Tidbits: Are you Hungry for the Divergent trailer or just drooling over butterbeer and Hobbit pancakes?

Movies and adaptations

• In case you've been camped out under a rock or working out your daddy issues on a deserted island like the stud my new favorite brain vacation show, The Arrow, the new  Hunger Games movie is about to drop, with the requisite frenzy and hooplah.  Here are some things:
• Oh good.  It appears that the crack marketing team at Subway received advanced degrees in not understanding what the Hunger Games is about!  
• Just like the braintrusts behind the Hunger Games summer camp and the plan to make an amusement park.  
• Shockingly, Finnick can't read good.  
• This is the best thing I think we'll all see, all week.  The Sesame Street Hungry Games

• Harry Potter stamps drop on my birthday aka today.  Thank you for the gift, universe!
• Butterbeer...at Starbucks?
• The Hobbit menu is baaaaccccccck, precious! 
• If they take pictures and put them on the cover, it has to happen, right?  Fifty Shades promo pictures (since you've never heard of it before and it needs the all the promotional help it can get).  I can't wait; it's not often to find such high potential to be a fantastic case of the terribles! Go Fug yourself agrees. 
• I'm way too excited by Four's back to wrangle sense into the English language; luckily the ladies at Forever YA have girded their loins against being Pamuked senseless and have done it for us, because you guys....DIVERGENT TRAILER.
• Bad accent, awesome costume alert (how great are those horns?): the trailer for Maleficent is out! 
• I've failed to adequately share just how flippin' excited I am about the upcoming Outlander series (aka my favorite not so secret shame).  Here are somethings that have me in a tizzy:
• Let's start with Jamie.  
• Or better yet, Jamie in the modern day.  Pretty sure that horse is panting. 
• And now Claire.
• And how about Jamie and Claire 2gether 4evah?
• And how about SIXTEEN episodes?  I'm so down.  
• And now this unsurprising yet terrible news from DGabs that she's delaying the publication of the next book in the series. Yet again. This is all I have to say about that.. It's only been like five years...why not make it an even six? (But please don't.)

Books

• Judy Blume's Forever and Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, got a facelift.  Apparently AYTGIMM is being marketed to middle aged lady book clubs? 
• Eric Carle has a beautiful new book about friends titled...you guessed it!  Friends.

Misc and nonsense

• I have more questions than answers regarding an OkCupid first date to go traveling internationally together for a month bringing no luggage, and only plane tickets.  
• All you need to know about why this would make a great gift for a tea swilling book nerd is in the product description, if they were real.  Sadly, it appears to just be an idea in an art portfolio.  All I'm sayin' is...get at me:  
  

  Prologue is a series of fine teas inspired by literary classics. Each canister of loose leaves features a unique blend of flavors that characterizes the novel. The designs on the tins include motifs from the narratives and other elements that are a part of the reading experience. 

• Now I know why I always wanted to wash my hands when I checked in dog-earred Romance novels at the Public Library...If this isn't a case for more eBooks at libraries, I don't know what is! 

Tidbits: Gitmo' Shady

• If you follow this blog on the casual, you well know my fervent dreamwish of one day partaking in a live-action version of Oregon Trail (seriously, reality tv - make it happen).  Thank you, Mental Floss, for providing this history lesson on the history lesson game. 
• Shame on you, reader.  You forgot Harry Potter's Larry Bird birthday (he turned 33 yesterday)!  Don't worry.  I did too.  Here are some cakes to celebrate, and here is Ron Weasley's message to his bff.

• Recipe for a Downton Abbey Party (or like 50 - so more of a guide!): I'm in if there's costumes involved.

• Some clever fiend who knows YA Lit and wants to make you nonreading, judging adults read made a Buzzfeed.  Well played, sir or madam.  (This is like the YA Librarians guide to some of the best recommendations in YA today.)

• Jane Austen's got mad scrilla, y'all.  Incidentally, some truly horrible Internet trolls cant handle it, and have nothing better to do than hide behind an IP address and threaten the woman who made it happen.  Grow a pair, dipsh*ts.   

• In other things British that you probably already know about, someone named JK Rowling published a book under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.  And then someone spilled the beans.  Luckily, the New York Times saw this as an opportunity to make other authors come up with some pretty fantastic pseudonyms.  Especially you, Carl Hiaasen

• Jellicoe Road movie news (I'd totally partake in a Kickstarter, for the first and only time, for this to happen.  Just sayin'...)

• Are you even more behind the time than moi?  Well, get with it campers: the Catching Fire trailer is out, and it's pretty solid (spoiler alert: Peeta gets a hair upgrade, Finnick sans shirt, Stanley Tucci will probably haunt your dreams, you get the idea).  The Forever YA girls break it down here. 

• Shock me, shock me, shock me with that deviant behavior.  Fifty Shades is the most popular book at Gitmo?  Get out, Reuters!

Tidbits (of cheese and other literary goodness)

I'm sorry, two loyal readers, one of whom I'm pretty sure is a spambot! I've been super busy - ALA, work, other job, other things...but in good news, I do have some recipes and reviews forthcoming...errrr...as soon as I get the chance to write them.  I have, however, been hoarding up way, way, old news and things.  You've probably already seen them, but I don't care!  Enjoy them or not; as Captain Planet would say, the power is yours!

Food

• Behold, the greatest post I have ever seen: author and cheese pairings.  I mean...does it get any more fantastic than that?  But I have to ask, why no cheddar cheese pic for Ernest?  
• Do you want to make a chocolate loving librarian very happy?  Give them a library of exotic chocolate bars.
• Enjoy this map of the United States of Burgers, just because it is summer, and you are thinking about BBQs, right? 

Art

•  This artists description says it all ("art inspired by and made from books"), but her method of delivery - finger prints - is really cool!  
• Just because I loved it so much when I came upon it, I'm going to share the best, loveliest watercolor prints that would be great in a kitchen.  Speaking of making a librarian very happy, I happen to know a librarian who loves the olive oil print...

Movies

• Stills from The Maze Runner!  I'm not even in a tither about how much the actors are not 13.  It looks great! 
• However, the kid who just got cast as Jonas in the Jeff Bridges adaptation of The Giver?  He does not look like a preteen.  Just sayin'...
• There's a run on Jane Austen on the interwebs this week!  First, check out the trailer for Austenland, which I'm really, really looking forward to, because OBVI.  Then, check out this gigantic waterlogged statue of Colin Firth's Darcy.  Wouldn't you love to know what he thinks? And more importantly, what happens when birds poo on that super white shirt?

Books

• This is olllld news at this point.  John Corey Whaley - he of the dipples who shared his woodpecker tattoo with us - is coming out with a new book! YAY! The cover art was released, and now haunts my dreams.  #creepydolls
• Best. Manicures. Ever. 
• Are you a demigod?  Do you want to be one?  Good thing we had this talk.  There's a Camp Half-Blood you can attend! Percy Jackson camp, y'all!  Is there one for grownups?  I want to go! (I think I may have posted about this a million years ago, but if I've forgotten, so have you!) 
• There was an EW issue about Divergent!  There were lots of pictures for your eyeballs to feast upon, and the trailer is being released at Comic-Con.  But I've posted the most important information below:

PAMUKED!

Tidbits

• Lena Dunham is not a Dauntless.  She's so clearly Candor.  Get it right, EW!
• This is the best letter to an editor this year.  Excellent point, kid.  Kids SHOULD review kids books! 
• NPR Reports do have the best names. 
• 3 New Genres for YA. I can't wait for sexy teen American history.  (Come on already, Diana Gabaldon.)
• YA imprints are the new hot accessory for summer (if you are a publishing company).
• Gender bender!  Maureen Johnson explores how the gender of the author can affect cover design.  Here are some examples of famous covers made over as if the author happened to be the opposite gender.  My favorite?  Lord of the Flies.  Srsly?  That's way creepier than the actual story, faux designer.  Mostly, I think covers reflect the stereotyped audience they are being marketed to, but then again, there's a reason why Joanne Rowling went by JK Rowling...
• We have liftoff!  FINALLY, a trailer that proves Ender's Game is, in fact, happening, and that Han Solo is still out there, somewhere, in space.
• Hahahahollywood, you joker, you.  There is a one in five chance of knowing who these guys on the shortlist to be cast as Augustus in The Fault in Our Stars are (for me).  Am I just old?    

Tidbits: Divergent gets Pamuked!

• OMG.  OMG.  OMG.  The cast of Divergent! It is so good!  Words can't describe how excited I am to hear that Tris is going to get Pamuked in Divergent.  And the rest of the cast?  Stacked with excellence.  I'm totally pumped. 
• It is possible I knew that Daughter of Smoke and Bone had been optioned; it is also possible I didn't.  But it has!  And it even has a scriptwriter now.  LEGIT. 
• Ehhh...the Selection is getting a little crazy.  Struggling to keep judgment in check. 
• I have entered a cooking contest.  I don't know what possessed me, but I do know that I'd appreciate your vote for my Chocolate Chorizo Chili as the Best Mexican Recipe! 

Tidbits: Nothing says in the mood like Titanic undergarments

• The Titanic is being rebuilt.  Nothing can possibly go wrong, right?!  "Everyone on board will however be provided with early-20th-century-style clothes and undergarments in their cabins to get them in the mood." What mood would that be, PR person responsible for this press release?  The mood to freeze to death in icy water? (Also...provided undergarments?  Let's let Jimmy Kimmel and Emma Stone tell you what I think about that.)
• Additionally, have I mentioned the Girl Scouts enough lately?  I didn't think so.  There are now badges for smart things like bookbinding (be still, library nerd hearts)!  Yay, Todd Pattinson, Harvard Guybrarian extraordinaire! This makes my badge for fashion design just seem shameful.  
• Here are 10 flower arrangements that curiously resemble the covers of some YA books.
• I didn't even know that The Maze Runner had been optioned...and now they already casting.  Whaaatt?
• Oh, hello there, Mr. Odair.  That's a very deep V you're rocking. I suppose we'll accept your rose.  There's like a billion more portraits for the Hunger Games up on the Internets now. 
• Even though it will probably be forever until I can hear the whole thing, what with living on the rebellious continent, I am still so, so excited about Neverwhere.  Benedict Cumberbatch?  James MacAvoy?  This could only be better if it were filmed.  Thank goodness for American Gods!
• HOW DID YOU KNOW?  #truergiffs

Big news tomorrow about an exciting book nerd reunion, race, and travel plans!

Tidbits

News team assemble! 

• Well, we all knew this had to happen someday, and it's honestly not bad.  But nothing trumps the original, stunning Harry Potter covers.  NOTHING!  
• From Fiction to Fashion get into my closet, now.
• Curiously, Morgan Freeman wasn't available to play death in a movie about 1930's Germany: the Book Thief is going to be a movie, and they've already cast it.
• Beautiful Creatures is in theaters, and I'm excited to see it next week.  Fingers crossed its not too Disney hokey, and just enough Southern Gothic to not ruin it!  I'm also kind of excited for Warm Bodies...which I've never read (confessions!).  
• Vicious cycle alert: In news that shocks nobody, Chick Lit isn't exactly great for feeling super awesome about your body image...which is maybe why some ladies are reading it in the first place.
• I'll see you in November, Bridget Jones.  
• The first chapter of Patrick Ness's new adult book is available to be previewed.  Squeeeee!  
• Places I want to go to include this gorgeous underground train station in NYC.  If I wasn't afraid of rats...or prison...
• Because I love you, I found the specialist Valentine I could for you guys.

Tidbits

Books and Libraries

• Yesterday the Youth Media Awards were announced.  An as per, I have never heard of the Printz winner at all.  But I am glad that the supremely delightful This is Not My Hat won the Caldecott, and that my fav from 2012, Code Name Verity, scored an honor - so YAY.
• I know libraries have to be innovative in marketing and services to lure in patrons (see below for more examples)...but pole dancing is a new one.
• I think the real question here is how do we get invited? The Netherfield Ball! 
• Since tea + books = <3 nbsp="">it's only natural there is a pairing guide.
• There is no way to read this story about how a small branch library in NYC is checking out an American Girl doll and NOT feel there is something right in the universe.  
• Fact: even puppies love libraries. 

Movies

• So many books turning into movies, guys!  Publishers Weekly has ten of them listed as the most anticipated (3 of which I've never heard of, so...)
• Did not even realize that If I Stay had been optioned, let alone cast!  
• Anna Dressed in Blood was such a false start of a book (started off terrifying, ended with warm fuzzies) that I'm not really that pumped to hear it may be a movie...even though it would probably be decent.  Maybe.  
• After seeing this tidbit about a certain Titantic star taking an interest in Divergent, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the news that she'll be playing Jeanine Matthews.
• The Selection may be a pilot TV show.  Again.  I'm still here, waiting, CW!

Tidbits

Books

• It took me long enough BUT.  Best news ever red alert, via your, my, everyone's favorite Melina Marchetta:
  They’ve also come back into my life at an important time for writing because 24 year old Jimmy Hailler is camping out in my head.  It’s not just his story, but a bit of a four hander and it will definitely be an adult one rather than YA.  It’s interesting that I didn’t know where Jimmy and his life was until I played with circumstances in Froi and Quintana’s life.
  
  JIMMY HAILLER.  JIMMY HAILLER.  Plus, word on the street is soon even us Yanks will be able to hang tough with our favorite knocked-up pink taffeta dress wearing exiled princess, Quintana.  2013 is looking up!
• Meta alert! These works of art (books) have been turned into works of art (sculptures)!
• Things I am maybe embarrassed to totally get: Texts from the American Girl dolls (the OG's not these new poseurs).
• Somehow, I missed this most exciting news about Patrick Ness and the new books he's going to drop on us!  
• I'm one part jealous, one part judgmental (it's a private home, also she spit-shone his grave), and one part sorry for the people who live there now this is up on the interwebs - a blogger visited E.B. White's house in Maine.  But mostly...I want to live there?
• If you enjoyed Partials and want more, check out this preview of the sequel, Fragment.  
• Thank GAWD, DGabs. Fall is just around the corner, right?  Alls I'm sayin' is you best not Robert Jordan us, mmkay?
  
• The thievin' thugs of YA (Elizabeth Wein! Shock me, shock me, shock me, with that deviant behavior!)

Movies

• Divergent casting news about Four (Let's just say I saw a lot of Alex Pettyfer in Magic Mike that I can't unsee in picturing him as Four...)
• Don't really want to jinx it, but Y: the Last Man has a director.  Still think it would be better as a mini-series!
• I had no idea that Robopocalypse had even been optioned as a movie, let alone optioned by Spielberg.  
• Whhaaat? EW has some pictures of Catching Fire up (like four), but all you need to know is this:

"People are just worried that I'm not going to be as sex god enough as Finnick should be. I've literally had four months of eating nothing but chicken and asparagus. I just want a burger and a beer."

He's hungry behind the eyes, guys.  (Incidentally, does this picture remind you of anyone else? A certain pasty, Civil War era YA vampire, perhaps?)

Tidbits

• Perhaps the best literary map I've seen this year: The United States of YA.  
• I'm not even going to sugarcoat my huge disappointment that Ann M. Martin did not also feel that her Super Specials were super special enough to make her Babysitters Club Top Ten...
• My fellow Masshole Librarians are tatted, fierce, and fundraising!
• Out of this list of 21 classic opening lines in books, I'd like to give big snaps to the one of the only two children's titles that made the list for having the best opening line in my humble, totally correct opinion (The Graveyard Book).
• Everyone knows that the only wetsuit Finnick needs is his skin (and your imagination). 

Tidbits: There YA go again, Hollywood

• Remember how excited I was about The Perks of Being a Wallflower being adapted?  WELL.  I finally saw it.  Guys, I am pleased, delighted, relieved, and melancholy.  It was great.  You should all see it!
•  Divergent shops for Four; I feel old because I know who none of those actors are. 
• SO many YAdaptations dropped this week.  Okay, two.  Here are my deep, deep thoughts:
• The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones


Get More: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Jamie Campbell Bower, Movie Trailers, Movies Blog
• First and only complete thought: this looks like it'll be better than I thought the book was.
• File this under: potential for really bad British accents, courtesy of American actors. 
• Why are all YA dark magical movie adaptations exclusively lit by LED through dying ivy?  (I'm sending a meaningful glance your way, Beautiful Creatures trailer).
• No matter how hard Jace's hair tries, it will never not ever be Tim Riggins.  
• The Host


Get More: Jake Abel, Saoirse Ronan, William Hurt, Diane Kruger, Movie Trailers, Movies Blog
• So...this is Gattaca, but younger?
• I firmly believe there needs to be a men of YA charity calendar.  Possibly a related movie, avec Calendars girls.  Luckily, I'm not alone...I double dog dare you not the snicker at The Dudes of YA: a "Lit-Erotic" Photospread.  

Tidbits: Sloppy shuffle sorts the presidents and some adapation news

• The Island of the Blue Dolphins + Archaeology = Paperblog Nerd
• Having never been to Australia, the Jellicoe Road I constructed in my head stands to be corrected by author girlcrush Melina Marchetta's photographs of what she pictures the Jellicoe scenery to look like - which frankly is so much better than what I pictured (which kind of looked like Simba's backyard meets Crocodile Dundee).  Even better?  More news about the moooovvieeeeee! 
• Have you spent the past week in a yurt in Siberia?  Then you probably missed the news that the USA had a big to do about presidents.  So naturally, some YA nerds had a big to do about which USA presidents would be in which Divergent factions.  Which leads me to ask which houses former USA presidents would be sorted into in Hogwarts?  Deep thoughts, guys. 
• Oh, hello unrealized childhood dollhouse dream.  Meet the greatest Hobbit hole EVER. 
• In all the hullaballoo about Boy Meets World making an unnecessary remake, you may have also missed the news that Bridget Jones is making her glorious literary return (and obvi has a case of the Twitters). 
• OhEmGee, you guys.  The Ron Moore Outlander adaptation got a network; in related news, a tempered slow roll of jazz hands is making it hard to type this out. 
• Remember that one time I went to Egypt and mentioned the really uncomfortable harassment women face there?  This made my day.
• This little girl's note to Dwell Magazine is a feminist masterpiece.  Also great?  The photos of the over-girlification of toys at the bottom of the story.  Bring back that first Lego ad!
• Guys, confession time.  I have no idea why I find this very silly SNL video as funny as I do.  BUT I DO.  Someone please explain it to me; I'll be over here sloppy shuffling away. 
  
  
  

Tidbits: One ring really could rule us all...

• Big news in the publishing world...Random House and Penguin may merge.  As in, they are going on some dates together and thinking about taking it further...  Still, there may be a ring in their future...woah!  One ring really could rule us all (more on that below)!
• I love little libraries.  I want a fancy little library, so bad.  But until such time as I frolick away into the mists of the Stars Hollow town of my Gilmore Girl dreams and have me a little library on my hobbitesque yard, I will travel the world to visit tiny libraries, using this handy map.  Pakistan, anyone?  (Also, check out these photos of said world o little libraries).
• Good to know that despite their not being able to fit inside libraries, kids are learning to read good.  Heartening news: Pew says kids use libraries, youth librarians both say duh and do a kickline across the interwebs.  
• Remember AIM away messages?  LOL guyzzzz.  Literary away messages.  (#4 made me snort in a very unladylike way)
• I only have one thing to say about this.  If I had to go into battle, I'd probably use a Christopher Paolini book as a weapon. Maybe the nice boxed set I bought in 2007 under the impression that there were only going to be three...
• Veronica Roth on Disney Princess Factions.  So true, so true.  
• Perhaps you've heard about a little movie coming out in December called the Hobbit?  No? Perhaps you've been too holed up in your local Denny's eating about it.  Yes, eating about it.  According to this article, and the rest of the internet, "Denny’s is hoping one onion ring will rule them all."  Well played.  Bonus points for Air New Zealand's new flight safety video.  
• OH MAN.  I wish I could sew, because Mo Willem's Pigeon inspired costumes are so great...
• This is it people.  I already expressed how this makes me giggle endlessly even thinking about it.  And now...THIS.  This is the cake I want for my birthday.  Bring. It. On.  

Tidbits: Chicken Soup for your visual art appreciation

Chicken Soup: 

• Do you have a heart?  Test it by readwatching this piece, written by a teenage boy about he loves to read.  It is aptly titled What's Wrong with Reading?  I just want to give him a hug in the form of a stack of books!

Design & Art:

• Design alert! Fahrenheit 451 needs a new dress.

• Finally, beautiful homes I can afford...the coolest doghouses I've ever seen.

• When Bad Things Happen to Good Paintings: the plot thickens.  Every time I think about the restoration, I can't help but laugh.  SO GOOD, lady. 

Food:  

• Beatrix Potter has awesome handwriting and recipes.

 The Talkies:

• Alice in Wonderland gets CW'd and McG'd...strong potential for big explosions, cleavage, not much else.

• Oh, hello terrible romance novel pretending to be a teen novel that I could not finish (which is saying something) that is now getting optioned for another CW contract.  Just give me my Selection already, punks!

• I'm reserving judgment until the whole series is done, but I may be kind of excited in an "Oh Captain, my captain" way that Raven Boys may one day be a movie

• Beautiful Creatures Trailer I'm not sure how I feel, guys!  I think I like it and the leads; I think I'm also nervous they took some Tim Burtonesque creative liberties in Harper Lee's backyard and it may go a little off the tracks.  I think I should also not watch things pre-coffee.  
•  No link, but are you as excited that The Perks of Being a Wallflower is nigh?  Yayyyy! Yayyyy! Yayyyy! 

Jealousy:

•  Not only does Australia always get Christmas first, now you Aussies can brag about reading Quitana first. Color me jealous. 

Tidbits

I am only what is best described as incredibly behind, so enjoy this collection of links you've probably already seen elsewhere, while I enjoy sleeping past 6 am for the first time since my 9 day first week of school back started, 9 days ago.

Business:

• Four different people have sent me the link to Mental Floss' roundup of 11 Amazing Librarian Tattoos.  So I think now is as good a time as any to reveal that I have a tattoo of my favorite misogynist Melville Dewey's face in a very secret location.  Not.  But there are some awesome additional photos in the comments, so scroll down when you visit! 
• The Atlantic Fall preview of YA lit is fairly decent - I've read and will write brief reviews of three (let's just say I liked two).  
• In news that is not news to librarians or booksellers anywhere, sales of YA literature to adults account for more that 55% of total sales - and we cold, hard, selfish adults aren't buying for our disenfranchised teenage friends. 
• With that said, I'd also like to vote negative on this whole new 14-35 year old "New Adult" labeling. Stop trying to make it happen, Guardian.  If you want to raise that age bar to people who can drive cars, and lower it to people who can't afford to buy new cars because of their student loans, maybe I'll reconsider.  
• In a sweet twist of irony, Amazon is basically the only winner in the publishing anti-trust brouhaha, which makes total sense in trying to prevent monopolies, right?  Good work, team!
• Oh Wikipedia.  You are the best friend of iPhones and dinner party debates, but not Phillip Roth! Mwahaha - no way I'm not using this in this years research orientations!

Design:

• OhEmGeeWhiz you guys! Tablescaping based on literature.  I think I'd like to go to a Game of Thrones dinner party the most. 
• In addition to work, I've been furniture shopping. Okay, so it's just for a kitchen table.  But whatever whatever.  I found these instead.  Please enjoy my new bathtub and my new lounge chair.   I think they'll go well with my new candles. 

The Talkies:

• Did I black out and miss the news that Divergent is going to be a movie?  Because now it has a release date.
• Also, we're still talking about Y: The Last Man being a movie.  Can't HBO or FX or somebody just get on board and adapt it to the miniseries it would do so well as? (Not that I'm complaining - this news excites me).
• The Wuthering Heights trailer makes it seem almost endurable.  Unlike Heathcliff. 

PrE-view:

• Daughter of Blood and Shadow!  Which apparently has had its movie rights optioned too.

Bonus:

• Kind of hoping POTUS uses the white folks soundbite during debates... 

Tidbits: "See there’s more things to look at on the internet other than naked guys Ann."

As much as much as I agree with "Leslie Knope"'s book blurb about The Bell Jar (“My official statement is that is, overall, a bummer.”), I'm all in for Ron Swanson.  

I can get behind Nathan Adrian...(badum dum) as Finnick Odair.   

Anne Shirley, of Green(back) Gables.  

My favorite YA title confirms my suspicions that I'm "a smart aleck and kind of a badass — that is, you know all the places where a young lady is supposed to scream for help, but you generally prefer to rely on your sword hand. Also you make a killer cherries jubilee."  What does yours say about you?  

Oh snap, King Henry VIII will be playing Valentine in the Mortal Instruments.  Except I'm officially over it.  I want more news about the Beautiful Creatures movie, not this hooey, Hollywood Crush!  OH WAIT.  You did.  I was just on vacation.  

Perhaps my favorite news this week via tweet:

Followed up by this news about a short story just published by Melina Marchetta.  


I was away, and NPR clearly waited for this moment to post their 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels list without several of my favorites on it to avoid my wrath.  If you're going to call it the best of...shouldn't it actually be?  But I digress. Sure I agree with many of the fabulous titles on the list.  In fact, I've read more than half.  But...why are some authors on multiple times, when others, AHEM (see above), didn't make it even once?  And why are some things on the list clearly identifiable as children's classics or as being originally published with an adult audience in mind?  The whole thing is a great idea, but a little too arbitrary for me to agree entirely with.  In all seriousness, good effort, NPR; always great to bring attention to these fabulous YA titles.  (But next time try harder.  Apparently I am still grumpy from my earlier case of the angries).

Here is an interesting read about the overall White-ness of the NPR list.

Tidbits

• Did you do a little "I smell drama!' gasp upon finding out the Pulitzer Committee choose not to award the Fiction prize this year?  Juror Michael Cunningham wrote about the selection process and his thoughts on the maybesortapossible snub of the three finalists. 
• If you read other book blogs, or perhaps have gone to professional conferences in the past year, you've probably heard about the beef between the librarians and the bloggers in attendance over slightly greedy snatching of ARCs.  My two cents?  Everyone calm down and join NetGalley. 
• Quite an interesting take on the lack of parents/horrible parents/dead parents/parents in need of parenting trend in YA, and in some children's books.  I'd personally extend it to reliable, trustworthy adult role models, but that's just me, liking to see reliable, trustworthy adults in teenagers lives, even if they just happen to be background chatter in the story.  I think my authorgirlcrush, Melina Marchetta, deserves some snaps here.  
• Which is probably why I'm going to interrupt my beach vacation, and head to NYC on July 17th, to bask Melina Marchetta's glory.  Melina, brace yourself! I'm really, really excited to share oxygen with you in a totally non-creepy way.  Okay, maybe that is creepy.  Ima play it cool, and hope I am not suddenly struck mute, as I was in 1992 when meeting Ann M. Martin. 
• Remember when I reviewed City of Bones yesterday and told you it was going to be a movie, which you probably already knew about because I'm light years behind these days?  Well, friend.  WELL.  Now there is a sort of unexciting teaser poster you can feast your eyes on, and more information about the movie. 
• The lovely Arianna at Wandering Librarians is not just lovely; she also went to ALA and met my other other Australian author crush, the babely Craig Silvey.  Swoon! (PS. Way to take my cute-author advice, Printz committee.  Well played!) Also?  SHE SAW THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER.  Arianna, just stop making me so swoony jealous over he-yah! 
• Remember last year when I reviewed The Name of the Star, and pretty much dug everything about it except for the lame-o cover?  WELL, my friends, WELL.  Thank GAWD books, like people, can change jackets.  Although this one just kind of says Scandanavian Mystery to me...but I'll just shut up because SO MUCH BETTER. 

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare - Come the Eff On, Clary

That is not the jaw of a teenager.
Just sayin'...

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
by Cassandra Clare
Margaret K. McElderry Books: New York, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4169-5507-8

When Clary interrupts what she thinks is a nightclub fight, she finds herself instead in a closet, with one demon and three tattoo-covered, gorgeous teenagers trying to kill it.  Clary has discovered the world of the Shadowhunters, human warriors fighting to rid the earth of demons, and they have discovered that she is not just a regular non-magical mundane human; she can see them and the demon.  In the course of the next day, Clary’s world is turned upside down and she is swept into the company of the cute and flirtatious Shadowhunter, Jace, when her mother is abducted, and she is attacked by a demon.  Clary begins to discover that she, and her mother, are not the ordinary people she thought; Clary has been a part of the Shadowhunter world for longer than she can remember.  Though the writing and plot of this book, the first in the Mortal Instruments series, is often overwrought, it is fast-paced, engaging, and fun to read.  It is recommended for grades 6-9.  Libraries will be advised to keep a copy of this popular title on hand; there is potential for this to be adapted into a movie.

In the interest of not being a huge jerk, I’m including this disclaimer: this book drove me a bit insane.  There are a number of reasons, which I will get into in a minute (the vast majority caused me to work a “come the [EFF] on, Bridget,” face, so I think you too will delight in a Monday eye roll).  However, I will say this about this series.  I totally get why kids (mostly girls, but definitely some boys) of a certain age (middle/lower high school grades) go bananas for these books and why they are on the New York Time Bestseller list, like permanently.  Frankly, it’s probably the reason I go gaga for Diana Gabaldon, or am eagerly awaiting the sequel to A Discovery of Witches.  The story is action packed, the twists are twisty, the OH-SNAPS are snappy, the boys are all hawt, the girls are all gorgeous, crazy supernatural things occur, and it takes place in a high-stakes cool parallel world, one that you kind of want to visit.  It’s a roller-coaster movie ride, and it’s a really fun book (series).  If you are an adult like me, you are excited for this book to be adapted as a movie (rights have been optioned, actors cast), because you see there is a lot of potential for an awesome movie-drinking game.  And honestly, while it is $0.99 on an e-Reader of your choice, why not?  It's a light read for summer. 

For me though…the book wasn’t quite enough.  It’s possible that I judged it more harshly than I would have otherwise, coming off of a book that also has fantasy, romance, excitement, and supernatural weird angels – Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  But where DSB soars, City of Bones is still learning to crawl.   This is not a well written, edited, nor entirely original book.  Again, it is fun, imaginative, and dramatic.  But hot snap, it is ALL over the place.  I probably won’t read the other ones, but I do want to know what happens, other than the likeliness that good is restored to power, Clary discovers that she’s just super and somehow is the key to all this awesome goodness restoration.  (SPOILER) Mostly, I’m just interested in finding out how this whole Luke and Leia grossness between Clary and Jace undoes itself, because, COME THE EFF ON, BRIDGET, obviously it will.  Can someone just tell me?  Seriously. 

Anyways, on with my not-so-kind thoughts about this book.  I’d give a spoiler alert, but I kind of get the feeling if you haven’t already read it, you’re probably too old to want to do this to yourself, or too young to be reading reviews on the Internet; you have been duly warned!

Tidbits: Finally feeling, and smelling like a (Perky) Wallflower

It is late o'clock thanks to my hot date with Tyrion Lannister, Robb Stark, and Jon Snow, and thus, time only for two tidbits:

• It is your dream to smell like a book?  Well call me a genie, because your wish is my command.  Okay, mine and Karl Lagerfield's...which feels a little strange to me, because I'm pretty sure I'd be afraid to bump into him in a dark closet. I'm too intrigued to call this a case of the terribles. 
• IT'S HERE.  Finally, yeesh.  The trailer to The Perks of Being a Wallflower aired tonight on MTV, a network that once upon a time, kids, had music!  Here she blows:
  
  

  Get More: Nina Dobrev, Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, 2012 Movie Awards, New Movies
  Deep thoughts:
• Why did nobody tell me that PAUL FREAKIN' RUDD is playing one of the greatest teachers ever, Bill?  Words cannot do my level of thrill justice.
• Um...Patrick?  I'm waiting to reserve judgment.  But I was a little unenthused.
• Percy Jackson is way more good looking then the gawky awkward adorable Charlie in my head.  Truthfully, this is what I picture. 
  

  

  Yes, this is the brother from Wedding Crashers. 

  I KNOW. I'm sorry.  I just don't want to lie to my one reader.  Hi, Poptart.  
• Hermione doesn't need magic to be fantastic.

Tidbits: A cassoulet of movies, talents in South Beach, other things

Below, my friends, is a hot mess (of links)  I believe the French call this a cassoulet.  Touche!  I have been le busy - I made the brilliant plan to run a book a week book club, and train for a half marathon allll at the same time.  Miraculously, I survived both!  I have a goal to eventually write review and recipes for Middlemarch (preview: it wasn't enjoyed), Slaughterhouse Five (preview: not easy, but powerful stuff), and a few other things I've been ripping through, chiefly CODEREDOHMYGODREADTHISNOW: Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein.  Yes, it is good enough to demand all those caps and no spaces in between.  It may be the best thing I've read all year, and it made me cry on a park bench normally inhabited by a hobo (so you know it's good!).  I'll write more - if you promise to read it.

• I defy you to deny that Lebron James, has, in fact, taken his talents to South Beach.  Behold, the photographic greatness, spotted on Jezebel:
  
  
  YESS.  Please get more boys to read!
  
  
• Have I told you, lately, that I love you, @Queen_UK?  This is all that is right with Twitter and the Interwebs.  My favorite of all the twitter feeds in all the lands, "The Queen" always brings a self aware silliness to the table.  Articles like this don't hurt either.

• I am a younger female faculty member in an environment with lots of teenage boys, commonly know of by its formal name, a high school.  This means it is always high comedy to ask me to the prom.  Somehow, it never gets old to anyone besides, oh, me.  In case the whole "being an adult" diagnosis wasn't enough evidence of why it's a bad idea, some lady proved it.  "[S]he went to last month's Condon High School prom with a boy from the track team because the boy felt bad about not having a date and had been struggling in English class." Struggling in English? Why didn't you say so? That TOTALLY makes it not weird! This is too terrible to even earn a Case of the Terribles rating (Spotted on Jezebel).
  
• The Great Gatsby trailer is out, finally!  And yet...I have no recollection of this story.  Except for Daisy.  And I don't remember much about her, other than that she was flighty and blonde and tragic.  And I like what I'm seeing:
  
  
  

  If the trailer soundtrack is anything like what the movie soundtrack will be like, I'm sold.  And please oh please where can I get me some of those dresses? More importantly, when does the next Bright Young Things book dropping already?
  
• The trailer for The Perks of Being a Wallflower drops soon!  FINALLY.  June 3, during the MTV Movie Awards, which I probably haven't been able to sit through since 2002.  That's why I keep you around, Internets. 
  
•  Word and art lovers, check out this super cool cut paper artwork by Annie Vought.  I would love to see famous letters of bygone days or love letters or clandestine paperwork with redactions get this treatment (can you tell I have Code Name Verity on the brain still?) - but can't actually pull an example for my brain.  But still, this is super cool.  (Spotted on Colossal)