LeAnn’s Comments (group member since Apr 26, 2010)

LeAnn’s comments from the Q&A with LeAnn Neal Reilly group.

SallyJo wrote: "I'm interested in the age group question, too. Good for adults? I keep finding it in the young reader sections and it sort of holds me back (despite hearing such great things about it!). Is it a ..."

I think it's YA (which is a very ill-defined category as far as I'm concerned), and in this case, the book is "edgy," dark, disutopian, so not something for the preteen set in my view. The main character is something like 16. I would think that adults would be interested in it, and from what I understand about what sells these days and to whom, adults do read a lot of titles categorized as YA.

Sally wrote: "The cover of "The Hunger Games" didn't and still doesn't attract me. It's one of those classic, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." Had the book not seemed at all interesting to me, I would not hav..."

What do you think they could have done with the cover? I'd have to think about it, but I suspect that design was to help sell it to teen boys.

Sally wrote: "I thought of a couple of title's that drew me in. The first is "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. The title is so obscure and makes you wonder what she means by 'hunger games'. But once you get..."

I came across an interview with Suzanne Collins on the NPR book site around the time "The Hunger Games" came out. The title and the excerpt drew me in, but the cover didn't attract me. I think I would have picked it up at the bookstore and read the cover text and been tempted to buy it.

"Confessions of a Shopaholic" sounds like a fun read, and I know I need fun reads some times. Humor is actually one of the hardest things to write well. I'm not much of a shopper, so I wouldn't probably have been attracted to it, but I can definitely see how it would draw in other readers.

Valerie wrote: "I thought of two titles that struck me and made me want to pick up the book. "Hush" by Donna Jo Napoli, about an Irish Princess who gets kidnapped and stays quiet as a mode of survival. I really ..."

So we keep coming up with one-word titles ... it does make me wonder if I shouldn't have quizzed the agent more about her reasoning against them.

"Villains By Necessity" makes me curious enough to pick the book up and investigate this twist on the common theme of good-versus-evil.

Shannon wrote: "Yes the book is about an only child that during the war gets sent from her home in England to live with a large Irish family and it spans years after the war to encompass her life and continued rel..."

World War II? Already I have a feel for the atmosphere, I think. It sounds like a book I might enjoy.

Has anyone heard of the novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet? I haven't read it, but that title really intrigues me. I think I really do love the title. It's set in World War II, this time in the U.S., and involves Japanese Americans.

Nicole wrote: "Middlesex is one of my favorites with a one word title. I can see the point that agents are making, but I for one tend to like one word plus "The" books (The Help, The Stand, etc.). Those books w..."

I think you're right that cover art won't be as important with ebooks, Nicole, although I personally think that's too bad. Cover art and text can help with serendipitous book finding -- you know, when you're sitting in the doctor's office and you notice someone reading a book or you're browsing the shelves at the library or the local bookstore. I've been thinking that in the future, bookstores might look like old video stores -- no real books, but a laminated facsimile of a cover that you take to the service counter to order for printing right there (my book can be printed right now in those places that have an Espresso Book Machine, like the Harvard Bookstore). Or maybe you sit in a cafe flipping through a jukebox and pick out a book based on the cover. Or in the local supermarket, there's a book vending machine -- do you know what RedBox videos are?

Still, the best way to find a good book is through word-of-mouth (as in your case). That's why GoodReads is such a great site. And librarians and bookstore employees.

Shannon wrote: "In regards to the one word title - Carrie seems to have worked out well for Stephen King! But I do agree with SallyJo -one word can mean different things to different people and if it brings a bad ..."

Shannon, I hope you'll come back to discuss The Mermaid's Pendant with us. I don't mind if we branch out a little, especially as I know that it will take some time to get enough people who've read the book to talk about it.

Light a Penny Candle evokes a different era for me and makes me think about different traditions. Catholics light candles for loved ones. Perhaps others lit candles and left them burning in windows for loved ones returning home from a long trip. It definitely suggests a memorial or remembering. Did that come close to the tenor of the novel?

SallyJo wrote: "Favorite title: "Wicked" (Gregory Maguire)

Industry is mostly right about the one-word titles, just not always. While I haven't yet read your novel (very much looking forward to it!) I think The ..."

You know, for all the connotations that I listed for myself for the word "grounded," I don't think I gave much thought to what happens to misbehaving high school kids! (My parents didn't "ground" nor did I have a curfew -- I just wasn't allowed out much.) I thought about what we say when someone is down to earth. They have their feet on the ground or they're "grounded." That's what happens to the characters in The Mermaid's Pendant. It was one of the key ideas that motivated me as I wrote. But The Mermaid's Pendant is much better, I agree.

There do seem to be a lot of one-word titles in the YA category. It's a very good thing that my title isn't one word since my novel isn't in that category.

"Wicked" is a novel I should read. I hope you tell me more about it since all I know at this point is what I've learned about the musical. It's an adult book, isn't it?

This week’s giveaway is on book titles.

Novelists, agents, and publishers agonize over titles. Along with the cover art, they are the first thing a reader sees. Even more than first lines, the title needs to intrigue and convey some core idea about the story. The working title for my novel was “Grounded,” which I loved for all the various connotations that it evoked. However, an agent told me that one-word titles weren’t a good idea. Do you agree? What is one of your favorite titles and why?

Valerie wrote: "From "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell:

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were."

This quote IMMEDIATELY came to..."

Congratulations, Valerie! You won this week's signed giveaway. Send me your address in a message.

Lailani wrote: "Back from the shelf...
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Mich..."

Those are both quite arresting first lines. I haven't read Middlesex, but that opening line poses quite a mystery. I can't quite wrap my mind around the character's transformation, so I'd need to read more to understand how that would work exactly ....

And blue pigs eating a rattlesnake, small or big, draws the reader up short. Blue pigs? Is that a breed? Or were they painted for something? And how in the world do pigs overpower a rattlesnake? Another good hook.

Lailani wrote: ""It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities -

I realized I did not pay that much attention to first lines, so hit the book shelf, and this was the lin..."

That's such a good one ... I didn't even think to mention it, but it's often mentioned as one of the great first lines (along with Austen's, which I mentioned). Then there's the one from A Wrinkle in Time: "It was a dark and stormy night." Remember Snoopy typing that one? I think there's a contest for bad first lines that uses that one as a model.

Brooke wrote: "This is a response to The Pact by Jodi Picoult.

Dear Jodi,
Thank you for giving me a peek into the minds of two young adults who are madly in love. You helped me understand that even though you t..."


Another Jodi Picoult fan! You should talk to Eva, Brooke. Ms. Picoult is a very skilled storyteller. Can you post the first line of The Pact? We're talking about memorable first lines this week and I bet that Jodi Picoult has good, irresistible first lines.

Allison wrote: ""1801 - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with."- Wuthering Heights.

I remember cracking open Wuthering Heights my senior year of h..."

Ah! Our first "boring" first line! The line isn't very exciting at all, although it does give us a peek into the character's mindset (the "troubled with" makes him sound unfriendly at best). The reader does have to wonder who would choose to introduce himself to us in such a negative way, but I agree: it's not very compelling for getting readers to continue the story.

Michelle wrote: "I must admit, that I definitely agree with the first and most memorable line being "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. I think the parallelism is..."

Those are some good first lines (the line from A Tale of Two Cities always makes the list for best first lines).

I haven't read I Capture the Castle, but I have read this first line before. I wouldn't have come up with it on my own, but I recognized it as soon as I saw it again. It immediately establishes the character and piques my interest. Is the character having a nervous breakdown? Or in the midst of some other crisis? Maybe not, but I wonder ....

Being in a fresco and off in the background establishes both the time period (and maybe place -- I can't help think of Renaissance Italy, when frescoes are at their height) and something about the character (someone outside the main action but still part of the story). Definitely quietly intriguing.

Amy wrote: "The first line that comes to mind without much thought is "It was the best of times,it was the worst of times" from Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. This line sums up so many events in life, I think..."

Me, too! I think I was one of three students who actually read it and not just the Cliff Notes. I plan to read it again soon, maybe this summer if I can finish a few other books in time.

Gretchen wrote: ""Even the most domestic, mundane tasks present us with moral choices, and for better or for worse, we make them."

Hester:The Missing Years of the Scarlet Letter by Paula Reed

This book is a cont..."

Yes, I think that many of us read The Scarlet Letter in high school. Even if we haven't, it's such an iconic story in American culture that any book that continues the story already has a lot of understanding of the characters built in. I'm curious after this sentence about how Hester explains the moral choice behind washing clothes, for instance. Already I've started to answer the question myself, so I find myself intrigued to learn hers.

lindsae wrote: "I have two favorites- First is "you think you knowhow this story is going to end, but you don't. Trust me, I was there. I know."
Which is from LAMB: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood..."

I have a friend who likes Christopher Moore. I've never read him, but now I'm getting highly intrigued. I wish I had a long vacation coming up and lots of time traveling to do nothing but read.

Moore's first line plays directly off of the title and depends on a lot of common understanding. I like the hint of personality already coming through. I think, because this is a funny first-person story, it's really necessary to extend the opening a few sentences to grab the reader.

The second book you shared has a powerful first line that grows in power with the next few sentences. Just reading "I watch'd today as Giles Corey was presst to death between the stones" sent chills of horror and pity through me. No one merits such a cruel, lingering death.

Sally wrote: "I enjoy all of Phillip Gregory's novels that focus on the historical time period that has to do with English royalty. All the intrigue, love affairs, espionage, betrayal, etc....it just allows my i..."

I've only read The Other Boleyn Girl, but now I have an author to go to for delicious historical fiction.

Thank you for posting answers to the giveaway. It's been more fun for me than the usual reviews I write, which aren't as interactive.

Sally wrote: ""I could hear a roll of muffled drums. But I could see nothing but the lacing on the bodice of the lady standing in front of me, blocking my view of the scaffold. I had been at this court for more t..."

Sally, I'm definitely open to extending the challenge to a good short first paragraph. Sometimes the intrigue unfolds over several sentences.

These sentences are rather benign, aren't they? Except for one word: scaffold. Hanging isn't a festivity to our modern sensibilities, so already there is a definite tension between us and the speaker. I think Phillipa Gregory piques our morbid curiosity right away.