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?

stupid fast

Dear Geoff Herbach,

Two words: Thank you. Okay, more than two words (i'm greedy). You are a genius. You write hilarious inner monologue. I don’t know when I have laughed as loud or loved a character so much. I hope you will keep writing amazing, funny, honest characters with as much heart as you did in Stupid Fast. Again – thank you!

Your Newest Fan,

Cecelia

I AM NOT STUPID FUNNY.

I AM STUPID FAST.

My name is Felton Reinstein, which is not a fast name. But last November, my voice finally dropped and I grew all this hair and then I got stupid fast. Fast like a donkey. Zing!

Now they want me, the guy they used to call Squirrel Nut, to try out for the football team. With the jocks. But will that fix my mom? Make my brother stop dressing like a pirate? Most important, will it get me girls—especially Aleah?

So I train. And I run. And I sneak off to Aleah's house in the night. But deep down I know I can't run forever. And I wonder what will happen when I finally have to stop.

Felton Reinstein has been growing height and hair, his younger brother is driving him nuts, and his mother may have gone right off the deep end. Add in a new paper route, a best friend banished to Venezuela for the summer, and he might just decide to spend a couple of months on the couch. Luckily, a little bit of life and a world-class pianist show up to break him out of his rut – and he might be a jock?! This summer everything will change, whether Felton is ready or not.

Felton is the narrator. Despite his protestations, he’s insanely funny. He’s also weird. And normal. You know? Okay, that didn’t make sense. But I felt like I knew Felton, because his internal monologue was by turns neurotic, sweet, off-beat and annoying (and thus, as anyone who has experienced the teenage years knows, scarily accurate). His journey from average/weird to athletically talented/weird over the course of one summer is only one of his challenges – because through it all he has to deal with his family AND his hormones.

Stupid Fast is liquid laughter, teenage sweat, tears and angst, and the sweet innocence of summertime, all mixed up into something I’ll call pure genius. Geoff Herbach writes smart, sarcastic, and punchy prose. He writes quirky people who seem freakily real. And he does so with grace and style and… I’ve run out of words. Just, please, READ THIS BOOK.

Recommended for: teenage guys, anyone who has been searching for an extraordinary and distinctive ‘voice’ with generous helpings of humor, fans of young adult literature—in the best sense of the word, and those who admired Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin’s Notes from the Blender.

paranormalcy

The power of a voice is uncanny. A good voice, maybe I should say. I bought and read Kiersten White’s debut novel Paranormalcy on the strength of her blog. If you haven’t been yet, go visit NOW. Kiersten has one of the funniest, kindest, and most endearing “voices” that I have ever read (fiction, non-fiction, you name it). The only writer I have loved more upon first acquaintance in the past few years? Sherman Alexie, author of National Book Award-winning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

So: she’s laugh-out-loud hilarious, and I pre-ordered her debut novel last summer. What then?

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.

But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

Best word to describe Paranormalcy? CUTE. Undeniably cute. Also: entertaining, funny-as-heck, and promising. Look, I’m not going to say it’s life-changing (unless you are in dire need of laughter). It probably won’t bend the way you look at reality or affect the way you think. But given that, it’s a good time and guilt-free in every way that a chocolate sundae can’t be (look Ma, no calories!). And Kiersten’s voice, which I fell in love with months ago, is there in bits and pieces through her lovable and fallible character Evie.

Evie is the star…err…main character of Paranormalcy, and she’s wonderful in part because she is SO NORMAL. And I mean that in a ‘acts her age and makes mistakes’ kind of way. Although her situation sits squarely in fantasy territory, she’s got a good head on her shoulders and seems completely authentic, all the way down to boys, pink and answering back to authority. She’s a genuine character, and a fun one to be around, even (or especially) when she’s getting into scrapes of her own making.

Also: though I thought I could never again contemplate anything NEAR to a young adult love triangle, I somehow find myself interested in the whole Lend/Reth thing. In Lend, Kiersten has crafted a rare creature – a “real”-seeming boy. Not only is he teenage awkward, he’s sweet, and his family is as normal as you can expect from a YA paranormal romance. Oh, and did I mention that he’s hot? At least, Evie thinks so.

Paranormalcy is full of adventure, mayhem, pink, and fun. If I had to equate it to a specific experience, I'd say that it's like a summer fair with rides and cotton candy. It’s not perfect or profound, but it’s happy-making. It may not be for you. But if it sounds at all like it might be, I urge you to pick it up.

Recommended for: fans of young adult paranormal and fantasy, anyone in the mood for some good, clean fun and adventure, and light entertainment that will have you laughing (and sighing) along with Evie, Lend, and a whole cast of engaging and strange characters.

a day late and a dollar short

As far as I can tell, this BBAW thing is a big love-fest. And I like it! But I’ve fallen slightly behind on the daily topics, and WOEFULLY behind on reading everyone else’s wonderful posts. Forgive? Sweet.

So the ‘Thursday’ challenge was to write about a book that you discovered through another book blog. Great reading experiences preferred. Also, perhaps a little something about the blog that facilitated said discovery. My pick: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

First of all, may I say that the best/worst thing about book blogging is that my To Be Read pile has grown to previously unknown, gigantic, and in-danger-of-flooding-my-entire-house-like proportions. Mostly I’m impressed and pleased by the recommendations I get from this crowd, but I’ve been disappointed a time or two as well. This time, I was really glad I finally gave this 2007 National Book Award winner a try.

The Absolutely True Diary is an instant classic. It’s funny, it’s clever, it’s culturally informative, it’s really horrific and sad (in parts), and most importantly, seriously well-written. The story follows Junior, aka Arnold Spirit, through his freshman year of high school, when he decides to pursue education off the reservation. I don’t think I can give a description that would do the story justice and not give anything away, so there’ll be a canned summary at the end. Suffice it to say, this story is beautiful. A total must-read.

Alexie always gets me. I felt emotionally unraveled while I read this book. I think it’s a combination of identifying with regional identity and the way his characters reach through the pages and grab your heart and just don’t let go. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I also went to a tiny high school, like Arnold did. We played a Bureau of Indian Affairs school in sports. All of that offers a connection, but even if I was living in a different land and had no idea who the Spokane indigenous people were, I could find a connection, and love this book for its heart.

That’s the beauty of it…because I did find this book through someone in a different land. I first saw it mentioned on the 10 Best Books for YA list compiled by the American Library Association, but the only reason I actually read it was on Steph Bowe’s (of Hey! Teenager of the Year) recommendation. Steph is an Australian aspiring author, and her blog is genius. I faithfully check her updates and always learn something. Add to that that I only heard of Sherman Alexie to begin with on Leila’s blog (of the awesome Bookshelves of Doom), and you’ve got book blogging makes my life amazing.

Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live.

And on a fun note, I may get to hear Mr. Alexie speak in early October - he's giving a talk as part of a Seattle Town Hall Event schedule!

if you have a free half hour...or even if you don't

Read this, from Sherman Alexie's forthcoming collection of short stories. I filched the link from Leila of Bookshelves of Doom. As I read I laughed a lot and cried a little bit and mostly felt wonderfully charmed and homesick. It's genius.

Alexie's works include The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (for which he won a National Book Award), among others.