Tag: book

Books, personal

Monday smiles…

Elodie

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Hubby and I spent in France with my family and it was GREAT 😀 I have so many happy news that I want to share with you that I have to make a list 😀

  1. Friday started off quite well. I noticed my name on Friday the Thirteeners (a small group of YA writers debuting in 2013). The lovely Erin Bowman picked my Truth or Dare question: Who is your secret crush from YA lit? You should definitely check out her answer. She even did a Vlog! Oh and if you want to know more about Erin, you can visit her blog or  follow her on Twitter! Not only did Erin answer my question, but I also won a $13 gift card for amazon. Since Erin mentioned COLD KISS and since this book has been on my TBR for awhile, I decided it was the perfect occasion to get it 😀 Yay!
  2. The weekend was really lovely: my parents took us back to the restaurant we had the sort-of rehersal dinner before our wedding in August. The food was yummy and on top of this, it brought back a lot of wonderful memories. We strolled the park of one of Napoleon´s castle afterwards, spent time with my grandmother, sisters, brother-in-law, niece and nephew.  Oh and we played tennis with my dad. Fun all around! On Sunday, we also enjoyed a family lunch and afternoon.                                                                        My mom makes the most beautiful tables doesn´t she? Today, after a delicious brunch prepared by my mom and saying goodbye, we headed back to Germany. I may be turning 31 this year but leaving France is always a tad difficult :D…On our way back we stopped at Hooters, because well, we love wings!
  3. Awards: Thank you Lora for the Versatile Blogger Award and Thank you Word (en)Counters for the Liebster Blog Award! Blushing!
  4. I may have developed a new addiction: INSTAGRAM has been made available to Android phones and I´m loving it 😀
  5. I finished reading THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE this weekend and wow, this book…this story…is brutally honest and poetic. Loved it! I just started ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and I´m already pulled in the story after a few pages…quite happy about it! And next on my list is JELLICOE ROAD…:D I mean, after hearing Erin talk about it and reading Katy´s take on one of the main characters, I have to read it!
  6. Honeymoon, honeymoon, honeymoon…We are full into preparation mode and I am so so excited that we just booked the Isaiah Jones Homestead Bed and Breakfastin Sandwich, MA where we stayed a night in 2007. We are ready to meet old memories there and to make new ones…Plus it will be after we drive more than 4000 miles around the US so I think we´ll be ready to settle in and really relax for a few days. After Cape Cod, we´ll be off to NYC and watching this:

How was your weekend?

Happy Friday, reading, writing

King´s On Writing makes me all kind of happy…

Elodie

Thanks to Sara and her Blog-O-Rama book club idea, I finally came around to read ON WRITING and when I say “read”, I mean that my book is full of pink post-its so that I can make sure I can come back to all the spots where I nodded or smiled or wanted to throw my fist up the air and yell “YES! That´s EXACTLY it!”

Reading this book at night also triggered that type of conversation on Twitter with Jaime and Colin…

If you haven´t read this book yet and you are a writer, you really should pick it up. Even if you´re not a writer, the first part where King explains his own path to becoming a writer is a perfect example of voice (heck the entire book is a superb example of voice). You could get lost in his childhood with him!

So yep, I have a lot to share on Mister King´s take on the Art of writing 😀 Actually, I already wrote a post on his view on vocabulary and language: The Beauty of Words or the Pulchritude of Morphemes?

Today, I will focus on two of the wonderful questions Sarah kindly shared as pointers for discussion. I might do follow-up posts on this book (have you noticed the amount of pink post-its? :D)

1. King’s wife Tabitha is his “Ideal Reader,” the one-person audience he has in mind when writing a first draft. When you write, do you envision a particular Ideal Reader? Who is that person and why?

As you may have guessed from yesterday´s post, my wonderful hubby is not really the Ideal Reader per se (he doesn´t read a lot and especially not fiction).  He is the Ideal Husband for my writing self. He puts up with my crap but also tells me when to stop with my crap, you know the magic balance of support and reality check :D. While I read different takes on a certain chapter or even sentence, his answer usually is: “Sounds good”, followed when he sees my frown by “come on, you know I don´t read that much!”. However, since he is very supportive, he will “listen” to my book and point out possible discrepancies in plot which I know he´s going to be amazing for and I´ll be able to discuss the motivations of my characters. While we may not agree, it will be a great exercise!

Honestly, while writing I didn´t have much of a reader in mind. I wanted to tell a story to anybody who would want to hear it. Now, in my revising process, I try to think of me as a reader: what doesn´t work at all when I dive into a book? I also see some of the wonderful teenagers I know and I think on what they tell me about books they´ve read and then I think about one of my great friends who has been kind enough at the very beginning to write me regularly to say “Where is the next chapter, Elodie? Don´t leave me hanging!”.

2. King’s self-imposed “production schedule” is 2,000 words a day and he suggests that all writers set a daily writing goal. What kind of discipline, if any, do you impose upon your own writing efforts? Do you always write at the same time of day? If so, when and why? Do you try to maintain a steady pace? Does adherence to a strict routine help your writing efforts?

King speaks about the muse several times in the book and I have to say I agree with him when he says “Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you´re going to be every day from nine ´til noon or seven ´til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later, he´ll start showing up, chomping his cigar and making his magic.”

So, my muse doesn´t have a cigar (I stopped smoking around 3 months ago and it would be mean of my muse to come with something hanging from its mouth) but she/he knows where to find me from 7am to 7.30am and from 5.45pm to 6.20pm everyday (sometimes during the evening, it might be later depending what time I leave work).

I established this schedule over the past months. The muse finds me in this seating place. Yes, it´s usually crowded and no it´s not silent but I close the door on all noises, put my ipod on without really listening to the music and type away or revise away.

Right around that time, I get the urge to write. It´s really an urge, a desire, a need to put those words on my computer or to revise the story already at hand…And here I again agree with Mister King´s words:

“I feel that buzz of happiness, that sense of having found the right words and put them in a line…. That makes me happy, because it’s what I was made to do….Writing did not save my life… but it has continued to do what it always has done: it makes my life a brighter and more pleasant place.”

Happy Friday and Happy writing or reading to all!

I cannot wait to go and read everybody´s take on this. If you have read On Writing, you can still join the fun! And otherwise, as always, I´m curious: who is YOUR Ideal Reader? (or your Ideal Writer :D)

Observations, personal

A Young Engineer’s (not so serious) Review of The Hunger Games Movie…

Elodie

Disclaimer: I have been talking to my husband aka The Chemical Engineer quite a lot about The Hunger Games, I also showed him this particular post from YA Confidential which he found hilarious. And then I thought it’d be interesting to have him write a guest post sharing his (not so serious) views on the movie as somebody who hasn’t read the books, doesn’t really read fiction and sometimes gives me a hard time cos’ I read too many books a month 😀 Looking forward to your comments (yes, Chemical Engineer, I am leaving you the floor, stop figeting!)

A Young Engineer’s (not so serious) Review of The Hunger Games Movie…

Just so I can still keep my manhood intact let me mention that my wife got (forced) me to go and watch the movie with her.

First things first: I don’t want to (and can’t) compare the movie with the book. I haven’t read the book. My wife read a few chapters to me while I was falling asleep, trying to get me interested in reading it. It didn’t work despite the fact that it worked for one of her blog friends; I don’t read fictional books, I wait until the good ones come out as a movie. This strategy has worked out well for me. I tried to remember when the last time was that I read a book and watched the movie based on the same book. It seems to be about 11 years ago in high school. I am not sure it counts though, the book was Othello and the Movie was O (a modern interpretation). But since novels and movies serve the same purpose, entertainment, but do it through a very different way, I find it pointless to compare the two. I do have to mention one thing about comparing the two:

When there is a shower scene described in the book (on the train to the Capitol):  How dare do you leave that out of the movie?  I get the whole PG-13 rating, etc., but how can you do such a thing as a movie director! Shame on you Mr. Gary Ross!!!

In general the movie was quite entertaining and for the most part kept my attention. Obviously having cool guys like Woody Harrelson and Lenny Kravitz helps with that.

              

The story in itself is pretty good. Showing the young adults as regular teenagers with fears and joys and then having them fight until death is quite compelling. Even though the underlying story of individuals who can change the world by starting a revolution unintentionally is probably older than literature itself. As long as the packaging is right, who am I to weigh heavily on an old literature cliché – After all I am just an engineer.

Speaking of packaging, here are two things that I didn’t get about the movie:

  1. So they all live in a very advanced society with scanners that analyze your blood right away, with dresses that burn like fire but still safe and with hovering space ships… Why in the world would you travel by train for almost an entire day instead of taking a space ship? I get that district 12 is not as developed as the Capitol, but this still wouldn’t explain why a space ship couldn’t fly in and just pick them up!
  2. Staying with the thought of a dystopian society that is technologically progressed. Why in the world would you still be mining coal? Do they have a little coal burner inside those space ships? So they developed all of this technology and still are bound to use coal. Really? Just think about this for a second. They spend all of this energy developing new technology that probably consumes even more energy and the only solution that they could find to fulfill their energy demand was coal? I understand that it was important for the story that the residents of District 12 had to be manual laborers, but couldn’t they have been robot-mechanics or some kind of electrical circuit makers (like the ones working on making our smart phones). 

I know you probably think it is not important for the whole story, but I think a writer or director (again I can’t compare the books) should take the time and think through such details in order to make it more coherent (at least for me).

It helps if a writer is married to engineer that can double check the story 😀

Book Review, Books, YA Book Club

YA Book Club: Loving WANDERLOVE…

Elodie

This month, the YA Book Club (brainchild of the wonderful Tracey) is discussing WANDERLOVE by Kirsten Hubbard. I´ll try not be too spoilery (yes, I´m making up words – I´m all for creativity!)  for those of you who may not have read it.

WANDERLOVE: It all begins with a stupid question: Are you a Global Vagabond? 
No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path. 

I immersed myself in the story quite fast, after a few pages I was already “in” and I really enjoyed reading Bria´s adventure. The swoony elements were…well…SWOONY 😀 and I could feel her emotions. Always a wonderful plus in my book!

I re-read the ending several times and there are certain passages which made me react this way:

Mean Girls nodI did try to look a tad more inspired when I nodded though (promise), especially at this excerpt (and what better way to have the author actually read it for us – thanks for the magic of the internet and youtube):

This excerpt resonated in me. I left France when I just turned 19. Left my country, my family for an entire year to live with an American family and to take care of children. I thought I could maybe “reinvent” myself.  Nobody knew me there, I could be whoever I wanted to be. I ended up pretty much staying who I already was but I did grow up a lot during that year…

The main reason why I truly enjoyed this story (apart from the swoony bits) is the self-discovery part and for me it could have happened anywhere in the world. She could have been in a resort instead of backpacking and still go through the same emotions.

Having said that, I did really like how Kirsten enabled us to “see” the places Bria went to…I could visualize them and “feel” the water. I virtually traveled with all of them and for that I´m very grateful!

So tell me: what did you think of WANDERLOVE?

 How important is the setting of a story for you in general?

Books, Kisses, Road Trip Wednesday

Best Books of the Month…

Elodie

Today is Road Trip Wednesday 🙂 RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: What was the best book you read in March?

This month, I’ve read less books than in the previous ones. I’ve been immersing myself in revising, beta-reading and Stephen King’s ON WRITING…but luckily, all the ones I’ve read brought me a little something something…

              

WANDERLOVE by Kirsten Hubbard : more on this story on Friday (keeping the suspense for Tracey’s YA Book club)

AMY AND ROGER’S EPIC DETOUR by Morgan Matson: I really really enjoyed this novel. The setting was great and made me think of my upcoming honeymoon so definitely a winner for this month! I thought both characters were  well developed and I got lost in their story. And there are definitely a lot of swoon-worthy moments…and those which squeezed my heart. Always a plus! I am definitely adding SECOND CHANCE SUMMER to my TBR list. Thanks again Jaime for pointing this book out to me!

GETTING OVER GARRETT DELANEY by Abby McDonald: A cute one and I liked the premises of the story. I also think the author did very well at portraying the different relationships. I enjoyed the developing and rekindling of friendships.

     

RIPPLE by Mandy Hubbart: I’ve been meaning to read more mermaid books and this one had a different twist to it. While I wish I could have been immersed more in the curse itself, I still wanted to know what would happen to Lexi 😀

INCARNATE by Jodi Meadows: Honestly, I was unsure about this book before started it. I was afraid I’d be disappointed. I’m glad I wasn’t. It took me a few pages to really get into it and once I was, there was no turning back for me. Plus, the swoony moments involved a piano and gosh how I missed mine while reading those lines!

TRAFFICKED by Kim Purcell: Difficult. Heart-wrenching. Some reviewers mentioned that they thought Hannah was too naive and I don’t think she was. Of course, she knew the dangers but she was going for what she thought to be a better life, for her grandmother. I felt for her. I cringe and I wanted to scream at some of the things happening during the book.

So, tell me what was your favorite book(s) of the month?

Books, Top Ten Tuesday

Spring Fever: Top Ten Books I’d Play Hooky With…

Elodie

This Top Ten Tuesday feature is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and I first came across it on Jaime´s blog. It´s a lot of fun and they  post the topics way in advance! And here comes my second Top Ten Tuesday:

Spring Fever: Top Ten Books I’d Play Hooky With

While it´s been awhile since I skipped anything and I can´t remember skipping any classes unless it was at the end of the school year or during demonstrations. Yes, a lot of French students demonstrate at least once during high school. What I can remember is those books I got lost in at different periods of my life, the one I probably kept on thinking about at all times of the day. The selection has been hard and there are many more I’d like to put there but I’ll refrain to tranform this Top Ten into a Top Thousand…

  1. FAIRYTALES: all types of fairytales. I remember a Grimm book (the kids´ version), a beautiful Charles Perrault book, one which had a fairytale per day and one with I think were Russian fairytales and of course Andersen stories.
  2. COMTESSE DE SÉGUR books: I loved her books as a child. I especially remember one called LES CAPRICES DE GISELE & QUEL AMOUR D’ENFANT which told the story of a misbehaved and spoiled little girl with a big heart. I kept on telling myself I would behave better than her and always got disappointed in some of my actions which made me think  “Hmm I’m doing like her”.
  3. JUDY BLUME books: Because let’s face it, she rocks.
  4. LA BICYCLETTE BLEUE by Regine Deforges: I was about 14 when I read this book and some of the sequels. I was mesmerized by the story and I remember laying in my bed for an entire Saturday afternoon just turning the pages.
  5. CATHERINE HERMARY-VIEILLE Books: I’ve read some of her books in high school and some others more recently. I really enjoy both her writing and the story she magically tells (including those taking place in 17/18the century France).
  6. THE BRONZE HORSEMAN trilogy: I started it and never let it go.
  7. TWILIGHT: Yes, I went there 🙂 I read the books when the entire serie was already available and I did miss my bedtime several times because I wanted to know what happened next.
  8. STEPHANIE PERKINS books: I would play hooky with anything this woman writes.
  9. THE HUNGER GAMES Trilogy: I only read the books in January but that enabled me to read all of them at once and I couldn’t wait for my commute to get back to the story.
  10. INSURGENT by Veronica Roth: I cannot wait to get my hands on this book!

What are some books YOU would play hooky with?

Book Review, young adult

Goddess Interrupted – A review and my take on mythology….

Elodie

I´ve mentioned this before: I love mythology. I focused part of my Master´s thesis on the re-telling of MEDEA by Christa Wolf using feminism and new historicism theories. I immersed myself in the evolution of women´s image through the different adaptations of the myth. I also looked at MEDEA through Christa Wolf´s lens in regards to the divided Germany and her own personal history.

I breathed MEDEA for months. Christa Wolf did a big u-turn: in her story, Medea is not a child-murderer. I could spend hours discussing her version but this post is about GODDESS INTERRUPTED (sequel of The Goddess Test). Thanks to Netgalley, I read an ARC of this book on my kindle 🙂

Summary from Goodreads: Kate Winters has won immortality. But if she wants a life with Henry in the Underworld, she’ll have to fight for it.Becoming immortal wasn’t supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she’s as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he’s becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate’s coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future.Henry’s first wife, Persephone.

Some reviews focus on how Aimee Carter changed the myth or how this book doesn´t live up to the expectations one has from Greek mythology or the story of Persephone in general…For me, it did not matter. I wanted a story to entertain me and it did. I wanted a story which takes a new take on a myth and it did. I wanted a story in which I can feel for the characters and it somewhat did. There are certain part of the stories during which I wished I could speak to Kate to get some sense into her but in a way, I enjoyed this because this meant I let myself dive into the story enough to have an opinion on the actions of the main characters. I´ll pick up the last installment of the trilogy when it comes out 😀

Tell me, are there any adaptation of famous stories that you really enjoyed reading?

Happy Friday, reading, revising

Happy Friday #11 – Little things and big smiles

Elodie

Yay! It´s time again for Happy Friday!

Looking forward to knowing what made YOU smile this week!

Revising: I am going through another round of revising. Every morning and every evening in the train, I take out my beloved netbook and correct a lot of my previous silliness. I´ll post more about this on Monday but I think I´ve reached a “Tada” moment in this process and that brings a BIG smile to my face.

Reading: For Tracey´s YA Book club, I´ve read WANDERLOVE last weekend and I cannot talk about it yet but it did make it to my happy friday so it should give you a hint 😀 I´m also reading Stephen King´s ON WRITING and I´m falling in love with this book. I´ll explain the reasons soon and thank you Sara for giving me the slight push to actually dive into this book. If you´ve read those books, don´t hesitate to click on those wonderful bloggies´ links to join the fun!

ChangeWriteNow: A big wave to my team and to all participating. I´m really enjoying the support. We´re scattered all around the world but encouragement is one computer screen away 😀

Pinterest: It had been awhile since I worked (well ok played) with the shiny things on Pinterest….and yesterday I let my fingers run free and  found (among many other things) this quote –

Source: etsy.com via Elodie on Pinterest

The beauty of Twitter: I´ve raved before about how much I like connecting with other writers on Twitter. Really, it´s fun! And thanks to Twitter (and Katy), I came across this video…

“Sh*t Writers say…”

So, tell me, what made YOU smile this week?

Kisses, reading, Road Trip Wednesday, writing, young adult

The magic of a kiss

Elodie

Today is Road Trip Wednesday 🙂 RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: A long-awaited kiss, a surprise ending, a character’s sudden decision…  these are the moments that make us smile, gasp, and LOVE a book for the rest of our lives.
What is your favorite literary moment?

So many moments come back to my mind from my decades of reading. Some excerpts from Albert Camus and Victor Hugo which made me think so hard. Some theater plays which got a strong reaction out of me. Some thrillers who got me jumping out of my seat when I heard a noise. Some historical fiction which made me dream I was in another time. Some novels which got me turning the pages so fast because I just wanted to know what would happen next…

However, if I had to pick one and only one  favorite literary moment (arrrghhhhh I don’t like playing favorites :D), it would be the anticipation to the long-awaited kisses and the magical moment when the kisses actually happen.

The butterflies before lips meet either tentatively or with force. Those moments where I turn the page and my own body reacts: my stomach flips, my muscles tense because I wonder what may happen.  Yep, done well, those get me every single time…

So tell me, what is your favorite literary moment?

Books, reading, Top Ten Tuesday, young adult

Top Ten Books On My Spring To-Be-Read list

Elodie

I´ve seen this Top Ten Tuesday feature on Jaime´s blog and thought it looked like fun so I decided to check it out and…here I am 😀 Today is my first Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish)

The Top Ten Books on My Spring To-Be-Read list…

For this list, I´ll focus on YA titles….Ready? There we go!

I’ll start with the sequels coming out in the Spring which get me all jittery every time I think of them…

  • INSURGENT by Veronica Roth: I cannot wait to know what happens, how will they deal with the guilt, how will they survive? Can love make it in such a place?
  • UNTIL I DIE by Amy Plum: Of course, Kate and Vincent are characters I look forward to hang out with again. Plus it´s in Paris 😀 But I´m also all happy to see some of the secondary characters (waves at Jules)

….now onto books which have been published somewhat long(er) ago but that I still did not come around to read:

My TBR list on Goodreads holds more than 100 books and there are A LOT of new releases I’m also looking forward to read but those are 10 books I know I will definitely manage to get my fingertips on during the Spring season 😀

What books are on YOUR list for Spring?