The Count of Monte Cristo revisited

One of my kids checked The Count of Monte Cristo out today to read over the summer, and it brought back a lot of memories. My first year teaching, back when I was 22 years old, was a year-long stint teaching the classes of a teacher who was on maternity leave. I was fresh out of college, my dad had just passed away from cancer and I was barely a page ahead of my students, regardless of what I was teaching. Because I was just taking over for a teacher for a year, I used a great deal of her materials and lessons. When they handed me The Count and told me I was to teach it to the advance freshman English class, I was scared to death. First of all, I had never been within 10 feet of the Count, and secondly, how the heck was I going to teach this massive book when I had lessons to create, papers to grade and at least 4 hours of sleep a night? Well, that was the beginning of my love affair, and many of my student's love affair, with Edmund Dantes.

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of those amazing books which is long, complicated and completely engrossing. While I wouldn't have admitted this to my students back then, I was barely 2 pages ahead of them for the entire book. Now, I would have told the students that with relish, and we would have learned together...but back then, I had to be the Teacher.

Anyway, 25 years later, I still occasionally hear from my students from those years that the Count remains their favorite book. Mr. Been has a copy of it in his office and a school board member reminds me on occasion how much she loved that book. The reason the Count is so powerful, in my opinion, is that it has something for absolutely everyone in it. There is love, revenge, family loyalty, mystery and intrigue, secret hidden prisons, wild escapes and masked strangers. The family relationships, the love relationships and the ultimate impotence of revenge in Dantes's life is timeless and managed to catch the attention of all of us.

If you've never read the Count or if you've read it a long time ago, take some time this summer to revisit Edmund, Mercedes, Noitier, Villefort and the rest of the gang...and lose yourself in a truly all-emcompassing time period and story.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde is a wonder and definitely NOT a writer for every reader. I first became fascinate with Fforde by reading his Thursday Next detective books. His continual barrage of allusions can be both exhausting and a great deal of fun that may send you to the internet searching out references you're not familiar with. He also wrote a series called Nursery Crimes, but I didn't enjoy those as much as Thursday Next's books.

Shades of Grey is a very different animal than his detective series. Shades of Grey follows the life of a young man who lives in a futuristic place where your placement in society is based on the color perception that you have. The Greys are at the bottom of the color caste system (the colortaucracy) and the reds are at the top. The more red that you perceive, the more important you are in society.

Edward Russet and his father have come to East Carmine so his father can replace the local "doctor". Through the use of color swatches, Edward's father can help the people of the town. Edward is on a "half-promise" to a red back in his hometown, but he finds a local Grey named Jane incredibly appealing. Add to the caste system is a black-market for spoons (they have become rare and of great worth), a form of addiction called Chasing the Frog, a peaceful death for those who come down with "the mold" in a green room and a very scary world beyond the permalite called High Saffron.

Does all of this seem confusing? Well, if you're a clever reader and somewhat of a Monty Python aficianado, do check Shades of Grey out. To help along the Python humor, this is even a great deal of talk about the "Last Rabbit". If you're looking for something simple and mindless for the beach, this might not be what you're after, but if you want to think a bit and laugh a lot, check out Fforde.

What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson

I'm rereading a few books because I was asked by a publisher to write a study guide for several of their books. So far, I've re-read Rage by Julie Anne Peters, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan and What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson. All are stellar glbt-q books for young adults, but I am most touched by my re-reading of Wilson's tender coming of age story.

James and Alex are brothers, and even though they are only a year apart in age (junior and senior in high school), they are worlds apart in lifestyle and attitude. To add to the mix, Alex, the younger brother, tried to commit suicide by drinking Pine-Sol at a party. He's a pariah to everyone at school, as his brother struggles to understand why he tried to hurt himself that way. As the story progresses, Alex finds himself by joining the cross country team and becoming friends with Nathen, a friend of James's. Slowly, a touching relationship builds between Alex and Nathen, both boys tentatively exploring their sexuality and slowly revealing Alex's unhappiness at the time of the suicide attempt.

By hearing from both Alex and James in alternating chapters, the reader is privy to two distinct voices and perspectives of what is happening in the boy's lives. Added to this mix is Henry, the 10-year-old loner from across the street. Henry often seems more comfortable with himself than the older boys do.

If you're looking for a book which explores the perils of growing up and trying to escape either where you live physically or where you're at emotionally, Wilson's book is exactly what you are looking for. You will be touched by the relationship that Alex and Nathen form, initially charged by their love of running and ultimately powered by their realization of who each of them is. An exceptional story of growing up...gay, questioning or straight.

Hattie's idea

So, Hattie did this weird thing on Facebook, but she motivated me to actually start this blog that I've been thinking about for awhile. I read almost a book a day, so why not share some of my reading insights with others? Well, I do it all day long at school, but perhaps I can reach a wider audience this way. Between reading and listening, I should have a new book fairly regularly. Now, I will have to work on actually typing something here fairly regularly. That may be the big challenge.

What I'm reading right now? Jumpstart the World by the author of Pay It Forward, due out in October. I'm listening to A Date You Can't Refuse by Harley Jane Kozak. What's on deck? I'm feeling the urge for a good, old-fashioned true crime sometime in the near future.

Thanks, Hattie, for motivating me. Now we'll see how long the motivation lasts.

Yours in Books,
Library Lynn