A Little Bit of Fad Reading
Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (An Imprint of HarperCollins)
Length: 487 pages
So I finally took that leap onto the [fad] train.
When I worked full time in the bookstore, chatting with customers, recommending books in person, I would have read this as soon as it was a thing for the sole purpose of finding something on the shelves that was similar when we were out of stock. It was published in 2011, the year I left. That last year was also one spent handling more inventory and displays as the store’s SIM than handling people and their whims and desires in the book world. So though I was vaguely familiar with the title I totally missed the need to devour this title in a day and come back with a list of titles to hold over disappointed customers until we could get this one in their hands.
Somewhere along the road in my stay-at-home-mom life I discovered Hunger Games, and fell in love. Though part of a huge fad, Hunger Games was no Twilight Saga or Vampire Diaries series. Hunger Games was epic and beautiful and insanely well written.
So when I saw the preview for the movie Divergent, I thought, ‘What the heck? Let’s see if it will surprise me too.’
Color me surprised – again! I really liked this one. I read it in one day – nearly one sitting. It tends to be easy to do that with contemporary young adult novels, no matter how long they are.
I found Hunger Games more moving, but I was able to relate more to the main character of Divergent. I’m nervous to see how they portray her in the movie, the book version is a person I feel very in tune with. Katniss Everdeen is someone I admire and look up to as a literary character, but with whom I share very few similarities. Tris’s story feels as though Roth dropped my mind into her version of dystopia. Tris feels how I feel and tends to react in ways I am known to react. (So far anyway.) Many of her fears were my fears at 16, actually, I can’t think of one that is different.
For that, it was incredibly enjoyable and easy to get into, and despite this being completely entertaining fluff fiction, I consider the hours spent reading it time well spent.
I’m interested to see how the rest of the books go (it’s a series), as well as the movie adaptation in theaters this month. Although I’m a little nervous that it might be too easy to amp up the cheese factor for the big screen – but I guess I’ll have to take a flying leap onto that fad train as well or I’ll never find out.
Interview with Jennifer Theriot
Meet Jennifer Theriot, Texan, CFO, wife, grandmother, and AUTHOR!
1. Describe your book and its inception. What was your muse so to speak
Out of the Box Awakening is a romance novel centered on middle aged lovers and stresses the importance of family and friends. I got the idea to write a book after reading the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. I had to read it 3 times to actually get the core of the story.
I took two of my closest friends to dinner one night and over a glass of wine casually mentioned that I was thinking of writing a book about middle-aged lovers. The actually dared me to do it with enthusiasm.
We all agreed that there just weren’t romance novels out there about women like us; hence the dare was accepted and the writing began.
My muse would be Kevin Costner. As soon as I started writing the book, he was hands down Ash Harper in every sense of the word.
2. You’ve written a romance. Is this the genre you prefer to read? What are your favorite titles and authors?
Romance is my favorite genre. I love Maya Banks, Lisa Renee Jones, S.C. Stephens and Cherrie Lynn. I loved all of their books.
3. Writing romantic stories, I find, always invites quite an array of emotions from people in the real world. How have your friends and family reacted to your story content?
For the most part, my friends and family are behind me one hundred percent. My friends have read the book of course but my immediate family (husband and kids) Ehhhh….
no. And truth be known, I don’t think I want them to. There’s some things better left to the unknown.
4. Just like when I read, when I write I find myself drawn to certain characters more than others. Did you have a favorite in your own work?
Oh goodness YES! Todd O’Malley is the tatted up, pierced good-looking rock star that resembles Adam Levine. In the book, he becomes best friends with the main character Olivia. Their relationship as he describes it: “Olivia is like having a mom and a best friend all rolled up into one smoking ass hot chick.” I have to say he’s by far the most colorful and fun character. Ash on the other hand is the Romeo every woman would want in her life. Those two are my dream guysJ
5. Many authors are heavily influenced by their environment when they write. Where is your safe space? Do you have mood music?
My “space” consists of being curled up in my chair with my feet up on the ottoman, Mac Book Air in lap typing away with ear buds in listening to the playlist for my book. I find that I can still spend time with hubby that way and have the best of both worlds.
Music is a huge influence in my writing. I’d wanted to use lyrics from a particular recorded song in my book and quickly discovered the red tape and bureaucracy involved with permission to use. That being said, I wrote my own lyrics and I’m so proud to say, a dear musician friend wrote music to them and recorded it. It’s even on iTunes.
6. What do you find to be the easiest of the writing and editing process? What is the hardest for you?
The easiest is of course the writing. The hardest is during beta reads when the readers come back with their comments. It is probably the most intense part of the process for me. I have an incredible beta reader, who has also become a good friend. She knows my characters like the back of her hand and calls me out when she’s not feeling what she knows I’m trying to say. She and I have had many discussions and she pushes me to emotionally engage the readers with a scene. Her words are “Jen, you know what’s going on and how the characters are feeling….take us there in your words. Make us feel it with you.”
7. Did you learn anything about yourself or the world you live in by writing this book?
Funny you should ask that…. The answer is yes. This journey has made me much more confident about myself as a 59 year old woman who considers herself forever young. I’ve never felt better inside or out. If anything, my main character Olivia has given me the authority to express my feelings in the real world. I’ve talked to a lot of ladies in my age group who like me still enjoy sex, they like date nights with their husbands and significant others. They like to wear sexy lingerie and dress trendy. It’s an incredible feeling and I believe when you feel good about yourself, others can see that.
8. I’ve met a lot of authors with drastically differing views on this… would you ever be interested in a TV or movie deal for your series? If so, how involved would you want to be? (There every step of the way? Or hand it over and let the film people do their thing?)
I could totally see the Out of the Box series being made into a movie…I’ve even got a dream cast put together. Probably every author visualizes his or her book getting made into a movie or TV series.
What a lot of authors probably don’t realize is how much of a long shot that is. A movie/TV series doesn’t just magically appear and the things that go into the making of a series or movie and moreover the likelihood of it actually coming to fruition is daunting. Finding investors to actually take a chance on financing a project like…very difficult!
I would definitely be a hands-on type. It’s my personality. I’ve got to have my hand in every detail which drives me crazy but that’s the way God made me.
9. You’ve just started participating in book signings and are writing another book. What direction do you see your writing career headed? Where would you like it to head?
I love doing the book signings. At first I was terrified!
I love interacting with people and meeting other authors.
I do plan to continue writing as long as people keep reading my books. I’ve finished the second book, Out of the Box Regifted. It’s currently in editing and I’ve started the 3rd and final book in the series, Out of the Box Everlasting. (The trilogy is called ARE. That way, readers will know what book is first and last in the series because it spells a word)
After Everlasting, I’ll do a book from Todd’s POV and then I’m on to a completely different series. I want to continue to write about middle-aged lovers. I feel there is a market for this. Women my age don’t always want to read about twenty-something characters…
10. Every reader or writer has a favorite bookstore (and if you don’t, please don’t spoil my delusion!). Now is your chance for a shout out! Tell us who you love and what you love about them.
I could sell my soul to Half Price Books! I’ve never gone into one and come out empty handed.
I also like Barnes and Noble.
Something about a good old bookstore just feels right. When you walk down an aisle, if you listen closely enough you can hear the characters in the books whispering “Buy me, buy me!”
Long live the bookstores!
Literary Journal Monday…
…became “figure out how to make my car run by book club tonight” Monday. Sort of.
This involved coercing my husband into taking the battery out – because I hate dealing with the stupid under-the-hood-cover they throw on new cars these days. I am one of those truly-85-in-every-aspect-not-just-books-and-my-FLIP-phone people. In that I was more than happy to work on my car myself… alternators, spark plugs, shocks, struts, the whole shebang… as long as it was from 1987 or older. This business I’ve driving now… well, it might be all nice and cushy and have air conditioning and defrosters that work; and maybe when it rains my feet don’t get wet because there’s an actual floor board, not just a carpet… but I HATE IT. I hate it because as soon as I pop the hood it looks like a Russian space station from a disaster movie set in the future to me, not a car.
So, yes, despite women’s lib and all that – I coerced my husband into unhooking the dead battery for me. I still took it to AutoZone, carried it in myself, and had it replaced (for FREE! It was under warranty, thank goodness). But I still came home, handed my husband the keys to his truck and told him the new battery was where he’d left the old one. Pretty sure he wasn’t too keen on hooking the new one up, but neither was I. I married a mechanic for a reason! I CAN work on my car, but I’d rather read a book.
Or, in this case a literary journal off my personal shelf.
McSweeney’s Autumn 1998
My copy is a 3rd printing from 2006, “Created in darkness by troubled Americans. Printed in Iceland.”
I always like their little subtitles and witticisms. Reminds me of Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail and the majestic moose biting their sister.
I’ve read McSweeney’s before, issues one through three in their entirety to be exact; the rest of the issues I’ve just peeked through. I collect them and have a whole shelf of them all my own to be perused at my leisure and today I picked up issue one again. How can I not when it’s filled with goodies like this:
“Come close […] because I’m going to tell you a secret. Ready? Here it is: Each and every one of us, and I mean everyone, has a tiny little troll who lives in our heads and controls our thoughts.” – pg. 12
The letter section just kills me. It’s too wonderful.
Neal Pollock’s bits are always fun, too. Like this one from issue one:
“My life is not private any longer, but neither is it really public. Rather, it’s a kind of quasi-private-psuedo-public life that could only exist in the netherworld of the Internet. I have given myself up to the web, and like a beast in a cage that eats meat all the time, the web insatiably demands more.” – The Burden of Internet Celebrity, pg. 22 of “Gegenshein”
And the Paris letter in issue two (“Pollyanna’s Bootless Errand”) that I just can’t bring myself to try to sum up; you simply must go read it yourself.
All in all, it wasn’t a bad day spent, despite the hiccups. I got to re-read an old essay involving Man-Bats on the Moon by Paul Collins (featured in issue two as well), whom I love, and that is never time badly spent. And yes, I said Man-Bats. On. The. Moon. If I haven’t imparted some sort of desire in you to go discover the glory that is Paul Collins’ knack for discovery weird history, then I have seriously failed as a book blogger over the last few years.
The kiddo and I also ate through nearly an entire crock pot of corn chowder, half a block of Swiss cheese, and a container of cayenne pepper. (Also there was a vat of coffee and a jug of V8 Fusion involved, so you KNOW it was a day well spent.)
Oh, and then, I went to book club. Because we got my car running just fine and in plenty of time. I spent a little under two hours discussing Herodotus with book clubbers. And now, moments after midnight (moments in Tuesday!), my brain kind of hurts a little.
Interview with Comedian Jeff Hodge
I’ve had the pleasure of reading Jeff Hodge’s Road Trippin’ over the last few months. I’ve been plucking through, taking my time with this delightful memoir, trying to get to know this comic and his world one day at a time. I’m so excited about this former Houstonian, I was able to talk him into doing an interview with me!
1. Describe your book and its inception. What was your muse so to speak?
My book, “Road Trippin…The Life And Times Of A Comic On The Run,” is pretty much a compilation of short stories of incidents that happened to me back when I was out on the road performing as a young comedian in the early 1990’s. Over the years, I would share these stories with friends and fans and people would suggest that I write a book. I never took it seriously until one day in 2011, a buddy of mine, who is a big Chelsea Handler fan suggested I read her book, “My Horizontal Life”. After reading the book, I said to him, every comic have stories like that. He suggested I write a book and so I did and that is how “Road Trippin…The Life And Times Of A Comic On The Run” came about.
2. Many authors are heavily influenced by their environment when they write. Where is your safe space? Do you have mood music?
I am a night person so most of my writing takes place late at night when everyone is asleep and I am up watching the ID Channel. Usually turn on soft music (I prefer love songs because they help me think better) and just get to pecking away on my laptop.
3. How does writing for the stage differ from writing for a book?
Writing for the stage is different from a book in that when I write for the stage, I get feedback immediately as I perform it. With a book, I have to wait until the book comes out. Some one reads it and then I get their feedback. The long wait time can be tedious and frustrating.
4. What do you find to be the easiest of the writing and editing process? What is the hardest for you? (Both in comedy and for publication.)
To me, the writing process is easiest because I just write the words as they come to me in my head. I hate the editing process because by the time the book is actually published, I have read my book 100 million times from reading and re-reading it making all the edits I need to make! (Hahaha)
5. Obviously, Road Trippin’ is a memoir and therefore a representation of your life. Is this an accurate representation of your whole life or just the parts that fed into your life as a Comedian?
Road Trippin’ is an accurate representation of just part of my life when I was on the road touring as a comedian back in the early 1990’s. I will be following up Road Trippin’ with more books on other aspects of my life.
6. Did you learn anything about yourself or the world you live in by writing this book (that isn’t included in the book itself)?
Yes. The thing I learned about myself while writing this book is that I have come a long way since I started doing comedy. Sometimes as comedians, we get so focused on defining success as being on a tv show and selling out auditoriums but we lose focus on the journey that we’re on and miss out on a lot of the little things along the way. Writing this book really took me back to venues and places I had performed in earlier in my career that I forgot about after all these years.
7. How have your friends and family reacted to your story content?
My close buddies took the book in stride because they had heard some of the stories in the book over the years. My other friends and family were shocked. They didn’t know one could do all those things on the road as a comedian if you weren’t a star. My mom is still waiting for her copy! (Hahaha)
8. You’re a very different sort of writer than I usually feature on my blog – most are novelists who are passionate for the written word in general. I know you are passionate about comedy and the stage, but are you a reader? What are your favorite books? Your favorite authors?
Yes, I am a reader, but I don’t get to read as much as I would like to. Too busy performing, producing shows, auditioning, writing, etc. I am what you may call a binge reader, I don’t sit down and read all the time, but when I do, I might read 2 or 3 books in one sitting. My favorite kind of books to read are autobiographies, biographies or military or spy thrillers by authors like Tom Clancy.
9. What have you been up to professionally and personally since the publication of this book? What are your future plans?
Since Road Trippin… has been released, I have been actively promoting my book by making appearances at book club meetings, doing interviews and doing shows in the LA area. My future plans include writing a couple follow up books to Road Trippin… that go more in details about my life living in Texas & California.
10. If there is ONE thing you’d want fans to know about you, what would it be?
One thing I want my fans to know about me is that I’m a hard-worker, funny and love to create and entertain.
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
This is an annual event at most Half Price Books stores. If you missed it this year, keep your eyes peeled for signage in your favorite store next year.
Oh The Places You’ll Go!
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
There was also had a bowl of colored Gold Fish at the table with a pretty nifty sign of the book cover. Each kid got a party bag with an HPB cup inside so they could scoop goldfish from the bowl.
My kiddo with The Cat in the Hat (Kevin Pickle)
I think we were just as excited as the kids to take a picture with a real, live Cat in the Hat.
I got the idea for Truffula Tree Cupcakes on Pinterest. It’s chocolate cupcake mix, icing dyed green with food coloring, I added dark green sprinkles for fun, and cotton candy on a kebob stick. Do the cotton candy last minute, I tried to do it too soon and the humidity of Houston caused the cotton candy to crystallize and shrink. We had to buy a second batch of cotton candy and redo it right before the party.
Herodotus and Me
On Wednesday one of my book clubbers emailed me about my reading status. How far along was I in preparation for our discussion for Monday (now tomorrow).
We will be discussing The Histories by Herdotus.
When he emailed me I was only on Book 3 (out of 9), roughly 200 pages into the historian’s account (out of 953).
I sat down, promising myself I wouldn’t go to bed until I had complete Book 4…
I had to stop myself after completing Book 6.
It is not going to be difficult to finish this book by Monday. Now, Sunday afternoon, I’m to Book 9 and I didn’t read anything at all yesterday. You would expect Herodotus to be dry and boring, another clubber said it was like reading the bible. My best friend read the reblog of the North Africa post and said, “I WISH that sounded interesting to me.”
The fact that it doesn’t astounds me.
Ancient History fascinates me I’m riveted. Hooked. I want to know everything. So much that when I stopped to take a bath I took The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
Wednesday and Thursday alone, I read through most of King Darius I’s reign. I learned a long forgotten word from some government or history class long passed – oligarchy – and contemplated the reality of governments.
I also did a bit of research on Parnassus and enjoyed pulling my Oxford English Dictionary down to inspect with my handy-dandy turtle magnifying class, and I felt quite studious. These are the things that bring me joy.
Anakalian Whims 