Archive for the 'Books' Category
September 1, 2010 @ 8:06 pm | Filed under: Books,Family
Look at me, not posting! I’ve written a lot about the trip in my head, if that counts. It’s just: the days are busy. You know how it is. Do any of you know the picture book called Little Bean? We love that book. By John Wallace, I think it was. On full days, I always hear Little Bean in my head: Busy, busy, busy. Busy making smoothies. Busy catching up on Mad Men. Busy sorting through three weeks’ worth of mail. Busy thinking up little jobs for Rilla to do in her quest to earn coins to fatten her piggy bank. Busy learning how to be a soccer mom—Beanie is playing, this year, for the first time, and I am clueless about things like shinguards and cleats. Busy picking up erasers after Huck bit them off all the pencils and spit them out under the table. Busy taking Jane to meetings at church eight days early. Ahem. Not busy enough writing things correctly on my calendar, apparently.
Busy playing with my new Kindle. It truly is even sweller than the previous model. I went for the graphite case, even though I prefer the crisp white. I’d read that the darker frame helps improve the contrast, and I think it does. That, plus whatever else Amazon did to improve the e-ink display. It’s quite a loverly device, I must say. Slim and light and cool in the hand. Easy one-handed reading and page-turning. The annotations feature I like so much. The addictive “sample this” option that lets you read the first chunk of any Kindle book for free. (You can do that on the iPod and phone apps too.)
Last night I read the opening of James Owen’s Here, There Be Dragons, the first volume of the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. Hooked. It is now winging its way to our library branch along with Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta—another novel with an intriguing opening.
This makes it sound like I am busy reading, but as usual I am really much busier trying to decide what to read next.
Busy, busy, busy.
August 27, 2010 @ 7:51 pm | Filed under: Books
I know August isn’t over yet. I think I can safely predict that I will finish MOCKINGJAY this weekend (I’m only a chapter in), and I doubt I’ll be able to start-and-finish anything else by Tuesday.
It’s a short list this month: I was driving and visiting, not reading. We listened to two audiobooks in the car and about three-quarters each of two others. The two we finished were:
The Miraculous Voyage of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Sad and lovely, and perfectly suited for a journey.
Because of Winn-Dixie, also by DiCamillo. I’d read it before, perhaps five years ago. I really love this book. I was pondering my favorite literary librarians today (having decided to name my new Kindle*, when she arrives on Monday, “Miss Sparrow”), and Miss Franny Block comes in a close second.
The two audiobooks we haven’t quite finished are:
On the Banks of Plum Creek, which we bought at the Rocky Ridge gift shop because we were all in the mood to listen to some Laura after visiting her home; and
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck, which was loaned to us by my sweet friends Beate and Sabine. They were following our travels on Facebook and invited us to stop for lunch on Monday as we cruised through Texas. It was a delightful stop, and they were absolutely right about A Year Down Yonder being a hilarious and captivating yarn. We left Laura half-drowned in the spring freshet to give the Peck a try, and it had us giggling all the way through Arizona yesterday. We need to drive somewhere so we can finish. Like maybe in circles around the neighborhood because that is as far from home as I’m going for a while.
*That’s right, my new Kindle. I know I only just got the “old” one. See, two weeks after that one arrived, Amazon announced the New and Improved model boasting (among other tweaks) a drastic improvement in the contrast between text and background, and since my one complaint with the K2 was the poor contrast, I mournfully returned it and set my teeth for the long wait until the late-August launch of the new one. I got the shipping notice this morning; Miss Sparrow should arrive on Monday. Poor First Kindle, I hadn’t even named her yet.
August 2, 2010 @ 6:07 am | Filed under: Books,Comic Books,SDCC 2010
Again, these are books I haven’t read yet (except one)—I saw them at the con and they piqued my interest. The TBR pile moans.
Series by James Owen: The Chronicles of Imaginarium Geographica (I saw these last year too. Gorgeously designed fantasy series with an appealing premise, something about a map of all the imaginary worlds ever written about…
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (they had a very cool one-of-a-kind handbound metal edition at the publisher’s table)
Hungry Tiger Press. This is the publisher of Eric Shanower’s beautifully illustrated new editions of L. Frank Baum’s Oz books. Eric won two Eisners this year for his edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (a Marvel Comics project). Hungry Tiger publishes reprints of old Oz stories and other Baum work, including two books about The Flying Girl, “intrepid girl aviator Orissa Kane.” Baum was one of my favorite authors as a child—we still have my collection of Oz books—and I couldn’t resist bringing The Flying Girl home with me for a test flight.
Tigerbuttah by Becky and Frank of Tiny Kitten Teeth fame. My friend Sarah showed me a copy, and the art and title made me swoon. I hunted for the booth but this was late in the day on Sunday and we had a curry date with our pal Jock, so I gave up the search. The book was adorable—it’s made after the fashion of a Golden Book with many cunning details.
Buzzboy by John Gallagher. Had the pleasure of meeting John at the kidlit gathering and am looking forward to reading his comic about “what happens when the sidekicks take over.”
Nerds: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley, illustrated by Ethan Beavers. Wonderful art & a fun premise—the nerds are kids who use technology to “upgrade” their weaknesses into superpowers. More about this (and all of the above) after I’ve had a chance to read.
graphic novels for kids, SDCC, TBR pile
August 1, 2010 @ 5:56 pm | Filed under: Books
(in reverse order of reading)
A very fine month it was! Every single one of these books knocked my socks off. I suppose July is a good time of year for perpetually bare feet.
The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan
A Long Walk to Water
by Linda Sue Park
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens (in progress, rereading for the first time since high school)
Amelia Rules! Vol. 3: Superheroes
by Jimmy Gownley (middle-grade graphic novel)
Mouse Guard Vol. 2: Winter 1152
by David Petersen
Mouse Guard Vol. 1: Fall 1152
by David Peterson (reread)
GI Joe: Cobra
by Christos Gage & Mike Costa, art by Antonio Fuso
The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag
by Alan Bradley
Feed
by M. T. Anderson
Bamboo People
by Mitali Perkins
Calamity Jack
by Shannon & Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale (graphic novel)
July 31, 2010 @ 9:54 am | Filed under: Books,SDCC 2010
It’s a week after Comic-Con and I’m still working through my notes! Two more panels and another booklist to post, and then it’s likely to get quiet around here for a spell.
I scrawled a crazy amount of notes at the Once Upon a Time panel—six authors of epic fantasy discussing their craft—but the odds of my being able to translate the scrawl to English are slimmish, so never fear. This was a fascinating panel. (Hence the 12 pages of notes.) Have I mentioned I love hearing other writers talk about their work? Yeah.
The panelists, in order of seating: Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Lynn Flewelling, Megan Whalen Turner, Christopher Paolini, Patrick Rothfuss. The moderator: Maryelizabeth Hart of the awesome Mysterious Galaxy bookstore. She was great. They were all great.
Hart’s first question was about the everyman character vs. the larger-than-life superheroic character. In epic fantasy, with these sweeping adventures and grand-scale worldbuilding, does the main character also need to be larger than life? (more…)
Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Christopher Paolini, epic fantasy, high fantasy, Lynn Flewelling, Megan Whalen Turner, Patrick Rothfuss, SDCC
July 28, 2010 @ 6:04 pm | Filed under: Books,Graphic Novels,SDCC 2010
Again, quickly typing up my notes. These are things that piqued my interest and beg a closer look, when time permits.
No particular order here except the order in which I encountered them at the con. (UPDATE: this post got too long! So now it’s a Part One.)
• Owly (kids’ graphic novels, the one I saw was wordless and sweet, published by Top Shelf Press)
• Practically everything at the First Second (:01) booth made me drool—I was already familiar with these folks, having read (and been blown away by) Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese a little while ago. Gene was on one of the children’s graphic novel panels I attended at SDCC last year.
Gene Luen Yang and Jennifer Holm at SDCC 2009.
This year, “Urgent Request” from The Eternal Smile (written by Gene; illustrated by Derek Kirk Kim) won the Eisner for best short story, which is very exciting. To my amusement, at the very moment I was paging through Eternal Smile, I looked up and there was Gene with his family at the First Second booth. He and his wife had their three small children in tow—Gene was wearing the baby in a front-carrier, a heartwarming sight. We chatted briefly; it was a delight to meet them.
• Back to First Second Books. Other titles that caught my eye:
—Cat Burglar Black
—Adventures in Cartooning—we’ve checked this out from the library, big hit with my kids, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before
—Foiled (Jane Yolen)—has been on my TBR list, even more appealing in person, wonderful art
—Tiny Tyrant
—The Color of Water
• Hill & Wang, an imprint of Macmillan. Boy was I impressed with these folks! They’re publishing nonfiction graphic novels on a somewhat stunning range of topics. Author Jonathan Hennessy gave me a copy of The United States Constitution—that’s right, it’s the Constitution in graphic novel form—and when I brought it home to Jane, she devoured it the next day. She’s raving about it; I’ll write more when I’ve had a chance to review it myself.
Other intriguing Hill & Wang titles:
—The Cartoon Guide to Economics. I went back to the booth on Sunday to buy this—I usually save my purchases for the last day so I don’t have to lug stuff around for too long—and dadgummit, it was sold out. But it’s on my list of must-haves for Jane. And I hear there’s a Cartoon Guide to Statistics on the way…
—The 9/11 Report. Scott bought a copy of this. He’s excited.
—The Stuff of Life, “a graphic guide to genetics and DNA” with art by one of my favorite Comic-Con pals, Zander Cannon. There’s a sequel on evolution forthcoming soon.
—Biographies of Isadora Duncan, Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, J. Edgar Hoover, Che Guevara. We came home with the Duncan bio; Jane enjoyed it; more on that one later too.
—Anne Frank: The Authorized Graphic Biography. Arresting art. I’m eager to take a closer look at this one.
—The Beats, a graphic history of the beat poets with text by Harvey Pekar.
OK, that’s a lot for one post. More to come in a follow-up.
biography, First Second, graphic novels, Hill & Wang, homeschooling high school, SDCC
July 28, 2010 @ 2:12 pm | Filed under: Books,SDCC 2010
I owe my daughter Jane a nod of thanks for this one. Sunday-morning-at-10:00 panels don’t usually make my list, but Jane attended Comic-Con for the first time on Sunday and she was especially keen to hear Rick Riordan speak about his Percy Jackson books. So in we went, bright and early, and snagged good seats about four rows from the front.
The interviewer was acclaimed Irish author Michael Scott, an authority on Celtic folklore and writer of the popular Nicholas Flamel series. Both Scott and Riordan had a wonderful rapport with the audience, showing genuine affection for their enthusiastic young fans. I so enjoyed the warmth, humor, and wisdom radiating from these two amiable authors. Michael Scott asked wonderful questions and could undoubtedly have gone on asking them for a good long while, but the queue of readers eager to ask Riordan their own questions was so long that Scott graciously turned the floor over to the fans about halfway into the hour.
I’m pressed for time today (this week, this month) so what I’m going to do is simply type up my notes. If any point is particularly interesting to you, leave a comment and I’ll try to expand on it there. (more…)
Michael Scott, Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan, SDCC, writers on writing
July 27, 2010 @ 1:25 pm | Filed under: Books,SDCC 2010
“So what do you do at Comic-Con, anyway?” a friend asked me. My con experience is generally quite different from most of my friends’ experiences there, the daytime parts at least. Most of my con pals are writers, artists, and editors who are there to work. They put in time at publishers’ booths, they sign books and do sketches, they speak on panels and meet fans and go to special events. For most pros, it’s a fun week, but a hard one too, often quite exhausting. People are usually pretty wiped out by Sunday afternoon. Even I am exhausted, and I didn’t have to work. As you know, I took a break from fiction writing with the last two babies, so I haven’t had any new books to promote in the past couple of years. (Though I suppose this is as good a time as any to tell you that I did get back to work in January, and I’ve finished a middle-grade novel and a young graphic novel, and they are both in the capable hands of my agent now, so yay for that! I’m feeling my way into the next book now. But that’s a topic for another post…)
At dinner with Babymouse author and utterly lovable person, Jenni Holm, and her delightful husband, video game developer Jonathan Hamel. My crazy gremlin smile is because that is how happy they make me.
Anyway, for me, as a pro who has been on hiatus, SDCC is kind of an ideal convention experience: I get all the fun of spending time with writer and artist friends, many of whom I only see once a year, and I get to explore the vendor hall and scout out interesting new books to read—which you know is pretty much my favorite pastime—but I am also free to attend panels all day long, if I wish. And I love the panels at Comic-Con. I love listening to other creative professionals talk about their work. The folks who speak on SDCC panels are some of the smartest, most talented, most interesting people I’ve ever had the pleasure to listen to. Comic book writers and artists, children’s book writers, science fiction and fantasy authors, cartoonists, editors…a feast for the curious mind.
So: I went to lots of panels, and when I wasn’t tweeting about them, I took copious notes in my notebook—notes I will shortly attempt to write up here, for my own records if nothing else. Here are the panels I attended; I’d love to know which ones you’d be most interested in hearing more about:
• “Once Upon a Time”—panel on high fantasy with authors Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Lynn Flewelling, Megan Whalen Turner, Christopher Paolini, and Patrick Rothfuss. SUCH A GREAT DISCUSSION! Topics: everyman vs. superhero; role of prophecy/destiny in fiction.
• Digital comics (this one turned about to be more about marketing than the creative and technical processes)
• Webcomics
• The LOST Encyclopedia
• Rick Riordan interviewed by novelist Michael Scott (EXCELLENT panel; I tweeted notes and took many more)
• “Entertaining One’s Inner Child”—panel of children’s graphic novel author/illustrators moderated by Jennifer Holm. The panelists were: Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules), Sina Grace (Among the Ghosts), Matt Holm (Babymouse), Adam Rex (Fat Vampire), David Steinberg (Daniel Boom), and Greg Van Eekhout (Kid Vs. Squid).
• Spotlight on the legendary comic-book writer and Batman editor Dennis O’Neil, moderated by my favorite man in comics, a handsome fellow by the name of Scott Peterson
Besides the panels, there were lunches and dinners and discussions that lasted late into the night. On Saturday evening a large group of children’s lit folks—authors, artists, and editors—met for drinks at the Hyatt and then a bunch of us drifted over to Buster’s Beach House for fish tacos and lively chat.
The lovely Raina Telgemeier, author/illustrator of Smile (the graphic novel Rose has read at least six time in the past four weeks), and her husband, cartoonist Dave Roman.
I’ll share my enticing book discoveries in another post; exploring the publisher booths occupied a considerable number of my hours at the con. And, of course, there was plenty of time simply to marvel at (and sometimes be overwhelmed by) the crowds—tens of thousands of creative, colorful comic-book fans, some of the most dedicated and passionate readers in the world.
July 27, 2010 @ 6:10 am | Filed under: Books
Coolest thing I saw at the con. These pictures don’t come close to doing it justice. I chatted briefly with the owner—she did all the work herself. Wish I’d gotten her name. Amazing craftsmanship.
July 15, 2010 @ 5:53 am | Filed under: Books
Lest you think my recommendations are always on the mark: the following note from my husband, who stayed up late finishing a book I had thrust upon him, was waiting in my inbox this morning.
I may very well have hated [redacted] worse than I’ve ever hated any work of art in my life.
I’m putting John Mayer videos on unstoppable loops on your computer and the TV.
Oh, he is a diabolical master of revenge. If you never hear from me again, you’ll know why.
