Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for basically amazing] 

Today, as a guest, I have Kate from Literary Explorations. She was awesome enough to agree to writing a post when school wasn't quite so busy for her, and she read a book I also loved! See what she thinks!!

Rating: ★★★★★ Review: Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala was the first audiobook I'd picked up in years, and I'm so glad that I gave it a fair chance. Jenna Lamia's narration was flawless and in my mind she perfectly captured Rand's voice. Since I downloaded this to my iPod I was able to take it anywhere and found myself listening to it whenever I had a spare moment.

Rand was a great character and she definitely grew-up throughout the novel. Her pregnancy was scary and I couldn't believe how heartless her friends and family were. I also wanted to punch Kamran in the face many times because he was such a jerk to Rand. Her so-called friends weren't any better, especially Delaney who spread rumors about her, which idiot Kamran believed to be true. My favorite character was Shelly, for awesome reasons that I can't go into without spoiling the book, but just trust me, she is amazing.
Tell Me a Secret totally changed my mind about audiobooks and now I listen to them all the time. This was a wonderful contemporary read that drew me in and left me in tears once it was all over. I will now listen to anything that Jenna Lamia narrates and cannot wait to read Holly's second book, Don't Breathe a Word, that is due out in January.
Check out these fantastic reviews:

Ashley @ Basically Amazing Books
April @ Good Books and Good Wine

I was so excited for Don't Say a Word by Holly Cupala because I absolutely loved Tell Me a Secret. And for the most part it SO delivered. Almost the whole way through Don't Say a Word, I was convinced it was going to be a new favorite, a five star rating, Basically Amazing. Everything about it was like Tell Me a Secret, only more. The cover is better, the emotions more intense, the danger more real etc. But, unfortunately, everything was more, which also means that the complaints I had about the ending of Tell Me were more in Don't Breathe as well, and I was left disappointed by the end.

In Don't Breathe a Word, Joy, so desperate to get away from the problems in her home life, fakes her own kidnapping and runs away, determined to find the homeless boy in Seattle who once offered her help. The pieces to why Joy is so desperate to get away, and why it's necessary that it not seem like a voluntary absence, are slowly revealed as the story unfolds. You know there is something sinister about her boyfriend, Asher, but we don't know the extent of it until much later in the story, but still, my heart just ached for Joy as I thought about all that she must have gone through, all that rested on her shoulders. But, then, she escapes and she finds Creed, who welcomes her into his 'family'.

Joy (now called Triste) knew that being homeless would be hard. But she thought more about the physical hardships — no shelter, little food, no money etc and less about the dangers from other people. Before she finds Creed, she has close encounters with several dangerous persons and in one encounter, loses her backpack with all her money, but more importantly, her asthma inhalers, which she needs to live. She's been hospitalized numerous times because of near fatal asthma attacks, and it's one more reasons Joy felt completely smothered at home. This is something that saddened me, because her parents don't realize what her life is like. She tries so hard to be a help, not a burden to her parents that she doesn't tell them about what's going on with her and they either don't notice, or they choose not to. Everyone is constantly afraid she will have an asthma attack so her freedoms are nonexistent and her boyfriend is controlling, manipulative and creepy. And her parents have no idea, instead pushing her closer to Asher, because he takes care of her and can protect her. Broke my heart. It's something that I'm genuinely afraid of — having a child going through something so horrible and not having a clue about it.

This book, this story was intense. Living on the streets is not a picnic, not something easy, and a decision to leave your home to live on the streets is not something that should be easily reached. Joy thought she was prepared for what was waiting, but she wasn't even close. I was constantly afraid for Joy and I was so happy when she found a group of people who accepted her and helped her. She really connected with the people who made up her new family; Creed, the leader who found her and was the first to welcome her, Santos, who keeps his dark secrets close but finds Triste the asthma medicine she needs, and May, initially wary of Triste and unwilling to welcome her, but they soon reach a friendly understanding and May even gives Triste a better (much better) haircut. But, life on the streets cannot remain happy for very long and the four are faced with regular challenges and dangers, some that they cannot escape from.

And it's told beautifully. I mean it. Guys, I was always so caught up in this story, so moved, so worried for these characters. I felt so much of this story, so strongly. Cupala writes hard and painful emotions perfectly.

But as I mentioned earlier, I didn't feel the novel as a whole maintained that level of emotion. For such a powerfully intense and gritty story, the ending was far too tidy. The story was so realistic, so believable and so hard to read because of it. But then the ending took all that away from me. Real life does not hand you packages wrapped with bows, which is what I got from this book. If I want bows on my endings, I read light-hearted Contemporary, maybe some fantasy, or some middle grade. If I want realistic and honest endings, I read Contemporary YA. And this book delivered all that I desire in an emotional Contemporary read, right up until that ending. And the ending that was delivered here cheapened not only the experiences of every single character, but the people and teens who have to live through something like this in real life too.

I'm a firm believer in the power of endings. Ofttimes for me, they can make or break a book completely. I still loved this book, I really did. The writing is too honest and powerful to ignore but the ending significantly lessened the impact of the story for me.

But even with my disappointment in the ending, this is still a book that I'm going to highly recommend reading. Cupala is a gifted writer and I plan to read her for as long as she writes (although, not gonna lie, I am hoping that her endings get a little more... authentic with future books).

When I started The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger I wanted to read it mostly because I want to watch the movie. Once I started talking about it I realized that everyone is reading this book. I have never read a book at the same time as so many other people before. I didn't realize so many of my friends had read the book, or how much everyone liked it. I have always been skeptical about this book. I don't know why, I think something about it made me think it would be Nicholas Sparks-y. It is so not Nicholas Sparks-y. It did make me cry though, and about one hundred pages from the end I wasn't sure if I could even finish the book.

The truth is that I fell head over heels in love with Henry DeTamble. He time travels, he's a librarian, he is kind of an asshole but is willing to change, and he is so punk rock (Thanks Kate for spicing up my description). And I fell head over heels in love with Clare too. She is so strong, so willing to live her life in this upside down way. I basically just wanted to marry both of them. Niffenegger does an amazing job of making you fall in love with these people, and it is so important that you do fall in love with them because it makes the end of the book effect you that much more.

For those you that don't know what the book is about, I'll give you a quick run down. Henry is a CDP, chrono displaced person. This means he time travels as a result of a genetic disease. Clare, his wife, meets him when she is a little girl, but he is actually usually in his forties. Henry doesn't actually meet Clare until he is in his twenties. It's kind of confusing to explain, but the book is mostly linear when you take into account the times that the time traveling is taking place. I would love to tell you more, but I don't want to spoil anything for you. I really just think you should read this book.

One of my favorite aspects of the book was how Henry was completely unable to change the past or the present. I thought this was more realistic than him changing everything all the time. There is one scene in which Henry's father walks in on him and his time traveling self (who is naked, Henry is always naked when he time travels). The present Henry gets really pissed at the time traveling Henry for not warning him, or doing something to prevent his dad from seeing him with a naked boy. The time traveling Henry then tells the present Henry to shut up basically.

I do have one quibble with this book, although I do with most. I hated how sometimes Niffenegger would introduce a topic and then just stop at that. I'm fine with foreshadowing, but there wasn't always enough to make me feel satisfied. Some questions that she left I didn't feel like she ever answered, or maybe she didn't answer them soon enough. Basically there were times she brought things up, but they weren't brought up in a way that allowed me to remember my questions when they were answered.

Pub. Date: July 2004
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: Paperback, 560 pp.

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It is now September, which means Danya, from A Tapestry of Words has started Psychtember! I've already posted for her a few times, and there shall be more to come, both from Danya and from myself soon.

But for now-

My first guest post was about Depression in YA and how it's represented, along with misconceptions people have about depression, especially that people thinks it's just a case of the sads to 'get over'.

You probably already saw the big one here on my blog, but I also wrote a post about my frustrations with the representation of OCD in YA. The post on my blog (read it here) is very long and is a full on rant, but the guest post on Danya's blog is shorter and a bit less... angry. I do still make a lot of the same points, but there are differences as well.

And finally for Psychtember, I wrote a guest review of Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann, and talked both about the book and about the way I felt McMann handled OCD. (and if you can't guess from the ranty guest post right before it, IMO, it wasn't done very well...)

Next, Meredith from Mint Tea and A Good Book did a little interview with me, and asked some fun questions for her new Blogger Detour feature! If you want to know a bit more about me, go check it out!!

And finally-

I have an ARC of Shut Out by Kody Keplinger sitting here, next to me, just begging me to send it to another person who can read it. Books like to be read, ya know. They thrive on touch, just like people... (You can read my review of Shut Out here)

SO, if you would like a chance to win Shut Out, just leave me a comment! But please, Make it something interesting! No offense, but I find the — Thanks for the contest! — comments to be boring. So, tell me that you read one of my guest posts, tell me that you think my blog title is too long and/or that the shortened version (Basically Amazing Ashley) is pretentious. Tell me that you loved Melina Marchetta's Jellicoe Road (we can be best friends!) Tell me that you hated Where the Red Fern Grows (actually... don't... That was my absolute favorite book as a child, and I might accidentally delete your comment... ;) )

But, I digress... SO to enter to win an ARC of Shut Out ALL you have to do is leave me a comment. An interesting comment. And, having your email address or Twitter name would be awesome as well, because that will give me a way to get in touch with you if you do happen to win.

The giveaway will last until I draw a winner.;) It will be open for a full week, with the winner being drawn sometime next Sunday, September 18th.

Edit — (sorry!!) This giveaway is open Internationally!:)

Yesterday, the winners of the 2012 Newbery (MG) and Printz (YA) Awards were announced, along with the other ALA Award winners (Caldecott (illustrations) Morris (debut), Alex (adult w/ YA crossover appeal) etc).

I apologize for both being a bit absent from the online world lately and not getting this posted yesterday. I had every intention of posting yesterday, but had to be to work before they were even finished announcing the winners. ANYWAY

THE WINNERS!! (With commentary, of course: P)

Newbery Award Winner:

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos: I'll be honest with this, and admit that I'm disappointed. I don't actually know anything about this book, but I've read all four of the Joey Pigza books (book 2, Joey Pigza Loses Control won a Newbery Honor) and I have read his memoir(ish) book, Hole in My Life, which won a Printz Honor and I was not impressed with any of them. I'll read this one, but if I feel for it the way I've felt for his previous novels, it will be my last Gantos no matter what new awards he's won.

Newbery Honors:

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai: This is one that I'm really excited to see. It has come highly recommended to me by Shannon at Books Devoured. It's also historical fiction, about the Vietnam era, which I think is very under mentioned in literature. And, it's a verse novel! I'm a huge fan of verse novels and love anything that gets them more attention! This has been on my TBR for a long time now, but knowing that it's won a Newbery Honor is going to push this to the very top of my TBR!

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin: I hadn't heard anything about this book prior to the announcement. But now, I've had a chance to look it over, and I'm definitely intrigued! It actually sounds like it could be really amazing!

I'll say that I'm quite surprised that out of three award/honors given., all are historical fiction. That's not something I think I've ever seen before and I find it very interesting. (In a good way, but interesting nonetheless).

Printz Award Winner:

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley: Ginger over at Greads raved about this one a little while ago and her review was just so awesome that I immediately added this to my TBR/close watch list. It sounds absolutely amazing and although I haven't read it, I'm thrilled that it won because from everything I've seen, it's exactly my kind of book.

Printz Honors:

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Holder: This is a book that I was really surprised to see on the Printz list. I haven't read it yet, but it is one that has been on my list to read. But everything I had seen about it made is sound like more of a fun read than anything really serious. But it shall be interesting to read it and see what I actually think of it!

The Returning by Christine Hinwood: This is another book that I knew nothing about prior to the announcement. Looking at Goodreads, it seems to be one of those books that you either REALLY like or you really... DON'T. But... umm... MELINA MARCHETTA BLURBED THIS BOOK. I WANT.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey: This makes three books I had never even heard of before the announcements. It looks like it's another Historical Fiction, and the summary sounds intensely amazing. It sounds like there is really a lot of room for that book to just Wow and amaze you. Definitely one I'm going to need to get my hands on as soon as possible.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: This is the only book on the list that I've actually read before and it is, sadly, not a book I was a fan of. I won't get too detailed, but basically it's 390 pages of absolutely nothing exciting (although some of it is interesting and beautifully described), with about 10 interesting pages scattered throughout the novel and 10 exciting and climactic pages right and the very end. I can, however (almost) see why some people really love this one, and do think Maggie is a talented writer, even if this one wasn't for me (because no amount of pretty writing is enough to make up for nearly 400 pages of extreme nothing.)

So there you have it! The winners of the Newbery & Printz awards as narrated by me!

What do you think?! Any of these books you are excited for/about!? Do you agree/disagree/dislike/like my commentary?! Do you even pay attention to or care at all about the awards? Let me know what you think & how you are feeling!!

AND — Stay tuned for tomorrow, because both Jacinda and I will be posting for the Award Winning Reads Challnege (have YOU signed up?!) and these books DO count!:)

Today's Topic post is about what I'd like to see more of in Contemporary YA. And, to be perfectly honest, my answer to that question is simply — More. I'd like to see more of all of it. But even if Contemporary doesn't get as much publicity as some of the other genres right now, there is still a lot of it being written, and a lot of it being published. So rather than talking about what I'd like to see writers do that they aren't doing (because they are) or what publishers should be doing (because they try) I'm going to talk a little about what I want to see readers doing. But more than that — I'm going to put my metaphorical money where my mouth is and do something about it. But, I am only one person, so I need your help!

What I really want to see more of in regards to Contemporary YA is readers well, reading it. I've been amazed and gladdened and thrilled by the response to Just Contemporary month. It's blown my mind. So many bloggers and authors and readers have gotten behind this event and participated and it's fabulous. But there are still people that I see saying, I don't think Contemporary is for me, or I've tried reading a Contemporary and couldn't get into it, or (I see this a lot) I read to escape, why would I want to read about real life?! But to be honest, I think there is something within the Contemporary genre for everyone.

SO — I am hosting a reading challenge to encourage and promote Contemporary/Realistic YA!

<a><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Dw1sKTR7qHs/TtLNLJQExwI/AAAAAAAABec/XiTJ5TAioyM/s250/17531993964.jpg" alt="button1" /></a>
Rules/Guidelines/Important Info:

This is a challenge to get people reading more Contemporary/Realistic Fiction.

There are two possible ways to participate:

The first is simple — Read Contemporary YA. Every single Contemporary counts. Challenge yourself to read more Contemporary YA than normal. If you never read it, add a few next year. If you are new to it, try for one a month. Or two a month. Or even more!

The second is the same basic idea (read more) but it adds variety to what you pick. Instead of reading any Contemporary, this gets you to mix-it up. There are so many sub-genres within Contemporary that I want to encourage people to try more of them. This is a good place for those who already read a lot of Contemporary.

If you want to participate in option 2, you can make it as strict or as flexible as you'd like. If you only read YA Romantic Comedies, reading one book about grief or even a romantic drama can qualify you for the second group. Reading to me is very personal, and Contemporary more so, IMO, than any other genre, so I'm letting that carry over into how you set your goals for this challenge.

There will be monthly updates and mini-challenges and giveaways going up around the first of each month. Each month will be something different and (hopefully) fun. Participation in mini-challenges is optional. Some of the monthly challenges and 'games' will be the same between challenge group 1 & 2 and other months they will be different.

Books must be read between January 1, 2012 and December 31st 2012.

Any Contemporary YA book will count toward this challenge regardless of publication date.

There will be a weekly link up for reviews. Reviews are not mandatory, but are strongly encouraged (spread the word!!) and extra entries into all relevant giveaways will be given for each review.
Reviews can be posted to a blog, goodreads or, for those who don't use either, guest review options will be available as well.

Extra entries for giveaways during any future Contemporary Event will also be awarded to participants of the challenge.

You do not need to be a blogger to participate. International participants are completely welcome and although every giveaway will not be available to you, I will make sure that there are some open to you too.

To sign up use the Linky below and tell me which of the two options you are signing up for and how many Contemporary books you would like to read next year. (So I would sign up as — Basically Amazing Ashley — 2; 52)

And please share in more detail! I would absolutely love to see sign up posts where you declare your goals for the Challenge and let others know why you are participating, or leave me a comment with what you think of the challenge and what you hope to see from it! And, as always, if you need or want any Contemporary YA recommendations in any category or sub-category, let me know! If I can't find the perfect book for you, odds are pretty good I know someone else who might!

It's Back! The Second Incarnation of the Award Winning Reads Challenge is here! Who else is totally excited for this?! I know it can't just be me!!:)
Last year, Jacinda and I hosted this reading challenge from May through September. And it rocked. I have personally been meaning to read all the Newbery and Printz books for years. And I've found some absolutely phenomenal books because of it. (Umm hello and thank you — Jellicoe Road, my absolute most favorite book ever.) And last years challenge gave me the motivation I needed to pick my list back up and get reading. (I think I read 16).
Because it was so awesome last year, Jacinda and I decided that this year, it would be a year long challenge of awesome (with extra awesome during the months of the original challenge).
My goal for this year is even bigger. I am so close to finishing both award lists. (Just the winners, not the honors). I only have 4 Printz winners and 13 Newbery winners left to read (including the 2012 winners to-be-announced). I would love to finish these lists next year.
So that is my goal. But I would like to read more than only 17 of the books on the list, so my official goal is going to be 24. That's only 2 a month, totally do-able.:)
To see the books on either list that I've already reviewed on the blog, you can click the corresponding tags below
Newbery Award
Newbery Honor
Printz Award
Printz Honor

And now — Onto the rules!:)

Today's Fairy Tale Fortnight interview totally makes my day. Because it is with the author of my number one most anticipated release of 2012 and will be followed by a review of the book! I cannot even begin to describe how happy I am that Alethea, author of the soon to be released Enchanted agreed to be part of Fairy Tale Fortnight! So check out her awesome interview and then enter the giveaway of WIN that she is donating!

What do you make of the resurgence in popularity for fairy tales? (Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsmen, all within a very short time)? Do you see it as a trend that will sort of peter out, or is it just getting started?

J. R. R. Tolkien once said (and fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes agrees) that fairy tales were 100% guaranteed moneymakers. In these times of extreme economic crisis, doesn't it make sense to bet on a Sure Thing? Even Mama wouldn't disagree with that.

I believe this is a trend that started once upon a time in sixteenth-century Italy. We're definitely on the crest of a fairy tale tidal wave right now. I hope that wave continues for a very, very long time... or until we all live happily ever after. Whichever comes first.

What impact do you think fairy tales have on society (especially with the same tales popping up in various forms in every society)?

Over the years, fairy tales as a whole have been both teaching tools and "urban" legends at the same time. They are typically pro-cleverness, anti-laziness, and sometimes even end more realistically than happily. I think the more unadulterated fairy tales that children are read as part of their growing-up process, the more traditional values they will have, and the better off our society would be.

But we live in a world now where children are protected from such terribly, bloody things. Fairy tales are neutered and spoon-fed by Disney, and our children are reading Facebook news links before bedtime. Because THAT seems like the best way to mold our future society. *rolls eyes*

Book in a Tweet: Your fairy tale in 140 characters or less?

Every beloved fairy tale originated with the Woodcutter family. Enchanted is Sunday Woodcutter's story.

Favorite fairy tales: "The Goose Girl" and "Snow White & Rose Red."

Most underrated fairy tale? Every one that hasn't been made into a Disney film: "The Foundling," "Master Maid," "The Seven Swans," "The Little Match Girl," "Tom Thumb"...

Most overrated fairy tale? "Snow White." Every retelling of this tale concentrates so much on the evilness of the queen and not really Snow White herself. (The jury's still out on OUaT, but it's decidedly Regina-centric.) At the end of the Grimm tale, Snow White invites the queen to her wedding and makes her dance in red-hot iron shoes. Doesn't exactly fit the Lily White Mary Sue Princess she's always portrayed as, does it?

Last year we asked everyone’s fairy tale hero/heroine name; this year, we want to know your fairy tale villain name:

According to the online Fairy Tale Name Generator, I am EVIL STEPMOTHER. Ha! Is that even possible?

Using that name, give us a line from your villainous fairy tale:

"Once Upon a Time, a fairy godmother married a widowed prince with two lovely daughters. While the sun shone she was loving and kind, but when the sun set, she locked herself in the tower room and became THE EVIL STEPMOTHER."

If a genie granted you 3 wishes, what would they be?
1. That the Enchanted series continue on long enough for me to tell the stories of all seven Woodcutter sisters
2. That we all be doomed to a happy life
3. The genie's freedom (I am no fairy tale dummy!)

Best way to read fairy tales?

In bed, to a child. Fairy tales are all the more magical when told.

If one of your books was being turned into a movie and you could cast 1 character, which character would you cast and who would play them?

It's funny you should ask! I am a huge movie buff and a fan of many actors, not the least of which is Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. I was writing the last half of Enchanted right about the same time they killed the character of Mr. Eko on the TV show Lost. I was furious! So furious, in fact, that I immediately resurrected him in my book... and thus, Jolicoeur was born. I would be tickled pink if someday a production company 1.) turned Enchanted into a film and 2.) cast Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Jolicoeur.
P.S.- — I kind of come off like I hate Disney in this, but I really don't. Well, okay..I sort of don't.
PPS — I didn't really get to mention THE WONDERLAND ALPHABET — it would be cool if perhaps you could find a way to sneak it in somehow. Stories like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan are very much fairy tales to today's generation, I think.
What a fabulous interview! Seriously! LOVE! And would that I were a genie that I could grant your first wish! I would love to read more of the Woodcutter sister's stories! I absolutely loved the allusions to the various fairy tales! ____________________________________________

Alright! GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Because Alethea is MADE OF WIN she has donated an awesome gift basket full of Enchanted goodness and Fairy Tale win.

She has donated a finished, signed copy of Enchanted to one lucky winner along with other fun swag and surprise gifts.

TO ENTER: Use the Rafflecopter form below. There are extra entries available for commenting on Enchanted related posts on Ashley's blog — Basically Amazing Books, Misty's blog — The Book Rat and Bonnie's blog — A Backward's Story. The Rafflecopter widget is the same on all three blogs. You can enter through any of our blogs, but you must visit and comment on each individual post for the extra entries.

Giveaway is US only. Ends May 7th.

Visit:
Ashley's Blog Misty's Blog Bonnie's Blog

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I was a high school journalist, and when I started college I thought journalism was the path for me. It was amazing to me that even though I only did journalism in high school I could still relate to the woes of the many characters in The Imperfectionists

by Tom Rachman. I've always been of the opinion that the newspaper isn't dying, it's just reforming. But what does that really mean? The death of an international English newspaper based in Rome is one thing all of the characters in this book face, journalists or not, but they're also dealing with their own personal problems. Like the death of people around them, the loss of love, and the feeling that they should be doing something better with their lives.

The cover of this book says it is a novel, but I would say it's really more like a series of character sketches- which I loved! I'll be honest, sometimes I get kind of bored in a novel and I wonder who some of the characters actually are. I tend to read passages that go on for pages and never really realize who is talking. Since the other book I'm reading right now (The Passage) makes me do this The Imperfectionists was the perfect break from that.

Every twenty or so pages we are introduced to a new character that either writes for the newspaper or is related to it in some way. There are ex-boyfriends of writers and girlfriends of writers and freelance journalists who basically don't write anymore. Even though that might seem like there is no linearity, there really is. Characters walk in and out of other people's stories just like people do in real life. Not all of the characters are connected and, let's face it, not all people are related in real life. I got lost learning about these people, it felt like I was reading a diary and learning the most intimate secrets of their lives. Rachman has an awesome way of writing as well, it felt like I was watching these people through a window. I think it's the way he begins the sections, my favorite one was Arthur: "Arthur's cubicle used to be near the watercooler, but the bosses tired of having to chat with him each time they got thirsty. So the watercooler stayed and he was moved. Now his desk is in a distant corner, as far from the locus of power as possible but nearer the cupboard of pens, which is a consolation" (29). Rachman gives just the right amount of information for me to become interested in Arthur's life, get a sense of who Arthur is and how he connects to the people around him, and the way Arthur moves through his life.

So obviously I thought the writing was top notch. And the dialogue was fantastic as well, one of my favorite exchanges happens between Hardy and her not so perfect boyfriend:

"Can you do that again?"
"What?"
"That thing you did before."
"Calling you Hardy?"
"No, the thing you did after that. The thing you just did."
"What thing?"
"She kisses him. "That thing. Keep doing it please.
Activities shift into the bedroom. (64)

The was not only laugh out loud funny, it was also realistic and sweet. I felt so many things reading this passage and I just wanted to keep reading. That was the thing for me about The Imperfectionists, I would sit down just to read one section and I ended up reading five. I just couldn't put it down. It wasn't that it was suspenseful or the story was just so good, but Rachman really made me want to get to know these people, and by the end of the novel I felt like I had just gotten back from a trip to Rome where I met some amazing journalists.

This is one of my favorite books of 2010 and so of course I'm giving it an A!

I also read this as part of the Drunk Literature Book Club. This was our first selection and as part of the club we're supposed to post a photograph of what we were drinking and/or eating while we were reading this book. I found this to be a great morning read so instead of having either of the suggested drinks I had some orange juice and toast.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

This week at the Broke and Bookish the list is top ten books I can't believe I've never read. Up until last night The Catcher in the Rye would have made the top of my list, but I finished it last night! Finally I can stop pretending I've read that book!

1. 1984 by George Orwell. I've read tons of other dystopian novels but I just haven't read this one. Most people read it in high school but we had three choices and I chose a different book. Must read this within the next year.
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I just haven't given much thought to this book but I'd like to read it someday.
3. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I started this book and got about 100 pages in, and just stopped. It's not that I didn't enjoy it I just don't think it was the right time for me to read it.
4. Anything by Ian McEwan. I keep hearing his praises and haven't read anything by him. I guess I'm really missing out!
5. Anything by Charles Dickens. I've taken three Victorian Lit classes and still no Dickens! How am I supposed to get through one of those things without the support of a classroom?
6. Oranges by John McPhee. Basically I just need to read more John McPhee. Because he is amazing.
7. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. A die hard Jane Eyre fan like me?!? And this book is super short, must read it!
8. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I've tried reading this book several times and just haven't been able to get into it yet. But I want to read it so badly!
9. IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman. I was amazingly excited when this book came out and I still haven't even bought it... four years later. And I love Chuck Klosterman. What kind of fan am I?
10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins! Okay, so it didn't come out until today, but why am I blogging and not reading it right now?!?!

I got some wanderlust from my dad and I took a travel writing class last year, so I was really intrigued by Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

, one of the few full length travel narratives I've seen written by a female. To add to my interest, one of my good friends from high school really liked the book so I knew it had to be pretty good. Rita Golden Gelman has reached a turning point in her life. She is living with her husband in California, but they no longer love each other and she hates their modern lifestyle. Her children are on their way to college and she doesn't feel like they need her anymore. Her career, a children's book author, doesn't require her to stay at home. When she and her husband decide to take a break she goes south of the border to Mexico for an intensive Spanish class and finds that she loves traveling. After that trip she changes her life and has no permanent address, she lives on a small amount of money, travels, and meets new people.

The bulk of this book takes place in Indonesia and in my opinion it could have only taken place in Indonesia. Her time in Mexico shows us where her nomadic journey began, but her random trips in the United States and Canada could have been much shorter. Indonesia was really the only place where Rita got to know the people around her and really participated in the culture. I really liked the places Rita went to in the book, but she didn't get to know hardly anyone so it was basically just a book about everywhere she went in this time span and everything she did.

I wanted to like this book a lot. I love the idea of just packing up your stuff, taking off, and seeing the world in your own way. Rita's voice got in the way though. The book is written in the present tense, which lends itself to "I did this, I see this, I hear this" writing. She spends so much time talking about what she did that you don't ever get a good feeling of what the culture is like. She spends at least 100 pages in Indonesia but I didn't come away from the book with any different perspective on it. And that's not totally necessary for me to enjoy a travel narrative. The Moon, Come to Earth didn't change my perspective on Portugal, but it did make me think about travel in a way that I wouldn't have without the book. That was not the case with Tales of a Female Nomad. Honestly, I thought Rita was a little self-centered and while I enjoyed reading about a few of the amazing things she did, there was always this nagging feeling in my head that the way she was telling them just wasn't right. This book could have been awesome, but it ended up just being okay.

I give this book a C.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

A very warm welcome now to Ammy Belle who has a great post for us today about How to Find Pixies in New Jersey. Not sure what them means? Then read on!!

And, don't forget to check out Ammy's first guest post over at The Book Rat about Tender Morsels!

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I suppose in some way, everyone thinks of the princess in the castle or the knight in shining armour when they think of fairy tales: your mind becomes awash in the grandeur of the Disney fairy tale – the white walls of a palace, the beautiful silhouettes of the old dresses, the magic of a time that caught somewhere in the fold of history we have yet to discover.

But the real magic of fairy tales is that they can adapt – and adapt well – to pretty much anything. The reason for this, is the plain fact that fairy tales are just moral tales – they are stories you tell people to warn them about life (especially the original ones, the ones I like to call dark fairy tales). Essentially, these modern fairy tales take the original magnetism of the stories from the olden days and attempt to fit them into some modern city or town.

Lately there has been a little bit of a trend on adapting fairy tales: one such series is the Tithe series by Holly Black. In this series (I have only read the first book, but my understanding is that the first is the best example of modern times and fairy tale) we are dropped into a fairy war, where dark fairy tales meet the New Jersey shoreline. It ‘s through the realm of faerie that Black creates, the use of iron as the boundaries between human and faerie, and the manipulation of the changeling narrative from old stories, that makes Tithe a modern faerie tale.

Kaye is our heroine. She’s a blonde haired, green eyed girl with almond shaped eyes and is pretty small for her age. She lives a nomadic lifestyle with her Mom, who sings for a series of bands. Her father isn’t in the picture, but when her mother’s boyfriend attempts to stab her, they pick up and move back to their home in New Jersey – to live with Kaye’s older, stricter grandmother, in her home near the seashore and the woods, where Kaye had imaginary friends growing up. The imaginary friends, are of course, faeries of different types, and they “play” along a little creek near her house. Little does Kaye know, they have been fighting a strange war for her whole life.

Tithe is a real faerie story – in the sense that, it has faeries. Like Tir Na Nog. In fact, very much like that: in the original faerie stories, faeries were not like Tinker Bell – they were actually untrustworthy. They guarded their own possessions jealously, and killed anyone who came at them from any which way. Faeries are manipulative and care very little for humans – and sometimes they are beautiful, but often they are gnarled and misshapen creatures that have a very scary sense of humour.

Black doesn’t hold back – she makes her story gritty and realistic, with a caffeine-addicted, chain smoking, strong willed protagonist, and her dismal nomadic background. Her friends are few and far between, and filled with jealousies. Her life is dangerous, but she doesn’t realize it, and coming back to New Jersey makes it that much worse: there in the industrial dotted river side, there lives a kelpie – a sea horse that collects young drowned girls. Black entwines the old with the new – mixing the harsh and lonely world of the kelpie, with the paint chipped world of the New Jersey boardwalk. It’s an amazing comparison, and the best example of it is when the kelpie and Kaye strike a bargain: for his boon, he requests the dilapidated old carousel horse to keep him company in the deep. This juxtaposition of old and new, on top of the contrasted faerie and human world, creates a blanket of intrigue that almost shows a compassionate side of Kaye’s world.

Such is the case with iron in Tithe: the faeries are cruel and out for themselves, their desires – whether they are actually good or bad – come before anything else – but they are nature, they represent a basic form of nature, that can be cruel and yet very vulnerable. This tension works within the New Jersey city limits – or at least, the New Jersey that Black paints for us – this urban wasteland where the shoreline is wasting away, and nature seems on the verge of making a comeback, as the water and grasses start taking over the boardwalk. Iron represents this hardline though, the thing that faeries cannot survive – they can be wild and dangerous – but put them in a car, and they’re toast.

I think that iron is an interesting choice for this. In an age where we see digital media and electricity and such as such big themes (see Steampunk), I think a return to iron is both interesting... and it makes sense – I mean, what do we have that isn’t made of iron? The whole human world seems to be a death trap for faeries, and in turn, the faeries are harsh and cruel – and they have weapons. Instead of guns, they have swords, but it works in the totality – the adaptation to the New Jersey shoreline works with the iron, the totality of the dangers for each world is balanced so well, it is almost as if New Jersey itself is a magical place.

Finally, there is the changeling aspect of the story: the changeling narrative is an old faerie tale, where faeries will steal into a nursery and switch a newborn baby with an old, dying – but veiled – faerie. There actually is no real reason, I think... or at least I have never found a common theme for all of it – though each story has its own unique spin. Tithe gives its faeries a reason for the changeling, but it changes the rules – the changeling doesn’t die, instead, the changeling becomes the story. The main viewpoint is through the lens of someone who does not quite belong and at the same time, is pivotal to everything that happens. The reason this works for the modern fairy tale, is the fact that it basically reminds us all of our awkward teenage years when we were confused about how the world fit together, but deep down inside, we knew we were special.

In the end, this is what why the modern fairy tale works – it pulls out the comparisons between the old and the new, and draws a line between these worlds... and then allows the characters to hop scotch between the lines, in order to draw the reader in. It works because we want the magic, and we recognize the setting – much like a dystopian, where the parameters of what we understand become hazy and fluxuate so that we can imagine ourselves in different situations.

Tithe was a great read, and I cannot wait for the next two instalments – not only because of weird way New Jersey becomes more magical, but also because the main love interest, Roiben – he’s awe-inspiring.

Anyways, that is my take on modern fairy tales and Tithe – go check it out, and keep reading those fairy tales – they can adapt to pretty much anything – can’t wait to see a cyberpunk fairy tale set in the future...

Thou Shalt Not Road Trip by Antony John is one of the books I was most looking forward to in 2012. So when I invited Antony to take part in Just Contemporary and he sent me an ARC, to say I was ecstatic is an understatement.

I am going to warn you in advance that this review is all over the place and it's long. Although my feeling are overall positive, they range from surprised to shocked to disappointed to confused to annoyed to thrilled to amazed to Seriously? to pleased and pretty much everywhere in between. So.

To be perfectly honest, a part of me is devastated that I didn't love this book the way that I absolutely adored Five Flavors of Dumb. This doesn't mean I didn't like it, but this book lacked a certain authenticity in everything except the religion talk. Which makes that a great place to start.

I was surprised when I started reading this book to realize just how much religion plays a part in the story. I don't know how I missed it, because the title includes the words 'thou' and 'shalt' and the main character is on a book tour for the book he wrote called Hallelujah. So, I was instantly wary. Because, for a lot of reasons, that I'm pretty sure I don't need to numerate, books with really strong religious themes are not always my favorite and, in my experience, they aren't always done very well. But for me, this was actually the best part of the book. Rather than being a book about RELIGION it is more a book about a boy who happens to be religious. He believes in God, says his prayers, wants to see other people happy and he also questions his faith and beliefs. As someone who has been religious my whole life, this was incredibly refreshing to me. Here we have a mostly normal teenage boy, who is religious and it isn't this huge thing or problem or issue or whatever. It just was.

And Antony gets the full Ashley stamp of brilliance, because he managed to talk about religion a lot (Luke is on a book tour through Christian book stores) but he never, not once, came across as preachy to me. There were morals to the story, and life lessons learned but none of them were strictly brought about because of a religious lesson. They were normal. And it was amazing. Here is a book with religion in the summary that didn't turn into either an excuse to hate on religion and demonstrate its utter evil OR a 300+page Sunday School lesson. There are a lot of people and a lot of teens who go to church every Sunday. It an important but normal part of their lives. It's nice to have a book that gives us a religious character and handles it well. So, serious awesome points to Antony for that. Seriously.

However, I had a really hard time with just about every character in this story. Luke is supposed to be on tour for his book and his older brother, Matt, is brought along to act as his chauffeur. But Matt decides to bring along his girlfriend, Alex, and her little sister, Fran, who happens to be Luke's ex-best friend and major crush. Awkward. Fran has changed physically a lot in the past year, and Luke interprets this to mean that everything he knows about Fran has changed. And since she is a large part of the reason he's questioning a lot of his decisions (including his faith) and feeling disconnected from his life. So the author of this inspirational best-selling Christian self-help novel finds himself feeling... less than charitable as their road trip advances.

I found myself really frustrated with these characters. Luke's disinterest in his own life, his naivete and his complete and total self-centeredness were incredibly frustrating to read. Not that he didn't grow as a character, because he did and by the end of the book I was absolutely rooting for him. But it was a struggle getting me there. Fran has made some drastic physical changes — outrageous hair, piercings, tattoos, drinking etc. All things that usually signal a cry for help. But all Luke can see is that his best friend is suddenly different and he feels so wounded. When he talks to her, even when he thinks he is being so magnanimous and gracious, he's judgmental and feels as if her problems are all about him. Again, he grows as a character but it's a bit rocky in the beginning.

Matt was probably my least favorite character (although undeveloped Alex isn't far behind.) He is supposed to be in charge of organizing Luke's schedule and getting him places on time. Instead, he regularly took long detours, made decisions about where they would stop without saying anything about it to Luke and there were a few times he outrighted lied to him. While it's very true that Luke needed to lighten up a bit, Matt's behavior drove me nuts. He ignored phone calls from Luke's publicist, used the emergency credit card too often and ignored Luke's distress without even trying to alleviate it. Pretty much every time he did anything, Matt frustrated me. You understand him and his motivations better by the end of the book too, but he still never really grew on me.

Fran was an interesting character and probably my favorite of the bunch. Aside from Luke, she has the most depth and personality and meaning, but even then, I felt her main purpose in the story was to bring balance and understanding to Luke and give him the motivation, reason and environment necessary to invite growth and change. Luke has some depth as a character (for good or bad) without Fran, but Fran had very little without Luke. She was the next best developed character overall, and I felt for her, I really did, but not enough.

The book also include excerpts from Hallelujah, Luke's books, and they are seriously laugh out loud funny. Written as Bible passages, full of 'and he spake' and 'thus sayeth' and 'art thou' they are basically stories of inspiration and hope and insight. Some are funny, some are motivating, and some are a little more tinged with despair, but each were placed perfectly throughout the book to build and move the story forward. These were a fabulous addition, one that added a lot of depth and feeling to the story that would have otherwise been missing.

I do have one other confession about this book, lest you think I was totally disappointed. I have been in a bit of a reading slump lately. And when I'm in this kind of mood, I read very slow, I start and stop books frequently, and I have to kind of force whatever book I'm reading. This has absolutely nothing to do with the book I'm reading, and everything to do with my personal mood. And even though I really and truly did enjoy this book, I am 99% positive that if I had read it when I was more in the mood to read, I would have really loved the book. It's definitely one that I'm going to reread. Maybe I'll even reread it soon, so that if my feelings change drastically, like I think they could, I can rereview the book closer to its April release date. Who knows.

What I do know, is that even not being as enamored of this book as I was of Dumb, it is definitely a book worth reading and it's one that I've already been talking about and recommending. I think this book has a lot to offer and Antony John is going to be firmly stuck on my favorite authors list for a long time. It's a story about life and love and second chances, about friendship, looking beyond the surface and being true to yourself. It's a story that makes you laugh, but one that also makes you think. And while it's not necessarily a story for everyone, it is a story that I believe is important. It's a book that is going to stick with me and even though they weren't my favorite, I have a feeling these characters aren't going to get out of my head for a long time

When I reached 100 followers in time for my six month anniversary I made a new goal to reach 200 by the end of my first year. My one year anniversary is in October, about a month and a half away. But if you take a look, I've already reached 200 followers. This is a ginormous accomplishment and I have all of you to thank for it because my readers are the best advertisers of this blog. You guys put me on your blog roll, retweet my posts, and tell your friends about my blog. This is awesome! When I started this blog I had to know sense of what I was doing or where it would go, but in less than a year I've find an amazing community of people who love books as much as I do and are willing to spread the word about what I do here. I'm so grateful for that.

The question I get asked most frequently about my blog is how I make time for all of this reading. The answer is simple: I make time for it. I make time for reading just like I make time to go hiking on Sundays, go for walks, ride my bike, cook healthy meals. I spend a lot of time trying to live a healthy lifestyle and to me reading is a part of that. Reading feeds my mind. Sometimes when I'm done with all of my homework I look at my TBR pile and think, "Ugh, I don't have time for this. I just want to dink around on the Internet." But when I come to the Internet I see hundreds of tweets and blog posts all about reading. That is one of the greatest encouragements. When you see that there are other people out there reading books that look good and talking about them, it gives you a reason to leave the laptop and pick up a book for awhile.

Another encouragement is making someone decide to read a book based on your review of it. This is my favorite part about blogging. I love, love, love when someone leaves a comment on a review that says "I think I'm going to have to read this!" Even better than that, I love when someone comes back to my blog a few weeks later and says, " I read that book because of your review and I loved it." To be a part of helping people decide what to read is a beautiful thing. And all of you have given me some great recommendations too! You always come to the rescue when I say, "Gee, I don't know if I should read this book or this book." You give me reasons why, all of you.

So basically what I'm trying to say is thanks. For being cheerleaders, mentors, recommendationists, and friends.

Michael Chabon's book Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands is 1. The most physically beautiful book I have ever read and 2. A manifesto about reading and writing which touts the importance of genre fiction and comic books. So take those last two things and combine them with my undying love of Michael Chabon and you have basically described a perfect book for Ash. I only had to read the first essay about the modern short story and find the following quotation before I really fell in love, "... I would like to propose expanding our definition of entertainment to encompass everything pleasurable that arises from the encounter of an attentive mind with a page of literature" (14). These are ideas that made me start my blog, but Chabon has a way of putting the ideas in my head into beautiful words on a beautiful clean white page in my McSweeney's copy.

The book is a series of essays about books, or reviews, depending on how you read them. He covers Shelock Holmes, The Road, The Golden Compass, and way more. Chabon gushes over is favorite writers, their techniques, their passion. It's a bit like reading blog posts by Chabon, which is exciting because you come away from the book with tons of book suggestions from an amazing author. If Chabon liked it I'm willing to give it a try. Since the book is a series of essay it's not really made to be a sit down and read for a couple hours book, but I read this over winter break and found myself finding excuses to escape and read... a book of essays? Is that even possible. It is my friends. Chabon writes so beautifully about books and connects them to the human experience so well that any bibliophile will drool over the (have I mentioned how beautiful this book is?) cover.

"... a mind is blown when something that you always feared but knew to be impossible turns out to be true; when the world turns out to be far vaster, far more marvelous or malevolent than you ever dreamed; when you get proof that everything is connected to everything else, that everything you know is wrong, that you are both the center of the universe and a tiny speck sailing off it nethermost edge" (93-94).

I just loved this quotation, possibly because I read it right after finals week and was feeling very much like I was sailing off the nethermost edge of my earth. But it is a really good example of how Chabon can work words and make a series of essays something that is incredibly captivating. I'm really not doing it justice, if you love to read you will at least kind of like this book.

And now I have to verbally drool over the cover a little bit. There are three parts to the book jacket, each depicting a different world. The illustrations are beautiful and if you need a break from reading you can always take one of the jackets off the book and explore that world for a little while. You can be entertained by this book without even reading. It's fabulous! The pages are nice thick paper and the most vibrant white I have ever seen in my entire life. Even if you don't like that book that much I'm sure you will squeal with delight just holding it.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Have you ever felt like no one liked you but you were obviously right about everything? Yeah, I think we've all been there. Ban Tanaka, the main character of Adrian Tomine's Shortcomings seems to be a little stuck in his beliefs. This short graphic novel chronicles his life through three, or possibly two and a half, relationships. First, his girlfriend Miko, an intelligent Japanese woman with a great interest in film. Miko feels a little competitive though when the young Autumn starts working at the movie theatre that Ben manages. She is young, white, and punk, which is apparently Ben's type. She takes the opportunity to leave California where she and Ben live and take an internship in New York. The two have been fighting a lot and the leave on bad terms. While Ben is lonely in California he has a few failed romances and crushes, even though he and Miko are technically still dating.

The best character in the novel, however, is Ben's best lesbian friend Alice Kim. Alice is a grad student for life who is basically just staying in school for all the hot young girls. From week to week she bounces around from girl to girl, and maybe gets some homework done in between. All the while she is pretending to still be straight (at 29) so her religious Korean family will remain mildly calm. Ben and Alice's relationship is what Will and Grace could have been. They eat at a diner while Ben gripes about his girl problems and Alice pokes fun at him, but her jokes always say a lot more about Ben than he says about himself.

The story moves quickly, but is so believable. I have never seen drawing like this before. The frames are so lifelike I felt like I was watching a movie. The dialogue is also beautiful, saying more in what isn't said than what is written. It's amazing how simple black and white drawing with speech bubbles can say so much about race, love, heartache, egotism, and friendship. And those are just the things that come off the top of my head. Ben's character is similar to what you might find in a Nick Hornby novel (which is a compliment). He is annoying and self obsessive, but you kind of love him because you know you are the exact same way. The storyline is simple, but that is what makes this graphic novel work. This is definitely a must read in my opinion.

This graphic novel earned an A.

Sidenote: This novel appears to have been published with different colors of covers. The image I have is brown, but my actual copy is green. I think I have also seen a lavender one?

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Today I got the Honest Scrap award from one of my favorite blogs, Sasha & the Silverfish. This my first time with the Honest Scrap (or any award/meme) so I am very excited! There are a few rules for this award, they are as follows:

1. The Honest Scrap Blogger Award must be shared.
2. The recipient has to tell 10 (true) things about themselves that no one else knows.
3. The recipient has to pass on the award to 7 more bloggers.
4. Those 7 bloggers should link back to the blog that awarded them.

Okay so ten true things about myself. Hmm, I'm sorry to say that I am not very interesting but I will do my very best to wow you with tales of my exciting life.

1. My Grandma taught me how to read and therefore jump started my entire life. She is my idol and we share the same birthday. She also got me started on a couple of my other obsessions: baking and crossword puzzles. One of my favorite books she read to me when I was a kid was The Three Little Pigs. She read to me first and eventually when I caught on I would read it to her while she made breakfast.
2. My favorite part about elementary school was book borders. My parents gave me a limit and I would go insane trying to figure out which books I wanted. Not much has changed since then, except now they're not called bookorders they're called BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com. Yeah...
3. When Harry Potter came out I swore it was a crappy book. I read the first ten pages and didn't like it. A couple years later I started the first one again and became addicted to it. I then became a bigger Harry Potter fan than any of my friends. Just another tidbit, I was in Europe when the last book came out, so I have the British copy. Very exciting.
4. The scenario in #3 was repeated with Jane Austen. I spent all of high school hating Jane Austen, then I read Sense and Sensibility last year and now I am obsessed with her.
5. I have read On The Road by Jack Kerouac seven times. It's the first book I've ever read that mentions Iowa, and I think this might contribute to my obsession with it. Somehow seeing the name in print makes the place I live seem more legitimate. Kind of like the movie Adventureland and the six summers I worked at an amusement park called Adventureland (but that is a story for another day).
6. Last year I lived in this community at Iowa called the Iowa Writers Learning Community. It was basically two floors of freshman who qualified themselves as writers or did lots of drugs. It was pretty fun, but I didn't do that much writing until I took my first writing class second semester. It's kind of amazing how many different kinds of people lived there.
7. I thought I wanted to be an English teacher until my senior year in high school when I realized that I couldn't spend every day in a high school since I'd spent all of high school waiting to get out. Still, people like me were generally my favorite teachers in high school. But still... no.
8. The books I gave my boyfriend to read so he could understand me were On the Road, Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby, How to Be Good by Nick Hornby, and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman.
9. Chuck Klosterman was the speaker during Iowa's welcome week last year and he signed my copy of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. He told me he liked my shirt, but I don't remember which shirt I was wearing.
10. Iowa City is a UNESCO City of Literature, and that's where I live if you didn't know. Because of this we have lots of readings every week. My favorite reading I have ever been to was a woman named Eula Biss. If you haven't read her essay collection Notes From No Man's Land you really should. It's fabulous.

So now I'm going to pass this on to seven other blogs.
Helen Loves Books
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
Chasing Empty Pavements
A Bookshelf Monstrosity
Laura's Reviews
Bookishly Fabulous
Jenny Loves To Read

In each of our interviews this Fortnight, Misty and I have been asking the authors a series of fun and silly questions. Then, we asked you the same questions in one of our giveaway (enter! enter!)
We thought it would be a great to ask each other the same questions. So now you get to experience the inner (possibly twisted) workings of mine and Misty's minds. Misty's answers are here, and you can hear what I had to say on Misty's blog.

So Misty, as you know, I got crazy excited when you announced Fairy Tale Fortnight. So now, I'd like to know why. ~Why fairy tales?

I could go on and on with this answer. I don't think it was until I started going through things for this event that I even realized the extent of my fairy tale obsession. I mean, I knew; I've always known. In my Adv. Comp. class in college, when we had to pick something to do a huge research project on, and were told to pick something we wouldn't get sick of, when everyone else around me was choosing a topic that would impress the teacher, I chose fairy tales. I've hoarded my fairy tale books from my childhood, and read essays and research on fairy tales for fun. They hold my fascination like nothing else.

But why?

I'm going to say there are many reasons, and I couldn't begin to touch on them all. But for me, the biggest reason is that they are communal and ingrained in our pysches as a result. Fairy tales are interactive. Yes, now you can read them all alone, curled up in bed. But for centuries (and beyond, if you expand "fairy tale" to include all original oral mythology), they were told in groups around campfires, or between parent and child at night before bed. They connect people, and they provide these common tropes for the rest of our lives. You say glass slippers and everyone knows: nothing more need be said. That's powerful.

Beyond that, I love the contradiction of them. They are thought of mostly as kids stories, but they can be incredibly dark. They show us people at their weakest and meekest, becoming something great. Nothing is ever what it seems, and yet you know just what it will be. I love the magic of that.

I love that your research project was on fairy tales! That's so awesome!

~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?

I haven't the foggiest. That's the thing about naming — we have no control over it. So I'm going to go with the name I almost had (in real life. Don't ask me how this was even a possibility): Blue. Forgive me... All I can think of is Little Boy Blue. (Come blow your horn...)

~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale:

Blue sat tucked away as always in the tiny little garret room; she knew her wicked stepmother was looking for her, and that the longer she dallied, the worse it would be — so for now, Blue was content to stay curled up with one of her favorite books, her rat Faustus on her shoulder, both of them dreaming of a different world.

Aww. Poor little Blue. You should send the rat and his buddies into step-mother's bed at night... Teach her what it's like to be on the short end of things.: P

~Best fairy tale villain and why?

Tough one. I like the villains. (Or, I like to dislike them.) I like to try to figure out their motivations. I'd say Rumplestiltskin. He's just so bizarre and hard to understand, and that's always creepy. I always wanted to know why he wanted the baby? (???) And then, anyone who tears themselves in half when they're angry = serious cray cray. Close second would be Snow White's stepmom, who wants to cut out her heart and eat it.

I almost picked Rumpelstiltskin too! He's so creepy! But, cursing babies to die and eating the heart of young girls won out over dancing baby snatcher. (although, putting it light that, maybe not. Ugh.)

~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites?

As a child I was obsessed with The Elves and the Shoemaker and the 12 Dancing Princesses (and occasionally, Puss in Boots). I can't say why I loved the Elves so. I just wanted them, I think. And I wanted to make them tiny little clothes. The 12 Dancing Princesses is easier to say why: I had an absolutely beautiful
copy of it (still do!), and I just wanted to dress up in those gowns and see that underground world with the silver-leafed trees and the 12 princes and their boats. (And Puss in Boots had a kitty.)

As an adult, I tend to like the darker stuff. I have a fascination with Little Red Riding Hood (did as a kid too), but I really find myself drawn to the lesser known or seriously distrubing tales, like Donkeyskin or The Rose Elf (which I rewrote in poem form for a creative writing class. I think it's probably too long to repost for you guys, but it was fun. I'd love to do an actual story with it some day.)

Least favorites... I always had questions about some. Jack and the Beanstalk made me indignant. I mean, he's basically a thief. That is not his hen, and he had no business climbing that beanstalk anyway! Plus, what the hell was he doing with the magic beans? Who trades their cow, their only source of income, for beans? I always wanted to shake him.

Jack always did strike me as a bit of a skeeze.

~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be?

I would be one of the 12 Dancing Princesses — I really want to see that underground world with the trees made of silver and gold and jewels. That was such a stunning image to me when I was a kid, so awe-inspiring, that I've been a little obsessed with it ever since. I'm not much of a dancer, though... (see answer to last question)

Misty, do you realize — if we are both among the 12 Dancing Princesses... We must be, sisters! Hello to my sister in fairy tales! Let us flee from the creepy Evil Queen together!

~Would you rather:
- — live under a bridge with a troll, or all alone in a high tower?

I bet that trolls got stories to tell...

I bet that troll really smells...

- — ride everywhere in a pumpkin carriage (messy) or walk everywhere in glass shoes (uncomfortable)?

Pumpkin carriage. Glass shoes freak me out. Unless they were the ones from Ever After, and then I'd have to reconsider.

Oooh. Ever After!

- — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming?

Um... the prince, I guess. I find the godmothers a little dubious...

- — eat magic beans or golden eggs?

Eggs! I don't even want to know what eating magic beans would do to a person... O_O

I'm definitely with you on that one! And, you know how I feel about golden eggs... Makes the outside match the insides, if you know what I mean.;) (still humble...)

- — style 50ft long hair or polish 100 pairs of glass slippers?

I bet you could do some pretty awesome couture things with 50ft of hair. I wouldn't want to wear said hair, but style it?

Sure.

- — be forced to spin straw into gold for hours on end, or dance every night until your shoes are worn through?

Spinning and weaving fascinate me, and spinning straw what certainly be an interesting skill — and one hell of a party trick. Alchemy, anyone? And though I'm sure it'd be pretty mindless after awhile, I could listen to audiobooks or something while I did it. I'm not really much of a dancer (sober, anyway), so I think I'd have to go with spinning. Couldn't be much worse than most jobs, right?

Until creepy Rumpelstiltskin pops up, asking if you need help!! Uber creepy villain, remember? Are you going to offer him your first born?! Come to the enchanted ballroom with me Misty. I'll teach you to dance. (or ply you with liquor until you can't tell the difference!)

*Misty reconsiders*

I want to take a second to say thank you to Misty. I saw her post about Fairy Tale Fortnight, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it, knew I wanted to do as much with it as I could. So, when she asked me to co-host with her, I gave a very, very enthusiastic YES! I have had so much fun preparing for this event with Misty. We've had some awesome email exchanges, and some very definite Twilight Zone moments. I don't think there has ever been a time when we weren't on the same page about things, and our ideas for certain elements of the Fortnight were eerily similar.

It's been such a blast working with you Misty! You've been amazing! It's a little bit sad to see the Fortnight end, but this just means we get to start planning for next year! I can't wait!

I have talked about the Iowa City Book Festival quite a bit over the past few weeks and I'm sure those of you who aren't in Iowa are getting annoyed by me. But today is the actual festival! So after tomorrow I will shut-up about it, I promise. But for those of you who can't be here or those of you who are here who can't see me or for those of you who listened to me but forget what I said, I'm going to post my list of books I talked about during my talk today. These are my top five books I've read in the past year (basically, there are some I just didn't feel needed to be advertised as much, like Middlemarch, which I also advise you to read).

1. Notes from No Man's Land: American Essays

by Eula Biss. Yes, I'm recommending this book even though I've never reviewed it on this blog. It is a fabulous essay collection that deals with race, gender, age, and just growing up. You must read it. I read this book in two days a little over a year ago and I am still talking about it, so that should be a pretty good indication of how much I enjoyed it. And for fellow Iowans, there are many references to Iowa and Iowa City, as well as Chicago and New York. I haven't reviewed this book, but I did talk about on of Eula Biss's earlier essays.
2. The Creation of Eve

by Lynn Cullen. There have been several books about artists recently but this is by far the best, in my opinion. It is a historical fiction novel about Sofonisba Anguisolla, a female Renaissance painter who works in the court of Queen Elisabeth of Spain. I learned so much about gender restrictions in Spain through this novel, which is something I don't think I was ever interested in until I read this. I couldn't put this down. There is also sexual scandal that deals with Michelangelo, and some beautiful scenes about painting when Sofonisba is his student. Follow the link for my review of The Creation of Eve.
3. This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All

by Marilyn Johnson. It's really no secret that I want to go into library science after I graduate, but that isn't the only reason I enjoyed this book. Johnson goes on several interviews across the East coast with librarians and those who love them. She meets librarians who network using the online game Second Life, librarians who teach people from underdeveloped countries so they can help their own countries, and librarians who love to blog. I learned a lot from this book and Johnson is incredibly witty which made a book that could have been a total snore become a joy to read. Follow the link for my review of This Book is Overdue!
4. The Imperfectionists

by Tom Rachman is a series of character sketches. It takes place in Rome and most of the characters work at an English language international newspaper or are somehow related to a person who does work there. Rachman does an amazing job of making every character unique, believable, and sympathetic. All of the characters connect somehow throughout the novel and somehow all have similar themes going through their lives. Like relationships, failed relationships, lost love, and death. By the end of this book you'll feel like you you just got to know a bunch of people at party, except you'll know them better than anyone you've met at a party. Follow the link for my review of The Imperfectionists.
5. The Luxe

by Anna Godbersen. I had to put some junk food on the list and out of all the junk food I've read in the past year The Luxe series is my favorite. I'm reading the third book, Envy, right now and I think I can safely say the series gets better as you go on. It's about a group of teenage girls in the early 1900's New Amsterdam, today Manhattan. They are rich, snobby brats and I love every minute of it. Penelope is new money and out to get everything she wants, no matter who she has to step on along the way. Elizabeth and Diana are sisters and from old money, but totally different. Elizabeth is in love with her chauffeur and is really looking for a more down-to-earth life than the one she lives, and she's a bit of a goody-two-shoes. Diana is much more interesting, she is dark and a bit moody, loves to sit and read, and thinks all the social airs her family puts on are stupid, she's just more vocal about it than her sister. Very dramatic. Follow the link for my review of The Luxe.

I actually haven't talked about my picks at the festival at this point, so if you're reading this and in Iowa City come see me at 1 PM today!

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I don't normally read science fiction books or fantasy books or books that are really good for building houses. And honestly when I first heard about The Passage

, the blockbuster of the summer, I wasn't interested at all. I first heard about it on Books on the Nightstand back when there was still snow on the ground, and they kept talking about this book that wasn't coming out until June that was about "vampires" and the government and one little girl who could save it all. Okay I thought, and I care why? So what possessed me to buy this book, this humongous book about a military experiment gone wrong, is still a mystery to me. But I did buy it, and I started it the day I got it, and I could not put it down. The story starts out with Amy Harper Bellafonte, a six-year-old girl who is left in the world alone. She has never been to school but is very smart, although it's hard to tell sometimes because she never speaks.

An FBI agent named Wolgast is supposed to take her, kidnap her basically, for the government. But as he is driving with her he gets a feeling that what is happening just is not right. He becomes obsessed with protecting her from this screwed up world they live in, in the not so distant future I might add. While the premise to the story is actually really interesting, it's really not science fiction, what really drew me into this book was the writing. The totally fabulous writing. Really, Justin Cronin is an awesome writer.

The scene started changing then. Grey felt movement all around him, like the earth was stretching; something was different about the snow, the snow had started moving, and when he lifted his face to look, it wasn't snow he saw anymore but rabbits: thousands and thousands of fluffy white rabbits, all the rabbits in the world, bunched so closely together that a person could walk across the yard and never touch the ground; the yard was full of rabbits. And they turned their soft faces toward him, pointed their little black eyes at him, because they knew him, knew what he had done, not to Roy but to the other ones, the boys with their knapsacks walking home from school, the stragglers, the ones who were alone; and that was when Grey knew that it wasn't his daddy anymore, lying in the blood. (82)

When I came to that passage (no pun intended!) I just knew this book was more than what it appeared. It's so hard to put it into words without turning people away from it. I mean, there are these vampire things but they're really not vampires at all. Not the way we know them at least, and they're not really even referred to as vampires until about halfway through the book. So this not vampire fiction. Just put down that cross and garlic.

Now, after I've gone on about how great this book is, let me say that it wasn't perfect. It's wonderful and amazing for the first half of the book, and then the main character just kind of disappears. And we have to learn about these new people for two hundred pages, all the while wondering what happened to the perfectly nice characters we met at the beginning of the book. I felt like I was just reading to find out if the old characters would come back again or not. I think that section could have been chopped down a lot. This could have easily been a 500 page novel, which is less scary though still big. Also, I didn't realize that this was the first book in a trilogy so when I reached the end I was a bit disappointed. Now I can't wait for the next book to come out... but I have to wait about two years for it. It's like Harry Potter all over again!

So the verdict is this: Read The Passage, soak up the first 300-some pages and bask in their wonderfulness, speed through the bits that get a little boring, and then when it starts to get better again remember that it's the beginning of a trilogy so the end is a little messy. Never fear, you just have to wait for what happens next. I give this book a B.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.