Wideman, John Edgar. Philadelphia Fire. NY: Holt, 1990.
Philadelphia fire refers to the 1985 bombing by Philadelphia police of the communal group known as Move and the resulting destruction of a city block in West Philadelphia and the deaths of six adults and five children. The novel is not strictly about this event, although it is central to the novel; it is more about the narrator's psyche exploding when he hears about it. The first part of Philadelphia Fire is a straight forward narrative. The narrator hears about the fire in Greece where he has been living and decides to return to Philadelphia and his old neighborhood, which is in the vicinity of the bombing. He wants to find the one little boy who survives the devastation. Unfortunately, he fails to find him. The rest of the novel is a pastiche of memories from the narrator's lfie in West Philly. He emphasizes the poverty and the lack of opportunity; the neglect, violence and degradation of the neighborhood. The novel ends with the narrator's attendance at a ceremony held to recognize the slain Move family members.
2nd floor Black Library PS3573.I26 P48 1990
Wideman's most recent books are a novel: Fanon. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008 and a collection of short stories, God's Gymn. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
For other books by John Edgar Wideman at Grinnell College Libraries, follow this link:
http://cat.lib.grinnell.edu/search/a?SEARCH=wideman%2C+john+&sortdropdown=-
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Teen Critics at the Overbrook Park Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia
David Van Etten. Likely Story. NY: Knopf, 2008.
Rasheda Hinton, a ninth grader at Central High School in Philadelphia wrote the following summary and assessment of Van Etten's new young adult novel, Likely Story.
Summary: A girl and her mother (a soap actress) debate a lot. Then, the girl gets the opportunity of a life time . . . and more confusion occurs.
Assessment: Rasheda writes, "Overall I think Likely Story is an excellent story. The best thing about the story is the dialogue. Also, the characters have very descriptive personalities. The story is very realistic. I would read this again and recommend it to many people. I give it 4 stars. Oh, also, its sarcasm is humorous and the highlighted quotes in the tvs were brilliant."
You can find this novel at public libraries, including Des Moines area public libraries in Iowa, the Delaware County Library System in SE Pennsylvania, and 22 branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia, including of course, Overbrook Park 7422 Haverford Avenue.
Rasheda Hinton, a ninth grader at Central High School in Philadelphia wrote the following summary and assessment of Van Etten's new young adult novel, Likely Story.
Summary: A girl and her mother (a soap actress) debate a lot. Then, the girl gets the opportunity of a life time . . . and more confusion occurs.
Assessment: Rasheda writes, "Overall I think Likely Story is an excellent story. The best thing about the story is the dialogue. Also, the characters have very descriptive personalities. The story is very realistic. I would read this again and recommend it to many people. I give it 4 stars. Oh, also, its sarcasm is humorous and the highlighted quotes in the tvs were brilliant."
You can find this novel at public libraries, including Des Moines area public libraries in Iowa, the Delaware County Library System in SE Pennsylvania, and 22 branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia, including of course, Overbrook Park 7422 Haverford Avenue.
Rebecca Stuhr is reading Louise Erdrich
Rebecca recently read for the first time Erdrich's first novel, Love Medicine (1984). This was the first of Erdrich's cycle of novels centered around North Dakota, on and off the Indian reservation, with a complex and interrelated group of characters. In Love Medicine, Erdrich uses a fluid chronology and allows each of her characters to tell their own story. Many of the chapters work as individual short stories but are enriched in connection with all of the other chapters. The characters are lost, defiant, triumphant, in mourning or despair, selfish and giving. Rebecca is currently reading The Beet Queen, Erdrich's second novel. Erdrich uses the same technique of allowing each character to tell his or her own story, however, The Beet Queen is a more cohesive plot. These are new characters but the names of some of the characters from Love Medicine enter into the story, and one of the Beet Queen characters is a Kashpaw.
For a list of books by Louise Erdrich, or to which she has contributed follow this link to the Grinnell College Libraries catalog:
http://cat.lib.grinnell.edu/search/a?SEARCH=erdrich+louise&sortdropdown=-
Love Medicine. New York: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 1984. New and expanded version, 1993.
Burling 3rd floor PS3555.R42 L6 1984
Burling 3rd floor PS3555.R42 L6 1993
The Beet Queen. New York: Holt, 1986
Burling 3rd floor PS3555.R42 B4 1986
For a list of books by Louise Erdrich, or to which she has contributed follow this link to the Grinnell College Libraries catalog:
http://cat.lib.grinnell.edu/search/a?SEARCH=erdrich+louise&sortdropdown=-
Love Medicine. New York: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 1984. New and expanded version, 1993.
Burling 3rd floor PS3555.R42 L6 1984
Burling 3rd floor PS3555.R42 L6 1993
The Beet Queen. New York: Holt, 1986
Burling 3rd floor PS3555.R42 B4 1986
Civic Librarianship
Ronald B. McCabe. Civic Librarianship: Renewing the Social Mission of the Public Library. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2001.
Ronald McCabe is advocating a return to the educational mission of the public library that he believes was discarded in favor of a mission of simply providing or distributing information. He traces a change in American society from a desire to serve the good of society to an emphasis on the individual without regard to the good of society. He sees this change arising out of the Romantic movement and, more recently, the counter-cultural movement of the sixties. Like so many things, intentions were good, but balance was lost in the effort to move away from a rigid social order.
McCabe looks at these two movements, romanticism and the American counterculture, as well as utilitarianism and libertarianism, which promote an economic imperative that coincides with the emphasis on the individual. We see something like this in several cycles of corporate excess, currently revisiting us in the form of bank failures and massive layoffs. He sees aspects of Libertarian and Utilitarian philosophies as promoting the making of money without regard to social costs; getting rich as the sole merit of success.
McCabe looks to the Communitarian movement for the renaissance of the public library through what he is calling civic librarianship. Communitarianism calls for respect for individual rights, but also emphasizes the need for individuals to take responsibility for the good of his or her community and for society.
Libraries can contribute to community building by providing civic space and the resources and assistance to promote an educated and involved citizenry; collaborating with other service organizations; providing public programming that encourages dialogue and interaction, while serving both individuals, groups, and community organizations.
Unfortunately, this book is not widely available. But, you can find McCabe's chapter, "Civic Librarianship," which summarizes his ideas in:
Libraries & Democracy: The Cornerstones of Liberty. Ed. by Nancy Kranich. Chicago: American Library Association, 2001.
Burling 1st floor Z716.4+.L459+2001
Ronald McCabe is advocating a return to the educational mission of the public library that he believes was discarded in favor of a mission of simply providing or distributing information. He traces a change in American society from a desire to serve the good of society to an emphasis on the individual without regard to the good of society. He sees this change arising out of the Romantic movement and, more recently, the counter-cultural movement of the sixties. Like so many things, intentions were good, but balance was lost in the effort to move away from a rigid social order.
McCabe looks at these two movements, romanticism and the American counterculture, as well as utilitarianism and libertarianism, which promote an economic imperative that coincides with the emphasis on the individual. We see something like this in several cycles of corporate excess, currently revisiting us in the form of bank failures and massive layoffs. He sees aspects of Libertarian and Utilitarian philosophies as promoting the making of money without regard to social costs; getting rich as the sole merit of success.
McCabe looks to the Communitarian movement for the renaissance of the public library through what he is calling civic librarianship. Communitarianism calls for respect for individual rights, but also emphasizes the need for individuals to take responsibility for the good of his or her community and for society.
Libraries can contribute to community building by providing civic space and the resources and assistance to promote an educated and involved citizenry; collaborating with other service organizations; providing public programming that encourages dialogue and interaction, while serving both individuals, groups, and community organizations.
Unfortunately, this book is not widely available. But, you can find McCabe's chapter, "Civic Librarianship," which summarizes his ideas in:
Libraries & Democracy: The Cornerstones of Liberty. Ed. by Nancy Kranich. Chicago: American Library Association, 2001.
Burling 1st floor Z716.4+.L459+2001
Sunday, January 11, 2009
More Vampire Novels, this time for boys ...
Martin Stuhr-Rommereim is a fan of David Wellington who has written a series of Zombie novels, see November .... Wellington has also written a trilogy of Vampire novels and he recommends them:
Thirteen Bullets. NY: Three Rivers Press, 2007
99 Coffins. NY: Three Rivers Press, 2007
The Vampire Zero. NY: Three Rivers Press, 2008
Martin also recently finished,
Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos. New York, NY : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008
Burling Library, 1st Floor, Latino Collection, PS3558.I376 D37x 2008
Thirteen Bullets. NY: Three Rivers Press, 2007
99 Coffins. NY: Three Rivers Press, 2007
The Vampire Zero. NY: Three Rivers Press, 2008
Martin also recently finished,
Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos. New York, NY : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008
Burling Library, 1st Floor, Latino Collection, PS3558.I376 D37x 2008
The Ascent of Money
Niall Ferguson. The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. New York: The Penguin Press, 2008
Reviewed by T. Hatch
Rock star historian Niall Ferguson's latest effort concerns the subject of money as the root of all progress. It is money that has freed mankind from the Hobbesian brutishness of hunter gatherer societies and the drudgery of subsistence agriculture. “Though the line of financial history has a saw-tooth quality its trajectory is unquestionably upward.” Well, that's one reading of history!
Ferguson chronicles the rise of money, credit, the bond and stock markets, insurance, real estate, and the world of international finance. Despite nearly all of the evidence of human misery and catastrophe that he weaves into this page-turner of a narrative Ferguson is reduced to offering apologies such as “A world without money would be worse, much worse, than our present world.”
In concluding this tour de force (which is likely to be well received at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Cato Institute) Ferguson makes an explicitly social Darwinist argument in favor of modern capitalism. It is tempting to compare his view of economics to that of William Graham Sumner and the root-hog-or-die days of the Gilded Age but that would be unfair to the late professor Sumner insofar as Ferguson is much softer on imperialism.
Consistent with a recently made new year's resolution let me lavish encomia upon The Ascent of Money by saying that Thomas L. Friedman is not the author and the illustrations are first class.
On order for Burling Library
Reviewed by T. Hatch
Rock star historian Niall Ferguson's latest effort concerns the subject of money as the root of all progress. It is money that has freed mankind from the Hobbesian brutishness of hunter gatherer societies and the drudgery of subsistence agriculture. “Though the line of financial history has a saw-tooth quality its trajectory is unquestionably upward.” Well, that's one reading of history!
Ferguson chronicles the rise of money, credit, the bond and stock markets, insurance, real estate, and the world of international finance. Despite nearly all of the evidence of human misery and catastrophe that he weaves into this page-turner of a narrative Ferguson is reduced to offering apologies such as “A world without money would be worse, much worse, than our present world.”
In concluding this tour de force (which is likely to be well received at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Cato Institute) Ferguson makes an explicitly social Darwinist argument in favor of modern capitalism. It is tempting to compare his view of economics to that of William Graham Sumner and the root-hog-or-die days of the Gilded Age but that would be unfair to the late professor Sumner insofar as Ferguson is much softer on imperialism.
Consistent with a recently made new year's resolution let me lavish encomia upon The Ascent of Money by saying that Thomas L. Friedman is not the author and the illustrations are first class.
On order for Burling Library
Catching up from 2008. Ann Patchett, Toni Morrison, and David Guterson
To make up for the lack of reviews posted in December of 2008, I'm going to list a few books that I've been reading, all novels with titles of one word --not counting initial articles. Starting with:
Patchett, Ann. Run. NY: Harper, 2007
Burling Library PS3566.A7756 R86 2007 (currently Smith Memorial)
Patchett explores the complexity of family relationships and explodes the idea of the nuclear family as we think about it in American culture. Tip and Teddy Doyle, African-American boys, are adopted into a Irish-Catholic political family. Their adopted mother dies when they are still quite young, but not too young for them to be devastated at losing her. Their uncle is a Catholic priest, their father a prominent politician disgraced by the misdeeds of his oldest son (his biological son). The bereived father throws himself into raising the two youngest with hopes that they will enter into politics. Meanwhile, their biological mother and her daughter, actually the biological daughter of her best friend who died when her daughter was still an infant, has lived close enough to the family to keep an eye on the well being of her two sons. As the novel progresses, they are all thrown together and the experiences that result have life changing impacts on each of the characters. A noteworthy detail, apparently something the novelest actually saw and that provided some of the inspiration for her novel, is when one of the characters notices a sign in the the window of a college dorm room that says Obama 2012.
Morrison, Toni. A Mercy. NY: Knopf, 2008
Burling 3rd Floor PS3563.O8749 M47 2008
As usual, Morrison draws her readers right into another world. This time, her novel is set in colonial America during a time of the expansion of the slave trade. Florens is taken from her mother, a slave in the palacial estate of a Spanish plantation owner, as payment toward the plantation owner's festering debt with Jacob, an Anglo-Dutch trader. Jacob is opposed to owning slaves, but takes Florens because she is about the age of the daughter he and his wife just lost. Florens is raised by Lina, a servant in Jacob's household, herself abducted from her homeland in Africa. Sorrow, another child taken on by Jacob (but not purchased), wanders around freely and is pregnant with her second child. Other characters include two white men, who through various tricks and deceptions are permanently indentured, and a free African, a blacksmith who comes to help Jacob build a magnificent house. All of the characters have suffered great loss, whether it is the loss of their freedom and home, the loss of a parent, the loss of children, or the loss of a spouse or lover, the suffering is overwhelming. Some characters are able to find their way through suffering, but others cannot.
Guterson, David. The Other. NY: Knopf, 2008
Burling Library PS3557.U846 O75 2008 (currently Smith Memorial)
Two boys, growing up in Seattle, meet haphazardly on the high school track field, and become close as they hike through the forests and mountainous regions of the Pacific Northwest together. After college, the narrator, Neill Countryman, marries and becomes a high school English teacher. His friend, John Williams, always seeking the most extreme route, decides to live a life of complete seclusion without hypocrisy. The novel opens with the news of Williams' death and Countryman's inheritance of Williams' vast wealth.
Patchett, Ann. Run. NY: Harper, 2007
Burling Library PS3566.A7756 R86 2007 (currently Smith Memorial)
Patchett explores the complexity of family relationships and explodes the idea of the nuclear family as we think about it in American culture. Tip and Teddy Doyle, African-American boys, are adopted into a Irish-Catholic political family. Their adopted mother dies when they are still quite young, but not too young for them to be devastated at losing her. Their uncle is a Catholic priest, their father a prominent politician disgraced by the misdeeds of his oldest son (his biological son). The bereived father throws himself into raising the two youngest with hopes that they will enter into politics. Meanwhile, their biological mother and her daughter, actually the biological daughter of her best friend who died when her daughter was still an infant, has lived close enough to the family to keep an eye on the well being of her two sons. As the novel progresses, they are all thrown together and the experiences that result have life changing impacts on each of the characters. A noteworthy detail, apparently something the novelest actually saw and that provided some of the inspiration for her novel, is when one of the characters notices a sign in the the window of a college dorm room that says Obama 2012.
Morrison, Toni. A Mercy. NY: Knopf, 2008
Burling 3rd Floor PS3563.O8749 M47 2008
As usual, Morrison draws her readers right into another world. This time, her novel is set in colonial America during a time of the expansion of the slave trade. Florens is taken from her mother, a slave in the palacial estate of a Spanish plantation owner, as payment toward the plantation owner's festering debt with Jacob, an Anglo-Dutch trader. Jacob is opposed to owning slaves, but takes Florens because she is about the age of the daughter he and his wife just lost. Florens is raised by Lina, a servant in Jacob's household, herself abducted from her homeland in Africa. Sorrow, another child taken on by Jacob (but not purchased), wanders around freely and is pregnant with her second child. Other characters include two white men, who through various tricks and deceptions are permanently indentured, and a free African, a blacksmith who comes to help Jacob build a magnificent house. All of the characters have suffered great loss, whether it is the loss of their freedom and home, the loss of a parent, the loss of children, or the loss of a spouse or lover, the suffering is overwhelming. Some characters are able to find their way through suffering, but others cannot.
Guterson, David. The Other. NY: Knopf, 2008
Burling Library PS3557.U846 O75 2008 (currently Smith Memorial)
Two boys, growing up in Seattle, meet haphazardly on the high school track field, and become close as they hike through the forests and mountainous regions of the Pacific Northwest together. After college, the narrator, Neill Countryman, marries and becomes a high school English teacher. His friend, John Williams, always seeking the most extreme route, decides to live a life of complete seclusion without hypocrisy. The novel opens with the news of Williams' death and Countryman's inheritance of Williams' vast wealth.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Parecon: Life After Capitalism
Michael Albert. Parecon: Life After Capitalism. London/New York: Verso, 2003.
Reviewed by T. Hatch
Michael Albert, founder of Znet and an acolyte of Noam Chomsky, has imagined a new economic system. In the parecon (i.e. participatory economics) councils of workers and consumers replace corporations. Instead of a system of buyers and sellers in a perpetual effort to fleece one another, where the means of production and output are hegemonic, the ethic of remuneration is altered to reward those who put forth the most effort and sacrifice. Essentially it is an anarchistic vision of the world's economic system that scraps the social contract rationale for earning on property that maintains itself because of unbalanced circumstances.
The values that the parecon holds dear are solidarity, diversity, equity, and participatory self-management. Markets as we know them would cease to exist. “Naked self-interest and callous cash payment” would take a back seat to cooperation and real bottom up participatory democracy. No longer would an anti-social agenda hold sway rewarding the most ruthless amongst us. Albert's effort is aimed at trying to create a world free of markets which he sees as “a no confidence vote on the social capabilities of the human species.”
He is critical of any system that maintains markets. This includes both the central planning and market coordinationist versions of Socialism as well as the fetish for localism that is embodied in Green Bioregionalism. “Economics is conducted by and for workers and consumers. Workers create the social product. Consumers enjoy the social product.” Accordingly, the watch word would be “to each according to effort.”
As laudable as the ethics of intention in economics might be those with a background in economics will have difficulty in swallowing Albert's prescriptions whole. Although the last section of the book is given over to a defense against possible criticisms of his parecon model of economy it is hardly comprehensive.
In a three hundred page treatise on an alternative economic system money is only mentioned once in passing; this only in relation to possible black market activity which would fizzle out because of the lack of possible reward. Forget about money aggregates and even the concepts of money as a store of value and a means of accounting. Beyond this if Albert is eliminating money as a medium of exchange he has not indicated how this might come about.
The parecon as advanced in the book is a global system. How would this come about? Would there be parecon in one country or would it require a international effort to accomplish? Would parecon start in the most advanced capitalist countries first or would there be a corollary on Trotsky's theory of combined and uneven development?
The most stunning part of Albert's work is his naïve belief in equilibrium which surpasses even that of an Alfred Marshall. Even conceding that human nature is not static and that markets are irrational and exploit large portions of humanity it is fanciful to see councils of consumers communicating to producers their needs in advance for a year at a time and having this come off smoothly. That Weberian cage is indeed constructed of iron.
Reviewed by T. Hatch
Michael Albert, founder of Znet and an acolyte of Noam Chomsky, has imagined a new economic system. In the parecon (i.e. participatory economics) councils of workers and consumers replace corporations. Instead of a system of buyers and sellers in a perpetual effort to fleece one another, where the means of production and output are hegemonic, the ethic of remuneration is altered to reward those who put forth the most effort and sacrifice. Essentially it is an anarchistic vision of the world's economic system that scraps the social contract rationale for earning on property that maintains itself because of unbalanced circumstances.
The values that the parecon holds dear are solidarity, diversity, equity, and participatory self-management. Markets as we know them would cease to exist. “Naked self-interest and callous cash payment” would take a back seat to cooperation and real bottom up participatory democracy. No longer would an anti-social agenda hold sway rewarding the most ruthless amongst us. Albert's effort is aimed at trying to create a world free of markets which he sees as “a no confidence vote on the social capabilities of the human species.”
He is critical of any system that maintains markets. This includes both the central planning and market coordinationist versions of Socialism as well as the fetish for localism that is embodied in Green Bioregionalism. “Economics is conducted by and for workers and consumers. Workers create the social product. Consumers enjoy the social product.” Accordingly, the watch word would be “to each according to effort.”
As laudable as the ethics of intention in economics might be those with a background in economics will have difficulty in swallowing Albert's prescriptions whole. Although the last section of the book is given over to a defense against possible criticisms of his parecon model of economy it is hardly comprehensive.
In a three hundred page treatise on an alternative economic system money is only mentioned once in passing; this only in relation to possible black market activity which would fizzle out because of the lack of possible reward. Forget about money aggregates and even the concepts of money as a store of value and a means of accounting. Beyond this if Albert is eliminating money as a medium of exchange he has not indicated how this might come about.
The parecon as advanced in the book is a global system. How would this come about? Would there be parecon in one country or would it require a international effort to accomplish? Would parecon start in the most advanced capitalist countries first or would there be a corollary on Trotsky's theory of combined and uneven development?
The most stunning part of Albert's work is his naïve belief in equilibrium which surpasses even that of an Alfred Marshall. Even conceding that human nature is not static and that markets are irrational and exploit large portions of humanity it is fanciful to see councils of consumers communicating to producers their needs in advance for a year at a time and having this come off smoothly. That Weberian cage is indeed constructed of iron.
Moonstone – Book One, The Unbidden Magic Series
Brothers, Marilee. Moonstone – Book One, The Unbidden Magic Series. Smyrna, GA: Belle Bridge Books, 2008.
Contributed by Simone Sidwell, Teen Librarian at Grinnell's Stewart Public Library
Moonstone is a well-written and entertaining paranormal young adult novel from former high school teacher and debut author Marilee Brothers. The underclass/trailer-park setting of the novel in “Peacock Flats,” Washington adds an interesting social dimension to the novel, which chronicles the awakening of the “weird psychic powers” of our likeable and funny heroine, fifteen year-old Allie – and the grand mystical mission to come. Allie’s unemployed, single-parent mother suffers from a psychosomatic case of fibromyalgia, making Allie more of the caretaker than Mom. While struggling with the usual teen angst and joys (puberty, crushes, first-romances, school cliques, gangs, bullies), Allie also is visited by a comical hippy-dippy guardian angel who has been relegated to an afterlife in limbo at the local airport in town, and who alerts her to her new powers. This sets Allie off on an entertaining and dangerous adventure centered upon a mystical piece of jewelry - a moonstone necklace given to Allie by a close family friend – and the sinister minion after it. Allie discovers than in addition to weathering the usual ups & downs of a high-school student in Peacock Flats, she has a greater destiny to fulfill as a “star keeper” entrusted with the power Moonstone...Marilee Brothers’ novel stands out for its humor and Allie’s strong point-of-view as an underdog finding her place in the world. This is another [see her review for Bite Me] good choice for public library teen/fantasy collections - I look forward to the next title in this series.
Contributed by Simone Sidwell, Teen Librarian at Grinnell's Stewart Public Library
Moonstone is a well-written and entertaining paranormal young adult novel from former high school teacher and debut author Marilee Brothers. The underclass/trailer-park setting of the novel in “Peacock Flats,” Washington adds an interesting social dimension to the novel, which chronicles the awakening of the “weird psychic powers” of our likeable and funny heroine, fifteen year-old Allie – and the grand mystical mission to come. Allie’s unemployed, single-parent mother suffers from a psychosomatic case of fibromyalgia, making Allie more of the caretaker than Mom. While struggling with the usual teen angst and joys (puberty, crushes, first-romances, school cliques, gangs, bullies), Allie also is visited by a comical hippy-dippy guardian angel who has been relegated to an afterlife in limbo at the local airport in town, and who alerts her to her new powers. This sets Allie off on an entertaining and dangerous adventure centered upon a mystical piece of jewelry - a moonstone necklace given to Allie by a close family friend – and the sinister minion after it. Allie discovers than in addition to weathering the usual ups & downs of a high-school student in Peacock Flats, she has a greater destiny to fulfill as a “star keeper” entrusted with the power Moonstone...Marilee Brothers’ novel stands out for its humor and Allie’s strong point-of-view as an underdog finding her place in the world. This is another [see her review for Bite Me] good choice for public library teen/fantasy collections - I look forward to the next title in this series.
Bite Me – Book One, The Demon Underground Series
Blue, Parker. Bite Me – Book One, The Demon Underground Series. Smyrna, GA: Bell Bridge Books, 2008.
Contributed by Simone Sidwell, Teen Librarian at Grinnell's Stewart Public Library
Bite Me is a well-written and entertaining paranormal mystery/romance with both teen and adult appeal. Val Shapiro seems like your average 17 year old teenager, except that she has to struggle daily to keep her demon side “Lola,” at bay. Lola is a lust demon or succubus, a part of Val (thanks to her demon father) that she struggles to suppress. As a metaphor for teen lust, this paranormal device works well in the novel -- Val is trying to be “a good girl” despite the raging demon hormones. Val learns along the way, however, that totally repressing Lola’s natural urges is just as unhealthy as giving them free-reign, and eventually finds a way to strike a balance between demonic promiscuity on the one hand, and puritanical denial on the other. Val’s uneasiness with her demonic side has made her a loner for most of her teen life, and when she is kicked out of her parents’ house on her 18th birthday she embarks on a positive journey of self-discovery and belonging! outside the confines of school and family: she takes a job in a secret unit of the San Antonio police force and teams up with a telepathic hellhound dog named Fang and a handsome police detective to take on a gang of renegade Vampires that has been attacking the city...Vampires and demons aside, Parker Blue captures a humorous and authentic young adult voice in Val and keeps readers turning pages. Parker’s book would be a popular addition to public libraries teen/fantasy collections. I look forward to the next in the series.
Contributed by Simone Sidwell, Teen Librarian at Grinnell's Stewart Public Library
Bite Me is a well-written and entertaining paranormal mystery/romance with both teen and adult appeal. Val Shapiro seems like your average 17 year old teenager, except that she has to struggle daily to keep her demon side “Lola,” at bay. Lola is a lust demon or succubus, a part of Val (thanks to her demon father) that she struggles to suppress. As a metaphor for teen lust, this paranormal device works well in the novel -- Val is trying to be “a good girl” despite the raging demon hormones. Val learns along the way, however, that totally repressing Lola’s natural urges is just as unhealthy as giving them free-reign, and eventually finds a way to strike a balance between demonic promiscuity on the one hand, and puritanical denial on the other. Val’s uneasiness with her demonic side has made her a loner for most of her teen life, and when she is kicked out of her parents’ house on her 18th birthday she embarks on a positive journey of self-discovery and belonging! outside the confines of school and family: she takes a job in a secret unit of the San Antonio police force and teams up with a telepathic hellhound dog named Fang and a handsome police detective to take on a gang of renegade Vampires that has been attacking the city...Vampires and demons aside, Parker Blue captures a humorous and authentic young adult voice in Val and keeps readers turning pages. Parker’s book would be a popular addition to public libraries teen/fantasy collections. I look forward to the next in the series.
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