Book of the Month for November, 2011

The last Road Trip Wednesday of the month on YA Highway is usually about our favorite books of the past month. I have yet to see an article go up on YA Highway, but I want to go ahead and discuss my pick of the month; I’ll post a link on YA Highway when the RTW article goes up. UPDATE: The article has now been posted on YA Highway.

I suspect I’m not alone in not having read as many books as usual this month, what with my brothers being in town and other things going on. For those participating in NaNoWriMo, I imagine it’s been harder to get much reading done. Even so, I do have a book of the month. But before I get to my selection, I want to give a shout-out to one of the other books I read this month: Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. Many of the biographies I have read tend to relate the subject’s life solely according to the worldview and presuppositions of that biographer. It’s not often I read a biography that just presents the facts: these are the significant events in the person’s life, this is what made him or her notable, this is what he said/did/believed, and these are what people who knew him/her best said about him. Perhaps publishers feel there’s not enough color there to sell books. However, I think Isaacson has gone a long way to show that good old-fashioned straight reporting can be well-written, and can sell. His biography of the Apple founder and computer genius deals with the facts of his life, and incorporates commentary from his friends and family–and even Jobs’ own candid thoughts–in such a way that you really get a warts-and-all, full view of the man. And while there are some huge warts, there’s no glamorizing or glorifying of them; they are what they are. Jobs could be charming and generous, but also petty and selfish. His single-minded attitude helped create amazing products, but also ran roughshod over those who got in the way. Isaacson, I feel, has managed to capture the essence of who Steve Jobs was, the enormity of his achievements, along with his failings. There is plenty of color and good storytelling to keep the reader interested; but it’s not scandalous or sensational. If you enjoy biography, I highly recommend it.

Now to my pick of the month: LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld. This is the first steampunk novel I have ever read, and I’m so pleased it turned out to be a great book. It’s always more satisfying when you try something new and it doesn’t disappoint, don’t you think? The steampunk genre incorporates modern ideas into a past setting, traditionally Victorian-era, using steam-driven machines to replicate modern (and in some cases futuristic) machines. Westerfeld takes this one step further and instead of simply setting the story in a generic Victorian (or in his case First World War, which is 14-18 years post Victorian) period, he sets it in an alternate version of 1914, where Europe is on the brink of the First World War, and Archduke Ferdinand’s son Aleksander finds himself a pawn in the middle of the conflict. There are elements of the story that are based on history (Westerfeld discusses them in an appendix), but as the story progresses, what’s based on fact and what isn’t becomes irrelevant. The story of Aleksander as he tries to escape those bent on starting war, and Deryn Sharp, a girl disguised as a boy so she can fulfill her desire to be an airman in the British Airforce, takes front and center. That, and the amazing machines and creatures that form the technology of this world. While I have read and enjoyed the first three of Westerfeld’s UGLIES series, this is, to me, a superior work. Perhaps I prefer steampunk over dystopian? I don’t know–Veronica Roth’s DIVERGENT was my pick for last month, and that was a stellar example of dystopian at its best. I just find the characters and excitement level in this book more engaging, and I am looking forward to reading the next in the series, BEHEMOTH, more than I looked forward to reading PRETTIES, the second in the UGLIES series.

What was your pick of the month?