Some Girls Are, Courtney Summers

Regina Afton has worked hard to get to the top of the high school hierarchy. She's sacrificed a lot: her friends, her integrity, her conscience. When an incident at a party sparks off vicious and untrue rumours, she finds herself despised and alone, learning first-hand just what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the bullying she used to help deal out.

The mean-girl drama is nothing new in teen literature. I've reviewed similar books here at the blog: Speak, Before I Fall and Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood - and, of course, the name Regina not-so-subtly recalls Mean Girls. Some Girls Are was a pretty dark version of the story, unflinching in dealing with the inventive cruelty of teenage girls. In many such stories the victim wins out with their goodness, or rise above the pettiness of their peers by discovering their inner depths. But in this novel, the bad guys getting their just desserts would not be satisfying: after all, that is what this story's all about.

Regina's been a mean girl too long. She demonstrates feelings of regret and self-loathing for the popular girl she used to be, but she has faked so much in order to fit into the inner circle that she's lost touch with her inner goodness and decency. It's in there, but buried so deep that no one can see it any more. Regina is a complex narrator, and I wasn't quite sure how to view her. I wanted to sympathise with her, but she'd done some terrible things. Did she deserve all the abuse heaped upon her? "Nobody deserves that," said Michael, the closest thing Regina has to an ally all through her ordeal. We're not shown Regina's former cruelty first-hand, and though we see the results, she holds back from telling too much about what she'd done to make two thirds of her school actively hate her. I felt that Regina was an unreliable narrator, toning down the events of the past, censoring herself so as not to utterly alienate her audience. Something didn't quite ring true between how Regina presented herself on the page, and how her classmates saw her - 300 enemies are a lot. I also wanted to shake Regina at times for walking into the mean girls' traps, and giving them power over her.

Regina is not one to take bullying lying down, and it turns into an ugly war of revenge for revenge, spiraling out of control. For me, like for Regina, it was temporarily satisfying to see the bullies getting a taste of their own medicine, but that satisfaction is quickly replaced with unease and anxiety for what would happen next. I felt sure that the situation would escalate into disaster or tragedy, because I could not see either side backing down. Ultimately, I found the conclusion hugely anticlimactic and boggled at the author's decision to end the book the way that she did. Is that it? I wondered.

It's reading books like this that I feel grateful that I was never popular at school, with fewer expectations to live up to or compromises to make. Not that I was entirely guiltless in these matters, still moderating my Katie-ness (in fact in those days I was Kathy, not Katie, a more significant thing that you might think) in an attempt not to give people within and outside my "friendship" group reasons to pick on me. But the cost of fitting into a clique such as the Fearsome Fivesome is too high to ever be worthwhile.

Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill

Coming out the other side of a reading slump, I found myself in the fantasy and horror section of the library looking for something a bit different. I'm working my way through The Lord of the Rings, one chapter per night, so I didn't want a Tolkien-inspired high fantasy epic, nor did I want anything with vampires in. But Heart-Shaped Box stood out from the rest. When it was published a few years ago, I'd read the back blurb more than once, but never got as far as buying it. Ditto Joe Hill's other novel, Horns. But there was something that appealed about these books - and Neil Gaiman's recommendation on the front sealed the deal.

Retired death metal star Judas Coyne has built up quite a collection of sinister and macabre artifacts over the years, so when he sees someone selling a ghost on the internet, he can't refuse. But when the black, heart-shaped box arrives on his doorstep, Jude discovers this is not just any old ghost, but one which will make him confront the darkness in his past.

Heart-Shaped Box had me utterly gripped from the beginning. To buy a ghost on the internet was a brand-new idea in a world of recycled stories. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book: was this a quirky dark fantasy or an out-and-out horror? It turned out to be a more straight-forward horror than I was expecting - though perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, since Hill is the son of Stephen King, and from whom better could he have learned his craft? He doesn't take long to launch into a story of suspense, with fear being conjured by descriptions of the wrong sort of nothing, and then when that is replaced by the wrong sort of something, it is narrated so matter-of-factly that it took a moment for what I was reading to sink, which, when it did, happened with a really creeping horror.

The ghost of the story is a far more solid presence than in other ghost stories, possibly because he is quickly named and described as "Craddock" or "The dead man." This haunting is no vaguely hostile threat that may or may not be influencing Jude's world. Craddock is a person, not just a presence, and a particularly malevolent one. Once he appears, the story becomes more standard horror fare - there's something in Jude's house that is out to get him, and might also be in his head. But that's not all there is. There is plenty of variety in Heart-Shaped Box: it is a something-in-the-house horror story, a road trip, a psychological thriller and more. Three or four times, when I thought I had an idea of what sort of story this was going to be, Hill threw in a twist that changed everything.

Jude Coyne is a seriously messed-up individual, and I can't say I liked him. Having an unsympathetic protagonist will usually turn me off a novel - but though I didn't like Jude, he wasn't unsympathetic. He was a man with many layers, a tough history and believable reasons for being who he was. I was convinced at first that his fate was inescapable - and I didn't want that. I wanted him to survive and come through the story unscathed, if not unchanged. (You'll have to read the book to find out if he does or not.) Once or twice, I nearly lost all sympathy with Jude - he does/is/has done some pretty awful things - but Joe Hill kept me caring despite Jude's best efforts. And I loved Marybeth, (also known as Georgia,) Jude's stubbornly loyal girlfriend of half his age.

The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange - Mark Barrowcliffe

Coventry, 1976. For a brief, blazing summer, twelve-year-old Mark Barrowcliffe had the chance to be normal. 

He blew it. 

- From the cover blurb of The Elfish Gene.

In his sometimes comic, sometimes painful and often lovably geeky memoir, Mark Barrowcliffe writes of a youth misspent around the Dungeons and Dragons table. Misspent, you wonder? OK, it's a hobby, and not one generally considered cool, but it's just a bit of fun. People do it. So what if it's not "cool?" Still, Barrowcliffe chronicles the way that this game took over his life, stirred up his imagination and led to him living more in the world of make-believe than reality.

I felt rather sorry for the teenaged Mark, awkward and obsessive, someone who, like all teenagers, was keen to find his niche in the world, who, if he must be a misfit, would be a misfit with all his might and main, but who wasted so much time and energy trying to impress people who clearly despised him. It made me feel rather sad to read of how much he idolised Porter, the dungeonmaster of his D&D group, who never pretended to have any time or respect for Mark. Come on, kid, I wanted to yell through the pages and across the years, you can do better than that! Worst of all was when he would side with Porter in a sad attempt to win a smidgen of approval - or, at least, not have Porter kill off Mark's D&D character! - against his true friend, Billy.

The Elfish Gene was full of outrageous stories of boyish experiments gone horribly wrong and Mark's attempt to try to weasel his way out of ridiculous situations. I could sympathise with his all-encompassing obsessions. Friends and family would confirm that I usually have something that's always in my mind, and at one time it was The Lord of the Rings - which, of course, had a huge influence on the world of Dungeons and Dragons (and subsequently on Mark Barrowcliffe, with several chapter titles being lifted from the novel.)  Barrowcliffe claims to have read Lord of the Rings seventeen times, and yet he claims that there are no females in the whole novel except ethereal elf-maidens and cuddly hobbit-wives.

Excuse me?!


Ethereal elf-maidens, cuddly hobbit-wives and Eowyn, the asskicking shieldmaiden of Rohan, if you please!

(Calm down, Edwards!)

Similarly, although I have never D&Ded (though I came close a couple of times,) I took exception to Barrowcliffe's claim that girls just didn't - although I can appreciate the lack of appeal to females in the groups he described in his memoir. Because, quite frankly, Barrowcliffe presents his teenage self as rather a brat: irritating, obnoxious, pretentious and too much intent on idolising other obnoxious brats, although amusing to read about, from a safe distance. It was actually quite embarrassing to read in times, and although Mark's love for the game was clear, I felt that there was a sneering undertone in the narration. I felt that this was a bit dorky to be associated with and am a little embarrassed even writing a review of a book about Dungeons and Dragons - and I am geeky and proud! I think the adult Barrowcliffe's ridicule rubbed off on me from the pages, and it's upsetting that someone should feel this way about something that they used to devote so much love to.

Barrowcliffe is honest and unflinching in sharing a slightly embarrassing past which nonetheless made him who he is today - and yet, I suspect he doth protest too much when he tries to persuade the reader that he's left this life behind him.

The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists, Gideon Defoe

Apologies for the lack of recent reviews. I'd been in a bit of a reading slump, having £20 to spend in Waterstone's and not finding anything I wanted to buy with that money! It is a strange feeling for me, and quite unnatural. But upon seeing The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, I remembered Hanna's review and thought this might well be the thing to make me want to pick up a book again. It seemed to work. My next stop was a coffee shop, where I proceeded to embarrass myself by giggling a lot at this book.

"Ship's biscuits? I've got ship's custard creams, and ship's bourbons."

The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists is a rollicking adventure featuring a crew of very stupid pirates who find themselves... surprise, surprise... caught up in an adventure with scientists. Namely, a young Charles Darwin, along with his trained monkey, Mr Bobo. I think every child at one point in their life has a dream of becoming a pirate, and Gideon Defoe plays with the childish impression of piracy on the high seas - lots of roaring "arrrgh!" to fill in time between adventures - and thumbs his nose at the idea of any kind of realism. The Pirates!...& Scientists is written in a very simplistic style of prose, packed with deliberate anachronisms for comic effect. The whole thing read like a cross between Monty Python, Lemony Snicket and the Them's version of the Spanish Inquisition in Good Omens. (Art thou a witch, Viva Espana?)


Although it reads rather like it was written by an overimaginative ten-year-old making things up as s/he goes along - which is not meant as a criticism, because ten-year-olds have not yet grown out of pure creativity - there was just enough satirical commentary beneath the silliness to demonstrate that it was not as simple as it seemed - though mostly it's just a very enthusiastic adventure, with a bit of innuendo, a lot of slapstick and a couple of lines that had to be references to popular culture, such as the Pirate Captain's "brilliant impression of what a lady sounded like," and his failure to spot an approaching hurricane.* The Pirates!...& Scientists is a quick read, slightly surreal, very silly indeed, and simply a lot of fun.

The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists has been adapted as an animated film by Aardman (the people behind Wallace and Gromit) with an all-star cast headed up by Hugh Grant as the Pirate Captain and David Tennant as Charles Darwin. I'm wondering if this might be a good use of my Cineworld gift card... (Elsewhere the movie is called The Pirates! Band of Misfits for some mysterious reason.)






*In 1987, Michael Fish, a BBC weatherman, infamously reported: "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way; well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't."


There was.


(Well... not technically a hurricane, but the worst storm including hurricane-force winds that Britain's known in my lifetime.)

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite book quotes

Note: These are just ten of my favourite quotes from books, not the ultimate top ten of all time, because that would be impossible. 

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

"The point is," said Crowley, "the point is. The point is." He tried to focus on Aziraphale.

"The point is," he said, and tried to think of a point.

 "The point I'm trying to make," he said, brightening, "is the dolphins. That's my point."

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

"I am inclined to think --" said I.

"I should do so," Sherlock Holmes remarked, impatiently.

The Valley of Fear - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Is it sad to fancy David Tennant when you're dead?

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

"The planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy."

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

“The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies.”  

American Gods - Neil Gaiman 

"But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him." 

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien. 

“I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.” 

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen 

 “Anne had no sooner uttered the phrase, "home o'dreams," than it captivated her fancy and she immediately began the erection of one of her own. It was, of course, tenanted by an ideal master, dark, proud, and melancholy; but oddly enough, Gilbert Blythe persisted in hanging about too, helping her arrange pictures, lay out gardens, and accomplish sundry other tasks which a proud and melancholy hero evidently considered beneath his dignity. Anne tried to banish Gilbert's image from her castle in Spain but, somehow, he went on being there, so Anne, being in a hurry, gave up the attempt and pursued her aerial architecture with such success that her "home o'dreams" was built and furnished before Diana spoke again. ”  

Anne of Avonlea - L. M. Montgomery 

"Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade." 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Before I Go To Sleep, S. J. Watson

Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine's life.

(Cover blurb for Before I Go To Sleep.)

I'd had my eye on this book since it was published, and when I boxed up nearly all my books in order to decorate my bedroom this week, I borrowed this from the staff library at work. Although I'd read books about characters with amnesia before - and even made a half-decent attempt at writing one - Before I Go to Sleep was something altogether new. Christine Lucas wakes every single morning having to learn everything about her life and the world from the last twenty years - sometimes more. Before reading this I wondered just how Watson was going to manage to tell this story; how the reader would learn with Christine and not have to endure endless repetition as she rediscovered everything anew. Watson manages this with a simple solution: Christine's journal, which she reads before adding to each day, meaning that we are on the same page, as it were.

Before I Go To Sleep is a deep insight into what it must be like to live with amnesia: the fear and horror of not knowing anything, the world being a strange place, and discovering each day that you're twenty-odd years older than you thought. There were almost time-travel elements, as of course the world has changed a lot in the past decades. Where the world has changed gradually, to Christine it happens all at once, and she has to come to terms with the existence of mobile phones, photoshop, the Gherkin and London Eye - and living in a post 9/11 world without any understanding of the significance of that date - or knowledge that it is a significant date at all. "I must have missed so much," Christine writes. "Disasters, tragedies, wars. Whole countries might have fallen to pieces as I wandered, oblivious, from one day to the next."


Being a book all about memory, there are inevitably plenty of flashbacks, which are rather disorientating to read. Christine's mind is a very intense, confusing place to be, and the flashbacks can read like actual, physical shifts in time. Her perception of the world is a mishmash of past and present, real and imagined, and filling in the gaps where memories ought to be - but aren't.

The storytelling is very well-paced, with questions answered at satisfactory intervals - and with every question answered, another two are raised. The most straight-forward resolutions to mysteries add to the suspicion by posing another question: if this is the truth, why lie about it or conceal it up until now? Before I Go To Sleep is an intelligent, well-written thriller and psychological study that keeps you turning the pages wanting to know just what's going on. Although I had guessed at a major twist early on, it was revealed to give me a sense of satisfaction for figuring it out, rather than disappointment with the author for not being cleverer than me - a rare achievement.

On the Dreaded Reading Blues.

Reading Blues: We all get them from time to time. What helps you overcome those reading slumps when nothing seems to grab your attention?

 - Ginger at GReads

I love reading. I love it a lot, ridiculously a lot. Wherever I am, a book is never far away. Normally, my motto is so many books, so little time!The only thing that stops me immediately losing myself in another world within the covers of a book is the question of which do I read first? 

And yet, even I get the occasional reading slump, when no matter how many books are piled up in front of me, in all kinds of genres and categories, I don't really want to read any of them. In these days, I could wander into a library, or a bookshop with £20 in book tokens, and come out empty-handed. In these times I actually feel a little panicky wandering the aisles, knowing that the right book is in there somewhere - but where? Why don't I want to read any of these books? Is my brain broken?

I find that the best way to cope with these times is to reread an old favourite. I've plenty of those: Anne of Green Gables, Neverwhere, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings to name just a few.

The other thing is - gasp! - to allow myself not to read. Instead I spend my evenings catching up on DVDs of the many TV series I never saw when they were first aired (like Firefly and The Big Bang Theory) or films, or do some kind of craftwork - I have a cross-stitch on the go at the moment, a thing you can't do with your eyes on a book! The reading blues don't tend to last very long, and when they're over, the books will still be there, waiting patiently.

Book Appetit! - Lord of the Rings

It's quite well-known that I'm a big fan of food, so when I saw Sheila's challenge to plan a menu to go with a bookish discussion, I couldn't resist.

Sheila wrote:

Take one of the books you are reading today.  Now lets pretend that you are going to have a book discussion with friends regarding that book.  They are all coming over to your house and you are providing food and beverage to go with said book.  That’s right, your challenge is to share with me here:

1.  Title and author of the book

2.  The menu:  the food, the beverage (if you want you can go as far plan background music, decor, whatever.   )

Now, the book I'm currently reading is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Again. And the Lord of the Rings is all about hobbits - who, as you are probably aware, are huge fans of food. Add this to the fact that The Lord of the Rings is a huge, three-volume book, and one that I could always find a lot to say about it, and I realised that we could quite easily be there all day. When I was in sixth for, my friends and I used to spend plenty of our free periods reading the books, writing bad fanfiction and discussing the details of the book and  films - which were new at that time. (Perhaps I shouldn't be sharing with you just how much of a nerd I was!)

So why not go all out and have a full day of Lord of the Rings bookclub/Hobbit party?

This Lord of the Rings day would take place in the garden, on a sunny spring day.

We'd start off with a fried breakfast of "tomatoes, sausages, nice crispy bacon" - and enough mushrooms to satisfy a hobbit.

For lunch I'd set up a buffet table full of simple, delicious food. We'd have fresh-baked bread and creamy butter, cold meats and cheeses and salad, lots of fresh fruit: crunchy apples, juicy cherries, plums and berries, served with whipped cream. In memory of Gollum, we'll serve sushi, and for those with elven tastebuds I'll try to recreate lembas bread with one of the many recipes available online. Finally, there will be a big cake, but not a stodgy fruit cake, something tasty and flavoursome. I'm thinking of a spiced pound cake or suchlike. This table would be set up first thing, and available to nibble at throughout the day, for those feeling the need for second breakfast, elevensies, afternoon tea... etc. etc.

Dinner would be some sort of stew or casserole. By rights it ought to be rabbit stew, but I haven't the heart to cook bunnies (which I know is hypocritical of me because I like other meat) so maybe it would be chicken stew, with carrots and parsnips, and a few good taters.

To drink, we'll serve plenty of tea and home-made still lemonade, and in the evening we'll light lanterns all around the garden, bring out wine and beer, and if too much of these are imbibed, no doubt Frodo's "bendy-knee chicken-dance" from the film will ensue...

What Katie Did - Spring 2012 edition

What Katie Read:


Hexwood - Diana Wynne Jones

I wasn't quite sure what to make of Hexwood at first. Several different storylines - science fiction, arthurian fantasy and kids' adventure story - take place side by side and I wondered just how they could possibly come together. Then, just as I thought I understood, Wynne-Jones threw a curve ball that left me befuddled all over again. A clever, bizarre tale of a magical wood, knights and kings, and aliens rulers from a sophisticated futuristic culture. At the heart of it all is the Bannus, a machine that warps and manipulates time and reality until neither you, nor the characters within the pages, are quite sure what's real and what is imagined. But through it all is a strangely compelling charm, and Diana Wynne-Jones leads you through so adeptly that you never doubt that it will all make sense in the end. She does not disappoint.

The Etymologicon - Mark Forsyth

My inner (ok, yes, and outer) word nerd could not resist this book. Described as a "circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English language," The Etymologicon takes the reader on a journey through the strange connections between words, how they have travelled and evolved through time and space, and how the unlikeliest of words are linked. Next time you read of a Doctor Who girl being described as "feisty," remember that the the word is directly derived from a flatulent lapdog!

What Katie Watched


I've recently discovered the 2000s science fiction show Firefly, which was sadly cancelled after a single season. (They returned with the film Serenity in lieu of a second season.) Firefly is best described as a "pirate space western," if you can imagine such a thing, and has a wonderful cast, compelling plot and is packed with witty dialogue and humour. My best friend and I would celebrate "Firefly Fridays" when we would quite easily sit through three or four episodes on our day off.

Also, after hearing a lot about The Big Bang Theory from every direction, I borrowed the first two seasons from my friend John. At first I wasn't too sure - the characters seemed too much based on stereotypes of nerds and geek culture. Come on! I thought, People don't really act like that! ... Until I realised that, I often thought a lot like Sheldon - though I wouldn't say it out loud, and my area of nerdism is language and story, rather than science. He also reminds me an awful lot of a certain family member if he were to be turned into a sitcom character. I just wish the show would show more female and non-science geeks. We do exist! However, I have just bought the boxset of seasons 1-4, so I may find that more characters turn up later on.

What Katie Listened To


I recently dug out my Lord of the Rings film soundtracks to put onto my computer. These were the first film soundtracks I ever bought, and it was after this that I really started to notice music on TV and in the cinema, rather than just taking it for granted. Lord of the Rings has a really gorgeous score, from the chirpy, cosy "Concerning Hobbits" theme, to the rural, regal Rohan and majestic Gondor music. I love it!



This is my absolute favourite piece of music from the whole trilogy (in the film it takes place when the beacons are being lit.) I don't think I'm capable of listening to this without waving my arms around like a crazed conductor and "da da da"-ing along at the top of my voice.

Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops, Jen Campbell

I've been working in a bookshop for four years now, and in that time I've had some pretty peculiar interactions with the general public. Like the lady who wanted to know exactly why a certain book "may be unsuitable for younger readers," and was furious that I couldn't give her details. Sorry, Madam, I wanted to say. I'm on a mission to read ALL THE BOOKS, but haven't got to that one yet. Or the people who wander in looking for jam-pot covers between the romance and the science fiction shelves. There are some days you find yourself wondering if, actually it's you going mad rather than everyone else around you. So it was reassuring when I found blogs chronicling other booksellers' similar experiences. I stumbled upon Jen Campbell's blog  maybe a year ago, and chuckled and sighed over the strange, infuriating and hilarious stories she had to tell. Recently this has been published in book form and I chuckled and sighed once more. Weird Things is a slim, brilliantly illustrated volume, but packed full of the quirks of book-buyers... and those who just want a cuppa while they wait for a bus.

If my daughter wants to buy books from the teenage section do you need to see some form of ID? It was her thirteenth birthday this weekend. I can show you pictures of the cake. You can count the candles.

Do you have a copy of Atonement? But not the film cover please. Keira Knightley's neck makes me want to punch things. 

 and then there's the classic which probably every bookseller has heard some variation of:

I read a book in the sixties. I don't remember the author, or the title. But it was green, and it made me laugh. Do you know which one I mean?

The slightly disturbing thing about Weird Things is that, except for a few pages at the back, the whole book is made up of Jen's own experiences in just two shops! I'll be leaving this in the staffroom at work for my colleagues to read - or possibly buying a second copy for the staff library - to reassure them that we are not alone. Recommended for booksellers, book-lovers and anyone who has had to work with the general public.