Going Bovine: Review Haiku

Dude, this is pretty
f'd up right here. Gnomes, dwarves, cows,
angels, life and death.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray. Delacorte, 2009, 496 pages.

Free: Review Haiku

Makes sense while you're
reading it -- but after, the
hangover. Free? Really?

Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson. Hyperion, 2009, 274 pages.

The Treasure Map of Boys: Review Haiku

If you didn't love
Ruby already, two words:
marshmallow Jesus.

The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart. Delacorte, 2009, 256 pages.

The Magician's Elephant: Review Haiku

The ending is no
surprise; the journey there,
mannered but well-crafted.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo. Candlewick, 2009, 208 pages.

The Storm in the Barn: Review Haiku

Coming of age in
the dust: spooky interplay
of light/dark, dry/wet.

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan. Candlewick, 2009, 204 pages.

I, Lorelei: Review Haiku

Good-hearted kid
navigates divorce, show biz -- plus,
bonus Nelson Muntz!

I, Lorelei by Yeardley Smith. Harper/Geringer, 2009, 339 pages.

Womenomics: Review Haiku

I-Am-Woman facts
and brio: good! Dippy
cheerleader tone: not good!

Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay. HarperBusiness, 2009, 256 pages.

A Season of Gifts: Review Haiku

Grandma Dowdel strikes
again: older, slower, but
every bit as sharp.

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck. Dial, 2009, 176 pages.

Totally Unscientific and Random N/C Predictions

For your entertainment pleasure, and drawing liberally from various reviews, industry gossip, and bloggy friends, I present my utterly random, probably obvious, and mostly meaningless predictions for the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and Sibert awards in 2010. This is not, clearly, a comprehensive list. Or a comprehensible one, for that matter.

Newbery Picks:

• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Lamb/Random). Duh. It's awesome and has gotten eleventy billion starred reviews. If this doesn't get recognized -- nay, if it doesn't WIN -- I will eat my hat. (Note to self: buy hat.)
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (Little, Brown). Beautiful storytelling, librarian-friendly hooks (folktale, multicultural, girl power), gorgeous package.
• A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck (Dial). It's good. And he's Richard Peck.
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (Holt). Lots of good attention. And did you read this woman's bio? She's a doctor and a lawyer and a writer and probably a rocket scientist to boot.

Caldecott Picks:

• The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown). Could this be the year?
• Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski (HMCo). Haven't pored over it myself, but lots of folks seem to be talking about it.
• The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (Candlewick). Graphicy goodness -- would the committee go for it again after Hugo?

Printz Picks:

• Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (Levine/Scholastic). Really, if you haven't read this by now, what is wrong with you?
• Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking). And again I say, duh.
• Going Bovine by Libba Bray (Delacorte). An acceptance speech made entirely of tweets, maybe?

Sibert Picks:

• Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman (Holt). Surely at least one Darwin book pub'd in 2009 will get attention? (Er, two. Forgot about you, Callie Vee.)
• The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton (Charlesbridge). Oh please oh please? (And no, it's not mine -- it's just that good.)

Predicted Snubs:

• Catching Fire and Fire, starred reviews be damned. There, I said it.
• The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick). Tulane fatigue, maybe.

Book Everyone Else Will Love and I Will Just Not Get and Find Annoying (aka the King Dork award):

• Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman (Delacorte)

That is all. Tune in four and a half months from now to compare notes.

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: Review Haiku

Didn't expect to
like this as much as I did.
Smart, wryly funny.

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing But True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother, and Friend to Man and Dog by Diana Joseph. Putnam, 2009, 208 pages.

The Unfinished Angel: Review Haiku

Cherubim and
seraphim meet Roberto
Benigni. Sweet but twee.

The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech. Harper/Cotler, 2009, 176 pages.

Buyology: Review Haiku

Two parts scary brilliance
to three parts School of Duh.
All hail marketing!

Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom. Broadway, 2008, 240 pages.

Shop Class as Soulcraft: Review Haiku

Sort of like Plimpton
writing on football: oddly
intellectual.

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford. Penguin, 2009, 246 pages.

Stitches: Review Haiku

Holy shite. The lithe,
winsome line of his work masked
the heart in his throat.

Stitches by David Small. Norton, 2009, 320 pages.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Review Haiku

If only they had
gotten Anna K. and
Emma Bovary, too.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk Classics, 2009, 317 pages.

Fire: Review Haiku

Rip-snorting, brutal,
graceful, and steamy. A worthy
prequel indeed.

Fire by Kristin Cashore. Dial, 2009, 461 pages.

Bad Mother: Review Haiku

Equal parts cringe-worthy
and stand-up-and-cheer -- which
is, I think, the point.

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace by Ayelet Waldman. Doubleday, 2009, 208 pages.

Front and Center: Review Haiku

D. J. makes me want
to move home and be sixteen
again. Except not.

Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. HMCo, 2009, 272 pages.

When Details Fail

So I just finished reading Martin Lindstrom's Buyology, a pop-business book about the ways our unconscious/subconscious mind affects our behavior and buying decisions (review to come in a couple weeks). It's a mostly interesting read, with some moments of surprising insight amid a fair amount of "well, yeah. Duh."

I really enjoyed the first few chapters, but then about halfway through, the author totally lost me. In a chapter about superstition and ritual, he made two statements that irritated me. First he said that, after two airlines experienced crashes on flights numbered 191, the airlines discontinued that flight number out of superstition.

Well, duh. Don't all airlines do that after a crash, out of respect? Can you even find a flight 11 or 93 or 800 on any airline today?

Then, in talking about sports superstitions, he said that Michael Jordan always wore his Carolina jersey underneath his "yellow Chicago Bulls jersey." Ahem. The Bulls do not wear and never have worn yellow. I get that you're Danish and may not know all the nuances of the NBA, but come on -- it's JORDAN. If anybody's a sports brand, he is.

Anyway, the author lost tons of credibility for me with those two little statements, and I finished the rest of the book more out of obligation than pleasure. Has this ever happened to you?

Personal History: Review Haiku

She seems like a stand-
up dame, but holy heck, the
MONEY! Staggering.

Personal History by Katharine Graham. Knopf, 1997, 656 pages.

#50 on The Frakking LIST.