The challenge

I'm not really known for my new year's resolutions - unless they're along the lines of: 'let's see who can eat the most Chunky KitKats in one year' (where, my friends, the winner would be moi).

However, at the end of 2007 I realized that I'd only read 32 books for the year, which, for someone who use to easily read at least two books a week, this number was a bit of a shock. So anyway, last year's resolution was to read more and I'm pleased to say that I ended 2008 with 50 books. Still not where it used to be, but that's okay. I have kids and a writing career that I didn't have back then (plus of course a very time consuming Chunky KitKat habit to support).

I pretty much loved every book I read last year - mainly because if I don't like something then I don't finish it and it doesn't make my list, but the books that really stood out for me in 2008 were Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy - seriously awesome. Megan Crane's Names My Sisters' Call Me and PC Cast and Kristin Cast's House of Night series.

So what about everyone else? Do you ever set yourself reading challenges and what were your favorite reads of last year???

Tweet

Must Reads.....

This week we're talking about reading..... my fave past time. So I thought I'd tell you about my 'must reads', the authors whose books I hang out for and will ALWAYS buy:





Sophie Kinsella - I've been a huge fan forever, and can't wait for her next book which is out in August.






Marian Keyes - Again I've loved her for ages, hopefully there'll be a new book out soon.







Penny Vincenzi - Another long time fan of this author. New book out mid-way through the year.






Louise Bagshawe - I've been a fan for a few years now, new book coming out soon.







NEW FINDS: These are the authors who haven't been around as long as the others but whose books I totally adore, and I know I'll be a long time fan:




Allison Brennan - the only romantic suspense author I read. Talk about
page-turning quality wow!








PC Cast & Kristin Cast - I'm not into vampires or paranormal as a rule, but their House of Night series is awesome - new one out soon.







Tasmina Perry - I've read all three of her books, each one better than the last. An awesome author.






And let's not forget my fellow TFC authors, whose books are fabulous, and also rate up there with my other favs!!!!


What about you... who are your 'must reads'?

Tweet

DEATH BY DENIM Winner

Thanks, everyone for your comments! By random drawing, the winner of the DEATH BY DENIM signed ARC is:

Khy

Please drop me an email at gerb at lindagerber dot com with your mailing address and I'll get it sent off to you!

Everyone else, I'll be giving away ARCs each month on my blog until the release in May.

In the meantime, stop on by my blog before Tuesday for a chance to win Sara Zarr's SWEETHEARTS and again next Friday for two freebies - SOMETHING HAPPENED by Greg Logsted and SISTERS EIGHT #1: ANNIE'S ADVENTURES by Lauren Baratz Logsted, Greg Logsted and Jackie Logsted.

Tweet

Promo Week: I Heart Daily + Contests!

Hi, everyone! Promo week gives me a chance to talk about my new venture, I Heart Daily. It's basically a daily newsletter of things my friend Anne and I think are cool. So far, we've covered a teen drummer, our favorite new break-up song, an eco-friendly font and--of course--some great January reads. If you like what you see, sign up for the newsletter here (next month we start giving away the things we feature to subscribers--this is one contest you shouldn't miss!). Spread the word with widgets and whatnot, if you're feeling it.

In other promo news, I have a new book coming out in May, and there's the cover ---->! Read the behind-the-scenes Cover Story on my blog.

Also, I'm giving away a *signed* copy of Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied, which is my new favorite book. Well, my new new favorite book anyway--it's fantastic. Go here to enter.

And, I'm giving away a copy of any one Violet book at Alexa Young's blog, in honor of her Faketastic release week!

So, that's a lot to inhale, huh? Go sign up for I Heart Daily and then enter both contests if you've got the time! And, in the comments, what do YOU want to promote this week? Let's have a promo party!

Tweet

Promo Week - DEATH BY DENIM

It's promo week at Teen Fiction Cafe so I'm here for some BSP!

I'd like to introduce you to DEATH BY DENIM, which will hit the shelves in May. DEATH BY DENIM picks up where DEATH BY LATTE left off, taking Aphra to France and Italy on an international adventure.

I'm happy to report that the early reviews are great. Flamingnet Book Reviews even selected it for the Top Choice award!

To celebrate, I'm offering a signed ARC DEATH BY DENIM to one lucky TFC reader. For your chance to win, leave a comment below describing your favorite French or Italian food.

This contest will remain open until Saturday, January 10.

Tweet

Revolutionary Road

I'm not into the new smaller-sized printing of Revolutionary Road with the movie cover--those special editions bother me when the original covers are so striking. But the book, by Richard Yates, is the same inside, of course. And it's glorious.

Last fall, I was sad because the second fantastic season of Mad Men was over, and someone suggested I pick up the novel that inspired parts of the show. "Which novel is that?" I asked.

I've long been obsessed with the time period around the 50s and 60s--the glamorous dresses, crystal decanters, silver cigarette cases and perfectly curled coifs. And all this gloss meets intense racial strife and huge questions about women's rights and the changing American society. It's a fascinating time. Revolutionary Road is not a cheery book, but it is a beautiful one.

Plus, it's the vehicle that's reuniting Leo and Kate! Yes, I'm one of those crazies who saw Titanic more than once in the theater. I can't wait for this one. A preview, plus a look at two more of the book's covers, below:





So, anyone going to see it? (It gets way more dramatic, btw, I just wanted to show a sweet, if slightly ominous, clip.)

PS-Since it's movie week, I'll point you guys to my blog, where I'm giving away 3 copies of AMERICAN TEEN on DVD this week (contest ends Weds 1/7).

Tweet

so many movies, so little time

I love movies. To prove it, I have a top-level membership with my local film society that gets me free movies at their two theaters all year. I have the three-at-a-time Netflix plan. I have a Netflix Roku box, the thing that let's you see stuff from your "watch instantly" queue on your TV screen. Problem is: the little red envelopes tend to sit, unopened, for weeks at a time. One time I had this French movie for like two months and finally I said, Sara, let's face it, you're not going to watch that movie. Send it back! My queue is so long there's stuff still there I put in when I first opened my account several years ago. And there are 52 thing in my "watch instantly" queue. And it's amazing how a year of my film society membership goes by and I haven't gone to a movie every week like I'd planned. 

So, in my efforts to simplify life in 2009, I've downgraded my Netflix account from the three-at-a-time plan to the one-at-a-time plan. I'm still hoping to get to the theater every week, and I'm going to stay on top of the Roku. I am! I am!

Meanwhile, here are some movies I've seen lately with my ten-ish-words-or-less reviews:

Grey Gardens: Sad and funny documentary about koo-koo mother and daughter. 

Hamlet 2: Comedy for grownups. Funny! Stand & Deliver meets Waiting for Guffman. 

Frost/Nixon: I have mixed feelings about Ron Howard movies. It's no Apollo 13.

Slumdog Millionaire: Imperfect, but I loved it anyway. Favorite Danny Boyle so far.

Let the Right One In: Creepy. Swedish. Had a bad headache while watching, so I don't know.

The Departed: Saw it when it came out, am watching it again. Still awesome.

If you are so inclined, tell me in the comments what you've watched recently and LOVED or HATED.

Tweet

Zombies!

I am the first person to admit I am a big chicken.

My best friend Pammie and I go to the movies all the time. As my "date," when we see scary movies, she is subjected to me squeezing her hands until the circulation cuts off, tugging on her sweater sleeves to hide my eyes (RUINED one black sweater of hers, as a matter of fact, during SE7EN).

But few movies freak me out more than zombie flicks. Undead? They terrify me. Two nights ago I watched I Am Legend. Yeah, I know critics didn't love it. But flesh-eating zombies? Of COURSE it's a Christmas movie!

What is even funnier, I guess, is how I define scary. You see . . . Friday the 13th didn't scare me. I mean, come on? Freddie Krueger? I laugh in the face of this gloves. And those movies where you answer a cellphone and next thing you know, you're dead? Come on! Or those Final Destination ones? I laugh in the face of their gore.

But zombies? Well, they could really happen!

So could devils! The Exorcist had me awake for a week after I saw it.

I don't know why I have this pecking order of what I believe could really happen and thus it's scary. But I do.

The only movies I avoid in that realm are torture porn flicks like Saw. See . . . that's just sick. Not scary.

But tell me . . . what movies keep YOU awake at night?

Tweet

Upcoming books to movies!

This past weekend, the box office seemed full of books turned movies. Marley and Me, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Yes Man, Revolutionary Road and The Tale of Despereaux were some of the top movies that were adapted from books or novellas. When I hear about movie coming out that's also a book, I often try to read the book before I see the movie. So many books get new looks (ahem, Twilight and The Clique) with the movie's stars on the cover. Do the new covers add to sales? Hmmm...personally, I often prefer the original cover. (What do you guys think?)

Anyway, adapting a movie from a book must be popular because more are on the way!

Cornelia Funke's Inkheart hits theaters on January 23, 2009 with Brendan Fraser (hot!) and Helen Mirren (super talented!). I started the book a few weeks ago, but didn't finish it. Has anyone read it? Do you think the movie will be good?

















Also in January, Emma Roberts stars in Hotel for Dogs, based on Lois Duncan's book. Haven't read this one, either, but I want to now! The movie looks cute.


















February sounds as if it will be a good book to movie month with Neil Gaiman's Coraline, He's Just Not That Into You and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

All of this info came from Bookreporter.com--a cool site that dedicates an entire section to books turned movies. It has a complete list of books to movies from 2002-2008. Wow.

So, if you're a writer, do you have a cast in mind for your book(s)? If so, share! If not, what's your #1 favorite book to movie? Or, what book to movie did you dislike?

Tweet

Movies: Ignoring the Reviews

A number of movies were reviewed this week in the New York Times and while I can't remember all of them, and I'm too Sunday-lazy to go look, here's my reaction:

Tale of Despereaux. The review was mostly positive, but neither the review nor the trailers I've seen reflect the sensitive and serious book I read, so unless my eight-year-old drags me to see it, I'm staying home. (Note: She's very good at dragging! She even got me to take her and a friend to College Road Trip last year - talk about really loving your kid! Ticket Taker: "You here to see Horton?" Me: "No, College Road Trip - you know, the best movie of the year?" Ticket Taker: "You just keep telling yourself that, lady." Really, I love my daughter; and, you know, at least the Raisinettes were good.) I do agree with the reviewer that the red hat makes Despereaux look more like a bunny than a mouse.

Bedtime Stories. Lousy review, but I'm still going. Adam Sandler deposited a lot of good will in the bank with Wedding Singer years ago - hysterical and moving - and he's still reaping the returns, at least with me. Plus, I only recently discovered "The Chanukah Song," I'm Jewishly grateful for it, and that hamster looks adorable.

Revolutionary Road. Not a good review, but I'm still going. I'm curious to see how Kate Winslet, whom I adore - yea for the occasional not-skinny movie star! - and Leonardo DiCaprio do together 10 years after Titanic, plus it looks dark-dark-dark in the way that other period piece Far from Heaven was, and I've been needing to indulge my dark side lately as an antidote to all this holiday cheer.

Marley and Me. Bad review, and I'm going to try hard not to see it even though I love Jennifer Aniston - go, Team Jennifer! - and my daughter says she wants to. My daughter cried buckets when the often-mean gorilla died in "Tarzan," the play, prompting all the adult strangers around us to get tears in their own eyes at the sight of her sorrow, so how are we going to get through the death of a cute dog???

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is the real problem. The Times review was mixed in parts, but mostly the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. And I really like Cate Blanchett. And I really like Brad Pitt, even though I am devoutly Team Jennifer. Have I mentioned I'm Team Jennifer? I really am. But, but, but: the F. Scott Fitzgerald story that it's supposedly based on is one of my favorite short stories ever, I've read it several times, and everything I've seen about the movie bears no resemblance whatsoever to the story I love so dearly! Well, except for the title and the fact that the main character physically ages in reverse. But other than that? Nothing! And how in the world did they take this short story - did I mention that it's a short story and not a 500-page novel? - and turn it into a nearly three-hour movie??? But I still may go. Maybe. Because I'm curious about Curious and because my daughter wants to see this one as well. Maybe I could trade her: We skip the mouse/bunny and the dead dog in favor of seeing just what the hell Hollywood has done to Fitzgerald this time? OK, maybe I won't phrase it like that, but you get the picture. So...

QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT MOVIES ARE YOU GOING TO SEE NO MATTER WHAT THE REVIEWERS SAY?

Be well. Don't forget to write.

Oops, I forgot to mention: The first two books in THE SISTERS EIGHT series, ANNIE'S ADVENTURES and DURINDA'S DANGERS, go on sale tomorrow - please buy early and often!

Tweet

Plotting And Snow Fun

So we have fifteen inches of snow in Portland, Oregon, a city known more for it's never-ending rain than snow. Me thinks we're going to have a white Christmas.

In other news, I am busy plotting out my WIP. I discovered One Note and am totally in love. I created a notebook for my WIP and have different pages for each chapter, as well as a page for my characters and another one for my plot notes. It looks like an electronic binder. Fabulous. I usually get to chapter five and panic because the ending is done and I have to get into the meat of the book. I've tried many different plotting methods and have only had minimal success with any one method and it seems to change with each book.


In still other news, (am loving this week's topic of anything goes!) today is my birthday. People always ask me if I ever felt cheated having my birthday this close to Christmas, but I never did. When I was little, I thought all the lights and hoopla was just for me. As I got older, I still loved having the house decorated for my birthday. My parents and family always made sure I got separate gifts, so it was never a problem. The only thing I didn't like was never having my birthday presents in pretty birthday paper, it was always Christmas paper! As if having a birthday and Christmas so close together wasn't enough, my husband and I got married on the 27th... let's just say I make out like a bandit the last week in December!

This will be the last time I post here this year... so I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday. I am proud and happy to be a part of Teen Fiction Cafe!

Tweet

Christmas Gifts

Since this week's topic is "Anything Goes" and I finished my Christmas shopping today, I've got Christmas gifts on the mind. What are some of my favorite gifts to have received? Most recently, a trip to New York. My dear husband arranged to have his parents take our boys for 4 days and we headed off to the Big Apple to hang with my agents and meet the fine folks of Simon Pulse (my publisher) as well as partake in a variety of touristy and Christmassy sights and events. It was a vacation I'll never forget. I think this was so special to me because it's something I probably wouldn't do for myself.

I also like gifts that are customized or personal. My sister-in-law once gave me a beautiful bracelet with the initials of my three little boys engraved into the beads. When I was younger, Santa brought me a birthstone ring that I still have and love, though it only fits my pinky finger. I also love scarves and hats, and I've received beautiful handmade ones from my sister, my friends Christina and Drienie, and my mother-in-law.

What are some of your favorite gifts to give? A few years back I bought some plain white plates and painted cute snowman scenes and Christmas sayings on them. They turned out really cute and I think people enjoyed receiving them. I like getting my husband cologne because he wears it and I get to smell it, haha. I like to give my dad clothes because, bless his heart, he needs my help in that department. I like to get things for the boys that we can all do together, like games or snowshoes or a basketball.

In the spirit of giving, I'm giving away a signed copy of The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren (recommended for ages 14 and up). But instead of winning it for yourself, you'll be nominating someone else to win it. (If you haven't read it yet, maybe s/he will let you borrow it after s/he finishes it). Just share the first name of the person you'd like to nominate and a couple of sentences why this person deserves a copy of my book. You can leave a comment below, or via my website. I'll choose a winner on Dec. 26, which happens to be the one year anniversary of The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren. Whatever your holiday traditions, I wish you good health and a happy spirit as we head into 2009!

xoxo

Wendy

Tweet