What I'm Reading

One of the grand things about working at an indie bookstore is access to books. ARCs and damaged copies and the ability to skim books when I have spare moments and the ability to basically check them out and bring them back--it's a fabulous benefit for my hourly pay job. Plus I'm the buyer for all children's books from board books to YA, so I get to see the catalogues far in advance for upcoming seasons.

Thus I'll be talking a lot in this space about books I'm looking forward to and of course ones I'm reading-- which is always more than one book at a time because who can read just one book at a time?

Here's some of what I'm up to:

On my nightstand:

David Arnold's forthcoming THE STRANGE FASCINATIONS OF NOAH HYPNOTIK, which is as wonderfully quirky and brilliantly written and I'll have more to say when I'm done. For now let me say that I was hooked by the end of page one.

Likewise I'm in love with a book that's been out for a while but I had not read: Jeff Zentner's THE SERPENT KING. I was already a fan of his Goodbye Days, but somehow had missed his debut. Now I'm in the middle and I am in love with Dill and Travis and Lydia and their story and if you haven't read this Nashville-set YA, then like me, you need to get to it. It is a story about life and friendship and family and religion and the crappy hands we are sometimes dealt and the people who sustain us even in the darkest moments.

Also reading the ARC of Julie Murphy's forthcoming PUDDIN', which is a companion to DUMPLIN' (which just got a shout out on the Golden Globes as I was typing this blog post to set it up for tomorrow!) This one is Millie's story, among other things, and dare I say it? I think it is even better than DUMPLIN' which I loved. I've only skimmed so far, so stay tuned.

And finally, I'm re-reading Dusti Bowling's sweet, funny, moving middle grade debut INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A CACTUS, which is our store middle grade book club title for January. It's the story of Aven Green, born with no arms and one of the funniest, wittiest, most winning narrators ever, as her family moves to Arizona to run a dilapidated Western theme park and Aven adjusts to a new school, new friends, and a mystery that turns out to have very personal connections.

Three for Tuesday

So much going on right now, but the Tuesday three shall be:

1. Happy surprise this morning with this review from a source I very much respect and thus I am totally honored and thrilled about what School Library Journal's Teen Librarian Toolbox had to say about FINDING PARIS:
http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2015/05/book-review-finding-paris-by-joy-preble/

Every author leaps for joy when a review totally GETS IT, totally understands what your novel is trying to do and how it's trying to do it. Makes my heart quite happy!!

Read the whole thing if you have a chance, but here's a snippet:

 "While this is a mystery and (less so) a romance, it is the much darker and more serious elements of the story that make this a hard book to put down and an even harder book to forget."

2. Just finished ALL THE RAGE by Courtney Summers, which is often a brutally emotional read, about a girl named Romy Grey, a small town, rape culture, recovery, bullying, and how hard it is for some people to believe the truth. As much - although not all-- of that is part of Finding Paris, I think they might someday make a fascinating companion read…

And also on the nightstand: Just started my precious arc of Julie Murphy's DUMPLIN' and I'm already swallowed up in WillowDean's world and hoping she gets the happily ever after I want for her.

Skimming through editor Cheryl Klein's SECOND SIGHT, because if anyone is a genius at breaking down plot, character, voice and revision techniques (besides my own wonderful editors), it's Cheryl Klein over at Scholastic!

And I'm a few pages in to THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins, which everyone is reading and now so am I! I'm sensing this is not going to be a happy read, but a fascinating one. 

3. And in my pop culture report, Jane has had her baby on last night's JANE THE VIRGIN, which if you haven't watched, you should totally catch up on this clever series. I'm newly addicted to CALL THE MIDWIFE, a BBC show that's been on for a few years now and why didn't anyone tell me?! Even the hubs is watching with me, having been primed and perhaps broken in by a few seasons of DOWNTON ABBEY. For now, as I have revisions to finish, let me just say "Chummy Noakes!" I am totally Team Chummy forever. On the Housewives front, Carole is having her fling on RHONY, Bethenny is back and feisty and understandably cranky with all the divorce shenanigans and I kinda like Dorinda, although she needs to dump the boyfriend. (Just saying). 

There's more of course, but like I say, there's writing to do and a talk I'm giving in June to write about setting and a new manuscript to get back to and so I leave you for now.

Coming soon: My interview with debut author Adam Silvera, about his forthcoming MORE HAPPY THAN NOT, out in June from our mutual publisher, Soho Press!