So, Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman. This is a YA novel I bought at a library sale some time ago. Pretty much on impulse. The jacket art by Maria Carluccio was appealing. So anyway, I had this novel written for teen or preteen girls in my possession for a while, and tonight I started reading it. It's about a Jewish girl who's curious about religion and starts living as...well, you read the title. It's from 2005, post-Harry Potter, but while a lot of YA and older children's literature was about global threats and deep personal trauma, this is a small scale character piece, and Littman keeps it light.
So the proximate reason I started reading this was because I had gotten Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives from the library, after a couple of chapters I was positive I'd already read it. And while I don't think I hated it, I didn't love it to the "hey, let's reread this a year from now" extent either.
So the proximate reason I started reading this was because I had gotten Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives from the library, after a couple of chapters I was positive I'd already read it. And while I don't think I hated it, I didn't love it to the "hey, let's reread this a year from now" extent either.
2 comments:
The last YA novel I can remember having read and enjoyed was Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi - a novel about the crews that include kids (for the tight spots) who deconstruct ships in a future post apocalyptic society. Unsurprisingly, some of them attempt an escape to what they hope will be a better life. I read it because I liked Wind-Up Girl so much and I think it's kind of a shame he seems to have decided to stick with the YA stuff instead.
Just as well to pass on a book you realized you'd read previously, one that didn't have the re-reading potential of, say, a Dickens novel.
You have me curious now to read Ship Breaker. I was impressed by The Wind Up Girl. There's good and bad in YA, obviously. If a writer for adults enters it, that's fine. The only problem is when their bad habits from one area follow to the other.
There are definitely books that stand up to rereading better than others. And yes, that includes some Dickens. Barnaby Rudge is fascinating, even though it doesn't seem to be one of his more acclaimed books.
Post a Comment