Uncreated Conscience

According to this this test, I average about 1200 words per minute when it comes to reading. This means I can read War and Peace in about 8 hours, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in about 1 hour, and various and sundry other things quickly.

Good to know I was born to be an editor.

• CALVIN: They say the world is a stage. But obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines.
• HOBBES: Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.
• CALVIN: We need more special effects and dance numbers.

Calvin and Hobbes pretty much defined my childhood. And y’all wonder where White-Harp came from…

• INTERVIEWER: If you had a coat of arms, what would be on it?
• PHILIP PULLMAN: A bird of the raven family with a diamond in her beak. This is the storyteller: storytellers always steal their stories, every story has been told before.

• JJ: For the longest time I’ve spelled it “doughnut” but everyone said that was archaic and/or wrong. “Donut” still looks weird.
• WICKED COOL RILEY: I only use “donut” because of Dunkin Donuts. I sort of prefer the archaic spelling.
• JJ: I’m almost positive all doughnut places spell it “donut”. But I think there was a book I read as a kid that spelled it “doughnut”, so it stuck in my brain that way.
• WICKED COOL RILEY: Homer Price?!
  WICKED COOL RILEY: (probably not).
• JJ: YES.
  JJ: THANK YOU.
  JJ: IT WAS!!!!
• WICKED COOL RILEY: AHHHHH
  WICKED COOL RILEY: I did the BEST DAMN DIORAMA EVER MADE as a book report for that book. I did the doughnut scene (obviously) and used cheerios for the doughnuts. I glued them eeeeeverywhere and it was amazing.
  WICKED COOL RILEY: I was so mad when my mother made me throw it out.

And this, my friends, is why everyone needs a Wicked Cool Riley in their lives.

It’s that time of year again, as 2011 draws to a close, when JJ picks her Best Reads books. This year’s been a bit of a mixed bag for me, and despite the spate of new and shiny YA titles with attendant romances and cool dystopian/fantasy/sci-fi settings that came out in 2011, the books that have stayed with me have been adult, YA contemporary (with literary bent), or even a bit of non-fiction.

What does this all mean? I have absolutely no idea. Am I getting a little fatigued with high-concept YA? I might be. There’s a lot of flash and pizzazz out there that’s pretty neat and awesome, but perhaps I’m more in the mood for something smaller in scope, something pure in its emotional simplicity. (This rather echoes my feelings about current Doctor Who, actually, but my thoughts about New New Who I will table for another day. I am, however, rather excited for this year’s Christmas special.)

Anyway, here’s a list I’ve cobbled together of the reads that have stayed with me. As per usual, they are not ranked but shoved into their own arbitrary categories.

Favourite Reads of 2011

Truly Magical: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Most Self-Indulgent Fangirl Read (That Is Also Full of Excellent and True Writing Advice): The Writer’s Tale by Russell T. Davies

My Feminist Bible: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Just Rip My Heart Out Through My Gut, Will You? The Lovers Dictionary by David Levithan and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Best New (to JJ) Writer: Nova Ren Suma with her novel Imaginary Girls

Most Swoonworthy: Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier

The Ones That Got Away: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson and Legend by Marie Lu*

Favourite YA Couple: Alan and Sin from Sarah Rees Brennan’s The Demon’s Surrender

Best Book JJ Read Over the Holiday That Didn’t Make Last Year’s List: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Most Absorbing Worldbuilding: Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman

Hottest Fictional Character EVER: Dr. Pellinore Warthrop from The Monstrumologist

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Books win their audiences for a reason. Most popular books wear their artlessness on their sleeve: Stephenie Meyer, the author of the “Twilight” series, is an awkward writer with little feeling for construction, but the intensity of emotion with which she imbues her characters is enviable. You never doubt her commitment to the material, which is half the battle won. So to say that Paolini is an unskilled narrator and a derivative mythmaker is more or less beside the point. What is it, then, that makes the books enter kids’ consciousness?

First, kids experience them as mythologies more than as stories—the narrative sweep is, curiously, the least significant part of their appeal. [...] The sheer invocation of a mythology casts a deeper spell than putting the mythology on its feet and making it dance. If you talk to an Eragon reader, you will see why the introductory seven-page synopsis of the mythology is necessary. The synopsis is the story.

A really interesting article about what makes fantasy so appealing for young adults. Recommended! I especially like the analysis of Twilight and Eragon as heightened versions of what kids experience everyday.

So. Hello, blog. We haven’t spoken in a while. How are you? How are things? How’s life in your corner of the internet? I’m so sorry for treating you like that friend I speak to once every six months only when I have something exciting I want to share, but it’s a little hard to maintain close friendships when you’re so far away, you know? Besides, I’m been keeping busy in my internet life with Tumblr, and yeah, things are going really well between us.

Anyway, I wanted to come and talk to you about a problem I’ve been having. All around the internets you’ll find discussions about Mary Sues and while I certainly agree with many of the points various authors bring up, I have a problem of a different sort. You see, the term “Mary Sue” is something given to a female character by an audience, and I feel a lot of readers’ (especially female readers) problems with female characters has much more to do with societal baggage and internalized misogyny than poor writing or poor characterization.

My problem, you see, isn’t with Mary Sues. My problem is with the Plague of Perfect Boys in fiction.

Because nobody's perfect. Unless he's David Tennant. (Obligatory image of Sexy Person included in post to drive up traffic. I am transparently shallow that way.)

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