5 Books With Soul

It is my great honor to be hosted by Rochelle Melander over at the Write Now Coach Blog. I am a long time follower and can't tell you how much I have learned from Rochelle.

Today I'm talking about 5 books that have taught me something. I picked five books that have stuck with me for a long, long time, and then explored why they did. It's because they have soul.

How does a book have soul, you ask? Which five books did I pick? Well, head on over to The Write Now Coach Blog to find out :)

Sarah Allen

Answers from a Book Reviewer: Interview with Lori Hettler

Hey guys! One thing that is incredibly important to us writers is getting reviews. Positive reviews, hopefully, but reviews. So today I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask one of the fabulous book bloggers around the interwebz a few questions about how to get buzz for our books, and making it good buzz.

So please give a warm welcome to the wonderful Lori Hettler.

1. First things first. What kind of books do you review and how does a writer get you to review theirs?

I prefer to read and review small press literature. The edgier, the better. I can’t seem to get enough of it. And it doesn’t help that there’s never enough time to read it all, either. It’s absolute torture.

Even still, I’ve been known to accept genre literature and self published novels for review if they are pitched well and catch my interest. A well pitched book will definitely get my attention. I’m more likely to take a chance on a book I wouldn’t have normally read if the author personalizes the pitch, something as simple as naming books I’ve reviewed that are similar to theirs in style or theme. It also helps to have links to the book, access to an excerpt… and I’m a bit of a goodreads snob. If the book isn’t listed on goodreads, I tend to turn it away or recommend that the author add it there.

2. What can a writer do to make themselves and their book stand out to you and to your readers?

Well, as I mentioned, a strong, personalized pitch certainly makes a book stand out.

If the author comes highly recommended from other authors I’ve read, that’ll definitely get me to look at it. The small press publishing world is so interconnected, and they’re passionate about each others books. They are incredibly supportive of each other, and I eat that shit up. If I read you and loved your book, and you recommend me to an author you’ve read and loved, I’m all over that.

But wait, I’m not sure that answers your question, does it, cause in that case, the writer is not the one pitching his book to me… Hmmm…

Other things that help a book stand out? A great cover. Nothing makes me cringe more than a crappy cover. And a well edited book, that’s a huge win in my eyes. If I’m reading your book, and catching grammatical errors, I’m eye-rolling myself through it. I’m no grammar expert, so if I’m noticing, it’s got to be baaaaad.

Making the book stand out to my readers would really fall on me… right? The way I review what I’ve read can influence my readers to either take a chance on it or run away from it. And I always keep my readers in mind when I review a book. I use a rating scale that rates a book by what I think others would like, not so much what I like. In the rating, I recommend the books to fans of XXXXX or people looking for XXXXX. I think that helps them make the decision for themselves, rather than me making it for them, you know?

3. Describe a writer who is the easiest possible person to work with.

You mean without naming names, right? Like, listing their personality traits? I love authors who don’t let my feelings about their book get in the way of our interaction with each other. Authors who don’t check in on whether or not I’ve read their book 20 times. Authors who jump at every opportunity to whip something up for my blog because they like the challenge and find my silly ideas fun and interesting. Basically, someone who’s not just a book-puppet, but an actual human being with an actual personality who can separate themselves from their writing and just be.

4. What is the difference between a book that gets a positive review and a book that sends you out into the streets screaming “You all must read this book!!!”

The difference between “This book was really good” versus “Oh my god, I would marry this book immediately if marrying inanimate objects were legal!”? That’s a tough one. I don’t know if I could describe the difference. It’s really just something I feel, something visceral. If I just instantly start crushing on the book and its author… it’s a run out into the streets screaming kind of book, or if I’m gulping it down in one sitting while freaking out because reading it fast means it’ll be over faster vs. meandering through it and enjoying it but not really concerning myself with the pace of it.

5. Any type of review is inherently subjective. Our moods change. What happens when you have to review when you’re just having a crappy day? Is there a way for authors to keep this from happening? Send you chocolate, maybe?

Ha! Bribe me with chocolate, boys! (Just kidding)

I used to review books immediately upon reading them. I felt I was able to channel my emotions and initial thoughts more clearly that way. My mood, bad or otherwise, at that point, was always based on my feelings towards the book and would dictate the tone of the review and I never felt apologetic for it.

Now, books linger weeks and sometimes months after I’ve read them before I attempt to review (mainly due to lack of time, not for any real conscious reason). I’m not as happy with my reviews this way, because I believe distance taints my views on them, and also makes them come off a bit more bland, but it is what it is.

If I’m in a bad mood, and it has nothing to do with the book, just a crap hand I was dealt that day? Well, in that case, I wouldn’t be in the mood to review, so there would be no worries about my non-book-related mood infiltrating the review.

And sadly, to date, when a bad mood strikes, no amount of chocolate or anything else for that matter, helps to move me through it. Unless I’m reading a kick-ass book. A great book is the cure for any and all bad moods!!

***

Lori Hettler is the founder and moderator of TNBBC. Her passion for supporting the small press and self publishing communities began when she birthed The Next Best Book Club on Goodreads back in 2007, a group which now boasts an unbelievable 11,500 members who are collectively, endlessly, searching for the next best book! She also puts her lit-loving heart to work for Chicago Center of Literature and Photography (CCLaP) as their Marketing Director. When she’s not curled up on the couch with a good book, you can find Lori on Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.

Top 29 Book Review Blogs (that I've found so far)

In the past few days I've had a number of conversations with friends who've mentioned finding a book on a book review blog or website. I'll admit I'm not a usual purveyor of book review blogs, but I've started doing some research and think that they could be an excellent resource. So here's a list of 29 book review blogs that are pretty darn awesome.

• Bookslut
• Book Riot
• Three Guys One Book
• Novel Thoughts Blog
• The Book Smugglers
• Booklover Book Reviews
• Antastacia Knits
• Arms of a Sister
• Bibliofreak
• Bitsy Bling
• Blkosiner's Book Blog
• Book'd Out
• Curling Up by the Fire
• I Am A Reader
• IndieReader
• Man of la Book
• Murphy's Library
• Paperback Treasures
• Rita Reviews
• She Scribes
• Silver's Reviews
• A Soul Unsung
• Susan Heim
• Flashlight Reader
• The Happy Booker
• The Next Best Book Blog
• WV Stitcher
• Kindle Nation Daily
• The Short Review

Well there you have it! Do you frequent book review sites? What sites would you add to this list?

Sarah Allen

The Last Few Books You've Read

It's that time again! Time for me to ask you about the last few books you've read, the book you're reading now, and how you discovered them.

Let's see.

I just barely finished a book called Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin. This was one interesting, unique read. It had first person, third person, and second person. You'd think that would be just too weird or too hard to follow, but I actually really liked this one. I discovered it because I wanted to read more Asian literature and so found the Man Asian Literary Prize on Wikipedia and this was the first one I found that was at the library.

I'm having trouble remembering because I also listen to audiobooks in the car (right now its The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing) so I get them a bit mixed up. But I also recently read Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly which ended up being totally fabulous even though I didn't like the main character in the beginning. That one was a trusted recommendation.

In my purse right now, waiting to be started, is I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg. We'll see how it goes. This one I discovered because I really like the movie Fried Green Tomatoes so I figured I'd read something by the author of the book that movie is based on.

Your turn! What have you recently finished, or what are you reading now, and where did you discover it?

Sarah Allen

P is for Pettigrew

So I'm sitting at work reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and I'm pretty sure I looked ridiculous because I'm sitting there grinning like a maniac trying to keep from laughing in pure giddiness as people walk past the front office.

"Toothbrush," he said with difficulty. He held it out by the very tip of the handle because he knew it was important, if he was to keep his composure, that her fingertips not touch his.

 I have not felt this giddy about a book since Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne at the end of Persuasion.

My friends know me so well. If the book they're recommending is not one in my typical genre it expands my horizons and becomes one I love anyway. Or like with this, they recommend it to me because they were thinking how much I'd love it the whole time they were reading and then I read it and I'm like YES YOU WIN OH MY WORD YES.

The characters are so real, a few so despicable. But the Major (as he prefers to be called) is completely wonderful. Conservative old curmudgeon. I will always adore those characters, because of both their conservatism and their curmudgeonliness. And their age. All the things. He is fabulous and hilarious and sweet and you are totally rooting for him the whole time.

I admit it did start off rather slow. But I loved the two main characters from the very beginning and that's what kept me interested and then about half way through things started picking up and then at the scene I quoted from I was just like THIS IS THE BEST THING.

So yes. Read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. I highly recommend it.

Sarah Allen

Books My Younger Siblings Like

I took two of my siblings to the library last night. I took my little sister S, which is fairly normal. She and I are the bookworms of the family, and I take her to the library with me a lot.

I also took my brother J. That was a miracle. It seems like he's been having a rough couple days and he's found himself with a bigger chunk of free-time now that basketball seasons ended. He came and asked me for a book to read which, you guys know, is about the best question a person can get. He was almost shy about it. It was pouring rain but my mom looked at me with a take-this-chance-and-run look and said, "Take him to the library before he changes his mind." Of course S wanted to come too, and we went.

So, okay. S is eight years old, right? I was picking out books with J while she walked through the kids section. She hurried up to me with one of those white hardcover abridged-for-kids books, Great Expectations. I said, "I'm impressed you picked Dickens."

She smiled and said, "This is the one she reads in Matilda, right?"

I told her yes, sort of, but that this wasn't the real version. She looked crestfallen for a moment and then asked where the real one was. "It's long," I warned her. She wanted to see it. So we went and I pulled out some shorter Dickens, but she wanted that one. So I gave her Great Expectations and she took it to the kids section and began to read.

Now, J. In the past, he has really enjoyed listening to the Harry Potter audio-books. He has also enjoyed the Redwall series by Brian Jaques, the Percy Jackson series, and Levin Thumps. But he is fifteen, and its been a while since I've seen him pick up a book for fun. I've recently kept audiobooks going in my car and on the occasions when I'm driving him somewhere or picking him up from school, if I haven't turned it to the radio before he gets in the car, he'll turn it for me, or put up a fuss until I let him. Last week I had playing in my car The Witches by Roald Dahl. Maybe I was just feeling particularly stubborn that day but when I picked him up from school I told him we were listening to the book and he couldn't do anything about it. Whether it was Dahl's delightful writing or the fabulously British narration, he didn't throw too much of a fit. The next time I picked him up the radio was on. He switched it to the audiobook.

Last night at the library, with the very helpful recommendations of my go-to book recomenderer, we ended up with The Graveyard Book and Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, and Enders Game. We'll see how it goes.

S ended up with Ingrid Law's Saavy rather than Great Expectations, but she'll get to Dickens eventually, I have no doubt. She has to finish Among the Hidden before she starts on Saavy, and she plans to finish all the books in the Shadow Children's series too.

Here's the quick-list of some books my younger siblings have read and loved.

Redwall, Brian Jacques
Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief, Rick Riordan
Leven Thumps, Obert Skye
The Witches, Road Dahl
Among the Hidden, Margaret Peterson Haddix
Bud Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis
Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Louis Sachar

What would you guys recommend, next time I rope my younger siblings to the library?

Sarah Allen

What Are You Reading?

To get recommendations for Christmas shopping, as well as just because and I love the library, I think its time to get some recommendations from you.

Here are some of the books I've read recently:

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

Quirky, well-written, disturbing, occasionally frustrating, and definitely sticks with you for a long time.

Where Things Come Back, Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Bigger than a Breadbox, The One and Only Ivan

Poignant, honest, delightful, sad, hilarious, wonderful

Ms. Hemple Chronicles

Weird, beautiful, funny, melancholy, and I will never EVER be a teacher

Right now I have checked out from the library The Night Circus and The Snow Child.

Your turn. What have you read lately, and what would you recommend?

Sarah Allen

10 Books I am Thankful For

I hope you all are enjoying the start of the holidays! I'm missing out on my Utah snow, but the trees here in DC are absolutely gorgeous.

Simple post today. We all love books, right? But every once in a while there comes a book that is just so you, so exactly what you needed to read and in that way it really is life-changing. Here, in no particular order, ten of those books for me:

1. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
2. Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
3. All the Little Live Things, by Wallace Stegner
4. Bellwether, by Connie Willis
5. A River Runs Through It, by Norman Mclean
6. Persuasion, by Jane Austen
7. Middlemarch, by George Elliot
8. Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens
9. Anything by C. S. Lewis
10. Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

Gah, okay, that was surprisngly difficult, because I have like twenty more I want to put on the list. But this will do.

What books are YOU grateful for?

Sarah Allen

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

It is three o'clock in the morning. I just turned the last pages of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Maybe its too late to try to do a coherent review, but here are some initial thoughts.

Michael Chabon is a very, very trained and talented writer, who obviously did a butt-load of research and knows a hecka lot more than I do. The Pulitzer Prize badge on the cover of the book is not surprising. The sentences are beautifully precise, and the detail and description is absolutely stunning. In other words, the prose is a pleasure to read.

The story is like-wise very interesting. Very intricate and complicated plot, with intricate and complicated characters. The book is divided into sections and spans at least a twelve year period and even spends a good chunk of time in Antarctica. I didn't even know Antarctica was in any way involved in World War II, but apparently it was. Told you Chabon is one smart dude.

It leaves me wondering, though, whether all critically acclaimed/Pulitzer Prize winning books always have to deal with World War II, family secrets and homosexuality. Is it just me or does it seem like most of them do? I'm not saying those are bad things. Actually they're quite intriguing, interesting things to write about. And I'm not saying that the book is formulaic. It does seem a bit like it was perfectly made from some Pulitzer Prize recipe, but not because Chabon was trying to follow certain steps, you can tell that it's just the story he wanted to tell, and he did it brilliantly. Still, though, while I appreciated the epicness of its scope and grandness of its themes and beautiful prose, I did sort of miss my Austenian drawing room.

So yes. I absolutely enjoyed reading it, and thought the story and characters were totally engaging. It made me want to simultaneously know as much as Michael Chabon does while intentionally wanting to go in a simpler direction. A beautiful, epic book, highly recommended.

Anyone else read this or anything else by Michael Chabon?

Sarah Allen

Japanese Literature and the Earthquake

Considering the days events, I thought I'd highlight our friends and fellow writers from Japan. First off, here are some ways to keep updated about the earthquake situation. It all kind of makes you reel, doesn't it? Also, the awesome Maureen Johnson is taking up a collection with Shelterbox, if you are interested in helping out that way. I'm proud of how we have responded to emergency and disaster situations in the past, and I hope we can do even better with this one. Keep Japan and its citizens in your charitable thoughts and prayers.

One of the things I love most about reading and writing is that books are one of the best ways we have of connecting with other people. I know that sounds kind of wrong, but I think its true. We not only become intimately familiar with the characters, but we see things from another persons (the writers) point of view. I think thats very valuable. So lets try connecting with our Japanese friends by reading Japanese literature.

There are two main Japanese writers that I am familiar with. The first is a modern writer, Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote Never Let Me Go and Remains of the Day. (I know you could argue that he is basically British, but still). I have read Never Let Me Go and it was...interesting. The concept was wonderfully disturbing and exciting.

The next writer is, I think, not only important in terms of Japanese literature but literature in general. Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, which is considered the worlds first novel. I've read some of it, and its very different and a cool read, and I think its awesome to get into a society so completely different from anything we are familiar with. And come on, its the first novel ever written. Worth checking it out just for that. Plus its a good read, at least what I've read so far.

Anyway, I know I've riddled you with more than enough links already, but here is another thats a great compilation of important Japanese writers. I'm not familiar with nearly enough of them, and I intend to fix that. Literature from other cultures is awesome and enlightening, and Japan is one of the best.

Hang in there, Japan. We're rooting and reading for you.
Sarah Allen

The Last Five Books

I think its time to get some book recommendations. I want to know the last five books you've read and what you thought of them. Here's my list:

Tiger Eyes, Judy Blume: Short, wonderful book you can read in one sitting. To be honest, many times YA protagonists seem angsty and dumb to me, but Davey Wexler was a sweetheart, and I didn't mind her teenager-ness. Very good YA read. There's a reason for Judy Blume's wonderful reputation.

Villette, Charlotte Bronte: Oh wow. What to say about this book? It is such an intense emotional journey--you spend the majority of the book being dragged through the mud, being let off just enough to catch your breath so you don't suffocate. You crawl and struggle up a hill, still dragging in the mud. You get to the top and finally have a chance to stand up and dust yourself off. Then you get a knock-out punch in the face. I absolutely loved it. Charlotte Bronte is a genius. Not as mysterious or positive as Jane Eyre, but just as wonderful.

Gilead, Marilynne Robinson: Beautiful, beautiful book. Almost musical in tone. Not the typical structure for a novel. It's written as a letter from a dying father to his young son. Stunningly beautiful. One of those books that really does take your breath away.

A Virtuous Woman, Kaye Gibbons: Another short, sweet book. I will admit that it took me a bit to get into the tone of it, but I ended up very much enjoying it in the end. Most of the book is written in first person, and then there's a switch to third in the very end, and this end part was my favorite. Kaye Gibbons really can get to the emotional gut in a wonderful way.

The Bonesetters Daughter, Amy Tan: I enjoy Amy Tan's stories. She is not the most elegant writer, but her stories are extremely well-crafted and fun to follow. She understands relationships very well, I think. Good read, I would definitely recommend it.

Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens: Ok, so I know this is six. But I just could not leave without recommending this book. Absolutely phenomenal. If you like Dickens, or even if you don't, this is such a sweet book with so much Dickensian awesomeness and humor, and so much heart. Little Dorrit herself is one of the great characters in literature. Seriously, read this book.

So those are the last five (ok, six) books I've read. Right now I'm reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. I'm enjoying it a lot so far, though I'm not too far into it yet and its different from my usual. But I like McMurtry's style.

Anyway, the point of this is to get some recommendations from all you guys. What are the last five books (or so) that you've read? Which ones would you recommend, which ones not so much? Every clump of writing advice I've ever seen includes the thought that to be a writer you MUST be a reader. So this can help me read voraciously for the next little while. So, books?

Sarah Allen