Hiatus note

Sorry guys. I don't have time to update this blog regularly, although I do have some posts simmering away to be written. Including a review on 1984 and soon a review of The Complete Persepolis.

See you soon!

Sarah,
author of Dangerously Cold Tea

(Review) 08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail by Michael Crowley & Dan Goldman

What is 08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail, really? It's chosen medium is a graphic novel, but what kind of GN is it? Documentary? Biography on a movement? Or an informal report on the hectic politics that made up the previous year leading up to November 4th? Maybe it's all of the above, but one thing it is for sure is a damn good read.

What's distinctly unique about this re-telling of the 2008 presidential campaign is that it doesn't tell the whole story from one point of view. You hear it through the voices and faces of the candidates, their campaign teams, the volunteers and the regular people, the pundits and the political analyzers, even the reporters themselves (not the authors, but original stand-ins shooting commentary off-the-cuff from the sidelines). And in comic format, it works. It's one of the major points that move the story along so smoothly.

Did this book need to be made? Yes. 2008 showed us that America wants more than ever before to be a part of the electoral process. So many people joined in grassroot campaigns for their favored candidate, became more educated about the political system so they could make an educated vote in November. The political machine behind every election turned into quite a behemoth as every gaffe and misstep was magnified a hundred times over by the twenty-four seven news media and the watchful eye of the evergrowing blogosphere.

The graphic novel 08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail is essential as a reminder of a year mirred in partisan politics, second chances and the victory of the audicity to hope for a better government. Read it, love it, make it a permanent spot in your personal library.

Currently reading: The Plan: Big Ideas For America by Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed; Dune by Frank Herbert.

(Review) An Acquaintance with Darkness by Ann Rinaldi

Note: If I unintentionally spoil for a plot point, my apologies. I'll try not to, but the warning is there for the spoilerphobes (which I am, on occasion, especially about the series that run in the weekly Shonen Jump in Japan, ha :3).

First off, my favorite part about Ann Rinaldi's historical books is the note on the back cover that is a "warning" telling readers they might actually - gasp! - enjoy the book they are about to read. Oh, Ms Rinaldi, every time I see that blurb I mentally tell myself "I always enjoy her books! Duh!" because it is just so dang true. Anyone who loves historical fiction should read Ann Rinaldi's rather lengthy bibliography, which I am only a portion of the way through, although by the time I do, she'll probably have several new books out on the market!

All right, on to the book: An Acquaintance with Darkness, which takes place right after the Civil War in Washington D.C.; Emily Pigbush, a girl of only fourteen years is forced to take care of her sickly mother all by herself. She is friends with Annie Surratt, whose brother Johnny is the target of a very secret crush by Emily.

When Emily's mother dies, she is forced to take shelter with her uncle, Dr. Valentine, who for some reason Emily's mother dislikes terribly (understatement of the year, actually, as she forbids Emily to live with him after her death.) Why? Well, after her mother's death, President Lincoln sees a play -- and we all know how that turns out. The hunt is on for John Wilkes Booth, and Annie's mother is arrested as she was close friends with Booth; Johnny is also forced to stay in hiding as he too is suspected of having a hand in the assasination.

The story evolves into this: Emily lives with her uncle and his assistant, the clever Marietta who is a medical assistant and botanist; they develop a very unsteady relationship, their personalities clashing as equally-stubborn people are wont to do on occasion. There is also Maude the housekeeper, and Robert, a soldier wounded in the Civil War who becomes Dr. Valentine's student in medicine. It becomes a tale of morality as Emily discovers that her uncle traffics dead bodies to continue his studies, and practically everyone in the house is aware of it.

Now you know the story, here are my loves and dislikes about the book.

I Loved: Emily Pigbush. She's a realistic, headstrong female leading character, a fresh breath of air in an era of weeping dainty ladies and such other stereotypes. What amazes me is that she does not trust anyone straight off in the Valentine household, and Rinaldi makes it clear that a country's bitter racial past is evident in Emily's view towards Marietta, who is part black. The story is carried by Emily's moral struggle towards Marietta, Dr. Valentine's work in the shed, the world of the girls in the school, Robert, the Surratt family's struggle in the hands of the law. I emphasized for Emily deeply; she's a confused girl without any parents, forced to accept a strange new world without being told the truth, so she goes and finds it. That's important: Emily doesn't wait around for an explanation; she goes and finds it, and feels betrayed when she does.

Also, in the scene where she declares she does not wish to be Little Miss Muppet anymore; it takes a long and painful journey to get to that point, but the delivery and the afterwards is so freaking worth it. Favorite character of the book? Yes, ma'am.

I Loved: The over-arcing theme of secrets. Secrets in Dr. Valentine's work, in the loyalties of most of the cast, in what is really the truth. Washington D.C. post-Civil War is a confusing place, and Rinaldi guides us through it with skill and artistry both superb.

I Loved: Dr. Valentine. Can I call him a BAMF? Okay, I will: he's a freaking BAMF, in the quiet and collected kind of BAMF, not the Neville Longbottom cut-snakes-in-half type, natch. He's smart and clever, doesn't care about race when he enlists Marietta as his medical assistant, and is the voice of reason throughout the whole novel. Yet, you can tell he also struggles morally with the fact that he has to keep the truth of his work away from Emily's eyes, only because he believes (rightfully so, imho) that she is not yet ready to understand the complexities behind it all.

I Superly-Duperly Loved: Marietta. Can we has spin-off novel now? Florist by day, medical student turned body snatcher in the name of science by night? That would just about rock outloud, if Rinaldi could manage to find a plot suitable enough for Marietta (who is also a BAMF, imho).

I Disliked: The body snatching. I know, it's not the main focus of the book -- Emily is, her and her story, but hold on. The book does not address the racism that was prevalent in the body snatching industry, the disrespect brought to corpses of color. IMHO, that wasn't just Atlanta's medical schools. Am I asking for too much? Probably, but I wanted to put this in.

I Disliked: Needed MOAR MOLE AND SPOON, heh. I kinda liked them in a curious way, I wish they'd been there more.

Last Note: An Acquaintance with Darkness is, in one word, awesome. It has drama and action, science and romance, moral struggles and orphan cats, and BAMF characters all around. Seriously. You like historical fiction in YA? Do you know people who do? Read this freakin' book already.

Short post is short (but important, natch)

So, what was meant to be a random blog for lulz and fandom has turned into a blog for book reviews. Yay? I mean, yeah, finally, an actual direction for this blog to go but -- WAIT. There's no downside to this! Not yet, at least.

Some of the books I'm reading/about to read that will be reviewed:
1984 --- George Orwell
Dune --- Frank Herbert
The White House Mess --- Christopher Buckley
Know Your Power: A Message To America's Daughters --- Nancy Pelosi
Hardly Knew Her --- Laura Lippman

I just finished An Acquaintance with Darkness by Ann Rinaldi; that might be my first review. Warning: I am very biased towards Rinaldi's work, like, majorly. I love it to death. But I will do my best to be impartial (regarding said book, actually I had some issues with it, so it won't all be praise).

Cheers!

In which memoirs are mocked, Korea doth protest too much, Chipp Kidd is still a dick and George's library gets bushwhacked

Where to begin, where to begin . . .

Salon comics presents the newest This Modern World, in which a certain penguin's tell-all memoir rises and falls in an instant, with obligatory endorsement by Oprah. By the way, Mrs Winfrey, this is twice now you've been burned by fake memoirs (James Frey and now the Holocaust love story). Does the phrase 'play it safe' ever take hold in your brain? You think after the Million Little Pieces debacle, you'd hold off on those kinds of books for a much longer time -- and perhaps hire new fact checkers on these things. Really.

Also: Daily Yomuri Online presents a review on Bat-Manga! by Chip Kidd and the uncredited Jiro Kuwata. I wonder how they feel about it? First sentence: Chip Kidd has blown it. Well, there you go. Personally, I think Kidd is a dick, for 1) saying the book is not a book about Kuwata's Batman manga, when the comics take up a majority of the book and 2) not crediting the man's name either on the front cover or the book flap or anywhere pertinent to crediting a contributing author. Yes, still a tad bitter, especially after reading DYO's piece.

Next: Korean Protests Call for Hetalia Anime's Cancellation. Because Hetalia doesn't mock or make light of any other country, no sir, Korea's the only one. Not to mention the production team has already said Korea's character does not show up in the anime. Besides, the anime premieres on the 25th. If they really had any concerns about their portayal as a country (even though KOREA'S NOT IN THE ANIME VERSION), they should have spoken up earlier. Orz~

Lastly: The Official George W. Bush Presidential Librarium. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wish the last eight years had all been a horrible dream as you wait for January 20th to get here already. Perhaps while also drinking, if you haven't started already. SEVEN DAYS, GUYS.

A thought on George W Bush's Final News Conference

[source] of conference news

The thing that bothers me the most about the whole event was when Bush was asked about Katrina and the piss-poor response the government gave and he responds with this:

"Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there were 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed. ... Could things been done better? Absolutely. But when I hear people say the federal response was slow, what are they going to say to those chopper drivers or the 30,000 who got pulled off the roof?"

I'm surprised Bush uses the fact that 30k people were pulled off their roofs during the Katrina aftermath. One: he comes out with a statistic, which makes it seem rehearsed, something he's been planning on saying since the Katrina incident first happened. Two: if the federal response, in his mind, was indeed quick enough in regards to Katrina, and FEMA had acted in a timely matter, which is what he is implying in his statement -- then the choppers should not have had to carry off 30k people to begin with. If FEMA did act as timely as Bush says, there should not have been tens of thousands of people standing on their houses wanting to be rescued to begin with.

According to the Wikipedia article on Katrina (my sources are so high-class, I know), Bush did not enact any state of emergency declarations in any of the key perishes that were in danger of being flooded when the levees broke, including none on Louisiana's coast. He did not call the National and Coast guard to action after it became clear that the flood waters would go over and possibly break the levees, and there was obviously not an widespread enforcement of the mandatory evacuation, which itself did not cover all of the areas in danger.

Sorry, but when I hear Bush say "We did a pretty good job," I have to wonder if he truly believes that or if he's stopped caring now that his presidency is pretty much dead in the water until the 20th.

Somehow, my return is less triumphant than I had previously assumed.

So, apparently since the creation of Dangerously Cold Tea, I've yet to post a single thing since last fall. Ack! What have I been doing since then? How about NaNoWriMo in November, followed by being punched in the face by both Christmas time and New Year's Day/Eve? Not to mention a million little things in between.

Currently, I'm working on finishing my NaNo novel along with god knows how many fanfiction WIPs for a variety of claim/challenge communities on Livejournal, as well as looking for a job that allows me to work from home (i.e. freelance writer, or something similar).

Also: Eight days until Obama's inauguration! I'm excited like woah. (It'll be the first inaug I've ever seen) Sometimes I will be in the kitchen cleaning dishes or watching TV or doing something else and start crying because I remember how I felt on November 4th when CNN reported Obama as the winner of the 2008 election and oh shit here it goes but it's a good cry, I swear. I finally found a place to put my Yes We Did sticker -- on front of my handy little tote bag I keep my stuff in.

Plus: Second favorite blog is Cake Wrecks, or when good pastry goes very, very bad. It's utterly hilarious and everyone should be reading it on a regular basis. I can't stop looking at that cake of Oprah's head, I think she's trying to suck me in with her eyes. The horror!

I'M TRYING TO NOT USE SMILIES ON MY BLOG, CAN YOU TELL? Something tells me going :3 all the time is very unprofessional, heh.