a cool thing.

I bet you all are loving the fact that I've had three days off in a row, and can't seem to stay away from blogger.  Ha.

So, remember how I was going to read all those books?  And then I was afraid that I wouldn't?  Well, surprisingly, I still read six books in February.  Six!  And I've already read (that is, finished) one for March.  And all this reading has really had me itching to write, which is a good thing.  But the funny part is that my draft is taking all the punches.  I've been reading the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld (awesome), which is in third person omniscient, and even though what I'm writing has always been third person limited (I mean, always), I recently can't help but to hop from brain to brain.  And it's FUN.  But, just like when I wrote in some completely unrelated tumult after reading the Gregor books, I'll probably end up changing it back before I move on.

But should I?  Because the new viewpoints actually seem to work.  It's coming a LOT more naturally to me.  So maybe I shouldn't change it back quite yet.  Has this happened to anyone else?

In other news, here's the cool thing I wanted to share with you:  me without makeup!  [Oh, wait, that's me every day.]  Along with the treat of seeing my face (and sweet headphones), check out this cool mug for sale at the Blount County Library (my favorite place, you know):

[**Note the orange.  Note that I am not actually a huge Tennessee fan.  Note that orange was one of my favorite colors long before I lived in this state.  Note that in Delirium, liking orange was considered "freakish."  Yee-haw!**]

Of course, why take actual pictures when I could use Photobooth (as always)?  So, um... you can't read it.  It says: "Read Grow Learn Imagine [drawings of: dude reading a book, guy playing guitar, Shakespeare's face, a gardening tool (meh?), black bear, lily, and the front of the building] at the Blount County Public Library."  Happy dance!  And it came with a free cup of tea, so yeah.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Thursday!  And don't forget to support your local library.  :)

gregorific.

Adj.  Simultaneously awesome and depressing.

Maybe we should call it Suzannetastic, actually.  It would mean the same thing.

No, but really.  I loved these books.  It was both very like and very unlike reading The Hunger Games.  Similarities:  violence and adventure and anti-war themes.  Differences:  a more juvenile voice, more fantastical elements, and a boy's perspective rather than a girl's.

There is something I love about a boy's point of view, and I don't really know why.  I'm a girl, so you'd think it would be the other way around, but no.  Heck, my own current writing project is from a boy's perspective.  A good chunk of my favorite books are also male POV, now that I think about it.  Life of Pi, for one.  Also, Harry freaking Potter.  And, of course, Gregor.  But also White Cat and Looking For Alaska, both of which I read last month, and The Replacement, which I read back in the fall and then never wrote about, but probably should have because I really enjoyed it.  Let's see...  I think my favorite read of the past year is still Lips Touch, by Laini Taylor, and about a third of that (maybe more, depending on how you define POV) was told through male characters.  I don't know why I'm rambling about this, but it's funny to think about because even growing up, I always got along a little better with boys than I ever did with girls.  Maybe it's because I have a brother and no sisters.  Plus, with male main characters I can have crushes.  With female main characters, they have the crushes.  NotthatthismattersanymorebecauseIammarried.  Ahem.  [Also, this is not an absolute rule because I have both disliked male MCs, and adored male side characters told from female perspectives: examples:  Harry Potter: boo, get over yourself.  Peeta Mellark:  oh my gosh I think I married you.  It is time to move on to another topic.]

Anyway!  Also, like The Hunger Games, Gregor left me in a stupor.  A haze.  Because life sucks and then you die, but there are so many important things to learn from it along the way.  Like, quit killing each other!
[P.s. While typing "are so" just now, I accidentally forgot the space bar and ended up with the word "ares."  Ares!!!!  I want a pet bat.  Just so I could name him after the bats in the series.]

I meant for this to be more about Gregor and less about other things, but it doesn't seem to be working.  Here's something awesome, though:  The Gregor books were published annually from 2003 to 2007, and then The Hunger Games books picked up and were published in '08, '09, and '10, respectively.  Which is to say, Suzanne Collins is an absolute machine.  Is she publishing anything this year?  Goodness knows I will devour it and then be depressed by it, but still love it.

sicktastic reading binge.

I am illllllllllll.  Then again, I am also dramatic (with a degree to prove it), so it's probably more like "under the weather" than "ill."  In fact, it's just a cold.
Thought:  Where did the expression "under the weather" come from?  Does it mean, like, how you feel on a rainy day, when there's a lot of weather going on on top of you?  And aren't we technically always under the weather?  Tectonic activity, last time I checked, does not count as "weather" (of course, I have not literally "checked").  Maybe a volcano blast counts.  But then the ash would be in the air and you'd still be under it, right?  Obviously (unnecessarily), I digress.

Guess how many books I've read since my last post?  To counteract the abysmal count of "one" from last time, this time I read three!  That's right, I've read NINE WHOLE BOOKS in January.  A personal record.  But don't thank me!  Thank Suzanne Collins for her excellent cliffhangers!  And days off from work!  And being sick!  And all those books we got at the library!

Oh my gosh, can you tell that I'm starting to get stir crazy?

In other pat-myself-on-the-back news, I successfully read Delirium before its release date (uh, tomorrow)!  Thus, I am patiently awaiting my induction into the "people who have read a book before it was released" club.  Sounds like fun.  I bet there will be meetings where we'll discuss "selling out" and "hype" and "this was so much better before anyone else knew about it."  Then we'll go back to the ARCs and moan about the good old days, before our favorite authors were successful.

I'm almost having second thoughts about this club, except that I actually do feel that way about a lot of things.  I'll say, "Oh man I have to tell you about this book/movie/song/TV show, you'll love it!" And then they're like, "Uh, Twilight*, seriously?  Everybody and their mom already knows about that."  And there go all my cool points for that day, for not already knowing about it.
*not an actual anecdote from my life, just an example.  Truth:  I have only read the first page of Twilight, but I've read it three times.  I liked it, I just can't make myself read any more.  It's just... too... popular... and, I'm told, romantic.  Barf!**
**Not that I have anything against romance... but sometimes I kind of hate romance.

I do not know why I am feeling so hyper right now.  Apologies.

Anyway, to sum up my Booksplurge books for January, after the five already mentioned:

6.  Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane.  Suzanne Collins.
7.  Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods.  Suzanne Collins.
8.  Delirium.  Lauren Oliver.
9.  Gregor and the Marks of Secret.  Suzanne Collins.

So pretty much this week has been a serious Gregor binge, interrupted by my mysterious need to join the we-knew-it-first club.  Which is not to say that that's all Delirium meant to me--not at all.  I very much enjoyed it, actually, in a lot of different ways.  It challenged my thinking, which was awesome, and kept me at the edge of my proverbial seat, but also got under my skin.  I think I might devote an entire post to it.  How about tomorrow?  Seems like a good day for that.

Unfortunately, I'm so not in the mood to look up all the book covers and post links to all the Amazon pages... yeah... oh, all right.  All right!  Tomorrow!

See how I weaseled out of doing any extra work for this post?  No real reviewing, no pictures.  I'm lazy today.  But have no fear, I will definitely get around to talking about the Gregor books (in case you were worried about that), once I've finished the last one.  Which may very well happen tomorrow.  Possibly the next day, if I'm a productive little beaver and actually leave the house (a lofty goal when I don't have to work and feel borderline gross).

Whew.  Nine down, fifty-one to go.

the first five books of 2011.

It's the 18th, and I've hit my book goal for the month.

But, shoo, what a selection.  I would have kept going with the Gregor books, as planned, but I was never able to get back to the library until today (hello, snowstorm), so I ended up going to the other library (the dinky Knox County one by the elementary school), and came out inundated with John Green.  By inundated, I mean I've read half his works now, and I'm a fan.  I think.  No, I know I'm a fan, I'm just not sure to whom I can recommend his books.

Julie, what are you doing reading books with teenagers having sex and engaging in mischief?  I thought that wasn't your scene?


I know, I know.  And it's true: non-marital sex (in movies, books, shows, and especially real life) makes me feel icky and squidgy and sad.  But something I have come to accept as a human being, a Christian, and a storyteller, is that I can appreciate--and often enjoy--anything, regardless of my personal convictions (most of the time--there is still a limit to this).  I MUST see the finished product for what it is.  I mean, look at Les Miserables.  It's my favorite musical of all time, and in the revival there is onstage "sex."  I could have done without it, but it doesn't make Les Mis any less my absolute favorite.


Looking For Alaska is ultimately not about sex, and if I had put the book down when it got uncomfortable for me, I would have missed all the wonderful things.  The good parts.  The big picture.  And the big picture of that book is that it's amazing, and it's one of my favorites.  Just don't go into it thinking, well, if Julie liked it, it must be tame, because, while it's not wild and downright filthy, it's not very tame, either.  Read at your own risk.

And think of me what you like.  I'm still counting it among the best I've read.

I think I intended for this post to be about all five books I've read so far in January, so here goes:

1.  Gregor The Overlander.  My goodness, Suzanne Colins, I adore the way you tell stories.  More, please?

2.  An Abundance of Katherines.  John Green.  Not as life-changing or gut wrenching as Alaska, but still fun and well written and highly enjoyable.  My only qualm:  it's supposed to be set in Middle Tennessee, but the girl went to high school in Milan, which, believe me, is in West Tennessee.  Also, the pronunciation of Milan (My-lan, instead of the "correct" Mi-lahn) is a gold mine.  Why didn't you go for that, John?  I would have laughed so hard.  Maybe that's because I'm the only person who would find it funny.

3.  Like a Thorn.  Clara Vidal.  This book caught me off guard.  I was attracted to the drawings on the cover, and the back sort of made it sound like a brief fairy tale, but it was ultimately misleading.  It's about a girl being driven to insanity by her equally unsound mother.  Kind of horrifying.  On a different note, it was written in third person present, which I actually enjoyed.  It was, strangely, a lot easier for me to read than first person present, which is always a challenge, even if I love the book.

4.  White Cat.  Holly Black.  Perfect example: Written in first person present, but I LOVED it (as much as one can "love" fiction, of course).  The world of this book is so bold and weird and scary.  It's like if "Heroes" had a magical mobster baby with "The Sopranos."  That's what this world is like.  I am so excited for the second book, Red Glove, which comes out in April.  Joshua laughed at me when I told him I wanted to buy it, but I don't care.  This is one for the bookshelf.

5.  Ah, Looking For Alaska.  Also John Green.  Sigh.  There may have been a few things that made me squirm, but who cares.  Ultimately, this book is so wonderful and true and important (albeit sad), that I can't hold anything against it.  It cracked me up (especially at the basketball games) and made me weep, and even made me cheer.  No wonder it won the Printz.  Excellent.  Excellent excellent.  Another one for the bookshelf.