Recommendation Tuesday: The Bridge from Me to You by Lisa Schroeder

Recommendation Tuesday started as a joke and is now an official thing. If you've got a book to recommend on this or any Tuesday, tweet me at @FullShelves and I'll help spread the word.

View all of the past recommendations over here. 

I discovered Lisa Schroeder's writing several year ago because someone pointed be toward this post she wrote on her blog about Friday Night Lights (which I can't seem to find, but I love this other one about what Friday Night Lights meant to her). 

Obviously, I had to read all of her books, and The Day Before ended up being one of my favorite novels ever--her books are ones I'm constantly recommending to both teens and adults because her stories ring so true to many people's experiences and her writing is simply lovely. (Laura wrote more about Lisa's awesomeness last year for Verse Novel Week 2013.)

Big-Ass (Belated) 2014 Summer Reading List

I started writing this post in May. Oops.

I always like to put together a highly-aspirational list of the books I'd like to read over the summer. My schedule is a bit more flexible, in theory, and so I hope for chunks of time to read. I don't really think there's a particular type of book that makes a "summer read," though I know for a lot of folks that's not the case. 

My list of 20 books (I'm so not getting to all of these--let me know if you've read any of them so I can prioritize) and my comments are below. 

Click on the book cover image for more info.

Stream-It Saturday: Deadwood (TV)

In my continuing selfless service to the world (ahem), I'm always looking for the next awesome thing to stream. And, of course, I must share my finds with you fabulous folks. Hence, Stream-It Saturday.

Check out all my previous recommendations over here. 

One of the great television travesties of the modern era is that HBO's foul-mouthed western, Deadwood, was canceled after a mere three seasons. The series was supposed to conclude with two movie-length episodes, but that never happened for reasons that remain unexplained.

Recommendation Tuesday: Jill Sorenson's Aftershock Series

Recommendation Tuesday started as a joke and is now an official thing. If you've got a book to recommend on this or any Tuesday, tweet me at @FullShelves and I'll help spread the word.

View all of the past recommendations over here. 

I'm not sure how I discovered Jill Sorenson's Aftershock suspense series--it's highly likely that I first heard about it from Brie, when I was looking for a series to replace Laura Griffin's Tracers series, which isn't as fun as it once was.

Regardless, this series continues to hit that sweet spot of interesting characters and fabulous WTFery. (That's a compliment.)

There are several books and this series, and while they do stand alone, there's actually quite a bit of world-building in the first novel, Aftershock, which depicts the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake in San Diego. We're introduced to characters who will serve as protagonists in future installments and the earthquake influences characters' arcs in the future. So, basically, start with Aftershock and read in order if you get hooked.

Recommendation Roundup: June 2014

I don't know about you, but reading has been weird for me lately. Between summer and a stressful couple of work projects, I'm finding myself in a bit of a funk. 

I keep starting books and then they lose my attention. However, Nafiza's wonderful graphic novel recommendation list came to my rescue and it's been just what the doctor ordered. I've gone way down the Saga rabbit hole and am official obsessed. 

I also picked up a couple of fabulous middle grade verse novels I'd been meaning to read and that was a pretty solid life decision. I got Kwame Alexander's beautiful and moving The Crossover from the library and I'll definitely be buying a copy for my own shelves. It's one of my favorite reads of 2014 for sure. I want everyone to read it so that I can nerd out about it with other people!

Onward to the recommendations!

Guest Post: Pema Donyo on YA & Happy Ever Afters

Note: This is a guest post from author & college student Pema Donyo. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to learn more about her. Also, there are spoilers for the happy endings of several books in this post--you've been warned. Another CEFS post dealing with similar concepts was written by Laura a couple years ago--check it out over here. 

Are you interested in writing a guest post for CEFS? Send us your idea via our contact page

Ruth Graham's "Against YA" op-ed in Slate caused many eyes to roll and many heads to nod. But a particular passage from the article has stayed with me:

These (Young Adult novel) endings are emblematic of the fact that the emotional and moral ambiguity of adult fiction—of the real world—is nowhere in evidence in YA fiction. These endings are for readers who prefer things to be wrapped up neatly, our heroes married or dead or happily grasping hands, looking to the future.

Podcast Episode 23: Genre Fiction, Lit-Fic & Romance... Oh My!

We really enjoyed digging into the subject of the way fiction and its various genres are being discussed and why certain genres are privileged over others by people on the inside of publishing. 

We're currently planning the rest of season two of the podcast and are super-excited to bring you more discussions and interviews. We love this format for exploring nuance in a way that's not possible via blog posts. If you have an idea for a guest or topic, get in touch via the podcast page.  

As always, you can listen to the podcast by streaming on this page, downloading the MP3 below or by subscribing in iTunes. If you're an iTuner, we very much appreciate your rating and reviewing the podcast, as it helps us to show up in iTunes searches and makes us feel special. ;-) We're also now on Stitcher Radio, so if you prefer that app, you can subscribe here.