Musical Zenith

VIA «Foster + Partners have reincarnated in Zenith»

The Friendly Interface

The effective design from an architectural bureau 3XN for Middelfart Savings Bank has coincided with ambitions of customers which dream of a new office.

Unique Hi-tech Roof

Among requirements — high level of comfort and qualitative architectural realization. The extreme covering of a roof exists as visual focus, representing huge, elegant wooden structure with infinite number of opening.

Bank in Middelfart

Architects believe, that the design of a roof will allow to create comfortable and friendly atmosphere for employees of bank.

VIA «The New Middelfart Savings Bank»

VIA «The stadium has not sustained loading»

Original college in London

VIA «New building for Royal College of Art»

In a unification — force!

“Symbolising idea of accessible knowledge, a building openly city”, — is spoken Thom Mayne, by the author of the concept.
“The visual transparency of public zones connects institute to a physical, social and cultural component of a city”.

VIA «Interior on service at knowledge»

The Shadow Concrete

As it is simple and as it is healthy! So it would be desirable to exclaim, looking at the simple object created by Portuguese architectural bureau Ateliermob. Under an amusing canopy the cafe disappears.

Shadow Surface consists of the concrete roof placed on three walls, creating a courtyard filled with sunlight spots, or even the whole hares getting through drawing from round apertures. Through the same apertures rain water inside gets, creating an original show. The one-storeyed cafe is between this canopy and a children's playground on which there are high windows.

The Project Purpose: to unite apartment houses

On the lift or on steps from under a canopy it is possible to go down in an underground parking.

VIA «The Concrete Romanticism in Lisbon»

In October, a Canadian woman made headlines around the world when she personally returned to hand back a 2,000-year old fragment she had stolen from Pompeii on her honeymoon 50 years ago.

The woman from Montreal, who is in her 70s, said the theft of the first century AD terracotta roof decoration had weighed on her conscience for decades.

Now Massimo Osanna, superintendent of the World Heritage-listed site, said that was not an isolated case and hundreds of archeological artefacts had been sent back to the museum in recent years, often with letters of apology written in different languages.

"We have been receiving hundreds of packages with hundreds of fragments now for years," Mr Osanna told the Italian daily, Il Messaggero.

"People write expressing regret, having realised they have made a terrible mistake and that they would never do it again and for this reason they are sending the stolen pieces back.

"But the most curious thing, from an anthropological point of view, are the letters that accompany the stolen fragments which reveal a cross-section of people worth studying."

Mr Osanna said that one particular fresco fragment that had been returned was crucial in the restoration of the Casa del Frutteto, or house of the orchard keeper, which collapsed in the 1980s.

He said the property was restored but after work was completed experts realised a piece of wall plaster was missing. He said it was returned to officials in March and would now be added.

Mr Osanna could not be contacted on Tuesday but said he would like to stage an exhibition to showcase the precious objects that had been returned.

Alessandro Pintucci, president of the Italian Confederation of Archeologists, welcomed the return of artefacts but warned more security was needed to protect valuable cultural sites and to prevent thefts where there were often too few controls.

Pompeii was buried by a sudden volcanic eruption of nearby Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD. The preserved remains of the town attract around 2.5 million tourists every year.

Theft is a problem at ancient sites like Pompeii and the Colosseum in Rome, with tourists regularly trying to take "souvenirs" of their visits.

Last September a pair of American tourists were caught at Fiumicino airport in Rome with a stone artefact they had taken from Pompeii.

Author: Josephine McKenna | Source: Telegraph [December 24, 2014]

Burnham Pavilions by Ben van Berkel & Zaha Hadid

VIA «Burnham Pavilions in Millennium Park»

Rain chain — made in Japan

VIA «Rain chains instead of drains»

Can I start a review with holy shit? Well, whatever your answer is, I'magonnadoit.

Holy shit. I didn't think it was possible, but Jeffrey Eugenides has once again succeeded in writing a book that grabbed me by my eyeballs and yanked me into the story. I read Middlesex over the summer and I loved it so much I've taken to calling it my favorite book. I'm not committing yet, just trying it on for size. Since I survived the beefy, wonderful Middlesex, I wasn't afraid at all to try his other book, The Virgin Suicides, even though I had already seen the movie and that usually ruins a book for me. The movie did not ruin the book for me. Just like Middlesex, the writing in the first few pages was enough to make me sit still and read the crap out of this book.

"...our eyes got used to the light and informed us of something we had never realized: the Lisbon girls were all different people. Instead of five replicas with the same blond hair and puffy cheeks we saw that they were distinct beings, their personalities beginning to transform their faces and reroute their expressions. We saw at once that Bonnie, who introduced herself now as Bonaventure, had the sallow complexion and sharp nose of a nun. Her eyes watered and she was a foot taller than any of her sisters, mostly because of the length of her neck which would one day hang from the end of a rope" (26).
Eugenides goes on from that point to describe each sister in a similar fashion, exuding innocence and creepiness the whole way through. Everything in this book is innocent and creepy, suburban and having sex on the roof of your parents house. (Can I insert a little squeal here? Thank you.) The story is written from the point of a view of a group of boys in the neighborhood who watched the Lisbon girls their whole lives, except now they are adults and the Lisbon girls have been dead for a long time. They retell the whole story and occasionally talk about specific evidence they have. Photographs, clothing, makeup. They call these Exhibit 1-97, and they insert them occasionally throughout the story until you reach the end where the girls commit suicide (I'm not giving away anything here, you know the whole book it's going to happen) and the boys bombard you with evidence for everything as they explain to you why the girls died.

The story moves slowly and Eugenides has perfected the art of creeping through the pages. Even though it's slow I kept turning the pages just to soak up more of his writing. This is also the first time I have ever read a story where I believed it was told from a group of people rather than just one person. He doesn't spend a lot of time defining characters, but he doesn't have to because the point of the story is that no one really knows anyone. He doesn't glamorize suicide. He says things anyone who has been exposed to suicide has thought. Once again, he is a masterful storyteller.

Most people seem to think Middlesex is amazing and The Virgin Suicides is pretty great. I'll put myself in that camp too. I honestly don't have any complaints about the book at all, but when compared to Middlesex I just didn't feel that there was as much to the story. Part of that is probably the nature of the book, as I said there is very little characterization happening, just snippets here and there, but it wasn't enough for me to throw down the book at the end and start hyperventilating like I did with Middlesex (slight exaggeration).

To end this I'll share one of my favorite parts of the book, a part I think really shows Eugenides talent at summing up human emotion in one little thing.

"Jerry Burden found the following doodle: a girl with pigtails is bent under the weight of a gigantic boulder. Her cheeks puff out, and her rounded lips expel steam. One widening steam cloud contains the word Pressure, darkly retraced" (142).

I give this book an A.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

The BBC has been investigating the trade, and the routes from Syria through Turkey and Lebanon to Europe.

The Smuggler

It has taken many calls and a lot of coaxing to get a man we are calling "Mohammed" to meet us. He is originally from Damascus but now plies his trade in the Bekaa valley on the border between Syria and Lebanon. He's 21 but looks much younger in his T-shirt, skinny jeans and black suede shoes. As we sit in an apartment in central Beirut I have to lean forward to hear the softly spoken young man describe how he began smuggling looted antiquities from Syria. "There's three friends in Aleppo we deal with, these people move from Aleppo all the way to the border here and pay a taxi driver to sneak it in." He specialised in smaller items which would be easier to move on - but he says even that has become too risky. "We tried our best to get the items which had most value, earrings, rings, small statues, stone heads," he says.

He made a good profit but bigger players with better connections "sold pieces worth $500,000, some for $1m", he says. When I ask who's making the money and controlling the trade in Syria his gentle voice takes on a flinty tone: "IS are the main people doing it. They are the ones in control of this business, they stole from the museums especially in Aleppo," he says. "I know for a fact these militants had connections overseas and they talked ahead of time and they shipped overseas using their connections abroad." Mohammed is still involved in cross-border trade, but no longer in antiquities. "Anyone caught with it gets severe punishment," he says. "They accuse you of being IS."

The Go-between

To sell looted antiquities you need a middle-man, like "Ahmed". Originally from eastern Syria, he is based in a town in southern Turkey - he doesn't want me to specify which one as he doesn't want the police to know. As a Turkish-speaker he is popular with Syrian smugglers, who ask if he can move goods on to local dealers. When I speak to him via Skype he shows me a blanket next to him filled with artefacts - statues of animals and human figures, glasses, vases and coins. They were dug up in the last few months. "They come from the east of Syria, from Raqqa, all the areas controlled by ISIS (Islamic State)," he says. Islamic State plays an active part in controlling the trade, he tells me. Anyone wanting to excavate has to get permission from IS inspectors, who monitor the finds and destroy any human figures, which are seen as idolatrous (those Ahmed is showing me have slipped through the net). IS takes 20% as tax. "They tax everything," he says.

The main trade is in stoneworks, statues and gold, and it can be extremely lucrative. "I have seen one piece sold for $1.1m," he says. "It was a piece from the year 8500BC." He gently handles each artefact as he brings it closer to the webcam to give me a better view. He has had to pay a sizeable bond to the smugglers to get this material and he doesn't want to lose any of it. The final destination is Western Europe, he says. "Turkish merchants sell it to dealers in Europe. They call them, send pictures... people from Europe come to check the goods and take them away." Ahmed will have to return the looted artefacts to his Syrian contacts, as I am clearly not buying them, but he won't be returning to his homeland. "If I went back I'd be killed," he says.

The Dealer

It's an unremarkable tourist shop in the centre of Beirut. Inside the glass cases are ancient oil lamps, rings and glassware but the shop owner, a laconic man in his late 40s, has an unusual selling tactic - he says much of it is fake. However, he assures me he does have genuine pieces from the Hellenic and Byzantine periods, around 1,000 years old. I'm interested what other items he can get, mosaics for example? I had been advised by archaeologists that mosaics would almost certainly be looted - at the moment, that would mean most likely from Syria. He asks which kind I want. Faces, animals, geometric designs? "If you're serious we can have a serious negotiation... there is always a way," he promises. When I ask if it's legal he smiles as he tells me the only way to legally ship these items is with official documentation from a museum saying they have been cleared for export.

If it was only a small mosaic I wanted, I could take the chance and try to smuggle it out myself but he warns it's a serious decision, as I could get caught. For a fee he can have them shipped to the UK but it will cost me many thousands of pounds. We shake hands as I leave and he gives me his business card. It has only taken 10 minutes to be offered illicit antiquities. Arthur Brand, an investigator who helps recover stolen antiquities isn't surprised, it chimes with his experience in Lebanon. "I've been there several times and at times and it really is amazing," he tells me from his base in Amsterdam. "The illicit trade is run as a professional business with offices and business cards and you can buy antiquities from Lebanon, but also from countries like Syria, Iraq." The link between smugglers and dealers is the dirty secret the art world doesn't want to admit to, he says.

The Cop

He could easily pass for the star of an Arabic cop show but Lt Col Nicholas Saad is a real policeman, head of Lebanon's bureau of international theft. In his office, filled with certificates from the FBI and Scotland Yard, he shows me photos of huge Roman busts seized in a recent raid in Lebanon. We go up to the roof of his police station, where out to the east, beyond the mountains, is the border with Syria. This is where refugees pour into the country and are exploited by the smuggling gangs.

"The refugees come in big numbers and the gangs put things between the belongings of the refugees," he explains. Since the conflict in Syria he has noticed a significant increase in the smuggling of looted artefacts, "especially from the Islamic parts, Raqqa (the base) of the Islamic State", he adds. His team has seized hundreds of Syrian artefacts. "We have the archaeology expert that said they're very valuable from the Roman period, from the Greek period, years before Christ," he says. But there isn't a market for them in Lebanon. "Lebanon is a transit station, it's one of the the doors that goes to Europe. The real money is made in Europe."

The Treasure

Inside the Beirut National museum are treasures from the cradle of civilisation - Hellenic, Roman and Byzantine statues, busts and sarcophagi 3,000 years old. Hidden away from the public in a store room below the main galleries, seized looted antiquities wait to be returned to Syria. My guide is Dr Assaad Seif, an archaeologist and head of excavations at the directorate general of antiquities in Beirut. He rings a bell and a wrought iron door is unlocked. Inside are scores of items - pottery, stonework - but the most valuable items are sealed away in a warehouse. "We have huge funeral sculptures, representing men and women used to seal the tombs, from Palmyra," he says.

Most of the seized items are from excavations rather than thefts from museums. The looters target warehouses at ancient sites like Palmyra, a Unesco world heritage site. "The warehouses at archaeological sites have objects they know are not listed or catalogued yet, and they think it could be easier to sell them," he says. "The Palmyra objects had value for people in Syria... it gives a kind of identity," he says. Although reluctant to put a price on any of the bigger items, after some coaxing he relents. "We have a dozen objects that would sell for $1m each on the open market." I understand why they keep them out of sight of curious foreign visitors.

The Destination 

It has taken days to get through to Dr Maamoun Abdulkarim, the archaeologist in charge of Syria's dept of antiquities in Damascus. When I do reach him, he's angry. "The sites under the control of ISIS, in these areas we have a disaster, a lot of problems. IS attack all things just for the money," he says. "It is our memory, our identity, for the government, the opposition, for all Syria." It's impossible to stop the looting but he is adamant more could be done to crack down on the trade. "We are sure through all the sources a lot of objects go from Syria to Europe, in Switzerland, in Germany, in UK - and Gulf countries like Dubai and Qatar," he says.

It was a common refrain. Everyone from the Lebanese police to Mohammed the smuggler and Ahmed the go-between said the main market was Europe. In the UK there have been no prosecutions or arrests for selling looted Syrian artefacts but Vernon Rapley, who ran the Metropolitan Police's art and antiquities squad for almost a decade, says too much shouldn't be read into this. "I'm quite confident that there have been seizures of material like this," he confidently states, as we stroll around his new workplace, the Victoria and Albert museum, where he is director of security.

Rapley still liaises closely with his former police unit and he is certain that artefacts from Syria are being sold here. He wants the trade in these antiquities to become "socially repugnant and unacceptable" so that in the future, he says, "we don't have interior decorators looking for these things to decorate people's houses".

Author: Simon Cox | Source: BBC News Website [February 17, 2015]

Hirshhorn Museum (Washington)

Hirshhorn Museum soon will cardinally change appearance, and without especial and cardinal changes. The New York architects from bureau Diller Scofidio + Renfro will add an existing complex with two easy structures in the form of blue spheres which will allow a museum to open additional spaces during a season. The sphere on a roof precisely reminds eggs on a museum of El Salvador of the Distance.

The Unusual Museum in Washington

In one of spheres the audience on 1,000 visual places will take places. Through transparent walls of a sphere spectators can enjoy not only a show, but also possibility to peep for the visitors of a museum walking on galleries. In the friend, a smaller sphere on the size there will be a cafe.

Estimated cost of realization of 5 million dollars, now the project is in a stage of study of the concept. Under plans, pavilions will open in 2011 year. However, if statements Fine Arts Commission) be required and National Capital Planning Commission, realization will be postponed for couple of years.

VIA «Temporary Pavilion For the Hirshhorn Museum»

Here is another post where I attempt to gather as much of the awesome Contemporary happenings into one place! As always, I know there are going to be things that I've missed, so if you've written anything about Contemporary YA at any point in November and you think I missed it, please let me know and I will add it to the post!

REVIEWS:

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog — Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen and Boyfriends with Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez

Audrey @ Holes in My Brain — Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

The Book Faerie — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Young Readers — The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Ashley @ The Bookish Brunette — The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Giselle @ Xpresso Reads — June of Rock by Elisa Ludwig

Katie's Book Blog — Past Perfect by Lelia Sales

L.L. @ The Story Girl — Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Bonnie @ A Backwards Story — Rhymes with Cupid by Anna Humphrey and North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Jen @ Almost Grown Up — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Racquel @ The Book Barbies — Love Story by Jennifer Echols and Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Geianne @ We Fancy Books — Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan & Rachel Cohn and Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Sarah @ The Hiding Spot — Saving June by Hannah Harrington,

Jenny @ The Mimosa Stimulant — Saving June by Hannah Harrington and Dancergirl by Carol Tanzman

Ginger @ Greads — Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Hannah @ Paperback Treasures — Lie by Caroline Bock

A Life Bound By Books — Every Me, Every You by David Levithan and Overprotected by Jennifer Laurens

Amanda @ Born Bookish — Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Steph @ Steph: Short & Sweet — All That Matters by Youseph Tanha

Ali @ Ali's Bookshelf — Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett

Somer @ A Bird's Eye Review — Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard and the Perfect Chemistry Series by Simone Elkeles

Kate @ Literary Explorations — Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, Past Perfect by Lelia Sales Stolen by Lucy Christopher and Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Lindsi @ Books, Sweets, and Other Treats — Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Laura @ The Reading Nook — If I Tell by Janet Gurtler

Jess @ Jess Hearts Books — Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Ellie @ Curiosity Killed the Bookworm — Hidden by Miriam Halahmy

Jacinda @ The Reading Housewives — Friendship on Fire — Danielle Weiler (and a giveaway!) and I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler

Kalia @ Reading the Best of the Best — Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John, How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr, Love Story by Jennifer Echols, Secrets of My Hollywood Life (and it's sequel, On Location) by Jen Calonita

Evie @ Bookish — Playground by 50 Cent

Sarah @ Sarah's Books & Life — OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy

A.J. @ Collections — The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour and Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Samual @ Books for All Seasons — The Education of Hailey Kendrick by Eileen Cook

The Book Muncher — Past Perfect by Lelia Sales, Tunnel Vision by Susan Shaw, Brother/Sister by Sean Olin and Going Underground by Susan Vaught

Farah & Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf — Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter (book 4 in a series) and The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Emma @ Novel Minded — Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu, Every You, Every Me by David Levithan and If I Tell by Janet Gurtler

Cristina — The Princess of Story Land — How to Rock Braces and Glasses by Meg Haston

Liz @ Consumed by Books — Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Kelsey @ The Book Scout — Zitface by Emily Howse and Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Meredith and Erin @ Mint Tea and a Good Book — I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler and Paper Towns by John Green

Jen @ I Read Banned Books — Au Revoir Crazy European Chick by Joe Schrieber

Kristen @ Strawberry Splash Reviews — Brooklyn Burning by Steve Brezenoff

Nina @ We Adore Happy Endings — Bliss by Lauren Myracle and Reality Check by Jen Calonita

Annette @ Annette's Book Spot — Untraceable by S.R. Johannes

Dustin @ Dustin Disco — The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle and I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

AUTHORS:

Jacinda @ The Reading Housewives interviewed Danielle Weiler (with a giveaway!)

Katie @ Bookishly Yours interviewed Hannah Harrington (with a giveaway!)

Erika @ One a Day YA interviewed Miranda Kenneally

Jen @ I Read Banned Books interviewed Joe Schrieber

Alice @ Alice Marvels Interviewed Carol Tanzman

Hannah @ Paperback Treasure has a guest post from Hannah Harrington

Mary @ Anxirium has a guest post about swoon-worthy boys from Jillian Dodd

Ginger @ Greads! interviewed John Corey Whaley (with a giveaway!)

GIVEAWAYS:

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog is giving away a signed ARC of Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Lena @ Addicted to Novels is giving away two Romantic Contemps!

DISCUSSION:

Kristen @ Strawberry Splash Reviews talks YA Contemporary Books with Real Issues

Samual @ Books for all Seasons talks about Remembrances of Sisterhood in Contemp

Katelyn @ Katelyn's Book Blog Top 11 Swoon-worthy Boys

Jacinda @ The Reading Housewives Top 9 Swoon-worthy Boys

Mandie Baxter's Top Ten Swoon-worthy Boys

Kathy @ I Write, I Read, I Review Top Five Faves & Most Anticipated

Adam @ Roof Beam Reader Top Five Faves & Most Anticipated

Bonnie @ A Backwards Story Top Ten Anticipated Contemps

Ginger @ Greads! Top Ten Favorites

Kailia @ Reading the Best of the Best — What I Want To See More Of

Nikki @ Paper Dreams Top Ten Problem Novels

Kristen @ Strawberry Splash Reviews Top Ten Summer Contemporaries

Mary @ Anxirium Top Ten Cutest Couples

Ariel @ The Librarian's Bookshelf Top Ten Contemp I Need to Read

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading.

This week's teaser is from Wilkie Collins' Armadale.

"Put the mountain and the seas between you; be ungrateful, be unforgiving; be all that is most repellent to our own gentle nature, rather than live under the same roof, and breathe the same air with that man." (48)

Entrust repair to professionals!

VIA «Home builder in Sydney»

Architectural Factory of Pipes

The building for company T Bailey Inc is made as factory expansion on manufacture of steel pipes. The architect of the project — Tom Kundig from studio Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects — used huge pipes as a design element.

We Make the Pipes!

Total area of office of 1,100 sq. m. For construction of office architects used directly that product which is made by the customer. Visitors will get to a building on huge pipes. In a huge vertical pipe the large fan which will condition air at the main office is placed. The conditioner will be charged by energy of the sun.

The interior corresponds to stylistics. The concrete floor, open structure, a covering minimum. The roof inclination will direct streams of rain water to a garden, for watering of trees growing there.

VIA «Huge Pipes, As an Architectural Element»

Italian bank Unicredit and the nonprofit foundation CariVerona signed a deal Wednesday with Verona's mayor to restore the Arena at a cost of 14 million euros ($17.5 million).

The project aims to secure the open-air Arena, the third-largest Roman-era amphitheater to survive antiquity, against infiltration from rain, which has damaged the seating areas, and upgrade its stairs and infrastructure like the electrical system.

The deal falls under the government's Art Bonus initiative adopted this year that gives donors a 65 percent tax credit.

With state funding to culture shrinking amid Italy's recession, Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi praised the Art Bonus program, saying that public resources "would never be sufficient to maintain treasures like ours."

The Arena is one of Verona's biggest tourist attractions and the venue for its famed summer opera festival. Some 1.5 million people enter the monument each year.

Tosi said the restoration work is expected take three years.

The mayor has another, more controversial project, in his sights: adding a roof to the 1st -century building. Tosi said he was awaiting approval from the culture ministry to solicit proposals.

Source: The Associated Press [December 19, 2014]

I have a treat for you today!! Here I have a sneak peek of a book that is going to be a part of Fairy Tale Fortnight! What is Fairy Tale Fortnight you ask?! Well — It's awesome.:) I'll have my post about that up soon (check out The Book Rat for a post RIGHT NOW)

Anyway — There is this book coming out soon that is pretty much amazing sounding — Ever wonder about that generic "Prince Charming" in all the fairy tales? Well, Christopher Healy has taken those generic and uninteresting princes and decided to tell their story in, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (coming May 2012). And like all great fairy tales, it has a witch. Take a look at this creepy and sinister looking castle. Seriously. Love.

Seeing a castle like that makes one wonder about the witch who lives inside, no? Well, allow me to introduce you to, Zaubera.
_________________________

The only thing left was to figure out the best way to inform the world about it all. Whatever method she chose, it had to really grab people’s attention. It had to be spectacular. Zaubera sat down at her desk in the center of the large round observatory. The dark stone pillars that ringed the room and the bloodred roof above had a way of making her feel extra evil. The witch moved her cage of tarantulas and human skull candleholder out of the way and unrolled a yellowing parchment. She dipped her vulture-feather quill into an inkwell and began to brainstorm.

Notes tied to rabid bats?

Release wild boars with message shaved into fur too time consuming

Learn telepathy

Carve into side of mountain maybe

Teach birds to say “Cinderella must die!”
______________________________

Artwork copyright © 2012 by Todd Harris

Brilliant! Be on the look out for more about this novel and Christopher soon!

*Coming to a Fairy Tale Fortnight near you*

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading.

One of the books I'm reading this week A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, which I am reading for my 19 Going on 20 Challenge. Here is my quote:

"We're building a house of cards. One wrong question can send the whole tower tumbling before we reach the top." pg. 214
I'm also reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen this week.

"He had known many disagreeable fathers before, and often been struck with the inconveniences they occasioned, but never, in the whole course of his life, had he seen on of that class so unintelligibly moral, so infamously tyrannical, as Sir Thomas. He was not a man to be endured but for his children's sake, and he might be thankful to his fair daughter Julia that Mr. Yates did yet mean to stay a few days longer under his roof." pg. 166

My personal reading preferences have almost always veered toward the books dealing with tough issues. Even as a kid, these books full of heartache and pain and suffering and hurts drew me. So I thought that this would be a really easy post to write. The 'issue' books are what I'm drawn towards, what I read the most, so it should be really easy to explain why that is. But alas. 'Tis not so.

Because honestly, I can't say exactly why I'm so drawn to these books. I have been reading them since before I really thought about the differences in genres, before I considered that they were 'tough' or 'issue' books. For me, when I was a kid, there were really only types of books, books I hadn't read but really wanted to, books I hadn't read and was so not interested in, and books I read over and over and over and over. I pay much attention to genres until I was a little bit older.

So why do I like these books dealing with such painful subject matter? I don't know, but I have a few ideas. Part of me is drawn to them, because they are not my life. My life isn't perfect, but if you compare it to the rest of the world, even the rest of the United States, I've been blessed. I'm smart, I got good grades, was a good student, never did drugs or drank, didn't hang out with anyone who did either, never got into 'trouble' with a boy, have never been bullied, never went hungry, always had a roof over my head, my parents and I fought a lot and I wasn't very happy as a teenager but I always knew that they really did love me and were there to protect me, and my extended family is huge and incredibly loving, I had some really great friends and I didn't lose anyone really close to me until I was in college when my Grandpa died of cancer. I did struggle with some stuff in high school. My life wasn't perfect, but compared to most, I was in a really good place. And even when I was being a teenager and feeling full of the anger and sadness, I knew that.

So these books that deal with severe drug abuse, eating disorders, neglectful parents, self harm and eating disorders, rape, abuse, death, suicide and more take me to a place completely foreign to me. But I feel it. The emotional connection I have to books like this astound me. And I learn from them. When you have never struggled with something, it is easy to fall into judgment toward those who have. For a variety of reasons, I have never tried drugs or alcohol. At all. And I've never even been tempted. They don't appeal to me in any way, and they never have. I feel like we've reached a point where everyone knows that drugs=SERIOUSLY BAD. So I used to genuinely wonder why anyone would try them. I honestly couldn't understand it. And although I tried really hard not to be judgmental, a tiny part of me was always there thinking, Really? Really? But then, I read (among other things) Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert. And I could see it. It completely changed the way I saw things and allowed me to safely become part of a world I had never before even glimpsed. It definitely didn't make me want to try drugs, but it made me better able to understand the place mentally and emotionally someone might be in that would make them reach for them.

Abusive relationships are another thing that I didn't understand. Why don't they just leave? I used to think that all the time. All the time. I come from a family of very strong willed women, on both sides, and allowing someone to treat you like last week's garbage is something I couldn't comprehend. I have a cousin whose boyfriend tried to hit her once, and she broke one of those huge old fashioned telephones over his head... But then I started reading books that deal with abusive relationships. And, I can't pretend to truly understand them, even still, and part of my is now pleadingly thinking, Why won't they just leave, but part of me also understands them better now. It's not that easy and the abusers make sure that it's not.

Laurie Halse Anderson has also written some brilliant books. In Speak, Melinda has lost her voice after being raped at a party by a much older boy and the whole school just thinks of her as that annoying little kid who calls the cops, and no one thinks to wonder why. In Twisted, Tyler is 16 and feels like he has the whole world on his shoulders. The back blurb for this one is utterly perfect — Everyone told him to be a man. No one told him how. This is one of the most authentic and real Male POVs written by a woman I've ever read. Wintergirls is a story of a severe eating disorder and LHA captures the deeper emotions perfectly. Eating Disorders aren't really about food or weight, not really. And they are about more than control too. And Anderson manages to capture all of this, to bring it to light and to really make the reader feel everything alongside Lia.

In Homecoming, Dicey's mentally ill mother leaves her four children in a mall parking lot and young Dicey is now responsible for keeping them together, keeping them safe and fed and getting them to someone who can help. When She Hollers is about a thirteen year old girl who is being raped by her stepfather and her mother doesn't want to see it. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is about life on an Indian Reservation and what happens when you try to straddle both worlds only to find that you now belong in neither place. Want to Go Private? warns about the dangers of internet predators and can be applied to predators in all areas of life.

Other books like Revolution or Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie deal with the death or illness of a younger brother, something that terrifies me, because I have four of them. The Sky is Everywhere is about the sudden death of a beloved older sister, something else that I have. In If I Stay, Mia's whole family is suddenly killed in a car accident, leaving her to make the choice to stay alone or leave to join them. In Jellicoe Road, nearly every character has something going on that makes your heart ache. In Saving Francesca, Francesca needs to learn how to cope with depression, both her mother's and her own. Tom in The Piper's Son has had a really crappy couple of years and he's in a really bad place when the book starts that he needs to find his way out of. Where the Red Fern Grows, my absolute favorite book from childhood makes me sob every time those dogs die.

I suppose throughout writing this post I've answered my own question. I'm drawn to these books for two reasons. One, because I've never lived through anything like this and these books allow me to talk a walk through someone else's shoes for a while, to gain a better understanding and appreciation for what they went through. But also, and this is probably the stronger of the two, I read these books because they make me feel. Nothing wrings out my emotions so thoroughly like reading about the struggles and challenges of a character in a truly well written book. My emotions get so completely tied into these stories that I genuinely mourn the lost characters, my heart aches with their pains, and I am well and truly saddened when I close the book because these people who I have suffered with aren't actually real.

Stories that make me feel that strongly are always my favorites. There is something special about a book that can make me cry, those gulping heaving sobs that are so incredibly unattractive, that unashamed and completely broken crying. A lot of books make me tear up, or sniffle, even cry almost pretty for a page or two. But it takes a special kind of book, a unique strength to the characters, the writing and the storytelling to completely break me. And those are the stories that stay with me for the longest. Those are the stories that I love. And that is why I love these books dealing with heavy topics, why I'm drawn to issue books, the tough stuff. Because it's raw and real and emotional and so completely ready to become a part of me.