Challenge and Bookstores

Another challenge...this one I made a page for here.  Enjoy!


Also, this weekend I'm going to my favorite bookstore in Jekyll Island, Ga.  It has both used and new books, but the next coolest thing is that it's a house (well formerly an infirmary for America's rich and famous of days gone by).   Each room has a different theme and there's always new and interesting, one-of-a-kind gifts.  I can't wait!

Special Delivery

The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer

Delacorte Press, 2006

ISBN: 9780440421344

178 pages

4 out of 5

Vernon Culligan had been dead to the town of Draydon, Virginia, so long that when the crusty Vietnam vet finally died, only one person noticed.  Twelve-year-old Gabe grew up in the foster care system until a social worker located his Uncle Vernon two years before.  When he comes home to discover that his uncle has died of a heart attack, he's terrified of going back into the system--so he tells no one.  The next day, he discovers a strange not in his mailbox: I have a secret.  Do not be afraid.  And his uncle's body is gone.

Thus begins a unique correspondence destined to save the two people that depended on Vernon for everything.  Through flashbacks, we learn about Gabe and Vernon's relationship, and how finding each other saved them both from lives of suffering.  But eventually, Vernon's death will be discovered, and how will Gabe and the mystery note writer learn to move forward?  The Mailbox is not a story about death--though it begins with a death.  It's also not a story about Vietnam vets, although the author works with Vietnam veterans and wrote this novel, in part, to illuminate their sacrifices and suffering.  The Mailbox is a story about connections--about how two people in need can save each other.

The beginning of the novel caught me off-guard because Uncle Vernon speaks with a dialect.  But like any other novel with dialect, it's easy to read once you get used to it.  As the description says the story is about connections: Vernon and Gabe; Gabe and Webber; Gabe and Mr. Boehm; Vernon and the mystery writer.  These characters are very believable and I liked getting to know them.  Gabe is especially well-written and embodies not only the awkwardness of his age, but also the awkwardness (and occasional fear) of his situation.

There is a second plot line discussing Uncle Vernon service in the military.  The majority of these scenes are revealed as Gabe's memories of living with his Uncle.  It's both beautiful and sad.  Unfortunately, this plot line is dropped during much of the action of the story; I actually forgot about Uncle Vernon's army days.  But perhaps Gabe did too.  A twelve-year-old isn't exactly going to dwell on his uncle's army days.

From my point of view, the only shortfall was the ending.  It wrapped up a bit too neatly for my taste.  It was not a bad ending, I'm just not big on perfection, especially in realistic fiction.  It doesn't take away from the novel--in fact, the ending is one of two scenarios you hope for.  It's just a personal preference.  Overall, it's a great middle grade novel that I would definitely recommend.

In My Mailbox

IMM is a meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  She was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.  The idea is to share titles so I'm including everything, even the girly stuff.  But I promise I won't bore you with textbooks!

Since summer classes are over and I'm free for about two weeks, I went a little crazy with the books. 


 

ARC Foundlings: (My former boss received these regularly so she created a bookshelf for us to snag them if we were interested.  These are the two I snagged recently.)

Fire Will Fall by Carol Plum-Ucci
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Bought:

Peak by Roland Smith
Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Smackdown by Daniel H. Wilson
I Kiss Girls by Gina Harris

Borrowed (This is where I went a little crazy):

Nightwalker by K.V. Johansen
Roy Morelli Steps Up to the Plate by Thatcher Heldring
Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin
Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal
I,Q: Independence Hall by Roland Smith
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk

So that's what I got!  How about you?

Cirrus Who?

The Story of Cirrus Flux by Matthew Skelton

Delacorte Press, 2010

ISBN: 9780440421696

288 pages

3 out of 5

"There is nowhere for the boy to hide."

London, 1783.  Orphan Cirrus Flux is being watched.  Merciless villains are conniving to steal the world's most divine power--the Breath of God--which they believe Cirrus has inherited.  Now he faces a perilous journey through the dirty backstreets of the city as a sinister mesmerist, a tiny man with an all-seeing eye, and a skill-collecting scoundrel pursue him.  Cirrus must escape them, but he'll need to trust some unlikely allies if he hopes to thwart his foes...and survive the grand and terrifying showdown.

 Starts slow...(this could just be me; I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately), but it did catch my curiosity  within a reasonable amount of time. One reason for the slowness was the alternating between time periods.  Parts of the book are set earlier and are visited when it becomes relevant to the present.  I had to go back and look at the part titles and dates to figure out what was going on.  Again this was resolved fairly quickly.

There is quite a bit of alternating in this book.  The first is the time periods, mentioned above, the second is alternating viewpoints.  The book is written in the third person perspective, but it shifts between Cirrus and Pandora.  I like both Cirrus and Pandora, but I felt that Pandora actually experienced her circumstances while Cirrus let things happen to him.  I'm bothered by this because Cirrus is the title character.

It was a good read, but overall it felt underdeveloped.  The fantasy elements are interesting, but take a back burner to the chase.  I'm not even really sure why the coveted object was so coveted.  That's a problem.  Finally, the ending doesn't feel fully resolved.  I'm not sure if this is supposed to  be the beginning of something or a stand alone.  If it's the beginning, yeah I'd be curious about a follow-up, but if it stands alone, I'm in the dark.

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Interesting note: While the book was in my car, the glue melted and my bookmark was glued to the book.  I ripped both the book and the bookmark trying to separate the two.  I'm just glad it's a personal copy and not a library copy.  I also now know to not leave books in my car for extended periods of time during the ridiculously hot Florida summer.

2010 Debut Author Challenge

 Yeah I'm a bit late with this, but until I actually took a look, I wasn't really sure what it was about. Since I'm new to this whole book blogging thing, catching up with the pros takes a little time.  At any rate, I've decided to join the 2010 Debut Author Challenge hosted by Kristi, the Story Siren.  I have a feeling my list is going to look different from other participants, but diversity makes the world wonderful.


Click the icon above to sign up for the challenge.  Not sure yet?  Visit here to learn more about it.

I've found a nice handful of books that meet the criteria for the challenge and also follow the self-imposed rules of my blog.  I'm going to try to meet the minimum of 12* novels, but this list has a few more than that.

Some possibilities include:

Split by Swati Avasthi
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Sons of Liberty by Alexander Lagos and Joseph Lagos
How to Grow up and Rule the World by Scott Seegert
Crossing by Andrew Xia Fukuda
Infinity: Chronicles of Nick by Sherilyn Kenyon
Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai
The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell
8th Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby
Happyface by Stephen Emond
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
The Absolute Value of -1 by Steven Brezenoff
Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Z. Becker
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

I've checked most of these, but if someone knows something different in terms of the debut status (or has a suggestion), please let me know!  Now back to reading...

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* Firespell is also a debut novel this year.  Though it doesn't fit the parameters of my blog, I still would like to count it toward my total.  My Shelfari review is here.  So, whoohoo!  1 down 11 to go!