Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for read along] 

I really do like The Broke and the Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday feature. I don't participate terribly often, but I am a devoted rereader and just couldn't pass this one up. I'm also terribly guilty of rereading just my favorite parts of books again, but this list is going to be specifically for those books that demand to be read as a whole unit. Hopefully, I'll be able to stop at ten... : P

#1- Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls: Normally, the order in these types of posts is more a matter of which order I thought of the books than an actual number one thing. But this book — DEFINITELY belongs on my number one spot. My teacher read this book to my class in 4th grade & I had to leave the class because my 'allergies' were acting up. I have read it (no lie) over 50 times since then and every time I read it, it's a new and wonderful experience. Oh ya. And, I sob every single time I read this book. When I was a kid — I legitimately thought that I was going to go to the Ozark Mountains and retrieve the ax and lantern that Billy left there. It was that real to me. (And honestly — a small part of me is still pretty sure that if I looked hard enough, I'd find it...)

#2 — Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta: If any of you are surprised to see this book on my list — I don't think we can be friends any more... No seriously. If you don't know how much I obsessively love this book, then I have failed you as a friend. It's one of the most complex, captivating and compelling books I've ever read. This is a book that slips inside your soul and makes your heart weep. I don't think it is possible for another book to surpass this one in my mind.

#3 — The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart: One of the smartest, wittiest books I've ever read. Seriously guys — I want to be Frankie, but I definitely get that I will never be that cool...

#4 — The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling: I'm pretty sure these books will be on a lot of lists. I've read the first books SO many times. I always read all the previously published books to prep for a new release, and sometimes, during the long waits between books, I'd read them all again anyway. But, I haven't read any of them since the release of the 7th and I've only read it once. No doubt there is much I missed in my desperate race to know how it all would end. These books were a huge part of growing up for me. I literally grew up with Harry (read the first book at 11, the last at 18) and it's a series I will love forever.

#5 — Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson: Everyone talks about Speak and while I absolutely and wholeheartedly love and recommend that one as well (and really need to reread it too) I feel that Twisted is often overlooked, and let me tell you — that's a shame. It's one of the most honest and authentic teenage boy POVs I've ever read, especially coming from a female author. I connected to Tyler, felt his pain and hurt right along with him. But when he starts to learn who he really is, and step up to it — Whoa man. Seriously — Love this one.

#6 — The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak: I really enjoyed this book and there was so much to it that really struck me. The narration by Death is one of the most unique and heartrending I've ever come across. But I didn't connect to it quite the way I had expected (oddly enough, the part that I felt the most disconnected to was actually the theft of the books) but I want to revisit it, because there is so much to this story to love. Amazing book, and I'd love to go back to it, and see if it's even better on the reread.

#7 — Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl: I wasn't very interested in science fiction when I was younger, pretty well convinced that it was lame and boring and so not for me. Who needs aliens. Seriously. I read this book because it was on the Newbery Honor list and it totally changed my perspective on Science Fiction. I loved this book, connected with it, really felt it, and I so want to go back and read it again to try and recapture that.

#8 — The Novels of a Kingdom by Cynthia Voigt: These four books (Jackaroo, On Fortunes Wheel, The Wings of a Falcon & Elske) are each amazing on their own (and can be read as standalone) but reading them together, realizing the connections and living these stories is something that I miss. These are a strange genre to pin down too. I think of them as fantasy, but there is nothing magical about them. They feel magical and have a Feudal/Medieval setting. I don't know what else to call them, but I can't really get over how much I truly do love and miss these books! (Honorable mention — The Tillerman Saga. Changed my life, these books did. I LOVE them)

#9 — Daughter of the Flames by Zoe Marriott: Dude. This book is awesome. It was the first time that I can remember reading a villain that truly confused me. Seriously awesome stuff. And, the action, the writing, the setting, the characters — all of it. LOVE! Zoe is pretty brave with a lot that she does in this novel, but it's truly a gripping, compelling and strong story. I loved it so much, that I totally talked to a stranger on a bus in Washington DC about this one. (A stranger who was knitting plastic grocery sacks, no less...) LOVE this book.

#10 — A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb: I don't read many ghost stories, and paranormal isn't really my favorite genre, but this is one that kept me up all night reading. I intended to read the first 1-3 pages of this and about three other books before bed, because I couldn't decide what to take to work with me, since I had a minimum of an hour commute, both ways. It was late & I needed to get my bag for tomorrow reading, so I read the first few pages, and then needed to finish the chapter, but then, just one more. Well, one more is okay. I might as well read to page 50. Oh, have to finish this chapter. One more and so on and so forth until I was finished. LOVE.

Note- This intentionally doesn't include any of the books I've read since I began blogging. There's just too many, so these are all books it's been close to 2 years (or longer) since I read. I'm serious when I say I'm a devoted rereader. It's been so long since I've really been able to just sit and reread like I really want to and I miss that. I think, that once I get through some of the books clamoring for immediate attention, I'm going to start rereading again and spend a lot more time with these books I just love and want to see again.:)

In case you don't know me, I like to make up medical sounding names for my book obsessions. For example: P.A.B.D.. I'd now like to introduce Shiny Book Syndrome. This is usually accompanied by a book hording problem yet to be named.

So what is Shiny Book Syndrome? It is when a person only wants to read their newest book and leave piles of poor unread books on their shelves to collect dust.

What can you do to alleviate the symptoms?

My first suggestion would be to make a list of all the books you own. I use GoogleDocs. I start by creating a form and then can organize the spreadsheet to see what I have and if I've read it yet or not. (For more info on how to do this, go here).

After you know what you have, I'd suggest jumping in on some reading challenges to motivate you to read the books you already own. Here are some challenges designed just for that!

• Bottoms Up Reading Challenge hosted by Ellz Readz
  • read books from the bottom of your TBR pile
• A-Buck-A-Book Challenge hosted by DelGal’s Book Reviews
  • save a $1 for every book your read
• Buy One Book and Read It Challenge hosted by My Friend Amy
  • this seems backwards… me telling you to buy a book… the catch is you HAVE to read the book you buy

    

• Finish That Series Challenge in 2010 hosted by Royal Reviews
  • “This is an opportunity for you to finish all of those series that have been sitting on your book shelf looking at you.”
• Read It Again Challenge hosted by Twiga’s Books
  • re-reading old books can help with not purchasing new ones

    

• Read Your Own Books Challenge for 2010 hosted by MizB’s Reading Challenges
  • simple enough… read the books you own! (no rereads allowed)
• Reading From My Shelves Project in 2010 hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea
  • min of 20 books and you are asked to pass the books along when you’re done
• 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog
  • participants are encouraged to read from their libraries
• TBR Challenge for 2010 hosted by MizB’s Reading Challenges
  • “Pick 12 books – one for each month of the year – that you’ve been wanting to read (that have been on your “To Be Read” list) for 6 months or longer, but haven’t gotten around to.)”
  • also offered in a “lite” version : TBR Lite for 2010

So, I wasn't going to say anything about the WSJ article. I said my piece on Twitter, I've read many, many posts about the subject and kind of felt that everyone had said all their was to say about the subject and said it very well.

BUT

Then, I started noticing that there are a lot of people rebutting the rebuttal. There are people defending her article and I listened to her defend herself on a radio show (you can listen here) . She talks about how she comes across as anti-reading. She's sad that people are saying that parents do not have the right to have a say in what their kids read.

I don't think that. I don't think that at all.

I'm very anti-censorship. I'm very, very anti-censorship. BUT a parent has the right, has the complete right to be involved in what their children are reading. A parent has the right to make an informed and educated decision with their child and decide that a child isn't emotionally ready for a particular book. That is your right as a parent. A mother called in on the radio show with Meghan and said that she was horrified to learn that her 10 year old daughter and her friends were reading Breaking Dawn and she told her daughter that she was not allowed to read it. So she completely supports the WSJ article. But here's the thing. That book was not written for a 10 year old audience. Stephenie Meyer herself mentioned that she wouldn't let her youngest son read her book because she thought he was too young for it, even though he had read the other Twilight books. You are the parent. You have that right with your own child.

I read those #YASaves tweets on Twitter. I tweeted my own. I was a part of that Twitter conversation for hours. This debate is not about censorship. Not the way you mean. This debate is about whether these books are being written because they 'sell'. To you, this is a debate about consumerism. That because these books are edgy, daring, and gritty, people are reading them. And even though I know the odds of you reading this are slim, I'm here to tell you that YOU ARE WRONG.

Books like Scars, Thirteen Reasons Why, Shine, But I Love Him, and those other books dealing with 'dark' subject matter are not written OR read because they are 'edgy'. They are written and they are read because they save lives. The Twitter hashtag was NOT about why it's cool to read Young Adult novels, was not simply about why people read those dark and gritty novels. Did you read any of those tweets? Did you pay attention to the hashtag? YASaves. SAVES. Those tweets were heartfelt out pourings of emotions. Those tweets were people coming together and talking about which YA books SAVED THEIR LIVES. I'm not talking about books that kept them from being bored, or got them better grades in school. Some of those 'dark' and 'lurid' books out there that you are so quick to brush off as commercial and unnecessary are saving the lives of teenagers EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

THAT is why people got so upset about your article. To me, it's pretty obvious that you are pro-reading. You are a children's book reviewer and you are actually taking the time to talk about books. You are pro-reading. But you are anti-reality. Your condescending comments about how people 'claim' that these darker toned YA books 'validate' the teenage experience clearly illustrate that you don't get it. As does your radio interview where you talk about how surprised you are to be attacked by so many people about this subject.

You claim that your post was merely a way to point out the 'trend' in YA that wasn't there 30 or 40 years ago, that you were simply making a calm and rational argument, to announce the trend. But that isn't true. Not entirely. If that's all you were doing, you would not have linked vampire themed novels with books dealing with self-harm and suicide. Because they are very, very different kinds of books, very different kinds of dark. So what you have done, is not say that you are anti-book or anti-reading. What you have done is say that you would rather live in a world like the 50s, where bad things happened every single day, but no one talked about it. The main difference between now and then is not that it happens more often now, but that now people TALK about it. People come forward and say I am stronger than the silence.

Meghan, I want you to send an email to these authors you are brushing off as unimportant and commercially sensational. These authors you have condescendingly claimed try to validate the teenage experience. Ask them. Ask them to share with you their reader response. Ask THEM what teens are telling them about the impact of their book. You are going to hear something from them. Something that should soften your heart and open your mind. Each of these authors who write these books you call dark and lurid are going to tell you that they have received letter upon letter, year after year, day after day thanking them because their book saved their life.

These books are SAVING LIVES. So, send a letter or email to Cherly Rainfield (that's her own arm on the cover of Scars you know. That book is written through her experiences and her own pains.) Talk to Laurie Halse Anderson, Ellen Hopkins, Sherman Alexie, Chris Crutcher, Stephanie Kuuehnert and Jay Asher. Do you know what the common theme you are going to find? Redemption. Hope. LIFE. These books save lives. Not in the arbitrary or abstract. In REALITY. People pick up these books, realize they are not alone and they seek help. They stop their destructive behaviors. They tell the truth. They LIVE.

THAT is why the YA Universe is so upset about your article. NOT because we think parents don't have the right to have a say in what their kids read. NOT because we think that every single book is a perfect fit for every single kid. NOT because we think you think that no one should be allowed to read anything other than rainbows and lollipops. NOT because we enjoy depravity and get thrills from reading books about disparity. People are upset because you don't GET it. You are missing the point. The justification isn't that these books 'validate' the teen experience. These books ARE the teen experience.

These books teach teens that they are not alone, that their experiences are valid, that the bad things that have happened to them are NOT THEIR FAULT, that there is still hope, that things get better. These books help these kids hold on, seek help, and they teach compassion. I have never been bullied. But, because of books like Thirteen Reasons Why I am able to understand what bullying does to a kid and you had better believe that I'm going to pass that lesson along to my own

Meghan, before you condemn an entire body of writing, you should talk to the people who write it and the people they are trying to reach. Maybe, instead of simply defending your stance and trying to prove that you really are in the 'right' here, you should try listening to what the people are saying. These books save lives. Real lives of real kids. If this is really your opinion, and you are going to stand by it this strongly, maybe you should be the one to talk, individually, to these writers, like Cheryl, who write from personal experience, and go to these teenagers, individually whose lives have been saved by the powerful messages they've read and tell them that it's too dark. Tell them that their experiences don't really belong in books. And then you can come back and tell us that you still believe you are in the right. Listen to teenagers, the very people you feel you are trying to protect tell you why this book is necessary and then come back and tell me that this book that is saving lives isn't really good enough. Try it. I dare you.

Today's Memory Monday guest is one of my favorite people to chat with! Katelyn is hilarious and fun and I always leave our conversations with a smile on my face. I'm so excited that she's my guest today, so let's show her lots of love!!

BIO

My name is Katelyn and I’m the crazy blogger behind Katelyn’s Blog (catchy title, huh?). When I’m not reading, my time is mostly taken up by my family (3 brother + 2 sisters + 3 dogs = LOTS of madness), college (hope to become a high school math/English teacher), and working (I’ve got to pay for my book/shoe/food addictions somehow).The only two things that keep sane during my crazy days are books and music. I love to read anything young adult but my heart beats a little stronger for contemporary fiction. I am a total fan-girl to Sarah Dessen, Melina Marchetta, Jennifer Echols, Simone Elkeles, We The Kings, Taylor Swift, and Augustana. You can always ask me for a book or music recommendations because I’m pretty awesome like that!

MEMORY POST

When Ashley first asked me if I wanted to do a Memory Monday post, I instantly said HECK YES! I love Ashley hard core so it was a no-brainer. However, when I got to thinking about what book-loving memory I would like to talk about, I drew a complete blank. My initial instinct was to make up a corny story of how my grandpa taught me to read (my grandpa teaching me to read is not made up but the books he used would have most likely been complete fibs because I can’t remember any of them! *insert sad Katelyn here*) but then my morals got the better of me and I decided to tell as much of a truthful memory as I could. I then proceeded to call up my best friend Kati. It was in the middle of dialing her number that I was struck with inspiration. Kati is my best friend. Kati loves to read much like myself. Kati and I have shared great memories with books. It was the biggest Ah-ha moment EVER!

Kati and I have been best friends since the sixth grade. That is nearly NINE years! Over the years we have shared a crazy amount of laughs, a few tears, and more than enough AWESOME memories to last a lifetime, and yes, many of those memories do stem around our book-loving nerdiness.

There have been many times where I’ve thrown books into Kati’s hands simply saying, “Read this now, you will love it,” and she has done the same for me. One book, or series in fact, is called The Secret Society Girl and it is written by an author I simply adore, Diana Peterfreund. Kati told me I would read the whole series within a few days, laugh my butt off, want to it be a movie, and then move to Hollywood because I’ll want to put my superb (HAHA!) acting skills to the test so I could play the main character, Amy. Well let me tell you, Kati couldn’t have been more right! This series is downright hilarious and I will recommend it time and time again to any person off the street.

In this series, we follow a young woman named Amy as she struggles through her last two years at a major university, Eli College. During the end of her senior year, Amy is “tapped” into a secret society that up until that point was an all male society. Throughout the course of the four book series, we see Amy as she tries to make it through her classes, her roles in the society, and her fair share of relationship issues. Amy’s outlook on life, her sense of humor, and the way she speaks her mind will have you rolling on the floor laughing. However, for Kati and I, this book has become so much more than just an enjoyable read, it has become a tradition for us!

Every year the two of us girls go on at least one trip together. A few years ago my family, along with Kati and I, went to Tennessee to stay in a log cabin. The year after that, Kati and I flew out to California to visit her aunt. Just this past spring, we took a trip to Myrtle Beach with Kati’s mom and her best friend. While all these trips were unique and special in their own way, there was one important constant between them and that is The Secret Society Girl series went wherever we went. Every time we would pack to leave for a trip we would make sure that Amy and all her society members were packed in the suitcase too. It always started off with Kati reading the first book while I read a different book I brought on the trip. After she was finished with the first book, she moved onto the second book while I started the first. By the end of our trip, we would both have the series read, and a whole slew of memories to remember years later.

Now when I re-read The Secret Society Girl series, I am reminded of all the fun times Kati and I shared on our trips together. I can think about the creepy caves we went to in Tennessee and our fun times at Dollywood. I remember nearly drowning TWICE in California and all of the great food we ate (yummmm!). And I can now look back on our trip to Myrtle Beach and think of the ducks we fed, the seagulls that tried to eat me, and the crazy sunburns we got in the most uncomfortable places.

During each trip, The Secret Society Girl series seemed almost like an afterthought but looking back now I can see that is not the case. By reading this book during each trip with Kati, I am able to easily recall all the awesome times we had together. Each time I read it I am reminded of something funny that happened, which with the two of us is quite frequent. I am reminded of just how lucky we are to be able to share so many amazing moments together. But most importantly I am also reminded of just how great my best friend is. (It is cheesy I know, but it is the truth!)

I’d like to thank Ashley for having me today! Let it be known that if Ashley were to live in Michigan with us, she would have no doubt been an exceedingly perfect addition to mine and Kati’s pack!

Katelyn, you are SO welcome! I loved this post and am once again reminded (that's what, 5 times now?) that I need to give this series a read! Thanks so much for sharing your crazy fun memories with us!:)

ALRIGHT — The contest is now over! It's going to take me a while to go through all the entrants, so I'm hoping to have the winners listed by Sunday! Good luck to everyone!

Today is my mini-challenge for the Once Upon a Time Read-a-thon!! I'm hoping to make this one easy for you.:)

Anyone who talks to me on Twitter knows that I simply live for book recommendations and getting someone to read a book I recommend is awesome. Even better though, is having that someone turn around and tell me how much they loved it.:)

Because I'm such a fan of book recommendations, I want you to recommend books to me. I want you to recommend 2 books to me.

The first is any book of your choice. Pick any book you want and tell me and the world why it should be read and loved.

The second is what you would pick as your favorite of the read-a-thon. You can chose to answer this question now, during the third day, or I'll give you one extra day to give that book just waiting to be picked up a chance.:)

How to enter — write your recommendation pitches into your read-a-thon update posts and then come back here and leave a link in the comments. IF you do not have a blog, you may leave your recs in the comments as well, but I would prefer you to link me to a post if possible.

This giveaway is only open to participants of the Read-a-thon. It will be open from now (the time of posting) until Friday around noon MST. That should give you plenty of time to pick those favorites and pitch them to me.

There will be two winners — One winner will be chosen from Random.org. The second winner will be whoever manages to write the most convincing and compelling pitch. If your recommendation manages to instill that happy giddy feeling I get when I hear about an upcoming book I just know I'm going love, you win. (Which, in case you didn't guess, means that this winner will be a completely subjective choice)

:) I'll contact both winners via email, and on Friday, I will also announce the winners on the blog, along with their winning recommendations!:)

*Note — These recommendations are designed to get someone knew to read a book you love. Which means I do not want to see any "Read Book X because it totes rox!" But I also don't want to see a 4 pg review of the book. So, convince me in a standard sized paragraph.:)

*PRIZES:
The winner(s) will have their choice between a copy of
The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott (PB)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (PB)
If I Stay by Gayle Forman (PB)
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (HC)
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (HC)

If they both pick the same book, whoever emails me back first will get their first pick.

A few years ago, I made the goal to read every book that has been, or will be, awarded the Newbery Award and as many of the honors as possible. Every year, beginning in 1922, the Medal is awarded to the book considered to be the most distinguished contribution to children's literature of that year. A year or so after I decided to read all of the books on the Newbery list, I decided to add the winners of the Printz Award as well, which is the YA equivalent of the Newbery.

I've never been quite about this goal, and it's actually been, for the most part, an amazing and rewarding experience for me. Although I've read some winners that I feel less than favorable towards, for the most part I've loved the experience, and I've discovered some very, very favorite books through these two lists. I mentioned something about these lists on Twitter and Jacinda from The Reading Housewives mentioned that it would make a great challenge idea. And so, here we are.

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For a long time, this has been an individual and personal goal for me. My sister mocks me regularly for being stuck to a list, citing The Story of Mankind, Gay-Neck and Hitty for reasons I should stop, overlooking the absolute love I now have for The House of the Scorpion, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and Jellicoe Road, all books I would have either overlooked, ignored or never heard of without these lists.
So now, along with The Reading Housewives, I am extending an invitation to all of you to join me in my quest to read these two amazing book lists. I want to share the love I have for these lists, and I've gotten Jacinda all excited about it too!
So — onto the *Rules *Details *Guidelines *General Information
The challenge will run from Memorial Day to Labor Day — May 30th until September 5th.
There will be 4 levels of participation-
Level 1 — Underachiever: Read 3 books
Level 2 — Nerd: Read 6 books
Level 3 — Brainiac: Read 9 books
Level 4 — Teacher's Pet: Read 12 books

No matter which level you chose to participate in, you must read at least one book from each of the award lists. You can focus primarily on one or the other, but there must be at least one Printz honor/award and one Newbery honor/award.
There will be giveaways throughout the challenge as well. There are a lot of giveaway details, so there will be separate post specifically for the giveaway information. But, I will tell you now, that there is a guaranteed winner from each of the 4 levels, as well as a few other winners, including a super special giveaway that you can enter only by reading some of my very favorite titles from the list.:) Ya, I'm a book pimp. So what?!
Anyway — We would LOVE to have a lot of participants in this challenge. We have decided to keep it pretty low key — You can sign up for whatever level you think you can make (everyone should be able to handle one book a month!) and reviews are completely optional — although they will gain you an extra entry into the giveaways!
So what are you waiting for?! I'm staring a lovely pile that constitutes less than half of the books I'm going to be giving away, my lovely friends at The Reading Housewives have books to offer as well, and if no one enters, we are just going to have to keep all these lovelies for ourselves! Each of the following links will take you to a Goodreads page listing each of the winners of both the award and honor for the Newbery and Printz. Makes it really easy to just pop over and add it to your tbr!
Newbery Winners Newbery Honors Printz Winners Printz Honors
Come on and fill out the form, grab a button and start prepping those lists!

It's obvious I'm obsessed with essays and really want to make all of you love them too. I've studied essays as long as I've been in college (almost three years!) and read them before I came here, but in 2011 I would like to take a few steps back. My Awesome Essays posts typically focus on newer essays, or at least essays from the 1960's to present. I like that focus because I think it's easier for people to read those essays and discuss them. But for those of you who are up to a bit of a challenge, you might like to join me in the 2011 Montaigne Readalong. This isn't a challenge, you can participate as much or as little as you like.

This really my own self challenge. I want to read all of Montaigne's essays in one year, no small feat. Michel de Montaigne is a 16th Century writer, so obviously the writing style is very different from what we read today. The edition I plan to read is 1,344 pages long! Now you understand why I want to read it over the course of a year. Break that huge number down, and you're reading about 25 pages a week, which probably about as much Montaigne as I can take every week.

So where do you fit into all of this?

You don't really even need to sign-up, although it'd be nice to let me know if you want to participate in any way by leaving a comment. I'm going to post a schedule for what essays I'm going to read each week on a page underneath my header. If you're struck to join in for any particular week, you can go there and find out what essays I'm reading so you can discuss them on my blog post that week. Basically you can follow along as much as you want, joining in on conversations a few time over the year or every week (if you dare).

How do I find the essays?

The great thing about Montaigne is that he is in the public domain! That means you don't even have to buy a book to participate in this. One option is to subscribe to Montaigne's Essais on Daily Lit. This way you'll get essays emailed to your account as often as you like, although I'll tell you there are 459 parts to the Daily Lit subscription, meaning that if you got an email every day it would still take you over a year to read. I think these should line up with my book, although I'm not entirely certain yet. You can also check out some of the essays on Oregon State's website. If you're really excited you can read the same book I am, the Penguin edition called The Complete Essays.

I'll provide more information about all of this later, but I wanted you all to know I am hosting this next year!

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.

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!:)

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.

I have been obsessed with Nick Hornby since I was fifteen years old. High Fidelity was one of my favorite books in high school, and when my English teacher saw me toting other Hornby books around he asked me if I read Hornby's column in the Believer. I had never even heard of The Believer before but luckily he had a few issues on hand for me to read. I gobbled up the columns he did have and was hungry for more. Anyone who reads the Believer knows how expensive it is though, so it wasn't until last year that I got a subscription and at the point I did, Hornby was no longer writing his column (this has recently changed). Along with my Believer subscription I got Hornby's three collections The Polysyllabic Spree, Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt, and Shakespeare Wrote For Money. I've read The Polysyllabic Spree

and I am pleased.

The column is about what books he has purchased and what books he has read- the two lists always completely opposite in length. Like most book lovers, Hornby buys more books than he reads. The first column from September 2003 shows him buying 10 books and reading 6. Been there, done that. Some months it's much worse and some months it's much better. It was really interesting for me to read this book as a blogger, because he talks about some things, like abandoning books, that I see in a much different way since I've become a blogger. In addition to his thoughts on what he has read and what he has bought sometimes there are excerpts from books he really enjoyed thrown in.

I haven't read, or heard, of most of the books Hornby is reading, but that just shows that this book is really great because I enjoyed reading about all of them anyway. I did come away with a few recommendations. For instance, I need to read the remaining Salinger books, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and Mystic River. My one complaint about the column is that Hornby isn't allowed to say anything really bad about books. If he really hated a book he can't even mention the title. I think this is a bit unfair, you can dislike a book and give an explanation why you didn't like it. It might work for someone else who doesn't care about your reasons.

I give this an A.

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.

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!

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.

I thought it fitting that my first Memory Monday during the month of November would be a look back at the Contemporary books I read as a young kid that really influenced me and had made me a lover of Contemporary YA from a very young age.

When I was younger, I loved Willo Davis Roberts. She wrote these awesome mystery/thriller type novels where the protagonists were my own age and they were awesome. They were the reason that my mom was terrified to leave ten year old Ashley alone because when she told me I was not allowed to open the front door to people I didn't know while she was gone, I informed her that it wasn't a big deal, because if they were bad, I could just shut the door really fast. O_o Instead, the rule was that I was just not allowed to answer a knock while mom was gone, period. (I have a whole Memory Monday talking about just Willo Davis Roberts here. And for realz... it's a rather funny story).

But in the course of reading about these young kids totally outsmarting the bad guys, I also read a book by WDR called Sugar Isn't Everything. It's about a young girl, maybe 10 or 11 if I remember right, who develops diabetes. At first she doesn't know what's going on. She has very little energy, craves juices and candies and feels miserable and sick and run down. Her parents take her to the doctor and she is no longer allowed to eat sweet things, and I don't remember for sure (I read this in 4th or 5th grade, so...) but I think she needs insulin shots. There is a scene in the book where she is at a football game with her two best girl friends, and she leaves for a few minutes. When she's on her way back, she hears her friends giggling and she watches a snickers bar wrapper float down from where they were sitting. Ashley's little girl heart = broken.

Then, I found Cynthia Voigt. I don't remember exactly how I discovered Cynthia Voigt (although I strongly suspect it was a book stolen borrowed from my sister's library pile, who, incidentally is also named Cynthia [and come to think about it, might also have been the reason I was so keen to read these books]) However... I digress. While I don't remember the details of the finding, I do remember the first time I read Cynthia Voigt's Tillerman Saga. It was one of my first experiences with a mental illness and it completely changed the way I viewed life, reading, books, stories, people, and myself. In Homecoming, Dicey's mom packs up her four kids, leaves their little shack on the beach and starts to drive to her cousin's house because she recognizes that she desperately needs help in every way. But on the way, Mama stops at a mall, tells the kids she'll be back shortly and then disappears. This leaves young Dicey (somewhere between 11 and 13) in a terrible position. They have almost no money, very little food and a long way to go. So they walk. This young, young girl gets her three younger siblings motivated and they walk. They walk across states to get to their aunt or cousins house. And they make it. THEY MAKE IT. But things still aren't good there. The person who takes them in wants to civilize Dicey, turn James into a priest, play Barbie doll with Maybell and send Sammie off to reform school (who, by the way is only like 5 or 6). Splitting up the family is unacceptable to Dicey, and the others so she begins to formulate a plan, once again, to keep the family they have left safe and together.

The Saga continues, continuing over seven books and telling the stories of not only Dicey and her siblings, but also other characters we meet or who are referenced along the way. And let me tell you, it is a powerful set of stories. The stuff these characters face, the things they go through it painful and raw and so full of emotional truths that it took my breath away. I didn't know writing could be like this. And I devoured these books. All seven of them, more than once.

Sharon Creech was also a huge part of my early reading and I just absolutely loved her. Still do actually. I just finished a reread of my favorite Creech, Walk Two Moons and I love it just as much now as I did then. The experience reading this would have been vastly different had I read it for the first time when I was older, (mostly that I would have seen things coming that caught me completely by surprise as a kid) but I still loved it this time around, I still cried, still ached for Sal, wondering why she wasn't enough to keep her mother around, still cringed at the awkwardly embarrassing things Phoebe and Sal did together, groaned at Ben's awkwardly endearing attempts to kiss Sal, laughed myself silly at the crazy antics of Gramps and Gran and just fell in love with the book all over again. But Creech has other wonderful books, and other favorites included Chasing Redbird and Bloomability and The Wanderer with Absolutely Normal Choas being pretty awesome too. I've read more of her recent stories now that I'm older and I gotta tell you — Creech is still made of WIN. (Read my Memory Monday post all about Sharon Creech here)

I also loved The Babysitter's Club. I've already posted about that in a Memory Monday as well, but once again, I loved that this could be real. My girlfriends and I decided that once we were old enough to babysit, we would form our own Babysitter's Club, and it would be great. (It never happened, since I moved before I was really old enough to babysit and I wasn't really interested in the series anymore when I was old enough.)

And then, one of my largest reading phases was Mary Higgins Clark. Oh how I loved Mary Higgins Clark. I know that technically her genre is mystery/thriller, but it's also very definitely realistic fiction and I was obsessed. I inhaled her books, all of them and just buzzed with the reality of serial killers, the potential to be buried alive (which has always been one of my personal nightmares and only got worse after reading Moonlight Becomes You) and the knowledge that anyone out there could have a hidden side to themselves.

I could go on and on. Contemporary Fiction has always been a huge part of what I read. I have always loved it and gravitated toward it. There is something about reading about people who could be me, or who I could meet on the street that just calls to me, just really gets to me. I love it. And even as a young kid, I was drawn to Contemporary and a lot of the time, even when I was young, I was really drawn to those heartbreakingly real and achy stories.

So yes. Contemporary is my genre, now and forever. There are other genres that I love but nothing will ever replace Contemporary.

I am having a hard time believing I've been writing up Memory Monday posts since last year but have yet to share my love for Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking, more commonly known as Pippi.

I remember my mom handing me her childhood copies of Pippi Longstocking and Pippi in the South Seas. She didn't give me much of an intro to the books, just told me that they were books she had read and loved as a kid, and she thought I might like them. So I read them. And I devoured them. I love them, and I read these two books over and over again. In fact, I read them so many times that the covers fell off, and then the pages started coming apart.

You see, for me, reading about Pippi's adventures wasn't just about reading the adventures of some slightly crazy girl in a book. Oh no. Pippi's adventures went much farther than that for me. You see, I wanted to be Pippi. I wanted that more than I think I had ever wanted anything before.

I wanted to be cool enough to live on my own, strong enough to carry my horse up and down the porch steps, interesting enough to have a pet monkey, and confident enough to dance around my classroom singing about plutification. (Alas, I've always cared way too much about what my teachers thought of me to be any where near that disruptive.) Oh ya, and it definitely didn't hurt that Pippi is rich as Midas either. She inherited a trunk full of gold along with her Villa from her father, whom she is convince is now king of the canibals after being swept out to sea, and she's very free with her money. She's also brilliant, being able to outsmart any adult and is wholly unconcerned with what other people think of her. She is her own person, and she is perfectly happy to be exactly who she is.

Who wouldn't want to be Pippi? She's strong, in ways that go beyond just her astounding physical strength, loyal, loving, and ridiculously funny. I'm pretty sure I even tried to sleep with my feet on my pillow, and my head down below once. And let me tell you — it is not comfortable. Poor Pippi.

I tried re-reading these books a few years ago. I purchased a set of three Pippi books — Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, and Pippi in the South Seas, and I wanted to revisit that old delight I had felt when reading about Pippi's adventures. I'd never run into a problem with a re-read before, and I was looking forward to revisiting Pippi in all her wackiness. It about broke my heart when I started to realize that it just wasn't the same reading these books as an adult. I've since (mostly) blocked out that reading experience, so I can instead focus my memories on my old copies and how I loved them, literally, to pieces. But, that tiny part that I allow to remember I did re-read these weeps a little when I think of it.

Pippi was such a huge part of my childhood, and I refuse to forget her. I refuse to allow her to fade into the background and you had better believe I will be putting copies of this book in the hands of any daughters I have. (Sons too). It is a book meant to be read, loved, and cherished by youth and I shall do everything in my power to make sure the kids in my life love Pippi as much as I do.

What? You haven't already read this book?!?! Yes, I know, I know. I waited until twenty to read The Catcher in the Rye

. I'll be honest. I've been faking having read this book for a long, long time. About six years really. At fourteen everyone just started to assume I had already read it. I had the book too! I got it for Christmas. The Catcher in the Rye is just one of those books that you can get by with not reading. You can pretty much pretend you know everything about it without ever reading it. So, if I feel this way about the book, why did I decide to read it? Because I just hate being a faker, which is why I'm watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind right now. I know! I've never seen it! Moving on...

When I told everyone I was going to read The Catcher in the Rye everyone just kind of shrugged in a way that made me think the whole experience was going to be a huge waste of time. "That book is just for disenchanted teenagers" someone told me. Well you know what, I must be a disenchanted teenager (still?) because I really liked the book. Everyone goes on about how Holden Caufield is an unreliable narrator and blah blah blah, but I think that Holden Caufield just does what we all pretty much do all the time. We kind of make up things to make sense of the world. And I think Holden is great, because he just says what he wants to. It's true, not a whole lot happens in this book. He starts out at a school, comes home and doesn't actually go to his house because he doesn't want his parents to know he got kicked out of school, has an encounter with a prostitute who he won't sleep with. All the while you're wondering how much of this is actually true, because he continuously contradicts himself and what teenage boy really has all of that up his sleeve.

I just love J.D. Salinger though. In my opinion, he has got American adolescent minds down to a science. The desire to be something wonderful and amazing and different, but that absolute confusion in figuring out how to do this. And then he turns it into a story, where you're engaged by the characters without really even liking them. Which is what adolescence kind of is, honestly. You're engaging with people without really liking any of them all that much and you're just waiting for your "real" friends to come along. Your "cool" friends. But now I've discovered that in my life my high school friends are some of my real friends, I hang out with them all the time. And so maybe that is why I liked The Catcher in the Rye. Because I could look at it and kind of smirk at Holden Caufield, as maybe a little bit of something that I once was.

I'm giving this book an A (to the great amazement of all the naysaysers out there!)

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This is my second time reading To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee, the first time was about five years ago when I was a sophomore in high school. It seems like that was a million years ago, but I remember this being one of the few books I read for class and really got into. I mean, I couldn't put it down. I ended up finishing it in a couple days and had to spend the next five weeks pretending I was still reading it. Coming back to the book, I started out wondering what it was about this book that drew me in so much. There isn't a whole lot of suspense, besides wondering who Boo Radley really is and what he is going to do next. I just don't think that would have been enough to propel me through the novel at fifteen. I have to agree with Capricious Reader's post from today, it was Scout that made me want to read more. Her voice in this novel is perfect, she's tough but not unbelievable, and she is a great storyteller.

And she loves to read. When her teacher in first grade gets upset that she already knows how she becomes so upset she doesn't want to go back to school. I underlined the same quote as Capricious Reader did. I underlined it when I was fifteen, and it still meant as much to me at twenty; "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." I think every booklover can connect with that quote, and maybe that was the base of my early love for this novel. It's like Scout is asking us to keep going, to love this book now.

I also love the lazy way Harper Lee describes the town."People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer." How opposite is that from how most people feel today? There aren't enough hours in the day, I don't amble anywhere. I sprint. Everywhere. And I'm always connected with my Blackberry or my laptop or my iPod or whatever. But when I crack the spine on this book I don't look at the time. I just sprawl out in my living room and take it all in. I think I might be reading this book a little slowly, but I honestly don't really know.

If you've never read To Kill a Mockingbird, please do so! And if you have, read it again! This month is the 50th Anniversary of the classic and I'm going to talk about it every Monday along with Capricious Reader. If you do a post on the book visit her site and share the link with everyone.

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It's here!! Today marks the official start of the Award Winning Reads Challenge hosted by myself along with Jacinda from The Reading Housewives! Thank you for joining us!:)

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I think this challenge is going to be a lot of fun, and I cannot wait to see what everyone ends up reading and how they feel about the books they select!

For a recap of the rules, see this post here: Award Winning Reads Challenge

For additional information about the giveaways, (that also includes the list of my personal favorites you can read for a special giveaway) go here: Award Winning Reads Challenge Giveaway/Prize Information

I am going to try and get as many books from the two lists read as possible this summer. My personal owned TBR is getting completely out of control, and many of those books come from these two lists. So, while not all of the books I'm aiming to read are books I own, a great many of them are.

This is also a very tentative list for me. I can already guarantee that I will not read every book on this list and I will read some books that didn't make it onto this list. That's just how I seem to do things. But, it's nice to have a little guideline to give me an idea of where I'm going. I'll update as I go as well, either here, in additional posts, or on the Challenge page (that will soon be created).

Newbery:

After the Rain by Norma Fox Mazer
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (reread)
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (reread)
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska
Dobry by Monica Shannon
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan

Printz:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (reread)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (reread)
Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aiden Chambers
Monster by Walter Dean Meyers (reread)
Stolen by Lucy Christopher

So, leave us a comment with a link to your starting line post (if you have one) or just let us know in the comments some of the books you are hoping to get read this summer!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, or just need some great book recommendations, let me know! I'm always happy to help!:)

Ever wonder about who Prince Charming really was? What his story actually is? In so many of the classic tales, we hear very little about who Prince Charming really is. We know the basics of their actions — fought his way through a massively huge hedge to kiss a sleeping princess, stumbled across a chick in a coffin & stole it, climbed up lots of hair, only to be tossed out of the tower, etc. but we really aren't given very much information about the actual prince. Fairy tales tend to focus on the evil and the maiden and the deeds of the prince, but very little else.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy is that story. Who are these princes? What are their names? Their personalities? Healy has taken those bare boned details and created a delightfully entertaining story about who these princes really are and what happens after the "happily ever after".

This is the perfect middle grade book and if I had read this when I was a kid, I would have inhaled it. Which is not to say that I didn't like it now. On the contrary! I found it to be perfectly entertaining. The story itself wasn't without it's flaws (mostly that some of the princes real personalities totally annoyed me...) but the book was just... so perfectly readable and entertaining.

Even when they drove me crazy, I loved seeing a real side to these heroes who had previously often been demoted to nothing but a kiss and a title. My favorite was Prince Liam and that's all I'm going to say because I think these are characters that are best discovered on your own. Each of the characters in this novel start in one place and end in another that demonstrates growth as a person, but doesn't take away from who they actually are. I love that. I love seeing characters learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others, sacrifice what they want for what's best for others and just become better people.

The princesses aren't exactly what they appear to be in the original tales either. They are also given their own unique personalities and attributes (some good, some most assuredly not...) The side characters were also a lot of fun. I loved Liam's little sister Lila, the bounty hunter, the Bandit King and his group of bandits and the Trolls. Oh my goodness, the Trolls! They might possibly be my favorite part of the story. Seriously.

The book is told by a narrator, talking directly to the reader, who already knows the whole story and sometimes gets ahead of him/herself. I'm not normally a fan of that body-less/nameless narrator talking at me from the pages, but in this story, it worked. I never felt annoyed or pulled out of the story because of the narrator and I actually loved his little hints and nudges and secrets that the heroes really should know, but didn't.

I am so not doing this book justice. This review is all over the place, for which I apologize, but there is just so much going on in this book and it's just so fun and funny and charming (ya, I said it. So what). But really. You need to go out and read this book. If you like fairy tales, read it. If you like the funny and absurdly ridiculous, read it. If you know a kid (boy or girl) who likes action and bumblers and heroes and fun and awesome princesses, then go buy it/read it/share it. It's a book that I think has something to offer to everyone. Not everyone is going to love it, but I'll wager most everyone will definitely enjoy it.

It's the beginning of a new series. But it ends well. There is no cliffhanger, no annoyance when you turn the last page. If you wanted this novel to be it, you could read this one as a stand alone and be happy. But let's be honest. It's me we are talking about. I'm for sure going to be eagerly anticipating the next installment of these heroes Princes. And, I fully intend to pass this book along to my little brothers who I definitely think will just love this one!

Oh ya. And also... The illustrations? Fabulous. Like, seriously. Ashley is in love.

Check out the awesome guest post from Christopher during Fairy Tale Fortnight!
And here is a link to an excerpt with illustrations I posted!

*Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the awesome folks at Walden Pond Press in exchange for an honest review. And it is.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson is a book that had been on my radar since its release, but one that I hadn't really put any effort into getting a copy of. But Allison and I have a thing going, where we trade book recommendations and this is one that she pushed on my pretty hard.:) So I bought a copy and a few months later I read it. And guys — Let me tell you what — This is so a book worth gushing over.

I'll admit that it's not the best book I've ever read and it's not perfect. There was quite a bit about the book that I didn't love, quite a bit that annoyed me and some that kinda igged me out. But it didn't matter, because the book was told so incredibly well and the emotional confusion, the pain and turmoil in the mind of Lennie after is sister died was so real and honest and just there. The way this book made me feel what Lennie felt made the annoyances fade into the background. I don't know that I have ever read a book that so perfectly and so completely captures inner turmoil.

Lennie and her older sister Bailey have always been incredibly close. They are that rare type of sister that has also always been friends. My older sister and I are good friends now, but when we were younger, when we lived in the same house, we did not get along at all. But just before the story begins, Bailey dies. Her heart gives out suddenly and Lennie feels completely adrift. She'd been really questioning her place in her own life for a while, and the abrupt loss of her sister sends Lennie into complete confusion. She doesn't really know who she is or how to be without her sister and she's scared and lonely and wants her sister so bad she aches with it.

And then life gets even more confusing. One minute, she and her sister's boyfriend are talking about Bailey and sharing pain and the next they are kissing like their whole souls depend on it. Lennie had never been interested in Toby, could barely see why Bailey wanted him, but when they are together now, it seems like a part of Bailey lives again and Lennie doesn't know what to do. To make it even worse, the new kid at school, Joe, is pretty much perfect for her and she finds herself falling hard and fast and is thrilled because Joe is right there with her.

The story line with Toby was my least favorite. I understand it better now, but it kinda creeped me out to be honest, and it is also one of the reasons that the book wasn't higher on my radar when it first came out. I expected it to be a lot more involved and a lot worse than it was, so I'll say that right now for anyone hesitant to read it for that reason. It didn't happen as frequently as I expected it to. And although they are kissing, it's not as sexual as I expected it to be. It's mostly the two of them so desperate for comfort and understanding from someone else who also loved Bailey that they get confused and their emotions take on inappropriate actions. And it creates problems for them too, it's not just some random side note that happens. It matters, and it helps to explain more about Lennie's emotional state.

The characterization in this book was so completely perfect it amazed me. Every character was unique and whole. There were no half filled roles or caricatures. Each character was given their own depth and reality and I believed in each of them completely. And I do mean all of them. Lennie's grandmother (who raised them) and her Uncle Big are some of the most interesting and hilarious and just plain awesome characters I've ever come across. I can't even begin to describe them, you just have to read it to get it. Even characters we never actually meet are fleshed out and given more depth than I expected. Their mother was a wanderer and left the girls with her mother when Lennie was just a baby and she'e never come back, never made contact again. It very obviously affected both girls growing up although it affected them differently.

There is one last thing that I have to mention, because I loved it so much. Lennie writes notes to and about Bailey and what's she is going through right now on random scraps of paper or garbage and leaves them just lying around. They are never really meant to be seen or read, it is simply Lennie's unique way of grieving. A ot of them are included in the book, along with a note of where they were found and I loved this. It was my favorite individual part of the story. The notes and poems that Lennie writes gives us a greater insight into how Lennie is really feeling and what she needs to heal.

Overall, this is just a wonderfully marvelous book. One of those amazing books whose flaws become irrelevant in the face of the story and I, for one, was completely in love with this book. It is so worth reading. If you have been putting it off, don't. This is Contemporary YA at its finest. There is life and pain and love and hope and it is so real and honest that I can't help but love it.

This past spring I took a fitness walking course with my best friend from high school and we had to read a portion of A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

by Bill Bryson. I was immediately taken by the part we read because he spends a lot of time discussing how difficult it is to get around America without a car. How our country is not built for bikes or walking. This is something I'm passionate about and really noticed when I moved from Iowa City back to the Des Moines area the summer after my freshman year. That is all the book is about, in fact the majority of the book is a travelogue of Bryson (who is also from Des Moines I might add!) and his old friend Katz attempting to hike all 2,100 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Quite the feat, and you can guess right from the beginning that they won't be able to do it.

It doesn't really matter though. Bryson makes so many interesting observations about America along the way that I could have cared less about him actually hiking the trail. They stop in several small towns for breaks from the wilderness and they rediscover the wonders of a hot shower and warm meal. While there, Bryson talks about the loss of small town America and the loss of the sidewalk. He talks about hitchhiking and bonding out in the woods. He talks about real nature versus cultivated nature. And he does all of this very sarcastically, very wittily. The first three fourths of this book are really a joy; full of information but still interesting to read, the way all nonfiction should be. This example about the roads built by the Forest Service is a great example of this.

"The reason the Forest Service builds these roads, quite apart from the deep pleasure of doing noisy things in the woods with big yellow machines, is to allow private timber companies to get to previously inaccessible stands of trees. Of the Forest Service's 150 million acres of loggable land, about two-thirds is held in store for the future. The remaining one-third--49 million acres, or an area roughly twice the size of Ohio--is available for logging. It allows huge swathes of land to be clear-cut, including (to take one recent but heartbreaking example) 209 acres of thousand-year-old redwoods in Oregon's Umpqua National Forest."

I'm glad I read this book, but I found the last fourth of the book rather difficult to get through. Bryson decides to leave the trail for awhile, and when he returns he decides to drive portions of the trail, get out and hike, and then drive a little further. This is extremely boring and difficult to read about. It felt like Bryson ran out of steam towards the end both physically and mentally, and the writing just gets crappy. Long gone are there great sarcastic paragraphs chock full of information about the Forest Service, and we are introduce to a crabby, sleepy Bryson who just doesn't give a damn.

I give this book a B.

Also, I recently started a podcast called Green Reads with my boyfriend and this is the first book were going to talk about. We're in the process of submitting our podcast to iTunes but in the meantime you can check out our blog, listen to our introduction podcast, and follow us so you know when our regular podcasts are going up!

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 is a 'post in progress' I wanted a chance to spotlight and talk about what other bloggers are doing to celebrate the awesome that is Contemporary YA. This is never going to be a comprehensive list. I am only one person and I just can't do it. BUT I will update it, hoping to get as much talk about the other Contemp happenings as possible!!

Awesome Reading Challenge!

Kat @ I Write, I Read, I Review is hosting the Keeping it Real Reading Challenge! The goal is to read Contemporary YA during the month of November and there are PRIZES! Seriously guys — Check it out!

REVIEWS:

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog — Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez, Shut Out by Kody Keplinger, Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott, and Looking for Alaska by John Green.

April @ Good Books and Good Wine — Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala, Lovestruck Summer by Melissa C. Walker, and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (which is... mostly Contemporary:) )

Shannon @ Books Devoured — Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert (one of my favorite books) and Subway Girl by P.J. Converse

Anna @ Anna Reads — The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder (another favorite!!)

Sarah @ Storybound Girl — Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott

Tara @ Hobbitsies — Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

Allison @ The Allure of Books — Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Liz @ Consumed by Books — Looking For Alaska by John Green

Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner — Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Asheley @ Into the Hall of Books — Kiss, Crush, Collide by Christina Meredith

Jennifer @ Novel Thoughts — Without Tess by Marcella Pixley

Jenny @ The Mimosa Stimulous — Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

Robin @ Nice Girls Read Books — Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

Page @ One Book at a time — Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (again, mostly Contemporary:) )

Angela @ Reading Angel — How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Lindsi @ Books, Sweets and Other Treats — If I Tell by Janet Gurtler

Jordyn @ Ten Cent Notes — Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell

AUTHORS:

Carla @ The Crooked Shelf interviewed Melina Marchetta (AHH!!! LOVE Melina! My interview with her will go up soon:) )

GIVEAWAYS:

Mary @ Anxirium is giving away some Contemporary YA books!!!

DISCUSSION/THOUGHT POSTS:
Note — Many of these are guest posts, so rather than write both the blog hosted and the blogger writing, I've just identified the writer of the post, not the host blog:

Topic: Why I Love Contemporary:

Katelyn @ Katelyn's Blog
Jacinda @ Reading Housewives
Candace @ Candace's Book Blog
Sarah @ Storybound Girl
Kathy @ I Write, I Read, I Review
Cara @ Chasing Words
Jordyn @ Ten Cent Notes
Bonnie @ A Backwards Story
Alissa @ The Grammarian's Reviews
Ariel @ The Librarian's Bookshelf
Kailia @ Reading the Best of the Best

Callie @ Read, Write, Blog compiled her list of favorite Dark Contemporary YA books.

I'm going to keep searching for more to add to this list. If YOU or someone you know has posted anything this week (from November first through Saturday, November 5) please either leave me a comment or send me a message on Twitter with the link so that I can stop by and add it to my list!