Archive for June, 2009

Some recently acquired books…

Just thought I would brag & share! ;]

An LGBT-Themed Reading Challenge

So, I’ll be taking part in this very cleverly-titled challenge from The Zen Leaf.

This is a very good opportunity for me to start cracking down on the heaps of LGBT themed books I seem to accumulate but never really get through. Because of that I’m just going to read entirely from my own collection rather than make a stop at the library (which I prefer, anyway!) Here is the list of books I will be reading for this challenge:

1. Making Gay History by Eric Marcus
2. Conduct Unbecoming by Randy Shilts
3. Maurice by E.M. Forster
4. The Riddle of Gender by Deborah Rudacille
5. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
6. Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism by Pat Califia

I’m looking forward to this very much! Thanks for the opportunity, The Zen Leaf!

In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce

ISBN: 0689878567
288 pages
published in 1984.

This was an exciting followup to the first “Alanna” book by Tamora Pierce, yet it somehow lost a bit of its magic in the storyline that it followed – with all the technicalities and things of war and battle and knighthood that came. And by the end of the story, Alanna had revealed herself to be a girl, which took a lot of excitement away from the plot (okay also there is a personal bias here, haha).

However, it will be exciting to see what happens with Alanna now that she is revealed as the first female knight in Tortall in what I believe has been a couple hundred years or something? So even though there is no longer the anticipation there of seeing who will or will not know Alanna’s secret, there is still her adventures to look forward to. I will be eager to see how other people in Tortall outside of the Court react to seeing a female knight and how she continues to overcome the challenges she is faced with due to her being a chick, haha.

There are two more books that follow Alanna specifically, and then after that there is another quartet of books that deal with other people in Tortall and relate back to her story, so it will be interesting to move on to those and then to the other books that are set in this world that Pierce has written.

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

ISBN: 0689878559
240 pages
published in 1983.

I had picked this book up for the first time in a library when I was a little kid. It fascinated me for a myriad of reasons, but the most compelling thing was probably the ordeal that the title character, Alanna, must go through in order to pass herself off as a boy to receive the training she desires so she can be a knife.

Although I didn’t start transitioning until I was fifteen years old, I knew from a really young age that I was a female-to-male transsexual (despite not really having a word for it). So, although Alanna does not identify as a boy, the idea of a young female-bodied person living as a boy (successfully!) for a period of time had me spellbound. I don’t recall reading past this first book, but the memory of it lasted with me until I picked it up again this year to give it a re-read and see if I’d like to continue with the series. I absolutely do.

Although the writing was a bit weak and the story-telling, at some times, very cliche, I enjoyed the book. It was fast and full of action and plot and it was easy to tear through the book in a very short period of time. Alanna’s secret and her gradual reveal to people she grows close to has the reader eager to find out what happens next and if Alanna actually gets away with her plans. She’s very likable, although arrogant and irritating at times, like any child. I have already started on the second book and I’m excited to find out what happens. Totally recommended to preteens and teens alike – although, of course, probably more likely to be read by girls.

Seekers #2: Great Bear Lake by Erin Hunter

ISBN: 0060871253
320 pages
published in 2009.

I love this book series so much, so far. The third one just came out and I’ll be ordering it from Amazon.com tonight since I just finished this second one. It’s easy to tell that the writers that produced the Warrior Cats serious produced this one, but I feel like this one is much more mature and… serious? in its telling. There is plenty of death and violence in Warriors, but when it occurs here, it seems more grim and real here. I know it’s all a big comment on taking care of the environment and global warming and stuff, but she does a good job. It’s effective.

Here the bears finally all join up by the end. Toklo realizes that his place is with his friends, Kallik finds the other bears and Lusa remains loyal to Ujurak’s cause and continues travelling with her companions rather than live with other black bears, as she thought she originally wanted. Kallik’s brother is also found, and while he starts off as a bully that goes against the ways of the white bears, he eventually succumbs to Kallik’s gentle reminders of their past and responsibilities and leaves the book joining the other bears in the quest to find a place where they will be happy.

First of all, I just have to say that I’m really pleased that bears are being used for this series. I feel like they’re neglected a lot as “good characters” in children’s books. The characters are very real and vivid and the storyline is mysterious and intriguing. It lacks the predictability I’d expect from a children’s fantasy series, and I really like that. It’s clear that the authors that make up “Erin Hunter” have put a lot of thought into this series, and it’s a welcome deviation from the long-running Warriors series – which is still a good read, but not, in my opinion, as good as Seekers is turning out to be. I still maintain that Hunter’s books belong in the young-adult section rather than the children’s.