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Monday Amusements 8

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Photo by JaimeMorrow

Exciting (and amusing) news: I’ve decided to make Monday Amusements a regular feature on both this fleeting dream and its sister blog, this second’s obsession. I’ll be posting bookish Monday Amusements here every other week, starting today, and doing the same (only fashion and make-up themed) on this second’s obsession starting next Monday. Therefore you can expect my next Monday Amusements post here on the 20th May.

Also, I am going to try to credit my sources when I didn’t just find a post or article myself via RSS feed or e-mail newsletter, or the publisher’s twitter. Previously, I’d just bookmark the piece and by the time I got around to putting my Monday Amusements post together, I’d have forgotten how I discovered it. From now on I will bookmark the relevant tweet or Facebook post instead, so that you can find and follow interesting people too!

Now, onto today’s link selection! I’m afraid I don’t have any favourite reviews this week as I’m very behind on my RSS feeds, but this means that in a fortnight I will have a bumper selection!

I don’t go to performance poetry events very often, but I’ve enjoyed every one I’ve attended. ‘Is poetry the new comedy?’ (The Telegraph) is not a particularly original piece (I’m sure the Evening Standard publishes something similar about once a year) but I chose to include it as it includes a couple of videos that are a great entry point to exploring the range of poetry videos on YouTube.

’10 Literary Board Games for Book Nerds’ includes some games that sound interesting, and others that just sound surreal (the Animal Farm one). I’m kind of sad that it doesn’t include A Game of Thrones, because that’s what I’m probably playing right now as you read this. No really, I scheduled this post on Saturday so that I wouldn’t have to interrupt my game plans (pun intended).

Jo visits the place where YA love interests are grown, in On Writing: The Boy is Mine, a hilarious and thoughtful post! Make sure you read the comments, as lots of people have added interesting opinions. The same goes for the responses to SisterSpooky’s brilliant post about the relationship between bloggers and publishers. I’m not just saying this because I commented on both. Other people have said good things too!

‘Jane Austen: Strictly Ballroom’ is a really interesting piece with a terrible title, which describes the social rules and types of dance at Regency balls. I didn’t realise that the dances were so energetic!

As someone who found 14 notebooks in one cupboard during one clearout session a few weeks ago (REALLY), I can appreciate Liz De Jager’s post showcasing notebook collections. (Via @cloverness)

The ladies behind Makeshift Bookmark have now retired from blogging, but I would like to share one of their best discussion posts, All My Reviews Sound the Same. I know I will be referring to the comments over and over again for ideas to keep my reviews from getting stale, and for a good laugh.

This now fully-funded Indiegogo campaign will fund the production of the manga series of Julie Kagawa’s The Iron King, which I reviewed recently. You can still contribute to receive the pretty cool perks.

Finally, ‘Lovesick and Tired: Unnecessary Romance in YA‘, an incredibly excellent article which I discovered thanks to a link posted by E. Lockhart on Twitter. It led to some really interesting discussions on Twitter, which I would recommend reading if you can get over to @elockhart quickly enough! As much as I love a good romance, I’ve read some books in which the romance seems tacked on because the author thought they had to include one. If the characters are dating but barely seem to have two thoughts about their developing relationship, I don’t think the book is really doing it justice, and it would have been better not to include the romance at all, or perhaps to just hint that it happens after the end of the book. YA books shouldn’t have to involve romance. Real teenagers are not always involved in a romance. Some teenagers are never involved in a romance! We should be trying to show them that their lives can be fun and interesting and meaningful too.

What did you think of this week’s list? Do you agree with my thoughts on YA romance? Do subscribe if you enjoy my link selections, and feel free to explore the archive!

Book Review: I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter

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The students and teachers at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women pretend that the school is an exclusive private school in order to hide the fact that it’s a government-funded institution, intended to train future spies. Cammie Morgan, the headmistress’ daughter, enjoys every part of this charade until one night, on a practice mission, she meets a boy from the town who assumes that she is just as normal as he is. Cammie thinks he’s cute. Her friends think he’s a enemy agent. And her mother can’t possibly be allowed to find out about their burgeoning relationship.

Looooooong title. Short book. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You is a quick, fun story set in a fabulously unusual school. I loved all the little details – from the lesson topics, to the mechanisms that disguise the building’s real purpose when outsiders arrive. The mission scenes are exciting and funny and I really looked forward to the dramatic final operation. I also loved Cammie’s friends – the mix of characters in the group is a bit of a YA cliche, but it works in whimsical stories like this, and they’re all intelligent, hard-working, determined young women. I think Liz, the clumsy genius, is my favourite, but I suspect that my opinion is subject to change!

Cammie has a lot to juggle: secrets, feelings, and spy-schoolwork, and at times I felt like that the book jumped potentially interesting scenes. An example from the start of the book – Cammie skips over telling us about the homecoming of her school ‘sisters’ and why they stayed up all night, and I thought that could have been such a good scene. I also wanted more scenes featuring Cammie and her mum together, but I expect that their relationship is explored in more detail in the rest of the series. I didn’t find Cammie’s voice completely engaging, and as a result, I felt slightly distanced from her, but hopefully that will also improve.

I would recommend I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You to fans of boarding school stories, with a caveat to bear in mind – it’s intended for the younger end of the teen market. There are a few serious moments, but for the most part, it’s a gentle and light-hearted read.