Salute Your Shorts: Tomorrow is Today by Julie Cross

Hi friends!  I've decided that since I love to talk about short stories and novellas, I'm going to make it my own little feature, complete with this awesome banner my bf made me (with a nod to the show of my childhood of course).  If you'd like to participate when talking about shorts you've come across, you're more than welcome!  Just grab the pic above, and shoot me a link in the comments and I'll do a round-up.  I plan to do at least two Salute Your Shorts posts a month, but you're welcome to post as often or on whatever day you'd like.

Title: Tomorrow is Today [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Julie Cross  [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Tempest #.5
Genre: Young Adult, Sci Fi
Published: December 6th, 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin
Format: Kindle edition.  
Source: Tomorrow is Today is available free for Kindle.

Sometimes I love shorts because they give me that extra little peek into the lives of characters I adore.  And then there’s those times when I love short stories because they save me from committing to a full-length novel I won’t enjoy.  That, for me, was Tomorrow is Today.

Jackson and his recent friends Adam and Holly are training to be camp counsellors for the summer.  He’s just finished his freshman year at NYU, while Adam and Holly have just graduated from high school in Jersey.  Adam is helping Jackson document and perform scientific experiments to explore his time travel abilities, while Jackson is busy lusting after Holly.  Jackson and Adam are hoping to find out more information about why he has the abilities he does, and also what the limits are.  

When I heard of Tempest, I was super excited.  I’m a massive time travel geek and absolutely could not wait to check it out in YA form.  But given the preview I was provided through the short story, Tomorrow is Today, I’ve determined it’s not going to be the story I was hoping for.  I was looking for it to have a good male point of view, be action packed, and a cool take on time travel.  I wanted more sci fi, and less romance.  It seems like it’s going to be fairly romance-centric, I didn’t like Julie Cross’s writing of Jackson (yes, some authors can write wonderfully from the perspective of the opposite sex, I do not feel like this was happening here), and the time travel aspect seemed iffy.  I found myself peeved by the dialog, and Jackson seemed like a bit of a douche. So I’m sorry to say I will not be joining the crowds of people who have adored Tempest as I had to force myself through the 60 or so pages of this short.  I do think that a lot of people will really enjoy this book, many of you have, but it’s just not going to do it for me.

Review: The Humming Room by Ellen Potter

Title: The Humming Room [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Ellen Potter [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary, Retelling
Published: February 28th, 2012 by Fiewel and Friends
Format: Kindle edition; 192 pages.  
Source: ARC copy from publisher via NetGalley.

Roo is a tiny girl, whose aptitude for hiding saves her life when her father and his girlfriend are murdered in their trailer home.  Having never known stability, Roo is taken in by her uncle’s household, though she is offered neither comfort nor affection.  Roo explores the grounds of Cough Rock, and the old TB sanatorium that is now her home, finding long forgotten secrets, a mysterious new friend, and the opportunity for family.

You guys!  The Secret Garden was/is my favorite childhood classic, I loved this book that seemed so magical but possible, full of hope and rebirth after tragedy and depression.  Heck, for all I know, The Secret Garden is what sparked my Anglophile tendencies (hand in hand with A Little Princess of course.  Because nothing says awesome like growing up in India and returning to Britain as an orphan).  It’s certainly how I learned what a moor was.  I am overcome with joy to tell you that The Humming Room captures all of the emotions and beauty of The Secret Garden in what is a wonderful retelling.

There’s something very comforting about reading retellings.  It’s kind of like that friendly feeling you get while rereading one of your favorite books.  You know what’s coming, but you also know you’ll love it, and retellings are a way to put a fresh face on your favorite tales.  The Humming Room deviated fairly little from The Secret Garden in its main plot points, but the details Ellen Potter chose to use when telling the story made it increasingly relevant to today’s readers.

Roo is from a family broken by drugs and death.  She’s essentially trailer trash that has been moved about constantly whenever her father would get into trouble.  Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of kids could identify with her--she has internalized much of her pain, never having a soul to lean on, but her self-confidence and sense of right are unwavering with such optimism.  It’s charming.  Also I like stubborn pig-headed little kids; I was one myself.   I found myself just wanting to give Roo a big ol’ hug and be her best friend.  The adults in the story weren’t bad, but they still angered me.  They baby Roo’s cousin to the point that he has become an intolerable brat.  They feel his behavior is justified because of the loss of his mother, and yet respond to Roo as if she is a terrible burdensome little girl who just needs to get over her new orphan status and behave perfectly already.  These were the same emotions I had when reading The Secret Garden, and reading it was like cuddling up in a comfy blanket with a warm cup of tea.

Here’s one of my favorite parts:

She worked for hours until she was drenched with sweat, and so thirsty that her throat stung.  Finally, she sat back on her heels, exhausted but happy.  The sun was pouring into the atrium now, bathing the garden in pale light.  The little plots of bare dark earth looked so promising that she leaned down, put her ear to the ground and listened.  Astonishingly, she heard nothing at all.  

That had never happened before.  Even in the crawl space under the trailer, in the middle of winter, she could hear life beneath the soil; it was a languid, subtle sound, but it was there.  

In this garden, though, there was only silence.  It was the nothingness of death.  Frighteningly permanent.  The garden had been erased from the world, in the same way that her father had been erased, extinguishing everything that he was--the good and the bad.  

Once more she pressed her ear to the earth.  Concentrating fiercely, her sensitive ears strained to hear a sound, the smallest sound.  She stayed that way for a long time, motionless, eyes closed.  Then, after many minutes, she thought she heard something.  It was weak and frayed around the edges, and it came and went, like shallow, feverish breathing.  Sometimes, it fell silent for so long, Roo thought it had stopped altogether.  But after a while it would start again, struggling.  So fragile, so almost-not there.  

“Stay alive,” Roo pleaded.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: I should totally read more Ellen Potter, but I haven’t heard anything about her works.  Anyone have any recommendations?  

Recommended for: The Secret Garden fans, those who love retellings, kids (or adults) who need a bright spot when in a bad place--this is a total comfort read!

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  I wanted a garden, but we live in an apartment. So I got an orchid, and Wocket destroyed it.  

So I got a hanging plant...

Review: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Title: A Northern Light [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Jennifer Donnelly [Website|Twitter]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Published: September 1st, 2004 by Harcourt Paperbacks
Format: Paperback; 396 pages.  
Source: Borrowed from my local library.

Mattie Gokey is a young woman living in the North Woods of northern New York state in 1906.  She is trapped between two worlds, the one she desires and the one she feels she cannot escape.  Mattie and her friend Weaver are fortunate, intelligent, and hard working enough to receive high school diplomas and be accepted into universities in New York City, but it will cost money and more to attend.  Mattie is a lover of books and words, but also feels the strong weight of duty and the possibility of love keeping her home.  When a woman drowns at the hotel where she works, Mattie finds horror, solace, and hope in the letters Grace Brown has left behind.

A Norhtern Light is set against the backdrop of the historically true murder of Grace Brown in 1906, the same murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.  Jennifer Donnelly found the letters left behind to be incredibly moving, and allowed this emotion to drive the story of Mattie.  Mattie is a young woman that I believe any girl who loves books would strongly identify with.  She has a passion for the written word in a time when this disposition could be detrimental to one’s social standing and prospects in life.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to get into the story at first, but it hit me about 30 pages in that she reminded me somewhat of Jo March, and from there my heart was sold.  Mattie loves to read, and desires to become a writer, but unlike Jo she does not have the support of her own family let alone nearly anyone else around her.  She is constantly dredging up feelings of anger and desperation at the fact that books are not like reality; Mattie is keenly aware of the slim chances of her own happy ending:

I used to wonder what would happen if characters in books could change their fates.  What if the Dashwood sisters had had money?  Maybe Elinor would have gone traveling and left Mr. Ferrars dithering in the drawing room.  What if Catherine Earnshaw had just married Heathcliff to begin with and spared everyone a lot of grief?  What if Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale had gotten onboard that ship and left Roger Chillingworth far behind?  I felt sorry for these characters sometimes, seeing as they couldn’t ever break out of their stories, but then again, if they could have talked to me, they’d likely have told me to stuff all my pity and condescension, for neither could I.

Mattie is obsessed with words and their meanings, picking a new one out of the dictionary each day, learning its meaning and attempting to incorporate it into her vocabulary.  We discover her obsession with this powerful opening:   

Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get--a cold, sick feeling deep down inside--when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don’t want it to, but you can’t stop it.  And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be.  And that you will never again be quite the same person you were.

I imagine it’s the feeling Eve had as she bit into the apple.  Or Hamlet when he saw his father’s ghost.  Or Jesus as a boy, right after someone sat him down and told him his pa wasn’t a carpenter after all.

My favorite word throughout the entire book has to be sesquipedalian, which means “given to using long words” and which Mattie accuses of being a hypocrite as it is in and of itself a long word.  She also makes many keen observations as to the reality of books and women at the time--look at the number of female writers at the time who never married, Emily Dickenson (“a damned sneaky genius!”), Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, etc.  Mattie has to make a difficult and heart wrenching choice between words and the future that has been laid out for her.  

After reading little besides sci-fi and fantasy for months, A Northern Light hit me like a breath of fresh air.  I know I have probably made the book sound rather downtrodden and depressing, but I assure you that there is such a strong undercurrent of hope, and Mattie is such a charming character, that you will not find yourself depressed reading it.  In addition, this book made me so incredibly grateful to be a woman in an age where knowledge and love of learning is to be commended, and seeking it in no way bars you from the possibility of a happy family life. Plus, the paperback cover is just gorgeous, I love the colors! I had a choice between the paperback or hardcover and chose this version specifically due to the cover.

My only disappointment with this novel is that I was expecting a bit of mystery, when really there wasn’t one.  It begins with the drowning of Grace Brown, and continues to flash back to Mattie’s past until it slowly catches up to the beginning.  I at times found myself getting a bit impatient for the “present” bits.  There was never really any surprise or mystery or twist with the murder.  Certainly a recommended read, but only for those who know what they’re getting in to!

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: I don’t read a ton of historical fiction, though I honestly can’t say why as I do enjoy it.  Before The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the last historical fiction I’d read was Pompeii back in 2007.  That said, when I do get around to visiting this genre again, I’ll certainly pick up something else by Jennifer Donnelly, particularly I’m looking forward to reading Revolution.

Recommended for: Fans of historical fiction (particularly U.S. early 1900s), writers, fans of Downton Abby (Mattie's work in the hotel is somewhat reminiscent of this show to me).

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  Thanks to Mattie, I have a new sound piece of advice on men to add to my father’s “Never trust a man with two middle initials.” and my ex-military-ex-co-worker’s “Never trust a man who wears a thumb ring.” and that is: “One must always steer clear of men who sweat when it isn’t warm.” Sound advice if you ask me.