in that book) and John D. MacDonald and his Travis McGee series (it’s no coincidence that this book’s integral scenes take place on or near the water). My novel references authors Ngaio Marsh and Leslie Charteris, you know those had an impact as well. While growing up our house was filled with books, some really old ones that my dad brought home from a second-hand store, so I read a lot of stuff other people these days may not have stumbled across (okay, I think I could have lived without the Elsie Dinsmore series, but there they were, so I read them). 

I know there is a second book... And it is a Troy Chance novel, correct? So – series, or sequel only?

SJH: Series, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve got books 3 and 4 mentally roughed out, and can’t wait to write them.

Sara J. Henry and Dogs, Photo from SaraJHenry.com

Sara J. Henry is currently on book tour. To find out if she's coming to a city near you, check her schedule. I'm hoping to be there in March when she visits Nashville!

• Learning to Swim on Amazon.com
• Learning to Swim on Barnes&Noble.com
• Learning to Swim at Indiebound.org

The Hunger Games Tops My 2011 Best Books List (Yes, I Realize It's Only February)

I hesitate to even write about this book, because I'm not sure I can accurately express why it worked so well. It's not a new release -- released in 2008, it is three years old. So it's old news. BUT, I have to write about it because ohmygoodnessIloveditsomuch. So much, in fact, that -- like my high school librarian told me I would -- I read it in about 24 hours. Then I read the second book in the trilogy, and the third book in the trilogy within the next week. What book am I speaking of? Why, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, of course.

By the description, it sounds like the exact opposite of any book I would ever read: young adult, science fiction, futuristic, fantasy, action-packed, war-torn. Not one of those descriptions entices me to read a book. I suppose that's the reason I had so little interest in it, even though the blog world exploded with coverage of the trilogy -- and near went into panic mode waiting on the third installment to be released. Bloggers I trust and read regularly raved about it, one even decorated her Christmas tree with Hunger Games stuff (and staged a Hunger Games reenactment in her backyard), Hot Topic created a Hunger Games line, and there's an upcoming movie. Still, I resisted.

Finally, another teacher at my school read it and couldn't say enough about it. Her students read it and loved it, too. I decided I had to give it the "old college try"; I could always abandon it if I hated it. So... I didn't hate it. I loved it. It was fabulous. Life-changing, if you will. One of "those" books.

The Hunger Games trilogy begins sometime in the future. North America has been rebuilt as the country of Panem. It consists of a Capitol and 12 Districts, each with its own specific job to do. For example, District 1 creates luxury items; District 12 mines for coal; and so on. As a result of a rebellion and Civil War that occurred 75 years ago, the Capitol must remind Panem citizens that they are at the will of the government. To prove their power, the Capitol forces the Districts to engage in the Hunger Games each year. In the Hunger Games, each District draws two names -- a boy and a girl -- to act as tributes. Players are placed in an arena, and must fight to the death. The last survivor is the Game winner. Oh yes, and the entire event is broadcast, reality-television style, for all of Panem to watch.

Katniss, the book's main character, is thrown into the arena with tributes who dwarf  her in both size and intent to win. However, coming from the tough District 12 and having a few tricks up her sleeve, Katniss proves that she has enough spunk to at least be in the running inside the arena. Collins throws in a love story in addition to all the battle scenes; Katniss is swooned over by Gale back at home and Peeta in the arena.

All that tells you exactly nothing about why The Hunger Games is so good. So here is my short list:

• Excellent writing
• Well-developed characters
• Interesting, unique, & creative premise
• Great story line
• Enough action, but so much more
• Detailed setting -- fictional, yet based on actual United States topography
• Strong female lead character

As I have mentioned in some of my Reading Aloud in the Classroom posts, I am currently reading The Hunger Games to my students. Some have felt the beginning was slow, especially hearing it aloud. I would agree that the beginning does nothing to foreshadow the excitement that eventually builds. Others, however, have been hooked from the get-go. I think the wild-dog stew was probably a catalyst in getting my middle-school-age boys to keep listening!

Chasing Fire and Mockingjay were also enjoyable for me, despite the backlash that followed the final book's release. More on that later!

Don't forget to return tomorrow for an interview with debut author Sara J. Henry from the blog Sara in Vermont. Her literary mystery Learning to Swim was released yesterday.

Learning to Swim Introduces a New Favorite Female Protagonist: Meet Troy Chance

Most good books have an excellent first line. In my middle school language arts classes, we call them "grabbers," although my students are writing paragraphs and essays rather than novels. Sara J. Henry's debut novel Learning to Swim begins with one of those grabbers, but what impressed me most was her follow through. Her last line is every bit as memorable as her first. See?

First lines: "If I'd blinked, I would have missed it. But I didn't, and I saw something fall from the rear deck of the opposite ferry."

Last lines: "A mile or two away I stopped the car and cried, great gasping sobs, until my breathing evened out and I could drive. Tears trailed down my cheeks until I reached Cornwall and started across the bridge into New York. Sometimes you know you've made the right decision, simply because of how hard it is."

Doesn't that make you want to find out what's in the middle? Trust me, you do. This first novel reads like an experienced writer penned it. It has everything important to me, everything that makes a good book just that: good. Interesting plot? Check. Well-developed characters? Check. Detailed setting? Check.

To most southerners like myself, Canada is a far-away, northern vastness about which little is known. Protagonist Troy Chance left the confines of her native Nashville and moved as close to Canada as possible while still living within the United States. In her eyes, the only pathway to freedom was escaping her Vanderbilt-professor father and the southern belles in her family. Far from home, she still can't get away from that old southern hospitality. Troy lives in a rambling old rent house in Lake Placid, New York, but rather than live alone, she takes in boarders. In a house full of raucous, athletic males, she is the only female -- the bond that holds them all together. Surviving on freelance writing assignments, she and her mixed-breed dog Tiger spend their days enjoying the lakes and mountains that comprise that area of the country.

While riding on the ferry from New York to Burlington, Vermont, one afternoon, Troy sees something fall from a passing ferry (see above, first lines). She dives into the frigid Lake Champlain waters, and what she discovers effectively changes her life forever. Although Troy's story is full of mystery and suspense, Learning to Swim is far from your typical straight-to-paperback thriller sold in airport newsstands or in the checkout aisle at your local drug store. Rather, it's a hybrid I call the literary mystery: part smart, well-written fiction/ part mystery novel. The literary mystery is quite possibly my favorite genre, and Learning to Swim is one of the best examples I've read in a long time.

One reason for this is the setting, which I mentioned above: picturesque New England and Canada. Henry writes with knowledge about a place she understands first-hand, having lived in Lake Placid and now Vermont herself. I've never visited that part of the U.S., but I was able to imagine it perfectly. It is a tourist spot Henry describes from the locals' point-of-view, a town teeming with visitors yet somehow solitary. Henry also does an excellent job with the Canadian setting.

I hesitate to say too much about the novel's plot, as I feel it's best to read it for yourself. To allow all the twists and turns to unfold as they will. The story is an excellent one, but main character Troy Chance is the primary reason Learning to Swim is such a stand-out novel. Henry has said that Troy is her, or she is Troy, when she is writing. Troy and Henry do share several things in common: both are journalists, both are from Tennessee but now live in New England, both have (or had, in Henry's case) a dog named Tiger. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there are other characteristics the two share. The link between author and character results in an incredibly genuine protagonist -- Troy comes across as someone you might know. Henry shared more details about Troy in an interview yesterday at 7 Criminal Minds, in which she details what "a night out" might look like for Troy.

For more on Sara J. Henry and Learning to Swim, head back over on Thursday when she joins me for an interview. Until then, explore her blog Sara in Vermont, follow her on Twitter, or better yet -- read the first chapter of Learning to Swim for yourself.

Interested in reading the rest? Choose your bookseller below and donate a few pennies to this blog:

• Learning to Swim on Amazon.com
• Learning to Swim on Barnes&Noble.com
• Learning to Swim at Indiebound.org

Reading Aloud in the Classroom: Roald Dahl's The BFG Is a Bit Long for Beginners

I made the resolution this school year to read out loud to my students every day. There are many reasons for this. Important reasons, in my opinion. For one thing, reading aloud fosters a love for reading in children and young adults. It models reading as a positive behavior. And it helps raise test scores, makes kids more successful in school, and increases their vocabulary. I've always been an avid reader; Jim Trelease and his amazing book The Read Aloud Handbook showed me why I had to read aloud to my students, too. We started with Roald Dahl's The BFG, then moved to the short novel Mick Harte Was Here by Junie B. Jones series author Barbara Park. We are now mid-The Hunger Games in one of my classes. (The others are still reading Mick Harte.)

The BFG is, like most of Dahl's writing, full of fantasy and other-worldly creatures. BFG is an acronym for Big Friendly Giant, a lonely being whose days are spent trying not to become a non-friendly giant. The other nine giants who live in the aptly-named Giant Country survive by eating "human beans." The BFG, on the other hand, understands this is wrong and therefore exists on the "filthsome" snozzcumber, a repulsive vegetable only found in Giant Country. His fellow giants sleep by day and travel all over the world by night, snatching children and adults from their sleeping beds to gobble up. The BFG, on the other hand, travels to Dream Country, captures good dreams -- also called "phizzwizards" -- and blows them into the bedrooms of sleeping children.

One night, an orphan named Sophie sees the BFG as he slips around London with his dream-blower trumpet. He fears capture -- and placement in a giant-viewing zoo -- if she tells anyone, so he takes her with him back to Giant Country. The two of them forge an unlikely friendship, then come up with a plot to take down the nine man-hungry giants. This plan involves the Queen of England, and is brilliant in its simplicity.

The BFG was probably not the best choice for beginning read-alouds. My students loved the BFG and little Sophie. They liked the invented words Dahl used, and the funny scenes like when the BFG shares "frobscottle" with Sophie -- and they share the resulting "whizz-poppers" (yes, this is a fizzy drink that causes the drinker to pass gas -- a recipe for immediate giggles in a room full of middle-schoolers). They didn't particularly like how long it took for us to read this first read-aloud book. At almost 200 pages, I didn't think of it as a particularly lengthy tale. But I didn't count on how long it would take for me to stumble over all those invented words, not to mention the BFG's poor grammar. For example, a BFG quote (thanks to the blog Terb's World):

"I is never having a chance to go to school. I is full of mistakes. They is not my fault. I do my best."

Overall, the kids ended up loving the Giant and Sophie, as well as the story, but not the amount of time we spent reading it. This was a primary reason for my choosing to read the 88-page Mick Harte Was Here as our second novel. Now, as I stated above, we've chosen to tackle the almost-400-page The Hunger Games. But the kids are seasoned listeners now, and have the ability to listen for longer periods of time than they were at the beginning of the year. I have also had a lot of practice, and that probably makes a difference in my reading-aloud abilities.

Roald Dahl is, of course, the author of the much-loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and The Witches, among many more.

Book News: Twitter Vs. Congress, The Help Lawsuit, & Vampire Books to Video Game

With budget cuts of all sorts in the works all over the country, nothing makes me happier than the American Librarian Association taking political action to Twitter. The focus was a bill being pushed by U.S. Representative Scott Garrett (Rep. -- New Jersey) to eliminate federal funding for libraries. Garrett backed down, proving both the ALA and Twitter as forces to be reckoned with in the world of politics. Other funding being targeted for cuts is money that supports radio stations and public television stations.

One author in particular is having legal issues, although her "funding" is not being cut -- not yet anyway. Kathryn Stockett, author of the bestselling southern novel The Help, is being sued by her brother's family's maid. Ablene Cooper, who has worked for the Stockett family for more than a decade, claims that one of the main characters in the novel -- Aibileen Clark, an African-American maid -- "is an unauthorized appropriation of her name and image," according to the NY Times ArtsBeat blog. She is asking for $75,000 in damages.

Books are going high-tech this week with two new literary video games. Well -- I say high-tech a bit tongue-in-cheeky because the first is not very high-tech at all. Both literary classic The Great Gatsby and Charlaine Harris's True Blood-inspiring series have been made into video games.  

Illustration from Galleycat

The Great Gatsby game is, like the book itself, a bit dated. It was created for (those under 18 will have no idea what this even is) the Nintendo. As in the original Nintendo. Not the Wii, DS, or even the Gameboy. You can play online by clicking here. I went to try it and ended up playing for 20 minutes straight. It's actually pretty fun! The True Blood (or, to readers, the Southern Vampire series) game is for the PC and doesn't actually feature TB characters. Rather, it stars a vampire primarily mentioned in Harris's short stories. It's called Dying for Daylight and is available for download now.

Have a fabulous weekend, and happy reading!

I will be continuing my newfound love for all things YA, with both the Hunger Games trilogy book Mockingjay and the Pretty Little Liars series novel Wicked.

Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman Makes Me Want to Read More Short Stories

My love for Laura Lippman is nothing new around here. I read most of her Tess Monaghan novels long ago, in my pre-blogging days. More recently, I read each of her standalone novels. Finally, I read her latest Tess story The Girl in the Green Raincoat (first serialized in the NY Times), which was published in January 2011. Now I bring you the latest in my Lippman reading history: her short story collection, Hardly Knew Her. Then my Lippman raving will cease -- at least, until she releases a new title.

As a rule, I'm not a fan of the short story genre. Character development, intricate plot, and descriptive setting are the best three things a book has to offer, in my opinion. Short stories rarely offer any of these. They are often too short for characters to develop, an intricate plot to unfold, or the setting to be described. Imagine my surprise when I found myself loving Lippman's collection.

The why is as simple as this: Lippman manages to include all three of the characteristics I deem necessary for a story to be good. In each short story. That's right -- not in the collection. In each story. She pens characters with ridiculous skill, moving them from innocents to murderers before our very eyes. Plot is also (somehow) easily developed in mere pages. Likewise, Lippman manages to illustrate a strong sense of setting in a minimal word count. Rather than staying in her usual neighborhood of Baltimore (although, make no mistake about it -- she includes a lot of Baltimore), Lippman also branches out and visits New Orleans, Dublin, and other cities.

Be forewarned, however, that Hardly Knew Her is not for the faint of heart. Lippman includes some of her most sinister characters yet -- and they're usually female. Lippman offers glimpses of women no less complex than the characters of her standalone novels, if somewhat less nuanced than the character of Tess. After all, Lippman has spent hundreds of pages developing Tess, and only dozens on these latest characters. There are several who are memorable enough to perhaps be seen again (or we can hope, anyway).

Until a  new novel is released, you can get your fix of Laura Lippman's writing on her website, especially in the "Letters from Laura" archives. Better yet, get more up-to-date posts on her Journalscape, The Memory Project. (*Note: You do not have to log in to view public posts.)

Body Work by Sara Paretsky Takes On the War in Iraq and Still Tells a Good Story

Details are important. Last week's episode of SouthLAnd taught me that as I watched it a few moments ago (simultaneously clearing off my DVR and blogging). It opens with a shot of a nightstand, the sleeping detective Lydia Adams (played by the excellent Regina King) on the bed next to the table. On Adams' bedside table are a few seemingly random things: water, phone, lotion.

But those items speak volumes about the character, and I'm willing to bet some set designer got paid a pretty penny to scatter them carefully, making sure they were just so. The water? Fiji -- not the cheapest, not the most expensive. A water most likely pulled off the shelves of a convenience store that counts on its customers' need to refresh themselves quickly, and who are willing to buy a more expensive brand for ease of purchase. Lotion, Neutrogena -- again, not expensive and not cheap. Probably bought during a break in Adams' busy day at a neighborhood pharmacy. The phone -- and the small notepad -- signify much in their closeness to Adams as she sleeps. Waiting, at the ready, in case a call comes in during the night.

Lydia Adams is a homicide detective, and everything on her nightstand tells us she lives for her job. Sara Paretsky's private detective V. I. Warshawski is a similar sort of detective, albeit a private one. Paretsky has written about the PI's escapades for more than twenty years. The first book in the series was published in 1982. Body Work, Warshawski's latest adventure, was released last year.

Paretsky writes hardboiled detective stories, set in the grimy, dangerous streets of Chicago. Warshawski, born on the city's crime-ridden, poverty-stricken southside, is no stranger to the seamier side of life in the Windy City. Her family and background have figured largely in the series; her father was a Chicago police officer, her mother an Italian-born homemaker. Rather than treating the series and her main character as strictly fictional (as, for example, Sue Grafton does in her Kinsey Milhone series), Paretsky adds many realistic touches to her stories. The setting is definitely (and recognizably) the real-life Chicago. Warshawski ages in real-time, and her stories incorporate current events.

In Body Work, Paretsky takes on the war in Iraq. Let me preface my opinion of the book by stating that I don't generally like war stories, nor do I seek out fiction based on the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. As someone who has become an adult in the 2000s, I experienced first-hand the impact of 9/11 and have watched as friends and acquaintances have been deployed to fight in the wars those attacks caused. As a result, I shy away from reading fiction about this time. However, I've read every book by Paretsky and wasn't about to interrupt my reading of the Warshawski series because of the subject matter of one book.

When a young woman is killed outside a controversial new nightclub, Warshawski is hired by the suspect's family to clear his name. The suspect happens to be an Iraqi War veteran, a man whose family feels has been changed by his participation in the war. However, they don't feel he is capable of murder. Warshawski takes the case, but can't wholeheartedly deny the possibility that the vet did commit this crime. The deeper she digs, though, the more corruption she finds -- and the more she begins to believe he may be innocent after all.

Paretsky is a masterful storyteller, and Body Work is no exception. After a couple of bumpy books in the series, Paretsky seems to have regained her footing with both 2009's Hardball (read my review here) and this latest novel. For more about Paretsky and the fabulous female detective V.I. Warshawski, you can read Paretsky's blog. (And, on a side note, be sure to watch SouthLAnd on TNT on Tuesday nights at 10/9 central.)

An e. e. cummings Poem For Valentine's Day

I will never forget reading e. e. cummings' poem "anyone lived in a pretty how town" my sophomore year in high school. His poetry, so different from anything else I'd ever heard, rocked my world. Cummings ignored convention in favor of exploration in everything from punctuation to capitalization. Although this is a short post, it's a fantastic Valentine's Day post because e. e. cummings writes about love better than anyone else. To prove it, my favorite of  his poems about love -- and possibly my favorite poem of all:

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

 Poem courtesy of Poets.org. 

 Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you and yours are enjoying the day.

And happy reading, of course!

Book News: Interview Preview, BEA Has Mindy Kaling, & Feminism is Not Dead

Meander over to a Meanderings and Musings post from last week for a preview of my interview with debut author Sara J. Henry. Henry's book Learning to Swim debuts on February 22nd. It is a fabulous new series starring the practical heroine Troy Chance. (Yes -- you read that correctly. Heroine named Troy. Her name is just one of the wonderful details that makes Henry's character fairly jump off the page.) Look for a review of the book on its release day, as well as a follow-up Q&A session later that week. You can follow the sometimes sarcastic, usually current, and always entertaining author at her blog Sara in Vermont. Also, you can go ahead and read an excerpt of Learning to Swim, available via a link on her blog.

Book Expo America (BEA) announced its author line-up and MCs this week. I would absolutely love to make it there someday. Although I've been to many of the biggest and best cities in America (Boston, D.C., Charleston, Savannah, Atlanta, Tampa, Birmingham, Nashville, Memphis, Cincinnati, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, to name a few), I have never been to NYC. One day I will -- and it will be in May so I can attend at least part of a BEA.

My degree is in English, but my minor was women's studies. So a survey by VIDA, mentioned in the NY Times which links book reviews to gender disparity, is right up my alley. The results -- as the comments say -- are stunning. I mean, I knew there was a lot of buzz about Jonathan Franzen being reviewed last year, but my goodness. The survey shows that in every case but one (The Atlantic, in authors reviewed), both reviewers and authors reviewed were disturbingly male. Pie graphs accompanying the survey show the marked difference, with no other graph coming close to equality. We've come so far as a culture, but still -- I think -- have miles to go.

On a different note, a fun idea popping up in the book world this week is having authors sign your e-reader. I love getting books signed, but also had several authors at the Southern Festival of Books sign a festival poster for my classroom last fall. Having an e-reader signed seems silly... Or is it genius? Follow Random House on Twitter for fun updates like this one.

Updates:

• Last week I wrote about Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei's upcoming memoir being pushed to early publication as a result of the ongoing crisis in Egypt. The NY Times blog ArtsBeat has recommended a reading list for the conflict, a compilation of titles which detail the history of events that led up to this time of unrest.  
• Also, two weeks ago I mentioned that independent bookstores were struggling. Then last week I mentioned that Borders was likely near bankruptcy. This week, Oregon-based Powell's Books announced it would be laying off 31 of its 400 employees, according to a Galleycat post. The bookseller directly blamed e-book sales. Independent bookstores are now selling Google e-books in an effort to capitalize on the rapidly-growing market.

Reading Aloud in the Classroom: Mick Harte Was Here Is a Quick, Emotional YA Read

My students begged me to keep reading this book, even when the last bell of the day would ring. Several kids -- not normally big readers -- implored me to let them borrow the book overnight so they could read ahead. I'm not sure there's better praise for a YA book.

I decided this year that I would be reading aloud to my students every day most days. We try to always stop whatever we are working on and just read for the last five or ten minutes of every class period. My homeroom gets a little bonus, because we sometimes have opportunities to read first thing in the mornings or late in the afternoons as we are preparing to go home. (For more on why this is a good idea, even if it doesn't necessarily align with state standards, go here.)

The first book we read was The BFG and it took... Well, I'm embarrassed to tell you. A long, long time. Turns out a dense book with invented words might not be the best book for beginning read-alouds. Nevertheless, my kids liked it, and many have checked out other Roald Dahl titles from the classroom library. When we finished The BFG, I was determined to find a short, fast read. I also wanted something very different from Dahl's fantastical, giant-filled land. Something more of my students could relate to. After poring over Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook (a fantastic reference book for teachers and parents), I bought a stack of YA books at McKay's Used Books in January.

Mick Harte Was Here was our first read from that stack. At 88 pages, it took me only two weeks to finish -- a definite plus. And (best of all), my students LOVED it. 8th grader Phoebe narrates the short novel, set in the aftermath of her brother Mick's death. Rather than being melancholy, the book is instead both funny and sad by turns. Phoebe recalls fights with her brother and moments when the two of them teamed together to cause trouble. Readers see the natural progression of grief as she and her family deal with what it truly means to lose a family member. Although no real conclusion is reached in under 100 pages, Park manages to bring a ray of hope for Phoebe before the novel's end.

Barbara Park is a successful YA and children's author; she has penned favorites like Skinnybones and The Kid in the Red Jacket, but also writes the Junie B. Jones series.

Blogs: A List of Those I Love

You may not be a regular reader of blogs. Maybe you only read blogs when you accidentally fall upon one while Googling something. Or perhaps you're like me, and not a day passes without you scanning your blog reader for exciting posts.

I love to read blogs regularly because, whatever the content, you really feel as though you get to know a person through his or her blog. It may be about books, it may be about cooking, it may simply be about life in general, but a blog is a true picture of personality. Like your favorite news anchor, or a radio voice you listen to on the drive to work each morning, the bloggers you regularly follow eventually gain your trust and offer something more than just a post every once in a while. They are individuals who, for whatever reason, you seek advice from -- advice on book suggestions, advice on no-fail recipes, or advice on what workouts will yield the best results.

I wanted to share with you a few of the blogs I visit almost daily, without fail, because they offer personality, stories, and advice that I can't get elsewhere. These are an eclectic mix of blogs that I read for various reasons, none of which are the same for any two blogs. So, here you go -- what I'm reading each day (besides books):

Heather Armstrong, photo from HGTV.com

Dooce: If you don't follow dooce.com, you must. Heather Armstrong is a former Mormon who writes about life, her kids, her husband, decorating, technology, food.... You get the picture. A little bit of everything. But she does this with humor and with a writing style that is unmatched. She is also an excellent photographer, and shares pictures of her dogs (Daily Chuck), her kids, and other random things -- including pictures from Utah, where she lives. She is also the author of the excellent book It Sucked and Then I Cried, a story of the postpartum depression she faced after the birth of her first child. She has shown Kourtney Kardashian how to change a diaper, been to a meeting at the White House, and partnered with HGTV.

Jessica, photo from HowSweetEats.com

How Sweet It Is: Jessica is fabulous at getting people to believe what she claims -- she hates veggies and adores chocolate and bacon. While it is true about the bacon and chocolate (she got me to eat cinnamon sugared bacon over the weekend), the truth is that a lot of her recipes include fabulous vegetables in them. She loves Trader Joe's -- and shares her buys with readers. She offers fun desserts as well as balanced meals, talks both love and trash about her hubby, and mentions her beloved late grandmother in post after post. Couple all of that with fabulous photography and humor, and you've got the best food blog around. My only gripe is that the blog is divided into multiple sections with posts in each. I find it hard to remember to click on both "Home" and "Fit Bites" sometimes, meaning I miss things -- which I hate. Because missing things on her blog is a shame. Love her, love the blog, and you will, too.

Mandi & Kids, photo from TrainerMomma.com

Trainer Momma: TM is a blog about healthy living in multiple ways -- working out, staying active, eating healthily, spending time with family. Mandi is a trainer, but she's so much more than that on her blog. There she offers support and advice for her readers, which can range from an Eat With Me post to a health-explanation post to a workout video. I believe reading her blog was a catalyst in my own life changing for the positive. You can read more about that here, but click on her blog for your own inspiration.

Holly & Jude in Tanzania, photo from McNealsinGeita.blogspot.com

McNeals in Geita: Some of you may already know (because you know me outside this blog, or because you've read it here before) that my brother Carson and his family live in Africa. In March 2009, my brother and his wife Holly moved to Tanzania, Africa, to do missionary work there. The next January, they returned for a brief visit and for my nephew to be born. They flew back to Africa in April 2010 and have been there ever since. Internet connections are precious because they are our family's primary method of communicating with them, and especially for seeing pictures of our little Jude. They began a blog before leaving, and frequently post there. Holly writes about day-to-day living in Africa, where life is so different it is difficult to imagine. She shows the differences in shopping, daily household chores, relationships, the health system, and so much more in her posts about their life there.

Joshilyn Jackson, photo from JoshilynJackson.com

Faster Than Kudzu: I love everything about southern author Joshilyn Jackson, from her books to her blog. FTK is a hilariously funny blog dedicated to.... Well, really I'm not sure. Jackson writes about her life as a writer, but she also writes about her family. She also features books and authors who she reads herself in an ongoing 3Q series of posts. (Three questions to an author, and usually a fabulous giveaway.) Oh yes, and there are possums. And internet cat pictures. Did I mention she's funny? Just head over there. You'll see.