Aaron Starmer's Blog, page 3

Tachair Bookshoppe Reading: Sunday, May 19

For years, Jersey City, a place with a population of nearly 250,000, didn’t have an independent bookstore. Tachair Bookshoppefilled the void last year and is already a fixture in the downtown community, a place where you can go to read, drink coffee, catch a musical performance, and see paintings from local artists. Tachair is Gaelic for a meeting placeand I hope you will meet me there for some readings from DWEEB, The Only Ones, and (possibly), The Riverman.

When: Sunday, May 19 at 5:00 PM
Whe...

A 36-Year-Old Judges Books By Their Covers

After reading A 2-Year-Old Judges Books By Their Covers,I decided to ask a 36-year-old (i.e. myself) to go through the same exercise. Hilarious…and adorable.

1. The Corrections

“It’s about the clash between Eisenhower-era ideals of domesticity/economic stability and theuncertaintiesand advances of a detached, tech-based world at the turn of a new millenium. I bet there’s a sub-plot withLithuaniangangsters.”

2. The Great Gatsby

“This book looks like the sort of thing you have to read in AP English...

And Then We Came To The Black Licorice

I think a lot about endings. I rarely get far in a writing project if I don’t have at least a basic idea of how it will all turn out. I don’t plan many other plot points, but I need that dim beacon on the horizon. Otherwise, I’m lost. And if I’m lost, so is the reader.

I’m the first to admit that I didn’t nail the ending of my debut novel,DWEEB. Sure, it contains surprising revelations and the ridiculous moments of the book crescendo into an even more ridiculous finale, but not enough is logic...

World Book Night: Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I’m giving away books! Not my books, mind you, but copies of a little-known novel by a precocious young writer named Maggie Atwood (I think it’s about DIY projects or something*). Here are the details:

When?: The evening of Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Where?: Outside of the PATH station in Hoboken, NJ
Why?: To support World Book Night
What?: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Come on by and grab a copy while supplies last!

*I know the book isn’t about DIY projects. But it is about Etsy, right?

Invasion of the Storytellers…

Storytelling. It’s what got me into this mess. I’ve never been one of those people who says, “I write because I adore language” or “I have a love affair with words,” because that’s a little obvious and a little weird. Most of us adore language–it’s how we connect with other people, after all. Even recluses like the Unabomber write manifestos and send letters from time to time. And love affair with words? I can assure you that antidisestablishmentarianism doesn’t feel the same way about you as...

The Power of Whoa, or Lessons from Skateboarders

A few weeks ago I watched the new documentary about the Bones Brigade. This probably means nothing to anyone who didn’t come of age in the 80s. It probably means nothing to many who did. But for the ones who spent 1987 sitting in the grass cheering on a friend who was wobbling down the driveway toward a rickety wooden ramp, it means revisiting a time when your heroes took risks because they didn’t know any better.

The Bones Brigade was basically the Beatles of skateboarding teams, with guys li...

My Admittedly Biased Holiday Book-Buying Guide

What to read, what to read?

There are a ridiculous number of books out there. It’s beyond intimidating. It is to me, at least. I’m not a particularly fast reader. I linger. I soak in the language and the story. I give up on a lot of books, not because life is short but because some books are damn long. And boring. I read from the bestseller list occasionally, and I check off a few cultural touchstones. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn √ The Fault in Our Stars by John Green √ Life by Keith Richards √...

School Visits!

Speaking to students for “Read Across America Day”

Whenever I attend a book festival, people invariably ask me the same question: “Do you ever do school visits?”

I do. I do indeed.

Like many authors of children’s literature, I find that the best way to share my love of books is to talk about them with curious young readers and enthusiastic teachers. But how would people know this about me? Because, until now, I’ve barely mentioned the fact on my web site. Well, it is a fact, my friends. And if y...

Collingswood Book Festival: Saturday, October 6, 2012

Apparently, this week is Banned Books Week. I’ve never participated, but according to Wikipedia, it’s a week when children dress as Holden Caulfield and parade through streets lined with illiterate PTA members who pelt them with rotten tomatoes. It all culminates in a barn dance, where a bespectacled college comp lit major stands on a bale of hay and shouts, “You know who also banned books? Stalin!” And then ananimatronicStalin descends from the rafters and the Caulfields and the PTA members...

Collingswood Book Festival: Saturday, October 6

Apparently, this week is Banned Books Week. I’ve never participated, but according to Wikipedia, it’s a week when children dress as Holden Caulfield and parade through streets lined with illiterate PTA members who pelt them with rotten tomatoes. It all culminates in a barn dance, where a bespectacled college comp lit major stands on a bale of hay and shouts, “You know who also banned books? Stalin!” And then ananimatronicStalin descends from the rafters and the Caulfields and the PTA members...