it’s the strange and long-lost feeling of boredom!
beloved and i are both home sick today with sore throats. i’ve already finished a book, started another book, gotten halfway through that book and cast it aside in disdain, and gotten halfway through a third, much better book. in between that, i took two naps and drank a quart of orange juice mixed with sprite zero. beloved is watching season 7 of the gilmore girls while working on his thesis and gorging on cherry cough drops. nina the cat is in cat heaven. she loves when we stay home all day.
i’ve been the happy recipient of several teen fic ARCs lately, and i think it’s time to share some of the best. i am, however, going to be honest. it’s my duty, both as an english lit major and a librarian.
i give you…
GEEKTASTIC: Stories from the nerd herd
edited by Holly Black & Cecil Castellucci!
first off- how amazing is that title? i know, right? and second- i read an ARC. the final product may change.
as with any collection of short stories written by several different authors, i had difficulty rating this. the stories celebrate the various lifestyles of teen geek, taking the reader from cons to the rocky horror picture show, with several stops for (sadly unfunny) comics along the way. my reactions to the stories were as varied as the stories themselves.
lowlights included the opening piece, in which a klingon and a jedi fall in lust at a con. which is unfortunate because…its the opening piece, and the idea for the story is what launched the whole anthology. it’s a great idea, but weakly executed. i was so bored with scott westerfeld’s piece that i didn’t even finish it, but i plugged on through the collection because i knew that john green was waiting for me in the second half! and yet…while his story had a handful of my beloved green zingers, i found the effort rather uninspired…dare i say even lackluster?
i know, i know. john green whose very feet i would kiss.
so how did this turn into a four-star review? well, i’ll tell you: david levithan’s story “quiz bowl antichrist” which made me feel so many feelings i nearly wept. garth nix, lisa yee, & m.t. anderson were also highly enjoyable. and KELLY LINK, OH MY GOD, KELLY LINK!!! perfection!! and barry lyga! man, can that guy celebrate geekitude! and wendy mass’ piece about astronomy geeks which put me in raptures! and a solid finish with libba bray!
overall, definitely worth picking up, though i suggest skimming and skipping in tune to your personal tastes.
random note: i’m also pretty sure that james kennedy ought to have participated in this somehow. that’s a compliment, james.
rating: four stars!
i was going to add a photo of the cover but it has been so long since i’ve blogged that i can’t figure out how. plus, i’m bored again and i’d better publish this before i wander off and lose it to our fickle internets.
