Imagination in Focus

Saturday, June 4, 2011

BEA book (re)post!

(had a problem with the first post)

The grand total of BEA-books, for me, was 44, plus 10 books that I bought, which brought me up to 54. Needless to say, my bookshelves need a huge alphabetizing makeover!

Books bought at the Strand & Books of Wonder
The Official Illustrated Twilight Guide - Stephenie Meyer
Prophecy of the Sisters - Michelle Zink
Guardian of the Gate - Michelle Zink
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Entwined - Heather Dixon
The Cabinet of Wonders - Marie Rutkoski
The Celestial Globe - Marie Rutkoski
Unwind - Neal Shusterman
The Grimm Legacy - Polly Shulman
Monsters of Men - Patrick Ness

Signed BEA books

Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex - Eoin Colfer (released)
The Girl in the Steel Corset - Kady Cross (released)
The Iron Queen - Julie Kagawa (released)
The Throne of Fire - Rick Riordan (released)
Sirenz - Charlotte Bennardo & Natalie Zaman (June 8, 2011)
Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz (June 28, 2011)
Goliath - Scott Westerfeld (August 29, 2011)
Ashes - Ilsa Bick (September 2011)
The Eleventh Plague - Jeff Hirsch (September 1, 2011)
Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars - Nick James (September 8, 2011)
The Name of the Star - Maureen Johnson (September 29, 2011)
The Carrier of the Mark - Leigh Fallon (October 4, 2011)
Crossed - Ally Condie (November 1, 2011)
Legend - Marie Lu (November 29, 2011)

Unsigned BEA books
Pure - Julianna Baggott (February 8, 2012)
The Unwanteds - Lisa McMann (August 30, 2011)
Variant - Robison Wells (October 1, 2011)
The Mephisto Covenant - Trinity Faegen (September 27, 2011)
Tris and Izzie - Mette Ivie Harrison (October 11, 2011)
Forever - Maggie Stiefvater (July 12, 2011)
All These Things I've Done - Gabrielle Zevin (September 27, 2011)
The Inquisitor's Apprentice - Chris Moriarty (October 3, 2011)
Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick (September 13, 2011)
The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater (October 18, 2011)
Wildwood - Colin Meloy
Draw the Dark - Ilsa Bick (released)
Eve - Anna Carey (October 4, 2011)
Rock On - Denise Vega
Cold Kiss - Amy Garvey (September 20, 2011)
The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey (February 1, 2012)
After Obsession - Carrie Jones (September 5, 2011)
The Future of Us - Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler (November 21, 2011)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor (September 27, 2011)
The Apothecary - Maile Meloy (October 4, 2011)
The Rivals - Daisy Whitney (February 6, 2012)
Liesl and Po - Lauren Oliver (September 1, 2011)
Circle Nine - Anne Heltzel (September 13, 2011)
Shut Out - Kody Keplinger (September 5, 2011)
The Bridge to Neverland - Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (August 9, 2011)
Wintertown - Stephen Emond (December 5, 2011)
The Iron Witch - Karen Mahoney (released)

Two boxes of books - one that weighed 70lbs and one that weighed around 35 lbs shipped from NY on Thursday to TX, and it arrived Tuesday. We paid about $50 total. Guys, if anyone is going to BEA next year, please please go with USPS! Not only were they cheaper, but they were surprisingly speedy.
I'm really excited to get started reading, and several of these books will giveaways, so keep checking back to see when those start!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

IMM - the BEA books

For my first BEA, I tried to take the careful, somewhat-choosy approach on what I picked up. The grand total of BEA-books, for me, was 44, plus 10 books that I bought, which brought me up to 54. Needless to say, my bookshelves need a huge alphabetizing makeover!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Review - UNEARTHLY

Unearthly - Cynthia Hand
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: HarperTeen
# of pages: 435 (hb)

Unearthly @ Parental Book Reviews

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy. Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side. As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

"In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees..."
Immediately the book struck a chord with me, because, well, there's a boy in a tree in my current favorite young-adult novel, Jellicoe Road, so that similarity was definitely a 'win.' That is where the two books part ways, but for me, first impressions really do a lot to set my reading mood.
I'll be honest and admit to not reading a whole lot of angel-fiction books. In fact, I try and steer clear of them. With angels, I find it harder to suspend disbelief and get involved in the author's storyworld than with other paranormals, so...I was a bit skeptical, to say the least. Even with the boy in the tree.
What I found enjoyable about Unearthly was how unpretentious it was. It featured a likable and easy-to-relate-to heroine, a simple and uncomplicated angel mythology and backstory that actually made sense, diverse and interesting supporting characters, and a stunningly detailed setting - the Jackson area/Teton Mountains of Wyoming. Look, I love New York City, and I love Los Angeles, but I can't tell you how cool it is for other areas of our country to get some exposure. Several passages read like descriptions out of a travel book (which I *loved*) and enhanced the story's realness all the more.
I liked how Cynthia Hand handled her characters. It may seem like a small thing, but I like how the author didn't automatically make Clara good at every single thing she did - yeah, her angel tendencies (and that's not a spoiler, don't worry) made her more graceful, more flexible, and so forth, and she had some other interesting abilities, but not everything came naturally to her (like...flying). That was a welcome change. And can I just say how nice it is to have useful parent characters? Kudos to the portrayal of Clara's mom. Except for the fact that she withheld key plot information from her daughter for no apparent reason (still not sure about that one), I enjoyed the role Clara's mom played in the overall story. I will say, though, that Clara often gave off an immature vibe, in that she really seemed to display a tendency to being self-absorbed. Especially in her interactions with her friends, and with the two potential love interests, I really noticed a "me first" personality, which sometimes made it hard for me to relate to her. Not all the time, just sometimes. (And really, I see that a lot in other first-person YA narratives. Like caring about other people is somehow tied to weakness. You can't be strong if you put other people first...)
Really the only other "meh" thing about Unearthly, for me, was the romance angle. There's a bit of a triangle in here in that there are two guys who, at some point or another, do the usual triangle thing and rival for the main character's affections. Just like in the Twilight series, and unlike in the Hunger Games series, there seemed to be a clear 'winner.' It's the kind of thing where the reader can spot who it's going to be from the beginning, so the whole love-triangle element therefore seemed imbalanced. Plus, I didn't really like the kind of person Clara turned into when she was pining after one of the guys. She seemed to lose all common sense and only seemed interested for the superficial "he's so cute/dreamy/perfect/etc." reasons. It just seemed really out of character with who Clara was the rest of the time. The other guy, though? Boy Number 2? Absolutely perfect. And I'm glad the story ended where it did. I know we've got 2 more sequels in the near future, but it makes waiting for them a little less daunting, knowing that Unearthly's ending was rather satisfying. I'm willing to bet that the next sequel may have a bigger 'villain' character, and may spend more time dealing with more detailed angel mythology, as neither element seemed very prominent in this installment. That's fair, though, because the first book in a series usually only has time to introduce the characters, set up the premise, and give clues about where the story will head next. I'm definitely eager for the sequel.

So all in all? A fun, enjoyable, well-paced read that I would definitely recommend.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

quick post to let yall know...

...that the comment wackness (yes, I just said wackness, because yes, it is still the 90s up in here) is fixed. I'd still be boohooing myself if and shaking my fist at the computer screen if it weren't for Jillian @ Random Ramblings, who completely sorted me out.
Comments are now working!! YAY!

Here is a picture of Fievel. He's happy, and so am I.

Pictures from BEA Part II

BEA was one of the greatest experiences, and I am already eagerly anticipating BEA 2012.
I cannot say enough how grateful I am to the awesome posse of the smartest, sweetest, most amazing girls (too many adjectives?) who took me under their wing and made the whole experience less daunting.
I'm glad I didn't have to trek it alone!
Tuesday Highlights

Arriving at Javits bright and early and meeting up with the girls - Jennifer from Reading with Tequila, Emily from Red House Books, Eleni from La Femme Readers, Taschima from Bloody Bookaholic, Lexie and Tegan from Poisoned Rationality, Briana from BAM Book Reviews, Nikki from Wicked Awesome Books, and Danielle from Frenzy of Noise.
Walking briskly (absolutely no running - we're not on a track team!) with Tasch and Tegan to the Scholastic booth and absolutely spazzing over galleys of Forever, which I did not expect them to have (usually final books in a series market themselves!)
Seeing the rest of the floor, saying "pardon me...excuse me...thank you very much" so many times that one of the publicists from Macmillan said I sounded like Kyra Sedgwick's character from "The Closer." Haha
Signing lines with Ilsa Bick (Ashes and Draw the Dark), Cara Lynn Shultz (Spellbound) at the Harlequin booth (or should I say, the Harlequin Headquarters. That place is bigger than the Batcave!), Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl), Leigh Fallon (The Carrier of the Mark), and Jeff Hirsch (The Eleventh Plague)
Sat in on the YA Editor Buzz Panel, which was a godsend because for some reason, my feet didn't hurt but my back sure did. Sat next to the wonderful team from Girls in the Stacks - who just so happen to be Texas bloggers. Some drama with galleys - "do they or don't they?" and almost getting squished, but I'm small so I made it out alive.
Had an amazing hotdog, even if I did shame myself by forgetting that I was in New York City and asking for mayonnaise.
Me and Jennifer braving NYC's idea of a "mall" for dinner and having what was easily the funnest, most interesting conversation of my year (you just don't get good conversation like that where I'm from...lol...unless you're talking about how hot it is, how amazing the Rangers are, or something to do with politics)
Galleys I swooned over: The Carrier of the Mark, Legend, The Scorpio Races, Forever, Wonderstruck (today belonged to Scholastic!), Variant (so excited to see this one) and The Eleventh Plague

Jacob Javits, the larger-than-life NY senator who did so much for education - especially G/T education.

Way to represent, HarlequinTeen!

So excited to see this cover!

Abrams booth - Dairy of a Wimpy Kid

The enormous autographing area. Reminded me a lot of Disneyworld, only no fast passes

Me, Taschima, and Danielle

Me and Tegan - love her. I was this close (thumb and forefinger) to bringing her back to Texas with me to be my little sis. Buuut...that's kidnapping, and is indeed illegal in every state.

The dashing Eoin Colfer

As surprised as he looks, at least the flash wasn't on.

At the YA Editor Buzz Panel. By the way, I absolutely adored that emcee guy. Woulda liked to bring *him* back to Texas too!

Man, Jason Valdez is hot. He almost reminds me of Percy...

Leigh Fallon - and her accent - were so charming and sweet! Meeting her and getting a copy of Carrier of the Mark was a great end to a great day.

Wednesday Highlights

Got to Javits at 5:50 in the morning. No, I wasn't crazy, I was just paranoid about somehow not getting Rick Riordan and Scott Westerfeld tickets.
Having the absolute BEST cab driver in the world. He got me from 5th Ave to the Javits in 4 minutes (aaaand had to outwit a firetruck that blocked three lanes of traffic down a narrow street). I love you, Alfonso!
Breakfast run to Dunkin' Donuts (still ain't got nothin on Krispy Kream) with Tasch and Tegan
Getting career advice from Rick Riordan...RYE-or-dan... (who knew exactly where my hometown is) and getting to take a picture with Julie Kagawa (her publicist-person actually let me and Tasch take a picture with her, and didn't look at my camera like it had Anthrax on it like Rick Riordan's publicist-person. Ha!)
Jennifer and I meeting the funnest Macmillan publicist-person in Ally Condie's line and the *ahem* absolutely high-five-worthy conversations we had. We wondered if, in the future, we'll all be wearing yoga pants like the cover model. Gah, I hope not. I'd never be able to pull that off. Plus...that sign that was right across from us that we kept guffawing over. Well okay, they laughed and I guffawed.

other Cool author signings: Scott Westerfeld (Goliath), Kady Cross (The Girl in the Steel Corset), Ally Condie (Crossed), Marie Lu (Legend)
Hanging out at Mars - the eatery of the future! Our hilarious server who thought that snorting was the funniest thing ever (and when I say "snorting", I mean the sound that emits in between laughs...not the other verb meaning), and that slightly eccentric martian who danced with all those kids. LOL.
M&Ms store!

Wednesday looking @ Javits

Stood in front of a cute little kid in the Rick Riordan line with Tasch.

Easily the best thing about BEA. My kids at YG were like "when you meet Rick Riordan, make him do the 'hook em horns' sign!" As I am an adult and really do want people to take me seriously, I nixed asking for the hook em horns sign.

Julie Kagawa! Got moving advice from her - the verdict? Kentucky is a cool place to live, especially the Louisville area.

I honestly don't remember of Jane Lynch was Wednesday or Thursday...but there she is!

The eatery of the future!

Thursday Highlights

Just managing to get through the day without bursting into tears at the thought of this being the last full day of BEA was an accomplishment
Made the rounds - Little Brown wins the 'Best (Booth) in Show' for Thursday - and had the good fortune of our group being "line-heckled" by Maureen Johnson, who by the way has fabulous taste in dresses. Apparently there was some kind of drama that went down today, but I don't feel like it's my business or right to pass judgment on other people, so...I really don't know!
Left BEA early to figure out how to ship the bountiful booty home. Note to those who may attend next year: do.not.use.FedEx. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. We shipped two boxes - one that weighed 70 lbs and the other that weighed 35 - to Texas, media mail (and we shipped them THURSDAY and they arrived the very next TUESDAY, gaw I love our USPS!) for around $50.
Had the absolute BEST pizza at Lombardi's because Tasch's mother has amazing taste! Good call on Lombardi's
And now...the only real drama of the trip, and it was all my fault. Sometime shortly after 11:00, I managed to get myself lost in a really unfamiliar part of the city. When the streets aren't numbered anymore, it easily happens, and I scared myself into hyperventilation at not being able to hail a cab. I swear, every episode I'd ever seen of "SVU" came back to mind. But I had guardian angels in Lexie and Chaz and the sweetest cab driver - once I did manage to hail one down - who told me about the first time he got himself lost in the city when he first came over to America. That was the sweetest thing.

Me and Jennifer

Maureen Johnson, hard at work being one of the nicest, sincerest authors in the industry

Contrary to what Randy Newman sings, short people DO got people to love them!
Maureen thought Nikki and I were cute

This is *not* my stack, this is LEXIE & TEGAN'S...holy smokes!
That is BEA talent right there.

Lombardis

Monday, May 30, 2011

Pictures from NYC/BEA Part I

Last Sunday I was able to venture back to New York City for the first time in about five years. This time around, I was determined to take more pictures! We stayed in a different part of the city from the other times - near Bryant Park in Midtown, away from the fun/crazy atmosphere of Times Square and all that jazz.

Sunday Highlights

Swapping 90 degree weather for overcast 60something-degree weather
Eating at Tir Na nOg Irish pub
Realizing that the Mapquest app is the most amazing invention ever
Shopping at this humongous department store called Century 21, which is actually across the street from the WTC
trying to eat scrumptious clam chowder without slurping at our hotel's seafood restaurant and eavesdropping on the funny drunk people's conversations at the bar

Tir Na nOg & inscriptions on the wall...reminds me of something out of LORD OF THE RINGS

View of our hotel near 5th Ave.

A really cool, huge department store that is good for finding amazing deals, but not good if you're a slight germaphobe like I am and get nervous being squeezed next to sweaty strangers

View across from the store, looking at the WTC site

How coincidental! In town for a book expo, and our hotel is right across from a branch of the NYPL :)

This picture weirds me out because I'm not really sure what I was looking at...moving on...

Chocolate store! Chocolate store! And they had huge bowls of oatmeal for like $1.50. DEAL!

Monday Highlights

Checking in at BEA, finding out that I did register correctly and, after months of being confused and hearing all sorts of differing accounts from different sources, finding out that press attendees did get in free (Eleni and Jennifer, if you're reading this by chance...HIGH FREAKING FIVE), and getting to see what the Javits looked like when it pre-show
Having the whole day to mill around the city, walk and shed off some of the graduation cake that I'd previously devoured...and not getting lost (yet).
Walked down to the Strand bookstore - 18 miles of books. Fascinating! I bought 2 totes, 3 shirts, but only 3 books - Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink; The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide by Stephenie Meyer (because it was only like $10) and, ahem, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
Went straight from one bookstore to another - Books of Wonder on 18th Street. Okay guys, the Strand is cool and everything (like, astronomically cool), but Books of Wonder is without a doubt, the BEST BOOKSTORE IN THE WORLD. Yes, it is cooler than London's Travel Bookshop (you know, "the one that only sells travel books." - Notting Hill). Seriously, if you guys have seen You've Got Mail...I originally thought that this was where they filmed Meg Ryan's Shop Around the Corner. It wasn't, but it was that kind of atmosphere. And joy of all joys, they had a cupcake bakery-cafe adjoining the bookstore. Yeah, I spent upwards of 3 hours in here after almost bankrupting myself with The Cabinet of Wonders and The Celestial Globe by Marie Rutkoski, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, Entwined by Heather Dixon, and The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman.
Because I was too lazy to go back uptown, I didn't go to the Harry Potter Exhibit...but I heard it was pretty cool :)
Went to the Teen Author Carnival, got within a few feet of some of the coolest YA authors without any weird business happening on my part, and met up with my future BEA coaches, support group, and friends: Jennifer from Reading with Tequila, Taschima from Bloody Bookaholic, Lexie from Poisoned Rationality, Emily from Red House Books, and Briana from BAM Book Reviews.
Being in New York and highly anticipating the beginning of BEA the next morning did NOT, however, keep us from catching the finale of "Dancing with the Stars." Go Hines & Kym!

Walking down 5th, I noticed a bunch of people standing in the middle of the street, taking pictures of a big, brown and kind of dirty-looking building. I was like, "Why are they all taking pictures of that big, brown, dirty-looking building?" then realized it was the Empire State Building. Ahh! And then I just *had* to take a picture too - after all, that's where the Greek gods live!