Review Me Twice: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

For the first 1/6 or so of this book, I was really interested, totally on board, ready to hear more. For the next 4/6 (or 2/3 if you prefer), I was irritated with Piper for being... I'm not entirely sure what. She didn't seem to be connecting with her situation very well. Granted, she admits that she was very lucky to have high-end legal representation, and people on the outside with far more resources than the loved ones her fellow prisoners had outside, but it doesn't really seem to sink in for her. Until, of course, the last 1/6, where I felt like some kind of redemption happened. She really got it.

I think that maybe if this had been written during Piper's time in prison, instead of after it, the whole book would have a very different tone. She was lucky; she didn't experience any immense hardships or abuse during her year in prison.

Certainly, I learned things from this book. I would love it if more prisoners wrote similar memoirs about their time inside, to present a wide spectrum of experiences and viewpoints. I also appreciated the list of organizations and contacts at the end of the book that address different ways of helping prisoners and their families (my favorite is "Book 'Em," which is Pennsylvania-based and provides books to prisoners and prison libraries).

I wouldn't run around telling everyone I see to read this book, but it is quite good, and if someone asked me about it, I'd say that yes, they should read it.

For a book that's as famous as this one is, and that's been a bestseller for as long as this one has (seriously forever.  It's still sitting on the bestseller list.  I'd say it's been at least a year.) I was expecting a little more out of it.

It took me awhile to get into the book, and then it took even longer to figure out why she had written it.  Thank goodness it's not that long of a book.

However, I admit I grew very attached to the characters, to these women that she spent a year plus with, that she shared some of her most intimate experiances with.  You found yourself rooting for these women in a way you never really thought pssibly and seeing these "criminals" in a whole new light.  Have they done things wrong in their lives, sure, but about half of them would be better suited to a true rehabilitation program.  Or better yet, a program that helps them get jobs and housing and gives them ways to stay off the streets so they didn't have to sell drugs and land themselves there in the first place.

I will admit that the book sheds a harsh light on the growing problem of our prison system.  Kerman's prison had a litany of its own problems and, compared to what she had to deal with when she went to high security prisons in Oklahoma and Chicago, it really wasn't bad in comparisson.  The book showed how much money is wasted on prisons instead of maybe putting it toards our school.  That we incarcerating instead of teaching.

It was an enjoyable book, that I'm glad I read, mainly because I think it's a good idea to read the books that everyone has read, be they good or bad.  But it has been added to my "to be donated" pile.

Author Bio - Piper Kerman

This will be our last author bio for awhile (and it's the last of our Memoir books!)  We're now going to be posting reviews monthly, so the usual stuff we do during the week won't happen until the week that we review the book.

And since we're doing a memoir, I don't want to give too much away about Kerman.  She grew up in Boston, into a family of doctors and lawyers.  She had a short stint in prison, for a ten year old crime, which is what our book this week, Orange is the New Black, is about.

She currently will talk to many criminology students and law students, along with serving on the board of the Woman's Prison Association.

Author Bio: S L Viehl

That's not actually S L Viehl. Well, she is, but she's actually Sheila Kelly, who writes under a number of different pseudonyms, one for each genre she writes in. S L Viehl is her science-fiction pseudonym, under which she writes the Stardoc series.

Since part of the point of having a pseudonym (or many) is to stay more anonymous than people who publish under their own name, there isn't a lot of publicly available information about her. I know she's American, and I know she has pretty typical hobbies (knitting, for example).

So we'll have to let her writing speak for itself later this week! We'll be reading the first book in the Stardoc series.

Favorite Anthology

Zombies Vs. Unicorns is one that I fell upon specifically because of Scott Westerfeld.  He had mentioned that he had taken part in it on his blog, so I ended up picking it up at super deep discount years ago when Borders was going out of business.  Sad, I know, but it worked out well for me.

And it was a fun one, because the whole thing started when Christine Larbalestier (Westerfeld's wife and author of Liar) got into a blog war with Holly Black (author of The Spiderwick Chronicles) about which was better: Zombies or Unicorns.  Larbalestier was team Zombies and Black was team Unicorns.

This is what the cover of the book looked like under the dust jacket.

As the blog war went on, different YA authors took sides, and inevitably, the whole thing turned into a book.  So each author wrote a short story for their "side".  The whole thing was fun and hysterical, and I think ended up being great because it was such a pet project for all of them.  The whole concept was really, at the end of the day, a big practical joke.  But that's kind of what made the book so wonderful.  It didn't take itself seriously at ALL.

It also has some GREAT authors writing for it: Maureen Johnson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Garth Nix, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Carrie Ryan, Kathleen Duey, Margo Lanagan, Naomi Novik, and Diana Peterfreund.

Basically, it's a book with Zombie and Unicorn short stories.  How could you POSSIBLY go wrong with this?

I tried to think of a multi-author anthology I liked better than this book, because to me, "anthology" implies multiple authors, and when it's all by one author, I think "collection." But whatever, it didn't work... this is apparently my favorite anthology: Everything's Eventual by Stephen King.

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again... Stephen King is excellent at the short story. He loses me with the longer novels but that's just a personal preference. Obviously his novels do just fine, lots of people read and like them. They just aren't for me. His short stories, however, are just pure art.

I don't think I even have a favorite from this book, either. The title story is really great, and I think about it often. It's one of those stories that sticks with you. Possibly because I have the version pictured here, and that cover photo does wonders for solidifying the story in your head. Just amazing.

If someone told me they wanted to start reading Stephen King but they didn't like long books, and wanted to know where they should start, I would hand them a copy of Everything's Eventual. Then I'd probably pile The Running Man and The Long Walk on top of it, but still. Great book.

My Author count is hitting the stratosphere this year.

Because I like to keep you posted on all of the authors I see, here are some pictures from the book signing I went to tonight.

On the left is me with Rainbow Rowell (hard to tell, but she's holding a copy of Fangirl) and on the right is me and David Levithan.  I know: I can feel the jealous rolling off of you in WAVES right now.  It's practically tangible.

There were also some other awesome authors there, Coe Booth (Kind of Like Brothers), Tanuja Desai Hidier (Bombay Blues), and Bill Konigsburg (Openly Straight).  They were all funny and hilarious and wonderful and read passages from their books and really, if you get the chance to see David Levithan ever, go see him because he's hysterical, I think more so because he was with a group of people he was so comfortable with.

 And yes, I was close enough to David Levithan that the man was practically sweating on me.  It was fantastic.  And did I mention that he complimented my shoes?  I almost had to go die in a corner I was fangirling so hard.

Favorite Road Trip Book

This week, I learned that there's another genre that I don't read much of: road trip books. But there is one that I have read, and greatly enjoyed, and it shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is about a guy named Shadow who gets out of jail to find that his wife has moved on. Then he runs into some deities and adventure happens.

There's a companion book, called Anansi Boys, that I'm pretty sure I've discussed at some point here on the blog. (It features my favorite supporting character... a lime.)

So, it turns out, all my road trip books... actually non-fiction.  So about actual road trips.  Who knew?  And since we'll be discussing Carsick in just a few weeks, I'll talk about one of the only other road trip books in my repertoire

The book is about a kid who was so about being off the grid and green that he gave away all his money and hitchhiked to Alaska.  He was young, college age, from a middle to high class family and just completely fell off the grid.  Gave away all his money to charity and went to Alaska to live.  And actually did ok for awhile, until he got hit by the winter.

No one is 100% certain what happened to him.  They're pretty sure that he got caught there, unable to swim and that the river he cross in the summer was too high for him to cross again before the winter time hit and he starved to death (pleasant, right), but it's a lot about the psychology of why he left and hitchhiked across the country in the first place.

Holocaust Literature

We talk a lot about holocaust literature around here, mostly because we (perhaps morbidly?) really enjoy reading about it.  There are probably three major types of that you can pick up about it.

Memoirs

We've read a lot of memoirs.  They're first hand accounts of the things that go on. The Diary of Anne Frank is probably one of the most well known first hand accounts.  I've also talked about The Girl in the Red Coat and, while Maus isn't a first hand account technically, it's someone taking down a first hand account of what happened almost word for word.  You get a lot of memoirs in holocaust fiction.  In fact, it's probably the most prevalent, probably because a lot of people I think need to get their experiences out of them.  They need to get it down on paper and let people know what happened.




Non-Fiction text

These are essentially like history books.  Biographies or just general history books.  Anything that tells about the time, but isn't a first hand account of what happened.  They tell about what's going on, but they aren't through anyone's eyes.  They stick to the facts.  They are (supposed to be) unemotional and unbiased.  Schindler's List is a good example of this.  While the book is mostly about Schindler and what he did, it tells you a lot about what went on in the time period and during the war.

Fiction

These are books that give us fictional accounts, but still relate the horrors of what happened during the time period.  Our book this week, Once, is a good example of that.  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is also a good example of that, and rare because it's told from the German side of things, from a very innocent point of view.  The stories are a little more embellished, but often based on things that actually happened.

Beach Reads

So, if you're reading this, I'm at the beach (I know; be jealous.)  And I figured there was a good chance one (or more) of you are going to the beach this summer.  So I'm just going to crank out a few books that are fabulous for sitting in the sun with.

I would be doing this list zero justice if I didn't start it off with a romance novel.  Really, it's the first thing that everyone thinks of when they think beach read.  What's more, this is one of the better romance novels out there (as far as these things go.)  You can read our review of it, or just pick up a copy.  After all, why not read a little smut on the beach?  What else do you have to do?

It's very rare these days that you get a book that's just ONE book.  No Sequels, no trilogies, just one.  And while Stargirl does, technically, have a sequel, it was so terrible I couldn't get pack chapter four.  So I like to pretend it doesn't exist.  But Stargirl is one of the best, most touching books about love and high school and "fitting in" that you can find.  It's fairly short, fairly uncomplicated and entirely wonderful.

This book is fun and a fast read.  It's just a bunch of quotes of really odd things Jen Campbell has heard over the years, working at a bookstore.  No plot, no need to pay a lot of attention and you can open it anywhere and start reading, which makes for a perfect beach read.

Sometimes, a little chicklit is all you need.  Confessions of a Shopaholic is funny, ridiculous with just the right amount of romance thrown in to make it a perfect beach read.  You can't help but love Becky Bloomwood, despite all the messes she seems to get into.

What are you reading at beach this summer?

Illustrator Bio: Jon Klassen

We're reading The Dark by Lemoney Snickett this week, but since we've already done an author bio on him, I figured this week, we would take a look at the illustrator of the book, Jon Klassen.

Klassen has actually done a number of books that you would recognize, probably the most notable being This is Not My Hat (which, if you haven't read, you should because it's a cute, short, adorable, funny book.)  I Want My Hat Back is also another book that made a big splash, though it's often criticized that it's inappropriate for children.  (The bear eats the rabbit off screen at the end.)

Klassen grew up in Canada, going to school at Sheridan College.  In 2006, he moved to LA, where he currently still resides.  He did animation work on both Kung Fu Panda and Coraline.  You can follow his blog or his tumblr.

Review Me Twice: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling

Our friend Christopher told me to read this book, like, three years ago. Something like that. Anyway, I finally got around to it. And it was worth it.

Books by comedians are usually like having a one-sided conversation with that comedian, and Mindy Kaling is no different. Each chapter is totally random (one is all the photos that are on her Blackberry and a brief description of each one... another chapter consists of detailed instructions on how her funeral should be set up... another is all about the non-traumatic things that make her cry) but it all works together.

Total honesty? She and I probably wouldn't get along. She admits to being a drama queen and loving shopping and crying at trivial things and arguing with pretty much everyone... but it's funny. And I don't have to be her friend; I just want to laugh at her stories. And I did. Out loud, and confusing my husband. (And then reading passages at him. Not to him... at him.)

It's a quick read, and a funny read, and the kind you can put down often if you need to because some chapters are literally one page, and a lot are two or three pages. And I've only ever seen about five episodes total of The Office, so I can also attest to the fact that you don't need to have seen it to get it. (Although it helps to know who Steve Carrell and Rainn Wilson and Michael Schur are, because she talks about them a couple times.)

Little known fact: I usually hate books written by comedians.  Why, you might ask?  Because, usually, they're not as funny as I think they should be.  I think they should be hilarious, and they so often are not, probably because, let's face it, most comedians are not writers.

Kaling, however, is a writer who writes comedy.  For a living.  It is her JOB to make me laugh via writing.  So I was unsurprised when I DID like this book, and I DID laugh out loud a lot because she has that quirky, dry, sarcastic kind of humor that I have and enjoy.

I, like Alex, have limited knowledge of The Office (i.e., I've never seen a single complete episode.  I've never even come close to completing an episode.  The closest I've come is seeing the Leverage parody of The Office.  Which was hilarious.)  But knowledge of The Office is completely unnecessary for it to be funny.  

If you're going to pick up a book by a comedian, I would recommend this one.

Author Bio: Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling is probably best known for her work on The Office (the American version), writing, directing, producing, and acting as Kelly Kapoor. I admit that I only know her character's name because I've already read her book, which we're reviewing this week (Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns). She also has a Fox sitcom, The Mindy Project, which was just (in March) renewed for a third season.

She has also been in film, most notably in This Is the End and Wreck-It Ralph.

She has been named one of the "50 Coolest and Most Creative Entertainers" of Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly and one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world, both in 2013.

Mindy Kaling is funny, successful, not a Hollywood twig, and therefore - in my opinion - a great role model for girls (or anyone).

Favorite Humor Book

In honor of this week's humorous book, we're picking our favorite humorous books this week!

Mine is, awkwardly, an upcoming review book, so I'll say very little about it. Years ago, our friend Christopher told me I needed to read this book: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling, probably best known for her role on The Office. She's also a comedy writer, and her style translates well to bookhood.

But you'll hear more about it in a few weeks... (Oh the suspense!)

I was going to put Paper Towns here, but decided that it's not technically a humor book, it just happens to be hysterically funny.  So I chose a different book by our author this week!

Our book this week is an actual story that Dave Barry wrote.  I'll Mature When I'm Dead is more like his columns, and in fact, some of the stories in there are directly from his column.  He had a Twilight parody (which is pretty much the funniest one that I've read ever), he talks about his dog and his kids and all this real life stuff that's so excruciatingly funny, it could only true.

Review Me Twice - The Petrosian Invitation by T.P. Keating

We always love it when we get the opportunity to review NaNo authors on this blog, and this occasion is no different.  Getting your book out there is hard (as I have discovered from the grand total of two books that I've sold), so we try our best to help out.

Keating has a very good writing style.  She knows exactly the scene that she wants to portray to her readers and how she wants them to see the situation.  While she does have the same problem as my dear co-blogger about knowing when to tone back the vocabulary, she does have a great one and I really appreciate that.

I also loved the relationship between Zoe and Sam.  You could tell they were sisters, even if you hadn't been told by the author.  They had that love/hate relationship that a lot of sisters have.  They help each other even when they don't want to, they gossip about each others lives with each other, whether that be good or bad, and at the end of the day, the genuinely want what's best for the other.

The one, rather glaring, problem that I had with this book was the pacing.  Our main characters fell in love with each other within days, and made life altering decisions within the maybe week time span that the book took place in.  It seemed that everyone in the book had impulsive personalities and that didn't seem weird to anyone.

Overall, not a bad read, and a short one at that.

What is it with vampires and sudden love? Sure, lots of book characters fall in love quickly, but it seems to happen more often when vampires are around.

I agree entirely with Cassy about the vocabulary issue. That's something else I've noticed about vampires, though... if you're writing the type of vampire who has been around for centuries, you tend to allow way more complicated vocabulary (even when it's not coming out of that old soul's mouth). But it's an appropriately-applied vocabulary (as in, our author is not using big words without knowing what they mean or how to use them).

This isn't the kind of book I could reread, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. If I'm paying very close attention to a book, I don't want to reread it, because I don't feel like I missed anything (although I'm sure I did). If you're the kind of reader who sees "vampire romance" and thinks, "Nope, not for me"... you're probably right. The book delivers what it promises, so if that isn't your jam, this book isn't for you. Otherwise, it's worth a read.

Author Bio - T.P. Keating

Even though NaNo is over, we still like to spotlight NaNo authors as much as possible.  This week, Mr. Keating gave us his novel for reviewing, The Petrosian Invitation.  Here is a short bio we were provided.

TP Keating was previously nominated for The James White Award. Along with numerous short stories published online, TP Keating’s stories appear in the printed anthologies Small Crimes, Daikaiju!2: Revenge Of The Giant Monsters, and Murder In Vegas (edited by Michael Connelly, and which has also been released in audio book format). 

His web site is www.tpkeating.com, and please feel free to drop him a line at keatingwrites@yahoo.com

Stay tuned this week to learn more about Keating and our review of his book!

The Book You'd Want to Receive for All Hallow's Read

From www.allhallowsread.com

Yes, it's Halloween again, which means it's All Hallow's Read again, too! This is an up-and-coming tradition wherein you give scary books to your loved ones (or strangers, if you like) to celebrate Halloween. So today, instead of favorites, we're picking the books we would most like to receive for All Hallow's Read.

David Wong is the author of John Dies at the End, which is now also a movie. He also wrote This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It. I found a quote from The Washington Post about this book that said it's like The Walking Dead (which I don't watch, but would likely enjoy) meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm sold.

I knew about this book in the vague, if-you-mention-it-I'll-recognize-that-it's-a-thing-but-that's-about-it way that I'm aware of a lot of things. Then I was helping put together the library's Halloween display, and I saw this in the catalog. And I thought, I have to add that to the display. And on my way from where it had been on the shelf to where it was going on another shelf, I read the back of the book. And then I thought, I have to read this.

So really, it wouldn't make much sense to give this to me for All Hallow's Read, because I know there's an available copy at the library I work in, but still... I haven't read it, it's classified as "horror," and I want to read it. That's how the tradition works!

So, my book is an old one, and one I could pick up at the library or probably buy for pretty cheap (or even second hand.)

I hear so many things about the Shining; how it's basically the scariest thing that people have ever read/seen.  And I believe them, but I just never could bring myself to read it because I've never thought much of Stephen King's work.

(Funny side story; Alex was obsessed with Stephen King when we first met, and the VERY first time that we met, I saw all her Stephen King books and said, "I don't really like him much."  To which of course she answered, "Well, have you read anything by him?"  And when I told her the books I read she said, "Well, those are his worst ones."  Really, people, it's a wonder we ever became friends at all.)

And really, I don't HATE King.  I just don't think he's that great.  If someone were to GIVE me the book, however, I'm the kind of person who would be all the more likely to read it because it was a gift.  Ergo, someone should give me The Shining for All Hallow's Read and then I would actually read it.

By Its Giveaway

Ok, so I know usually on Saturdays we do "By Its Cover" but this week, we're all about promoting Kinnaird's book, The Red Sun Rises, and the giveaway to WIN A COPY!  Exciting, I know. :)  So, in case you missed EVERYTHING this week, here's a little blurb and some other opinions on the book!

Eren Anderson is a freak among freaks. At 17 years old, he doesn't fit in with his peers in the tiny town of All Hallows and despite being born into it, he most certainly doesn't fit in among The Order of Our Mother, the secret nature worshiping society that has harnessed the ability cast spells and believes vampires are not only real, but their deadliest enemies. Eren is turned into a vampire after an attack by the local coven master, but that is the least of his worries...

In a post-Twilight world, “The Red Sun Rises” is a YA novel intended to give vampires their bite back but it should not be read as simply another vampire novel. “The Red Sun Rises” is a story about growing up, responsibility, falling in love, facing your fears and taking fate into your own hands.

Praise for “The Red Sun Rises”“The Red Sun Rises is the complete package, offering a little bit of everything to appeal not only to Twilight fans but also those fans of young adult novels ranging from Harry Potter to the Perks of Being a Wallflower, the Mortal Instruments to The Fault in Our Stars.” - Amazon.com review

“This is the kind of YA novel we need now, this is something I wish I could see on every shelf, in every store, in all libraries and schools. This book makes a statement. It's a book for all of the outcasts, the people who didn't fit in for whatever reason. This book makes sense to them. It's a story about being an outcast, fitting in, making your own choices, and standing up for what you believe in. There's so much to this novel, comparing it to any other vampire novel, especially Twilight would do nothing but dim it! Look past your preconceptions, keep an open mind, and experience this wonderful piece of YA fiction that is great for teens and for adults. This book needs to be read, read it, and share it. Buy a copy for your friend. You won't regret it.” - Amazon.com review

“The Red Sun Rises is a captivating book that will appeal to readers of not just the YA audience, and will leave you waiting with great anticipation for the sequel.” - Amazon.co.uk review“It is refreshingly direct, challenging, witty, and an honest reflection of the challenges we each face growing up. The plot is streamlined and engaging and at no point do the characters feel contrived to nudge you to any conclusion. You aren't talked down to or expected to accept any moral imperatives. What you take from the book is yours alone. This book is brilliant simply because every page is awash with honesty. The language is refreshingly grounded and people actually sound like people. Gone are the clichéd pre-watershed aphorisms or idioms that are constantly substituted for the way teenagers speak. The "screw yous" and "ticked offs" are, when appropriate, abandoned for something much more likely.” - Amazon.co.uk review

Tune in Tomorrow for the winner of the Book!

Review Me Twice: The Red Sun Rises by Victoria Kinnaird

This book was given to us as part of the blog hop we're participating in this week (and what do you know?!  You can enter to win a copy at the bottom of this post!)  We offered to review the book in addition to just promoting the giveaway tomorrow, mainly because we're awesome like that.

I didn't really know anything about the book before I started reading it other than there were vampires involved.  And, honestly, it was more than I expected for a vampire novel (not because I have anything against Kinnaird's writing, but because there are just so many freakin' vampire novels these days, you kind of stereotype them.  I know, I'm terrible.)  

The story had a lot of interesting elements to it.  Magic, combined with Vampires, and a little bit of a twist on the lore (no sparkling, I promise.)  Kinnaird is also pretty witty.  There are a lot of pop culture references, which is applicable because our main character, Eren, is 17.

Probably my biggest complaint about this book is that it isn't consistent   There seem to be a lot of gaps in the story line, or some really obvious plot hole covers.  Lilith's back story  for instance.  You keep getting conflicting stories (that she's known Gaunt for centuries, but she was turned when Eren was only a few months old, which would indicate that she was only a vampire for 17 years.)  It turns out that she had been turned human for juuuust the right amount of time to get pregnant and have Eren, before being turned back into vampire.  There are a lot of things like that, they don't seem to QUITE match up.

Overall it was an enjoyable story.  Some good plot twists and some great character relationships.

ONLY ONE DAY LEFT TO ENTER TO WIN THIS BOOK!!

Like Cassy, I didn't know much about the book before I jumped in. We were given the standard teaser summary, which I skimmed and saw what amounted to "this is totally not another Twilight you guys!" and I sighed deeply and started to read. And then I regretted my cynicism, because it really isn't just another Twilight. It's actually very good. (Oh snap.)

I liked everything. I liked the characters, without exception. I liked the pace of the story (up to the very end, which was very rushed... not like I can talk, I have the same problem, but I did notice that the Kindle told me I had 5% of the book left and I thought... then there is going to be a seriously major twist, and we will not get the big epic scene we are building up to. I was kinda right, but not in the way I thought, and then BOOM done.) I liked the approach to vampires and magic and how they combine. And I really liked the voices. It felt like the characters were real people because of how they talked and thought. (Except, Corbijn has a little bit of an early-Twilight Edward vibe, where he uses slightly too proper speech, but I give that a pass because he was isolated from people for a long time, and he has memories from a long time ago... etc.)

I would definitely recommend this book, and lucky you, you can WIN IT! Check it out below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interview with Victoria Kinnaird

We've been going on and on about the blog hop this week (because you can ENTER TO WIN SO MUCH COOL STUFF. So obviously you should GO THERE)

Today, Victoria Kinnaird has been kind enough to send along an interview. So read all about her, everything from her thoughts on reading and writing, to questions about her books. As always, our guest poster is in green!

Why do you think Teen Read Week is important? I think Teen Read Week is important because reading during your teenage years can really open up the world for you. Being a teenager can be a difficult time, and I think it's important for teens to know that they're not alone and that the world is a vast, crazy, beautiful place!

How do you think we could encourage youngsters to read more? I think the most important thing is not to talk down to young people. Books that batter you over the head with their moral lesson are boring and in my opinion, a little insulting. Books should teach you about yourself, not tell you who you should be. That's why, when I was writing, I wanted to make sure that my teenage characters were as realistic as possible.

When you were a teenager what books did you like to read and did you have an all-time favorite character? I read a lot when I was a teenager. I loved The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, Lord of The Rings by J R R Tolkien, and obviously Harry Potter was a very big part of my childhood! I have to say though that my all time favourite character has to be Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye.

Were you writing as a teenager? If so, what were you writing and what inspired you? Did a person inspire you to write? I started writing seriously when I was 15. I ended up writing a series about a musician, because I was really inspired by the music I was listening to. I was really lucky, there were some truly iconic musicians around at that time – Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance, Davey Havok from AFI and so on – that are artists in every sense of the word. I was very inspired by that.

Do you think today’s teens are in a better position if they want to be a writer than you were all those years ago? I think the rise of independent publishers has meant that writers have more options than they had before, the world of publishing has really opened up. If I had pitched my book five years ago – about a bisexual, smoking, drinking, swearing teen anti-hero, I'm pretty sure I would have been laughed at!  But independent publishers are more willing to take these things on, so I think there are definitely more options for writers than there have been previously.

What advice would you give a youngster who enjoys writing? Stick with it. I started writing my debut novel five years ago, when I was 20. It only came out this year because I wasn't brave enough to see it through. So don't give up. The more you write, the better you'll get. Read everything you can put your hands on, and don't let anyone tell you that you can't write a certain way or about a particular subject. When you write, you create a world that's entirely your own – don't be afraid to rule it!

What is your latest book about?

The Red Sun Rises is my debut novel, and it's about a boy called Eren Anderson. He's been raised by his dad in this small town called All Hallows and he really doesn't fit in. His dad is part of a spell casting, nature worshipping secret society that believes vampires are real. Eren doesn't have the ability to cast, so although he knows about this other world, he's not a part of it. He's really struggling to come to terms with that when he's turned into a vampire and unlocks an internal power that is beyond anything or anyone in All Hallows. Throughout the book, he learns a lot about himself and what it means to have power.

Are you working on anything new at the moment? I am currently working on the sequel to The Red Sun Rises :) It will be called The Red Sun Rises: Fire and Ash.

What do you love about being an author? What I love most about being an author is just losing myself in the whole process. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I get frustrated, but usually I really love writing.

Thanks so much, Ms. Kinnaird!

Can't get enough of her?  Check out all her social media below, plus places to buy the book (or, you could just enter to win it.)

FB: www.facebook.com/victoriakinnairdofficial
Twitter: www.twitter.com/theredsunrises
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/18332519-the-red-sun-rises 
Amazon US: www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZZBUI2 
Amazon UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EZZBUI2


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Author Bio - Victoria Kinnaird

As you may (or may not) have discovered yesterday, we're participating in a blog hop for Teen Read Week!  Alex and I are big advocates of great YA literature and encouraging reading in teens.  (Well, really we like to encourage reading in everyone, but it's teen read week.)

This week, because we're giving the book away, we're reviewing The Red Sun Rises by Victoria Kinnaird.  This is her first book, so we're very excited.

Victoria Kinnaird is 25 years old and lives in Glasgow, Scotland. She graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 2009 with a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Journalism, Creative Writing and English Lit. Victoria has been writing since she was 15 years old. "The Red Sun Rises" is her debut novel and she has been writing it on and off for five years. She loves rock music, and 11 of her 12 tattoos are related to bands that she loves!

Stay tuned this week to hear more about her and her book, The Red Sun Rises.  And enter to win it below!! (don't forget to check out the other blogs this week participating in the blog hop.)

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By Its Cover: The Laramie Project

I hadn't scrutinized this cover very carefully before I read the play. If you had asked me, while I was reading it, what the cover looked like (and didn't let me peek), I would have said it was blue and had white condensed text. While technically correct, that doesn't cover the meaning of the image presented on this cover.

Had I looked carefully at this image before reading it, I would have said they chose it because Matthew Shepard was found on the side of the road.

Without giving away one of the best parts of the play, I can tell you that Matthew Shepard's father made a statement at the trial of one of his son's killers. In that statement, he talks about how Matthew was not alone on the side of the road like everyone said he was. (He had his old friends of nature like the sky and wind, and God.) This image encompasses that idea quite well, and is probably the real reason it was chosen.

 

 

I think it's beautiful and pertinent, and - like the story - it is both simple and deeply complex simultaneously.

 

I did not have the same cover as Alex.  This is what mine looked like.

 

 

It's dull, it's boring and it has absolutely nothing to do with the text.  I'm pretty sure it's from this one company that mass produces plays (cheaply), so none of them have fancy covers.  They all look like this, but maybe with a different colored cover (I had a couple that followed this pattern in college.) 

 

You can tell that these books are meant to be used by actors and actresses and such to learn their lines and not meant to be the forefront to the general public (which... is fine because, honestly, I don't really think the cast NEEDS fancy covers.  They probably just want to learn their lines.)