A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy: The President's Daughter series by Ellen Emerson White

Big A, little a: The Tide Knot by Helen Dunmore

Jen Robinson's Book Page: The Zilpha Keatley Snyder Green Sky trilogy

Bildungsroman: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 1

Chasing Ray: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 2

lectitans: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 3

Miss Erin: The Reb & Redcoats and Enemy Brothers, both by Constance Savery

Bookshelves of Doom: Harry Sue by Sue Stauffacher

Interactive Reader: Shake Down the Stars by Frances Donnelly

Chicken Spaghetti: Pooja Makhijani guest blogs with Romina's Rangoli

Shaken & Stirred: Elizabeth Knox's Dreamhunter Duet

Writing & Ruminating: Dear Mr. Rosenwald by Carole Weatherford

If I explain to you how I first encountered Innocence, then I'll ruin the ending for you.  So instead, I will simply state that it was recommended to me by Little Willow of Bildungsroman.  LW, Colleen of Chasing Ray, and myself discussed the book.  This is part three of that discussion.  You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Throughout the novel, there are allusions to classic literary and mythological characters.  This is our discussion of those allusions.

Why was I running? I was running from images: a sneaker, a mirror, two words. I remember blood hanging in strings off the bottom of a shoe like gum. I remember two words scrawled across a mirror. Two words: ‘Drink Me’. - Page 4

CM: Right at the beginning, as Beckett is running from the suicides, she remembers two words scrawled on a mirror in blood: "Drink me". This has got to be an Alice in Wonderland allusion - thoughts on that or am I way off base?

LW: There are Oz references as well, with one less meaningful describing the steam that surrounds her father's head as he places a hot bowl of food on the table, (page 42) and a few with substance and purpose:

 Beckett mentioning Dorothy alongside Persephone and the Final Girl, the wizard on the computer(page 124 and forward, page 166 and forward, page 178, page 190), and the final line:

And you were there. And you, and you, and you. (Page 199)

CM: Oh crap - how did I miss that final line?

Okay then, let's look at the bigger picture of what Mendelsohn was doing here. Is Innocence then a salute to several of the final girls in literature - the ones who knew the truth but were discounted or  dismissed? (No one ever believed Dorothy or Alice that's for sure).

Interesting aside - I know that Looking Glass Wars is a love it or hate it book but one thing that is prevalent in there is Alice's hatred of Lewis Carroll for turning her life into a story and for everyone thinking it is just hat - no one believes her anymore about where she really came from.

And no one, of course, will believe Beckett. Which makes her wonder if she's really crazy or not.

 What about all the ‘Drink Me’ mentions in the text – which go beyond the words in Alice to something more as the story progresses. Also Beckett is given the pills to take as Alice must constantly eat and drink to transform herself to fit into Wonderland. Is this all about transformation from innocence?

At the sound of a scream, I was standing in a dark alley, looking at Sunday, Morgan, and Myrrh. This time, a fourth body lay with theirs. It was mine. And a paper label with the words DRINK ME printed on it in beautiful letters was tied around my neck. - Page 45

She made it look like a suicide. She left the pink plastic razor. She arranged the bodies. When she finished, she wrote two words on the mirror. Two words in blood: DRINK ME. - Page 151

CM: Not sure how Persephone fits into this though - thoughts?

You know, there's all kinds of crazy stuff out there. You can't just wander around out there and believe what you read. It's like walking out into the street and talking to just anybody. You wouldn't do that, would you? - Page 129

LW: I don't really understand why Persephone was included. When I think of Persephone, I think of the seasons, and of her mother, who wept and waited and wanted for her daughter to return, and her love, who wanted Her to stay in the underworld, not to make her evil but to have her standing beside him.

Innocence lacks the true mother - she's mentioned at times, but not invoked as a ghost or a guiding force, not Beckett's role model, no flashbacks used as a narrative tool, etc - and is much more about the evil stepmother. I haven't done extensive Persephone research, so please tell me if I'm overlooking something!

Another thing: Ladies, if you're ever in the underworld or in a fairy land, DO NOT EAT THE FOOD!

KH: I think the way Persephone might figure in is that the notion is once innocence is lost, it can't be regained.  Persephone eats those pomegranate seeds and is forever changed.  Even though she does negotiate a return to the world above ground, she doesn't get to stay there, and she has seen what it's like in the world below.  So perhaps that's how it fits in: Beckett, unlike so many around her, is aware of scarier underpinnings to the world, and can't forget them.

LW: I wouldn't really put Dorothy in with Beckettt – not with her character directly, that is. The stories, the disbelief, the characters she "knows" being different, the obvious wizard bits - that all makes sense, but I see Dorothy and Beckett as very different characters, with different circumstances and motivations.

Of all of the characters Beckett 'speaks' to and relates to, the Final Girl and Alice make the most sense to me.

It was a mad tea party. The entire room seemed transformed [. . . ] When I opened the door I was on the other side, over the rainbow, down the rabbit hole, into the woods. - Page 182

CM: I put Dorothy in as someone who loses her innocence in OZ. In Kansas she is sad and missing her parents (fitting with Beckett and her lost mother) and so she runs away to that “over the rainbow” place where she thinks everything will be better but in OZ she finds a darker world then she ever imagined…and of course when she gets back she knows that no one will believe her, which is another major theme in the book.

We haven’t mentioned Lolita in here but Mendelsohn brings her up as well. Of course her story is pretty much the ultimate loss of innocence story and it is still being debated on that score today.

[END OF DISCUSSION]

I hope this is not the last discussion of the book I will have with these women.  It is a novel that bears multiple re-reads.  Go to your library now!

I missed posting this yesterday thanks to the day job, so if you missed it like me, here were yesterday's recommendations from under the radar:

A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy: A discussion of author Ellen Emerson White and why she is "under the radar"

Jen Robinson's Book Page: The Changeling and The Velvet Room both by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Bildungsroman: Girl in a Box by Ouida Sebestyen

Finding Wonderland: A Door Near Here by Heather Quarles

Miss Erin: Girl With a Pen and Princess of Orange, both by Elisabeth Kyle

Fuse Number 8: The Winged Girl of Knossos by Erick Berry

Bookshelves of Doom: The Olivia Kidney series by Ellen Potter

Chicken Spaghetti: Natural History of Uncas Metcalf by Betsy Osborne

Writing and Ruminating: Jazz ABC by Wynton Marsalis

Semicolon: Today's topic is middle grade fiction.

The YA YA YAs: Massive by Julia Bell

Christopher Barzak at Chasing Ray

When I was nine years old, I took a class on the fine art of lip synching. Yes, it was a class, for school. I love gifted education in Leon County, Florida. At the end of this class, we each had to perform a song of our choosing, in costume. I performed Madonna's "Material Girl." The best among us went on to perform solo at an actual concert, in front of parents. I wasn't one of those; there was, however, a young man who performed "Music of the Night" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, in full costume, complete with mask, hat, and cape. This was my introduction to the Opera Ghost, and I was in love immediately.

I don't know at what point mild interest in that musical became complete obsession, but in the intervening time I have read every Phantom-related item I could get my hands on, including Gaston Leroux's original novel and several stories inspired by it. That's the wonderful thing about works in the public domain, you see; you can publish and sell your fanfiction.

Basil of Baker Street in The Great Mouse Detective had kindled an interest in me in Sherlock Holmes, and I grew to find him immensely attractive as well.

Yes, I love fictional characters, perhaps more than real people. It was with great glee that I checked out from my public library The Angel of the Opera: Sherlock Holmes Meets the Phantom of the Opera.  There's not a great deal of plot that is new to the story; this is Leroux's book with just a few new characters added in.  What makes it so fascinating is the interplay of two of the greatest minds in fiction: Erik and Holmes.  The actions Holmes takes in solving the mystery of the Opera Ghost keep the story moving forward, and it is this interaction between the two that makes the book worth reading.

Also, look at that cover art.  How can you not love Erik dressed as The Red Death, sweeping down the stairs towards Sherlock Holmes?

If you like mysteries, gothic horror, the Victorian era, Sherlock Holmes, or the Phantom of the Opera, you should give this book a go.  It provides certain entertainment.  And not to spoil the ending, but those who were always upset with the raw treatment Erik got from Christine Daae may find some consolation in the way Siciliano wraps up Erik's story.

Under Radar Recommendations are books that we have read and loved. Period.
They're not necessarily new. They're not necessarily old.
They're books we think you'd love, 'cause we do.

There is, elsewhere, more of the usual awesomeness of the kidlitosphere. Fans of the under-read should also, check out:

Chasing Ray writing on Dorothy of Oz from Illusive Arts Entertainment (the Dorothy comic she says we should all be reading!),

Bildungsroman revisits Christopher Golden's Body of Evidence series,

Interactive Reader, a new convert to the Christopher Golden Body of Evidence fan club, provides more love,

At Not Your Mother's Bookclub: An interview with Robert Sharenow, author of My Mother the Cheerleader,

Bookshelves of Doom is all about The God Beneath the Sea, Black Jack & Jack Holburn all by Leon Garfield,

Writing and Ruminating has an interview with Tony Mitton and a review of his book, Plum ,

The YA YA YAs spread the love on I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade by Diane Lee Wilson (And I can attest: awesome book, folks.),

A late inclusion from Semicolon on unbeatable picture books.

And Chicken Spaghetti wraps up Monday with The Illustrator's Notebook by Mohieddin Ellabad.

More Under Radar Goodness All Week Long: Stay tuned!

 I love books, and some of them are ones you haven’t heard of. I’m not the only one feeling this way, which is why I’m participating this week in a multiblog event called “Recommendations from Under the Radar.” You can read all about it over at Chasing Ray.

Here’s my schedule:
Monday: The Angel of the Opera: Sherlock Holmes Meets the Phantom of the Opera by Sam Siciliano
Wednesday: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn, in conjunction with Bildungsroman and Chasing Ray
Thursday: Who P-p-p-p-plugged Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf
Friday: Gentle’s Holler and Louisiana’s Song by Kerry Madden

Each day I’ll be linking to everyone else’s posts.  We’re reviewing more than fifty books!  In October, we’ll be hosting a one shot event called “Bradbury Season,” and in November, we’ll present the Winter Blog Blast Tour!

I have many book reviews to write, but as it is time to set up for the new school year, most of my brain power is absorbed by that.  What’s left from that is going to preparation for next week’s Radar Recommendations.  So today, you get links which I got from other blogs who linked to them.  This is how the blogosphere works, right?  Three people create original content, and everyone else links to them.

No?

I’m glad to hear there’s more than three people creating the internet.  I’m equally glad that the people who create stuff are seen by people I read, thus leading me to cool stuff.

It’s funny, but for all that I am shy and a near-misanthrope (there’s a pun in there), real people’s stories fascinate me.  I love biographies, but more than that I love diaries and journals.  I love personal notes.  So today you get documentation of a process, and inscriptions.

First, via Bookshelves of Doom, I give you the Book Inscription Project.  These folks collect scans/photos of things people have written in books.  My favorite: This Book Stinks.  And of course now I want to go shelf-diving to find my own inscribed books.

Next, BookMoot brings us Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog about her experience creating three Coraline dolls in honor of the special edition release of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.  I love process documents, so this one is excellent.  I don’t have the attention span to look at all of it right now, but I’m keeping it open to check again later.

Now go forth and explore the internet, and find more wondrous things to share with the rest of us!

Each Sunday the ladies of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast ask us to list seven good things from the week.  (To see their longer explanation, go here.)  It'll be interesting to see what I come up with, as the weeks have just seemed to bleed together.  So here's seven things that I think happened this week, but I'm not absolutely sure.

1. My boyfriend, roommate and I re-arranged my house so that it is much more pleasing.
2. In doing this, we eliminated three pieces of furniture from my bedroom, so now my room is much prettier.
3. Because of the new space, I was able to put my beautiful guitar (a Fender Starcaster - it's black and red) on display in my room.
4. When my sister helped me move one of those pieces of furniture (a chair constructed from ORANGE CRATES) to the dump, I got to be with her for a day and treat her to lunch and stuff.
5. I bought a glass head at Pier 1 imports.  It is much nicer for displaying hats than a styrofoam head is, and also much more adult head sized.
6. Upon seeing a hat I made on said glass head, and then trying it on, a friend commissioned a similar hat in a different color from me.
7. I went swimming.

I've been thinking a lot about feminism of late, and so today I chose a poem that relates to the subject.

From On the Equality of the Sexes Part I by Judith Sargent Murray

Yet cannot I their sentiments imbibe
Who this distinction to the sex ascribe,
As if a woman's form must needs enroll
A weak, a servile, an inferior soul;
And that the guise of man must still proclaim
Greatness of mind, and him, to be the same.
Yet as the hours revolve fair proofs arise
Which the bright wreath of growing fame supplies,
And in past times some men have sunk so low,
That female records nothing less can show.
But imbecility is still confined,
And by the lordly sex to us consigned.
They rob us of the power t'improve,
And then declare we only trifles love.
Yet haste the era when the world shall know
That such distinctions only dwell below.
The soul unfettered to no sex confined,
Was for the abodes of cloudless day designed.

Read more here.

Today we're going down under with the Summer Blog Blast Tour group!  It's the first installment of our One Shot World Tour, where we talk about books and authors from just one country (or two, when they're close in proximity like Australia and New Zealand) for just one day.  I'm not contributing my own content this time out, but I would like to bring to your attention the day's related posts.  (List modified from Colleen of Chasing Ray.)

Margo Lanagan Interviewed at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Melina Marchetta introduced at Writing and Ruminating
Big A, little A writes about Anna Feinberg and her "Tashi" series
Jenn at Not Your Mother's Bookclub interviews Simmone Howell
Chicken Spaghetti reviews Kathy Hoopmann's award winning All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome
Gwenda at Shaken and Stirred is all about How Sassy Changed My Life, The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky and a wee bit more with Margo Lanagan
John Marsden's Tomorrow series discussed at Jen Robinson's Book Page
Jaclyn Moriarty and Penni Russon's Undine at Finding Wonderland
Little Willow discusses Finding Grace by Alyssa Brugman
At A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy it is all about Catherine Jinks and her four "Pagan" books
Does My Head Look Big in This? and John Flanagan's The Icebound Land at Interactive Reader
Queenie Chan interviewed by the YA YA YAs
Hot Men of Children's Literature: Australian Edition, as well as John Marsden and "The Rabbits" (Part Two) (Part Three) at A Fuse #8 Production
Nick Earls at Chasing Ray
Peter Temple at Light Reading

I’m currently stage managing a production of the musical Rags, which is about Jewish immigrants coming to America in the early 1900s.  At the beginning of the play, as they approach Ellis Island, the immigrants see “a giant lady wearing a funny hat and holding something that look[s] like a broom."  In honor of the production’s closing weekend I give you one of the most famous poems in America, though people don’t realize it:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus, 1883

You can actually see the poem written in Emma Lazarus’s own handwriting at the Library of Congress website here.