Eighties Babies

As Maya so enthusiastically pointed out earlier, the WHOLE MONTH OF JULY is for celebrating Debbie Harry/Blondie. Aren't we lucky! Whether this is your first introduction or you're a die-hard fan, songs like Heart of Glass or, oh my god, The Tide is High (my all time best karaoke song), are the PERFECT SOUNDTRACK to these new or upcoming books set in the 80's.

White Lines by Jennfier Banash
Cat is the ultimate 80's club kid, right in the middle of the scene. The money, the clothes, the hair, the music, the dancing and the drugs. Lots of drugs. Her nights seem like a dream, but her days? Nightmarish. If you want to make a whole playlist to listen to, you can't go wrong with Grandmaster Flash's jam of the same title. This one has been getting mixed reviews, but looks just salacious enough for a good summer read.

 
The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford
Ooooh, this one is about a girl studying abroad in Leningrad during the Cold War. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS? Yup, swoonytimes with a cute Russian boy. He's an artist! But it has to be a secret! I bet there are illegal blue jeans! But can she trust him? Is he just looking for a ticket out, or is it true, forbidden love? I don't know! I kind of can't wait to read this!

Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem
Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, this one is also set in 1980's Russia, and looks amazing. Marina's mother is a prima ballerina for the regime, and Marina seems to be following in her footsteps. Then her mother disappears, her father wisks her off to Brooklyn and she enrolls in Juilliard. But her new school and new life are hard to focus on when her mother is missing, and there is all this SPY STUFF and MYSTERY SOLVING she has to do to.

 

 

Eighties Babies

As Maya so enthusiastically pointed out earlier, the WHOLE MONTH OF JULY is for celebrating Debbie Harry/Blondie. Aren't we lucky! Whether this is your first introduction or you're a die-hard fan, songs like Heart of Glass or, oh my god, The Tide is High (my all time best karaoke song), are the PERFECT SOUNDTRACK to these new or upcoming books set in the 80's.

White Lines by Jennfier Banash
Cat is the ultimate 80's club kid, right in the middle of the scene. The money, the clothes, the hair, the music, the dancing and the drugs. Lots of drugs. Her nights seem like a dream, but her days? Nightmarish. If you want to make a whole playlist to listen to, you can't go wrong with Grandmaster Flash's jam of the same title. This one has been getting mixed reviews, but looks just salacious enough for a good summer read.

 
The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford
Ooooh, this one is about a girl studying abroad in Leningrad during the Cold War. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS? Yup, swoonytimes with a cute Russian boy. He's an artist! But it has to be a secret! I bet there are illegal blue jeans! But can she trust him? Is he just looking for a ticket out, or is it true, forbidden love? I don't know! I kind of can't wait to read this!

Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem
Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, this one is also set in 1980's Russia, and looks amazing. Marina's mother is a prima ballerina for the regime, and Marina seems to be following in her footsteps. Then her mother disappears, her father wisks her off to Brooklyn and she enrolls in Juilliard. But her new school and new life are hard to focus on when her mother is missing, and there is all this SPY STUFF and MYSTERY SOLVING she has to do to.

 

 

Long Weekend Reading Review: Quick and Dirty

Over the long weekend (librarians only had a long WEEKEND, guys, not a whole week off) I did some of the reading I was planning on doing leading up to Valentines Day, which I neglected to do because I got really into this book about cowboys and Charles Manson (yikes).

On the quick:

Maya already wrote about this one, and I don't have much to add. It was as good as she said it would be. Scary, but not the kind of scary you're expecting from a book about ghosts and serial killers. Sad, too, and beautiful.

You may remember that I was REALLY excited about this one. It ended up being less scary and more swoony (it has a FLOWING DRESS on the cover, so I don't know why I was surprised). Luckily I don't shy away from swoon.

I started reading this a million years ago, and just picked it up again this weekend. Lemme tell you something about the couple in this book: they are more mature at 17 than I am now. For real.

This is a sequel, and I didn't read the first one, but I loved it anyway. And everyone one the cover has super cute shoes.









What about you guys? Reading anything good over school vacation?

Start Off the School Year RIGHT, Folks.

With little intrigue, a little affair of the heart. Amour. I'm talking about love, people, or lust. I'm talking about romancey pants swoonytimes books. We've got a lot of new ones to go along with our still-as-good-as-ever old ones. A little something for everyone, I think.

Sweet and Innocent

I'm not sure why there is a cookie on the cover of this book, because Hudson, our heroine is a cupcake gourmet. That aside, what you see is what you get -- a sweet (BITTERSWEET!) story about a former competitive ice skater, who hangs up her skates for good after her parent's divorce. Totally done. Never again. She spends her time helping out in her mom's diner, and trying to forget the almost-a-star life she left behind.

Lately, though, she's been sneaking to the pond and skating a little. Just a little. It's her little secret until she smacks into the captain of the school's hockey team out on the ice. Then everything changes. Talked into using her mad ice skills to get the hockey team ready for the season (like this!), Hudson goes from quiet days spent baking to juggling her new life, her old life, two boys, her mother's failing diner, and a best friend who is getting lost in the shuffle. It's swoony and sweet and will make you want a cupcake.

Sexytimes, Holy Smokes

Jersey Angel by Beth Ann Bauman is a different kind of book. Angel lives with her swinging single mom and two little siblings, their beach-kissed life spread over three houses on the Jersey shore. In the summer they make serious bank renting out two of the houses and all cram into the one. In the off season, though, Angel lives on her own in one of the houses, and let me tell you, trouble ensues. By trouble I mean sexytimes. Whoa.

Angel can't quite stay away from the boyfriend she keeps breaking up with, but he's had it with her shenanigans. She cares about him, or wants to care about him, but the truth of the matter is she just really likes to have sex and doesn't think she should have to apologize for it. She's comfortable with her philosophy until she trysts with her good-girl best friend's boyfriend, setting off a chain of events that make her wonder if she's gone too far. Short, steamy, and thought provoking, this is the perfect book to transport you back to the beach as the weather starts to get cooler.

The Tearjerker

A family spends one last summer at their lake house together. For sad reasons. This is one of those love stories that you don't even want to get fluttery about, because everything else happening in the book is so heartbreaking. If you like to have a good cry once in a while, and need a little swoon to go with it so you don't choke on those tears, this book is for you.  

Teen Events at the ICA

Two very exciting events at the ICA are coming up. In order of appearance:

DJ School 101:
One Day Intesive
Saturday, March 17, 12pm - 5pm

This is an introductory course on scratching records, and you'll leave with your own mix. Fun times! No experience necessary, and this is only for high school students.

More info may be found here.





Next up:

Teen Night: Streetology
Friday, March 23, 6pm - 9pm


First of all, this is FREE FOR TEENS! Secondly, ICA featured artist, Swoon, will co-hosting along with the ICA Teen Arts Council. Oh, there'll be DJs and museum tours too, and a large-scale group art activity inspired by Swoon's instillation and designed by particpants. The museum only hosts these Teen Nights about twice a year. So this a special event, not to be missed.

More info may be found here.







(photo credits: http://s568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/whenshilohcomes/BB%20Wallpapers/Turntables/?action=view&current=turntables1.jpg&newest=1 ; http://www.cute-wallpaper.com/preview.asp?id=2661 )

Valentines Week: IT'S ON

I LOVE Valentines Day. I love the candy. I love the paper hearts. I love that crinkly cellophane that seems to be all over everything. I love flowers. I love the little mailboxes kids make in elementary school. I love that episode of The Simpsons where Ralph gives Lisa a valentine that says "I Choo Choo Choose You" (and there's a picture of a train). I also love how I can just go FULL FORCE in recommending my favorite teen romances. Swoon. Oh my gosh. Swoon.

Let's start with a new one. Have you read this? It's got action and mystery and two kids against the world, trying to take down a deliciously evil regime. But you won't even notice all that because this is the most fluttery, breathless, hand-to-your-heart love story I've read in ages. I'm not going to tell you more. Ask for it by name: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.

p.s. She does not wear an evening gown at any point in this book, FYI.

SWOON at the ICA

Street artist, Swoon, has an exhibit at the ICA, which will be up until December. She's got a GIANT instillation on the museum's entry art wall, reaching 40 feet tall. Not only is this is the largest instillation the museum has had on the wall, but it is so very amazing as well. The photo to the right is not in this exhibit, but displays Swoon's intricate paper-cutting techniques. So pretty. And I bet most of you have seen her work, as she's plastered images up in Central Square. I could say so much more...or you could just watch this video of some teens interviewing Swoon.




(P.S. The ICA is always free for ages 17 and under, and free for all every Thursday evening from 5 to 9 pm).
http://www.icaboston.org/visit/