Phew, that was fun!

The A to Z Blogging Challenge is OVER!

I actually loved posting every day. It was a challenge because I haven't blogged in so long. I this lapse with a post a month, on average. I've missed sharing reviews, but I've also spent a lot of time trying to decide what I want this space to be. I'm not good enough a reviewer to have it exclusively be reviews. Plus it's how I FEEL about books, so my reviews will be more casual and personable. And it won't be just books, it will be everything relating to books and literacy and media.

Really developing It's Not Easy Going Green has been a lot of fun. Some of my posts were just thought vomit, and some were more developed. I want that to be a mix of a lifestyle blog and minimalism/environmentalism/financial blog, but all very personal. I'm not trying to be an expert on anything, here or on my green blog, I just like sharing my experiences.

Since launching my photography business, I've posted on Allison and Her Camera, but not regularly. This challenge has pushed me to get back to my blogging roots (because of course those need to be rediscovered?) and I want to stay in the practice of writing often. I've been publicly blogging since 2008, and writing online (diary-x and LiveJournal, anyone?) since 2000. As lame as it might be, I like sharing some things online, so... here I am. And here I am trying to stay while being interested and relevant.

I've loved connecting with so many different bloggers, and hope to keep up with you all, and hope you stick around for my journey and share your experience.

X Marks the Spot

Scavenger hunt books are a trend in children's/middle grade lit lately, and I am loving it! I love suspenseful books, mysterious books, and books with cases you can try to solve along with the characters, à la Encyclopedia Brown. I've included short reviews of some of my favorites below. I have NOT read the latest Mr. Lemoncello, though, so no spoilers!

It kind of looks like an X!

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
If you never read any other book I recommend, please read this one. I love this book SO much, I already want to re-read it. Codes, hidden books, visiting landmarks in an historical city - what’s not to love? Emily has been an active Book Scavenger for years, so she’s excited when her family moves to San Francisco, even though she’s tired of moving once a year. Now she’s in the hometown of the man who created Book Scavenger, and he’s about to release a new game! But when he’s mugged in a subway station, no one knows if the game creator will make it, and Emily is worried her family will move again before she can participate in the game.

RE-READ: I read this book in May 2016 but wanted to re-read it so I could read the second one and be in the Book Scavenger mindset. I LOVED re-reading it! I had also just met the author at ALA Annual, so it was really cool to kind of immerse myself into this world. This book is so good and solid, and I can’t stop recommending it to people of all ages.

The Unbreakable Code by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

The second Book Scavenger book - so good! I had just met the author at ALA Annual and re-read the first book, so I was totally immersed in this world. I loved the twists in this book, and can’t wait for more! Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein I was sucked in to this book from the beginning - books and riddles and codes and a super-cool library?! I’m in. It was a really good story, and I appreciate how it will get younger kids, especially those who aren’t readers and are more into games, into reading. There were book titles and references galore in this book, so it was fun to place those. It reminded me of Book Scavenger. Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein I liked this second book a lot… maybe even more than the first? I felt like the puzzles and games were more involved, or perhaps just better written than the first book, because I felt very into the story. There was some suspense, and it will definitely engage middle grade readers. Happy hunting!

Volunteering

I've been a volunteer since childhood, delivering meals on wheels for MIFA with my mom and grandmother. I volunteered at my church a lot in middle school, and volunteered at my local library branch in high school. I've volunteered with people with disabilities, and continued to volunteer at the library in different ways.

I was a volunteer coordinator at a learning center for people with disabilities and the library. I know how important volunteering is to so many organizations, especially nonprofits who need more staff than they can reasonably afford.

I also know that volunteering is important for the volunteers themselves. Volunteering might seem like a selfless act, and it's wonderful to give up your time for a cause. But you're volunteering to get something back, and that's fine! It's important to feel proud of what you're doing to help out. And for many teens when I worked at the library, it's important to get service hours for school, or experience in a career field you might want to explore, or to earn a letter of recommendation for college.

Volunteering helps everyone, and I love still being an active volunteer with many organizations. I write book reviews for Teen Bookletters for my library system. I conduct storytimes at preschools, and want to expand that to parks and community centers in spring and summer months. I have experience doing storytime programs for adults with disabilities, and I want to start that again. I also love the idea of one-off volunteer experiences, in case you can't commit to a set schedule.

I am currently writing a volunteer manual for libraries, and I'm so excited to put all of my knowledge on paper. It's a subject I'm passionate about, and I love that I can put it all out there and help other libraries, and honestly - any other organization, form their own quality volunteer program. I'm just getting to the meat of the book so I have a lot of work to do, but Memphis has a wonderful volunteer scene, so I have a list of people to interview to really flesh out this manual.

Have you volunteered before? What did you do? What would you like to do as a volunteer if you could do anything, anywhere?

Unreliable Narrators

Unreliable narrators are a huge trend right now, and have been since Gone Girl swept the literary stage.

I love suspenseful novels. Some are really well done, and I love feeling my heart pound just from reading words on a page. It's powerful! But unreliable narrators are pretty much the worst character you can read or write about.

I remember being warned against unreliable narrators in my writing workshops. It can be done, and it can be done well, but in current mainstream fiction, I don't think it's being done well. I don't think *I* can do it well, either, to be fair. I'm not trying to be holier-than-thou. I know a lot of people enjoyed Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train and all of those other books almost exactly like those. They're bestsellers and movies so clearly something works!

But for me, I can't stand unreliable narrators. I think mental illness is something that should be explored in fiction, but using it as a deus ex machina is a cop out. Same with alcoholic characters, like The Girl on the Train. Suspense is one thing, but leaving out sections of story because the character blacked out, only to miraculously remember them at the end of the book to solve the mystery is a big hoax. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like the author conned me when that's the sad resolution to a story.

The worst part is, there are so many of these! All of these new books are being compared to The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl and, like I said, I understand they are bestsellers - but that doesn't mean they're good. It frustrates me that these books are touted as good literature when other books are tossed off as "chick lit" or "romance" or "fluffy" because they're not as "heavy hitting".

How do you feel about unreliable narrators? Have you read the books I mentioned? What did you think? Have you read books that seem to have the same "formulas" as each other?

Tattoos

Literary tattoos are a growing trend, and there are some gorgeous ones out there. I've seen some quotes in beautiful script, images from childhood favorites, or a book commemorated with a picture that means something to the individual.

I have three literary tattoos - two quotes and one image that was the author's "trademark". Well, I kind of have four - I have a typewriter with a blank page in it so I can write what I want, forever.

I want many, many more tattoos - many literary. There are just so many books I love, books that have spoken to me and make me want to have their words on me forever. There are so many illustrations I love that would make an amazing children's lit sleeve. The thing is, I'm running out of room, and have other things I want done, also!

What I love about tattoos is they tell stories, whether they're literary or not. Someone can ask about any of my tattoos, and I'll tell a story. I'll either talk about what it means to me and why. I can tell a story about how I chose it. I can tell about the day I got it. I can tell something funny that happened when someone else commented on it. They are definitely conversation starters and stories all in one!

Do you have any tattoos? Are any of them literary tattoos? If you hate tattoos, why? I've met so many people that absolutely hate tattoos - not just for themselves, but on me, too!

Strategic Sticker Placement

Well then.

Ready Player One

I read Ready Player One in October 2016 because two librarian friends/coworkers recommended it to me. Honestly, based on the description, it's something I probably never would have picked up on my own. So I owe a huge thanks to those librarians because I LOVED the book.

My review:

I loved this book! It was recommended to me by a friend who said I’d like it even though I don’t like sci-fi. To clarify, I don’t like hard sci-fi. I like things that seem like they could happen, like dystopia and robots and establishing a life on other planets. This book was amazing because it could be read as a statement on what direction the world is going in - so much is done online, not face-to-face. Life seems so great on Facebook but it’s not in reality, etc. 
Wade basically lives in the OASIS, an online world that’s better than the real world, especially considering that people live in trailers stacked on each other. He squats in an abandoned van to log in to the OASIS and become Parzival, an avatar who is still in high school, but is searching for the egg the OASIS creator left encoded in the game before he died. I don’t want to give too much away, but this book totally sucked me in, and I already want to re-read it!

I saw the movie on opening weekend, in an IMAX theater - the first IMAX movie I've seen that wasn't an educational documentary at the Pink Palace! It was pretty cool to see on the big screen; I think that kind of fit with the movie overall, being such a blowout action-y movie based so much on technology.

The movie itself was pretty good... It could stand alone. If I hadn't read the book, I could still follow the movie. That's important to me - I remember seeing The Giver and feeling like I would be so lost if I hadn't read the book. But that movie was horrible, so let's move on before I go on an angry tangent.

Ready Player One told a story in the movie - to my memory, it was pretty different than the book, but I read it long enough ago where I can only remember snippets and the general feeling I felt about it. The CGI in the movie was pretty bad in my mind; it looked kind of 80ish, which might have been the point! I haven't read any reviews or book comparisons about it yet. But I thought it was kind of a ripoff that so much of the movie was just CGI characters doing stuff. Some of the scenes were pretty hokey, too, and the references were too much - not thrown in to be clever, but so in your face you know they wanted the audience to react. And the audience DID react, to let everyone know they got the joke, and that's one petty reason I hate going to the movie theater - people clapping for the movie, talking back to it, etc.

Bottom line: the book is always better than the movie, but I always love seeing the movie just so I can compare them!

The Odd Sea

I've read this book countless times since high school; it's one of my top three favorite books. Ethan Shumway is sixteen when he disappears - literally disappears: his younger brother, Philip, sees Ethan at the end of the driveway one minute, then he's gone. The book is Philip's searching for (or "not-finding", as he calls it) Ethan. There is something about Reiken's writing that makes the whole story vague and mysterious, yet complete enough to be satisfying, regardless of what the resolution may be. It's on my shelf of Favorite Books and has been there since I got my own copy. It's a beautiful, little-known book that you should read.

Matilda

Back in January 2016, I re-read Matilda because I had tickets to see Matilda the Musical at the beautiful Orpheum Theater. I wanted the story to be fresh in my mind because I love comparing the books to the movies, or in this case, the play.

I really enjoyed the play. It's hard to review because... it's amazing. I would have gone to see it again the next night if I could have! The stage looks fantastic with all the letters and colors and blocks, and it pulls you right into Matilda's world. The actors are perfect in their roles. We saw a native Memphian play Matilda on opening night, so that was a nice perk!

The next day, I watched the movie. I remember seeing the movie as a child, but it's just as good as an adult! The movie differs a little in that there are some added scenes involving Matilda, Miss Honey, and Trunchbull, but this storyline fits in with the overall story, and isn't a major discrepancy like some plot changes are in movies.

The musical differs quite a bit in that Matilda's mother has a different hobby, which doesn't add much to the story, in my opinion. Matilda also tells an ongoing story she's made up, which is overly sentimental and also doesn't add much to the story, especially since Miss Honey's backstory is explained so concisely in the book. But I am a huge Tim Minchin fan, so I appreciate how these divergent storylines help develop the musical side of the story. Tim Minchin's songs are very clever and add jokes and wit to the story.

I think the movie and musical are both so good because they stay pretty close to the original story. I'm usually not a big fan of books that are made into movies; I'm in the camp that the book is always better than the movie. One exception is To Kill a Mockingbird, which is an amazing film that really does the book justice. Now that my memory has been refreshed, I'm adding Matilda to that list. And though the musical strays from the original story, I highly recommend seeing it if you get the chance!

Matilda is coming to Playhouse on the Square for the 2019 season, and I'm so excited to see it in a smaller playhouse! It was fantastic at the Orpheum, but I was ready to see it again the next night, so I know it will be a blast to see it at my favorite venue.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

I read Tucker Max's I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell when it was first in paperback, and the later ones (Assholes Finish First and Hilarity Ensues) as they came out. I admit that I thought they were funny at the time, and my Goodreads reviews reflect this - although I wasn't too impressed with his second, I thought he showed a lot of growth and self-reflection with his third.

I never read his other books about how to score women and then how to score a bestselling book... go figure? I mean, yes, I guess he did it all, but it's an interesting career trajectory. He credits himself with creating the genre "fratire", and the word alone disgusts me, so I guess that could explain where I stand now.

I think his stuff made me laugh at the time because I was in college and partying and could relate. I also have always had a, um, questionable sense of humor. I have grown since then, though, and can't imagine what I would think of his books if I read them now. Especially with all of the #MeToo and feminist movements, how would I feel reading about this guy picking up women in bars and using them so carelessly?

Comments on Goodreads and in person have accused me of being pathetic or not a feminist to have enjoyed his books, and as I said, I probably would hate them now. And looking back at myself when I liked these books, well... I was living a different life. I think it is normal, and good, to change as you grow and look back and be able to see what wasn't right with your past self.

Have you ever enjoyed a book/joke/idea that wasn't quite society's norms? Do you still enjoy it, or have your tastes changed as you've grown? Have people accused you of being a certain "type" just because of the books/movies/music you like?

Horne Section

When I visited my friend in England in 2011, she made sure to make me even more obsessed with British comedy (and comedy in general) by introducing me to Tim Minchin's work. She searched to see if he had a show in the area while I was there, and - HE DID! Kind of... he was going to be one of three guests at the Horne Section's show. Neither of us knew who they were, but wanted to see Tim, so we got tickets.

The Horne Section cracked us up. They are a band focused on musical comedy, but their banter was so deadpan that I couldn't stop laughing. Alex Horne is very matter-of-fact and everything he says cracks me up. Later that night I tweeted to them about coming to America and even laughed at his reply.

I found Alex Horne's books online not long after I got back to the states, and ordered them right away. And... haven't read them. Isn't that awful?! I don't know why I haven't read them yet, but I think I'm now giving myself the challenge of reading them before May - if I can handle it on top of these daily posts!

To inspire me to read these, I've been listening to the Horne Section podcast. It's just as hilarious as I remember the live show being. Check it out if you love comedy, musical comedy, British accents... well, just check it out!

Fun Home

Fun Home: a Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

This is a graphic novel about a girl who finds out her father is gay only after she comes out as a lesbian. He dies shortly after, and she remembers her strange relationship with him, as well as her childhood growing up in and around funeral homes. There could have been a lot more emotion to the story, but I think telling it as a graphic novel kind of diminished that possibility. The drawings didn’t add much depth or insight, but it would have been a sparse story without them.

I've also read Are You My Mother? by Bechdel and had a similar reaction regarding the emotion in the book. I can see how both books were therapeutic for Bechdel to write and illustrate, but I didn't get much of that from the drawings or even the story. They were both interesting, but dragged a bit with the navel-gazing, heavy literary references, and other stuff that could have been cut out to make a snappy, impactful graphic novel.

Fun Home is going to be performed as a play at Playhouse on the Square in May, so I'm excited to see how it translates to the stage. If you've read much of this blog at all, you know I love comparing books to movies and play versions of themselves, so we'll see how Fun Home turns out!

Ellen Meister

I love Ellen Meister's books because they brought my attention to Dorothy Parker and magical realism. I used to only like reading straight forward literary or realistic fiction. When I first read The Other Life, I realized that magical or even science fiction elements could be used in fiction without making it a hardcore sci-fi or fantasy book. And I've loved all of Ellen Meister's books I've read since. The Other Life sticks with me most, maybe because it was the first I read and because I love the idea of parallel lives and wondering what I'd be doing if...

The Other Life

This book grabbed me from the opening scene, where a pregnant woman is struggling between killing herself or giving birth to her baby. The writing is so clear and straight-forward that you are drawn in. I found myself thinking about the characters whenever I wasn't reading; I was certain they were real and wanted to know what they were up to. There is a supernatural element of the portals that take Quinn from her "real" life to her other life, but they are explained very well, and it was easy to picture the fissures and Quinn's travel without feeling like you'd been displaced into a sci-fi novel. The portals are logically discussed before the end of the book, and with the focus being more on people and relationships than the paranormal, I would say this book is literary fiction more so than being classified in any sub-genre.

Farewell, Dorothy Parker

Violet Epps is a movie critic who is sharp-tongued in writing, but timid in real life. She's struggling to break up with her boyfriend who keeps steamrolling her, talking over her, and trying to convince her that she's really in love with him. On top of that toxic relationship, Violet is battling for custody of her recently-orphaned niece, Delaney. The girl's grandparents also want to raise her, and they hired a ferocious lawyer to fight dirty. Enter Dorothy Parker, Violet's idol, the one who inspires her to be so snarky in her movie reviews. While having lunch at the Algonquin Hotel, Violet sees the famous guestbook that the authors of the Algonquin Round Table all signed. The hotel's original owner collected signatures because he wanted to capture the spirits of the authors when they passed on, but Mrs. Parker was the only one who was caught. When Violet realizes the book has come home with her, she learns more about the magic it possesses. Mrs. Parker comes to life around Violet, helping her stand her ground, and occasionally taking control over Violet's body.

          I read this whole book in one day and am ready to read it again. I have totally loved both of Ellen Meister's books, and look forward to reading much more from her.

Dorothy Parker Drank Here

This book focuses on the infamous guestbook at the Algonquin Hotel again. Norah, a TV producer, is desperate to save the show she works for, or else she'll lose her job. She knows she can snag an interview with famous reclusive writer Ted Shriver, and that will grab the ratings she needs. Plus, she loves the author and has always wanted to meet him. But Norah doesn't charm him like she thought she would, but thankfully Dorothy Parker is right there to help.
          I love Ellen Meister’s books for the way she integrates magical realism in such a believable way. Before I read Harry Potter, I was never really one for magic or spells or anything, but Meister handles it beautifully. Her books are literary fiction, but the hint of magic is wonderful. And I say hint even though the whole book is based on the ghost of Dorothy Parker living in an autograph book. It is just presented in a very plausible way, so the story flows without the premise being “hokey”. The story is fascinating and her writing style is beautiful, so I highly recommend all of her books! 

Dahl

Roald Dahl was one of my favorite authors as a kid. I love how silly his books are, but they're presented so matter-of-fact. A lot of funny kids books I've read lately kind of acknowledge the humor and ridiculousness, so the reader is in on the joke. I like that, too, but I love how Dahl says "This is how it is" and... that's how it is. Some things don't make sense, some things don't match up with logic, but the stories are consistent (as far as I've re-read) so you aren't snapped out of the story by a new line of magic halfway through that didn't exist at the beginning of the book.

I don't have all of his books, and I haven't read them all. Years ago, just after I had a go at an MFA program, I wanted to do an informal author study of Dahl, since I wasn't going to have to do one to earn a degree. So... that never happened. But slowly I have been re-reading some of Dahl's books for my own enjoyment, and I've found that I usually enjoy them just as much as an adult as I did as a kid. I especially like now seeing the movies and plays based on some of his books and comparing them all in different formats.

Who was your favorite author when you were a kid? Who is your favorite now?

#currentlyreading

I started my bookstagram account to share what I was reading in the moment, like Instagram is supposed to be. Now it’s more curated and posed, but I’m ok with that overall. I love a pretty picture as much as the next person, and if it includes a brief book review, I’m all in! I try to set up my own nice photo shoots occasionally, to promote book review posts on my blog or grab your attention as you scroll by for a title I really want to share.

It’s no surprise that my favorite hashtag on Instagram is #currentlyreading. I haven’t been as active on bookstagram lately as I would like to be and have been in the past, so I admit that my #currentlyreading tags are sometimes a day or two past due. I guess it should be #justfinishedreading in my case. I love snooping on what people are #currentlyreading to get ideas for my next read. It’s like peeking at everyone’s nightstand, except  Scrolling through Instagram usually leads to me opening my library’s site to put titles on hold. 

I always make time for reading fiction - usually right before bed, thinking it will help me fall asleep, when it actually pushes me to stay up later and later, thinking "Just one more chapter!" Or story - right now I have 2 short story collections going:

• Living in the Weather of the World by Richard Bausch, my former writing professor writing short stories about Memphis in general and my neighborhood in some instances!
• Machine of Death by Ryan North and tons of other people - basically like a crowdsourced book of short stories about a Zoltar-like machine that tells you how you're going to die

A glimpse of other stuff I'm reading... Can you guess what I'm up to?

Almost April!

This space has been sadly quiet for some time. I’ve missed sharing books and program ideas here, but it’s been hard to carve out time for it. I’m excited to take the A to Z blogging challenge for April, because it’s gotten my wheels turning. I’m excited to blog again, to share reviews and thoughts here.

I don’t really have a “theme” for the challenge, beyond the theme of this blog being based on books, reading, and, to a lesser extent, writing. Some of my posts are about favorite books or series. Some are about favorite authors. Some are book reviews of what I’ve read recently. Some just revolve around books in some way.

Basically, any thoughts I have involving books and a letter of the alphabet have made it in. I’m pretty proud of the posts, and proud that I made time to do the challenge. I’m excited to keep up some sort of blogging momentum after this, also – though certainly not every day!

Blogging from A to Z!

Back in 2011, on a different blog, I took the A to Z Challenge. I blogged every day in April, except Sundays. Each day was based on a letter, but the theme or subject matter is up to the participant. It helped me get out of my comfort zone, it pushed me to write, and it helped me gain so many followers. Which meant I also found tons of new blogs to follow. Bottom line, it was a great thing.

I think I signed up the next year, or the year after, or the year after that. One of those years. But I didn't complete the challenge. I might have ONLY signed up, and never even gotten started.

It might be crazy, but I'm taking the challenge again this year. Threefold. I am blogging here, on my green blog (Not Easy Going Green), and on my photography blog, Allison and Her Camera.

I am really nervous about this, because I am so out of the blogging loop. Look at this blog... watch the tumbleweeds blow by. Ridiculous. I used to write all the time, scheduling posts in advance, writing every day... but that trickled off and I have no clue why, but honestly? I miss it. I miss writing and sharing and creating an online community.

I've started outlining a few posts to make sure I have enough to say about each letter of the alphabet. I'll be writing about favorite books, authors, illustrators, characters, and more. It's going to be a lot of work, but here I am, Blogging from A to Z to see what I can create. Follow along, and join up if you're interested!