Category Archives: reading

When a Writer Reads

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readerWhen a writer reads, a lot is happening.

If the book is good, there is one level of enjoyment, a second of envy, and a third of collecting style and ideas for future mimicry.  If the book is amazing, sometimes the envy hits like a punch in the gut.  If the book is flabbergasting, sometimes the enjoyment wins out and puts the envy on the backburner until the book is over.  Sometimes.

If I’m re-reading a book I love, my brain is whirring like a machine: pictures … could I introduce characters with pictures? The author started with a flood of memories … interesting way to get it all on the table.  Dual POV … is it working?  Structure, repetition, imagery, setting … 

Whirr …

Whirr …

Whirr …

I never regret being a writer, since it’s one of my truest joys, although it makes my life exponentially more difficult.  The closest I get to that regret though is probably when I’m reading.  It’s been a while since I’ve been able to just. simply. read.

It’s easier to read outside of my genre, which makes sense, since the envy lessens.  I don’t have aspirations to be an incredible fantasy writer, so it’s easier to give fantasy writers their due accolades and move on.  But then again, my favorite genre is contemporary, the genre in which I write, so of course I want to read those books.  And they’re often going to be the ones that will propel my writing the most.

What a strange tightrope writers walk!  There is almost nothing I love more than a good book– and yet, I’m doomed to have my enjoyment tainted simply because I’ve chosen that writing life for myself (or that life has chosen me).

I read a lot of book blogs, and I marvel at how differently a reader reads from the way a writer reads.

This sounds like a lament, and I suppose it is a little.  But then again, I get to be a writer, and for that it’s all worth it.

When I Was on Fire

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synchroblogToday is a GREAT day; do you know why?

My friend/critique partner Addie Zierman’s memoir  When We Were on Fire comes out!  I have already read and reviewed this book, and folks, let me just say that Addie is a tremendous writer, and you’re going to love this book.

Having grown up in the same 90’s Christian subculture as Addie, I can remember sporting the Christian t-shirts (the ones that annoyingly mimicked popular logos), listening to all the Christian bands, centering my week around youth group on Wednesday evenings.

Today, Addie is hosting a synchroblog on her site.  She’s asked us readers to write about our own “on fire” days.

Mine come loaded with embarrassment– and an apology.

Here is the truth: black and white exist– but so does gray.  I didn’t know that growing up amongst evangelicals.  I was quick to judge, and I thought I owned the market on truth.  In late high school and especially in college, I was a spiritual know-it-all.  After all, I went to a Christian school, studied the Bible as an academic subject, and learned theology from some of the major players in that field of academia.

In other words, I was kind of a jerk.  Maybe not even kind of.

As I am writing this, students from my alma mater (and Addie’s– we overlapped there for a couple years!) are clawing each other’s eyes out over Obamacare and politics and theology, still living in that black-and-whiteness of undergrad.

I graduated.  I lost touch with reality and suffered from paranoia.  I watched friends marry and divorce.  I faced the stigma of mental illness.  I underwent a therapy that some people would consider unholy.  All those beautiful and ugly and layered and confusing shades of gray started to paint my world.

I am on fire in a new way now.  On fire about grace.  And mercy.  About weakness and healing.

I am sorry for when I was on fire about being right and judgement and personal strength.

Addie’s book tells of her journey toward wholeness, of the ways that the evangelical subculture harmed her and others in the name of God and goodness, about her anger and spite when her eyes were opened to see this, and how she climbed out of the bitterness.

Buy her book.

Read the Prologue and First Chapter HERE

Available for Pre-Order in the Following Places

Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

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First of all, happy 3rd birthday to my church!

betweenshadesofgraySecondly, Between Shades of Gray, which, by the way, is not connected in any way to Fifty Shades of Gray.  Between Shades of Gray is a young adult novel about 15-year-old Lina, a Lithuanian refugee, in the time of Joseph Stalin.

The book was fascinating, sad, brutal, and important.

It seems to me that while there are many books recounting the horrors of the Holocaust at the hand of Adolf Hitler, there are relatively few stories sharing the atrocities of Stalin (who, by the way, is responsible for more deaths than Hitler).

With the exception of The Book Thief, historical fiction is generally not my favorite to read (although I was a history minor in undergrad!).  That said, this novel is so important and eye-opening.  It drew me in, this story of a promising young artist being deported to Siberia with her mother and brother– for reasons she didn’t know.  It’s a lovely story of the ferocity of the human will, and it definitely made me cry.

Stories like these are hard for me– and often result in a one-time-through read (i.e. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, The Casual Vacancy, etc.).  That said, I cannot stress what an important book this is– and I recommend it.

Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

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ravenboysAfter reading The Scorpio Races by Stiefvater (and wanting to roll around it and coat myself with awesomeness), I figured I’d better read The Raven Boys, also by her … and on my shelf since January (Des’s husband Matt bought it for me for my birthday!).

The premise is a little involved: Blue’s mom is a psychic, and she’s been told forever that if she (Blue) kisses her true love, then he’ll die.  Enter four boys from the nearby prep school: Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah.  They all have very distinct and awesome personalities, and the brotherhood between the four is incredible!  Gansey is on a personal mission to find a ley line.  Craziness ensues.

You know what?  I liked it.  But moreso for the characters and their relationships and interactions with each other than for the whole psychic-and-ley-line-search plot.

Which reaffirmed to me that contemporary is the right “genre” for me to be writing in.

I do so love Gansey and Adam, though, and I already requested the audiobook* for The Dream Thieves (book two) from the library.  Looking forward to it!

* The audiobooks are read by Will Patton, and it’s a treat to listen to his Virginia drawl!!!  A definite bonus.

Have you read The Raven Boys?  Will you?

Obsessive-Compulsives are Creative. OCD Itself? Not So Much.

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All The SameObsessive-compulsives tend to be creative, bright, highly intelligent, passionate people– and I love that about us!

Our disorder, on the other hand, is sorely lacking in creativity.

See, the thing is, when obsessive-compulsives isolate themselves, OCD appears to be this extremely creative disorder.  We imagine that NO ONE ELSE could think the things we think or use “logic” the way we do or entertain such dark and ugly thoughts.

But when obsessive-compulsives are in community with one another, we realize that OCD really has a limited bag of tricks.  Sure, obsessions can wear different costumes, but at the core, they often look very similar from person to person.

I recently spent time with another Pure-O, and we were able to list off our various obsessions with each other, and check, check, check, we had so much in common.  And both of us grew up thinking that we were monsters, that no one else would ever think about or struggle with the things that we did.  Yet our stories were nearly identical!

When I read a book about OCD, those “wild and outrageous” things I once obsessed over end up being the textbook examples.

I am convinced that the more we with OCD communicate amongst ourselves, the more we will realize that while we are creative, OCD quite frankly is not.

My Literary Boyfriends *revised*

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helpIt’s time for an update on my love life.

(Please note: my entire love life is fictional.)

(For now.)

And so I present to you …


My Top 8 Literary Boyfriends

1. Silas Hart of Truest
Is it unfair that I put the boy from my own book first?  I essentially created him to be my perfect boyfriend, were I seventeen years old.  A deep-thinking, goofy-as-all-get-out, handsome young poet.  Yup.

2. Augustus Waters of The Fault in Our Stars
He takes metaphorically fraught freethrows, for goodness sakes.

3. Jonah Griggs of Jellicoe Road
Causing a riot is what he does best.

4. Sean Kendrick of The Scorpio Races
My newest love!  He can swallow you with his eyes.

5. Will Trombal of Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son
“His voice is deep and gravelly. I once heard one of the girls say that he had the voice of a sex god, but because I’ve never really heard what a sex god sounds like, I can’t verify that.” Works for me.

6. Gilbert Blythe of Anne of Green Gables
Oh Gil!  You can call me “Carrots” anytime!

7. Max Vandenberg of The Book Thief
I want a Jewish fist-fighter to protect me.

8. Joe Fontaine of The Sky is Everywhere
The smile.  It always comes back to that smile.

Your turn!!

sorry

 

 

Bookish Blogs I Love

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How to keep your finger on the pulse of the YA writing world?

1) Read YA lit like a fiend.
2) Subscribe to the Goodreads YA newsletter.
3) Follow author blogs/websites.
4) Follow amazing YA lit blogs!

Here are some of my favorites (click the graphic to go to the blog):

bloggers

annareads3

another

rbr
perpetual

P.S. I sometimes disagree with their reviews, but I am always grateful for the way they keep me up to speed on what’s new in the YA world.

P.P.S. I actually follow about 80 writing- & literature-related blogs (not to mention the OCD-related, faith-related, and miscellaneous blogs I follow).  I hope to introduce you to some more amazing blogs soon.

P.P.P.S. I don’t watch TV.  (The answer to your question of “How do you have the time to read so many blogs?”)

Word Association Book Survey

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Almost a year ago, I made a valiant attempt at writing fan fiction.  I used an already-created set of 50 words as one-sentence prompts.  Today, I’m going to use those same 50 words as the framework for a word association book survey.  Join me and post your own!

booksurvey

What book(s) do the following words make you think of?

#01 – Comfort

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
When kids act like grown-ups …

#02 – Kiss

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Oh, Jonah Griggs.

#03 – Soft

Ordinary People by Judith Guest
“He mimicked her soft soprano.”

#04 – Pain

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Just read it.

#05 – Potatoes

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
One more thing to steal.  Oh Arthur Berg.

#06 – Rain

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Joe Fontaine. Rain. Kiss. Yes.

#07 – Chocolate

Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces. “Here,” he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. “Eat it. It’ll help.”

#08 – Happiness

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Mixed candy.

#09 – Telephone

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
“Seamus told me that Dean told him that Parvati …”

#10 – Ears

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
When Adam’s ears turned pink and Blue noticed!

#11 – Name

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
I can’t not think of it with a prompt like “name.”

#12 – Sensual

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
When Perry is teaching Aria about poisonous berries … gosh.

#13 – Death

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Death is, after all, the narrator of this book.

#14 – Sex

Froi of the Exiles
Am I right, or am I right?

#15 – Touch

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
The main character’s touch is lethal.

#16 – Weakness

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

#17 – Tears

The Shatter Me series
Does it feel like Juliette is always crying?

#18 – Speed

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

#19 – Wind

Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
Sailboat!

#20 – Freedom

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Out in the Death Shop!

#21 – Life

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

#22 – Jealousy

The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
Oh Tom.

#23 – Hands

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
“Holding Eleanor’s hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive.”

#24 – Taste

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta
Dirty girl, Jackie Lea!

#25 – Devotion

The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
Will Trombal’s tatt.  Enough said.

#26 – Forever

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
Fo. Sho.

#27 – Blood

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
Not why you’d expect.

#28 – Sickness

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The kiddos meet in cancer support group.

#29 – Melody

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta
Blood sings to blood.

#30 – Star

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
Coriakin. Ramandu.

#31 – Home

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Mmm.

#32 – Confusion

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
Giant HUH moment.

#33 – Fear

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Earth’s rotation is slowing …

#34 – Lightning/Thunder

#35 – Bonds

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta
Another tatt.

#36 – Market

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
Chippingfoot.

#37 – Technology

The Chaos Walking trilogy!

#38 – Gift

Everyday by David Levithan
Just read it.  You’ll see what I mean.

#39 – Smile

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
I have never read a more walloping description of a smile.

#40 – Innocence

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montegomery

#41 – Completion

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Duh.

#42 – Clouds

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The cover. 🙂

#43 – Sky

Under the Never Sky series
Aether.

#44 – Heaven

The Mortal Instruments series
It’s about angels, yo!

#45 – Hell

The Mortal Instruments series
It’s about demons, yo!

#46 – Sun

This is Shyness by Leanne Hall
The sun doesn’t rise in Shyness.

#47 – Moon

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
“All night, Aslan and the moon stared at one another with unblinking eyes.” (Or something like that.)

#48 – Waves

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

#49 – Hair

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
I always think of that line: “The kiss was serious.  Serious like my hair, thought Janie.” 🙂

&

Fire by Kristin Cashore
Oh, that hair!

#50 – Supernova

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Because Augustus is amazing. 🙂

What book did these words make YOU think of?