Alissa Grosso

It’s group blog time once again, but starting this week It’s Monday What Are You Reading? is being hosted by Sheila at One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books.

This week I read the awesome Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I also read The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon. At the moment I’m reading the very hard to put down Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.

Beautiful Creatures

This YA novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is described as Southern Gothic. Take everything you love about To Kill a Mockingbird stick the characters in a modern high school, then throw in some dark supernatural elements and you get a pretty good feel for Beautiful Creatures. It’s one of those books you just want to curl up on the couch with and lose yourself in its pages for a couple of hours. This book was recommended by several people, and I was not disappointed. If you haven’t yet done so, you need to read this book.

The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation

I remember when the original 9/11 Report came out being curious, but not curious enough to wade through the dense 600 and some pages of that book. Thankfully Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon came up with the brilliant idea of creating a much abridged graphic novel style adaptation of the report that presents all the essential points of the original report in a very accessible format. It’s still weighty stuff, and full of depressing information, not just the sad terrorist attacks that happened more than 8 years ago now, but the fact that it’s very likely our government hasn’t really learned from the mistakes that allowed the 9/11 attacks to occur. A report card at the end of the book asks the 9/11 commission to judge the country in how well they have followed through with the suggestions made by the commission, and it is pretty bleak.

What’s next

I’m nearly done with both of the books I am currently reading. After that it’s on to Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr and Squirrel Mother by Megan Kelso.

What about you? What books have been keeping you company this week?

I do most of my writing directly on the computer because it’s a lot faster than trying to write stuff out by hand, and when I’m a few thousand words into something and suddenly decide that the beginning is all wrong, it makes it that much easier to go back and fix things. Still, I do love paper and find it very hard to resist a brand new fresh pad of paper or a notebook. It’s like those blank lines are just waiting for me to fill them up with brilliant ideas.

For me, computers don’t lend themselves to outlines, for that only a good old fashioned pen and paper will do. With that in mind I sat down last night with a crisp new pad of paper and some ideas dancing through my head that I wanted to jot down as a very rough outline. I didn’t get too far before I was fighting off sleep and writing things that turned out to be gibberish. I felt like I was back in my overheated Spanish II classroom all over again trying to keep my eyes open while Senora prattled on in a language I couldn’t understand. Just like in Spanish II, I succumbed to sleep and I’ll have to take another stab at that outline on my now not quite clean pad of paper.

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.

A week spent traveling all over creation or thereabouts doesn’t necessarily lend itself to lots of reading. I did manage to finish up This is Me, Jack Vance by Jack Vance, the other two books I got through this week were audios I listened to while driving around, Feed by M. T. Anderson and Superfreakonomics by  Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

This is Me, Jack Vance

I’ve always loved author memoirs. Jack Vance is one of those science fiction authors I discovered when I was younger after reading a short story in an anthology. When the internet was still young, I found a great website that sold all sorts of old science fiction paperbacks and went about tracking down every Jack Vance book I could find. Even though his books contained a lot of the classic science fiction themes, there was something about his writing that was always a notch above the average science fiction book. This memoir was not exactly what I expected. It read more like a travelogue recounting the various adventures he had, mainly with his wife as they journeyed around the world. I suppose that writing about writing can be sort of boring, but I would have preferred a bit more of that and less descriptions of meals consumed, but that’s just me. It was an interesting book, nonetheless. Jack Vance lost his eyesight later in life, and so this book and his other recent stuff was written via dictation. Perhaps because of that, the book has the feel of someone sitting down and telling you a story about their life.

Feed

This is one of those novels I’ve been meaning to read for awhile, but never got around to. M. T. Anderson imagines a future in which nearly everyone has a device implanted in their brain that allows them to communicate instantly with anyone around them, but also tracks all their behaviors and is constantly streaming advertisements into their head. This was a book where the audio experience was definitely different than reading the book. The portions where we caught a glimpse of what the feed was like was done with different voices and sound effects to bring it to life. That said, there were points when the sudden intrusion of the feed startled me as I was driving and made me jump a little. It’s one of those science fiction stories that paints a dark view of the future, and gives one plenty to think about.

Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

This is one of those non-fiction books that is full of quirky facts that I find fascinating. The book covers it all from the disturbing – the centuries old problem of doctors not washing their hands – to the wow – a man who has discovered a cure to the common hurricane – and even just interesting stuff like the fact that child safety seats are no safer than standard seat belts. This “sequel” (though, I assure you the order in which you read the books doesn’t matter) was another great compendium of things that make you think a little differently about the world around you.

What’s Next

Right now, I am reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. The audio version of An Abundance of Katherines by John Green will keep me company during this week’s travels. I’m not sure what else will be on tap. I think it will depend a lot on my mood.

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 own head as some woman started telling me about the wonders of a new foamy hand soap that would keep me and my family safe from scary germs. It took me a moment to realize that this was a talking video advertisement located near a display of the foamy soap. As I walked through the store, I noticed there were more of these video ads scattered throughout the store. It was a weird experience.

I suppose a brain implanted feed can’t be too far away. I think I’ll pass on having one installed.

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 comics blend retro style comics with a healthy amount of weirdness to produce wonderful gems. Interspersed throughout are extremely funny fake advertisements. If you like your funny stuff on the quirky side, this is definitely worth checking out.

The Dark Divine

Bree Despain’s debut novel is a classic YA paranormal romance. From the first page I was sucked into the story even though at first, I wasn’t so sure about the seemingly perfect main character. Grace is a minister’s daughter who gave the impression of being  a little too goody-two-shoes, but she soon proved to be a wonderfully well-rounded girl, and it was hard to put down this book as I tried to find out what was going to happen to Grace and her tortured boyfriend, Daniel.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox

This young adult science fiction novel by Mary Pearson is set in a not too distant future, where medical technology has made some tremendous leaps forward. From the start we know that something is not quite right with Jenna, and we soon figure out what is going on, long before she actually works out what happened. Jenna is forced to come to terms with her own identity. The story raises some interesting questions about how far medical technology should go and what it means to be human.

What’s Next . . .

Right now I am reading the memoir This is Me, Jack Vance by Jack Vance and listening to the audio version of Feed by M. T. Anderson. I have plans to dive into Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl next, as well as Superfreakonomics by D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

What are you reading this week?

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 OPWFT!

Map found via Driko Land

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 the past seven or so years, excepting a six month stretch spent in Maine. It’s a weird and wonderful state in many ways, and although there may be nicer places to live there are few that are quite as colorful as New Jersey.

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 of the band. His next door neighbor and childhood friend is the ultra-popular Margo Roth Spiegelman, but when Margo disappears and Quentin takes it upon himself to track her down, he starts finding out that he doesn’t know Margo as well as he thought he did. John Green has a knack for writing about and for teens, and his novels manage to be both fun and thought-provoking.

Makers

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author who occasionally writes for the YA end of the spectrum. His latest book, Makers, is clearly an adult novel. There are a lot of characters in this near-future science fiction book, but I think the main character here may be the technology itself. The biggest difference between the world of the novel, and our own is the existence of 3-D printers. Rather than paper these printers are fed with “goop” and what they turn out is various three dimensional objects. What this means is that production becomes much more of a small scale sort of thing. The novel follows this technology and the different players involved in using it as they try to understand the business logistics of it from the geeky engineers who just want to make stuff to the Disney executives who just want to make big bucks. It’s an interesting look at a very possible future.

What’s Next

Right now I just began the funny, out there graphic novel Tales Designed to Thrizzle Volume 1 by Michael Kupperman and am listening to the audio version of the YA novel The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson. I’m not sure what I’ll be diving into next, I bought a few YA novels with an Amazon gift certificate I had, and I’ll probably have to do an eenie meenie miney moe to figure out which one I read next.

If you are writer, you are probably aware of the fact that many publishers will not even look at manuscripts submitted by unagented writers, and getting an agent can be a real challenge. My Wall Street Journal reading father, is always helpfully passing on articles he finds interesting, and the latest was this article on the death of the slush pile which appeared in yesterday’s paper.

Among other things, it makes the case that the internet, which was supposed to level the playing field, may have actually made it even more difficult for new writers to get published, because the internet itself is like one big, overwhelming slush pile.

That said, I know for a fact that the slush pile has not been killed off completely. There are still some publishers out there who accept manuscripts from unagented writers. I submitted my own manuscript for The Balderdash Semesters directly to Flux, a small publisher specializing in YA fiction who still accepts manuscripts directly from authors. Digging through that pile of slush, editor Brian Farrey found my manuscript and decided that it was worthy of publication.

So, take that Wall Street Journal article and any other advice that warns you that it’s next to impossible for a new writer to get published, with a grain of salt.

Today’s group blog topic, hosted by Stephanie Faris at Steph in the City is plans, specifically the plans for our literary careers. You can participate in this group blog by clicking here.

At first I was stymied by what to write about. Plans? What are those? I’m more a go with the flow sort of person. Then I read Stephanie’s story, and I realized that I too have tried out a few different plans before knowing just where I wanted to go, and believe it or not they all started when I was about ten years old.

That summer, I was going with my family on vacation to North Carolina. We had rented a condo there with a couple of other families, and were spending a week in the outer banks.

I had a plan. I was going to write a novel about that week, and it was going to be the greatest novel anyone had ever written ever. It was going to be called North Carolina (how’s that for brilliant?) and it was not going to be some silly kid’s book. No, it was going to be an adult novel (never mind that I didn’t read adult novels at the time) that was going to be a big fat 500 page book of pure literary awesomeness. In fact, it was going to be so good that Nancy Reagan herself was going to come to my town and give me an award.

What can I say? I was a strange kid.

Anyway, the reason you’ve never heard of the brilliant novel North Carolina before now is because I never wrote it. In the end that week-long vacation became nothing more than a few sentences in my cheesy little diary.

Fast forward to college, when I got into science fiction in a big time way. I was an English major so I read a lot of books, and I’m one of those people when asked to list her favorite book asks if she can pick her top 50 instead, but if there’s a genre for which I will always have a particular fondness, it is science fiction. So, when I took creative writing classes and found myself working on a novel, it was, of course science fiction. My professor asked that we pick a book whose style we liked and which we felt closely mirrored where we wanted to go with our novel. My choice was The Space Merchants by Frederick Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth

Unlike North Carolina, some of you may have actually heard of The Space Merchants, though probably not many. It’s not exactly Catcher in the Rye. Anyway, The Space Merchants can in no way be accountable for the complete mess of a novel that I finally completed and turned in as my honors project. The funny thing is that I’ve been thinking about this novel, and its basic premise and realize that it might work really well as a young adult novel, but with completely different characters and a b-story that actually makes sense, well, for that matter, an a-story that actually makes sense.

I didn’t stop writing when I got out of school, but I’ve never been good about focusing on things so I jumped around between a bunch of different projects, including doing some work on something called The Balderdash Semesters, which did after years and years of off and on work turn into something suitable for publication, and so suddenly I realized I’m a YA author.

With that realization, my own diabolical plan was born. I am going to write some awesome young adult novels. They are going to be the kind of books I would want to read, and maybe that will bring success in the form of financial gain, and maybe not, but either way I’ll be doing what I love, and that’s pretty cool.