Best of the Best Reading 2014

Source: OpenClipart.org

Normally, I don't do "Best of" lists but after seeing a few other librarians saying that they're reading them or just trying to expand on their reading, I decided to join in as well. Why? Mainly because I tend to believe I should read what I find interesting, not what everyone else thinks is cool. I do admit that if a book becomes wildly popular, it is very hard for me to read it during the hype. I have to get to it either before the hype or way, way after the fact.

On the flip side, I'm missing out on a lot of great stuff. Just looking at some Best of lists for Youth books, I've done ok in YA but missed a lot of chapter books and picture books (remember, I'm a Youth Librarian by day). I'm generally aware of what's getting the hype, but don't always read it or I save it for later. So enter my reading the Best of Lists.

Youth

For Youth, I've selected the Notable Children's Books of 2014. It's short and sweet with about 6-10 books in each section. I can do that.

After that, I'm going to try School Library Journal's Best of 2014 list. At 70 books, that seems like a lot, but I'm hoping some ground has been covered in the first list.

Graphic Novels

I really hate to admit I have no idea where to start in finding a "Best of 2014 Graphic Novels List." That's not good and won't do. In the spirit of being a better resource (because if this week showed me anything, it's that people see me as a resource), I started to seek out lists.

To make it easy on myself I've started with these since they cover a lot of the same ground and are sources that the average person might use:

• Publisher's Weekly Best of 2014 Comics List - at 5 books, this should be easy.
• The AV Club's Best Comics of 2014 List - This is their Graphic Novels and Archival list. It's a little more hefty but at a glance, seems to cover some good ground. Plus, Husband is always reading AV Club so...I may have just picked them from name recognition.
• GoodReads Choice Awards: Best Graphic Novels & Comics 2014 - I vote in it. You probably do too. I missed a bunch in their list (as usual). This covers a slightly different ground but a lot in common with the above. Plus I've already read a few! Yay!

Now, if I really feel up to it, I might poke at this list from ComicsAlliance. It looks fun with all their "Best of Categories" but it was originally 5 parts and is a hefty list. I don't want to
overwhelm myself (a bad habit I have) so I'm listing it for you to check out. I will also look at ALA's list for teens when it comes out at the end of the month and will probably grumble about half of it like I usually do.

EDIT (1/13/15): Here's another list to consider: IGN's Best of Comics List.

Will there be reviews of graphic novels? Maybe. It depends. Some I do have on hand because I was already supposed to review them for the county library sysem. If you want to see reviews, let me know either in person on in the comments.

Library Wars Vol. 1

Title: Library Wars vol. 1
Author: (Concept: Kiro Arikawa)
Illustrator: (Manga: Kiiro Yumi)
Publisher:  Viz, Inc (Shojo Beat)
Copyright: 2010
Price: $9.99
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3488-6
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Iku Kasahara’s life was changed one day when, finally, a fairy tale story was published and she could purchase it. Yet this is not society as we know it today. On this fateful day, the bookstore she was in was raided and the book confiscated as it was deemed “unsuitable.” The Library Defense Force stepped in that day and took the books from the Government and one particular agent returned a dented copy of the fairy tale book to Iku Kasahara.

A few later, Iku Kasahara is training to join the Library Defense Force, but it seems that she has many, many hurdles to jump from annoyed group-mates to the tough Instructor Dojo who seems to have picked her, unknowingly, as his protégé. The first volume spends a lot of time setting up the story.
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Will Teens Like It? Library loving teens will get a huge kick out of this.
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Things to be aware of: None
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Further Thoughts: This is a story of modern day librarianship meeting Farenheit 451. In this not too distant future, some books are considered inappropriate for society by the Government and the librarians have a covert military force that helps defend the right to read. Libraries are neutral zones, where books cannot be challenged, but that doesn’t mean library users will not challenge this.

Does this sound familiar yet? Mind you, librarians don’t have a secret military force that can help in the war over books, but it is an interesting take. For a book about libraries, it seems to have the library aspect spot on down to the decimal system (although, I trust the Japanese system isn’t quite as similar as Dewey) and how busy a public library is (illustrated with the librarians in the basement running to find books).

A lot of the story in this first volume is setting up for future volumes. To me, it is clear the romantic interest lies in Dojo and Kasahara, and that Dojo is her inspiration, and he knows it. While I know this, I’m more interested in reading about the war over the books and how libraries will continue to fit into this. While I know many librarians do not read graphic novels, this is one that the librarian should pick up just to read the first page detailing “The Library Freedom Act.” It sounds very similar to one we have today…
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Bonus: ALA Great Graphic Novel 2011

Source: Library Copy.

Challenges: Wrap-up 2010 and 2011 Challenges

In 2010, I participated (sort of, I guess?) in 3 reading challenges. First, I would like to say that I enjoy the challenges (and there are a zillion out there on any reading thing you want to do). On the one hand, I'll read or listen to the books anyway, on the other hand, it forces me to try and focus on something new, such as hunting down the next fun audio book to listen to.

So, how did I do? I'm going to go from worst to best.

First, we have the Terry Pratchett Challenge. I made a valiant effort on this one, which The Philosopher Musician is happy about, but my mood for Pratchett just never aligned with us in the car on the trips to family/grad school visits. We started three audio books but I just wasn't in the mood or we talked instead (whoops?). My attempts included Good Omens, A Hat Full of Sky (I'm up to 3 attempts and I finally purchased a copy after finding it in Goodwill), and Nation¹ (The Philosopher Musician determined it would be better physically read than to listen to ["No offense to Stephen Briggs and all" - The Philosopher Musician])




Goal: 3 books
Total: 0

¹ Nation, I HAD listened to in 2009, and still think it should have gotten the Printz award over the actual 2009 winner, which was a "no one really had heard of this book." He's done a lot for reading (and now for Alzheimer's), why can't he get SOME ALA award?


Next up, we have the Graphic Novel Challenge. Even though I read graphic novels, I decided to challenge myself to a feat I've been hoping to accomplish: read my way through an ALA Great Graphic Novel list. The focus on this one was to read through at least 10 of the ALA Great Graphic Novel List of 2010. I thought I had but...

Goal: 10 books
Total: 8 books





Last and best is my favorite and probably most successful challenge: The Audio Book Challenge. Audio books are really fun. I honestly have to say that I enjoy the change of pace by letting a narrator guide me through a story (and a GOOD narrator to boot; if they annoy me, I'll look for another book). Out of all of the audio books (which I'll list for you below since the former website does not have a finished list), The Hunger Games trilogy was my favorite. I would yell out while I was listening to it. I was glued to the story, and I wanted errands to run just so I could work through another disc. I was excited to be part of the Mockingjay hype. I generally miss out on the excitement of counting down to these books, but there I was trying to determined which "Team" I was. Since finishing the books, I have recommended listening to the series often, and two of the people I recommended it to (both librarians) said that I was right, and it is fascinating to hear.

Goal: 6 audio books
Total: 8 audio books (woo!)








The list:

• 1.) Going Bovine by Libba Bray (completed March 9, 2010)
• 2.) The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (completed April 2010)
• 3.) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (completed June 2010)
• 4.) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (completed July 2010)
• 5.) Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith (completed August 2010)
• 6.) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (completed September 2010)
• 7.) City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (completed later September 2010)
• 8.) City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (completed October 2010)

And just as an FYI, I did finish the Mortal Instruments TRILOGY. I just don't know about the next book. I'll also sit down and finally read Tantalize (the book before Eternal) as I just can't do the audio of that one, which is a pity...I'm definitely looking forward to Blessed though.

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If you've read this far, kudos. I know that is a lot of text (or at least it looks like it on my small computer).

Now for this year's Challenges (aka goals)! For 2011, so far I'm doing two challenges:

The 2011 Audio Book Challenge

Goal: Fascinated at 6 Audio books again.
Aiming for: Addicted at 12 Audio books.







 
The 2011 Graphic Novel Challenge

Goal: Expert Level 10+
Limiters: 11 GNs from the 2011 ALA Great Graphic Novels List (which comes out NEXT WEEK! I hope my suggestions made the cut!)
Aiming for: as many as I can read from this list.

Machine of Death: a book (or [oh, see in the post])

(Or what to do when customers asks if you bought the book yet or they donate a copy...or five).

It all started last week (maybe before then, but last week it was on my radar) on Twitter when David Malki ! (of Wondermark fame who gave away books to LIBRARIES a while back) and Ryan North challenged the Twitter-verse and web comic fans alike to make their upcoming compilation book the number 1 seller on Amazon for at least one day, which was yesterday. Well, you can see here, here, and here (not sure that link will hold) that it happened, and it has gone into today. Impressive. Many, many kudos to the fact it is an Indie Book and it topped.

Well, today, the story just got a little more interesting. According to David Malki !'s Twitter here and continued here, Glenn Beck (of this book fame [I do not endorse this book, I just know that you may only know who he is by his book*]) called the book "an example of our 'culture of death.'" The Twitter-verse is just RUNNING with this and challenging the fans to buy MORE copies or convince more people to buy copies.

So, as a librarian do I purchase this book for my collection or not?

Non-librarians, here is the dilemma: there are no professional reviews backing this up (that I've seen) and it hasn't reached the NYTimes Best Seller list. These are two factors in most libraries when determining whether or not to purchase a book. While it is a talked about book, I find that the audience for this book will be small. The concept is different, but sight unseen, this is one of the few books I honestly can't say I'd pick up for my Library Collection. I'd be likely to pick it up if I knew that there was a huge Glenn Beck fan base in the area (Banned Book, anyone?), but a quick search of the county I work in** shows me this is not necessarily the case. A search of Worldcat also shows me that no one has purchased Machine of Death yet, and judging by what it is, libraries won't even start getting it until a month from now (if they do).


So, non-librarians, you now know why it might not be in your libraries and librarians, you are prepared if you should decide to purchase this book (due to all the suggestions) or know why you might suddenly end up with 1-5 copies of the book (guys, if you do donate, PLEASE don't donate more than 1, also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check with your librarians about their donation policy before donating).

I'm willing to review Machine of Death for this here blog, but I just want to warn you, I'm in a state of upheaval considering I'm hoping to move next week and am starting a new adventure shortly thereafter. If you want me to review before the end of next week, please annoy me (comment below or e-mail me at ReadsRantsRaves [at] gmail [dot] com or @me on Twitter.com/readsrantsraves) and I will get a copy one way or another.

For an added bonus, I challenge everyone to get this thing on the NYTimes Best Sellers list because then EVERYONE will be talking about it. :)
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*In fact, I'd like to go to DC this weekend for the Daily Show/Colbert Report March.

**Not for much longer. It's bittersweet.

The Color of Heaven by Kim Dong Hwa (Book 3 of 3: Conclusion of the Color Trilogy)

Title: The Color of Heaven
Author: Kim Dong Hwa

Illustrator: Kim Dong Hwa
Publisher: First Second (:01)

Copyright: 2009

Price: $16.99

ISBN: 978-1-59643-460-8
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Ehwa and her mother are pining for their respective men to return. Ehwa is waiting for Duksam to return. Her mother is waiting for The Picture Man to see if he’ll stay or go again. When Ehwa’s mother finally understands her daughter is pining, she decides it is time for Ehwa to learn how to keep house, for if she is to wait, she might as well stay busy. Ehwa doesn’t enjoy this, but what else is there to do? This volume concludes the story and does so in a soft, bittersweet, yet hopeful way. The Color Trilogy is a must have for any graphic novel collection as it is a lovely trilogy.

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Will Teens Like It? This is a mature title. It is advertised to teens by ALA, but is really an adult title.

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Things to be aware of: Sexual situations, nudity
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Further Thoughts: As I closed the last book, I couldn’t help but feel sad and hopeful as this was the end of the book, but it was only the beginning for Ehwa. One of the best parts is that she revisits everything in the last two titles and closes doors so that she may face her future happily. Again, I cannot stop saying how wonderful the art was to evoke such strong emotions and again, I picked up this title as long as I had it from the library and just browsed the pictures, reflecting on the story, the scenes, and more. The only downside is the Reader’s Guide in the back, as great as it is to include, is almost exactly the same as the last. I would have liked the guides to be more focused on the book that was in hand. Overall, this is a series every library should have.

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Bonus: ALA’s Great Graphic Novel List 2010

Source: Library copy.

The Color of Water by Kim Dong Hwa (book 2 of 3)

Title: The Color of Water
Author: Kim Dong Hwa
Illustrator: Kim Dong Hwa
Publisher: First Second (:01)
Copyright: 2009
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-59643-459-2
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Ehwa’s story continues in this second book of The Color Trilogy. Readers follow Ehwa as she ages from about 13 to 17 and falls in love for a third time. Duksam, a young servant from another village, has stopped by Ehwa and her mother’s house looking for someone to repair his broken belt. After Ehwa is frightened by his forward comments, she fixes his belt and throws it back at him. His admiration of the stitching leads to comments about his admiration. With her gaze, Duksam feels he is able to win the wrestling match in town and thus begins the courtship of Ehwa and Duksam.

The parallels in this story of the mother and daughter continue as Ehwa continues to grow into more of a woman. The simple art still makes the story feel timeless and even have a fairy tale quality as you watch Ehwa grow from a teenager to a woman. This book includes a detailed reader’s guide that can be used for novice readers or more advanced readers.
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Will Teens Like It? This is still more of an adult title, especially with the content.
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Things to be aware of: Masturbation, sexual situations
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Further Thoughts: How can I explain what I love about this series? The illustrations, although line and in black and white evoke love, spring time, hope, and dreams. I cannot stop picking these titles up (at least while I have them) and looking over pages and scenes and smiling at how simple lines portray the strong man Ehwa loves. Issues of romance and marriage are brought up from arranged marriages to marriage for love. Lastly, it is the little details in this story that I enjoy. In prepping for this review, I picked up the book only to realize that somewhere in the story, Ehwa begins letting her hair grow, which I believe is a signal that she has become a woman in the villagers eyes.
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Bonus: First Second (:01)'s blog this week has a fantastic picture from San Diego ComiCon that features this title! Do visit the link and see what I mean. :)

An ALA Great Graphic Novel 2010


Source: Library copy.

The Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa (book 1 of 3)

Title: The Color of Earth
Author: Kim Dong Hwa
Illustrator: Kim Dong Hwa
Publisher: First Second (:01)
Copyright: 2009 (2001)
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-59643-458-5
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: In rural Korea, seven-year-old Ehwa starts learning about the differences between boys and girls, men and women. Every situation brings more questions answered the way children answer them followed by a clear explanation by her widowed mother. Ehwa continues learning about men and women as she grows and falls for her first two crushes. Her mother on the other hand, has met a traveling salesman who awakens something dormant for a long time. The Color of Water is a simplistically drawn yet detailed tale about Ehwa, her mother, and taking a moment to recognize the parallels in life. This edition provides a “readers” guide which helps the reader understand the parallels in the story.
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Will Teens Like It? Only the mature reader. This is an adult title with adult themes.
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Things to be aware of: sexual situations, nudity
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Further Thoughts: I was drawn to this title when I read a review of it in Voya ages ago. I promptly forgot about the title until the last two books were reviewed recently and then when I saw it on ALA’s 2010 Great Graphic Novels. Again, we have a title that is picked for teens but is not actually appropriate for them. It discusses a lot about sex and romance. While the romance is something everyone will understand, sex in literature is something that develops with a reader at different times, some can read it early, others can’t.

Yet, for the reader who can read this, it is a delightful and poignant read. First, Kim Dong Hwa has created art that is timeless and speaks volumes from detailed flowers to sweeping scenes on a whole page or two page spread. The black, white, and gray tones provide enough for my mind to create the colors as needed. This is a prime example of “reading a movie” for me.

Ehwa awakens sexually in this story as she learns and sees things that she does not yet understand. The seven year olds are pretending to be older, but don’t really understand how it all works. As Ehwa gets older, she starts to understand and develop appropriately. Ehwa is a character that will grow and you hope the best for her. I cannot wait for the last two parts.
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Bonus: This particular trilogy (next two posts will be the other two) has been getting a lot of interesting blog posting lately and it is similar to the whole "Twilight Feminism Thing" going on out there. Here is one example from The Manga Curmudgeon and showed up in my RSS feeder. At the end of June, there was a Manhwa Moveable Feast where you can check out essays, reviews, and comments about the trilogy (the earlier post was included). Honestly, I'm on the fence about the whole thing because while I enjoy a good love story with stereotypes, I'm not interested in having that in my life. It is escapism.

Months ago, the publisher, First Second (:01) posted this interesting blog post about the covers of The Color Trilogy and frankly, I'm glad the English covers got such a lovely makeover.

A 2010 ALA Great Graphic Novel choice


Source: Library

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Vol. 1 of Scott Pilgrim)

I have got to quit promising things. An event today, plus hours of school work over the weekend resulted in my just having the review ready to go. My thoughts on the trailer and a link soon (although, really, I have one tiny complaint). When, I can't promise, it is the end of the term which means CRUNCH TIME. *sigh*

Onward to the review:

Title: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life (vol. 1)
Author: Bryan Lee O’Malley

Illustrator: Bryan Lee O’Malley
Publisher: Oni Press

Copyright: 2004

Price: $11.95

ISBN: 978-1-932664-08
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Summary: Rocker Scott Pilgrim has the life dating a high school girl (*gasp*), playing in a band, and generally “floating.” All is good until his dreams are interrupted by new girl Ramona Flowers and suddenly he’s trying to find her. As luck would have it, he meets her at a party, learns where she works, and gets her to come to him. The chemistry hits and they consider dating, but there is one little problem: Scott Pilgrim must defeat her 7 evil exes.
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Thoughts: Scott Pilgrim is a title that I’ve been hearing periodically as a “must read” title for a while now. What a crazy mix of action, romance, fantasy, and just plain oddity. The drawing style is different as it is a cross between manga and the artist’s style, but really works well for the story. The first fight scene of 7 is introduced here and honestly is my favorite part. The plot holds up well and while you are wondering about the 6 other evil exes, why Ramona can do what she does, I wonder about Scott’s high school girlfriend and how she’ll be a part of the story later. This would, depending on the school, be a good addition to a high school graphic novel collection.

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Will Teens Like It? Probably and is a great boy and girl title as there is action/rock for the guys and romance for the girls. Generally something’s there for everyone.

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Things to be aware of: Sexual humor, sexual situations, language, drinking
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Bonus:  Movie trailer is out!!

Source: Library.

Challenge Number 2 and 3 - Audio Book Challenge and Terry Pratchett Challenge

Since I'm not getting to the reading I should be getting to (like the latest Printz book) and with an hour ride to work, I'm jumping into the Audio Book Challenge at Royal Reviews. I'm going to start with the "Fascinated" category of 6 audio books (realistic) but strive to make the "Addicted" level (not so much).

Since I'm currently listening to it, the first one will be Going Bovine by Libba Bray (the latest Printz!). Two more discs! After that, I'm picking a John Green one. The Philosopher Musician and I have to go to the other side of the state in two weeks so we're planning on picking up some Terry Pratchett for the ride.

Which actually leads me into the next challenge: ReadingAdventures: Terry Pratchett 2010 Challenge.

The Philosopher Musician just told me he's read 35 of Pratchett's work, mostly in high school. I come in at a measly 4 or so (two Johnny Maxwell's, one Tiffany Aching, and Nation [which I LOVED] after college). I'm going for the "Cashier at Ankh-Morpork Mint" level which is 1-3 books. I'm pretty sure we could listen to two on our trip, but we'll see.

Now I can see how people wind up with so many challenges...

Challenges 2010 - An Intro and my first sign-up.

A few weeks ago, when I was "blog hopping," I stumbled upon the concept of reading challenges, which was semi-new to me. A friend of mine and I tried to start one last year that fell on its face. I can easily see why. It was not an issue of keeping up with the challenge ourselves. It was site organization. As I look at each site I can see a link widget is necessary, organization, organization, participation, and promotion are necessary. I know organization is listed twice. This is an important concept because it does take a massive amount of organization to keep people interested and informed about the challenge. The ones I'm seeing that have massive amounts of participation are cool looking and interesting. The ones with a few challengers, are not as active, interesting, or cool looking, although, that won't stop me.

The amount of challenges that exist are nuts. There is seriously a challenge for anything you are interested in from romance, to sci fi, to history, and Graphic Novels.

You can see where I'm going here, huh?

My first challenge announcement is that I'm signing up for the Graphic Novel Challenge. I was waiting until I was listed before I announced it, but I'm there and I'm EXCITED. I'm one of the few Experts listed and since I consider myself expert, my spin on the challenge is to work through the ALA GGNs 2010 list. You remember this post?

Yep, so that's my spin and that's the first challenge I've signed up for. I've found a few others so once I get the details figured out, I'll tell you which others I'm participating in.