102. The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri by David Bajo

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆/5

Comments: At first it reminded me of Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s The Club Dumas; then it reminded me of the more recent Last Night in Montreal, by Emily St. John Mandel. Either way, The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri is excellent. It’s a book about books, but it’s also about math, and people, and relationships, and sex, and Bajo writes about them all well. The book is incredibly complex, and I continually found myself marveling at the amount of research he must have done for it. (Unless he is just amazing like that, which I am inclined to believe equally likely.)

The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri resonated with me in a way that very few books have. I very much want to do what Irma (arguably the main character, though she appears only in other people’s flashbacks) does, but at the same time, I want desperately to do anything but. It’s good that way.

I was going to write more, but that would give away the ending (and, probably the middle). So I’ll just go with this: intense and terrific.

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Details: Hardcover, pub. Viking, 2008. 289 p.

101. Postsecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God compiled by Frank Warren

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆/5

Comments: I still like A Lifetime of Secrets better, but this is good, too. It’s also a much more manageable size. You could carry it around with you if you wanted.

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Details: Hardcover, pub. William Morrow, 2009. 275 p.

100. Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle

Rating: ⋆⋆/5

Comments: This is the sequel to Bewitching Season. It’s not as good, nor did I expect it to be, but once I learned of its existence, I still felt compelled to read it. It wasn’t actually that bad, but it’s based on ancient earth magic rather than author-invented magic, and I, unfortunately, prefer the latter, so it wasn’t really my thing. I also didn’t believe the romantic subplot. I guess I would only suggest reading it if you really liked its predecessor.

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Comments: Hardcover, pub. Henry Holt, 2009. 330 p.

99. Geek Magnet by Kieran Scott

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆/5

Comments: This is my younger sister’s book; I read it over Thanksgiving. I had very low expectations, but for contemporarily-set YA fiction with no supernatural elements, it was surprisingly good. I actually empathized with the main character (not all the time, but some of it), and the events of the story were realistic and uncontrived and told in a way that was believable, not sensational.

Overall, it was predictable, but there were a few twists that I genuinely did not see coming, which is rare for YA, and which kept me interested in reading. Some of the characters are cliched, but most have enough originality to them to remain interesting. Actually, though, one of my main complaints is the portrayal of Robbie, a kind of geek and one of the male leads. Robbie is so perfect, and so realistic, that both my sisters and I now have crushes on him. Unfortunately, in the real world, perfect — or even semi-perfect — boys like this do not exist, but Geek Magnet perpetuates the myth that they are, indeed, out there, just waiting to be uncovered, and having to finish the book and reconcile with the fact that they’re not… it’s just kind of disappointing.

Disappointments aside, when I compare this to YA novels of similar genre, Geek Magnet is clearly superior. Recommended.

Okay, here is what I really think about Geek Magnet, a thought which I have been resisting because it is embarrassing in numerous ways: It reminds me of High School Musical, but in book form, and with less singing. Very much so. Gaa. I’m going to go die now.

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Details: Paperback, pub. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008. 308 p.

98. Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander

Rating: ⋆⋆/5

Comments: This book is the definitive guide to the unique taste of millions. (That’s its subtitle; I’m not really that snarky.) It’s presented in the form of a legitimate guide, but it’s meant to be humorous.

The book is funny sometimes — though not funny enough, in my opinion, to have made the Powell’s nonfiction bestsellers list for several weeks running. (I got it months ago, on sale — apparently before white people started to like it — and just now got around to reading the thing.) On the other hand, Portland, Oregon is number 111 on the list, so maybe that’s the reason.

While there are a few things in the book that I, as a white person, hate (enormous strollers come to mind), and the checklist at the end tells me I’m only about 55% white, I’ll admit that the book is pretty accurate. Sometimes that accuracy, and the irreverency with which it is presented works, and is funny, but mostly it’s just kind of juvenile and stupid. I don’t really want to recommend it, but I don’t want to not recommend it, either. It’s probably going to be hit or miss with a lot of people, and until you actually read it, it’ll be hard to say which way you’ll fall.

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Details: Paperback, pub. Random House, 2008. 211 p.

97. The Secret Lives of Men and Women compiled by Frank Warren

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆/5

Comments: Neither as long nor as compelling as the previous ones, but damn, I love these books.

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Details: Hardcover, pub. Regan, 2007. No page count.

96. A Lifetime of Secrets and PostSecret, compiled by Frank Warren

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆/5

Comments: These are really probably art books more than anything else. They’re certainly not novels, though I guess, if pressed, you could say they’re large collections of many very short stories. But really, the PostSecret books are, very plainly, secrets. They’re composed of hundreds or thousands of postcards, sent by anonymous people all over the world, to Frank Warren, the artist/curator/compositor. On each postcard is written a secret. The postcards go onto the PostSecret website, and in some cases, a book. (There are now five.)

The secrets in PostSecret, the first book, are presented in no particular order, but those in A Lifetime of Secrets follow a more traditional narrative structure; they are presented chronologically, ordered from the beginning of life to the end. The secrets — as well as the postcards they came in on — are mostly sad, but sometimes happy, funny, empowering. But mostly sad. Both collections made me cry: it’s funny how other people’s secrets can also be yours.

I’m tempted to mail something in, or, at the very least, leave a note in the book(s) when I return it/them to the library — maybe it would help — but I wouldn’t know what to write; like one person said, I’m not even sure my secrets are real. But it’s nice to read those from other people that are.

I’m not really sure why these books are a good idea, or what makes them compelling. I just know that they are — compelling, that is — and that they would be for pretty much anyone, except maybe people who don’t have any feelings.

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Details: A Lifetime of Secrets, hardcover, pub. William Morrow, 2007. No page count.
PostSecret, hardcover, pub. ReganBooks, 2005. 278 p.

95. Forever Rose by Hilary McKay

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆/5

Comments: The summer I worked at the rural public library, I read the first three books in this, the Casson family, series. Since then, two more have come out — Forever Rose is the latest — and I’ve eagerly read them both, despite the fact that they are far below my reading level.

I like Forever Rose for the same reason I liked McKay’s previous books: despite their extreme eccentricity, the characters are extremely real, and extremely likable. I like them all (except the father, whom you’re not supposed to like), which is really rare for me. This is the second book of the series to focus on Rose, the youngest Casson, and, while I don’t really remember its predecessors, I do think that it was just as good as the first four, and just as good as I’d hoped it would be.

Forever Rose and McKay’s other books are refreshingly unconcerned with modernity (the girls send text messages, but don’t make a huge deal of it) and “keeping up with the Johnsons.” They feature unconventional yet relatable characters and unusual — even, sometimes, exciting — situations. And they’re great books for middle readers. Thumbs up.

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Details: Hardcover, pub. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008. 291 p.

94. Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆/5

Comments: This was actually a lot better than I expected. I still think that in terms of Shakespearean time travel (which this, essentially, is), Susan Cooper’s Shadow King is better, but Saving Juliet, which takes place in the slightly modified world of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is not bad.

The writing and plot are good, and the narrator and main character, Mimi, has a strong voice. The main thing that bothered me, though (aside from my dislike and disbelief of most of the characters, both contemporary and R&J-era) was her tendency to go self-referential. By this I mean that instead of just talking, Mimi was entirely aware of the fact that she was narrating a book, and would occasionally say things like, “If you read the cover flap you already know this.” The only self-referential work of fiction I have ever read without becoming incredibly annoyed is J.S. Marcus’ The Captain’s Fire, which is so convoluted that references to itself are among the least bizarre conventions. Saving Juliet, on the other hand, is — fantasy elements aside — a very normal book, at least in terms of narrative arc. The little “book” comments, therefore, felt incredibly out of place. (There were actually only a few of them, but you can tell how much they annoyed me by the fact that I have written an enormous paragraph on them.)

However, despite the above-mentioned flaws, the book’s not horrible. It’s predictable — what I thought would happen did — but there are just enough twists to keep you guessing, and the journey was interesting enough that I didn’t mind that the destination was no surprise. Altogether okay.

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Details: Hardcover, pub. Walker & Company, 2008. 242 p.

93. Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆/5

Comments: What impressed me most about Love Begins in Winter, a collection of five stories, was the language. It’s so well-written – poignant, if I may say. Every word seems to have been meticulously, yet effortlessly, chosen, and the way each phrase fits together is perfection. In terms of conventions, the stories in this collection are gorgeously done.

In terms of the actual stories, Van Booy does a great job, too. His characters, as well as the situations in which they find themselves, are highly unusual, but also highly compelling. They’re very realistic, and I felt for them. If I hadn’t read the majority of Love Begins in Winter on the bus, something I now realize was a huge mistake, I probably would have cried much more than I did. And, even with the embarrassment of being in public, there were a few pages where tears came to my eyes and I had to busy myself adjusting my hood and looking out the window.

Love Begins in Winter is an excellent collection of (long) short stories, sentimental without being sappy, and unlike any I’ve ever read. I look forward to reading Van Booy’s work again.

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Details: Paperback, pub. Harper Perennial, 2009. 226 p.