Gretchen C. Hohmeyer's Blog, page 38

#imbibliomancy: Drunk Book Club with “Death Vigil” by Stjepan Sejic

Well, here it is. (Okay, this happened Sunday night but here the post is anyways.) Our last Imbibliomancy episode of college ever. Trust me, we’re going out with a bang. It’s Taylor’s pick, and it’s a graphic novel and … it might be the first time I get actually pissed on air since the Emily Carroll episode. It’s also REALLY good, and there’s a lot of good conversation and argument while trying to figure out how the hell you review a serial comic versus a graphic novel and a whole bunch of other stuff. Here we go!

If you missed this semester’s other two episodes:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

From the Notebook: How My Thesis Almost Made Me Stop Blogging

Seriously. I’m not kidding. As I promised in my last Thesis Thursday, here’s an attempt at a better explanation of what happened while I was writing my third and final chapter. I know it sounds kind of depressing, but it isn’t. It’s really more about how I think I can be a better blogger, and maybe change YA literature along the way!

Weekly Wrap Up + What We Read 5/8/16

We’re back! This week, we had a higher number of reviews than normal (mostly because I actually helped Michaela out) and also a lot of other cool stuff! Also, I almost out-read Michaela, which is almost unheard of. Making a huge push as school comes to an end, I guess. Without further ado, here we go!

Monday: 

Gretchen’s From the Notebook: Top 5 YA Trope Turnoffs
Michaela’s April Wrap Up

Tuesday:

30 Seconds to Disagree: The Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May
30 Seconds to Disagree: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

Wednesday:

Gretchen’s Worth It Wednesday on A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Michaela’s April Comic Pull

Thursday:

Gretchen’s Thesis Thursday: First Complete Draft is … Complete

Friday:

Gretchen’s Review of The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
Michaela’s Review of The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Saturday:

Michaela’s Book and Movie Review of The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Review: “The Rose and The Dagger” by Renee Ahdieh

I guess I can’t put off this review any longer. The Rose and The Dagger by Renee Ahdieh is the sequel to The Wrath and The Dawn, which was easily one of my favorite books of 2015. Right now, though, The Rose and the Dagger is probably one of my disappointing books of 2016. Given how much I wanted to love this, I can’t believe I’m saying that. But. Here’s why:

Thesis Thursday: First Complete Draft is … Complete

Thesis Thursdays is a weekly(ish) feature where I rant, love and talk about young adult books I’m reading because I’m conning my college into thinking this is all for academia! Find out more here!

You heard that right, folks. Since the last time I made one of these posts … I did it. I wrote the first draft of my third chapter. It lives and breathes in the world, bringing my page total for the first draft up to 75 pages altogether.

The fight is far from over. In fact, I really should be editing right now. However, all of the initial hard work is … done. On top of that, my defense was just scheduled for next Wednesday, so time is really running out on this whole thing. I can see the finish line–for this, as well as school in general.

I think there are only going to be one more of these posts, considering that there will be a Thursday right after my defense. Wow. What am I going to do with my Thursdays now?

Well. Hang on. Back up. Let’s talk about this third chapter that just, as far as these posts are concerned, appeared out of nowhere. The working title is all over the place, because I don’t like it and it’s really long, but here’s the gist: big, traditional publishers exploit teen online engagement for their own marketing gains, but focus on what their research says will make the next bestseller and NOT the next good book. While authors can make use of these new media outlets these days, publishers ten to ignore them and instead create these debilitating feedback loops with their own marketing departments that keep us trapped within really bad trends.

Out of all three chapters, this is the first one that really made me … angry. Like, really angry. And all the stuff I researched and talked about, it’s nothing that I didn’t at least subconsciously know about YA publishing. But seeing it, reading it, understanding the depth of the madness–it’s just terrifying.

I write posts like In Defense of YA: We need a Rebellion of Our Own because I genuinely love YA, and I believe that the genre has a powerful role to play in literature if only we can rescue it from its dependence on tropeism and “what sells.” However, writing an essay like this and seeing how far the traditional publishers go to keep producing the next new megahit … it’s sad. I start to wonder if the whole idea of a rebellion isn’t just some cute idea. I start to wonder if YA is eventually going to implode on itself, and if I’ll have to watch the whole genre fall apart.

Not to be a total Debbie Downer, I guess that’s why I do this kind of research: because I think I can say something that someone can here. And my research did turn up a bunch of publishers doing really important and innovative things because they believe as I do. So, the battle isn’t lost. But, still.

I’ll probably come out with a From the Notebook video on Monday talking about how this paper literally made me consider deleting my blog and throwing in the towel on my participation in these schemes. Obviously, I only considered that for about 0.1 seconds before I threw the idea out entirely, because I love you guys and this community and I get excited about books and what we do. I could never leave.

But this paper did make me think about it. And other things.

Really wish I had time to process those things, but it is not this day. I have chapters to edit and other papers to write and graduation to get through. There will only be one more Thesis Thursday post, I think, and then I’ll try to figure out something new to do with the day. I’ll tell you guys all about my defense, and maybe wrap all this work up a but more thoroughly. For now, though, this post is the honest truth.

I hate YA. I love YA. I really, really want to fix it. Who’s with me?

Worth It Wednesday: “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas

Worth It Wednesdays is a weekly post where I feature my favorite YA titles. Find out more about it here!

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Goodreads Description: When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it… or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Why it’s worth it: Alright, listen, I know you aren’t surprised to see this. My love of Sarah’s books is probably going full-on obsession at this point. However, the newest book in this series just came out yesterday, so I couldn’t NOT do it.

This is a pseudo-retelling of Beauty and the Beast plus faeries, so already this was–for me, at least–a rocky sell. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite childhood fairytale, but also one of the most problematic, and I’m not always great with faeries.

I can officially say that there is one version of the Beauty and the Beast that I don’t find extremely creepy. The whole kidnapping turned love thing is touchy, but Sarah makes it work. You really come to understand why Tamlin does what he does, and how much he wishes that he didn’t have to. Feyre is also not some helpless girl who can be swayed by a library. She is constantly searching and pressing buttons and trying to figure out what is going on around her. When they start falling in love, it’s in despite of themselves and what they think is their duty–but not in a bad way. They both get so focused on what they think is best for everybody else that they try to ignore the answer right in front of their faces.

My favorite twist on the tale is the ending, but of course I can’t say too much about that. Let me just say that this is no trifle where “true love’s kiss” can undo everything with a snap, and there is no last minute, too perfectly time save. There are mistakes made. There are battles fought. There are lives lost. It’s no Disney ending. That’s probably what makes this so worth it.

Read it if you’re looking for: fairytale retellings, faeries, magic, action, adventure, romance, strong female characters, strong supporting cast

30 Seconds to Disagree: “The Vanishing Throne” by Elizabeth May

Hey guys! This week, I’m getting really sneaky and trying to convince Michaela to read a book that hasn’t even come out yet. As you may know, Bibliomancy for Beginners did an episode on Elizabeth May’s first book in this series, The Falconer, a while ago and … Michaela and Taylor didn’t like it. I revisited the series when The Vanishing Throne came to me as an ARC and my opinion of the series changed so much that I re-reviewed The Falconer! Here’s a quick sneak peek as to why!

Don’t forget, we always do these in twos so don’t miss Michaela trying to convince me to read TWO books this week!

From the Notebook: Top 5 YA Trope Turnoffs

Hey guys! This week, I try to contain my ranting to a minimum while discussing the top 5 things that make it really unlikely for me to pick up a YA book. I even rank them this time around. My top choice even reveals an old sore wound of mine that has somehow gotten WORSE as I’ve written my last thesis chapter. Probably going to be more on that later!

Posts mentioned in video:

Assassin Thesis Post
Review: Graceling
Review: Shatter Me
Love Triangle Rant

Weekly Wrap Up + What We Read 5/1/16

The wrap ups are BACK! This week’s video is a little longer than usual, just because we read a lot over our hiatus and then came back with a LOT of videos and posts and livestreams and so on. It was kind of crazy. As usual, that’s why we do this! Let’s get right to it, shall we?

Monday:

Gretchen’s From the Notebook: I’m Back! +Giveaway Announcement
Michaela’s Genrethon Wrap Up

Tuesday:

Betwixt the Books content was moved to Saturday this week

Wednesday: 

Gretchen’s Worth It Wednesday: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
Michaela’s Review of Vol. 3 of Rat Queens

Thursday:

Gretchen’s Interview with Kristen-Paige Madonia + Giveaway!

Friday: 

Gretchen’s April Wrap Up
Michaela’s video on How Not to Get Lost in Translation

Saturday:

Betwixt the Books Discuss! Book Guilt and Reader Guilt

Betwixt the Books Discuss! Book Guilt and Reader Guilt!

SURPRISE! Betwixt content coming at you nowhere near the Tuesday we originally planned it for. That’s okay. Life happens. This livestream is still awesome. This time around, Michaela and I are discussing what makes us guilty as readers and reviewers. Have you felt these guilts before? Did we miss some? Let us know!