Authors And Reading

Hola Readers, how is everybody?  Shockingly I've been super busy...I know *gasp*...I'm never busy right.  Anyways today I would like to talk about one of the things that struck me while I was on my trip.  It mostly has to do with a readers...or more specifically my view on a book in relation to who wrote it.  One of the books that I read on this trip (rambling in the next couple of days, I promise) almost completely changed when I realized the demographics of who wrote it.  I have lately found that the more I know about an author of a particular book, the more it seems to influence how I

perceive it.  For example, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke was all that much cooler for me because I know how long it took her to write it and how it was her first book and any other little details like that really enhanced my enjoyment of the book.  I find I am pre-dispositioned to like books by my favorite authors and am willing to defend even their occasional duds.  I find it hard to pick up a book by a disappointing author, even if the book is supposed to be completely different.  Sometimes I'll pick up a book by an author I know nothing about, sometimes I'm not even sure of their gender and then I'll read that book and form an opinion.  If the book is really good, or really bad, or something about it strikes me, then I will usually do some research on it, and that usually includes the author.  I can not tell you how many times I have discovered facts an tidbits about the author and/or the circumstances behind a book that has changed my whole out look on it.  After this revelation of something that has been part of my reading psyche since the age of four, I've been trying to decide how I feel about it.  On one hand, I like forming my own opinions of books with minimal outside influence...that being said, I feel that a book should be a piece of art from the author and I would assume that pieces of them, their personality, their experiances, their beliefs, etc... all play at least some small part in what they write, so of course knowing those things is going to affect my reading experience.  Anyways, I guess I was just surprised at how much the various details of the authors changed my whole reading experience.  Ok enough of my overly introspective thoughts.  Happy Reading Everybody!

I'm So Excited And I Just Can't Hide It

Can I tell you all what one of the best feelings in the world is?  When one of your favorite authors comes out with a new trilogy set in one of your favorite worlds!  I was perusing the shelves at my bookstore and caught sight of a book with the name of one of my beloved never fail authors on it.  I got really excited then noticed that the title sounded like books that were already out.  "Oh well" I thought, "at least her books are getting some attention".  The title kept niggling (isn't that one of the best words ever?) at the back of my mind so I hopped on her website and lo and behold sure enough IT WAS A NEW TRILOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Seriously though folks, this is not the first time I have had
this thrill.  A lot of my favorite authors are either not super prolific...you know 'cause they actually take time to create awesome books instead of spewing out lather rinse repeat novels every six months (sorry, literary pet peeve coming out there) or they have multiple series or projects and I am waiting for a specific one.  I love the excitement and surprise of finding an unexpected book that I have never read from one of my favorite authors, it's like a special present just for me.  Anyways I am now off to my local bookstore to see if there are any other undiscovered treasures hiding out.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Happy Eat Chocolate Day

Hello All, In honor of that bloody massacre we call St Valentines Day, here are some literary love  notes to pass to your loved ones.

Happy Reading Everybody!

Book Within Book

One of the many things I love about books and the reading community is how versatile and cross-referenced it is.  I have been noticing in so many of the books that I am reading that other books are referenced, or used as a focal point, or read, or written or some combination of these.  There are ton's of great books out there about books...if that makes any sense and these are always fun if a bit meta.  There are books that use a particular book as a jumping off point, or are referenced through out.  Some books just acknowledge their own characters love of reading.

I think what I love so much about all this meta booky goodness is that it shows just how huge, yet intimate the literary world is. An author can pop in a Shakespeare reference and most readers...no matter age or place or genre can get at least the gist of the quote.  Many classics make appearances that tie together the modern world with the older one.  Pretty much any time a book reference pops up in a book I'm reading, it doubles my literary enjoyment and makes me smile.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Edits

After reading over 1000 books I have come to realize something...a good editor is critical to a good book.  Seriously one of my biggest book peeves is when a book could have been great...if a good editor had gotten a hold of it before publication.  As a creative person, and as the daughter, sister, friend, wife, and aunt to some insanely wonderfully creative people I have come to realize that knowing when to stop is not always our strong point.  An objective eye is needed to really sell the dream/idea/concept to the rest of the world (I'm sure my blog posts are a perfect example of why we need good editors).  Editors perform any number of tasks, but the main was is making sure the story the author is trying to get across is readable and coherent.

This is never more obvious then the new ability to self-publish online.  Sites like Amazon even provide publishing and outlet services for new authors.  While this is really in cool in that people we would never get to read are now available, for example Andy Weir and his book The Martian.  That being said, I have to mostly avoid reading these tales because the lack of editing is excruciatingly evident.  I firmly believe that no matter how good or how experienced an author you are, a good editor is what takes the book that final step.  Most authors get to close to their story, or forget that the reader is not in their heads and don't have all the information to tie the story together when the author forgets to put whats in their heads onto the page, this is where a good editor is invaluable.  To this end I actually have favorite editors (just in case my super bookworm nerdishness was in question), mostly in relation to short story collections (I'm looking at you Datlow, Windling, and Adams I'll read anything edited by you), but in other capacities as well.  So next time you read a book that has spot on pacing, makes sense, and has minimal typos remember to look on the editor page on give them a quick nod because they have helped your favorite author bring their book to life.  On that note, any volunteers to edit my incoherent ramblings?  Happy Reading Everybody!

Land Of Imagination

I love books, I love books about books, I love books about authors, I love books that have adventure and spirit and heart, I love books that combine all of these, ergo I love Here, There Be Dragons by James Owen, the first book in the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica Series.  I picked this book up because it promised all of the above and for the most part it delivered in spades.  But first as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Three Oxford scholars, Charles, John and Jack are all in some way summoned to a Professor Sigurdsson's residence, where it turns out he has been murdered.  The trio are soon met by a strange man called Bert who helps them escape a group of Wendigo's who are after them for some reason.  The group makes good on their escape through the use of a special ship named Indigo Dragon.  After the chaos has calmed the trio are told that they are to be the Caretakers of an extremely special book called the Imaginarium Geographica, which principally holds maps and information on a world known as the Archipelago of Dreams, a place where all the mythical and fictional worlds exist.  John is to be the principal Caretaker with Jack and Charles assisting.  The group starts their adventure on the island of Avalon, where they pick up a stowaway by the name of Bug.  The group which now also includes Bert's daughter Aven, who is the captain of the Indigo Dragon.  The group is told that the

Silver Throne has been empty for 20 years after the last king went bad and killed his whole family, leaving the Archipelago without a ruler. This has left an opening for the Winter King to try and take over.  To this end he has been using Pandora's Box to steal people's souls and turn them into Shadow-Born.  He has also been conquering the various islands by cloaking them in Shadow.  They land on Paralon and meet Tummler, a talking badger who not only knows the secret of steam power, but is a budding cookbook author as well.  After a major upset in Parliament, where the current island king and queens turn out to be clockwork all chaos breaks lose.  The group goes to visit the last remaining dragon Saramanth (the other dragons left when the old king went bad) who gives them some advice, including the key to translating the Imaginarium Geographica.  He also gives them the High King's ring, which he had taken from the last King when he went bad.  The group leaves and is soon attacked by the Winter King, who steals what he thinks is the Geographica and tries to recruit Jack.  The Indigo Dragon is destroyed and the group, along with the sniveling traitor Magwich are marooned on an island.  Lucky for them the island belongs to Ordo Maas who supplies them with a new boat the White Dragon and sends them to the Cartographer.  On to another island they climb the Keep of Time, which continues to grow as time goes on.  They learn more stuff and head to the island at the end of the world.  The group joins with their allies, the dwarves, the elves, and the other mythological creatures (centaurs and such).  They face down the enemy army the Winter King has assembled which consists of trolls, goblins, Shadowborn, wendigo's and the Winter King himself.  Bug is revealed to be the last remaining heir to the throne and summons the dragons which help them win the battle.  Jack, who's cockiness cost the life of their good friend Nemo, redeems himself by figuring out how to return the Shadowed lands to their natural state.  Once everything starts to settle the trio of Caretakers head back to London, but not before they sign their names to the Geographica.  It is here we learn that Charles is Charles William, John is J.R.R.Tolkien, Jack is C.S. Lewis, and Bert is H.G. Wells.  We learn that most of the Caretakers were either author's or artists or people with big imaginations.  The men return to London and await their next adventure.

Whew that was a super, huge, long synopsis that does not even remotely begin to capture to coolness of this book.  This book has a good plot and great characters, but it's biggest strength for me is the treasure trove of literary awesomeness this book is.  I do wonder however if a non-book fanatic would enjoy this book as much as I did.  It was a bit of a crazy ride, going to a myriad places, meeting a ton of people and all the while maintaining a plot and character development.  It is a bit hard to keep track of on occasion, trying to figure out exactly what a Caretaker does, or how the process of passing the Geographica down is handled, or exactly what the Geographica is was all a bit of a blur.  All of the confusion aside, I kept turning the page waiting to see what tidbit would pop up next.  Like I said before, my favorite part was all of the literary nuggets that were put in.  You could see the bits and pieces that supposedly "inspired" the great authors to write their masterpieces.  It was a bit surreal, knowing that it is all fiction, but it was still fun pretending that the authors were inspired by a real alternate world.  So I realize I am doing a horrible job trying to talk about this book.  It's one of those books that you just have to read and you will either love it or not.  Go read it, find the gems, laugh, love, lose, cry and sail with your beloved authors an see what you think.  I give this book 9 out of 10 Dragonships.
What author should be the next Caretaker?  What fictional world would you like to see?  How horrible job did I do on this rambling?

Grave Authors

So between my trip to the old graveyard in Philadelphia and my absolute love for some of the spooky books I am in the middle of reading and the scary movies I have been watching non-stop I have been a bit obsessed with gravestones/crypts/tombs.  I know it is a bit macabre (man I love that word), but hey tis the season right :-)  Here are some grave sites of some of my favorite authors who are now writing from the other side.

C.S. Lewis

 I love this clean and simple just like his stories.  I also like that he was buried with his brother because family was very important to him.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Buried with his wife they have the names Luthien and Beren inscribed under there names, referring to the most beautiful of the Children of Iluvatar becoming mortal for the love of Beren...even his grave site is a story

Anne McCaffery

Note the curled up dragon forever guarding our Dragonwriter of Pern.  Up above is a curled up kitten to also keep her company.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Though avowedly not a Christian (he considered himself a Spiritualist) he was eventually buried under a cross in a church with his wife.  The last words he ever spoke were to his wife telling her "You are wonderful"

William Shakespeare

He is actually buried inside of a church instead of in a traditional graveyard.  His epitaph is also a curse on anybody who would try and remove his bones from this place!  

Well there you have it, a little glimpse into my slightly twisted frame of mind this morning.  I hope you found it informative and only a little creepy.  Have duty this weekend so come back on Monday to see what kind of blood and guts mood I am then.

What authors grave site would you like to visit?  What sort of blessing/curse would you put on your headstone?  Am I really weird or just in the Halloween mood?

Best Weekend EVER!

I had the most incredible weekend, it was everything I could have hoped for, in fact it was so great that I will have to spread out it's awesomeness over several posts...and then hopefully it will be the weekend again :-).  It started with a cup of coffee in bed while I finished a book, got some chores done, made the whole house smell like cinnamon and apples and then curled up to start a book I have been saving for the perfect weekend...but more on that later.  I watched an amazing episode of Sherlock, played a little Lego Harry Potter, went to bed to read some more and woke up to most glorious of mornings.  You see not only was it the official first day of fall, but it was the day I was going to the 2013 National Book Festival!!!!!! So I pulled on my new bookworm socks, stocked my backpack full of books and embarked on this new adventure!

This was my first time at the festival and I have to tell you I was not disappointed.  It is one of the best organized events I have been to in a really long time.  The main point of the festival is to go and listen to various authors, librarians, and other bookies as I like to call them.  Everybody seemed to be in a good mood, all the speakers were well attended, the bookstore was a little sparse and crowded, but that was to be expected.  I again have to mention the weather, because if I could have ordered it, I could not have done a better job, it was a breezy 70ish degrees with just enough puffy clouds to keep one from being blinded by the sun.

There was an amazing variety of authors and topics to choose from, Science Fiction and Teens and Children were where I spent most of my time.  We got to hear Lynda Barry who is not only hilarious but totally shares my views on the arts and her talk on imagery was very interesting, I am now hooked on all her comics/books.  We then moved on to Elizabeth Moon who I was originally interested in for her connection to the late Anne McCaffery (they co-authored some books when Ms. Moon was a young author), but have

come to love her in her own right as well. Her talk on her journey to becoming a recognized and published author was informative and entertaining, I love an author who can look back at there younger self and chuckle.  She also seems to be embracing aging (not that she looks a day over 30 ;-) ) and uses it to write more experienced characters in her newer books.  We then rushed over to the crowded Teens and Children tent to hear Tamora Pierce who informed us right off the bat she is not a nice person...and then proceeded to prove herself wrong.  She spent a lot of time answering as many questions as she could, even going over and waving off the moderator to try and squeeze in one more question, a very nice gesture for her myriads of fans.  Ms. Pierce also has a wicked awesome sense of humor, especially about her self which makes me a very happy fan.
The conclusion to this trip was racing all of the teeny-boppers to get in line to get my book signed by Ms. Pierce, there were a couple signatures I wanted, but they were all signing at the same time and the lines were ridiculous (which is totally awesome because it shows that books are alive and kicking, and that we still honor authors as important people in our society).  I decided to wait for Ms. Pierce's autograph because of all the authors there, her books meant the most to me.  The wait ended up being 2 hours, but it did not feel that long for a couple reasons.  The first being that the event staff cheerfully, helpfully and efficiently kept the lines orderly and informed.  It is amazing how much patience a giant crowd can have when they know what it going on and what is expected (good job event staff).  The second reason was again the weather, it was

perfect reading weather and all zillion of us, just sat down and read while we waited our turn, in fact it did not even feel like waiting, it felt like a giant readers picnic (it helped that Hubbin was amazing and kept me supplied in food and drink during the wait, actually Hubbin was amazing the whole day, schlepping my books around, getting me nourishment, waiting not only patiently, but happily with me in line for the whole time LOVE YOU HUBBIN!), it would probably not have been so enjoyable had the weather been crappy.  The best part about waiting in line is that we got to make friends with other people while we waited (Hi to the world traveling, Danish girl, and tall stripey shirt girl, both of you have excellent taste in books!).  It was fun to talk to other people about books, where they were from, the longest they have waited in line to see a beloved author, it was really cool.  In the end I could only get one book signed with no personlization, but we all agreed to that so that everybody in line would get a chance to see Ms. Pierce.
I am already excited for next year, though now that I now how it works I will try and plan it a little better so that I can see more authors.  I might even volunteer, we will have to see. Also big thanks to the Library of Congress for putting on such an amazing event! (Also Harry Potter works at the Library of Congress I know because I saw him)

Finished off the day with homemade chili and my favorite red wine, drifting off to sleep, book in hand, happily relieving the best weekend ever!
Oh yeah and the Ravens totaled the Texans which was the yummy cherry on this perfect Sunday (get it Sunday/sundae?!?!?  OK I'm gonna go drink my coffee now)
What is your idea of the perfect weekend? Have you been to a major book festival?  I wonder if would frown upon me stealing a staff shirt and sneaking into all the authors tents to talk with them one on one?

Kick-A** Girl Power In All Forms

Getting excited for the National Book Festival coming up next weekend!  One of the things I am most excited about is the possibility of meeting Tamora Pierce, one of my favorite authors.  I have to admit it took me a while to get into this authors works, my baby sis had actually read her Circle of Magic books and tried to get me interested, but it wasn't really my thing right then.  Later I picked up the Song of the Lioness quartet and then promptly kicked myself for not getting into them sooner.  There are a zillion reasons to love the works of Tamora Pierce, her world building, characterization and plot are all wonderful, but what I want to talk about in this post is how she writes her heroines.

I know you have heard me gripe before that most heroines come in two forms, either SUPER AWESOME KICK-ASS ALL POWERFUL SUPER SKILLED WHO CAN SHOOT A GUN BETTER THEN ANYBODY RUN FASTER THEN ANYBODY FIGHT BETTER THEN ANYBODY ALL WHILE MAINTAINING A 'TUDE!!!! Yes I had to put that in all caps because that is what it always feels like when you read these characters.  The other heroine is the sweet, lovely, perfect, obviously special girl that everybody falls all over themselves for, you know the type that looks at you with big blue eyes and just can't thank you enough for letting her cut class for the zillionth time with out getting into trouble.  These two types actually do have there place in some stories, but let me tell you they get old very quickly.  This leads me to why I love Tamora Pierce so much, her heroines are as varied as a box of chocolates (the good kind from Godiva, not the stale ones you get from the drug store) and while they all have special skills it is balanced out by plenty of flaws and insecurities.
Let us go heroine by heroine and I will show you what I mean. (Warning, there may be minor spoilers ahead that are unavoidable so read with caution...but I don't think it will be to bad)
Lets start with the Tortal series:

Song of the Lioness
Alanna-Our heroine for this first quartet makes the bold move of disguising herself as a boy to become a knight.  She is great because while she is probably one of the more outgoing and feisty of our girls, she also comes with some of the most identity issues.  Aside from wanting to become a knight, our girl also wants to be...well a girl.  One of the best scenes shows Alanna in the guise of Alan waiting upon the Prince as he dances with girls all decked out in there finest.  Alanna struggles with jealousy that they can freely act like women, while at the same time refusing to give up her dream of becoming a knight.  This struggle continues all the way through the series, even after she is revealed as female and no longer has to hide it.  She has numerous romantic liasons, controlling her own sexuality and clearly stating her intentions of never being tied down.  She is loud, tempermental, stubborn, determined, spirited, confused, and oh yeah she does have magic that also gives her amazing amounts of trouble.  See along with trying to balance her need to be free and violent with her desire to be seen as a female, she also has to balance her magic (and her reluctance to use it) with her need to prove herself aside from the Gift as it is called in Tortall. Again numerous things to love about this first series, but I think what I would want people to get out of it the most is the fact that you don't have to choose to be one thing or another.  If you want to be a tutu wearing knight go for it, if you want to wear fatigues while you whip up a souffle I say more power to you.  This book really showed me that it was ok to indulge my girly for a while and then go hop on my ambulance or fire truck without feeling conflicted.

The Immortals
Daine-Our heroine in this series reminds me a bit of the old fashioned Caddie Woodlawn type main character.  She is spunky, fun, loyal and motherly.  After reading about our warrior princess in the previous series, Daine more innocent views are refreshing.  Intially thought to be insane because of her little understood brand of magic (she can talk to, heal and even eventually transform into animals) she learns to not be afraid of her magic.  Daine is a bit of the super special trope of heroine, she finds out eventually that she is the daughter of a minor god, but it is handled really well and is just one more piece to our girls story.  This series also highlights the importance of depending on your friends, not always having to go it alone.  A lot of times our heroines have this crazy urge to prove themselves by doing every thing on there own, making themselves closed off and cold in an attempt to prove how bad-ass they are, and it is only after some poor sop has broken down those walls...blah blah blah, our girl has absolutely none of that, she loves her friends with a ferocity of a mamma bear and will do anything for them.  In return she believably has people willing to help her out, again not because she is a sweet, perfect girl, but because she has already proven her loyalty to them.  Daine is also one of the most open minded heroines I have seen, able to put aside her initial feelings and prejudice to try and understand other people and creatures.  This makes for some interesting questions and answers about prejudice against groups as a whole and how an individual may or may not further that.  What I would want people to get out of this book is that being loyal and open minded will get you much further in the world then being a close minded blowhard.  It is ok to change your mind about people, and the whole Lone Ranger thing is not as cool as you think.

Protector of the Small
Keledry-This is where I really started to notice how different all of these girls are. Kel has decided to try and become the first sanctioned Lady Knight in hundreds of years, after Alanna broke the gender barrier, the King declared any female who wanted to train as a knight would get the chance.  Enter Kel our quiet, determined, justice seeking, hights fearing heroine.  At first glance she is almost the exact opposite of Alanna, tall, reserved, calm, only sharing the trait of determination.  As time goes on we see our Kel put these traits that most authors would never write into a knighted heroine to good use.  We see that her nature actually lends itself to becoming one of the best knights ever, and not just for a girl, but for anybody.  She deals with a lot of the same am I a woman or a knight issues that Alanna did, but her approach to dealing with it is much different then Alanna's was.  Being a loud mouth myself I found it fascinating to read about this quiet dignified girl who pushed through the ranks of brash and loud naysayers, to not only achieve her dreams, but to save a country as well.  What I would want people to get out of this story is to quit discounting the people who don't have to make a lot of noise.  In our culture it seems the louder and brasher you are, the more people seem to think you are the top banana, but let me tell you as one of those loud people, a lot of the times it is really the quiet people standing behind us who are getting the real work done, and if given the chance will astound you.

Trickster
Ally-This series is about Ally, Alanna's teenage daughter and I love it for so many reasons (hm this seems to be a theme here).  Right off the bat I love the interaction between mother and daughter, how they are similar in some areas and completely different in others, causing them to butt heads more often then not.  It explores what I am sure is every parents biggest issue, balancing what you want for your kids, with what your kid wants, with what you want your kid to want.  Ally takes after her dad is more impulsive and fun loving then her mother, she does not think of consequences on a regular basis and would rather spy with her dad, then fight as a knight.  After Ally's capture by pirates and is eventually sold to a family far away with a completely different culture, she uses her skills of observation and trickery to help protect the family she serves.  Ally is probably the most "fun" character to read, she has the most relaxed and natural rhythm of any character and seems to be the most comfortable in her own skin.  Her greatest challenges come from having to on occasion suppress her natural tendency to speak her mind at any time and learn when to use her powers of observation vs her powers of persuasion.  She also comes to appreciate her parents and the differences between them, instead of seeing the differences as flaws, she see's how each person needs to use there own way to solve problems.  What I would want people to get out of this book is to learn to feel comfortable with yourself, regardless of what other people want you to be.  If your a girl, it is just as ok to want to be at home and raise your children as it is to want to go out and become the first female presidant...or both. If you are a guy you can dream about becoming an NFL player, or the worlds best RN...or both.  It doesn't matter what other people tell you what you should want as long as YOU are happy with your choices.

Provost's Dog
Beka-Beka is a different sort of heroine, she lives hundreds of years before the other series when it was still ok for females to be knights and warriors so her struggle is vastly different then the other heroines in this post (I love how women's rights actually went backwards over time as the nobility "refined" itself, very interesting concept).  Beka is mostly on her own, earning a living as a Dog, which is essentially a police officer.  While most of our other heroines spent their time at court or in noble houses, Beka patrols, lives, and plays in the more slummy part of the city.  Our girls biggest issue is her shyness, she can barely speak in front of people she does not know which hinders her ability to give testimony in court...a big part of her job.  She is able to overcome it with some difficulty and is able to do her job.  Beka is shy, quiet, generous, and resourceful. She never forgets where she comes from and is constantly helping out people less fortunate then she is.  She also has the ability to talk with ghosts that ride with pigions, giving her an eccentric crazy bird lady vibe which suits her perfectly.  What I would want people to get out of this is that you don't have to be a big bad knight, or a super duper magic wielder to be a hero.  It is the people who get out of bed and go to work to provide for their families, or protect the common folk, or answer the individual call for help that really makes the world go round.
Wow this is getting super long, so I will save the girls from her other books for another time, but needless to say they all have there own personalities and kick ass as well.  Hopefully this long rambling ode to the females in Tamora Pierce's books gives you an idea of why I love her so much!

What female hero is your favorite?  What traits do you think often get overlooked when writing heros/heroines?  Is the ability to read anywhere at any time a super hero trait?

Getting On The List

As my bookshelf space gets more and more limited I like to think of my TBR list as a kind of VIP list that books are clamoring to get on. We know this is not true of course, that I am a shameless book hussy and will bring home any book with a great cover, but a girl can still pretend to have standards :-)  In all seriousness folks, it is always interesting (to me at least) to see how a book does get on my list.

Known Author/Series-as with most people, I am a creature of habit, if I recognize a name on a book I am a zillion more times likely to pick it up, or be on the look out for the that particular author.  The next book in a series is always a pretty safe bet, if I am not already rabidly waiting at the store for the next installment to come out. When I was younger this is how I got the vast majority of my books.  I stuck pretty close to series and authors I knew, only branching out when I ran out of books, or my Mamma made me (thanks Mamma!).  I will be the first to admit that these are the first shelves I go to when I hit the bookstore/library and only after I have exhausted this route do I move on to other ways of putting books on my list/in my basket. Some examples that have made it on my list (Anne McCaffery, Orson Scott Card, Robin Hobb, The Princess Series, Fablehaven, A Song of Ice and Fire)

Popularity- I used to have a thing against reading books just because they were popular (which is kinda crazy considering my penchant for certain classics, which if you think about it are probably the definition of popular books).  I was in a stage for the longest time where I only read books nobody else had heard of in some hoity toity lofty idea miasma of coolness (no seriously that is totally accurate).  The book(s) that finally broke that stupid wall down for me was of course the amazing Harry Potter series.  Of course not every popular book is a good book (I'm looking at you Twilight), but there are many many many books that are worthy of the buzz and popularity.  Since starting this blog, I will sometimes read them, just to say I have and can continue my streak of snooty superiority, snug in the knowledge that I have actually read the book.  That being said, here are some books/series that made me glad I jumped aboard the bandwagon. (The Hunger Games, The Book Thief, Anything by Jane Austen)

Movies/TV-As much as I hate to admit it movies and TV shows made from books do play a role in my book choosing.  A lot of the time I have already read the book before the movie/show is even dreamed of, but in some cases the movie actually introduces me to the book. Sometimes I hear of the movie/show, go get and read the book and even eventually watch the movie/show (my Hubbin hates it when I do this).  Sometimes I watch a movie/show and find out that it is actually a book, or it gets me interested in a book that never really held that much attraction before.  Either way several of my book choices have been directly influenced by the movie.  Here are some of my favorite books that have been bought and loved via movie/TV inspiration. (Sherlock Holmes, Stardust, The Walking Dead, Percy Jackson Series)

Recommendations/Reviews- I have found some of the worst books this way, but I have also found some of my most treasured stories through personal recommendations and reviews.  I think this is a tricky category because as I have mentioned before I feel books are like art, what person genuinely and legitimately loves, will appear to another person to be no more then splotches on a piece of canvas.  It is also really hard to get a recommendation from somebody and then hate the book and then have to find a way to not hurt the recommenders feelings.  I found the best way is to find people who share similar tastes in life with you.  My baby sis can recommend a book and 9/10 times I LOVE it.  Same with review sites, I love reviews, but find that people (as they should) always come at it with there own idea and slant...as do I.  I have however found a couple of sites that seem to sync up with my tastes and I have a 8/10 record with most of them, so that works out pretty well in my favor. Here are some awesome books I would have missed without these great recommendations. (And All the Stars, Any Tamora Pierce book, Ella Enchanted)

Covers-I know your'e not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes I can't help it.  Normally this actually works for a book.  In general if I am already gonna get a book, the cover doesn't really deter me (though I will pay a bit more for a nice cover).  Sometimes however, I am in the mood for a bit of a gamble and I will walk the stacks and let a picture, color or title catch my eye.  Oddly enough this has resulted in some AMAZING finds.  Not really much else to say about this method, so here are some books that I urge you to judge by there covers.  (Wildwood Dancing, Zombies vs. Unicorns, How to Ditch Your Fairy)

There you have it folks, 5 ways to get onto my VIP TBR red carpet list :-)  As you can probably tell there is a reason my bookshelf is full to bursting, with more books on the list, just waiting to be bought, read and shelved.  The best part is with these sources my list is essentially never ending...I should probably go get some more shelves :-)

How do you decide which books go on your TBR pile/list?  What is the oddest way you have discovered a favorite book?  What recommendations do you have for me?

Boys Who Write Girls Who Write Boys Who Write Girls

As we all know a lot goes into a good book.  You need setting, situation, world building, a decent grasp of the language you are writing in, and of course characters. A really good character is one that you can fall in some sort of emotion with, it could be love, hate, sympathy, empathy, whatever, but a well written character is one you fell something for. Most people tend to like characters that they can identify with in some way.  How many times have you read a book and been "I totally know what that character feels like!" or "not that I would ever do that, but I understand why that character did what he/she/it did".  At the risk of sounding completely biased I would guess that most (not all) people tend to have a stronger identity with characters they have something in common with e.g. gender, race, religion, hobby, talent, location, family, problems and so forth and as potentially limiting as that sounds, I personally think that it's ok.  It does not preclude a person from loving a character that is different from oneself, or even identifying with a character that is completely different, it's just in human nature to find similarities to identify with.  All this preaching and yammering to get to a completely different point. 

I rarely like it when males write females and vice versa.  Hold on now, before you all start freaking out on me, hear me out...then feel free to let me have it :-)  I have been trying to branch out my reading lately (to some small degree of success) and have been trying new authors, styles and genre's.  The one consistent thing I have found is for the most (again not all) part as hard as they try, it is seems to be difficult for another gender (and I am talking all of them male, female, gay, bi, trans, ect.) to fully write a completly accurate portrayal of another gender.  I think without the experiance you can only write what you think the other genders feel/act/think like. This becomes especially problematic when the author uses a first person narrative.  I rarely like the use of first person narrative because it gets you stuck in peoples head to much, but sometimes it works.  When a person from a different gender uses it for the voice of the main character, well to me it's a study in what a person thinks a person should think/feel, versus what a person would probably really think and feel.  Hmmm let me see if I can explain it a little better.  I can only really write this from a straight female perspective so that is what I am going to go with.  Almost every time I read a female character written by a male (especially first person narrative) it always feels like they are trying to get there character to do and say what they think I as a female reader would want them to do and say.  They are either super strong and sassy, or super sweet and vulnerable, or super bitchy and controlling, or super something else.  I have seen this go the opposite way as well, I have read male characters written by female authors and even though I am not a guy been able to see, um yeah that is probably a female talking in a boys voice.  I think it has gotten better to some degree more recently, where it is more allowable for all genders to do whatever they want.  Boys can become nurses, teachers and cooks without too much flak, and girls are actively encouraged to go into traditionally boy fields (says the girl who works at the

firehouse!). Some genre's are better at cross gender writing than others.  Sci-Fi has almost always been a better place for all the genders to meld.  Fantasy, especially some of the newer stuff is starting to explore a more fluid concept of gender, which makes it easier for all genders to get there hands into it. YA is a mixed bag, I have seen some amazing gender study level stuff come out, but there still seems to be a very overarching girls are either super sassy or super sweet and boys are either bad boys with a heart of gold, or the perfect best friend.  Of course there are always glaring exceptions, Robin Hobb is a female author who among other wonderful books wrote the Farseer Series  which not only employs the dreaded first person narrative, but used a male voice as well.  I totally fell in love with the book and the character and it totally blew all my expectations out of the water (note to self, do a rambling on this soon).  Now to be fair, I am not a boy so I'm not sure how well she portrayed the maleness part, but it seemed pretty spot on to me.  Scott Westerfeld has done an amazing job with his Uglies series in which a female is not only one, but two of the main characters. Obviously there are amazing authors out there that can handle any character thrown at them, but for every one of those, there is five that should do a tad more research before attempting to write a different gender. All of this ranting and rambling to say...well...I'm not sure really, just kind of in the mood to rant. 

What do you think of writing for a different gender?  What are some great examples of cross-gender writing?  What are some awful examples of cross-gender writing? How does non-traditional genders play a role? Do you think I am crazy and read way to much into these books?

Starry Blue Apocolypse

Spoiler Alert Spoiler Alert Spoiler Alert Spoiler Alert Spoiler Alert
Just had to put that out there 'cause I'm pretty sure the spoilers will be coming fast and fierce with this rambling of And All the Stars by Andrea Host.  I actually decided to do something different and try and write down all my reactions to the book, so here they are in the order that they were written.
Starry blue apocalypse (what a great post title), Apple green cavalry teeheehee, Noi, not the main girl character yet by far the strongest and yet most caring girl in the book, Fisher-Science Boy YAY!, Pan is a theatre guy and not gay, Nash is the hot athletic one and is gay, yay for stereo-type reversals, Tyler?, AHHHHH Alien boyfriend, ....ew?!?, Theodin :-)  Shakespeare and Peter Pan I may die happy, Oh...gees, Never knew the boy, The Host, Why are Aussie teens more mature?  No crushing Angst, eh happy/pat ending.

That my friends was pretty much word for word in order the thoughts I had time to jot down while reading this book...but what is it about you ask, well I will tell you. Be prepared for an epically long post!
Madeline wakes up in the rubble of St. James station, confused and hurt.  It takes a couple chapters but we learn that huge Spires of something have risen out of the earth at Earth's most populated cities spewing a cloud of glittering dust that may turn everybody into Edward Cullen...wait I mean we don't know what is going to happen with the dust.  Sydney Australia is one of those cities and this is just the beginning.  Madeline makes her way to her cousins (the androgynous cross-dressing, movie star Tyler) apartment and starts putting together what happened.  People are warned to stay indoors and try not to be exposed to the dust as they are not sure what it does yet.  Madeline gets a hold of her family and lets them know that she is safe.  Meanwhile her body starts to to weird things, like ache all over, giver a hunger like she has never

experienced, allows her to project and "shape" energy, and oh yeah it covers most of her body in a deep blue starry like substance.  After eating all the food in the apt.  Madeline goes in search of food and meets Noi, a baker who survived the initial dust dispersion.  She informs Madeline that the dust does one of three things, kills you, makes you Green, or makes you Blue, Noi is Blue like Madeline.  The girls run into a boy who appears to have fallen down the stairs and meet his friends, the beautiful Nash, the impish Pan, and Gav who drives and apple green Bug.  All of the boys are Blues and come from a boarding school where they are trying to help their fellow school mates recover.  After some practical other things being done, the boys and girls decide to band together, along with a young girl named Emily that they pick up along the way.  They start doing experiments, trying to figure out how to use their new found powers and keep enough food in the house to feed their new ravousness appetites.  Madeline, who is an introvert by nature, finds the best way to stay calm is to sketch and paint her new friends.  She is also attracted to the driven, calm and intelligent Fisher, who is doing everything he can to find out about the dust and the Spires.  Madeline and Noi become inseparable as friends, depending on each other far more then anyone else.  One day while experimenting with a large group of Blues at a local beach, huge white "kites" of energy start swooping in and possessing the Blues.  The group try and get away, but Gav is taken.

They acquire a new companion in the form of Min, a sarcastic, yet practical boy. They get away and move into an apartment with a secret office and rig up early warning devices.  Madeline finally acts on her feelings for Fish in an awkward but very sweet way, but they are interrupted by the Spire "singing".  By watching the news they find out that the possessed Blues are aliens called the En-Mott and that they are here for two years to settle primacy...whatever that means.  The humans are to turn over anybody who is Blue, and if they are not sufficient more dust will be released until they have enough.  The Green's it turns out are susceptible to the Spires and are essentially mind controlled by it.  This triggers a cycle of trying to figure out what to do, hiding and practicing.  It is discovered that some of the Blues (like Nash) instead of expelling energy actually need to absorb it from other Blues, these are called leech-Blues. Turns out that settling primacy means having several types of challenges, destroying buildings and humans in the process.  When one of the challengers turns out to be hunting Madeline down for being the strongest Blue, the group decides to head out.  They end up in a newly build hotel, and Madeline and Fish do the deed...several times (yay for teenage sex).  Madeline tells Noi that she has fallen in love with Fish.  The next day they are all captured and separated.  Madeline wakes up to an empty building and minimal food.  The En-Mott are trying to weaken her so that they can possess her.
 She runs into Fisher who informs her that he has actually been possessed the whole time and that she has never actually met the human half.  Understandably this devastates Madeline, but she keeps her head as the alien who now calls himself Theodin (yep after the king in Lord of the Rings) tells her that he has a plan to help her rid her world of aliens as he has come to love their group and want to protect them.  He makes her angry enough to "soul punch" the alien out of the body, killing the alien in the process.  She learns how to transfer energy into the human host so that he survives the transition and discovers that the host knows and remembers everything that happened while possessed (as my brother would say Awkward).  Putting aside her teen angst for later, Madeline and the newly released Fisher go and free the others, finding out the alien plans in the process.  I'm still not 100% sure what everything meant, but I did get that the aliens would come back every eight years, so just trying to wait out the promised two years wasn't going to help anything.  Using there new found fighting techniques the group (who have been calling themselves The Blue Musketeers) teaches the world how to fight of the aliens.  At the end Fisher tells Madeline that he does have feelings for her, and point blank tells her the difference between himself and the alien.  He gives Madeline the choice to come with him, or go with the other group.  Madeline chooses to see what happens with him.  The epilogue shows the group five years later, all with happy endings and a free if slightly torn up planet.

Whew, that was honestly just a bare bones plot synopsis, this book is so so so much more.  I loved this book, I couldn't put this book down, much work was not completed because of this book.  I think I liked this book so much because it was so gosh darn practical, especially for a young adult scifi book.  Let's start with the writing.  The first chapter of two totally confused me, it dumps you right into this confused, painful, wait did I just miss something moment.  At first I thought I had missed something because it was just like..what the hell?  This ended up working really well because that is exactly what our main character was feeling and right of the bat you had some insight into her new life.  I loved that other than glimpses here and there this story was mostly about the here and now, and a possible future.  The pacing of this book was really great, a mix between action, dialogue, humor, introspection and a lot of food. The author makes use of Shakespeare, Tolkien, Dumas, and Barrie in a way that fits beautifully into the story (I'm a sucker for an author who loves and respects other authors), and turning the group into The Blue Musketeers gave the reader a sense that the group found a way to be
cohesive. The words of course were vastly important, and this author does not shy away from words, but on the whole she is not overly flowery either, a very good balance.  On to the characters.  The characters were my favorite part of this book, the author did an amazing job making them seem authentic, everything they did or said seemed to make sense and have a real life motive.  Nobody was given words or actions just to further the plot.  The underlying feel of the group was that they were all friends, there was no unnecessary drama, no pointless misunderstandings, just a group of people who were trying to survive and along the way formed unbreakable bonds.  Even the romances were low key and plausible.  The main romance between Madeline and Fisher was even discussed as being the result of the situation, more than a long term development.  Madeline was a great main character (though I use that term loosely as almost all the characters were very well developed).  She was never the leader, never the most beautiful, her talent, while amazing, was not one that necessarily saved lives, she had a hard time not withdrawing and her tightest relationship was not with the boy she fell in love with, but the discovery of a best friend in Noi.  Noi was awesome, that is all I can say.  She is my favorite type of character, capable but willing to ask for help, strong and caring, bossy and able to bake.  She is the type that reminds you that you can be more then the strong, sexy shooter girl, or the quiet shy, yet oh-so-good girl.  Noi is as human as they come and I love her for it. Emily the young girl, full of young anger, this character really showed the difference a few years and some maturity can make. She was portrayed as 12/13 year old girl, not in the sense that she was whiny, but that her emotions would swing from clingy and scared, to unreasonably angry over the slightest thing.  I liked this contrast to the older more mature members of the team.  Fisher was a good character, possessed or not I loved the idea of the main romantic interest being a smarty mcsmarty pants.  Again he never belittled people for not knowing as much as him, and his joy came from learning, not so much knowing.  Nash was the perfect mix of strong and sweet, somebody who should

be around in any crisis.  Min...well we all know a Min, a guy who covers everything up with a sarcastic joke, but will be the first one to defend you when it comes down to it.  Gav was about as boy next-door as you can get, probably the most laid back character, willing to do what needed to be done. Then there is Pan, he is my other favorite character in the book.  He is constantly "performing" always quoting lines from plays and keeping the groups spirit up.  Tyler is the other character that is used in this book, though we don't get to know him very well as he is off-stage most of the time, but he is the epitome of staying true to oneself in the most extreme of ways, I'm not sure how effective this was in this type of story, but I'm glad he was in there anyways.  Overall the author figured out how to put in a ton of diversity, ethnic,
sexual orientation/identification, personality, gender, location in a manner that did not seemed forced.  The concept of the aliens was pretty cool, for some reason though, they kept reminding me of the book The Host (but that may be because of all the trailers that are out) I like that most of them had a complete disregard for human life, it made the killing of them easier to stomach.  I wish the history and current events of there race was a little clearer, but I don't think it mattered in the end.  I do however want my own dandelion dragon. The ending was a bit to pat and happy, but not implausible and after everything that had happened to these poor kids I guess they deserved a happy ending.  In case you couldn't tell, I loved this book and would recommend it to almost anyone.  I give it 9 out of 10 dandelion dragons.
What makes a book unputdownable for you?  How would you survive an alien invasion?  Why are Aussie teens so much more mature then American teens?

The Answer Is 42

If a towel, 42, and the hyperspace bypass mean anything to you, then I can probably safely assume you are a Douglas Adams fan.  Today is his 61st birthday, so everybody grab a towel and hitch a ride on the Heart of Gold and wish this man a very happy birthday.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Hmm I think I feel a reread in and a ramble coming on :-)  Happy reading everybody

RIP Ray Bradbury

An author who was a definitive voice in Sci-Fi and other fiction died today.  Ray Bradbury who wrote required reading such as Fahrenheit 451 and The Halloween Tree was a prolific and talented writer who has inspired many, including some of my own favorite authors. 

An Ode To Orson Scott Card

I just finished reading The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card and once again once I started I was up into the wee hours finishing it.  Every time I read a book that keeps me awake, I try and figure out why and in this case I think it is the author.  One of my favorite things about books by Mr. Card is the readability of it.  No matter what topic he is covering space, fairy tales, fantasy, history or any combination of these, he always seems to keep the reader in mind. I first discovered this in Enders Game, a tale set in space, I then switched to the Alvin Maker series, completely different genre (alt-history) and found it just as compelling.   The topics covered in Mr. Cards books could very easily get mired into descriptions and facts and theories that would bore most people, but he always keeps that sort of thing in check.  This is not to say that these books are not informative, I have found myself on many occasions running to look up some tidbit of history or mythology while reading these books, especially ones like Enchantment that
while being a fairy tale was very much grounded in history and tales from the past. The story is what seems to be the most important thing in the books, and even in the midst of techno-babble and history he always comes back to a character to make the reader care about all the other stuff.  His characters are another thing I love about Mr. Cards books, very rarely is any character all good or all bad, and he gives motive to all his characters as well.  I personally love it when an author gives us a reason why a person might do or say a certain thing, because in real life most people just don't decide to be mean and evil, there is usually a reason.  Mr. Card usually has his hero's/heroine's act and react like real people, sometimes snarky, sometimes mean, sometimes silly which I think goes a long way towards making a character likable.  To many times I've read stories where I like the villain much more then the main hero/heroine because they seem so much more relateable then a one dimensional good guy.
This is not the case in Mr. Cards books, even though you get the motivation for the bad guys (which I always appreciate) you also get a motivation and feel for the other main characters as well. I love the variety of topics Mr. Card covers in his writing.  A lot of my favorite authors cover one or maybe two related genre's exceptionally well, but the talented Mr. Card has written in several genre's and I can honestly say I have stayed up way past my bedtime reading every book I have ever got of his (did that sentence make any sense?).  I have read SciFi, Fantasy, History, Short Stories and How To books by Mr. Card and he shines in every one of them.  I think if i had to pick a thread that ties all these books and stories to Mr. Card it would be his sense of humor (which makes everything better) and his ability to make the reader identify with every character in the book, regardless of gender, age, or genre.  I am very glad to have discovered Mr. Card at such a young age (9) and have been able to read all his various works through out my life.  Keep up the good work Mr. Card and please hurry up and get the next Mithermage book out :-)

Which is your favorite Orson Scott Card book?  Do you have any authors you know you can pick up any book of their's and like it?  Do you think he writes equally well in all genre's or does he do better in a specific one?  Should I learn to go to sleep before my alarm goes off?