Why "Must Love Books" loves BOOKS

You all know how I feel about e-books (and if you don't, you'll understand quickly if you check out all my tagged RBtL posts ), how I crave the physicality of the book when reading. I've even been struggling lately reading submissions on my e-reader. Yes, that's right. Word documents are difficult for me to even read on screen. I know, I know. It's very sad.

But I'm not the only one who feels this way, as pathetic as I personally may be about it.

Exhibit A: a new post from one of our guest bloggers, T.S. Ferguson, over at his blog Must Love Books:

For a few months now, my mother has been asking me about e-readers, what kind I would recommend (the Sony or the nook, but I have a personal one-man boycott against Amazon especially with e-books, so I’m biased), whatthey’re like to use, and more specifically, what brand I would want if shewere to get me one. Every time she asked I would tell her the same thing.

“Honestly mom, I don’t really want or need an e-reader. I wouldn’t use it so please don’t waste your money on buying me one. I could use some bookshelves though.”

Well she bought me one anyway (yes I said thank you) and many of the friends that I’ve told seem shocked that I’m not more excited about my new “toy.” They don’t understand why I’m not buying thousands of e-books and taking it everywhere with me. Many of them have told me “just wait…you’ll get used to it and then you’ll be addicted.” But I know I won’t and here’s why.

I love books. I don’t just mean reading. I love physical books. So much of the pleasure I derive from the reading process comes from the actual physical book. Maybe that’s a comfort thing from growing up as a reader, but so be it. Let’s start with the purchase. While it’s nice to be able to order a book offline and have it shipped, there’s no substitute in my mind for going to the brick-and-mortar bookstore and browsing the shelves. Some people find it soothing to shop for clothes, I shop for books. I love scanning the shelves, pulling out books that look interesting, reading the copy, judging books by their covers, and ultimately walking away with at least a few books to buy. If I go looking for a specific book and it’s not there, I will almost always say no when the clerk asks if I’d like to special order it. It gives me an excuse to go to the next closest bookstore and repeat the whole process again.

E-books, being digital, cannot be bought at a bookstore. All you have to do is go online or on your reader and click a few buttons. It sounds easy but to me, that’s boring. And unlike my fashion-loving friends, who can order something and then get to try it on when it arrives, I don’t even get something solid I can hold in my hands.

Once I’ve bought my books, I love to look at the covers and read the copy again. Covers are very important to me. There have been times when a cover will make or break a book for me. In fact, you could probably hand me my favorite book and if it had a horrible cover, I would probably not enjoy the reading experience as much as I would if it had a cover I loved. I could still enjoy the book, but part of the experience wouldbe ruined for me. And unfortunately e-books don’t really come with covers.Even the companies that include their covers in the e-book can’t duplicatesome of their most amazing covers on the grayscale e-readers. I downloaded afree sample of Jennifer Brown’s Hate List (which, you’ll recall, was my first acquisition) just to see what it would look like as an e-book, andwhile the cover was included, even that cover, which was incredibly beautiful, simple and only two-colors (black and gray-blue) just didn’t do it for me on the e-reader....

Read the rest of T.S.'s fantastic post HERE

Guest Blogger, T.S. Ferguson: Book Review - "Sorta Like a Rock Star"

Confession time: when I first learned of Matthew Quick’s debut YA novel, Sorta Like a Rock Star, I didn’t know if it was a book I was going to like. I’d heard it described as “‘Juno’ meets Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl: ‘Juno’ for the quirky language and Stargirl for its message of hope.” To be honest, I just wasn’t sure it was my cup of tea. It was a matter of personal taste. But since my good friend Alvina was its editor, I wanted to support her, so I picked up the advance readers copy (ARC) she gave me and dove in. And I’m really glad I did. Word.

Sorta Like a Rock Star is narrated by Amber Appleton, who lives on a bus called “Hello Yellow” with her single mother, who has an alcohol problem and terrible taste in men. But despite Amber’s less-than-ideal circumstances, she remains ever positive. She’s kind to everyone she meets, volunteers at a local retirement home, befriends a local war vet, and uses the music of Diana Ross & the Supremes to teach the Korean women in her church community how to speak English. To all who know her, Amber Appleton is the “princess of hope.” But when a tragedy occurs, Amber loses her faith in the world, in her fellow man, and most of all, in God.

When I first started reading Quick’s novel, the first thing I questioned was the voice—I was afraid it felt too gimmicky. Amber has an incredibly unique way of speaking; she’s very casual and very colloquial. But the more I read, the more I fell in love with it. Just like with a new friend, the more time you spend together, the more their voice comes to symbolize the person you are so fond of. And in this case, Amber’s voice fits her personality perfectly—she’s a quirky, weird girl. A proud freak. A hero for readers who need to be reminded what faith in yourself—and a few good deeds—can do.

I cried a lot while reading Rock Star, but that may not shock those who know me. I’m a cry-whore, though I do give props to the books that really get me good. I also smiled a lot, though, and found myself chuckling at some of Amber’s lines and that special way she has of handling the folks around her. Amber Appleton is a modern-day Pollyanna, only more realistic and lacking the negative (re: obnoxious) connotation associated with the classic character. Amber inspires people—a ray of sunshine for those who need it most—and she does it because it’s simply what comes natural to her. So when her hopes are crushed by unimaginable tragedy, it’s no surprise that the entire town rallies around her.

One thing I want to call out in particular is the portrayal of Amber’s autistic best friend, Ricky Roberts. While all the misfits in Amber’s band of friends play an important role in her story, Ricky stood out the most for me. I was impressed that Ricky was portrayed as a normal kid, with normal capabilities, who wasn’t held back by his autism. He isn’t described as mentally challenged—his autism is a part of who he is and he lives a fairly normal life, despite the occasional school bully. Plus, he’s a math genius akin to Roald Dahl’s character Matilda, which I thought was pretty awesome. Quick’s handling of Ricky’s dialogue was particularly impressive. I have an autistic cousin who is graduating from high school this year and I could almost hear him in my head as I read Ricky’s dialogue. Also, Ricky’s speech to the school board at the end of Part One was one of the first scenes that made me cry.

Rock Star will appeal to anyone who appreciates fresh, original voices and a plot that keeps you laughing one minute and sobbing all over the pages the next. Fans of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will enjoy Quick’s story not only because both are narrated by kids from poor families who deal with great tragedy and rise above it, but because both novels do a great job of balancing humor and sadness to leave readers feeling uplifted. I would recommend Sorta Like a Rock Star to anyone who wants a reason to smile, a reason to believe in the good in the world, or just wants to read a fun book about a character they can really fall in love with.
True? True.

Quick's YA novel hits shelves in May, so grab a copy and enjoy!

About the blogger: T.S. Ferguson is a former Assistant Editor with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, where he worked on young adult and middle grade fiction. As assistant to the Editoral Director, T.S. worked with authors such as Sherman Alexie, Sara Zarr and Pseudonymous Bosch. His editorial debut, Hate List by Jennifer Brown, was released to much acclaim this past September and has since been named a School Library Journal Best Book of 2009, a Children's Indie Next Pick, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. In his spare time, T.S. enjoys nonstop karaoke (at a bar or in his bedroom---he doesn't care), and is currently working on a YA novel of his own. Visit him at http://must-love-books.blogspot.com/ .

"The Lightning Thief" is no "Harry Potter"

This weekend I dragged my sick butt (I had an upper respiratory infection, hence my lack of posting) to the movie theatre. My friend and I had both agreed to read Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and then go to see the movie together. So that's exactly what we did.

I hadn't heard great things about the film so my expectations weren't very high. I also didn't love the book as much as many people I know did, so I wasn't as invested in the film as I would've been if it were a Harry Potter flick. I liked the book quite a bit, don't get me wrong. It was a fun, quick read with a great premise and a lot of fun characters. I just didn't feel that the writing or character development was up to snuff with the Harry Potter series, which anyone whose read them both will inevitably compare to Percy Jackson.

The film, however, was amusing at best. I was laughing out loud at moments that were not intended to be funny (though there were some genuinely humorous parts!), the graphics were a little ridiculous, and the characters were flat.

The plot was also massively altered. I'm not usually super bothered by that kind of thing when a movie is intended as a standalone rather than a serie. I'm a firm believer in an adaptation being just that, a person's vision of someone else's original idea. Besides, it's not as important to maintain all the elements that come into play later in the series if you aren't planning to make a movie out of those later books. This seemed to be the case to me with Percy Jackson's film debut. While I'm sure the producers of "The Lightning Thief" would love to have a hit on their hands, I think deep down they knew that this wasn't going to be the Harry Potter of the new decade.

They did, however, make some interesting plot changes, though I'll admit it was much more interesting as Riordan wrote it. I still love the premise though--Greek mythology come to life in a modern world. Mythology has always intrigued me, so I just adore the idea. For that reason, I was able to somewhat enjoy the movie, though on a very pure entertainment level. I think I would've liked it better had I not read the book, though.

While my feelings for the film were lukewarm, my friend T.S. over at Must Love Books had a much stronger reaction. He's written a very interesting piece (that does contain spoilers, so be forewarned!) about why he didn't like the adaptation:

Anyone who knows me fairly well knows that I am a huge fan of the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I’ve often proclaimed that my love for this series is up there with my love for Harry Potter. So needless to say, I was pretty excited to see the movie adaptation of The Lightning Thief, especially since it was directed by the man behind the first two Harry Potter movies, Chris Columbus. I was also nervous---movies adapted from books rarely live up to their source material and barring most (but not all) of the Harry Potter movies, a few Neil Gaiman movies and Spiderwick, I’ve felt let down by recent book-movies. So I went in with a cautious but open heart and found myself completely let down. Here’s a list of reasons why (Caution: this list contains SPOILERS for both the movie and the book series):

*No Ares (the Cabin or the God) – one of the fun parts of the Percy books is that he encounters each and every Olympian god throughout the series and they’re “modernized.” The scenes with Percy and Ares were intense and exciting and it’s one of the first times Percy encounters one of the gods (aside from Mr. D). His absence was greatly noted and replacing him with Persephone (more to come on her) did nothing to improve the story. I was also annoyed that there was no Clarisse or Ares Cabin. While I get that the producers probably thought they were too reminiscent of Draco/Slytherin and wanted to steer clear of HP similarities, if they had thought ahead to the rest of the series, Clarisse and Ares Cabin play an important role later on, and Clarisse’s pride and stubbornness set up one of the most emotional moments (for me) in the final book. I was also annoyed that Annabeth became the stand-in for Clarisse (see my next point).

*Annabeth was all wrong - I know this is a superficial detail, but my first complaint is that Annabeth is BLONDE. It bothers me that (Buffy aside) we rarely get to see the blonde girl kicking ass and taking names. They’re always the pretty ones while the brunettes are the tough ones. That aside, I also didn’t like the changes her character was given. Book-Annabeth would NOT attack Percy that violently (in the name of training) and almost kill him. Setting her up as the violent warrior woman and then having her flip-flop to become his ally for her own selfish purposes did not make me like her as either a romantic foil OR a Hermione-esque “smart, female friend” for Percy. Again, they may have been trying to avoid HP similarities but they went a bit too far. Part of the fun of The Lightning Thief is that it has the HP skeleton (which JK Rowling didn’t invent, by the way) with its own unique and interesting story, mythology, and character development.

*The way race was handled – I had a BIG problem with Rosario Dawson playing Persephone. Not only was I annoyed that her character (a MAJOR deus ex machine) had replaced Ares, but she was clearly supposed to be the exotic, spicy goddess/wife and they didn’t even try to make her seem Greek. At one point my friend Zoraida, a Latina woman, leans over to me and says, “Why is Persephone Puerto Rican?” I have no idea. She’s supposed to be a GREEK goddess. If they wanted to have diversity in the cast, they had a great opportunity with the demi-god camp-dwellers (since they’re half Greek god and half-any race known to the human species). But they missed that opportunity by only focusing on the main demi-gods (another thing that took away from the greatness of the books – I loved all of the briefly mentioned side characters, just as I did in HP). I was actually really glad they cast a black actor to play Grover, since, ya know, he’s a satyr and they’re nature spirits. He could be any race. But I was extremely disappointed that they then went and changed Grover’s character to make him a stereotype of a black teen. Grover is a nervous, awkward, odd little goat-man and instead they turned him into a “playa” who was often distracted by hotties and speaks like he grew up in “the hood.” There was even one scene where the camera watches Percy and Grover walk up some stairs and you can clearly see Percy’s pants at a normal level and Grover’s are sagging, which doesn’t even make sense since Grover’s pants are supposed to conceal his GOAT LEGS! It just made me sad that they felt they had to completely change the character into a black stereotype rather than keeping the integrity of the character and casting him black. I found it insulting to people of all ethnicities.

Read the rest of T.S.'s fantastic and thorough review HERE