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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?!
I dunno, that just felt like a good title.
You see, it's not so much griffins galore, it's mostly one griffin. One AWESOME griffin, one Rufus by name!
Since last I blogged, you see, some things have happened. WEDNESDAYS IN THE TOWER came out . . . and debuted at #10 on the New York Times Bestseller List! I was on a cruise at the time, and didn't get the news for a couple of days, and when I did, my arms went numb! It was quite weird. I was sitting in our cabin with my feet up, getting my email, and I saw that email and just . . . went numb. I sat there laugh-crying at my husband while he read the email, because I was too stunned to talk! It is still so surreal to me. Every so often it hits me that from now on, my books will all say, "New York Times Bestselling Author" across them, and I freak out a little all over again.
So, yes, I was on a cruise. I was also on a book tour, so the month of May was a little crazy. I lost track of how many flights I was on, now many times I got up at 4 am to get to the airport, and how many times I gave a school presentation. But it was fun, all of it! The schools were great, the bookstores were great, the cruise was great. All great all around! I highly recommend both cruises and book tours as vacation options in the future, if any of you are wondering. (Although in all honesty, swimming with dolphins in Cozumel was slightly better than giving three school assemblies in one day. Slightly.)
I also found out in May that TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE is one of the Summer Reading books for Barnes & Noble, and I could not be more delighted. Kids who do their Summer Reading program and read 8 books this summer can pick a copy of of TUESDAYS as their free book! Yay!
Now that WEDNESDAYS is out there in the world, allow me to take this opportunity to apologize for the ending. It's not a bad ending . . . it's just a bit of a cliffhanger. But don't worry, I'm working hard on THURSDAYS IN THE SOMETHING SOMETHING, and soon all questions will be answered! (By soon, of course, I mean next spring. Sorry.)
And now on to Other People's Books.
You know what time of year it is? It's SUMMER READING TIME!
I am not even going to try and challenge myself to a certain number this year. I mean, on Goodreads I've challenged myself to read 160 books this year, and I'm falling a wee bit behind, but no specific number for the summer. I do have a large stack of books on the bedside table, as per usual. I probably have close to 50 other books in my house that I haven't read yet, but this is my method for this summer.
1. Find fun book.
2. Read fun book.
Basically, I've decided to choose my books this summer by whatever pops into my head as being the Most Fun This Second. Let's face it, we all have books we know we SHOULD read, like OUR MUTUAL FRIEND or EAST OF EDEN, but I'm putting those aside this summer. I took a look at my Goodreads to-read shelf last night, then I went onto my library website, and put the five books that jumped out at me on hold. I might reread a few things, I might very well decide to read OUR MUTUAL FRIEND, but I'm going to take it one book at a time. Right now I'm reading FRAGMENTS by Dan Wells (which is awesome). And I read some very fun things on my cruise and book tour (like TIMELESS, TOURIST SEASON, and CRUCIBLE OF GOLD), and so I think I will include those on my summer reading list. So let's say that Summer Reading this year starts on May 1st, shall we? And goes until September 3rd!
Which means that thus far I have read:
CATE OF THE LOST COLONY by Lisa Klein
NEED by Carrie Jones
TIMELESS by Gail Carriger
TOURIST SEASON by Carl Hiaasen
THE HERO AND THE CROWN by Robin McKinley (a reread, obviously)
LET'S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS by David Sedaris
CRUCIBLE OF GOLD by Naomi Novik
THE BLUE SWORD by Robin McKinley (reread)
THE HERO'S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM by Christopher Healy
DEAD EVER AFTER by Charlaine Harris
ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL by James Herriot
THE SPINDLERS by Lauren Oliver
I have also read CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG and ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND aloud to the kids.
Go forth and read! And if you feel like picking up some copies of WEDNESDAYS IN THE TOWER for your friends and family, I'm not gonna object.
YEEEEEHAW!
I know what you pardners are all wonderin': Did Jessica get rid of that triple stack of books on her bedside table?
Yeah. Of course I didn't. We all knew the answer to THAT. No sooner had I blogged about getting that stack whipped into shape than like SEVEN books I'd had on hold at the library forever came in for me. I'd gotten down to two smaller stacks, and then my publisher released six fantastic books I'd been waiting for. Let's face it: I will never NOT have multiple stacks of books on my bedside table.
Le sigh.
Yet as I type that, I'm smiling. Oh, and wearing a nightshirt my sister gave me that says, "I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books." The other day my son pointed to my nightshirt and said, "That just EXPLAINS you, you know, Mommy?"
"Indeed, my son. I do know."
So what did get read this summer?
(The asterisk means I own it.)
EARWIG AND THE WITCH - Diana Wynne Jones *
PANDEMONIUM - Lauren Oliver
CRYER'S CROSS - Lisa McMann
STEVE JOBS - Walter Isaacson *
CINDER - Marissa Meyer
DEADLOCKED - Charlaine Harris
THE KNEEBONE BOY - Ellen Potter
FINN FAMILY MOOMINTROLL - Tove Jansson *
CONFESSIONS OF A SCARY MOMMY - Jill Smokler
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER - Seth Grahame-Smith *
LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED - Jenny Lawson
I AM FORBIDDEN - Anouk Markovits
UNEXPECTED MAGIC - Diana Wynne Jones *
LADY FRIDAY - Garth Nix *
GANYMEDE - Cherie Priest *
READY PLAYER ONE - Ernest Cline
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE - Diana Wynne Jones *
THE WISE MAN'S FEAR - Patrick Rothfuss *
DAYDREAMS OF A SOLITARY HAMSTER - Astrid Desbordes
RAMPANT - Diana Peterfreund
THE BOOK OF BLOOD AND SHADOW - Robin Wasserman
THE SISTERS BROTHERS - Patrick DeWitt
SIZE 12 AND READY TO ROCK - Meg Cabot
REDSHIRTS - John Scalzi
BRINGING UP BEBE - Pamela Druckerman
FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS - Diana Peterfreund
TEAM HUMAN - Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan
MOOMINPAPPA'S MEMOIRS - Tove Jansson *
ARCHIE MEETS KISS (No. Seriously.)
SMILE - Raina Telgemeier
GHOST STORY - Jim Butcher *
ROT & RUIN - Jonathan Maberry *
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES - Deborah Harkness
BABYMOUSE: DRAGONSLAYER - Jenni and Matt Holm
Currently reading: GIRL OF NIGHTMARES - Kendare Blake
So. That's . . . 34 and 1/2 books! I also read PRINCESS OF THE SILVER WOOD twice, once to do copy edits, and once to proofread. Which totally counts!
And now I'm embarking on my fall reading, which will include a little project. What's that, you say? Well, for one thing, I'm toying with the idea of rereading some things. I read HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE aloud to the kids, and it really made me want to revisit some old favorites. I've thought of reading one old book for every two new ones I read in the next few months. I may do that. But also, every time I walk through my bedroom, I see my Harry Potter books. They are lovingly displayed atop my dresser, with Harry Potter bookends holding them in place. I get the urge to pick them up and look at the pretty, pretty covers, and maybe read a page or two. So I decided to start a little project. I will read one chapter of Harry Potter every day (starting today!) and see how long it takes me to get through the entire series! I was going to add up the number of chapters and try to tell you exactly how long it will take . . . but I'm not good at math so I didn't. If somebody wants to do that for me, they totally can.
And that's what I'll be doing this fall! Along with reading:
GIRL OF NIGHTMARES
PRINCESS ACADEMY: PALACE OF STONE
SCARLET
BLEEDING HEARTS
THRONE OF GLASS
OUT FOR BLOOD
CATE OF THE LOST COLONY
THE CLOCKWORK THREE
ANATHEM
THE WAY OF KINGS
THE HYPNOTIST
And many, many more!
What are you reading as we cozy our way into fall?
Recently I have been involved in conversations via the Twitters and the Facebooks about books that people were assigned in school that they hated. In particular, "The Classics." (Ominous music!) And then, of course, the usual disagreements start. Some people love Steinbeck, others (like me) would not hesitate to revile his books to his face if he weren't already dead. (If he comes back as a zombie, I will still revile THE RED PONY, I'll just do it while I run.) So I've developed a bit of a theory. It's called the, "It's All About The Presentation" theory.
Before we discuss this theory, I'm going to warn you that there will be spoilers about several books in this post. It's just too hard to talk about some of these books without discussing specific plot points. All of the books I'm about to spoil are over twenty years old, though, so if that bothers you, I'm sorry. And also: KRISTIN SHOT J.R.! ROCHESTER HAS A MAD WIFE IN THE ATTIC! THE ALAMO DOESN'T HAVE A BASEMENT! DAISY WAS DRIVING THE CAR!
Moving on!
In eighth grade I had a very nice English teacher we'll call Mrs. W. I liked Mrs. W. as a person, I even worked for her after school part time, checking in assignments and recording grades. Mrs. W., however, needed to rethink her syllabus, or possibly how she described the books and poems to the class.
The syllabus, and her descriptions/discussions of the books (as I remember them):
THE RED PONY by John Steinbeck - Farm animals are there to work, they're not pets you should get attached to. The pony was unsuited for ranch work, since it was from a circus, and could not survive. The mare needed to die to save its foal, which happens all the time in the real world, and using a hammer was the humane way to do it.
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (the play) - Everyone dies but her father, and no one knows what gave them away after they'd lived in this tiny, horrible room for years. It's a terrible tragedy and very real tragedy, and if you don't cry reading this, you have no compassion.
THE POEMS OF ROBERT FROST - Look for the images of death! Sleep, slowing down, cold, darkness, leaves dying, winter coming.
Z FOR ZACHARIAH by Robert C. O'Brien - Everyone dies in a nuclear blast but this one teenage girl, then someone finds her, but he's not very nice.
One nonfiction book of our choice.
Okay. So. There's actually some good stuff on there, right? Who doesn't love Robert Frost? And Z FOR ZACHARIAH is a post-apocalyptic YA that would fit right in with some of today's bestsellers. But by the end of that class I think we all needed a children's chewable Prozac. Basically, to Mrs. W., everything was about death, with its attendant themes of fear, betrayal, pain, and grief. And the thing about Mrs. W. was that she was a cheery lady. Always a big smile on her face. By the end of the semester, it started to seem a bit creepy. Also, Robert Frost himself has said that he was startled by people's insistence that so many of his poems are about death. "Stopping By Woods ..." is actually a pastoral piece about stopping by the woods on a snowy winter evening to watch the snow drift against the trees. I kid you not. But in eighth grade English we learned that ALL his poems were about death, regret, and even suicide. We watched the movie of THE RED PONY, but before she started it she warned us that they had "softened" the ending because people didn't want to watch the mare's head be bashed in with a hammer. (Darn Hollywood! Spoiling everything!)
Would I have liked THE RED PONY if it had been presented differently? Well, probably not. I mean, that scene where the vultures FREAKING EAT THE PONY WHILE IT'S STILL ALIVE AND THEN VOMIT ON THE KID IN SELF-DEFENSE is pretty hardcore. It'll scar a reader. But all this discussion of Z FOR ZACHARIAH makes me want to read it again. Also, it's written by the guy who wrote MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH! How about telling kids THAT, Mrs. W?! Just the words "post-apocolyptic" would have intrigued me, but that's not how she chose to play it. And what about pairing something like Steinbeck with something a little more light-hearted? EH?! Essentially, that year we studied novels, biographies, plays, and poetry, all about death. It was bleak.
I'd better talk about something else before I have a vulture-induced flashback.
Who can tell me what book starts with: "The Nellie, a cruising yawl..." ?
Why, yes! It's THE HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad! Good for you! I was assigned to read that book not once, but twice. Once in AP English with Mr. W. (no relation to Mrs. W.), and in Humanities 201 with Prof. P. The first time I read it, I hated it! It was awful! And weird! And boring! And horrible! And what even happened?! The second time, while I didn't clasp it to my bosom and add it to my list of all time favorites, I liked it.
The difference?
The first reading was part of the AP English Extension Program. Since we were on a trimester system, you only had class for trimesters 2 and 3, and during trimester 1 you read several books on your own and wrote papers on them. THOD was the first of those books. I was handed the book by a teacher and given a deadline. The end.
The second reading, in college, began with Prof. P. passing out a packet describing the different types of analytical theory. Feminist Theory. Modernist. Post-Colonialism. Marxist. All those fancy things. He then assigned us the book, saying that THOD had been analyzed by experts in each of these fields, that it was a very controversial book and that the movie APOCALYPSE NOW was based on it. After reading the book, we discussed each of the theories and how they had analyzed the book. It was fascinating! I came out of it understanding and appreciating the book so much better, knowing tons about Conrad and about the Congo. What a remarkable difference!
Now, before you all start accusing me of talking smack about public education and blaming them for my hatred of Steinbeck, there's two things you should know.
1. That's not what I'm saying.
2. My sister is an AP English teacher at a public high school. A darn good AP English teacher.
Let's talk about Mrs. M. Mrs. M. also taught at my high school, I had her in 9th and 10th grades. Mrs. M. could not understand why her classes seemed, in her words, traumatized and afraid of books. She told me that she was regularly asked "How many people die in this book?"and said that most of her students would blurt out, "Death!" when asked what the theme of any book or poem was. Mrs. M. undid all the trauma. She taught with exuberance and panache. (She also did vocabulary words like exuberance and panache. I also learned how to pronounce "chic" from her.) I remember reading THE ODYSSEY and A DAY NO PIGS WOULD DIE, and having fun. (Except for the part with the pig rape in that second one. Yeesh. Nobody could lighten that up.) We didn't talk about death. We talked about characterization. Setting. The language of the books. We made travel brochures for a Land of the Lotus Eaters Resort, and talked about the Shaker religion and how much meat could be on a squirrel. In 10th grade we read THE GREAT GATSBY and talked about flappers and the Jazz Age and the metaphor of the shirts. Then we watched the movie and talked about how Mia Farrow's quavery voice was both irritating and kinda perfect. We were engaged in the material and we could tell her our ideas and opinions. She didn't announce, "This book is about THIS, children," and we all had to accept that answer no matter how we might disagree.
Mr. W. turned out to be another great teacher, once the extension program was over. We read THE SCARLET LETTER and WUTHERING HEIGHTS with him. He pointed out the various dialects in WUTHERING HEIGHTS and how they indicated class, talked about the servants as comic relief, and let us call Rev. Dimmesdale a wuss when we read THE SCARLET LETTER. He gave us poems from a variety of time periods, and encouraged us to read as many books off the AP list as we wanted, not just the two outside reading books required. He had a bookcase full of books from the list for us to borrow, so we didn't even have to walk across the hall to the library, and he didn't care which ones we read, or whether we picked books because they were short. I read THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE because it was short and right there on the bookcase, and I loved it. My friend Cade read MOBY-DICK because he wanted to read the biggest book on the shelf, and he quite liked it.
I read MOBY-DICK in college, with a professor who called himself "a Melville scholar." You were not allowed to disagree with anything he said. Every paper that we wrote had to reference MOBY-DICK in some way, because according to him it's the greatest book ever written, and all literature and aspects of one's life can be compared to it. If you made a grammar mistake in a paper, he made you type the sentence out correctly twenty times and turn it back in. The edition of the book that we were required to buy and read had the title as MOBY DICK. No hyphen. You can guess what happened to everyone in the class after they turned in their first paper. Uh huh. Yep. Ask me how I feel about MOBY hyphenDick sometime if you've got an hour to kill and are sick of my RED PONY whining.
It's all in the presentation, kids.
I hated THE LORD OF THE RINGS the first time I read it. Hated. It. My sister, noted LOTR enthusiast, was shocked and appalled. But here's the deal. Mrs. J., my Honors English teacher in 11th grade, was not a fan of fantasy. She had LOTR on her list of outside reading books, with all three volumes listed as one book. You couldn't just read FELLOWSHIP. You had to read them all. Over 1,000 pages. If you expressed any interest in fantasy whatsoever, she would assign it to you, and you would have the same amount of time to read it as someone who was reading THE GLASS MENAGERIE. I'm entirely convinced that she did it to suck the fun out of fantasy books. Nothing else on her list was even slightly fantasy or sci fi, and she only allowed non-list books if they weren't sci fi/fantasy. I read LOTR in one weekend, took the quiz on Monday, didn't remember anything else about it except that they walked and walked and walked and sang songs and did they even kill the bad guy? Who was the bad guy? I had no idea!
Mrs. J. was also fond of saying things like, "This next chapter is the key to the entire book." She said it about the used car salesman chapter of THE GRAPES OF WRATH (and sealed my hatred of Steinbeck), but didn't explain any further. Didn't discuss the chapter at all. Didn't answer any questions. Just nodded knowingly and moved on, leaving us scrambling to highlight the whole chapter and try to figure out why. My friend Marshall read THE CATCHER IN THE RYE for one of his outside reading books, and Mrs. J. told him the chapter where Holden visits his teacher was the key to the entire book. Marshall, who hated the book and had no idea what was going on, frantically asked me to read the chapter and tell him what it meant. I read it. No freakin' clue. If memory serves, Marshall hated every book he read in that class. I can hardly blame him.
Teachers, parents, librarians: I beg of you! Talk to your readers!
Tell them about the book they're going to read. Don't spoil the ending, but tell them why. Why is this book still around after so many years? Why are you giving it to them? Why do you like it? Why do you hate it but want them to read it anyway?
Then listen.
Listen to what they think about it. Listen to what they think it's about. Listen to their questions and try to answer them, or help them find the answers. That's how you get someone to like a book. Or at least not loathe it.
Just do me a favor and don't assign them THE RED PONY. No one needs that.
Note to Rachel6: Who is your brother to command you to read Improving Books? Is he your legal guardian? Are you prone to Lightmindedness after leaving the seminary at Bath? Did you run off with a handsome officer billeted in your village last year? And why does he appear to believe that Improving Books must be written by men and over fifty years old?
BONJOUR!
I am feeling in high spirits (and also slight French, apparently), because I have finished the major edits for PRINCESS OF THE SILVER WOODS. I dislike editing. Editing is hard. Writing the rough draft of a book is my favorite thing in the history of ever. I go through rough drafts like a toddler running screaming through a meadow full of puppies and candy. Every word is magical, and I am a genius. So when I have to go back to that magical manuscript and cut some of those magical words, and fix the flaws that I was convinced did not exist . . . well, it's not my favorite, okay?
So let's not talk about it anymore, because that is as done as a pair of doney things! YAY!
And now I can buckle down and KILL THE TO-READ PILE. I think I blogged at the beginning of the year about how I wanted to get my to-read shelf on Goodreads down to less than a hundred or something. Well. My to-read shelf now has 316 books on it. Yes. It's gone UP. I'm reading, I swear I am! But people keep writing more wonderful books! It's very stressful. So this summer I'd at least like to get below 300. That seems doable, right? And I have some great things to read. Right now on my bedside table, in my to-read-immediately pile, I have:
UNEXPECTED MAGIC by Diana Wynne Jones
THE WAY OF KINGS by Brandon Sanderson
ANATHEM by Neal Stephenson
THE WISE MAN'S FEAR by Patrick Rothfuss
THE HYPNOTIST by Lars Kepler
LADY FRIDAY by Garth Nix
GANYMEDE by Cherie Priest
CITY OF FIRE and CITY OF ICE by Laurence Yep (Give a cheer if you know his wonderful, award-winning DRAGONWINGS!)
DOWN THE MYSTERLY RIVER by Bill Willingham
THE MIDNIGHT PALACE by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
ROT & RUIN by Jonathan Maberry
CATE OF THE NEW COLONY by Lisa Klein
DANIEL DERONDA by George Eliot
THE CLOCKWORK THREE by Matthew Kirby
I'm currently reading CRYER'S CROSS by Lisa McMann (which I love), and I just finished CINDER by Marissa Meyer (which was AWESOME).
But. There's a little thing called rereading. It's a little something I've been in the mood for lately, y'know? I'd like to do some comfort reading. Sure, these shiny books on the bedside table are calling my name, and some have been there for a sad amount of time. But lately I've had quite the hankering to reread SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley. And THE WAR OF THE FLOWERS by Tad Williams. I keep telling people about JANE by April Linder, which makes me want to pick it up again myself. Last year I reread THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR and THE STONE OF FAREWELL by Tad Williams, which means it's time for TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER. Sigh. Fortunately, my kids are providing a great excuse to reread some things, too. Last night we started HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, and I'm wondering if we should try THE SECRET GARDEN or A LITTLE PRINCESS next.
It's a big wide world full of books out there, kids! Exciting and wonderful! Go ahead and tell me in the comments what books you're excited to read this summer! And if you're on Goodreads, make sure you "friend" me so that we can see each other's books!
And by the way: this week I signed myself up for my local library's summer reading program. I also signed up Boy and Baby Girl. Boy gets a free book for reading 20 minutes for x number of days, I just need to read 8 books by August, and Baby Girl gets points when we read aloud to her. Fun! Check out your local library to see if they have a program!
So! I know you're all dying to know: Did I "kill" that double stack of books on the bedside table?
Well. Sort of.
There's still a double stack of books, it's just a lot shorter.
First I got some books from my publisher that made it a triple stack briefly. Then my sister loaned me a couple of books that she said I just had to read (MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL, THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE, and HOURGLASS). A few things arrived via library hold . . .
Let's just see how I did, shall we? Keep in mind, I also read books aloud to my son at bedtime, and at one point my publisher just DEMANDED that I proof the galleys for TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE (they're funny that way, with the making me work and all).
How many did I actually read?
44! FORTY-FOUR books, people! That's not too shabby, eh? EH? Especially when you consider that I've also written 300 pages of a book of my own! (More on that later, it's PRINCESS #3 if you're trying ot keep track.)
So here's the list, in order:
OLD MAN'S WAR - John Scalzi BOSSYPANTS - Tina Fey SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE - J. Michael Straczynski DIVERGENT - Veronica Roth INSATIABLE - Meg Cabot DRAGON SPEAR - Read aloud to Boy. TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE - The galley proofs. (SO GOOD!) SEAN GRISWOLD'S HEAD - Lindsey Leavitt PARANORMALCY - Kiersten White THE PAPER ROSE CLUB - Jennifer Youngblood & Sandra Poole BEAUTY QUEENS - Libba Bray DANDELION WINE - Ray Bradbury HOW TO SAVE A LIFE - Sara Zarr GUARDIANS OF THE HIDDEN SCEPTRE - Frank L. Cole WITHER - Lauren De Stefano THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE - Maureen Johnson SHUT OUT - Kody Keplinger DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE - Laini Taylor THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE - Alan Bradley A RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT - Madeleine L'Engle THE HOBBIT - J. R. R. Tolkien (Yes, I've read this before, I read it aloud to my son.) HEARTLESS - Gail Carriger ENTWINED - Heather Dixon ABANDONED - Meg Cabot WINTER TOWN - Stephen Emond THE SHIRT ON HIS BACK - Barbara Hambly THE BLACKNESS BETWEEN - Howard Tayler MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL - Mindy Klasky ICEFALL - Matthew J. Kirby THE A CIRCUIT - Georgina Bloomberg and Catherine Hapka HOURGLASS - Myra McEntire THE SCRAPYARD OF INSUFFERABLE ARROGANCE - Howard Tayler BLOOD FEUD - Alyxandra Harvey HARD MAGIC - Larry Correia BOY 21 - Matthew Quick LIESL & PO - Lauren Oliver THE FULL CUPBOARD OF LIFE - Alexander McCall Smith THE MALTESE FALCON - Dashiell Hammett A BOY & HIS BOT - Daniel H. Wilson (Still in the middle of reading this aloud to Boy.) PRECIOUS DRAGON - Liz Williams FALLEN GRACE - Mary Hooper HAUNTING VIOLET - Alyxandra Harvey TECHNOSAURS Vol. 1 - Kevin Wasden SERVANT OF A DARK GOD - John Brown (I'm actually still reading this, but it counts, right?)
And that's the round up! Some of these books were amazing. Some were so-so. A couple were crappy. I refuse to say which ones, though! HA HA HA HA HA! You'll just have to read them and find out for yourself!
I will say this: FALLEN GRACE was wonderful, and if you love historical fiction, you really should pick this up. If you are a fan of DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD, try THE PAPER ROSE CLUB, and if you haven't tried Gail Carriger's wonderful Parasol Protectorate yet, you really must. But don't start with HEARTLESS, it's book four. You'll have to go back to SOULLESS to really enjoy the series. (These are adult books, though. Consider yourself warned.)
And there it is! The big list! Feel free to leave your favorite summer read in the comments! As for fall, I think I'm going to just go with whatever moves me. I might do some rereading (MIKE NELSON'S DEATH RAT! and WAR OF THE FLOWERS have been calling my name of late...), I might ignore the 50 odd never before read books lurking around the house and go on a spree at the library. You never know!
So. Naturally as soon as I posted the blog of my summer reading, I got a lovely care package of books from my publisher, which contained several books I have been DYING TO READ. Ahem.
Yes, I added them to the list!
And I've already finished one of them, and it was fabulous: SEAN GRISWOLD'S HEAD by Lindsay Leavitt. Wonderful book!
So if you're keeping score for me, please add:
THE A CIRCUIT by Georgina Bloomberg and Caroline Hapka
BLOOD FEUD by Alyxandra Harvey FALLEN GRACE by Mary Hooper
And I'm debating two: A WHOLE NOTHER STORY by Dr. Cuthbert Soup and A BOY AND HIS BOT by Daniel H. Wilson. I want to read them, but wonder if I should read them aloud to Boy. . .
And then my sister read THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan Bradley, and loved it, and bought a couple of copies and gave me one . . . so let's put that on there, too!
The list! She grows!
But the good news is, I have finished:
OLD MAN'S WAR
SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE DIVERGENT BEAUTY QUEENS WITHER INSATIABLE THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE BOSSYPANTS PARANORMALCY THE PAPER ROSE CLUB DANDELION WINE HOW TO SAVE A LIFE GUARDIANS OF THE HIDDEN SCEPTRE SHUT OUT
So why does this pile not look any smaller?
 That's my bedside table. And that's Magne and Walroo. Magne and Walroo are feeling a bit put out, due to the ENORMOUS DOUBLE PILE OF BOOKS ON THEIR TURF. Sorry, guys! But hopefully by the end of the summer it will be all gone! I started putting my most urgent "to reads" on my bedside table last year, which led to last year's Summer Reading post, in which I attempted to read an insane number of books (and mostly succeeded). Well, I've decided to do it again this year! I put my start date as June 1st, but this is the 3rd, and I'm a bit slow with the blogging obviously, so I have already read two: OLD MAN'S WAR by John Scalzi, and SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE by J. Michael Straczynski. I am also halfway through DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth. And now, the list of books I will be reading by Labor Day (September 5th), in no particular order: ANATHEM - Neal Stephenson BEAUTY QUEENS - Libba Bray INSATIABLE - Meg Cabot SERVANT OF A DARK GOD - John Brown A RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT - Madeleine L'Engle PRECIOUS DRAGON - Liz Williams HOW TO SAVE A LIFE - Sara Zarr DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE - Laini Taylor HARD MAGIC - Larry Correia CITY OF FIRE - Laurence Yep CITY OF ICE - Laurence Yep BLACKOUT - Connie Willis ABANDON - Meg Cabot ENTWINED - Heather Dixon THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE - Maureen Johnson WITHER - Lauren De Stephano THE PAPER ROSE CLUB - Jennifer Youngblood & Sandra Poole THE MALTESE FALCON - Dashiell Hammett LIESL & PO - Lauren Conrad CATE OF THE LOST COLONY - Lisa Klein DANIEL DERONDA - George Eliot THE MIDNIGHT PALACE - Carlos Ruiz Zafon BOY 21 - Matthew Quick THE CLOCKWORK THREE - Matthew Kirby EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS - A. S. King ROT & RUIN - Jonathan Maberry DOWN THE MYSTERLY RIVER - Bill Willingham GUARDIANS OF THE TEBAH STICK - Frank L. Cole (This has a new title, which escapes me. I have the Black Ops ARC . . . ) HAUNTING VIOLET - Alyxandra Harvey THE FULL CUPBOARD OF LIFE - Alexander McCall Smith IN THE COMPANY OF CHEERFUL LADIES - Alexander McCall Smith BLUE SHOES AND HAPPINESS - Alexander McCall Smith THE GOOD HUSBAND OF ZEBRA DRIVE - Alexander McCall Smith SHUT OUT - Kody Keplinger WINTER TOWN - Stephen Emond TECHNOSAURS NO. 1 - Kevin Wasden SCHLOCK MERCENARY: THE SCRAPYARD OF INSUFFERABLE ARROGANCE - Howard Tayler SCHLOCK MERCENARY: THE BLACKNESS BETWEEN - Howard Tayler Some of these books aren't out yet, but are ARCs that I was lucky enough to score in my journeys. And, to my embarrassment, some of these books are ARCs that I got a while ago and the books are out . . . I'm easily distracted by shiny new books, all right?! This is 38 books . . . Eep. Also, my book club is reading DANDELION WINE, MAIRELON THE MAGICIAN and THE MAGICIAN'S WARD this summer, three of my favorite books. Shall I reread them? Shall I? And what will YOU be reading this summer?
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