Links + Things: It's Been Too Long Edition
It's been a couple of weeks since my last link roundup, and I've collected a ton of interestingness to share with you--hope you enjoy! Also, I've found a bunch of good deals on good books lately that will keep you reading for awhile, so make sure to scroll down to check out these bargains.
Video of Awesome!
Dogs surfing for charity--need I say more?
Required Reading
“We can start with the money. White people sell, on the surface. The truth is people of color sell too, when their stories are given the proper exposure. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is always a movie I like to point out. Amazing, award-winning film and not once have I heard anyone say, “That really could have used more white people.” It did well in the US market because it was a great film that got proper exposure. Marketing matters, people. When it’s really difficult to find positive and realistic stories about people of color, white and people of color alike think those stories don’t exist. ”
Romance Around the Corner hosted a fantastic week of posts celebrating and deconstructing heroines in romance-focused fiction. (I was thrilled to participate, with a discussion and recommendations for brave YA girls.) While all of the posts were thought-provoking and compelling, author Rebekah Weatherspoon's post about representation was the one that I kept coming back to. It has over 50 comments at this point, and that discussion is definitely worth reading as well.
“Persis’s character was one a lot of readers of early drafts of the manuscript struggled to get a hold of, and the reasons they gave me were fascinating. Apparently, if you have a female character who is rich and beautiful and privileged, people are already coded to dislike her, even if she’s a good guy, so deeply ingrained in our cultural mindset is the archetype of the rich, beautiful, snobby villain.”
Angie tweeted this thought-provoking piece by Diana Peterfreund, which discusses the assumptions we make about female characters, and how those assumptions differ for male characters. Diana does a lot of interesting things with gender roles and expectations in her novels, and this makes me even more excited to read her upcoming novel, Across the Star-Swept Sea.
Further Reading
- This piece in the Washington Post about rural hunger in Tennessee is, as a number of folks have already pointed out, why journalism is so important.
- I can't even begin to itemize the number of problematic statements in this "study" discussion in The Guardian.
- This is a fascinating post from Vela about the expectations of a particular sort of writing from female MFA students.
- The Hypeless Romantic wrote an extremely thoughtful post about how book blogging has changed over the years. As someone who'd been involved both personally and professionally in blogging in a number of areas for a long time, her observations are true of blogging in general, book or otherwise.
- And here's yet another discussion of whether teens are "old enough" for YA fiction. Author Patrick Ness is the voice of reason in this one.
- I loved Deb Caletti's first novel for adult, He's Gone, so I was particularly excited that one of our local television shows, AM Northwest, selected it for their book club. They interviewed Deb about the book, and it's quite interesting--the spoiler-free video is online here.
- I know author Kody Keplinger's post on the blog Disability in Kid Lit about growing up as a legally blind teenager has made the rounds already, but I wanted to make sure that I spotlighted here, in case anyone's missed it.
- This short rant from author Melissa Marr is a must-read. Where can I co-sign this?
- Sara Zarr talks about her exploration of an adult-teen mentor-type relationship in The Lucy Variations on the Kindle Daily Post.
- The next Mercy Thompson novel has a name! And a publication date!
- CEFS favorite Liza Palmer announced her next book--I cannot wait!
- This is a bit old, but Kaitlin from Knot Penny's Boat--a fantastic, and wonderfully-named, television blog--wrote an excellent roundup of the best scenes from Friday Night Lights.
- Tubefilter ponders the slow death of basic cable. (As a once-again cord cutter, I agree with much of this.)
- Bitch Media has a great analysis of the Netflix show (which I quite like), Orange is the New Black.
- I am pretty sure I found this post on Vulture decrying the lack of a successor to Six Feet Under thanks to Amy Spalding. If not, it seems like something she'd tweet about.
- I was entertained by Laurie White's list on Babble of 90s TV shows deserving a spinoff.
- Can I get an "Amen" for this graphic?
Cover Art News!
Ink is Thicker Than Water by Amy Spalding, Dec. 2013
Fractured by Sarah Fine, Oct. 2013
Two fall books I've highly anticipated had covers revealed in the last few days--and they're both quite fabulous. Amy Spalding art directs her own covers (read our interview on the story behind the cover design of her first novel, The Reece Malcolm List, right here) and the little details for this one--Ink is Thicker Than Water--are quite striking. The Midnight Garden has the scoop. I quite enjoyed Sarah Fine's Sanctum, and I'm eager for the followup in this series, Fractured. If the first cover was thematically "fire," this one is definitely "ice." The Tor blog has a quick interview about the design for Fractured.
Cheapo Books
Notes: Click on the cover image for more information about the book. Please verify the price before buying, as they fluctuate frequently. Finally, if you want a cheap read, check out my review of the $1 novella, The Story Guy--I thought it was quite fabulous.
- I have not read Something Strange and Deadly, but it's been highly recommended by a number of reviewers as a satisfying paranormalish-type read. It's currently $1.99 for Kindle.
- One of my favorite all-time YA novels, Twenty Boy Summer is on sale again, at $2.99 for the Kindle edition. Get on that if you haven't read this fabulous novel.
- The DUFF is another novel I haven't read, but I heard Kody Keplinger speak at an event earlier this year and she was so smart and engaging, that I promised myself I'd get to one of her books soon. The hardback of The DUFF is currently in Amazon's bargain bin section for $6.80 (the Kindle edition is $5.99, which isn't too bad either).
- Kasie West's Pivot Point received a lot of buzz when it came out--I haven't read it, but since I like these sorts of premises (different possible futures), so I may give it a try at the $1.99 price point on Kindle.
- I did not like Dare You To by Katie McGarry. However, everyone else loves this book, so if you like dramatic romance ala Simmone Elkeles, you will probably want to snag this $2.99 ebook deal while it lasts.
- I haven't read Losing It by Cora Carmack (this particular trope is one that doesn't work for me ever), but I did read the companion novel, Faking It, in preparation for our podcast in which Cora was a guest and thought it was fun. If you want to try a New Adult read, Losing It is quite popular and only $1.99 on Kindle (Faking It is only $2.99).
- Several Barbara Kingsolver books are inexpensive on Kindle right now, including Animal Dreams, which I loved. It's only $1.99 and would be a great place to start if you haven't read her older books.
- I reviewed George Pelencanos' What It Was last year and thought it was another solid crime novel from this veteran writer (he wrote some very memorable episodes of The Wire). It's $2.99 for the ebook right now and definitely worth it if you want to try this author.
- I don't read historical romances, but most people I know who do adore Sarah McLean and specifically mention Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, so I had to include it when I saw it was discounted to $1.99 for the ebook.
Happy a happy weekend!
Support Clear Eyes, Full Shelves
Buying via these links help support our hosting & podcast production costs.
Storify: 5 Complaints from Laura on YA Lit, Adult Readers & Likability
List-O-Rama - My Path to Book Abandonment
Related Posts
