What book releases are you looking forward to in the first half of 2016?
Top Ten Author Duos You’d LOVE To See Write A Book Together (aka my (Jamie’s) world would explode if Gayle Forman and Jandy Nelson wrote a book together) — might be hard to come up with 10 but still would be fun! Bonus points if you tell us what kind of book you’d like them to write!
Could you IMAGINE how wonderful that book would be? It’d be all sorts of cute mixed with a little bit effed up and gritty and real, and I would devour it. So, guys, can you make that happen? Kthanksbye!
Okay, this one is a little bit weird, BUT imagine Scotland + crime + magic + SCOTLAND. Ian Rankin writes gritty, amazing crime fiction set in Scotland, and I think that plus Maggie’s incredible world-building skills and magic and love of myths and legends would be super interesting to read.
So I’ve only read one book by Leigh Bardugo so far, but I can just tell that the world these two created together would blow all of our minds. And if we added Renee Ahdieh into this mix? HOLY CRAP. I need this to happen.
Yeah, I would die. Like, I would just implode if they wrote a book together. David’s snark mixed with Nicola’s passion would make for an incredible contemporary chock full of characters to fall in love with and relate to.
I just featured both of these authors in a Quiet YA post, and I think they could write a seriously amazing and realistic book together. I don’t even really care what it would be about because I know they would do whatever subject they chose justice.
Okay, I lied. One more.
ASDFJKL; This combination would literally be magic. Like, I’m pretty sure if the two of them got together, real, actual magic would fall onto the page and into our hands.
So, I’m going to need for all of these authors to actually get together and make these books happen. Which authors would you like to see write a book together?
Monday night, I had my first young adult book club at the library. I chose The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater for our first read (duh). I was a little worried that my teens weren’t going to like it – not because it isn’t GREAT (because it is. Like, seriously), but because it is quite different from most of the books I’ve seen them read. I was so overwhelmed with happiness at their reactions to the book and our discussion, which, by the way, lasted an hour and a half! We talked about the characters and the setting (we loved everything about both), the magic and the journey that each of the characters are on, what all of the characters are looking for (like Adam is looking for a family and Ronan is looking for redemption) and which of the characters was everyone’s favorite (Ronan, obviously). We discussed the fact that the romance was more of an underlying theme in the book and that the friendships and bonds between the characters was the most important aspect. We chatted about Blue and how being the only non-psychic in her family makes her different from a group of people that are already different and how that shaped who she was as a person. We swooned over characters (mostly Ronan and Gansey) and were creeped out by others (Whelk and Noah – half of us loved Noah and half thought he was weird). It was a brilliant discussion and I was so impressed with my teens.
I promise this isn’t a whole post about me being excited and happy with the turnout (even though I TOTALLY AM). One thing I asked them to do was to come up with ONE word to describe each of the characters and the book overall. I adore this series, so I thought it’d be fun to share these descriptions with you guys.
1. Ian Rankin – Who’s surprised?
2. Matt Haig – I know you are all shocked.
3. Maggie Stiefvater – Oh, man. I’m just a bag full of surprises today.
4. Stephanie Perkins – Wuuuuut?
5. Jennifer E. Smith – No way!
1. Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) – aka 1 of the 2 authors who got me into comics.
2. Brian K. Vaughan (Saga) – aka the other author who got me into comic.
3. Peter J. Tomasi (Batman and Robin, Robin: Son of Batman) – aka the author who writes my favorite comic book character.
Okay, this list is super long, but whatever. Who are your auto-buy/auto-read/auto-grabby-hands authors?
I made it to 9 authors. Most of the authors I’ve read several books from are in the 4-5 book range, and there’s several of them, so I just kept it at 6 and up. I’m counting comics are separate books, so I have two authors that have A LOT of books.
This was SO hard! I have 139 books on my 2015 Releases shelf on Goodreads, and while some of them are already out, a lot of them aren’t. What books are you anticipating in the last half of 2015?
I think a lot of people are going to find this one hard, but this was actually quite easy for me. I’ve got to like most, if not all, of your books for you to be a favorite of mine. I also don’t tend to choose someone as a favorite author unless I’ve read more than three books by them. I feel like you can tell whether you like someone’s writing from that, but not if they’ll be a favorite. At least for me.
Ian Rankin – Scottish crime fiction author. I’ve read every single one of his 33 or something books, including the non-fiction one. The only ones I don’t have are his short story collection and the book that comes out at the end of the year. I even wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on his books. I’ve interviewed him, chatted with him, gone to see his play, and hugged him. I still can’t really believe he remembers my name.
Matt Haig – English novelist. I’ve read eight out of eleven of his books. I own two others but haven’t read them yet. SOON. If you’ve been on my blog, like, EVER, you know how much I love his book The Humans, and you might’ve read my review of Reasons to Stay Alive. Pretty sure I’ll love everything he’s written and will write.
J.K. Rowling – Does this really even need an explanation?
Favorite book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Maggie Stiefvater – American, fantasy novelist. I’ve read six of her novels and I’m completely in love with her writing. She’s also one of the coolest authors I’ve ever met (I interviewed her for WatchPlayRead last year).
Favorite Book: The Dream Thieves.
Robert Kirkman – Comic author aka author of The Walking Dead. I’ve read every single issue of TWD to date (except some of those specials) and I credit TWD as getting me into comics last year (Yes, Saga is what pulled me in, but TWD is what kept me under). They could keep this series going forever and I’d probably still have it on my pull.
Favorite book: All of the Walking Dead books.
Oliver Jeffers – Children’s book author. I’ve read so many of his books, I’m not sure what the count is, but I LOVE his books. They never fail to put a smile on my face. Every time I read another, I tend to snap a picture on my phone and set it as my new background. I love his stories and his illustrations, and I can’t wait to read them to my future kids.
Favorite book: The Incredible Book Eating Boy.
Stephanie Perkins – Contemporary YA author. Stephanie’s books got me back into reading contemporary last year. I devoured the first two and bought the third one day of release with my friend Annette. I loved her story in My True Love Gave to Me, and I can’t wait to read what’s next from her. Shout out to my friend Georgie for practically forcing Anna and the French Kiss on me. I really didn’t think I was going to like it, and I ended up loving it.
Favorite book: Lola and the Boy Next Door.
I think that’s it. I could list favorite books for days, but authors? Seven is all I’ve got. Who are your favorite authors?
This was a little easier than trying to list all the amazing books coming out this spring that I want to buy! What books are on your spring TBR?
Seize the Tuesday is a book blogger meme created by Adi Alsaid and the Let’s Get Lost Buddies Street Team, to share stories about how we’ve seized the Tuesday, with a special focus on the particular book we’re reading. We’ll share our posts online with the hashtag: #LetsAllGetLost. The idea is to share little ways in which you may have embraced Bree’s motto of seizing the Tuesday. To relate it to books, you can talk about what book you’re reading, and how you stole some moments from the day to enjoy reading. It doesn’t have to be about reading, but we all know that a well-read day is a day seized. The idea is not just to help spread the word on LGL, but also to remind people to live fully, even/especially if that means spending a part of your day reading.
Since starting my blog, I haven’t reread a single book. I didn’t typically reread before starting my blog either, but I would reread a favorite every once in a while. Recently I decided to reread the Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater before I read the latest book in the series, Sinner, a companion novel. I enjoyed Shiver, but the flaws in the story (INSTALOVE!!!) were more apparent to me. Linger was wonderful and heartbreaking and lovely. Right now I’m rereading Forever, and I love being able to see how Maggie’s writing developed as she wrote this series. The story and the werewolf mythology are fascinating to me, and the development of all the characters (and introduction of new ones) gets better and better with each story.
I didn’t really do anything that fun or interesting today, so I thought today’s post could be on how wonderful it can be to reread a great book. I’m making my way through Forever and taking my time so that I can appreciate Maggie’s beautiful prose and brilliant storytelling.
Alright, I’m going to go read now. Have a wonderful night (or morning or afternoon; you guys live everywhere!).