Word By Word

is an lecture of sorts, done as a result of the great success that Anne Lamott had with her book Bird by Bird which I hope to read very soon.  Word By Word is great though.  And it makes me want to read the book even more.  There is so much more here than advice for aspiring writers.  And today I even wrote 400 plus words!  So thank you, Ms. Lamott for your continued wisdom and joy.  It was cool listening to this after having finished the latest Jack Gantos book, on the same topic but for kids, but man, really for anyone.  I wonder if Gantos and Lamott have ever met.  I bet they would get along very well!

Mr. Gantos

makes me proud to be from Western Pennsylvania.  With my Western PA accent and all.  I do feel embarrassed by it sometimes.  I know that many consider it to be low class and look down upon me for it.  I understand.  So when I hear Jack Gantos, brilliant man that he is, speaking with such a thick WPa accent, it honestly can bring me close to tears.  Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories is a fantastic book in that it is completely hilarious and entertaining, just like all of his books, and it also give excellent help and instruction for aspiring writers. 

This was wow

Autoboyography was something else. 
It was so respectful.
It was beautiful.
This is really, really important.
If you are a person of faith.
If you are not a person of faith.
If you are a person you will love this book. 
Christina Lauren (two people!) also wrote House.  Very different from this one, but I loved it, too!

The F Word

I really, really resonated with Bad Feminist in a lot of ways.   The book isn't just about feminism though.  It deals with a lot of issues.  One of the things that kept running through my mind was that this was written in the Pre-Trump days.  Things were bad then, but they are even worse now for women.  No, for humans!  Dr. Gay is brilliant.  Witty, too. 

An Accident

The Boat Rocker was a book I read by total accident.  I didn't even realize it was an accident until I was 1/2 way through it, but I was hooked.  I saw a book with a similar cover and thought that I wanted to listen to it, then I saw this one available on audio and it completely hooked me.  Not knowing much about China, this makes me want to know more.  And I loved the main character, Feng.  It was just perfect.  Loved it.  Highly recommended.

Yeah...

Eliza and Her Monsters....this was really, really good.  It had to be, I mean, it isn't out on audio and yet I had an easy time of reading it.  Which is so rare to me.  Fandoms are something of which I have little personal experience, but I know about, and shipping and things like that, but I think that it was all well explained, but for the teen audience, I am sure they all know what those things are, it's just oldsters like me who might not!  I didn't know that there were so many fandoms!  There is a Golden Girls one!  There is even fan fiction written about Judy!
There are many things I loved about this book.  The parents and their humanness and the reality of Eliza's feelings about what she might want to do at the turn in the road and the humanness of Wallace, even though he did make me mad.
Navigating the world of online and "face to face" is hard at any age, and I would think especially for teens.  I thought this was just very real.  I also loved Eliza's brothers.  Again, very real.
It is on my top three, along with The Hate U Give and Bang.

Dreamers

Nikki Grimes is one of my most favorite authors.  Words with Wings was a wonderful book, written in poetry, from the POV of a young girl who lets words take her away.
I was talking recently with a kindred spirit, a friend who, even more than I, appreciates the power and wonder of words.  She does incredible work with middle schoolers, especially boys and believes in the empowering power of words.
Words with Wings is a book that these middle school boys probably wouldn't like!  But boy, this book is for anyone who has been called a daydreamer, for anyone who can appreciate and fall in love with words.  

Misery for the Teen Crowd

The Detour is a lot like Misery, but not really.  But kinda.  But I have no problem with it, because 1.  I don't like Stephen King and 2.  S.A. Bodeen acknowledges that it is like Misery, when the author in this book is kidnapped and she herself says that she feels like she is in the book Misery.
The author in this book, Livvy Flynn is a teen and a teen author.  And the book is really well done.  It has action and drama and contemplation and all of that!  I think guys would like this, too, even though the story is told from the POV of a female.  There is a enough to keep it all moving.  The daughter of the kidnapper is super creepy.  And man...that bee scene?!

The Amazing Marcus

Sedgewick, I mean.  But if you have read midwinterblood or She is Not Invisible, you knew exactly which Marcus I meant. The audiobook download for She is Not Invisible wasn't available in the US when I wanted it, but I got it off amazing on CD and man, it was just excellent.  The narrator, Anna Cannings, read the book from Braille and there is a neat interview with her, conducted by Sedgewick at the end.  She has quite the impressive resume when it comes to voice work and man, you can see why.  She does an excellent, excellent job.  

It does help that what she is reading is such a good, good, good story.  

This is another one of those books that made me think, man, there are some super brilliant and gifted people out there and we're lucky when they take the time to share their gifts with us. 
The story is great.  And I learned a lot, too.  About Jung, Coincidence, the Pauli Effect.

Learn Something New Every Day

After I read School Story by Andrew Clements I was looking at the reviews in various places and came across the comment that the book in the book is a Mary Sue.  What is a Mary Sue?  Maybe you know, but I didn't.  Apparently a Mary Sue is a character who is just so amazing and over the top wonderful that she brings down the whole plausibility of the book. 
School Story is the story of two friends, Natalie and Zoe who set out to get Natalie's book published.  Natalie and Zoe are normal girls with realistic personalities, but according to some, the book that Natalie has written is a Mary Sue.  I don't know if I agree or not.  Some books really are great.  Natalie is only a bit younger than S.E. Hinton was when she wrote The Outsiders. 
Every time I read another Andrew Clements book, I like him more.

Flipped!

That's what I did when I saw the released-this-week Phantom of the Post Office, 43 Old Cemetery Road #4 on the shelf!  I wanted to DEAR!  
In this episode the US Postmaster General is coming to Ghastly to shut down the post office and introduce VEXT Messaging.  With VEXT you get a veil that allows you to see the person with whom you are communicating, and watch movies, and style your hair, and do all sorts of things!  With VEXT also comes the end of not just letters, but the written word.  
Totally hilarious!  Can't wait for the next one!
This is such a smart and funny series by the talented Klise sisters!

Prague Spring!

A Field Guide for Heartbreakers is set in Prague and I read it during the the spring, hence, Prague Spring. Having never been to Prague, I liked learning about the Astronomical Clock, the Charles Bridge, and the Sedlec Ossuary so that was a huge plus for this story of two BBFs, Veronica and Dessy are headed to a Short Fiction Writers' Conference in Prague the summer before their senior years in high school. Veronica's mom is the leader of the workshop and a pretty accomplished author, but the girls got into the program on their own, we are told.

Veronica wants to do only one thing during her time in Prague and that is find hot dudes. Dessy is hoping to hone her writing skills and get over her jerko boyfriend who dumped her by giving her a laminated card with a list of her three major flaws. Nice guy, huh?

It's a light story and the main characters can be super annoying, but it was a fast read and made me do some research on Prague! Props for that.