Filed under: News, Reviews, Contests | Tags: Carrie Rollwagen, Pat Murphy, Some New Trend, The Wild Girls
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BOOK REVIEW :: BY CARRIE ROLLWAGEN
All day, I’ve been searching for the right words to review The Wild Girls, by Pat Murphy. The words aren’t coming, but I’ll give it a shot. On its surface, the story is about two girls who learn about themselves through friendship and through writing. The plot is interesting, but not twisty. The characters are likable and have realistic layers, but they aren’t magnetic. They don’t keep the reader on a rollercoaster. I’m tempted to say The Wild Girls is an easy read because it’s calming and almost soothing, but then that makes it sound boring, and it so isn’t. I liked the characters, I miss the characters, I can’t stop thinking about the characters.
I loved that the book skirts so many genres that are popular now, especially for YA, without giving itself over to any and becoming a stereotype. It talks about class struggles at school—between the popular kids and the not-so-popular, between the haves and the have-nots—but doesn’t delve into Gossip Girl territory. Divorce is an issue, but it’s not THE issue. Magic and story are important themes, but it’s not a driving force like in Twilight, or even The Chronicles of Narnia. Instead of writing for a group of consumers, Murphy is writing here for the reader. Because real readers, real people, are more likely to have some depth. Some layers. We’re not as one-dimensional as the megastores that stock huge displays of vampire books would have us believe.
Filed under: Chapter 13 | Tags: Audubon Autobahn, Aveda, cassette, Cineplex, Fiona Apple, Flowbee, Forever 21, goths, Gymboree, Hammond, Jerry Lee Lewis, Josh Bates, Kevin Wilder, Lifeway, Organ Antics, PacSun, Some New Trend, Star Wars/Trek, The Disney Store, Vincent Price
OH MY GOTH! :: BY KEVIN WILDER
WHILE JUNE FINISHES FILLING OUT W2s, Bryanna and I sit outside Hot Topic and wait. I observe my hand. The automatic movement: gone. Before my existence was recognized by Bryanna—and long before I could detect any admiration in my senses for June—I’d been tap-tapping my fingers on my Levi’s with the maniacal twitches of a crack addict (only difference being the worst substance abuse of my life was the time I chewed and swallowed an entire pack of gum in a single morning.) Where insecurities were, a tiny amount of courage now grows. It’s small, but feeding and taking up camp. Hopefully forever.
Filed under: News, Reviews, Contests | Tags: book giveaway, Boy Proof, Cecil Castellucci, free book, geektastic, holly black, ironside, Juanita, Megan McCafferty, Perfect Fifths, stories from the nerd herd
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Some dogs like to eat homework … ours likes to give it away. Just comment on this post and let us know what you think of Some New Trend (or pay your respects to the Thriller, or whatever), and we’ll put your name in the Dog Bowl of Magic and Literature. Juanita picks a new name each week, so you’ll have a new chance to win every Friday.
This week’s giveaway is Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, edited by Holly Black (Ironside) and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof). Carrie and Kevin both enjoyed Boy Proof, and it was certainly geektastic, so we have high hopes for this effort.
The winner of last week’s giveaway, Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty, is JenC! Send an email to info@somenewtrend with your mailing address, and we’ll get your book in the mail soon.
If you’ve won a book but haven’t received it yet, be sure to let us know. Resend your address and we’ll double check the outgoing mail.
Filed under: News, Reviews, Contests | Tags: Are You There God It's Me Kevin, book review, comedy, Kevin Keck, Kevin Sampsell, Kevin Wilder, Kevins, memoir
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“In my daily existence, I am most often dressed like a nine-year-old on his way to baseball practice.”
I found it necessary to read this memoir for obvious reasons (you needn’t go further than the title). Little did I know how enjoyable it would be. I first heard about it from a mini-review on Goodreads written by yet another guy sharing our name: the kind and talented author/publisher Kevin Sampsell.
Keck might be too much of a misfit for most readers, but I’m a sucker for funny. If we can start referring to “lad lit” as something less-bothersome (and if we can get more books like this one, King Dork and I Love You, Beth Cooper) the genre will be on it’s way to becoming my favorite.
Are You There, God? It’s Me. Kevin. is nothing like the young female-oriented classic where it borrowed it’s title. I was waiting for Kevin to call out to the almighty for help like Margaret did, but instead he settled on naming each chapter after a book of the bible, and scriptural themes were spread throughout. Keck breathes wit into every every anecdote from his pre-30s life, whether he’s telling us about camping, dating, teaching Sunday school, or giving birth to twin daughters. Before you get too comfortable with one part of Keck’s life, he takes you to another, while managing to kill off the usual fluff and sentiment you might expect from a personal memoir.
*Warning to the young or easily-offended: Make no mistake, this book is filthy filthy! The author frequently makes casual mention of drug abuse and sex. Sometimes I had trouble feeling sympathetic for the guy, like when he graphically explains the details of having to wipe his senile grandmother’s rear end. (If that isn’t a proper indicator of what to expect from the content, I don’t know what else to tell you.)
Juanita is currently deciding whether she’ll give this one away in the next few weeks or not. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Filed under: News, Reviews, Contests | Tags: 2009 in Books, Dubliners, Hollywood, Juno Díaz, Kevin Wilder, List Wednesdays, Some New Trend, summer reading, The Gulf Scream, The Lazarus Project
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Things have gotten hectic on floor 13 of the SNT headquarters. As a result, I’m not sure how interesting this post will be, but I spent a good hour or two looking for books this afternoon. See what I mean? More than one birthday gift card was burning a hole in the fabric of my wallet, so I picked up some things for my trip home next week. I’m planning on getting through as many of these books as I can, to make a little headway on my initiative to read a book a week. It occurred to me upon leaving the store that I never even made it to the YA section. Guess for now I’ll save that for Carrie. Anyway, this should be fun:
The Lazarus Project by Alexander Hemon: This author has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship AND MacArthur “genius grant.” His third book has received multiple awards and rave reviews. All I know is it’s about an Eastern European immigrant that was shot to death 100 years ago, and a young writer becomes consumed with his story a century later. There’s also some interesting black-and-white photos inside.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Juno Díaz: I’ve had my hand on 2007’s Pulitzer Prize winner so many times now that it’s seemed to be following me. I finally gave in.
Dubliners by James Joyce: I flipped open the book and read a moving sentence demanding instant purchase. Way to go, James. I’ve tried “Portrait of the Artist” a time or two before, but this seems to be more beach-friendly. Wouldn’t you agree? I could’ve reserved a copy from the library, but the Bantam copy was only $4.95. I did the math, and still had a few bucks left on the gift cards. This seemed to beat tearing through another issue of SPIN.
Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn: I’ll be driving 550 miles or so both ways with nothing but a sleepy Boston Terrier for company, just like I’ve done a million times. I figured I’d need something for the car. This one I actually reserved from the library, after it was recommended by Gigi Douban on Twitter. Hope I reserved it in time. Don’t think I can justify purchasing an audiobook until Some New Trend gets optioned by Hollywood.
Filed under: News, Reviews, Contests | Tags: Carrie Rollwagen, E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
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So many books for girls—even supposedly smart books for smart girls—insult our intelligence, if not intellectually than at least emotionally, slapping cookie-cutter characters over implausible plots and overly sugary endings. E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is the antithesis of these books.
(Here come spoilers; read at your own risk.)
We meet Frankie just before her fortunes turn from being an awkward, nerdy prep school girl to hanging out with the popular kids—especially a particularly fun, funny, smart group of guys. The boys just happen to have a secret society, a boy’s club that won’t admit Frankie. That doesn’t stop her from eavesdropping on the boys, following them, and eventually engineering some of their best pranks without them guessing her identity. When she’s revealed as the puppetmaster, her friendship with the boys is over. They ditch her unceremoniously.
Lots of reviewers have loved this book, and I’m no exception. The New York Times Book Review says it’s “a homage to girl-power, (offering) biting social commentary throughout—not the kind that deadens a story, but the kind that gives it punch.” I agree wholeheartedly … except for the bit about the girl power.
I think reviewers are missing the point when they say this book is about society’s double standard against strong women. Frankie’s pranks were ultimately offensive to the administration and the student body, not because they were engineered by a girl, but because they actually stood for something. These jokes weren’t “all in good fun.” They were powerful and political, and so they were volatile. I think this demonstrates the success of feminism, not the lack of it.
However, Frankie is rejected by her boyfriend and his friends precisely because she’s a girl. It’s not because the guys begrudged Frankie her intellect—they just didn’t want her around once she started using it. Take it from me, a girl who’s been friends with mostly guys for the past decade: Boys can be wonderful, creative, funny, and intelligent. But they often don’t know what to do with smart girls.
My guy friends are amazing. But I’ll never totally be a part of their inner circle. I’ll always be left out of camping trips and group scooter rides because I can never be one of the boys. But, because we watch the Simpsons together, because I can hold my own with their jokes, because I’m just a little too smart for my own good, they’ll never really see me as a girl, either.
These days, that’s okay. I can enjoy being a girl and hanging with guys. I don’t expect the boys to invite me to everything, and my feelings aren’t hurt when they don’t. I don’t expect guys to find my intelligence or my humor attractive, so it doesn’t bother me when they hit on girls who can recite their daily calorie counts on demand, but couldn’t find Iran on a map. (Okay, that still bothers me.)
The point is, I may be numb to these (unintended, I think) slights now, but it’s taken me a decade or so to find a balance. When I was Frankie’s age, it still hurt. A lot. That’s the reason I find her story so powerful.
Read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks as an outcry against inequality if you want, but to me the moral is a little different: The intelligence and independence that makes it hard for smart girls to be the “girlfriend” or the “buddy” are the same qualities that will help her change the world.
Filed under: Chapter 12 | Tags: Carrie Rollwagen, Doc Martens, kirklands, Night Shift at the Thrill Factory, snow globe, Some New Trend, Stephanie, sugar
ANOTHER DAY AT THE THRILL FACTORY :: BY CARRIE ROLLWAGEN
YOU DON’T KNOW BOREDOM UNTIL YOU’VE DUSTED a shelf full of beaded lampshades to Esther’s exact specifications. This involves removing a stack of shades, sitting them on the shelf below, spritzing the shelf with Pledge, wiping it down with a rag, feather dusting the shades themselves, then putting them back on the shelf exactly where they were before you started. “There’s no room for error,” she says. It’s also implied that there’s no room for creativity.
Filed under: News, Reviews, Contests | Tags: Albert Borris, Crash Into Me, Jessica Darling, Juanita, Megan McCafferty, penguin, Perfect Fifths, Some New Trend
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Juanita’s feeling a little camera-shy this week, so I sent Kevin to search for a cute, small, black-and-white animal for this week’s photo. (Judging from Kevin’s age in the photo, he evidently had to travel back in time to find one. Way to go the extra mile, Wilder!)
No worries … Juanita might not be feeling photo shoots, but she remains generous with the book giveaways. Just comment on this post and let us know what you think of Some New Trend (or the situation in Iran, or whatever), and we’ll put your name in the Dog Bowl of Magic and Literature. Juanita picks a new name each week, so you’ll have a new chance to win every Friday.
This week’s giveaway is Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty. It’s the conclusion of the five-year glimpse we’ve had into the life of the smart and hilarious Jessica Darling. Here’s a review Carrie wrote of the book for BookPage, if you want to learn more.
The winner of last week’s giveaway, Crash Into Me by Albert Borris, is Alexa! Send an email to info@somenewtrend with your mailing address, and we’ll get your book in the mail soon.
If you’ve won a book but haven’t received it yet, be sure to let us know. Resend your address and we’ll double check the outgoing mail.
Filed under: News, Reviews, Contests | Tags: Conan Doyle, DailyLit, Fitzgerald, iPhone, RSS, serialized books, Some New Trend
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Ever heard of DailyLit? It’s another way to read books—particularly classics—on the go. There are over 800 free titles to choose from, and like Some New Trend, you can catch up on stories through installments via RSS or email (or get them on your iPhone).
Obviously, we would simply die if you decided to break up with Some New Trend. Our hearts would be crushed if you left us for bigger and better things. But if one chapter a week isn’t suiting your appetite for serialized fiction on a screen, we won’t be stingy if you start spending time with F. Scott Fitzgerald or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as well.
Filed under: News, Reviews, Contests | Tags: anticon., Beach Boys, Bill Callahan, Blondie, CDs, Elvis Costello, Kevin Wilder, mewithoutYou, music, summer, Themselves
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It’s an insanely hot week here in Alabama, and whether I’m working, cleaning my apartment, or out in the sun, music seems to always help me ignore the heat. While old favorites like Sunflower and This Year’s Model will certainly remain in the mix this summer, here’s four recent fixations I’ve had on nonstop rotation (I’d list more, but the commentary’s already sure to get out of hand!):
Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
This album was released in April by the prolific artist who once went by Smog. Callahan’s an incredible lyricist, churning out simple yet interesting arrangements that complement his deadpan vocal delivery. If you’re unfamiliar with the guy, give his latest a few listens before tossing it aside. Then check out these rooftop videos of his current band playing a few old hits. “Love is the king of the beasts / and when it gets hungry it must kill to eat / yeah, love is the king of the beasts / a lion walking down city streets…”
Themselves: theFREEhoudini
Recently-reunited anticon. collective duo Themselves had our wallets in mind when they decided to release this free mixtape a few weeks back. This is hip-hop in it’s most creative, fun state, off-the-cuff. The “posse record that never was” features guest spots from Slug of Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, cLOUDDEAD, Sole, Buck 65, and others. (Rap historians: ever hear about the time Doseone battled Eminem?). My only issue is, since it’s been released as a single mp3 file, I have to fast forward 34 minutes to hear Yoni Wolf rhyme about how he “ain’t rappin’ for money,” chicks, etc. The payoff is worth it. Download here.
Blondie: Parallel Lines
Unlike the other albums on this list, this one’s not new, but well worth returning to. Parallel Lines is my all-time favorite Blondie album, but then again it might be everyone’s. I could listen to “Sunday Girl” or “Hanging on the Telephone” on repeat for days. And if given the chance to choose a rock and roll girlfriend from any era, I’d pick Debbie Harry in 1978 (unless of course I found time to learn French, where I’d most likely have to consider swapping her for a late-60s Françoise Hardy). ”Ooh baby, I hear you spend nighttime / wrapped like candy in a blue, blue neon glow / Fade away and radiate…”
mewithoutYou: It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright
I was a fan of these guys for years, then forgot about them for a minute. The new record took me full circle, with the variety of sounds so far removed from anything mwY has ever done. Aaron Weiss’s singing has improved considerably, becoming more accessible without forsaking his lovable quirks. Whoever had the genius idea of asking Daniel Smith (longtime frontman of the mighty Danielson Famile) to produce the album should be congratulated. mwY’s 4th is more upbeat than its predecessors (i.e. themes like seeing God “in every blade of grass,” and the feel-good organ-heavy opener ”Every Thought a Thought of You”). If you attend one of their concerts, join in for a pre-show potluck, or bring along an instrument—they’re known for letting folks hop on stage to join in.
