K-Pop Now! The Korean music Revolution

Adult/YA Average Reading Level

VG/A Russell, Mark James. K-Pop Now! The Korean music Revolution. Rutland, VT: Tuttle, 2014.

Russell has put together a fantastic volume of information regarding the K-Pop history and industry. This is relevant to the current K-Pop craze phenomena and interest to those who are reading it for the first time or have a deep concern about their favorite groups. It will also make a great complementary addition to any classroom curriculum on the topic of Korean Culture. The layout of the book is divided into chapters that span the coverage of the land, the history, definition of K-Pop and most importantly the groups that make up K-Pop.

I am quite impressed with the book starting out describing the land of Korea and the history of the K-Pop culture. It is important for readers to know where and how K-Pop all started. Thank you for referencing to the first generation of K-Pop groups such as H.O.T, g.o.d, FINKL, S.E.S, and Shinhwa. It is also important to explain the Hallyu trend that helps shape the K-Pop culture and correlation between K-Drama and the music industry because they do go hand-in-hand. The coverage on the big three or four (SM, JYP, YG, CUBE) entertainments is a must in any book now because they practically dominated the entire K-Pop business with their artists.

The coverage of each idol groups is very uneven. Most groups have only two-page coverage. However groups like Super Junior, Big Bag, TVXQ, Girls Generations, 2NE1, and Wonder Girls have more coverage than others. Since these groups are already popular, one would really want to know more about the other groups. However, JYJ was not mentioned at all. Not sure if there is any legal issue that they cannot be mention here or why they were not mentioned as original members of the TVXQ and later they break off from the group TVXQ and became JYJ. In addition, I fail to see the mention of B1A4, Lunafly, LedApple, U-Kiss, Boyfriend, MyName, Eric Nam and Tasty. These are also popular in the K-Pop arena, especially when U-Kiss just had a tour of concerts in the United States.

In conclusion, it is good to see such thorough coverage of the K-Pop industry in this book and it is especially refreshing to see the mentioning of future stars such as BtoB, VIXX, Boys Republic, History, Lee Li, and Roy Kim.

The only thing that I can see as an improvement is that more attractive photos of the idol groups should be selected for this book especially in the cases of MBLAQ, SHINee, Super Junior and Infinite. (Maybe this is a personal Bias -- Sorry I am a big fan of all of these groups.)

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

High School Fiction

VG/A. Hodge, Rosamund. Cruel Beauty. Balzer + Bray, 2014.  346p. 978-0-06-222473-6. $17.99.

Ever since her father made a bargain with the Gentle Lord for his wife to have children, Nyx has been promised as his wife when she comes of age at seventeen.  They say that the Gentle Lord is a prince of demons, who sends his demons to attack the villagers and to drive them mad. He is an immortal with magical powers, but anyone foolhardy enough to bargain with the Gentle Lord always pays a heavy price. The Gentle Lord certainly keeps his word, but he always cheats at his bargains. 

Long ago, a curse was placed on Arcadia, and for the last nine hundred years, the island has been sundered from the rest of the world, trapped in a void where they can no longer see the real sky.  Told to be the hope of her people, Nyx is committed to doing her duty - marrying the Gentle Lord and destroying him in order to avenge her dead mother and to save her kingdom.  She knows that her failure or even her success could very well mean her death.  She resents her father for not trying to save her and her twin sister for not taking her place, but she willingly goes through with the wedding ceremony. 

The Gentle Lord has given her a bargain of her own.  Every night, she is given a chance to guess his name. If she guesses correctly, she'll be granted her freedom, but if she guesses incorrectly, she'll die.

Her husband, Ignifex, is not what she expected. Nor is Shade, his shadow.  Trapped in ruined castle with labyrinthine staircases and strange doors leading to magical and dangerous secret rooms, Nyx must work to uncover his secrets. The more she learns of her husband, the more she is drawn to him and finds herself falling in love with him.  Will Nyx keep her word to destroy the Gentle Lord or will she chose the man she loves over the fate of all others?  An intriguing tale, Cruel Beauty certainly stands out among other Beauty and the Beast retellings. 

All the Truth That's In Me

G/A  Berry, Julie.  All the Truth That’s In Me.  Viking, 2013.  274p.  978-0-670-78615-2.  17.99.

After being missing for 2 years, Judith returns to her village with her tongue cut out. No one but Judith knows what happened to her and another missing girl, but she can’t tell anyone. The truth is she can speak a little, but her mother and most of the village think she is cursed, so she doesn’t speak at all. When a battle starts with another people, Judith helps rescue her village and her neighbor that she has always loved, setting off a chain of events that will change her life forever. The cover of this book is a little deceiving, it is not a modern thriller as you would expect, but a strange mystery that could be set in the past or a distant dystopian future. The reader can decide the where and when. Mystery or historical fiction fans will like this book even though it may not be their typical read. Loren Spector, LAPL, Memorial

Man Made Boy

High School Fiction

F/A  Skovron, Jon. Man Made Boy. Viking, 2013.  368p.  978-0670786206.  17.99.

The Show is not your average Broadway play; the acts are real and the cast and crew, including Medusa, Frankenstein, and trolls, all live underneath the theater since they can’t go out in public. Frankenstein and his bride’s 16-year-old computer hacker son, Boy, is tired of living hidden away. He runs away from the theater and ends up on a wild road trip meeting other “people” like him along the way. The premise was great, but the storyline failed. If the author had just stuck to the road trip and not included a crazy computer virus storyline that came in and out, but ultimately led to the conclusion of the novel, it would have been a better read. Teens who enjoy fairytale retellings or monsters in general would still like it though. Loren Spector, LAPL, Memorial

Andrew Zimmern's Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild, & Wonderful Foods

G/A  Zimmern, Andrew.  Andrew Zimmern's Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild, & Wonderful Foods.  Feiwel, 2012.  197p.  978-0-312-60661-9.  14.99.
If you're looking for something slightly different for a cookery section, you'll find this thumb--through item rather interesting.  Zimmern shares his experiences and opininated tastes about cow's blood, lamb spleen and maggot cheese.  He also has comments about wiggling octopus arms, "pig poop chutes" -- aka chitlins, and spicy grasshoppers.  Non-food related trivia is also included (i.e. a Midwest style cheeseburger -- Juicy/Jucy Lucy brings to mind Lucille Ball of I LOVE LUCY fame and psychiatrist Lucy from the PEANUTS gang.)  Certain species of rats are deemed quite tasty.  They can also characteristically hang out together as a clan -- similar to the entertainers' RAT PACK:  Sinatra, Martin, Davis, Lawford and Bishop.  A unique purchase with discretionary funds.  E.M. Roublow, LAPL, San Pedro Branch.

Siege & Storm

YA Fantasy

G/A  Bardugo, Leigh.  Siege and Storm.  Henry Holt, 2013.  448p.  978-0805094602.  17.99.

In this sequel to Shadow & Bone, the author picks up right where we left Alina and Mal, on a boat running away from Ravka and the Darkling. It’s not long though before the Darkling catches up with them and forces them to do his bidding. Only this time, the captain of his hired ship has plans of his own. Not much happens in this second book of the trilogy until the last 50 pages. It’s a lot of build-up and little action. If you haven’t read the first in the series, this one won’t make much sense and even if you have, you’ll have to wait until the third installment for any sort of resolution. Loren Spector, LAPL, Memorial Branch

Far Far Away

General YA Fiction

G/A  McNeal, Tom.  Far Far Away.  Knopf Books, 2013.  384p.  978-0375849725.  17.99.

The ghost of Jacob Grimm is haunting Jeremy. Not haunting in a bad way, Jacob is there to protect Jeremy and hopes that by doing so he will be released into the afterworld. And Jeremy needs the help, almost his whole town has turned against him after a prank and his home is about to be auctioned off since his Dad hasn’t left the house or worked since Jeremy’s mother left them. With Jacob’s help, things are looking better until things go terribly wrong (much like a Grimm fairy tale). Unfortunately, there were a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the novel, such as what really causes the green smoke from the bakery? Regardless, fans of Neil Gaiman will enjoy the whimsical and sometimes frightening story. Loren Spector, LAPL, Felipe de Neve