BBAW: Interview with YA Book Nerd

One of the favorite features of Book Blogger Appreciation Week is the interview swap! My interview partner this year is Jennifer from YA Book Nerd. Jennifer is a YA librarian and reads a ton of different books. Check out her blog and my interview here.



Question 1: You write Austen fanfic. If Jane Austen lived today, what subject do you think she'd major in at university?

Jen: Probably English/writing, but I think she might minor in theater as she loved putting on plays with her family.

Question 2: What's your favorite bookmark? (Plus a picture if possible!)

Jen: I adore bookmarks. As a librarian, I purchase some, I make them, and authors send them to me. I love how unique each of them are. There are times when I use a princess bookmark if I'm reading a princess story or a food bookmark (maybe scratch and sniff) if I'm reading a book about food. This one, featuring the adult series of Sarah MacLean is gorgeous to the eye. Plus the texture is amazing. It's simply perfect. [Tasha: Sarah MacLean does have really nice bookmarks.]

Question 3: If you could live in any era, which one would it be?

Jen: It's a toss up between Regency England and Renaissance Italy

Question 4: What's your favorite book of the year so far?

Jen: Tough question. The two that have stuck out most in my mind and I'm telling everyone to read are Grave Mercy and Throne of Glass.

Question 5: What is something that you would never, ever consider reading?

Jen: 50 Shades of Grey - it's just not my thing.

Question 6: If you could redesign the cover of your favorite book of all time using just one symbol, what would it be? (Question inspired by Picky Girl's post here.)

Jen: Hard to say, but I would choose a letter/note for the cover of Pride and Prejudice.

Question 7: You like to put fun facts at the end of some of your reviews. What's a fun fact about you that your regular readers might not know?

Jen: In the movie Sabrina, she quotes Gertrude Stein "America is my country and Paris is my hometown." I feel that way about Bath, England. I spent a semester in college there. It's been a little more than 10 years since I've been back but I'm hoping to go early next year.

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BBAW: Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue

Today is the first day of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, where we traditionally give shout-outs to our favorite blogs. In the past I made my own awards (I should really dust that Best Objectification of the Opposite Sex one off the shelf and use it again), mentioned blogs I discovered because of BBAW, and gave cyber hugs to my blogging buddies, Becky from One Literature Nut and Colette from A Buckeye Girl Reads. You should check out all of these blogs, because they're definitely worth following.

Beginning in November, Truth Beauty Freedom and Books will have been around four years. As my blog gets older, it becomes more difficult for me to "discover" new blogs--mostly because I'm lazy. Finding new blogs takes time, and my Google Reader is already full of more blog posts than I'll ever get around to reading. Lately, however, I've started making an effort to find new blogs (new to me, anyway), and today I want to mention some I've come across in the past year that have landed on my favorite list:

New-to-me blogs:

Books as portable pieces of thought--Bridget is open to reading anything (or nearly anything), and her posts are very critical--in a good way--and smart. Definitely one of the best blogs I've come across this year!

Redeeming Qualities--I might have started following Melody's blog more than a year ago, I can't remember. But let's go with a year. Melody reads a wide variety of novels from the early 20th and 19th centuries, some of which are simply bizarre-sounding, but I don't think I've ever disliked a book Melody recommended. If you have any interest in classic lit, you should definitely follow this blog.

Public Domain Review--This isn't necessarily a book blog, but there are a lot of bookish things on it that I love, including video of an interview with Arthur Conan-Doyle (he speaks!) and links to rare books that are accessible online (a 16th-century edition of The Faerie Queene? Aztec Codexes? Yes please).

Readingwithanalysis--Kelly mainly discusses romance novels, and her posts are always insightful and fun. I love how she approaches romance novels from an entertainment and women's issues standpoint.

Reflections of a Book Addict--Kim also reviews a lot of romance novels, including Austen adaptions (you know hows I loves em), along with many other types of books. She's always willing to try new novels in the name of book blogging.


Favorites who started out with me: These are blogs I haven't mentioned before during BBAW, but that I've been following faithfully for the last four years because they always have great new content as well as fabulous people behind them.

Wordsmithonia--Ryan reads a ton of mysteries (yay Mary Roberts Rinehart!), and has fun features on his blog such as Favorite Fictional Character.

Booktalk & More--Ruth not only talks about books, but also some of my favorite TV shows, like Grimm, Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Downton Abbey. Her posts are always delightful.

Narrative Causality--Caspette reads a lot of UF and fantasy novels, and writes really creative reviews. For a small fee she will teach you Aussie-isms. ;)

1330v--Natasha and I bonded because we have the same name, but I keep reading her blog because her posts are insightful and heartfelt. I love the variety of books Natasha reads as well!


Special Mention: Finally, I want to thank the bloggers who helped me get the Project Gutenberg Project up and running in the past few months. Thank you for your enthusiasm and all your support; I honestly couldn't keep it going without you.

Chris from Book-a-Rama
Aarti from BookLust
Alexandra from The Sleepless Reader
Nymeth from Things Mean a Lot
Iris from Iris On Books
Lu from Regular Rumination
Meghan from Medieval Bookworm

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TSS: Desiring a Well-Ordered Bookish Principle

I like to keep things organized. Somehow this always seems like a struggle, although it really shouldn't be, especially once you have a system in place. But it seems life=chaos and keeping things ordered and neat takes CONSTANT VIGILANCE! (as Mad-Eye Moody might say).

When it comes to my reading, unfortunately, my vigilance has lapsed into nonexistence. Believe it or not, I used to have a system for choosing the next book I would read. It was so organized! And logical. Simply, I read books in the order I received them. Unless I got a new release that I really had to read immediately, of course. Or I'd just read a book in a specific genre, in which case I read a book in a different genre--e.g., having just read a romance I would switch to fantasy. Except most of my books were romances so I didn't switch that often. Okay, maybe it wasn't a perfect system, but it was a system, and it took care of those nasty stretches of nerve-wracking indecision between books (since I only read one book at a time, this is a big deal).

Nowadays, however, there is no axiom of choice. Zero. Nada. It's sheer chaos around here.

The main reason for this is that the majority of the books I read these days come from the library. I've always had trouble fitting library books into my reading system (you'd think having those due dates would expedite some sort of reading order, but nope!), and now that my reading is 50% library books, it's impossible to keep anything organized.

Plus, nearly all of the books I do buy are eBooks, and as far as organization is concerned those are even worse. How can I organize something I can't even see? Especially since I have two eReaders, I can't remember a quarter of the eBooks I have to read or which device they're on.

It's utter madness. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it. I am trying to use my to-read list on GoodReads to keep my "shelves" organized, but I always forget to add books to it; and once the books are listed on there, putting them in any sort of order is a pain in the buttocks. In the BUTTOCKS, I say!

So, help a girl out? How do you keep your books organized and decide what you're going to read next?

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Review: DARK SOUL by Aleksandr Voinov

Stefano is a mob boss who, while attending a "family" event, meets Silvio, the effeminate bodyguard-with-benefits of one of the older dons. Stefano is immediately attracted to the gender-bending assassin with "dark soul" tattooed on his chest, but will Stefano risk his machismo rep and the trust of his wife by giving in to Silvio's slutty advances? I just don't know!

Gay mafiosi. They're right up there with gay cowboys. The Dark Soul series--consisting of five novellas--has been receiving quite a bit of buzz on the webbernets lately, and I wanted to read it because it sounded similar to Manna Francis' Administration series (reviews here), which I love. While Dark Soul is certainly intense, it doesn't come anywhere close to the Administration series in terms of writing and characterization. Honestly, I thought it was utterly ridiculous.

First of all, the sex. That's what you pay your money for, right? Dark Soul is one of those series where every story is merely a thinly-veiled set-up for the kinkiest sex scene the situation can plausibly allow. It's kind of porntastic.

I wouldn't have minded that so much, though, if the sex scenes were hot; unfortunately, they were REALLY awkward. There was definitely a titillation factor, but it never went beyond that. All right, there were times the sex scenes went beyond titillation and into eye roll territory (incest, really? Give me a fucking break). Maybe I just wasn't interested because I kept picturing the characters as looking similar to the guys on The Sopranos, but what else am I supposed to do with a bunch of Italian gangsters, hmm?


If the thought of Christopher and Uncle Paulie getting together causes your brain to bleed out through your eye sockets, DO NOT READ THIS SERIES!

And speaking of the characters, they are completely unbelievable. Silvio MIGHT be interesting, if he behaved with any consistency instead of just doing the sluttiest thing possible in any given situation (I don't like to throw the word slut around, but with Silvio it definitely fits) and didn't dress in a series of cliches. As for Stefano, a sensitive mob boss who wants to be faithful to his wife and asks other guys how they're feeling? I think my head just imploded from improbability. Oh, no, actually I was laughing my ass off.

The Dark Soul series is just... eugh. Kind of ick, totally unrealistic, full of inconsistent characters and enough convenient plot devices to hold together a really bad Skinemax movie (Stefano's bodyguard Vince just happens to have a "tube of oil" on him? Mmkay). If you want to read a really good m/m novel with BDSM sex and dangerous characters, you should read Manna Francis' Administration series. That is all.


Gratuitous Godfather scene. And now I'm going to drink a banana daiquiri.


Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of Dark Soul via NetGalley!

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Review: BLACK HEART OF JAMAICA by Julia Golding

Cat Royal was left on the steps of the Royal Theater of London when she was a baby, and grew up amid the actors, stage hands, street gangs, and aristocratic patrons of Drury Lane. As a result, even though she's only fourteen, she's very plucky and independent, and has lived through a vast array of adventures. Now she's taking part in a traveling production of Shakespeare's plays that is touring the Caribbean. But with slave revolts, pirates, kidnappings, and Cat's arch-nemesis Billy Shepherd roaming around, it's doubtful Cat can stay out of trouble for very long.

It's been over a year since I read the novel previous to this one in the Cat Royal series, Cat O' Nine Tails (review here), and it wasn't because I had to order Black Heart of Jamaica from the UK; it was because I was so disappointed in Cat O' Nine Tails that I couldn't face another Cat Royal adventure. After finishing Scaramouche, however (review at PGP), I was in the mood for more swashbuckling and Black Heart of Jamaica sounded like it might fit the bill. Here's the good news: it definitely did!

The bad news? I have to order the next book from the UK now, and it's going to take FOREVER to get here.

I've said before that I want to live in these books, and Black Heart of Jamaica renewed that sense of stepping into a fully-realized world. This time, Julia Golding brings to life Kingston, Jamaica, in 1792; and while I had some issues with her research in the past two Cat Royal novels, in Black Heart of Jamaica I thought she did an excellent job. Admittedly, I'm already interested and know quite a bit about this time and place in history; but even if you don't and just want to take a Caribbean trip by proxy, Black Heart of Jamaica should be the cure fer what ails ye.

Of course, considering that Cat's adopted brother, Pedro, is a former slave, and the Haitian Revolution is underway on Saint-Domingue--literally right next door to Jamaica--Golding isn't going to shy away from issues of slavery in the Caribbean. As this is a basically a middle-grade adventure novel, I thought she did a fair job. One of the things about the Cat Royal novels is that Cat always struggles to be recognized as a human being, both because of her gender and the fact that she has no family and therefore no status. As far as the law is concerned, she barely even exists--anyone can do whatever they want with her. Because of that, Golding often draws parallels between Cat and outsiders or underdogs, like Pedro in Cat Among the Pigeons (review here), and the same thing happens in Black Heart of Jamaica. Cat gets into a horrible situation and I was literally on the edge of my seat, wondering how she would get herself out of it.

Which brings me to Billy Boil Shepherd, my favorite character in a series filled with great characters. Billy is a Covent Garden street thug who's branching out into "respectable business" and has an itsy-bitsy obsession with Cat. Cat, meanwhile, finds him completely repulsive--OR DOES SHE? Black Heart of Jamaica is the first book where Cat's willing to think Billy might not be completely terrible. Although I thought Cat forgave him a little too easily (and that it was awfully convenient for her to do so), I love that Golding managed to tie them together without any reference to physical attraction at all. Plus I still have no idea where their relationship is headed--it could become a romance, or they could go back to being mortal enemies. You just don't know!

Black Heart of Jamaica restored my faith in the Cat Royal books. You can read it in a day and it's highly entertaining, especially if you've read the other books already. I can't wait to read Cat's Cradle and think I'm due for a reread of The Middle Passage, the free novella that got me started on the books in the first place.

PS-When you read the Cat Royal series--when, not if--make sure to check out the "The Critics" and "Glossary" sections at the beginning and end of each of book. They are so cute and clever I can barely contain myself. Here's a sample of the funnier ones from Black Heart of Jamaica:

'She is a tyger burning bright in the forests of literary night'--William Blake
'Mademoiselle Royal strikes a blow for emancipation.'--Toussaint L'Ouverture, slave revolt leader on Saint-Domingue
'Give Cat Royal your vote and I'll kiss you!'--Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire, political campaigner
'Another book from Cat Royal? She's always worth a gamble.'--John Montague, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich

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Guest Post: SUZANNE SELFORS

Today YA author Suzanne Selfors is here to discuss the inspiration for her latest novel, The Sweetest Spell. Suzanne is also the author of Coffeehouse Angel and Saving Juliet. You can contact her by e-mail if you so wish.

Welcome, Suzanne!

I don’t know why it took me this long to finally write a fairy tale. But writing The Sweetest Spell was a blast from the first word to the last, in part because I grew up on fairy tales. I guess the happily-ever-after formula is cemented in my story-craving brain. But I love the idea of playing with the formula, giving it a modern twist, messing things up.

Like many fairy tales, my story is about transformation. Cinderella, The Ugly Duckling, Beauty and the Beast are examples of such stories in which the unloved (Cinderella)/ugly (Duckling)/ selfish (Beast) hero becomes loveable/beautiful/selfless. My Ugly Duckling is a peasant girl named Emmeline Thistle. Born with a clubfoot, and born to the lowest economic class in the kingdom of Anglund, this dirt-scratcher girl is shunned by everyone. She is unwanted and unloved.

But, like most heroes, Emmeline discovers a secret about herself. She has the mysterious and rare ability to churn cream into chocolate, a substance that exists only in legend. A substance that is desired by everyone, including the royal family. And so, Emmeline Thistle is transformed from the most unwanted girl in the kingdom to the most desired. The duckling becomes a swan. The slave becomes a princess.

Though there is much comedy, romance and adventure in this story, there was one darker issue I wanted to explore – greed. With our economy in the tank and corporate greed gone wild, this seemed like the perfect time to explore such an issue. And it felt much more appealing to do so in a make-believe kingdom, where tax collectors control the population, and the king and queen exploit the peasants. Emmeline is one of those peasants. She’s a dirt-scratcher. She is poor and homeless. All that changes when she begins to make chocolate. But this blessing turns out to be a challenge and she’s faced with a dilemma. When you have something everyone wants, do you sell it to the highest bidder, even if that means going against your values? Do you choose comfort over integrity? This was the question I wanted to explore.

Of course, I didn’t forget about the boys. You can’t have a fairy tale without some strapping hunks. They’re in there too.

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TSS: Sunday Writers

A somewhat blog-centric Sunday Salon post this week: I'm currently reading Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Laurence Block (excellent book, by the way), and in it he ponders why there are no "Sunday writers"--people who, as Block defines it, write regularly and develop their skills only for the love of doing something fun and creative, never expecting to be published or paid. Block does add one caveat to this: poets can't have any expectations of being published; and even if they do, they won't make money at it, so they're the exception. "When all poets are essentially amateurs, one's not ashamed to be less than professional," he says.

Naturally, when I read Block's definition of Sunday writers my mind immediately went to blogging, something that didn't exist when Block wrote Telling Lies (which I think was in the early '80s--he references typewriters a lot). Most bloggers don't get paid; and if they do, it's not very much. Instead, we write regularly because we like writing! Or at least I do. All the things Block cites as impediments to the existence of Sunday writers--wanting to share your work with others, the prohibitive cost of self-publishing and the stigma attached to doing so--have essentially been removed thanks to the internet. Now anyone can publish nearly anything, for free, and share it with the world.



But are we really "Sunday writers"? As in, do we consider ourselves as writers, and if we do, is our ultimate goal still to get published? I think a lot of people, even those who regularly write for a living, don't consider blogging as "writing" (Jessica from Read React Review wrote an excellent post discussing this a few months ago). I do consider blogging as writing; in fact, one of the reasons I started the blog was so I could have a writing outlet after a finished school. However, I also want to be published, and have been. So perhaps Block is right and there really are no Sunday writers, despite the fact that the impediments he mentioned don't really exist anymore.



Do you think there are "Sunday writers"?

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