Friday Fun: Reading Lists, YouTube, Links

Happy Friday!

First, it's Summer Reading List Check-in. Not too late to join in with YABuccaneers.
I probably won't do a blog check in each week, but to get started I thought it would be fun to show the progress:

Freebie: The Art of Falling by Jenny Kasczorowski (YA contemporary--art, friends, family)
Road Trip Book: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (YA contemporary)
Rory Gilmore Book: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (finally! I finished!)

Links

Writers: Kristen Lamb's Warrior Writer blog has a fantastic writing series going on. Here's a link to part one of Writing Deep Point of View.

Food For Thought; The downside of fandom; MTV.com interview with authors Cassandra Clare and Maggie Stiefvater where they discuss fan expectations, angry threats (!), and the divisiveness of intense fandom. Also, the difference between perception of women in media and men. It's a great interview. (Credit to Forever Young Adult for point it out.)

YouTube

I've been surfing around YouTube lately and thought I'd share any fun videos and channels I've found. There's a whole world of book bloggers on the 'Tube. Here's an immensely popular blogger, Jesse the Reader. Follow him if you want the scoop on YA fiction. He's a pro!

He shares his experience from Book Expo America's fan day, which is like Christmas for book bloggers and fans. Advanced Reader Copy books by the bucketfull.



Enjoy the weekend, lovelies. I'm off to see Jurassic World in 3D IMAX in a few hours :) I've missed so many great movies in the theatre the past year (book writing has its sacrifices), so making up for that time with the biggest dino explosion movie EVAR.

Check out some of these links or just let me know what you're reading! <3 comments :)

Summer Reading Check-in!

What's summer without an organized, bingo-themed reading challenge check-off?

It's nothing!

Joint YA Buccanneers for their Summer Reading List and check in each week with a blog post, or tweet using the #YABSummerReads tag:

Road Trip Book
I'm midway through Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Set on a Different Continent
I have 100 pages left of Jane Eyre, which I already started prior to the challenge, but I'm eager to finish.



Recommendation:

What I read this week that I'll use for my Freebie is The Art of Falling by Jenny Kaczorowski. It's all about upturning stereotypes, and what happens when the artistic vegan punk falls for the preppy jock. Plus, lots of layered friendship and family issues, which I love in YA!


Feel free to share your summer reads and/or tag on twitter #YABSummerReads

Summer Reading Challenge

After the winter we had in the Midwest, I'm pretty glad it's summer. I've got a bunch of writing projects on the horizon, but I also view summer as reading time, which probably goes back to those lazy kid days where I filled my summers reading books and riding bikes.

The YA Buccaneers are helping our reading goals by offering prizes and a pretty cool Summer Reading Bingo board.

My first book on deck is Jennifer Mathieu's The Truth About Alice.

Lucky me, I get to meet her tonight at a local Fierce Reads tour event! Jennifer and I share an agent, so I've had her book on my list for a long while.

After reading the first few chapters last night--wow. Each chapter alternates with a new POV about Alice Franklin, a rumored "slut" who is supposedly responsible for causing the death of a star athlete in a small town. The way the story is told makes it so powerful, in a similar vein to Sioban Vivian's The List.

Go ahead and join in on the summer reading challenge! You don't have to fill all the Bingo squares, they are just to get you started.

What books do you have on your summer list?

Summer Reading List: What Are You Reading?

Just a quick post to check in with everyone's summer reading goals. Do you have any? Mine are just to get caught up on as many books as I can when I have downtime. I took a break from YA earlier this year, reading some non-fiction, historical fiction, romance, mostly checking out books from the library. I was probably dropping off or picking up books just about every week for the past few months--I rotate audio books too for my commute.

I finally bought a few (or five) books at my local indie Anderson's. All YA. Here's my loot:

I've been working through a summer cold which sapped my weekend, but I read three books! I finished the top book there, Golden by Jessi Kirby, which was sweet, and sad, and really well done. She is a consistent contemporary YA writer. I also read Where She Went by Gayle Forman, an amazing companion book to If I Stay, about a girl looking in from beyond after a car accident. I just love her writing, and am so excited she is doing a similar type of companion book to Just One Day; rather than a typical series, this is just two books that are told from different character point of views in the same story universe. I also love how Forman really bends lines of what is YA; Where She Went takes place at least a year or so out of high school, the main character is in his early 20s.

So, now your turn: tell me what you're reading!

Summer Reading List

When you think of summer, what do you think of?

I think of trips to the library and stacks of books to bring home to read on vacation, on the beach, in the park, wherever.

Here's my recent haul:

Note the kitty who couldn't resist peeking in!

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger 

Contemporary YA about a hard-partying girl dealing with her dad's remarriage. I enjoy when tough-to-like characters are transformed.

Girl Parts by John Cusik. 

The author is also a literary agent (my manuscript was rejected by him, rightfully so as it really wasn't ready). I'm curious on his YA book about a robot girl who develops a will of her own.

The Princesses of Iowa by Molly Backes

I took a 6 week writing course in Chicago taught by the author, so naturally I want to read her book! I'd heard of it last year at Printer's Row Lit Fest when she spoke on a panel about her rather bumpy road to publication. Like A Midsummer's Nightmare, this book is about the popular girl who gets into some trouble, and learns some hard lessons.

Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler

My RWA chapter hosted Margie Lawson for an editing workshop, and she quoted from this book, using it for examples of emotional writing. The premise, about interracial love in the 1930s South, is right up my alley. 

How about you? What's your favorite part of summer? What books are on your summer reading list?