sweet valley

BiblioBitch: Sisterhood Everlasting

Books post by Deb Jannerson on July 13, 2011 - 1:00pm; tagged BiblioBitch, sequels, sisterhood, sweet valley, young adult literature.

The text "BiblioBitch" is in capital letters, with "BIBLIO" in purple and "BITCH" in black. To the right, there is an icon of a purple cartoon worm with cats-eye glasses reading a purple book.

The cover of Sisterhood Everlasting, with a photo of feet standing in water and a reflection of the feet and the white dress apparently above them. The background both above and on the water is a simple bright blue. The title and author are printed in white, and at the bottom, "Four friends, one sisterhood... ten years later." is printed in small yellow letters.

*WARNING: Sisterhood Everlasting begins with a major, surprising event, and I discuss it in this review. Other potential spoilers are marked.*

It's always dicey when an author pushes a series past its logical conclusion. I met each YA sequel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with skepticism, but all four of Ann Brashares' complex, sentimental tomes won me over, as did her three separate books. After seven respectable novels, one failure should not seem shocking.

But what a failure it is. I found Sisterhood Everlasting abhorrent.

Find out why after the jump!

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BiblioBitch: Sweet Valley Confidential

Books post by Deb Jannerson on April 6, 2011 - 11:53am; tagged BiblioBitch, nostalgia, sweet valley, Sweet Valley High, virgin/whore.

Life was wonderful and simple when I was queen of the prom, when all that seemed to matter was how cute you were? And I was very cute. Just thinking about those days that are so gone depresses me. Everything depresses me today. Especially my own life.

Jessica and Elizabeth are back, and they are as inconsistent, problematic and riveting as ever. Read on for fangirlisms, mild spoilers, and thoughts on whether Francine Pascal is just making fun of us.

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The Young and The Feckless: The Nearness of Youthful Nostalgia

Social Commentary post by J Maureen Henderson on May 12, 2010 - 9:42am; tagged a-ha, beatles, care bears, diablo cody, generation y, glee, Juno, karate kid, law and order, madonna, movies, nightmare on elm street, nostalgia, pop culture, pop up video, rainbow brite, reruns, rolling stones wkrp in cincinatti, strawberry shortcake, sweet valley, the simpsons, The Young and The Feckless, thunder cats, transformers, tv.

The other night, I found myself sitting in a concert hall with a thousand other people having an absolutely A+ time at one of the few North American dates on the farewell tour for Euro pop icons a-ha. Yes, a-ha. No matter that I'm not old enough to have fully appreciated their short-lived American heyday (although they've never ceased to be a presence on the other side of the Atlantic) in the mid-80s. I learned about them via the Pop-up Video treatment ( I'm sure there are even readers who are too young to appreciate that show) of "Take on Me" and more seriously, their concert participation in Live 8.

Photo by Whistling in the Dark

As I sang along with "The Living Daylights" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV," I started thinking about nostalgia. Specifically, Gen Y's relationship to nostalgia. I can't be the only one to see that the proximity of what counts as bygone days has been increasing dramatically in recent years.

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