Sweet Sixteen Princess, by Meg Cabot

Genre: Fiction/YA
82 pages (hardcover)

Despite its flaws, I adore the Princess Diaries series--I own the first two volumes in paperback and two others in hardcover, and I don't often buy books. Mia is a very real, likeable protagonist. I read these books and it's as if I'm truly peeking into someone else's life, someone with just as many issues and problems as I do. I love the fantasy genre like a firstborn child, but (well-written) young adult novels have the power to make me believe. With fantasy, there's always a little voice in the back of my head, grounding me in reality. Which can be good (especially where A Song of Ice and Fire is concerned) but sometimes I just want to read fluff and enjoy myself. I guess you could say YA is my form of escapism.

So yeah, that was my long-winded way of saying that I'm bad at reviewing fluff. If you like the Princess Diaries series, you'll like this book (though at a mere 82 pages, it's more like an extended chapter). If you've never tried Cabot before, this isn't the place to start. Only thing that annoys me, really, is how Cabot's publishers blatantly make extra money by selling tiny books for $9 apiece. If this hadn't been at the library, I wouldn't have bought it. Fluff is fluff, after all.


Still catching up on transcribing handwritten reviews.

Bound, by Donna Jo Napoli

Genre: Fiction/Historical/Fairytale
186 pages (hardcover)

Another quick read, but this one is touching. Just the cover will tell you that--a Chinese brush painting on the left, half of an Asian girl's face on the right with her black eye staring at you. For those who don't know, I was originally born in China and am of pure Chinese ancestry--either first- or zero-generation, depending on how you count. So this book has a special significance to me. For one, I've always loved Cinderella stories, and I looked forward to reading a unique interpretation of the traditional carp version. For another, I understood all the references to Chinese language puns and tones, which was nice--actually being one of the informed readers instead of a clueless reader! It may be a bit confusing to Westerners, but nevertheless I think everyone with any inclination for fairytales should give this story a try. It's not long, and it's lovely--yes that's the word. Lovely.

In terms of style, Napoli writes beautifully, infusing her words with Chinese culture and that elusive storytelling quality so important for short fairytale adaptations. I especially admired the poems, though the rhyming is sometimes forced (it's much easier to rhyme in Chinese than it is in English). The verse has a distinctive "nature" tone similar to translated Japanese haiku. I only wish I could read the poems in Chinese with all the lilting, lyrical tones. (Though chances are I'd need pinyin to read it properly.)