"I Want To Follow These Characters For Forever"

So many times when I love a book or a series or characters I will think "GAH I just want to follow their whole lives. WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO END..CAN'T I JUST HAVE THEIR WHOLE LIFE STORY?" 

But then what happens when you kind of sort of get that chance?

Most of you probably know that the Harry Potter & the Cursed Child script came out this weekend. I feel like many of my bookish friends and Harry Potter loving people have been split on whether or not they want to read it or if they even accept it. 

On one hand people are like, YAY DIVING BACK INTO THIS WORLD. THESE CHARACTERS. AHHH. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS I WANT TO KNOW WHERE THEY ARE/MEET THE NEW GENERATION. And then on the other hand, I know a lot of people who just feel conflicted about Harry Potter canon and this story that really isn't actually a book 8. What if it screws up the feeling of how the series wrapped up? Is reading a script going to capture what the play is?

I feel like I totally understand both lines of thinking. Reuniting with beloved characters and a world you love is amazing but it's also a little scary to also do that. I understand both feelings from passionate fans.

For me, it's a little different. I just finished the series for the first time this year. At 30. You can read my thoughts on reading Harry Potter for the first time at 30 here if you want. I feel like I haven't even had time to dive into the fandom and re-read it and really be in the ~trenches~ of being a Potterhead. I haven't been waiting for new stuff for very long or daydreaming up what they could be doing or what could come next. I'm still on this incredible high from my initial reading of it and I'm just not sure I'm ready to expand my view of this world and these characters. Even though I REALLY just didn't want that series to end, I feel hesitant to pick it up right now. I'm not ruling it out but I'm just personally not feeling like I'm ready for it. It's one of those things where I wish to have this continuation to see my fave characters as adults but then when it's a tangible thing I'm like IDK DO I?? AM I READY??

I will just say....my kingdom for a Marauders prequel though. I feel like THAT I can handle right now. It's still within canon so I feel like my brain could handle it in a way I don't think it's ready to expand on these characters with Cursed Child.

But I don't know...I think I will just be happy for the people who are excited about Cursed Child, be envious of people who get to see the actual production and continue to roll around in the fandom in all of my new Potterhead glee and make my decision about Cursed Child later after hearing what fans think and having some time away from it all.


So now...I am REALLY REALLY CURIOUS to know what you guys think. Do you plan to read it? Why or why not? HAVE you read it already and what did you think?? I want to hear all the feelings and thoughts and opinions on this!

Daisy Talks About Reading and Music

I'm a big music lover and for me, it combines perfectly with my love for reading and I pretty much always have music playing in the background, whatever it is I'm doing. But the first edition of my book club's epic readathon sleepover made me realise that not everyone does this. Two of my book club friends cannot tolerate noise while they're reading, while I get distracted when it's quiet cause then I hear EVERYTHING and music is an expected noise that adds to my reading pleasure. But I'm also one of those people who tended to sing along to the music while doing homework, so I can combine most of any mental activity with music. It also actually helps me remember everything better and I have a lot of memories that are linked to songs.

So, how about you? Do you listen to music while you're reading or do you prefer a more quiet environment? Let me know!

Also, I'll leave you with this song that I adore and that I rediscovered two days ago:

When Life Changes Disrupt Reading Habits

Hey guys! Jamie here!

September has been CRAZY thus far. I'll get to why in a minute. One of the reasons it has been crazy is due to a life change. I always find that, even the best of life changes, always seem to disrupt my life and my habits.

Let's take reading for example, when things are going pretty normal I typically average about the same books read per month -- give or take a couple depending on how busy that month is.

This month I have read 1 book so far. ONE BOOK. And while I recognize it's better than most of the population it is CRAZY for me to not have read at least a couple by now. And the book I read wasn't even long AT ALL.

So what's my life change?

MY HUSBAND AND I ADOPTED A DOG EXACTLY A WEEK AGO. His name is Finnikin (Finn for short) and he's totally named after a literary character I love. You can check out all the details here on my blog!

Since we've been married in the past 3 years we've had no pets or kids so adopting a dog is a pretty big life change to two people who do as they please and are spontaneous and have relatively few commitments in life.

It's amazing and I've loved every moment of spending time with him but things like blogging and reading and working out have just NOT happened. Like at all. And sure, some of my time is devoted to playing and to walking and spending time with him in this past week (and going to dog parks and Petco and all that jazz) but I know not ALL my time is devoted to him. I totally have just laid here on the couch with him when I could have been reading. I totally COULD be blogging when he's lazily sleeping. But I just haven't. I've mostly binge watched Game of Thrones season 1 while he lays on me.

I'm okay with all the spending time I'm doing with him. No regrets. But it's made me realize that any time I have a change in my life it takes me a little to bounce back. I feel exhausted even though it hasn't been THAT exhausting...he's a really good pup. For some reason, when my ~schedule~ or ~routine~ gets significantly shaken up I just kind of stop doing things I normally do. Even when I would love nothing more than to sit here and read. My brain just won't let me settle back in.

So that's where I'm at. So in love with my adorable little 1 year old beagle/bassett/pit mix and having so fun doing the dog thing. But also in my typical weird I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LIVE LIFE mode when change hits. There's probably some very psychological explanation (holla at me psych people who know!) but here's to hoping I can settle back down and starting adding normal Jamie things back in my life.

Daisy Talks About Reading Buddies

I just got back from a vacation in Thailand and my brain is still in vacation mode, so instead of a review or a more serious discussion post, I thought we could talk about reading buddies!

I have noticed that a lot of book people are also pet people. Whether it's a cat, dog, bunny or any other kind of animal, lots of book lovers have pets. Who also function as reading buddies, obviously.

This is mine, Zoë:

Zoë's been with us since August 2014 and she's ADORABLE, I love how much personality one tiny cat can have. She loves warm blankets, cuddling on/under said warm blanket, 'helping' me with blogging and doing cat yoga. And lettuce, the kitty goes crazy for lettuce for some reason. Oh, and she kinda likes me. But I'm the canopener, so it's pretty much a given ;) She's also one of the best reading buddies ever. Except for when she decides she wants to sleep ON the book or ereader I'm reading. But other than that, cat cuddles while reading are the best.

So I'm curious to hear about your reading buddies, and obviously I'd LOVE to see pictures (you can tweet me @DBetweenpages), because you can never have too many cute pictures in your life :)

A Cocktail and Conversation: Influences In Your Reading Life

Every other Thursday here at the Broke & The Bookish is  A Cocktail Conversation time. One of the TB&TB members will pose a question to 2-3 of the other members of TB&TB crew about books, life, music, etc and then they'll answer and we can converse about it. So grab a cocktail & cozy up for some conversation. It's 5 o'clock somewhere, friends.

 The question:

"Is there anyone who helped make you the reader you are or helped cultivate your love for reading?"

Bridget says:  Definitely my parents, which I'm sure is a pretty common answer—they're the ones who would read to me all the time, and later financially supported my book-buying habits (along with my grandparents). Later in life, I can claim influence from tons of people who have recommended books, helping me shape my preferences into what they are today—especially my lovely cobloggers and commenters both here and on my own blog! <3

Julia says: There are few people that cultivated my love of reading early, primarily my parents. They read to me as a baby, which helped get things going. Also in grade school, my dad would take my sister and I to the library every Wednesday. So we had that base love of reading. The third person who really helped turned me into the romance lover I am today is my cousin, Erin. She came over one summer day around the age of 12 and introduced me to romance novels. She let me borrow her favorite (So Worthy, My Love by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss) and I was hooked. So I can thank her for introducing me to my favorite genre of books.

 

 

 

Jamie says: I remember being read to always by my parents/them letting me buy books but one of the biggest things that I think made me into the reader I am today is my stepmom. We split time between my dad's house and my mom's but we were always there every day in the summer. My stepmom would take us once a week to the library and just let us roam for 30 minutes in the kid section while she went and looked for her own books. It was this tradition I just LOVED. She let me take out ridiculous stacks and I think that being able to wander and discover made me find so many different things. I would read SO many different things because I had time to wander. Nobody was rushing me out of there. That HABIT of going every week helped me to be a consistent reader. Plus I REALLY looked forward to it!




What about you all? Who helped cultivate your love for reading/make you the reader you are today?

Daisy Asks Your Recommendations for Book Club Books!

Credit for picture goes to Unshelved.com

So I'm in a book club with Debby @ Snuggly Oranges, Daph @ Loving Books and Mel @ The Daily Prophecy and it's awesome! We get together once a month and we take turns nominated the books and then vote on which one we want to read. And we always try to all have read the book before we get together to have dinner and talk about the book and other books and life in general and blogging.

What we've read so far:
More Than This by Patrick Ness (my mini-review)
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (WARDEN!!)
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (which we didn't love. AT ALL)
Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
Eon by Alison Goodman (LOVE!)
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Emma by Jane Austen (favourite re-read)

What I wanted to ask you guys: what are some books you'd recommend for a book club? We read a lot of YA and all love fantasy. What are books that really spark a discussion? We usually go off topic pretty quickly, so if you have recommendations, please let me know!

Daisy Talks About Book Shelf Organisation

I wish my bookshelves looked like this. Because it is truly gorgeous. But alas, I think it would drive me insane every time I bought a new book and it had to be put in there somewhere and the whole color scheme would be off because of it and UGH! I get stressed just thinking about it.

I'm in the middle of moving into a new home and one of the spare bedrooms is being turned into a room for my books. Which obviously is a dream come true. And this afternoon while I was putting some of my books on the shelves, I was wondering about systems for organising books.

I used to have a system that wasn't logical for anyone but me probably. All the books would get shelved according to the date I purchased them. Which results in books that have come out around the same time to have a spot near each other and I could navigate this perfectly, but nobody else could. Which isn't really that much of a problem, but still.
This time I decided to shelve them by author, and I really like it so far. I thought about doing alphabetical, but then I thought that might take forever and would frustrate me.

So we'll see if this lasts. I'm already thinking of how annoying it'll be to have to move books around because of a new release coming out by an author who lives on a shelf that is full already.

So what I'm asking: how do you organise your bookshelf? Do you have a system? TBR versus read? Alphabetical? By author like me? Or no system at all? Let me know!

Daisy Talks About Her Shelf of Shame

So basically, this is me pretty much all the time:

And since I have a paycheck coming in every month, I don't have to go on a book buying ban as often as I used to.

BUT.

But now I have a whole different problem: I keep buying all the books in a series and not actually reading them, which results in me having whole sets of completed series that I haven't started the first book from.

Which brings me to the title of this post: my shelf of shame. It's an actual shelf on Goodreads too, called own-full-series-haven't-started-first-book. Because I noticed it was becoming a thing and I like to keep track of things (if you read this post, you probably already knew this). As of today, I have 15 series that I own that are completed and I'm ashamed to say that I haven't even begun reading the series yet.

I simply can't seem to help myself, it's just that I always intend to catch up with a series and then I like having all the books on hand in case I simply HAVE TO HAVE the next one when I'm done reading the first and if I feel that it will be a me-series, I will just buy the next book when it comes out and so on. Also, The Book Depository tempts me with the 15% off they do on pre-orders. Which always seems like a really good excuse to pre-order EVERYTHING. Cause obviously I'm saving money that way...

So, what I'm really asking you is: do you guys do the same? Tell me I'm not the only one going a little crazy hoarding books sometimes?

Also, if you took the time to click the link to my Goodreads Shelf of Shame, which series would you recommend the most from this list?

Book Love

Happy Valentine's Day fellow readers!

Going along with the theme of love, I want to know what books you LOVE. I'm talking crazy, head-over-heels, can't stop thinking about love. What book do you gush over the most? Or what is your favorite love story?

The book I am most in love with and have been thinking a lot about lately is Golden by Jessi Kirby. I love the message of not being afraid to go out and do something and not always staying in your comfort zone. I could really use that extra push of motivation again. A reread is necessary soon.

I've also been stuck in another reading rut so I look forward to hearing what book(s) you're in love with!

No matter what your plans are for today I wish you all a lovely day! 

After work I plan to eat lots of pizza, drink some wine, and dwindle down my Netflix queue (I've been marathoning One Tree Hill lately).

Help I'm starting a book club?

In a grand plan to take on 2014 by storm- some coworkers and I have decided to start a scifi based book club. We have lovingly started calling it the "BombAss Brunch Book Club" with the idea that we will meet at various restaurants around town and sample the best brunches and mimosas we can find.

The idea here is that 5 ladies (from different areas of the company) want to bond over some good space adventures (or magic adventures... or creepy ghost stories). The problem is that all of the members are book club newbies. (Unless you count the discussion posts I made on GoodReads groups in college?):

-We aren't sure how to structure the discussions- not that scifi/fantasy novels are going to provoke deep and meaningful life conversations (although maybe we will be surprised?) OR whether the discussions actually need to have any sort of structure or similar "book club guide" questions that some books have in the back...
-We have a facebook group that we are trying to get up and running with brainstorms about books we could read throughout the year- but no way to figure out which book will be THE NEXT BOOK. And none of us have dominate personalities - so every conversation is "I'm okay with whatever you  choose"

Basically I'm turning to you all and asking for help. Have you ever tried to start a book club? How did you structure it? How did you deal with months where people were "meh" about the book (or didn't read it at all)? Do you find having a more guided discussion help or did it all just come naturally? And most importantly: Did you find that having a book chosen for you every month was fun or a chore... Did you continue to love the book club or did it make reading tedious for you?

I would love to hear your book club successes or woes. And Do's and Don'ts

Hope everyone has a GREAT holiday season
~Paula

Jamie Asks: What Is My Problem?

For the past week I've been in an epic reading slump where two pages read feels like an accomplishment. It's infuriating.

The thing is...I'm not a person who reads when I don't want to. If I feel burnt out on reading or feel like I just want to do something else for a few days..I do it. I don't feel compelled to read if I don't want to. I might always have a book with me, just in case, but I might not read for a couple days. And that's okay with me. I don't want to force it if I'm burnt out.

But the thing this time around is that I can't tell if it's the current book I'm reading (The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert) or if it's ME. I can't tell if I'm just super stressed with job hunting and other things or if I'm burnt out and I don't know it.

The book is quite slow, yes, but I don't mind that typically. I don't have any opinions of it really at about 18% in so I don't know if I want to put it down or not. I just seem to not want to pick it up and I hate that I can't figure out if it is the book or maybe I'm not in the mood for that TYPE of read or if it's just ME and no matter what book I'd pick up would be the same.

Does my dilemma make sense?

So how do you figure out if it's just the book you are reading or if it's YOU (stressed, preoccupied, burnt out, etc.)?? I'd love to hear your methods and tips!

Tahleen puts together a link-up of the latest "Speak" controversy

I don't know if you guys have all heard, but Laurie Halse Anderson's book Speak (too soon to call it a modern classic?) has run into some trouble again. (Honestly, reading this stuff, I almost don't believe this guy is a real person.)

On BookRiot, blogger and librarian Kelly Jensen responded with a well-thought-out and articulate response. This, of course, elicited a response from the original "journalist" who wrote the piece about Speak being "child pornography" in the comments, which are incredible to read through. Incredible for many reasons, not only for how circular the man proposing the ban's arguments are (he all but admits he's never read the book), but also for how universal and united the commenters are in their responses to his arguments. It's all worth reading.

Here are some more links of note regarding this incident.

Kelly's blog post at Stacked responding to what happened on BookRiot, and some more links of note.

Laurie Halse Anderson's response.


Kelly's response to the comment page on The Huffington Post when her original post was put up there. (Also, really commenters? Librarians only know how to shelf books? Please—your ignorance is showing.)

After the 2010 challenge on Speak, which I wrote about on my personal blog, I know there are plenty of people interested in following these kinds of challenges and controversies in the book blogging world. I just wanted to make sure anyone who is interested in reading about this gets a chance to see the whole thing as it unfolded, Internet style.

Daisy Talks About Book Shopping Habits

So I've been participating in this awesome event hosted by April @ Good Books and Good Wine where we talk about our bookish habits over 15 days with 15 prompts.

Today the prompt is: Describe how you shop for books

I LOVE SHOPPPING FOR BOOKS!

(Bet you didn't see that coming)

I have different ways of shopping for books: there's the one in which I randomly browse the bookstore and pick something up, the one where I go online once a month and buy books from my wishlist and then there's the book sales I go a little crazy at, as evidenced by this post.

I live in the Netherlands and as much as I want to support my local bookstore, they just don't have all the books I want. They've only recently dedicated shelf-space to YA and while the selection is MUCH BETTER now, it's still pretty limited. I tend to read in English cause it takes ages for books to be translated and well, I save a little money this way as English books are much cheaper (try half the price). I do on occasion walk into our local bookstore and see if anything catches my fancy.

Every couple of months there's an AMAZING book sale in different cities around Holland and since the books hardly cost anything there (I average about 2-3 euros per book, yay BARGAIN), I just load up my cart with anything that looks remotely interesting and then bribe the boyfriend to help me carry them home.

But the bulk of my book buying is done online, mainly at The Book Depository as it's by far the gentlest on my bank account and it has free shipping worldwide. This is where I get all the books I can't get my hands on here and I have a huge wishlist with books I want that are already out, but is also used for all my pre-orders. I typically set an amount I let myself spend each month and then just go crazy till I reach said amount in books. I also have this weird rule that I can only pre-order books with 100 days or less to go till the release date. There has to be some kind of system to the madness I guess :)

So, what about you guys? What are your book shopping habits? Are you participating in this event as well? Leave me a link and I'll be sure to check out your post!

A Cocktail & Conversation With TBTB crew: Dog-earing Books!

Every other(-ish) Thursday here at the Broke & The Bookish is  A Cocktail & Conversation time. One of the TBTB members will pose a question to 2-3 of the other members of TB&TB crew about books, life, music, etc and then they'll answer and we can converse about it. So grab a cocktail & cozy up for some conversation. It's 5 o'clock somewhere, friends.

Question: Are you guilty of dog-earing or would you never ever ever do such a thing?  Why or why not? 

Paula's Answer:  I don't dog-ear pages mainly because I have this book mark that I am overly attached too. (I consider it a horcrux of mine...seriously the few times I thought I lost it I've had major panic attacks. One time I accidentally left it in a library book when I returned it- so I found the book on the shelf the next day and it was tucked inside and I was so unbelievably happy.)  I love used books and I like finding other people's dog-eared pages - or underlined passages. But I just don't do it when I'm reading.




Lori's Answer:  I totally dog-ear books that I own, with one caveat--I don't like to dog-ear pages of books that are my "nice" copy (meaning a copy I'm not writing in and want to keep nice).  I dog-ear pages that I really want to go back to because of a great quote that I just must remember or a recipe that I want to refer back to...even though I usually forget about the quotes or recipes.  I also dog-ear in the rare instance that I don't have a scrap of paper to use as a book marker (seriously, I'll use anything for this, even a straw wrapper or gas receipt).  Basically, I dog-ear to remember.

Jana's Answer: I do this. And I LIKE it (unless it's a library book or a book I borrowed from someone--I would never do it with someone else's book). I tried to quit dog-earing when you lovely bookish friends of mine told me it was a sin... and for a while, I was ok with just bookmarking. But it's really easy to lose your bookmark in bed... or your cat steals it because it has tassels. I think I stressed myself for a little while. I'd go to dog-ear, and all of a sudden I heard people yelling in my head to step away from the book page corner! Finally, I just gave up. Dog-earing and I were just meant to be, I guess. It's easier. Plus, it's kind of fun to re-read and see how you read it the last time. Did I read the whole thing? Did I binge read and only set the book down once? Or, for unmemorable books... you realize, "Oh, wait... I've read this already?" I can't lie. That's happened to me before!

What about you guys? Are you dog-earers or would you never ever??

Tahleen's thoughts on very large books

Or maybe not.

I know many of you out there agree with the above statement. And I know that getting your hands on a whopper of a novel (or nonfiction book if you like that kind of thing) can be kind of exciting and a challenge. However, I find myself getting intimidated by books more than 500 pages long.

Right now I'm about halfway through The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I'm enjoying it very much, but I'm pretty sure one of the reasons it's taken me so long to get here is its 700-something page length. I don't know about you, but I like the thought of not tying myself to one book for too long. When I do pick up a lengthy volume, I end up setting it aside for a while to read another book in between. And actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I did that with Wildwood by Colin Meloy like two weeks ago.

Maybe it's just the visual. I find I don't mind it as much when I'm reading a huge book on my nook, probably because it doesn't feel ungainly in my hands and I can't see how little progress I've actually made.

This might also be the reason I haven't been finishing many books lately.

Am I the only one that feels this way?

Daisy Talks About the BEA Blues

So if you're part of the book blogging community, you might have heard about this thing called Book Expo America, or BEA. You might also know that it's happening right now in NYC. And if you're not there, like me, you might also be feeling some BEA blues: the gloomy thoughts because of all the awesomeness that's happening and wishing you were there instead of at home, staring at your Twitter timeline...

There are some ways in which this can be handled:

1. Avoid all social media and blogs for the duration of the event: so as not to get too envious of your blogging friends meeting each other, the authors they're seeing, the ARCs they're getting...
This doesn't really work for me, but it might for some people.

2. Make a list with all the reasons why it's better to NOT be there: with stuff like 'at least my feet aren't killing me from standing around in line all day'.
Yeah, I kinda blanked after that as well.

3. Participate in Armchair BEA: Armchair BEA is seriously awesome and a good way to meet other people and I love the community feel of participating in stuff like this! We also had a really fun chat yesterday :)
This is actually a valid option, plus you'll be so busy with visiting all the blogs and writing your posts, you won't have time to think about BEA itself (lie, but it does help).

4. Have a #bookishparty: Cass and Judith hosted an AMAZING #bookishparty on Twitter and it was so much fun! And it had drinking games!

5. Buy yourself some books: because buying books can never be a bad thing and it always cheers me up. Plus, I can totally justify it by tallying up all the money I've saved by NOT going to BEA and a couple of books is maybe 5-10% of that.

6. Make plans to go next year: this only works if you're actually going to go next year.

7. Look at a shirtless Gendry: because this makes everything better:

8. If all else fails: have a cocktail and look at other people's pictures till you can pretend you're there yourself.

Daisy Talks About Series Ending

A while ago, Jamie talked about her fear or reading the next book in a series on her blog. And I realized I don't so much share this fear as that I have a fear of reading the last book in a series. Because then it will end and pretty much it leaves me like this:

Only more like: but WHY did this series have to end? Now what will I do with my time if I can't wonder what'll happen next for the characters I've come to know and love?? How will I survive not living in this world and not going on new adventures anymore?? After reading the last book in a series I always feel a bit sad, like I've had to say goodbye to friends who are moving halfway across the world or something. They're still there, just not in the same way they used to be.

And I know, I know, I can re-read the books and get lost in the world again, but it's just not the same! And what if one of my favourites dies? How do I cope with this knowledge? What if the main character ends up with the wrong guy FOREVER? (See, this is why I don't like love triangles)

So 2013 is going to be a hard year for me as I'm going to have to say goodbye to a lot of my beloved series, or maybe I'll just put it off, after all, I still haven't read Inheritance by Christopher Paolini yet either..

So how about you guys? Do you share my (maybe irrational) fear of reading the last book in a series because there just won't be any books after that EVER? Have series hangover like me? Any series you're particularly dreading the end of?

how do you feel about cover re-designs?

Hello, all! It's Jana, here today to talk about something that happens in the book world that almost always drives me nuts. Cover re-designs. I'm sure you all know about the recent unveiling of Stephanie Perkins's new Anna and Lola book covers. I discussed it on my blog, if you missed it. Anyway, this announcement made me start thinking of all the other covers that have been made over throughout the years. It kind of drives me nuts! Here are my main points on this issue:

 

1. It's confusing to people who do not keep up with bookish news. My mom recently bought a book by her favorite author. Turns out it's the same book she read years ago, but with a new cover.

2. It destroys the brand identity of that book. Yes, Anna and Lola's covers were pushing it a little, and I didn't love them... but they became iconic. Everyone knew exactly what those covers looked like. We readers only have a title, author, and picture to go by when we browse bookstores. Everyone knows that pictures linger longer in our minds than names do. When I went looking for Twilight in my local bookstore years ago, I just remembered it had pale arms and hands, and an apple on the cover. I did not know the name, and I did not know the author. I went in and asked for the book with that cover, and the bookseller knew immediately. We know our books by their covers, just like we know our friends by their faces. If you change that, confusion happens. It's almost deceptive. 

3. If you're going to re-design a cover, PLEASE make it better than the original. At least then we can kind of understand the change. But if it's uglier, please leave it alone! Take Across the Universe by Beth Revis, for example. The book went through three cover design, and got progressively worse. I love the first one! The second was meh. The third? Please. It does not even look like a young adult romance anymore. It looks like an old sci-fi novel. I get that they want to appeal to a wider demographic, but there were other ways that could have been achieved. 

Now yes, I understand that sometimes the new covers are nice. Sarah Dessen's books, for example. I like the new covers, even though they all pretty much look the same now. I can handle that change, and I can appreciate the attempt at giving her a specific look and feel. A brand identity, if you will. 

And sometimes they are a necessary change. My Victoria Holt books have had some major face lifts. But that's to be understood. Some of her books are 50 or 60 years old. That makes sense. But Across the Universe went through two cover changes before book two was even released. Bad planning? Fickle pubs? Who knows? 

So, I'm going to jump off my soapbox now and give you the floor! How do you feel about this new bookish trend of re-designing covers? Are there any cover re-designs you love or hate? I wanna hear all about it. :)

What Julia Is Currently Reading

So in 2013, thus far as it has been, I have been having a problem. 

That's right folks. I somehow started reading five books at one time. I don't know how it happened. Well, I kind of know how it happened.

A Feast for Crows started to bore me slightly, and I was approved for two awesome ARCs from NetGalley. So I started reading Lord of Darkness. Then I wanted to do View from Page Thirty, but I was already halfway through Lord of Darkness, so I couldn't use that. Plus it's a series. So I started What Alice Knew. Then I received a notice from the library that Shades of Earth was in, the final in the Across the Universe trilogy. I was going to wait to start it, but I was traveling on an airplane this week. What's wrong with that? Lord of Darkness and What Alice Knew are eBooks. There is an at least 20 minute period between take off and 10,000 feet where you cannot use your eReaders. Without anything paper to read, you are reduced to Skymall. Why didn't I then just bring A Feast for Crows? It is in fact a paper book, but carrying that thing AND my eReader is a death sentence for my back (don't forget I have a laptop and an assortment of random work supplies in there too). The fifth may or may not count. I've been reading Grimm's Fairy Tales for at least a year now... so I guess that counts too.

How can I do it? I have no idea. Normally I read one book (plus Grimms) at a time. It's too much work jumping out of one story and into the next. Plus I am attached and invested in the characters. I did try to strategically separate them into reading only one from a certain genre at a time, and thus being able to differentiate in my head from the characters who were settling a new planet and the ones who are saving girls from workhouses. It has worked out pretty well.

So discussion time! Do you all read more than one book at a time or is the practice something that you generally eschew?

PS. I actually finished Shades of Earth on the bazillion hours I was deicing on the runway today, so I guess I am only reading four now. PROGRESS! What didn't progress, however, was my bag to Cleveland...

New Adult: Is it really necessary?

I was going to post a review today, and in fact I had one all written out and ready to go. But you'll have to wait for my next post for that. I have spent the past hour or so reading about a, shall we say, literary phenomenon you have probably all heard of by now: "New Adult." There have been many, many articles, blog posts, and comments written about this particular subject, and yes, I'm going to add to the collection. For your reference, here are two posts by other librarians I respect in my specialty, which is teen services: Kelly at Stacked has a few links in her most recent Links of Note post, and Liz Burns wrote the first of a series of articles about it as well. Both of those have a bunch of links worth reading, both for and against the idea of New Adult fiction.

Personally, I am not convinced this should be called an age grouping in the same sense as young adult/teen, children's, and adult literature. I understand that a "new adult" or "emerging adult" has a different sense of the world around them, a different life experience, and in fact I would call myself someone in that range as a 25-year-old woman. But just because you want books that reflect your experience, which is completely valid, does that mean an entirely new age category be created because of it?

People have been saying that you're either an adult, a teen, or a child, and new adults are technically adults. I would have to agree. Just because you don't feel like and adult doesn't mean you're not one. Maybe new adult fiction is a legitimate genre, like fantasy or mysteries or romance, but I wouldn't carve out space for it in the teen section or adult section at my library. It's going to go in one or the other, and unfortunately it will have to suffice for all us emerging adults who want to read books with people in our stage in life.

And guess what? That's FINE. The good news about this discussion, and the sales of books in the genre, is that publishers and retailers are noticing that there is a need for these stories and people are willing to buy them. This is apparent in looking at e-book sales, as well as just looking at popular culture and other forms of entertainment right now. The TV shows Girls and 2 Broke Girls, for example, are about that period, in these instances, in a young woman's life (disclaimer, I've never seen either of these shows). The only show I can think of off the top of my head about young men at that stage is the web series "We Need Girlfriends" which is awesome and hilarious.

I just think they belong in either YA or Adult fiction, and not somewhere in between. That's what we are for, the librarians and booksellers in your life. I know people don't necessarily want to talk to librarians all the time, for various reasons. But the Internet is an amazing place! I have been inspired by all this to try to create a Pinterest board dedicated to the genre, and I'm guessing there are other lists out there that people have compiled already.

In the meantime, I wish we could all agree that these books can go in one place or the other. Frankly, I don't have the space in my library to create a new set of shelves.

Oh, and another thing. I really REALLY hate the term "new adult." First, it sounds like the new adult books are actually new books for adults. Second, the acronym is NA, which just makes me think of the, to me apt, other meaning of that: Not Applicable.