You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2009.
The year is halfway gone so I wanted to evaluate progress on my 100 books in a year challenge.
On my ever helpful Goodreads page I have tagged 64 books as “2009.” Of those, 20 are adult books, 37 youth (kid and YA), 8 graphic novels, 2 did not finish and 5 that I am currently reading. Yes that does not equal 64, I cross tag certain books.
I am continuely suprised that I don’t finish books as fast as I think I do. True I read some books faster, like Nora Roberts or Meg Cabot because its delightful yet mindless drivel. And I have a habit of retiring books if I can’t get into them *cough* Ghostgirl *cough*. I wonder if the challenge is taking a toll on my reading habits. I pressure myself to finish so I can move on to the next book, get that next notch.
I need to read 36 more before December 31. Things should start picking up now I read all the Printz books I wanted to and am moving on to the Caudill nominees for this year. I started with Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life which was amazing. I have two more that came in this week so I might get to them this weekend. But first I have to get my Matt Cruse fix. Kenneth Oppel and his Airborn series might be my new favorite Potter replacement. Adventure, mystery, like our world but not quite. And it has this Steampunk vibe that is very cool. Probably stay up tonight and finish it, my last nod to summer break.
Wouldn’t Colin Morgan from Merlin make a great Matt Cruse? Sure he’s bit old but he plays the skinny and awkward, yet smart and sensitive so well.
It always comes back to haunt you.
I picked up Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley and thought, wow this looks great and I love the tagline “Rest in Popularity.” The Edward Gorey goth girl on the cover, the gothy typeface, the coffin-shape of the book were all very attractive. A funny satire on popularity was promised. Unpopular Charlotte attempts to become popular but her plans are ruined when she dies. Sounded promising.
I was disappointed. Very.
First off, it wasn’t funny. The jokes were pointed out with lines like “she said jokingly.” That is the laugh track of books and usually signifies someone is kidding/being sarcastic, not actually telling a joke.
Second was another problematic line. After our heroine dies and wakes up in her high school, she finds she needs to graduate from Dead Ed to move on. There is mention of no desire to see her family because teens are too self-involved. Excuse me? Huh? Seriously? If your average teen died and was a ghost they wouldn’t take a peek back home? Just for the satisfaction of seeing them cry, knowing you were missed, especially considering at this point of the story the main character’s obsession is attention. No, I’m sorry, I’m calling BS. That’s lazy writing. “I don’t want to write about the family because they won’t have a large role so I’ll put this throw-away line in and be done with it.” This is how we should find out and care about Charlotte. How does she talk to people in her life, like family? How important are they to her? Do they know of her obsessive desire to be popular? It frustrating as a reader because there is a giant hole in the main character by page 52 and there is no way to fill it.
And lastly, characters. Even secondary ones need to be rounded and distiguishable. All the dead kids blended into one and with the shifting view points and human possession so that one character was acting through another…confusing, flat, and for just great potential, boring.
Why am I nitpicking this book apart? Why can’t I move on? Am I that bitter? Probably yes to the bitter but mostly I wanted this book to be better. I wanted to love it and have it be my new “you gotta read this.” I also resent that it panders to the worst stereotypes of teen girls. If you’re not popular than you’re either an outcast trying to break in or a rebel trying to break out. Is this true anymore? After the Queen Bees and Mean Girls stories does this trope really work or has it become a cliche? Maybe if it was funnier, maybe if it was shorter…something, this whole thing needed something.
Then I had a revelation while viewing Ghostgirl’s well-designed website, and wanted inexplicably to like this book. Ghostgirl should have totally been a graphic novel. I could have forgiven the flat characters and unaminated plot. And after viewing the website it seems the whole set-up from book design to the “Rest in Popularity” tagline to the Gorey-esque cover dead girl are a marketing package for the Hot Topic/Torrid crowd. The merchandising is fantastic. Really, if I was back in my jeans/teeshirt high school uniform I would covet the “Rest in Popularity” tee. And then, thank you Wikipedia, I found all the answers. Of course Ghostgirl started out as website character. Of course it makes sense all the cross over merch was in place. I just wish the story lived up to design. Or that I wasn’t so critical. Or bitter. Same thing right. Going with Lame on this.
