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I'll start this review with a funny story regarding me and my experience reading.  For some reason, I went into this book thinking the author was looking back on her 20's.  In my mind she was a few years older than me and recalling her younger years.  About halfway through, Nugent tells a story about being in college and taking a road trip.  In 2008.  I was MARRIED in 2008.  It was kind of a blow to realize that the author of this MEMOIR is younger than I am.  Surely people my age (ok four years younger than my age) aren't old enough to be writing memoirs.  I feel old.

It reminded me of how every once in a while I will remember that Sugar Bear is four years younger than me and how wide that age gap seemed while we were growing up.  I even caught myself telling Buddy, who is eight years younger them me, about someone "our age."  He just rolled his eyes.

The book itself is something of an exploration of this feeling.  The author has graduated college and, without a job, is forced to move back in with her parents.  Even after she is able to get an apartment in the city with roommates, she feels like she's living in some kind of alternate reality, where she isn't old enough to be on her own.  She has a hard time adjusting to "adult" life and determining what that even means.

Writing
Because I think the book is meant to be a humorous memoir, I have to point out that I didn't really appreciate her sense of humor.  I felt like she was trying to write like other popular writers.  I'm not turned off my bad language and some crude humor, but I felt like the author was somewhat over the top with both.  It was like she included those aspects because she felt like that's how a young person's memoir should sound.  It didn't always seem genuine.

That said, the author has promise as a writer.  I think her writing issues and the lack of an authentic voice could just be the result of being young.  At "our age" it doesn't surprise me to see a memoirist lacking authenticity.

Entertainment Value
Along with being put off by the author's writing style, I had a hard time enjoying the book because I had a hard time empathizing with (and at times even liking) the author.  While I love an unsympathetic narrator or characters in fiction, it doesn't work as well when you're reading about the author's own life.

I think reading this helped me realize that I will always struggle to identify with books about young single women trying to balance sex and work in the big city.  I picked up the book thinking it would focus more on humorous aspects of the struggle my generation faces in feeling "grown up", it really was more "how can I make it in the big city."  I've just never been there.  I married young, I'm a small town girl, and I've never been much of one for partying.  Instead of sympathizing with the author and commiserating over our shared youthfulness, I just wound up feeling old and boring.

Overall
It's not one I'd recommend.  I think there are better and more convincing essayists who are more fun to read who have written on the same topic (Sloane Crosley for one).

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  This will be a shorter post than usual, guys. I had emergency eye surgery the day after I wrote my last post, and I am still essentially working with one and a half functioning eyes.

   We've been talking about what the blogosphere holds for the writer. You already know the answer to that....a lot. You can spend all time trolling the Internet just reading writer's blogs, advice columns or sites that will help you do this, that or the other better. Unless I have a specific problem, I don't spend a lot of time cruising the virtual highway. I just don't have time.

     If I am online, it is to find out what is being published and what is worth reading. There was a time when I read everything that came out, good, bad or indifferent...but again...I don't have the time any more. (I should also add that as a librarian, reading everything that came in was part of my job.) Another part of the job was reading the review sources....Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Horn Book, etc.  All of these are available online for free, in condensed forms.

    However, I have been relying on these sources since my library school days, and I have learned that not every book makes it to the "the Bigs" of the review world. That's when I discovered bloggers-who-review.  Some bloggers drop a review or two into their posts from time to time.  I like lots of reviews, all in one place. (Again...that time-saving thing.)

    Once a month I check my two favorite sources, Richie's Picks and  Good Reads. Good Reads has recently become affiliated with Amazon in some fashion which seems to annoy my fellow readers. I am not going to get into a political debate over book reviewing. I scan through Good Reads not so much for the quality of the reviews, but mainly to see what people are reading. If there are a thousand plus reviews or likes of a book I've never even heard of, I check Amazon for the review.  That is, I check Amazon if it is an adult book.  If it is a children's book, I click on over to Richie's Picks 

    Richie Partington doesn't so much review books as to write short essays about them.  He includes lengthy passages from the book (so you can get a taste of the writer's style) , compares them to other books (not necessarily books of the same genre or author...just books that ring a bell in Richie's head.) He keeps a year's worth of "recent" reviews online, but has an archive of his "Richie's Best of the Year" going all the way back to 2005. Richie's selections are eclectic. He reviews whatever floats his boat (I am still waiting to have one of my books in Richie's Picks). What I like about this blog is that Richie gives you more than enough information for you to decide whether this book is worth your time or not. Like I say, so many books, so little time. That's why Richie is my reading guru.

    Don't forget to enter our latest book giveaway for our own Jill Esbaum's book.See Jill's post for information.   This is one of your last chances, since the deadline is June 18th.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

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Rebellion’s profile in the U.S. has increased since Simon & Schuster began distributing its books in 2010, with growing sales for the graphic novel line following 2012’s Dredd.

U.K. publisher Rebellion is going after a somewhat younger crowd with its new children’s imprint, Ravenstone, which launched at BEA with the June release of its first book, Lupus Rex by singer-songwriter John Carter Cash.

The company’s entry into the crowded children’’s book field has been met with enthusiasm, said publishing manager Ben Smith, because the debut title is “not just another dark apocalyptic YA fantasy or vampire novel. People appreciate that it’s for middle grades.” Beyond the first two books, Ravenstone is looking to a possible sequel to Lupus Rex.

Ravenstone joins Rebellion’s other prose imprints: Solaris – which publishes fantasy, science fiction, and horror, including books by bestselling author James Lovegrove – and Abaddon Books, which presents shared-world fiction, mostly in the urban fantasy genre.

Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief at Rebellion, said that a children’s imprint fits well with the publisher’s genre offerings. The line begins with just one book a season to start: Lupus Rex, a fantasy about an epic battle among crows, wolves, and other creatures for the crown of their world. It’s the first middle-grade title for Carter Cash, who has previously published three picture books. Ravenstone’s fall release will be Jan Siegel’s comedic Devil’s Apprentice, in which a successor to Satan – who is retiring – must be found.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Filed under: authors and illustrators, need to know, New Imprint, News, publishers Tagged: Abaddon Books, Ravenstone Children's Imprint, Rebellion children's publisher, Solaris Fantasy Imprint, UK & US Market

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General consensus seemed to be that, after The Blue Castle, Jane of Lantern Hill was the best L.M. Montgomery book. So, when I detached myself from the internet yesterday and had a mini reading spree, it was the first thing I read. I mean, after I finished the Nero Wolfe book I was in the middle of.

I’m sorry I’m late to the L.M. Montgomery party, but I’m not sorry I’m getting to read these books for the first time now. There are children’s books that I’ve read as an adult and wished I had read as a kid, but Jane of Lantern Hill isn’t one of them. Yes, reading it at the appropriate age would have been a very different experience, but I don’t think it would have necessarily been a better one; I have so much more context for things now. This is just me trying to rationalize, though. Mostly I can’t imagine enjoying Jane of Lantern Hill more when I was a kid than I did yesterday.

The setup is strikingly similar to that of The Blue Castle — the unhappy girl living in a strict, female-dominated household whose only escape is via her imagination, the awful aunts and uncles and the privileged cousin, etc. But Jane is a kid, and her family includes some non-awful people: her mother and father, who are estranged. Jane and her mother live with Jane’s grandmother, who basically hates everyone but Jane’s mother, and takes active pleasure in making Jane’s life miserable.

This is abuse. Her grandmother uses everything Jane does to reinforce a narrative where Jane is useless and terrible at everything and has “low tastes.” Anything that Jane does well or likes to do is either ignored or food for further criticism. Every nice thing that her grandmother gives is is secretly meant to make her unhappy. And Jane responds, as people being abused often do, by becoming bad at all of the things she’s told she’s bad at. It’s pretty uncomfortable reading.

But this is a mostly cheerful children’s book, and so there’s something irrepressibly humorous and interested in Jane that her grandmother can’t kill, and she gets to exercise those faculties when she goes away to spend the summer with her father on Prince Edward Island.

Jane’s first summer with her father is almost too perfect. They instinctively get each other, in a way that was enough like an idealized version of my relationship with my father that it almost made me uncomfortable. But only almost. What’s great about this section, though, is Jane’s confidence. Free of her grandmother’s influence, she knows she’s capable of doing all sorts of things. It’s interesting that so many of those things are in the areas of cooking and housekeeping — things her grandmother never repeatedly told Jane was awful at because she never allowed her to try them in the first place.

Even better is the fact that Jane takes some of that confidence back home with her at the end of the summer. And yes, she stands up for herself a little more, but my favorite thing is that her knowledge that she’s a capable person sticks with her and allows her to continue to be a capable person, doing better in school and becoming less clumsy. It’s great.

So, yeah, this book was so good for me in so many ways. I didn’t love the ending as much as I loved the rest, but I also don’t see how else Montgomery could have sorted things out, so I don’t really want to complain.

When I was finished with Jane of Lantern Hill I went on reading people’s recommendations/things I’ve waited for too long to read. Next up: The Adventure of Princess Sylvia, because I got mixed up and didn’t remember I was supposed to read Princess Virginia instead.

Tagged: 1930s, canada, lmmontgomery

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Author: Mary Jane Clark
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Mystery
ISBN: 978-0-06-213544-5
Pages: 384
Price: $25.99

Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon

Piper Donovan is happy to be joining her beloved cousin in Florida to celebrate her upcoming wedding. But a shadow lingers over the joyous event when one of the bridesmaids mysteriously disappears, and her body later turns up, buried in the sand. After it is revealed that she had been involved in some shady business regarding a large real estate transaction, many suspects emerge.

Piper is naturally curious, and soon immerses herself in the investigation, making some questionable moves along the way. Her propensity to blurt out information regarding the murder, and her desire to post her thoughts on Facebook, make her an easy target for the murderer.

Footprints in the Sand is a fun cozy mystery, with an interesting cast of characters and intriguing motives. But Piper’s extraordinarily dangerous behavior is over the top at the times, and made me question her intelligence. Overall, though, I enjoyed this mystery.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

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Also, a message from Amanda Villagomez: Since first hearing about Ali Edwards right here on Two Writing Teachers as Stacey and Ruth talked about her in connection with One Little Word, I have… Read More →

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In case you don't subscribe to the Tor newsletter (which you totally should! They have the best articles.), I have an article in today's edition.  

It's all about why we should let kids read dystopian novels.

And thank you!

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It's only the middle of June, but if there is, this year, another moment of unintentional comedy as richly hilarious as the putative climax of J.J. Abrams's Star Trek Into Darkness, I will be very surprised.  Going into the movie, I didn't expect that I'd find it funny.  Abrams's 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise left me genuinely outraged, and its sequel seemed to promise more of the same.

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As of November 20, 2012 (that is, Midnight Eastern Time tonight) I am closed to queries. I will reopen to queries January 7, 2013.

If I already have your work, you should hear from me by January 7. (That's the point of taking the break, I have to catch up!)

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Today’s Cartoon Brew Artist of the Day post is sponsored by the CG Master Academy. Sign up TODAY for Nate Wragg’s class Character Design for Animation.

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Nate Wragg works as an art director and illustrator for animation and book projects, and teaches courses about character design.

For the production of Toy Story 3, one of Nate’s assignments was to design the new toy characters in Bonnie’s room, including Mr. Pricklepants. See more toy character designs and read Nate’s thoughts about his process in this blog post.

Nate posts much more personal and professional work on his blog N8Wragg.blogspot.com, where you can also find links to the books that he has illustrated including two that are related to Pixar’s Ratatouille.

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I hope you are taking the summer to just write. Life is too short not to write. I’ve been percolating today’s blog post and planned to write it this afternoon. However, plans changed,… Read More →

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In a few days, summer will officially be here. Time for vacations, reunions, camps, fun with cousins and friends. But don’t forget to encourage the kids in your life to read.

First Book created this eye-opening graphic that shows the effects of the summer slide, the loss of reading skills that can happen when kids don’t read during the summer break from school. Reading is Fundamental, which has a Multicultural Literacy Campaign, discusses the slide too and offers tips to beat it. Check them out here.

There are so many wonderful books kids can explore. To get you started, here are 10 cool picture books written and/or illustrated by African-Americans that celebrate the spirit of summer. Click on each book cover for summaries and other helpful details.

Hot Day on Abbott Avenue by Karen English, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe.

Juneteenth Jamboree by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Yvonne Buchanan

Around Our Way on Neighbors’ Day by Tameka Fryer Brown illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb. Check out the trailer here.

Summer Sun Risin’ by W. Nikola-Lisa, illustrated by Don Tate

Summer in the City by Kathleen Wainwright, illustrated by Nancy Devard. Check out the trailer here.

Seaside Dream by Janet Costa Bates, illustrated by Lambert Davis

One Hot Summer Day, written and illustrated by Nina Crews

Bigmama’s, written and illustrated by Donald Crews

We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past, by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Diane Greenseid

A Beach Tail by Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

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Author appearances can be more than just a book signing. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-dicks/post_4820_b_3293703.html

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It's almost here! In honor of the release of Solstice , I have an amazing blog tour planned! Huge Thank You to Mod Podge Blog Tours and Tor Teen for coordinating this fantastic line up. And a huge thank you to all the book bloggers taking part in the tour. You guys are the best in the world, and I really appreciate you!

Since Solstice is heavy in both mythology and dystopia, the tour is split down the middle. Half the posts will focus on the mythology aspects of the story, and half on dystopia. Bloggers will be either on Team Myth or Team Dystopia! How fun is that :)

Each day there will be two posts, one for Team Myth and one for Team Dystopia. And here are the tour details!

I'd love for you to join me on this super-fun tour! There are all sorts of cool posts, like my favorite myths and the path to publication for Solstice.

And before I forget, thank you for all your Solstice support!

*****



*****

See you there!

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Matt de la Peña has released a new book. Infinity Ring Book 4: Curse of the Ancients is part of an MG series where each book is written by a different author. (A librarian’s nightmare to shelf!!)

Sera has a secret. She’s seen the future, and it is terrifying. Unfortunately, she can’t do anything to prevent the Cataclysm while stranded with Dak and Riq thousands of years in the past. Their only hope lies with the ancient Maya, a mysterious people who claim to know a great deal about the future. Is there more to these ancients than meets the eye?

I was surprised when he announced the release on Facebook because I hadn’t seen it coming. Looking at the age, it was recommending for ages 8-12. MG???

Sure, Matt wrote A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis and it appealing to younger readers, but having heard Matt speak twice, having read his books, I’d say his passion is YA.

He speaks about his own personal coming of age experience with his dad, how he connects with his high school readers and what it has been like growing up as a Latino, finding his own voice. He’s so personable that you realize storytelling comes natural to him.

And perhaps that’s how he found himself writing this book that publishers recommend for 8-12 year olds.Honestly, I’m glad to see anything Matt writes, I just can’t get over this 8-12 thing. Here’s why.

Publishers consider middle grade (MG) books written for ages 8-12. Upper middle grade books are 10-14 and young adult books are 12-18.

Educators identify elementary grades as 1-5, middle grades as 6-8 and high school as 9-12.

Depending on local laws and when birthdays fall, children can enter the first  grade at ages 5, 6 or 7.  Using, the median age, a child would be 6 in the first grade and 8 in the third grade. When a child enters middle grades (6^th grade) she would be 12 and 14 in the 9^th grade, a freshman in high school.

Essentially, they’re recommending Matt’s book for third graders. Up to my shoulders in YA books, I don’t quite have time to read Curse of the Ancients to see where I think it will fit best, but I may be able to work in The Living which releases in November. It’s a YA book, Matt’s fifth novel.

Matt de la Peña is the author of four critically-acclaimed young adult novels: Ball Don’t Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here and I Will Save You. He’s also the author of the award-winning picture book A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis (illustrated by Kadir Nelson). Matt received his MFA in creative writing from San Diego State University and his BA from the University of the Pacific where he attended school on a full basketball scholarship.

 de la Peña currently lives in Brooklyn NY.Matt received his MFA in creative writing from San Diego State University and his BA from the University of the Pacific, where he attended school on a full athletic scholarship for basketball. source

 

Filed under: male monday Tagged: Male Monday, Matt de la Pena, MG, YA

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Art by Chris Gugliotti

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Over the past few weeks, we have experienced a lot of showers and storms rolling through the Mount Pleasant area. Lucky for us, we have been busy inside the office, but it brings up the question what happens to the animals during or after a storm?

A recent news article from FOX 25 in Oklahoma City discusses one organization, Wild Care Oklahoma, that has taken in over 700 animals since the end of May. Wild Care has stepped in to provide care for many animals directly affected by the damaging tornadoes, many of which were babies. The recent storms hit during the peak of “baby” season. This left many young animals orphaned in the aftermath of the tornadoes. A litter of skunks, two racoons, and species of birds, turtles, coyotes, and foxes have been taken in by Wild Care after the destructive storms hit. The organization’s Facebook page frequently posts pictures and videos of their in treatment or newly released animals each day. I highly recommend checking out this page and all the adorable animal babies! You can also check-out ways to help Wild Care or their upcoming events.

Also, Author Patti R. Zelch in her book Ready, Set…Wait!, illustrated by Connie McLennan, gives insight into what happens to animals during storms. This picture book follows nine different wild animals as they sense, prepare, and react to an approaching hurricane. Definitely a good read for a rainy day inside!

Link to the Wild Care Oklahoma Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WildCareOklahoma

Wishing everyone a good day and stay dry wherever you are!

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Soulseven is the brainchild of Samuel Soulek, a talented graphic designer out of Minneapolis. With a portfolio that spans branding, packaging, poster design, editorial and marketing collateral, Sam’s work employs a clear understanding of typography and carefully balanced layouts. Check out more work from Soulseven here.

Soulseven & Curtis Jinkins

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Also worth viewing…
Curtis Jinkins
Brent Couchman
Tad Carpenter Interview

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A Huge thanks to UncommonGoods for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

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This is about the ongoing SFWA flap, though much of it could be applied to the article I linked to earlier today.

From Terrible Minds:

All this shit starts when we humans are tiny. I have a two-year-old son. Boys get the BLUE STUFF. Hard. Steely! Naval. Girls get the PINK STUFF. Soft. Squishy! Fleshy. Our son loves trucks. You think, “Oh, this is genetic. Boys are biologically attracted to boy things.” Until you see him playing with little girls and the girls are all like, “YEAH TRUCKS ARE AWESOME, MOTHERTRUCKER,” and that dashes that idea into itty-bits. Then you go to buy books and you see it translates there, too: the blue, the pink, the trucks, the dollies. So you realize, this boy/girl thing starts early in terms of writing and publishing. And that means it’s where you have to do some damage control early. Let your boy play with dolls. Let your girl read about trucks. Teach them early on to respect each other and everybody else. (AKA: “Hey, kid, don’t be an asshole.”)

And now I shall go out and read everything Wendig has written.

Which I'm pretty sure is a promise I've made before, but sometimes these things take time to stick.

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Glamour in Glass: Glamourist Histories, #2, by Mary Robinette Kowal

I loved Shades of Milk and Honey, the first book in Kowal's Regency era fantasy series, and I mostly loved this one, too. Like, 95% loved it.

Pros:

I continue to adore the magic system: It's quiet and somewhat sedate, but in creative, inventive hands, allows for WICKED COOL USAGE.

I love that in addition to the fantasy, it works very much as historical fiction—Jane and Vincent are in Belgium for their honeymoon, and Napoleon figures in heavily—and as a romance.

More pluses: The language and the writing, the attention to detail and the pure, awesome geekery of the author. In the Author's Note—DO NOT MISS IT—Kowal talks about how she created a dictionary comprised of Jane Austen's books and ran her manuscript of Glamour and Glass against it. She researched the history of every single word that the dictionary didn't contain, and she lists some that surprised her (and some that she kept anyway). She also talks a bit about how her world diverges from our own, and about what anachronisms she knowingly included. (Which is so much cooler than a blanket "IT'S ALT-HISTORY, ANYTHING GOES!" attitude. Ahem. In my opinion, anyway.)

Cons:

You know that storyline where the heroine gets deliriously happily married and everything is awesome and so on BUT THEN she starts thinking OH NOES, MAYBE HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY REALLY LOVE ME? It's one of my least favorite storylines, and that's much of what goes on with the romance thread in Glamour in Glass. To be fair, Vincent is EXTREMELY withdrawn and irritable and distracted—which is especially bad considering they're on their honeymoon—so it's understandable that Jane would have those feelings, but it's not my fave. That is, of course, MY STUFF, and it totally works in terms of characterization—even drawing on the first book, because for various reasons, Jane doesn't have loads of confidence in herself as A Lovable Person—so really, unless you also dislike that storyarc, it's not much of a Con at all.

Also, while I love that the cover art incorporates bubbles (there's a whole important thread about using spheres of glamour), I can't help but feel that the model is WAAAAAY more conventionally attractive than Jane. I loved the cover art on the first book because I felt that it really captured that. Her dress, though, is BEAUTIFUL, and I have no beef whatsoever with it. Except that I don't own one.

Recommended to:

Fans of the first one, fantasy-loving fans of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, anyone who likes fantasy that really delves into the mechanics of magic systems, fans of any of the above who also have an interest in artists and their techniques.

Sapphique: Incarceron, #2, by Catherine Fisher

I finally, finally got around to the sequel to Incarceron! Finn is now outside the prison, but is not really any less of a prisoner: he's suddenly living in a world of strict social protocol and every misstep he makes acts to further convince everyone—including Claudia, who until now has been his strongest supporter—that he's an impostor, rather than a long-lost prince.

Meanwhile, Finn's allies within Incarceron are still searching for a way to escape: they're hunting for Sapphique's magic glove, which might not even exist... but the prison is working against them, and it wants to find a way to escape itself.

Pros:

Like the first book, the world-building is HUGE and RICH and DARK and COMPLEX. The cultures on the inside and the outside of Incarceron are distinctly different, but it's always clear that regardless of what side of the wall each character resides on, every single one of them is a prisoner in some way. Including Incarceron itself, which is a mindbleep and a half.

In addition to the world-building, the storyline is exciting, and the characters are worth caring about, the pacing is, like, BREAKNECK, and the whole thing is BANANAS in the best kind of way. Incarceron was super, but Sapphique was even better.

Cons:

Erm. None for me, though it's not going to be an across-the-board crowdpleaser: see above about the DARK and BANANAS.

Recommended to:

Fans of the first one. I wouldn't recommend it as a stand-alone.

_________________________________________

G&G: Amazon, Publisher.

S: Amazon, Publisher.

_________________________________________

Book source:

G&G: ILLed through my library.

S: ARC provided by the publisher a looooong time ago.

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Whew! What a fabulous weekend…hung out with some old friends and made some new ones. Thanks to all the wonderful folks who stopped by to say hi!

A big shout out to Angela, Sydney & Kate, Carly and Vivian too

Hanging with my booth buddies!

And WHAT would San Francisco be without a little seafood and some awesome live music (& lots and lots of stories ) We were joined by the amazing Kris Kendall, Angela Orlowski-Pert, & Diana Murdock too!

As much fun as all that was…the party continues now, because I came away with some FABULOUS reads I never knew about before and I’m dying to share my SFINE TBR list with you!

Squeeee! I’m devouring these books as fast as I can! You should check them out too

The Consequences Series [ADULT TITLE NOT YA OR NA!!!!!!!] by Aleatha Romig
Thirty Seconds to Die by S. G. Holster
Entangled by Nikki Jefford
Nissa by Bethany Lopez
Forged by Greed by Angela Orlowski-Pert
Again by Diana Murdock
12.21.12 by Killian McRae
Captive in the Dark by CJ Roberts [This book contains very disturbing situations, dubious consent, strong language, and graphic violence]

I hope you find a great read on this list for your own TBR What a great way to kick off the summer! And I’m so excited to have all this swag that I thought I’d share a little with you too So, if you want some SFINE swag, let me know in a comment here.

More about the book signing this week…until then, what’s been inspiring you lately? I am constantly inspired by a book I read called You Are Your Choices by Alexandra Stoddard. Among the many things Alexandra talks about in the book, she suggests making choices based on Aristotle’s triangle which has three points of consideration: The Good, The Beautiful & The Truth. I’ve been really focused on making my choices being mindful of these three things. It’s really helped me over the past few months. Have a great week! I’ll see you on Wordless Wednesday

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USA Today published an article this afternoon with these five stills from Frozen, the Disney studio’s adaptatation of The Snow Queen that will open on November 27, 2013.

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Tom McNeal’s just out Far Far Away is getting some well-deserved buzz so I figured I would post my brief goodreads comments, written after reading it a few months back.

A very unique read, sort of spooky, definitely creepy as it goes on. With one notable exception, the characters are-not-quite Grimm characters, but nearly. The book is filled with Grimm tropes and you think the author is going to take you in somewhat predictable fairy-tale directions and he doesn’t. McNeal really knows how to make food sound really scrumptious and also various characters twinkly and fun until…they are not. It probably would have given me nightmares as a kid. That is, I was the sort of kid who always freaked out around clowns and there is a character in this book that reinforces just why they freaked me out. Can’t say more without spoilage.

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