five discoveries in five years

Five years ago today I started blogging. The blog began as a promise to myself to begin 'something good' in the midst of one of the toughest years of my life. And for a while I didn't have a defined blogging identity. In those first few months I brought up books only rarely. Interests (like blood) will out! I found myself reading book blogs, and thinking, "I could do that. I could talk about books." By July 2009 most of my posts were book-related.

One of the wonderful side effects of jumping into this world has been new book and new-to-me author discovery. I feel incredibly lucky to have found new standby authors. I trust their stories: for entertainment, wisdom, emotion, and always, always beautiful writing. So on this fifth anniversary of my blog, I'm highlighting five authors blogging has introduced me to.  Many thanks to Charlotte and Liviania for the idea!

Patrick Ness – The Knife of Never Letting Go was one of the first dystopian novels I read back when that trend was just beginning. I believe it was on a list at Rhiannon Hart's blog along with The Hunger Games (which I ugly-cried in public over). That was enough to get me to try it. And then a little later I read A Monster Calls and realized that making me cry and cringe and FEEL was going to be Ness' modus operandi. He writes powerful fiction and incredible voices. I think I will always look forward to his next project.

Meljean Brook – Velvet at vvb32reads was one of the early cheerleaders for steampunk, and I took part in several challenges and events that she put on, including the Iron Seas challenge, which featured Meljean Brook's books. ZOMG, these are *amazing* and worth a read even if you usually stay away from romance as a genre. Brook writes seriously wonderful characters, who are surrounded by amazing world-building, and you get a guaranteed happy ending. What could be better?! I count down the months to every single new release.

Sherman Alexie – I was introduced to Sherman Alexie in my first year of blogging by Leila of bookshelves of doom and Steph Bowe.  And I’ll be forever grateful to those two, because Alexie is one of the greats of our time.  You can’t go wrong, whether you choose his YA classic The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian or a short story collection like War Dances.  Alexie’s insightful writing is commentary as much as entertainment, and important as well as beautiful.

Catherynne M. Valente – I discovered Catherynne M. Valente by following a link on Neil Gaiman’s blog (I'm pretty sure that's where I found it?!).  My love for Gaiman’s fiction preceded blogging, so I was already in the habit of reading his updates.  And then one day he mentioned Valente, who wrote The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making as a serial novel/desperate call for help.  Valente’s struggles spoke to me, but the book even more so.  The story is such a lovely, bizarre, fantastical tale of Fairyland that I made a place for it in my heart, for always.  I’ve since read several other Valente titles, and I always feel a sort of reverence or wonder for her way with words and her imagination at large. 

Sharon Shinn – I can’t remember who introduced me to Sharon Shinn.  I would say Angie of Angieville (she’s a huge Shinn fan), but according to my review of Archangel, my first taste of Shinn was Angelica, and I don’t believe Angie reviewed that one.  ANYWAY.  Blogging not only introduced me to Shinn’s sci-fi series featuring angels, but to her writing as a whole.  Which is always delightful and thoughtful, as well as wrought with feeling and romance.  I pick up Shinn novels like clockwork now whenever I feel the need for speculative fiction that will turn me inside out and make me swoon.

Those are my five author discoveries.  Do you have any go-to favorite authors that you discovered via blogging?

a monster calls

A couple of years ago, I went on a dystopian reading bender (snaps to Rhiannon for that craze), and I was most impressed by Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go. It was raw and amazing, and I resolved to keep an eye out for Ness’ books. Last summer I started hearing trickles of praise for his latest release, A Monster Calls. Then Kiersten White wrote about how much she loved and cried over it. I placed it on hold at my local library and that was that.

An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting – he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd – whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself – Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

Patrick Ness has a talent for pulling emotion out of the most reluctant reader. He writes stories that reach the hidden thoughts we all carry with us. It’s unsettling, it’s beautiful, and you end up wrecked and happy and feeling as though you SURVIVED. In A Monster Calls, Ness stays true to form (and delivers a masterpiece).

I’ve discovered that I enjoy Ness’ books when I go into them blind. You don’t need to know in advance what the main conflict is in order to enjoy it. So my usual summary is brief: Conor meets a monster, and it shows him true things. True, terrible, unthinkable things – about himself, and stories, and the sometimes unbearable road of life.

Of course, the beauty of the hardcover volume (delightful presentation might be my weakness) does not hurt. A Monster Calls is filled with fantastic illustrations by Jim Kay, all done in black and white and focused on texture and shadow. Add in the jacket and endpapers, along with the content, and it may be THE perfect gift book. I’d even put out on a coffee table for people to admire.

To recap, A Monster Calls is bitter, sweet, and lovely on the inside and out. It may (probably will) touch your soul.

Recommended for: anyone with a heartbeat. It is beyond excellent.

teaser tuesday (73)

It's Teaser Tuesday, a bookish blog meme hosted every week by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here's how it works:

Grab your current read and let it fall open to a random page (or if you're reading on an electronic device, pick a random number and scroll to that section). Post two or more sentences from that page, along with the book title and author. Share your find with others in the comments at Should Be Reading, and don't give anything vital away!

“Conor sat up straight on the settee, breathing heavily again.

12:07, read the clock.

‘Dammit!’ Conor said. ‘Am I dreaming or not?'

He stood up angrily –

And immediately stubbed his toe.”

p. 64 of Patrick Ness & Siobhan Dowd’s A Monster Calls

delirium

If you are looking for the best thing since sliced bread, try making yourself a grilled cheese sandwich. Or if you don’t do dairy, perhaps a hummus pita bread hybrid. But, you know, don’t count on Delirium. That’s not to say it’s drivel or that it won’t be passionately loved by someone out there. It will. Probably several someones, actually. But it’s just not, you know, whipped cream in a can. Which is pretty much one of the best inventions ever, for obvious reasons.

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that one love -the deliria- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

To succeed with me, a dystopian (or any genre, really) novel must have a couple of key elements: a character or two that I absolutely fall in love with, a certain level of trust in/for the world they live in, and a tense or mysterious unveiling of events. I can give or take one element if you hand me beautiful writing on a platter. But you must want an example! Here, I have one all ready: The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Todd (main character in aforementioned novel) is young, but he’s already been through a lot. For most of the book he is confused, but he’s 100% about doing the right thing. Or what he thinks is the right thing. And when he gets it wrong, his guilt is palpable. You literally HAVE to feel for him. I didn’t understand his whole society/world at first, but the gradual reveal was both sinister and awesome. I never once ‘popped out’ of the story and told myself it was unrealistic. And as for the plot: nonstop action, danger, tension. No space for doubt or disbelief. Now, go read that book!

Delirium disappointed me on all three counts. 1) I never invested in any one character. Although all of them have some redeeming qualities, I didn’t see enough change, growth, or any really deep human emotions to cause me to root for someone. I saw some ugliness, I saw awful memories, and I saw bad friendship. I did not find a connection with anyone because of those. The most interesting characters (to me) were the ones not present: Lena’s mother and sister. The ones with the most face time didn’t exactly change my world.

2) This dystopian-thing. I may just be a born skeptic, but I didn’t buy it. There were a couple of creepy people dedicated to the cause and keeping order. Not so much actual violence. But the main problem: even though love is a powerful emotion, it is not the ONLY emotion. And the world that Oliver painted was definitely grayscale without love. I am not convinced that society would have worked the way it was described given the parameters the author laid out. I found myself putting the book down to ponder what would have made it more believable, and to analyze which elements rang false.

And finally, 3) the plot. It’s a slow starter, but that in and of itself isn’t always a bad thing. I will admit to reading Delirium compulsively up until page 120, about which time I realized that nothing spectacular was going to jump out and grab me. It’s not that nothing happens. It’s just that I knew what was going to happen. I felt let down.

Now, lest you get all up in my face and say that this is/was/will be your favorite book ever, and I’m a horrible person for hating it, let’s review. I may be a horrible person. But I did not say that I hated the book. Just that it disappointed me. And every reason I used to substantiate that claim was an opinion and personal experience thing. This book can work for you, you can love it, and we can still be friends. I’m just not joining the fan club.

My question coming out of this: can you be spoiled for dystopian novels? Because this one read like Uglies to me. Uglies for girls who wouldn’t usually touch dystopian lit. I begin to wonder if I’ve read so much end-of-the-world goodness that I won’t find anything new under the sun. If that’s the case, I’m very sad.

Also sad? This snippet of text:

“He left me a note. He left me a note. For me. The idea – the fact of it, the fact that he even noticed and thought about me for more than one second – is huge and overwhelming, makes my legs go tingly and my hands feel numb.” -page 142 (ARC, subject to change)

Let’s hope it gets cut from the final version. That’s all. Really.

Are you still looking forward to Delirium?

Delirium releases February 1, 2011 from HarperTeen. I received a review copy through Traveling ARC Tours. Delirium also counts for the 2010 Dystopia Reading Challenge.

letting go of the knife

It’s time to announce the winner of The Knife of Never Letting Go. Patrick Ness’ novel is a dystopian tale that takes readers to the edge with gripping suspense and mystery, and forces devotion to its characters through heart-breaking revelations and decisions. Without further ado, the winner is:

Dominique

from Coffee Stained Pages

Who answered the question, “What’s one dystopian novel you’ve read (or would like to read)?” with:

“I think my favourite dystopian novel is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I've also read The Giver by Lois Lowry, Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I want to read The Knife of Never Letting Go after reading your review, it sounds great!” Congrats, Dominique!

Other dystopian (or post-apocalyptic, or whatever-you-want-to-label-them-but-damn-they’re-scary!) novels mentioned: Swan Song by Robert McCammon, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, In A Perfect World by Laura Kasischke, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Alas Babylon by Pat Frank, The Running Man by Stephen King, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and The Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm by Orwell.

Happy reading, everyone!

sinister reading

Since finishing the book two nights ago, I’ve been trying to think of a perfect adjective to describe Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go. I eventually settled on sinister. I don’t know if that’s the final word, but it works. But perhaps I should introduce you to the book jacket description first?

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown.

But Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets.

Or are there?

Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence.

Which is impossible.

Prentisstown has been lying to him.

And now he's going to have to run...

This menacing masterpiece has won several awards, and after reading it, I can see why. Ness is a genius at controlling the story and the audience. He’s set up the perfect mystery, and unravels it with painstaking skill and unmatched expertise. The tale he tells is intelligent, brutal, scary, and a glimpse into the shadows of the human soul. It’s also a coming-of-age and journey tale, punctuated by very brief rays of life and hope and redemption, before the reader is plunged again into the dark. And perhaps I should stress that it’s the first in a series? There’s more where that came from. I have no idea where Ness will take the story next, but I am equally afraid and excited to find out. I can only imagine that he’ll stretch the characters even farther than they think they can bear, and wring out us readers along the way.

This reading experience was hard. It was painful. And it was completely worth it. I feel as drained and as impressed now as I did after reading The Hunger Games for the first time. In a very different way, certainly. Ness’ work is probably darker on a whole. But if you’re interested in reading really great fiction, by an absolute master, and want to get a feeling about what this ‘dystopian’ thing is all about, I recommend The Knife of Never Letting Go. Or maybe you’re a fan of clever and realistic horror? This will fit the bill, too.

And if you think I’m being vague and talking in circles, well – I am! I can’t in good conscience say anything more about the plot or the characters. If you want the mystery solved, you’ll have to read it as I did, and take step by perilous step into the fantastic world of The Knife of Never Letting Go. Enjoy!

NOTE: If you're desperate to know a bit more about the story or to check out someone else's whole-hearted recommendation, please see Rhiannon's review or Aimee's loving rant. I trust their book sense, and everything they say, I'd say (if I was half as eloquent). Except I don't like to give away much (read: anything), so you've been warned.