Posts made in January, 2010

I experienced a slightly disturbing case of life imitating art the other day. I had just finished listening to the audio version of Feed by M. T. Anderson. For those not familiar with the book, it’s set in a future where folks have the feed implanted in their brains, which is sort of like having an internet connection inside your head where you are bombarded by advertising almost constantly. The audio experience of the book, really brought this aspect of the book to life with reenactments of the advertisements complete with sound effects and music. The other day I stopped in a Wal-Mart that opened back in the fall. While, any experience to Wal-Mart can be disturbing, mine was especially so because for a moment there I thought I heard a feed going inside my...

It’s Monday What Are You Reading? is a group blog hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog. You can link your blog by clicking here. This week I finished up the awesome and hilarious graphic novel Tales Designed to Thrizzle: Voume 1 by Michael Kupperman, read the hard-to-put-down YA novel The Dark Divine by Bree Despain and listened to the audio version of  Mary Pearson’s YA novel The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Tales Designed to Thrizzle: Volume 1 Graphic novel isn’t really the right term for this work by Michael Kupperman, as novel implies that there is one overarching story. This is not the case, instead this is a brilliant collection of a bunch of humorous short comics. Most are one or two pages at most. It’s in full color and many of the...

Yesterday I got something other than bills and junk mail in the mail, which is always cause for celebration, and this was an extra special day because I received an awesome prize from Jennifer Wood at the very awesome blog Old People Writing For Teens. The prize included a copy of the YA novel Handcuffs by Bethany Griffin, which I can’t wait to read, a very cool journal for those mindless ramblings of mine and a pretty butterfly bookmark. Thanks, Jennifer and...

A friend of mine alerted me to a book review in this past Sunday’s New York Times of Beth Ann Bauman’s YA novel Rosie and Skate. The novel sounds good, but that’s not why the review was pointed out to me. It’s because it opened with this line: New Jersey is a teenage state: it looks awkward in places, has questionable ethics from time to time and plays perennial underdog to New York. Perhaps this is why it’s home to so much good young adult literature. All along I thought that the reason I was drawn to writing and reading books for teenagers was because I was immature and really just a kid at heart, but perhaps it’s because like Beth Ann, I am a Jersey girl. These days, I am back in the garden state after living in Pennsylvania for...

It’s Monday What Are You Reading? is a group blog hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog. You can link your blog by clicking here. This was a two book week for me. I listened to Paper Towns by John Green on audio and read Makers by Cory Doctorow. Paper Towns Paper Towns is a great YA novel, with all the elements that make for a good teen read. There’s silly pranks, a mystery and even a zany race against time road trip. It’s realistic fiction, and the sort of realistic fiction that actually feels real. The characters are multi-dimensional and fight off those usual high school stereotypes. Our main character is Quentin a high school senior on the verge of graduation, who spends a lot of time in the band room, even though he isn’t even a member...