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This Week in Reading: Volume 5

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Do you ever feel like another person is really influencing your reading? Maybe you had a conversation or two and they told you that you had to read this book and that book and then this one, too? I like when that happens, especially when it’s a person whose tastes I trust. I think it kind of influenced a bit of this week and last week’s books but in a good way.

Here’s what I got:

Excavation: A Memoir by Wendy C. Ortiz (purchased) — I’m reading this one right now, and it’s fascinating. It’s a memoir of a girl who had a very physical relationship with her high school teacher and how she’s gone to understand the experience now that she’s an adult. A totally unique perspective on the teacher/student relationship story (and it’s not a story, since it actually happened).

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (purchased) — Cannot wait to read this. I’m going to intersperse this one with my novel and the reading I’m doing out of the Dorothy Parker anthology.

Compulsion by Martina Boone (review copy) — Not sure this one is for me, but I’m definitely intrigued by that cover.

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta (library) — I’ve never read it, and I think it might be tackling something I need for a project I’m working on.

Tomboy by Liz Prince (review copy) — This graphic memoir is fantastic. I’ll review it soon, but it tackles gender expression and gender identity and does so in a really great way.

The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey (purchased) — I don’t think it’s spoiler anymore to say this is a zombie novel. And while I liked it, I didn’t love it as much as some did. Though Melanie and her teacher’s relationship was a huge highlight. Definitely has great teen appeal for those who are looking for more zombie fiction (..as opposed to zombie non-fiction? I’m not sure why I included the word “fiction” there).

Under A Painted Sky by Stacey Lee (review copy) — Diverse historical fiction set on the Oregon Trail, featuring girls who have to dress as boys. I can’t express how excited I am by the premise, even though it’s not my usual fare.

The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton (purchased) — I bought this novel about a teacher-student affair at the same time as the Ortiz memoir. One of my fellow Book Riot writers raved about this title, and I had to have it.

Horrorstore by Grady Hendrix (review copy) — A horror novel set inside an IKEA-like store, and the format is in IKEA-catalog style. I’m in 500%.

Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson (review copy) — I love realistic YA about mental health, and this one is about a girl with OCD.

The Only Thing to Fear by Caroline Tung Richmond (review copy) — Alternate history about what would have happened if Hitler won World War II.

I Work At A Public Library by Gina Sheridan (review copy) — I’m looking forward to this, since I really like Gina’s Tumblr of the same name.

Girls Like Us by Gail Giles (library) — The newest Gail Giles looks interesting. It’s set after high school and it features two special ed teens.

The Saskiad by Brian Hall (library) — A teen girl in the wilderness with adventure and a best friendship with another girl. Sold.

I think I covered everything I read in this run-down, too.

Worthwhile reading from around the web. There’s some book stuff and some non-book stuff:

  • Sarah Hollowell talks about a topic I’m passionate about: Write Fat Kids.
  • Carrie Brownstein is one of my favorite celebrities. She’s bookish, she’s funny, and she’s super down-to-Earth in every interview I read of her. This piece in Bust is particularly good, as she gets into how she’s managed to have two very different career paths and she talks about how she sees and reads the feminism in Portlandia. Also, I want her memoir right now. 

And here’s something exciting that happened this month: I’ve got an article in VOYA. This piece is about girls and girls reading, and it talks about 10 YA novels published in the last year that feature dynamic, complex female characters. This is one of my favorite things I’ve written for a professional journal. It’s not online (though if it goes online in the future, I’ll share that), but if you get the print edition, it’s in the August issue. 

This Week In Reading: Volume IV

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This week was a fun one with the mailbox. I don’t tend to see a ton of books show up at the same time, but this week, I got four or five separate book surprises. Some were duplicates of things I’ve already read (which rarely happens) and I’ve already shipped those off to other people who’ll give them good homes and reads. 
In the mail this week: Hell Hole by Gina Damico, Ask The Dark by Henry Turner, The Perfect Place by Teresa Harris, Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers, Vivian Versus the Apocalypse by Katie Coyle (which I am really, really excited about), Zac & Mia by AJ Betts, The Question of Miracles by Elana K. Arnold, The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner, In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang, Night Sky by Suzanne and Melanie Brockmann, H2O by Virginia Bergin, and Taking Hold by Francisco Jimenez. I also got a copy of Alethea Kontis’s Dearest and finished copies of The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupecho and Blind by Rachel DeWoskin — Kontis’s book went directly to Kimberly, and the other two are books I already read, so they went to other readers. 
As far as reading this week, I finished three books:
Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky: This one didn’t have the same magic for me that Anatomy of a Boyfriend did, but I still liked it. I plan on writing about both books in more depth soon. I’ve had a post about female sexuality in YA brewing in my head for a while now. 
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang (October): I liked, but didn’t love, this graphic novel about social justice, economics, and gaming. I thought the illustrations were fantastic, though, and I want to seek out more of Wang’s work. I will be writing more about this book, and it left me thinking a lot about the metaphor (and non-metaphor!) of gaming in YA. This is the second book this year I’ve read where gaming plays a role in talking about social politics, which is a fascinating concept. 
Kiss of Broken Glass by Madeleine Kuderick (September): A verse novel about a girl who self-harms to fit in and subsequently gets “Baker Acted.” I had no idea what the Baker Act was so I’m glad I learned that, but the book otherwise left me underwhelmed. 
Reading from around the web this week:
  • I didn’t realize the history of TMZ — yes, that TMZ — could be so interesting or engaging. But it is! Maybe the parts I found most interesting were about how bloggers were where the idea began and who the target demographic for TMZ is. 
  • Sarah Dessen’s honesty in 5 fun facts about books she’s abandoned is really refreshing. I think there’s a tendency to think writing books is easy or fast, and it’s nice when authors like Dessen, who are so successful, talk about the very human side of it all. 

  • The US Department of Labor picked “Bartleby the Scrivener” as one of the “Books That Shaped Work in America.” Clearly, they haven’t read it. 
  • I’m not a bookplate user and never have been, but I lived with a girl who loved them and used them in college. This history of the bookplate is worth reading. I never thought about this particular microhistory nor what bookplates represented to readers in previous eras. 

Links of Note: May 17, 2014

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Isn’t this “Little House on the Prairie” cake great? 

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. I got back from the Connecticut Library Association conference to have a small number of days to get my head together and start work for Book Riot, and then I flew out to Virginia to learn more about my Book Riot work. I got back from that trip to a solid week — this past one — to settle into a nice routine, catch up on reading, and take care of personal stuff before I go on another trip starting Monday (this one a vacation for me). It’s been such a blast, but my reading the internet has dipped a bit, so this links roundup is a little skimpy.

Have you read anything great lately around the web I should know about? Let me know in the comments! And also, I’d be remiss not to mention the new and fantastic Book Riot News, which is a reddit-style site for sharing book related news. If you want to share or get caught up on book-related news from around the web, you should check it out.

  • Did you know May is Mental Health Awareness Month? Stephanie Kuehn put together an excellent reading list of YA novels that delve into various mental health issues over on YA Highway. 
  • I haven’t had the chance to play with this a whole lot, so I’ve got no idea how deep it goes, but this database is all about genre fiction by women. 
  • This post by Molly Backes begging for people to stop complaining about Harry Potter — and by extension, children’s and young adult literature more broadly — is excellent. 
  • It is the 9th annual 48 Hour Book Challenge hosted by Mother Reader, and you should sign up to participate. It’s the first weekend in June, and this year, the focus is on diversity. I can’t sign up to participate officially, but I do plan on spending plenty of time that weekend reading. 
  • This piece over at Forbes looking at the meta analysis Common Sense Media did that claimed teens aren’t reading like they used to is pretty good. I especially enjoyed the part at the end, digging into gendered reading. 
  • Can you believe it’s the eighth year for Kid Lit Con? This year, it’s going to be in Sacramento in early October and the focus is on diversity and what bloggers and kid lit enthusiasts can do to make a difference. Here are the early details. I am pretty positive I’ll be able to make it again this year and hope if you’re in the area or are able to, you can, too. 

  • Audiobook fan? Don’t miss the kick off of this summer’s Sync program, where you can download free audiobooks of classics *and* current YA titles every single week. This is such a neat program. 

A few things I’ve written over at Book Riot:
  • I talked about the new Judy Blume covers (I can’t get enough of the middle grade cover for Are You There God).
  • I’m a big fan of the Charlotte’s Web shower curtain you can pick up in Book Fetish. 

Links of Note: May 3, 2014

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Anna’s contribution to #WeNeedDiverseBooks

It’s been a crazy few weeks on my side of the (non) internet world, so my links of note post this week is a little shorter than normal. But since I didn’t do one a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to have a few things for this week to make up for it. If there’s been great reading around the web recently, I want to know about it, so feel free to link me in the comments to things I shouldn’t miss.

I guess, too, it’s worth mentioning that I got on Printz for 2016 (!!!). A huge, tremendous thank you goes out to everyone who helped me get on the ballot by petitioning for me, and a huge thank you goes out to everyone who voted for me. I’m so excited about this opportunity, and I’m excited because the other three people who were elected — Lali, Paige, and Frankie — are three excellent fellow committee members. I’ve known Lali and Paige for a couple of years, and Frankie served on Outstanding Books last year (though we never got to work together because we were on different subcommittees).

That said, here’s some worthwhile reading:

  • Are you a fan of Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries? To honor the series anniversary, which is coming up soon, Cabot announced that she’s publishing a middle grade and an adult novel to continue the story. Neat! 
  • Molly Wetta wrote a really nice reader’s advisory guide to books for fans of John Green. I had mentioned in my presentation in Connecticut this week that I think John Green might be the hardest contemporary author to find read alikes to because it’s not always easy for people to express what it is they like about Green’s books. Molly does an excellent job breaking down appeal factors and offering great ideas for next reads. 

My work elsewhere:

  • Over at Book Riot, I wrote about the “slut shelves” discussion Alexandra Duncan kicked off, and I dug into how we do disservice to girls and girl reading. This is a piece I’m pretty damn proud of. Good and thought-provoking comments, too! 

Links of Note: April 5, 2014

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from postsecret
Since I put together a link roundup last weekend, this roundup is a bit shorter than usual. With that, let’s dive right in:
  • Rita Meade rounded up a series of tweets by librarian Gretchen Caserotti who sat in on a local school board’s discussion about pulling Sherman Alexie’s Diary of a Part-Time Indian off their supplemental high school reading list. She also included some context for the challenge and the disappointing results for the book. Here’s what censorship looks like. 
  • Daniel Ehrenhaft wrote a really interesting piece for the CBC Diversity blog about trying to sell foreign rights of US novels abroad at the Bologna Book Fair. More specifically, he talks about how realistic fiction featuring diverse characters aren’t easy sells overseas and he digs into that a bit. 
  • This week, Laurie Halse Anderson did an AMA over at Reddit that is well worth reading. After she did, she sent me a message on Tumblr alerting me she’d linked to a post I wrote and she was curious what I thought about her answer about the “John Greenification” of YA. So I responded. Perhaps it’s teasing to say this conversation between us will be continued in the (very) near future.