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Summer!
Long days by the pool, glorious sunshine, the satisfaction of mowing the lawn on a Saturday morning!
Oh, who am I kidding?
I don't know how to work a lawnmower, and when you're a redhead, summer is the time when everything is trying to kill you. The heat. The sun. The bugs. The pollen. It's just one massive red sunburn/rash.
Last weekend we went to Idaho and I was on my parents' ski boat for four hours, covered in sunblock. I got massive burns on my legs and all around my hairline. YAY.
I like to stay indoors, where it's cool, and read. And as all of you know, I also like to set reading goals. The other day on Twitter I saw some authors asking, mystified, why people ask grownups about summer reading, because grownups don't get a summer break. But I would like to contend that we do, in a way. I'll be sitting by the pool because of the children, which means I'll be able to read while they have lessons. There's less running back and forth to school and school activities. Also, I have a babysitter come in the summer so that I can write, and when I have good solid blocks of writing, I like to take reading breaks.
So! Summer reading for adults is totally a thing!
Let's talk goals!
Last year it looks like I read 54 books between June 1st and Labor Day, I see nothing wrong with saying, Let's do that again! Maybe even, dare I dream, 55 books?! Also, though I know it's an impossible dream, I'd like to get my Goodreads To-Read shelf under 300. It's at 328 right now. The trouble is, for every 1 book I read off that shelf, I add 3. Why? Why? Why are there so many books to read?! WHY.
I also want this to be the Summer of the Rereads. I've already reread WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? (because I now own my own copy) as well as reading THE LAST GURU to the kids. (Love me some Daniel Pinkwater! And so do the kids!) I also now have my shiny box set of IF I STAY and WHERE SHE WENT, and I'm dying for my own copy of THE NIGHT CIRCUS. Not to mention rereading JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL, now that there's a BBC series! So let's say I read at least 30 books off the ol' Goodreads To-Read, and reread at least three favorites? Sounds good, right?
And of course, since we're like, halfway into June already (how did THAT happen?), I've already got a few books under my belt!
So far, since June 1st, I've read:
VERY GOOD LIVES by J.K. Rowling
SHADOWPLAY by Tad Williams
REFLECTIONS by Diana Wynne Jones
ROYAL WEDDING by Meg Cabot
WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? by Maria Semple
THE LAST GURU by Daniel Pinkwater
ALL BETTER NOW by Emily Wing Smith - This is a memoir by my dear friend Emily, who has suffered all her life from depression, as well as having a brain tumor and a traumatic brain injury when she was just eleven years old. The book won't be out for several months at least, but is WONDERFUL and I cannot recommend it enough!
I'm currently reading the kids FAT MEN FROM SPACE and FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK for myself. So we're off to a great start!
Also, some exciting news: SILVER IN THE BLOOD comes out on July 7th! So many events planned for the summer! A launch at The King's English on the 7th! An event at The Provo Library on July 29th! And ILA on the 18th! Plus a blog tour and giveaways! Keep checking the events page for dates and times!
Happy Summer Reading!
Hello, all!
I hope you had a wonderful summer! I'm guessing it was far more restful than mine! Nevertheless, I did manage to get some reading done. I think I challenged myself to read sixty books. I don't know where I pulled that number from . . . wishful thinking, I suppose! The reality is . . . Fifty-four! Not bad, right? I've read 97 of the 160 books I've challenged myself to read this year, but according to Goodreads, I'm still ten books behind schedule. Le sigh.
Before I give you the list, let me tell you that I am awaiting final details of my October book tour for THURSDAYS WITH THE CROWN! I will post those events soon! I do know that I will launch the book one day early, on October 6th! It goes on sale officially on October 7th, but that is Baby Girl's birthday, and I am not THAT terrible of a mother... The launch party will be at The King's English in Salt Lake City on Monday, October 6th at 7 pm! I can also confirm that I will be at the Provo Library on November 13th at 7 pm, for the Utah Valley launch, so there's two options already for you, Utah!
I can also confirm that there will be special Barnes & Noble editions of THURSDAYS, which have maps of the Castle on the endpapers and a bonus short story at the end!
And in YA book news, my long-awaited Romania book, entitled SILVER IN THE BLOOD, will be out July 7th, 2015! Advanced copies are coming, and you know I'll do giveaways and show you cover art and all good things as soon as I can!
Now, the summer reading books!
From Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day I read:
1. Peyton Place, Grace Metalious*
2. Midwinterblood, Marcus Sedgwick
3. The Chapel Wars, Lindsey Leavitt
4. Farthing, Jo Walton*
5. Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson
6. Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood, Nathan Hale
7. Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Laini Taylor
8. A nd Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
9. Searching for Sky, Jillian Cantor
19. The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion*
20. My Real Children, Jo Walton*
21. Open Road Summer, Emery Lord
22. Gidget, Frederick Kohner
23. Silver in the Blood
24. In Darkness, Nick Lake
25. Fool Me Twice, Mandy Hubbard
26. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1: Cosmic Avengers
27. Jim Henson's The Labyrinth, A.C.H. Smith
28. Shadow on the Mountain, Margi Preus
29. Tuesdays at the Castle (read this aloud to my kids)
30. Silver in the Blood
31. No Graves As Yet, Anne Perry
32. Bad Monkey, Carl Hiaasen*
33. Silver in the Blood
34. Landline, Rainbow Rowell
35. The Silkworm, Robert Galbraith*
36. Rogues, edited by George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois*
37. The Glass Sentence, S. E. Grove
38. Wish You Were Italian, Kristin Rae
39. The Night Gardener, Jonathan Auxier
40. Charlotte's Rose, A. E. Cannon
41. One More Thing, B. J. Novak*
42. Silver in the Blood
43. Life on Mars, Jennifer Brown
44. The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier
45. Little Women and Me, Lauren Baratz-Logsted
46. Skink- No Surrender, Carl Hiaasen
47. Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill
48. Wednesdays in the Tower (aloud to the kids)
49. I'll Give You the Sun, Jandy Nelson
50. Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, Ridley Pearson
51. The School for Good and Evil, Soman Chainani
52. Chasing Power, Sarah Beth Durst
53. Blood of Tyrants, Naomi Novik
54. Double Whammy, Carl Hiaasen*
* - Solidly for adults, sensitive readers be warned.
Yes, that's right, I had to read my own book, Silver in the Blood, three times this summer, start to finish, as part of the editing process. No, that never got old, I love that book! On the other hand, some of these books were not my favorite. But let's not dwell on that! Let's talk about the ones that were my favorite(s)!
For grownups: The Silkworm (if you are not reading J. K. Rowling's alter ego, Robert Galbraith, you are missing out), Landline (older teens might like this as well. Some swears.), and My Real Children (in which Jo Walton again wows me with her excellence). The Rosie Project was darling and hilarious!
For teens: If you love fantasy, please treat yo'self to Brandon Sanderson's epic Stormlight Archive series. Words of Radiance is book two, book one was The Way of Kings. They are magnificent. Also, why are you not reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire books? Blood of Tyrants is the second-to-last, the first was called His Majesty's Dragon. They are must reads for fans of historical fiction and/or dragons. Both these series are for adults, but there is no reason a teen couldn't read them. Also, just for teens: I'll Give You the Sun should win all the awards this year. Midwinterblood was last year's Printz winner, and it deserved the medal! Chasing Power by my girl Sarah Beth Durst comes out soon (I got an advance copy), and if you like X-Men, you are going to love this!
Middle grade readers: The Night Gardener is wonderful and creepy and I want it to get awards. And Charlotte's Rose was absolutely wonderful. It's the story of a young girl (based on real events) emigrating from Wales to Utah with the early Mormon pioneers. She agrees to carry a newborn baby whose mother has died, and walks across the plains with the baby strapped to her back. Funny, harrowing, and heart-warming!
So, what did you guys read that I need to know about? Tell me in the comments!
GUESS WHAT?!
THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S TIME!
It's time for Auntie Jessy's Summer Reading Challenge!
YAY!
But first off I want to thank all of you who contributed to our Indiegogo campaign for ALTERED PERCEPTIONS! Thanks to you, we were able to raise $110,000 for our friend Robison Wells, which will ease the burden of debt on him and his sweet family! We even went over our goal, and were able to give that extra money to the dear Sara M. Eden, a fine historical fiction writer and gracious woman who suffers greatly from depression and rheumatoid arthritis. So thank you all for your help, and for putting up with my constant blogging, tweeting, and talking about the campaign.
And now on to Summer Reading!
For those of you who are just joining us here on the blog, every June I challenge myself to read a gross ton of books during the summer, and then I post my results in September. You are welcome to put your summer reading goals in the comments, and let us know your results in the fall!
This summer I'd like to read sixty books. Will I? Let's see!
I always say the summer reading term is from Memorial Day to Labor Day, so I'm off to a rip-roaring start with four books already under my belt:
PEYTON PLACE - Grace Metalious
MIDWINTERBLOOD - Marcus Sedgwick
THE CHAPEL WARS - Lindsey Leavitt
FARTHING - Jo Walton
WORDS OF RADIANCE - Brandon Sanderson
Admittedly, I did start reading WORDS OF RADIANCE long before Memorial Day, due to its incredible longness.
Other books I'm hoping to read this summer include THE ROSIE PROJECT, and GIDGET, just to name a couple. I'm very curious about GIDGET. I grew up watching the Gidget movies and the TV show starring Sally Field, about the cheerful, somewhat air-headed surfer girl and her boyfriend Moondoggy. I just discovered this last year that it was originally a book, and based on the author's own daughter and her friends. It sounds like a fun summer read. As does THE ROSIE PROJECT, SEARCHING FOR SKY, MY REAL CHILDREN, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, and a number of other delightful books that I have on my Goodreads to-read shelf. I just got back from BEA as well, and am loaded to the gills with new books . . . I feel like I'm surrounded by scrumptious chocolates of many different types, whichever shall I eat first?!
News, news, news! (Also, more news!)
I haven't blogged much lately, so there is lots to cover! Strap yourselves in!
First of all, WEDNESDAYS IN THE TOWER will be out on May 7th! Mark your calendars, kids! And how much do you love this cover? Because, personally, I love it a LOT! I will be going on a book tour to celebrate the release, which is super exciting! There are no firm dates/locations yet, but places being bandied about include: Chicago, Florida, Philadelphia, Houston, and Washington DC. That's in addition to places around Utah, of course. As soon as we get fixed dates and details, I will post them. Please remember that if you are in a place where I will NOT be signing, you can always order a signed and personalized copy of any of my books through The King's English in Salt Lake City. They are wonderful, and they will be happy to help you!
Second: Lots of people have been telling me how much they loved PRINCESS OF THE SILVER WOODS, and I thank them for their very kind words! It's a great book, if I do say so myself! So please remember to show it some love! But then they want to know when the next princess book is coming out . . . and, um . . . there isn't one. They all live happily ever after! The end. (Sorry! But a twelve book series just isn't my style.)
Third: TUESDAYS IN THE CASTLE is nominated for a Beehive Book Award. HOORAY! So all you Utah peeps, head over to the library and vote for Celie and Castle Glower!
Fourth: This fall SUN AND MOON, ICE AND SNOW will be released with a brand new cover! I have seen this cover, and behold, it is beautiful! It's by the same artist who did the Princess covers, and I screamed and jumped up and down when I saw it. As soon as it gets finalized with titles and pretty shiny things, I will be sure to post it. It will only be available as a paperback, both beautiful AND affordable!
Fifth: In February of 2014, the DRAGON SLIPPERS trilogy will be released with new covers as well! The new covers are by David Hohn, the fantastic talent behind the Castle Glower covers. I've seen some of the sketches, and I actually burst into tears. Tears. Burst. Into. No shame. The new DRAGON SLIPPERS cover, even as a pencil sketch, is . . . is . . . Okay, I love Peter Ferguson's original painting for the DS hardcover. I bought it, it's hanging in my house, I love it. He also does the Sisters Grimm books, and he's wonderful. But seeing the sketch for the new cover reminded me of what it was like to be writing that book, eight years ago, and I wept. I can't wait to show you these covers, guys. Shardas lives!
Sixth: I am planning not one, but several giveaways in the next few months, so be warned. The best, easiest way for me to do a giveaway is through Facebook. Make sure that you have liked my author page, please! I usually ask for likes or comments as entries into the contests. If you don't have a FB account, get someone you love to check my page for you!
Seventh: If you want to see my crazypants to-read shelf (currently clocking in at 321 books) and my reading challenge over on Goodreads, make sure and friend me over there! I love Goodreads, because I'm one of those nuts who loves lists anyway. I am trying to read 160 books this year, and I've currently read 26! I'm about to finish the awesomely twisty thriller MIND GAMES by Kiersten White, and next up will be TIMELESS by Gail Carriger! Love me some good books!
And now, to eat some chocolate! Farewell!
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