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Saturday, November 15, 2008
If this exists, my children are so going there
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
by Ally Carter
We rejoin Cammie and the rest of the Gallagher girls during her sophomore year of high school at the Gallagher Academy, a super-secret private school that teaches the students how to be spies (to the point where there's a designated language/dialect for each meal, and they're regularly kidnapped by teachers for class exercises).
Cammie's still recovering from her freshman year, where she had a forbidden relationship with a boy in town (just hand-holding and a kiss, you perverts) - the locals just think it's a snooty girls school, and for security reasons they prefer to keep things that way, so no outside relationships.
Following an exercise where the girls have to shake a tail and meet at a rendezvous point, they receive news that BOYS are COMING TO GALLAGHER. This is blasphemy. There are some male teachers, but it's been girls-only since its founding 100+ years ago. Plus Cammie's still trying to figure out what really happened when her father was killed during a mission several years ago; her mom, who also happens to be headmaster, and one of her teachers, know more than they're letting on.
So Cammie and her 3 friends (the nerd, the bombshell, and the rebel, of course) set out to find out what the boys are really doing at their school. As you may expect, this involves planting bugs and tracking devices in the boys' dormitory. Come on, they're spies, after all. And during all this the cutest of the boys has definitely taken an interest in Cammie, which she finds suspicious because her greatest talent is being essentially invisible (great for a spy, not so great for finding a boyfriend).
By the end of the book, very few of Cammie's questions have been answered, except that the boys are NOT up to no good. The powers-that-be decided that the girls should learn how to interact with boys/men before they're thrown out into the real spying world, so they imported some from the semi-rival equivalent boys' spy school. But to get to this point, there was another awesome kidnapping and chase sequence where the girls had to trust the boys and accept their help in order to recover potentially sensitive information revealing the names of all former students (aka a list of current spies).
Apparently the first book has been optioned for a movie by Disney. If they screw this up, heads will roll, even if I don't have the training to accomplish that.
I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL HERE.Labels: action, friendship, girl power, hunky armed forces or government operatives, martial arts, romance of the non-trashy variety, young adult, young protagonists
posted by ket at
12:10 PM
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
Absurdity
Title: Beginner's Greek
Author: James Collins
For a former editor at Time, a contributor to The New Yorker, and a male, this book is absolutely absurd.
The Prologue commences with the story of Peter Russell, the main character, on an airplane flight from NY to LA pondering the possibility that the seat next to him may soon be occupied with the woman he will fall madly, desperately, completely in love with.
Already a bit of a stretch. A man might perhaps contemplate the mile high club, but love? I’ve been informed by a very reliable male source that this is just utter nonsense.
Then, the seat is taken by a young female, and "without even speaking to her, Peter was convinced, he knew for a certainty, he had not the slightest doubt, that he could spend the rest of his life with the young woman who had happened to sit next to him, and it would be blissful."
Now really.
But then they get to talking, and they have fun, and they make a connection, and Holly gives him her phone number.
And he accidentally loses it.
Four or so years later she ends up married to Peter's best friend, Jonathan, a womanizing schmuck. Peter laments his loss for 3 years then decides to move on and marry Charlotte. She's okay, and he likes her most of the time, and they could be happy, so that's good enough for him (and her).
Then, on their wedding night, Jonathan, outside on the golf course shortly after enjoying himself with Charlotte's stepmother, is struck dead by lightning (clearly, getting what he deserved, that womanizing bast- ,er…). Only hours too late for Peter to drop Charlotte and begin his pursuit of Holly. The horror! Add to this the delicious sub-story of Peter’s job, at which he is extraordinarily successful and thought of very highly. That is, until the day his current boss goes from being buddy buddy and friendlier than any boss on the planet to making an utter fool out Peter - after which said boss gloats and crunches two walnuts gleefully in his bare hands while saying to Peter: “These are your nuts, Russell.” So does the poor lovesick sap get the girl and keep his job in the end? You’ll have to read to find out (or take a wild guess). And, despite my mocking of the book, it really was a very entertaining and enjoyable read, just not what I would expect from the author.
Labels: fiction, romance of the non-trashy variety
posted by Kate at
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Monday, December 31, 2007
It all started with this one...
Title: Mr. Knightley's Diary
Author: Amanda Grange
12 hours before boarding a bus for a 5-hour trip, I needed a book. The library was closed (boo!), so I grudgingly went to the bookstore.
A desperate search for something worth buying took much longer than I'd hoped, and I ended up going with this one, for lack of any other options.
The book itself was rather enjoyable, though certainly not worth $14 to me. Seriously, you wonder why nobody buys books anymore? There's a reason I go to the library - it's FREE, and even paying a few fines is way cheaper than $8-14 per (paperback) book.
But I digress.
It's Emma, retold from Mr. Knightley's view - you know, the classic Jane Austen story known to modern audiences only as the inspiration for Clueless. Girl attempts to control the lives of everyone she knows, then once she's failed miserably, she realizes she loves the man who's known her forever, who promptly proposes.
While reading, my main thought was that, though I'm generally familiar with Emma, it'd be better if I remembered more of the details. That, and (spoiler!) Grange has Knightley fall in love with Emma practically at the start of the book, and even reveals it to his friends in town. I always thought of it as a very complex friendship, which he eventually realizes is love much further along in the story. It's a whole new plot when he's secretly in love with her the whole time.
And yes, it was the convention of the time, but the older man marrying innocent young girl just seemed creepy here - he's 37 to her 21 at the end of the story, and they even talk about how he, as a young man, had played with the toddler/baby Emma. Ewww. Not to mention that his younger brother is married to her older sister.
But back to a previous point: that it'd be more enjoyable if I knew the initial story better. Did I go out and buy the book Grange wrote before this one, Mr. Darcy's Diary? Hell no. But I did check the library catalog for it...Labels: Austen, Brit lit, fiction, high society, romance of the non-trashy variety
posted by ket at
5:12 PM
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Saturday, March 24, 2007
Sense & Sensibility
Title: Sense & Sensibility
Author: Jane Austen
“Elinor, this eldest daughter whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counselor of her mother. She had an excellent heart – her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them.
Marianne abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor’s. She was sensible and clever, but eager in everything; her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation. She was generous, amiable, interesting; she was everything but prudent.”
Prepare yourself, readers, for I have something dreadful to relate. Two weeks ago, I read Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility for the very first time. Scandalous, I know. Please, have a seat if you’re feeling faint. Would a glass of wine relieve your distress? If not, I’ll have the maid fetch some salts. While you’re recovering, however, shall I tell you something of what I’ve read? It’s wonderfully amusing.
The story begins when Mr. Dashwood, the owner of a large and extensive estate, dies. The property is entailed, and thus passes to his son by a former marriage, leaving his widow and their three daughters – Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret – comparatively destitute.
The Dashwood women withdraw from their former home, soon finding themselves established in a modest country cottage. But before this, the eminently practical Elinor falls in love with a Mr. Edward Ferrars, the brother of her sister-in-law. Edward’s a rather diffident, dull bloke, but he suits Elinor marvelously well and seems to return her partiality.
Unfortunately, Edward’s been secretly engaged for years to Lucy Steele. Lucy is of a rather sly character, and Edward no longer respects or admires her. Still, he’s determined to honor the engagement out of a sense of duty. He doesn’t reveal the situation to Elinor, whom he truly loves. Rather, he simply leaves when called away by his family, who fear he’s becoming too attached to the impoverished Elinor. They think he should be aspiring to far loftier connections.
Meanwhile, the romantic and impulsive Marianna is chasing a rainbow one day when she falls down a hill and sprains her ankle. Along comes the dashing Mr. Willoughby, who sweeps her up in his arms and carries her home. Before long, they’re apparently in love as well. But, like Edward before him, Willoughby has a secret, and he leaves suddenly one day without explanation. Everyone, however, assumes he and Marianne are secretly engaged and that it’s only a matter of time before the wedding.
And thus the stage is set for one of English literature’s great romances. Can Elinor and Edward ever be together, as they both wish? Why won’t Willoughby answer Marianne’s letters? What about poor Colonel Brandon, who has a tragic past and a hopeless passion for the much younger Marianne? And is it better, after all, to love with the head or the heart…or both?
If you’ve seen the movie starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, it all plays out pretty much as expected…only better! There’s a delicious scene where Willoughby unexpectedly arrives at the house where Marianne lays ill, begging to see her. And the interaction between Elinor and Lucy is…oh, perfectly bitchy in the best way possible. It’s far cattier than in the movie. They never openly speak hostile words, yet both know they’re rivals for the same man’s affection. And because they’re women, this means that they pretend to be best friends. You’d expect a row to break out at any minute, except that Elinor is far too elegant for that ever to occur.
Speaking of Elinor, I liked her character immensely. Her sensible approach to her predicament, once she learns of Edward’s engagement, keeps the novel grounded in reality. She doesn’t weep and beat her breast, but quietly and resolutely determines that no one will ever know of her suffering. Poor girl, what else could she do?
But this is Jane Austen, so everything ends happily in marriage. Hope that doesn’t ruin it for you.
I honestly can’t comprehend how it is that I didn’t read Sense & Sensibility until now. It’s the only Austen I’ve thus neglected. I’d begun it on several occasions, but something always called me away. Either I was too overwhelmed with work, or some other story was calling me more urgently.
But once I began this time, I was engrossed. In fact, I’m almost glad it took me 10 years to read it. I’ve been an Austen fan ever since I was 15, and the experience of having a “new” Jane Austen to read after all this time was…well, just about one of the best book experiences I’ve ever had. Maybe 25 was the best age for me to read this at, and inexplicable lapses like this one happen for a reason. It’s possible.Labels: Austen, romance of the non-trashy variety
posted by Elizabeth at
11:25 PM
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