planning

any ideas for a may book to read? or a june book, for that matter?

has anyone read a curse dark as gold yet? i'm about 3/4 of the way through it, so hopefully i'll be able to post something soon.

National Day of Silence

Today is The National Day of Silence. In its 12th year now, this day is meant to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying, and harassment of LGBT(etc) high school students. This year's day is in honor of the memory of Lawrence King, the CA 15-year-old killed by a classmate who found out Lawrence had a crush on him.

Next up in my library pile are two books about gay characters, both by Alex Sanchez. What books with LGBT characters do you like? Are there any that you feel are overlooked? Since I mostly stick to realistic stuff, what about in fantasy--are there LGBT characters there? Any good blogs you read on LGBT books/issues? For blogs, I like I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the hell do I read? I also like Worth the Trip. Books I love include anything by David Levithan, Julie Anne Peters, and Ellen Wittlinger. There are so many great books out now with LGBT characters, which I think is fantastic and so important. Your turn now.

Movies

I'm anxiously awaiting the release of the film version of Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. The novel, written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, was fantastic (I think it was one that, after having moved from MA to MN, I begged Terri, the owner of The Children's Book Shop, to send me the galley because I just could not possibly wait). This got me thinking: what other books have made good movies (knowing that, of course, the book is generally better)? Or what YA books would you like to see made into a movie (and what stars would play your favorite characters)?

funny YA books

i've decided i need to read something funny soon (funny ha-ha, not funny strange). it takes a lot for me to laugh out loud when i'm reading a book. some adult authors who routinely deliver the funny, to me, are laurie notaro and david sedaris. but when it comes to YA books that really make me laugh, not much comes to mind. i can always rely on sue townsend, author of the adrian mole series for YAs and some adult books, to give me a good laugh (often in that cringing way). the first few louise rennison books usually guaranteed a good laugh (i still enjoy them, but they're getting ooooold). i guess i'm thinking about this because i just read elizabeth scott's perfect you. it was a fantastic read. kate, the main character, is acerbic and smart, and the dialogue is excellent. i laughed a few times while reading it, but wanted it to be more funny, less serious at times. so, can you think of anything you've read that was truly funny to you? i need a break from the seriousness!

another plug

as we all know, our dear fellow misfit, kristin, has a novel coming out soon. she also know has a new blog, This is My Secret. pop on over and check it out!

anyone else with new websites to promote?:)

Plug

Hi, all.

Forgive the obtuse nature of this entry, but I thought this would be THE place to promote the new store blog, www.curiousgeorgestore.blogspot.com .
There have only been a few posts, so far, and since we've yet to build an established/repeat audience, the entries sans comments seem a little more "newsletter"y than immediate, as a blog should be.
If you've read, want to read or refuse to read any of the books mentioned, please consider being one of the first to comment.

Thanks!

recommendations

it's not often i get to read a whole book in one sitting these days, but i just finished sara zarr's sweethearts. once i started it, i couldn't possibly set it aside to do anything else. i think it's one that will stay with me for a while.

waiting for me at the library, i have guyaholic by carolyn mackler and the disreputable history of frankie landau-banks by e. lockhart. i can't wait to read those!

do you have any great recommendations?

April's book

For those interested, the April pick is A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

Dance on my Grave

Skip this post if you haven't finished the March pick yet....

I spent yesterday afternoon reading Dance on my Grave. I thought it was fantastic. It was funny, sad, honest, and awkward. I sometimes found Hal and Barry's banter so obtuse (the unknown to me Britishisms didn't help) that I would lose the thread of what they were even talking about, but that didn't detract from my interest in them. I feel like Chambers really captured that initial whirlwind-like feeling of dating (especially as a young adult) so well. This book feels so distinctive to me, so unlike almost anything I've ever read before.

Beyond really just loving the book and the unique characters, I don't have much to say. What I did find myself looking at as I read were little details about being a gay teen in a YA novel written in 1982. We all know that most gay teens ended up dead (or suffering some other awful fate) in YA written many years ago. For a great article summing up GLBTQ books for young adults, see Michael Cart's piece "What a Wonderful World: Notes on the Evolution of GLBTQ Literature for Young Adults." Some things that stood out to me: Barry has a slight lisp; Barry's mother tells Hal that he killed him--that she knows about his crimes against her son; Hal is stereotypically "arty"--his guidance counselor talks about him avoiding sports at school, writing "twitty" stuff for the literary magazine, etc. I'm sure there were other little details that made me nearly raise an eyebrow. If this book were written in 2008 and included little details like that (and, you know, one of the main characters had to die because he was gay), I wouldn't be having it. But, as it is, especially for a book published more than 25 years ago, I think Chambers created a very complex, honest relationship that didn't judge, moralize, or preach. It almost felt like the fact that Hal and Barry were gay was incidental. They were two boys caught up in a crazy, adventurous relationship, just happy to have found a kindred soul.

Now, my few questions. Do you think this book would appeal at all to modern teens? Did you, like me, feel there was something particularly unique about the book (tone, characters, setting, humor, etc)? What do you make of Barry (his larger than life mother, the fact that he slept with Kari, and so on)? I think there is probably a lot more to talk about, but I just wanted to post my initial reaction and get the ball rolling.

Dance on My Grave -- partway through

So, I'm not done reading yet, but I've got to ask, why couldn't this have won the Printz Award? I mean, besides the fact that it was published in 1982 and written by a Brit?

Loving this hysterical and sad book....

April pick

Here we are again, needing to choose a book for next month before we've even talked about this month's book (it's now at the top of my library pile, so there's hope I'll get to it soon). I keep hearing about A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce. It's a Rumpelstiltskin retelling. It's also nearly 400 pages long. Too long? It sounds interesting, and I know people wanted to read more than just realistic fiction. Any other suggestions? Anything else going on, YA-wise, that you want to post about, discuss, rant about?

A marketing question

Here's a question for y'all, which (1) kind of involves me hijacking the blog for personal reasons and (2) won't surprise those of you familiar with my personal psychoses. I apologize in advance for (1) and (2).

Does anyone have an opinion about how much the tendency to appear at events / signings / etc. affects a YA writer's career?

As a debut YA writer I am approaching the scary "marketing months" and trying to figure out the best way for a painfully shy person to respond to her publisher's requests for attending events without losing the plot (no pun intended)...

i don't wanna have to shout it out

Who said this?

"Whatever whoever chooses to read is their business, of course, but adults whose taste in recreational reading ends with the YA novel need to grow up."

Would you believe this came from Roger Sutton's blog? I like that he often writes sort of off-the-cuff things that create lots of discussion on his blog. This sentiment, however, raised my hackles. Yes, I do read adult literature, but for the most part, my recreational reading absolutely stops at the YA novel. And I have no intention of outgrowing that/growing up/etc. From the looks of many of the comments to his post, there were many other people who took issue with this statement. What do you think? Are you surprised to hear this sentence from the mouth (well, from the hands-typing-on-the-keyboard) of the Horn Book's editor?

Brainstorming

As some of you know, my mother teaches junior high English classes. She is looking to add a new book to her syllabus, one for 8th graders that would appeal to both boys and girls. She is considering the Alexie book, and I recommended The Trap by John Smelcer (another Native American title). She wants something that would hold the kids' interest and have a wide appeal. Does anyone have any great suggestions?

Voice in YA

After reading The White Darkness, I started thinking a bit about narrator voice in young adult literature. I think Sym had a pretty distinctive voice...and I think the world of YA is full of distinctive, unique voices. Some are funny, some are angry, or depressed, or completely unreliable. I remembered Elvin in Slot Machine, Harriet in Harriet the Spy (not quite YA, but definitely distinctive), all the way back to Holden in The Catcher in the Rye. Just for fun, what are some of your favorite YA narrators (or "voices")? Which ones don't you like? I'd have to think some more before I could decide my favorite and least favorite, but I'm interested in what you all love (and maybe hate)!