the miseducation of cameron post, emily m. danforth
this was a nice easy propulsive read, with enough segues and slight tangents to keep the reader guessing as to the importance of minor characters. i normally see YA fiction as being much simpler and plot-driven along with more cliched plot developments so this was a nice surprise.
6.5/10
the year of magical thinking, joan didion
and
blue nights, joan didion
i read these two in quick succession, which was relatively depressing. but good and it gave me a more prolonged insight into the author herself, like i lived in her head for two weeks. a lot of food for thought about the body aging and the mind not at all, the process of grieving and losing personal relationships.
together 8/10
personal recollections of joan of arc, mark twain
as a joan of arc fan this was interesting to read; however it was a very syrupy depiction of the titular character. only afterwards did i look up the history of the book and mark twain's apparent joan of arc obsession and not necessarily in a good way, and also the fact that he did most of his research before joan of arc became a household name.
5/10
that's not a feeling, dan josefson
the second of the books here dealing with 'fixing' kids at a boarding school (the other being cameron post) this one was based primarily in the genre of 'troubled teen at boarding school', which i generally enjoy. this was however considerably NOT young adult fiction, as far as i could tell. the first person narrative with seamless transition to third person was quite interesting, as well as the entire philosophy of the school being scarily realistic and seemingly plausible even with their own terminology and slang. one of the tragic events near the end of the book was probably a bit of a stretch in terms of what had come before, and then it wasn't completely followed up. overall the writing style and the creation of the entire school philosophy was fascinating.
7.5/10
gaysia, benjamin law
as an asian i was unfortunately not surprised by many of the attitudes espoused in the book. i would have been interested to see hong kong profiled, eh ben? nowhere else is quite like it.
6/10
the family fang, kevin wilson
knowing several people with the surname fang made me picture the titular characters as asian. which is irreversible even after physical descriptions of caucasian features. other than that, a supremely fascinating book about taking a lack of line between art and life and the artist's private life, to the extreme.
7.5/10
