Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday - All Men of Genius


Title: All Men of Genius
Author: Lev AC Rosen
Pub Date: 8/27/11
Publisher: Tor

Today I was perusing the recently ordered titles at my library for collections I am not in charge of when I found this little beauty. Listen to this description:

Inspired by two of the most beloved works by literary masters, All Men of Genius takes place in an alternate Steampunk Victorian London, where science makes the impossible possible.

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father’s policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won’t be easy, not with her friend Jack’s constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke’s young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet’s alter ego, “Ashton.” Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, and the way Violet’s pulse quickens whenever the young duke, Ernest (who has a secret past of his own), speaks to her. She soon realizes that it’s not just keeping her secret until the end of the year faire she has to worry about: it’s surviving that long.


Steampunk Shakespeare retellings? I am SO THERE! I already have this on hold for myself and I've told the YA collection development librarian thank you thank you thank you for finding this gem!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sunday Links

I have been sent over and over again this article from the NY Times about how (gasp) boys aren't reading like they should and (bigger gasp) the problem is all those pesky wimmin writers taking all the good publishing contracts away from men. I have only responded to a select few of those with this absolutely lovely take-down of the article that Katie Coyle pointed me toward.

I don't think I blogged about it but last year's International Read Comics in Public day was way too much fun and I made a lovely little display at my library for it. This year it is being held TODAY! Sunday, August 28th! And DCWomenKickingAss is hosting an online Women Read Comics in Public event. Post pictures of you reading in public on twitter, facebook, tumblr, your blog, whatever! I will try to get some up here today as well!

I have recently gotten absolutely addicted to nail polish and I did this manicure on Thursday where I used every purple nail polish I own. I'm absurdly proud of it! But I promise I won't become one of those nail polish blogs - there are enough of those and I will never be that talented. Books, babies, and social justice is what I'm sticking with! That said, I may have to share some of my favorites with y'all because that is the point of having a blog, yes? Sharing what we're proud of?

And two super fun links from twitter! Nathan Bransford's twitter account pointed me to (not his but on his blog) this absolutely stellar literary agent responds to paperback writer and Meg Cabot tweeted, "Sometimes dreams do come true! Here's a 60 second video of every outfit worn by Cher in the movie Clueless: http://tinyurl.com/3hfvkwd " How did Meg know exactly what I wanted?

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Quick Note

Don't forget - tomorrow is Read Comics in Public day! So hand some comic books and graphic novels to everyone you can.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Late Night Mommy Blogging

We recently had a chance to read Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Seaside Shenanigans (spoiler alert? It's awesome. Full review closer to the release date), so tonight we had to reread Chico Bon Bon's other exploits. Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem has a repeating (noisy, natch) refrain of AOOOOOGAH BOOM BOOM CLANG CLANG. Kinsie begged to sleep with Noisy Problem tonight and right now I am getting myself ready for bed and every few seconds I hear over the baby monitor* "AOOOOOGAH BOOM BOOM CLANG CLANG." I should probably go warn Kins not to wake up her sister but Pips tends to be a sound sleeper and I am laughing so much over this that I should probably let it be.

Also I'm back from vacation and I'll be back to blogging soon! This phone app will probably lead to too much ill advised late night blogging with no access to spell check****. YAY!

*yes, 4 years old is probably too old for a baby monitor but Pips is only 2 and still wakes up at 4am every other week or so.
**I just realized there is a blogger app on my phone and I have no idea how this is going to format itself so I can't give the picture a proper caption. I just happen to have a picture of the sleeping special heads*** on my phone from a recent 2am cab ride after a full day of flying back to Chicagoland from Colorado. It seemed appropriate to late night blogging.
***my sister has always called the girls each "special head." This photo always makes me think of that.
****AOOOOOGAH BOOM BOOM CLANG CLANG