It's been a while...

It's been a while since a lot of things. Since I've updated this blog (nearly a year!), since I've really had time to read consistently, since I've been as plugged in to the YA blogosphere.

Went for a walk with a friend one night last week, and we stumbled upon a secondhand bookstore. And then I found this gem for only $1! Double Spell by Janet Lunn, first published by Penguin back in 1968. I remembered reading this as a child (which would've been in the late '90s/early 2000s), so it was super exciting to find a copy still in really good condition and for so cheap.

So I think I'm going to try to get back into a pattern of reading frequently, one book at a time. And maybe this blog will see a bit of a revival in the coming days...

So what books from your childhood are you still nostalgic for?

Behemoth Books

So I've been noticing what seems to be turning into a trend in YA lit these days: long books.

Is it just me, or does it feel like there are more and more 400-page-plus books coming out recently? Some examples that come to mind off the top of my head would be Beautiful Creatures, Before I Fall, The Eternal Ones, Nightshade, etc. There are also a few in the 350-400 page range that are also rather hefty, such as The Dark Divine, Brightly Woven, etc.

Now, one of the general unspoken tidbits about writing is that there's no set word count - write it in as many or as few words as it takes to tell the story.

There are books that do this brilliantly. For example, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (hehe, had to bring it up -Mockingjay tomorrow!) are decently sized books - but every page, every word feels necessary. The plot, the language, the characters - everything keeps the reader completely entranced. The Harry Potter books got pretty hefty by the end, but they're still amazing reads and hugely popular.

Unfortunately this doesn't always seem to be the case. Honestly, it feels like a recurring observation in many of my reviews now, the fact that some books are simply unncessarily long. I'm not going to into naming specific examples and calling anybody out here, but some scenes just feel like the book could've done without. Others, backstory and setting up the scene takes the first hundred pages or so. Seriously? Just get to the story already.

Has anyone else been finding this recently, books being longer than they need to be?

Names: One & the Same

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose | by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Character names. Undoubtedly integral aspects of stories, no? Coming up with names can be a pesky business. Sometimes it feels like there are no suitable options; other times like there's an endless sea of possibilities and it's impossible to decide.

But there a few names that I've always sort of connotatively thought of as vetoed - forbidden. The first one, of course, being the [writer]'s own name. From the writing perspective, I've never really been able to bring myself to use my own name for any of my characters. On some level, it just feels a little strange to me, because I think I would find that uncomfortable. And I've always marveled at novels with characters which take the names of their creators.

Recently, I noticed that there's a Lauren in Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver. Another classic example would be Jane Bennet from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Now, I found this one to be particularly striking. Jane Bennet is characterized as the most beautiful, the kindest, etc. Jane and Jane - is that representative on some level?

When it comes to reading, how does it feel to encounter a character with the same name as you? (I happen to have a fairly uncommon name, so it doesn't really happen to me.) What about people you know, is it strange reading about characters with the same name as them? Recently read Kristin Walker's A Match Made in High School, and one of the characters not only had the same name, but a few similar character traits, and a similar hobby as someone I happen to know. It was definitely interesting, and a little hard to distinctly differentiate the two.

I've also been hearing from some people about how they feel uncomfortable naming characters with the same name as people they know (provided that the two aren't meant to be linked/named after). I'm personally like that too. How about you?

I guess now I'll open the topic up to discussion. So, some leading questions to get it started:

How do you feel (from a reader's or writer's perspective) about characters with the same name as the author? With your name? With the names of people you know?

Readers as Writers, & vice versa

What came first, the writer or the reader?

After conducting a couple interviews, it would appear that there is a general consensus in terms of advice for aspiring writers: read. So of course it comes as no surprise that most of us who write also love to read.

But does that also hold true inversely? Just out of curiousity, how many of you book bloggers out there also write (prose, poetry, song lyrics, journalism, diary entries, etc. anything at all)?

I've also been wondering (and the fact that I'm currently in the midst of The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams, may or may not have anything to do with it) some other questions, especially since a few days ago, a spam filter question on a contest asked something along the lines of if you could only choose one, who you rather have writing or reading?

I'd originally had a couple other concepts up for discussion, but alas, SAT cramming seems to really fry the brain. ;) It would be great to see what other people think of this.

Just to sum up, for those skimming, and feel free to interpret them however you like:
~Writers, do you all read?
~Readers, do you write as well?
~If you could only have one, reading or writing, which would it be/why?
~Anything else you'd like to add ;)