Kylie's Book Log

I almost forgot I meant to do this at the end of each month.

Best Book of the Month: The Night Watch, Sarah Waters
Runners-Up: The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier; After, Francine Prose
The Don't Bother Award: The Fermata, Nicholson Baker
Recommendations of Specific Books to Specific People Who May or May Not Read This Journal: rolypolypony should read Alice MacLeod, Realist At Last, and I think amyura might like Saying Grace, maybe. Also, he might kill me for saying it, but I get the feeling mitdasein might like The Fermata more than I did. (This is not meant as an insult, really - perhaps I would do better to phrase it as "I would be interested to see if mitdasein would like The Fermata any better than I did." That's more what I mean anyway.)
Number of Books Read This Month: 17

Anything else that should go in this post? I can't really think of anything.

Book: 9
Title: After
Author: Francine Prose
Genre: YA fiction
One-sentence summary: In the wake of a school shooting, the students at a nearby high school find an eerie new atmosphere descending as repressive rules are enacted and students who misbehave start disappearing one by one.
Why did you get this book? It's Francine Prose.
Do you like the cover? Yeah, I do, actually. It's kind of striking.
Did you enjoy the book? Loved it. This is actually a reread for me, though I just bought it recently. The first time I read it, I really liked the storytelling, writing, characterization, etc., but I kept thinking - this wouldn't *really* happen. I mean, it *hasn't* really happened. The book is about a school shooting, and a Stalinesque dystopia that results as the school administration and personnel take steps to "ensure the children's safety and well-being in the wake of this traumatic event" or whatever. I'm thinking, dude, there have been school shootings, and we're not living in a Stalinesque dystopia yet. I mean, things have definitely gotten a little nuts out there - remember that girl who wrote a story about a school shooting in her private diary and got expelled from school for it? - but this is a bit much. It wasn't until the second read that I got the whole 9/11 parable thing. Then it started to make more sense. Duuuuuuh, Kylie.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Haha, I think the Francine Prose section of my bookshelf may be the biggest author section I have. It's a tossup between Emma Donoghue and Francine Prose - I have everything Emma's ever written, but Francine has written more stuff.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping, though I passed it on to λ to read.
Anything else? Recommended.
Scale of 1 to 10: 9
Number of pages: 336
Total pages for the year: 3265