The Librarian Writer

"No one better touch my cells!" Oh, April, why have you flown by so quickly? It seems as though I was just settling into you and now we must say good-bye. I did get a good amount reading in, though. I read A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont and Something Like Normal by Trish Doller (review pending). I even finished reading Peter Pan (remember, Project Gutenberg is a goldmine for free public domain ebooks). And I like to mix up my fiction reading with some nonfiction. I finally started reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (all writers should read this) and I'm about halfway through The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot . I love me some good science books, especially when they're so amazingly written like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks . I'm constantly interrupting my husband as I read to tell him what I've just learned. Plus there's the heartbreaking human story behind it all. Can't wait to finish reading it! The...

Title: A Breath of Eyre Author: Eve Marie Mont   Publisher: KTeen   Publication Date: March 27, 2012   ISBN-13: 978-0758269485 352 pp. Purchased ebook via bn.com I was totally excited about Eve Marie Mont's debut YA novel, A Breath of Eyre . Jane Eyre is one of my favorite novels, but I'm okay with taking liberties with it. Jasper Fforde has a ton of fun riffing on it in The Eyre Affair . A Breath of Eyre is getting a lot of love with positive reviews, including a starred review from Kirkus. But I got to tell you, I didn't feel the love so much. Emma is a quiet, lonely girl at an exclusive prep school. She's the scholarship kid, so she keeps under the radar to steer clear of the mean girls. Her mother died when she was young, and she feels disconnected from her father and step-mother. She crushes on her English teacher and thinks cute boy Gray, whom she has known since she was little, is equally out of reach. She doesn't have any friends except ...

Title: Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe Author: Shelley Coriell Publisher: Amulet Books Publication Date: May 1, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1419701917 320 pp.   ARC from publisher via Netgalley --> When I chose Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe , I thought it would a fun piece of fluff about a girl who worked at her high school radio station. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the novel is so much more than that. Chloe is a gregarious, popular girl at her school and her humorous voice comes through the narration in pitch-perfect style. But Chloe isn’t having a good time right now.  Her two BFFs have turned their backs on her for a perceived slight and they’ve gone so far as to spread a terrible rumor about her. Her junior year project has been rejected and she’s forced to help the struggling radio station with promotions. And Chloe’s family life is a war zone as her independent grandmother refuses any help, even though her Parkinson’s disease is get...

"Maybe I should learn archery..." Here we are at March already. Wow. Let's take a moment for the end of the first quarter of 2012. *moment* Alrighty, then. March was a big reading month for me, mostly due to The Hunger Games . I read the first book last year, but I plowed through Catching Fire and Mockingjay this month before I saw the movie. (I intended to write a blog post about the movie last week, but it was a totes cray-cray week. Short review: I had some problems with it, but I mostly liked it.) Also in March, I read and reviewed Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale . I recently finished Welcome Caller, This Is Chloe by Shelley Coriell (review pending). That seems like a lot of reading to me. I've got A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont and Something Like Normal by Trish Doller queued up on the nook and rarin' to go. And with that, I'll leave you with this video of the original The Hunger Games book trailer :

Title: Someone Else's Life Author: Katie Dale Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Publication Date: February 14, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-0385740654 464 pp. ARC from publisher via Netgalley I was really intrigued by this book. The basic plot starts with Rosie, a young woman in England, who watches her mother Trudie slowly die from Huntington's disease. What's worse for Rosie is that Huntington's disease is hereditary and she has a 50/50 chance of getting it. Except a secret is finally revealed ... Rosie is not Trudie's daughter. She was switched at birth with a girl named Holly. Rosie tracks down her real family in the United States, but the repercussions, especially for Holly, are life-altering. I liked Rosie, a lot. She was believable in all her fears and doubts and missteps. I did not, however, like Holly. Holly has every right to be freaked out and miserable, but she comes off as unstable. There were certain scenes where her actions and/or r...

I'm in the middle of revising the outline of the screenplay I'm working on and blanking on a blog topic. I thought maybe I'd write about my new Pinterest obsession. Or how much I can't wait to see The Hunger Games movie. Or even more random cat videos. But then I saw this video that I thought was hilarious. Finally, young adult books are getting a little respect. Because young adult novels can save the economy! Obama's Young Adult Novel Plan : Of course, writing isn't as easy it looks. Although some people refuse to believe that. So You Want to Write a Novel: But if you've got writer's block, you can always use the people around you for inspiration. George Lucas in Love: Happy writing!

"This Mr. Dickens has a promising future." February may have been a short month (even with the extra day), but I got some good reading in! I read and reviewed Cinder by Marissa Meyer for the 2012 Debut Author Challenge. Lots of fun, that one. In other reading news, Charles Dickens' 200th birthday was February 7 and I finally finished Bleak House ! Yes! (Four years and 881 pages later.) Much like Desmond on Lost , my goal is to read all of Dickens' books before I die. (Except I have already read Our Mutual Friend . Hey, I was an English major.) Next on my Dickens bucket list is The Old Curiosity Shop . Don't know when I'm going to start it, definitely don't know when I'll finish it, but I will. And I'll more than likely get it from Project Gutenberg . Never heard of Project Gutenberg? Well, they are completely made of awesome. They have nearly 40,000 public domain works available for FREE. As in FREE. These are downloadable books ava...