Guest Post: Author Shelley Workinger's All-Time Favorite Book

Today I would like to welcome author Shelley Workinger back to My Reading Room. I introduced her to you last year when I read the first book in her series, Solid.  I loved Solid so when Shelley contacted me about hosting her and reviewing the second book in the series, Settling, I could not wait.  So help me welcome Shelley today to My Reading Room where she discusses her All-Time Favorite Book (which I have not read, but really need to).  Welcome Shelley!

My All-Time Favorite Book by Shelley Workinger

My absolute, hands-down favorite book of all time is The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. When someone asks me for my Top 10 reads things get tricky, but I never waver on that #1 pick. If you’ve read it, you know what I’m talking about; if you haven’t, bookmark this page to read later and go get your hands on a copy!

I do read a lot of YA (and, of course, I write YA), so you probably think it makes sense that my top choice is also a YA novel. Well, The Book Thief is technically YA for some publishing-related reason that I’ve forgotten, but it really should be classified as AA for All Ages. Or, better yet, RR for Required Reading. Are you starting to get a sense of how much I adore this book?

To even try to give a synopsis of this book is an injustice, because so many people will say, “Another Holocaust book?” and not give it a fair shot. Yes, The Book Thief is about a 9-year-old girl sent to live with a foster family in Molching, Germany in the 1930s, as Hitler comes to power. But it’s also a story of courage, friendship, love, death, and so much more. This is Liesl’s story, as told by Death himself. In Zusak’s words : "It’s a small story really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.” In my words:  Best Book Ever.

Oh, and stock up on tissues, because you’ll need them. It’s WWII, so you know the story isn’t going to be pretty. And yet the beauty of this book is beyond words. Beyond my words, anyway, but Zusak has no trouble finding the perfect word for every scene, every image, every thought. So not only do I cry every time I read this book, I cry just reading some of the quotes from it.

Even each chapter heading is like a small poem, saying everything and nothing all at one, for example:

Part One – The Gravedigger’s Handbook, featuring:
himmel street – the art of saumensching – an ironfisted woman
a kiss attempt – jesse owens –sandpaper – the smell of friendship
a heavyweight champion – and the mother of all watschens

Some of the most memorable quotes concern Liesl, the powerful young heroine:

A DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY
Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children

Or her equally tough and touching friend Rudy:

The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.

Or the Jewish man they’re hiding from the Nazis:

Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.

But the most poignant words come from Death himself, who says:

Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.

Marcus Zusak has made this other-worldly character as human as any other person in the book; you
look at things from an entirely new perspective when Death says:

They say that war is death’s best friend, but…To me, war is like the new boss
who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating…, ‘Get it done,
get it done.’ So you work harder, You get the job done. The boss, however does not
thank you. He asks for more…[1942] was a year for the ages, like 79, like 1346, to just name a few. Forget the scythe, God damn it, I needed a broom or a mop. And I needed a holiday.

He’s neither nostalgic, nor indifferent, but just real in his commentary on human behavior:

I’ve seen so many young men over the years who think they’re running at other young men. 
They’re not. They’re running at me.

And despite his sometimes seemingly objectivity, he has greater compassion than much of humankind,
as when he says:

Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I’d throw them over
my shoulder. It was only the children I carried in my arms.

I hope I haven’t gone on and on (okay, I know I have!), but I also hope that I’ve shown you how this book has it all – life, death, love, friendship, coming-of-age, history, philosophy – and on a level accessible to
all ages. Get copies for everyone you know, because you’re going to want to hold onto yours.

***

Thank you Shelley for sharing your favorite book - I have heard wonderful things about this book, have even checked it out from the library, but somehow never made time to read it.  I will have to now!


To see my interview with Shelley last year, click here.
To see my review of Solid, click here.

Shelley's website

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My review of Settling will come later today.

Book Review: Double Take by Melody Carlson

Double Take by Melody Carlson

Publisher: Revell

Publish Date: June 1, 2011

Paperback, 273 pages
Young Adult
ISBN: 978-0800719647

My Review:
Why I read this:  I am a huge Melody Carlson fan so I read everything she writes.


My thoughts: The concept of Double Take is really fun.  There have been other books where kids which places but I'm pretty sure there has never been one where a Manhatten rich girl switches with a Amish girl.

Double Take is a really cute story with a good lesson in the end and really throughout the book.  Madison is unhappy with her life, with the constant pull of her mom, her dad, her boyfriend and her best friend, she really just feels like she wants a simpler life and often feels like she was born in the wrong time period.  Anna likes her life, sure it's simple and it's hard work, but she loves her family and she loves God.  The only problem she really has is the boy she loves has left her Amish community during his Rumspringa with the threat to never come back and has headed to New York City where he is sure his destiny is.  Anna is sure Jacob is her destiny and when her family starts making statements about her marrying another boy in the community and she's about to be shipped off to her Aunt Rachel's more strict Amish community for a few weeks it was like an act of God brought Madison into her life.  When Madison runs into Anna in the coffee shop and sees the resemblance and talks Anna into her crazy switch-a-roo plan the story really takes off.   

I loved getting to know each character in an environment that they were not use to.  I think it actually told more about the character to show them in different environment.  It showed how they were willing to change and how they were willing to learn about the others' lifestyle and take what they learned and employ it into their own life.  So many lessons learned and in so many fun ways.  I just loved this book and could not put it down.  It was just plain fun with a good morals thrown in to boot.

Melody Carlson never ceases to amaze me how she can write so many books and relate so well to teenagers.  I think she has hit another homerun with Double Take and I highly recommend it to teenagers and adults alike!

My Rating: 4.75/5.0

About the Book:

It's spring break of her senior year and Madison Van Buren is fed up. Stressed over Ivy League pressure, her parents' marital problems, and her boyfriend's neglect, Madison gets in her car and drives west. Meanwhile, eighteen-year-old Anna Bronner wants to escape the so-called simple life--which for her consists of caring for younger siblings, sewing, cooking, and gardening--and she's well aware that her future will simply be more of the same with a man she doesn't love. Suddenly, worlds collide when Madison and Anna meet in a small town, realize they look uncannily similar, and decide the grass is definitely greener on the other side.

Readers will love this funny and provocative tale of switching places from bestselling author Melody Carlson. As they get a glimpse into two very different worlds, they may find themselves happy to be just who they are, where they are.

Available June 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

About the Author:

Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of more than 200 books, including Just Another Girl and Anything but Normal. She recently was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her many books, including the Diary of a Teenage Girl series and Finding Alice. Melody and her husband live in Oregon.
 
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Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books that bring the Christian faith to everyday life.  They publish resources from a variety of well-known brands and authors, including their partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Hungry Planet.

For more information, visit www.RevellBooks.com.

The Gift of Summer Reading from Istoria Books

Istoria Books

eBooks You Want to Read at Prices You Want to Pay ™

June 23, 2011

Contact: Libby Sternberg, editor-in-chief

(LibbyMalinSternberg@gmail.com or IstoriaBks@gmail.com)

THE GIFT OF SUMMER READING:

99 CENT SALE ON CURRENT ISTORIA BOOKS INVENTORY

Mystery, literary fiction, inspirational romance, short stories--Istoria Books, a new digital publisher dedicated to releasing “eBooks You Want to Read at Prices You Want to Pay,” ™  is offering its current small but critically acclaimed inventory to readers for 99 cents a book during a “Gift of Summer Reading” sale.

The sale, which will run for at least a month, will become an annual event at the new publisher as summer readers look for books to take on vacation.

“We want readers to sample our stories, and we know this price point pulls them in,” says Editor-in-Chief Libby Sternberg.

To take advantage of the sale, readers should go to the Istoria website -- http://www.IstoriaBooks.com-- where they can find the books along with “buy” buttons that will take readers to the appropriate pages in the Kindle, Nook and Smashwords stores.

The publisher will soon release five romances by award-winning author Jerri Corgiat that were previously published by Penguin’s Signet imprint. The first of these books, Sing Me Home, will be part of the sale.  

Reviewers interested in Istoria Books offerings should contact IstoriaBks@gmail.com for free copies.

Book Review: How Huge the Night by Heather and Lydia Munn

 

How Huge The Night by  Heather and Lydia Munn

Publisher: Kregel Publications

Publish Date: March 9, 2011

Paperback, 304 pages

Fiction, Young Adult

ISBN: 978-0825433108

My Review:

Why I read this book:  I am starting to like historical fiction more and more.  Add to that this is a young adult novel with a boy protagonist and I have one son getting closer and closer to being a teenager and I am interested in books that will be out there for him to read.  Not to mention the premise just sounded interesting!


My Thoughts: How Huge the Night is very thought-provoking, serious, yet loving and caring all in one package.  It's a story of God's grace and how people can use it to grace others around them who are in need.  It's a story of choices.  It's a story of growing up and making decisions that can affect the rest of your life.  All of that said, it really isn't that heavy of a story where you don't enjoy it and get lost in the lessons.  Contrary to that in fact, the lessons are subtle, but the story is first and foremost and entertaining and educational.

I love the character of Julien in this book.  I purposely seek out books where the protagonist is a boy because I have two boys of my own to raise and look forward to recommending great books to them one day soon.  Julien is your average teenager even though the time is during the late 1930s and the place is France, the teenager is universal.  He is brooding and sulky at the beginning because his family has been uprooted to move to a small town from the wonderful city of Paris.  They are now living on a farm with his Grandfather with another teenager he doesn't know as a border with them.  On top of it all, he has to find his place in a new school where his Dad is one of the teachers.  To be honest there is not much to like about Julien in the beginning.  Then you find out he likes soccer, but it's hard to get into the after-school games because they are ruled by the cool boys in the school and ultimately a boy named Henri.  Eventually he does get to play but then problems start.  And this is where Julien starts to grow on the reader and he himself begins to grow.

Julien continually questions God through the book and this is one of the things that helps him grow, here is one example:

In the evening, it was still the same: the radio, the cluster of faces around it. In the daytime, there was peace somehow--in the green of the land, in the strength of his legs, in the mass of solidity of the hills they climbed. But in bed at night, Julien tried fumblinglyy to pray and found no words. What did god have to do with German tanks overrunning the earth, with bombers pounding Rotterdam to blood and fire? What did God have to do with the blitzkrieg?

He didn't know.

As Julien tries to figure out right from wrong and goes from one day having a whole group of friends to the next having only Benjamin who lives with him but barely talks to him as a friend. Through this the reader gets to see Julien begin his transformation.  I liked how the people around him helped to form him and guide him.  His grandfather, his mother, Pastor Alexandre, the Rostins and others from the village for example.

And not only is there Julien and his village's story going on, but there is also the story of two teenagers, Nina and Gustav whose father dies as their part of the book opens. His dying words are for them to get out of Austria because he senses the evil coming.  So Nina becomes Niko, cuts her hair and binds herself so she looks like a boy and they head out to cross borders they should not be crossing and have adventures that leave them starving and broken only to eventually cross paths with the villagers in Julien's village of Tanieux.

I love how the Munn's weaved the two story lines together.  They worked great separately and I knew from the beginning they would come together but I didn't know how and this was just wonderful.

There is just so much to say about this book, the characters were great - all the main characters showed such growth that I was inspired.  To me one of the themes was one of compassion and it shines through throughout the book and the characters.  Another thing I think that was well done was the building of the suspense of the village waiting for occupation of the Germans.  I felt the tension and felt I was right there in the village waiting day after day for the soldiers to come.

This book is Christian, and there are references to God and Jesus and I thought the Pastor's sermons were wonderful, they were thoughtful, timely and on the level for a teenager and especially Julien (and ultimately the reader) to understand.  And even though those parts are there, I still feel the focus of the novel is showing God through good works and helping others.  I think that ties right into the compassion theme of the novel and was what the Munn's were going for in How Huge the Night.

How Huge the Night is magnificent, it is amazing, it will leave you thinking long after you have finished it and I look forward to their next book which according to the author's notes at the end may have more focus on the interment camps in France during World War II.  I think both of the authors have a firm grip on this time period and on the area and know how to weave an engaging story that you don't want to end.


My Rating:  5.0/5.0

About How Huge the Night:

Fifteen-year-old Julien Losier just wants to fit in. But after his family moves to a small village in central France in hopes of outrunning the Nazis, he is suddenly faced with bigger challenges than the taunting of local teens. Nina Krenkel left her country to obey her father's dying command: Take your brother and leave Austria. Burn your papers. Tell no one you are Jews. Alone and on the run, she arrives in Tanieux, France, dangerously ill and in despair.

Thrown together by the chaos of war, Julien begins to feel the terrible weight of the looming conflict and Nina fights to survive. As France falls to the Nazis, Julien struggles with doing what is right, even if it is not enough-and wonders whether or not he really can save Nina from almost certain death.

Based on the true story of the town of Le Chambon-the only French town honored by Israel for rescuing Jews from the Holocaust-How Huge the Night is a compelling, coming-of-age drama that will keep teens turning the pages as it teaches them about a fascinating period of history and inspires them to think more deeply about their everyday choices.

Link to buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/How-Huge-Night-Heather-Munn/dp/082543310X/ref=sprightly-20

About the Munn's:

Heather Munn was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in southern France where her parents were missionaries like their parents before them. She has a BA in literature from Wheaton College and now lives in a Christian intentional community in rural Illinois, where she and her husband, Paul, host free spiritual retreats for the poor, especially those transitioning out of homelessness or addiction. When not writing or hosting, she works on the communal farm. 

Lydia Munn, daughter of missionary parents, grew up in Brazil. She received a BA in literature from Wheaton College, and an MA in Bible from Columbia Graduate School of Bible and   Missions. With her husband, Jim, she has worked in church planting and Bible teaching since 1983, notably in St. Etienne, near the small town in the central mountains of France which forms the background of How Huge the Night. The Munns now live in Grenoble, France.

Other information about the authors and the book:

Interview with Heather and Lydia Munn

Book Excerpt

Video Trailer 

***I received this book from the publisher for the Kregel Blog Tour for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  I do not receive money for my amazon links since I live in NC (something about some law), so they are up purely for my readers to have a place to check out the book.***

Book Review: Crush Control by Jennifer Jabaley

Crush Control by Jennifer Jabeley

Publisher: Razorbill

Publish Date: June 9, 2011

Paperback, 368 pages 
Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary
ISBN: 978-1595144249

Book Review:

I loved Crush Control, this was a great light-hearted contemporary young adult book. It wax very enjoyable and a real page-turner.  Willow makes a great main character, she wants to return to Georgia to her best friend she left at 9-years-old. She has kept in touch with Max since she left and she wants to create a romantic relationship to with him.  However when she returns, she finds him the same friend she has always had, friendly, caring, and the banter between them comes right back when they are face to face.  He drives her to school, he sneaks in her room (even though he doesn't have to, her mom adores him) but he has a girlfriend.  This is a presents major problem for Willow's plan to make Max her boyfriend.

Willow quickly finds a good friend in Georgia a slight outcast that gives Willow the lowdown on how the hierarchy of the school and about Quinton who Willow met the first day she came back to town.  I loved Georgia and her diagrams and her wit and humor.  Soon several members of the school learn of Willow's past in Las Vegas and her mom's hypnosis show and ask her to hypnotize as a type of party trick during one of Quinton's parties.  Being thrilled at being invited to the party she agrees to do this even though she knows her mom would not want her to do it.  Her mom is trying to leave the Las Vegas lifestyle behind and is work as a hypnotist in a pain clinic in town.  But Willow being the new girl, she does it and impresses the kids and soon draws attention of two popular students that think they need hypnotism to help them with different parts of their lives.  Willow debates whether to do this and ultimately decides to help and suddenly is part of the popular crowd.  At the same time Willow is dealing with the outcome of her hypnotisms and fitting in with the popular crowd, she is also trying to get her mother and her grandmother back together and not upset her mother as well. And there is Max who seems to like her, but every time she thinks he does, something happens and he seems to change.  Soon Willow's life is a mess of her own making and she and Georgia are working hard to make it all better, which leads to several humorous episodes that I think really bring out Ms. Jabaley's sense of humor and make the book.

I really love this book.  I thought the hypnotism angle was fresh and new.  It made a nice added dimension to the plot.  Willow was a great typical yet interesting teenage girl, she's trying to do things right and to fit in and she wants Max as a boyfriend.  Willow made a strong character, yes things get out of control, but she always tries to fix things with the help of Georgia.  I also like Max, he's just that all-around great guy that all girls want as their best friend and as a boyfriend.  Ms. Jabeley wrote an amazing story that entertains, teaches a lesson and can make you laugh.  I like the simple young adult books like this one (and I don't mean simple in a bad way - I just mean no paranormal element, no real harsh teaching element, just teenagers being teenagers).  This is an excellent book and I cannot recommend it enough.  You will quickly fall in love with Willow, her mother, Max and Georgia and their antics will keep you turning pages to see what will happen next.  I see this as going down as one of my favorite YA novels of this year!

Book Rating:  5.0/5.0

About the Book:
Willow has spent most of her life as her mother's sidekick in a popular Las Vegas hypnotism show. So when she and her mom move back to their sleepy southern hometown to start over, she thinks she's in for a life of quiet normalcy. Except that her new life turns out to be anything but, when she kinda sorta hypnotizes Quinton, the hottest guy on the football team, to fall madly, deeply, head over heels in love with her. But what started out as an innocent way to make her best friend, Max, jealous soon gets way out of hand, and Willow begins to wonder if the mind - and more importantly, the heart - is something you can really control.

About the Author: 
Jennifer Jabaley grew up in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and has been known to spend more time modeling sunglasses than seeing patients at her optometry practice. Jen lives in Blue Ridge, Georgia, with her husband and two small children.

FTC Information: I received this book from the publisher through BookSparks PR for an honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

Guest Post: Julie Halpern - Where, How, and When I Write

Today Julie Halpern, author of Don't Stop Now which I reviewed last week is joining us with a guest post about her writing.

Where, How, and When I Write

Now that I am working on the big revision of my fourth novel (the sequel to my first!), I’m trying to remember how I managed to write any of my novels.  The hilarious part is that I quit my job as a school librarian last year to be home with my daughter.  I thought this would also give me more time to write, seeing as I would only have to balance two careers instead of three.  As if.  Now that I am MOM full time, I can’t seem to find any time of day where I am WRITER.  This is scaring me a bit.  So I thought I would look back at how I wrote my first three novels and see if this inspires Writer Julie to come out and play.

Get Well Soon – I should first mention that I write all my novels by hand into regular notebooks using regular ballpoint pens.  I am a terrible typist, and the blank screen combined with the flashing cursor and squiggly lines makes writing a book straight into a computer daunting.  I wrote the first half of Get Well Soon on my train rides from Chicago into the suburbs and back when I worked at an elementary school.  When summer came, I signed up for two hours a day in a private study room at my public library.  There, I finished the second half.  So disciplined I was!

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder – I signed on for this book with my editor when all I knew was that I was writing a “friendship novel.”  It was pretty daunting to be paid for a book and then having to write it.  I used the ol’ bland-walled library room to write this book, although the starkness and rips in the chairs started getting to me.  Obviously, though, it brought enough focus to write a book.

Don’t Stop Now – This was the first book I wrote after I had my daughter.  She was a power sleeper, so I wrote the book during my summer off in the wee hours of the morning before she woke up.  Okay, she slept until 9:30.  It all worked perfectly, until…

Get Well Soon: The Sequel (actual title to come) – My daughter seems to now sense when I’m working in the morning.  On days when I’m not working, she’ll sleep until 8:30.  Sometimes I have to wake her up.  On days when I’m trying to work?  I’m lucky if she stays down until 7:30.  I have no idea how I wrote my first solid draft, in my house, during baby sleeping times, but now that I have the first big revision to tackle?  I’m struggling.  I don’t like the pressure the baby monitor puts on me.  It’s like I’m constantly listening for her voice to break the flow I’ve got going with my writing.  Really, the only time I’m going to be able to write well from now on will have to be a) when my daughter is out of the house (hear that, Grandma?) or b) when I lock myself in my bedroom closet.  I’m seriously considering the latter.  Because I have a deadline, and I’m not getting much work done.  Did I just hear something over the baby monitor?  Guess this blog post is done.  Sigh.

Thanks so much for joining us today Julie - I really enjoyed Don't Stop Now and you can find my review here.

About the Book:

On the first day of Lillian’s summer-before-college, she gets a message on her cell from her sort-of friend, Penny. Not only has Penny faked her own kidnapping, but Lil is the only one who figures it out. She knows that Penny’s home life has been rough, and that her boyfriend may be abusive. Soon, Penny’s family, the local police, and even the FBI are grilling Lil, and she decides to head out to Oregon, where Penny has mentioned an acquaintance. And who better to road-trip across the country with than Lil’s BFF, Josh. But here’s the thing: Lil loves Josh. And Josh doesn’t want to “ruin” their amazing friendship.

Josh has a car and his dad’s credit card. Lil has her cellphone and a hunch about where Penny is hiding. There’s something else she needs to find: Are she and Josh meant to be together?

About the Author:

A native to the Chicago suburbs, She have been a school librarian for more than ten years (old much?).  She live with my sweetheart husband, illustrator Matthew Cordell, and their gloriously large Siamese cat, Tobin.  In her spare time she like to read, watch TV, play Sims 2, and travel.

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Guest Post: Jennifer Jabaley

Today I welcome Jennifer Jabaley, author of Crush Control to My  Reading Room.  She's here to talk about how she was inspired to write Crush Control which I will be reviewing later today. 

When people find out that CRUSH CONTROL is about hypnosis, the first thing people ask is, "How did you come up with that idea?" quickly followed by, "Did you know much about hypnosis or did you have to do research?"

This is the true story of how I became inspired to write a story about hypnosis: It was the middle of the night.  I was up with my daughter who was about one at the time.  She was a horrible sleeper and I was quite exhausted.  On this particular night, I was rocking her back and forth and with a touch of delirium, I started to say, "You are getting sleepy.  SLEEEEEEEEPY" in my best hypnotist voice.  Then suddenly it occured to me - that could be a really great topic for a book! I don't think I've heard of any other books about hypnosis - especially not in YA. And what teenager wouldn't be drawn to the idea of being able to control their circumstances?

But I knew very little about hypnosis.  So once I decided this could be a great topic, Idecided to learn as much as I could. I booked a trip to Las Vegas to experience a real stage performance! It was quite entertaining :) There is a party scene in Crush Control that was heavily influenced by the Vegas hypnosis show I saw. I did have to tame down the antics a bit to make it appropriate for a teen book, though.

Much of the hypnosis used in Crush Control is not the stage variety, but rather, closer to a technique called hypnotherapy.  I did a tremendous amount of research on this form of hypnosis. It is used to help people break bad habits like smoking or to aid in weight loss, or combatting fears like a fear of flying.  I was really surprised and impressed with how much science backs the idea of hypnotherapy.  And even though Willow uses her form of hypnotherapy in an immature way, I do believe that hypnotherapy, if used appropriately, is a valuable tool to help people change habits that are hurting or inhibiting them.

I know some people might be skeptical about the idea of hypnosis.  The people on stage could just be faking, right? But after doing research for this book, I do believe that hypnosis is real! And it can be used not only to provide entertainment, but can help people erase bad habits or feelings.

Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog and I really hope you enjoy reading CRUSH CONTROL!!