A Few of My Favorite Things, 2009 Edition

When you read 50+ books a year, you're bound to have a few that you love and a few that you didn't really care for. And since everyone and their brother publishes a "best of" list at the end of the year, I figure I should do the same.

These are the best books that I read this past year. They are not necessarily books that were published in 2009, but rather my favorites from the complete list of all the books I read this year.

• Escape by Carolyn Jessop - a harrowing true story about one woman's fight to break free from the fundamentalist Mormon group in which she was raised. The horrifying stories about the abuse she and her children suffered is tempered by the knowledge that she was one of the few to make it out.
  
• The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski - on the surface, light chick-lit fare, but beneath the plot, a wonderful idea about the power of setting - and meeting - goals for yourself. This book was the catalyst for my own "15 before 30" list.
  
• The Disengagement Ring by Clodagh Murphy - a fun, delightful find when I was in Ireland; Murphy's debut novel brims with well-rounded characters, vibrant landscapes from Tuscany to Dublin and a good old-fashioned love story.
  
• These Three Remain by Pamela Aiden - the final book in Aidan's reworking of Pride and Prejudice, this is the best of the series, as we see Darcy's initial proposal, change of heart and final, victorious proposal to Lizzie Bennett through his eyes.
  
• The Pretend Wife by Bridget Asher - With nearly every other paragraph food for thought, Asher's newest book explores the choices we make, the paths our lives take and what might happen if we find out what could have been.
• Julia Quinn - a recent discovery, thanks to my library, Quinn's historical romance novels are filled with fun and memorable characters, well-plotted love stories and the occasional devastatingly handsome rake. The best of her books is the eight-book Bridgerton series, about a set of eight siblings finding love in Regency England.
  
• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner - a Newbury Honor book from 1996, this book sets in motion a chain of events to leads to Turner's other highly praised novels, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia. Mixing ancient Greek and Roman geography, history and mythology, Turner creates an intoxicating world that's hard to leave, even after you've finished the story. The only downside? I just finished The Thief earlier this week, so now I have to wait until 2010 to finish the series.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

50 Book Challenge, Final List

Some people think I'm crazy for trying to read at least 50 books in a year. It works out to roughly one book a week (or more), but I think the challenge. It keeps me constantly looking for new material. 2009 was a good reading year for me. I finished graduate school in December 2008, so I had a lot of free time to read. The final tally for the year stands at 62 books, which kind of drives me crazy since it's not a multiple of five.

At any rate, here are the books I read this year, in reading order:

1. Married in Seattle by Debbie Macomber
2. Multiple Blessings by Jon and Kate Gosselin
3. Witch Heart by Anya Bast
4. Escape by Carolyn Jessop
5. A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle (re-read)
6. Chances by Nora Roberts
7. Princess Diaries 10: Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
8. Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson
9. The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski
10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (re-read)
11. Ireland (Travel Guide) by Tim Perry
12. The Disengagement Ring by Clodagh Murphy
13. I’d Tell You I Love You, But then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (re-read)
14. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (re-read)
15. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible! by Jonathan Goldstein
16. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
17. Emily and the Scot by Kathryn Smith
18. Vision in White by Nora Roberts
19. Rattled! A Memoir by Christine Coppa
20. Ransom My Heart by Meg Cabot
21. Persuading Annie by Melissa Nathan
22. An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan
23. Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan
24. These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan
25. Cordina’s Royal Family, Vol. 1 by Nora Roberts
26. Cordina’s Royal Family, Vol. 2 by Nora Roberts
27. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
28. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (re-read, book club)
29. Harry Potter Should Have Died by Emerson Spartz and Ben Schoen
30. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
31. Impossible by Nancy Werlin
32. Julie and Julia by Julie Powell (book club)
33. Where the Heart Is by Nora Roberts
34. Forever by Nora Roberts
35. Yentl’s Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism by Danya Ruttenberg (ed.)
36. The Pretend Wife by Bridget Asher
37. One More River by Lynne Reid Banks (re-read)
38. Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson
39. True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson
40. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (re-read)
41. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
42. Midnight Sons, Vol. 1 by Debbie Macomber
43. Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza (book club)
44. Midnight Sons, Vol. 2 by Debbie Macomber
45. My Husband’s Sweethearts by Bridget Asher
46. The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (book club)
47. – 55. The Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn
55. How to Marry a Marquis by Julia Quinn
56. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (re-read)
57. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris (book club)
58. To Catch an Heiress by Julia Quinn
59. Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts
60. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (re-read)
61. Thames Doesn't Rhyme with James by Paula Danziger
62. The Thief (The Queen’s Thief, #1) by Megan Whalen Turner

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Best of the Decade

Apparently, we’re at the end of the decade. (We’re not really, not if you believe all those people who said 2000 wasn’t the beginning of the new millennium but rather the end of the old one.) But that hasn’t stopped every Moe, Larry and Curly from creating a “Best of the Decade” list of books.

Here are just a few to hold you over until the real end of the decade.

• The Times UK newspaper came up with its 100 best books of the decade. It’s an impressively comprehensive list, with a wide range of fiction and nonfiction alike. It also mixes “popular” books such as Twilight and Harry Potter with “literary” books like Middlesex and The Corrections. Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic journey The Road took the number one spot.
• Over on The Millions blog, they’re writing up the Best of the Millennium, So Far, which is very ambitious of them, to say the least. That list pits the critics against the fans, with the critics naming Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections as number one and the fans giving the honor to Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Overlaps between the two lists include The Road, Atonement, Middlesex and Gilead.
• The book-sharing website Good Reads asked its readers and users to name their favorites from the past ten years. They gave top honor to Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, with the top 10 including lots of Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Kite Runner. This list is probably much more reflective of an average reader’s taste, compared to the critics who usually compile the lists for specific publications.
• Another list from across the pond, the Guardian UK had a “best of the decade” series with individual posts for each year. Among the books included in those posts were White Teeth, The Corrections, The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter, the 9/11 Commission Report, several books by Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore writings on climate change and, in the year leading up to the 2008 election, both of Barack Obama’s books.
• Lastly, Entertainment Weekly dived into the ’00-’09 nostalgia and came up with its picks for the 10 best books of the decade. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (widely considered by many to be the best of the seven, save for the last book) came in at #8, while The Corrections took spot #6. And once again, Cormac McCarthy claimed the high ground with The Road being named #1.

[Photo Credit: Google Image Search]

2009 in Review

It’s time once again to reflect on the past year and overindulge in some end-of-year, best of 2009 book lists.

Each publication sets its own criteria for determining the best books. Some have a panel of editors making the choices, others go by what books sold the best and still others use a combination of methods.

For the most part, these lists are compiled from books published in 2009 aimed at adult audiences. Most publications release separate lists for children's and YA literature.

• Amazon.com has its two annual lists, one from the editors and one from the customers. Amazon editors named Colum McCann’s National Book Award-winning novel, Let the Great World Spin as its best of the year, while the customers chose Dan Brown’s latest Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol.
• Publisher’s Weekly came out with it’s list of the best 100 of the year in November and created controversy with a top 10 that didn’t include any women. Nevertheless, the top 10 did include National Book Award finalists Stitches (David Small) and In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (Daniyal Mueenuddin) as well as the best-selling Await Your Reply (Dan Chaon).
• Entertainment Weekly also came up with two lists – one from the editors and one from guest columnist Stephen King. For the editors, Mueenuddin’s In Other Rooms…was the top fiction of the year, while Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun claimed the nonfiction spot.
• The New York Times best of 2009 list included some now-familiar names: Await Your Reply, In Other Rooms…, Let the Great World Spin, Sag Harbor, Wolf Hall and John Updike’s final book, My Father’s Tears.
• Meanwhile, Time Magazine continued with its endless list of top 10 lists by offering up its take on the year’s best books. Among the top fiction choices were In Other Rooms…and Wolf Hall as well as Suzanne Collins’ Catching Fire, the only YA/children’s lit book to make a top 10 of the year list outside of lists specifically aimed at YA/children’s lit.
• Finally, it wouldn’t be a proper round-up of “best of…” lists without input from Oprah. She offered her list of the most terrific books of 2009, giving praise to Zeitoun and Say You’re One of Them.
  

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

In Memoriam 2009

As we come to the end of the year, here is a quick look at a few of the authors who left us during 2009:

• Dominick Dunne – best known for his investigative journalism and true crime books, Dunne was also a Hollywood producer and a frequent columnist for Vanity Fair magazine.
• J.G. Ballard – science-fiction novelist and short story writer best known for Crash and Empire of the Sun, Ballard had a distinct literary style that gave rise to the term “Ballardian” to refer to writing similar to his own.
• Norma Fox Mazer – an author and teacher who focused primarily on young adult and children’s books featuring real-life situations and emotions. Mazer was often praised for not offering simple solutions and for creating realistic, complex and relatable characters.
• Ted Kennedy – best known for being the Senator from Massachusetts, Kennedy was a staunch supporter of reading programs, wrote a children’s book about life as a Senator and passed away shortly before his critically acclaimed memoir, True Compass was published.
• Frank McCourt – the Irishman never intended to be a writer; he was a teacher first and foremost. Through teaching, though, he discovered his voice for storytelling and the incredible results (Angela’s Ashes, Teacher Man, etc.) reveal a talented author.
• John Updike – a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author and considered one of the greatest writers of his time, Updike hardly needs any introduction. His prolific body of work was routinely praised and loved by critics and students across the country study his novels to discover the workings of small-town, Protestant, middle class America.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Christmas Stories Answers

Sigh. Is it me? Do people not like literary quizzes? I know I don't get a lot of comments on this blog to begin with, but I think this kind of stuff is fun. Oh well.

Here are the answers to last week's Literary Christmas Quiz. A special congratulations goes out to my friend Joey, for not only getting 6 out of 7 questions right, but also for being the only person to respond here with his guesses.

1. In E.T. A. Hoffman’s story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, how many heads does the Mouse King have?
Answer: Seven

2. As this book starts, four sisters commiserate over the fact that they won’t receive Christmas presents this year, and then discuss what they would like if they had the money.
Answer: Little Women by Lousia May Alcott

3. In this magical world, it is always winter, never Christmas, until four unsuspecting siblings arrive to save the day.
Answer: Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

4. What is one of the reasons the author gives for the Grinch’s dislike of Christmas in Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas?
Answer: Acceptable choices would be: his shoes were too tight; his head wasn't screwed on just right; or his heart was two sizes too small.

5. Where does the Ghost of Christmas Present take Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol?
Answer: To his nephew Fred's party and to Bob Cratchit's house

6. Screenwriter Valentine Davies wrote a short novella published to coincide with this movie, in which Kris Kringle works his magic on a young, disbelieving mother, her young daughter and the entire city of New York when he’s put on trial.
Answer: Miracle on 34th Street

7. In this author's short story, "A Christmas Memory," a young boy named Buddy shares a country Christmas with his elderly cousin, a day which is capped off with the two flying homemade kites and eating Christmas oranges.
Answer: Truman Capote

Hope you at least enjoyed reading the quiz. I'll be back after the holidays with some book news and, starting next week, my look at 2009 in Review for all things reading.

Merry Christmas!

Book News Round-Up

I spent a good deal of my weekend snowed in, but luckily I had some book news to keep me company. Only five more days until Christmas!

• Homer – the dead guy who wrote “The Odyssey” and “The Illiad,” not the donut-loving guy from The Simpsons – would be so proud. Greek mythology is back! With vampires being (apparently) so last year, 2010 is quickly shaping up to be the year of the Greek gods and goddesses. Rick Riordan’s popular Percy Jackson series will make the leap to the big screen, as will a newly updated version of Clash of the Titans. Now, if only we could figure out a way to get Euripides and Sophocles in on the action…
• Speaking of Hollywood and ideas they steal from literature, nominees were recently announced for a number of movie awards, including the Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild awards. Adaptations of literary works are quickly racking up the accolades: Up in the Air (based Walter Kirn’s novel of the same name), Precious (based on the novel Push by Sapphire) and Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child (based, partly on Child’s memoir My Life in France) have all been bestowed with nominations. Unfortunately, we must now wait until January to find out who wins.
• Well, that’s one way to do it. Increasing concerns about the fate of brick-and-mortar bookstores have led some publishers to deliberately delay releasing the e-book version of a new publication. Harper Collins, Hachette Book Group and Simon & Schuster have all said they will delay – in some cases, by several months – the e-book release of a new hardcover, with the hopes that doing so will force consumers to purchase the more expensive hardcover. (E-books are less expensive, partly due to ongoing pricing wars and partly because it doesn’t require ink, paper and binding). Me? I think this is less about actual bookstores and more about publishers holding tightly to their profits.
• The regular publishing industry might be taking a hit, but fanboys everywhere can sleep easy – comic books and graphic novels are thriving. Thanks to some Hollywood love, comics are seeing a resurgence of late, with more specialized comic stores reporting an increase of sales. Reasons vary, but for the most part, fans of the movies and television shows are flocking to pick up the source material. Additionally, more children (especially reluctant readers and boys) choose comics and graphic novels for “fun” reading. So you can bet that Stan Lee is thanking his lucky stars.
• I would be remiss if I didn’t pause for a moment of silence for the death of Kirkus Reviews. For years, Kirkus was the bastion of pre-publication reviews and many times, the review would make or break a book. Starting in 1933, Kirkus would sometimes review as many as 5,000 books a year and, though not generally read by the public, the Kirkus review was a mainstay of libraries and librarians. RIP, Kirkus.
• For those fans of trivia and other simply looking for ways to stay occupied at work, the Chicago Tribune’s ten surprising facts about bestselling books. Consider it an early Christmas gift (unless you don’t like it – in that case, just smile and nod.)
  

Do You Know Your Christmas Stories?

Christmas abounds in literature, whether it's the multitude of books available to explain the holiday and its traditions or whether it's simply a part of an author's plot line. As Johnny Mathis says, it is the most wonderful time of the year. Here's a short quiz to test your Christmas story knowledge.

1. In E.T. A. Hoffman’s story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, how many heads does the Mouse King have?

2. As this book starts, four sisters commiserate over the fact that they won’t receive Christmas presents this year, and then discuss what they would like if they had the money.

3. In this magical world, it is always winter, never Christmas, until four unsuspecting siblings arrive to save the day.

4. What is one of the reasons the author gives for the Grinch’s dislike of Christmas in Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

5. Where does the Ghost of Christmas Present take Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol?

6. Screenwriter Valentine Davies wrote a short novella published to coincide with this movie, in which Kris Kringle works his magic on a young, disbelieving mother, her young daughter and the entire city of New York when he’s put on trial.

7. In this author's short story, "A Christmas Memory," a young boy named Buddy shares a country Christmas with his elderly cousin, a day which is capped off with the two flying homemade kites and eating Christmas oranges.

Don't forget to leave your answers in the comments!

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Literary Christmas Wish List

The holidays are here and people are busily preparing, buying gifts for friends and family. I’ve been pretty good this year, so I gave Santa a list of the books and literary-inspired movies I would like to see under my tree come Christmas morning.

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – this Booker prize-winning novel details the mystery and intrigue surrounding the court of King Henry VIII as seen through the eyes of one of his most trusted advisors, Thomas Cromwell.
• The Magicians by Lev Grossman – billed as “Harry Potter for adults,” this engaging debut novel mixes the magic of children’s fantasy with the reality of collegiate life as one lonely boy discovers that magic – and the enchanted land of his favorite books – are real.
• Going Bovine by Libba Bray – from one of my favorite authors comes a wild ride that involves mad cow disease, hallucinations, a modern-day Don Quixote journey, angels and a Mexican-American dwarf with a fondness for video games.
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld – a steampunk revisionist novel set during an alternative World War I-era world, where two teenagers find each other and must rely on themselves to survive. A bit of a departure from Westerfeld's previous novels.
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - the exciting and nail-biting second book in the successful Hunger Games series, in which Katniss and Peeta must carefully navigate their way through the world after beating the government at its own game. But the government just might have some surprises for them as well.
  
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (movie) - with each new movie adaptation, we get closer and closer to the final showdown, which on film promises to be spectacular. The HP6 movie focused more on the love lives of the core trio, but also delved into the murky past of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
• Julie and Julia (movie) - based on both Julie Powell's memoir of the same name and Julia Child's My Life in France, this movie flashes back and forth between two very different - and yet very similar - women who find their passion in the art of cooking.
  

What literary gifts are on your Christmas list this year?

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Book News Round-Up

Here in Boston, we had our first and second official snowfalls, which makes me very happy. Other things that make me happy? Book news!

• Budding writers, now’s your chance to get published. Amazon.com is once again teaming with Penguin Group to host the Breakthrough Novel award, in which a new author’s book is published professionally. This year, for the first time, authors whose work has been previously self-published are eligible for the big prize. Penguin and Amazon will also open a new category for Young Adult novels. Manuscripts will be accepted in January and February, so start writing, revising and writing some more!
• If you’re a fan of skipping to the end of the book first (as I am when it comes to any kind of mystery or thriller), then this list’s for you! The Millions blog has direction my attention to a list of the best last lines from some of the greatest novels. The list includes one of my favorites: Are there any questions? [Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1986)]
• One romance novel is boldly going where no romance novel (as far as I know) has gone before: video game land. I-Play and Nora Roberts have teamed to turn Roberts’ wedding-themed novel, Vision in White, into a casual-play, downloadable computer and video game. The game will follow the plotline of the book, interspersing the story with tasks and nuptial-themed mini-games. I’m waiting for the video-game version of Twilight, where you can hunt like a vampire or transform like a werewolf.
• This week, a first-run edition of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (first published in 1908) is up for auction at Sotheby’s. Though a relatively “new” book (being that it was published in the 20th century), there have only been 8 copies auctioned off in the last 35 years. This current copy could sell for as much as $25,000. Which pretty much means I’m not getting it. Darn financial recession!
• Amazon.com may be looking to get rid of the “.com” if the whispers are true. Despite official denials, rumors still abound that Amazon is looking to build / purchase physical, brick and mortar stores in the U.K. The timing is either highly providential or highly suspect, since Borders UK recently announced its own plans to close its UK stores. Since I still plan on living in the UK one day, here’s the deal: I don’t care who or what, but there better still be good, old-fashioned book stores when I get there.
• I’m sure you’re still hard at work, trying to find the perfect Christmas gift for me. If you’re in need of inspiration, check out the Inkwell Bookstore’s blog, which has an abundant list of Jane Austen themed gifts. I’m partial to the Pride and Prejudice board game. Just as an FYI…
• Speaking of Jane herself, I'd imagine she's rolling over in her grave right now, thanks to rumors that a film adaptation of cult-hit mash-up Pride & Prejudice & Zombies looks like a reality. Variety reports that Natalie Portman will become the latest actress to tackle the role of Lizzie Bennett - as she also tackles zombies and other baddies. I have mixed feelings about this. I love my Jane Austen, but the whole zombies thing just doesn't sit quite right.
  

See you next week, bookworms, approximately the same time, definitely the same place.

The "Fun" in Dysfunctional

If life were like a Hallmark movie, holidays would be filled with merriment, joy, peace and love. Cookies would always come out of the oven a perfect golden brown, the Christmas tree would smell sweet and never shed its needles and families would gather together to sing songs and hug.

It’s almost enough to make you go all Clark W. Griswold crazy.

Thanks to David Sedaris, however, we can now bask in the glow of a dysfunctional Christmas, a phenomenon he cleverly depicts in one of his earliest collections, Holidays on Ice. This mish-mash of short stories and real-life essays is the perfect antidote to the picture-perfect holiday greeting card Christmas that gets shoved down our throats.

In his typical sarcastic, dry and witty style, Sedaris skewers some of modern society’s best known holiday traditions. In “Seasons Greetings,” he takes the usually self-indulgent and egotistical holiday letter and turns it completely on its head, throwing readers wildly off-course. Meanwhile, the harsh theater critic in “Front Row” blasts the child-like and amateurish Christmas pageant productions put on by local schools. The morally suspect and short-sighted narrator of “Based Upon…” tries in vain to secure the rights to a Christmas story that is sure to capture audiences’ attention because it will be “based upon a true story.” And Christmas giving it taken to a new extreme by the couple in “Christmas Means Giving.”

But the star of the collection has to be Sedaris’ amusingly droll look at life as a Macy’s elf in “The SantaLand Diaries.” Throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas, Sedaris details the various humiliations the Santa Land elves must endure, all while mocking (sometimes silently, sometimes aloud) the masses and masses of Christmas idiots who come to visit Santa Land. Through Sedaris’ eyes, Christmas has never looked so unappealing.

So if you start to get sick of the overwhelmingly saccharine, Hallmark-movie-of-the-week holiday atmosphere, pick up David Sedaris’ Holidays on Ice and be grateful that there are still some people in this world more dysfunctional than you.

[Photo Credit: Google Image Search]

Book News Round-Up

It's December, bookworms, which means I can read all of my Christmas romance novel anthologies! And listen to Christmas music ad nauseam. As you read this week's book news, just imagine me, humming "Jingle Bells" in the background.

• If you like books about chopping up meat, then this book is for you! Powell's Books has an interview with Julie Powell (no relation - I think) of Julie and Julia fame. She's promoting her new book, Cleaving, about her trials and tribulations as she sets out to become a butcher and cheats on her husband, but really, I'm sure most people are interested in the meat.
• Talk about beating a dead horse. Nearly 200 after the fact, scholars are debating the reason for Jane Austen's death. All week, bloggers and Twitter-ers have been a-buzz with the possible causes of her demise. I love Jane Austen as much as the next person, but doesn't it really matter how she died? It's not like finding out is going to bring her back.
• Bloody hell! The recession across the Atlantic is affecting book stores as well. Just before Thanksgiving, Borders UK stopped taking orders on its website and is now looking for buyers for its 45 stores, even as those stores start closing down sales. This is most distressing, mostly because I had high hopes of moving to England one day. If there aren't any bookstores, why bother?
• If it works for Harry Potter, then of course it will work for Twilight too! That's the reasoning Summit Entertainment is working with this week. They're leaning towards splitting the final book in Stephenie Meyer's series, Breaking Dawn, into two films instead of one. For fans like me, it's joyous news! Five films are always better than four! It will, however, mean shelling out big bucks to keep the principal cast members. To which I say: spend, Summit, spend!
  
• Since we're (sort of) talking about Harry Potter, here's a good time to add the link to the first official picture of the Deathly Hallows movie. Part one of the movie hits theaters next November (in 2010) and judging from the picture, it looks thrilling. A sure-fire, bona-fide blockbuster.
• Crazy kids these days. They keep clamoring for more "fight-to-the-death" games stories. So it's a good thing publishers have announced the release date for the third and final Hunger Games book. Since both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire have been huge sellers, I have no worries for the third book's chances. Alas, readers will have to wait until August 2010. Patience is a virtue, or so I'm told.
  
• Fans of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series, however, will get their fix much sooner. Marr's website has the first trailers (seriously - trailers for books? That's another post for another time) for the fourth book in the series, Radiant Shadows. Marr's website also has fan-made videos of their casting wish lists for the upcoming Wicked Lovely film adaptation.
• Lastly, I know you're all dying to know what I want for Christmas and are probably agonizing over my gift as I type and you read. In case you need some helpful suggestions, you could get me this nifty, weird-looking light/pillow. Or, when in doubt, a good fallback is always literary action figures. Please note that I'm already in possession of the Shakespeare action figure, but would gladly accept Jane Austen.
  

Don't Be a Hater

I think I’m pretty transparent about my love for all things Harry Potter and Twilight. I mean, there’s not much chance you’d get any other idea from this blog. At the same time, I’m well aware that many people do not like these books and, in fact, have a passionate hatred for them.

Naïve as I may be, I just don’t understand that.

It’s easy to understand that some people don’t like certain books. I, for one, never really grasped the hype surrounding Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. There are millions of people in the world; of course we’re not all going to like the same books (or movies or television shows).

My confusion comes from the overwhelming hatred some people – bloggers, professional reviewers, authors, etc. – have for series like Twilight and Harry Potter. These people spend hours upon hours dedicating their time and energy into actively hating the characters and storylines of fictional books. Blogs are solely devoted to winning over more people to the “anti-” this or that movement. For all of the legions of fans, there are just as many people waiting to jump all over these novels, beating them into a messy pulp.

I’m not asking that everyone fall in line with my reading preferences. That would be silly. But I find it incredibly hard to comprehend that so many people spend so much of their time hating something that’s fictional. Furthermore, I find it mind-boggling that these same people want to make sure other people hate just as much as they do.

Whatever happened to respecting differences in choice? What’s wrong with saying, “It’s not a book I would like to read, but if someone else likes it, okay”? In our plugged-in, digital age where schools are replacing libraries with computers and Kindles, why not celebrate the act of reading – any reading – instead of bemoaning the choice of literature?

The Twilights and Harry Potters of the world aren’t going to replace Shakespeare and Jane Austen. So why can’t the two worlds co-exist? Why can’t we enjoy all of it, the classic literature, the “literary” novels, and the YA super-series? What’s with all the hate?

[Photo Credit: Lusty Reader]

Stand-In

I'm sorry, bookworms. I know I've been a bad book blogger this week. In my defense, this week is quickly shaping up to be one of those weeks where I can't seem to do anything right. I've had the urge - several times - to crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head, and wait for it all to be over.

Since I can't do that, I'll just try my best to find some balance and write a real blog post for you. While I'm doing that, I present an excerpt from one of my favorite books, in which the narrator waxes poetic on......a book!


From the preface to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

"[This] is...the story of a book, a book called The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - not an Earth book, never published on Earth, and until the terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or heard of by any Earthman.

Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book.

In fact it was probably the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing houses of Ursa Minor - of which no Earthman had ever heard either.

Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one - more popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty More Things to do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway?

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.

First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words Don't Panic inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover."

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