A confession and a poll...

Confession:  I read way more books than I review.*  

This has been a busy month of settling our daughters into their autumn homeschooling routines and new swimming/ballet/pottery schedules, so blogging has frequently taken a back seat to our other daily activities lately.  Fortunately even our busiest days include reading time, but unfortunately I haven't been finding the time to write & gather links for full blog reviews for the majority of the books we've been reading.  Now that we are finally beginning to settle in to our fall routines, I am looking forward to having a bit more blogging time again soon a

nd I want to start sharing mini-reviews for more of the books we read.  But I am curious to know which types of books most of our blog followers are interested in seeing reviewed.  

In a typical week, I read two or three YA novels, one or two middle grade books, and a giant stack of picture books.  I hope to have time to share full reviews of one or two books each week & mini-reviews of several more (depending on the mini-review format).  I adore picture books, read quite a few middle grade novels, and would say that YA is my favorite genre, but I also like mystery novels, a bit of urban fantasy, and some paranormal romance too.  So far I've been sharing mostly YA reviews here on The Eager Readers, with a few middle grade & picture book reviews tossed in now and then, but I'm curious to know what type(s) of books you all are interested in seeing reviewed.  I've set up an anonymous poll below and would love it if you could take a couple seconds to share your opinions in the poll or the comments.  Thank you so much!

* 

Important note:  This confession does not apply to ARCs or any books I've received specifically for review.  Those books always take priority & always receive a thorough review.  This confession is in reference to books we've purchased, received as gifts, or checked out from the library.

Happy Reading!  :-)

Question: Does art make you want to read?

The moment I set eyes on Phoenix Lu's gorgeous portrait of Cindy Pon's characters (Silver Phoenix and Zhong Ye), I was completely mesmerized by it.  It led me to think about how much lovely artwork can enhance my experience with a book and how it can make me want to read a highly-anticipated novel even more.  


Do you find yourself adding books to your wishlist because of gorgeous character art or stunning cover art?

I was already excited to read Cindy Pon's Fury of the Phoenix because I enjoyed Silver Phoenix (click here to read my review), the first book in her Kingdom of Xia series.  But seeing this portrait on Cindy's blog made me want to read it even more because I now have this captivating image of her characters in my mind.  


So today I want to share a few examples of beautiful artwork that helped put books on my wishlist, and I would love it if you would share links to some of your favorite character art or cover illustrations in the comments!  :-)  

A couple examples of character art that caught my eye:

Yue Wang's artwork featuring Ellie and Will from Courtney Allison Moulton's upcoming book  Angelfire.  A beautiful boy, a lovely girl, and two deadly blades?  I will definitely be reading this book!  You can learn more about Angelfire and find this eye-catching wallpaper on Courtney's website.   

Jason Chan's cover illustration for Ellen Potter's The Kneebone Boy.  If you've been following our blog for a few months, you probably already know that I am a huge fan of Jason Chan's artwork.  His covers for Lisa Mantchev's Eyes Like Stars & Perchance to Dream are among my all-time favorite book covers, and his cover illustration for The Kneebone Boy is equally striking.  Did you notice the boy sitting in the tree?  How about the cat's fifth leg?  Read Ellen's post about her reaction to seeing the cover art for the first time.

To learn more about each of these books, please visit the authors' websites:  
Cindy Pon | Courtney Allison Moulton | Ellen Potter


To see more of these artists' work, please visit their websites:  
Phoenix Lu | Yue Wang | Jason Chan

• Buy this book:  Powell's | Amazon | The Book Depository | IndieBound
• Add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing

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  • Pre-order Fury of the Phoenix: Amazon | The Book Depository | IndieBound
  • Add Fury of the Phoenix to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing
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    • Pre-order Angelfire:  Amazon | The Book Depository | IndieBound | B & N
    • Add Angelfire to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing
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          • Pre-order The Kneebone Boy:  Powell's | Amazon | The Book Depository | IndieBound | B & N
          • Add The Kneebone Boy to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing
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        So what book-related art do you love? Do you have a favorite illustrator or a book cover that you especially adore? Perhaps there is a gorgeous piece of fan art that made you want to pick up a particular book? I'd love to hear how art affects your reading or book-buying experience. :-)

Question: What book would you love to read again for the first time?

We are reorganizing our bookshelves, and I keep stumbling across old favorites that I vividly recall reading for the first time.  I thoroughly enjoy rereading favorite books, but there is nothing quite like the first time you fall in love with a story and its characters.  That first time is full of new discoveries - dialogue that moves you to tears, characters so beautifully crafted that you ache for them when their hearts are broken and cheer for them when their dreams are realized, and pages that keep you up late reading with urgency because you simply must discover how the story ends.  As I sort through some of my old favorite books, I find myself wishing that I could read several of them for the first time all over again.  How awesome would it be to read them again with that original sense of excitement, surprise, and urgency?


For example, I still clearly remember the first time I read Pride and Prejudice, and I would absolutely love to meet Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy for the first time all over again.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to relive the moments of their first (unfavorable) impressions of one another, to feel Jane's heartbreak at not knowing whether Mr. Bingley will return, to wonder whether Mr. Wickham is trustworthy, to meet the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh for the first time, to thrill at the fabulously tense exchange when Elizabeth refuses Darcy's proposal, to travel to Pemberley and feel Elizabeth's sense of embarrassment at unexpectedly encountering Mr. Darcy there, and to gradually discover exactly how perfect they really are for one another?!  I would LOVE to have that experience again!  


So, what book (or books) would you love to read again for the first time?

Question: Do you like chapter titles?

Sometimes I enjoy chapter titles, other times I find them distracting or unnecessary.  

Pros:  They can act as bookmarks and help remind you of your current place in a book.  They can amuse you, give you tantalizing hints about soon-to-be-revealed plot points, and help you keep track of the setting and narrator.  

Cons:  They can take you out of the story as you digest the title rather than staying immersed within the narrative.  They sometimes contain unwanted spoilers, repeat information that is already obvious within the text, or seem annoyingly cheesy.


I can think of a handful of specific types of chapter titles:

1. Revealing titles which tell you exactly what to expect in the next chapter.

2. Cryptic titles which vaguely hint at something contained within the chapter.

3.  Theme titles which don't necessarily fit the specific chapter, but do fit the overall theme of the book.

4.  Funny titles which reinforce the humorous tone of a book.

5.  Statement of Fact titles which track the date/time/temperature/narrator/location to help keep the reader clear on the sequence of events, setting, or narrator.

6.  Quote titles which mark the beginning of each chapter by referencing another piece of literature, a poem, or a quote from a character/letter/book/diary set within the novel.

Okay, I guess six types is technically more than a handful (unless you happen to be Inigo Montoya's nemesis).  Are there other types of chapter titles that I've forgotten?  I generally seem to find Cryptic titles & Funny titles more entertaining and memorable than the other varieties, but unless the titles are ridiculously distracting I'd prefer any title to no title.  What is your opinion on chapter titles?  Like them?  Dislike them?  Love one type and find another type irritating?

Question Thursday: Which book do you wish had a sequel?

I love immersing myself in an great series of books.  Sometimes it is hard to settle for a stand-alone novel when you want to devour an absorbing series of three or thirteen.  Obviously, there are lots of awesome stand-alone novels that are perfect exactly as they are, and not every book series is made of excellence from start to finish.  But I love the torturous suspense of awaiting a sequel, and I love reading more about characters that I adore.  :)


Are there any books you wish had been the first in a series rather than stand-alone novels?  One book that immediately comes to mind for me is Robin McKinley's Sunshine.  Rae and Constantine's world seemed richly prepared for continuing adventures, and I wasn't completely ready to close the book on their story as I turned the final pages of that novel.  So I was disappointed to learn that Sunshine would never have a sequel.  What book (or books) do you wish had a sequel?        

Question Thursday: Do you have 'gold standard' books?

As much as I try to appreciate each book for its own merits, I often find myself inadvertently comparing one book to another as I read.  Sometimes that happens when two books actually have strikingly similar plots or characters.  And honestly, that type of comparison seems fairly unavoidable if you have genre preferences.  For example, if you read all the YA urban fantasy novels you can get your hands on, then you'll inevitably find yourself comparing one author's vampire mythology to another author's vampire mythology.

But it is another type of book comparison I want to ask about today.  Sometimes I find myself comparing my current read to what is essentially my personal 'gold standard' for a particular plot or style element.  For example, when it comes to witty, sarcastic banter in a YA urban fantasy series, I consider Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series to be in that 'gold standard' range.  So as I read dialogue intended to be funny or snarky in other YA urban fantasies, I occasionally find myself thinking something along the lines of "This is fairly good dialogue, but it is not so well-timed/snarky/memorable/clever as the dialogue in the Mortal Instruments series."  

This type of comparison seems somewhat unfair to me, since it often means that my current book will be held up against not just one 'gold standard' book or series, but several different 'gold standard' books - a couple for dialogue, a few for romantic tension, a handful for atmosphere/setting, a couple for pacing, a few for narrative voice, etc.  I definitely don't expect every book to live up to all of my favorite aspects of my favorite novels, but I can't always seem to stop myself from drawing these 'gold standard' comparisons as I read.

Do you find yourself drawing those types of comparisons as you read?  If so, what are some of your 'gold standard' books?

Question Thursday: Do you like book playlists?

Do you enjoy book playlists?  I love book playlists and find that the songs often add another layer of fun to my reading experience.  Much like with movie soundtracks, I will forever associate certain songs with particular characters and books, and I love that!  If you enjoy book playlists too, which ones are your favorites?  I would love to check them out!  Are there any songs you will always connect with certain books or characters?

I've gathered some of my favorite book playlist songs into the player below, and here are a few links to authors sharing (or commenting on) their book playlists: Cassandra Clare's City of Glass playlist, Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver playlist, Julie Kagawa's The Iron King playlist, Shelena Shorts' The Pace playlist, and Kim Harrison's The Hollows playlist.

Question Thursday: Do you judge books by their covers?

I know it may be foolish to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes I simply can't help myself.  While a great cover cannot guarantee that I will love a book, it can certainly encourage me to check out a book summary.  Of course, if an awesome cover happens to be coupled with an intriguing book summary, the book is headed straight for my wishlist.  

Do you find yourself drawn to lovely covers?  If so, is there a specific type of cover that you love (or hate)?  Which covers are among your favorites and which covers are you eagerly anticipating?  Some readers dislike faceless covers while others prefer faceless covers so that the image doesn't color their view of the characters before they've read the book.  Do you have any cover preferences?  My own personal taste is pretty eclectic.  I like a little bit of everything - shiny covers, illustrated covers, and covers with distinctive fonts.

Here are a few upcoming novels that made the great cover + intriguing summary cut for me:

Title: Halo
Author: Alexandra Adornetto
Release date: September 2010
Summary:  Nothing much happens in Tallow Beach. But when three mysterious teens enroll in the local high school, everything changes. Nobody knows the truth: that they are angels on a mission to save a world on the brink of destruction. When Beth, the youngest, falls for her classmate Xavier, she faces a frightening decision: will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him? Things come to a head when the angels realize that they are not they only supernatural power in Tallow Beach. The unscrupulous Jack Thorn sees Beth as the easiest target to further his own dark ambitions. The angels and Xavier must use their powers to overcome darkness - but will Beth survive the battle?
To pre-order Halo: IndieBound | The Book Depository | Amazon
Add Halo to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Title: Sisters Red
Author: Jackson Pearce

Release date: June 2010

Summary:  Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris-- the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.  Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts fiercely alongside her. Now Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves and finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax-- but loving him means betraying her sister and has the potential to destroy all they've worked for.

To pre-order Sisters Red: IndieBound | Powell's | The Book Depository | Amazon

Add Sisters Red to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Title: Firelight

Author: Sophie Jordan

Release date: September 2010

Summary:  With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness leads her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret.

To pre-order Firelight: IndieBound | The Book Depository | Amazon

Add Firelight to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Title: Paranormalcy

Author: Kiersten White

Release date: September 2010

Summary:  Sixteen-year-old Evie's job is bagging and tagging paranormals. Possessing the strange ability to see through their glamours, she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But when someone--or something--starts taking out the vamps, werewolves, and other odd beasties she's worked hard to help become productive members of society, she's got to figure it out before they all disappear and the world becomes utterly normal.  Normal is so overrated.

To pre-order Paranormalcy: IndieBound | The Book Depository | Amazon

Add Paranormalcy to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Which book covers do you love? 

Question: Dust jackets on or off?

Do you always remove the dust jacket before reading a hardcover book?  As I sit here with three jacket-less hardcover novels by my side and a lopsided pile of dust jackets sitting atop a bookshelf across the room, I am realizing that this is a very common sight around our household. On any given day, there are loose dust jackets stacked atop a bookshelf or two (or three), and I can tell which books are currently being devoured by the members of our household by glancing through those piles.

If you are a dust jacket remover too, what do you do with your dust covers while you read?  Have you ever misplaced a dust jacket or inadvertently destroyed it while it was off the book?  I've done both, which is extra silly when you realize that I'm also the crazy lady you see looking through all ten copies of a book on the bookstore shelf, searching for the one with the least-scuffed & least-crinkled cover.  I try to find the mint-condition cover because I know that once we purchase the book it will inevitably be passed from person to person, dragged along on walks to the park, shoved in a purse, loaned out to friends, shuffled around near watercolor paints and crayons, carried along on car drives, and picked up by children with peanut butter and jelly on their fingers. The dust jacket is basically the only part of the book that has any potential to remain relatively pristine over the years, so I search for the perfect cover then promptly set it aside before reading.

Because I tend to read hardcovers with their jackets off, I am always thrilled by any little unique touches underneath the dust jackets (embossed covers, shiny lettering, textured covers, lovely colors, etc.) Those types of cosmetic features certainly aren't necessary for my enjoyment of a book, but they are kind of like finding a special bonus prize in your cereal box.  So, do you keep the jackets on while reading a hardcover book, or do you take them off? If you take them off, are you interested in what is underneath? Are there any books you particularly like without their jackets?

A few random examples of happy surprises underneath the dust jackets:
 
Colorful and fun!
1. It's Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder (cheerful pink)
2. Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland (gorgeous purple)
3. Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White (lovely coral with an embossed willow tree)
4. Heck by Dale Bayse (bright red with an embossed devil wielding a spork)
5. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (blue with holographic lettering & an embossed key)
6. The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan (secret sword cover underneath the dust jacket)
7. Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography (a false obituary on the back & my very favorite reversible dust jacket, which is designed to disguise this Series of Unfortunate Events book as "The Luckiest Kids in the World: The Pony Party")

Question Monday: What fictional world would you love to live in for a week?

I have loved diving into fictional worlds ever since I was a little girl reading bedtime books and falling asleep to dream about fairy tales and far away lands.  In fact, I still frequently fall asleep with a book in my hand, and occasionally I still dream about fairy tales and far away lands.  Sometimes a fictional world seems intriguing because of its beauty and mystery, other times it is tantalizing because the setting is so different from our own familiar environment & lifestyle, and sometimes the setting is familiar and common but the characters who populate a particular world make it sound irresistibly fun.


As a kid, I would have loved to spend a week with the March sisters in Little Women.  I wanted to meet a mouse like Ralph in The Mouse and the Motorcycle books.  I wanted to make friends with a pig like Wilbur & spend my days on the Zuckerman’s farm like Fern in Charlotte’s Web.  I loved the idea of having eleven siblings like the Gilbreth children in Cheaper by the Dozen.  And the concept of hanging out with Mary Anne and Dawn from the Babysitter’s Club books or Elizabeth Wakefield from the Sweet Valley Twins books sounded like so much fun.  As a teen, I fell in love with romantic classics like Jane Austen’s novels, Edith Wharton’s books, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s novels, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.  Ignoring the lack of indoor plumbing and modern medicine, I loved the idea of spending time in any of those worlds.  These days, I read a lot of fantasy and paranormal novels, and I’m intrigued by the idea of worlds filled with Shadowhunters, graced warriors, and faerie princes.


What fictional worlds appeal to you?  What world would you have loved to spend a week in as a kid?  Are there particular characters you’d love to spend a week with, or is there a certain time period or setting that you’d love to explore?  Would a week be long enough?  Too long?

Question Monday: To sort or not to sort? The genre debate.

YA, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Romance, Mystery.  Walk into your local bookstore and you will almost certainly find the books sorted into their own exclusive regions of the shop.  In theory, this system of sorting books into genres should help readers locate books that might appeal to them by placing books of a similar type near one another.  But in practice, I find that this genre-sorting often leads readers to overlook books they might love by encouraging them to linger in one comfortable genre area of the shop.  What do you think?  Do the benefits of genre sorting outweigh the possible negative consequences?

In the non-fiction areas of a bookstore, sorting books by category and content makes perfect sense to me.  Placing all the cookbooks in one area and all the gardening books in another is both logical and helpful.  But when it comes to fiction, does it help you find what you need more often than it makes you feel excluded from an entire genre?  Personally, I spent my teen & young adult years steering clear of the sci-fi and fantasy sections and avoiding the romance section like the plague.  The romance cover illustrations made that section seem intimidating to me, and I was uncomfortable with the thought of being spotted browsing in that area of the store.  Was that silly of me?  Definitely.  Now I realize that I was missing out on lots of wonderful books by imposing my own self-inflicted genre limits.  But it took me several years to correct my foolish genre-bias, and when I did finally dip my toes into the romance section I was surprised to find that many of the books I found there contained nothing racier than what I'd been reading for years in the mystery section (where I felt perfectly comfortable).  I certainly don't blame book retailers and their sorting policies for my personal genre prejudices, but I do suspect that I'm not the only person whose shopping experience is guided by such bias, and the bookstore's genre sorting system makes it pretty easy to avoid stumbling across anything outside your genre comfort zone.

Nowadays, I'm a 'free-range' shopper and consciously remind myself to venture into a variety of genre sections within the store to browse.  But I still wonder if those genre sections are inadvertently steering potential readers away from books they may love.  I frequently find myself describing a book I loved to a friend or family member & hesitating to describe the book in genre terms because I know each genre carries its own stigma.  For example, as I described my enthusiasm for Orson Scott Card's Ender series to a friend, I could tell it was climbing up the ranks of her "To Read" list until I mentioned that it is a sci-fi book series.   At the mention of the genre, her interest in the series dropped dramatically.  I know her reading tastes fairly well and strongly suspect that she would LOVE those books, but throwing the genre info into the mix suddenly made her significantly less likely to purchase them.  Experiences like that sometimes make me wish that every novel in the store was sorted into the general fiction section.

On one hand, genre labeling can be useful to give readers a concept of a book's possible plot, but I also think it is too easy to let a book be defined by its genre alone.  In the case of YA, I think the vague genre label  gives you very little idea of an individual book's plot.  The YA section is filled with so much variety that it could basically be an entire bookstore unto itself.  Within YA you will find romance, mystery, urban fantasy, sci-fi, and many other sub-genres, but there are definitely adults who don't venture into the YA section as they wander past it on their way to the "adult" areas of the bookstore.  Those adults may be outside the genre's target demographic, but I'd venture to say that many of them would love Suzanne Collins' Hunger Game series (as just one example of a YA novel with a lot of crossover appeal).  If its shelf position, which often seems to be about an inch from the stuffed animals & toys of the children's section, keeps an adult reader from stumbling across it, then not only will the bookstore (and author) miss out on a sale, but that reader will seriously be missing out on a remarkable book series.  The same thing is true for so many of the books in the YA section.

What do you think about genre labeling?  Love it?  Hate it?  Feel conflicted about it?