Spread the Awesome: Courtney Summers

This post o' love is part of a whole mess of blog posts, called Spread the Awesome--authors celebrating published books we adore. This project was started by the fabulous Elana Johnson. She has a list of all the participating authors and books they're celebrating here:

 http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/p/recommended-reads.html

After you read about Courtney, please check out Heather Petty's blog for a discussion of Terri Farley's SEVEN TEARS INTO THE SEA.

But first, the purpose for my post.

It's funny, because within 30 seconds of Elana's email, I knew who I had to write about. It wasn't even up for debate. Yes, I love many, many authors and their books: a tiny list includes Melissa Marr, John Green, Vicki Pettersson, Justine Larbalestier, Suzanne Collins...TINY list. But when I think *amazing* books that are life-changing, that I can't stop talking about or recommending...well. Courtney Summers is right at the top of the list.

I may have talked about Courtney's books here before. *cough* It might be getting a little embarrassing. And YES, I am friends with her fabulous werewolf-hating, Gaga-loving self. I admit it. But that is not why I am so driven to pimp, my friends. Oh, no.

CRACKED UP TO BE not only grabbed me by the throat, it wrung it, knocked me down and kicked me in the ribs, and I still went crazy for the thing. It's So. Freaking. Real. It's so meaningful, and truth-telling about what high school and pressure and relationships and guilt really can be. I can just see my teenage self gulping it, feeling better because of it. Here, watch the book trailer.

And then I got to read SOME GIRLS ARE, and I thought there was no way it could be as good as CUTB. And I was totally right.

It was better. And worse, simultaneously. It was vivid and heartbreaking and honest to all sides of the story, and I almost couldn't breathe during some parts. Book trailer #1 for SGA here.

What Courtney does so very well is honesty, and clear-as-glass voice. Heroines you root for and kinda hate at the same time, but you can't stop watching them. Stories you cringe from, but recognize.

If you're a teenager or you were, read them. Seriously.

TEN STARS.

Check them out: CRACKED UP TO BE and SOME GIRLS ARE

Who would make you go fan-girl?

Meg Cabot posted a delicious link to a Mary Stewart fan site I'd never seen:

http://www.marystewartnovels.com/novels/

Just browsing through the titles made me giddy. I LOVE those books. It started when I was about 12--I found a battered copy of WILDFIRE AT MIDNIGHT in a box of my mother's, ready to go to the library sale. I snuck it out and devoured it in a couple hours.

I was in love. Reader-love.

I quickly hunted down every book of hers I could find: read, re-read, treasured. I remember the moment, reading THE MOON-SPINNERS, when I first felt what it *might* be like to fall in love, that giddy sense that all the world is possible.

I walked around the house repeating to myself "Bryony...Bryony...Bryony Ashley", the opening lines to TOUCH NOT THE CAT.

I drove two hours to see Lipizzaner stallions two decades later because of AIRS ABOVE THE GROUND. I still want to sit with my back against Hadrian's Wall (which is where the name "Adrian" happens to come from, by the way) like Mary Grey did in THE IVY TREE or visit the caves and crashing surf on Corfu.

And that's not even touching the Merlin novels. I've probably read THE CRYSTAL CAVE ten times, and all the others at least three or four.

Her books--the combination of adventure, love, a touch of magic, and a smart, strong heroine--helped to shape me, who I am today. Who I try to be as a writer.

If I ever had the chance to meet Mary Stewart, I don't think I would be able to speak. I think I would melt utterly into a fan-girl puddle of worship and not come to my senses for a couple hours after she was gone, shaking her head.

I bet most writers have someone like that who inspired them, who is a real hero/heroine. Share the admiration. Who would make you lose your little writer/reader mind if you met them?

Raising a Reader

I love that I caught Child twice in the past day sneaking reading when she was supposed to be doing something else.

I love that we just got back from the library, and though going in she said she still had too many to read and didn't need more, she walked out with 3 new ones. "Because they look so interesting."

I love that I just asked Child what her favorite book was, and she couldn't answer. There were "too many books that I love because I love books." She ended up settling on the whole mystery category.

I love that she's currently reading TALES OF A 4TH GRADE NOTHING and a Betsy-Tacy-Tib book, both of which I adored at her age. I love that they both make her laugh. Some books endure through generations--they capture experience, and story, so well it doesn't matter when they were written. They are magical.

This is why I write, trying to create this kind of magic.

And watch out, publishing world. I'm raising a reader. You're gonna have to work hard to keep up with her. :)

I'm reading...

I just started LAMENT by Maggie Stiefvater. I only had time to read a couple pages last night, and then for half of lunch today before I had to run off and do errands.

Damn you, Maggie. Now I want to spend the afternoon reading your book instead of working on work and thesis.* ARGH.



*Because so far, it's really really good. Tempting good. Maybe I could just read for a little while? Please?

New bookage!

NEWSFLASH: The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance is out on the shelves, both virtual and shelf-like.

Vicki Pettersson has a story in this anthology. I've read it, and it is phenomenal. You must read it.*

Go forth. I am back to the book.



*Because even though she has the twin annoying habits of being calm and reasonable in the face of my freakouts and being way too often Right, she is a damn good storyteller.

Book Love

In my regular every-few-months surge of new-book love...

I'm finally reading Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr, and yes, so far it is drawing me in as much as Wicked Lovely did. Unfortunately this is dangerous, as I was doing so well working head-down on MELODY last week. I was forced to leave IE at home lest I succumb and spend the whole lunch with my feet up on my desk, in Melissa's pretend world instead of my pretend world.

In addition to that, I had 3 gift cards to cash in. The one at Hastings was all for me. (and it was buy 3 teen titles get one free! Until the end of July!) I snagged:

• Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead. Even though I'm still not much of a vampire fan in general, this keeps getting rec'd by friends.
  
• Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. Ever since I saw Maureen's video with Libba Bray I knew I had to read their books. Reading their blogs confirmed it. So I also got:
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I realize I am the last YA reader on the planet to pick up this one. I'm looking forward to it.
• Enna Burning by Shannon Hale. Silly as it is, I first picked up Shannon Hale because I liked her website (back when I was working on mine. *cough*). I really loved Princess Academy. So this is next!

The Borders gift cards went to Child, who is discovering the first joys of reading chapter books on her own. I barely restrained myself from buying Noel Streatfield's books--they're just a little too long right now--but I did give in and bought Betsy-Tacy for her. I loved those books! I also got a couple in the Jewel Fairy series, which she is into all on her own, and Mary Margaret, Center Stage, which looks perfect for my little actress/dancer.

Book love, two generations.

Recommendation!

One of my guidelines for this blog, discussed here, is not to post negative reviews. The flip side of that is that I do post, volubly, when I finish a book I love.

I LOVED A Field of Darkness, by Cornelia Read.

I'm a little too wiped by work and such to come up with a coherent summary of WHY I loved it, but I can say it was the plot--and the characters, and the voice, and the writing. And the suspense.

Go read it. You will enjoy it. :)

Sharing

Whenever I really need to relax, I pull up this picture:



Because everybody needs a little Baby Yoga. Or Baby Buddha, depending on your mood.

My mood is quite high today, though. One of the reasons is this book:




I read it in one satisfying gulp yesterday. I meant to dip in, like I usually do, but it would not have it. I could not put the thing away. It's original, funny-as-hell, and intriguing. Go read it. Enjoy.

Dreaming of books...

This is a tumultuous couple of weeks for me. I don't know if that means that I'll be here less or more as I try to distract myself from various things--I guess we shall see!

Today I'm thinking of all the books I get to read soon (the ones I already bought) and all the books that are coming out soon that I'm looking forward to! Let's see, we have:

--Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr, coming out April 29th. It's Melissa's second book, and I loved Wicked Lovely so much it turned me into a fan girl. I can't wait! Plus she's such a nice person!
--One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost, also April 29th (hmm--I see my book budget spiking). Yummy, more Bones!
--The Touch of Twilight by Vicki Pettersson, the 3rd in the zodiac series, coming out May 27. Check out that gorgeous cover, and see if you don't squee. (Okay, if you're the squeeing type. Clearly I am.)
--My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne, coming out July 1. The sequel to The Spymaster's Lady! Woo-hoo!

I know there are more. What am I forgetting?

On Writing

I heart Stephen King.

Which is kinda weird, because I've never actually read one of his books. I have no idea WHY. I'd think that maybe it was a too-popular snobbery problem, except for that little obsessive period I had back in 7th grade with V.C. Andrews and Sweet Valley High. (I can't believe I'm admitting that!) And I did read BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (ditto!), so really, I think snobbery is out as an explanation. I think I just haven't.

Anyone want to recommend their favorite King book, in case I want to dip my toes in?

Anyway. I heart him because I'm reading ON WRITING, and bless the man, he has told the truth about writing. He talks about all the things I've tripped over on my own, the things I've gotten excellent advice on over the years, and some things I just need to listen to. It's awesome. I'm so glad I bought a copy, so I can poke into it whenever I want.

Anybody who's having trouble with revisions, OR second-guessing yourself on a first draft, buy it and read Chapter 11. Then put it back down and write. That's what I'm going to do today, freshly inspired and freed from worries. (It's okay that the first draft sucks! I can fix it later! Hooray!)

Happiness is...

(Note to say: weird, this post disappeared for a while. It must have been when I tried to revise and hit the "draft" button...)

I'm a happy girl.

I'm managing to get some (few) words in despite being home, which is rare. Child is thrilled, and obsessed in a good way, with her new dolls. We're all going out to lunch in a little bit, and then we're going to stock the fridge.

AND I just got to use my Amazon gift card. Hooray!

I ordered:

STORY by Robert McKee. I've read bits before from the library, but I want my own copy.
DREAMS AND WISHES: ESSAYS ON WRITING FOR CHILDREN by Susan Cooper, one of my favorite authors evah.
PRETTIES by Scott Westerfeld
BREATHE MY NAME by R.A. Nelson
and last but not least, a fabulous new book by a forum friend of mine,
THE SPYMASTER'S LADY by Joanna Bourne

Hoooraaaaaaaay!

The end of TASTE

Approximate conversation in my household last night:

I'd finally gotten everything done, put Child to bed, and had been able to collapse on the sofa and dive into TASTE for about half an hour. Hubby had been at a work thing. Key rattles in the door.

Him: "Hi, honey, I'm home!" (Not actually. Something more along the lines of "Hey.")

Me, nose firmly in book: "Mmm. Mmm-hmm. Oh, hey."

Him: {conversation about function}

Me: "Wha?" {dragging eyes up from page for half-second} "That sounds fun."

He wanders around for a while. Him: "Where's the mail?"

Me: {pause, pause, pause, turn page} "Table."

About 5 minutes later. He trips over one of the many obstacles Child has kindly left out, and I have not picked up. Him: "What IS all this?"

Me: {waving a dismissive hand, still not looking up} "Toys."

He stares at me for a couple of minutes. Him: "What are you, a voracious reader?"

Me: {reverently, pinching the rest of the text with my thumb and finger} "Twenty pages left."

He sighs, looks at me again, then sighs again. Him: "I think I'm going to take a bath."

Me: "Yay! I mean...okay."

And...I finished. Yay.

Cool New Stuff

Still plugging away on Book 2--I'll get some more words out today. I'm trying the POV of the other sister, Constanza, though it's really awkward for me to write in 3rd person. I'm not sure if I'll keep those bits or not. It's a useful exercise in any case, though, as Constanza has suddenly turned out to be quite different in private, and in her head, than she is with people other than her sisters. Hmmm.

I'm also going through Linda Seger's "How to Create Unforgettable Characters" with an idea to strengthening Katherine in TMT, and am already making useful notes. Once I finish the book I'm going to print the whole puppy out again and make edits in longhand on the printed version.

Also thought y'all might be interested in the books I got for Christmas. Strong on historicals, but eclectic nonetheless. I'm read the Jasper Fforde (I LOVE those books) and started the Connie Willis last night.

--Who Murdered Chaucer? A Medieval Mystery, by Terry Jones
--The Boleyn Inheritance, by Philippa Gregory
--Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde
--To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis
--The Sun Singer, by Malcolm Campbell (a Forumite; I've been meaning to read it for years)
--The Traitor's Wife, by Susan Higginbotham (a fellow blogger)
--Montana Women Writers: A Geography of the Heart, by Caroline Patterson (non-fic)

and a memoir that I'm embarrassed I can't remember without it in front of me; I'll have to check and post it from home. A good haul, eh? {s} So what books did you get for Christmas?

Medieval Word of the Day: fool-largess: Foolish lavishness, prodigality.

More ranting on tragedies

My ranting post yesterday got me thinking about endings, and what I expect. I've probably already made my main point on that clear: when I take the time to read a book, I expect the author to give me some modicum of a happy ending for at least ONE of the characters--or if not happy, at least she or he should have achieved one of the goals they were trying for. Give me hope, something satisfying, so that I can close the book with a smile.

Agent Rachel Vater just said on her blog:

"Yes, you can kill major characters. It's best if you don't kill the love interest at the very end. (Sure, with literary fiction you might be able to pull off the Romeo & Juliet ending, where love ends at the death of one or both main characters, but it's tough to make that work.) Why? Because at the end, you want the reader to feel happy, satisfied, excited about your book so he / she will tell her friends about it. Surprise bestsellers happen with word of mouth. The best word of mouth is generated by creating a story that readers love while they're reading it, all the way through the ending and beyond."

Exactly. See, I'm not the only one! I'm fine with killing off major characters during the course of the book, if it's necessary to the plot. But please don't end that way, and please don't do it just because it's more dramatic. IMO, a negative or tragic ending just makes the book an unsatisfying read, and it feels like a waste of time. I don't read second books of people who waste my time, and I surely don't recommend them.

How do YOU feel about it? Do you read "tragic" books, and if so, how do you feel at the end? Does it make a difference to you if it feels inevitable and necessary to the plot, or do you just avoid books like that entirely?

Medieval Word of the Day: wellaway: An exclamation of sorrow or lamentation.

Mutterings of disappointment

Well, that was a not so fun weekend.

All three of us came down with some sort of food poisoning/stomach virus thingie, with fevers and all. {sigh} I was out sick yesterday, and hubby is out sick today. We are slowly recovering but now very tired. And joy, I have class until 10 PM tonight!

Anyway, enough of that. I did get to watch my DVD of the Narnia movie yesterday (I LOVE that movie!) and finished THE ILLUMINATOR.

So, SPOILER ALERT! Here it comes. (And if you haven't read it, sorry; it won't make much sense. So perhaps it's just rambling for me!!)

No, overall I did not enjoy THE ILLUMINATOR. I should have. It's smack-dab in my era, within 20 years or so of TMT. It's full of well-researched period detail, and it's well-written. But every time I put it down, I didn't really care if I picked it up again. And at the end, I could have happily thrown it against the wall. Why?

--I didn't really care about any of the main characters. They were all unlikeable, in my opinion. I appreciate that the author did not try to make Kathryn a modern woman, so we saw her prejudices as she would have had them. That was fine. But in the end, she seemed cold to me. She sacrificed Finn and never even really tried to make it right, when she easily could have. Finn was almost likeable, but I just couldn't believe that he would not want his granddaughter. Granted he'd been through a great deal, but at the end he seemed completely devoid of feeling. In fact the only one I liked all the way through was Magda the servant girl.

--As I say, I think it was very well-written. Then why didn't I want to read it more? I'm not sure, still. I think it may have been the characters and the story. I didn't like them, and for most of the time there just wasn't enough suspense to carry me through. I saw the pregnancy happening far before it did, I saw that Finn's wife was Jewish far before it was revealed, I knew that Simpson killed the priest early on. It was predictable. Except for...

--all the #@$ deaths at the end. Okay, what is UP with that? Here's the thing, here's where this author lost me (and it may be only me): unless it's Shakespeare, I do not like tragedies. I feel like when I start a book, I'm making a little contract with the author. I'll read you, please entertain me, and give me at least a somewhat happy ending for the main people. Yes, you can make them go through hell, and maybe you should. But I do not want to read a 400-page book (and TRY to like the characters) and then have boom-boom-boom main characters being slaughtered left and right. Senselessly. For no reason. First Rose--I thought, what the heck?--but I went along with that. Then all the other children too? She wiped out a whole generation. And then Kathryn has a chance to have her happiness still, and throws it away with both hands. For no reason. There was no happy ending at all. The whole thing just made me angry, and made me feel completely betrayed by the author.

So keep in mind this is only ONE reader's opinion. But my hubby told me that there would be another by this author, and I said, without hesitation, "I don't want to read it." Because I don't trust this author anymore; she's broken her contract with me. Why would I want to invest in her characters, if she's not going to hold up her end? Authors, keep this in mind with your books...don't break your reader's trust, because it's awfully hard to get it back.

Medieval Word of the Day: sourd: Of fountains, etc.: To spring up, to issue from the ground.

Back to the Grind

Thank you all for participating in Discussion Week. That was fabulous! I love to see some more of the people who are "out there", and get to hear your views. I think I'll do that again sometime soon.

But for now we're back to our regularly scheduled programming. Not much even today--I'm only at work for 3 hours and then I have the kiddo for the rest of the day today, and all day tomorrow. I'll try to pop in tomorrow with something interesting if I can.

My guilty secret: I spent several hours this weekend reading The Half-Blood Prince (yep, Harry Potter) when I could've been writing. I'd been deep in writing TMT when it was released, and have put it off reading it since then because I knew it would suck me in. When I saw it on the library shelf on Saturday I just...couldn't...resist. I am really impressed with J.K. Rowling; in my opinion her quality level has kept up, unlike many series authors. She has sustained and even improved. She has succeeded in creating a vivid alternate world that is so very easy to fall into.

Anyway, I will not succumb this afternoon. Because I'll be home I should have a good hour and a half or two hours during naptime, and I am going to work on Book 2 today. On the drive home from swimming last night I glazed over completely, drifted off into Book 2-land mentally (good thing I wasn't driving, huh?) and realized that the second scene had the completely wrong tone. I had started off with suspense and then switched right into comedy/sibling rivalry. It's okay to have some of that, but to keep the tension I really need to keep things more Serious that early. So I'm looking forward to tackling that scene, reworking it, and starting in on the next today.

Must get to work now!

Medieval Word of the Day (and didn't you miss it? {g}): foretoken: A premonitory token; a prognostic.