Give us what we want
It appears that a simple comic by artist and humorist Matthew Ingram, aka The Oatmeal, has demonstrated one of the biggest issues of online piracy better than any previous article or debate. You should read that before we start into the discussion. Don’t worry. I’ll wait. *whistles and glances around room* This insightful commentary from Andy Ihnatko suggests the problem with piracy is due to modern sense of entitlement many of the middle and younger generations have. While I...
Read MoreAuthors, Bloggers and the Goodreads War
If you’re involved in the YA book community and haven’t noticed any of the recent dustups over reviews, well, you’re probably lucky. So let me fill you in a bit. Since January 1, there have been 8 separate incidents in 2 weeks between (mainly new) young adult authors and book bloggers who post reviews on Goodreads. Timeline of the meltdowns: Update 1-17-12: It seems the drama continues with a rebuttal from YA author Maggie Stiefvater in her post The Only Thing I Am Going to...
Read MoreHas the time of the community bookstore passed?
Why did the little independent bookstore I opened fail? I’ve avoided this subject for a good six months now, afraid to take a look back at the past year to see What I Did Wrong. There’s a very important reason I was afraid: because I was asking the wrong question. When I first embarked on this adventure, it was with the “knowledge” that communities need indies. I put that in scare quotes for a reason. What I though was a truth was actually a perception. It was the...
Read MoreCan we still be friends?
After the somewhat recent hullabaloo that was #yamafia, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I approach book reviews. I love reading and then sharing my thoughts on books, not just with friends, but with pretty much everyone. I’ve been known to hand sell books at the library and bookstores I frequent. It’s not that I’m going to shut up about books, but as a part of the larger kid lit community, I’m evaluating my place as a reader, editor, writer, and reviewer. The...
Read MoreRules for Heroines of Paranormal Romances
Even though YA paranormal romances have shifted from vampires to werewolves to angels to every creature imaginable, many of the same themes present themselves in the various iterations. In an effort to take a lighthearted poke at the cliches that inhabit this genre*, I present the Rules for Heroines of Paranormal Romances: Aim to be normal in every way. Paranormal guys are really attracted to this. Being uncoordinated, a bad singer, or lacking in other artistic talents is really cute. Every...
Read MoreThe Unfinished Angel
The Unfinished Angel There are so few books that have touched me deeply enough that I couldn’t imagine my life without having read them: The Alchemist, The Little Prince, The Graveyard Book. And now, I add to that list The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech. The story is simple. It goes like this: an angel lives in a tower in a small village in the Swiss Alps. This angel, he isn’t sure what his purpose is. “Me, I am an angel. I am supposed to be having all the words in all the...
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