Archives for February 2012
Books, Reading, and Pinterest
If you spend any time on social media at all, you know that Pinterest has captured the attention of a lot of people. It’s even had an entire series of posts written about it up at readwriteweb (read through all of the links — Pinterest grabbed a lot of attention over at rww). Tracey Neithercott’s talked about how she uses Pinterest for writing inspiration, while Whitney over at Youth Services Corner has talked about using Pinterest for youth programming idea inspiration. Oh, and a little news site called CNN’s talked about Pinterest being the hottest website of 2012.
I stumbled upon Pinterest last summer and used it as visual bookmarking and little more. I made up boards for recipes I wanted to try, boards for program ideas I’d like to try out at the library, some DIY stuff for myself, and more. I’m very much a visual person, so actually being able to SEE all of these bookmarks visually excites me. You can install a pinning button right onto your browser, so when you open up a blog post with a recipe that interests you, you can click the button and pin it without having to toggle between a number of different tabs.
Being that Pinterest is a social network, you can follow people whose pins interest you (and you can choose to follow specific boards of those people, rather than everything they pin). You can also choose to browse through the things everyone using Pinterest has pinned.
Pinterest thrives on the principle of discovery — the whole purpose of a site like Pinterest is that it leads to spontaneous finding of things you didn’t know you were looking for. It’s similar to how if you wander into a library and stumble upon book displays. You’re browsing without a clear goal in mind, and you’re picking up things along the way you didn’t know you were looking for. This is fundamentally different from, say, Google, where you have to actually use the site with a goal in mind. You’re not going to stumble upon a recipe or a youth programming idea without first putting a specific keyword search into Google, but on Pinterest, you can. Whether or not you know it, the internet’s moving more toward this discovery model of information retrieval, and sites like Pinterest are doing a good job making it happen.
For a long time, I avoided putting any of my own stuff up at Pinterest. It felt totally self-indulgent to create boards about, say, my book lists here at STACKED or create boards about books I love. Pinterest never seemed like a site about me, and I’m always on the fence about self-promotional stuff. A few months back, I discovered I could see what other people on Pinterest were pinning from the blog, and it was amazing to see people were actually saving things from STACKED (anyone who runs a website or blog can find out too — just swap out stackedbooks.org from that link and input your own site address). You can also see on your main Pinterest page what items from your own boards people have “repinned” onto their boards.
I’ve watched people like Leila use Pinterest to develop boards about book awards and book lists and link to their relevant reviews, and I started thinking about how Pinterest boards about books reminds me visually of a book display. Then I got to wondering what the potential spread of pinning books could be, given that all the things I pin will move to the main page and anyone who uses Pinterest can see these things. It was time to test this out.
Not everything I read ends up being blogged about here, but everything I read I do record on GoodReads. When I end up writing a review for STACKED and it posts, I head over there and link it. I decided in my grand experiment to use my personal GoodReads reviews as the pins.
I created three book-related boards: 2012 Books Read, Favorite books (must reads), and YA Booklists. The first two lists relied entirely on my GoodReads review links, while the final list was made up of the book lists I’ve made for our “Display This” series. With each list, I linked to a cover image and wrote a very short blurb about each of the books I included — I literally wrote the title, the author, and a quick reaction or thought on the title (if it was in the favorite books category). There is space, of course, to write a lot more about each of these items, but my goal was simply to see what kind of immediate spread these pins would have and whether it was worth pursuing this down the road.
After less than an hour, let me just say I am impressed.
This is only a snapshot of the activity other people have had with my Pinterest boards, but take a look at it for a second. In under an hour, my pin of Courtney Summers’s This is Not a Test garnered 10 repins and a number of “likes” (which, I’m not entirely sure what that DOES in Pinterest, but there it is). None of the people who repinned that pin are people who I follow or who follow me. My pin of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood captured 5 repins in the same time frame, and about 75% of the books and book lists I pinned were either repinned or earned a “like” from people with whom I have absolutely no relation. In under an hour. You don’t see that kind of response on a site like GoodReads because GoodReads, unlike Pinterest, is more dependent upon the search method of use. Your friends can see what you’re reading and reviewing, but not ALL of GoodReads can as easily as ALL of Pinterest can. The ten pins my original pin of the Summers book refer only to my original pin; it’s possible and quite likely that those ten people encouraged ten more pins, increasing my reach much, much beyond my own pin.
Let me repeat: in under one hour, the books I pinned into three different boards captured the attention of Pinterest users I have no relation to whatsoever. They found my pins through the main Pinterest page, and they were interested enough to save them and comment upon them. Now they’ve saved a link to not only a book cover, but also they have a link to my book review. I’m able to drive interest not only to the material at hand (the book), but also my own commentary on the material at hand.
I’m going to say that I expect these things to spread further over the next day or two, the next week or two, the next month or two, and they’ll continue to spread as long as people continue to use Pinterest as a tool of spontaneous discovery. If my goal as a book blogger is to spread the word about books (and simultaneously get people to read my opinion on these books), then I’m sold on the two seconds it takes to add my reviews to Pinterest, as well as the other places I post them. I’m reaching an entirely new and different audience — one that doesn’t necessarily engage with book blogs — and I’m able to pique the interest of new readers. I’m already thinking about the possibilities when it comes to things like the “So You Wanna Read YA?” series and how pinning those posts onto Pinterest can lead new readers to YA books (because it targets many of them specifically).
For what it’s worth, Pinterest is invite-only, but it’s easy to track down people who can hook you up with an invite — I’ve apparently got an unlimited supply as an early adopter. It’s a potential time suck in terms of finding content, but that’s the entire point (and it makes me smile when people talk about spending all day on Pinterest because that’s the entire principle behind a web discovery tool like it). There is a lot of junk to wade through on the site, especially if you wade through everyone’s pins, rather than just those pins or boards of people you follow. But you can make this site work for you and for the books you want to promote.
Rather than leave you on that note and encourage you to think about using it if you’re into books, I’ll give you some straight up ideas for how to use it. Why not develop a board of your favorite books? You’re creating a content-controlled favorite list and it makes it easy for other people to find potential “best” books and repin for their own sake. Why not develop book lists on specific subjects? I could see the value in having it become added or enhanced content for a blogger or as a way to gather material for a blog post. I’m toying with developing a series of boards about contemporary YA fiction that feature specific thematics (to go along with my database project). Whether or not people follow the boards wholly, there are people who will still find new books through the pins.
You could pin books that feature certain cover elements that are all the same (sad girls in pretty dresses, the almost-kiss face, covers that are all yellow, etc). You can pin books that pique your interest from other bloggers and generate interest that way. You can take a page out of Leila’s book and pin your reviews of award-winning books or use Pinterest as a way to keep yourself on track in different reading challenges or goals. You’re not only reaching your followers on Pinterest; you’re reaching potentially everyone who uses the site. Another bonus — at least in my experience — is the setup of Pinterest also seems to make images appear higher within the Google image search algorithm, meaning you may also be reaching people via traditional search methods.
If you’re on Pinterest, I recommend spending a little time thinking about how you could use it to further spread the word of good books. And if you’re not on Pinterest, I highly encourage you to consider it, whether for personal pinning or for the ability to discover a wealth of new things. I think the potential ability for not only bloggers, but authors and publicists, to utilize the service is wide, as well. All it takes is a little time and creativity.
When the book just does it better
Before I dive in — this post contains spoilers, but they’re pulled out and there is adequate warning beforehand. You won’t have the story or the point ruined if you don’t want it to be!
I think I’ve talked before about my enjoyment of dark things, and it’s probably pretty obvious given the books that really stand out to me tend to go to very dark places. I don’t tend to shy away from horror nor gruesome things, either in print or on screen.
Back in October, I picked up Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black. The writing in this one was deliciously creepy, haunting, and left me with chills. Hill captured atmosphere well in this novel. Atmosphere for me is sort of a nebulous idea — you can’t define it particularly well, but you know it when you read it — and it’s the atmosphere of Hill’s novel that makes it a book you don’t read in the dark (or you do knowing what the consequences will be). I became increasingly invested in this story the more I got to experience the woman in black; she crept into those places that almost made me a little jumpy.
The Woman in Black is a short book, clocking in at about 150 pages, but the story isn’t necessarily easy nor is it cut and dry. It’s a true thriller in that it leaves you with more questions than answers, and Arthur Kipps, the main character, only furthers the reader in asking questions. He doesn’t know what’s going on, and we, as outsiders, know a little more than he does but we can’t even be sure what we’ve figured out is true or simply buying into what other characters have told us. It’s a book you experience, rather than read.
I bought every word of this story until the very end, where I felt let down and disappointed with the resolution. That’s not to say Hill didn’t nail the ending because she does. It’s unsettling. Scary. But as a demanding reader, as one who’d been along for the ride, I didn’t like it. (For those looking for the spoiler-free version, skip the next paragraph).
When I read this, I saw Arthur as the first truly sympathetic character the woman ever had in her life. He’d spent the time to get to the truth of her story, the truth of why she lost her child. He wanted to put them all to rest in the proper way, and he approached this with a sort of respect no one else would give her. Despite how she treated him, he cared enough to make it right. At the end of the book when things look like they’re all right and like Arthur can resume his life as it had been prior to Eel Marsh House, she strikes again, and it’s not pretty. The conclusion, of course, being that no matter what, the woman was going to continue seeking revenge. It didn’t matter what happened or who tried to set it right. Evil won’t rest.
I felt disappointed because I’d become invested in Arthur. I wouldn’t say the ending ruined the book for me because it didn’t, but it made me think a lot about how that particular plot point could play out on the big screen. I’ve watched a fair number of horror movies, and this particular book struck me as one that might translate scenes like the last one better. Enhance them, even.
This weekend, I went and saw Daniel Radcliffe play the role of Arthur Kipp in Hill’s novel. I wanted to settle this battle with myself.
As a movie, I think this did a pretty good job. I haven’t seen the original film production — something on my to-do list if I can track it down — but I have to say, I was impressed enough. Radcliffe delivered in his role as Kipp, and I thought Eel Marsh House was rendered quite true to the story. This isn’t a gore-filled horror movie, and a lot of what made the audience jump came through what I thought were fairly cheap shots. They were effective, but they didn’t do much for me as a viewer who’d read the book. I think this is the kind of movie perfect for those who want to like scary movies but don’t. It might induce a nightmare or two, but it’s not going to psychologically ruin anyone who sees it.
I found myself paying much more attention to the atmospheric elements I’d been drawn to in the book; I didn’t find them quite there, but they were there enough. Seeing the woman in black was much less eerie than reading about her, and picturing how Eel Marsh House looked in my mind left me with more chills than actually seeing it on screen. Words, I think, are more powerful and frightening for me because they put the story right into my imagination, and I have to pull from my own experiences and ideas to depict these things. That is sometimes where true darkness lies. Having someone else’s image on screen depicting something counter to what I’ve envisioned can sometimes be a let down. So for me, there was much less impact visually than there has been upon reading Hill’s story on paper.
But the real let down for me, and the thing that left me wanting to write about this, was the change in the ending. As before, the next paragraph is spoiler, so skip it if you don’t want to know.
The film’s ending is more abrupt than the book’s. In the book, Arthur gets the opportunity to travel back to London and resume his life pre–Eel Marsh House. Things look like they’re resolved and like peace has been achieved, but then the woman strikes again. In the movie, though, Arthur never gets the chance to go home. Instead, when he gets to the train depot for his trip home, he sees the woman at the station and his son marches toward the oncoming train. Arthur dashes to the train to save his son, and in the process both he and his son die. It’s not entirely different in terms of what the resolution says, of course. The message being that the woman won’t rest. But — and this is a big but — in the film, Arthur is reunited with his deceased wife after the impact. She is, of course, representative of the angelic, of peace, of everything being okay. The ending here is ultimately redemptive. Even though the woman in black gets her revenge, it doesn’t matter because Arthur’s back with his dead wife and with his son. They’re going to a better afterlife. So the woman, as much as she thinks she’s in power here, isn’t in power. Instead, it’s Arthur’s wife.
I left the theater frustrated and maybe even a little bit angry. I wanted the ending to tell me more about what I couldn’t get from the book, but instead, I got something entirely different. Something that felt polished and clean. Of course, it made the story much more appealing to a broad audience. That’s not to say that in and of itself is problematic, but I felt myself thinking about the book.
It’s been months since I read Hill’s book, but I’ve considered rereading it. I think I liked it much more upon seeing how the story played out on screen. I think I’ve bought the ending a lot more, and I think I appreciated it on a whole new level after seeing how it was skewed on film. While these cinematic choices fall upon film makers and producers to tell the story how they see it, it wasn’t the story I read. It wasn’t the story I wanted to see on screen, either. I never expect a perfect adaptation on screen.
Walking away from a sanitized film version made me like the book on a new level — one I didn’t consider beforehand. The appeal on the film is much higher than the book itself, but that almost makes the book more for me. Knowing it doesn’t pull a punch at the end makes me appreciate it that much more. It’s darker, it’s scarier. It’s more haunting. I think it comes back to the fact I rely on my own dark places to put together the meaning, and the places where I can go are much darker, much less settled.
And thinking about it, I love the ending of Hill’s book. It was spot on. It was right. It was atmospheric.
I’m not a big book-to-film watcher, and I think this might be one of the first times I walked away from watching a book put on screen where I felt the book was cheated by the film. Reading is an intensely personal activity, and even if we talk about it, even if we blog and review the things we’ve read, it’s still a personal experience and what you take away from it comes only from what you bring to it (intellectually or through curiosity). Film, on the other hand, is much more about what the producers bring to you. It’s their interpretation of story. And while you can bring your own to it, it’s never quite the same. You’re sharing in a story with other people on many, many levels.
But I’m curious — are there other books-to-film out there you’ve felt this way about? Or if you’ve seen and read The Woman in Black (or only seen or only read), I’d love to hear your thoughts, too.
In my suitcase: ALA edition
I’m not going to talk about the things I’ve already talked about. Instead, I’m going to talk about the books I picked up at ALA Midwinter. Organized by publisher and publication date, along with links to GoodReads and any other relevant information. If you’ve read any of these, I’d love your thoughts on where I should start.
Bloomsbury Walker
Disney Hyperion
From What I Remember . . . by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas (May 2012): If I’m remembering right, this one was kind of compared to The Hangover but for teens. Which doesn’t mean much to me, since I wasn’t a huge fan of that movie.
Sway by Amber McRee Turner (May 2012): Another middle grade debut. I saw this one buzzed by a number of teachers I respect.
Rebel McKenzie by Candice Ransom (June 2012)
Lucky Fools by Coert Voorhees (July 2012): This one’s by the same author as The Brothers Torres, for those of you who know that one!
Flux
In Too Deep by Amanda Grace (available now)
Mercy Lily by Lisa Albert (available now): I’ve been curious about this one for a while not just topically, but because Lisa’s a local author to me.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Illuminate by Aimee Agresti (March 2012): This one’s a debut and the start of a series.
Radiate by Marley Gibson (April 2012): I don’t know why I pick up cancer books, knowing how much I don’t care for them. But this one sounds like it offers a bit more than the cancer plot. This is the author of the Ghost Huntress series, for those familiar with that one!
The Springsweet by Saundra Mitchell (April 2012): I really liked the first book in this series, The Vespertine. It’s historical and magical with great writing.
First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky (May 2012): I feel like there’s a post coming soon about 2012 covers featuring the almost-kiss.
Invincible Microbe by Jim Murphy (July 2012): So where I can’t handle cancer stories, apparently I’m a fan of tuberculosis stories. This non-fiction work looks like a winner.
Harper Collins
Kiss Crush Collide by Christina Meredith (available now): This one’s gotten comparisons to Simone Elkeles, who writes the kind of romantic tension I really like. Not to mention those books are impossible to keep on the shelf. This is a debut novel.
Black Boy, White School by Brian F. Walker (available now): Another debut novel. I talked about this one over at The Hub last month, and I was excited to see it at ALA.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (February 7, 2012): This is another debut, and I just finished reading it this morning. It’s a story of grief and sexual awakening. Longer review to come. This is a tome at nearly 500 pages.
Cruising Attitude by Heather Poole (March 6, 2012): This is an adult non-fiction about life as an airline attendant. I love these kinds of books, and as someone who prides myself on being an easy airline passenger, I’ve got a perverted curiosity about those who just aren’t.
Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli (May 5, 2012): It’s Jerry Spinelli, middle grade staple.
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick (May 8, 2012)
Macmillan (imprints)
The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda (May 2012): This one was sold to me at the book battle between Sterling and St. Martin’s Press. Looks like an adventure.
The Year of the Beasts by Cecil Castellucci and Nate Powell (May 2012): I think this book is near the top of my most-excited-about pile. It’s part prose and part graphic novel.
Penguin
The Catastrophic History of You & Me by Jess Rothenberg (available now): Another debut author!
There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff (available now): The publicist at Penguin, who was so eager to talk books with me, said this was one of her favorites of the season. And it looks totally up my alley.
Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson (February 2012): I heard Woodston read a bit from this at Anderson’s in September, and I’m eager to have a copy of it now.
The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour (February 2012): I’ve read this one already, and it’s an interesting story told from a male point of view. It reminded me a little of Gayle Forman’s Where She Went.
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield (July 2012): Of all the books I’ve picked up, I think this is the one I’m most looking forward to. It’s a contemporary mystery/thriller of sorts. This is Rosenfield’s debut novel.
Random House
The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (available now)
Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill (March 27, 2012): This one’s by the author of Your Own, Sylvia, and it’s a novel in verse.
Happy Families by Tanita Davis (May 8, 2012): Siblings are THE trend this year, if you read through the descriptions of the books I’ve linked to. But this one looks at coming to terms with a family member’s life choices and how they impact you as a teen.
Scholastic
Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick (March 2012): I really like Sonnenblick’s writing, and after hearing him perform this one at the Scholastic preview, I’m even more excited for it.
Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg (April 2012): Eulberg’s third novel will be the third novel by her I read. It’s also one about the performing arts.
Simon and Schuster
The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez: This one’s out already and it was the story which inspired the Lifetime film.
Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams (May 2012): Williams’s Glimpse was her first novel in verse, and I really loved how her writing worked with the format. I’m looking forward to seeing her do this again.
When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle (May 2012): This was a direct sell from the publicist. It’s a twist on Romeo and Juliet.
A Certain October by Angela Johnson (August 2012): This looks heartbreaking and I trust Johnson will do it very well.
Exciting News
It’s always weird to think about myself as knowledgeable about anything in particular. I write things down to think through them, to consider them, to speculate about them. That’s what got me interested in blogging about books in the first place.
But yesterday I got some news that made me feel like maybe — just maybe — I am actually pretty knowledgeable about something in particular.
I’ll be presenting at this year’s YALSA YA Lit Symposium in St Louis, Missouri on the topic of contemporary YA fiction and why it’s going to continue to be the future of young adult lit. It’s the second time I’ve been selected to talk about this topic on a national conference stage. As thrilling as it was the first time, the time frame for the presentation was only 15 minutes. It’s challenging to cram everything important, everything you’re passionate about, in such a small window of time.
At the Symposium, I’m not only getting an hour of time, but I’m getting to split that time with colleagues I admire. Sharing my passion for contemporary ya lit along with Angie, Katie, and Abby is something I never really envisioned, something I never thought could or would happen. Sharing my passion with other fervent fans of young adult literature at a conference ALL ABOUT young adult literature — it’s mind-blowing, really. But here it is.
Looking through the roster of other presenters fills me with an unmatched sort of excitement. That I get the chance to be talking at the same conference as people I’ve admired in the field for so long is thrilling. More, though, is the knowledge I’ll get to take away from listening to what they have to say on topics ranging from transmedia to dystopia to genre bending. I can only hope people walk away from my contemporary session with a morsel of what I suspect I’ll walk away with from their sessions.
So all of this is to say — if you’re able to go to St Louis for this event, come! This is a conference all about young adult literature. It’s a professional event meant to education and enlighten about nothing BUT ya lit.
November feels very far away, but I suspect spending these next months diving wholly into contemporary ya lit will make the wait a little bit easier.
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