Archives
Posted by Justine at 13:05, November 16th, 2008 under Reading, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 9:40, November 14th, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Love is Hell, New York City/USA, Reading, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, What's your fairy?, Writing & Publishing |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, October 12th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Next novel, Reading, Research, State of the World, Toilets, Writing & Publishing |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 30th, 2008 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Science, State of the World, Travelling, Writing & Publishing, Zombies, young adult literature |
I'm getting lots of questions about the HTDYF tour and how it's going etc. I'll be posting about the first leg of the tour---Northern California---in the next few days. In the meantime what I've loved most is meeting other lovers of YA books---students, readers, booksellers, sales reps, teachers, librarians---and talking about our favourite books. It's been a blast. Especially this year when there have been so many amazing books.
I can't wait to find out what everyone's reading in
Philadelphia, Larchmont, and next week in Michigan.
Oh, and don't forget, next week is
Banned Books Week as this
excellent editorial reminded me. (Via
Lisa Yee.)
Posted by Justine at 15:39, September 21st, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Reading, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
The responses to
my post about gender-directed ((Blog Overlord: What a pretty neologism, Justine.
JL: Why thank you!
BO: Um, Justine, I was being sarcastic. Really sarcastic.
JL: Well, you can rack off then, can't you?
BO: Not really. I'm Blog Overlord.
JL: I hired you. I can also fire you.
BO: Whatever. That "word" still sucks.)) reading reminded me that I've been meaning to post about authors who are famous in their own country but not that well known outside it. Specifically, a bunch of you were aghast that anyone could dismiss Flannery O'Connor as "lightweight". I suspect the reason that lecturer did so---you know, other than him being a dick---was that he probably hadn't heard of her. O'Connor is not nearly ...
Posted by Justine at 11:35, August 28th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Reading, Writing & Publishing |
I just read a book that's been getting rapturous reviews. It is every bit as beautifully written as advertised. There were whole paragraphs that were very WOW inducing. ((Imagine Stephanie Rice saying, "Wow!!!")) I loved parts of it and not just because they were about cricket. ((I just gave away what book I'm talking about, didn't I?)) But I did not enjoy this book.
I will break my usual procedure and name the book: Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. I'm naming it because it really is gorgeously written. Seriously, it's stunning. O'Neill deserves the reviews he's been getting. I think many people will love it. Hell, many people are loving it. I'm writing this to figure out why it didn't work for ...
Posted by Justine at 0:59, August 27th, 2008 under Ranting, Reading, Travelling |
Once again Sherwood Smith is being
dead interesting. This time about people who read only books by girl writers or only by boy writers. The comments are also fascinating.
Most of my life I have read more books by women than by men. This was true even when I was first reading. Enid Blyton, L. M. Montgomery, and Rosemary Sutcliffe were my first favourites. A little later on I was mad keen on Georgette Heyer, Tanith Lee, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
I did not notice this tendency until it was pointed out to me in high school by a boy. "Why do you always read such girly books?" he asked with a sneer. I was reading Angela Carter when ...
Posted by Justine at 5:23, August 22nd, 2008 under Reading, Writing & Publishing |
There are a couple of top sekrit things I would love to be able to tell you about. In fact, I am typing this with a chopstick taped to my elbow cause that's the only way I can trust my fingers not to type out those top sekrit things.
Instead I will tell you some things that are not embargoed:
I do not have a middle name.
I was born in Paddington Women's Hospital in Sydney. It is now a block of flats.
In Australia primary school is kindie to year 6. High school is years 7 to 12. Or, at least, that's true of New South Wales. Also we don't call university "school", we call it "uni". Nor do we call it "college." ...
Posted by Justine at 4:52, August 21st, 2008 under New York City/USA, Reading, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
One aspect of the strong fan reaction to Meyer's Breaking Dawn is the notion that some of them have that Stephenie Meyer owed them a particular book and a particular ending. ((My apologies for the worst sentence ever I'm hoarding the good ones for the Liar book.)) As a writer I have to say that does my head in. No writer owes their readership anything. NOT A SINGLE THING. They have to write the book they have to write. Writers should not be thinking about giving their audience what the audience wants. For starters there is no unified audience. They don't want all the same things. So pleasing them is IMPOSSIBLE.
On the other hand, Joss Whedon owes me big ...
Posted by Justine at 0:56, August 6th, 2008 under Reading, Viewing, Writing & Publishing |
There are two new How To Ditch Your Fairy reviews. Both of them a bit too spoilery for my liking. I.e. they give away plot points beyond the title of the book. I am very spoiler sensitive.
This one really tickled me as it is from an eleven-year-old reviewer who is also a fan of the Magic or Madness trilogy. Have I ever mentioned that I was worried about what my MorM fans would think of HTDYF seeing as how it is so very different from the trilogy? This review set my fears at rest.
The reviewer is not the youngest fan of the book. I received a lovely fan letter from a nine-year-old HTDYF fan not too long ago. That's ...
Posted by Justine at 16:45, July 31st, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Praising, Reading, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
NB: The Alchemy of Stone is not a YA book.
I have just read a splendid book, Ekaterina Sedia's The Alchemy of Stone, and now I must blurb it. I am realising once again that blurbing a book is really hard. As you may have noticed from this blog, I am not naturally succinct. I fail at all forms of writing that are on the short side: blurbs, pitches, haikus, summaries. They are all nightmarish to me.
I am so crappy at pitching my own books that Scott uses my feeble attempt to pitch Magic or Madness to a Sydney bookseller as his standard example of how not to pitch. (After hearing me out the bookseller put on a forced smiled ...
Posted by Justine at 14:18, July 2nd, 2008 under Reading, Sport, Travelling, Writing & Publishing |
There's a
fascinating article in The New Yorker, "The Itch" by
Atul Gawande. It's all about what causes itching, how we experience it, and what happens when it goes horribly wrong. HORRIBLY WRONG.
The case the article revolves around is so gross that I had to stop reading for awhile. Me, who is a connousieur of grossness, who is proud of
how gross my story in the First Kiss anthology is. And yet I feel compelled to share. Since I am a good person I will share after the cut.
WARNING: If you are easily grossed out DO NOT continue reading. If you have ever had shingles DO NOT continue reading. I am not kidding about this warning.
Posted by Justine at 12:59, June 27th, 2008 under Praising, Reading, Science, State of the World |
Did anyone else read
this review by Laura Miller of Leonard Marcus's Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children’s Literature? I haven't read the book, but I have read Leonard Marcus' edited collection of Ursula Nordstrum's letters, Dear Genius, and his biography of Margaret Wise Brown, Awakened by the Moon, both of which I found fascinating. What little I know about the history of children's book publishing industry in New York City I learned from those two books.
So I was excited to see that Marcus has a new book out and read the review eagerly. And, well, it was my least favourite kind of review, one that bitches about the book under review ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 16th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Ranting, Reading, Writing & Publishing |
I have occasionally intimated that I am not a huge fan of vampires. This is not entirely true.
When I was little I was a huge Anne Rice fan and read Bram Stoker's Dracula many many times. I loved Lost Boys and Near Dark remains my favourite vampire movie. My love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is
well documented and Suzy McKee Charnas's Vampire Tapestry is one of my favourite books of all time. ((If you haven't read it you really must!))
I'm just not a fan of the idea of dead people being sexy. This goes for zombies as well as vampires. Basically the older I get the more attached I am to life and the more unsexy death seems. ...
Posted by Justine at 19:27, June 2nd, 2008 under Reading, Sydney/Australia |
I have been noticing much skiting on the internets of late. "Oh look," says a blogger, "look what amazing Advanced Readers Copy I has been sent! Is mine, not yours. Hahahahahah!"
Well, now it's my turn. I has an ARC of
Margo Lanagan's first novel in years and years, Tender Morsels. I hugs it to my chest and will share with no one! Well, okay, I'll share what I thinks of it with you but not the actual ARC cause that's mine!
But before I get to actually, you know, read the delicious bookie which is calling to me---seriously, everything about it screams, READ ME!, from the gorgeous cover to the jacket copy to the fact that Margo Lanagan wrote it---I ...
Posted by Justine at 12:10, May 30th, 2008 under Liar Book, Praising, Ranting, Reading, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
When homesickness eats at me I listen to
podcasts. I listen to
news broadcasts,
talk shows, shows about
sport,
science,
design,
culture. I don't care just as long as I'm hearing voices from home.
One of the my favourites is
The Book Show ((Which I can't help thinking of by it's old name,"Books & Writing")). Ramona Koval's voice and sense of humour soothe me and the range of coverage is excellent: old books, new books, local books, o.s. books, books in translation, poetry, essays etc. etc. ((Though it'd be nice if there was more YA coverage. I keep waiting for the show devoted to all the Oz YA writers storming the world: ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, May 18th, 2008 under Listening, Praising, Reading, Sydney/Australia |
. . . Is USians what know zero about cricket writing about it.
Today's example comes from the New York Times and concerns
a novel that's been written about the Staten Island cricket club ((And apparently other things such as 9/11, family, politics, identity. That kind of stuff. Obviously, none of it as important as cricket.)) by one of the members, Joseph O'Neil. Here's my favourite bit:
That Mr O'Neill in his other life happens to be a novelist is a matter of indifference to most of his teammates. They're more interested in him as an accomplished batsman, a sure-handed fielder and a decent off-speed bowler.
Off-speed! Hahahahahahah! Perhaps they meant "
off-spin"? Or has the Staten ...
Posted by Justine at 12:13, May 17th, 2008 under Cricket, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading |
Some stuff I have been remiss in sharing with you:
A while ago I mentioned that
E. Lockhart's
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is the best book she's written. It wasn't out then but it is now. This book is so amazing that I'm rendered dumb trying to come up with the words to describe its wit, genius and splendiferousness. Just buy it! Or borrow it from the library! Or steal it from a friend. You will thank me. ((Though your friend might be a bit cranky.))
Christopher Barzak who wrote the wonderful debut novel, One For Sorrow, is up for one of MTV's
LOGO's NewNowNext Awards: "Brink of Fame: Author". If you read and loved that ...
Posted by Justine at 10:56, May 13th, 2008 under Bloggery, Praising, Reading |
As usual I'm not going to mention the books that I didn't like because I don't want the authors to hunt me down and kill me. ((Or their family and agents.)) Writers are scary people.
I'm still on a bit of a crime binge. And have been reading a scary amount of adult books. Who'd've thunk there was some good books over on those shelves? Colour me, shocked.
So here are the novels:
The final book in
Denise Mina's Garrnethill trilogy, Resolution, was every bit as good as the other two. I have a major writing crush on Mina. She's amazing. I love the way she writes. I love it so much, in fact, that I typed out an entire chapter of ...
Posted by Justine at 0:18, May 6th, 2008 under Manga, Praising, Reading, Travelling |
Some days are more blurry than others. Like today. It's blurry grey outside and also in my head. So instead of attempting to half-heartedly swat at my insanely long to-do list, I'm going back to bed and reading.
I hope you get what you need out of your Sunday (or Monday or whatever day you're facing).
Posted by Justine at 11:21, February 17th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Reading |
I get a lot of beginning writers asking me
how to rewrite. This post is aimed squarely at them: the ones who are unsure how to fix a story they have written from beginning to end. Which is my way of saying that any experienced writer is going to find what I am about to say obvious, boring, and un-useful. You folks should go read Samuel R. Delany's About Writing or, you know, get back to work.
(It's also a really LONG post. Hence the cut.)
"How can I learn to rewrite?" is an incredibly hard question to answer. It's sort of like asking a pro tennis player (or coach): "How do I improve my tennis?"
Posted by Justine at 0:16, January 2nd, 2008 under Reading, Scott's books, Viewing, Writing & Publishing |
As you'll see I've added a new poll for fave books. I'm pretty sure that the last option will win, given that there are so many books published every year, getting consensus is harder and harder. It's tricky enough finding people who've read the books you've read, let alone finding someone who feels the same way about them you do.
So, the poll to the right is made up of books I loved written by people I don't know. ((I met Kathleen Duey and M. Sindy Felin Book Awards after I'd read their books and I'm not sure a brief meeting at a formal event counts as "knowing" them.)) This was so I could reduce my candidates and also ...
Posted by Justine at 9:33, December 30th, 2007 under Praising, Reading |
You have all confirmed my suspicion that the majority of readers/viewers are deeply worried by spoilerfication. ((What do you mean that's not a significant sample size?!)) We are as one, my comrades! I've always been deeply suspicious of those who read the last few pages first. The horror!
For me---and you my comrades---the pleasures of the first read are all about the surprises of the plot, of the characters, of figuring out what kind of a book we're reading.
The pleasures of the second read are figuring out how the writer managed to do what they did.
Or they would be if I didn't fall instantly back into the story. I am such a sucker for story. Usually, unless I'm ...
Posted by Justine at 18:32, October 22nd, 2007 under Praising, Reading, Writing & Publishing |
Cedarlibrarian, a major Harry Potter fan,
doesn't care about spoilers. Her arguments are smart and convincing.
And yet.
I'm really not a very evolved consumer of texts cause spoilers bug the crap out of me. I want my first experience of any narrative---be it book, manga, graphic novel, TV show, movie, play, whatever, to be untrammelled by knowing stuff about it. I don't read reviews unless there of something I've already read/seen or it's something I don't care about.
Frankly, I'd almost prefer not to know what genre it is.
I don't want to know if people liked it or not. All the spoilery grumbling about the latest series of TV shows I haven't seen yet drives me spare. ((And I almost ...
Posted by Justine at 22:51, October 21st, 2007 under Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Writing & Publishing |
At the book shop appearances Scott keeps being offered a free book as a reward for his hard work and charming-ness. We keep choosing mass market paperbacks because we're travelling and running out of spaces. Last choice: the latest Naomi Novik. (I started it last night and it rocks.)
If you were asked to choose one book from your favourite book shop what would it be?
Posted by Justine at 8:52, October 5th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Reading, Travelling |
Last night we went to
Anderson's books in Naperville, Illinois. Much fun was had. Scott explained the origins of the Uglies series and of Extras. The first is all about our society's beauty obsession; the second deals with
the fame thing. There was lots of Q & A. The questions were ridiculously smart and interesting and there didn't seem to be a single person who hadn't read at least three or four of Scott's books so he didn't have to worry too much about spoilers.
During the hours and hours that he was signing for the smart and very appreciative crowd I got to hang out with some fabulous folk who ...
Posted by Justine at 12:45, October 3rd, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Manga, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Scott's books, Travelling |
I recently had a
conversation with Oyceter about the conventions of romance in which I confessed that I love books where a girl has to pass as a boy. I've loved them ever since I was little. The book that set me off was These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer.
I don't think the appeal of these books is mysterious. First of all, almost all of the books I loved were historicals. Most were (in one way or another) about how constrained the girls' lives were. About all the things they couldn't do and all the things they had to do, like marrying someone erky just because their father ordered them to. So for a girl character to be able ...
Posted by Justine at 11:47, September 25th, 2007 under Bloggery, Manga, Praising, Reading |
David Oshinsky's piece on rejection letters written by Knopf editors is most pleasing. ((Thanks
Literaticat for pointing it out.)) It's sobering, but also reassuring, to learn that some of the best and most popular books have been rejected. Perhaps, you tell yourself, I am in that company and some day I too will be discovered. Afterall, Rowling's first Harry Potter book was rejected all over.
The Knopf editors and readers said "No!" to an astonishing array of legendary writers:
The [Knopf] rejection files, which run from the 1940s through the 1970s, include dismissive verdicts on the likes of Jorge Luis Borges ("utterly untranslatable"), Isaac Bashevis Singer ("It's Poland and the rich Jews again"), Anaïs Nin ("There is no ...
Posted by Justine at 0:08, September 12th, 2007 under Ranting, Reading, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
A warning: this is one of those stumbly thinking out loud posts.
I just read a dead interesting essay by
Jim Huang reflecting on twenty years of selling books. Most of his comments have to do with mystery books but a lot of it applies to other genres. I've been thinking about this comment:
When I think about the center of gravity of the mystery genre, I still believe that it lies in series. Seventy percent of the titles on the bestsellers lists of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association in 2007 year to date are part of a series. Seventy percent of these series titles belong to long-running series of five or more books. Sales in IMBA member stores ...
Posted by Justine at 11:45, September 11th, 2007 under Bloggery, Manga, Praising, Reading, Viewing, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
The worst book ever written is so very bad that there are warnings on Amazon to not even glance at the cover in case it infects you with its badness. Those warnings are true!
Holly Black LOVES this unspeakably bad book. So much so that she has many copies of it. So much so that she made us all read chapters out loud on the DragonTrain, which made us all laugh so hard we wept. I threw up I was laughing so hard.
The book is THAT bad.
Remember I was rambling recently about how you
can't include all details when you write? This book attempts to do that. It takes a kajillion chapters for the protag to cross a steet. All ...
Posted by Justine at 0:03, September 6th, 2007 under Frippery, Reading, Writing & Publishing |
So I was asked to suggest good YA sf and I lamely suggested Scott's Uglies series, which I do indeed love, but everyone's already heard of them---especially folks who read this blog. (I'd also recommend his Fine Prey which I think totally works as YA, but it is pretty dirty---not to mention being out of print.)
Thing is though I've read a fair amount of YA sf in the last few years I haven't liked hardly any of it. A lot of it is bog standard: plots I've seen before, characters I've seen before, worlds I've seen before, and nothing new done with any of it. Vastly yawn-worthy.
Remember though I spent
more than eight years doing nothing but read science ...
Posted by Justine at 10:58, August 28th, 2007 under Reading, Scott's books, young adult literature |
Holly Black urged me to read
Kathleen Duey's
Skin Hunger, the first volume of the Resurrection of Magic trilogy, saying that it was the best fantasy she'd read in years. Her blurb for it---"beautifully written, harsh and unforgettable"---is right on the money. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I read it over a week ago (and I've read several books since then).
Skin Hunger alternates between two stories and the connections between the two do not become clear until more than three quarters of the way through the book ((At least to me they didn't, but I can be really thick.)). When they do it's so terrifying that you start to hope that what you think is going on isn't.
This book is about class, politics, and power. It's also the story of a poor country girl and a rich spoiled city boy who are not destined for each other. In fact, they never meet in the book. If I'm right about what's going on then they are unlikely to meet in books two or three.
Skin Hunger is also about evil and about love but not in a hooey way. (No uni***ns or lollipops anywhere in view.) At times it reminded me of Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy and also of some of Knut Hamsun's writing. It's bleak and disturbing yet somehow hopeful.
The wizard school is as unlike Hogwarts as anything I can imagine. Put it this way (spoiler coming):
Posted by Justine at 10:31, August 22nd, 2007 under Praising, Reading, young adult literature |
International Blog Against Racism Week is on again. Yay! If you're confused about racism and race you can ask the awesome
Angry Black Woman questions. She's smart and funny and will treat you with the respect that you will, naturally, accord her. It is a brave and time consuming thing she has agreed to do.
You can find lots of
links and posts here.
I was thinking of responding to
Scalzi's post about how he deals with race in his books, but
Kameron Hurly has eloquently said what I was gunna say.
I've also decided against writing about the miscegenation bruhaha over on lj because
so many smart people have covered it.
And I'm definitely not going to ...
Posted by Justine at 20:12, August 7th, 2007 under Bloggery, New York City/USA, Reading, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Ages ago I ranted against those who say that switching point of views is evil and wrong. I did not give any examples demonstrating when pov switching not only works, but makes a scene a billion times more effective than it would have been trapped in one pov only.
So here is one. And from a fellow Australian, naturally:
There was more talk, more laughter. One moment Arabella thought that he would walk away with the other men. The next Lord Petre feared that she would turn back to the box with Miss Blount, and that his chance would be lost. The chance for what, he could not say. Neither of them heard a word of the conversation; each ...
Posted by Justine at 23:56, August 4th, 2007 under Praising, Ranting, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Writing & Publishing |
Someone just told me I'm wrong about Bring It On being the best movie of all time. Excuse me? If I say it is then it is! This is my personal list of the best movies of all time. I cannot be wrong about it.
I'm not saying there aren't other best movies of all time. There are! The Princess Bride is one. Rififi is another. Not to mention Out of the Past and Lagaan.
I am also not wrong about
mangosteens being the best fruit.
Or The Wire being the best television.
Or Emma and Hellsing and anything by Osamu Tezuka being the best manga.
Or zombies being the best monsters.
And cricket absolutely is the best sport.
So nyer!
Though, of course, I reserve the ...
Posted by Justine at 17:23, August 1st, 2007 under Food, Mangosteens, Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Zombies |
For research purposes, I am going to drastically increase my zombie culture consumption.
Thus far I've been reading and loving The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. (I read the trades not the skinnies---so no spoilers for the latest issues!)
I also plan to read World War Z, An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks. So no spoilers, people!
Update: Forgot to mention I have read the entire and very excellent Kelly Link zombie oeuvre.
What other zombie books and graphic novels should I be reading?
And there's the movies---because really the whole zombie thing is very movie driven.
Obviously I've seen and loved all the George Romero zombie films. Yum. My faves. Yes, even the recent Land of the Dead that I've ...
Posted by Justine at 12:11, July 27th, 2007 under Reading, Research, Viewing, Zombies |
Last year there was a fair amount of debate about whether M. T. Anderson's Octavian Nothing is YA or not. Personally, I think it is, but I can see where those you don't are coming from. You can make a case either way. Octavian fulfills my requirements for YA.
I just finished a book which doesn't fulfill those requirements even though it's being sold as YA. Like Octavian Nothing, Margo Rabb's Cures for Heartbreak is a gorgeously written, deeply moving book. I loved it.
I just don't think it's a young adult book.
Here's why:
The protag is not a teenager. She's someone in her thirties looking back on her teenage years and how she coped. This gives the book a distant, elegiac quality, ...
Posted by Justine at 12:25, July 25th, 2007 under Praising, Ranting, Reading, young adult literature |
In the New York Times sisters (and friends of mine) Catherine Gilbert Murdock and Elizabeth Gilbert discuss recent findings that older siblings have higher IQs than younger ones.
They are wry and amusing. Especially if like me you have
one sister. (Not telling whether I'm older or younger.)
Go read! (If you don't have a login
bugmenot is your friend.)
Catherine & Liz are both fabulous writers. Liz's latest Eat, Pray, Love has been no. 1 on the New York Times bestseller non-fic paperback list for weeks and weeks and weeks. Seriously, everyone I've ever met has read and loved her book. I keep getting emails from people asking why Scott and me are mentioned (amongst many ...
Posted by Justine at 14:05, July 22nd, 2007 under Frippery, Reading, State of the World, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
Is everyone in the entire universe curled up reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?
The silence it echoes . . .
I do not have a copy yet. So anyone who spoils me in any way will be horribly punished. Not that I expect any comments given that you're all reading.
Posted by Justine at 13:35, July 21st, 2007 under Reading |
Somerset Maugham meditating upon the writer's life:
It is full of tribulation. First he must endure poverty and the world's indifference; then, having achieved a measure of success, he must submit with good will to its hazards. He depends upon a fickle public. He is at the mercy of journalists who want to interview him and photographers who want to take his picture, of editors who harry him for copy and tax gatherers who harry him for income tax, of persons of quality who ask him to lunch and secretaries of institutes who ask him to lecture, of women who want to marry him and women who want to divorce him, of youths who want his autograph, actors who ...
Posted by Justine at 10:57, July 3rd, 2007 under Reading, State of the World, Words & Language, Writing & Publishing |
The tactic of writing to librarians to make them disappear books has been around for some time. The following is from Somerset Maugham's Cakes and Ale (1930). The protag's uncle is talking about his nephew's friendship with a local author:
"They bicycled together last summer, and after Willie had gone back to school I got one of his books from the library to see what it was like. I read the first volume and then I sent it back. I wrote a pretty stiff letter to the librarian and I was glad to hear that he'd withdrawn it from circulation. If it had been my own property I should have put it promptly in the kitchen stove."
Wouldn't it be lovely to ...
Posted by Justine at 13:09, July 2nd, 2007 under Reading, Writing & Publishing |
I just read five reviews of the same book. ((Nope. Not telling you the name of the book.)) One praised the sharpness of the dialogue. ((I'm not using the exact language of the reviews in case you were thinking of googling to figure out what the book is.)) Another said it was sloppy and the dialogue disconnected. One said it was the best book of its kind published this year. And another hoped that this was the limit to how low the genre could descend. The fifth neither loved nor hated it.
I was given an ARC of this particular book. I stopped reading after the first four pages because I found it cliched, derivative and boring. In particular, it's ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, July 2nd, 2007 under Reading, Writing & Publishing |
Judging from your comments here and those over at
Cassie Clare's lj the following are what you look for in a romance:
tension
conflict
verisimilitude
external obstacles
geek love
banter
painful misunderstandings
Gender-bending mistaken identity
super competence
baggage
equal partners
witty banter
wish fulfillment
restraint
chemistry
little things
vulnerability
choosing happiness
Character development
lots of witty banter
no internal thoughts
verbal sex
brooding
unrequited love
undying love
enemies in love
slow, lengthy build ups
humour
context
best friends falling for each other
lots and lots of witty banter
i just love this list! Makes me so happy. I agree with almost everything on it (especially gender-bending mistaken identity These Old Shades I go weak!). Thanks, everyone. Your comments were witty, thought provoking and wonderful.
So why was I asking?
Because I've never written a romance.
I've never started a book and known that one of the major plot arcs was going to be ...
Posted by Justine at 13:06, June 26th, 2007 under Bloggery, Praising, Reading, Writing & Publishing |
What's your favourite romance? I mean that in the broadest possible sense. It doesn't have to have been published as a romance. (I think most books are romances in some way or other.) What is your favourite book where a love relationship is a big part of the story?
And what was it about the way that relationship was written that so appealed to you?
What writers do you think do love stories particularly well?
Feel free to give me examples from Young Adult, Adult, mystery, romance, science fiction, mainstream, or whatever. Don't care. Oh, and don't forget about manga and graphic novels. I've been reading
Emma by Kaoru Mori and it's currently one of my favourite romances of all time. Because ...
Posted by Justine at 16:16, June 23rd, 2007 under Reading, Writing & Publishing |
The
wonderful speech that
David Levithan gave at Reading Matters is now
available as a podcast. You all should listen to this passionate, galvanising call to arms that left most everyone wanting to go out and slay vampires right that very minute. Or, you know, get the books that kids need into their hands.
I'm still mulling over my response to David's call to arms. On the one hand, I think he's totally right. On the other, it's so annoying to have a foreignor come in, spend a few minutes in the country, and then tell us Aussies what to do! We hates it, we do. Especially when they're right . . .
Posted by Justine at 0:12, June 20th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Praising, Ranting, Reading, young adult literature |
Next week the denizens of blogland what care about kids and YA literature will be interviewing many amazing writers such as Sonya Hartnett and Holly Black and Ysabeau Wilce (and, um, me). Check out the
full schedule of interviews. If the smart questions I was asked are any guide I reckon they'll be corkers.
Next week is also the annual summer
American Library Association conference. I sadly will not be attending. Waaah! I went to the one in New Orleans last year (or was it the year before?) and it was just incredible. I had such a wonderful time I'd even contemplate going to the midwinter ALA conference. And youse lot know how I feel about winter.
To make me ...
Posted by Justine at 10:58, June 15th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading |
Diana Peterfreund must have a looming deadline or something because she's written two
wonderfully helpful posts for writers who are
brand new to the publishing industry. They include a glossary explaining what exactly, for instance, an agent does. Check 'em out!
One of the things she glancingly touches on is the idea that the already published are actively resentful of up-and-coming writers and go out of our way to lessen their chances. If that's true why then do so many authors' spend huge chunks of time offering advice and help the way Diana is right now? (I mean other than procrastination reasons.)
Publishing is very competitive. That's true. Most professions are. But not in the way that most people ...
Posted by Justine at 13:44, June 12th, 2007 under Bloggery, Praising, Reading, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
I'm so stoked to be able to announce that my mate
Diana Peterfreund has just gotten herself a new two-book deal and it's for young adult books. That's right! Diana is now one of us!
From the Publisher's Marketplace Announcement:
Children's:
Young Adult
Author of SECRET SOCIETY GIR Diana Peterfreund's RAMPANT, about killer uni***ns that can only be defeated by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great, and the teenage huntress whose birthright is seriously messing up her social life, to Kristin Daly at Harper Children's, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency (NA).
Film: Matt Snyder at CAA.
I ...
Posted by Justine at 8:37, May 31st, 2007 under New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Writing & Publishing |
10. It upsets the
writers what wrote the books.
9. It upsets the readers what want to read the books.
8. It makes the books cry and
books are very sensitive.
7. If you really want people not to read a book, banning it will have the opposite effect.
6. If the content of a book offends you there are more effective ways to deal with your offendedness. Like, you know, engaging with it. Maureen Dowd's columns frequently drive me spare, but I don't try to get them banned,
I argue against them.
5. Besides banning books does not make them go away. Just ask
Chris Crutcher.
4. Banning books might make you feel ...
Posted by Justine at 23:21, May 10th, 2007 under Bloggery, New York City/USA, Ranting, Reading, State of the World, Writing & Publishing, young adult literature |
