waiting on wednesday (43)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Two things that I really enjoy are coming together.  The first is author Holly Black.  Her Curse Workers trilogy is absolutely genius (oh hey, feel free to check out my reviews of White Cat and Red Glove).  The second thing is creepy middle grade along the lines of The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls.  Black’s forthcoming book (illustrated by Eliza Wheeler) sounds amazing, and I can’t wait to read it.  Doll Bones will be released on May 7, 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster).

A doll that may be haunted leads three friends on a thrilling adventure in this delightfully creepy novel from the New York Times bestselling cocreator of the Spiderwick Chronicles. 

Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her. 

But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave. 

Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?

What books are you waiting on?

the shape of desire

Most of my favorite reads claimed that status long before I began blogging, but there are some wonderful exceptions to that trend, including Sharon Shinn’s angel series. A couple of years ago I participated in the Horns & Halos Reading Challenge, and I tried Archangel and then all the rest – as fast as I could get them.  The mix of subtle sci-fi elements, angel mythology, symbolism and romance made me a Shinn fan.

Last year I saw notes here and there about her latest release, The Shape of Desire, but it wasn’t until the sequel (Still Life with Shapeshifter) started showing up on my Amazon ‘Recommended for Cecelia’ list that I got serious about reading the first entry in this new series.  I borrowed the book from the library and read it in one night.  The Shape of Desire wasn’t what I expected, but I don’t think I’ll ever be impervious to a Sharon Shinn romance.

For fifteen years Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But despite loving him with all of her heart and soul, Maria knows that Dante can never give all of himself back-at least not all the time. 

Every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. During those times, he wanders far and wide, leaving Maria alone. He can't choose when he shifts, the transition is often abrupt and, as he gets older, the time he spends in human form is gradually decreasing. But Maria, who loves him without hesitation, wouldn't trade their unusual relationship for anything. 

Since the beginning, she has kept his secret, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occur in local parks during the times when Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she's been telling about her life have turned into lies she's telling herself...

Maria has been in love with Dante for almost half of her life.  She keeps him secret and she keeps him safe.  This is because Dante is a shapeshifter, and his anonymity is synonymous with his safety. However, when a series of murders shake her area, Maria isn’t sure what to do, where the boundaries lie in her relationship (is she in danger? are others?), or how deep the secrets go.  

While the presence of a shapeshifting character marks this book as a fantasy (and a paranormal fantasy at that), it reads much more like realistic contemporary fiction.  As Maria herself points out several times, Dante could simply have a very mysterious job – as a CIA operative, perhaps.  The same book could exist with a spy at its core rather than a shapeshifter.  With that said, I think Shinn’s treatment of the shapeshifting element is a highlight – there is no glorification of it, and very little beauty to be found.  Instead, the life of a shapeshifter is one of danger, of brevity, and of uncertainty.

At its heart, The Shape of Desire is a romance.  It’s a story of individuals making insane choices in order to live with each other, and the inherent peril in those decisions.  The romance is fleshed out with office gossip, family relationships, and the very mundane details of life. The gripping parts, the bits that keep you reading, are the threads of secrets, the theme of protecting family and protecting self, and a mature understanding of love and romance.

On the downside, there’s not a lot of ‘action’ on the surface.  This is about humanity, about emotional survival, about the toll of living with secrets.  The book will appeal to those with patience to unravel a character-driven story, but probably not those used to rip-roaring plots.  It’s a quiet, adult book (despite what the cover would lead you to believe).  I wasn’t expecting it, and it won’t be an all-time favorite, but I admired the furious-movement-beneath-still-water feel of Shinn’s writing and the unique take on a common paranormal creature.

Recommended for: those who appreciate character-driven stories with a slow build towards conflict, and anyone curious to see how a seasoned fantasy and sci-fi author will approach a well-worn paranormal trope.

fudge crackle cookies

I originally posted this recipe in August 2009.  This time around I’ve substituted unsweetened cocoa powder (times two!) for chocolate squares, and managed some nicer photos.

When I was quite little I remember my mother making sugar cookies by the dozen, and sharing them with friends and family.  After a while, she had too many energetic children underfoot to do a big holiday baking spree, and that tradition lapsed.  When I got old enough to start helping with the fudge and Christmas breakfasts, we reinstated some holiday-esque cookie baking, and this recipe has always been a huge hit.  It’s chocolate to the max, and a bit like a brownie in cookie form.  I end up making it almost every year for cookie exchanges or a holiday dessert contribution.

Fudge Crackle Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter

heaping 1/2 cup unsweetened powdered cocoa

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup chopped nuts (I typically use walnuts, but pecans or almonds would work well, too)

DIRECTIONS

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Set aside.

In saucepan, stir butter, oil and chocolate over low heat until melted and smooth. When cool, stir in 1 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla and nuts; mix until blended. Add chocolate mixture to flour mixture, stir until blended. Cover and chill 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until firm (or flash cool in freezer for 30 minutes). 

Preheat oven to 300˚F. Roll into 1-inch balls; then roll in extra sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet, and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until tops are crackled and slightly firm to touch. Serve immediately, store in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze.  Yields approximately 24 cookies.

Recommended for: a rich, chocolate-y addition to any holiday cookie exchange, the perfect baked good for the cocoa addict in your life, and for anyone who claims they love brownies above all else (it might just change their minds!).

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

home front girl (+ giveaway!)

As a kid I loved historical fiction, and especially WWII fiction.  I also read (for myself first and then for school) The Diary of Anne Frank and Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place.  These nonfiction first-hand accounts showed not only the immediacy of war, but also the personalities of those who survived it and found ways to thrive amidst terrible events.  You had to be inspired by the intelligence and humanity of these women, writing and telling stories and falling in love or doing what was right, no matter how hard.  I’ve recently found another inspiring and entertaining first-hand account from the WWII era in Joan Wehlen Morrison’s Home Front Girl: A Diary of Love, Literature, and Growing Up in Wartime America.

Wednesday, December 10, 1941 

“Hitler speaks to Reichstag tomorrow. We just heard the first casualty lists over the radio. … Lots of boys from Michigan and Illinois. Oh my God! … Life goes on though. We read our books in the library and eat lunch, bridge, etc. Phy. Sci. and Calculus. Darn Descartes. Reading Walt Whitman now.” 

This diary of a smart, astute, and funny teenager provides a fascinating record of what an everyday American girl felt and thought during the Depression and the lead-up to World War II. Young Chicagoan Joan Wehlen describes her daily life growing up in the city and ruminates about the impending war, daily headlines, and major touchstones of the era—FDR’s radio addresses, the Lindbergh kidnapping, Goodbye Mr. Chips and Citizen Kane, Churchill and Hitler, war work and Red Cross meetings. Included are Joan’s charming doodles of her latest dress or haircut reflective of the era. Home Front Girl is not only an entertaining and delightful read but an important primary source—a vivid account of a real American girl’s lived experiences.

Joan Wehlen Morrison was a girl of 14 in 1937 when this selection of her diary starts, and it continues through her adolescence until 1943, the year she married.  She writes of school assignments, reading, friends, family, boys, world events and the lead up to war and then the reality of it.  From her home in Chicago, the reader sees through Joan a vision of America during wartime as it was ‘at home.’  Her intellectual curiosity, humor and facility with language mark this diary not only as an important historical record, but a superb read as well.

Home Front Girl exists because Joan’s daughter, Susan Signe Morrison, found Joan’s diary amidst her papers after her death in 2010.  The book contains a portion of the entries she wrote in the years mentioned, only edited in punctuation and spelling (with a footnote here and there for the reader who doesn’t pick up on allusions or historical events).  There are snippets of Joan’s little illustrations, along with photos of her and examples of her writing.  Of course, not all diary entries are equal.  Joan wrote not only observations, but poetry, philosophical meanderings, calls to her generation – and about lipstick, bridge, and dates.  She was a very intelligent girl and then woman, and her mind was an active and beautiful thing, no matter her topic.

A reader cannot help but connect with Joan after only a few pages.  She is likeable, remarkably aware and observant, and no more self-obsessed than any other human being.  She chronicles her small triumphs and doings with style.  Her writing is elegant in stretches, naïve or quirky or snappy in others.  Joan’s reactions become the reader’s – her wonder at fresh-fallen snow or beautiful music, pondering the significance of a world event, seeing a film, recording her dreams.

While I think Joan’s diary is an important primary source (a first-person historical account), I think it is more interesting as literature.  I hope it will be read as a coming-of-age account during a historically significant moment.  And as a side note, my favorite entries were the ones written around Christmas each year (perhaps that’s inevitable as we are ourselves in the holiday time now).

Recommended for: anyone who has wanted to get inside the head of an American young person during WWII, and those who enjoyed The Diary of Anne Frank.

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Would you like to win a copy of Home Front Girl?  The publisher has kindly offered one hardcover copy to a reader with a US mailing address.  If you'd like to enter, simply fill out the FORM.  Giveaway will end on December 27th at 11:59pm EST.  Winner will be selected randomly and notified via email, book will be mailed by publisher.  Good luck!

Fine print: I received a copy of Home Front Girl for review from IPG and Chicago Review Press.  Giveaway book provided by the same.  I received no compensation for this post.