Alas, we’ve reached the end of another BOOK WEEK. It’s been oh-so-fun and I can’t  wait to do it again next spring when my own book comes out. Also, we’re off next week for Thanksgiving, but will be back in the brightest of nerdy holiday spirit when we return on Monday, November 26th. Til then, here’s a huge chunk of book-centered procrastination: 1. Need a name stat for that character in that novel you’re writing? Try the Random Name Generator! [GalleyCat] 2. Helen Fielding is going to release a new Bridget Jones album next fall!!!! And it looks like Bridget’s going to be a mom in this one. Yes, that’s the sound of my squeeing my pants. [GalleyCat] 3. Wondering how humans might evolve over the next few centuries? Check out this list of “20 Essential Books About the Next Step in Human Evolution”. [i09] 4. Also, you never know when a Hurricane Sandy-like event might hit your neighborhood, so consider purchasing these “Survival Books to Keep on Your Bookshelf in Case of an Apocalypse.” You might want to also consider getting them in both physical and electronic forms, just in case your house is destroyed and you’re left with nothing but your relatively-easy-to-power-with-a-small-generator-or-crank-radio e-reader. [i09] 5. BTW, we’re going to be posting holiday gift ideas for nerds starting the week after Thanksgiving and going up until the week before Christmas. But just in case you want to get a head start on your list, friend of FaN, Kim Malgrem, has put together an awesome Pinterest board of “Christmas Ideas for Book Nerds.” Yes, please to the $42 JANE EYRE scarf in the featured image. Seriously thinking of looking into doing a custom order for a THE COLOR PURPLE one. [Kim Talks Books] 6. Kristine Kathryn...

Last week, I went through probably one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. Hurricane Sandy was barreling towards New York and I was right in her path. Stuck inside my flooded apartment, I was forced by my boss to find an uncongenial means to get to work. Without power, internet, and spotty cell phone service – I turned to books! Yeah, big deal, we all have books.  But, in this case – they were my lifeline. Stuck on the flooded New Jersey side of the Hudson River, and like thousands of others in my area, I was desperately trying to find a way across the river. While New York City is only a stone’s throw from the Jersey waterfront, in this case – it might have well been miles away. The state was no help. With PATH trains and the Holland Tunnel flooded, the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington Bridge quickly became parking lots. Not sure what to do, I decided to try and drive in. Driving in my neighborhood quickly became next to impossible. Streets were flooded or littered with debris, while others were sparks of downed live eclectic wires. I was given permission from my boss to stay home for the day, but was told it was mandatory to report for work, tomorrow. Years before moving to the New York metro area, I purchased several guides to familiarize myself with everything from subways to flea markets. Frommer’s New York City Guide 2006 and Newcomer’s Handbook for Moving to and Living in New York City. I think I might have opened these books one other time before. Initially, I purchased these to read on my train commute to work, but never got around to really reading them. Since then, they have sat on a shelf collecting dust. Turns out…...

Yes, yes, I think they are. Get any of these bookends for your own or your favorite fellow book nerd’s shelf at Knob Creek Metal Art’s Etsy page. [via The Mary...

For Book Week. I am reading a book by National Book Award finalist, Laini Taylor, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone has renewed my hope and faith in fiction. It’s the story of Karou, an art student in Prague. Karou has just discovered that her first boyfriend, Kaz, cheated on her with a mutual acquaintance.  She has broken up with him, but he isn’t taking no for an answer. He shows up to her art class as, surprise, the nude model she has to sketch. However, Karou was given a beaded necklace of wishes by her guardian, Brimstone. These beads represent the smallest available wishes, and with them Karou can make minor wishes. Some of her previous wishes have included the blue hair that flows straight from her scalp and the bushy eyebrows that she wished on a romantic rival — and in this case, Karou is so incensed that she uses her wishes to make her ex itch in some embarrassing places. She straddles two worlds: the world of mortals and the world of wishes and chimera. This book thrills me and I haven’t even read a quarter of it yet. Taylor spins an incredible otherworld full of women who are part snake and messengers who are part crow and part bat. This is the world of the chimera, creatures that appear to be the composites of several different types of animals. Brimstone sells wishes and he raised Karou. “[His] arms and massive torso were the only human parts of him, though the tough flesh that covered them was more hide than skin. His square pectorals were riven with ancient scar tissue, one nipple entirely obliterated by it, and his shoulders and back were etched in more scars: a network of puckered white cross-hatchings. Below the waist he became else-thing. His...

Apparently the latest ANNA KARENINA remake, which stars (the rather unappreciated by Ernessa) Keira Knightley and Jude Law ain’t half-bad! Check out the visually intriguing trailer, which I quite...

I love literary novels, love, love, love them. But let’s face it, man cannot live on exquisitely-crafted prose alone. Also, the line between literary and boring is thin, and I’ve been burned bad — as in usually my “Worst Novel of the Year” pick is a book that has crossed that line egregiously bad. So I often take “great literature” breaks with sci-fi. And whenever, someone says on Facebook says that they’d like to read a book that’s good but not too heavy I tend to suggest sci-fi. So just in case you’re looking for the same, here are my favorite sci-fi reads of the year so far. Title: REDSHIRTS Author: John Scalzi Why I Decided to Read It: I’d heard a lot about Scalzi, but had never dived into one of his books. However, the plot to REDSHIRTS, which basically boils down to, crew members on a Star Trek-like ship, start to realize that they’re basically disposable, and try to figure out why, seemed too good a concept to pass by. I gifted the audiobook to my husband for his birthday, and it immediately sent him into book thrall to the point that he was nagging and nagging me to read it, too. Finally I did and it sent me into the exact same thrall. What I Loved: Scalzi goes big in this one — you think you know how big he’s going, but then he goes up and beyond that. Every writer should read this just for the lesson in having balls. Writing Lessons Learned: You can write a compelling book with well-formed characters barely using any physical descriptors at all. Pretty impressive. Title: Q: A Novel Author: Evan J. Mandery Why I Decided to Read It: Q: A Novel got a great...

Makes me wonder about what my characters are gossiping about behind my back. Oh, who am I kidding, they’re probably complaining about how long it’s taking me to finish this...

Dear Dr. Miro, My partner and I have become so busy that “getting busy” never happens. I really miss our long sex sessions but it’s been forever and I’m not sure where we would even fit it in – pun kind of intended. We both love reading so maybe a book recommendation? I still find her incredibly sexy but we never seem to have the time. Sincerely, Miss D. Sex Dear MDS, First of all, if your lives are really that busy, the idea of a long juicy sexcapade does not seem appropriate. Of course you miss those moments but, obviously they are not a priority. There is no quick fix to your conundrum. I highly recommend getting over the idea of having epic love making carnivals and re-start your engines with some simple quickies. I am sure that just the idea of setting aside long periods of precious moments is enough to exhaust you. A fabulous book on this is Megan Andelloux’s Hot and Fast: Sexy, Spontaneous Quickies for Passionate Orgasms. You want an easy how-to for Making It with yourself and others? Hot & Fast is YOUR book. Using humor, specific suggestions and accurate information applicable in our crazed modern age, Andelloux takes readers on an exciting journey through the world of the oft dismissed Quickie, in all it’s different options and glories. Stop taking your sexual lives so seriously and remind yourselves how “the whole wide world is basically a sexual play space”. You will find page after page of suggestions on how to make your Sexy Time convenient AND delicious. Plus, Andelloux even included a shopping guide – you have to love that! Lust & Happiness, Dr. Miro If you liked this post, please do us the further boon of...

…before they yank it down, like they have on most of the other nerd sites. This trailer for THE HOST, the movie version of the book by Stephenie Meyer, looks halfway decent. I was wondering how they would to bring a novel that’s like 50% interior thought and arguments to the big screen, but it looks like the outside-the-head story is more than enough to make for a compelling...

…or at the very least get a very nasty paper cut. Pick up your Jane Austen bandages for $4.95 at Archie McPhee. [via Fashionably...

In honor of another Book Week at FaN, I will share with you Chapter 3 in my book entitled: FMLA, what the Fuck? Please buy it, please, please, please. I expect it to be on the shelves sometime in the next decade. There is nothing more confusing than leaves of absence. Ask anybody. In the immortal words of Fletch: “Can I ask anybody now?” (I love Fletch. He was probably a nightmare employee, never went to Open Enrollment meetings, saw prostitutes constantly, but he’s just so damn loveable. And, hey, speaking of Book Week — Fletch was a book! A whole series of books as a matter of fact. Here’s a hint though, I read the first Fletch and the book Fletch wasn’t half as loveable as Chevy Chase’s Fletch. I’m just warning you, I’d hate for you to be disappointed. Plus, there is this whole teenage hooker plot line that was most definitely not in the movie. Consider yourself warned.) Comments and questions that came to me in response to my last 2 posts (here and here) on leaves made me think that maybe I wasn’t explaining it well and they’ve prompted me to bore y’all one more time. This time I’m just focusing on one thing, and it’s the one thing that I have to explain more than any other thing: There is a difference between leave programs and programs that pay you if you are on leave. This is the concept that employees and others confuse more than anything else. For example, after someone read my Paternity Leave post, I received an email about someone who recently had a baby. This woman’s child unfortunately was born with special needs. The email stated: “She took 6 weeks of maternity leave when the...

Finally! A movie that looks as good as the book it’s based...

I like to read at least one self-help book and one writing book every year. But this year I got lucky, because the best self-help book I read also happened to be a great guide to handling the uglier emotional aspects of writing like fear, doubt, and chronic procrastination. It’s called THE TOOLS, and it changed my writing life. I first heard about co-writer, Barry Michels, a therapist who is particularly popular among Hollywood screenwriters, in this New Yorker article. The article (which is very much worth reading in full) made me long to have the money and clout to see this unconventional therapist once a week myself, but I am in possession of neither, so I settled for buying THE TOOLS, the book he co-authored with his mentor, Phil Stutz. The core of Michels’s and Stutz’s philosophy might be summed up as “Stop whining about your problems and address them already with this set of tools we’re giving you.” As a consummate whiner and chronic problem haver, I found this approach refreshing. And even better, it worked! Writing-wise, I’ve never been happier. I fret, procrastinate, and beat myself up less. And I find myself more than grateful for the tools as I go about my day-to-day writing life. Can’t get yourself to face the blank page? There’s a tool for that! Worried that your writing isn’t good enough, won’t ever be good enough? There’s a tool for that! Prone to self-sabotage? There’s a tool for that! The pessimistic voices in your head getting you down? There’s a tool for that! Anyone who has ever been prone to spiraling into self-doubt in the middle of the night will appreciate having a tool that effectively shuts down negative thoughts and allows you to get back...

Last BOOK WEEK, we featured this $70 perfume which makes your e-Reader smell like an old-fashioned book for nearly the price of the e-Reader itself. But now there’s a much cheaper, $9.99, Axe-like aerosol e-reader spray called Smell of Books, and it comes in several different flavors from “Classic Musty” to “New Book Smell.” We live in a beautiful world. Via Smell of Books  ...

My regular readers know, I write about video game design, business, and sometimes the mobile app scene. For Book Week, I decided to read something equally nerdy. That would be the graphic novel Psy-Comm. I have the privilege of knowing the author, Tony Salvaggio. As you’ll see below, he is one of those mad scientist personalities. He is a member of two bands, an author, a video game artist, and if there is any time left, I’m sure he eats and sleeps like the rest of us. So its been one of my blogging goals to score an interview. As for Psy-Comm, this thing is a 188 page graphic novel. But it moves really fast. I think I read the whole thing in about 1.5 hours. Part of that is the quick plot movement, but part of it is that it’s drawn in a very cinematic style. The frames are large and action oriented, with some pages only having about one sentence of text. The experience is more like watching a movie sometimes. Here’s my quick summary, without spoilers. The Psy-Comms are a group of psychic troopers, who each have really unique powers. I’d say it’s like the Matrix meets Harry Potter meets X-Men. But there is an interesting socio-political commentary, in which war is entertainment, and the media is woven into the whole battlefield environment. Somehow, with all this grand fare, the book also has a really tight interpersonal story that deals with young people coping with the loss of their loved ones in wartime. I’m honestly very surprised this isn’t a movie.  I’d see it. To be honest, I’m not a big graphic novel fan, but this one grabbed me. So here we go, the interview with author Tony Salvaggio: Matt: Psy-Comm could...

In a strange coincidence, a bunch of movies based on books I’ve actually read are coming out this winter, and it’s BOOK WEEK II. So yeah, my job is pretty easy this week. First up, WORLD WAR Z, which I read this summer off a recommendation from CH. I was wondering how the movie would capture the global nature of the plot or its documentary like narrative. The answer is that it totally won’t, if the trailer is any indication. It could easily be called, “Brad Pitt and His Family Are the Only Ones We Should Care About in Zombie Crisis.” Check it out...

There are probably around a dozen books in my library that I either haven’t started or haven’t finished. It’s a shame, sort of. A few are loaners from family that I’ll get to when everything else around me is exhausted. Several I purchased because I love the author, and the premise sounded interesting, but I get distracted by shiny new stories, so I lay those older books aside, promising to pick them up at the soonest opportunity. And admittedly, there are a couple who I’m half-way through but found myself getting so overwhelmed or bored with minute detailing of history (I’m looking at you 1491) that I had to book mark them and cleanse my mind with some YA before even thinking of cracking them open again. A good number, of these neglected tomes, are books on writing. So my house is over-run with books. Also, I live with somebody who has lots of books of their own. If I mention wanting to buy a new and exciting book, he’ll eyeball the stack of unread novels and history books precariously perched on the nightstand next to my pillow. “Why do you want to buy another book when you still have these to read?” (It should be noted that this person always gifts me with at least one book on Christmas and birthdays.) Since I’m not made of money, and my storage space is finite, the library is my go-to book fix. Libraries are easy. Borrow a book and then hand it back once you’ve thoroughly examined it’s world. But some of those books affect me so much, I must own them. There is an odd power that story has over a person. When it really connects, it’s as if a piece of my soul...

Oh, guys, it’s been yet another wonderful BOOK WEEK, and I can’t wait to do it again in the fall. Sadly, we’re off for the next two weeks — those Olympics ain’t gonna obsessively watch themselves– but do come back to read or re-read the best blogumns we’ve written since our last summer hiatus. Meanwhile here’s a whole crapload of stuff I’ve been storing away like a really nerdy squirrel for Book Week. 1. Just in time for the Olympics, comes this list of “Top 89 Books about Girls and Women in Sports.” Big thanks to Dr. Miro for sending this around. [bitchmedia] 2.Heya, funny folks! Cracked.com is looking for writers! [GalleyCat] 3. This is funny, because a trailer for the movie version of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY would totally look like this if it were made today. I think this is supposed to horrify us, but it just made me want to watch it again. 4. This is by far the best book review ever. Do yourself a favor and definitely click through. [RobinSloan.com] 5. Forget GAME OF THRONES, Ron Moore (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) will be turning Diana Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER, one of my favorite time travel stories, into a television series. Yes! Yes! Yes! [i09] 6. This list of “16 Books Challenged for Their Gay Content” sounds like a must-read list to me. My favorite book of all time, THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker, made the cut, and it really does make my heart ache to think that there are school libraries in our nation that refuse to stock it. Another big thanks to Dr. Miro for bringing this item to our attention — she really loves BOOK WEEK. [Huffington Post] 7. This list of the 5 Best and 5 Worst...

Thank you, Jimmy Fallon, for turning one of your signature bits into a series of hilarious books.  Thank you, also, Jimmy Fallon, for allowing your newest book to play music! Late night talk shows have been a big television network battleground for ratings and advertising dollars since Tonight! starring Steve Allen began airing on NBC on September 27, 1954. Once Johnny Carson took over as host, he cemented the late night talk format and all of the networks, looking for extra advertising cash got into the game. After a whirlwind of host shuffling, and numerous mistakes by NBC, they did one thing right, and on March 2, 2009 Jimmy Fallon was hired as host of Late Night. It would take a few months, but Fallon made the show his own by banking on his sketch comedy experience and creating a different vibe from previous hosts.  Some of Jimmy’s signature bits include Celebrity Whispers, Models and Buckets, Slow Jamming the News, Cell Phone Shootout, Spin That Wheel of Carpet Samples and a ton more. Jimmy will also often invite guests to participate in sketches (such as 80’s dating shows or acting without hands) and his crew members have made several reality series parodies such as Jersey Floor and The Real Housewives of Late Night. The show also broke the television talk show mold by making frequent use of social media and the internet.  An entire team of bloggers are devoted to his website and interacting with fans online.  On the set, Jimmy has a Mac computer on his desk and plays weekly hash tag games on Twitter, where he will actually read viewer posts to a funny topic he Tweets earlier in the day.  Even before the show launched fans had the opportunity to choose on...

Ugh! I hate when I do this: send myself a link, with no reference as to who to thank for or ~via. But this “Writer’s Plea” is awesome, so if you’re a friend of mine and you posted this on your blog or FB wall, consider yourself...

A travel journal is a kind of quest tale. In 1970 poet Edward Field journeyed to Afghanistan questing for Sufis (as a Gurdjieff fan); “sex, as all travelers are;” and “a little hotel clinging to a rock in the middle of a rushing river” which he saw in a National Geographic in his dentist’s waiting room. And while a tourist goes looking for sights and souvenirs, a lone traveler with a notebook is seeking transformation. Kabuli Days: Travels in Old Afghanistan is the journal of his inner and outer travels, published forty years later but still relevant. Afghanistan is ever with us. 1970 was only three years before Afghanistan’s king was deposed and the Russians invaded, before the mujahedeen and the Taliban and the decades of wars that still continue. Field’s an accomplished poet (After the Fall: Poems Old and New, 2007, among many others) and memoirist (The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag, 2006, on Greenwich Village bohemia), known for a direct poetic voice, “the simple language of truth.” Born in 1924, he became a poet in World War II. He was in his mid-forties when he wrote these pages. A travel journal takes its shape not from authorial design, like a novel, but the inescapable rhythms and patterns of a life, wrapped around the spine of a journey. Still, from Mashad, Iran, across the border to Kabul by bus, the first leg of his trip sets up scenes and themes that will recur again and again. Crowded bus rides on painful benches over rough roads past ruins, children squeezed in anywhere, with passengers from all over the world, Swiss and Pakistanis, English and Australians and French, until the bus breaks down in the desert. Field has a poet’s close eye for people...

I love my e-reader to death, but every so once in a while, even a tech-lover like me gets the overwhelming desire to read a physical book — especially now that we’ve imposed a “no handheld tech downstairs” rule. This Hachette Australia ad made me want to pick up all the physical books in my upstairs TBR basket* and give them a hug. [via GalleyCat] *Yes I have an upstairs and downstairs basket of TBRs. I also keep a small stack in my daughter’s room. My worst nightmare is getting caught anywhere or any situation without a book, but that’s a blog post for another...

Since moving to a walking neighborhood almost two years ago, the quality of our overall lives have gone up, but sadly the quality of my reading life has gone down. I barely drive any more, so there’s no chance to listen to audiobooks. And now that my daughter is in pre-school, I can fully work from home, which means no more long walks to the “office”/coffee shop. Added to all of this, I’ve actually been writing a lot over the past year, so less time for books all around. It’s very sad. However, I did manage to squeeze in three books by fellow black women authors, and strangely enough, they all involved women living and/or working in places I wasn’t familiar with. Here’s my list of the best black books I’ve read this year (so far). PASSING LOVE by Jacqueline Luckett I’ve met Ms. Luckett at two different writing festivals, and have always been impressed by her warm-yet-really-glamorous spirit. I’m so happy that I finally got a chance to read one of her books. PASSING LOVE is ostensibly about two different woman from two different times, who both find themselves in France. But nestled within pages of superior description and amazing character work is a mystery that will keep you guessing until the end. What I Loved: This novel is beautifully written, and does what every good novel set in France should: make you want to go there. This is black history from a different angle and fascinating on several different levels. Perfect for mothers and daughters alike. Writing Lesson Learned: A novel can be poetic without being overly flowery or unclear. Ms. Luckett walks this line well. Click HERE to buy the book at Amazon.   A TASTE OF SALT by Martha Southgate I’ve never met Ms. Southgate...

Either that are you can just use this $3000 bookcase, which folds in half by by sliding on steel tracks, as a door to your office or nerd cave. Burglars will never find the good stuff! [via...

Yet another way technology is bringing books to life. As an author who doesn’t care for a ton of physical description when it comes to my characters, I weirdly find this concept fascinating and off-putting at the same time. To see more sketches like the featured image of Oyster from Chuck Palahniuk’s LULLABY, go to THE COMPOSITES Tumblr. [via The Mary...

I listen to audiobooks all the time. Here are some thoughts on 20 of them.   Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi This could only happen in Hollywood. Great story, love the sci-fi real world mashup. Redshirts: A Novel in Three Codas by John Scalzi The secret life of expendable characters and read by Wil Wheaton. My favorite book of the year World War Z by Max Brooks Ken Burns does zombies. Definitely get the audio book; its an all star cast. The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick If the Axis won WW2 A mundane life in an parallel world 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami Beautifully written. But, way too long and the worst-written sex I have ever read. 7th Sigma by Steven Gould Louis L’amour does Sci-fi Fun story. Can’t wait for the sequel The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Made me want to run away and join it. Takes a long time to get started, but the world is so great I didn’t care Way Station by Clifford D. Simak Old school sci-fi Like looking at a time capsule of America in the 50s Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt But they don’t do much else. I would call this Bad Decisions Made Through Time. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah E. Harkness Vampires are cool. Witches are full of angst. Behemoth, Goliath, and Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld Steam Punk WW1 in a Young Adult Book For fans of YA and revisionist history alike. If you liked Hunger Games, you’ll probably also like this. This author gets better and better with time. One of the best voices in YA, but his characters can be frustrating. Just tell him already!!! Interworld by Neil Gaiman Another world by Neil Gaiman. Feels like...

First we had a software program that makes your computer sound like an old-fashioned typewriter, and now we have a $70 perfume that will allow your E-reader to smell like a good ol’ fashioned book. The Future for the (retro) win! [via...

In honor of Book Week at F&N, I will be suspending my usual Q&A. Keep sending questions, you can post them in the comments or email them to: askhorror@gmail.com. And as always, confidentiality will be preserved. Now that’s out the way, so…Book Week, eh? I have to admit when they first told me about this I was like: crap, does this mean I have to read a book about HR and then write about it? I mean, come on, let’s be honest, who wants to read a book about HR? Yuck, not me. And even worse, who wants to read a post about a book about HR? I’m assuming not you. And I don’t want to write one, let me tell you. So I was dreading the deadline on this one. But then I started wondering, why isn’t the HR Manager ever a character in fiction? I mean, heroines (or heroes) in fiction always have some interesting job that real people never have: archaeologists, college professors (or both), underwater treasure hunters, photojournalists (although, everyone thinks they are a photojournalist nowadays), professional thieves (with a heart of gold, of course), regular journalists, computer hackers, novelists (I love it when the main character in a novel is a novelist—and by love, I mean hate), sheriffs or some other law enforcement, injured Navy Seals who just need the love of a good woman to heal their physical and emotional scars, guys who buy companies and then destroy them to make tons of money (think Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, or Mitt Romney in the Real World), chefs, bounty hunters, you get the idea. I mean, if novels can make Art History seem interesting and exciting, why can’t they do the same for HR? So, I tried to...

I think it this “Noisy Typer” software just might be, and it’s totally free. Oh, my goodness! [via LikeCool]...

Dear Dr. Miro, I’ve been looking for a good reference book on sex stuff but I don’t want some dense college textbook. Any suggestions? Sincerely, Randy Researcher Dear RR, I highly recommend The Guide To Getting It On by Paul Joannides (http://www.goofyfootpress.com/). “The Universe’s Coolest and Most Informative Book About Sex” should be on everyone’s shelves. The Guide covers an incredibly vast sexual spectrum in language accessible to all. Extremely sex positive and non-judgmental, it is as appropriate by a couple’s bedside as upon the shelf next to a Doctoral Candidate’s other important reference materials and textbooks. Check it out! Lust & Happiness, Dr. Miro If you liked this post, please do us the further boon of Liking the Fierce and Nerdy page on FaceBook. Also, we’re giving great stream on Twitter, so do give us...

Like a lot of American moms, I’m always on the lookout for the next great parenting book. This can be a frustrating mission. More often than not, parenting books make me feel like I’m doing a terrible job, that their advice doesn’t fit in with my lifestyle — or any other lifestyle that doesn’t involve staying at home and/or a platoon of nannies, and that, no matter what, it’s all my fault because I’m the mom and constantly failing. I imagine if a mom did follow all this American parenting advice to the letter, she would find herself completely miserable all the time. And quite frankly, the results from what I’m seeing on the street, aren’t all that bang up. I love that American toddlers really do excel at the art of self-expression, but all too often, I see kids melting down and pretty much running their parents, who seem to be becoming more servile by the day in an attempt to appease their little kings and queens. How refreshing then that two recent reads, BRINGING UP BEBE by Pamela Druckerman and FRENCH KIDS EAT EVERYTHING by Karen Le Billon*, aren’t even billed as parenting books. Instead they’re memoirs of two American moms raising children in France. Let me tell you, I ate these two books up. Never have two books made so much parenting sense on both practical and loving levels. I immediately began applying some of the “French” lessons and things continue to improve around our household. Suddenly we’re able to take our daughter to restaurants without meltdowns, and she seems happier for having a firm set of rules. Not everything has been a rousing success. We’re still dealing with her refusal to eat or even try certain foods, and the husband...

Portrait of a small boy reading. [via LikeCool]...

My parents read books to me. They were pretty busy people, Dad was a farmer and ranch hand, working up to 22 hours a day, 7 days a week. Mom had five kids to care for out in the middle of the country, but they read to me. Since I was the fifth of those five kids, and a late surprise at that, I’m pretty sure my brothers and sisters read to me as well. It’s time to thank them all for giving me a love of story that has lasted my entire life. I don’t remember much about the first few years, but there is a tale my Mom likes to share of how I sat at my second birthday party and “read” The House that Jack Built. Because I had carried it everywhere with me and insisted that my family read it to me so many times, I had memorized the words and when to turn the pages. That might be a bit of a stretch of my Mother’s pride in an exaggeration, but I like that the legend has floated through my life with me, as a part of my origin myth as a reader. Most of my reading was unsupervised after the age of seven. I remember discovering Salem’s Lot when I was in the 4th grade. While it totally freaked me out and made me terrified of the dark forever (yes, still to this day) I got hooked on Stephen King. I read a lot of the classics too, but lost myself in the worlds that the horror master created. Until my early 20’s I bought every book he wrote on the day it was released. Around that time, I discovered Clive Barker. Clive’s work came to me the way...

In this newish web series, HARRY POTTER AND THE TEN YEARS LATER, the eponymous wizard is wasting away at his dead end job, and Hermione and Ron are having serious marital problems. Call it the “more likely” epilogue to J.K. Rowling’s blockbuster series. [via...

I adore graphic novels. I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love them for two reasons: 1) You don’t have to spend a lot of time wading into the material, the artwork just pulls you right on in to the story. Perfect for the busy mom, attempting to get her read on while her daughter quietly plays by herself for limited spurts of time. 2) They make awesome conversation pieces. About the only thing I’m willing to talk with complete strangers about is books, and more people ask me about the graphic novels I pull out in public than anything else I read. But here are a few suggestions for certain kinds of readers who want to test drive a graphic novel, but don’t know where to start. For the literate reader: BAYOU Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 by Jeremy Love. I raved about the first volume of this series back in 2010, and I must say that I loved volume two even more. Set in the post-slavery south, this is gritty magical realism rendered so well, you will want an African-American literature professor on hand to explain it all to you. It’s like Alice & Wonderland meets no-kind-of-black-book-you’ve-ever-read-before. Jeremy Love just might be the most exciting voice in graphic novels right now.   For the reader who loves memoir: THE MAGICAL LIFE OF LONG TACK SAM by Ann Marie Fleming: an Illustrated Memoir. Imagine if you found a picture of your great grandfather and dug deeper, only to discover that he was one of the most extraordinary magicians the world has ever known? This is exactly what happened to Ann Marie Fleming, whose great-grandfather, “Long Tack Sam,” began life in a 19th century Chinese village and went on to sell...

First, thanks so much for celebrating our 4th super-fierce-and-nerdy BOOK WEEK! We can’t wait to do this again next summer. Til then, here’s a ton of bookish procrastination to tide you over… 1. Salon did a great article on African-American fantasy writers, which includes, one of my favorite authors right now, N.K. Jemisin. [What if Tolkien Were Black] 2. If this is what book covers will look like in the future, the future is going to be purty freaking cool. Seriously, a must-click. [GalleyCat] 3. As someone who is always judging books by their cover, I can never hear enough about jacket design. So bit h/t to author Randy Susan Meyers (THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTERS) for sending round this interview with four book cover designers. Fascinating stuff. [The Book Deal] 4. One of my favorite book bloggers, Reads4Pleasure has an AWESOME new tumblr filled with all sorts of short and sweet literary goodies. 5. How to find a book that’s at the tip of your tongue. [mediabistro] 6. Awesome graphic novels that non-comics fans will love. Make sure to scour the comments, too. There are some great suggestions… [i09] 7. Apparently there’s a Kickstarter campaign on for a book of erotic James Franco fanfic. Ooohkay… [Jezebel] 8. Many of us literate types tend toward sarcasm. So I present to thee these $65 Kate Spade Air Quote Mittens (featured image). [Fashionably Geek] 9. Okay, you guys know that I’m not a fan of the vast majority of dead white male cannon authors. But I frickin adore Thomas Hardy, and I loved, loved, loved Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of JUDE. So when I found the trailer for TRISHNA, his movie adaptation of Hardy’s TESS OF D’URBERVILLES, set in India and starring Freida Pinto, I was all like, “I’m soooo...

Greetings! I’ve come to announce the release of my debut children’s novel, Latasha and the Little Red Tornado, which came out earlier this week. It tells the story of Latasha Gandy, a precocious eight-year-old who cannot wait to grow up, and her mischievous puppy, Ella Fitzgerald, who absolutely refuses to. (Appropriately, with her no-guff attitude and pocket dictionary, I would describe Latasha as both fierce and nerdy.) In honor of my debut, here are a few book-y things that I’ve got on my radar. FIERCELY ANTICIPATING 2012 Newbery Medal I normally don’t get all wrapped up in awards. I mean, I fill out my Oscar predictions every year, but I don’t invest emotionally. This, however — this year, this award — it feels different. I’ve read so many awesome kids’ books in 2011 (and also witnessed the train wreck that was this year’s National Book Awards). I really feel like I have a dog in this race, maybe for the first time. There are a lot of worthy contenders on a lot of shortlists, but for me, I’ll be very sad if Laurel Snyder’s Bigger Than a Bread Box doesn’t come away with at least a Newbery Honor. KINDA WANNA See the herd of dystopian YA thin out After the past couple trade shows I’ve attended, it seems like in the young adult world, dystopian novels are supplanting vampires and werewolves as the new Big Thing. Don’t get me wrong — I love dystopian novels. As a kid, I really dug The Girl Who Owned a City, for example (Rand-ian ickyness aside). But…I also love turtle cheesecake. I don’t want every single day of the week, though. >In 2011 alone, I can think of over 20 dystopian teen books that came out, such as...

Frankie says… Try to pretend every now and then. I heard this author speaking about her most recent book on NPR the other day. She was saying how her four main characters were so different, but were all really just pieces of her. I envied her ability to make things up, her obvious grasp on fiction – something I’ve never had when it comes to writing, nor in life for that matter. I’m horrible at making things up, pretending I like people, masking my emotions. If I could just master that art of fiction, of make-believe and pretend, I do believe my life would be a lot easier… like when I was a child. As a kid, I could read for hours, fictional tale upon fictional tale. And then I’d imagine myself as those characters – be it the damsel in distress or the charming go-getter busy bee. Now, I can’t even read fiction let alone pretend I’m part of it. And that’s sad. Really, it is. Why do we lose that ability to mimic our deepest and most secret desires? I know that sounds like some soupy and metaphysical, stick-a-pipe-in-your-mouth kind of question, but it’s really been bothering me lately. This loss of innocence is weird, really. As we grow, we tend to think of how we gain things – boobs, bodily hair, money, wisdom, and many more things. There aren’t too many things that we lose, and by far the biggest of them is this ability to believe in fiction. I’m not talking about the ability to believe in Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy, I’m talking about the ability to suspend our non-fiction lives for a few moments to enjoy, say, a fictional story from a book. I think the only...

Flannery O’Connor once said that the only way to write successful autobiographical fiction is if you are able to look at yourself as a fictional character. In other words, if you can look at you as if you were not you. Autobiographical or not, your fictional characters are not you. They’re never you. Of course, they’re also all you. They’re never not you. They come from your head. Yet, if you want them to be real, you’ve got to give them their own head. Because they do come from you, they have their own integrity. An integrity that is of you. And sometimes, they know better than you. They know their little piece of you far better than you do. For instance, have you noticed that when you dream of someone you know, they talk like themselves and not like you? They say things only they would say, things that you would never think to say–if you were awake and tried to write their dialogue. Yet you did think to say those things. You did write that dialogue. With your dreaming brain. And you didn’t plan it. It was pure, real-time improv, made up on the fly. Genius improv. Buddha’s own improv. Some piece of you knows those characters in your life better than you know you do. I think about that sometimes when I’m writing fictional characters. How do I access that Buddha-genius dreaming brain when I’m awake and writing? With my fingers on the fly, writing dialogue for that integral little piece of me that I’ve set loose to try and run circles around the waking, dull, unimaginative and prosaic me that I am all too often. Me, not me.  ...

Alrighty, we’re down to my last group book report for BOOK WEEK 2, and we’re ending it with two ensemble pieces. My second book was an ensemble, so I was kind of shying away from these for a while. But my third book, which I’m currently working on, only has two main points of view, so now it’s on like Tron as far as ensemble is concerned. Shall we? THE WINTERS IN BLOOM by Lisa Tucker Lisa Tucker is on my top ten list of contemporary authors and one of the few authors I pre-order in hardcover. She’s a favorite because she has three qualities that I greatly value: 1. The ability to create compelling characters, 2. The ability to bring the drama while keeping her writing literary, and 3. The ability to weave in suspense so well, that you can’t turn the pages fast enough. Her latest offering, THE WINTERS IN BLOOM revolves around two extremely anxious parents whose strange son has been kidnapped. We get POVs from the parents, the father’s ex-wife, the father’s mother, the son himself, and the kidnapper (who may or may not be one of the aforementioned). What I Loved: I read this book on the plane home from a friend’s East Coast wedding. I started it while waiting in the terminal with the intention of just reading until I was allowed to pull out my laptop and work on the plane. The next thing I knew, I was done. The cabin was dark and the captain was telling us to put away our electronics because we were about to begin our descent into Los Angeles. Time flies when you’re reading a Tucker book. Also, this novel’s last line is so utterly perfect and superb, I can’t get it...

Reading while eating is luxurious habit but not easy to accomplish, at least not if you like creamy, yummy treats and the pages of your books unstained and unspotted.  My favorite books to read while eating are books about eating and cooking: John Thorne’s Outlaw Cook, Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking and the complete works of M.F.K. Fisher, all of which bear marks of my habit.  I am not overly fussy about the state of my own books, but as I have started to use the library more frequently it has become necessary to monitor the whereabouts of the Nutella and the tea. I prefer a sweet treat, so the following is a generally book-safe recipe from Laurie Colwin’s More Home Cooking for an easy and delicious sponge cake: Sponge Cake (Very nice with raspberry jam and sprinkled with powdered sugar.) Cream 1 stick of sweet butter and ½ cup of sugar. (For non-cooks, this means softening the butter to room temperature and then combining sugar and butter with an electric whisk or your muscles and a wooden spoon. I found this out the hard way when I first started baking and confusedly rolled hard, cold butter in sugar.) Beat in 2 eggs (or 1 yolk and 2 whites). Beat until light and fluffy with either a whisk or an electric beater. Fold in 1 cup flour to which you have added ½ teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon vanilla, if you like. (You can actually do without the baking powder and vanilla if you are out of nearly everything but must have cake.  I know, it happens,) Bake in a buttered dish (8 inch square baking tin works nicely) for 20 minutes to a half an hour at 350°. If you liked this post, please do us the further...

Happy Book Week! Here’s why you don’t have to read books anymore. I’m kidding, but only a little. Like many people who choose to write things for the Internet that exceed 140 characters, books are and have always been an important part of my life. Books are the ultimate comfort form of entertainment, because they not only pass the time better than any other diversion, they give the sense of enriching it as well. Of course movies and television can be enriching and informative, but there was never a deliberate campaign aimed at young children that offered free personal pan pizzas for watching more T.V. (Thank you Book It!) Throughout my early childhood, our school always pressured us to read, which was really no pressure at all, since I loved to read. I was a little annoyed when they were pushing for Beverly Cleary while I was much more interested in Tolkien, but somehow we got by. Then in high school we seemed to hit the brick wall that was standardized testing. My high school didn’t read. We weren’t often assigned books, and those we were assigned were always short and usually more suggested than actually explored (I don’t ever remember discussing anything longer than a short story other than for extra credit). What time did we have to read novels when my rural Western Pennsylvanian school district was busy trying to cut costs and get more funding by forcing us to take standardized tests constantly? (This irks me more in retrospect and was a reason that I was against Dubbya’s “No Child Left Behind” before it was cool to be against it.) Besides, we were mostly being counseled to go technical and trade schools anyway. In desperate hope to force myself to have...

So you guys know I likes to mix it up, and I’m try to throw out a few hottie mm-bottie book reports from time to time. Well here are four romantica (romantica = explicit sex and language with a traditional HEA) novels guaranteed to steam up your e-reader. THE SWEET SPOT by Kimberly Kaye Terry I met Ms. Terry, an author who specializes in interracial romantica, at a book conference back in July. She is truly awesome and funny, so we did a book exchange. THE SWEET SPOT is about a nightclub owner and undercover FBI agent named Sweet, who is investigating a pharmacist, suspected of stealing from her own clinic’s supply. Lots of seriously steamy sex ensues.  I opened it up on the plane ride home, and the book was pretty much devoured within twenty-fours. What I Loved: Both main characters came with huge emotional baggage and that the villains had layers. There were no good or bad guys in this story. What I Didn’t Like: There were a few dropped story threads toward the end, and the mystery was a bit convoluted. Writing Lesson Learned: Nice +Seriously Flawed = Likeable Click HERE TO buy the book at Amazon.   ELIZABETH’S WOLF by Lora Leigh  Karen Neches, one of the authors at GIRLFRIENDS BOOK CLUB brought up this big supernatural trend in romance: “Why do people want to read about romances with supernatural creatures? I don’t get it. Especially the werewolf thing. It’s like being secretly attracted to your dog.” I laughed, then I was like, “Wait a minute, what’s this trend all about?” A few months later I ran across a book blog, that made mention of Lora Leigh’s genetically-engineered feline, wolves, and coyotes series. After perusing several of the titles, I settled on...

Hey everybody, after a somewhat longer than intended leave of absence, I’ve come back to Fierce and Nerdy. Upon my return, I was both pleased and worried to learn that my first column in months would be for Book Week. Pleased because, well, who doesn’t like books? And worried because I haven’t finished a book in a while. By ‘finished,’ I mean finished reading, because I’ve been so busy finishing the fifth draft of the novel I’m writing, the one I started two years ago, and writing (or trying to write) the one, two, and four page synopses, the hook, the tagline, the elevator pitch, the back cover copy, the query letters (god help me), and rewrite over and over the first page, the first three pages, and the first chapter, that I haven’t had much time. This is a particularly lame excuse for not reading, I know, because one primary requirement of any aspiring writer is to read, read, and read! Actually, it’s not that I’m not reading, I’m just not finishing. I’m currently in the middle of two books about kids and death. The first is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. It’s lovely and dark and I’m always a fan, but for some reason Gaiman’s voice in this one seems particularly stuffy and maybe my internal word centers have become too ‘Frenchified’, but I’m having a hard time cutting through the British. The other is Damned by Chuck Palahniuk, who I adore, and it’s interesting in that it’s about a 13-year-old in hell. The setting and geography are wonderfully inventive, and I’ve always loved the way he tells a story, but at 33%, I’m still not sure what this one’s about. So I’ll talk about a book I read a while...

This past May, Sixkill by Robert B. Parker arrived in bookstores. It’s the thirty-ninth book in Parker’s Spenser detective series and I’ve read each of the previous thirty-eight at least a half dozen times. The day it arrived I hauled my ass down to the local Barnes and Noble and bought a copy. Which was an odd experience since these days I buy books almost exclusively for my iPad, and before that it was my Kindle. Flash forward six months and that copy of Sixkill still sits pristine and unopened on my nightstand. Why? Because Parker, dubbed “The Dean of American Crime Fiction”, died last year and Sixkill is his last. Between 1973 and 2011, Parker published nearly 70 books and almost all of them were bestsellers. He’s most well known his Spenser series, featuring the wise-cracking, street-smart Boston private-eye, which earned him a devoted following and reams of critical acclaim. (It’s worth clarifying that these excellent mysteries were the inspiration for the dreadful and unwatchable show Spenser: For Hire which eschewed the gritty character and ambiguity of situation that make the books so compelling for the cloying tidiness network television demands.) I’ve been a mystery fan since I was given a set of Encyclopedia Brown books for my eighth birthday. A voracious reader, I quickly finished those, then burned through all of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in no time at all. Since this was before there was a robust Young Adult market, I leapt into the grown up stuff, and quickly fell under the spell of mystery and noir. Carroll John Daly, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane. I’d read them all by the time I became a teenager. And then, I found Spenser. I grew up in a safe middle class...

Dear Dr. Miro, My boyfriend’s birthday is in a few weeks and I have NO extra money. Things are so tight that I won’t be able to pay rent AND get him something as meaningful as he deserves. My guy is so thoughtful and giving and I want to do something amazing to show him how special and sexy he is to me. Suggestions for this pauper girl? Sincerely, Poor & In Love Dear P&IL, Times are tough and as the old saying goes, “money can’t buy love” or happiness for that matter. Unless, of course, you find happiness and love on yachts in the Caribbean and strip clubs… But back to your issue. If you want to be thoughtful, how about putting together an Erotic “Scrap” Book? Write out some fantasies your special guy is turned on by interspersed with a few exciting escapades you two have shared. Make some suggestive drawings, cut out kinky pictures and print some self portraits of you looking all ready for action. You could simply illustrate your stories with photos of things like the messy bed left in the aftermath of a passionate night, the lingerie you wore or the view out the window of where one of your tales takes place. You do not actually have to be explicit unless that is what you want. Get creative! Put all of your material together in a book form to make an Erotic Book he will cherish and reference through out your years together. Lust & Happiness, Dr. Miro If you liked this post, please do us the further boon of Liking the Fierce and Nerdy page on FaceBook. Also, we’re giving great stream on Twitter, so do give us follow. featured image credit:...

2011 wasn’t just a good year for books, it was an AMAZING year, just an embarrassment of riches as far as reading is concerned. And unless something else ridiculously wonderful comes along, I’m fairly sure that I’ve nailed down my top three books of the year. One of them is SILVER SPARROW by Tayari Jone, which I’ve already reviewed HERE. Before I get into my other two picks, let me urge you to vote for SILVER SPARROW, which is a semi-finalist for Best Fiction Book of 2011 over at GoodReads. In fact all of my top three picks are (non-competing — TTL) Goodreads Semifinalists, so while you’re there, put in votes for READY PLAYER ONE in Sci-Fi, and THE MAGICIAN KING in Fantasy. Okay, that all promoted, let’s actually talk about my other two favorite books of the year. READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline What I Loved: READY PLAYER ONE made me proud to be a nerd, and it also made me feel that I wasn’t quite nerdy enough — that’s how ridiculously awesome this book swings. If you are a nerd and you’ve spoken to me in the last three months, I have probably recommended this book to you. In fact, I feel like I am proselytizing for this book, because it is so much better than its premise — which is a bit hard to state: it’s basically a love story, a cyber quest story, and a high-stakes adventure story all rolled into one. I really don’t want to give even one nugget of READY PLAYER ONE’s goodness away, but I will say this: READY PLAYER ONE is the novel that sent me into the intense bout of book grief that inspired this post. I loved it. I love it so much...

If you read my column on the regular, you probably know that it’s a video game industry look at games. So with that being said, it was an interesting challenge to keep it game related during book week. So I decided to talk about a topic that, in this day and age of kindles and nooks and iPads, I think about a lot. And that topic is the idea that [whatever new hot technology] is killing [whatever established art]. When movies came out, everyone said theatre is dead. Now with video games making billions of dollars, people theorize that they will kill film or that they will merge to form a sort of interactive film. My opinion on that stuff is: no. In order to find some decent research on it, I polled a number of friends who work in relevant fields. I’ll use first names only to prevent them from being spammed, but they are: Pedro, guitarist Marta, actress John, Theatre director and educator Deborah, Theatre director and author What Can’t be faked? There’s this weird question I think about sometimes. It’s more of a hypothetical, as I don’t really believe it. But interesting, nonetheless. Why do people still play guitar? Since we have the ability to emulate the sounds, at least for studio work, why not just fake it. Even though we can’t copy the exact nuances of a musician, we will be able to within 5 years, right? I was quickly corrected by Pedro: “the premise of the sound being faked in five years is actually ridiculous. It’s like saying human emotion will be perfectly faked in five years.” I made the connection (since I have a theatre background I needed to find an analogy in my field), that faking a...

Reading this book, I was reminded of being halfway through a bath; It’s warm, but cooling off, you’re already clean and at this point just sitting in your own dirty water. Ok, mostly it’s just the luke warm thing. I Married You for Happiness, a novel by Lily Tuck (who won the National Book Award for 2004’sThe News from Paraguay) is about more than just happiness and marriage. It’s about the depth and breadth of life itself. Even with that whole menu of experience to choose from, I found myself getting bored reading the thing. Let’s start with the details. IMYfH begins when Nina discovers her husband, Philip, has died very unexpectedly in the upstairs bedroom while she was making dinner. Instead of calling the police or for an ambulance, Nina cracks a window and sits next to the bed, where Philip has expired, and spends the night sipping her way through a bottle of wine. (Shock and grief make a person do weird things, so this actually does seem entirely feasible to me.) The book takes us through a night of her reminiscing about their entire life together, the highs, lows and the mundane. We are occasionally returned to the room where Nina sits and Philip cools, to see her current state, before she hops onto another memory stream and rides it for 8-10 pages. I really enjoyed the idea of this book. To travel through the life of a married couple in memory was like finding a new treasure each time Nina came to a new memory. Honestly, I liked the painful and dull memories as much as I did the happy ones. That was so very real-life. In my own life, I try to find the happiness in the day-to-day, because...

I know, I know: “What the eff, Ernessa? Why no book reports since the summer?” All I can say is that things got just ridiculously busy, but I do fully intend to get my full 52 reports in by the end of the year. I’ve actually been reading tons to the point that I’m going to be doing a lot of group posts, recommending books with a certain theme. For example, I’ve read not one, not two, but three 5-star books with blind protagonists this year — and two of them were written by Canadians! Check them out: PETER NIMBLE AND HIS FANTASTIC EYES by Jonathan Auxier What I Loved: Mr. Auxier (the first Canadian) is an alum of the same dramatic writing MFA program as me, and reading this book made me wish that we had attended Carnegie Mellon at the same time, as I’m sure I would have enjoyed his earlier works. This middle-grade novel has everything: great adventures, wonderful writing, an amazing story, and a sightless-but-wonderfully-capable hero that you can’t help but love. A lot. Suitable for ages 10 and up, I really can’t wait to read PETER out loud to my daughter when she’s old enough to appreciate this well-written tale. What I Didn’t Like: Not available as an e-book. Wha??? Get on that, Amulet. Writing Lesson Learned: If you’re going to go with an omnipotent narrator, give her or him a very strong voice. Though I read this as a physical book, it felt like being read to by a wonderful grandfather. Click HERE to buy it at Amazon and check out the trailer below:   THE BROKEN KINGDOMS by N.K. Jemisin What I Loved: The second book of “The Inheritance Trilogy” by N.K. Jemisin, who is one of our...

Hey-o, It’s me, Ernessa. I’m taking PoT! Friday back over for most of the summer — you know why, right? Right? Of course you do. It’s because the 32 CANDLES paperback releases next week, so that means you have to put up with me schilling again. So… I’ll be doing a reading along with a few other awesome black authors on the mainstage of the Leimert Park Book Fair this Saturday at 11:30AM. Then I’ll be moderating a “What Makes Black Books Go” panel later on in the day with a wonderful group of writers, including Helena Andrews, of BITCH IS THE NEW BLACK fame (see my book report HERE) and Todd Bridge (of “Whatchoo talkin’ about Willis” fame) — yes, I do realize that one of my husband’s Pictures this week was of a Gary Coleman poster, but I assure you, it was just a coincidence. A weird coincidence, yes, but coincidence nonetheless. Whatchoo talkin’ about CH? The point is if live in L.A. and you want your paperback copy of 32 CANDLES before it hits the stores, you should definitely come out as I’ll be signing after my first panel. Oh, and make sure to hit us up next week, because we’re going to be running two weeks worth of dope 32 CANDLES giveaways starting Tuesday, and I know you don’t want to miss that. Okay, that all plugged, let’s get into this special BOOK WEEK edition of PoT! Friday in zee can. 1. Alright, I know I can’t be the only Loveswept imprint line fan in the proverbial room. Seriously, this used to be my favorite line of thin grocery store romances, and it launched many popular writers’ careers, including Sandra Brown, Janet Evanovich, Tami Hoag, and my personal out-of-the-box favorite,...

Oh, Fierce and Nerdy!  How I’ve missed you.  Thanks for letting me visit you again — this missive comes to you from the west coast now, where I am fiercely anticipating the start of a new job in Los Angeles.  As a reader I tend not to delay my gratification (actually, that’s pretty much a good description for my life) but I do tend to have a list in my head that I refer to when the latest book is finished.  Welcome to my list! FIERCELY ANTICIPATING I have begun to wish very much that there were a literary Pandora, where you could enter the novel you just loved and come up with a series of suggestions.  Did you love Howards End?  Then may I suggest Brideshead Revisited for its similar themes of inter-generational family conflict.  Amazon will do this for you, but it won’t explain why you like the books you do – or why you don’t like the other books on the same themes.  The suggestions often devolve into listings of authors writing at the same period.  Like Margaret Atwood?  Why don’t you read some Kazuo Ishiguro or Ian McEwan?  (This is a terrible example – I think if you like Atwood you’d love either of these authors.  Maybe Amazon really has solved all my problems.) Periodically I review the lists of books that I’ve loved to find qualities in common: intellectual families, overlapping storylines, bildungsromans, magical realism, settings in London, thwarted and inconclusive romances, a certain preoccupation with death.  They’re the kinds of themes and features I would include in my own imaginary novel – the one that I write in my head when I’m feeling particularly angst-y. Some examples?  A.S. Byatt’s Virgin in the Garden quartet, which follows red-headed Frederica...

I have a problem. And like most of my problems, I was the last one to know about it. In fact, I had considered this problem an attribute until last Saturday night when I was strolling through the outdoor shopping and dining district of Old Town Pasadena enjoying a fruitful, funny conversation with my companion Anne Hathaway. (Ok, it wasn’t really Anne Hathaway, but since my actual companion wouldn’t appreciate having her name immortalized in this blogumn, I figured I’d pick a pseudonym that could bring in some extra search engine traffic.) It was just after 10pm and suddenly every store front –from quaint coffee shops to high-end wine bars to Yogurtariums– transformed like some brick and mortar werewolf into make-shift night clubs with obligatory velvet ropes and roided-up door men hairier than Cerberus. Turning onto a slightly more quiet side street, Anne Hathaway and I passed two women in their early 20s who were squeezed into club wear of such suffocating tightness that their female forms resembled nothing less than two freshly fed pythons. As I watched them wobbling forth in their sky-scraper heels like sailors after seven years at sea, I quickly concocted twin backstories featuring a whistle stop tour of heartbreaks, disappointments and diminished expectations. “I feel bad for them. They seem just so desperate to impress,” I said in a tone of genuine pity as opposed to my usual snark attack. “That’s really judgmental. How do you know they’re desperate and sad?”  Anne Hathaway snapped back. In an effort to save face, I mumbled something to Anne Hathaway about how she was right and then asked her to reveal some plot spoilers from The Dark Knight Rises (Ka-ching! – Take that Google!) And that is how I learned about my problem: ...

I don’t have any tattoos, but if I did, it would probably be a literary one. So, though I don’t know any of the people that made Buzzfeed’s “20 Awesome Literary Tattoos” list personally, I know I would get along with all of them — save for the dude or chych that got ATLAS SHRUGGED put on his or her back. Click on any of the pics below to see the rest of the gallery. 1. BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS by Kurt Vonnegut 2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald 4. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn...

I can probably count on my hands, the number of book trailers I’ve seen that actually move me to consider reading the book. This is one of them. From io9: Concept artist Diego Gonzalez created tons of art based on Paolo Bacigalupi’s dystopian young adult novel Ship Breaker, and now he’s edited it together into a harrowing, intense trailer. It will make the novel’s environmental collapse feel all too real. Click to buy the SHIP BREAKER by Paolo Bacigalupi at Amazon. Ship Breaker from Diego Gonzalez Cortes on...

Don’t get me wrong, I love books – have all my life, but if you took my quiz last time (and by the way you really should) then you would know with some degree of certainty that the last book I had read at the time of the posting was HIPPOS GO BESERK by Sandra Boynton. I’d like to say that the last book I read has changed over the previous two weeks, but I can’t.  That’s not to say I haven’t read anything else in the meantime.  I have.  I’ve read THE TRAGEDY OF ARTHUR by Arthur Phillips, I FOUND THIS FUNNY edited by Apatow (yeah, that one), and WILD CHILD AND OTHER STORIES by T.C. Boyle.  Great books all around, I assure you.  However, they don’t have the stick-to-it-iveness of say 44 hippos and a beast attending then leaving a party.  I’m not even sure it’s premise driven.  What it is, though, is a children’s book, in case you haven’t guessed, and children’s books all have one thing in common: the children who read them  (and by read I mean have their parents read to them), the children who love to read them again and again and again.  I’ve read that book more times in one day than any other book I’ve read in my lifetime.  In fact, I’ve read that book more times in one week than Stephen King reads in a year (about 80 according to his book “On Writing”, which I also read some time ago.  Now I don’t know if I ever got up to 80 books a year even in my prime as I’m more of a film guy, but I would like to say that a book a week is quite normal.  Couple that with the...

Coming upon this book was a bit weird for me. Usually, non-fiction books have to work really hard to make it onto my TBR list, but just when I committed to my self-proclaimed YEAR OF THE BUDGET, so many book bloggers started talking about this THE FRUGALISTA FILES by Natalie P. McNeal. Here my thoughts: What’s It About: McNeal, a journalist and single party girl living in Miami decides to tackle her debt and blog about it along the way. What Makes It Different: It’s half-memoir, half-self-improvement, and all-interesting. What I Loved: As someone who reads financial books for fun, who has said out loud “I wish there was a tax-free investment vehicle for [this]” on more than one occasion, and who has made a habit of watching the Suze Orman show when alone in hotel rooms (why it’s alway on when I’m alone in a hotel room? — I dunno!), this book is what finally made me just admit that I am a ridiculous money nerd. I love reading about other people’s money situations. When I read a finance book, I always want more anecdotes. When I read a book-book, I always want to hear more about the character’s financial situation. Anyway, this is all to say, that reading the financial memoir of the woman who (literally) trademarked the word “frugalista” was kind of right up my alley. Also, I loved all the financial tips and only wish I’d had them when I was single and fabulous (as opposed to married and happily frugal). And I loved all the spending conflicts that came up once she decided to go hardcore frugal. What I Didn’t Like: As a romance junkie, I wanted her to date way more than she did during her frugal year....

The funniest thing about the Judgmental Bookseller Ostrich tumblr which has been going strong since the beginning of the year is that I’ve never met a judgmental bookseller. The vast majority just seem to be happy that you’re reading and buying physical books from their stores. I think the ostrich is humorous, not because it’s a reflection of booksellers but of snobby book readers. Though, I will say that the Poetry Section Ostrich is pretty spot on. Either way, it’s purty darn...

I was recently offered a new job.  It is an amazing opportunity and I am honored to have been offered the position.  Plus I have been incredibly unhappy in my current position for some time.  So it took everything in my power not to just leap at the idea of taking the position when it was first offered at the generous salary that was being offered.  I mean no brainer right?  Amazing job + generous salary = “I’ll take it!”  But I did not take it, I countered. Why?  Because of Linda Babcock. Linda Babcock is a professor of Economics at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University, where I went to graduate school.  Professor Babcock is the founder and faculty director of the Program for Research and Outreach on Gender Equity in Society (PROGRESS) at CMU.  Her research focus is in the area of negotiations and dispute resolution.  She is also the co-author of a book that literally changed my life. Women Don’t Ask – The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation – and Positive Strategies for Change was written by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, a widely published writer and editor.  The book asks a central question, “Are women really less likely than men to ask for what they want?”  According to a book synopsis on Gary-Tomlinson.Com, Babcock and Laschever “discovered that by neglecting to negotiate the starting salary for her first job, a woman may sacrifice over half a million dollars in earnings by the end of her career. The damage continues as even highly accomplished professional women often fail to negotiate for salaries, perks, and key assignments that they deserve at work – not to mention asking for help at home.” In fact, WomenDontAsk.Com notes that “In surveys, 2.5 times more...

Relativity and a short story combine to make the below video a very worthwhile way to spend five minutes of your day. ~via LikeCool A Tale of Two Twins from Yuanjian Luo on...

Dear Dr. Miro, I would like to read some lesbian erotica but everything I find is too blech. Please suggest something I can read to my girlfriend on our summer vacation that isn’t so explicit I can’t say it out loud but sexy enough that it makes me blush. Sincerely, Lesley Bookworman Dear LB, If you have not read TIPPING THE VELVETby Sarah Waters , go get it now. And when I say now, I mean yesterday. Gently sexy and yummy while remaining a charming story. Perfect for an intimate read on the beach beside your bathing beauty or in a hammock under the stars. Lust & Happiness, Dr....

If you’ve been keeping up with my book reports, you already know what a big Sarah Addison Allen fan I am. I read and loved her debut, GARDEN SPELLS, and have read and loved every book she’s written since. So here are my thoughts on her latest, THE PEACH KEEPER. What’s It About: The granddaughters of two best friends come together when a mystery surrounding their grandmothers comes to light. What Makes It Different: Lots of southern magical realism. And I’ve seen a male protagonist, like one of the ones in this book one other time. Sorry, to be so vague, but you know, spoilers. What I Loved: I love the way that Allen writes southern women and southern men and how she makes her settings such a part of the book. And I really, really, really loved the male protagonist referenced above. It made the book instantly interesting, and it was so refreshing to see an issue that comes up in real life addressed with kindness and respect in fiction. What I Didn’t Like: This is what I always say about the Foo Fighters. The Foo Fighters always seem to write the same song with just a few minor changes to distinguish each, but I don’t mind, because I really, really like that song. With this book, Sarah Addison Allen became the literary equivalent of the Foo Fighters for me. Though, I would like a song change, I will happily read her next book. Also, I thought the grandmothers were given short shrift. I would have loved to have seen their story weaved throughout the entire book as opposed to visited at the end. And the narrator gave such a grandmotherly read, that I wished I had read the physical book as opposed...

Hugh Hefner assembled the first issue of Playboy on the kitchen table in his Chicago apartment in 1953 at a cost of $600.

I’ve always found that my writing is better when I am reading even more than I am writing.  I am ashamed to say that both have recently fallen through the cracks.  The truth is I wasn’t really raised with books.  I’m sure that my parents read to me, but reading and writing was something that was never forced on me, so when given the choice I would park myself in front of the television.  A lot of writers talk about their favorite books as a kid and I don’t really have many. Instead I have fond memories of watching Get Smart, Mr. Ed, and other classic television shows.  I did like to read.  I loved Matilda and as a preteen I was reading a new Baby-Sitter’s Club or R. L. Stein book every week. My real love of reading and writing didn’t form until high school when I read On The Road. I loved that book so much that I just new that’s what I wanted to do.  I signed up for a creative writing class and from there I felt how writing awaken me inside of me.  I wasn’t a very good writer back then and probably still have a long way to go, but reading has always been the best education for me.  It’s so hard for me to make time to read when there are so many other distractions.  I don’t need to list them, because we all have distractions that allow us to procrastinate. One remedy to this is to listen to books on tape and for me that can be done while walking the dogs or in the car (I do live in California which means lots of car time).  Another remedy is to be inspired to read by...

It’s funny, I love book covers, but after watching this two-minute video, I realized I had been taking them for granted, because I didn’t realize just how much work goes into making one. Guaranteed after watching this, you’ll never look at a book cover the same way again. ~via Getting Past the...

Oh, I am so embarrassed about reporting on this book so late. I actually downloaded it to my then-Kindle when it first came out in January 2010. Then I got an iPad and somehow it didn’t transfer over or maybe I didn’t do it right. I don’t know, but weirdly enough, I accidentally broke the Kindle soon after the big transfer, so it was lost to me. I meant to ask Amazon about this, because I was sure there was some way to get it all fixed, but then I started touring for my own book, things got wiggy, and despite having read and loved the first few pages, I just never got around to it. A few months ago when I moved to a city whose  library had an online ordering system, I put in a request for the audiobook. It came in about a month ago, so after a lot of trial and tribulation, I finally got to read this book a year and a half later. And I’m so glad I did. Here are my thoughts: What It’s About: A biracial girl named Rachel comes to live with her grandma after the majority of her intermediate family dies in a really tragic way. What Makes It Different: I’ve never read anything quite like this: one part mystery, one part coming of age with racial identity, sexuality, and psyche all thrown into the mix. What I Loved: First of all, it’s just terrifically written. Durrow is a writer’s writer. I loved that though the book was literary, it wasn’t boring, for reasons I’ll get into below. But most of all, I loved the main character, who is complex, confused, human, and brave. I also liked the way that Durrow dealt with Rachel’s...

Big thanks to Friend of FaN, Cynthia Bechold Hawkins, for letting us know about this $55 charging dock, which allows you to just look extremely clever while charging your iPhone. With classics like PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY available, we say put this on your holiday presents list for your favorite reader stat. Click on any of the below pics to buy at the inbook store...

Growing up, I read books.  A lot.  Three or four books a week.  They were mostly science fiction and fantasy books.  The occasional bit of literary fiction.  Fathers in these books were taciturn, secretive, violent, absent.  Maybe the hero’s dad was King Arthur in disguise.  Or a space alien.  Or abusive.  That was always a good one because it spurred the hero on to amazing feats of heroic heroism after which he would forgive his father and they would hug and then the hero would kiss a girl. These warped, wounded, quirky, strong, silent fellas were pretty much the exact opposite of my father.  That created a problem because I realllly wanted to be like the heroes of the books I read.  I wanted to be special and wield a burning sword and kiss girls.  According to the formula, I could only be special if my dad was dead (not an option) or really screwed up or at least remarkable in some way. So I created a secret life for my father.  Really, it was easy.  The man already worked for the government running statistical surveys (information gathering) for the Department of Energy (which is like the CIA).  He wore glasses and a pocket protector (like Clark Kent).  He helped me with science and math homework (like scientists who know math).  He dressed in a lot of greys and browns so as not to stand out in a crowd. Clearly my father was a CIA agent superspy.  No other possible explanation.  He had created a mundane, middle class existence, complete with a somewhat pushy and overbearing chainsmoking wife, to mask his true work saving the world. Once I understood my father’s true nature, my life became much more interesting.  I was no longer just...

As a nerd who can’t even fathom falling in love with a non-nerd who doesn’t overanalyze the sci-fi they love, I just going to go ahead and call this the most fucking romantic commercial I’ve ever seen. ~via Topless...

The rantings of a non-driving theatre professional living in altogether the wrong city Let’s get one thing straight right now, I’m not a Woman trapped in a Man’s body. I’m not even a Particularly Well Groomed Man trapped in the body of a Slovenly Oaf. I am simply as I appear — an oversize sweaty mascot to boorish masculinity. Like Nebraska is to corn, New York City is to roaches and China is to Chinese people so am I to body hair — it’s fucking everywhere. A desegregationist through and through, I make no effort to separate the hair on my head, the hair on my neck and the hair on my back- so my body hair flows like the mighty Yangtzee from the snowy bald spot on top of Mt. Eric down the ravine of my spine to the waterfall of fuzz cresting over the crack of my ass. Don’t misunderstand — I’m quite familiar with the ways of womankind. I have lived with my wife for the last 12+ years and was raised with two older sisters. My preteen years were spent in a pit of femininity held down by scalding hot curling irons and towering canisters of explosive hair product while a razor sharp pendulum of wildly swinging emotions came closer and closer to slicing my head off (both of them) shrieking “I hate mother nature” every time it passed by and the music of ABBA throbbed endlessly on in the background. Sure, AIDS may have been scary to some in the 80s, but I was way more concerned with the perils of Toxic Shock Syndrome and PMS. My household was actually featured in a famous study in the Harvard Review of Medicine – perhaps you heard of it- “PMS: The...

I was very lucky to be introduced into a fantastic writer’s co-operative by a writer friend. Many books by these fellow authors are on my super long TBR list, including THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTERS by Randy Susan Meyers. But then I made the mistake of reading the first eleven pages of DAUGHTERS on Meyers’s website and became immediately hooked, pushing it to the front of the list. Here are my thoughts: What It’s About: Two sisters are left with different forms of guilt after their father stabs their mother to death and almost kills the youngest sister as well. What Makes It Different: What’s interesting is that I’ve seen a lot of stories from the abused mother’s point of view, and some stories from the abusive father’s. Every so once in a while, you’ll get one from the child, but almost never two points of views from two siblings. It reminded me that no matter the event, no matter how horrific, different characters will respond to it differently. What I Loved: This is hard for me to talk about because you know how I am about spoilers. But the book is just very, very human and realistic. These characters are frustrating and vulnerable in ways that real people in this situation would be. The way that both sisters respond to what happened is how most people in their separate situations would probably respond to what happened. I should add that being from a two-girl family, I’m a sucker for books about two sisters. Also, I have a dead mother and issues with a living father (though not nearly this big), so there was that connection. This novel hit a number of my fascination buttons. What I Didn’t Like: Again, without giving away spoilers, I wanted...

Oh! I’m so sorry to see BOOK WEEK 2! end. It feels like it went by soooo fast. But there’s always next year. Until then, do enjoy this special BOOK WEEK 2! edition of Procrastinate on This! 1. I loved this list of Worst Television Versions of Science Fiction and Fantasy Books. Though, dude, I had no idea they tried to make WRINKLE IN TIME into a TV series! [i09] 2. Will we soon be seeing advertising in digital books? [Galleycat] 3. Thinking about acquiring a Creative Writing MFA? Tayari Jones has some (really fantastic) advice for you. [Tayari Jones] 4. What kind of writer are you? A Thief? Or a Soloist? [Lev Grossman] 5. My whole goal in life is do a WilliamShatneresque song with Bens Folds. Nick Hornby is such a lucky dog! [YouTube] 6. I’m not going to lie. I really wanted to listen to George R.R. Martin’s GAME OF THRONES, but totally didn’t have the attention span to tackle 20+ disks. So I’m glad I’ll be able to watch it in a more manageable TV series...

Remember when times were simpler?  When the names Rudolph, Scrooge, the Grinch, and even Jesus could put a smile on your face?  As a kid, they were all a part of Christmas and can be found in just about any bookstore this time of year.  But, sadly there are a couple books from my childhood that have gone out of print – never to return.  Let’s take a walk down the holiday literary road and look at some of my favorite Christmas stories from years past. A CHRISTMAS CAROL Definitely, one of my favorites.  I was even in a stage adapted version at the Pleasant Valley Golf Course in the late 90’s.  I’ve seen the animated Disney version with Scrooge McDuck a ton of times.  (Gee, wonder where his name came from?) Charles Dickens, a popular novelist of the Victorian era, penned one of our earliest holiday classics.  Much of Dickens work had a theme of social reform or a lesson to be learned. The story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his greed at the expense of his friends and workers is still very valid in our capitalist society, today.  You could even compare Scrooge to a modern day Bernie Madoff, however Scrooge’s ending is much different than Madoff’s will be. Three ghosts visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve seven years after the death of his business partner to show him the mistakes of his past, present, and future.  Scrooge learns from these lessons and abandons his life of greed in order to become a better person. Dickens began work on A Christmas Carol in October 1843 and finished the book in six weeks.  It was released on December 19th after some delay with Dickens disagreeing with the publisher on how he would receive payment for his...

Fierce Anticipation’s 1st Annual Macabre, Morbid, Miserly, and somewhat Murderous Christmas Reading List of 22 Books Selected at Random by Me, Ryan Dixon Need a gift for that not-so-special someone? Read on to discover the perfectly inappropraite book for every Christmas occasion after the gallery… For those who’d rather eat a reindeer than ride one: How to Cook a Reindeer by Laila Spik For those who’d rather eat a human than a ham: I Ate Billy on Christmas by Roman Dirge For those looking for a legitimate reason NOT to buy anyone presents: Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays by Joel Waldfogel For those who aren’t already bored enough by Prairie Hometown Companion: A Christmas Blizzard by Garrison Keillor For those looking for re-confirmation that Texas is the worst state in the Union (especially at Christmastime): Tinsel: A Search for America’s Christmas Present by Hank Stuever For those who are closeted, Christmas loving Jews: Sex, God, Christmas and the Jews by Gil Mann For those plotting a family member’s murder during the holiday: Murder for Christmas: 26 Tales of Yuletide Malice edited by Thomas Godfrey For those who ate too much bread pudding: The Bathroom Book of Christmas Trivia edited by Lisa Wojina For those getting a PhD in Christmas Studies: The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum For those getting a PhD in Christmas Studies with a focus on the semiotics of Santa Claus: Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas Spanning 50,000 Years by Phyllis Siefker For those who like their Beef Stick organic and farm fresh: Stocking Stuffers: Homoerotic Christmas Tales edited by David Laurents For those who want some Gore(y) with their Christmas: The Twelve Terrors of Christmas by John...

So I thought I’d end BOOK WEEK 2 with the book that —  let’s face it — has probably helped me more than any other in my book promotion journey. It’s a plain little volume and doesn’t take long to read. So here are my thoughts on 10 DAYS TO MORE CONFIDENT PUBLIC SPEAKING by Lenny Laskowski. Why I Decided to Read It: Well I realized about two weeks before my summer book tour kicked off that I hadn’t given a speech since um … 1999 when I presented my thesis. And that speech went terribly. Really, really terribly. Seriously, it’s on my list of Top 10 Worst Moments Ever. It was that bad. Also, I stutter, soooo … I thought it might be a good idea to pick up a book on public speaking. I downloaded several, but somehow only ended up reading this one. What It’s About: This book ain’t frontin. The title pretty much says it all. What Makes It Different? Well, I’m a busy chyck, and I just loved the idea of learning a new skill in 10 days. Hmm, now that I think about it, I can put my finger on the exact reason that I chose to read this book over all the other ones that I downloaded. What I Loved: Due to a combination of dread and being really, freaking busy, I ended up reading this book in three days as opposed to the recommended ten, and I only had a couple of days to implement Laskowski’s advice — but lo and behold it worked! I’ll go over my favorite tips below. What I Didn’t Like: I didn’t quite understand why the Princeton Language Institute took a co-author credit, when it was quite obviously from Laskowski’s POV....

“WORDS, WORDS, WORDS” EDITION A copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio sold at auction in 2006 garnered a record-breaking $6.85 million. featured image credit:...

Maybe I’m not as smart as other people, or maybe I just get bored reading about normal people’s lives, but I’ve always had a preference for young adult fiction. I suppose it brings me back to that blissful time when I thought I could do anything, be anyone, the world was at my feet, waiting for me to take it over. All I had to do was choose which path to take. Now as I edge into my late 30s, doors are starting to close. I mean, not really, there’s that character on House who went to medical school in his forties, right? But in reality, my options are dwindling. The occasional, “I bet I would have really enjoyed studying biology,” thoughts are pretty much nixed now. I’ve chosen my path, meandering as it is, and now I have to see it through. And it’s not like I chose a path that makes me miserable. I get to create, write stories, draw pictures, and sometimes get paid for it. Maybe the fact that I’m in a constant state of creation is what attracts me to the characters in young adult books. These unfinished people, these kids who are figuring out what they’re good at in the midst of chaos. Young adult/middle grade fiction is unhindered by bad life decisions. By people hating their jobs, or facing a personal, unchangeable flaw that makes them miserable. There is no “Leaving Las Vegas” in young adult fiction, no watching someone who’s run out of options drink themself to death. The stories I like to read are about adolescent and teenage heros, saving the world from some really, really terrible doom to which they are personally connected. These kids never expected to be heros. They don’t want to...

I’m declaring this the below The Best Bookstore Ad Ever. There wasn’t whole lot of competition for this title, but still … you know, kudos. ~via...

Wow, only 10 more books to go before I meet my goal. And today’s book is a whole lot of awesomeness. I finished it yesterday, and I’m still a little sad about it. Here are my thoughts on COME TO WIN by Venus Williams and Kelly E. Carter . Why I Decided to Read It: Well, long story short, Carter (no relation) and Williams are my editor mates, under Dawn Davis. I met Carter at a signing for another editor mate, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and the concept for her book sounded so awesome, that I downloaded it, even though I rarely read non-fiction that can’t be found on a marketing or self-help shelf. What It’s About: Successful people from many different walks of life talk about how playing sports when they were younger shaped their future successes. Some famous names include Bill Clinton, Denzel Washington, Jack Welch, Meg Whitman, Condoleeza Rice, Richard Branson, Vera Wang and Hill Harper — and seriously that’s a really short list. So many titans gave interviews for this book. What Makes It Different: These people really talk deeply about the lessons that sports brought to bear on their current lives. I don’t think I’ve ever talked about any other book in general conversation as much as I’ve talked about COME TO WIN. What I Loved: In many ways this book is inspirational literature in disguise. The essayists impart important life lessons, but also, to my surprise, important parenting lessons, which I’ll go into further below. I suggest that everyone read it as I did: one chapter every other day or so. The reason I am so sad to finish reading a book I began in July is because I used it as a sort of Go Big Or Go Home Bible, reading...

I love the potato in all its forms: fried, mashed, boiled, baked, scalloped, whatever.  I can truthfully say I have never met a potato I did not appreciate, down to the flaccid, oily French fry at the bottom of the bag.  This is not a love ingrained by my cultural background, however, in fact as a Persian Filipina I have been raised on a steady diet of rice, rice, rice.  This potato love is pure American, borne of fast food fries cooked in lard and school lunch tater tots. My mother and father hadn’t meant to live in the United States, but since they did they went ahead and learned as many culinary customs as they could and adapted as necessary.  The Joy of Cooking formed the basis for my mother’s understanding of American cuisine.  Though our Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys were stuffed with rice, not bread, the mashed potatoes were always present and accounted for.   Boxed potatoes were never used due to their resemblance to detergent flakes.  Instead my mother mashed her potatoes by hand, and we loved each and every lump.  And the secret to its amazing taste and consistency?  Cream cheese.  Makes mashed potatoes that stick to the spoon and taste like a dream. My Mother’s Amazing Mashed Potatoes Ingredients 5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled ½ stick of unsalted butter ½ cup milk, plus more if needed to moisten 8 oz cream cheese – whipped is easier to use, but brick will do salt and white pepper to taste Scrub potatoes free of dirt.  Boil potatoes and then remove skins.  Or peel and then boil.  Or boil and then leave the skins on.  Personally I like the third option because it is more nutritious and easier.  Okay, it’s not really about nutrition,...

As someone who plans to explain IVF to her kid when she gets of age, I find the concept of the stork off-putting. But then again, my husband is still trying to convince me that we need to get on the Santa Claus and tooth fairy bandwagon, so maybe I’m just a scrooge. Either way, this same-sex parents picture book looks very cute. And kudos for including a mom of color. If not for the whole stork situation, I’d probably get STORK M.I.A. for...

Happy book week, Fierce & Nerdy! This being the holiday shopping season, books are on my mind even more than usual. That’s because bar none, hands down, books are my favorite gift to both give and receive. This opinion might soon be antiquated, however. Electronic reading devices like Amazon’s Kindle are this seasons hottest gift, and now that they are becoming reasonably affordable people are starting to proclaim the obsolescence of traditional books. The obvious parallel to the rise of e-book readers would be the iPod and how it completely changed the music business. Both are sleek electronic devices that allow for instant gratification in buying product online and experiencing it immediately on the device. Both make it possible and efficient to transport a huge library of music or reading material while taking up very little space. And both are really well designed gadgets that are pleasurable simply to hold and play with. But wait. This parallel does not hold up, because books are not the same as records, CDs, or DVDs. Those items are merely delivery devices for content. We don’t care much about the packaging and feel of a compact disc—we want what is on it. The same can be said of the movies on DVDs, which could explain why DVD sales are down in favor of streaming and On Demand services. These items are packages for content the way the can is for a Diet Coke. We don’t care about the container—we just want the Coke. Books, on the other hand, are not simply about content. If they were, then the book business would have suffered through the years from the public library system, which allows free and easy access to any book. Yet we continue to buy books, and many...

What’s that you say? I haven’t done a self-help book in a while? Well, let’s see what we have in the old hopper. Oh, here’s one! Without further ado, my thoughts on FIND YOUR FOCUS ZONE by Lucy Jo Palladino Why I Decided To Read It: After losing a few hours that I wasn’t able to account for at the end of each day for a week straight, I decided that it might behoove me to download a book on how to focus. This is basically my answer to every problem I’ve ever had: buy a book. What It’s About: Palladino goes over different focus problems and then gives you advice to surmount them. What I Loved: Well, the advice was pretty spot-on. I’m still not Spock-level focused yet, but I’ve incorporated a lot of her advice into my daily practice. See below. What I Didn’t Like: I found it a bit hard to focus enough to read the book. Palladino might have a “know your audience” issue with her writing. Though her advice and anecdotes are compelling, her somewhat scientific explanations of why we have focus problems were repetitive and weighed the text down. It took me three days to read PURPLE COW and it took me three months to read this. Palladino and her editor might do well to assume that whoever is reading this has a) a really short attention span, and b) not a whole lot of time — and then write and/or edit accordingly. Focus Lessons Learned: When you find yourself procrastinating, ask yourself what else you could be doing. This is a simple notion, but it really works. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found myself reading the newsfeed at Facebook, only to have a little...

“THE GOOD BOOK” EDITION The most recent sale of a complete Gutenberg Bible took place in 1978, with the volume fetching $2.2 million. featured image credit [Jerome’s Epistle to Paulinus]: Rodrigo...

In economics, we believe that consumers are rational agents who consume subject to the constraints they are given.  People would buy and buy and buy – buy until the store shelves were empty – if they didn’t have the nagging knowledge of their bank accounts dwindling with every purchase. Preferences differ between agents; someone buys those Thomas Kinkade Painter of Light ™ monstrosities, even if nobody you or I know would admit to it.  But universally the things we purchase must satisfy some need, allow us to live the way we think is best.  Most importantly, the constraints we face force us to choose. The story of Lacey Yeager, the main character in Steve Martin’s An Object of Beauty, is very much the story of a choice.  At twenty-three, “Lacey joined the spice rack of girls at Sotheby’s [where] majors in art history were welcomed over majors in art making, and pretty was preferred in either sex.”  Lacey Yeager has pretty to spare.  Daniel Franks, her friend and one-time lover, narrates her story.  He notes, “It was apparent to everyone that Lacey was headed somewhere, though her path often left blood in the water.” Lacey crosses her subtle Rubicon after a chance invitation to an auction, four flights upstairs from the dusty basement where Sotheby’s puts her to work.  There a Tissot painting, valued at five hundred thousand dollars, is sold for two million.  “Lacey noticed that as the pace of the bids picked up, she felt a concomitant quickening of her pulse, as though she had been incised by an aphrodisiacal ray.”  Someone has made some serious money – and why shouldn’t she? Her dusty basement and menial tasks become a source of knowledge.  “The endless stream of pictures that passed through the...

Looks like I complained too soon about Americans not doing artsy things to promote books. Check out the animated sentence released by the literary journal, Electric Literature. And find out more about the single-sentence animation project at...

Dear Dr. Miro, I’ve always wanted to get off with someone (besides myself) in the library. How can I get my boyfriend to do this? I am totally up for returning the favor but he’s really shy. All those shelves of books with everyone being so serious and having to be quiet and studious and, well, wow – I’m getting turned on just thinking about it!! Sincerely, Horny Book Worm Dear HBW, The library is quite a sexy place! It is hard to imagine that your boyfriend would not be up for pleasuring you amongst the bookshelves with promises of reciprocity, but since he is not, you will need to start slowly.  Here are some steps for getting him into your “Micro Fiche”. First, get him to come with you to your favorite section and then have a juicy make out session. See how that goes over. Ever so gently take his hand and put it between your legs. Again, check his comfort levels – I bet he will be getting pretty steamy. You can always back off a little bit by stepping away and getting a book, play hard to get even if he does not realize where this is going. Grab an erotic sexuality text or perhaps a tome so dry that all you really can do is think amorous thoughts through your boredom. If you are in the atlas section you may have access to maps that can create a bit of privacy.  Whisper in his ear a few of the filthy things you want to do to him. Of course, you will have to judge how far to take this. Kiss and rub some more. You get the idea – it is certainly not as difficult as the Dewey Decimal...

Well, as you might have noticed if you follow Fierce and Nerdy in real time, today’s post is hours late. Long story, but I basically had a writing deadline and woke up this morning to discover I had used all the time I had left on my travel internet — yes, I have travel internet — I don’t like to risk being w/o internet. Don’t judge me. Well, this normally wouldn’t be a problem, but unfortunately, AT&T isn’t able to get around to setting up our snazzy cable/phone/internet package until Thursday, so basically I’ve been going a bit crazy all day. Luckily, tomorrow is December 1st, so my travel internet will be back in effect. Until then, here are my thoughts on SPECIAL DELIVERY by Heidi Cullinan. Why I Decided To Read It: Long story short, someone suggested the website Dear Author to me as a place where people with good taste review romance novels. I was surprised to see that they had a m/m romance section, a genre I had been hearing a lot about but had yet to read, and this was the first A-grade review that I saw, so I downloaded it on to my iPad. What it’s About: A young college guy, living in Iowa, loses his mother to cancer (or was it diabetes? Sadly, I can’t remember). Her dying wish is that he finds a nice guy to settle down and have sweet, loving sex with. The only thing is he likes to be used and humiliated, which dredges up a lot of conflicted feelings and shame. But when he meets a older, hot truck driver that’s into BDSM, he risks his heart and ethical code to go on the road with him for one summer. What Makes It...

Hey Guys! Friendly reminder that DECEMBER 1 is the last day to leave an Amazon Review and get a free T-shirt! We’ve managed to net 100 reviews so far, which is just beyond awesome. However, we’re running out of supplies. So after leaving your review, email me at etc at 32candles.com and let me know your address and size (S, M, L, or XL). If we don’t have your size left in stock, we’ll send you a tote bag instead. So in summation, if you want a free t-shirt or tote bag, it’s simple. Just click on the pic below to leave your review at...

I am The Girl Who Translates Stieg Larsson Movies for Her Husband.  After stumbling across the first movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on Netflix Instant queue, I got hooked into the intricate storyline and decided to read the last two books.  From Larsson’s prose I found out the people of Sweden are: horny, kinky, buy things from Ikea and spend 18.45 kronor on 6 Billy’s pizzas, a pint of orange juice and a copy of the paper. Also, did I mention they swing and are horny? My feelings on Larsson’s writing are complex; love the story, dislike the writing style.  I waded through the dry, detail heavy prose wondering if the original Swedish version was this stiff or if the translator had burnt the prose to a crisp.  The important part, the story was uniquely compelling, dramatic and humane.  The story kept me in a book that, normally, I would physically toss across the room to punish it for wasting my time. (It begs the question; If it was this dry before translation, did this book get a pass from editors because ole Stieg was dead when it was published?  How does one collaborate with a dead author?  Do the Swedes just really get into minutia?) I could have waited for the next Girl Who… movies that were coming soon, but the majority of movies that I’ve seen made from novels leave out so much.  In order to get the whole experience, I needed to push through heavy novels filled with minute details of how much a cheese sandwich cost and lengthy lessons of Swedish political history (I started to skim through the extraneous bits).  Persistent reading was rewarded with rich characters, a LOT of rich characters and a plot that got...

Normally I’m not a big fan of book defacement, but I’m making an exception for this awesome New Zealand Book Council commercial by Anderson Studios. Seriously, America, why aren’t we putting out book ads like this??? ~via...

I love books! I always have. I drew this comic inspired by some of my favorite books. I hope you might be interested in these books, too. Just click on the book to buy it...

Welcome to BOOK WEEK 2 everyone! Here’s the dealy: I have 13 more books to read and review for you by December 31 — totally doable; I assure you. So every day this week, I’ll be bringing you my thoughts on a different book. And all of our other posts will be book-centric, too. I do think you should thank me for this, b/c you really did dodge a bullet. If not for BOOK WEEK 2, I’d be whinging on about the toils of moving in this space. And we all know how fun it is to hear other people’s moving stories, right? All jokes aside, though, here are my thoughts on THREE JUNES by Julia Glass. Why I Decided to Read It: Another Altadena Library grab. Now that I’m back to ordering all of my books through the library’s online system again, I’m going to miss the lovely surprises that came with grabbing whatever looked halfway interesting before my daughter got too fussy. What It’s About: The book has three narrators, the father of three Scottish boys; one of his sons, a gay man who expatriates to New York; and a random American woman, who shares an ex-lover with the gay son. What Makes It Different: Well, Julia Glass is an American author writing intimately about a Scottish family, mostly from a male POV. The one female narrator only gets to talk for a little bit. Also, this was Glass’s debut novel, and it won the National Book Award. What I Loved: Well, I picked up this book shortly after traveling to Scotland, so it was a nice change of pace to read something literary, set in one of my favorite countries. Also, I finished the book a couple of months ago, but...

Aa most of you know, I don’t usually  blog on the weekends, unless someone has died — BTW, RIP Jose Saragamo. You can read my review of his novel, BLINDNESS here. I’m making an exception to my usual blogging rules, b/c I’m bound and determined to catch up on this promise to read a book a week, before my own book, 32 CANDLES, comes out on Tuesday. So lo and behold, I present my first “Sensational Saturday” blogumn with my thoughts on BAYOU by Jeremy Love, which is perhaps the best graphic novel I’ve ever read. Why I Decided To Read It: I walked into the Altadena Library and this graphic novel was on display in their special “New Books” section, which I think means new-to-them, since it came out back in June 2009. I’d never heard of Jeremy Love before, and I adre giving new graphic novels a chance. So I picked it up, without reading the back cover. Most pleasant surprise of the year. What It’s About: This one is a bit hard to fully describe, but it’s about a little girl named, Lee, living with her sharecropper father in the Jim Crow south. She has a white best friend named Lily, who disappears under magical circumstances. When Lee’s father is jailed under suspicion of having raped and killed Lily, Lee sets out to find Lily before the gathering lynch mob kills her father. Toward the beginning of her quest, she meets Bayou, the title character. What Makes It Different: This is basically Alice in Wonderland with a way more interesting lead character and higher stakes. It somehow manages to be both historical and wildly imaginative at the same time. Also, how many magical tales have you read set in the Jim...

What a lovely, lovely week this has been! Our Fierce and Nerdy bloggers more than delivered, and I’m thinking we’ll have to do this again next year? But what’s our first themed week without an afternoon cap of a huge ole chunk of (book-based) procrastination? Oh, and friendly reminder. We’re giving away two more shirts on Monday or Tuesday, so pre-order the book and let me know to get entered to win. Also, big congrats to Susan Howard from “The Next Family” our Friday T-shirt winner. 1. Sadly, one of my favorite blogs isn’t too hopeful about this new Black Aqualad character, but I’ll definitely give him a chance … as long as the YOUNG JUSTICE issue he’s in is available on iPad. [Topless Robot] 2. Betty will definitely be receiving this Large Hadron Collider pop-up book. [Galleycat] 3. I loved this article on why it’s so very hard to recommend books. Basically people tend not to be as upfront about what they’re reading, which it’s not high-quality. I can identify. I haven’t read one trashy romance this year, and that’s mostly because I’ve been tracking every book I read at Fierce and Nerdy. [The New Yorker] 4. I hadn’t even heard the rumor that Alan Moore was working on an opera with the Gorillaz. But when I read that it wasn’t true, I got really sad. [i09] 5. Isn’t it sad how Keira Knightly just refuses to star in movies based on critically acclaimed novels? — oh wait, what I meant is that Keira Knightley is in yet another movie based on a critically acclaimed novel — one I loved, in fact NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro. Though I’m a little concerned, b/c the majority of the book takes place in...

a yearlong diary in three-line poems by Jeff Rogers, day 298 So the Wind Won’t Blow it All Away by Richard Brautigan Had to read the book very slowly. Every line so beautiful and sad, So known and understood, that over and over and over again It broke my fuckin’...

a yearlong diary in three-line poems by Jeff Rogers, day 297 Pavlov’s Harp: The Books Written in My Brain Any book anywhere anytime: spine straight, open in a lap, hefted in my hand, Splashes resonant redolent chord of music down library concert halls of my brain, revs Neuron harp strings poised shivering for angel finger caress; a deeply programmed...

Remember how I promised you that I would eventually review a non-marketing piece of non-fiction, because I wasn’t completely self-absorbed and could in fact read non-fiction that didn’t either 1) directly benefit me or 2) teach me how to do stuff. You probably didn’t believe me. “Ernessa, you’re just makin promises you won’t keep (again),” you probably thought to yourself. But then … BAM, today I’ve got thoughts on BITCH IS THE NEW BLACK by Helena Andrews — yes, an actual memoir! Who’s all about keeping her promises now? (Ignore the fact that I’m still four books away from my promise to read a book a week until my own book, 32 CANDLES launches). Why I Decided To Read It: Okay, well Erica Kennedy (FEMINISTA, BLING), adores this chyck IRL. Also, she’s a label mate, being Harper-produced and we have the same cover designer, Archie Ferguson. So you know how when someone tells you that your distant cousin,  ReeRee, who you’ve never met,  is in some horror movie, and you go to see it even if you don’t particularly like horror movies? — that’s kind of how I felt about reading this book. I don’t go out of my way to read memoir, but I ordered a copy of BitNB for both my bookcase and my iPad. What It’s About: Basically it’s a collection of essays about dating, family, career, and pets. If I were not black, I might say it’s a collection of essays about tackling dating, family, career, and pets as a black woman, But despite a certain Washington Post article that hit the internets like a viral bomb, this book isn’t about the collective black woman experience, it really is a memoir about Andrews’s one-of-a-kind life. What Makes It Different: Well, Andrews...

Stat! This concept ring is too awesome not to be worn on the finger of one Ernessa T. Carter. Click on the pic for more of her work. ~via...

If you happen to be in a bookstore, please ask if it carries or plans to carry 32 CANDLES.  Even if you’ve pre-ordered or already have a copy, just asking about 32 is such a boon, because the more requests booksellers get, the more likely they are to stock it. On other notes, there’s less than a week left until 32 CANDLES gets its official release. It makes me feel queasy just thinking about it, and the only reason I’m sleeping at night is because I’ve taken Amy Robinson’s (“Tall Drink of Nerd”) advice and started meditating. Also the whole 11-month-baby thing is a huge distraction, so thank the Lord for that, b/c I would completely freaking if I didn’t have mommy duties to keep my racing brain engaged. Read the rest of this article and find out what our last Tote Book Comment Challenge questions is at 32Candles.com! ~Photo Credit:...