Favorite Childhood Reads

For this week’s Road Trip Wednesday, the good people over at YA Highway are asking the question:

What books were you obsessed with as a kid?

I have three words for you—RAMONA THE PEST. I grew up in Portland, Oregon. Ramona grew up in Portland, Oregon. I had a pet rock. Ramona had a pet rock. I loved tormenting my older brother. Ramona loved tormenting her older sister. I was spunky and fun but not always well behaved. Ramon was spunky and fun but not always well behaved.

I loved all the Ramona books as a kid. A part of me wished Ramon was a real live girl that lived on my street so we could play together. But she only lived in books. So I made sure to act extra pesty so that my neighbors wouldn’t feel too much of a loss. As a little kid, people called me Katie. But I knew deep down I was just like Ramona.

What about you? What was your favorite childhood book?

Also don’t forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

I recently read and LOVED Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I am an Agatha Christy fan, but don’t normally read contemporary mysteries. After reading this book, I feel like that practice should change. I loved Flavia, the spunky eleven-year-old armature sleuth and budding chemist. I also loved how the mystery pulled me in and kept me turning the pages. If you’re a cozy-mystery (I think that’s the name of this genre, not sure since I rarely read it) you absolutely need to read Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. And if you don’t normally read mysteries, maybe you should check this book out anyway. It changed my mind on the genre and could change yours too. Here is the goodreads description: It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.” Also don’t forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

Like Mandarin

Over the weekend, I played host to some out of town friends. This means I spent the weekend eating delicious food, hiking in scenic splendor, and shopping. It got me to thinking about the town which I call home. It’s a lovely place to visit. It’s also a nice place to live. But I very rarely take in the sites, unless I’ve entertaining people from out of town. Playing tour guild made me think a great deal about setting. The location of a story is in many ways another character in the story. One story I recently read that uses setting perfectly is Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard. This book is set in Wyoming, and the badlands of Wyoming is definitely a major character. If Grace and Mandarin lived in the mountains of Tennessee, it would be an entirely different book. There are many reasons to read Like Mandarin beyond its great descriptions of rocks and wild winds. But as a writer, I have to admit, Hubbard’s mastery of setting is the reason why this book is a must read. If you’re curious about all the other reasons, here is the goodreads description. It's hard finding beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, but 14-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild-girl Mandarin Ramey: 17, shameless and utterly carefree. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin. When they're united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic. Grace plays along when Mandarin suggests they run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds plaguing their badlands town. Because all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken, and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, no friendship can withstand betrayal. Oh, and don’t forget to enter my 100 Followers Contest.

What Writers Read

So yesterday, I mentioned the poll/contest my friend Claire is conduction to determine the 100 books every writer should read. This has got me thinking about the whole process of teaching a person how to write. There are a lot of how-to books on writing, and I’m curious to see how many of them make Claire’s final list. Personally, I hate how-to books. They’re so boring. I’ve glanced at a couple of how-to-write books but even Steven King’s ON WRITING and Anne Lamott’s BIRD BY BIRD failed to hold my attention.

I love stories. I always have, and I always will. My love of books is the whole reason why I want to write books. So, I read a lot—like 150 books per year. I’ve been reading a lot for a very long time. I’ve read thousands and thousands of books in my life. So I have a pretty good idea of what goes into a story. When I first started writing I didn’t think I need to read any how-to-write books, 'cause I’d already read plenty of real books. But I’ve got to tell you, my early attempts at writing were not good.

I’ve been playing at this whole writing game for a while now. I’m not published yet, and don’t have any real cred, but I know the stuff I’m writing now is way better than the stuff I was writing five years ago, and I’m confident that I’ll continue to get better and eventually sometime in the future (possibly distant) I will be published.

One of the reasons why my writing has improved is that I’ve started to learn the rules. I haven’t read a bunch of how-to-write books, ‘cause I really do find them dull. But I follow quite a few agent and publisher blogs. I’ve been to a couple conferences. I’ve figured out how difficult it is to get a book published. And I’ve continued to read like a crazy lady.

And honestly, I think my voracious reading is the primary reason why my writing has gotten better. Yes, I read a lot as a kid. But when I read now, I read different. I’m a lot more critical of the stuff that I read now. When I read international best sellers, I read like I’m beta reading it. I pay close attention to what works and doesn’t work in each of the stories that I read. I internalize narrative tricks that benefit a story while also noting what conventions annoy the crap out of me.

Still, I’m kind of curious. What do other writers read? Is 150 books a year plus the occasional agent blog the right answer, or is that only my answer? So you tell me, how are you teaching yourself to write?

Books Every Writer Should Read

So my friend and critique partner Claire over at Points of Claire-ification is having a totally awesome contest on her blog. It isn’t so much a contest as a poll, she’s just giving away prizes to encourage people to actually participate. She wants to come up with a list of 100 books every writer should read. So she’s asking all her friends and fellow writers to suggest titles. Once she has a long enough list of suggestions, she will compile it into a top 100.

I’m totally jazzed to see what titles she comes up with. Because I’m so curious, I really really really want all of my friends and other writer folk I know to help Claire out by suggesting titles. So here are the rules to Claire’s contest.

QUICK SUMMARY and RULES
1. Please send your list of 10 books every writer should read to muchlanguage (at)gmail (dot)com.
2. You don't have to, but I'd love if you included nationality in your email. If you do, I'll use that info to tabulate the number one book for Brits v. Americans vs. Australians, etc. (This hinges on your nationality being represented by at least 5 people.)
3. Please spread the word on twitter, your blog, facebook, in person, etc.
4. If you spread the word, please comment once on this post.
5. I'll accept lists until April 30, 2011 (11.59 pm EST as usual). I have less than 200 respondents, I may extend that.
6. You can win the first 3 books (single volumes) by spreading the word or by entering.
7. I'll compile the list in early May (or a few weeks after I've stopped accepting lists) and draw the 2 winners.
8. I will ship books to any country serviced by Amazon.com or Bookdepository.com. If neither of those companies ships to your country, but you have a mailing address in another country that you can use, you are still eligible.

If you want more details just jump on over to Claire’s blog. Okay, I need to go start thinking about what books I’m going to suggest now.

Oh, and while your all busy entering contests, don’t forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

Wont You Be My Neighbor

For this week’s Road Trip Wednesday, the good people over at YA Highway are asking the question:

What character from a book would you most like as your next door neighbor?

This is a hard one. But I’m going to have to go with the Weasley’s from Harry Potter, ‘cause they just seem like the friendliest most neighborly bunch of witches ever invented.

But since I’m a muggle, I’ll answer a human neighbor too. Lennie Walker from The Sky is Everywhere. I do like the character of Lennie a lot, but mainly I want to live next door to her grandmother. She’s such a cooc, I think she’d be very entertaining as a neighbor.

What about you? What book character are you hoping will move in next door?

Also don’t forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

100 Followers Giveaway

I hit the 50 followers mark two months ago. And now I have 79 followers. You cannot believe how exciting this makes me. People are actually reading my blog now. I’m not just writing stuff and sending it out into an empty vacuum.

So I want to celebrate. And I want to get even more followers at the same time. So I’m having a contest. And this time, instead of picking what book I give my readers, you can pick your own book. That’s write people, as soon as I hit 100 followers, one lucky reader will receive a $20 gift card to Powell’s.

Let me tell you a little about Powell’s. It is the largest independent bookstore in the world, and it’s right here in Portland. Don’t you just want to come visit me now? The main Powell’s store takes up one city block sort of on the edge of downtown, it’s in a trendy neighborhood full of boutiques, art galleries, and restaurants and stuff. The building is four stories. Each floor has several different rooms and they are all connected by stares and hallways, so it’s like this giant maze of books. The rooms are all color coded, general fiction is in the blue room, self-help is in the orange room, travel is in the purple room, young adult is in the rose room, etc., etc., etc. The store seems to go on forever, and it kind of does cause there is Powell’s 2 right across the street to hold reference books, since they don’t fit in the main store. There are also a couple of spin off neighborhood stores around town too. But the main store is the best.

New, used, and out of print books are all on the same shelf. So they have everything there. Seriously, I have never gone to Powell’s looking for a certain title and not been able to find it. I’m sure there are some books they don’t have, but with more than a million titles, I don’t know what those books are. They have everything I’ve ever wanted. Going to Powell’s is like my favorite thing to do. Which is why I’m giving away a Powell’s gift card to the winner of my 100 followers contest. If you don’t live in Portland, and you don’t want to come visit me after you win my contest, that’s okay. They have a webpage. So you can buy you price books online and have them mailed to you.

I guess I should stop talking about my fabulous price and make up some contest rules.

1. Follow this blog.
2. Leave a comment on this post.
3. In the comment that you leave, tell me one of your favorite books. I know that picking one favorite is really hard, so you don’t have to put too much thought into it. You can just say the last book your read, or an old favorite, or whatever, just give me the title of any book you totally love.

That’s it. As soon as I hit 100 followers, I’ll randomly pick a winner. Good luck.

Demonglass

I need to begin by congratulating Liz for winning my Afterlife ARC giveaway contest.

Since I just had a contest for an ARC of the final book in an Urban Fantasy series set at a school for supernatural baddies, I figured I’d talk about another supernatural boarding school series today. That would of course be Hex Hall.

I read Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins back in January, and was bumped when I realized I’d have to wait two whole months before reading Demonglass. Well, Demonglass, the second book in the series, is now available. I read it last weekend, and definitely loved it.

The characters of Sophie, Archer, Cal, and Jenna are all interesting. But the thing that really gets me the most is how gripping these books are. Hawkins definitely knows how to write a cliff hanger. Every chapter ends at a place where nobody in there right mind would ever want to stop reading. And the book ending. OMG. How does she expect me to wait until 2012 to read book three. It’s cruel and unusual punishment. Author abuse, I tell you. There is no other word for it.

If you want a more coherent description of this book, here is the goodreads description.

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch. That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth. Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers. But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

Final Day to Enter Afterlife ARC Giveaway

Today’s post is more of a reminder than a real post. I am having a contest to win an ARC of Afterlife. And today is the deadline to enter. So if you want to win a free copy of this awesome paranormal adventure, please enter here.

In case you’re wondering. Here is the goodreads description of the Afterlife.

The fourth book in this electrifying vampire series has all the romance, suspense, and page-turning drama that have made Claudia Gray’s Evernight books runaway successes.

Having become what they feared most, Bianca and Lucas face a terrifying new reality. They must return to Evernight Academy, Lucas as a vampire and Bianca as a wraith. But Lucas is haunted by demons, both personal and supernatural. Bianca must help him fight the evil inside him, combat the forces determined to drive them apart—and find the power to claim her destiny at last.

Readers have fallen in love with Bianca and Lucas, and they will be thrilled to read this exciting conclusion to their romantic adventure.

The Walls Fall Down

I know that this is supposed to be a writing/reading type blog, not an engineering type blog. And I had several appropriate writing/reading related blog ideas for today. But I have to be honest, Japan is on my mind right now. So I’m going to write about that instead.

For my day job, I’m a civil engineer. I also live in Oregon. The Cascadia sebduction zone is right off the Oregon coast, which means there is a 37% chance Oregon will be hit with an earthquake/tsunami similar to the tragedy that struck Japan this week sometime in the next 50 years. 37% chance in the next 50 years is small enough to make most Oregonians think about earthquakes next to never. But like I said, I’m an engineer. I worked in a seismic testing lab in college. It’s my job to think about earthquakes.

And as much as I feel bad for all the people living in Japan, and I want to help them and be a good human and all that, mostly I can’t help thinking about what it will be like then the next earthquake strikes here.

Back in 2004 when there was that big subduction zone earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a lot of people died. A lot of people. And naturally, I felt bad. But most of my bad feelings came from knowing that the developing world doesn’t have very good building codes. A lot of people died, that probably didn’t have to. They just lived in houses that weren’t built to withstand subduction zone earthquakes. Those deaths were the fault of engineers, or more specifically a serious lack of engineers.

When the Japan earthquake happened, at first it seemed not that bad. Of course people died, buildings fell down in the earthquake, and things were flooded by the subsequent tsunami. But the death tolls were nothing like Indonesia in 2004. A lot of buildings didn’t fall down. Because Japan has a lot of very good engineers. And that was oddly reassuring. When the next earthquake and tsunami hit here, the people I know and love will live, because Oregon has a lot of good engineers too.

Except now, there is a nuclear power plant in Japan that maybe wasn’t engineered as well as everyone thought. And now, more people are going to die. And a lot of people are going to get sick. And somehow, this failing of technology seems way more like the fault of the engineers than all those deaths in Indonesia did 7 years ago. And I’m an engineer. So I feel bad, and a little bit scared.

Here in Oregon, 1998 is the magic number. People figured out that even though California gets more earthquakes than Oregon, the earthquakes that Oregon gets are worse, so they changed the building code. Any building in Oregon built after 1998 is supposed to not fall down during a 9.0 earthquake. That’s the idea. That’s what all the modeling that I did in that seismology lab I worked at back in college was supposed to prove. But there are a lot of structures in Oregon that were built before 1998, so a lot of people will probably still die.

Most of the schools and hospitals and fire departments have been seismically retrofitted. And there is some legislation saying that the critical buildings not currently meeting code are supposed to be retrofitted. But all the other buildings, like houses and offices, well with those it’s up to the owner to retrofit, or not. There aren’t any nuclear power plants in Oregon. There used to be one. But it would have been too expensive to retrofit. And it was having structural problems even before people started talking about the Cascadia subduction zone. So it was decommissioned and now we get most of our power from damns. I guess that’s good. When Cascadia goes, there won’t be a nuclear meltdown in my back yard. But maybe there will be something else.

Technology is such a double edged sward. We have this great ability to build and create things. Japan is the most densely populated country in the world. There are so many giant buildings in Tokyo. There are so many great engineers in that country, pushing the limits of human possibility. But it was all still built and created by people. And people make mistakes. No technology is fail proof. Sometimes computers crash. Sometimes engines malfunction. And sometimes cooling towers on nuclear reactors crack during 9.0 earthquakes. As engineers continue to push the limits of human possibility, we continue to push the limits of human destruction when our designs fall short.

It’s sad. And scary. And makes me want to go write a book and pretend like I don’t have a day job. Except I do. And I feel the pressure of knowing that if I make a mistake, people could die. So yeah, I’m thinking about Japan right now.

Hey, I Thought This Was Fiction

For this week’s Road Trip Wednesday, the good people over at YA Highway are asking

Who (from real life) have you written into a book?

The main answer is myself. In every book I’ve ever written there is always one character that I relate to most strongly. Even if the situations I put that character in are things I’ve never done or experienced, I build the characters actions and reactions by simply asking myself over and over again “what would I do?”

When I was much younger, and writing only for myself not for hope of future publication, I would often pin myself against myself in fiction. If I was struggling with a major decision in my own life, I would exaggerate both points of view into full blown people and then let them argue it out on paper. I’ve made many decisions based on which fictional version of myself won the argument.

As for other people, who aren’t me, I’ve pulled small parts of many of my friends and relatives into my stories. Since I normally imbue a great deal of my own personality on my main character, normally my MC gets along with or is annoyed by the same type of people I get along with or find annoying. Normally my characters are a mishmash of many different people I know. And sometimes, they are nothing like anyone I’ve ever met, they just show up in the story because they're needed.

What about you? Who have you written into a book?

And don’t forget to enter my contest if you want to win an Afterlife ARC.

Perks of Being a Wallflower

There are some books that come out surrounded by so much hype, I feel totally out of the loop if I haven’t read them two weeks after the publication date. I usually do end up liking these big name blockbuster books. But they very rarely blow my mind. Well yesterday, when I realized the latest book to ignite the blogosphere hadn’t released a Kindle edition yet, I decided to read an older, less hyped book instead. I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky on the recommendation of a friend.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was published back in the 90’s by a relatively small press. I don’t think it ever received much hype, and if it did, all the buzz died a long time ago. But Oh My God. WOW! Mind officially blown. I LOVED everything about this book. I stayed up way to late last night finishing it, because I simply couldn’t go to sleep without reading the entire thing. Then I stayed up even later thinking about it, because there were just so many things to think about. I probably wont get any sleep tonight either, cause I totally want to go back and read it all again.

So far I’ve read 32 books in 2011. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is without question my favorite so far. It is easily one of the top ten best books I’ve read--ever. So forget about that latest best seller that just came out and you feel like a dolt for not reading since everyone else keeps talking about it, and just go read this book instead. Seriously, read this book, now. And then tell all your friends to read it too. ‘Cause if any book needs buzz, it’s this one. It will blow your mind.

Oh, if you want to know what this book is actually about, here is the goodreads description.

Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie is navigating through the strange worlds of love, drugs, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", and dealing with the loss of a good friend and his favorite aunt.

The End…or Not

Over the weekend, I finished the rough draft of my latest WIP. This isn’t the first book I’ve written, but I really feel like it’s the best book I’ve written. With a lot of revising and rewriting, this one may be publishable. I’m excited to have a completed draft. It’s a large, and important, step.

But I know I’m not done. I put my last project through 8 major rewrites, and it still isn’t perfect. I really think I can make this one great. It isn’t there yet though. I’ve got several months of revising ahead of me.

So with that being said… If you’re interested in beta reading, let me know.

On an unrelated note, don’t forget to enter my contest to win an ARC of Afterlife.

Afterlife Free ARC Giveaway

I won a free ARC of Afterlife by Claudia Gray through a contest on YA Highway. Since today is the official release day of the book, I figured I’d pay it forward and pass this ARC along to one of my followers.

Here are the rules for winning this ARC.

1. Leave a comment on today’s post sometime before Friday, March 18th.

2. Follow this blog.

3. After you win and read this ARC, you have to tell at least five other people how fabulous it is so they’ll go by it.

In case you are wondering what this awesome book is about, here is the goodreads description.

The fourth book in this electrifying vampire series has all the romance, suspense, and page-turning drama that have made Claudia Gray’s Evernight books runaway successes.

Having become what they feared most, Bianca and Lucas face a terrifying new reality. They must return to Evernight Academy, Lucas as a vampire and Bianca as a wraith. But Lucas is haunted by demons, both personal and supernatural. Bianca must help him fight the evil inside him, combat the forces determined to drive them apart—and find the power to claim her destiny at last.

Readers have fallen in love with Bianca and Lucas, and they will be thrilled to read this exciting conclusion to their romantic adventure.

Here’s my description.

This is the fourth book in a series, and I haven’t read the first three, so I felt sort of weird reading it. I thought about going out and getting the first three books, but I wanted to read it before today’s publication date so I could properly recommend it. And I didn’t have time to read the first three books first.

I wouldn’t exactly recommend this book as a “stand alone”, but I still enjoyed it a lot. Each time a new character appeared, there was a brief description of the adventures that came before, so I never felt totally lost. This is definitely a book that would be easy to read a year or two after finishing book three without too much confusion.

As far as the general story, it was great. The world of Evernight is full of vampires and ghosts. The battles and adventures are exciting, the characters are interesting, and the story goes in directions different than you see in most YA vampire novels. I really wish I had read the first three books in this series, and will likely go back and read them later.

If you’re already a fan of the Evernight series, Afterlife is a final installment that won’t disappoint. And if you haven’t read about Evernight yet, maybe it’s time you started. If you want to win this free ARC, just leave a comment before March 18th.

I Wanna Be Like...

This week’s Road Trip Wednesday is inspired by the release of Kristen Hubbard’s novel Like Mandarin. I haven’t read this one yet, but am definitely looking forward to grabbing a copy. In Like Mandarin, the character of Grace desperately wants to be just like her friend Mandarin. So this week’s question is:

When you were a kid who did you want to be like?

Answer: Myself. Seriously, I always wanted to be unique. I would actively try to be different than everyone else. If my older brother was into something, I’d refuse to try it so people wouldn’t be tempted to compare us. Even among my friends, I was always striving to somehow be different. Any little thing about me that was different, I would make a huge deal about, so nobody would dare to view me as part of the herd.

In general, I think striving to be yourself is a very good thing. But I may have taken it to far at times. Sometimes, the real me was probably a lot more like everyone else than I wanted to admit. I’d push myself to be different at the risk of denying my own interests. But I turned out okay.

What about you? When you were a kid, who kid you want to be like?

Also, congratulations to KT for winning my Across the Universe Arc contest. Let me know your address, and I’ll pop the book in the mail tomorrow.

Final Day to Enter Across the Universe ARC Giveaway

Today's post is going to be really short and sweet. I am drawing a name for who wins my Across the Universe ARC tomorrow. So if you want to read this excellent book, you had better enter my contest now. The contest rules and a review of the book are here.

Best of luck.

Liar Society

So, you may have heard about this hot new book that was just released this week. It’s called the Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker. I’ll admit it, I totally got caught up in the hype for this one. I didn’t camp out at the bookstore overnight or anything. I just bought the e-book on my kindle while I was still eating breakfast on Tuesday morning (that would be the day it came out).

Now that this books been on the market for four whole days, I can’t imagine why you haven’t read it yet. But if you need some more convincing, here is a quick review.

Goodreads describes this book:

Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)
Kate,
I'm here… sort of.
Find Cameron. He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell.
They'll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder...

My description:

There are a lot of great things about this book. But since it’s a mystery and I don’t want to give away spoilers, I’m going to talk about character names. I put a lot of thought into the names I give my characters, and I really liked all the names in this book. The story takes place at a super posh prep school and all the characters have trust funds. So what are upper-class teens called these days?

Girl names: Kate, Grace, Maddie, Taylor, Bethany, Naomi
Boy names: Alistair, Bradley, Liam, Seth, Porter, Cameron

Aren’t those the greatest names? Yeah, the rest of the book is just as spot on. It’s a wonderful mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end. So stop reading this and run over to Borders to buy a copy. (I know that I bought my copy on amazon, but somebody has to keep Borders afloat and I chose you.)

Wuthering Heights

It’s important to have a general sense of the literary canon. Knowing the classics makes one capable of conversing at cocktail parties without looking like an idiot. And if you want to be a writer, knowing who James Gadsby isn’t just a recommendation, it’s a requirement. I’m pretty well versed in the classics, but I haven’t read them all. One book that I somehow managed to never read, up until this week, was Wuthering Heights. Of course I’d heard of Emily Bronte. I wasn’t raised under a rock. But I’d never read it.

*Note—from here on out this post will be nothing but spoilers. But if you haven’t read Wuthering Heights yet, you should probably read this anyway, so you can act more with it at cocktail parties.

I thought I knew what Wuthering Heights was about. I thought it was a great love story between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff (his last name is never given in the book, so it turns out my not knowing it was okay). Catherine and Heathcliff had a passionate love, but Catherine married Edgar Linton instead of Heathcliff because of money and family obligation. That does all happen, so it’s not like I was summarizing the wrong book in my head or anything. But that all happens in the first third of the book, then Catherine Earnshaw (now Catherine Linton) dies during childbirth.

Back in the 1800’s people had much longer attention spans. There wasn’t a whole lot of entertainment options back then, so most of the classics are epic in length and chronicle whole family lines. In many ways Wuthering Heights is a book about Heathcliff. It begins at his childhood and ends at his death. But it’s not told from Heathcliff’s point of view and his motivations and actions are never fully understood by the other characters. Instead, the last 2/3rds of the novel focuses on the life of Cathy Linton (the daughter of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton). Cathy was born on the day of her mother’s death.

Cathy does have a romance with Linton Heathcliff, the son of Heathcliff and Isabella Linton (Edgar’s sister). The time line is fairly circular so for much of the book she’s referred to as Catherine Heathcliff. But I wouldn’t call theirs a great love story. It’s all twisted with lies and family rivalries.

In all honesty, it’s hard to say what Wuthering Heights is actually about. But greatest love story of all time, feels like a big misnomer. I did enjoy Wuthering Heights. It’s a classic for a reason. None of the characters are likable, but I was really curious the whole time I was reading it and I wanted to see how all their lives unfolded.

Still, I find it interesting how little the book met my expectations. Wuthering Heights is referenced in modern pop culture all the time. And the pop culture references all focus on the beginning of the book. Either nobody’s ever bothered to read the end, or we as a society have communally chosen to warp our view of literary history.

I feel like I should read more classics. What will I find next? Was Dracula actually an elf and the current vampire craze is based on nothing but misconceptions?

I Didn’t See THAT at the Zoo

What do you get when you cross a grizzly bear and a naked mole rat? A really ugly scary animal…

For this week’s Road Trip Wednesday, the good people at YA Highway are asking us all to invent a mythical creature.

Vampires are human bats. Werewolves are human dogs. What would a human sloth be? How about a human water buffalo?

Clearly I’m not very good at the whole mythical creature thing. I have been thinking a little bit about the whole other worldly realm of writing though. So far everything I’ve ever written has been contemporary. And I expect I’ll probably stay that way. But I’m beginning to think more and more about Steam Punk. Maybe in a future book I’ll have a modern character obsessed with Steam Punk so I can have some crazy contraption throw backs or something.

Steam Punk isn’t a mythical creature. I know. But I may have given my husband permission to buy a steam powered tractor. We already have a stationary steam engine, and a bunch of hit-and-miss engines. And our back yard is so full of piles of rusty metal, there is zero land left to tract. But he really wants that steam tractor. I think I’ve been punked.

I need a cross between a jack russell terrier and an iron smelter. It’s a cute little dog who eats nothing but rusty metal. That would clean up my back yard quite nicely.

What mythical pet are you currently shopping for?

Also, don’t forget to enter my contest to win an Across the Universe ARC.

February Review

We’ll February has come and gone. It was a good month for me. What about you?

In February I added 20k more words to my current WIP. When I first started this project I was writing like crazy. I think I wrote my first 20k in less than a week. I’m still spending the vast majority of my free time writing, and I expect to finish the rough draft sometime in March. But I’ve managed to step back and do a bit of reflecting too.

In addition to all my writing, I also read eleven books this month. Here is a quick blurb on each.

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger – YA Romance – This was actually my second reading of this book, because I just love it that much. It’s witty and funny and more than a little bit edgy. One of my all-time favorite YA novels.

Dark Flame by Alyson Noel – YA Urban Fantasy – This is the fourth book in the Immortals series. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book in the series Evermore, but if you are a fan of the series, you will probably enjoy this installment too.

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler – YA Romance – This book is far more touching than the title implies. I really liked Anna’s character and her growth during the story.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare – Classic/Play – In my WIP my MC reads Macbeth in English class. I had to reference one of the scenes and decided to re-read the whole play. If you haven’t read Macbeth, you should, ‘cause it’s Macbeth.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis (ARC) – YA Sci-Fi – This book was filled with drama and mystery. I really enjoyed it. If you want to win this ARC, enter my contest.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (ARC) – YA Romance – This is a great book about love and life and misunderstanding and notoriety and unexpected consequences. I recommend you read it as soon as it comes out on April 5th.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson – Non-Fiction – If you’re curious why forks have four tines and why the Victorians bathed so rarely, this is the book for you. It’s filled with lots of facts that will make you sound smart at a cocktail party, but I was a little disappointed that it didn’t contain the humor I love from Bryson’s other books.

Marcelo In The Real World by Francisco X. Stork – Contemporary YA – This is an interesting mystery told from the point of view of a teen with Asperger’s Syndrome. The voice was authentic and the drama was engaging.

The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson – Contemporary YA – Four kids ditch their boarding school for an unplanned road trip that reveals Destiny’s dark past. I love road trips, and I loved the characters in this story. It was a very fun read.

Fat Vampire by Adam Rex – YA Urban Fantasy – This book is really funny, it’s almost a spoof on the whole YA Vampire Book genre. My absolute favorite part, one of the characters has the google—a serious internet disease. If you love blood sucking teens, this is a great read.

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd by Holly Black, Cecil Castellucci, M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Tracy Lynn, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfeld, Lisa Yee, Sara Zarr, Hope Larson, and Bryan Lee O’Malley – Nerdy YA Short Story Anthology – I know I could have simply said this book was by Holly Black and others, but come on, look at that list of authors. Like any compilation of short stories, some of these tales were better than others. After reading them all, I’ve come to accept that I’m more of a John Green, Sara Zarr, Barry Lyga type nerd and not as much of a Cecil Castellucci, Libba Bray, Scott Westerfeld type nerd. Which type of geek are you?