Kimberly Hirsh

Color Online is hosting the Color Me Brown Book Challenge. The goal is to read and review books about people of color throughout the month of August. I will not be participating as given - I have a long list of books to read for my YA Lit class and am working hard not to add any new books to my TBR pile until I have a sense that I’m going to be able to get through all of those - but I will be making it a point to diversify my reading over the next year or so, and then maintain that going ahead.

I heard on the radio this morning that today begins the National Black Theatre Festival which is held in Winston-Salem, NC. If you are a reader of plays, I have some recommendations for you of plays that feature people of color. Some I’ve seen and read, some I’ve only seen or only read. Some I love, and some I don’t. I’ll list the ones that come to mind and add any more I think of later or if any of you add some in the comments. I’ll link the Wikipedia page or another resource for each play; several of them have been made into films you may wish to watch.

Plays I Love
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry - Audio Link - This centers on a family that receives a $10,000 life insurance check and the plans of each member of the family for the check. It also explores racially motivated land convenants when the family buys a house in an entirely white neighborhood and the neighbors attempt to bribe the family to leave.

Having Our Say by Emily Mann - This play, based on a biography of the same title, is about the Delany sisters. Sadie and Bessie both lived past the age of 100, and this play introduces us to them as they are 103 and 101. It takes us through their memories. They’re local girls to me - from Raleigh, NC, less than an hour’s drive from my home and the city where I taught for three years. My sister and I loved this play and the dynamic between the two sisters that, in 1999, we parodied it with a skit called "Getting Our Way." I was 17 and she was 13 at the time. Here’s my favorite exchange from the skit - I can’t remember which of us said what, so I’m just having me speak first.
KIMBERLY: People often ask us how we’ve stayed so young. I tell them it’s because we never married.
MARY ELISABETH: And I tell them it’s because we’re only seventeen and thirteen!
(Hmmm. I guess we’re old now; my sister’s getting married on October 17 and I just did.)
The film version of Having Our Say stars Audra MacDonald, one of my favorite Broadway stars.

The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe - In this play, the audience witnesses different museum exhibits which satirize both stereotypes and actual elements of African-American culture.

Topdog/Underdog by Suzan Lori-Parks - This play is AMAZING, especially if you see it performed by an excellent cast. Two brothers, Lincoln and Booth, live together and struggle with work, love, and their relationship with each other. Incredibly moving and so well-written. An excellent blend of comedy and drama.

Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere-Smith - A series of monologues that chronicles the Crown Heights riots in 1991. (I can’t even begin to explain the riots so I’m just linking info about them.) I stage-managed this play my freshman year of college. It was by far one of the best experiences I had during that time. Anna Deavere-Smith is coming to speak at the North Carolina Literary Festival and I’m very excited.

Other Plays
Fences by August Wilson - A play about Troy Maxson, a garbage man, and his experiences and challenges in life.
Contant Star by Tazewell Thompson - The life story of Ida B. Wells, a journalist and leader of both the civil rights and women’s rights movements.
The America Play by Suzan Lori-Parks - A play about an Abraham Lincoln impersonator who decides to dig a replica of the Great Hole of History.

Further Notes
Most of the playwrights cited here have written more than one play, so I recommend checking out the full catalog for each of them. I didn’t want to list plays with which I wasn’t familiar, which is why I’ve only listed these eight. Taken against the vast number of plays with which I’m familiar, this small number exposes my own ignorance of theatre about people of color. Another thing for me to improve upon.

In this column at School Library Journal, school librarian Diantha McBride says:

I’m afraid this won’t be popular, but I need more books for boys—as do most librarians who work with young people. I’ve noticed that lots of books with female characters aren’t really about being female. In fact, in many cases, the main characters could just as easily have been males—and that would make my job a lot easier.

The part of McBride’s statement rankles me most is this:

I’ve noticed that lots of books with female characters aren’t really about being female.

I feel that her conclusion that since the books aren’t about being female, they should have boy main characters, suggests that books with female main characters should be about uniquely female experiences.  Certainly there are many experiences unique to females, and those need addressing.  But can you imagine if every book with a female main character was about that?  I would get so bored so quickly.  I would probably refuse to read books with female main characters then, too.

Books about members of marginalized groups should not have to be about experiences unique to only those groups.  I’m reading David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy right now, and I love how even though Paul is gay and the book is about his romantic relationship with another young man, the exploration of that relationship is by no means limited to aspects that are unique only to individuals in same-sex/gender relationships.  It is an exploration of universal experiences that could happen to anyone at the beginning of a new relationship, regardless of any specific characteristics of the people in that relationship.

Does that mean I think that no books should be about experiences unique to a marginalized group?  Of course not.  It’s important to acknowledge experiences and challenges unique to members of certain groups; to ignore those would be to act as if we live in a world where everyone is always treated equally and lives the same life.  But to insist that being a member of a group means you must be defined only by membership in that group is absurd.

Photo by Foxtongue.

From Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast:

As a reminder, 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you.

Here are mine:

1. I had a lovely wedding, on the beach, with beautiful weather and good company and delicious food and it was beautiful.

2. That was followed by a lovely (and cheap!) honeymoon. We stayed at my husband’s (oh that’s weird to say) family’s beach condo, and his moms (he has two, the one that gave birth to him and the one his dad married later) had left us a beautiful gift basket, a refrigerator full of fancy food, and some wine and sparkling cider.

3. The return trip home was easy.

4. Sad is that my mom hurt her back a few weeks ago, but the good that came of it was that it meant she, my brother, and my dad spent some extra time here in town waiting for her to be ready to travel (and giving her a chance to see her old chiropractor a few times).

5. A friend dropped by Thursday to pick up a script and then when I spontaneously invited him to come to lunch with my family and myself, he said yes. He hadn’t seen my family since before they moved away, so it was nice for them to get together with him.

6. My sister, who was away on an internship for six months, is back in town and we’ve been spending boatloads of time together and bonded over a shared love for Project Runway.

7. The show I’m rehearsing is a very brief ensemble piece. We get through the work we’ve set aside for rehearsal pretty quickly, and then we spend time after that just sitting around bonding, which I think is important for building chemistry.

Bonus Kick: Little Willow put up my Art Saves contribution!

I’m currently working on a production called I Hate Shakespeare.  It runs through quite a few of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, and then some of the lesser known ones as well, poking fun at them (and at people who claim to hate Shakespeare, actually).

My favorite part of the show is the "Zombie Theatre Presents…" segments, when zombies interrupt famous soliloquies.

The first of these is from Richard III, and I present it to you here, with some zombie stuff added at the end so you can get a feel for it.

Today I have reviews of two books for you.

Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles

When Laine's mother tells her that Leah Greene is dead, she can't help but feel that it's a little bit her fault. After all, she did wish for it. Each time Laine's mother says Leah's name, Leah is pulled back to a memory of an earlier time with Leah, of "Lessons" Leah gave her in what friendship is about. This first novel by freelance non-fiction writer Jo Knowles tells a tale about childhood loneliness and the abuse one child can perpetuate on another. I read it in two sittings, and I would've read it in one but I started it late at night and was just too sleepy to pay attention - and I didn't want to miss anything.

What I appreciate most about Lessons from a Dead Girl is that it gives us real people in all of the characters. Leah Greene is a popular girl, and it would be easy for an author to let her be one-dimensional. Jo Knowles gives us another perspective, demonstrating what I think can be one of life's greatest lessons, especially for adolescents: that everyone has problems, and no one acts entirely without reason.

With Lessons, Jo Knowles makes a strong debut. I look forward to her next book, Jumping Off Swings, to be released on August 11 of this year.

Book: Lessons from a Dead Girl
Author: Jo Knowles
Publisher: Candlewick
Original Publication Date: October 9, 2007
Pages: 224
Age Range:  Young Adult
Source of Book: Publisher
Related Links: My Interview with Jo Knowles
Buy it [Affiliate Links]: IndieBound - Powell's

Goy Crazy by Melissa Schorr

It's lust at first sight when Rachel Lowenstein meets Luke Christiansen, a waiter at her brother's bar mitzvah.  Luke is tall, blond, and decidedly not Jewish.  She desperately wants to date him, but she knows her parents won't approve.  Can she turn her back on her faith and her culture for a cute boy?

Goy Crazy is a charming romantic comedy that addresses coming of age issues common to all teens.  Rachel feels constantly in conflict with her parents.  She's been a good girl her whole life and she's sick of it.  So she decides that her sophomore year of high school, she will be a bit naughty, and she'll start by pursuing a boy from the wrong religion.

 I would recommend Goy Crazy to anyone looking for a fun read that is not so light as to be mindless, but is very clever and uplifting.  It does rom-com right: there's the wrong boy who seems so right, the boy her parents prefer who is not at all what she wants, and the realization Rachel makes that the people she knows aren't necessarily the people they seem to be.  It's a good time, and summer would be a great time to pick it up and take it to the beach with you, but it'll hold up any time of year.

Book: Goy Crazy
Author: Melissa Schorr
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Original Publication Date: August 22, 2006
Pages: 352
Age Range: Young Adult
Source of Book: Author
Buy it [Affiliate Links]: IndieBound - Powell's

I’m getting married on Wednesday.  (Yes, that soon, and on a weekday.  It turns out when your in-laws are professional musicians, weekdays work better for them.)

So I thought I’d share with you the poem that my father will be reading during the ceremony.

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly
beyond any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

And the poem from which we have quotes inscribed in our wedding bands:

love’s the i guess most only verb that lives
(her tense beginning,and her mood unend)
from brightly which arise all adjectives
and all into whom darkly nouns descend

Happy Friday!  I’ll be spending mine on wedding tasks, seeing Harry Potter, and having dinner with my friends in honor of my recently-past birthday.

Photo by Frenkieb.

For my purposes, the term "kidlit" includes young adult literature as well.

For many reasons, I’m looking to become more active in the kidlit community.  I know who the major blog players are.  I’m a member of the Kidlitosphere listserv.  I’m also a member of Child_Lit.  I’m just wondering if there’s anywhere I’m missing where really great conversations are going on.

Suggestions, anyone?

Photo by Vimages.

Today is my birthday (yay!) and I’m going to give you the gift of some posts from other bloggers that I think you might find especially interesting. Are you ready? Here goes!

How to Get Over Writer’s Block Sonja asked her Twitter followers for advice and they gave her many and various answers, which she then compiled in this post for your reading pleasure.

Literature on the Web cloudscome shares a list of resources she developed for her collection development class in library school. So many resources!

Important News for Bloggers MotherReader provides links to three different articles about how the FTC is planning to begin regulating blogs. This especially affects those of us who receive review copies or use affiliate links in our blogs.

Naming Names Melissa Wyatt shares how she arrived at the names for several of her characters. Fun insight into an author’s thought processes.

Enjoy!

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt.

We in the Kidlitosphere are probably queens and kings of book clutter. I think I must have fifteen boxes of books in my attic, and the few shelves I have available are always overcrowded. It runs in the family; I recently visited my parents’ new home in Ohio and found piles of books everywhere, waiting for new shelves to arrive.

Most of us would probably find we have a tendency to acquire books which then sit around for years and years, never having been read or read once and then never touched again. I’ve recently decided to release my book clutter, and I thought I’d share with you the blog posts that have helped me through the process.

• Bringing your bookshelves back to order discusses how to decide which books to keep.
• 20 Ways to Get Free or Cheap Books, and Give Away Your Old Ones is an excellent list post, and helped me with my dilemma of what to do with ARCs. (I list them on BookMooch and just put in the notes that they are uncorrected proofs. Voila! The books aren't destroyed, but they're not sold/donated in the place of actual finished copies.)
• Read a book and pass it on contains a list of six questions to ask yourself upon finishing a book to help you determine if it's worth holding on to.
• Get rid of that library of clutter lists a few non-profit organizations that would be happy to have your donations.
• How to use Powell's Books for uncluttering describes one blog reader's experience selling her book clutter to Powell's.

Happy decluttering!

I just received an email from my advisor/YA Lit professor with a list for what we’ll be reading this semester.  It’s at least a few books a week (so I’ll be achieving Jo Knowles’s recommended amount!).

Here’s the list with my notations:

Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy.
Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. - Own it, haven’t read it.  (Bought it at a library sale.)
Head, Ann. Mr. And Mrs. Bo Jo Jones.
Lipsyte, Robert. The Contender.
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. - Read it in middle or high school.
Anderson, Laurie Halse.  Winter Girls.
Frank, E.R. America.
Johnson, Angela.  First Part Last.
Dessen, Sarah. This Lullaby. - Sarah Dessen lives in Chapel Hill and I think both of her parents are professors at the university.  (I think her mom, in fact, is a Classics professor who spoke to my students once when I taught in Chapel Hill.)  It’d be cool if, you know, she came to our class.  She probably won’t, though.
Gaiman, Neil and Terry Prachett.  Good Omens. - Read it a few years ago, and I’m pretty sure Will owns it.
Lynch, Chris. Slot Machine.
Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief
Blundell, Judy.  What I Saw and How I Lied
Nixon, Joan Lowery.  Name of the Game is Murder.
Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. - Read it a year and a half ago and gave my copy away.  I wish I’d thought to keep it, but I know it won’t be hard to find again.  (I just hope I can get it used instead of new.)
Jones, Diana Wynne.  The Pinhoe Egg.
Westerfeld, Scott. The Uglies. - Read it a little more than 2 years ago, still have it.  It’ll be good to re-read as I never finished the series.
Myers, Walter Dean. Here in Harlem.
Freedman, Russell. Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Helfer, Andrew. Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography.
Pardes, Bronwen. Doing it Right: Making Smart, Safe, and Satisfying Choices about Sex.
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.
De la Pena, Matt. Mexican WhiteBoy.
Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese.
Hale, Shannon, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale. Rapunzel’s Revenge.

We also need to keep a journal about these, informal, to refer to during class discussions.  I think my reviewing process here has prepared me really well for that.  Yay!

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my feed so you will get my other posts about library school.

Photo by Sister72.

From Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast:

“Welcome to our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you.”

Here are my kicks, which will cover a couple of weeks:

1. I had last Sunday to recover from what had been a very social weekend, with outings Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night.

2. At the Saturday night event (a party/meeting), I was elected an at large member of the board of the Durham Savoyards, one of only two theatre groups with which I’m currently active.

3. I went to Target on Monday and discovered that Frito-Lay offers a “Smart Pack” giant bag which contains 20 small bags of baked snacks. It’s hard to find snacks that are both easy and safe for my sensitive tummy, so this was a big happy.

4. On Tuesday I flew to Cincinnati where I got to spend the evening with my family, including my dad, who left for Boulder on Wednesday.

5. On Wednesday I spent the day with my mom and brother, and had another food-related glee when I discovered oatmeal in tiny packets sweetened only with evaporated cane juice and maple sugar. (Unfortunately it was meijer store brand, and we have no meijer here at home.)

6. On Thursday my mom fitted me for my wedding dress, which she is making. My top and my bottom and my front and my back are all different sizes, so if clothes are going to be stunning on me they have to be so fitted as to approach being haute couture. The pattern I’d bought for the dress required a few alterations, which my mom expertly made in some muslin to make a second, properly fitted pattern to use before she started cutting the satin she’ll use to make the dress.

7. On Friday, my sister called and asked me to dinner because she didn’t want to go home to her empty house yet.

   Here’s to a new week full of shiny new kicks for all!

The Collaborative Summer Library Program is at it again, with different programs for children (pre-K through Grade 5), young adults (Grades 6 - 12), and adults (everybody else).  I registered through my library, which seems to be applying the young adult program theme to their adult program.  I’m good with that.  I made it my goal to finish 7 books between June 20 and August 10.  Eminently doable, considering I’m about to fly to Cincinnati to see my parents and brother (and have my mom fit me for my wedding dress).  Flying time = Reading time, as does Sitting Waiting to Board time and Standing Outside Waiting to Be Picked Up time.

But not Walking Through the Airport time, mainly because I am not as familiar with airports as I am with other places (my neighborhood, the schools where I’ve taught).

Have you signed up with your library’s summer reading program?  Or has anyone you take care of (children, siblings, pets)?  What’s your goal?

Last year I wrote a fairly comprehensive Summer Reading Round-up. Many of those links and resources are still useful.

Photo by emdot.

I didn’t keep track of any blogging or networking time, because I did so little of it.  Next year.

Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hrs 14 min Total Pages: 1120

Books Completed: Death’s Daughter, French Kiss, Stop Pretending, The Queen of Cool, Accidental Love.

Book: Accidental Love by Gary Soto
Time Spent Reading It: 1 hr 31 min

Another cute, fun read.  (Aside from Stop Pretending, which had me sniffling a good bit, that’s what I was really going for this weekend.)  Marisa, a girl with a penchant for fighting, accidentally switches cell phones with Rene, a nerdy boy from another school.  When they meet to switch back, she realizes she kinda likes him.  This was a very sweet book.  I kind of like this type of romance better than French Kiss - sweet, youngish, with all of the problems externally generated.  (I’d much rather have parental disapproval be an obstacle in a romance than the fact that both of the love interests are incredibly moody, for example.) 

Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hrs 14 min

Even though I technically have another hour and a half in my 48 hours, that’s probably going to do it for me.  I’ll be back with an official summary later this evening.

So I’ve read 4 books in the past couple of days, which is more than I’ve read in the past several weeks.  I’m at the point now where I’m not loving the book I picked up.  Granted, I got sleepy part of the way in and took a nap.  But I’m actually motivated to clean my office/craft room, so I’m going to take advantage of that motivation when I have it.

I was all, “But that’s not reading!”

But you know, this is a FUN thing, so if I need to do something else to keep it fun and not work, so be it.

There’s less than 4 hours left in my time, so I don’t think I’m going to make it to the 12 hour mark, but that’s okay.  I still did a lot more reading than is typical of me on a weekend.  (Though I hope the amount that is “typical reading” for me changes once it’s properly summer.)

Book: The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci Time Spent Reading It: 1 hr 15 min

I really enjoyed this book.  It surprised me in many ways.  I’d never read anything by Cecil Castellucci before, but I know a bit about her (I almost interviewed her once, then decided I couldn’t take the time to do the interview justice) and expected her main characters to be kind of hipstery thrift shoppers with cool glasses and entertainingly affected speech patterns.  You know, the kind of people I like to have as friends.  Instead, I found out that the Queen of Cool was ACTUALLY, you know, cool, like, popular-kid cool.  At first I was disappointed, but as I read on, it was really refreshing.  There are tons of teen books about not fitting in, not being part of the popular crowd, being a nerd and a loser (and let’s face it, the book-reading population probably skews heavily towards the less “glamorous” kids - I know I was horribly unglamorous as a middle and high schooler except for the few times I tried really hard, when I was fabulous) but you don’t get many books from the popular girl’s perspective.  It’s always nice to be reminded that, oh yeah, popular kids are people too.  And then, it’s also nice to read about all the stuff “cool” kids do that you didn’t and not feel like you were actually missing anything at all by being unpopular, because you gave your friends silly awards and did absurd fashion shows from your childhood dress-up box with the boys who were your friends and invented silly games and generally made your own fun.  A good, fast, fun read.  I recommend it.

Total Time Spent Reading: 7 hrs 43 min

I haven’t been keeping up with my blogging/networking, but I think all told it comes to less than an hour.  Maybe closer to half an hour, even.

Next up: Accidental Love by Gary Soto

So since I last posted, I spent a lot of time going to dinner, wandering around stores, hanging out at my sister’s house, and sleeping.

And a little time reading.

Two mini-reviews for you: Book: French Kiss by Sarra Manning (Diary of a Crush: Book 1) Time Spent Reading It: 2 hrs 7 min

It’s a cute, quick read.  It falls squarely in the category of romance, which means there’s not much of a plot besides the romance part.  That made me a bit sad, because romance on its own just isn’t that interesting to me.  I’m much more in favor of adventure with a little romance.  This was just a sixteen year old British young woman bopping around France with a bunch of 19 year olds and having a bizarre, intense attraction to a moody art boy.  If you’re looking for a sweet romance, it’s a good read.  It treads carefully in the department of sex, having the main character emphasize how she knows she’s not ready for it while she’s in the midst of all of these university-aged other kids who are hooking up all the time.  I think it’s a very good perspective. 

After Death’s Daughter and French Kiss, I was ready for something more serious…

Book: Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones Time Spent Reading It: 29 min

Boy, howdy, did this one take me in a new direction.  This is a verse novel about a twelve-year-old girl whose older sister has a breakdown.  It’s based on Sonya Sones’s actual experience when her sister had a breakdown.  It made me cry a lot.  Mental illness is an important issue to me, and reading about it always kinda pokes me in a vulnerable spot and is a bit like pushing down on a bruise - it doesn’t hurt when you’re not touching it, it’s easy to forget it’s there, but then when you do touch it, boy is it intense.  I was so happy to read in the note Sonya Sones wrote at the end of the book that her sister is married and a librarian and stuff.  It was such a nice thing to know, that her sister wasn’t forever stuck in a mental hospital unable to connect with anyone or do anything besides just be crazy.  (I know it’s not PC to call folks crazy but when you’re on the inside looking out, it’s easier to call it like you see it.)

Total Time Spent Reading: 6 hrs 28 min

Next Up: The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci

So I’ve been “participating” for almost 17 hours now and spent less than 4 of it reading.  Oops?

Non-48HBC activities have included sleeping, eating, and trying to find a crochet pattern to make as a present for a friend.  (In the end, I found something in my stash of already-made items to give her, yay.)  Maybe watching Pushing Daisies, too?

I’m just updating as I complete each book.

So, let’s begin the update itself.

Book: Death’s Daughter by Amber Benson Time Spent: 3 hrs 52 min Total Time Spent on Challenge: 3 hrs 52 min

Quick Review: Death’s Daughter is a fun, quick read.  (Less than 400 pages.)  It’s Amber Benson’s solo debut.  It’s supernatural chick-lit, which I’m not sure if that’s an actual genre, but if it isn’t, it should be.  (I know it’s a subgenre of romance novels.)  It read like a less-graphic Mary Janice Davidson novel.  It provoked me to think a lot about the whole … is it a genre?  trope? thing… with 20-something apparently-shallow ladies finding out that no, they’re actually very competent individuals.  For a fun read, it brought in some good weighty themes like family (the inevitably of being part of them, and the ways in which that’s both pleasant and un) and women’s sexuality.  A good time all around.  Expect a more detailed review later.

Next Up: French Kiss by Sarra Manning (Diary of a Crush: Book 1)

It’s time for MotherReader’s 48 Hour Book Challenge!

I’ll be starting at 8:15 pm local time tonight and continuing until 8:15 pm local time Sunday.  I will be taking breaks for eating, sleeping, and perhaps a bit of socializing, but I brought no grading home (yes, there’s still a little to do) and have no intention of spending any portion of the weekend cleaning.

Stay tuned for my book reviews.  I’m going to experiment with writing reviews short enough to tweet, but I will probably post longer ones here, as well.

First up: Death’s Daughter by Amber Benson.

See you on the other side!

From Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: As a reminder, our 7 Kicks posts are our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. So, let’s kick it up. Absolutely anyone is welcome to list kicks — even if, or especially if, you’ve never done so before.

Hello, all! Here are my kicks:

1. I read all the comments prior to me on this weeks 7 Kicks post.

2. I can see a Little Willow comment a mile away, long before I get to the part where it actually says her name. That’s a good feeling.

3. Today, I went to lunch with my sister and her fiance.

4. Yesterday, I saw a good friend in a show which was an amalgamation of several famous fight scenes from theatre, film, and video games. It was a raucously good time, and I may audition for their company next time they open it up. Additionally, their 10-people-rep-company model inspired me to re-commit to my dream of having a community theatre group with minimal political machinations, someday.

5. Friday night, Will and I went to a party hosted by one of my colleagues. I was so happy for him to meet all of them, and they gave us a lovely card and gift both as congratulations for our upcoming wedding and a good-bye to me, since I’m going back to school.

6. Tuesday, I went to the chiropractor.

7. Monday, I had tea with my best friend, who is also my wedding photographer, and hashed out the details of my wedding photography. (I basically said, “I trust you. They better be good,” and then gave her free reign.)

   Happy week to all!

I was reading some posts over at Oz and Ends (a lot of fun) and a couple of them were about comic book related things.

I love comic books as a medium, even though they’re a little work for me.  I have difficulty following the sequence of panels.  Nine or so years ago, I was all about purchasing comics.  It would be incorrect to say I ever really kept up with a series; I mostly bought back issues or collected editions (those giant “ESSENTIAL” ones from Marvel more than any proper Trade Paperback).

But I haven’t bought any new comics in a long time, and the last few times I did, I ended up buying copies of issues I already had.  (Both for Buffy Season 8 and Astonishing X-Men.  Joss Whedon is apparently the only person who can get me into a comic book store anymore.)

So I started thinking, why?  I live very close to a comic book store.  What’s keeping me from buying new ones, keeping up, etc?

It comes down to a few things I think:

1. Comic book issues are very short.  Much like I’ve become a person who prefers TV-on-DVD to actually following a series, I like to consume my stories in one sitting.  Especially with Buffy Season 8, it feels like each issue is one act of an episode -  maybe 9 minutes’ worth of entertainment.  So, then, I get very excited about my new comic book and boom, the excitement is over so quickly because the stories are so short.

2. I forget.  If I were clever enough to subscribe to a service (say, from Things from Another World, for example) that delivered comics directly to my house, this would be much less of a problem.  So why don’t I do that?  I don’t know.

3. I like to get in on the ground floor or have an easy way to catch up.  Oddly enough, this was NOT the case for Buffy the show - it was before the days of entire seasons on DVD - but I came in shortly before the show was syndicated, so that did make it easier.  I love the ESSENTIAL books for just this reason.  I can tell you all about the X-Men from the time when Wolverine joined (not the first group, but I’m told I’m not missing much by skipping to the second iteration of the X-Men).  I can talk about Spiderman’s earliest days, before he even had his own book.  I hadn’t been BORN yet, but it’s easy for me to find these things.  So if I can’t easily jump in from the start, then that’s a bit of a barrier.  (Fortunately, this is not such a problem.  TPBs really have made it possible to start at the very beginning and get caught up fairly quickly.  YAY!)

4. I don’t really like the comic book store near my house.  The people there aren’t MEAN, by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t know that they themselves are especially fond of comics.  They’re always slightly patronizing, which I think is partly because I’m a woman.  It is not an especially female-friendly shop.  It’s not hostile, or anything.  It’s just… not comfy.  When I go there, I grab what I’m looking for, pay, and get out ASAP.

But you know what?

When I go back to school, every day I’m on campus will be a day within easy walking distance of an excellent comic book store, one where I feel very comfortable just browsing.  Additionally, the library of the school I’m attending has the first volumes of several comic books/TPBs, so I can check out new stories without spending any money.

I won’t have the same amount of disposable income I have now, but if I’m very careful, I think that maybe comic books and I can get back together.

Won’t that be nice?

I was sick yesterday and so I did not post this. Here it is, a day late.

Today’s Schedule Jenny Davidson at Chasing Ray Rebecca Stead at Fuse #8 Ryan Mecum at Writing and Ruminating Lauren Myracle at Bildungsroman Kristin Cashore at HipWriterMama Rachel Caine at The YA YA YAs

Don’t forget the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys!

Today’s SBBT Schedule Siobhan Vivian at Miss Erin Alma Alexander at Finding Wonderland Laurel Snyder at Shaken & Stirred Cindy Pon at The YA YA YAs Thalia Chaltas at Bildungsroman

Don’t forget the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys!

Jo Knowles is a writer of many dimensions. She does freelance work, a large part of which is for educational use, teaches at Simmons College, and helped an incarcerated woman achieve her dream of becoming a published writer. Her first novel, Lessons from a Dead Girl, was published in October 2007, and her next, Jumping Off Swings, will be released on August 11 of this year.

Jo was kind enough to answer some questions for me as part of the Summer Blog Blast Tour.

In Lessons from a Dead Girl, Laine’s sister Christi and Leah’s sister Brooke are usually present, though not featured prominently. In your bio on your website you say that your sister read to you and that even now when you read your sister’s voice is often the one you hear. How has having a sister influenced your writing?

Growing up, my sister influenced me in lots of ways. She did everything first, and I followed. I remember when she went to college and took a creative writing class, she’d call me at home and read her stories to me and I would think: Someday, I want to write like that. I wish my sister would take up writing again because I know she would be a star.

One of the most important scenes in Lessons from a Dead Girl features Laine and Leah teaming up in a horse show. How did your own experience with having horses and a pony as a child influence this scene?

Well, like Lucky, my own pony, Smoky, was ornery, old, small and sort of embarrassing. But he was mine and I adored him. He was so tiny he fit in the front of my friend’s horse trailer where you’re supposed to store the hay and stuff, so even though I’d give him a bath and get him all pretty, he’d end up a dusty mess by the time we got to the various 4-H shows we went to.

Like Laine, I felt pretty out of place at those shows among all the fancy horses, but I also felt a little pride in being there, too. It felt good to mix things up. And I was grateful to my friend’s parents for letting my pony hitch a ride in their trailer. But unlike Laine, I got to keep the ribbons I won. :-)

In earlier interviews at Cynsations and Debbi Michiko Florence’s blog, you talk about the timeline for publication of Lessons from a Dead Girl. How does that compare with the timeline for the publication of your second book, Jumping Off Swings?

Well, once again it’s a fairly long timeline, because at some point I stopped submitting SWINGS to work on other projects. There were certain pieces of the story that just weren’t working, and I really needed to set it aside for a long time before I could look at it with fresh eyes to figure out what the problems were. Ellie’s chapters were originally written in free-verse, and I don’t think that worked so well. I also totally re-worked Caleb’s mom and Josh’s dad, thanks to my editor’s suggestions. Sometimes, hard as it is, you just can’t rush the process. Or at least I’ve learned that’s true for me.

In addition to writing fiction, you are also a freelance non-fiction writer. What is the most interesting thing you’ve had to write about as a freelancer? What is the hardest?

I wrote a nonfiction book for teens about Huntington’s Disease and that was by far the most interesting project I’ve worked on. Part of the assignment was to write about a famous person who had the disease, so I read Elizabeth Partridge’s biography of Woody Guthrie (This Land Was Made for You and Me), which was amazing. As far as the hardest thing, I’d say writing about chronic illness or potentially fatal diseases. Knowing that your readers are probably going to be people who’ve just found out they or a loved one has the disease can put a lot of pressure on you to get it right and to be positive, but realistic. You want to make sure your words motivate your readers to take care of themselves, but you also don’t want to scare or depress them. For the most part, I really enjoy learning new things with each project, and also knowing that hopefully the work is going to help people.

You’ve said in interviews that you are more of a "pantser": you finish the first draft of a book before outlining it. How does this compare to your process for writing non-fiction?

It’s almost the exact opposite, actually. Most of the time, I receive a “research report” from the marketing team, listing the key points they want me to cover, so I usually use this list to form an outline. With writing nonfiction on a very short deadline, I can’t afford the luxury of going down dead ends. I have to be as efficient as possible. So, I start with a page by page outline, organize my research and dig in.

You have kept a LiveJournal since 2004. How has that affected your experience as a professional writer?

Oh, in so many wonderful ways. I’ve met TONS of friends through LJ. Many I’ve gone on to meet in person. There is a wonderful writers’ community in LJ that has helped me during what seem like countless ups and downs over the past five years. When I moved to Vermont five years ago, I left many close friends and a strong writing community. Then, two months after we moved, my brother died. I was already feeling quite isolated, so add to that the extreme grief I was suffering and the isolation became almost unbearable . I finally decided to start an LJ account in hopes that it would help me keep in touch with the small handful of friends I knew who had accounts. As I made more connections, I felt a new community growing up around me. Even though it’s “virtual” I’ve met enough of my online friends in person to know they are all real and wonderful, nurturing people.

You try to read a book a week and recommend that aspiring authors do the same. How do you decide which books to read? What are your sources for book recommendations?

Well, my friends’ books are my first priority, so I always try to keep up with those. But I also like to read books that are getting lots of buzz, so I can stay in the loop. :-) I love my agent’s taste as well, so whenever he says he likes a book, I try to get right on it. My to-be-read pile is always overflowing, which is fine by me. I know a lot of people who read a book a day, but I’m a slow reader. :-)

Thanks so much for the interview, Jo!

Today’s SBBT schedule: Barbara O’Connor at Mother Reader James Kennedy at Fuse Number 8 Maggie Stiefvater at Writing & Ruminating Rosemary Clement-Moore at Bildungsroman Jo Knowles at lectitans Melissa Wyatt at Chasing Ray

Don’t forget the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys!