September Readalikes: Two Worlds at Once

 

Patrick Ness's new novel, More Than This, comes out on September 10.  Explore more uncanny places in this month's readalikes.

September Readalikes: Two Worlds at Once

 

Patrick Ness's new novel, More Than This, comes out on September 10.  Explore more uncanny places in this month's readalikes.

More Blockbuster Books

I know we're all recovering from The Mortal Instruments, but brace yourselves! more action-packed films are on the way.

ONWARD TO THE TRAILERS!




Seventh Son, based on The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney
Y'all may have read this series when you were younger -- I read the first book and it is super creepy.  Will the movie deliver the chills, or is just a lot of explosions and dragons and Jeff Bridges swooping around?





Vampire Academy based on the series by Richelle Mead
Okay, I still have to read this one -- from the trailer I don't know what exactly is supposed to be going on here. Vampire prom? Why'd they kidnap that girl? Is there some sort of vampire society battle about to be unleashed here? And will those shoes still be in vogue by the time the movie comes out?




And of course you all know about Divergent! First look premiered at MTV's VMAs.




Many other popular series are in development or in production, including The Maze Runner, Fallen, Monument 14, The 5th Wave, and Uglies.


Are you excited for these movie adaptations?  Is there a series you want brought to the big screen?  Do you want more action adventure movies, or are you hankering for more realistic dramas like The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Spectacular Now?  And when is Hollywood going to knock it off with that dramatic foghorn effect already?


Share your ideas in the comments!

More Blockbuster Books

I know we're all recovering from The Mortal Instruments, but brace yourselves! more action-packed films are on the way.

ONWARD TO THE TRAILERS!




Seventh Son, based on The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney
Y'all may have read this series when you were younger -- I read the first book and it is super creepy.  Will the movie deliver the chills, or is just a lot of explosions and dragons and Jeff Bridges swooping around?





Vampire Academy based on the series by Richelle Mead
Okay, I still have to read this one -- from the trailer I don't know what exactly is supposed to be going on here. Vampire prom? Why'd they kidnap that girl? Is there some sort of vampire society battle about to be unleashed here? And will those shoes still be in vogue by the time the movie comes out?




And of course you all know about Divergent! First look premiered at MTV's VMAs.




Many other popular series are in development or in production, including The Maze Runner, Fallen, Monument 14, The 5th Wave, and Uglies.


Are you excited for these movie adaptations?  Is there a series you want brought to the big screen?  Do you want more action adventure movies, or are you hankering for more realistic dramas like The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Spectacular Now?  And when is Hollywood going to knock it off with that dramatic foghorn effect already?


Share your ideas in the comments!

Fierce Reads author event June 15

This Saturday is our big event as we welcome the Fierce Reads tour to the Teen Room!  Gennifer Albin (Crewel), Anna Banks (Of Triton), Leigh Bardugo (Siege and Storm), Jessica Brody (Unremembered) and Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14: Sky on Fire) are psyched to talk about their newest books, answer your questions, and sign books. 

We have all kinds of cool Fierce Reads giveaways that you won't want to miss!  And of course we've got extra copies of the books here at the library, but they are going fast -- stop by soon if you want to check these out before the event.
 
Saturday, June 15
2:00PM
Teen Room, Main Library
449 Broadway

Get ready for our henna tattoo program on May 29 with bookish tattoos and tattoos in books

Credit: Flavorwire

Before you commit to anything permanent, come to the Teen Room's henna tattoo program on May 29 and receive temporary adornment from a professional.

Especially if you're thinking of a literary tattoo.  Just think of all the books that have yet to inspire you!*







Meanwhile, you can read about mundane and magical** tats in these books. 

*Looking at literature-inspired tattoos will certainly add to your reading list.  Man, I have got to read Slaughterhouse-Five already.

**Which for dudes = rays of light shooting out of your body???  Ooookay.

Summer Reading Recommendations: Dystopia

Did you think I'd forgotten you, summer readers?  Nope nope nope.  Today's reading recommendations come from the Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, Kansas!  Thanks Kansas, for this dope flow-chart.  All these selections are dystopian-and-end-of-the-world-fiction.

Credit: Thanks good-wallpapers.com for this amazing visual

Did you read The Hunger Games?  Did you read The Hunger Games more than five times?  Okay, it's time for you to head over to the aforementioned flow-chart and read SOMETHING ELSE.

Immortal Beloved series by Cate Tiernan

Today I am recommending a book that I read my very own self!  How about that?

IMMORTAL BELOVED by Cate Tiernan
Finally FINALLY a supernatural YA novel that held my interest, with a romance that didn't make me want to barf and heave!

The deal: Nastasya (Nasty to her friends) has, in her own words, been around the block a few times.  That's bound to happen when you're 450 years old.  Been there, done that, been there again, did that and that and THAT till she passed out, etc.  Immortality sounds like a blast (who wouldn't want to be young, pretty and almost invunerable forever?) but the truth is it gets old (heh).  With all the time in the world, Nastasya finds it easier not to get attached to anyone -- regular humans are too...fragile.

Even so, when her best friend, Incy, uses dark magick to snap the spine of their cabbie, Nastasya decides she's had enough of the immortal party scene.  She decamps to River's Edge, a sort of immortals rehab retreat in the backwoods of Massachusetts.  River tries to help her kind rekindle a respect and appreciation both for life and for time itself.  Nasty's not so sure she's cut out for the simple, introspective routine, and neither are some of the other residents of River's Edge.  Especially Reyn: sullen, taciturn, and of course, smoking hot.  He gets under Nastasya's skin and brings bad, bad memories to the surface.

Here's the thing.  Nothing really happens in Immortal Beloved.  There are no action scenes, super-dramatic standoffs, last-ditch-save-the-world heroics, or even that much flashy magick.  It's just Nastasya getting her sh*t together and figuring out what kind of person she wants to be brave enough to be.  But following her path, where she starts to value simpler things and to care about the people around her, makes the reader care too.  It's both comforting and completely absorbing -- I could not put this book down and was kind of late for work one day.

Also, Nastasya is a total cynical badass -- as if Lisbeth Salander mashed up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Not so much butt-kicking, but smartmouthed, suspicious, fierce, and scared as hell to feel anything for anyone who could be taken away in the blink of an eye.  In other words, I love her, and no sooner did I finish Immortal Beloved than I grabbed the sequel, Darkness Falls.  (Which has a stupid cover but oh well.)  I suspect that after the soul-searching in Immortal Beloved, this is where all hell breaks loose.  Bring it, Cate Tiernan!

May 1: Kristin Cashore

Photo credit: Leslie Feagley, 2011.

I repeat: KRISTIN CASHOOOOOOOOOORE!

Yes, you heard right -- the renowned author of Graceling and Fire is debuting the long-desired Bitterblue here at your very own Cambridge Public Library on  
Tuesday, May 1 at 6:00PM.  We are holding the event in the lecture hall because we expect it to be tremenjous, so show up early to get your seat!

Read on for more info...

BITTERBLUE
Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the legacy of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. At 18 years old, Bitterblue is only just beginning to realize the scope of her responsibility—having relied heavily on her advisers to run the kingdom. But after she begins sneaking out at night to visit storyhouses and meeting sweet Teddy and dangerously sexy Sapphire, two thieves who only steal what has already been stolen, she starts realizing that she is surrounded by lies and there’s no way to know how far they extend. With no one to trust, how can Bitterblue find out what’s really going on in her own kingdom, and how can she help everyone to heal from the 35-year spell cast by a madman? Read an excerpt here: http://gracelingrealm.com/excerpt_bitterblue.html

Kristin Cashore received her master's degree in children's literature in 2003 from Simmons College, where she was named a Virginia Haviland Scholar. She lives in Cambridge, MA. Bitterblue features ciphers and codes and even an entirely new language and alphabet which Kristin created with a professional linguist. Visit the Graceling realm: http://gracelingrealm.com/

Book trailer roundup!

Get on the wait list now, because these are going to fly off the shelves...

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi




Legend by Marie Lu




The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater*





*She made this trailer herself!

Steampunk panel at Boston Book Festival

Is on October 15!  The panel is at 11:00 AM and will be moderated by yours truly and feature the awe-inspiring presence of Kelly Link, Gavin Grant, Holly Black and Allison DeBlasi.

Get excited!  This visual aid will assist you:

GOAT STAMPEDE (in video and fiction)

A few weeks ago I read a pretty good book called What Comes After by Steve Watkins. It was fast and a totally absorbing read, but super duper sad. There was abuse and heartache and romance... and goats. So many goats! Most of the book took place on a goat farm, and the goats had babies so there were goat kids. It was so great.

I just picked up Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore, and lo and behold - GOAT FARM! Actually it's an herb farm, but there are a few adorable goats that roam around, and get caught in trees, and oh my goodness it's amazing. (There is also a cute but surly cowboy that lives next door, kitchen magic, family rivalries and Vanilla Cokes. And I'm only on chapter 3.)

Anyway, enjoy these adorable goats, and if you want to extend the experience, pick up one of these goat-related books.

Swoon.

My Unfair Godmother

I am back on the book recommendation train, people! Because summer isn't over yet, thank goodness, and there is still time for fun reads.*

Perhaps you are that studious, well-behaved kid who sees moving in with your dad and his family for your senior year of high school as the perfect opportunity to reinvent yourself.

As bad. Real bad. Dating a rebel with a motorcycle, eyerolling, sarcasm -- the whole ball of wax. Because your dad (who is a librarian, by the way) has never been there for you after the divorce, so why should you care what he thinks?


Then you get busted for spray painting city hall and being bad is starting to feel lousy. If only you could fix things. Like with magic, yeah, that's the ticket.


Sadly for our heroine, Tansy Miller, a lot more is going to go awry before she can make peace with her dad, his wife, her stepbrother, the mayor, and the police chief's hottie son. When her fairy godmother, Chrysanthemum Everstar, takes her on as an extra-credit project, Tansy rates 78% pathetic on the Pathetic-o-meter.  She has three wishes -- three chances -- to put her life on the awesome track.

                          I picked at my pillowcase dejectedly. "Money won't buy me friends."


                          "If you wish for enough, it will," Chrissy said brightly. "People like to say
                          they can't be bought, but they really can."

Tansy's wish-tasptrophe results in Robin Hood and his merry men holding up convenience stores all over town, a highly unpleasant trip to medieval England, and a nasty ex-fairy targeting Tansy and her future child.  Not to mention the police chief's son is still peeved with her.

It is all extremely hilarious.

                         



*Because you've finished all your required reading, haven't you? I knew you could!

Welcome to Bordertown

So today I woke up and remembered I'm a librarian and stuff, so why not tell you about a book for a change?


Welcome to Bordertown, edited by Holly Black and Ellen Kushner

Bordertown is a halfway place, between the human world and the Realm.  Elves and humans, magic and technology, exist side by side.  Not peacefully though.  Most of the runaways and dreamers who flee to B-Town are surprised to find there are still gangs, still drugs, still people (human and Faerie) who will take advantage of you.

So why would you ever go there?  To see a whole new set of stars in the night sky, to dance all night on Soho Street, to start an Internet empire, to find your long-lost family.  And the first beer at the Dancing Ferret is on the house.

Beautiful Creatures Unlock the Curse Contest

Read all about it at the Beautiful Creatures blog. Inspired by the supernatural goings-on in the book, this competition requires you to read.

Bwah ha ha ha haaaa! (evil librarian laughter)

Yes indeed, the challenges can only be solved using clues that you will find in the following six books:
Tithe by Holly Black
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

Only one lucky winner will receive a custom-made cameo locket, so get cracking!