Summer is well done and over with, and I’ve been meaning to get these up here for a while now. These are not full reviews (because I don’t do real reviews, lol!), but just a few words on my five favorite reads from the first half of the year. Click through for the full GoodReads pages for each of these. And happy reading!

Paint it Black by Janet Fitch:

A young woman searches for meaning and closure in the months following her lover’s suicide, as she becomes involved with his mother and explores the complicated relationship they had.

Paint it Black was twisted, brilliant, disturbing, and memorizing, like watching a car crash. I read this book SO slowly, because it was so rich with detail and emotion. Expertly written. A very intense and darkly beautiful story. This was my first from Janet Fitch (I know, everybody else reads White Oleander first, lol!), and I have to say she’s a brand new favorite of mine!

You’ll enjoy this one if you like lavishly beautiful prose and complex family dramas.

Hungry for You by A.M. Harte:

From Goodreads: “Love is horrible. It’s ruthless, messy, mind-altering, and raw. It takes no prisoners. It chews you up and spits you out and leaves you for dead. Love is, you could say, very much like a zombie.”

A collection of short stories about love, from a world full of zombies!!!

A favorite quote: “They tracked the car’s progress like sunflowers, faces upturned and yearning, all broken bones and gangrene smiles.”

This was a truly unique collection. Delightfully macabre, yet still tender? I’ve never read anything like it, but I was fascinated by every single page.

I’m George, mwm, 52 by George Everyman:

A married man expounds on his twenty-something-year marriage and the “affairs” they both had, as well as his thoughts of the general universe and humanity and a few other dozen things.

I found this book both engrossing and maddening at the same time. First, it’s written as a long, loose ramble, as if you were sitting with a friend in a living room at 4am (drunk and possibly stoned too) listening to his life story for 300 pages. Which is not entirely a bad thing – the narrator is engaging, thoughtful, and funny! And despite it’s loose structure, it still has the (vague) plotting of a story. (Memoir, actually, as the author seems to claim this is a true story.) The ending was just as engrossing and maddening as the rest of the book.

A favorite quote: “I like mixing up serious and frivolous things. Frivolous things like making a living, and serious things like playing games about death with kids.”

Overall, the book is quite profound, engaging to read, and enlightening, even if sometimes frustrating. Definitely an adult read, and an honest, no apologies one at that. If you enjoy rambling stories about life and love and well… everything, you’ll enjoy this.

Ruin, by NM Martinez:

Ruin is a terrifying and savage world where Paula, the Neutral daughter of an activist spy, has been exiled from the only life she knows. Now her only options are to adapt – and fast – or instead perish. The people here are ruthless and powerful, and Paula doesn’t even know if she can trust her own family. She’ll discover who she can trust, as well as who she can’t, and she’ll try to reinvent herself because going back is not an option, and going forward is the only way she’ll ever survive.

With sharp detail and riveting emotion, this debut novel by NM Martinez is moving, shocking, impossible to put down, and impossible to forget. If you like post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a good dose of swoon, humans with mutated powers that have consequences sometimes charming and other times spine-chillingly scary, you will love this!

Bonus – it’s the first of many more to come!

The Boyfriend Thief by Shana Norris:

A supercute, funny, heartfelt, and uplifting read. Avery is a hilarious and heartbroken young lady, fiery and yet so vulnerable at the same time, with a lot of damage to sort through. Lucky for her, the utterly adorable Zac is her polar opposite, and as they’re paired to work on a school project together, she doesn’t even know what’s about to hit her.

A favorite quote: “FILE CABINET! For the love of argyle socks, use the freaking file cabinet!” LOL!

One of the things I love most about Shana’s writing is how she’s able to weave the story between side-spliting humor, and deep emotional depth. The Boyfriend Thief is sweet enough for younger teens, and a refreshing and romantic pick for grown women. The story is packed with laugh-out-loud humor and the intense emotional scenes are perfectly expressed. I enjoyed it a lot!

On the bookshelf this fall: The Naked Gardener by L.B. Gschwandtner, The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris, The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum, Room by Emma Donoghue, Water for Elephants (which everyone has finished by now except me!), and hoping to have time for A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore too. Oh, and I hear I need to read The Help too!

Not to mention Shana and Nina both have new books out or coming soon! Eeek! My to-read list is infinitely long!

(Also, totally not trying to make these into “pimp my friends” posts, but damn, my friends write good books! )

I am totally not a book reviewer. Or any sort of media reviewer for that matter, in any capacity.

I’ll be forever haunted by two of my experiences. It was about my junior year of college, and I thought I might explore being a media reviewer. That’s what college is for, trying things, making mistakes, finding out what you might or might not be good at. And for maybe two years, I had a brief stint over at BlogCritics pretending I was indeed a media reviewer.

I won’t link those reviews here. I was twenty-three – nobody should be held accountable for the things they do and say when they’re twenty-three, don’t you think? For crying out loud, I wrote a blog called “Peace and Jellybeans”!!!

And so I wrote this review for a band called Lovedrug, and their album Pretend You’re Alive. They were really a decent band, and the review itself was mostly positive, except for some small critiques that were ungrounded and that I was really not qualified to give. Who the heck was I to think I knew better?

But have you ever heard of them? No? Is it because I wrote that less-than-shining review when I was twenty-three and full of myself and all high on getting free review copies of albums and books?

Lovedrug, if you’re reading, it was a great album. I’m sorry if it’s my fault you aren’t more famous. You should be, because your album was really, really good. My favorite song was “Spiders”. I also loved “Blackout”, “Paper Scars”, and “In Red”. But the whole album is a hit, really.

Kind of like old-school Goo Goo Dolls, don’t you think?

Pretend You’re Alive is here. You should totally buy it.

And from this point on, I’m sticking with what my mother used to tell me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

But then, saying nice things can come back to bite you in the butt too. Also during that beloved time as a media reviewer, I wrote a very positive review for book, The Perfume Factory. It was a charming little book. Both my hubby and I liked it quite a bit. Knock-on effects of that? I guess I did a pretty decent job on the review, because dude pimped it ALL over the place.

So now if you Google my name, you won’t get past the first page without finding my review of that book. And you know, maybe that’s not the first thing I want people to find when they’re searching for me, since I want to be an author myself some time soon.

I guess I didn’t know that when I was twenty-three.

So lesson learned – the internet lasts forever, kids! And the things you put out there when you’re twenty-three will stick around to haunt you forever, even if only on your conscience.

I always feel squeamish about reviewing the books I read. Unless I absolutely loved it, and intend to gush about it, most of the time I’ll just commit to the whole “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” rule.

Last night I read a book that I liked even less than Twilight. (note: by the way, this unnamed book was not the *wonderful* book listed in my “right now” box there on the sidebar!) Or at least, in my opinion. Right, that’s all it is, one opinion?

The premise was canned, the plot was contrived and pushed just the way you’d expect it to go. The dialogue was atrocious. The characters were mostly stock, and the main character was wholly unlikable. Her complaints didn’t have enough grounding, her past traumas were painted thinly, and her decisions seemed to materialize out of air.

But at the same time, if you’d looked up this book, you’d find dozens upon dozens of glowing reviews from women who loved it. They say things like: it was enjoyable, and fun, and it had a good message.

So what is an opinion worth anyway, in either direction? Clearly this book was just not intended for me. I spoil myself on the best writing and storytelling in contemporary literature, so it’s no surprise that a lighter read might feel like a waste of my time. Maybe I should have known better?

But at the same time, I do enjoy “lighter” reads sometimes. And I thought this might be one of them. The premise seemed interesting, and I really thought I might love it. But I didn’t love it, at all! The execution was just badly done. It could have been a great “light” read, but it wasn’t. And as a writer of novels myself, it’s helpful for me to really pin-point *why* I didn’t like something, in real and concrete reasons.

Though at the same time, I am under no obligation to share those reasons. Maybe there should be a sort of kinship between authors? If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?

So are bad reviews helpful? Not every book is meant for everyone, and maybe my less-than-glowing review might save someone a few hours of her life. A bad review isn’t to flame the author (and I never would, not even Stephanie Meyer! lol!), but to alert readers that in some cases, if you’re spoiled on fine, well-developed literature, then there are certain kinds of books you might not want to waste your money on.

But at the same time, some day soon, my book will be getting less-than-glowing reviews from someone. Perhaps from someone who read it not knowing it wasn’t intended for them. Like this book wasn’t meant for me.

What about you? If you’re an author, hopeful or already published, do you review the books you read? Do you rate and star them? And do you put your name on it?

not a musician:

Playing this week, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” by Death Cab For Cutie. (listen here, good guitar lesson here.) I’m in love with this song this week. It’s quiet and beautiful, and it inspired a heartbreaking little story idea.

not a film critic:

Into the Wild: Very thoughtful, and inspiring. Now I wanna backpack through Alaska. I know, the book is usually better, but my “to-read” list is a mile long already. Hubby read it and enjoyed it, and was able to point out where the differences were. I’m wondering if the film might have better suited the visuals of an adventure anyway?

I expected to be bored by it, but I absolutely wasn’t. I mean, how interesting can one guy be out in the wilderness? But the point is, he spent much of his journey meeting very interesting people, making these fantastic human connections that he outwardly rejected. He seemed to have such an impact on so many people, and came to an unfortunate conclusion in the end.

I make myself a promise though – when my kid(s) is grown and self-sufficient, I’m totally going to climb a mountain!

progress report, week of 12/7:

Not much bulk added to the novel this week (a few random lines, a couple good paragraphs). Christmas is starting to happen in a consuming way, hubby is sick… it’s just that time of year.

I did manage to send a story back out into the world again this week, and I wish it luck. I hope I’ve taught it all it needs to know, so that it might stand on its own little feet and prosper. Again, I subbed it to one of my top favorite magazines, lol! If it doesn’t work there, I might try my hand at simultaneous submissions next time. And maybe I’ll cast a bit more modestly, lol! You know, reaching for the stars and all

This week: whatever I can manage, considering it’s the week before Christmas and all. I still like the goal of having part one entirely first-drafted before the new year. It’s still doable, I think.

I’m going to share my first chapter with you all after the new year. (Eeek! I said it!) So I hope you’ll hold me to that

I’m a sucker for a good love story, whether that be romantic or platonic love. I don’t consider myself a romance writer, but I do write a heck of a lot of stories about love, whatever form it might manifest itself in. (And I have a theory, that on a very basic level, all stories come back to love in some form.) They’re hard to write though, without dissolving into a syrupy mess.

It seems in the past weeks the world has been thinking and reflecting on the topic of love in writing, and I’ve been collecting a few of the links I’ve found.

First, an interview @ Maud Newton w/ Marlon James: about his novel, the Book of Night Women (which sounds fascinating, by the way!), and writing about love.

I remember calling friends shouting, “I just wrote a love scene! All they do is kiss!” to which they would respond, “. . . and are they then dismembered?” and I’d go, “No, after that they dance!” It was hard. I resisted it for as long as I could because I didn’t believe in it at first, and even when I did, I couldn’t figure out how to write it. Not until Irish novelist Colum McCann gave me permission by giving me the best writing advice I’ve ever gotten from a writer: Risk Sentimentality.

There’s a belief that sex is the hardest thing for a literary novelist but I disagree: love is. We’re so scared of descending into mush that I think we end up with a just-as-bad opposite, love stories devoid of any emotional quality. But love can work in so many ways without having to resort to that word. Someone once scared me by saying that love isn’t saying “I love you” but calling to say “did you eat?” (And then proceeded to ask me this for the next 6 months). My point being that, in this novel at least, relationships come not through words, but gestures like the overseer wanting to cuddle. Or rubbing his belly and hollering about her cooking, or teaching her how to dance or ride a horse — things reserved for white women…

…I think, as a writer, the important thing was to layer the relationship with complexity and contradiction. There were situations where I could have left certain storylines one-dimensional and gotten away with it. I think the relationship is gripping not because they love each other, or think they do (or not) but because even with such a horribly skewed dynamic, hearts do what they want. And people don’t always fit in the roles that have been assigned to them. But of course the relationship is doomed; any slavery love writes its end in its very beginning.

On a similar tangent, I certainly don’t consider myself an erotica writer either, but I can’t seem to write a story that doesn’t involve or at least elude to sex in some form.

Here, an article on how writing about sex in fiction is almost never really about the sex.

More on writing sex here, from Storytellers Unplugged.

And finally, a must-see movie – film, I guess, we call them films when they’re artsy and thoughtful Good Dick: I suck at writing reviews, and there are plenty of good ones on IMDB, but really, it’s a hilarious, twisted love-story, but at the same time surprisingly sweet. Emotionally taxing, but so worth it! Movie trailer here. (Oh, rated R and not for the kiddies though!) Enjoy!

Happy 4th of July!!! We’re taking Dylan to see the fireworks at Kensington Metropark tonight. If he doesn’t have too much of a melt-down, that is. He’s been in the worst mood EVER for two days now. I think he must be getting a tooth or something.

I would also like to say that he has peed on his potty three times now

not a writer:

The World Could Explode: a Love Story

This is my working title of the moment… yet another one. This one comes from a line of dialogue I wrote for the last chapter. Better than the last one, even though the last one was cute – A Scientific Study in Kissing Boys. I still adore it, actually, but it doesn’t really fit. Maybe I’ll use it for a short story some day. This one doesn’t make the book sound chick-lit-y, doesn’t take itself too seriously while at the same time remaining just the very littlest bit poignant (at least in reference, it does). Eh, I’ll probably change my mind again next week.

Hubby doesn’t like it though. He thinks it sounds like some global warming book Al Gore would write, lol. Could make sense though – one of my characters does end up having a bit of a crush on Al Gore!

novel stats:
36,600 words (33%)
111 pages
working on chapter 4 of 13

not a film critic:

Cashback. Totally a man’s fantasy movie! Lots of gratuitous boobs and skirt-lifting. But it was hilarious and sweet, seriously! A love story that your husbands/boyfriends will enjoy, lol.

I am terribly disappointed that 10,000 B.C. is getting really bad reviews. Rottentomatoes is giving it 9%! Yahoo reviewers are giving it bad reviews too. Now, I know that I am a world-class dork, but I was really hoping this one would be good. I am fascinated with pre-history, and was hoping this might be somewhat factual, with a storyline, like the best History Channel documentary ever! Apparently, a common complaint is that it is completely inaccurate, so maybe I’m better off staying home to watch the History Channel

Across the Universe is out on DVD now, bought, and watched twice since I bought it! I am in love with this movie!

I am Legend is also out on DVD now, and definitely worth at least a rental.