Books I Have Loved (or When Real was the Deal)

Tip of the Day: Is Amazon taking over the publishing world? They've aquired the children's trade list at Marshall Cavendish. http://bit.ly/vDkYC8


I was thinking about all the books that I loved loved loved when I was a kid reading novels in the children's section of the library.

My aunt bought me this Judy Blume novel and I became hooked on everything she'd written.

Bruce Coville provided me with ghost mysteries! So did Betty Wren Wright. I remember being seriously creeped out when the dolls acted out the murder!

This series by Candace Ransom was handed down to me by a friend in fifth grade and I remember wishing the books went for longer than ages 12-15.

This pink cover of Barthe DeClements has stuck in my head over the years. Gotta love girls doing makeup!

Barbara Park, in her pre-Junie B. days, was my hero. Her books were HILARIOUS. SKINNYBONES and OPERATION: DUMP THE CHUMP are other fab reads that I still recommend to kids today when they ask for humor.

As you can see, with little exception they fell into two categories: realistic contemporary fiction, or realistic contemporary ghost stories.

I know the advent of Harry Potter in 1997 changed the bookshelves in the children's areas at libraries across the country, but in the late 1980s-early 1990s, were there many historical ghost stories/fantasies/sci-fi books for kids?

What did you love reading in the rockin' '80s?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

TBR ASAP (or OMG, I Have to Have These Books!)

Tip of the Day: You can now get The Espressologist in paperback!

If you saw me when my book orders came in at the library, you wouldn't believe that any books were NOT on my OMG I WANT TO READ THIS NOW list. Ditto if you saw me in the book store. But if I listed them all, this post would be neverending.

SOOOOO...here are the books I can't wait for this year that are on the top of my head right now:

1. BETWEEN SHADES OF GREY by Ruta Sepetys
OK, so I actually already read this as an ARC, but I want it to hit the shelves so I can tell everyone to buy it and read it! *Historical, WWII, Siberian exile survival story, March 2011.

2. MY LIFE, THE THEATER, AND OTHER TRAGEDIES by Allen Zadoff
His book FOOD, GIRLS, AND OTHER THINGS I CAN'T HAVE is hilarious, and I look foward to laughing at this book too. *Realistic, humor, May 2011.

4. I'M NOT HER by Janet Gurtler
A YA response to MY SISTER'S KEEPER. *Realistic, drama, April 2011

5. THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES by Carrie Ryan
The third in this creepy series! I call them the book versions of the movie "The Village" except good. *Zombies, March 2011.

OK, I'll stop here. Which of these four do you most want to read this year?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Band Books (or Musical Treats!)

Tip of the Day: Get your snow tires on now if you haven't already. (Um, yeah, note to self.)

Since my manpanion is in a band, I know a lot about being on the girlfriend/audience member side of bandship and have been waiting to channel this into a YA novel. The dank bars, the hardcore groupies, the hot shows, the rank acoustics, the possibilities for settings and characters are endless!

But often when I read novels that TALK about music and songs, I can't get into them. I mean, I can LISTEN TO music, but I don't like listening to someone TALK ABOUT how music sounds.

Does that make sense?

Some examples of YAs with musical contexts that I've enjoyed are:


HARMONIC FEEDBACK (great novel about a girl with Asperger's who is a musician)
THE HALF-LIFE OF PLANETS (dual pov of a girl with a rep and a boy with Asperger's who is a musician)
AUDREY, WAIT (hilarious novel about a girl whose ex writes a hit song about her)
FREEFALL (guy drops out of his bro's band but plays a solid bass)

Others probably love the music talk in these books, but for me I liked the musical ELEMENTS and could relate the characters' musical interests, but I skimmed over the details of the SONGS.

Does that mean I shouldn't write a band book? Or that I should skip the music TALK and just get on with the dynamics, settings, and characters?
Do others have problems "hearing" music when it's talked about in books? Could music "aps" for ebooks create a whole new reading-of-music-based-novels experience?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Wait. Should I really be reading this?

Tip of the day: If leggings did not look good on your short and stocky legs 25 years ago, they probably will not look good now. Yes, I am speaking from experience.

I've been reading some REALLY good books lately.

First of all, I read THE BOOK THIEF shortly after it first came out, but I recently decided I wanted to listen to it in audio form, so I got the set from the library. Wow, what an experience it is, listening to that book being read out loud. 

I finished some Advanced Review Copies of some great books - MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS by our own Kristina Springer; THE MOCKINGBIRDS by Daisy Whitney; and LOSING FAITH by Denise Jaden.

I'm currently about two-thirds of the way through CLOCKWORK ANGEL by Cassandra Clare. Holy crap, that girl can write!!!

So this morning, when I sat down to start in on a brand new project, I had a really hard time! All of these great books made me feel so inferior. Like - I will NEVER be able to write as good as these people, what am I doing even trying?

The first couple of hours were rough. Eventually, I found my way and stopped thinking about all of the wonderful words THEY had written and was finally able to focus on my own.

I think reading good books is important. I learn a lot from well written books. But at certain times, they actually hurt me more than they help me, if that makes sense. 

Anyone have a crappy book to recommend after I finish CLOCKWORK ANGEL? I need something to make me feel a little better.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career