Some Blog Love - I Dream in Print

Hey friends, it's your friendly sporadic blogger here. I just wanted to pop in and tell you about a newer blog that I've been following. It's published by a good friend of mine, who happens to have fabulous taste in books, both for the young and the not-so-young. Stop by I Dream in Print (also, fantastic name)- you won't be sorry!

Bloggiesta Wrap Up

Is bloggiesta over already? Man, that was a fast week.  I did pretty well with my goals, though I got kind of burned out by a crazy week from about...Wednesday on.  I did accomplish a few things: I've written and formatted a number of reviews, but really, considering I have 40+ titles waiting to be reviewed...well, I don't think I made much of a dent.  Here's the list of what I did do:

Updated Author and Title review archive pages
Wrote some reviews (not caught up, but pounded out some)
Cleaned up side bars
I also did a little bit from Ms. Bookish's mini-challenge to brainstorm blog post ideas (not the full challenge, but I made a short list)

I seriously can't believe I didn't make it to a single twitter chat! I really wanted to, but every time I planned to, I got busy with my daughter (she's rather a handful right now, which makes it hard to tweet and watch her :)

The new spokesperson for Ally Carter's books :)

Anyway, I loved having a whole week to work on it, because there were some days where I honestly didn't have the energy or time to sit down and work on it.  But there were still days where I could.  Nice! How did your bloggiesta go?

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Two Librarians' Book Reviews: Introducing Karissa!

Guys! I'm so super thrilled that I get to introduce a new reviewer to my blog!  Karissa Neely contacted me a little while ago and wanted to share some of the fabulous books she's been reading.  I am excited to have another viewpoint on the blog and more posts to share (you know how terribly I've been updating lately).  Plus, Karissa is a librarian too and you know how much I love librarians. :) Here's a little info about Karissa and stay tuned, because I've got her reviews of the Gallagher Girls series coming up.  I'll make sure it's clear which reviews are Karissa's, so she gets all the credit for her work. Please give Karissa a big welcome! (Also, just wanted to point out how cool it is that our names rhyme - Karissa and Melissa? It was meant to be, haha.)

About Karissa Neely

Karissa is an avid reader, usually averaging about 3 books a week. She reads mostly junior fiction, because she loves a good story and good writing, but without all the cussing and sex. She will read YA and some adult fiction, mostly just to keep up on what’s good – but she’s very picky. Karissa has worked as a junior high English teacher, a news correspondent for a major newspaper, and a public relations writer for a major university. She recently was a library clerk, where her favorite part of the job was helping patrons, young or old, get excited about reading. She is currently working at the Daily Herald as a business and community reporter.  Find more about her at http://karissaneely.wordpress.com/ or Twitter: @DHKarissaNeely

Please welcome Karissa to the blog!

Lord of the Rings Read-Along!

I'm just now getting my post up about this, but I'm super thrilled to be joining in Jenni Elyse and Kami's Lord of the Rings Read-Along!  It's definitely time for me to read this series again.  Here's the schedule, and drop on by Jenni Elyse or Kami's blogs to sign up.

Fellowship of the Ring (Book 1): May 1 to May 15

Fellowship of the Ring (Book 2): May 16 to May 31

The Two Towers (Book 3): June 1 to June 15

The Two Towers (Book 4): June 16 to June 30

The Return of the King (Book 5): July 1 to July 15

The Return of the King (Book 6): July 16 to July 31

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Read-a-Thon Mini-Challenge: Book Puzzles

Welcome reader-a-thon-ers!  I'm super excited to be hosting the Book Puzzle mini-challenge again.  Hopefully this will be a fun break from your reading that will let you exercise other parts of your brain!

For this challenge, you will be creating a Book Puzzle.  Essentially, this is a series of pictures, graphics, or photos that you put together that will describe a book title.  I have done an occasional game on the blog called Name That Book where I created book puzzles and let people guess the titles.  Here's an example from that first game:

This series of pictures illustrates the title Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.

Now it's your turn to create your own Book Puzzle (or you can create more than one - they are quite fun).  Once you've posted your puzzle on your blog or wherever, come back and leave me the direct link to your puzzle below.  And be sure to visit others' puzzles - it's lots of fun to guess!

[For more examples or some inspiration, take a look at last April's read-a-thon Book Puzzle participants, check out other episodes of Name That Book, check out Name That Book episodes from Stephanie Reads, or look at these awesome book puzzles created by Mrs. Stakey's 6th grade class.]

I'll be picking a winner (randomly of course, I'm not good at judging awesomeness) and the winner will get to choose any two books from the photo below.  Unfortunately, since my funds are a bit slim right now, I can only send it to US addresses (though international participants are still welcome to create Book Puzzles).  You have until the end of hour 8 to enter.  Now go forth and create!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

One Librarian's Holiday Bookish Gift Guide

I've been sitting on the idea of doing a holiday gift guide for book lovers and it's already seven days into December, so I'm just going to throw it out there now.  Hopefully there will be some ideas for you to get for your bookish friends (or to give some subtle hints for you :)

Holiday Bookish Gift Guide
 

These gorgeous posters created from the text of your favorite books will make a beautiful and unique gift.  Spineless Classics is the slightly pricier option, ranging from $50+.  I'm particularly fond of the Alice in Wonderland or The Hobbit, though I also like the Pride and Prejudice poster (of course).  If you are looking for something a little bit more affordable, you might try out Postertext, which has some more affordable prints (though they may not be the full text of the book), around $30.  I like the Wuthering Heights and The Secret Garden prints, though there are a number of other classics available.

For someone who seems to have every book they want, get them a collector's edition of a favorite!  The gorgeous illustrated copies from The Folio Society will make the perfect addition to any bibliophiles collection.  I adore The Dark is Rising, not to mention Anne of Green Gables and if I had unlimited funds, I'd already own The Lord of the Rings set :)

You can pretty much find bookish t-shirts and other clothing items anywhere you want online!  All you have to do is a google search and you will find them (or you can even make them yourself).  These two are just a sample of what's available at Out of Print Clothing, which also has a vast array of jewelry and other accessories, including book totes, mugs, and other goodies.  This Poe-inspired tote from Out of Print Clothing is hilarious!

And to get you drooling even more, check out more bookish related gear available at Café Press (bookish flip flops!) and at Zazzle (obviously love the librarian tee).   

Since jewelry is its own vast bookish mine, here are some ideas for accessorizing with books:

Love this Les Miserables bracelet and also this Jane Eyre brooch from JezebelCharms.

The BookFiend is another good shop with lots and lots of bookish jewelry, including this Lord of the Rings necklace and Harry Potter leather bracelet.  I really love that you can customize some of their jewelry with your favorite quote.  So many ideas!

Also, there's Bookshelves of Doom's etsy shop of postage stamp pendants, including a Harry Potter one and my favorite, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

      Image courtesy of artur84 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For the book-lover who wishes she had more time to read, offer a subscription to Audible or to Audiobooks.com.  You can download one audiobook a month and enjoy it while doing housework, commuting, or exercising!  This is an awesome affordable gift for the audiobook lovers in your life or as an introduction to the wonderful world of audiobooks!

Anyway, as you can see, there are a number of options (in addition to the always welcome gift of books or a gift certificate to a book store) for the bookish person on your gift list. 

Any great ideas you'd like to add?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Classic Double Challenge: June

Another month has flown by! Hopefully your enthusiasm for the Classic Double Challenge hasn't :) June is the month of the baby (I hope). My progress on the challenge, however, is once again pretty slow.  I did manage to finish Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, but I haven't read any Little Red Riding Hood stories yet.  I really ought to do that right away, as they are all pretty short and easy.  I also read one very short version of Bluebeard that skimmed over the horror of the story.  I'm thinking I'll try another version of that soon too.  I'm also still slogging through The Turn of the Screw, which is much less accessible than the retelling, but far more nuanced and better written.  I think I'll finish it before the baby comes (fingers crossed). 

I've no idea what kind of reading progress I'll be making once baby librarian arrives, but I'm hoping a few months will see me back in the groove and reading like crazy (when I possibly can).  Until then, I will continue to devour as much as possible and I'll hopefully get to read about your classic double readings!

Any Classic Double suggested readings that are perfect for summer?  I might need to try a beach read or something light soon.

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Download Audiobooks for Free @ SYNC!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Armchair BEA week of posts for me to remind you of the awesome that is SYNC.  (Plus, I'm terribly bad at reading literary fiction lately.  Seriously, I need to go look at everyone else's posts and figure out what I'm missing out on.)

But on the plus side, you can now download the first two free books of the summer starting today!  The books this week are Of Poseidon by Anna Banks and The Tempest by William Shakespeare.  And there will be two new books next week and the week after that and...you get the point.  So, get you some free audiobooks today.

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Retell Me a Story Guest Post: Jessica from Books: A True Story

I'm pleased to welcome my last Retell Me a Story guest poster, Jessica who blogs at Books: A True Story. She can also be found on twitter, goodreads, tumblr and Facebook. Thanks for joining us, Jessica!

Taking Fairy Tales Where They've Never Gone Before

I love fairy tales. Especially the Disney ones. I grew up on those. As a little girl, I'd whoosh from the back of the tub to the front to make a maximum wave of water (which usually ended up on the floor) while singing at the top of my lungs “Part of your woooooorrrrrld.” My mom would get mad and I'd explain that I was just being Ariel and flash my best innocent pouty face.

When I got older, I learned that most fairy tales are originally from The Grimm's Fairy Tales. Surely the Disney versions couldn't be that far from the original ones. Right?

Oh so wrong.

Take Rapunzel. I was no longer a kid when this movie came out (Ugh it's called Tangled but even my boys call it Rapunzel). I'm crying at the end thinking that Disney finally killed off a main character. But then magic saves him. Happily ever after the end.

Here's the Grimm version in a nutshell:

Mother Gothel banishes Rapunzel to the desert when she finds out Rapunzel has a lover and blinds Rapunzel's lover WITH THORNS (Side note: Why does Rapunzel's lover not have a name??). Blind lover wanders around for a few years before he happens to find Rapunzel and her two kids starving to death in the desert. The end.

That....is....a really depressing story.

So why do we love fairy tales so much? I can't help but wonder why people would tell these disturbing stories to their kids. Maybe there is some sort of benefit to traumatizing your kids that my kids are missing out on. Hm.

But here's why I love fairy tales – they have excellent conflict.

That's one of my favorite things about the Once Upon a Time TV show. It really embraces the conflict in fairy tales and in some cases kicks it up a notch. Little Red Riding Hood EATS her lover, anyone??

So if fairy tales have excellent conflict and story the way they are, why do so many people retell them?

I have no idea.

Personally, my favorite thing about retellings is how they update the setting and characters to make them more relatable and interesting. The best example I have of this is War of the Worlds. If you read the book, it's about a sci-fi alien invasion with everyone running away from the aliens with their horses and buggies. Which is really kind of sad when you think about it. The movie with Tom Cruise has a very similar plot, but they run away in SUVs instead. And they fight back with tanks. That's a little more relatable to me. Not that I've ever driven a tank, but I have driven an SUV.

So I am tipping my hat to all those amazing authors that take amazing fairy tales and make them modern and relatable to me. Let's take fairy tales where they've never gone before! Like space! Or Montana!

Where do you think fairy tales are headed?  Where do you want them to go?

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Retell Me a Story Guest Post: April Lindner

I'm happy to welcome my next guest poster, April Lindner, who was gracious enough to answer some of my questions.  She's the author of Jane and Catherine, both fabulous retellings of Bronte sisters' works.  She can also be found on twitter and goodreads.  

What kind of research did you do on the original tale(s)?
I begin with books I already love, books I’ve read over and over, and then I steep myself in them some more. When I was writing Jane, I kept a copy of Jane Eyre beside my bed and read before I fell asleep it at night, or whenever I started to feel writer’s block coming on. I also drove around town with the audiobook in my CD player, just to absorb as much of the language and mood as possible.

While writing Catherine, I gave myself permission to roam a little more freely away from the source material—to absorb the characters and the mood, but not to worry so much about hitting all the major plot points. Though I reread Wuthering Heights before I started, while I was actually writing, I set the book aside. I did load Wuthering Heights on my iPod, though, and I listened to it at night while I drifted off to sleep. Considering how dark Bronte’s novel is, I’m a little surprised it didn’t give me nightmares.

How did you incorporate the original tale into your story?
Jane is a pretty faithful adaptation of Jane Eyre. There are so many moments in the original that I couldn’t imagine leaving out, so I found ways to work all my favorites in. By the time I set out to write Catherine, though, I wanted to experiment with going further afield from the original. Wuthering Heights, with its multiple narrators and multigenerational sweep, was in many ways much more challenging to retell.

Film adaptations of Wuthering Heights have tended to focus on the love story between Catherine and Heathcliff, and leave out the rest. I knew I didn’t want to go that route. I’ve always thought the second half of the story is as important as the first. When Heathcliff’s love for Catherine is thwarted, his pain and resentment cast a shadow over the lives of their children. The second half of the novel is really about how Catherine’s daughter finds her way out of that shadow, and I wanted to tell that story too. In my retelling, Catherine’s daughter’s name is Chelsea, and she gets a chance to speak.

How did you determine what elements of the original story to include in your story?
Some elements of Wuthering Heights would have been really hard to translate into the 21st century. For one thing, Catherine’s daughter marries both her first cousins—first one, then the other. For another, Catherine’s father picks up a stray orphan child from the streets of Liverpool and brings him home to raise among his own children—which nowadays would be considered kidnapping. I gave myself permission to step away from the more anachronistic parts of the plot and to concentrate on its more universal elements.

Also, one defining aspect of Wuthering Heights is the cruelty that propels much of the plot. I originally set out to recreate that intense violence, but I found myself constitutionally unable to pull it off. I’m basically a pretty sunny personality, and I found that a little cruelty and violence went a long way. Unlike in the original, in Catherine no children are abused and no puppies are killed.

Why did you choose to retell the original story?
I have an endless appetite for retellings. When I fall in love with a book, I want to revisit it again and again. One way of doing that is, of course, rereading. Another is watching film adaptations. But writing a retelling takes things to a whole different level. Not only do you get to revisit characters you bonded with; you get to interact with them—to play with them. In many ways, it’s the same impulse that leads people to write fan fiction, I think.

Why do you think we are so drawn to classic stories? What makes them stand the tests of time so well?
The stories we think of as classics are the ones that have stuck with us for centuries or, at least, decades. People still read those stories, despite the passage of time, because they say something crucial about what it means to be a human being, and they do so in language or imagery or archetypes that burn into our collective memories.

Did you like reading classics in high school?
Yes, I did. I even sometimes read classics that hadn’t been assigned. Does that make me a total geek? I hope not. I remember reading Romeo and Juliet in English class and all but swooning from the gorgeous romantic poetry of passages like this:

Give me my Romeo; and when he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Does it get any more romantic than that? I don’t think so!

What are some of your favorite classics?
I love everything by Jane Austen and E. M. Forster. (I’m currently working on a modernization of Forster’s A Room With a View, an all time favorite of mine.) I also adore George Eliot’s Middlemarch, and all of Shakespeare’s tragedies.

What are some of your favorite retellings?
Last summer I read Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder, a ravishing retelling of Heart of Darkness. And the summer before that, I read and was blown away by On Beauty, Zadie Smith’s retelling of Howard’s End. But my favorite quasi-retelling of all time is probably Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca, which definitely draws elements from Jane Eyre. Some of my favorite retellings have been screen versions, films like Easy A and Clueless. And, while it’s not exactly a retelling, the British series Lost in Austen is a really fun riff on Pride and Prejudice.

Thanks for joining us, April!
(And don't forget to check out my review of Catherine and the giveaway that includes my ARC of Catherine)

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Retell Me a Story Guest Post: Angie from Angieville

I'm thrilled to welcome my next Retell Me a Story guest poster, Angie, the compelling blogger behind Angieville.  She can also be found on twitter, goodreads, tumblr and Facebook.  Thanks for joining us, Angie!
 
I am an unabashed (if somewhat outspoken) fan of retellings, which might explain why Melissa invited me to contribute a post to her fabulous week dedicated to retellings of all kinds. I was delighted to accept, as I find that I never run out of things to say when it comes to my favorite stories re-imagined  And since I am an equal opportunity retelling admirer, I decided to focus (this time) on my favorite classic retellings. Everyone loves a new take on an old fairy tale, but what about those literary masterpieces that have been read by legions of readers over the years and continue to inspire modern writers to picture them anew? They call them classics for a reason, which means they stand up to the test of time but also that the task of re-envisioning them is fraught with danger. Because those readers? They love these books very individually and for very specific reasons. It can be so easy for the whole shebang to go awry. But. It can also go so beautifully well. And while, admittedly, not all classics respond well to embellishment, there are certain stories, certain characters that I think will always be taken up and loved over again, folded into new shapes, and directed down new paths by talented, devoted authors. And when it happens, it's magic.

Each of these classics below have been retold numerous times, but here are six of my very favorites in case you're looking to revisit one of yours:

The Turn of the Screw
Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie

I'm starting with this one because I think it's one of the more underrated retellings I've read in quite some time. My, how I loved this creepy, romantic version of Henry James' classic horror story. Main character Andie is strong and mouthy, and she protects those she loves. This one took me completely by surprise and has lingered with me ever since.

Hamlet
Ophelia by Lisa Klein

I don't know about you, but I've always rather felt Ophelia deserved another stab at her story. Klein gives it a great go in this version of Hamlet told from Ophelia's point of view. It just makes so much sense from her perspective. And don't worry, she gets every last thing she should have had but never got in the original. In wholly unexpected ways.

The Iliad 
Troy by Adele Geras

Who else prefers Hector to Achilles every single day of the week? It can't be just me. Geras' lovely vision has it all, from the personal, human woes of the citizens of the beleaguered city to the strangely grand affairs of the gods and goddesses who dip their fingers into the river of life.

Sherlock Holmes
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

This is the first in King's long-running Mary Russell series and it remains close to my heart for being everything I could have ever wanted in a Holmes tale, most particularly the fact that is told from a female point of view. It humanizes and entices at the same time as it stays doggedly true to the spirit of the original stoic detective series. 

Jane Eyre
Jane by April Lindner

Truth? I've read more Jane Eyre retellings than I care to count. Precious few live up to the excellence of the original. But this one wins no contest. It's quietly perfect as far as I'm concerned. I've read and reread it and I never grow tired of Lindner's loving update to one of my favorite stories ever. Reader, I loved it.

Persuasion
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Conversely, I have read very few retellings of Persuasion. Two at most. I think it's a bit of a tougher nut to crack in many ways. But Peterfreund's post-apocalyptic take is splendid. Taking its inspiration from Austen's tale, it proceeds to launch itself into the wild blue yonder on a course of its own setting. But in case you were wondering, the letters are still there. And they are breathtaking. Just as they should be.

And as far as classic retellings coming out in the near future, these are the three I'm looking forward to the most:

Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
This retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel is a companion novel to For Darkness Shows the Stars and the Percy character is a girl. I am beside myself with wanting.

Catherine by April Lindner
Another companion novel (to Jane this time), this is Lindner's modern retelling of Wuthering Heights. Here's hoping for if not a modicum of a happy ending for someone, at least quiet slumbers for these sleepers.

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan
I find it difficult to even talk about this retelling of A Tale of Two Cities without peeing my pants. I'm sorry, but I'm just that on the edge of my seat about the whole notion of its existence. This is my most beloved Dickens tale and I trust Ms. Rees Brennan explicitly.

What about you? Do you have a favorite classic retelling? And which ones do you long for someone to write?

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Retell Me a Story Guest Post: Marissa Meyer

I'm super excited to welcome my next guest poster, Marissa Meyer.  She's the author of Cinder and the forthcoming Scarlet, both part of The Lunar Chronicles series and both imaginative retellings of fairy tales.  She can also be found on twitter and Facebook.  Thanks for being here, Marissa!

CINDER: On Writing a Fairy Tale Scavenger Hunt

When I decided to write a series of futuristic fairy tale retellings, I was determined to write a series of books that were entirely unique, despite their fairy tale ties. After all, these stories (and Cinderella in particular) have been told and retold a million different times in a million different ways, and while I adore many retellings and rags-to-riches tales, I didn't want my book to become "just another Cinderella story."

So it became a challenge to figure out where the boundaries of the Cinderella story were, and how far I could bend and twist them, while still maintaining that air of familiarity that I love about retellings. I wanted readers to have the sense that this was still the fairy tale from their childhood, just not quite how they'd read it before.

I began by re-reading the most well-known versions of the tale - Grimm and Perrault - and also revisiting some popular retellings, such as ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine. From that, I began to pick out the elements that, to me, make up the most iconic moments of the Cinderella story:

- Cinderella as a lowly servant or in a low social class
- The Prince
- The Wicked Stepmother
- The Ball and the means by which Cinderella gets to it (help from a fairy godmother or kindly spirit, the pumpkin carriage)
- The Slipper

Once I knew which elements seemed necessary to me to keep that Cinderella feel, I was able to let the story grow and expand, through new plot twists, unexpected characters, and futuristic world-building. Soon I had a heroine who was part-machine, a plague ravishing Earth, and a society of cruel mind-controlling semi-humans from the moon who were plotting war against Earth, and I went with it, so long as I still maintained the framework of those original elements.

I also had a lot of fun taking those elements and working them into the context of my futuristic world. Cinder's low social standing is a direct result of her cybernetic make-up. The ball is an annual event that celebrates 126 years of world peace following the Fourth World War. The slipper is represented by (what else?) a too-small cyborg foot.

I've had readers describe CINDER like a scavenger hunt, in which they would forget they were reading a retelling at all until they stumbled across one of these iconic elements that harked back to its fairy-tale roots. I love this analogy, because it perfectly captures what I was aiming for when I wrote it. I'm attempting to keep that same combination of new-meets-familiar throughout The Lunar Chronicles, which will also be retelling Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. I hope the sensation of a fairy-tale scavenger hunt continues, and that readers have as much fun hunting down these iconic elements - some more subtle than others - as I've had writing them in.

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage