The Sunday Salon: Not a Bad Week.. not bad at all.

Outside my window: We got snow last night, and it's still there this Saturday evening, nice and crunchy. It's very cold out there!

I am listening to: Enrique singing I Have Always Loved You. Sweet song. I am anxious to listen to my new Michael Buble Christmas CD though. Waiting just one more week! Just a few more days actually!

Song of the week: Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson... the band jamming son played this at gig this week (on the drums) and to prepare he played this original over and over again, which I didn't mind at all




TV Talk: All caught up with Once Upon a Time. Really enjoying it. Finished Merlin season three, got weepy when he (Arthur) finally formed the round table and when Merlin finally stuck the sword in the stone. LOVE this show. Sad, now, to have to wait for another season.


Reading Report
Books I've finished: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (a blitz of a day or two!)
Books I've started: Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (shouldn't take long if I can sit long enough)
Books I'm still reading: A Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan (several more chapters down!)
Books I want to start: All the same ones as last week! Inheritance tops the list now though.

I am thinking: that I must be in reading sort of slump. Also, that it can't be past mid-November, really? And... is it weird that I just created a cowboy board on Pinterest? What is up with THAT?

I am grateful for: lots and lots of things. I'll list some for you this coming week.

Happy Thoughts: Snow! Vacation! Food! Christopher Paolini tickets!

What I learned this week: it will make your arms sore if you carry two bags of Kneaders food (holding soup and bread bowls) while balancing a bread platter between them, all the way from your car, into the library, down the stairs and to the meeting were people are waiting for their food.

Around the house: I bought some Christmas lights today. Thought about getting someone to go on the roof to put them up... but then realized there was snow up there. That makes things just a bit too scary, know what I mean?

Recipe of the Week: I didn't make anything different and interesting this week, sadly. It was a depressing food week... except for the jello I made for book club which was really quite refreshing.

Favorite things of the week: Book Club! Though it was a small showing... and that for one of the most well-loved books of time! But oh, well. I guess life has been too busy this week for people. Another favorite thing was going to a fundraiser for the library's Center for Story and having a bidding war on a Las Vegas getaway with a co-worker (she won) and hearing the best storyteller ever (Donald Davis) tell us some wonderful stories. Very fun.

Family Matters: Not much new with the kids and family this week. Status quo. Hanging in there... plugging along. Last night all kids were sleeping at home. That was nice. All present and accounted for.

Things we discussed at home this week: College son wrote a paper on how he thinks the country has their priorities screwed up because athletes get paid so much more than teachers. I read this paper over and over and over again in my attempt to help edit.

Things I hope to accomplish this week: Thanksgiving! My assignment? Fruit salad, stuffed celery and pie of my choice. Thinking about Breaking Dawn too. Maybe the sisters will go with me? Hmmm... need to think of something else fun to do with the kids. Maybe the tree next Sunday? Lights up? Even some shopping? Wow, I can't believe it's really time....

The Blog Report: I reported on my library day last weekend, I gave you some fun links, Brodi Ashton picked five books that are important to her, and I shared my TBR shelf... again.

A Few of My Favorite Bookish Links....

.... or Stuff I Found Interesting This Week!

The Hunger Games Trailer... very good stuff here. So excited for this movie. My guess is, you've probably watched it a gazillion times by now, but if you haven't, it's time to click on over and watch NOW. From this first impression feel, the casting seems pretty good...except for Peeta, but I'm willing to give him chance. Just not how I pictured him, you know?!

Markus Zusak lists his Top Ten favorite book characters... included on the list.... Mr. Collins from P and P (wait, WHAT?) and Sam-I-Am. Click on over to see who else is on there. One thing is sure, I've added Gilbert Grape to my want-to-read mental list... again.

Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath, worries that while her blog is funny, her book is not. Really, it's okay. I say you CAN write a funny blog AND a heart wrenching book. Yes, you can.

Neal Shusterman writes a beautiful blog post about his mom.... beware, you may weep just a bit.

The Story Siren, blogger extraordinaire, reminds us what NOT to do on our blogs. Great reminder here. I hope I'm in compliance.

John Green, once again, makes a video that makes me smile. In this one he lists his five favorite zombie apocalypses. Did I tell you? I just don't get zombies, but he makes me want to. Sort of. Maybe.

Josh sings "Smile" as a tribute to all those Regis has interviewed in his career, that have passed on. Goosebumps and maybe even a tear or two...... oh wait, did I say bookish links? Oops!

There's probably more, but I can't remember them, so this is it for now.

What did YOU find interesting this week? (Bookish or not.)

Review: The Death Cure by James Dashner

Book: The Death Cure by James Dashner
Genre: YA Dystopian
Rating: B+
For: Supporting Local Authors, and finishing the series of course
From: I bought it... Amazon I think?

This book concludes the story of Thomas and his friends began in The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials. Since both those books end on fairly crazy cliff hangers, you know that a review of this book will be spoilery to those, so beware.

Anyway, so this one begins with Thomas in the headquarters of WICKED with all the kids that survived the Scorch Trials. Teresa keeps insisting that WICKED is good, but to Thomas, it just doesn't feel right, and he is very very confused about Teresa in general, given the stuff that happened in the previous book. So, when they tell the kids they can have their memories back, some go for it, but Thomas says no way dudes.

That makes those in charge not happy and once again, Thomas is running for his life.

Oh, but first, they tell everyone who is immune to the Flare and who is not. So that's a bit sad.

Much of this book finds us in a strange future Denver where the Flare is feared by all, and everyone is eyeballing everyone else and life seems quite disrupted. Thomas finally gets a look of the world he was supposedly suppose to help.

Meanwhile, a new group of dissenters crops up, but Thomas has no idea who to trust. It's all very confusing and frustrating.

Which leads me to say that I, as a reader, often felt very confused too. I had a hard time following some of the issues this book brought up. Maybe I was reading too fast? I don't know, but I would have to say that for much of it, I just didn't get it. I found my brain wandering, which was unexpected for this particular book!

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the story though. Of course I was anxious for Thomas and his buddies and was often biting my fingers in worry for the situations they were in. And I so wanted him to figure things out and to finally understand who were the good guys and who were the bad. As far as the ending itself? Well, you go read it and let me know what YOU think! :)

All in all, a very fun series that I'm sad to see end, though I do look forward to what's next from James Dashner. You know that whatever it is, I'll be there.

Bottom line: I enjoyed it.

Other Reviews:

That's What She Read
S. Krishna's Books
BiblioJunkies
Karin's Book Nook

Wow, I hadn't seen the trailer yet, but it's pretty impressive:

Five Hours with Four Authors

Last Saturday I went to the Teen Book Festival at the Provo Library. It was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday.... spending time with bookish people and listening to authors! I thought I'd write a post telling you a bit more about it then just the quick mention from Sunday's post.

This event highlighted four YA dystopian authors and had a bunch of fun things for teens to do. I, not being a teen (ha)  ignored the "fun stuff" and just went from one author presentation to the other to other for five hours straight, along with Jenny who was with me and is thus the "we" in this narration.

The first hour: Ally Condie author of Matched and Crossed

Ally was the keynote speaker and kicked off this event. She showed some awesome pictures of southern Utah and talked about how these cool places were the inspiration for the setting in Crossed. (Check out the road trip she and Rob Wells have planned just for you!) She spent much time here as a kid hiking and exploring and it was only natural, she said, that it ended up in a book. One of the main things she wanted to get across is that we all end up at some sort of turning point in our lives where we have to decide do we go forward with courage and face the canyon that's ahead of us, or do we turn back. We all have "crossings" to make.

Someone asked her, which character in her book would she want to date? She laughed and said that she put the best things about her husband into both Ky and Xander so that she, as a writer would be torn as to which one was the "best," just as her character Cassia is torn. There's no way she could pick!

After she was done, we ran to her signing to get our Crossed ARCs signed, then off to the next presentation.

The second hour: Rob Wells author of Variant

Rob spent his hour talking about the characteristics of dystopian novels and how they are different from post apocalyptic novels. He first defined "utopia" which is "a good place."  So dsytopia is a good place gone wrong.... or a utopian society with a fatal flaw. He felt like dystopian books would have:

• a society that plays a major role
• elements of control and loss of freedom
• restricted information
• characters are dehumanized
• an illusion of a perfect world
• antagonism to nature
• conformity is good, individuality is bad
• a hero that feels trapped, recognizes a problem, discovers restricted info, is NOT an outsider, is willing to take risks... etc.

So, what do you think? With those parameters, are we defining our dystopian stuff correctly? Or do we all have a tendency to get dystopian mixed up with post apocalyptic? Or does any of it even matter? 

With all that being said, I wondered if he thought his own book was dystopian, and he did answer that question by saying not really, that it is dystopian-ish... a term I totally love. 

Afterwards he took questions which included explaining his book a bit and telling about the Amazon book bomb his friends pulled off last week.

When he was done, we ran across the hall to get his autograph on Variant, (where he revealed that he had been "stalking" my blog which made me feel oddly content) then back over for....

The third hour: Kristen Landon author of The Limit

I haven't read this book, so I bought it then and there. It is more of middle grade type book about a kid who, because his parents are in debt, gets sent to some sort of work house. I'll let you know what I think, if I ever get to read it!

She spent her hour listing some of her favorite dystopian YA books, including like Uglies, The Giver, Birthmarked, The Ship Breaker, Brave New Wold, 1984, Divergent, Matched, etc.

After running across the hall to get her to sign the book I'd just bought, we started...

The fourth hour: Elana Johnson author of Possession

I found Elana's presentation interesting because she is sort of new to the whole author thing. Most of authors I notice have been writing forever and may or not have been trying to be published forever too, but Elana just sort of decided a few years ago to write and then she went for it, received the obligatory gazillions of rejections, but got her one (you just need one she said!) offer and away she goes! Her presentation was the journey of a book from beginning to end... all the steps it takes from being written, to getting queried, to finding an agent, editor and publisher, to going through revisions and copy setting and keyboarding entry (did you know someone has to re-type the whole book out?) and then the ARC is made and then changes are again made and finally, the book comes out. It takes roughly two years. Really really interesting.

She answered a bunch of questions regarding querying and talked a little about her book. I already had her sign my copy of her book at an earlier event this summer, so for our break we stretched!

The fifth hour: Dystopian panel

All the authors joined together to discuss their books, their writing, dysopian stuff, and their favorites. I love panels. It's very fun to see the different personalities all together. The only thing I wrote down from this discussion was what they mentioned as their all time favorite book:

Ally: Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Rob: It was Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, but changed to Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Elana: Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey
Kristen: Holes by Louis Sachar

Very fun to see what they came up with off the top of their heads.... all these with rave and passionate reviews and pleas for us to read them. Millions and Skin Hunger... now on my list to be read!

What a lovely lovely day. Other bloggers I saw there for just a brief moment (besides Jenny of course) were Jenni Elyse, Emily, Enna Isilee and Diana. My sister and her friend also joined us for Ally's part. Who else came? What'd you think about it all?

Next year, they plan to have Susan Beth Pfeffer and Jonathan Mayberry as guests! Time to finish up the Life as we Knew It books and read Rot and Ruin! Maybe I can get into zombies after all.

Top Ten Tuesday: My Oldest TBR's!

Once in awhile an opportunity comes along where I get to show off my lovely TBR shelf... the shelf I look at every night as I'm falling asleep. I post it now and then, but since it's always changing, I figure that's okay. So here it is again:

My newest books are stacked in two teetering piles on the floor
in the bottom left. See them? The books I'm listing here are all hidden behind the ones you see
because of course there's double shelving going on here!
Gah, what a mess1 

Today's topic for Top Tens brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish is to list ten books that have been on your TBR shelf for the longest time. Well, this shelf has books that have been on there for YEARS... so I'm going to reach back to the very dustiest corner of this mess and let you know about ten random ones. I still hope that sometime I'll read them, even if they've already been here for years and years.

Top Ten Oldest TBR Books 

1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
2. The Master by Colm Toibin
3. Vanity Fair by William Thackary
4. Broken Music by Sting
5. The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
6. Oil! by Upton Sinclair
7. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
8. Peony in Love by Lisa See
9. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
10. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

Wow. I could go on for pages and pages! So tell me... of these ten, which ones do you think it's very sad that I haven't yet read? Do you see any other books in my picture that need my attention pronto?

Authors Pick Five: Brodi Ashton

As part of the blog tour of Everneath that I'm participating in (see my review here) of course I had to also ask Brodi Ashton, my favorite author question:


What five books are most important or influential to you?


Here's what she had to say:


1. Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg. I know it's a book-clubby pick, but I loved that book as a teenager, and I was inspired by the past/present style of storytelling. I'm sure it influenced me while I wrote EVERNEATH, because of it's structure.


2. Dracula by Bram Stoker. I was sort of obsessed with this book in college. My mom (an English Teacher) always stressed how the book isn't ultimately about a bloodsucking vampire. It's about love. Sure, mom. Sure. 


3. Anything by Jane Austen. I love her. I love her characters. Especially Emma. 


4. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. After I read this book, I told my agent, "My sequel is going to be exactly like Anna and the French Kiss!" And he was all, "Um... Brodi, your book is dark paranormal about the Underworld. Hers is about an American girl finding love living abroad in France." And I was all, "Your problem being?"


5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Economy of words. No punctuation needed. Me jealous. 


I love those books too! Except I have yet to read Fried Green Tomatoes. Better add that to the list!




Everneath is Brodi's first book. But there are more planned as it's the first in a trilogy. Besides being a YA author, she is also a mom to two boys. According to her blog (which is a blast and you must read) she loves cinnamon bears and diet Coke. I also happen to know she plays the piano! I look forward to many many books from Brodi!

Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Book: Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Genre: YA Paranormal
Rating: A
For: Book Blog Tour (book comes out on January 24th)
From: An ARC passed from blogger to blogger for the tour

I've been one of those bloggers who have been waiting a long time to read a Brodi Ashton book. I've been paying attention as she went through all the ups and downs of getting published these past couple of years, cheering her on from the sidelines and so it's been quite the reward to finally be able to read this, her first book, and now to finally be able to tell you about it!

This is story based on the myth about Persephone, a myth I'm not at all familiar with so I can't tell you if it mirrors the original much or not, but here's a little summary. It starts out with Nikki waking up from something called The Feed where she has been attached is some sort of way to this immortal guy named Cole. Once awake, she has a choice to stay with him in the Everneath, or to return to her family. She chooses to return because there's a face in her memory that she simple cannot forget.

It turns out this face belongs to her boyfriend Jack. When she comes back, however, all is different between them and she is so changed that it's hard for her to figure out how to deal with it. She also has a strained relationship with her dad too that needs fixing. But she only has six months until she has to go back, and what she has to go back is not pretty.

Meanwhile, Cole shows up and causes her all kinds of stress because she is torn and because he lets her know she still has a time to change her mind. Ugh! It's all so complicated! If she does one thing, this bad thing will happen, and if she does the other, this other bad thing will happen! And Cole is an absolute lovely bad guy, and  Jack is an awesome cool good one.

I truly did love this emotionally charged story. Lots of delicious drama and heart wrenching issues. The whole supernatural element was especially unique which was refreshing in this paranormal saturated book world. A very easy to read, page turning book. Way to go Brodi! :)

Bottom line: I loved it!

Other Reviews:

Jenni Elyse
Sara B. Larson
J.R. Johansson