Tagged: books

Jul 06

Quoting:Divine by Mistake and Divine by Choice by PC Cast

Sorry it has been forever since I’ve written anything.  Busy month.   Well couple months I guess.  On the bright side, they included two trips to Vegas so can’t complain too much.

I’ve gotten tons of reading in lately.  Already at 29 books read this year which is pretty good. My current addiction is the Partholon books by PC Cast.  Having read the House of Night series, I was excited to see what else she had written.  Divine by Mistake completely sucked me in.  It was hard to put down.  Same goes for Choice and I just started on Blood.  Sometime soon(ish) I’ll do a write up about Rhiannon.  I’m going to have to give myself a Welsh mythology refresher.  I took a class on Welsh and Norse Myths in college, and even wrote a paper on Rhiannon, but I can’t quite remember the story.

Anyways, here are a few quotes that I liked from the books…

Divine by Mistake

As my favorite college prof once sagely said, “Don’t fuck with an English major. They keep lots of useless crap trapped in their heads.  Once in a white they let some of it out and it bites you square on the ass.”

Haha, true story.  Don’t mess with me!

 Until then it hadn’t occurred to me that everyone couldn’t control his or her dreams.

Okay this stood out for me because I can control me.  I can like think and make them change.  I honestly until reading this thought that everyone could.  Can they not?  Now I’m so confused. 

He blinked again.  Why do I always assume tall guys are smarter? (Note to self: tall guys are not smarter, they’re just more attractive.)

This sounds exactly like something I would say.  This series probably draws me in so much because I think I’m a lot like Shannon.  They things she says and does are very similar to what I would.  Such a great character.

Divine by Choice

I’m not really very musically inclined, although I’d like to be, so I keep trying.

This is totally my new motto.  So fitting for all the singing I do in the car, club, wherever.

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Posted in Quotes

Apr 20

Lights+Books=Two of my favorite things

I was so excited today to see one of my very favorite musicians, Lights, did an interview with MTV about books.  I liked that her twitter post said that it was one of her life goals to be part of a book club. 

http://blog.mtvmusic.com/2010/04/20/mtv-music-book-club-lights-on-the-oath/

The books Lights talks about is The Oath by Frank Peretti.  I was not familiar with him.  According to Lights, the book fits under the fantasy/horror genre.  It is about a cult that has to do with a dragon.  She talks some about the themes behind it. 

I certainly want to read this book after seeing her talk about.  I was into fantasy books as a teen then kind of fell out of them for a while.  In the last few months, I have picked up more and more.  I think that pretty much any vampire books fall under this and if you look at my list of books I’ve read this year, you will see that is my main source of enjoyment these days.  Plus I’ve picked up a few Dan Koontz books which are probably along that horror/thiller type novel.  Oh and I’ve decided that I want to read the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.

The part of the interview that made me think the most was the last question about if a song or album can tell a whole story.  Lights answer not quite.  I would agree with her almost completely but there are some exceptions to that.  If you are looking at the whole album, there is some concept albums that tell an entire story.  A perfect example of this is What to do When You Are Dead by Armor for Sleep.   The album tells the entire story of a person that commits suicide for the one they love, goes into life as a ghost, then ends with moving on.  There is main characters, there is a plot, and there is emotions.  It definitely tells a complete story.

On the other hand, there is concept albums like Volcano by Gatsbys American Dream.  The songs are based on Lord of the Flies by William Golding.  Some songs are emotion driven, other are more story.  Overall, you get a feel of the novel but the album doesn’t tell the whole story.

As for songs, Lights definitely has a point that maybe a ten minute country ballad can but most songs just give a peak.  In the case of Meg and Dia, they write a lot of their songs based on novels.  They usually are about the emotions you feel after reading the books though.  Like in the song Indiana, based on the novel of the same title by George Sands, as a reader, you definitely notice the sad injustices going on.  That is exactly what the girls wrote about in the song.

The only example I can think of that is a relatively short song that captures a whole story is Bob and Bonnie by Houston Calls.  It tells the story of a couple that meets, falls in love, and lives happily ever after.  I can’t think of any songs that capture a whole novel though.  I do think that would be nearly impossible.

Man, I love when music and books combine! Nothing makes me happier.

PS, make sure to check out The Listening by Lights! It is amazing.  My favorite song is Pretend [Reprise].  Close behind it is The Last Thing on Your Mind which I actually plan to have a line from tattooed on me.

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Posted in News/Current Issues, Related to music

Apr 08

Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

To say I was excited to finally read Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan would be a huge understatement.  On Tuesday morning I was out of bed, hours before I needed to be for work, and off to buy the book.  The second I returned home, I started reading and had trouble putting it down.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is spot on.  That is the best way I can think to describe this novel.  That exact phrase entered my head as I finished the last sentence.  Everything about it, from the writing styles to the characters to the theme, is done exactly right.  To be overly cliche, I thought this book was done perfectly.

The writing style is very interesting because obviously there is two authors.  Rather then write together, they each took on a Will Grayson and told the story for their perspective.  Green’s intellectual but still young style of writing is what made me fall in love with his books so I was happy to see his section having that same style.  Having not read anything by Levithan, I’m not sure if he using the same style all the time or not but honestly, at first it threw me off.  There is a huge lack of capitalization, grammar, and dialog is done in a play fashion.  After a chapter or so, I got used to it though and ended up really liking it.  Because his character was supposed to have depression problem, I guess it kind of made sense to me that his thought process would be completely different so how he narrates should be as well.  Plus, the two styles made it very easy not to get lost between the two characters.

Speaking of characters, the interesting this about this novel is that even though the two Will Grayson are the narrators, the main character, to a point is Tiny.  All three characters go through personal challenges.  Furthermore, this is probably one of the first books I have read that the main character (or in this case two of the three main characters) are homosexual.  For the tags I had seen on websites about the book, I knew that this was going to be the case.  It was interesting to have one character be completely open and the other go through coming out.  Plus it is cool to see authors pushing the boundary on coming up with characters.  I think that a lot of authors, even if they have characters that are completely different, end up always having them in similar relationships.  Like when someone writes boy meets girls, they kind of stick to that in most their books.  Variety is good.  Plus, in today’s society of same sex rights still not existing in some places, it is awesome to see popular authors pushing the bounds.  Hopefully it opens some people’s eyes.

One thing that I found particularly clever about this book is how the play and it’s theme parrallels the theme of the book.  At the same time Tiny’s realizes he has to change the focal point of the play, I realized that this book is about more than the characters.  Green and Levithan were not trying to tell the story of Tiny or the story of the two Will Graysons.  They were using them to tell a greater story.

Again, I have to say this book is spot on.  It lived up to all the great reviews I have heard about it so far and I have no doubt they will keep coming.  I have a feeling Green and Levithan have lots of awards coming their way soon.  They deserve every one of them.

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Posted in Book Reviews

Apr 06

iPad Takes on Ebook Market

Well at least, publishers are hoping that it does.  The ‘game changing’ device hit the market this last week and with it, another way for consumers to get their hands on ebooks, as well as electronic magazines and newspapers. 

Here is one article I found from Yahoo talking about publishers outlook on the iPad.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100402/media_nm/us_apple_ipad_media

The part of this article that I found most interesting was that it points out that early ebook models have failed.  Everyone keeps hoping that they will become this great devices but it just has not happened yet. 

My question, is it the market/sales model that is holding ebooks back or is it that physical books have a value beyond that?  I tend to think the latter.  Is there not a value in curling up with a book on a sunny day?  Can you get that value from the iPad?  I certainly don’t think so. 

Even though I still don’t think Ebooks and Ereaders are going to take over, I do understand why publishers are continuing to try.  It is another way of getting your product out there.  And I would imagine, it is a low cost way to do so.  I could be completely wrong on that but I would imagine it is cheaper to have an electronic version of a book formatted then to go through the entire product of a physical book. 

It will be interesting to see how much the iPad focuses on apps that have to do with books.  I work in a store that sells a device with an ebook app and it is something that we tell customers about but don’t always push.  In my experience, it has not been a selling point yet.  Will this change as more devices enter the market?

Did anyone actually pick up the iPad?  Have you tried reading a book on it?  It seems a bit too big to make reading comfortable to me but I would love to hear what other people think.

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Posted in News/Current Issues

Mar 09

Who is excited?

          Chelsea Handler’s new book Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang came out today.  Did anyone else go pick it up? 

          Not going to lie, the first chapter made me nervous about life.  If you read it, you will know what I’m talking about.  Can’t wait to read the rest though.  Her writing style is very funny.

          Speaking of Miss Handler, I cannot wait to see her next week.  I hope I will make it to the signing too but the girl going to the show with me can’t so not sure if I want to go by myself or not.  Plus in general, it would be easier if I wasn’t downtown when she got off work.  Guess we will see what happens.  Not the end of the world if I don’t meet her.  I mean, when I’m a famous author I’m sure we will end up being besties anyways.

2
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Posted in News/Current Issues

Mar 09

Another bite

          Imagine that, I read another vampire book.  Maybe people making comments about me loving vampire stuff are onto something.  Sookie Stackhouse series, Twilight, Vegas Vampires….yeah I’ve read a few.

   Well finally I caved and decided to read The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith.  I used a date a guy that made fun of me so bad saying that I would love the show.  Note, I never watched it.  I forget what it ran the same time as but I had something else I loved to watch.  Plus I didn’t want him to be right.  He did admit to watching and liking it though.  Anyways, the book caught my attention the other day and honestly, once I started, I couldn’t put it down.

          As stories go, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking.  Vampire love triangle.  Hmm, seen that in lots of books.  Personally, I was a fan of the Eric, Bill, Sookie one (team Eric).  The flashback’s in Smith’s book are an interesting way of setting up the story. 

          So far I have only read The Awakening.  It was basically a lot of set up for the other stories from what I can tell.  We get some story on all the main characters and it sets up some town drama.  It got me hooked so I can’t wait to start the next part of the series.

          The Awakening reminded me of The Immortal Series by Alyson Noel.  You’ve got the new kid that is dark, mysterious a from Italy.  Someone like him followed him.  Actually come to think about it, in the third Immortal book, Shadowland, a sort of brother like character shows up and trys to steal the girl.  The main character is a girl that is super pretty.  Popular in one case but not in another.  Noel’s series is more original though in my opinion.  I absolutely love her books and can’t wait for Dark Flame.

          As for the tv series, I am currently trying to find the episodes online.  If someone knows where to find them, let me know.  I only see the latest four.  If I’m going to watch them, I want to start from the beginning.  Once I watch, I’ll try to do some comparing stuff. 

          So, what is your favorite vampire book? 

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Posted in Book Reviews

Feb 24

Common Sense Media (?)

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/services/education/youthlit/readalert/index.php/2010/02/25/barnes-and-noble-age-branding/

www.commonsensemedia.org

          Sex, violence, kissing, gay relationships, angels, soda drinks…are things things that parents need to be aware that their kids are reading about?  Well according to Barnes and Noble, they seem to be.  Recently B&N online joined forces with Common Sense Media to provided ratings and information on books for children and young adults.

          My first reaction when reading about this company and their idea is that it made sense.   They are trying to provide parents with a way to know what is inside the books their children are reading.  I liked that the company mentioned that it is not aiming to censor but to inform.   In theory this is a good idea.

          However, when I started to actually read some of the reviews, I wasn’t completely sold on the description being a good idea.  They point out every single little thing that is in the book from what I can tell.  In many cases, these are completely out of context.   In the reviews I read, it seemed like the person writing the review was putting their own opinions in.  I feel like the reviews should be non objective.  For example, for the book LA Candy by Lauren Conrad, they are pointing out a character having one night stands and tell the parents to discuss with their kids what the real life consquences of this would be.  Couldn’t you just leave it that one character has sex with multiple partners in the book?

          Another thing that bothered me a lot was reading the review for City of Glass by Cassandra Clare.  They point out more than once that a character is gay.  First off, I think when reviewing a book it would be more appropriate to say something like same sex relationship.  Secondly, why on earth is this even something to point out?  I guess you could defend it being full disclosure on the book but still, that seems like pointing out non important things to me.   If you do put that in there, why are you not pointing out a well that there is a girl kissing a boy?  Same difference right?

          What got considered red flag material verses yellow also did not make a lot of sense to me.  Using the same two books as examples, LA Candy is given a red for having lots of references to consumer products like phones and food yet City of Glass gets a yellow for attempted rape, inscest, and tortured angels committing suicide.  Do those ratings seem off to anyone else?  I also thought it was weird how they censor some cuss words in the review but not others and even at times just call them four letter words. 

          Since the ratings were confusing me, I decided to look more at Common Sense Media’s website to figure out who exact was coming up with these.  It didn’t really give an answer.  It gave a long list of people and what their position was but didn’t tell anything about them.  Are they parents?  Are they teachers?  Are they a religious group?  I feel like more information should be provided about this group.

           Not being a parent, I guess I can’t entirely relate but I feel like if a parent is going to be so strict that they will not let their kid read something that this scale says is a red light or for a certain age, maybe they should consider reading the book.  It is possible to truly gage a book based on a bias review from a somewhat unknown source. 

          I think this is a step in the right direction when it comes to finding ways to deal with censorism.  It is a good alternative that if executed better, could work to help parents know what their children are reading.

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Posted in News/Current Issues

Feb 04

Author Audrey Niffenegger

          Last week I was lucky enough to see a reading with Audrey Niffenegger of her newest novel Her Fearful Symmetry.  Afterwords she answered questions from people.  I meant to do a little write up about it last week but as things seem to be going this year, I just now got time.

          First, I would like to start by saying Niffenegger is an absolutely talented writer.  If you have read either books (I unfortunately have only read The Time Traveler’s Wife as this point but the other book is in my to read soon pile) you can easily see that fact.  With TTTW I was very fascinated with her ability to give the perspective of two completely different characters and to weave them together.  Beyond that, the concept of the story is very unique.  I enjoyed that she took something straight out of a science fiction novel and turned it into a completely different genre.

          After the reading a lot of people asked questions about her writing process and getting published.  Those were the two things I was most curious about as well.  As a writer, a lot of  her answers gave me more confidence in my own work.  For example, someone asked her about if she will ever write sequels.  Her answer, which cracked me up, was that if you see her writing The Time Traveler’s Daughter it means she made very bad investments.  She also went on to say when she is writing novels, the characters are constantly in her head.  They are talking, interacting, so on.  When the story is done they just go away.  My characters are for sure in my head all the time.  Especially during the first draft, I would hear things happening with them and could not wait to sit down and write it out.  Now they have faded out a lot since I’m refining things but they are still there.  Guess I’m not going crazy.

          The other very interesting thing she talked about was the process of actually getting published.  She basically sent letters out to everyone possible, got rejected a lot, then had one publisher and one agent respond.  First off, the fact that a book as amazing as TTTW got rejected so much will be something to help keep my head high if I get rejected a lot too.  It happens.  It takes time to get the perfect fit for your book.   The other thing it helped me understand was that it was okay to go about things your own way.  I have always been an against the grain type of person.  When someone told me I couldn’t play a hard song on guitar without learning chords, I did it just fine.  When I go to concerts where everyone is in black tees and jeans it seems like, I rock a pink dress. That is just who I am.  Thinking about getting published makes me nervous because if you read online or in books, it makes it sound like you have to do everything perfectly and by the book or it isn’t going to happen.  Well Niffenegger proved that wrong.  I’m not saying that I will follow what she did (although I’m also not saying I wouldn’t) but it is good to know that I can do it my way and that might work out.

          Overall, I am extremely happy that I went to see Niffenegger talk.  In person, she is brillant but in a quirky way that made me really look up to her.  I look forward to see what is coming next from her.

Beautiful:Vacuous Part Three

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Posted in Book Reviews

Jan 22

Selling Strategy

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/books/23kindle.html?pagewanted=1&ref=global-home

 

          Give something away free and if it is good enough, people will want more.  This is such an easy concept that we see all over the place.  A month free trial period of tv channels, free lipstick samples, free song downloads…this list could go on a long time.  When I came across this article talking about the benefits to an author/publisher for giving away a book, it definately made complete sense. 

          One fundamental part of the arguement was that reading one book will lead to buying others.  Sure you can say that maybe the person wouldn’t like the book and therefore not spend money but I think that in most cases that wouldn’t be true.  Why would you download a book that you weren’t into at all in the first place?  Personally, I tend to get stuck on different authors until I have read all their works or quite a few of them.  This idea works even better when you take series into consideration. If the story and characters lure you in, you will want more.

          I really do think this is a great idea but one flaw is that this  would not work well with brand new authors.  If you only have one book out there is going to be nothing else for people to buy.  I’m making an assumption here but if you are a digital book reading kind of person, you probably wouldn’t go buy the physical book after downloading a free digital copy. 

          Overall though, I think this is a very interesting story because it highlights how digital can help the physical world.   It was something that I hadn’t really considered before.  I think if I was an author in the position to do something like this, I would.   Actually I would be more inclined to do something like dollar downloads and giving all the money to the humane society.   Someone should get all over that idea. Please steal that one from me.

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Posted in News/Current Issues

Jan 14

Welcome to the decade of technology…

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6988740.ece

          So here we are in 2010.  Technology seems to be the ‘it’ topic right now.  From tons of sources lately I have heard things like, don’t buy external hard drives, back up online, no more cds and dvds, everything needs to be digital, and of course, move over paper books, e-books are here. 

 

          This article I found was interesting because it made some really interesting points about these changes.  It brings up a very good point that there is a huge advantage of paper books vs e-books.  Much bigger than cds and dvds.  I still am all about buying mine but I get why people don’t.  I still feel better about buying physical cds because it feels more like supporting tons of people.  For one example, I sorta dated a kid that was a photographer and did album layouts.  I love seeing his work and actually having it verses seeing it on a screen.  Sorry, I’m getting off topic.  I get distracted when talking about music because I’m so passionate about everything that involves it.

 

          Anyways, this article reminded me of a point that was made in the book Dewey by Vicki Myron.  “Books have survived television, readio, talking pictures, circulars (early magazines), dailies (early newspapers), Punch and Judy shows, and Shakespeare’s plays.  They have survived World War II, the Hundred Years’ War, the Black Death, and the fall of the Roman Empire.  They even survived the Dark Ages, when almost no one could read and each book had to be copied by hand.  They aren’t going to be killed off by the Internet.”

 

          I fell in love with this paragraph when I read it.  Myron is making such a true point.  Books are not going anywhere.  Maybe e-books might have their place but they are not going to replace the real thing. 

 

          Plus come one, is there anything better than curling up with a good book.  A cold digital device is never going to have that feeling.  It is the romance of reading a book on the beach or by the fire,  the adventure of having a book to thumb through when you are on vacation, the prestige of sitting in a coffee shop reading an intellectual books, it is having bookshelfs full of books that you take pride in knowing that you have read; those are a few things that make a book special.  Technology is great (I make a living off it) but some things are perfect as they are.

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Posted in News/Current Issues

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