Author Archives: Bethlylou

Sometimes the Internet is Awesome!

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I do love reading YA dystopian novels.  The Hunger Games and Divergent are probably the most well known books in the genre but may I also suggest The Dustlands series by Moira Young and The Hunt Trilogy by Andrew Fukuda.  Knowing my love for the genre, on our Facebook page, my friend Jack alerted us to this awesome twitter account. Dystopian YA Novel is a parody twitter account, telling a Dystopian YA novel one tweet at a time.  It’s kind of brilliant.  So far the author has already hit on several themes.  She has already established a heroine, Valentine, who sees herself as nothing special but obvisously is.  There is a love triangle.  A sorting of teenagers into groups that will determine where they belong or what they will do for the rest of their lives.  A threat of being ostracized if one does not conform and even a possible fight to death.  So far, I don’t think she has left anything out.  Here’s a sample.

Those are just the beginning.  If you’re on twitter and like me loved the The Hunger Games I suggest you follow because it’s great!. And if will indulge me in a little self promotion, follow us on Facebook, as well.  There’s been a lot of great conversations going on there that I don’t think you want to miss.

Dear Stackologist: Life is Full of Tough Choices

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Dear Stackologist,

I am married. I thought I would be happy to be married to my husband.  He is exactly the type of man I should be married to as we come from the same background and status but he isn’t my true love.  That belongs to my father’s ward.  He would be unsuitable to marry, I know but we are kindred spirits.  We used to run all over the moors together.  I think what makes me the most unhappy is that my love has ran off with my husband’s sister and married her.  I think I was much happier when he was mine and mine alone.  Am I wrong to be so down?  I just might die if I can’t have him.

Lonely on the Moors.

Dear Moors,

First of all, I feel like you got married for the wrong reasons.  While it might be important to please your family, this is your life and not theirs so if you are not happy with your husband then maybe it’s time for a divorce.  Chances are, if you are not happy neither is he.  As for your other issue, I’m not sure you really love him but want to possess him.  That’s not exactly healthy.  If he has gotten married, you should respect his decision but again I do worry about his reasons for marriage too but that’s for another letter.  Also I’m a little worried about you saying you will die without him.  No man is worth dying for.  Life is full disappointments and you must learn to live with them.  Nor can you expect someone to stay single just because you want them too.  You moved on, you have to allow that they will move on, too.

Sincerely,

Stackologist

Dear Stackologist,

I really like this guy but we sort of met under unusual situation.  He’s funny, and charming and also an addict.  He traded in doing drugs and alcohol for another vice, so to speak, but he still partakes in self destructive behavior.  I couldn’t take it. I could not stay and watch him destroy himself. So, I left. I moved to California with my Mom.  I have my own problems to deal with like my brother’s death and my parent marital problems (they’re divorcing).  I don’t need to his on top of that.  I thought I was getting over him when one day he showed up at my job.  Now all the feelings I had for him are back but I’m not sure I can trust him. He says he is no longer doing what he was doing but I just don’t know.  I’m not sure I can let him back into my life.

Ugh. I can’t believe I’m one of those letter-writing girls

Dear Letter-Writer,

I think it’s brave that you saw that you were in a bad situation and you took yourself out of it.  It’s not easy, especially when it involves someone that you care about. It sounds like you are going through a difficult time right now and by taking him out of the equation you are on the right path.  I think this is one of those cases where the only person that can truly help them is them.  It’s obviously difficult now that he is back in your life.  You want to believe he is better and maybe he is but more importantly, how are you?  Who is supporting you? Who is helping you cope with your brother’s death and your parents’ separation?  I think you need to deal with you first before him.  If he cares for you, then he will wait for to get yourself back together.

-Stackologist

What I’m Reading Now: All The Light You Can Not See by Anthony Doerr

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Our friend Katy started an online book club and this is the first selection.  I know this book got great reviews but I’m not sure I would have picked up on my own. So far so good. That’s what’s so great about book clubs, is they often challenge you to read books that you normally never think of.  (Also gives you an excuse to hang out with friends and get drunk.) Anyway, back to Marie-Laure and Werner.

I/

Series You Should Check Out: Shades of London by Maureen Johnson

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Maureen Johnson is very active on social media.  If you don’t follow her on twitter, I recommend you do because she’s kinda hilarious.  Anyway, because of her internet celebrity, her books are not exactly unknown but for whatever reason, she’s not a big seller as some of her author friends like Cassandra Clare and John Green.  I’ll admit that I haven’t read her other books.  Yes, they are in my stacks and I will get to them but I do adore this series.  The Name of the Star, and the Madness Underneath are the first two books.  The Shadow Cabinet is being released in the US today.  The fourth book doesn’t have a title yet.  I haven’t had a chance to read The Shadow Cabinet yet because I thought I would wait until the actually release date.  Also I couldn’t get a hold of an ARC.  That’s ok, it has given my time to reread the first two.

The Shades of London is about Rory, a girl from Louisiana who’s parents have decided to do a work sabbatical in England so she decides to go to school at Wexford College in London.  She arrives in just as London is swept under Ripper Fever.  A copycat killer has taken to recreating the Jack the Rippers murders in the East End, which just happens to be the same place that Wexford is located.  Through a series of events, Rory gets swept into the Jack the Ripper investigation.  She soon discovers that the world is far more complicated than she ever thought.  That ghosts exist and only a few can see them and she is one of them.

What I love about this series is the humor in it.  I find Rory to be hilarious.  It’s a sort of a dry sense of humor that I appreciate.  Despite the fact that they are in a middle of a pretty gruesome murder investigation, Miss Johnson keeps things light.  The supporting characters are great.  Jazza, Rory’s roommate, is sweet but I think also keeps the story in reality.  Boo, Callum and Stephen, the other Shades of London may hunt down Ghosts but keep the good sense of humor about it.  I also like the mystery side of the story.  Who is the Jack the Ripper wannabe?  Is he alive or dead?  Rory may not be a detective and may be new to this whole seeing ghosts thing but she’s smart and pretty quick on the uptake.  She may need rescue from time to time but she’s also not weak either.

So far the series has tackled what is death, person-hood and dealing with PTSD.  The last one is important issue to tackle.  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not new to YA literature.  Katniss Everdeen and Tris Prior have both suffered PTSD but they never really dealt with it.  In the Madness Underneath, Rory has troubles dealing with the events of the Name of the Stars.  Without going into what, I will say that Rory does seek therapy.  First her parents have her in counseling and then she seeks other counseling.  To say more will spoil the book so I will leave it at that but at least Rory is getting treatment for PTSD which is more then Katniss or Tris ever did.

So go read the Shades of London and fall in love with Rory and Stephen and Jazza and Boo.  I think you all will like it.

Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

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Featured imageI wanted to like this book more then I did.  It’s not that I didn’t like it but I found it hard to get into it and stay into it.  I’m not sure if it was the writing style or the characters or the pacing.  I just never truly connected with it fully.  Maybe I have hit my threshold on Hunger Gamesish type dystopian.

Red Rising is about Darrow, who is a miner on Mars.  He and his family are Reds.  The lowest of the color castes.  Their job is to mine precious elements to prepare the surface of Mars for colonization. They were told they were colonist but really they are slaves.  Mars was colonized for centuries and the ruling color castes, Golds, have been living it up on the surface, while Reds toil away below.  All this is revealed to Darrow after his wife, Eo, is executed and Darrow joins the Army of Ares to take down the Golds and the Society from the inside.

Maybe for me it’s more of a question of pacing then anything else.  Eo, is executed so early in the book, that I was never able to get to know her or Darrow or their relationship.  Obviously they were in love.  I got that much and apparently Eo was someone that everyone loved.  True, it’s sad when anyone is killed at such a young age.  Especially over something that is a simple as a song but it was a blink and you miss her and she’s gone.  Oh, ok.  Then Darrow is whisked away by the Army of Ares, told the truth about how the Society really is and joins the rebellion.  I guess I never felt I had time to know who Darrow was before all this happened.  I didn’t get to know where he came from before he was set out on his revenge.  I think this is also a problem of the author because to compare to the Hunger Games, the reaping happens very early on in the book and Katniss and Peeta are on the train to the capital by the third chapter but by then the connection for me was already made.  I was invested.

After a lengthy process of changing Darrow from a Red to a Gold, which includes surgeries, we finally get to the Institute that turns Golds into the leaders and rulers of the Society.  The Institute is nothing but a Hunger Games style of live action game of Risk. The students are set up into different houses where they try to invade, conquer and slave the other students.  Again with the pacing. At times, it was exciting and I hated that I was at my stop on the train and had to stop reading to get off but then momentum would end and I was like “can we get on with it”  The ending itself was also a little meh.  I guess it does set up nicely for the sequel, Golden Son, which is out now.

It was ok.   I’ll probably will read the sequel eventually but not right away.  I think this was Pierce Brown’s first book, so hopefully the next one will be better.  I like the concept, I do.  The execution just wasn’t quite up the the task.

GoT! What might have been and What might be.

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Who knew I would be writing about HarperCollins twice in one week? It turns out HarperCollins London’s office is moving into a swanky new office.  According to this article, there are conferences rooms named in honor of their authors, Hilary Mantel and George R.R. Martin. And it’s the Martin room that interests me.  This room has on display the original letter that Mr. Martin wrote to his agent about the plot of The Song of Ice and Fire.  The final paragraph has been blacked out keeping the ending a mystery, for which I am glad about.

Some kind soul took pictures of the letter and posted it on Tumblr. I don’t think I have to say this but I will, Spoiler Alert.  While many of Mr. Martin’s original ideas did not come to pass, some still might happen.  Including the five characters who Mr. Martin originally intended on surviving the whole series.  I give you a hint, all five are currently still alive though may not be for much longer.  So, click at your own risk. 

For those who found the letter to hard to read or too lazy to read it,  MilfordAcademy summarized the letter on the blog Oh No They Didn’t.  Again, don’t read unless you really want to know. You’ve been warned!

So what do you think?  Who wishes some of what he originally planned had happened?  There’s a few things I definitely do and other’s I’m very glad never happened but I guess there is still time.

Oh My God! This is Huge!

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Featured imageAnyone who ever went to high school in the United States and maybe outside the US has read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  It’s considered an American Lit classic and despite it’s success it’s Miss Lee’s only book.  That is until now.  HarperCollins today announced that Miss Lee will publish her first her book in over 50 years Like OMG!  This is amazing.  Not only is it a new book but it’s a sequel. Go Set a Watchmen follows an Adult Scout as she comes cack to Maycomb, Alambama.

The book is set during the mid-1950s, some 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father Atticus and is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father’s attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood

This is awesome!  It turns out that Go Set a Watchmen is actually Miss Lee’s first book.  When she showed it to her editor, the editor said she should write about a young Scout, so she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird instead.  She thought the manuscript was other destroyed or lost.  Surprise! It was not.

Well it might not be all good news.  HarperCollins only has contact with Miss Lee through her Lawyer and Literary Agent so there are questions about whether Miss Lee has really signed off on this.  It would be sad if that was true and I hope that it is not true.  I’m not sure if this is good or not but for now I am going to be excited about the new release and will wait patiently for July 14.