I’m heading to Toronto this coming week for the INSPIRE!: Toronto International Book Fair. I’ve got a post set up for later this week talking a bit more about the trip and what I’m looking forward to seeing. Before that, though, here’s a look at this week in reading.
For review:
- Love & Profanity edited by Nick Healy (March 1): Carrie Mesrobian gave this to me, and it’s an anthology of real life stories from a wide variety of YA authors about being teenagers. It looks really great.
- Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards (January 6): This mystery looks pretty good! A viral sex tape and a burn book? Sign me up.
- Breaking Sky by Cory McCarthy (March 3): They’re selling this as a “debut thriller.” It’s not McCarthy’s debut novel nor her first YA. But it’s her first thriller. That “debut” word needs to stop.
- Undertow by Michael Buckley (May 5)
- A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me by Jason Schmidt (January 6): “Debut memoir.” This looks pretty interesting. I’m not sure about likening it to The Glass Castle, though.
Read this week/currently reading:
As Red As Blood by Salla Simukka: This YA novel in translation is quite similar in tone and execution as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which it was compared to. I mean this in a good way. I quite liked it, and more, I liked that it’s part of a series, but the entire story was self-contained. There’s a lot going on in the main character’s backstory we don’t get to know . . . but that leaves those sequels an opportunity to give us more about Lumikki. I will definitely pick up book two. I plan to write more about this book soon.
The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer: I thought the voice was funny, but then I didn’t find myself caring about any of the characters. I quit this one half-way through. It felt a little like the author’s voice came through too much and that got in the way of some authenticity.
The Good Sister by Jamie Kain: I’m reading this one right now and am being optimistic that some of the things I don’t like — the magical dead sister who knows everything and the two other sisters who feel a little cardboard — end up changing and surprising me. I’m enjoying the story itself. The writing is nice and tight, which I appreciate.
Around the web:
- A great round-up of YA novels that have POC-centric romances
- Sarah Rees Brennan talks about the risk involved in writing girls’ stories, and Malinda Lo notes that same risk exists in telling lesbian story lines.
- I love this short interview with Amy Poehler, where she’s asked if she’s a feminist and what she thinks about the feminist question more broadly. So good.
- Since I’ll be traveling next weekend, I can’t take part in the 24 in 48 Read-a-Thon, but you should.
- Leila at Bookshelves of Doom highlights 7 YA books featuring the suffragist movement.
I debated for a long time whether or not I’d do another contemporary YA week this year — putting the series together takes a lot of work and energy, and I wasn’t sure I had it in me — but it will be happening. December 1-5, it’ll be all contemporary YA here at Stacked, featuring 5 really exciting guest posts from voices who we’ve never had here before. In addition, there will be a big series of book lists, interesting discussions, and more.