More Reviews: I'm With Stupid & The Bronte Sisters

I am reading several books right now, and yet I keep getting distracted by the titles of other books. That's what happened with these two. I had requested Geoff Herbach's I'm With Stupid, and of course it came in when I was in the middle of three other books. But, I was dying for more of Felton's story. So I picked it up and read it within a few days.

Felton Reinstein is one of those character's you can't forget. His story started with Stupid Fast, continued with Nothing Special, and in the final book of the series, I'm With Stupid, he is as funny, troubled, confused, and real as ever. Felton is in his senior year of high school and he's got some big stuff to contend with: being aggressively recruited by colleges, a strangely uninvolved mother, his father's suicide coming back to haunt him. He's also got all of the normal high school stuff, girlfriend troubles, figuring out who he really is, who his friends are, how to have fun, blow off steam and just get through another day.

There's something about the staccato, stream of consciousness writing that really puts you in Felton's head. He's a character you have to root for, when he's screwing up, when he's flipping out, and when he's getting it right. All three books are well worth reading, but you wouldn't have to read them all to enjoy I'm With Stupid.

I don't know why I go to the library when I have an abundance of reading material. But, last week I was overwhelmed with the desire to read some of Audrey Vernick's picture books. They were all checked out - good for her, not so good for me - but that's when Catherine Reef's biography of the Bronte sisters caught my eye. The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne is a gorgeous book full of heavy, glossy pages and plenty of photographs. I'm not a big reader of biographies but this one held my interest from start to finish. It's technically a YA book, but it was shelved downstairs in the children's room, and I found it completely captivating. What I enjoyed most about it was being able to see where each of the sisters drew from their real lives in creating their stories.

Now I hope I can ward off further distraction long enough to finish Khaled Hosseini's And The Mountains Echoed before the library has to hunt me down to get it back.

I never realized I was so fickle. Do you ever stop reading one book to start another? 

Mini Reviews: Into That Forest & The Infinite Moment of US

I went to BEA in May with a wish list of titles I was hoping to get my hands on. I had limited luggage space and was trying to be discerning about which books I picked up. I had not heard of Louis Nowra's Into That Forest, but the cover compelled me to pick it up. How much do you love this?

Then the blurb on the back of the book: Two girls. Two tigers. Four years in the wild. Two girls survive a terrible flood in the Tasmanian bush and are rescued by a pair of Tasmanian tigers who raise them in the wild. Their story of survival is remarkable, as they adapt to the life of the tiger, learning to hunt and to communicate without the use of human language. When they are discovered and returned to civilization, neither can adapt to being fully human after their extraordinary experience. Totally believable, their story will both shock and captivate readers as it explores the animal instincts that lie beneath our civilized veneer.

This book is unlike anything I've ever read, maybe that's why it was the first book I chose from my BEA cache. It's the captivating story of two young girls, ages six and seven, who go out for a picnic with one of the girl's parents and are swept away in a flood. Although the parents are killed, the girls survive. The story of their survival, after being adopted by a pair of tigers is both fascinating and disturbing. Honestly, the scenes where they kill and savagely eat birds, sheep, rabbit turned my stomach. I admit, I had to skim those passages, and even still, I had trouble eating meat for several weeks afterward. [My husband always tells me I would never have survived if I were born a hundred years ago. Give me nice, clean, boneless, skinless chicken breast please.] Still, the way the girls and the tigers come to depend on each other and function as a real family is riveting.

Although this story is about two girls, I think with all of its adventure, boys would enjoy it too. And I'm betting they wouldn't get nearly as grossed out as I did.

The second book I read was The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle. Hers was the first line I waited in at BEA and she was lovely to have a little chat with while she signed a book for me and another for my daughter (who was waiting in another line across the conference center.) I'm a sucker for a good, "meant to be" romance and with a title like that, I almost had to read this, right?! Plus, it alternates between the girl and the guy POV. I love seeing from both sides of the story. The sex scenes were pretty explicit (in the context of what I usually read, anyway) but somehow it didn't take away from the sweetness of the story. 

From Goodreads: For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now . . . not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?
Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them . . .Sexy, romantic, and oh-so-true to life, this is an unforgettable look at first love from one of young adult fiction’s greatest writers.

Happy Reading!

Distractions and Rewards

Wow, is that the fourth of July in the rear view mirror? The weeks just keep whizzing by! Summers are like that, aren't they? I always have high hopes for what I'm going to accomplish during these few months. Maybe unrealistically high.

Photo courtesy of Free Artistic Photos

So far, I've made a slight dent in my TBR pile, including several ARCs I received at BEA. Reviews will be coming as their release dates near.

I've also begun work on a new contemporary YA novel. The fact that I've done more pre-planning with this story than ever before doesn't seem to be helping me get words down on the page. I managed a first draft of chapter one and then came to an abrupt halt. After a day or two of frustration, I decided what I needed was a distraction, yet  I couldn't settle my mind enough, even to read. I needed something to get completely lost in. Enter YouTube, where I found Catherine Cookson's The Mallens. This is one of the titles I've never been able to find at our library. When it comes to distractions, this was the jackpot! This is not just a movie, it's a saga: The Mallen Streak, The Mallen Girls, The Mallen Secret, The Mallen Curse. They actually ran as a television series back in 1979. I spent the weekend watching them all. And I don't even feel guilty about it. I wasn't getting anything accomplished anyway.

This wasn't my favorite of Cookson's works, but when you spend ten plus hours with a cast of characters, it's hard not to become enthralled. If you ever want to study flawed characters, they're in abundance here. In fact, they're so flawed that by the end of the movie there was hardly a character left that I genuinely liked.

I'm tempted go back to YouTube to watch the other hard-to-find Cookson titles, but I think I'll save them for another day, maybe as a reward when I get the next chapter written.

What are your best distractions and rewards?

The Language of Creativity

I know a lot of people don't like reality television. Believe me, there's a lot of it that I don't like either. But, there's some of it that I do enjoy. I've been hooked on So You Think You Can Dance for years now. Master Chef is a more recent discovery. I've been thinking about why, despite all the cheesy drama, I still watch week after week, season after season. Here's what I've come up with. The creativity.
I love watching the contestants who get up on that stage and amaze me with their unexpected humor or   blow me away with the raw emotion of their performance.

(She starts dancing at 3:20 if you want to skip forward.)

Yes, I tire of those who take the stage because they "just know they're meant to be a star." What touches me are the people who are brimming over with creativity and their dance communicates a universal truth to their audience. Not look at me, I'm a star. But I'm a human being, I know what you're feeling. I've felt it too.

On Master Chef the contestants communicate with food. I personally, don't like to cook. (I do plenty of it, I just don't usually enjoy it.) But it's rewarding for me to watch these people who speak a whole different language - the language of food, which often has deep ties to their families, their childhoods, the community they were raised in.

I guess we all feel some of that each time we make a favorite dish for someone we care about. When my dad was alive, my sister and I would visit him every weekend in the nursing home. He had quite the sweet tooth and we'd take turns making things that he loved. After his ability for words dropped off, the food was a way to communicate.We'd open the cooler to reveal a slice of pumpkin cheesecake, or tiny squares of homemade fudge and his eyes would light up. He would open wide for bite after bite as we fed him. Sometimes he smiled. Sometimes he kept his eyes closed and remained in his own world. But I believe those tastes held more than calories. I believe they unlocked memories.

So even though I can't dance and I'm not much of a cook, I am captivated and inspired by these forms of creativity.

NYC/BEA Recap

After one cab, two buses, and a car ride, I returned home from my first trip to NYC in the wee hours Saturday morning. And what a trip it was! I saw Rockefeller Center:

and Times Square:

At BookExpo America, I attended author panels featuring Rainbow Rowell:

Anna Jarzab, Cristin Terill, Amy Rose Capetta, Sara Farizan,

Robyn Schneider and Katie Cotugno:

Corey Ann Haydu:

Suzanne Young & Cat Patrick:

and heard about tons of exciting upcoming titles.

In preparation for this trip, I read a great many blog posts from people sharing their experiences from past years. Despite the horror stories, I didn't witness biting, shoving, using elbows as weapons, or anything remotely unpleasant. I stood in lots of long lines and met many lovely people.

The one common piece of advice I found over and over again was "wear comfortable shoes." Even so, I somehow managed to overestimate the comfort level of my shoes and underestimate the amount of walking involved. Which meant that at the end of day one, I had to spring for some comfy sneakers.They did not make the ideal match with my dress on day two, but vanity gave way to survival.

In an effort to save my shoulders, I tried my best to be discerning about what books I gathered, and came home with a total of 29 titles: one for my daughter, five for my mother, and 23 that I am eager to read myself. I look forward to sharing my reviews with you in the coming weeks.

Out on the sidewalk, just before I left on Friday, I was so pleased to meet Kelly Hager from KellyVision. With several years of BEA attendance under her belt, she graciously answered my questions, pre-trip and helped me prepare. I'm glad to have a face to go with her name (and blog) now, and happy to have been able to thank her for her help in person.

A tiny corner of the Javits Center as I left.

The greatest part about this trip was experiencing it with my wonderful daughter, relying on her understanding and Gods peace to help me overcome my anxiety and aversion to crowds. I did not suffer one moment of panic during the trip. God is good!

We're Off to Great Places

I'm going to start right out with a confession: I don't do well in crowds. I panic if I walk into Starbucks and there are more than a half dozen people inside. If I don't get to church before the sanctuary fills up on Sunday morning, I have anxiety entering the crowded room (even though there are many familiar faces.)

Amanda graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Graphic Design and a dream of designing book covers.

The last few weeks have put me into unavoidable crowds. Our youngest daughter graduated from college. (Congratulations, Amanda!!) It was a day among thousands of people and I was physically and emotionally exhausted by day's end.

Yesterday was her graduation party. A much smaller, more intimate group but still - two social weekends in a row. And this week the two of us are going to BEA. Nope, I have not chickened out. Even after reading  stories like this, about someone who was bitten there a couple of years ago. Yep. The old me would have bailed by now. But, I'm in and I'm totally relying on God to get me through this trip and all it involves. He has already gifted me with his peace in that I am truly excited (and only slightly terrified.)

 Most of all, I'm looking forward to getting beyond my fears, sharing the experience with my daughter, and meeting some of my blogger friends in person. Oh, yeah, and then there are the books.

E-Reads

That Sadie Thing

and other stories

by Annalisa Crawford

That Sadie Thing is a collection of award-winning short stories that captivated me from the first page. Even now, a week later, several of the characters linger with me and I find myself thinking of them throughout the day. I’ve been intending to read Annalisa's work for some time. I’m glad I finally dove into this. I expected to read a story here or there, as is easy to do with a collection of shorts, yet once I began, I didn't stop reading until I reached the end. The author has a beautiful way with words and is a keen observer of people and how we relate to one another. Her stories surprised, soothed, and brought me to tears.

Destroy Me
by Tahereh Mafi

In my last post I told you all how much I enjoyed Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me and Unravel Me. My daughter had the novella, Destroy Me, which was released between these two books, on her Kindle. So, still on the Shatter Me high, I read it. Meh. I’m thinking that these types of novellas serve a purpose, and if I were anxiously waiting for the release of Unravel Me, I would have probably been hungry for any continuation of the story I could get my hands on in the interim. But since I didn’t start the series until the first two books were already available, there wasn’t much point in Destroy Me. It’s told from the antagonist’s point of view so it lacks the poetic flow of Juliette’s stream-of-consciousness narrative, and just kind of fell flat for me. But there is a revelation or two, and I do feel I know the antagonist a little better for having read it.

Defy the Stars

by Stephanie Parent

Defy the Stars by Stephanie Parent is a YA novel told in free verse. My daughter raved about this one when she read it a while back. I don’t know what took me so long to get to it. Once I started, I was reading like a fiend. I got nothing done for two days and I may have snarled at my husband more than once when he tried to talk to me. Yes, it was that good!

(And Yay, I finally have one book toward my Novels In Verse Reading Challenge goal!)