Kelly Jensen's Blog, page 38
November 8, 2018
Gift My Books for The Holidays + Add A Bonus!
It feels way too early to be thinking about the end-of-year holidays, but it is November, and they’re not as far away as I like to think they might be. If you’re considering gifting either (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation About Mental Health or Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World this season to a loved one, first: thank you! Second: I’d love to sweeten the deal a little bit.
Through December 1, if you’re a US resident and purchase a copy of either book, I’ll send a signed, personalized, handmade book mark to insert with the gift. If you purchase (Don’t) Call Me Crazy, in addition to the book mark, I’ll send along one of the custom “Mental Health Matters” enamel pins. Supplies on each will be limited, and I will send all out the first week of December.
To redeem: email proof of purchase of either book between November 9 and December 1 — a photo of a receipt with the date is fine — to kelly@stackedbooks.org. I’ll reply to all emails I receive as soon as I send out thank yous, which will be done once a week until December 1. If you’d like me to sign the bookmark to someone, note that when you forward your receipt.
Feel free to purchase from wherever you prefer, but if you’d like to support my awesome local independent bookstore, you can buy through Read Between The Lynes.
And as always, remember you’re allowed to gift things to yourself, so I won’t say no if you’ve purchased either book in this time frame for you
This Week at Book Riot
Over on Book Riot this week…
25 excellent books for college bound students (and any life-long learners!).
Vampires are coming back, y’all! I wrote about the history of vampires in YA and what to expect of YA vampire stories in 2019 and beyond.
Enjoy some delightful .
November 7, 2018
#Riotgrams Roundup Post: October 2018
One of the fun things I get to do at Book Riot is put together the prompts for the seasonal Instagram challenge, #Riotgrams. I love not only coming up with fun things to encourage people to post, but I also love spending time every day seeing the books people have, that they’re borrowing, and that they’re excited to talk about.
Since I managed to take part all month long — which is the challenge in and of itself, as anyone who does an Instagram challenge can tell you — I wanted to round them all up in a post for readers who’d like some book recommendations.
Have you ever taken part in any kind of month-long (or week long!) Instagram challenge? I discovered one thing that helped change my participation: take photos in advance. I like to do a week or more at a time and save them, so that if I’m traveling or feeling uninspired, I know that I’ve used the time and creative energy I had at another point to make the process easier on my future self. Take that tip back with you next time you think about wanting to do a challenge but feel you wouldn’t keep up/would forget a day/aren’t home. I was gone half of October, and having the images stockpiled kept me going.
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November 6, 2018
Cybils 2018 Spiderweb
When you participate as a Round 1 panelist for the Cybils, you read a lot of books in a very short period of time. I always see a lot of little connections between books in my category (Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy this year) that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. I tracked them once before in 2015 in what I called a Cybils spiderweb. Here’s the spiderweb for 2018. Click on the image to enlarge.
November 4, 2018
Nonfiction November, Week 2: 10 Fiction-Nonfiction Pairings To Try
As part of Nonfiction November, I’m trying my hand at some fiction-nonfiction pairings from my reading life.
Week 2: (Nov. 5 to 9) – Fiction / Nonfiction Book Pairing (Sarah’s Book Shelves): This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story.
Talk about a hard prompt but a really fun one. I dug through my nonfiction reads and paired them up with a fiction title that shared some similar themes or feelings to them. I hope this might inspire some new reading ideas. I think in reading pairs a lot, in part because of how my librarian-trained mind works when it comes to books. But I don’t think about reading pairs in nonfiction-fiction quite enough, and this was a great reminder that that’s a thing worth considering as well.
The titles below are adult and young adult, both on the fiction and the nonfiction side. This is what I read, and I feel the audiences on all of these is perfectly crossover.
If You Like This, Try…
All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung and See No Color by Shannon Gibney
Chung’s memoir explores growing up the Korean child of white adoptive parents and the complicated space she occupied as the only Korean girl in her community. Gibney’s novel is about a transracially adopted teen girl who works to find her own place within her adoptive family. Both are moving and heartfelt, and both give powerful voice to not just to those who’ve been adopted, but those who are from an different race and background from the families adopting them.
Columbine by David Cullen and That’s Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger
Cullen’s work is an investigative of what did — and did not — happen at Columbine the day of the mass shooting. It digs into the rumors and works to distinguish truth from the mythology. Keplinger’s novel is told from the perspective of the teens who survived the mass shooting at their high school when they’re nearing graduation. The novel focuses on what the truths were, and it digs into who gets to control the narrative of a disaster.
Dead Girls by Alice Bolin and Sadie by Courtney Summers
Bolin’s collection of essays examines what it is culturally that makes us fascinated with stories about dead white girls. It’s about how we consume them, how we profit from them, and what that says about whose story is really told. Summers’s novel is told from two perspectives: a true crime podcast and Sadie’s, both unraveling in parallel timeframes. The podcast is the consumption of the story of Sadie and her quest to seek revenge for the murder of her sister. Sadie’s perspective is that: her perspective.
A Dream Called Home by Reyna Grande and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L.Sánchez
What does it mean to be Mexican American? Both Grande’s memoir and Sánchez’s novel take that question to heart, exploring the space of being a first-generation American. Grande’s story is also a story of what happens after she’s successfully crossed the border, which is laid out in her first memoir, but this second memoir is her young adulthood and staking claims of her own. Both dig into complicated family relationships and what it means to come of age, knowing you want to hold on to your heritage and also build your own legacy.
Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang and Girls on the Line by Jennie Liu
What does life look like in modern China for girls? Chung’s book explores that in her nonfiction title from a few years back, and Liu explores this same question in her fiction title. Both are about young girls and factory life.
Fly Girls by P. O’Connell Pearson and Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis
Both Pearson and Davis explore the stories of women pilots in World War II. Pearson’s is a YA nonfiction title and Davis’s story takes the fictional approach. An additional title that would fit well with this pairing is Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith.
The Ghost With Trembling Wings by Scott Weidensaul and Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Weidensaul’s book is among my favorites of all time. It’s a book about animals that are extinct or rare (as in rarest of the rare) that people believe are still around or that they’ll be able to see and share stories about. It’s about extinction. There’s a section about the ivory-billed woodpecker in here, and when I read Whaley’s book, immediately, the two books connected in my mind. Whaley’s book is told in two different voices, and one of them is a man on a quest to find the legendary ivory-billed woodpecker. These two books are in a fascinating conversation with one another.
It’s Getting Hot In Here by Bridget Heos and Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Heos gives the science of climate change while the Shusterman duo give the human side of it. As our world continues to get hotter, human needs like water will become more scarce. Both of these books are a wakeup call for changing the way we engage with the Earth and a rally cry to demand action at a higher level.
Juveniles in Justice by Richard Ross and We’ll Fly Away by Bryan Bliss
Ross’s self-published book earned a host of accolades the year it released and for good reason: it’s an unbelievably insightful look at young people in the justice system. It gives them time to have a voice and share their stories. Bliss’s novel, long listed for the National Book Award, is about two best friends and how it came that one of them ended up on death row as a teenager.
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube by Blair Braverman and Up To This Pointe by Jennifer Longo
How about two books about young women learning how to be young women in worlds of extreme temperature? Braverman’s memoir is set in Alaska, while Longo’s novel is set in Antarctica. Both are cold, both are insightful, and both are about navigating extreme elements of nature to better find out who they truly are.
November 1, 2018
This Week at Book Riot
Over on Book Riot this week…
I’ve been working on this project for months and am thrilled to announce it: December 17-21 will be the first official YA Adaptation Showdown! For five days in December, members of the YA community will be talking all things YA adaptations and selecting “the best,” however “best” is defined.
Eric and I have a new episode of Hey YA! Tune in for talk about astrology and tarot in YA, as well as all things witchy YA.
An exciting announcement: I’m serving on the inaugural committee of Summer Scares, a project in collaboration with the Horror Writers Association, United for Libraries, Library Journal/School Library Journal, and Book Riot. This is for librarians and teachers itching to bring more horror into their work (and personal!) lives.
14 sweet sweater clips/collar clips for book and comics lovers.
50 must-read YA books about music.
Get excited about the YA books to movie adaptations coming in 2019.
Elsewhere…
You can read the entirety of Shaun David Hutchinson’s essay “Defying Definition” from (Don’t) Call Me Crazy over on To Write Love On Her Arms.
October 31, 2018
Nonfiction November, Week 1: My Year In Nonfiction
I haven’t done a community-building series in a while, and given how much nonfiction means to me on a professional and a personal level, it feels like taking part in Nonfiction November would be more than worthwhile.
Week 1: (Oct. 29 to Nov. 2) – Your Year in Nonfiction (Kim @ Sophisticated Dorkiness):Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
My Favorite Nonfiction Read Of The Year?If I could only pick one, it’d be the one I keep thinking about again and again: Creative Quest by Questlove. I listened to this one on audiobook and it was easily the best-performed audiobook I’ve ever listened to.
The book is about the creative process, without ever being a how-to or really about the process at all. It’s a smart book about how and where creativity can happen and it offers up an array of examples for how some of the most brilliant creatives find their stride. Questlove is enthusiastic and dynamic and insightful and encouraging. My biggest take away was the power in trying, in making mistakes, and in inviting play into everything, even if it doesn’t necessarily feel like it has a purpose. It does.
Is There A Particular Topic I’ve Been Attracted To More This Year?A topic I’ve always loved and have found myself seeking out this year, especially on audio, are memoirs by women of color. I’ve found I’m reading far more nonfiction this year than normal, in no small part due to the fact I listen to so many of them. I keep most of my print reading to YA or adult fiction, and my audiobook consumption is all adult nonfiction.
I’m currently listening to Reyna Grande’s A Dream Called Home, which is her second memoir. This one focuses on her young adult years, being the first college graduate in her family, and how she came to become a writer.
I barreled through Sara Saedi’s Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card earlier this year and keep thinking about it. It’s full of humor and heart and gives real voice and perspective about being an immigrant in American “without papers.” Nicole Chung’s All You Can Ever Know was a moving read about growing up adopted as a Korean child to white parents in a mostly white community.
I’ve also really loved two books by Jennifer Wright, Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and The Heroes Who Fought Them and It Ended Badly: 13 of the Worst Breakups in History. Both are books about specific incidents in history, but they’re told with this fantastic dark humor that really makes them sing for me.
What Nonfiction Book Have I Recommended The Most?Without question, the book I recommend over and over again — and one that’s absolutely changed my habits — is Jessica Bruder’s Nomadland. Technically, I read this at the end of 2017, rather than 2018, but I’ve recommended it more this year than any other. This was a brutal and powerful read about the ways in which older Americans are “making due” while having little money to live off in their older years. Bruder follows a series of folks who are working seasonal, low-paying jobs that thrive from the work of these older workers, with a really in-depth look at CamperForce, Amazon’s seasonal employees. I have always known Amazon to be a problem with their workers, of course, but this was something else all together. Imagine your grandmother or grandfather walking 15-17 miles a day, getting repetitive injuries, and doing it for 10+ hours a day for a meager $7.25. I can’t.
This is one worth reading in print. The audiobook wasn’t especially great, but the book itself was so absorbing I kept going. It made me change my relationship with Amazon. I’m far less likely to quickly buy something there without thinking, knowing what the cost of my cheap, easy purchase really is on other people.
What I Am Hoping To Get Out Of Participating in Nonfiction November
It’s been so long since I’ve discovered new-to-me blogs. This is an opportunity to do that and it’s also an opportunity to write and read about a category of books I like to read because they aren’t the focus of my day-to-day work. I love writing and talking about books, but knowing that my focus is YA and not adult nonfiction….well, I enjoy knowing there’s a space I really get to enjoy books for me on my own accord.
I’m also selfish in liking to know what people are reading and talking about because as a writer and editor of nonfiction, it helps me think about how to be a better writer and better editor.
Plus, I can’t wait to add more nonfiction audiobooks on my to-listen list. Not that I’ll ever run out, but, just in case.
Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer
Nita’s mother captures and kills unnaturals – supernatural beings with special abilities or powers – and sells their parts, which can pass down powers of their own, on the black market. Nita doesn’t do the killing; her job is to dissect the bodies and prepare the parts for sale. She tells herself it’s OK because she’s not actually killing anyone. And the unnaturals her mother kills and sells are dangerous anyway. Mostly. It helps her feel less guilty about how much she enjoys dissecting these beings, which are mostly just humans with a few tweaks. But then her mother brings home a live unnatural, whom she plans to cut up while he’s still living, and Nita has to make a choice. The choice she makes has catastrophic consequences: she ends up sold on the black market, her own unnatural ability to heal herself revealed. And her captors plan to sell her off, piece by piece, to buyers who think eating bits of her will make them immortal.
When it comes to horror, I’m much more likely to read books for teens than adults. I’m a bit squeamish (no horror movies for me at all!), and I find that YA horror novels usually have the right amount of scares for me. Rebecca Schaeffer did her best to prove me wrong – Not Even Bones is pretty gruesome, and it doesn’t shy away from describing in detail how the parts for sale become detached from the body itself, and what people do with the parts once they buy them. It’s definitely on the edge of what I can handle. But it’s so well done, I enjoyed it a lot anyway. The book is essentially an escape plot, and it’s fast-paced and exciting, with twists I didn’t see coming. Schaeffer’s also a great world-builder. The market lives and breathes (often literally), bringing home the horror of the concept. She also does a good job of extrapolating her concept to the details: how attempts to protect unnaturals go awry and corruption sets in, how unnaturals use their abilities in creative ways large and small, the often ineffective and cruel ways unnaturals are used by others.
Nita is a great protagonist. She walks the line between hero and anti-hero, struggling with her own sense of morality. She must do things she never thought she would or could in order to escape, crossing several lines she had drawn for herself. Combine these actions with the opposing facts that Nita both enjoyed enabling her mother’s actions as well as freed her last victim, and readers will see that Nita is a complex and difficult character. Schaeffer introduces a sometimes-enemy, sometimes-ally of Nita’s in the character of Kovit, an unnatural called a zanny who must eat human pain to live. He has his own struggles with his morality that compare with Nita’s: he, too, enjoys his “work,” which in this case is torturing people. Zannies get intense pleasure from the kind of feeding they’re required to do. But he’s also capable of extreme acts of selflessness. Readers will find themselves questioning the degrees of moral difference between Nita and Kovit – and if there is any difference at all. This is a good pick for teens who don’t mind (or seek out!) some gore in their horror.
October 25, 2018
This Week at Book Riot
Over on Book Riot this week…
12 great games for word nerds (and bonus recommendations in the comments!)
October 24, 2018
What I’m Reading Now
Lethal White by Robert GalbraithI had been waiting for this book for many months, ever since I finished Galbraith’s (J. K. Rowling’s) third novel in the Cormoran Strike series last year. I’ve listened to all of them on audio, and I was really looking forward to diving into this one in the same format. Unfortunately, it’s not gripping me as much as the other three. It’s slow to start, with a mystery that goes nowhere for nearly half the novel. Galbraith focuses a lot on Robin and Cormoran’s romantic lives, and I find that topic to be both irritating and uninteresting. Robin’s now-husband Matthew is still around being the most awful person in the world. Cormoran tries for nearly a year for a no-strings-attached casual relationship with a woman named Lorelei, a relationship neither Strike nor I as a reader care much about at all. To compound my annoyance, Galbraith brings back Charlotte for a cameo (or perhaps more, I’ve still got nine hours of the book left). Robert Glenister is a talented reader as always, I just find most of the book lacking. I’ve got a little less than half the book to finish in the two days remaining of my loan; I’m not sure I’m going to make it.
Heart of Iron by Ashley PostonThis is a retelling of the legend of Anastasia Romanov set in space. Because readers will know this going in, one of the biggest “surprises” of the story, which is revealed about a third of the way in, is not a surprise at all. Other parts of the story feel familiar, too, particularly for readers who read a lot of space opera. Ana (the lost princess who remembers none of her past) is part of a ragtag crew of space pirates, which includes a Metal (android) named D09 whom she’s in love with, despite the fact that he claims he cannot feel human emotions. The lost princess in space reminds me strongly of Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza, and the android who may or may not be “human” enough for its life to matter is reminiscent of Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray, both of which I liked a bit better. (These tropes were not new when Belleza and Gray wrote about them, either.) Still, Poston infuses her story with her own ideas, too: a humanoid alien race derogatorily referred to as “star kissers,” a bit of interesting political intrigue, the idea of “ironblood” and an iron artifact that rusts when it’s touched. It’s clear she’s put a lot of thought into the world she’s created, including its complicated history, and readers who enjoy SF world-building will be rewarded. The book is also casually LGBTQ, and its characters don’t fit neatly into our own established gender roles (the captain of the ship is a woman and many other leaders within the world are as well).
