Diverse Projects

The internet is all the different projects brings into being and supports such a range of new projects every month that the mind boggles, with the amount of coolness people can devise and the internet can hold. I thought I’d show you some of my very favourite new ideas from other people (oh alright and one is partly from me) this month, as there’s something fresh about January projects that rejuvenates and removes any jaded project overload we might all feel around November.

Ari, Doret and Edi are holding an African American read in, in February, as part of action suggested by the (US) National Council of Teachers of English for Black History month. They’re encouraging everyone to read ‘Bleeding Violet’ by Dia Reeves (chosen by blogger vote) in time to chat about it on 20th February. Remember when I said ‘Bleeding Violet’ was very cool? Maybe now is the time to judge for yourself. I am thinking of making room for Reeves follow up novel in February, as I’ve already read ‘Bleeding Violet’.

Diversity in YA is a book tour across the US being run by authors Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo. I can not tell you how jealous I am of people across the pond right now. There are some interesting features popping up at the website for the tour, like a monthly compilation of the YA books being released that feature diversity.

Did I ever mention Sarwat Chadda’s new Kiss Me Kill Me tour? Yes, one of the violence devoted Chainsaw Gang is exploring young adult paranormal romance and has authors from the genre dropping by to chat (I never really enjoy author interviews, but I read the first one with Maggie Steifvater and even though I read her blog I felt like this interview brought me something new). So far I think he’s talked with Maggie Siefvater (The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy), Cindy Pon ('Silver Phoenix', yay who is excited for the sequel this year?) and Rachel Hawkins ('Hex Hall' again is your sequel on pre-order?).

Threadbared, one of my favourite sites about fashion is involved in creating a new fashion exhibition, ‘one that explores not only the fashion histories of women of color but also the curatorial and critical neglect of these histories.’. There’s a post about the process of creating the exhibition and the announcement that a digital archive has been created to show some of the images collected. Of Another Fashion is full of some interesting, pretty images and comes with tidbits of threadbared’s usual thoughtful commentary.

And finally my own project. The Nerds Heart YA tournament is returning for a third time in 2011, continuing to look for books that just aren’t receiving as much blog publicity as the big hitters and focusing again on fiction that seeks to represent the diversity our world in some way.

This year I’ll be working on the project with My Friend Amy – yay we are excited. We’ll be asking for book nominations mid February, but right now we’re asking for applications for anyone who wants to judge a bracket this year. You can read about the specifics of how the tournament runs here, but essentially it follows a bracket style structure where books compete against each other. Each judge reads two books (which they must obtain themselves), before deciding which book should progress to the next round. Along the way we all learn more about these books, encounter new things to try and eventually see which book wins the tournament.

If you think that sounds like something you want to be actively involved in then pop over and fill in the application form.

I realise I am opening the gates to the hordes of personal project overload, but are there any cool projects you’re excited about this month?

The Indie Lit Awards & 'Scars' - Cheryl Rainfield

Ok so I’m going to do something a little different for reviews of books I read for the Indie Lit Awards GLBTQ category. As much as I talk about writing balanced reviews (and I really do think I try hard to highlight the things that I found negative and positive about a book) I think it’s usually obvious whether I had a good time reading a book, or not. I’m also still struggling with how to make people understand the difference between what villanegativa called my critical good fairy and truly negative points of dislike (I have an idea, but haven’t put it into practise yet). I don’t want to make it too obvious which of the shortlist books I’m personally keen or not keen on, but I do still want to talk a little about these books.

So I’m going to do mini posts, which will include a plot synopsis, just one specific thing that I liked about each book and one that I didn’t and a discussion question (I never do this, let me know if you like it). Hopefully this will give everyone a bit of a flavour of the books without giving away too much about how I’m ranking the books in my judging brain. There are some books where I wish I could talk more about them, but I’ll try to hold myself in check.

First for this treatment is ‘Scars’ by Cheryl Rainfield.

‘Scars’ – Cheryl Rainfield

Kendra attends therapy to try to help her through memories of being sexually abused when she was very young. While therapy helps immensely and gives Kendra a figure she can turn to in Caroline her therapist, Kendra needs to use other tactics to cope when she’s not at a session. She paints and draws, but she also cuts and she hides both coping mechanism from those around her.

Kendra meets a girl called Meghan at school and they begin to become friends, then become a couple. Kendra receives a lot of positive validation from Meghan, Caroline and her neighbour and his boyfriend. However, other people like Kendra’s mother seem unable to grasp that she needs support and Kendra’s rapist has begun sending her signs telling her he’ll kill her if she reveals his identity. Kendra doesn’t remember who raped her and she doesn’t want to access the memories, but as her life become more uncontrollable and volatile she’s drawn towards more and more memories.

One thing I liked

I thought the clues to who Kendra’s rapist was were scattered through the book in a really consistent, but subtle way. Rainfeld leaves readers with a chance to guess his identity if they know basic things about real sexual abuse, but she doesn’t overload her readers with sharp pokes and suggestive winks.

One thing I didn't like

The dialogue in this book is often clichéd and feels unconnected from any real emotion. I could go into a lot of interconnecting stuff leading off from the dialogue, but I’m going to stick to my own rules and just mention that one thing.

Question

During an art therapy session Kendra thinks 'How a painting looks is what communicates the feeling' when her art therapy teacher tells her to concentrate on expressing herself rather than creating something 'artistically pleasing'. What do you think communicates the feeling in art - form and technique, raw emotion in the piece, a bit of both, or something else?

Any opinion mentioned here is my opinion and not the opinion of the whole panel, or the organisers of the Indie Lit Awards.

'Jumpstart the World' - Catherine Ryan Hyde

A review of one of the books shortlisted in the GLBTQ category of the Indie Lit Awards.

'Jumpstart the World' - Catherine Ryan Hyde

Elle’s mother forces Elle to move out of her house and gets her an apartment. Elle is sixteen, her mother talks about this move as if it’s a great adventure, but Elle knows she has to move out because her mother’s new boyfriend doesn’t want her around. The only comfort she has is that she’s not moving in alone, she’s moving in with her new cat Toto. Unfortunately Toto is the most emotionally disturbed cat in the world and Elle can’t help but envy the simple, friendly cats her neighbours have.

Elle bonds with her next door neighbours Frank and Molly, as they seem to care about her. She soon feels attracted to Frank. At the same time she begins to make friends with a group of teenagers, most of whom are gay or lesbian. When her school friends meet Frank they tell Elle that he’s a trans-man, which Elle doesn’t really understand, but when she does she refuses to believe her friends. As her awareness grows she initially shuts out Frank, but when a terrible accident occurs Elle finds her prejudice corrected by affection.

One thing I liked

The style of Elle’s first person narrative voice is just to my taste. Elle strikes this uneasy balance between being incredibly self-aware, but emotionally inexpressive, so she analyses why she does things but she expresses that analysis to the reader (and I guess we’re supposed to assume, to herself as this is a first person narrative with no framing device for why it’s being provided to us) in simple, unsure language, like she has to work out what she means as she goes along and she wants to be really careful to use the right wording but it doesn’t come easily to her. I always think of that as a pretty realistic way to represent how a lot of us think and speak, although this kind of thought and speech can sound highly stylised when it’s written down.

One thing I didn’t like

There are a few under used characters that seem to be in the book for little reason. Two of Elle’s new friends, Annabel and Shane pop up and disappear. The fact that they’re not consistently present means that their personalities never get developed, so they don’t really exist as people.

Instead of a discussion question I’d like to highlight the fact that Catherine Ryan Hyde is biologically related to Leslie Feinberg, someone who Bonjour Cass (who knows way more about this than me) describes as a very big deal in the trans community. Feinberg has posted explaining that ze is extremely upset about Hyde’s book.

Any opinion mentioned here is my opinion and not the opinion of the whole panel, or the organisers of the Indie Lit Awards.