Not dead.

It's summer. I'm relieved about this. Talking about all the political bullshit at school really does break my heart.

I have a story featured in The Edge of Propinquity this month. Yes, that's mine. Little by little, I'm working myself over the hurdle where writing is brilliant, editing is fun, but submitting is its own circle of hell.

I went to WisCon, and I wonder why I never went before, really. It was brilliant, and even though I was a migraine-induced wallflower, it made my last six months bearable. There were readings, there were signings, there was music and really good panels; I fangirled at Pamela Dean something fierce, and I am not sorry.

Kat is eleven. Yesterday was our wedding anniversary -- me and Jens, TWELVE years. This is absolutely mindboggling.

I know this is a really lame entry, but be gentle, I'm trying to get back into having any sort of a voice at all. I've got laryngitis of the life right now.

Hope you're well, internets, I miss you.

Someday, I intend to use this blog again, and say things that matter, but I can sum up why I don't lately. I am working my ass off, so much so that I don't even know how to talk about my lack of ass (or brains).

Because all I seem to keep bringing up is YA literature, I have something that was kind of bothering me about the recent awards. Actually, a lot of things made me complain about this year's young adult lit awards, but not so much the actual books themselves. This year had a big crop of worthy books, and that's what has me slightly at odds. There were a /lot/ of what I consider omissions to BBYA/QP lists, let alone the bigger awards, and a few too many of them are books I worry were just not released at a time when people would think to nominate them.

You know how movie studios release Oscar contenders late in the year so they'll be fresh in the minds of voters, and how films released too early can get shorted? I kind of came away from this year's list feeling like BBYA had Oscar Nomination Syndrome. And again, I don't want to take away from the people who made the list, and for all I know, the awarding committees had good reasons. At the same time, I can't help but wonder: Would David Levithan's Love is the Higher Law have been included on BBYA if it had been released closer to nomination season? What about Michael Harmon's sharp examination of high school bullying and responses to it, Brutal -- well reviewed early in the year, virtually off the radar? Lauren Myracle's lovely story of two sisters growing apart, then together again, Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks? All three, as well as some of the other titles I was hoping to get attention, seemed curiously omitted, and a whole lot of those titles debuted either early in the year, or very quietly.

Granted, this is anecdotal of me. I don't know how seriously people pore over these lists -- sometimes probably not as seriously as I do. But part of what I like about my job is that you can find gems every month of the year - there's always something new coming. I know nominating committees and awards groups put forth their very best efforts, but I don't like the niggling worry that the need to jockey for the right position might cause good titles to fall through the cracks. Maybe it's a good impetus to use our ALA and YALSA memberships for the force of good more often, on my end, and try not to assume things will get attention that I assume might.

My list of books I wish had received more love come awards and best-of lists this year included: Levithan, Harmon, and Myracle's titles. K. L. Going's King of the Screwups. Virginia Euwer Wolff's This Full House. Ellen Hopkins' Tricks. Nick Burd's The Vast Fields of Ordinary. Deb Caletti's The Secret Life of Prince Charming. Jill Alexander's The Sweetheart of Prosper County. Silas House's Eli the Good. Brent Crawford's Carter Finally Gets It. Cindy Pon's Silver Phoenix. And Ice by Sarah Beth Durst. And I'm pretty sure there were more. I don't know that there's any title I would remove from existing lists - but I sure wish these were given space.

I dunno, maybe this was just that kind of year for young-adult lit: amazing. I AM happy my favorite title of the year was named a Printz honoree. (Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes, for the record.)

Yeah, I sucked at that resolution, but I'm trying to improve upon my tendencies not to post anything at all. I still did want to give some suggestions as to what you could be reading, and things that I enjoyed in the past year.

The books on this list were all published in 2009. They are all also young adult titles. I realize some people would rather hear me natter about the adult titles I read this year -- there were a lot of those -- but in the end, I work in a library for teenagers. At the same time, almost all the books on this list are books I would recommend no matter the age of the person reading. They're not good YA books, they're just plain good books. While they have a few commercial giants on this list, some of them are ones you might never have heard of. And you should.

In no particular order.

( Add in Days of Little Texas, Liar, The Miles Between, and you practically have my top twenty teen books of this past year.Collapse )

I'm allowed to play catch-up like this! The 7th was my birthday, after all, and Kat's Christmas program to boot -- and I made this post on Snow Day here on the frozen tundra. I forgot to post it between all the gingerbread-house-decorating and good-food-baking and Muppet-watching and snow-angeling. (Is that a word?) I'll try to actually catch up like a good girl tomorrow night.

On to the book recommendations.

( Dec. 7 - For The Big King Fan Like Me: Under the Dome by Stephen KingCollapse )

( Dec. 8 - For The Deep Person You Know With Really Good Eyesight: The Book Thief by Markus ZusakCollapse )

( Dec. 9 - For Someone Who Needs to Kill Some Vampires: What It Is by Lynda BarryCollapse )

I suspect I may be putting up a post every couple of days rather than one every day. I'm awful like that.

( Dec. 5 and Dec. 6 -- For The Person Who Likes Surprises: The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson AND/OR Liar by Justine LarbalestierCollapse )

Still more recommendations for your bookish Christmas lists:

( Dec 3 - For The Steve Irwin Lover In Your Life: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald DurrellCollapse )

( Dec 4 - The Unique Read for the Deep Thinker: Days of Little Texas by R.A. NelsonCollapse )

I can't promise to be any more present than usual as a rule -- something about lots of work and considering an audition for a local musical -- but I'm feeling Christmas spirit already. As such, I'm following suit of many others and posting about books you may want to buy for your loved ones for Christmas.

I'll try to post every day up until Christmas from here on out, the better to recommend these treats for the people on your lists for stocking stuffers; today I'll catch up with December 1 and 2, and I'll double up with Dec. 3 and 4 tomorrow.

Without further ado:

( Dec. 1 - For The Person On Your List Who Needs Tidings of Comfort and Joy: My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins and Fenway Park by Steve KlugerCollapse )

( Dec. 2 - For Veronica Mars Fans: The Spellman Files (and sequels) by Lisa LutzCollapse )

I am so rusty at this stupid journal thing! Um, let's see, a quick catchup post.

*I've hit my 'lose ten percent of your weight to feel healthier' goal as of this week. It's kind of cool to be wearing pre-pregnant-with-Kat-sized jeans again. I'm a big fan of sparkpeople.com, which has made the biggest difference in helping me improve. As a geek, I appreciate any health website where I can level up my diet and, after a fashion, get experience points.

*Speaking of Kat, she has her own blog now. I feel really old. She's as bad about updating as her mother. We had a long list of wonderful things to do this summer, and she got to do almost all of them. This included a whole week out at the family lake house, and time with her cousins. It will also include the Minnesota State Fair.

*I completed a novella that could make the leap to novel someday (among other, shorter, dinking-around stories) this summer. I hate it. I may like it again after I'm far, far away from it. It's about the longest thing I've written since NaNoWriMo with the kids at school. I did, however, complete a shorter story that I like a lot. The actual work has been a lot less dramatic than in times past. I've also been editing and writing libretti and lyrics for the aforementioned musical-music-writer. It might go nowhere, but those projects are CRAZY fun.

*Speaking of SCHOOL...I am currently very stressed out about the state of my contract. Already, I've had an entire month shaved off my working hours. I'm so tired of the money woes that come with all this, and it seems that every year I work, I'll be caught up in some kind of union fight.

*As a consequence of focusing on a lot of RL stuff, from health to money and on down the line, there's a great swath of online stuff I've been outright ignoring, and a lot of old commitments I've had to reexamine. I'm sure I'll be back in the journaling swing at some point in time - if nothing else, at some point I need to talk about television, like Leverage or Dollhouse or even How I Met Your Mother.

*Unsurprisingly, I've also been reading a lot. No, I don't have an ARC or real copy of Rosemary and Rue. No, I still don't have SHIVER, sadly, but one is waiting for me in the shipment of books at school that haven't been processed or even opened up out of boxes yet. Yes, I did read American Shaolin, which I loved like burning, and finally finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which swallowed me whole and kept me there for months, needing to digest it. Kat and I have been reading the Penderwicks books by Jeanne Birdsall, and loving the sisters in those stories very much.

Yet again, I am essentially posting a 'not dead'. I know, I know, this is supposed to be summer, when I have time, but my darling child has determined to have the most quintessential summer fun that can be packed into these few months, and so - still busy.

I dunno what else to say!

I am about to un-hermit soon. I promise.

I don't have much more news than that until things are closer to ready to burst forth like Athena out of someone's tortured brains. That said, I am well and happy and healthy and solvent and productive, which is really all you can ask.