Wednesday, August 22, 2012

I am Such a Book Slut...


OMG, you guys! Today I am sharing some authors with you that are absolutely swoon worthy—you know the type— the kind that make me INSANELY JEALOUS because their writing is so brilliant! That when I read them I suppress the urge to pack my own writing away and stuff it in a drawer somewhere never to be seen again, but not quite (well, obviously, I’m posting this aren’t I?). I am hopelessly addicted to great writing and will always, always happily share those stories I run across with readers because word of mouth is the best advertisement. But first, I have a confession to make:


I get a little crush on whatever current fab author I’m reading. Does this happen to anyone else? Last week it was the brilliant Lauren Oliver and this week it is the Hafer brothers. I don't discriminate. I’m so fickle, it changes all the time. Who knew I could be such a book slut? (don’t answer that) LOVE, them! Want to go to LUNCH, with them! Want to pick their BRAINS, with them! Okay, gross. But you know what I mean.

So to start off, I absolutely DEVOURED Lauren Oliver’s Delirium and Pandemonium series. I mean, listen to this: her protagonist is trapped in a prison cell for days and is talking about time and how slowly it can go and I quote,



“The hours here are flat and round, disks of gray layered one on top of the other. They smell sour and musky, like the breath of someone who is starving. They move slowly, at a grind, until it seems as though they are not moving at all. They are just pressing down, endlessly down.”

*swoon*  I am dying here! Is that not the most amazing description of time-inching-along that you’ve ever laid your eyes on? That is the prose of a true writer, my friend. She takes something as universal as time and nails it with the most unique and gorgeous description I’ve ever heard. I can’t even.

The other story I am compelled to share with you is Bad Idea by Jedd and Todd Hafer. I downloaded this gem when I was checking my own book every other minute on the free download day on Amazon. This is such beautiful, wry, caustic, painful (but in a good way), amazing writing I don’t understand why it’s not on the bestseller list somewhere. I have a feeling it hasn’t been exposed to it’s target market audience yet (there seems to be an awful lot of conservative adults reviewing it on Amazon). But really it NEEDS to be in the hand of high schoolers. What I want to say to those reviewers who don’t quite “get it”…have you walked the halls of a middle or high school lately???

I thought so.

If you love J.D. Salinger or Kurt Vonnegut or John Green, this book is for you. I mean, laugh out loud, pee in your pants biting sarcasm ON. EVERY. PAGE. It drove me nuts because I can only come up with something like that in my own writing every once in awhile. But whatever.

Get thee to an Amazon button and download these books, stat. You won’t be disappointed!

You’re welcome!