Whole lot of reading going on during the winter months! Here’s a roundup of a stellar crop of books I’ve had the pleasure of picking up recently — including two very different books with protagonists named Hazel. Most of the following are YA books, with one Middle Grade offering in the mix. If you have any recommendations, please comment!
Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick (YA)
480 p. : EgmontUSA, 2011
Seventeen year-old Alex has just crossed over state lines into Michigan. What begins as a trip in search of closure after painful family losses turns into a fight for survival as Alex is tossed headlong into the wake of a world-wide crisis. Absolutely chilling, this is one of the most engaging dystopian tales for a teen audience that I’ve ever read. Shades of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale abound, and readers will be left hungering for the forthcoming second installment in the trilogy.
by Francesca Lia Block (YA)
119 p. : HarperTeen, 2008.
I’ve long been a fan of Block’s Weetzie Bat series, but this collection was my first foray into her poetry. Unsurprisingly, Block’s poetry reads much like her fiction: lyric, lush, and visceral, speaking to the insecurities women and girls experience regarding their bodies, relationships, and place in the world. Some of my favorite lines appear in “Forty-Five Thoughts for My Daughter and Virtual Daughters” — “music is a kind of food / if you are sad talk to a happy woman who loves you / it will always help / move your body when you are sad or angry.”
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (YA)
318 p. : Dutton, 2012.
Many, many words have been written in praise of Green’s fourth solo novel, but I’d like to add a few more. When Hazel, a teenage girl who has terminal cancer, meets a gorgeous boy named Augustus at her support group, the evolution of their relationship in the midst of illness is keenly felt. If anybody could write a book so shadowed by serious illness and simultaneously manage to make it humorous, it’s Green. I laughed. I cried. I still think about Hazel and Augustus. A deeply human, tremendously moving contribution to the YA lit landscape.
Rotters by Daniel Kraus (YA)
448 p. : Delacorte Press, 2011
I picked this one up with some reservations. Grave-robbing? I wasn’t sure my mind wanted to go there, but once I began reading I was completely hooked. After the death of his mother, Joey Crouch is uprooted from his Chicago home and sent to live with a father he’s never met in rural Iowa. Little does he know that his dad’s occupation of choice will have a profound effect on his own future. Joey’s transformation from a straight-A student into a shovel-wielding apprentice to his father’s line of work is both gruesome and weirdly, achingly, oddly… poignant. If you had the stomach for Rick Yancey’s The Monstrumologist and its sequels, dig into Rotters and you won’t be disappointed.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (YA)
418 p. : Little, Brown, 2011.
Seventeen year-old Karou lives a double life. She’s an art student in Prague, filling sketchbooks with drawings of monsters, getting over an ex-boyfriend, and spending time with her vivacious best friend. No one knows that the creatures in her sketchbook aren’t merely lines and colors on a page, products of an active imagination. They’re portraits of the Chimaera, flesh-and-blood creatures who are the only family she’s ever known. When a turn of events that separates Karou from her Chimaera family compels her to question her own identity, she finds herself embroiled in a supernatural war as old as time itself. Taylor’s writing is vibrant, and her talent at capturing movement and physical detail with her words is downright delicious — a smorgasbord for the senses. If you’re into the glitter and grime of Holly Black’s supernatural thrillers, I suspect this book, the first in a trilogy, will hold similar allure.
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (MG)
320 p. : Walden Pond Press, 2011.
Hazel and Jack. Jack and Hazel. Best friends forever, right? When fifth-grader Hazel notices Jack pulling away from her, she vows to get to the bottom of his unusual behavior. She embarks on a snowy forest journey that’s much more than just a walk in the woods, with witches and wolves and other dangers lurking at every turn. Readers of children’s fantasy and fairy tales will spot references to classic and modern contributions to the genre throughout. Even for those without knowledge of those stories, this is an exciting and accessible fantasy adventure tale laced with insights about growing up that will resonate with kids and grown-ups alike.
Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson (YA)
192 p. : Nancy Paulsen Books, 2012.
Receiving a pre-publication copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program was exciting for me, having been a fan of Woodson’s work for many years. Beneath a Meth Moon is a stunning addition to her catalog. Laurel Daneau, still struggling with the fact that she survived Hurricane Katrina when her beloved mother and grandmother did not, finds herself trying to start over in a new town with her remaining family members. Just when it seems she’s reached a place of stability, her new boyfriend introduces her to meth. Woodson’s lyrical prose contains no easy answers and sheds light on both the ugliness of a life fraught with addiction and the hope of recovery. Recommended for readers stirred by the Crank novels by Ellen Hopkins.
Want to learn how to code, but not sure where to start? You might be interested in Code Year, a project of the Chicago-based @codeacademy that will serve up a free, interactive programming lesson to your inbox each week. The information on the site isn’t much more specific than that, but the first lesson will be sent out on Monday, January 9th. I’m looking forward to checking it out.
Boom! Just when you think you’ve maxed out on year-end retrospectives, here’s another. Once again, I offer up a list of music releases I’ve enjoyed during the past year and a few sundry reactions to each. How’d I find all this stuff? Let’s just say that my eMusic and Spotify subscriptions got quite a workout. Feel free to comment with your favorites and recommendations! I’d love to hear what new releases excited your eardrums in 2011.
If you could take The Cure’s basslines, gauzy Cocteau Twins-eque vocals, and The Jesus & Mary Chain’s distortion and melt them all down into shiny, bite sized, dream-pop candies, you’d have Blouse.
39. 13 & God – Own Your Ghost
Listen up: “Armored Scarves,” “Et Tu,” “Sure as Debt”
Skittish hip-hop meets reflective electro-rock musings on mortality in this collaboration between Adam “Doseone” Drucker of Themselves and Markus Acher of The Notwist.
38. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
Listen up: “Milkman,” “Coda,” “Marked”
Erika M. Anderson’s noisy anthems and unnerving dirges recall the guitar squalor of Sonic Youth, but are somehow more intimate. She is often whisper-quiet among her roiling swells of sound, giving her work an uncomfortably physical quality: “When you showed up at that spot/I almost threw up on the spot” is one such moment.
37. Lady Gaga – Born This Way
Listen up: “Marry the Night,” “Highway Unicorn (Road to Love),” “Scheiße”
It’s loooong, thematically all over the place, and frequently over-the-top. It’s also one of the only albums that keeps me looking forward to and lip-syncing throughout my workouts. Absurdly catchy and happy-inducing.
36. Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
Listen up: “Desire,” “Suzanne & I,” “Love Won’t Be Leaving”
Artful, seductive, and a little bit ominous, Ms. Calvi’s deep, rich voice and dark imagery bear some resemblance to that of PJ Harvey and Nick Cave.
Ignore the terrible cover art and kick back with this set of rootsy, feel-good, and occasionally goofy tunes courtesy of the Kirkwood brothers & co.
34. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
Listen up: “Love Out of Lust,” “I Follow Rivers,” “Jerome”
Slower, more reflective numbers mingle with more danceable fare. Lykke Li may be in full-on pining mode here, but even her most vulnerable lyrics are delivered with poise and grace.
Somewhere in time there is a sixteen year-old version of me rocking out to this album, which sounds like a natural follow up to The Colour & The Shape. Dave Grohl’s voice is in top form here, no small feat for somebody who yells as much as that man has for years.
A debut full-length by this Galway, Ireland-based pianist and songwriter. The music is at turns playful, wistful, and mysterious. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
31. Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
Listen up: “Right Side of My Brain,” “Bad Feeling,” “Come On Over”
If you’ve ever read my musical thoughts before, you know I’m a sucker for boy-girl vocals. This group makes me think of a slicker version of The Vaselines, less gangly and more jangly.
As much as I generally enjoy puzzling over music with vocals that can be hard to decipher, Ms. Mayfield’s clear, emotive voice ringing out over simple folk guitar and percussion is a total treat.
29. Tori Amos – Night of Hunters / Sin Palabras
Listen up: “Fearlessness,” “Star Whisperer,” “Seven Sisters”
Jaw dropping. Although these arrangements are based upon compositions by classical greats such as Bach, Chopin, and Debussy rather than Amos’ own craft, she sounds more “herself” than she has in years. The accompanying Apollon Musagète string quartet adds texture and nuance to the recording.
Energetic, electronic-infused rock that barrels, hums, and buzzes along at a pace that reminds me alternately of The Flaming Lips and Devo.
27. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Listen up: “In the Dark Places,” “All & Everyone,” “Hanging On the Wire”
When I heard Polly’s new project would explore the horrors of war, I knew we’d be in for an intense listen. What I didn’t expect was that parts of this album would make me weep every time I hear them. I don’t actually listen to this very often, but it evokes such a visceral reaction in me that I had to include it.
26. Austra – Feel It Break
Listen up: “Darken Her Horse,” “Lose It,” “Hate Crime”
I’d hoped for a new album by The Knife or Fever Ray this year, but was instead treated to this dark and meditative electronic debut by newcomers Austra. Vocalist Katie Stelmanis sounds like a being from another planet, and I mean that as a compliment.
25. Amor de Días – Street of the Love of Days
Listen up: “Dream (Dead Hands),” “Bunhill Fields,” “I See Your Face”
“Words are geographical” is a lyric that is perhaps the most reflective of this album’s overall vibe. This collaboration between Nunes-Fernandez of Pipas and Alasdair MacLean of The Clientele blends gentle Spanish rhythms and British folk to evoke an extraordinary sense of time and place.
24. Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
Listen up: “Snowflake,” “Lake Tahoe,” “Misty”
This album may crawl along at a snail’s pace, but don’t let the hushed delivery lull you into thinking it’s an easy listen. It almost sounds as though the spectral Cathy from Bush’s beloved first single “Wuthering Heights” or the drowning woman from The Ninth Wave song cycle is off haunting/wandering the icy moors.
23. Blind Pilot – We Are The Tide
Listen up: “Get You Right,” “Half Moon,” “We Are the Tide”
A Portland, Ore. band offers an amiable, gently careening collection of folk-pop gems textured with dulcimer, trumpet, and vibraphone.
22. The Dodos – No Color
Listen up: “Don’t Try and Hide It,” “Don’t Stop,” “Going Under”
That percussion! I’ve never seen this band live, but I imagine it’s the type of performance that thumps around in your chest. Such exuberance. “Don’t Try and Hide It” is my personal carefree anthem of the year.
In this followup to 2009’s Hospice, Peter Silberman’s falsetto continues to make my hair stand on end. Some of these songs sound like dreams and others nightmares, but all are undeniably lush in their production.
20. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
Listen up: “New Year’s Eve,” “Hell Broke Luce,” “Face to the Highway”
Honey and vinegar. Sugar and strychnine.
19. Should – Like a Fire Without Sound
Listen up: “Famous for Her Dress,” “The Great Pretend,” “Slumberland”
If somebody plunked a pair of headphones on me and gave me no information about this recording, I might think it was a lost Slowdive album. The resemblance is a little spooky, especially the male/female vocal harmonies. Shoegaze-tastic.
On their ninth album, Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk weave a majestic and inviting tapestry of sound. Breathtakingly beautiful when played at top volumes.
Listening to this makes me feel like I’m the childhood star of my own 80s film that never actually existed. This seems to be a popular reaction to M83, and for good reason. Those synths don’t quit. Such a dazzling racket for hopeful young hearts.
People talked about this album a LOT this year. I’m really not sure what else there is to be said. So pretty it almost hurts. I know the Bruce Hornsby-esque horns really bothered some fans, but I find them oddly comforting.
15. Le Butcherettes – Sin Sin Sin
Listen up: “Henry Don’t Got Love,” “The Leibniz Language,” “I’m Getting Sick of You”
No new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album this year, but along came Le Butcherettes to knock me over with their garage rock madness. Peppered with references to long-dead authors and philosophers, darkly humorous, always blistering.
14. Zola Jesus – Conatus
Listen up: “Skin,” “Avalanche,” “Ixode”
Former childhood opera singer creates an enigmatic landscape (soundscape?) with theatrical vocals, industrial beats, piano, and strings. These songs demand to be listened to as loud as you can, and Nika Roza Danilova is a musical presence I look forward to following for years to come.
13. The Submarines – Love Notes/Letter Bombs
Listen up: “Fire,” “Tigers,” “Shoelaces”
Want to make a lyrically bittersweet song sound way less bitter and way more sweet? Get some handclaps and sing-along harmonies up in there. The Submarines make a relationship’s dissolution sound like a new beginning and reunions sound like storybook magic.
12. Washed Out – Within and Without
Listen up: “You and I,” “Amor Fati,” “Eyes Be Closed”
Leave it up to a librarian to make an album that’s just as good for dancing as it is for dreaming.
11. Mount Moriah – Mount Moriah
Listen up: “Social Wedding Rings,” “Old Gowns,” “Reckoning”
These nine dusty alt-folk tracks display an incredible amount of emotional terrain. Just listen.
Clocking in at just 17 minutes and 26 seconds, this is the shortest pick on my list. Short and sweet seems to be the name of the game for ex-Tiger Trap/Softies member Rose Melberg on this adorable twee pop collection.
09. Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation
Listen up: “July,” “17,” “Posters”
Trevor Powers makes his full-length debut. Somehow over the duration of this fuzzy, reverb-soaked, nostalgic collection of songs, he manages to sound simultaneously very young, very old, and very androgynous.
08. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
Listen up: “Champagne Year,” “Northern Lights,” “Strange Mercy”
Enormous hooks, guitar riffs that bleat and soar, cryptic lyrics, and Annie Clark’s blend of authoritative and coy vocals make this my favorite album of hers to date.
07. A.A. Bondy – Believers
Listen up: “Hiway/Fevers,” “Skull & Bones,” “The Heart is Willing”
Rich, languid, melancholy folk for drifters and dreamers.
06. The Cave Singers – No Witch
Listen up: “All Land Crabs & Divinity Ghosts,” “Swim Club,” “No Prosecution If We Bail”
I was surprised to find out that only three members make this much warm, weird folk noise. Through a good pair of headphones, there’s so much depth to the sound. Even the songs with more laid-back vocals and acoustic instruments sit naturally along more plugged-in tunes that have a little more stomp and yowl.
05. Wye Oak – Civilian
Listen up: “Civilian,” “Hot As Day,” “Holy Holy”
Baltimore-based Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack have created nine gritty, melancholic rock songs that get in your pores and linger for days. The guitar work here is spellbinding.
04. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
Listen up: “Future Crimes,” “Something Came Over Me,” “Romance”
Carrie Brownstein! Janet Weiss! Mary Timony! Rebecca Cole! Superheroes, all four. The album versions of the songs don’t quite capture the fantastic urgency and punchiness of the band’s live show, but they’re close enough approximations to make me giddy.
03. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
Listen up: “January Hymn,” “Down By The Water,” “Calamity Song”
This sunny, strummy slice of Americana made me grin until my face hurt when I first listened to it on a blustery Midwestern morning this past January.
If Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See is chock full of the muted, sleepy sounds of a desert evening drawing to a close, Widowspeak’s self-titled debut is what happened during the lazy afternoon hours spent squinting in the sun.
01. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
Listen up: “Whirring,” “The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade,” “Austere”
Hey there! I’m Laura: a librarian, voracious reader, wordnerd in perpetuity, music lover, and an avid sipper of tea.
You may have previously followed my blogging adventures at readingandrooibos.com, which has now been retired. All postings and comments from that version of my blog have been archived here at teabrarian.com. Thanks for joining me!
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