Chapter Two Hundred Three: Jane, the Fox, and Me

So I noticed this large-format middle-grade graphic novel when someone else requested it at the library, and I was so attracted to the something about its illustrations that I decided to request it for myself.  I don't read graphic novels very often, though I tend to enjoy them when I do read them, and that's certainly the case here.  Jane, the Fox, and Me by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault comes to us out of Montreal (translated from the French by Christelle Morelli and Susan Ouriou) and tells the story of Hélène, a preteen girl whose schoolmates have turned on her for reasons not mentioned in the story (and possibly unclear to Hélène herself). Alternately taunted and ignored by her classmates, Hélène finds comfort in books--Jane Eyre, in particular--but there's no escaping the torment of a two-week long class trip to a nature camp. Eventually, Hélène finds a friend in a girl who no longer wishes to put up with the antics of the mean girls and also realizes that the weight problems her classmates tease her for are non-existent.  While that particular point of plot resolution felt a bit too easy to me, and while the overall story arc is not terribly original--ostracized girl finds a friend--I found the illustrations to be so evocative of Hélène's suffering while tormented at school and joy while escaping inside Jane Eyre that they made the whole book a worthwhile read for me. 

Chapter Two Hundred Two: Rust: The Longest War

So, pairing nicely with the audiobook Ceasar's Last Breath, I listened to another science book on audio, Jonathan Waldman's Rust: The Longest War.  If you're thinking, Surely, not a whole book on RUST???, that's what I was thinking when I picked this up, but, really, it is a whole book on rust, and it was quite interesting.  After all, almost any metal you interact with on a daily basis is subject to rust, and Waldman focuses on several interesting real-life examples of the problems caused by corrosion and various people's efforts to combat corrosion.  Did you know the Statue of Liberty nearly rusted out in the 1980s but was successfully restored?  Did you know that pop-top cans (like soda comes in) will corrode around the opening if stored on their side for a few months?  (Did you know how many people find dead mice in their sealed soda cans???  Please, pour canned drinks into a clear glass before consuming!!!)  Did you know how tricky it is to find and prevent weakening areas in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline before they become actual leaks?  (It's really tricky.)  Did you know that LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow and Star Trek has also acted in movies about corrosion made by the U.S. government?  These are some of the many the fascinating tidbits in Rust, and I especially appreciated the audiobook version because the reader keeps a slight undertone of humorous incredulity in his voice--like he's thinking, Really, I'm reading a whole book about rust?--and this really added to my experience of the text.  If you want solid science writing full of quirky characters and amusing anecdotes and useful information about a super-common element of daily life, definitely check out Rust: The Longest War. 

Chapter Two Hundred One: Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us

I listened to Sam Kean's (nonfictional) account of air and gasses more generally, Caesar's Last Breath, on audio, and I found it to be a really interesting listen.  Kean includes plenty of real-life stories about various unusual people (usually, though not always, scientists) who have been involved with the study--or consequences--of gasses, including a man who lived on Mount Saint Helens and refused to evacuate before the eruption.  (They never found his body.)  There's plenty of actual science content, though, including clearly-explained information about the nature of various elements and molecules in their gaseous forms.  Mostly following a chronological sequence, Kean chronicles the various gasses that formed earth's previous atmospheres as well as exploring the gasses that comprise its current, life-enabling atmosphere.  He also includes events such as the discovery of oxygen (or, more properly, how humans finally figured out what oxygen is), the first hot air balloon flights, the career of a French performer known as the Fartomaniac, the fallout of atomic bombs and subsequent atomic bomb tests, and the purported Roswell flying saucer incident.  In the final chapter, Kean gets a bit fanciful, considering potential futures for our planet and how humans might respond to the atmospheric changes that result from human activity (climate change), but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The bonus PDF that comes with the audiobook version includes Kean's works cited and all of the numerous (black and white) illustrations from the printed book, which are definitely worth a look.  If you're looking for some quality science writing, definitely consider Caesar's Last Breath.

Chapter Two Hundred: Bird Box

So I read Josh Mallerman's Bird Box for a book club, and I'm so glad I did!  This sort of apocalyptic horror story is not my usual fare, but that didn't stop me from being totally absorbed into Bird Box.  Not only was the premise--that some mysterious creature has appeared on Earth, driving anyone who sees it to madness and then suicide--original and totally creepy, but the story of one woman's struggle to adjust to this new state of affairs is masterfully told.  I especially appreciated how we get two timelines: Mallorie's life about five years ago, when the creatures first started appearing, and her life in the story's present, when she and her two young children are trying to escape down a river, blindfolded, to a place where Mallorie hopes she'll find safety for them all.  Of course, I don't want to say too much more for risk of giving away key information, so I'll just conclude by urging you to check out Bird Box, even if you're not typically a horror reader. 

Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Nine: To Be Where You Are

Basically, as soon as another Mitford novel is published, I'm already anticipating the next one, so I was super excited for Jan Karon's latest, To Be Where You Are, and it definitely delivered the entirely enjoyable read I was expecting!  As this sprawling series (I believe this is book 14) progresses, the cast of characters whose perspective we get widens, which I really enjoy--especially because it keeps me on my toes each time I have to figure out who's narrating now.  If you haven't read the previous books, I wouldn't start here, since there's so much previous knowledge you'd need about all of the characters, but the flip side of this is that, for someone like me who's been following Karon's Mitford  stories for more than a decade now, they truly feel like real people who could actually be living in (fictional) Mitford, North Carolina, and as always, I was so happy to return to them once more.  If you're looking for a homey, small-town kind of read for this winter, and you've got time to spare, I'd definitely give this series (the first is At Home in Mitford) a try--I certainly enjoy it.

Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Eight: Jane Bites Back

If you read the title of this post and are thinking that this can't possibly be/absolutely must be a Jane Austen vampire story, then you're so wrong/totally right.  After all, when a novel in which Jane Austen is still alive in the modern day because she'd been turned into a vampire two hundred years ago wanders across my desk at work, what else am I supposed to do but read it?  (Tagline on the cover: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is still alive today... as a vampire.")  This novel by Michael Thomas Ford was actually much better than I thought it would be, although it's pretty silly, even by my standards.  Let's just say that Jane Austen is not the only undead famous author to appear in the pages of this book...  Despite (oh, okay, because of) this and other silly story elements and plot points, this is a fairly enjoyable light read, with elements of horror and paranormal as well as romance.  If you're looking for some silliness or if you just want a fairly light but not totally insubstantial read, you might give Jane Bites Back a try.

Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Seven: William Shakespeare's Star Wars (audio recording)

So those of you with long memories may remember that I've posted about Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars three years ago.  For those of you with normal memories, click HERE to see my original post on the trilogy--my comments from three years ago pretty much still stand, except now I've had the delightful experience of listening to this trilogy as an audiobook, and it makes for excellent listening!  While you lose some of the visual information you get from reading the play (seeing that Yoda speaks in haiku, for example, while most of the characters speak in iambic pentameter), the audiobook makes up for this by adding great sound effects, including some fun Shakespearean-era music (where appropriate), music from the original John Williams soundtrack, and occasional R2D2 soundbites.  After listening to the very good but very intense Radium Girls (see previous post if you haven't already), William Shakespeare's Star Wars was exactly the sort of lighter, good-vanquishes-evil listening that I was wanting, and if you enjoy Star Wars or Shakespeare's plays or both, or if you're looking for something fun and quite unusual, give this a listen.  I really can't recommend it enough.