~ Jonathan Maberry, speculative fiction author, has a fantastic guest post up at Crowe’s Nest, in which he deftly explains the genres of pre-apocalyptic, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian fiction.

~ Author Terri Guiliano Long, author of In Leah’s Wake: Thanks to you: How book bloggers sparked the indie publishing revolution

~ Neil Gaiman posted a speech he once gave on three authors who influenced his life and work: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and G.K. Chesterton.

Discussion starters:

~ Chrisbookarama: We Just Want to Read – Some excellent thoughts on the funding cuts currently plaguing libraries, along with publishers pulling out of electronic content sites like Overdrive.

~ My Friend Amy: The Growing Relationship Between Books and Television – About the new(ish) trend of TV series adapted from books.

~ Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?: Legit – Survey says people buy books after reading about them on book blogs. Who knew? ~wink~ All kidding aside, it’s nice to have some firm numbers to confirm the value of book blogging.

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, reviewed by Sandy at You’ve Gotta Read This

~ The Orchard by Theresa Weir, reviewed by Kathy at Bermudaonion

~ The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney, reviewed by Jen at Devourer of Books

~ Foreign Correspondence by Geraldine Brooks, reviewed by Kristen at BookNAround

~ Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn, reviewed by Tasha at Truth, Beauty, Freedom, & Books

~ The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan, reviewed by Melissa at The Avid Reader’s Musings

~ The Condition by Jennifer Haigh, reviewed by Sheila at Book Journey

Other bookish links:

~ Flavorwire: 15 Famous Authors’ Beautiful Estates

~ Three days left to vote for the March read-along book!

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~ The amazingly gifted Beth Kephart has a new two-book deal with Philomel.

Discussion starters:

~ Book Journey: When authors attack

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ The Thorn and the Blossom by Theodora Goss. Vasilly mentioned this as one of the 2012 books she is most looking forward to. It looks amazing!

~ 20 Years Later by Emma Newman, reviewed by Darren at Bart’s Bookshelf

~ Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen, reviewed by Amy at My Friend Amy

~ Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir….of Sorts by Ian Cron. Sherry mentioned this one on her list of twelve best adult non-fiction reads of 2012.

Book to movie news:

~ Cherie Priest’s novel Boneshaker is headed for the big screen.

~ If you’re as curious as I was about how film-makers could possibly turn a book like What to Expect When You’re Expecting into a film, check out the trailer.

~ Warner Bros has released the first two official images of Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

Other bookish links:

~ NY Times: Publishers guild books with special effects to compete with e-books

~ LA Times: Has book blogging hit the wall? William Morrow’s blogger notice

~ New coin honors Charles Dickens

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~ Congratulations to Nnedi Okorafor – her novel Who Fears Death won the 2011 World Fantasy Award. I LOVED this book!

~ Be sure and check out my interview with Joan Leegant, author of Wherever You Go.

Discussion starters:

~ Adventures of an Intrepid Reader: Blogging….so much more than just maintaining a blog

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen & Jonathan Case, reviewed by Candace at Beth Fish Reads

~ Variant by Robison Wells, reviewed by Suey at It’s All About Books

Read-alongs:

~ Amy is hosting a read-along of A Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin this month. I’m joining in via audiobook.

Book to movie news:

~ Paramount will produce the film adaptation of Tana French’s novel The Likeness. Any casting thoughts?

Giveaways:

~ Don’t forget to enter my giveaways: enter to win one of three copies of Atlas Shrugged: Part One on DVD; and a DVD/Book Bundle of Water for Elephants.

Other bookish links:

~ Vote for your favorite reads of the year in the 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards.

~ I want this clock!

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Earlier this week, I sent Joan some questions from the read-along participants, and she was gracious enough to take the time to thoughtfully answer them for us.

Whenever I read a book about a hot-button issue, like this one, I’m interested to see if the author will reveal their personal feelings on the topic. In Wherever I Go, I felt you were very even-handed in your treatment of the issue of the settlements in the disputed territory. Was it difficult to keep your personal opinions out of the story?

Joan: I’m glad I came across as even-handed since that was important to me. I didn’t want to write a tract or manifesto, though I do have strong feelings about the settlement issue. I was careful to tone things down when I felt my personal opinions coming through too emphatically. It was something I addressed on revision.

Did you know how the book would end before you got there? I’m especially speaking of Dena’s decision at the end.

Joan: I didn’t know what Dena would do, or what action she would take, if any, until I got to that point in the story and wrote it out. I was very glad she did what she did, as I had imagined her to be a principled person, but I honestly didn’t know how that would play out until the very end. It was one of the questions that kept me going as I wrote the book. Just as a reader keeps reading to find out what happens, I as the writer was doing the same during the writing of it. It’s one of the things I love so much about writing fiction–discovering the story as I go.

For people interested in reading more contemporary fiction about Israel, could you give us a few recommendations?

Joan: A wonderful Israeli writer whose work is widely available in translation is David Grossman. Among his many novels, I might suggest The Book of Intimate Grammar, about a boy growing up in Israel in the 1960s, and Someone To Run With, about homeless street kids in Israel today. They are very different in style, the first more maximalist and stream-of-consciousness, the second more straightforward. Both are masterful.

Another excellent writer is Evan Fallenberg, an American who has lived in Israel for decades and who writes in English. His most recent novel, published this year, is When We Danced On Water, about an aging choreographer in Tel Aviv with a complicated past. Beautifully written.

When you’re in the mood for a comfort read, which books or authors do you turn to?

Joan: I love short stories and often turn to story collections when in the mood for something I know I’ll enjoy, often for the humor or shining intelligence or simply wonderful prose. Some writers whose short stories I love to read–and re-read– are Lorrie Moore, Amy Bloom, Edith Pearlman, William Maxwell, George Saunders, Jim Shepard, Bernard Malamud and Tobias Wolff.

Can you talk a bit about the significance of the title?

Joan: The title comes from the biblical Book of Ruth, where Ruth, newly widowed, proclaims her loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi, saying: “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.” Instead of going back to her own country when her husband dies, Ruth chooses to stay with her mother-in-law.

This passage is often cited in Jewish tradition as an exemplary expression of loyalty: to a person, to a land, to a religion, to a concept of God. But there is a shadow side to that kind of allegiance. Should we pledge loyalty at any cost? The book explores this shadow side. It explores how far people will go in the name of God or for a land, how far they will go out of allegiance to a particular ideology.

The title also echoes the fact that the main characters have all moved to another place–from the U.S. to Israel– in order to re-invent themselves or find forgiveness or fulfillment. Yet wherever they go, they take their personal histories with them, along with all the accompanying pain of those histories. So that’s also reflected in the title.

Which of your characters did you identify with the most? (I wondered in particular if you agreed with Eyal’s rant on pages 123-125.)

Joan: I do agree with Eyal’s political position, which you spotted there on 123-125. That’s an accurate expression of my feelings about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; my views are certainly coming out of his mouth. But in terms of the more major characters and their personal stories, a part of me was once like Mark Greenglass, a religious seeker who lost that religious passion (though I was never a drug dealer, let me say for the record!). In the end, though, I’d have to say that I’m really in all the main characters, in one way or another.

How did you figure out what was a likely punishment for Aaron’s crime?

Joan: Ah, one of the Thorny Questions! I know this issue has generated some discussion in book groups, some of whom have told me they had spirited debates about whether the punishment was sufficient or not. The answer is that I made up that punishment. I’m a lawyer by training, and have also lived in Israel for chunks of time, so it seemed plausible to me, given what I understand about diplomatic matters and the possibility of a behind-the-scenes deal. On a more gut level, however, I felt that Aaron’s father bore a lot of the responsibility for how Aaron’s life turned out, so the punishment for Aaron also became a punishment for the father.

I’d love to know if the author has any comments on how she thinks some of the characters were affected by their decisions in the long run. Did Dena and her husband fall apart because of her decision? Did Aaron ever have to face major consequences for his actions?

Joan: I don’t think Dena’s marriage would fall apart because of her decision, for two reasons. One is that Dena is very strong and principled, and I think that once she’d make a choice, she’d stand by it and defend it. She wouldn’t have chosen to do what she did out of weakness or uncertainty. Second, I see her husband as someone who would respect and admire his wife, and ultimately respect her decision. I also see him as less fanatical than Shroeder, the man who Dena helps implicate. So I think Dena’s husband would come to understand, if not agree with, Dena’s actions.

As for Aaron, I felt the consequences he was facing for his deeds were already pretty awful. To me, Aaron was like the figure of Cain from the bible: he would never be allowed to forget his terrible deed, as Cain–who had killed his brother Abel– wasn’t allowed to forget his. God tells Cain in that story (paraphrasing): instead of killing you, I’m going to let you live, but I will put a mark on you so that everyone you ever meet will know what you have done, and you will carry this with you the rest of your life. I thought the burden on Aaron’s heart, that awful shame and guilt, not to mention the circumstances he would now be required to live under, was worse than any other kind of punishment he might have gotten. He would never get relief, never feel he had “paid his debt to society,” never be forgiven, never be allowed to forget.

Thank you, Joan, so much, for answering our questions! And, thanks again, Avis, for hosting with me – I have enjoyed all of our read-alongs this year, and look forward to more in the New Year!

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Author news:

~ Sarah Jio, author of Violets in March (which I loved), has posted the book trailer for her next book, The Bungalow, due out in December.

~ Bitterblue, the companion book to Kristin Cashore’s Graceling and Fire, will be released May 1, 2012.

~ Lauren Myracle: How I Was Un-nominated for the National Book Award

Discussion starters:

~ My Friend Amy: National Book Awards – This Year Everyone Loses

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Dominance by Will Lavender, reviewed by Sandy at You’ve Gotta Read This

~ Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral, also reviewed by Sandy

~ The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen, reviewed by Laura at I’m Booking It

~ Scored by Lauren McLaughlin, blurbed by author Scott Westerfeld

~ Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, reviewed at An Adventure in Reading

~ A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein, reviewed by Swapna at S. Krishna’s Books

~ Letters: 1900-1915 by Henry James and Edith Wharton, reviewed by JoAnn at Lakeside Musing

Book to movie news:

~ Lionsgate has released a series of Hunger Games posters featuring the major characters: Effie, Cinna, Cato, Haymitch, Rue, Gale, Peeta, and Katniss.

~ Lionsgate acquires film rights to Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking series. Please, please, don’t screw this up! Kevin mentioned he had a good idea for the casting of Mayor Prentiss, and I immediately guessed who he was thinking of. Any guesses?

~ Spellbinder by Helen Stringer, a book that my kids and I thoroughly enjoyed, will be made into a film by MTV.

~ Watch the trailer for The Raven, which features John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe.

~ Joss Whedon has wrapped filming on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Hmmmm….. I adore Kenneth Branagh’s version, and so am not sure why he felt that it needed to be done again. On the other hand, it does star Nathan Fillion….

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Author news:

~ In this video, author Christopher Paolini discusses his journey as author of the Inheritance series, a journey that began when he was still a teenager.

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O’Malley, reviewed by Vasilly at 1330v

~ If Jack’s in Love by Stephen Wetta, reviewed by Candace at Beth Fish Reads

~ The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman, reviewed by Anna at Diary of an Eccentric

Reading challenges:

~ Reading, Fueled by Tea is hosting Advent with Austen.

Read-alongs:

~ Amy is hosting a read-along of Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale starting at the end of the month. I have the audiobook downloaded, and can’t wait to get started!

Other bookish links:

~ Hysterical comic on the topic of the Oxford comma – Keep in mind the drawings are a bit risque.

~ Audible.com has announced a new line of audiobooks narrated by celebrities. Including Colin Firth, ladies!

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As a parent, I believe it is my responsibility to monitor my children’s reading. While I try to err on the side of freedom, I have asked Natalie, my 14-year-old, to wait on a few books because I didn’t believe she was mature enough to deal with the topics or issues presented. Having said that, I would never expect the library at her high school (if she went to a normal high school) to remove those books from the shelves. Whether or not other students check those books out is not my business – nor parent’s but their own.

I do, however, believe that it makes sense to keep the books available to primary grade students age-appropriate. I do not think that The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson or The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie should be on the shelves at the local elementary school. And I don’t believe that is censorship, but feel free to argue with me on that point if you’d like.

Since I didn’t have time to do a full post highlighting some challenged books, I decided to republish an interview I had the honor of doing with YA author Chris Crutcher a couple years ago. Chris is a local author to me, living in Spokane. I listened to his book, Whale Talk, on audio earlier this year – and it is fantastic. His books have been challenged and/or banned in schools, and we talk about that a bit in the interview. Enjoy!

Chris Crutcher is an author of YA fiction, as well as a teacher and family therapist. He has taught at-risk kids and worked as a child protection advocate. His realistic and fast-paced fiction reflects the issues he encounters in his work. As an author who has experienced his books being banned and challenged, he is an outspoken advocate for free speech. He graduated from Eastern Washington University, and currently makes his home in Spokane.

Whale Talk: There’s bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don’t have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway.

A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant) to find their places in a school that has no place for them, the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to carve out their own turf. T. J. is convinced that a varsity letter jacket–unattainable for most, exclusive, revered, the symbol (as far as T. J. is concerned) of all that is screwed up at Cutter High–will be an effective carving tool. He’s right. He’s also wrong.

Still, it’s always the quest that counts. And the bus on which the Mermen travel to swim meets–piloted by Icko, the permanent resident of All, Night Fitness–soon becomes the cocoon inside which they gradually allow themselves to talk, to fit, to bloom.

Chris Crutcher is in top form with a cast of characters–adults, children, and teenagers–fighting for dignity in a world where tragedy and comedy dance side by side, where a moment’s inattention can bring lifelong heartache, and where true acceptance is the only prescription for what ails us.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes: Sarah Byrnes and Eric have been friends for years. When they were children, his fat and her terrible scars made them both outcasts. Later, although swimming slimmed Eric, she stayed his closest friend.

Now Sarah Byrnes — the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known — sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she’s hiding, before its dark currents pull them both under.

Other works by Chris Crutcher:
Deadline
The Sledding Hill
King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography
Angry Management

For a complete list of his works and a more in-depth bio, visit Chris Crutcher‘s web site.

I was fortunate to be able to interview Mr. Crutcher via e-mail:

Can you talk a bit about how your work as a therapist has informed your writing?

Chris: “It’s given me the information I need for the subtleties of human behavior… showed me how there is a reason for everything (whether a good or bad reason) and that if I learn that reason I will understand the person better. That translates well into creating characters.”

As I read through your bio, I found that some of your books have been banned or challenged in school libraries. What was that experience like?

Chris: “Happens all the time. These days it’s mostly just irritating. Same complaints, same unwillingness to look at the fact that when we talk with kids and are willing to hear them, we know them better. The business of censorship is the business of shutting up ideas and issues. It promotes ignorance as “help” to kids. Ignorance is not a help to kids.”

As a parent of an almost-13-year-old daughter, I’ve found that the books she reads spark amazing discussions on topics that might not have come up otherwise. Why do you think parents are so afraid of their teens reading books that talk about real life issues?

Chris: “I think a lot of the time it’s because they’re afraid to be “wrong” about those issues, or that they’ll have to fight with their kids about them. Actually reading about those kinds of things makes the discussion easier, because if the issues are too personal you can talk about the character’s issues and that leads into being able to talk about your own, or it allows both sides to talk about the issues without getting too personal. Most of the time, though, it’s about philosophy. I think parents are too willing to let religious beliefs get in the way of true connection with their kids. My thought about that is this: philosophies are fine but we should never let philosophies trump our humanity.”

For those of us who haven’t read any of your work before, what’s the best book to start with – the “essential Crutcher,” so to speak?

Chris: “I don’t know that there is one. Probably if you read Whale Talk or Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes or Deadline, you’d get most of it. My memoir, King of the Mild Frontier tells you where a lot of my work comes from.”

I’ve just recently “discovered” YA lit in my own reading, especially since I skipped that genre growing up and went right from children’s novels to adult literature. What YA books by other authors do you recommend?

Chris: “Anything by Walter Dean Myers, Christopher Paul Curtis, Laurie Halse Anderson, Terry Davis. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is stunning. Lois Lowry’s The Giver will keep you asking all kinds of important questions. Joan Bauer’s stuff is always smart and funny and insightful. Those are just a few – if you asked me at a different time, others would pop up.”

Which writers have had the biggest impact on your life and your writing?

Chris: “Kurt Vonnegut, Harper Lee, Alice Walker, Joseph Heller, Tim O’Brien, John Irving, Pat Conroy. Again, ask me at a different time and different authors would come up, but you can not miss with those.”

What is the best book you’ve read this year so far?

Chris: “Probably a non fiction book: Columbine by David Cullen. It will challenge many of the things you think about that shooting – a real lesson to the culture.”

If you could recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?

Chris: “The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.”

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Author news:

~ Poet Billy Collins reads his 9/11 poem “The Names” on PBS. Very moving.

Discussion starters:

~ Ticket to Anywhere: Author Cindy Tefft talks about faith in YA fiction. She makes some excellent points.

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read pile:

~ The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon, reviewed by Wendy at Caribousmom

~ Forgotten by Cat Patrick, reviewed by Fleur Fisher

Book to movie news:

~ Keira Knightley to take on the title role in a film adaptation of Anna Karenina.

~ Hugh Grant joins Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and Susan Sarandon in the film adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas.

Other bookish links:

~ Stylist: 50 Beautiful Book Covers

~ Jennifer at Literate Housewife introduces NORC: No Old Reviews Club

~ Beautiful paper sculptures are appearing mysteriously at libraries and other bookish locations around Edinburgh. These are gorgeous!

~ The Guardian: Fool for proofs – the advance reading copy trade

~ Flavorwire: 20 Amazing Reimagined Book Covers

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~ Karen Harrington, author of the amazing Janeology, will have a new book out in the spring of 2013!

~ Book eight of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series has a title! Here’s hoping it’s getting closer to a release date, as well.

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman, reviewed by Michelle at That’s What She Read

Book to movie news:

~ Steven Spielberg will produce the film adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse. I didn’t finish the book, as the method of telling the story didn’t work for me, but I think it will make an awesome movie.

Other bookish links:

~ If you struggle with how to pronounce certain authors’ names, as I do, you might find this chart handy.

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~ Meghan at Medieval Bookworm has a guest post by one of my favorite authors, Laurie R. King.

Discussion starters:

~ Bookalicious: An open letter to Goodreads

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ The Companion by Lorcan Roche, reviewed by Marie at The Boston Bibliophile

~ Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran, reviewed by Raidergirl at An Adventure in Reading

Other bookish links:

~ The Onion: Nation Shudders at Large Block of Uninterrupted Text

~ You can now get shoes that reflect your love of all things literary.

~ The Help Criticism: See It Before You Judge

~ 40 Publishing Buzzwords, Cliches and Euphemisms Decoded – Very funny!

~ Still time to sign up for the September read-along of Brooklyn by Colm Toibin.

~ This picture that Karen posted cracks me up.

Non-bookish links of interest:

~ The Atlantic: The Debt Crisis at American Colleges

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