Book Fifteen: Shelf Discovery
4.30.2010
Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, Lizzie Skurnick
You're probably going to automatically love this book if you ever read any YA novels of the 70s or 80s. I mean, come on, we all grew up reading and loving this stuff, right? And Lizzie Skurnick's enthusiasm for the subject is quite infectious. She covers all the good stuff: all the Judy Blume, Lois Duncan, Madeleine L'Engle, Beverly Cleary, Paula Danziger, Paul Zindel, Katherine Paterson, Richard Peck, and, of course, V.C. Andrews.
The is essentially a collection of Skurnick's blog posts from her Fine Lines column on Jezebel. Which is great and a lovely column. However this book often feels like you're essentially reading a blog. (And really, shouldn't we put a moratorium on books made entirely from blogs? Especially when you don't even bother to correct any of the typos?) Her tone is insanely casual, peppered with frequent "omigod!"s and ALL CAPS WHEN SHE WANTS YOU TO KNOW HOW EXCITED SHE IS and way too many "Best. Book. Ever."s. Which shouldn't really take away from the joy of reliving these classics, but sometimes I expect just a little more from an actual book.
So perhaps I've grown up too much.
You're probably going to automatically love this book if you ever read any YA novels of the 70s or 80s. I mean, come on, we all grew up reading and loving this stuff, right? And Lizzie Skurnick's enthusiasm for the subject is quite infectious. She covers all the good stuff: all the Judy Blume, Lois Duncan, Madeleine L'Engle, Beverly Cleary, Paula Danziger, Paul Zindel, Katherine Paterson, Richard Peck, and, of course, V.C. Andrews.
The is essentially a collection of Skurnick's blog posts from her Fine Lines column on Jezebel. Which is great and a lovely column. However this book often feels like you're essentially reading a blog. (And really, shouldn't we put a moratorium on books made entirely from blogs? Especially when you don't even bother to correct any of the typos?) Her tone is insanely casual, peppered with frequent "omigod!"s and ALL CAPS WHEN SHE WANTS YOU TO KNOW HOW EXCITED SHE IS and way too many "Best. Book. Ever."s. Which shouldn't really take away from the joy of reliving these classics, but sometimes I expect just a little more from an actual book.
So perhaps I've grown up too much.
posted by arajane at
11:49 PM
1 Comments:
When I discovered Lizzie Skurnick's Fine Lines series I opened tabs with every post and read as many as I could. I was so excited to relive so many books, some of which I thought I had only imagined. So I was eager for her book to come out, but I too was a little disappointed. Most were straight off the blog (typos and all, as you say) and didn't add a lot. Still I have a lot of good will for this book. I should try to re-read some of those old YA books. Looks like you already are.
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