In Which I Talk Books (part two)(2016 Debuts)

Last week I talked about my top 5 non-arcs that I read in 2015 and today I'm talking about my top 5 2016 debuts I read in 2015 as arcs.
It's not even close to a complete list, since I'm still reading 2016 arcs, and I've read so many great ones. I could literally do weeks and weeks of posts on the 2016 debuts I've read (and, hey! Who's to say I won't do more of these posts (I'm definitely doing more of these posts)) but I have to start somewhere.

So, here we go! (in no particular order)


Cure for the Common Universe - Christian McKay Heidecker (6/14/16)

When I saw this book was about a gamer who gets sent to gaming rehab, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Because I'm a gamer and this book feels like it was written for me.
It's full of wonderful little Easter eggs and jokes that are aimed at all the other gamers out there. But even if you don't know who Leroy Jenkins is, the book is still a wonderful look at what it takes, sometimes to get something you want, and what happens when it turns out it's not what you expected. And also what kind of person you choose to be.


Learning to Swear in America - Katie Kennedy (7/5/16)

Oh man, I loved this book so much. It's about a Russian boy, who's a genius and is brought to America to help solve a crisis. The crisis is, of course, an asteroid heading straight towards earth.
So right away I was invested because I love potential disaster stories and an asteroid heading towards earth is right in my wheelhouse. But then Yuri is so wonderful. And funny. And I rooted for him so hard right from page one. I've been talking up this book a lot and can't wait to get my own copy.


Enter Title Here - Rahul Kanakia (8/2/16)

I feel like I've been talking about this book for forever, but it doesn't come out until August (sad face). But there were so many things I loved about it. On the surface it's about a girl who, in a bid to get into Stanford, tries to write a YA novel for a literary agent, and has to change how she's living her life in order to inspire her book. And all of that's true. But it's so so SO SMART. There are layers of meta stuff going on in this book (the book is the book Reshma is writing) and more than once I laughed out loud at something that took me utterly by surprise. On top of that, Reshma is a hard character to "like" which I love because there's so much BS about how teen girls in YA novels have to be "likeable" but even though she does things which would be easy to dismiss her as someone terrible, I still rooted for her from page one.
I cannot wait till this one comes out so I can tell all my friends to read it.


Shallow Graves - Kali Wallace (1/26/16)

I love horror. I grew up reading Christopher Pike. I write horror short stories. I read adult horror when I can (see Bird Box). So when this arc arrived, I was so excited to dig in. And not only was I not disappointed, I was delighted and surprised on multiple levels.
Shallow Graves is about Breezy, a murdered girl who wakes up in a shallow dirt grave a year after her death. And she sets out on a path to try and find answers as to how she can be alive (sort of) again and what happened to her.
Another book I read in almost one entire sitting, there are monsters and creatures in this that are creepy and wonderful and twists and turns that kept me guessing.


Where Futures End - Parker Peevyhouse (2/9/16)

This was one of the first 2016 arcs I read, and at first, I wasn't sure I would like it. On the surface it's a novel that's actually 5 short stories that are semi-related. It isn't normally something I read, and therefore I thought I might not like it. But I was utterly wrong.
Each story is amazing. I literally could have read a full novel of each of them. And any time I finished one of them I told myself there was no way I would like the next one as much. But then I would. And I just kept turning the pages, unable to stop reading.
It's kind of a strange book, but strange in all the best ways in that it caught me off guard, surprised me, kept me guessing, which is a hard thing for a book to do. And I hope every takes a chance on it too.


How about you? Any books you've read that took you completely by surprise?
 

In Which I Talk Books (part one)

So I read about 80 books last year, and each year I like to do a post of my top 5 or so favorite books. Not that I haven't read more than 5 amazing books, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.


Last year, though, I read a ton of 2016 arcs. So I'm splitting this post into two: one post today about my favorite books of 2015 that are already out, and one post next week about my favorite 2016 debut arcs that I've read (and that's also not all that accurate because there are plenty of 2016 debuts I haven't had a chance yet, so this list is subject to change)


But anyway, here my top 5 non-2016-debut books I read last year (in no particular order)




Glory O'Brien's History of the Future - A.S. King

I'm a big A.S. King fan, so I was super excited to read this book. And it did not disappoint. About a girl (Glory) who drinks a mummified bat (yep) and then is able to see the futures of any individual people she comes across. Which is disconcerting enough until she starts to see a pattern of a future world war coming her way.
Glory's story is fantastic, but even if there was no Glory, the secondary story about the world war is also amazing. I read this book in one sitting. I could not put it down




The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater

I absolutely LOVE Scorpio Races, so when I'd been hearing good things about this series, it didn't take much persuasion for me to pick it up. And since I was behind, 3 of the 4 books in the series were already out!
This series is hard to explain but it's about a girl who lives with her card reading, hippie psychic mother and aunsts and the 4 prep-school boys she befriends when she has a premonition about the death of one of them. There's an overall mystery across all three books, the supposed death of Gansey, and whether or not they'll be able to find the body of a celtic king, but each book also has it's own mysteries that are solved or not. I can't wait to read the last book in a few weeks.




Bone Gap - Laura Ruby

Caveat - I know Laura, she was one of my advisors for my MFA. But even if I didn't know her, or work with her, I would still love this book so much. It fully deserves it Printz award and I still wish it had won the National Book award, but that's neither here nor there.
Bone gap is about two brothers and a beautiful polish girl who comes to stay with them. But when she disappears, and the youngest brother is the only witness to her supposed kidnapping,  no one believes him because he can't describe the man who took her.
So he has to find her on his own. And along the way there are magical horses, and bees and honey, and ugly girls who are actually beautiful and beautiful girls who are kind and so much magic. Everyone should read this book. I can't wait to read it again when I have time.




Bird Box - Josh Malerman

This was a book that came my way via my sister, who got it via a co-worker who thought she'd like it. And then my mom read it. And my brother. And most of my writing group. And everyone loved it as much as I did.
Bird Box is a horror novel, about monsters (or something) that have appeared in the world. And anyone who looks at them go mad and kill everyone around them and then themselves. The story fouces on a single woman and has two timelines, the story of how everything starts, and a story of 5-6 years later, of what it's like having to live in a house, and never, ever, open your eyes outside.
It's so creepy, and the pacing is rapid fast so you cannot put it down. Highly recommend if you like creepy horror with mysteries that may or may not be solved.




Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic - David Quammen

I read a bit of non-fiction last year, and I look forward to reading more this year. This NF book not only beat out all the others, it beat out a lot of the fiction I read as well.
Spillover is an account of zoonotic diseases that led to pandemics (or could have had things gone differently) From Ebola, to Hanta to Aids, it's a fantastic accounting of the diseases that have come before, and a look at what we positively face us in the future. It's frightening and fascinating. Would recommend for people who like the movies Outbreak and Contagion or The Hot Zone




What were some of your favorite books you read last year?

ACNE, ASTHMA AND OTHER SIGNS YOU MIGHT BE HALF DRAGON Release Day!

Well my blogging hiatus stretched on my longer than I intended but what better way to come back that with a BOOK RELEASE for my friend Rena Rocford!

 

 

 

 

TITLE: Acne, Asthma, And Other Signs You Might Be Half Dragon

Pub. Date: November 23, 2015

Publisher: Curiosity Quills

Format: eBook and paperback

Find it: Amazon  |  Barnes and Nobles |  Goodreads

 

About Acne, Asthma And Other Signs You Might Be Half Dragon:

Allyson fights acne, not trolls. As an inhaler-carrying member of the asthma society, she just wants to meet the father who turned her mother into a paranoid, move-across-the-nation freak. Now she’s trying to fit in at yet another school, but for the first time in her life, she has a best friend, Beth. When Allyson accidentally spits fire at kidnappers in the mall, she realizes why her father isn’t in the picture: she’s half dragon. Her acne? Emerging scales. Her asthma? The side effects of her dragon’s fire breath. Instead of freaking out, unflappable Beth reveals her own troll heritage and explains how things work with the supernatural creatures hiding within the modern world of smartphones and skyscrapers.

When trolls kidnap a unicorn, Beth gets blamed. Allyson is determined to prove Beth’s innocence and keep her friend off the unicorn chopping block. When they start looking for the kidnappers, they get a call from the last person they expect: Allyson’s father. He tries to warn them off, but he’s been put under a spell by the kidnappers to keep the victims from escaping. Nothing short of death can stop him. Now Allyson must choose between killing the father she’s always dreamed of, or letting her best friend die for a crime she didn’t commit.

 

About the Author:

 

Living as a muggle has brought Rena some levels of success such as completing her master’s degree, but always the stories returned, calling her to the keyboard in the dark of night. Now, having built armies from words, Rena has set her sights on world domination, one book at a time. From her secret base in the wine country, Rena has enlisted the help of her cats, her loyal dogs, and her family―who can be relied upon to hide the launch codes at a moment’s notice. You can find Rena at her blog, follow her on Twitter, Goodreads, or find her on Facebook. Her debut novel, Acne, Asthma, and Other Signs You Might Be Half Dragon comes out November 23^rd, 2015.

Be sure to stop by the release party on Facebook and win some fun prizes to help along your reading fun, and maybe even a gift card or two!

I cannot wait to get my copy and I hope you can't either!

In Which I Read BONE GAP And I Think Maybe You Should Too

So, we're half way into March and I'm fairly certain I just read the best book I'm going to read all year.

Yeah. BONE GAP by Laura Ruby* is just that good. You know how you can tell I really mean it? Because I never review books. If you look through my five years of blogging, you'll find maybe one or two book reviews. If you check my Goodreads page, you'll find the same.

Mostly that's because I'm not really good at reviewing books. I'm not good at critical reading, and I'm also not really good at expressing why I like certain things (you can take a look at my end of year best books I read posts and see this is true. They're mostly paragraphs of "this book was great and I lurved it!" without much else).

But I loved BONE GAP so much, that I knew I needed to try to do a review justice. Because I think so many of you would love it too.

When beautiful Roza goes missing, no one believes Finn when he says a man took her, because Finn can't remember what the man looked like.

Roza is beautiful, a fact she's lived with all her life. And she's well aware of how some men treat beautiful women. So when a man takes her and gives her everything she could want as long as she loves him, she tells him no. And continues to tell him no.

But Roza's disappearance haunts Finn, and since he's the only one who believes she's been taken, it's up to him to find her.

BONE GAP was one of those books where I stayed up late reading it, because I couldn't put it down. Finally though, finally, I had to go to bed (you know, because stupid adulthood means responsibilities and junk. That's one thing they never tell you as a kid, that as an adult, you feel like you get even less sleep and you want it even more).

So I went to bed, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I woke up early, sat in my living room with my dogs, and finished it that morning. I read it in one day, guys. And, I mean, I do that pretty regularly because if you set aside 4-5 hours a day to read, you can read a whole book. But this wasn't even that. This was taking away from precious sleep because I needed to know what was going to happen. I was that invested in the book.

BONE GAP has so many wonderful things. It has corn that's kind of creepy. It has a man that's more than just kind of creepy. It has cats and kittens, giant dogs and black horses, bees and goats and lambs. And some of these animals are magical, and some of them aren't.

It has beautiful girls and boys and ugly girls and boys. It has girls and boys that need rescuing and girls and boys who rescue themselves.

And, finally it has magic and mystery and people broken by love and people saved by love.

I wish it had been 1,000 pages. I was super sad when it was done. I didn't want to even pick up another book (even though I have a full TBR pile which I'm excited to dive into).

I honestly can't wait until I can read it again.


*Full disclosure - Laura Ruby was my second semester advisor for my MFA. She's just as awesome as her books.

In Which I Read Some Great Books In 2014

I read a crap ton of books in 2014 - 140 or so. But a fair amount of those were picture books and graphic novels. Still, though, that's a lot of books.

I always like to pick the top 5 books I read in a year. It's extra hard this time, though, just because there were so many. But I think I've got it paired down to the ones that really just struck a chord with me.

There were plenty of runner ups, books I would easily recommend to others because they're fantastic. But I can only pick five.

Pretty much the only rules I used were, no PBs or Graphic Novels, just because of reasons and I wouldn't be able to limit it to 5 if I did include them, and no books I had read before. I mean, I LOVED reading HATCHET, HOLES and THE OUTSIDERS this year, but I've read all of those books before so they didn't count.

Also, these aren't necessarily books that came out in 2014, just that I read them in 2014

All right, here are the books I loved the most in 2014, in no particular order:



REALITY BOY - A.S. King

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.
In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved

I really like A.S. King's books. I actually just got her newest one this week for my birthday and I can't wait to read it. But out of all of her books, REALITY BOY is my favorite.

I think I have to give props to Matt MacNish for this one. I believe he rec'd it to me or I saw it on his blog or something. Either way, I loved it. My sister and my mom both enjoyed it and I wrote 2, yes 2, critical essays on it for my MFA (one on a passive main character and another on POV)


THE REAL BOY - Anne Ursu

On an island on the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy. The city is called Asteri, a perfect city that was saved by the magic woven into its walls from a devastating plague that swept through the world over a hundred years before. The forest is called the Barrow, a vast wood of ancient trees that encircles the city and feeds the earth with magic. And the boy is called Oscar, a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the Barrow. Oscar spends his days in a small room in the dark cellar of his master's shop, grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards who once lived on the island generations ago. Oscar's world is small, but he likes it that way. The real world is vast, strange, and unpredictable. And Oscar does not quite fit in it.
But it's been a long time since anyone who could call himself a wizard walked the world, and now that world is changing. Children in the city are falling ill, and something sinister lurks in the forest. Oscar has long been content to stay in his small room in the cellar, comforted in the knowledge that the magic that flows from the trees will keep his island safe. Now, even magic may not be enough to save it.

Full disclosure, Anne Ursu was my first semester advisor. But I read THE REAL BOY before we did any work together. THE REAL BOY kind of changed my life. Most of the middle grade I read is fun and funny and lighthearted. And THE REAL BOY showed me that MG doesn't have to be only that. That MG can be darker and sad and serious but lovely and wonderful.

Seriously, guys, I cannot recommend this book enough. I love it so so much. The themes and the mysteries are so wonderful and some of them caught me off guard, which is difficult to do because I typically do figure out the mysteries before the big reveal.


MAGGOT MOON - Sally Gardner

What if the football hadn’t gone over the wall. On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn’t want anyone to know. But Standish Treadwell — who has different-colored eyes, who can’t read, can’t write, Standish Treadwell isn’t bright — sees things differently than the rest of the "train-track thinkers." So when Standish and his only friend and neighbor, Hector, make their way to the other side of the wall, they see what the Motherland has been hiding. And it’s big...

I probably would have never picked up MAGGOT MOON on my own, but my above mentioned advisor Anne Ursu, asked  me to read it (and I ended up using it in the same POV paper as REALITY BOY). This book is so full of mystery and strange things going on and at first I was trying to figure things out. But somewhere along the way I realized I didn't actually care about the mystery, I just cared about what was going to happen to the main characters, and desperately hoping that things would turn out okay.

Every time I see this book in a bookstore now, I kind of gasp and remember how much I loved it.


THE SCORPIO RACES - Maggie Stiefvater

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.
Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

Another rec from an advisor, this one Laura Ruby, who, when we were discussing the horses in my manuscript, asked "have you read THE SCORPIO RACES? It has horses that eat people." And I knew right then and there that it was the book for me.

And it was. Holy crap I loved this book. And I gave it to twin because I knew she would, too, and she did. It's very much in the same vein as THE BLACK STALLION or KING OF THE WIND except, you know, the horses are monsters.
And I love monsters. Especially monsters that you try to tame but it really only works some of the time.


GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE - Andrew Smith

Sixteen-year-old Austin Szerba interweaves the story of his Polish legacy with the story of how he and his best friend , Robby, brought about the end of humanity and the rise of an army of unstoppable, six-foot tall praying mantises in small-town Iowa.
To make matters worse, Austin's hormones are totally oblivious; they don't care that the world is in utter chaos: Austin is in love with his girlfriend, Shann, but remains confused about his sexual orientation. He's stewing in a self-professed constant state of maximum horniness, directed at both Robby and Shann. Ultimately, it's up to Austin to save the world and propagate the species in this sci-fright journey of survival, sex, and the complex realities of the human condition

I mean, if you've read this book, you know. I like Andrew Smith's books quite a bit, though some more than others. GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE read very Stephen King-esque to me. (And from the bits I've heard of THE ALEX CROW I think that book will sound similar).
So it's a book about the end of the world with giant praying mantises, which, as I said, I love monsters.
But it's also a book about so much more.

And when you get to the last chapter, the last page, actually, it's so utterly satisfying for reasons that I can't quite put my finger on, though I suspect it has to do with a running thread/theme (the bison, for anyone who's read it). I cannot wait to see the movie.

In Which I Got Presents

We go all out crazy with presents in my family. So crazy, guys. Everyone is allowed to spend whatever they want on everyone else. Usually we tend to try to spend the same between people (if I spend $50 on Twin, then I'll try to match that between Brother, Sister and my parents) so sometimes you end up with multiple gifts for one person. And that is A-Okay.

I got a lot of great gifts this year (and Twin, Brother and I got a new Ninja blender for the house which we've already used 3 times and it is AWESOME).

But, because I like books and ask for books, I typically get a lot of books. And then I'm all "uuuugh! Which one will I read first??" (though this year I know which one I'm gonna read first. I just got to finish the book I'm reading right now)

BEHOLD! My stack of books!

Soooo pretty. I WANT TO READ THEM ALL RIGHT NOW!

And this doesn't even count the 5 books Twin got (most of which are nonfiction and I'm excited to read when she's done with them)

Twin also got me this awesome bracelet, for which I'm excited.

 

 

I have a few bracelets, but I have tiny, tiny (so tiny) wrists that most of them don't fit well. This one fits great. Also, books!

Yay for great presents! Did you guys get anything awesome for the holidays?

In Which Sometimes I Hate Good Books

So I'm busy right now.

Like super, super, holy crap busy. SO much work to get done. But I am getting it done which is awesome and makes me feel all accomplished like a mother-effing adult or something.

So while I'm doing all this work (edits, MFA writing and papers) I'm also still reading. Because of course I am. At the very least I need a book to read on my lunch breaks. And maybe a bit before bed.

And how awesome is it when you're reading a book that is absolutely amazing and you can't stop thinking about it and all you want to do is sit and read it?

Like, I'm finishing up the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. And man, I love it haaaard.

Normally, that's pretty awesome.

Unless you're trying to get a buttload of work done, like me, and instead you keep thinking man, I wish I could get back to reading my book. Or I could just take an extra 5 minutes on my lunch break so I can finish this chapter.

Ugh! Good books, you are KILLING me!  Why you have to be so good??

I finally finished the last book yesterday and it was a huge relief. Because yes it was great, but also, I am so exhausted with desperately wanting to read it and stuff.
Also, now I'm a bit burned out on reading. I need to read something completely different. Good thing I have a ton of picture books from the library I need to read for my MFA. That'll be a nice change of pace.

So how about you? Read anything awesome lately?

In Which I Deal With The "To Be Read" Pile

So my little local library closed.

I actually don't use it that often. I do most of my library visits on Sundays (Sunday is my day o' errands) and the White Bear Lake library was closed on Sundays, so instead I'd hit the bigger one the next town over.

So yes, the WBL library closed down a few weeks ago. But for good reasons! They're rebuilding it, zazzing it up, making it awesome. Yay!

But because that will take some time, they sold everything in the old library. Everything.
Books. Movies. Book shelves. Chairs. Tables. Desks.

Library carts.

As soon as we realized they would have library carts, Twin and I were all up over that.

We both had huge stacks of books "to be read" on our end tables. If we could snag a library cart, we could move our piles onto that!

So off we went!

They had different sizes at different prices, so we snagged a mid size one.

Three shelves meant one shelf for my TBR pile, one for Twin's and one for books that either need to be shelved or sold or lent out.

It wasn't much to look at. So we decided to spruce it up with some spray paint.

Yvie says, stop dealing with that cart and start throwing the Frisby

 

 

Tula says, if I won't throw that toy for her, she's going to nap in the yard.

So there we go! Now our end tables are cleaner and our piles better organized. Will it help? Who knows. But at least it looks nice.

 

 

In Which I'm Over At YA Confidential

Hey all!



Today I'm over at YA Confidential doing a tandem interview with Matt MacNish about Steve Brezenoff's new book GUY IN REAL LIFE.

It should be up in about an hour or so. It's a great book so stop on by! 

In Which I Pick Books

I read a crap ton of books in 2013. 103 or so, to be exact. I didn't know I had it in me. My goal was 62 and I thought that was going to be a stretch.

Guess I was wrong.

But in my usual spirit of things, it's time to pick the top 5 books I read in 2013. It's going to be harder than usual BECAUSE there are so many great books on my list, but nonetheless, it must be done.

Here they are, in no particular order:


WHITE CAT By Holly Black

This is one of those books that I wish I'd written. That's how much I loved this book and the whole trilogy. I've always been a fan of mob families and these books have that is spades, combined with magic.


STUPID FAST By Geoff Herbach

I read this book on my kindle, so I had no idea what it was about other than a kid who played football. Turned out it's sooo much more than that. Geoff Herbach said that he didn't even realize it was a sports book until he saw the cover

LOVE THIS BOOK. I seriously think everyone should read it. The voice is awesome, and there's sports and mental illness and discovering your past and all this awesome stuff that just makes a great YA book. I don't know anyone who doesn't like this book. Added bonus, Geoff Herbach is hilarious and amazing in real life.


OKAY FOR NOW By Gary Schmidt

This is one of those books that I would have never read on my own. It was on my MFA reading list and I dragged my feet a bit about it. I read the dust flap like 4 times, each time thinking "this is not going to be for me". But it turns out I was dead wrong. I was immediately hooked. So hooked that I started blabbing about it to twin almost immediately and made her read it, too, before I returned it to the library. She also loved it. Gary Schmidt does not treat his characters easy, and there is a lot of darkness, but also a lot of heart in this book. Don't let the cover or the dust jacket description fool you.


SPLIT By Swati Avasthi

I really wanted to like this book. I'd heard good things about it. Luckily my expectations were beyond met. Another book I made Twin read before I returned it to the library. I also plan to buy my own copy sometime in the future. It's nice to see a book on domestic abuse where things aren't wrapped up tidily and where there are permanent repercussions, sometimes, for kids who grow up surrounded by violence. Also, I love a good brother story.


DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE By Laini Taylor

I'd heard mixed things about this one. Mostly regarding the ending. I was told that pretty much the whole book was a prologue. I don't know if knowing that going in altered my opinion at all, but I loved this book. I loved the world, the characters the writing. Reading this book made me wish I could draw better so I could draw some badass fanart of the characters. I also love books where major magical things happen and the rest of society takes notice. It's refreshingly realistic for a book rooted firmly in the fantasy.



So, that's it! There were probably another 5 more that made the short list, and a few that I felt really bad that I couldn't include, but these were the books that I thought about all year after I finished them so I think they earned their place on my list.

How about you? Have you read any of these books? And what were some of your top reads you read this year?


 

In Which I Received Books!

Well Christmas has come and gone for another year, as expected. I hope everyone had a good time with their friends and family.

As usual, my fam goes a little cray cray with the gift giving, so I ended up with a lot of books I'm excited to read. Of course, first I have to finish the library books I have checked out. Until then, my new shiny books will have to sit prettily on  my end table.

I mean, look at them!

Awesome, right? I don't know how I'll pick which one to read first.

How about you, did you get any books or awesome gifts for Christmas? (Twin, Brother and I also got a sausage maker attachment for Twin's mixer, so we spent Saturday playing board games and making up some bratwursts. It was awesome)

In Which I Read As A Writer

My MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults starts on January 9th. Or at least that's when my first residency starts anyway.

The residency is where everyone enrolled in the program travels to campus and spends 10 days work shopping and listening to readings and lectures by the faculty or visiting writers. We'll be assigned our mentors and then we'll work with them for the next 6 months until the next residency in the summer.

So yes, that's my actual start date for the MFA. But obviously I've been doing a lot of MFA work already. Mostly reading.

I've read about 50 of the 120 books I need to read by the end of my first year. We're supposed to have 40 done before our first residency so I'm a bit ahead of the game.

this picture would only be accurate if there was a lot more snow

Also the vast majority of my reading has been novels, which means the reading will just get easier as I go along and start to tackle the picture books and easy readers.

Well, not easier I guess. Just faster.

Because we're supposed to read the books critically, and write up 3 - 4 sentences regarding an element of craft.

And this is something that is often difficult for me. Especially if it's a book I like. If I don't like a book, it's easy for me to examine why I don't like it. But if I love a book, it's really hard for me not to be swept away.

I've got a few books on my list that I read that I didn't write anything about because I just didn't know what to say.

And sometimes I feel like I'm saying the same things over and over again. This book has a great voice. This one too. Ooh and this one.

But, I definitely think it's sinking in more. At the very least it's easier for me to get in the mindset of looking at a book critically.

Though I will add, it's a fresh breath of relief when I can read a book just for fun (even if some of the critical thinking slips in. Which, I suppose, is the point of it all)

What about you? Do you ever read critically? Is it easy for you? Or hard?)

In Which I Got Book Happy... Or Something

So as I briefly mentioned last Thursday, my laptop is busted (has a virus or something). And until I can afford to get it fixed (hopefully my next paycheck) I'm stuck working on my netbook. Which normally wouldn't be a problem, except that my stupid MS Office starter stopped working so I had to shell out the cash for MS Office for my netbook (which further delayed the laptop fix)

Anyway, I normally do a lot of my blog surfing and all my blog writing with my laptop, so being forced to do it on my netbook is a pain in the ass.

But here I am, carving out some time, trying to catch up on writing some posts.

But, if I'm behind on your blogs, please know that that's the reason why, and not because I'm ignoring you or anything. I actually miss you quite a bit. You know who you are.

On a completely unrelated note, I saw that Allie Brosh's, from Hyperbole and a Half, book: Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened released on Tuesday. I was so excited that I went and ordered it right away.

The email said it would arrive on Friday, so I was patiently waiting when, TADA! It actually showed up on Thursday, a day early.

Nice.

But, imagine my surprise when I got a package in the mail on... Friday. And it was the same book.

Conclusion: I guess I preordered the book way back when, forgot I had done so, and then ordered a new copy. So now I have two.

Luckily the Bro said he would pay for the second copy, which is good.


Am I the only one who's ever done this? I hope not... Please tell me I'm not alone in this...

In Which Sex & Violence Is Launched!

Saturday night was the book launch party for Carrie Mesrobian's Sex & Violence which I blogged about Here.

The party was at Addendum Books which is a little hole in the wall YA bookstore set inside another bookstore. True story, I've been to three book launch parties over the years and all 3 have been here. Crazy.

The bookstore was packed. I went with Twin and we met up with Hannah there. Twin and I did a quick headcount and there were about 80 people there for Carrie's party, so it definitely reached standing room only.

Carrie and guest of honor Norman Reedus. The fairy crown is also related to the book

There were Elmo cupcakes and red vines and strawberry milk and other decorations and foodstuffs from the book. And there was Cherry Lick! Which is a made up liquor the kids in the book drink. Cherry Lick was passed out to everyone because there was a drinking game during the reading.

Both Twin and I had already read the book, since I was lucky enough to win a copy a few months ago. Hannah had gotten her book and started reading it, but hadn't finished.

It's a great book, and it's even more fun hearing Carrie read a chapter aloud. The funny parts are even funnier when everyone's laughing.

Carrie Mesrobian, Normarn Reedus and editor for Carolrhoda Labs Andrew Karre

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday night.

 

In Which I Love Sex & Violence

Awww, how awesome did my post title turn out? So tantalizing!

Because really, today, I'm talking about the book Sex & Violence, by the awesome Carrie Mesrobian!

I was lucky enough to win a copy of the book through a Tumblr contest (extra lucky because it's signed, and because it doesn't come out until October. But if you like gritty, realistic YA, then I suggest you consider pre-ordering)

The MC, Evan, is just one of those kids you kind of want to just hug. Yes, he does dickish things, but rarely did I think he was a bad person. And the things he does are nothing compared to the things that are done to him. He more than pays his dues. And on top of that, he thinks what happened to him (an extreme, almost fatal act of violence and the violation of a friend) is deserved because he spent a lot of his life being said dick.

Evan spends so much time disliking himself that all you want to do is to hug him and tell him that, yes, maybe he's a little broken, but he's not beyond repair.

Also, because I'm from Minnesota and the majority of the book is set in Minnesota, I like it extra hard.  MINNESOTA REPRESENT! Woot!

I don't like to tell people to buy books, because I don't know your tastes, but like I said above, if you like gritty realistic YA novels, with teens that swear and drink and have sex but learn hard lessons, whether it's deserved or not, I think you'd really like Sex & Violence. I read it in almost one sitting True Story.

(also, it's a very pretty book. There are almost hidden embossments on some of the pages, referencing some of the reoccurring images in the book. It's like an extra little surprise!)


Here's the back copy of the book:

AT FIRST YOU DON'T SEE THE CONNECTION.

Sex has always come without consequences for seventeen-year-old Evan Carter. He has a strategy--knows the profile of The Girl Who Would Say Yes. In each new town, each new school, he can count on plenty of action before he and his father move again. Getting down is never a problem. Until he hooks up with the wrong girl and finds himself in the wrong place at very much the wrong time.

AND THEN YOU CAN'T SEE ANYTHING ELSE.

After an assault that leaves Evan bleeding and broken, his father takes him to the family cabin in rural Pearl Lake, Minnesota, so Evan's body can heal. But what about his mind?

HOW DO YOU GO ON, WHEN YOU CAN'T THINK OF ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER?

Nothing seems natural to Evan anymore. Nothing seems safe. The fear--and the guilt--are inescapable. He can't sort out how he feels about anyone, least of all himself. Evan's really never known another person well, and Pearl Lake is the kind of place where people know everything about each other--where there might be other reasons to talk to a girl. It's annoying as hell. It might also be Evan's best shot to untangle sex and violence.
 

In Which Reading Can Be Hard

I have to read 40 books off my 120 book list for my MFA before I start in January.
Now, keep in mind, of those 120 books, at least half of them are picture books and easy readers and chapter books. They're not all novels. So it's not as herculean a task as it seems.

Still, I'd like to get through as many of the novels up front, so if I'm stressed or busy later when the MFA has started, then I only have to get through some PBs or something.

Anyway, so we have to read these books, then make a annotated bibliography of the books we've read with a 3-4 sentence discussion about an aspect of craft that we liked or found interesting in the book. This is to help us learn to be critical readers. Which I really want to do because right now I kind of suck at it.

Wait, correction. I'm pretty good about being a critical reader when reading a book I'm not enjoying. It's much easier for me to say "Why don't I like this book? What isn't working for me?" Than it is to say "Why am I loving this book?" when I'm reading something badass, you know?

And even harder, are those sleeper books. The books that are just fine, but maybe you don't luuuurve them.

So, the first couple of books on my bibliography were easy. Those ones had obvious huge strengths in something. Like voice. I read one (True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff) where the voice just slammed you in the face with it's awesomeness. So, no problem.

But man, most of the time I find myself just slipping into reading for enjoyment, and only when I'm half way through, or further, do I stop and swear and realize I was supposed to be paying attention to craft! Not just reading for fun.

Sigh.

It's much harder work than I thought it would be. It's hard to break a habit.

How about you? Do you have any troubles reading critically?

In Which I Rent Books

So, as I stated last week, I gots tons of books I need to read over the next year and a half. And since I didn't want to buy all of them, I had to do something I haven't done in forever.

I had to go to the library.

Yes, yes. I know what you're thinking. But I was a bookseller for 5 years, so my default during and since that time has just been to buy books.

I haven't had a library card since I was a kid.

So I got a card, got my list of books, and hit up the closest library that was open on Sunday.

And it was AWESOME!

It was like a shopping spree. I could pick out any book I wanted, and as many as I wanted! It was so fun!
I got 7 books on my first trip and read 4 of them in as many days. Then I went back again and got 6 more. And I'm looking forward to when I can go again. It looks like I'll be hitting it up on Sundays, at least while I'm trying to get ahead on this reading. I'm sure things will slow down once it stops being a novelty.

Good times.

How about you? Are you a book buyer or a book renter? Or both?

In Which I Rate Some Books

So. Here we are with a new year and a new year's worth of books to consume.

Which means it's time to look back on last year and pick my top 5 books I read in 2012.

In no particular order:


The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

I'd been hearing about this book for awhile. I think Alex Cavanaugh said it was one of his favorite books of 2011. And also, I'd heard Scott Lynch speak a few times at a local conference and he's kind of awesome and funny.
I was not let down by this book. I loved it hardcore. The magic, the debauchery, the violence, the characters. Even when horrible stuff was happening (and so much horrible stuff happens, guys) I couldn't put it down.


The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

My good friend TL Conway told me that this book kind of changed her life. So even though it was sort of on my radar, her rec bumped it up some.
It's a little slow to get into. And it's long. But oh so worth it.
I read the last third in a hotel in Madison (at the Wiscon conference) sobbing in my hotel room and using up all the Kleenex. Because even though I knew it would be sad (and there is plenty of warning in the book that specific bad things will happen) I wasn't prepared for HOW sad and heartbreaking it would be. I think this book made me cry more than any other book ever (even more than Where the Red Fern Grows).

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Learned about this one from my good pal Teebore at one of our writing group meetings. I went home that night, downloaded it for my kindle, and started reading.
I think I finished it the next day. Then I made Twin read it. Then I bought it for Brother's b-day, even though he rolled his eyes at me (he loved it too).
I mean, a book where it's all about video games and pop culture from the 80s? Yeah. Sign me up for that. Sign me up HARD.
I really hope the movie happens, though it seems it has stalled out some since the crazyness of trying to snatch up the rights.

Fire - Kristin Cashore

I liked Graceline a lot. I mean, really, I loved it Hard. But Fire - Fire I loved even more. It had all the awesomeness of what I loved about Graceling (the adult fantasy themes which I frequently find missing in YA fantasy (ie: pregnancy, violence towards women, poverty, etc) but then the world building pretty much blew my mind. I mean, a place where monsters are animals (or people) that are so beautiful they ensnare non-monsters? And how monsters crave monster-flesh?
Awesome. And the characters. LOVED all the characters.
I kind of wish I was Kristin Cashore. But not really, because then I would miss out on reading her books.

The Lost Girl - Sangu Mandanna

I snagged this book at an SCBWI conference. There was only a small stand selling books, and this was the only YA novel they had for sale, and since I'll be damned if I don't buy a book when there are books for sale, I snatched it up, not really knowing much about it.
Oh man, totally a good decision.
This book also made me cry. It's broken up into 3 section, and I cried all through the middle. It's really a novel about loss, and grief and love and trying to learn your place in the world. I highly recommend it to everyone. It's wonderful.



So there you have it! What were some of your favorite books of 2012?

In Which The Year Ends

Well here we are! The last day of 2012.

The year went fast, as usual. Remember when you were a kid and summer vacation seemed to last forever? I kind of miss that sometimes.

How was your Christmas? Were there presents?

I get a lot of books. Because i ask for a lot of books. One of the most awesome feelings is getting a stack of books and wanting to read all of them right away because they're books you've been waiting for.

On my new stack of awesomeness:

 

The Lie That Binds - Lisa and Laura Roecker

 

 

 

A Million Suns - Beth Revis

 

 

 

The Passage - Justin Cronin

 

 

 

The Far West - Patricia C Wrede

 

 

 

Phoenix & Athyra - Steven Brust

 

 

 

 

The Drowned Cities - Paolo Bacigalupi

 

 

Did you get any new books for Christmas?

In Which I Talk Scary Books

Since we're coming up on Halloween super quick now, I figured today was a good day to list, in no particular order, my top 5 favorite scary books.


House of Leaves - Mark Z Danielewski

 

 

 

Synopsis:

 

A young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane discovers something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story -- of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams

 

 

Thoughts:

 

House of Leaves is one of those books where the back cover (the synopsis above) isn't accurate. Though it is a story about a house that is bigger on the inside than the outside, at no point do the children wander off or go missing.

 

BUT! That said, this books is terrifying. It's a story within a story, following a tattoo artist who discovers a video where a family does an experiment to show that their house is bigger on the inside than the out. The tattoo artist's tale is told via footnotes (pages and pages of them) as he becomes obsessed with this video (and the obsession builds to a point where you can't tell if he's gone crazy, or if the mystery of the house actually has some effect on him). And as you follow his story of obsession, the reader learns everything he learns about the house and the family that lived there.

 

Seriously scary, both in a psychological way and also in a "WTF is in the HOUSE??" way. But, it's not an easy book to read. At all. At points, the footnotes will last for whole chapters, and they'll be written upside down, and in spirals and in any other weird way you can imagine.

 

 

The Amityville Horror - Jay Anson

 

 

 

Synopsis:

 

The Lutzes moved into their dream home on December 18th, 1975. Four weeks later, they fled in terror. The home was the scene of a mass murder a year before, and the Lutzes claimed paranormal phenomena caused them to fear for their lives and forced them to abandon the home

 

Thoughts:

 

The Amityville Horror is touted as a true story, but it's not. Though, to be fair, the murders did happen, but the Lutzes made up the stuff that happened to them.

 

BUT!! That does not change that fact that this book is terrifying. This is the kind of book that you can read in broad daylight, in a crowded public place, and still need to set it aside at points because you're just so scared.

 

The first time I read this (back in high school) I had to share a bed with Twin because I was just that scared. I mean, come on! Ghosts are scary. Very few things scare me more than ghosts.

 

The book is hard to find, though. It went out of print for a while (I used to snatch up any used copies I could find) though I did see a new paperback at a borders closing last year (snatched that one up too).

 

 

The Season Of Passage - Christopher Pike

 

 



Synopsis:

Dr. Lauren Wagner was a celebrity. She was involved with the most exciting adventure mankind had ever undertaken: a manned expedition to Mars. The whole world admired and respected her.

But Lauren knew fear. Inside—voices entreating her to love them. Outside—the mystery of the missing group that had gone before her. The dead group.

But were they simply dead? Or something else?
Thoughts:

This book isn't overtly terrifying. There aren't ghosts, or monsters etc. But there are moments of extreme tension and fear, and most of them take place when the characters are on Mars. And let's get real here, space horror is terrifying because you can't escape it. There's nowhere to go.

There's a scene in this book where the MC is floating on a boat in a cave on Mars and the scene is so wrought with tension and fear, it actually gave me nightmares when I first read it in high school.


Grave's End: A True Ghost Story - Elaine Mercado

Synopsis:

When Elaine Mercado and her first husband bought their home in Brooklyn, New York, in 1982, they had no idea that they and their young daughters were embarking on a thirteen year nightmare.

Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her older daughter began to experience the sensation of being watched. Then came scratching noises and weird smells, followed by voices whispering, maniacal laughter, shadowy figures scurrying along baseboards, and small balls of light bouncing along the ceilings. From the beginning of the haunting, "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except the younger daughter These eventually accelerated to physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.

This book is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of a parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holtzer and the medium Marisa Anderson, the family discovered the tragic and heartbreaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End.

Thoughts:

I LOVE this book. I read it at least once a year (it's short and fast. I can read it in one sitting). Like I said, ghosts freak me the eff out, but also, I LOVE reading real ghosts stories.

The author isn't the best writer, but the experiences she and her family had are terrifying and every time I read it, a different experience strikes me as the most terrifying (the last time I read it (a few weeks ago) it was a scene where the youngest daughter went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and when she came back into her room, she saw an old woman sitting on her sister's chest, and she was too scared to say anything so she CLIMBED BACK INTO BED WITH HER SISTER and closed her eyes. OMG I can't even...)

If you like true ghost stories, definitely check this one out. It's also great because they do get some answers to their haunting at the end. Not everything, but quite a bit.


N. - Stephen King

Synopsis:

There is something unearthly and mysterious deep in Acherman's Field in rural Maine. There is a Stonehenge-like arrangement of seven stones with a horrifying EYE in the center. And whatever dwells there in that strange, windswept setting may have brought about the suicide of one man...and harbor death for the OCD afflicted "N.," whose visits to the field have passed beyond compulsion into the realm of obsession.

Thoughts:

Okay, this is actually a short story/novella in King's Just After Sunset collection. BUT it's also been made into a comic.

This short story is just terrifying. To me it has the number one aspect needed for a great horror story: something that cannot be stopped. It's so creepy, you can't help but wonder if just by reading it, maybe the standing stones will affect you too, which is when you know it's a good story, when you start to wonder if maybe it's not fiction.



So there you have it! My top 5 scary stories.
Let me know some of your fav stories - I'd love to read them!