First thing first, we are not going to link to the site that created the most drama this week. This site has a very, how do we say it, deranged (mis)understanding of what online bullying and stalking are, and we don't want to direct any more traffic there, especially seeing that for some strange reason the creators of the site think that all the people who check it out are their supporters rather than those who just want to see the infamous crazy stalker behavior with their own eyes. There have been many responses to this site already - Foz Meadows' that explains for the unknowing what bullying exactly means, Rachel Vincent's who, sadly, is forced to make it clear she has nothing to do with it (accusations are running rampant!) and Stacia Kane's very passionate one from an author's perspective. We especially sympathize with Kane's position that witnessing constant conflicts between reviewers and writers is exhausting and disheartening, to the point of not wanting to be a part of this reading community anymore. We can't wait for that time when this raging culture of publicizing and sensationalizing every tiny disagreement comes to an end. We want to see genuine debates and discussions and disagreements and negative reviews, but not when they deteriorate to petty screen-capped examinations of everyone's online indiscretions, airing of personal dirty laundry and baseless accusations of any crime under the sun (stalking, sock-puppetting, you name it) that spread out via Twitter like wildfire and then result in hate mail, abuses on all sides, anonymous emails to the "offenders'"' work places and general atmosphere of hostility. It seems no disagreement is allowed to die down, get resolved or is ignored any more, instead there is a trend to expose, humiliate and destroy. And it applies to both sides - the reviewers (some) and authors (some). We don't know about you, but, boy, are we tired of drama and misguided screen-capped vendettas.

There are a couple of interesting posts that came out of the couple of weeks old "ARCgate" (again, a "scandal" that descended to a storm of name-calling, character assassinations and calls for war absolutely disproportionate to the nature of the questions raised in the original post). The first one is by Katiebabs, who says The Blogger with the Most ARCs Does Not Rule Bloglandia, with which we wholeheartedly agree. Although the showcasing of IMMs and Book Hauls creates an idea, especially in the minds of young bloggers, that getting the most ARCs, at all cost, is the ultimate goal of blogging, actually having your hands full of so many books is more of a burden than a blessing. Just imagine reading and reviewing the books you are mostly uninterested in and see how much fun that is. And then comes a question of the disposal of those ARCs, another tricky one, it appears. Elizabeth Fama pleads to kill her ARCs, instead of swapping or donating them. What is comes down to is that there are not many options for bloggers to dispose of paper ARCs legitimately, besides throwing them into trash (hopefully recyclable). So, there is a whole new layer to this ARC-grabbing discussion which now includes wastefulness of paper ARCs as a promotional material. Distribution of egalleys to the reviewers who are actually interested in certain books seems like a better way to go. Definitely will save on postage and let some trees live.

In other news, if you wondered why new books are not as well edited as the old ones, The Changing Face of Publishing Relationships might have some answers (via YA Highway). It is evident that editors are viewed more and more as business people who should be able to identify and sell big money-makers rather than, you know, edit. The article also says that if before editors had a luxury of editing a book for months, now they have days if not hours to spend on each book.

Bookshelves of Doom alerted us that there is an emerging site which is like Rotten Tomatoes, for books - www.idreambooks.com - which is supposed to present a mix of professional and amateur (blogger) reviews. If your blog satisfies certain requirements, you reviews can be featured on that site as well. It will be  interesting to see if this site catches on.

There's a been a very curious blurb circulating this past week - of Yelena Black's Dance of Shadows. The blurb goes like this:

"Curtains up on a deliciously dark new YA trilogy from the creators of Lauren Kate’s Fallen."

Some readers legitimately asked - Isn't the creator of Lauren Kate's Fallen... Lauren Kate? Well, as we wrote before, there is an interesting artistic process in publishing that is called "packaging," when books are created by an agency and then an author is hired to write out the prepared plot. There is nothing new about this, but this is the first time when the fact that a book is packaged is used as a promotional point. Normally, this information stays concealed and the hired author gets all the credit.

And, to wrap things up for this week, a couple of links to podcasts (we haven't mentioned those in awhile). Kelly of Stacked and Liz of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy talk (at length) about library work, blogging, and everything book-related (and even mention our blog, thank you!). Sara Zarr's latest podcast features Sara's several local writer friends and is dedicated to discussing the value of being a part of a writing community.

Time for the Stars
Author: Robert A. Heinlein
Publication Date: 2/1/11 (Audio)
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
[Goodreads | Amazon | Audible]

Blurb (GR):
Travel to other planets is now a reality, and with overpopulation stretching the resources of Earth, the necessity of finding habitable worlds is growing ever more urgent. There’s a problem though—because the spaceships are slower than light, any communication between the exploring ships and Earth would take years.

Tom and Pat are identical twin teenagers. As twins they’ve always been close, so close that it seemed like they could read each other’s minds. When they are recruited by the Long Range Foundation, the twins find out that they can, indeed, peer into each other’s thoughts. Along with other telepathic duos, they are enlisted to be the human transmitters and receivers that will keep the ships in contact with Earth. But there’s a catch: one of the twins has to stay behind—and that one will grow old—while the other explores the depths of space and returns as a young man still. 

Review:
Slowly but surely, my obsession with young adult space stories will knock every Heinlein juvenile book off my to-read list. A month or two ago, I read Podkayne of Mars and while I did enjoy the audio format and the underlying world-building, the characters grated on me. I'd read and heard from several sources that Heinlein's treatment of his female characters can be a huge turnoff and he's two for two on that note for me thus far. I'm not going to go over why I felt the way I did about Podkayne but in Time for the Stars, though it was far less frustrating, I was still not satisfied with the female presence in the book. But I'm getting ahead of myself, what's the book actually about? It's a futuristic Earth setting where families are allowed only a certain number of children before they get taxed. Identical twins Tom and Pat  are asked to come in for some testing by a huge research organization, one whose mission is to fund the projects that have projected results so far into the future that no one else will fund them. Through the testing, Tom and Pat find out they are telepathically connected. The foundation intends to explore the galaxies to find potential colony planets and uses telepathic pairs to communicate between ships and between ships and Earth when radio transmissions no longer work. I don't want to spoil which twin goes to space and which stays behind because I enjoyed that aspect of the story. I cannot think of another instance of a book where identical twins do not really get along. Heinlein adds in a realistic amount of sibling manipulation that rang true to life. ("Do your chores, Dad will be home soon." "Why? If I don't, I know you'll just do them for me." - Me and my sister)

The science and philosophy are very much present in this novel and some of it went over my head. Faster than light, simultaneity, time,  relativism, the science of aging, and various equations and theories are all present and accounted for but never in a severe infodump kind of way. The book is set up as a diary written by the twin in space. I am not sure if it is broken up as such in the traditional book as I listened to the audiobook but the scientific conversations were usually just that--conversations between the twin and someone else on the ship. However, there is very little action to keep the book going. The interest lies in the world Heinlein has created and the scientific offshoots. I was fascinated by the idea that as one twin was aging "regularly" on Earth, the other was aging at a far slower rate, so much so that the twin in space had to do the telepathic work with several generations down the line. What action there is is backloaded. His books, to me, feel like someone is writing about a fantastic futuristic world and then realizing halfway through that there's supposed to also be character building and plot movement. 

On to the creep factor. There was just an episode of 30 Rock on television wherein Liz Lemon realizes that she is dating her third cousin. They say, "On the count of three, say how many cousins removed we'd have to be to try to make this work." He says fifth and she says never. I really think my answer is also never. There are several pubescent boy relationships in this book as well as adult relationships but there is one that relates to the 30 Rock episode I just spoke of. I won't ruin it for any potential readers but Heinlein basically glossed right over the relation aspect and it felt cut and dried in the most awkward way possible. I actually said, "Whaaaaaaat? Dude." to my car stereo. You're going to marry your relation, no matter how distant? Ew.

Back to Heinlein's treatment of women. Here's the gist: If you want to read any of his books, just think to yourself, "Am I okay reading a book where no female character will ever be completely rational? One where she will never be seen as anything other than a gender stereotype or achieve life goals beyond society's expectations during the forties and fifties when these books were written?" If the answer is yes, then read away. As I've said, Heinlein creates some interesting scientific worlds and stories. However, if you're answer is no then these books will be a nightmare for you. There are entire conversations about the best way to tell a mother that her son/s are joining a space program but also how to manipulate her irrational emotions. A grown woman wants to join a specific mission and another character tells her to check with her husband. (who also tells her later that they will be moving back to Earth to raise their family and she will not be working anymore) The mission finds a planet and fights in a battle but both times women are excluded from the teams--until one planet is deemed "safe enough that even the women could go!" Being a woman in Heinlein's world just seems like it would be so depressing. Who wants to achieve their dreams of being independent and going into space? Not so fast, vaginas! 

I believe this is the first audiobook I've listened to that is narrated by Barrett Whitener, and I enjoyed his narration for the most part. Though they are not coming to me at the moment, there were a few words he pronounced in a weird way (maybe alternate pronunciations?) and several of the characters sounded the same. At one point, I wasn' t sure if the captain had an American, British, or Australian accent.  He is a conversational narrator so his voice was/is well-suited to the diary-entry format of Time for the Stars.

As is the story with Podkayne of Mars, there is enough fun world-building present that I wish Heinlein would set more books in this world, perhaps even incorporate some of the same characters. I have a feeling my wish will come true with the rest of his young adult books. I anticipate each one will be a fun sciencey adventures/feminist's nightmare.

3/5 stars

Whispers Under Ground (Peter Grant #3)
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Publication Date: 7/31/12
Publisher: Del Rey
[Goodreads|Amazon]

Blurb(GR): A WHOLE NEW REASON TO MIND THE GAP
 
It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as “the Faceless Man,” it’s up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and—as of now—deadliest subway system in the world.

At least he won’t be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She’s young, ambitious, beautiful . . . and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah--that’s going to go well.

Review:

Oh, these books are just so much fun.  I doubt I will ever stop reading them.  The mysteries confuse me (and are mostly forgettable), I still don’t really understand how the magic works (and neither does the main character), and I really have no idea where this is all going.  But I enjoy every minute of these books and most of all, this character.

What a witty, likable, self-deprecating, fully-realized character Ben Aaronovitch has created here.  I could spend hours just reading his random asides about tedious police procedure or his commentary on the people/geography of London:

“For decades, Notting Hill has been fighting a valiant rearguard action against the rising tide of money creeping in now that Mayfair has given over entirely to the oligarchs.  I could see that whoever had done the conversion on the mews adopted the spirit of the place, because nothing says ‘I’m a part of a vibrant local community’ quite like sticking a bloody great security gate at the entrance to your street.  Guleed, Carey, and I stared through the bars like Victorian children.”

Do you see what I mean?  If you find the above even the least bit funny, then I think you should give these a go.  This one starts off with a mysterious murder-by-potsherd in an underground train station, travels through the frou-frou art world, and ends hilariously in a romp through the London sewers – which was one of the funniest things I’ve read all year. 

Lesley is back in action in this one, which I was very happy about (no more crazy flings with slags, Peter – do you hear me?!!).  There’s some minor advancement in the romance department, but nothing huge.  These books aren’t really about the romance.  I really love the dynamic between Peter and Lesley as partners though:

“’There’s always a secret door,’ I said.  ‘That’s why you always need a thief in your party.’

‘You never said you used to play Dungeons and Dragons,’ Lesley had said, when I explained my reasoning.  I’d been tempted to tell her that I was thirteen at the time, and anyway it was Call of Cthulthu, but I’ve learned from bitter experience that such remarks generally only make things worse.”

There’s also a new side character in this one, in the shape of an American FBI agent.  Now, I admit that I was more than a bit excited when she was first introduced.  If Peter’s going to have crazy flings with slags, they can at least be American slags.  My mind filled with dreamy visions of Peter waxing poetic about how sexy the American accent is…how gorgeous American women all are…how strong, courageous, and noble….  Yeah, my imagination may or may not have run away with me on that one, but in my defense I’m like two shades away from being a desperate housewife (those two shades being wealth and plastic surgery).

So imagine my disappointment when Ms. American FBI turned out to be an uptight, trigger-happy religious nut.  Look, Peter, I know how we are over here.  I know that that particular shoe fits more times than it doesn’t…but it still hurts, okay?  The truth can hurt.  *sob* Would it have killed you to at least comment on the accent?  You gotta admit that it’s sexy…all those hard r’s.  Rrrrr. 

I could be wrong but I think that maybe this series is heading in the direction of assembling a magical team of characters who will be featured in all the books.  If that’s the case, I am very excited!  I love magical crime-fighting ensemble casts.  I should also mention that this entire story takes place over the Christmas holidays and features blissfully cold weather and snow storms.  I truly can’t think of a better read to escape from the stress and heat of this summer.

Perfect Musical Pairing
En Vogue – Giving Him Something He Can Feel

Dear Peter,

I challenge you to watch this video and not fall immediately in lust with America.  We’re not all uptight over here.  Also, I saw these ladies strut their stuff a few years ago and they’ve still got it.  Which I think is pretty solid evidence that American women maintain their allure well into their thirties and forties.  Just sayin’.

4/5 Stars

I read every once in a while during high school, and I include my "required reading" in that every once in a while. I distinctly remember getting a 99% on an exam about Chen Village without ever reading the book. When I got to college, I had all this free time and I couldn't spend it all partying. Good thing I met my two best friends and they introduced me to lots of awesome things. These pictures are of Maureen and me. Maureen got me hooked on the Harry Potter series and Nora Roberts books during my freshman year. (I actually got into a verbal spat with the people in the mail room when my copy of Goblet of Fire didn't come in by 10am the next day as Amazon promised) She is the reason I am the avid reader I am today. Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you, Maureen? BLINDSIDED. She gave me Nora Roberts'  The Villa and I was hooked. I tediously collected every book Roberts ever published--in used book stores,  from Ebay in huge lots of books, just anywhere I could find them. It makes me so happy to think of the weekend days we spent just laying around in our dorm room reading all day.  Fast forward seven years. When I was in grad school, Maureen introduced me to Susan Elizabeth Phillips...and then I bought every book she's written for my Kindle and read probably five or six that week alone. Though I do read some other romance authors these days, the only two I insta-buy and read are Roberts and Phillips.  I've been a fan ever since my entry book (It Had To Be You) so when I found out Phillips was touring for her newest book, I was so excited to go. Alas, no event was near enough for me to attend. Therefore, I did what any blogger worth her salt would do: I called up my best friend and fellow SEP fan and asked if she'd go to the event near her and cover it for the blog. Thankfully, she agreed. Problem solved! So here she is!

Okay, so don't be too jealous, Flannery...but I have a new BFF! And her name is Susan Elizabeth Phillips.  Granted it might not be totally reciprocal just yet, but we'll get there! I just know it! 

The reason I have decided that we are besties is that she threw the MOST fabulous book event, ever, ever, ever this past Sunday.  Her new book, The Great Escape, comes out on today (July 10th), so she is just kicking off her supporting book tour (more on the book later!).  

First of all, let me just tellllllllll you about the venue.  It was hosted by Lutz Cafe and Pastry Shop, and this place is like a sweet Bavarian dream. An unassuming little shop front opens into an adorable bakery - with a pastry case full of jaw-droppingly beautiful goodness, and as you wander to the back, there is a fabulously formal dining room with linen table cloths and gorgeous place settings.  Through the back door is a patio area with several tables under umbrellas nestled into a beautifully landscaped garden, with a little fountain in the middle.  It really felt like we had stepped into a German mountaintop scene.  So while we were swooning over this, the group of girls I arrived with - which included Sarah of the Brazen Bookworm (a fab book blog everyone should read), snagged a table with a great view.  Then we were able to purchase advance copies (!!!) of the book, from local independent bookstore, Anderson's.  As an aside, I love that SEP is such a supporter of independent bookstores.  She is from the Chicago suburbs, and has been using Anderson's for book events forever (one of the many points in her favor for bestie-dom).  

And then! The grand entrance! SEP walks in (wearing a super cute dress and little heels), and just starts walking table to table introducing herself and chatting with everyone.  She came up to our table and asked us each our names and what we do for a living - and was very excited to hear that there were representatives from two different book blogs!  She chatted with us about her drive in from Naperville (a Chicago suburb about 45 minutes from downtown),  told a few funny stories, and was just generally charming.  

As she moved on to another table, we were offered our choice of coffee or tea and a dessert selection from that amazing display.  Seriously, this was the best $10 ticket I have ever purchased.  I am not 100% sure what was in my pastry - but it was delicious and amazing and heart-shaped: 

So onto the actual talking about books! The set up was really conducive to a casual and informal conversation, rather than SEP standing at a podium in a more formal or structured event.  Apparently, she has been asking her publisher to arrange more events like this because she really loves getting a chance to meet and interact with her readers (another point on her bestie score card).  So she just stood up and started telling some stories about her recent European book tour.  I think it is so interesting to know where certain books do so, so well - and then where they totally flop.  SEP said that her books have not done terribly well in France or Italy, but that the Germans go CRAZY for her stuff.  So much so, that when she was there, she had an entire entourage of people travelling with her to see to her every need (which she said was so so fun and felt very fancy!).   Apparently the British are not fans of her books, AT ALL - the British branch of her publisher won't even sell them there, because her books are "too American" - isn't that crazy?!  Those Brits don't know what they are missing.  Part of her tour was also in Croatia and Slovenia - and SEP noted that while her books (and the whole romance genre) tends to do very well there, there are very few, if any, homegrown romance novelists from any of those countries.  

She also shared some funny stories and mishaps from her tour - things like being afraid of birds and totally losing it at a fancy lunch when a bird flew into the restaurant, and waiting to make a big splashy entrance at an event, only to completely faceplant into her translator.  Haha, it was just too funny - she summed it up nicely that when someone gets into as many ridiculous situations as she does, "Well, its just hard to try to be sophisticated!" (down to earth = another point!).  So then she launched into a trivia game, which was hysterical.  She asked that we not reveal her questions since I think she will be continuing to play this game on her tour and it would ruin the fun to give away the answers.  But they were fun and funny questions about previous books, her characters and their backgrounds.  (likes playing games = CLEARLY a point in her favor).  

When we started talking about the actual new book, The Great Escape, SEP pointed out that she just can't talk about this one without also talking about her previous book, Call Me Irresistible.  She did note, however, that she doesn't really think of any of her books as part of a series, but rather that since all of her characters live in the same world, they just have a habit of showing up in her other books.  When she set out to write Call Me Irresistible, she really wanted to tell Ted Beaudine's story.  Ted is a character who first showed up in Fancy Pants as a little boy, and then we see him again in Lady Be Good, this time as a recent college graduate.   Phillips said that she just loves Ted as a character, and that when she wrote about him in Fancy Pants as a child, her two sons were just around his age, so Ted became a little bit of both of her sons, which apparently is the only time that she has created a character based on someone she knew in real life.  So while SEP loved his character, so did all of her readers, and apparently she was regularly pestered to tell his story.  Then SEP wrote First Lady and she just fell in love with the character Lucy Jorik. The first time I read First Lady, I totally thought Lucy was the best character I had read in awhile - she is fiesty and pissed off and super protective of her baby sister, and just heartbreaking.  Love it.  

Anyways, SEP totally thought that Lucy and Ted would be absolutely perfect for each other...until she realized that they both WERE just too perfect and are too 'together' to be good for one another.  Which is why Meg Koranda, first seen in What I Did For Love, had to show up and get that wedding derailed.  This point is where The Great Escape starts - Lucy realizes that Meg was right when she said that marrying Ted would be a huge mistake, so just before she walks down the aisle she calls of the wedding and runs away.  (Not a spoiler, don't worry.  That part is all in the GR summary).  When SEP was working on Call Me Irresistible and announced that Ted and Lucy weren't going to end up together, apparently people were SUPER pissed at her - she laughingly admitted that she got hate mail over it! Sheesh.   

Phillips originally thought that she would be able to tell Lucy's story as a subplot of Call Me Irresistible, but as she got deeper into the story, she decided that there was more to the story and that it really needed to be its own book (thanks for that!!).  So she pulled everything that she could about Lucy's story out of the book.  There were just two phone calls between Meg and Lucy that had to be kept - so SEP knew that whatever else she did as she was writing The Great Escape, she HAD to get to those two plot points.  The story of Lucy and Panda (ugh, that name, I KNOW), got a whole book to sort out their messy situations.   (Note from Flann: PANDA? SERIOUSLY?)

Here is a brief summary of the Q&A:

What's next? 
Working on a new book but is still pretty early on in the process so she wouldn't share any more than the fact that it will be a total stand alone, which she knows "everyone will moan and groan and whine about."  

What is her writing routine? 
When she started writing, she decided to approach it like any other job - "just as if I was a secretary and simply had to go to work everyday." She writes everyday, even on weekends, when she can, so she doesn't lose the flow of the story.  She also uses a digital timer and makes herself get in three solid hours of writing time every day.  If she has to get up for a snack, or answer the phone, or go to the bathroom, or do some research, the timer gets paused until she starts writing again.  It sounds like a pretty awesome plan, actually.  She said that she uses this technique when she feels like she has to force herself to do anything - cleaning out closets, or folding laundry, or whatever. Decide how much time you are going to commit to it, and then set your timer.  I miiiiiiight have to try that out (since I am grossly procrastinating on my thesis writing).  

What is your favorite book? 
"My favorite book is always the one that I have just finished. And my least favorite book is always the on I am currently working on. Always!"

Do you read your own reviews? 
She said that she does sometimes.  There have been some online reviews (on Amazon for example) that she found really thoughtful and well-done.  But she said that oftentimes, readers fall in love with an author's voice in one book and then want the author to keep retelling that same story so they are frustrated with any different stories or types of material.  And then there are some reviews that are just "damn stupid." 

Who are your favorite characters?
She mentioned three characters that she just loved and knew that she had to know what their stories were: 
1. Bobby Tom Denton (first in It Had to Be You, unfortunately one of the worst cover art situations I have ever seen), then in Heaven, Texas
2. Dean Robillard (first in Match Me if You Can, one of my all-time favorites, and my usual recommendation for where to start with SEP books), then in Natural Born Charmer
3. Finally, of course, Ted Beaudine (we've got him covered) 

Did you always want to be an author? 
"Oh god no, I wanted to be a movie star! Being an author was my fall back career!"  She apparently studied theater in college, and taught high school theater before she started writing.  She said she started so she could write the books that she wanted to read.  (Loves reading romance books = another BFF point earned).  

What romance authors do you love to read? 
Jayne Ann Krentz and Kristen Hannah.

So there it is folks!  We finished up the Q&A, and then she stuck around to make sure that she signed everything that anyone wanted to get signed, and took pictures with everyone who came (more points, DUHZ).  Susan Elizabeth Phillips was already an insta-buy author for me, but getting a chance to meet her and hear her talk about books and her writing, and telling stories really made me love her so much more as an author.  If she is going to be anywhere near you in her upcoming tour I highly recommend that you make the effort to go! You won't regret it.  I'm not sure how that math for becoming my best friend works out, but she got a LOT of points, so I'm pretty sure its all going to come together nicely.  (Note from Flann: So it's over just like that?! Gosh, 10 years down the drain.)

Final note, courtesy of The Huffington Post last week.  Hopefully this will NEVER be useful...but hey, you never know!: 6 Things You Shouldn't Say To A Runaway Bride.

Thanks for having me!!   

No, thank YOU, Maureen, our little intrepid reporter!

Have any of you read Susan Elizabeth Phillips' novels? Thinking of giving them a try? 

Seraphina (Seraphina #1)
Author: Rachel Hartman
Publication Date: 7/10/12
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
[Goodreads|Amazon]

Blurb(GR): Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page.

Review:

Fantasy lovers, rejoice!

This is an amazing debut novel, and I feel confident that we have a new series to devour, covet, and hoard ARCs of in a cave somewhere. Not that I do that.

This is the story of two societies, diametrically different, but living together under a fragile peace treaty. The dragons are analytical thinkers who don’t understand emotion, art, or music. They view emotion and attachment as distasteful and are taught strict control. But the humans are interesting to them, in an intellectual sense, and so they begin to transform themselves - to take human shape and study human behaviors. And as any two societies who live side by side, the humans and the dragons collide, damage, and change one another irrevocably. Seraphina is the product of that change: a human/dragon hybrid born from a dragon mother who found that she could love passionately and couldn’t go back. Seraphina is an abomination, and can’t reveal her true identity for fear of violent intolerance. 

This is fantasy at its absolute best: the landscape and inhabitants, customs, religion, language, and conflicts might be completely imaginary, but they are also so completely fathomable and rife with emotional honesty. Fantasy allows us to take up the role of outsider, explorer, looking in and discovering for the first time. But the amazing thing is that for all its foreignness, fantasy can gift us with so much real insight into our own society. It's as if, by acting as outsiders, we can see everything more clearly.

That’s what I felt when I read this book. This could very well be a book about civil rights, or women’s rights, or gay rights. Seraphina is born into an identity that she didn’t choose, and must deal with the shame, the lies, and a future without true connection to anyone. And just like in our own society, there are those who view any kind of novelty or change as a threat to their very existence. 

This is a serious book, but it also made me laugh, sigh, and struggle with a lump in my throat. Seraphina is a completely inspiring heroine, beautiful in her vulnerability and naked bravery. The romance is a true meeting of the minds; I’m not sure that I even know what Lucian Kiggs really looks like. The writing is lovely (what a gorgeous opening paragraph!) and truly got under my skin in a few places. There were only a few times where I felt like a little bit less would have made more of an impact. But there is so much potential here; I suspect that this author will only get better.

And I will never, ever underestimate the seductive power of math.

Perfect Musical Pairing
Bjork – Joga

I kept returning to Bjork while reading this. Her new album is (like her others) highly experimental. She uses uncommon musical structure and even some brand new instruments that she’s invented. The album comes with a downloadable app so that listeners can “interact with” the music. After reading this book, I can only conclude that Bjork is a human-dragon hybrid.

This is one of my favorites of hers, and I think that the lyrics and the mood can relate so heavily to the dragons, in human form, and experiencing strong emotions that they can’t decipher.

”You don't have to speak
I feel
Emotional landscapes
They puzzle me
Confuse

Then the riddle gets solved and you push me up to this
State of emergency
How beautiful to be”

4.5/5 Stars 


You can read a prequel for this book (The Audition) for free here.  And of course, this book is officially released TOMORROW!  We are also very excited to announce that Rachel Hartman will be joining us in the next few weeks.  We are happy to report that she is a very busy lady these days.  Congratulations Rachel!

I remembered very little about this book before I reread it for this blog post and I'd never seen the movie. As far as Roald Dahl books go, even though I enjoyed it, James and the Giant Peach is not among my favorites. Talking animals (or bugs) are just not my bag, though I know a lot of people who love them. (maybe even a coblogger of mine) As usual, I watched the movie directly after the book. After doing so, I am so tempted to just write, "No. Just no." and call it a post written. Because of all the fantastical elements of the book, I understand and applaud the moviemakers for choosing to use claymation for portions of the film. The colors used in the movie are beautiful--it seems such a weird thing to compliment, a nice color palette--and I did enjoy the way the movie was filmed. Also, you must know that I am grasping for things that I enjoyed when I am complimenting the colors in the film, no matter how truthful my statement is. There was just more disappointment than entertainment in this movie for me to enjoy it.

Problem #1: Kill 'Em Dead

In the book, kickin' it Dahl style, James' awful aunts, Sponge and Spiker are killed when the gigantic rolling peach flattens them into the ground. Suitably comical way to die for a children's book. In the movie, they are inside a car when the peach rolls over them and they appear in the ending. I was happy that the movie didn't  tone down the extent of their cruelty but why aren't they dead? Not that I personally need it to be very dark, but it is more true to Dahl's book, so why not just kill them off? At the end of the movie, the aunts come after him in New York to exert their power over him and all the people/insects end up capturing the aunts, tying them up, and unmentioned wigs fall off their heads. I suppose the filmmakers wanted the primary villains to run throughout the film.

Problem #2: New York, New Yoooooork 

James and his friends are on a magical adventure in the book and New York is a surprise destination--they don't know where they are until they get there. I've thought about this one for a while and I don't see why the filmmakers had to run the whole dream of New York through the movie. In the beginning of the film, as in the book, James and his parents are living an idyllic life.  There is a similar scene where James is shown having a day holiday at the beach with his parents. However, in the movie, they introduce an analysis of clouds, one of which looks like the Empire State Building and James' father gives him a brochure of NYC to set up his dream of going there. Then his parents get mauled by a runaway rhino, you know, as you do. (at least in a Roald Dahl book) So many of Dahl's books are about horrible people getting their comeuppance and about escaping terrible realities. (or terrible possibilities) I didn't like that the whole movie became about getting to New York. The book gives a feeling of mental escape from James' horrible guardians who mistreat him. The movie is more like a running away story.

Problem #3: If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It (OR DELETE IT!)

Claymation gives you lots of opportunities to create fantastical scenes. For example, if there is a cool scene in the book where the insects and James are attacked by a huge school of sharks, it might be cool to include that in the movie. Or not. Instead, the film features a single mechanical shark that shoots harpoons into the peach.

Or maybe the entire section of the voyage where James and his friends fly up into the clouds and realize that cloud-men are making hailstones, Centipede hassles them, there is a snowball fight, and then the characters literally crash through a rainbow. This would be cool to see, right? Well it isn't in the movie. Instead, there is an underwater scene (I know this whole movie is fiction but seriously, bugs underwater?) with pirates, a search for a compass, and Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas. (not kidding) Why not just leave the cool scene as it was? It sounds horrible to say but it really made me wonder if they'd already had a bunch of clay Jack Skellingtons around the studio and decided to save money by using his character instead of making the ones from the book.

I totally understand a few of the changes. For example, in the movie the peach rolls over a fence which remains around the outside for the duration. It allowed for a change of scenery and for more action to take place outside of the peach. Also, the number of birds it takes to hoist the peach in the air doesn't seem like as many as described/pictured in the book but I wouldn't want to make that many claymation birds, thus, totally understandable.

Problem #4: Centipede is a Newsie

There are several different illustrated versions of the book so I'm not sure if I can generalize or not but in the version I was reading the insects were just that--large insects. No clothes and no crazy accents. In the movie, each bug has their own clothing and some have accents and magically, Centipede has turned into a Brooklyn-accented, cigar-smoking, Newsie from the 1930s. Go ahead and imagine what Newsies would've been like with a claymation centipede in the role Christian Bale played.* And while we are on the topic of musicals, this movie is only about an hour long and kids love songs so I see why some songs might've been necessary, however I don't remember any of them now (a few hours after watching the movie), they were not part of the book (though there were some songs that Centipede sang), and Randy Newman is involved in several of them. (personal preference alert) I might be wrong on this account, but it did not even sound like the lyrics to the songs were the ones from the book.  

*Note: James and the Giant Peach has a higher rating on IMDB than Newsies does. Pssht, yeah right.

Problem #5: My Own Personal Nightmares

Another weird moment from the insects came from Spider acting very maternal to James and wrapping him in her web to go to sleep. Thanks, James and the Giant Peach, for putting a visual to an ultimate nightmare of mine. Especially when it isn't in the book. 

There were a few aspects of the movie that I did enjoy. Though the actor who plays James seems to have some sort of weird accent/lisp-thing going on, he looks perfect for the part, and the claymation version of him is adorable. Like I said earlier, the visual aspect of the movie (except for the crazy nightmare part) was beautiful and I like that the film retained the dark tone of the book.  

There are very few actual actors in the movie, but I was ecstatic to find one of my favorite actors cast as the magical man who gives James the crocodile tongues. (that is how the giant peach is created) Pete Postlethwaite was such an underrated actor. (you might recognize him as Kobayashi from The Usual Suspects) The actresses who play Sponge and Spiker are similarly perfect. I should've added Spiker's teeth to the list of my personal nightmares.

When James and his friends get to New York, the peach lands on the tip of the Empire State Building.  In the book, it is just an impetus for James and his insect buddies to achieve the dreams they've hoped for--the silkworm spinning silk, the centipede becoming a runner, etc. The movie does allow for this to happen, but it mostly occurs as a series of newspaper clippings that run during the credits. Instead, the great hurrah at the end is about the aforementioned should-be-dead aunts coming after him in New York. A policeman and the crowd listen to James' story of his adventures and they realize that the aunt have treated him poorly, so his aunts end up being wrapped in insect silk and hung from a crane. (not hanged, just hung) James then lives in the peach pit in Central Park, as in the book. Though I was happy with that one aspect of the ending, I wanted to see the visualization of each of his insect friends finding their niches in America. What a missed opportunity. I'm really glad they included that random pirate scene. Not.

Honestly, I never want to see this movie again. It is not a terrible movie and if someone was unfamiliar with the book, I daresay that it would be quite enjoyable. However, there were so many unnecessary changes made to an already magical plot that the primary emotion I felt while watching was disdain. I will read the book anytime I have a hankering for James and the Giant Peach. And if you are interested in the story, pick one or the other. 

This link is for all of our Australian friends: just click on it. You won’t be sorry.  Also, have we mentioned how much we love you lately?  And that we have like… five different kinds of m&m’s over here?  Maybe even six. Just sayin’.

In related news, we’d just like to mention to our friends in L.A. and NYC that we are all very tidy houseguests, and that July is a great month for hosting visitors. 

Now that that’s out of the way, we can proceed to the most underwhelming news of the week – the cover reveal for J.K. Rowling’s forthcoming book, A Casual Vacancy. I know you want to distance yourself from that wildly popular children’s series, but really? What do you guys think about it? Is it refreshingly different or just boring?

I was both fascinated and terrified by this article – “Your Ebook is Reading You”, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal and was picked up by a few other publishing news outlets. In this new age of ereaders and ebooks, publishers and ebook retailers are gaining more information than ever before on the reading habits of their customers. Massive amounts of data, including the amount of time it takes readers to get through a certain number of pages, which passages they’ve highlighted, and whether they immediately purchased the sequel or not can all be mined from ereaders and ereading apps. From the article:

“Barnes & Noble, which accounts for 25% to 30% of the e-book market through its Nook e-reader, has recently started studying customers' digital reading behavior. Data collected from Nooks reveals, for example, how far readers get in particular books, how quickly they read and how readers of particular genres engage with books. Jim Hilt, the company's vice president of e-books, says the company is starting to share their insights with publishers to help them create books that better hold people's attention.”

Of course, Google, Amazon, Kobo, and many other publishers/retailers are also getting in on this game. Coliloquy, a small publishing company, has even released interactive ebooks where readers can choose which aspects they enjoy the most (for example, which love interest they’d like the hero/heroine to be with). That data is then sent to an author, who uses it to inform the rest of the series.

John Green also writes, in an interview with USA Today this week:

“There is a lot of talk in publishing these days that we need to become more like the Internet: We need to make books for short attention spans with bells and whistles — books, in short, that are as much like Angry Birds as possible. But I think that's a terrible idea.”

Creepy stuff, and I have to admit that there’s a part of me that feels that same “death of literature” outcry rising up – you know, the one that I openly mocked the last time I wrote an Odds & Ends post (payback is a bitch, Catie!).  

However, I’m pretty sure that publishers have been putting out clichéd, repetitive books in the attempt to hook readers for decades and I doubt that adding in a few “like” buttons will change that very much. And it turns out that even Charles Dickens responded to market research, of a sort. Margaret Atwood, who recently joined the online writing community Wattpad, “to encourage young writers” (as if we needed any more evidence that she’s a complete badass), writes in an interview with The Guardian: 

"This is nothing new. [It's] simply being reinvented by the internet... The Pickwick Papers was published serially and people would respond to the chapters by letter. That's why Sam Weller became such a big part of the book."

Great literature will always be produced, but I do wonder if this (among other things) will further encourage authors to self-publish or go with smaller publishers. It will be exciting to see how this massive shift in publishing plays out over the next decade.

Angry Robot will also soon be experimenting with a new business plan to help support indie book sellers: customers who purchase a print copy of an Angry Robot book from an indie seller will be able to download the ebook for free.

And some other examples that creativity and great literature are not dead:

Kristin Cashore gives a wonderful interview over at The New York Times – I personally loved how many questions she refused to answer (but what’s up with that crazy illustration of her face?!).

Tamora Pierce loves and reviews Seraphina by Rachel Hartman over at omnivoracious.

And just because it’s awesome, here’s a very comprehensive list of non-European fantasy written by women from The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf and Book Review.

Have a great weekend!  

Before You Go
Author: James Preller
Publication Date: 7/17/12
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
[Goodreads|Amazon]


Blurb(GR): The summer before his senior year, Jude (yes, he’s named after the Beatles song) gets his first job, falls in love for the first time, and starts to break away from his parents. Jude’s house is kept dark, and no one talks much—it’s been that way since his little sister drowned in a swimming pool seven years ago when Jude was supposed to be watching her.

Now, Jude is finally, finally starting to live. Really live. And then, life spins out of control. Again. 

Acclaimed author James Preller explores life, death, love, faith, and resilience in his first young adult novel that will grip readers from the book’s dramatic first few pages to its emotional end.

Review: 

This is one of the worst books I’ve ever read, but I say that with a bit of affection. I finished this in one evening, because it was just…riveting. I couldn’t look away! It was like this crazy mixture of horrible writing, cardboard characters, dialogue from another planet, consistency problems, and semi-poetic gibberish that all somehow combined into a slurry of pure magic. I think this phenomenon is best described by the source material itself:

“For Jude, it was like watching and enjoying a terrible movie. He loved seeing those movies with Corey, and together they spent giddy hours snorting over the best-worst movies of all time. Classics such as Roadhouse, Anaconda, The Beastmaster, and the all-time best worst, Plan 9 From Outer Space. The thing was, you absolutely had to know it was bad – that’s what put the fun in the funny. But if someone like liked it without irony: Yikes, that was plain scary.”

Scary indeed.  (Also, seriously Jude?  Beastmaster?  That’s just a classic!) Thankfully I do not “like like” this book, so I think I’m okay.

I did, however, learn a great deal here.  Or I would have if I were an alien pod person just visiting Earth for the first time.  In fact I would say that this book reads quite a lot like an instruction manual on teenagers and pop-culture, as written by an alien pod person.  And it really is every bit as awesome as that sounds.  There’s this sort of adorable need to explain each and every pop culture reference throughout the book.  For example, I learned all about the various rules and procedures of this thing that boys do called “calling shotgun” in the two page description the author so helpfully provides.  And, did you know that the word “frak” actually comes from a show called Battlestar Galactica?  And that there was once a popular SNL sketch featuring Christopher Walken and a cow bell?  Did you know that Donnie Darko is a “first rate cult classic”?  Did you know about the popularity of Chuck Norris jokes? The Big Lebowski? Austin Powers?  Did you know that there was a highly “underrated” band in the 80’s and 90’s called The Cure?

Get right outta town!

This book also has some hilariously just-wrong-enough-to-sound-incredibly-weird “modern” teenage slang (unless I’ve just been out of the loop for too long):

“You getting your bronze on?”
“Go friend her….  Go click on the like button.” (about talking to a person in real life)
“he’s power-trippin’”
“carny tang”
“I’m starverated”
“about as scary as a cucumber sandwich”
“it never went viral” (about a nickname’s popularity in his high school)
“Almost two thousand balloons,” Becka said.  “My parents are willing to go halfsies.”
“…greeted each other like long-lost Ping-Pong partners.”
“so tacky it rocked the house”
“wearing shorts and some kind of spaghetti-string top”
“…cute as all get-go.”
“Jude was sure that half the crowd was buzzed on something, tripping the light fantastic.”
“freak-tarded”

So okay, this book is pretty informative, but what is it about (I hear you say)? Well, the short answer is: I have no idea. And the long answer is that it’s about Jude, who is having a pretty rough time. His sister died in a tragic drowning accident, and his life has never been the same. His dad neglects him by asking him to go out running but then insisting that he wear shoes and time himself. His mom neglects him by keeping their home dark, killing their plants (they have to get a plastic Christmas tree!!), and leaving him to cook his own meals from their well-stocked refrigerator. He’s passing all of his classes, hates the taste of beer, is mildly afraid of girls, and dislikes the “leering, crude, funny, sex-obsessed” talk of his peers. He’s a master guitar player who almost never plays or practices. And he’s just gotten his first job at a beach concession stand. Can he learn to throw off all of his obvious ennui and live, damn it, live?

Yes, as it turns out – he can. And the instrument of this change is of course, a girl. A quirky, “singular” girl with possibly a few “exotic…Mediterranean roots in her family tree.” A girl who blows his mind with her unique views on life and her profound words:

“Becka shifted and lay on her back, resting her head in Jude’s lap. Looking skyward, she observed, ‘It’s a tie-dye sky.’  Jude laughed.  Only Becka could see the world that way.”

Oh, you.

“I always think of the earth as a round ball, just spinning in space,’ Becka said. ‘Close your eyes.  Can you feel it?”

Gosh, this is such a coincidence, because I always think of it that way too. Huh.

“’It’s a miracle we don’t fly away,’ Becka said, her voice a whisper.  ‘The earth spinning around and around – you’d think we’d all just fall off.’”

A miracle!!

“They say each star is a soul looking down on us.”

I know they say some other things about stars…like that they’re giant masses of…something or other, but eh this sounds better.

“’When you cry,’ she said, ‘I taste salt.’”

Dude, are you licking my face right now?  Or have my tears somehow… vaporized and floated over to your… mouth?  Either way it’s super weird.

“My mother says that people don’t have souls; we are souls.”

I think your mom’s been plagiarizing C.S. Lewis.

But wait – that’s not all! This book also has an amaaaaazing sense of humor. Observe:

“’He was up all night, calling Ralph on the big white telephone!’  That got a laugh from everyone.”

Barf humor really is pure gold.

“’Anyone need anything?’
‘Curly Fries,’ Jude said.
‘I’ll take the redhead on lane six’, Corey ordered.
'To go!’”

Ha…

“After a poor shot from Jude that left pins at each end, Roberto announced, ‘Hey, split happens.’”

Who doesn’t love a little wordplay?

“Daphne was next, a pale small blonde with bee-stung lips and dark bags under her eyes. She was either sick, undernourished, or a future runway model. Roberto had already joked that he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to bang Daphne or rush her to the emergency room. Which was pretty funny if you asked Jude.”

Gosh, thin girls are so funny!!! Should we seduce them or force them to seek medical help? It’s a laugh riot of confusion!

But wait (seriously) – there’s more. If this were an infomercial, we’d be past the 50% discount and onto the free knife set. Only in this case, it would be a free thesaurus because this book is like a synonym gold-mine. For a single word. Because these characters are super fancy and they don’t like to just “say” things (how boring!). Instead we get:  explained, agreed, asked, argued, joked, enthused, announced, lamented, instructed, urged, advised, exclaimed, replied, yelled, opined, corrected, complained,  cracked, and solemnly intoned.

And not only that, there is some seriously fancy writing in here.  Witness:

“Gladness flickered on Becka’s face, like wind in the trees.”

I’m picturing her face flashing from glad to blank…glad-blank…glad-blankglad-blankgladblank.

“The idea was not to think or feel, just go dull and dim like a mushroom in the rain.”

Like a…mushroom…in the rain. I think that one speaks for itself. (Seriously, is that a thing that I just don't know about?  Do mushrooms go dull in the rain?)

“Lily was dead and that was that, no other way to skin the cat, yet she came to his mind every day. A visitor, a neighbor ringing the bell. Here to borrow a cup of sugar? Or with some other intent?”

I hate it when my dead sister stops by my head to borrow a cup of sugar.

“The cage that protected his inner organs – kidney, liver, heart – had failed to protect him. The music stirred something in his plum heart, some desolate place the words could not reach, and the bird had flown. He thought how one day he might write a song and use that same organ sound, figured on the spot how to transcribe the notes to guitar. The heart too was an organ. A pumping mass of muscle. It would be a song without words, emotion in each note’s fuzz and intonation, the struck chord glimmering like a sun-blazoned ocean, like explosions in the sky, and he’d call the tune ‘My Sweet Zombie Boy.’”

I honestly have no idea what this means. It’s a mystery…and therein lies its brilliance.

There were even a few moments at the end when I was 90% convinced that this was going to suddenly, out of the blue become a Christian novel  but sadly it never quite made it there. That really would have been the icing on the cake.

Perfect Musical Pairing
Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting - All For Love

I know that I just snarked all over this book, but it was actually an unintentionally (?) fun read.  It reminds me so much of this song (and its amazing video).  No doubt that this is one of the worst songs in the entire history of time, and yet it never fails to get stuck right in my head.  I love the whole opening – where Sting, Rod Stewart, and Bryan Adams are just hangin’ out…just joking around in their carefully constructed outfits and hair…justa coupla guys.  And the lyrics are just so perfect – nonsensical and cliché (I’m looking right at you, Mr. Adams).  I love the ridiculously dramatic poses that they all throw out while singing – like they just can’t contain these feelings.  (And I wonder if Rod Stewart managed to throw out his back as well with one of those – you aren’t exactly in a boy band, guys.  Take it down a notch.)  This song is the epitome of “so bad it’s good.”

1/5 Stars

Somewhat middling reviews all around last month... although we all ended up at least liking our picks. However, this month we are going to try something a little bit different. We've called in an expert! Karen is a seasoned veteran bookseller, the most popular reviewer on goodreads (where she also runs a reader's advisory group), and she recently presented at ALA about reader's advisory in the digital age. She is one of our favorite reviewers and is incredibly knowledgeable about books in just about every genre and age range you could name. If anyone can find us a great read, it's her!  We're more nervous about finding books for her. Is there anything she hasn't read yet?  

Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

What it's about: Set in early 20th century Mexico, it's a story of Tita who is prohibited by her mother to marry the man she passionately loves. As Tita's lover decides to marry her sister to be closer to his beloved, Tita has nothing left but to suffer in silence. And cook delicious food that she infuses with magic of her explosive feelings.

Why I think she'll like it:  The fact that Karen will read, literally, anything (from picture books to monsterporn to obscure fiction that maybe a hundred people ever read) makes recommending books to her both very easy and very challenging. I mean, I am sure whatever I suggest she will finish, but will she like it? That is the question. At first I was going to get her to read Darkferver, for completely selfish reasons, obviously, and see with anticipation what happens. But then I decided to make an effort to find something that had higher odds of being enjoyed by her. And if I know one thing that Karen loves, it's FOOD (have you read her weekly Adventures of Food and Fun yet?) Even if she doesn't like the story of Like Water For Chocolate, she will at least appreciate the recipes.

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

What it's about: A very realistic portrayal of twisted female friendship in high school.  Regina Afton is a former member of the in-crowd who is now shut out and forced to face the ugliness of her own actions, as well as daily bullying from her former best friends.

Why I think she'll like it:   I'm surprised that Karen hasn't read anything from Courtney Summers yet, because I think she'd really like her books.  They're gritty, often disturbing, and never simple.  This one is particularly scary.  I know that Karen loves survival stories  - and what's more extreme than surviving suburban high school...particularly when it's populated by evil, violent psychopathic girls?  Karen enjoyed Before I Fall, (which  - full disclosure - I haven't read) and this gets a lot of comparisons to that book.  But I think this one is darker, and I know the ending is a lot more unresolved.

The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

What they're about: The Wednesday Wars is about a Long Island Jewish seventh-grader who has to stay and spend time with his teacher while the rest of the kids in his class go to religious instruction. Okay for Now is about a side character from TWW who moves with his family from Long Island to a small town a few hours away. His home life leaves much to be desired but he is very much affected by several members of the town. 

Why I think she'll like them: Technically, I've picked two books for Karen, but I'll only hold her to one. The reason I've included both is because they are middle grade books and both absolutely lovely.  Also, I know how quickly she reads so I am confident she could knock both out in one day if she felt like it. Karen reads pretty much any genre but I specifically picked The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt for her because of one review she wrote. She gave When You Reach Me, the 2010 Newbery winner by Rebecca Stead five stars and said, " Sure... it is intended for children but it is a sweet, sad book about friendship and family and sacrifice that most adults could really appreciate." I had very similar feelings about When You Reach Me and these two books. They are intended for middle readers but I absolutely loved both of them because they carried so much weight despite their intended audience. I also know that two of Karen's good friends, Greg and Ariel, have both read this and 4-star or higher enjoyed it. To quote Karen on Greg's review thread, "Someday I will read this maybe." Muahahaha, that time has come, Karen. Knock knock. 

like water for chocolate

i know, how have i never read this one? it is supposed to be one of the great examples of magical realism, and i love me some magical realism, so it is high time i read it.. thank you for the kick in the pants. 

and i do love food. love it. it keeps me alive.

wednesday wars and okay for now

ariel has been talking up w-wars to me for aaaaages. i guess my only excuse for not having read it before is because i just don't read a lot of middle grade stuff, even though there are some that i have read as an adult that i have enjoyed. they are so short! i always look at the middle-grade stuff i have here, and i am like, "if i take that to work, i am going to finish it on the subway, and then i will have to take a second book, and that means i will have to sign TWO books in at work..." and it just exhausts me, having to choose a secondary book. but - ah - now i have two, and this makes the decision for me! awesome!

some girls are 

i know i have read reviews of this before, but it never really called out to me. however, in a flash of synchronicity, i had planned to start this is not a test today, so - weird. and i just got burn for burn at ALA, which is another "mean girls" book, so it looks like it is time for me to branch out and read more realistic YA instead of the dystopian stuff that is my bread and butter. 

The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
Serena by Ron Rash
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

What They're About:

the go-between is about a young boy's exposure into the world of adult entanglements, and the effect one summer has on his adult life.

serena is basically macbeth set in a logging community in north carolina in the 1920s. 

winesburg, ohio is a series of interconnected stories that take place in a small town whose inhabitants have larger dreams than their circumstances. 

Why I Think She'll Like Them: 

i am mostly responding to the heavy-on-the-thomas-hardy love we share. i think our reading tastes are the most compatible of the three of y'all, and these three books are among my favorites. the go-between is full of the situational complications of which hardy is so fond, and my memory of the book is that hartley describes the english countryside in a similarly glorious way as hardy; with nature itself mirroring and enhancing the action. i could be projecting, but i am pretty sure. however, i am entirely sure that the book itself is wonderful, and it is a heart-wrenchingly beautiful story of that first love, and the chasm between dreams and social position. in a lot of ways, it is like, "what if proust could have edited himself down to just the basics?"

serena is just gorgeous. do i need to say more? i will! this also has great descriptions of nature but they are not the nostalgic remembrances of a summer of promise, this nature will mess you up. it is very dark, and there will be violence, but it also has one of the best female leads in any book ever. it is at once about the evils of ambition and the danger of trees. trees!

winesburg draws on the frustration of circumstances as well, and it has a very steinbeckian feel. this also feels hardy-like to me, but like jude, where characters want to rise above what they have been dealt, and if they can't, at least they can tell their stories to the one that does have the chance to get out, so that a part of them will exist outside of their small-town existences. 

I had not previously heard of any of these selections except Winesburg, Ohio (and even that one was only vaguely), and that makes me very happy.  Of course, the first thing I did after reading the above paragraphs was head right over to goodreads to read karen's reviews and oh my god - her review of Winesburg, Ohio completely hooked me.  "this book is life - it is tender and gentle and melancholy and real. not everything works out according to plan here, but what ever does? that's not necessarily depressing, it's just a reality that can either be moped over and dwelled upon, or accepted and moved on from."  That sounds like something I would love and also reminds me of how I feel whenever I read Thomas Hardy.  And Serena sounds so incredible too - really brutal and I love that it has an eeeeevvil female MC.  Plus, Macbeth in the woods?  With scary trees?  Sounds amazing!  I am very sad that karen has not reviewed The Go-Between but it also sounds really interesting - tense and evocative and I'm intrigued by the child POV.  I am going to have a really hard time choosing one of these...plus...I put this post together and I'm seriously interested in a few of the picks for Flannery and Tatiana.  I'm very excited!

A Drama in Muslin by George Augustus Moore
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

What They're About: 

drama in muslin takes place in ireland in the 1880's and revolves around a group of women trying to make the most socially and financially advantageous matches for their eligible daughters. 

lullabies is about a young girl in montreal, growing up on the wrong side of the canadian tracks with a junkie father and hooligan friends.

book of night women is about a slave rebellion on a plantation in jamaica in the 18th century.

Why I Think She'll Like Them: 

drama in muslin is an easy sell. tatiana loves jane austen, and this is very much like austen, in a lot of ways. marriage is the ultimate goal, but these mothers treat it like a battle, and there are machinations and plotting and moore really brings the situation to life with his writing. the social and sexual politics of the smaller story work well into the larger political situation in ireland, and these poor girls are just little chess pieces to their scheming mothers, and there are ever so many balls.

the other two are more responses to tatiana's claim in her profile page that she likes book "that shock, delight, scare, make me uncomfortable, tickle my imagination, make me think or cry (but not in a Nicholas Sparks way), intense, but non-exploitative books."

i think both of these books are shocking, in their own way. lullabies is the gentler of the two, but it is apples and oranges. it is only gentler because the narrator is so young, she doesn't recognize a lot of what is going on around her for what it is. that is the strength of this book, we as readers see what is happening, but it is being interpreted by her innocent eyes, and everything is like a game to her. but the consequences are real. night women is rough. really rough. the violence is horrific, and nothing is spared. but lilith... she is an incredible character. a very complicated character, definitely, but a true original. this is in dialect, which i am not sure about, for you, if that is something that turns you off. but if you really want something intense that is going to make you uncomfortable in a true-feeling, non-exploitative way, this is your book. intense doesn't begin to cover it. 

Verdict:

The only thing I can say is that I have never heard of any of these books before (the three of us seem to be in the same boat), and yet, the way Karen puts it, they all sounds right up my alley, particularly A Drama in Muslin. I also suspect she might have read my mind, because I've been craving books set in foreign countries for a while. So, yeah, I look forward to checking them all out, especially because I am not familiar with the novels and therefore had no opportunity to have a pre-emptive opinion (read: prejudices) about them, which hinders many of my reading experiences. Off to check which books my library has...

flannery was the most difficult. there were several i had planned to suggest, but they were already on her to-read shelf!! and i am no cheater. and this morning, i have changed my mind at least three different times and had to delete all of my suggestions and start over from scratch.

but these are my offerings.

Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff
The Sea Came in at Midnight by Steve Erickson
George & Rue by George Elliot Clarke

What They're About: 

set this house in order is about what happens when two characters with mpd meet and try to get to the bottom of a long-buried family secret.

sea takes place in san francisco, mainly, in the pre-millennial days. it is about many many things, and is hard to describe using plot alone. this one is a risky recommendation, because it is so much one of my favorites, but it is so hard to say why. 

george and rue is a fictionalized account of the author's ancestors and their crimes and punishments against the backdrop of racial inequality in canada in the 40s.

Why I Think She'll Like Them:

set this house could go on your "seattle" shelf, and i know you have read a few books about mental illness, and enjoyed them. this one has a less-than-gentle start, just in terms of situating the reader, but i think once it gets going, it is not difficult to understand. also, you know more about it going into it than i did, because i never read the back cover before i started reading it. oops.

sea came in. this book is a little tricksy, but incredibly rewarding if you let yourself go in it. i think you have a solid enough background in sci-fi/fantasy stuff that the structure of this, and the little magical/metaphysical flourishes will not turn you off, and since you have read a bunch of post-apoc stuff, this is a nice balance, because it deals with that impending sense of unidentifiable, but certain, doom. and it is mind-blowing. 

george and rue. you like mystery books, what about crime fiction? what about beautifully-written crime fiction that is both violent and jarring, and emotional and sympathetic? i know you can handle the violence of it, based on some of your readings, and it is a fantastic book that more people should read. so i am throwing it to you. 

Verdict: I am beyond excited about this. Sometimes we use this feature to force our cobloggers to choose (or have a 33.33% of choosing) a book that's lingered on her to-read shelf for months or even years. When I scrolled down to Karen's recommendations and the bit where she said that I had some of her recommendations on my to-read shelf so she picked different ones? It made me ecstatic. (I think the three of us chat so much that we've shared  many if not all of our favorites with each other. It's  a little incestuous blog we run here. It's nice to get some new blood. Okay, now I sound like a vampire. ) I've never even heard of all three of these books. I will acquire all of them and then do my mood, cover, jacket copy, and friend review analysis and get going. I am glad she picked across three genres as well because I have been really fickle lately--I do love mental illness books, crime fiction, and I have a soft spot for any book that a reader I trust calls "one of their favorites." I truly have no clue which one excites me most but I'm raring to go on this. Thanks, Karen!

We are so grateful that Karen volunteered to use her amazing reader's advisory skills and love of books for a great cause. All three of us have been feeling some fatigue about reading and I (F) think that a large part of it might be that we often talk about the same books--the ones we love most, the ones our mutual friends/bloggers recently reviewed, the ones everyone knows that we intend to read, and the ones we are writing about soon. We are excited to get moving on these fresh recommendations. Thanks for joining us,  Karen! We'll report back on how our reading experiences unfold.

If you'd like to ask Karen for more recommendations, join her reader's advisory group on Goodreads. You can follow her reviews or friend her here. 

If Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter can be made into a movie, it seems like just about anything is fair game. As readers, our imaginations are always working on overdrive. It is part of the adventure of reading a book to visualize the characters and the setting, but many of us go so much farther than that. We imagine who'd play each character in a movie version of the book, what the scenes would feel like, how the dialogue would sound, and even things like what songs would be perfect background music to a scene in that hypothetical movie. Today, Catie and I (Flannery) are going to discuss a few of the titles we've read that we would love to see adapted for the big screen or as television series. 

So I made a list of books I'd love to see made into movies or television shows...and it was unwieldy. For that reason, I've decided to only include a few books that I believe could actually be made into successful movies/shows and not just the ones I'd like to see myself. If box office success or steady ratings/audience numbers were not in consideration, I could dream all day long. Don't worry, I'll include the remainder of my list at the bottom of my section so we can discuss. Here goes nothing.

One of my favorite books of the last year or so is Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls, a somber middle grade book about a boy whose mother fights a losing battle with cancer and that features the seriously amazing artwork of Jim Kay. (check out  Jo's interview with Jim Kay over at Wear the Old Coat) The black, white, and gray of the illustrations completely captures the dark emotional tones of the book. I'd love to see this book made into a movie, and the perfect people to do it are...

The creators of the Limbo video game . The game has a very similar color scheme and darkness to it and I'd love to see a grayscale cartoon version of the book. Of course, if they could integrate Kay's sketches into the backgrounds and use his overall style, all the better. I think I'd like to hear Neil Gaiman narrate this movie, as I love his voice, but I haven't heard Ness speak so perhaps he'd be better suited to it. Either way, it should be a male British narrator. 

Starfleet Academy. Game, set, match. It hasn't been done and it needs to be done. I am obsessed with "young adult books in space" but I'm on special lookout for a school in space. This television series could be perfect for me. Just think of it--training missions, competitions, romance, aliens, the future. This one has me high on potential, but I don't want it to cross over into the purely camp-zone. If the production level was high enough, this could last for an epic number of seasons. Sort of like Skins, with cadets graduating and new classes coming in. Plus, I can pretty much guarantee that there are hundreds of storylines/writers out there in fanficdom.  

Try to even tell me that Jon Hamm doesn't already look the part to play Henry House in the movie. You can try, but you'd be dead wrong. Though I wasn't a huge fan of the book--it was just a three-star read--I think it could be very fun film. The Irresistible Henry House is about a young charming boy who is raised as a "house baby" at a university for women in home economics classes. The book follows him into adulthood and far from his childhood "home" to visit and/or work in several other cities. I think the movie would have the feel of Mad Men and portions of Catch Me If You Can.

FREEEEEDOOOOOOM! What? Oh, sorry, I was just channeling William Wallace. I might just be being selfish right now, but I truly think that Trinity as a movie could do for Ireland what Braveheart did for Scotland. Badass hero? Check. Patriotism? Check. Romance battled with the cause? Check. THOSE ENGLISH BASTARDS? Check. (Note: I am not making light of Northern Ireland's troubles. That's not funny.)  But really, Irish guys are hot and the country deserves an epic movie to make everyone remember how amazing their country is. Plus, there are heaps of Irish musicians who can play sad, sad music to make people weep their eyes out while they're watching. Or fill their hearts with utter joy. Thanks, Ireland!

To completely switch gears, I present my next case: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This movie would be like the baby of Tron, The Wizard, and Gamer.  However, the amount of name-dropping and proprietary software and copyrighted material (songs and such) that is in this book is staggering. So what I'm saying here is if you're a bigshot movie producer and you're looking for someone to work on attaining rights for all of these things so this movie can reach its kickass potential, you know how to reach me. I'd like to use my powers for as much evil as possible. I'd love to see movie characters transporting to lots of gaming worlds, having virtual parties, and atmosphere of the stacks that human beings are forced to live in in Cline's overcrowded and poor futuristic society. (check out this cool envisioning of the stacks here) Good news on this front as Warner Bros. bought the rights and Cline was hired to write the first few drafts of a script. However, I wasn't a fan of Fanboys, a movie he was involved with, so I hope my hopes aren't slashed this time.

Since I am constantly mourning with my fellow Browncoats about the end of Firefly, I think a lot of those people would love a television series of either the Veneficas Americana series by M.K. Hobson or Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series. The former is not set in space but it has a similar genre mashup that Firefly fans would love and that rogue rebellious feeling. Grimspace is more similar to Firefly in terms of a ragtag crew, a transport ship, being set in futuristic space, and awkward sexual tension. There's more technology in Grimspace, though. In my dreams, the entire Firefly production team would band back together and adapt these series to weekly television shows.

As you can see from the remainders of my lists, I'd love a contemporary YA show set in Australia, a post apoc teen show, a series of Lifetime movies about Susan Elizabeth Phillips books, and a few heartfelt adult movies, among other things.  

Movie: The Fault in Our Stars (or any John Green), Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Raw Blue, The Piper's Son, Elantris, Ender's Game, Cinder, Angelfall, Hold Me Closer Necromancer, SEP (Lifetime), Blood Red Road, Stolen, The Long Walk, Little Bee, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, The Maze Runner, Heartsick, In The Woods, Outlander, The Marbury Lens, The Game.

Television Series: Taming the Forest King, Graffiti Moon, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Thursday Next, In Death, I Hunt Killers, Curse Workers, Stray, Galahad, Grant County, Chicagoland, Fever, Immortals, Dairy Queen, Finnikin, Dark Life, Life As We Knew It, Gone series, Vampire Academy, Poison Study, Graceling, Jessica Darling, Ruby Oliver, Stork, Eon, Queen's Thief, Circle of Magic, Uglies series

Thinking about this post today has made me realize that I am an extremely visual person. Almost all of the books that immediately came to mind today are epic in their visual scope - which I love as a reader but which, as a movie-goer, I know can go horribly horribly wrong.

I mean... Cleopatra? Battlefield Earth?  Waterworld, FFS?  I don't think I need to remind you guys of how horrifically the movie industry is capable of destroying everything we hold dear as readers.  Which is why I am only willing for certain people to adapt the books I'm about to suggest.

Suggestion #1: Studio Ghibli, I would like you to meet Plain Kate by Erin Bow.

I think I would spontaneously combust if these two ever really got together.  I am a huge Studio Ghibli fangirl and I have worked tirelessly through these past six and a half years to ensure that my girls inherit my obsession. All three of us were psyched when The Secret World of Arrietty came out, and we went to see it on opening weekend here.  As the credits opened and the Studio Ghibli logo came up, my then three year old called out, "Mommy!!  It's TOTORO!!!"  In a world of crappy, repetitive kid's movies, Studio Ghibli is a breath of fresh air.

And I can see every minute of Plain Kate as a Studio Ghibli film - from the seemingly unspectacular heroine with a hidden talent, to the tricky villain with very grey motivations, to the band of gypsies who accompany our girl on her quest, to the talking cat.  I think that Studio Ghibli would hit everything about this book just right: the beautiful environment, the intricate detail of Kate's woodworking, and the devastating grief that underlies the whole story.

Suggestion #2: Tim Burton & Co., I would like you to meet China Miéville

I would love to see China Miéville's young adult novels Un Lun Dun and the more recent Railsea as animated films. They are both just so visually inventive and unique; it would be stunning to actually be able to see some of the crazy things that he describes. Although the author does include small illustrations in both stories, they really aren't enough to capture the grand scope of these novels, in my opinion. Railsea would be particularly amazing - an entire world covered in rails and navigated by train, inhabited below by giant killer moles and above by giant killer bird-monsters. And I'd like to see Un Lun Dun for the trash bin ninjas, "extreme" librarians, and the cutest milk carton ever. I think that Tim Burton could really capture at least some of China Miéville's massive imagination in one of his animated films.  I love what he did with Coraline and A Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite movies. And I firmly believe that he could succeed in making a milk carton seem cute.

I can also see Tim Burton & Co. succeeding with a live-action adaptation of Catherynne M. Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

Suggestion #3: Peter Jackson & Co., I'd like you to meet Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

I would LOVE to see this whole trilogy on the big screen (and Mr. Jackson knows his way around a trilogy).  These books have just about everything I love: cross-dressing girl heroes, derring-do, witty dialogue, mystery, talking pets, giant flying whale ships (which I didn't even realize were missing from my life until I read these). And the romance! Is so completely sweet and wonderful and the main character never loses herself to magically become a girly-girl. I would love to see these done right, but it would take someone who's completely unafraid of massive special effects. I can already see Andy Serkis in a green suit for the Perspicacious Loris twins.

And my last pick is one that is apparently going to get made. It was recently announced that Paramount is reviving plans to make a film adaptation of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Which could either be amazing, or my worst nightmare. This is another epically visual story, which moves in and out of a highly imaginative virtual realm.  It's been reported that Joe Cornish, an English writer/director (Attack of the Block, The Adventures of Tin Tin) who I had never previously heard of will be writing the screenplay and directing. I am extremely nervous about this, but I still hope that the project moves forward and that this thing gets made. If nothing else, I will have new fodder for a scathing book vs. movie post in a couple of years.

The possibilities are endless here. It seems that the number of movies being released which are based on books is increasing. We could talk about books we'd love to see translated to television or movies for hours. What would you like to see made? What would the cast look like? Who'd direct? Think your dreams will ever come true?