Catherine Linka's Blog
October 2, 2016
Immersing in What You Love
A couple years ago, I was contemplating what to write next, so I asked myself how I wanted to spend the next year of my life. We writers immerse ourselves in the world we explore in our stories. Our work feeds off of what we love or what obsesses us.
Writing a book, for me at least, takes a year or two or three. And at the end, there’s no guarantee that book will sell to a publisher.
So the question was important. How did I want to spend that year?
Art. I’d always loved art. I grew up drawing and painting. I made ceramic sculptures, did photography, wrote bad poetry, danced. I loved art history, but didn’t know much about contemporary art, because I’d aways been drawn to figurative art.
What if I spent the year exploring contemporary art? Even if I ended up writing a book that didn’t sell, I’d get to spend the time doing something I loved!
Incredibly, LA is now one of the top places in the US to experience contemporary art. As I wandered through exhibits at LACMA, the Broad, the Marciano, the Hammer and the Getty, I was captivated by the work of artists like Siamak Filizadeh, Gerhard Richter, Makoto Saito, Al Weiwei, Basquiat, Kara Walker, and James Turrell.
I read interviews with artists, essays and articles about art schools, auction houses, art fairs, collectors and galleries. I learned how few artists succeed and how many artists in NYC work because they can’t afford paint or supplies.
I learned how contemporary art attracts big money, and how wealthy buyers may never display what they buy, but send it to specialized warehouses, intending to flip it. I read about art thefts, looted antiquities, forgeries, and organized crime.
Now I was excited.
I imagined what it would be like for someone who lives and breathes art, who knows they possess real talent to be dropped into this world and have to face the very real possibility their dream would be taken away.
It was a very good year.
Writing a book, for me at least, takes a year or two or three. And at the end, there’s no guarantee that book will sell to a publisher.
So the question was important. How did I want to spend that year?
Art. I’d always loved art. I grew up drawing and painting. I made ceramic sculptures, did photography, wrote bad poetry, danced. I loved art history, but didn’t know much about contemporary art, because I’d aways been drawn to figurative art.
What if I spent the year exploring contemporary art? Even if I ended up writing a book that didn’t sell, I’d get to spend the time doing something I loved!
Incredibly, LA is now one of the top places in the US to experience contemporary art. As I wandered through exhibits at LACMA, the Broad, the Marciano, the Hammer and the Getty, I was captivated by the work of artists like Siamak Filizadeh, Gerhard Richter, Makoto Saito, Al Weiwei, Basquiat, Kara Walker, and James Turrell.
I read interviews with artists, essays and articles about art schools, auction houses, art fairs, collectors and galleries. I learned how few artists succeed and how many artists in NYC work because they can’t afford paint or supplies.
I learned how contemporary art attracts big money, and how wealthy buyers may never display what they buy, but send it to specialized warehouses, intending to flip it. I read about art thefts, looted antiquities, forgeries, and organized crime.
Now I was excited.
I imagined what it would be like for someone who lives and breathes art, who knows they possess real talent to be dropped into this world and have to face the very real possibility their dream would be taken away.
It was a very good year.
April 5, 2015
Five Truths About DNF
Last year, many of us debut authors freaked when bloggers reviewed our books and tweeted reviews with a big DNF or did not finish. It’s scary, because we know some readers will see that and think DNF means “this book is so bad I could not force myself to get through it.”
As a bookseller, I confess I did a lot of DNF. Like bloggers, I had to be familiar with hundreds of new releases in order to do my job, and I only finished books I really liked.
So to set the record straight for readers: the truth is when a reviewer says DNF, it can mean several things that have absolutely nothing to do with how good a book is.
I had a taste for something else. I want to go to Zeke’s for ribs and my family insists on Blue Fish for sushi. It doesn’t matter that the sushi is amazing, I don’t want it-- and the same is true if I pick up a romance when I really crave a thriller.
This is not the book for ME. There’s a famous author, and I love half his books, but I can’t get through the others. I am not the audience for those stories, but I know his audience needs them.
I don’t want to go there. The characters in this story are taking me someplace that is too close to an event or relationship in my past. I realized this after I made two attempts to read a starred book and quit at the identical page both times. I’d spent years getting over that “friendship” and I wasn’t going back.
I’m burnt out on this genre. It doesn’t matter how good the new book is if I’m hungering for something new and completely different. Six months from now, I might be ready, but not now.
I’m line-editing the first chapter. As a writer, I am overly-sensitive to prose style and if I’m rewriting, I am not in the story.
It would be great if we lived in a world where everyone was sensitive to how their words affect others, but we don’t. So the next time you see a DNF, check out some other reviews. Don’t miss out on a great book that might be a perfect match for you and what you want to read now, just because it wasn't the right book for someone else.
As a bookseller, I confess I did a lot of DNF. Like bloggers, I had to be familiar with hundreds of new releases in order to do my job, and I only finished books I really liked.
So to set the record straight for readers: the truth is when a reviewer says DNF, it can mean several things that have absolutely nothing to do with how good a book is.
I had a taste for something else. I want to go to Zeke’s for ribs and my family insists on Blue Fish for sushi. It doesn’t matter that the sushi is amazing, I don’t want it-- and the same is true if I pick up a romance when I really crave a thriller.
This is not the book for ME. There’s a famous author, and I love half his books, but I can’t get through the others. I am not the audience for those stories, but I know his audience needs them.
I don’t want to go there. The characters in this story are taking me someplace that is too close to an event or relationship in my past. I realized this after I made two attempts to read a starred book and quit at the identical page both times. I’d spent years getting over that “friendship” and I wasn’t going back.
I’m burnt out on this genre. It doesn’t matter how good the new book is if I’m hungering for something new and completely different. Six months from now, I might be ready, but not now.
I’m line-editing the first chapter. As a writer, I am overly-sensitive to prose style and if I’m rewriting, I am not in the story.
It would be great if we lived in a world where everyone was sensitive to how their words affect others, but we don’t. So the next time you see a DNF, check out some other reviews. Don’t miss out on a great book that might be a perfect match for you and what you want to read now, just because it wasn't the right book for someone else.
February 19, 2015
The Strata of Inspiration
When I ask writers what inspired their novel they usually tell me about an event in their lives such as:
“My family accidentally drove off and left me at a gas station when I was 10” (Jen White)
or
“I got a copy of my father’s FBI file from the Hollywood Blacklist era.” (Leda Siskind)
In a books, we’d call this the inciting event that causes everything to happen. For A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS, the inciting event was reading a book that pissed me off.
I loved spec and dystopian fiction, and how they pose big questions--like what does it mean to be human. But then I read a book that was so stupid in how it pictured America after a catastrophe and how it imagined people would behave, and I just lost it.
For 3 days, I muttered to myself, “Well, this wouldn’t have happened and that wouldn’t have happened.” I was obsessed. So I realized I needed to clear my head by write down these thoughts.
Forty pages later, I realized I was writing a novel.
My friend Julie Berry says that sometimes when you write, you’re on a “quest.” You know you want to write about truth or justice or family relationships. But other times, you fall down a rabbit hole into a story you never expected to write.
I did not plan to write A Girl Called Fearless, but I heard Avie’s voice in my head. She was 16, almost 17, a junior in a girls school in Pasadena. She and all her friends had lost their moms and sisters, but she still dreamed about going to Occidental College, and drinking coffee with her lifelong friend Yates--if she could get her bodyguard to sit at a different table.
I knew I didn’t want to write another Katniss. I wanted to write about a typical LA teen--stuck in a horrible situation she’s not sure she’ll survive.
Not only was Avie alive in my head, but the world was vivid. As I thought about what it would be like to lose so many women--what would happen to the economy, society, politics--the answers just came to me.
And this shows how while an inciting event sparks a story, a writer’s past and experience, interests and passions put the meat on the story’s bones.
I drew on my knowledge of women’s issues in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to think about how American fathers would want to protect their daughters’ purity. A news junkie, I’d seen the rise of the Tea Party, and imagined a new party--the Paternalists-- exploiting men’s fears to capture political power. And having worked in marketing, I could easily imagine how Americans would exploit a shortage of girls as a marketing opportunity.
The reasons a writer is compelled to write a particular book are as layered as the strata of the earth. We write stories that connect to our core--to who we are as people and what we value in this world--to what frightens us, excites us, and what sparks our anger.
I probably wouldn’t have written AGCF if I didn’t have a dad who took me to climb Half Dome at age 11 or if I wasn’t someone whose headmaster threatened to expel her for protesting every injustice I saw in high school.
Because our stories express who we are at the core, if we peel back another layer of the strata we see that our stories are “our stories” in disguise.
A lot of the time, a writer doesn’t realize what a story is really about until the first draft is done and then it can take a friend pointing out that the main character is the writer--in another shape or form, who is dealing with the same issues or emotions the writer has.
I realized recently that A Girl Called Fearless isn’t just Avie’s survival story--it’s mine.
Right before I began this book, my family had been through hell. There are times in your life when you don’t know if you’re going to make it. When everything you’ve tried, hasn’t worked, and when you realize how little power you have to fix things. But you get up every morning and try again, because your other choice is to roll up in a ball and cry.
At the beginning of A Girl Called Fearless, Avie says, “I’m not fearless, but I love that Yates thinks I am.” But at the end of book 1 after she’s seen what she’s survived, she says, “I am fearless.”
Now I realize why it was so important to me to write about a typical girl--not a ninja or a superhero--because I survived what I didn’t imagine I could, and I want kids who don’t think they’re special to see they too have strength inside them they never imagined.
“My family accidentally drove off and left me at a gas station when I was 10” (Jen White)
or
“I got a copy of my father’s FBI file from the Hollywood Blacklist era.” (Leda Siskind)
In a books, we’d call this the inciting event that causes everything to happen. For A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS, the inciting event was reading a book that pissed me off.
I loved spec and dystopian fiction, and how they pose big questions--like what does it mean to be human. But then I read a book that was so stupid in how it pictured America after a catastrophe and how it imagined people would behave, and I just lost it.
For 3 days, I muttered to myself, “Well, this wouldn’t have happened and that wouldn’t have happened.” I was obsessed. So I realized I needed to clear my head by write down these thoughts.
Forty pages later, I realized I was writing a novel.
My friend Julie Berry says that sometimes when you write, you’re on a “quest.” You know you want to write about truth or justice or family relationships. But other times, you fall down a rabbit hole into a story you never expected to write.
I did not plan to write A Girl Called Fearless, but I heard Avie’s voice in my head. She was 16, almost 17, a junior in a girls school in Pasadena. She and all her friends had lost their moms and sisters, but she still dreamed about going to Occidental College, and drinking coffee with her lifelong friend Yates--if she could get her bodyguard to sit at a different table.
I knew I didn’t want to write another Katniss. I wanted to write about a typical LA teen--stuck in a horrible situation she’s not sure she’ll survive.
Not only was Avie alive in my head, but the world was vivid. As I thought about what it would be like to lose so many women--what would happen to the economy, society, politics--the answers just came to me.
And this shows how while an inciting event sparks a story, a writer’s past and experience, interests and passions put the meat on the story’s bones.
I drew on my knowledge of women’s issues in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to think about how American fathers would want to protect their daughters’ purity. A news junkie, I’d seen the rise of the Tea Party, and imagined a new party--the Paternalists-- exploiting men’s fears to capture political power. And having worked in marketing, I could easily imagine how Americans would exploit a shortage of girls as a marketing opportunity.
The reasons a writer is compelled to write a particular book are as layered as the strata of the earth. We write stories that connect to our core--to who we are as people and what we value in this world--to what frightens us, excites us, and what sparks our anger.
I probably wouldn’t have written AGCF if I didn’t have a dad who took me to climb Half Dome at age 11 or if I wasn’t someone whose headmaster threatened to expel her for protesting every injustice I saw in high school.
Because our stories express who we are at the core, if we peel back another layer of the strata we see that our stories are “our stories” in disguise.
A lot of the time, a writer doesn’t realize what a story is really about until the first draft is done and then it can take a friend pointing out that the main character is the writer--in another shape or form, who is dealing with the same issues or emotions the writer has.
I realized recently that A Girl Called Fearless isn’t just Avie’s survival story--it’s mine.
Right before I began this book, my family had been through hell. There are times in your life when you don’t know if you’re going to make it. When everything you’ve tried, hasn’t worked, and when you realize how little power you have to fix things. But you get up every morning and try again, because your other choice is to roll up in a ball and cry.
At the beginning of A Girl Called Fearless, Avie says, “I’m not fearless, but I love that Yates thinks I am.” But at the end of book 1 after she’s seen what she’s survived, she says, “I am fearless.”
Now I realize why it was so important to me to write about a typical girl--not a ninja or a superhero--because I survived what I didn’t imagine I could, and I want kids who don’t think they’re special to see they too have strength inside them they never imagined.
October 30, 2014
Booksellers: The Quiet Superheroes
For the last seven and a half years, I’ve been a bookseller--a children’s and YA book buyer actually. But I left book selling this week to focus on my writing.
While cleaning out my email before I left, I was struck by the many things I had done that were not part of the job description.
I wrote school recommendations for a talented young writer, acted as the official advisor for a Girl Scouts Gold Award, and cajoled publishers into donating books for an Eagle Scout trying to fill a library in Africa.
I advised entrepreneurs on how to package their products, and writers on how to find an agent, self-publish, or position a book for the market. I’ve recommended novels to screenwriters looking for a story to adapt.
I judged the PTA writing contest, located board books in Spanish for a hospital, and found young readers to test the manuscripts of aspiring writers. I brought ARCs to schools for foster children and placed books in alternative high schools.
I supervised young interns and trained them how to handle themselves at their first job. Plus, I spent countless hours reassuring anxious parents who feared their child would never read or was reading the wrong books.
Staffs at indie booksellers give of themselves in ways like this every day. They aren’t part of our job descriptions, but they connect us to the communities we serve. We don’t just set books on a shelf and take the cash at POS1. We are a quiet, caring force, trying to make the world a somewhat better place.
While cleaning out my email before I left, I was struck by the many things I had done that were not part of the job description.
I wrote school recommendations for a talented young writer, acted as the official advisor for a Girl Scouts Gold Award, and cajoled publishers into donating books for an Eagle Scout trying to fill a library in Africa.
I advised entrepreneurs on how to package their products, and writers on how to find an agent, self-publish, or position a book for the market. I’ve recommended novels to screenwriters looking for a story to adapt.
I judged the PTA writing contest, located board books in Spanish for a hospital, and found young readers to test the manuscripts of aspiring writers. I brought ARCs to schools for foster children and placed books in alternative high schools.
I supervised young interns and trained them how to handle themselves at their first job. Plus, I spent countless hours reassuring anxious parents who feared their child would never read or was reading the wrong books.
Staffs at indie booksellers give of themselves in ways like this every day. They aren’t part of our job descriptions, but they connect us to the communities we serve. We don’t just set books on a shelf and take the cash at POS1. We are a quiet, caring force, trying to make the world a somewhat better place.
September 12, 2014
TV Deal for A Girl Called Fearless
It’s real and surreal: A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS and the sequel, A GIRL UNDONE have been optioned for television by Universal Cable Productions and are now in development. I’ve included the press release at the bottom of this post.
This never would have happened if I didn’t have three amazing people on my side: my literary agent, Sarah Davies who sold the book to St. Martin’s Press, my friend, Dana Cioffi who made it her personal mission to find me a film agent/intellectual property manager, and Pete Donaldson who assembled the production team and put together the deal.
I’ve tried very hard not to get too excited. We’ve all heard about Hollywood deals that fall apart, movies that never get made, or television series that disappear after the pilot airs. But the production team’s passion for the project, and the caliber of screenwriting talent they are pursuing absolutely blow me away.
And one thing that really, really excites me, is that with a cable television series, we expand on the books and go beyond the limits of Avie’s first person narrative. We can tell the stories of other characters that readers love like Sparrow or Ms. Alexandra, because we can go beyond what Avie knows. And we can show more of the Paternalists and the world that Avie’s been sheltered from.
So I look forward to the journey, even if it ends too soon, because at the very least it will be fascinating to peek behind the curtains of Hollywood.
Catherine Linka's A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS and A GIRL UNDONE, optioned to Universal Cable Productions for development as a television series, with Pete Donaldson of Donaldson Media & Consulting, Amy Baer of Gidden Media, and R.D. Robb and Brad Luff of Station Three executive-producing, by Pete Donaldson, on behalf of Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency.
This never would have happened if I didn’t have three amazing people on my side: my literary agent, Sarah Davies who sold the book to St. Martin’s Press, my friend, Dana Cioffi who made it her personal mission to find me a film agent/intellectual property manager, and Pete Donaldson who assembled the production team and put together the deal.
I’ve tried very hard not to get too excited. We’ve all heard about Hollywood deals that fall apart, movies that never get made, or television series that disappear after the pilot airs. But the production team’s passion for the project, and the caliber of screenwriting talent they are pursuing absolutely blow me away.
And one thing that really, really excites me, is that with a cable television series, we expand on the books and go beyond the limits of Avie’s first person narrative. We can tell the stories of other characters that readers love like Sparrow or Ms. Alexandra, because we can go beyond what Avie knows. And we can show more of the Paternalists and the world that Avie’s been sheltered from.
So I look forward to the journey, even if it ends too soon, because at the very least it will be fascinating to peek behind the curtains of Hollywood.
Catherine Linka's A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS and A GIRL UNDONE, optioned to Universal Cable Productions for development as a television series, with Pete Donaldson of Donaldson Media & Consulting, Amy Baer of Gidden Media, and R.D. Robb and Brad Luff of Station Three executive-producing, by Pete Donaldson, on behalf of Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency.
May 16, 2014
When We Don't Own Our Stories Anymore
As authors we spend years alone with our stories, shaping them, crafting them and delving deep into their hearts. We know them better than anyone, having struggled to put our messy thoughts in order and to understand our character’s complicated emotions and motivations.
But then the story is published and it no longer belongs strictly to us. Now it belongs to the reader who owns it in a different way. Readers bring their own pasts to stories. They read through the lenses of their experiences, and interpret our passages in their own unique ways.
Readers bring their hopes for what a story will be, and they may or may not forgive the author if the story doesn’t live up to those expectations. Or readers may view a character’s actions in a completely different light from how an author intends, because the people in that reader’s life, behaved that way.
No book is universally loved. Not even Harry Potter or The Fault in Our Stars. As a bookseller, I’m aware of how personal and individual the choice of a book is, and I try to keep that in mind as I read reviews of my own book.
I’m thrilled when my readers are caught up in my story. When they tell me they were up until 2 AM, or they blew off work to read it, or they can’t stop thinking about it. I’m especially happy when they wonder if the world I created could one day become real.
A lot of authors are shaken when they read a review that isn't glowing. When I read one that is less than stellar, I am aware of how the reader is expressing his or her desire for the story to be more similar to something else they loved. Or that they wanted to spend more time exploring another aspect of the story. Or they didn't connect the characters. Or they disagreed with my interpretation of how the world would be. And all of that is OK.
While I wish that every reader could enjoy my book, I know that is impossible. I have to be satisfied that I tried hard and did the best I could possibly do. Thank you, readers, for taking a chance on my story, and welcome.
But then the story is published and it no longer belongs strictly to us. Now it belongs to the reader who owns it in a different way. Readers bring their own pasts to stories. They read through the lenses of their experiences, and interpret our passages in their own unique ways.
Readers bring their hopes for what a story will be, and they may or may not forgive the author if the story doesn’t live up to those expectations. Or readers may view a character’s actions in a completely different light from how an author intends, because the people in that reader’s life, behaved that way.
No book is universally loved. Not even Harry Potter or The Fault in Our Stars. As a bookseller, I’m aware of how personal and individual the choice of a book is, and I try to keep that in mind as I read reviews of my own book.
I’m thrilled when my readers are caught up in my story. When they tell me they were up until 2 AM, or they blew off work to read it, or they can’t stop thinking about it. I’m especially happy when they wonder if the world I created could one day become real.
A lot of authors are shaken when they read a review that isn't glowing. When I read one that is less than stellar, I am aware of how the reader is expressing his or her desire for the story to be more similar to something else they loved. Or that they wanted to spend more time exploring another aspect of the story. Or they didn't connect the characters. Or they disagreed with my interpretation of how the world would be. And all of that is OK.
While I wish that every reader could enjoy my book, I know that is impossible. I have to be satisfied that I tried hard and did the best I could possibly do. Thank you, readers, for taking a chance on my story, and welcome.
January 17, 2014
The Friendship That Still Embarrasses Me
Yesterday I was at a lunch celebrating the upcoming publication of ABOVE by Isla Morley (who is lovely!). The ten of us started talking about the difficulty of speaking out when a person you are with says or does something awful.
Isla recalled being at a gathering where she was a newcomer wanting to fit in when a women she didn't know made a nasty comment about another's clothing. She was so taken aback that she couldn't say a word.
Then we started sharing similar situations. Wanting to fit in, be part of the group, not ruin the mood, kept many of us from speaking out.
I've thought a lot about how we ignore or deny or justify others' behavior this week, because I've been reading AFTERPARTY by Ann Stampler. This is the story of a new girl at an exclusive LA prep school who is seduced into being the makeover project of a party girl. Emma has no clue how far her new friend Siobhan will go to control and manipulate her or how truly sick she is.
I had a manipulative and cruel friend in high school. Brilliant and wickedly funny, she was charismatic. But I was too naive to keep my distance, even when she pulled a devastatingly mean prank on the girl across the hall the first week of school--a girl who had done absolutely nothing to deserve it. It wasn't until junior year that I realized I wasn't her friend, I was her sycophantic sidekick.
I hope that AFTERPARTY will find its way into the hands of many teens. They might pick it up for the promise of drama and partying, but it has a lot to say about the choices we make and what we regret.
My choice has been to fill my world with people who treat others kindly so I don't have to live with regret.
Isla recalled being at a gathering where she was a newcomer wanting to fit in when a women she didn't know made a nasty comment about another's clothing. She was so taken aback that she couldn't say a word.
Then we started sharing similar situations. Wanting to fit in, be part of the group, not ruin the mood, kept many of us from speaking out.
I've thought a lot about how we ignore or deny or justify others' behavior this week, because I've been reading AFTERPARTY by Ann Stampler. This is the story of a new girl at an exclusive LA prep school who is seduced into being the makeover project of a party girl. Emma has no clue how far her new friend Siobhan will go to control and manipulate her or how truly sick she is.
I had a manipulative and cruel friend in high school. Brilliant and wickedly funny, she was charismatic. But I was too naive to keep my distance, even when she pulled a devastatingly mean prank on the girl across the hall the first week of school--a girl who had done absolutely nothing to deserve it. It wasn't until junior year that I realized I wasn't her friend, I was her sycophantic sidekick.
I hope that AFTERPARTY will find its way into the hands of many teens. They might pick it up for the promise of drama and partying, but it has a lot to say about the choices we make and what we regret.
My choice has been to fill my world with people who treat others kindly so I don't have to live with regret.
December 26, 2013
My Top Ten Books of 2013
I receive hundreds of free books every year as a book buyer, and read every night. I finish at least one adult or children's book a week, and often read the first 20-50 pages of others. These ten books are my favorites of 2013, and it's an eclectic and personal list. If you read my reviews, you'll see that I didn't give them all 5 stars, but these are the books that I keep thinking about long after reading them.
Middle Grade:
AL CAPONE DOES MY HOMEWORK by Gennifer Choldenko. Perfectly crafted prose, terrific voice, unique setting and unforgettable characters. You'd think that as the third book in the Al Capone "series" that it would be a little tired, but instead it's even better than the others.
THE SECRET HUM OF A DAISY by Tracy Holczer. Hauntingly beautiful prose that will make you want to highlight passages. A story of loss and finding home that I read slowly so I could savor every word.
Young Adult:
THE LANGUAGE INSIDE by Holly Thompson. This verse novel is unique and a perfect intersection of form and content. An American girl raised in Japan, but out of place in America, finds herself through helping a paralyzed poet record her poems, and befriending the son of Cambodian refugees.
WINGER by Andrew Smith. Funny, rebellious, and ultimately heart-breaking.
HOSTAGE THREE by Nick Lake. Thriller of a girl and her dad and step-mom taken hostage by Somali pirates. Brilliantly shows the emotions, motivations and delusions of both the captives and the captors.
DIVIDED WE FALL by Trent Reedy. A book that feels very real, very now as a young Idaho National Guardsman must choose between allegiance to his state and the Federal government, trying to squash a revolution. A balanced political argument that invites debate.
Adult Fiction:
A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING by Ruth Ozeki. Three interwoven stories that cross decades as well as the Pacific. A complex, nuanced story with rich cultural flavor.
THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Stimsion. This book just makes me laugh with its narrator who attempts to reduce love to the Wife Project. Loved this brilliant, rigid, generous character.
THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin. A smart story of a grieving bookseller brought back to life by the baby abandoned in his shop. Omniscient POV, characters as flavorful as Dickens, classic themes in a contemporary story.
Happy Reading in the New Year!
Middle Grade:
AL CAPONE DOES MY HOMEWORK by Gennifer Choldenko. Perfectly crafted prose, terrific voice, unique setting and unforgettable characters. You'd think that as the third book in the Al Capone "series" that it would be a little tired, but instead it's even better than the others.
THE SECRET HUM OF A DAISY by Tracy Holczer. Hauntingly beautiful prose that will make you want to highlight passages. A story of loss and finding home that I read slowly so I could savor every word.
Young Adult:
THE LANGUAGE INSIDE by Holly Thompson. This verse novel is unique and a perfect intersection of form and content. An American girl raised in Japan, but out of place in America, finds herself through helping a paralyzed poet record her poems, and befriending the son of Cambodian refugees.
WINGER by Andrew Smith. Funny, rebellious, and ultimately heart-breaking.
HOSTAGE THREE by Nick Lake. Thriller of a girl and her dad and step-mom taken hostage by Somali pirates. Brilliantly shows the emotions, motivations and delusions of both the captives and the captors.
DIVIDED WE FALL by Trent Reedy. A book that feels very real, very now as a young Idaho National Guardsman must choose between allegiance to his state and the Federal government, trying to squash a revolution. A balanced political argument that invites debate.
Adult Fiction:
A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING by Ruth Ozeki. Three interwoven stories that cross decades as well as the Pacific. A complex, nuanced story with rich cultural flavor.
THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Stimsion. This book just makes me laugh with its narrator who attempts to reduce love to the Wife Project. Loved this brilliant, rigid, generous character.
THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin. A smart story of a grieving bookseller brought back to life by the baby abandoned in his shop. Omniscient POV, characters as flavorful as Dickens, classic themes in a contemporary story.
Happy Reading in the New Year!
September 17, 2013
Limiting What Teens Read
Dear Parent,
I am truly sad that you took your daughter out of my teen reading group, because she brought home a book that you do not approve of. As a parent, I understand how you want to protect your child and reinforce the values you teach in your home.
At the same time, I understand your daughter’s desire to explore and understand herself and her world. The book she chose to borrow from the ones that I offered to the group was similar to ones written by her favorite author, and yes, that author tackles issues that can frighten us parents.
We may fear that young teens are vulnerable and impressionable so we should keep books away from them. But reading about teens caught up in drugs, or navigating sexuality, is a safe way for good kids to explore these choices without doing it themselves.
Many teen writers I know feel a deep commitment to being honest with kids and showing them the disquieting rush that drugs or casual sex offer as well as the consequences. It is almost unimaginable that a teen reading CRANK would want to do the drug after seeing the hell that the main character and her family go through.
While these books may feel like an assault on your family values, it is unlikely that your daughter will abandon what you’ve taught her. She will read these books through the lens of her religious and moral upbringing. She is a great kid, and nothing in the books she reads is going to turn her into someone else.
I wish that you could find it within yourself to read one of the books she loves all the way to the end and then discuss it with her. I am sure that her maturity and perspective would impress you.
Sincerely,
Catherine Linka
I am truly sad that you took your daughter out of my teen reading group, because she brought home a book that you do not approve of. As a parent, I understand how you want to protect your child and reinforce the values you teach in your home.
At the same time, I understand your daughter’s desire to explore and understand herself and her world. The book she chose to borrow from the ones that I offered to the group was similar to ones written by her favorite author, and yes, that author tackles issues that can frighten us parents.
We may fear that young teens are vulnerable and impressionable so we should keep books away from them. But reading about teens caught up in drugs, or navigating sexuality, is a safe way for good kids to explore these choices without doing it themselves.
Many teen writers I know feel a deep commitment to being honest with kids and showing them the disquieting rush that drugs or casual sex offer as well as the consequences. It is almost unimaginable that a teen reading CRANK would want to do the drug after seeing the hell that the main character and her family go through.
While these books may feel like an assault on your family values, it is unlikely that your daughter will abandon what you’ve taught her. She will read these books through the lens of her religious and moral upbringing. She is a great kid, and nothing in the books she reads is going to turn her into someone else.
I wish that you could find it within yourself to read one of the books she loves all the way to the end and then discuss it with her. I am sure that her maturity and perspective would impress you.
Sincerely,
Catherine Linka
