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Keeper Shelf Monday: Fat Cat by Robin Brande
Monday, February 8, 2010A while ago I started hearing all this buzz about this book, Fat Cat by Robin Brande.
Full of romance and comedy and cool science….OK, I’ll bite.
But then I heard that it also involved a heroine’s experience being “the fat girl” as well as her experience trying to get healthy.
That’s when I REALLY got interested.
Because hello, me fifty pounds ago:
Before: People at work thought I was having a baby.
Back then I used to have one of these for breakfast every day:
And one of these for lunch:
Along with about ten diet sodas a day (because I was being healthy)!
And then nachos or a pizza for dinner, with a few beers (light beers, of course).
(I swear to you: I am not making this up.)
I probably would have gone on that way forever if I hadn’t switched doctors. My new doctor told me that I had lyme disease and that on the lyme disease antibiotics I couldn’t drink alcohol or consume any refined carbs (good carbs, such as fruit and nuts, were OK) or I would get a yeast infection. In my mouth.
If that isn’t the best incentive to quit eating cookie dough for breakfast, I don’t know what is. I was scared healthy!
After: Now I eat oatmeal and yogurt with nuts for breakfast. Boring, I know. But no yeast infections in my mouth. So far.
But what I went through those first few days withdrawing from refined carbs was what I imagine it would feel like to have an anvil dropped repeatedly on your head.
So here’s this author who wrote a whole book about a heroine who VOLUNTARILY agrees to go through the same thing…well, sort of: Cat decides to go “hominin” (cave girl) for a year long science experiment, and eat only non-processed, all-natural meals that she prepares herself.
She also won’t use electricity (no cell phones, TV, lights, microwaves, computers, etc, except for school), or drive (though she’ll let herself be driven after dark for safety), or makeup…the whole deal!
WHY???? WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THIS????
Well, Cat wants to see what kind of harmful effects modern foods (and lifestyle) has had on human beings.
What she never expects is the the resulting effect this experiment has on HER…both on her body AND on her romantic life.
Fat Cat was AWESOME. I loved reading about Cat’s resulting headaches as she withdraws from Diet Coke, sugar, caffeine, etc. Robin described EXACTLY what I went through when I had to give up those things (of course, I went back on all of them eventually. In moderation. Until I turned out to be a celiac. But that’s a whole other story).
I loved Fat Cat! I couldn’t stop reading it (even staying up til 1AM two nights in a row to finish it), because I had to find out what happened…not just with Cat’s science project, but with her romantic life. The hero is GREAT. Like Cat, he’s not perfect, and I liked him even more for that.
I enjoyed this book so much, I just had to contact the author Robin Brande and interview her. She’s so much fun, just like her book!
Author Robin Brande with friend
Here’s what she said in response to my questions:
Meg: Hi, Robin Brande. If they were making a movie about Fat Cat, and that guy who does the voice overs on movie trailers was telling us about it, what would he say?
Robin: Ha! Great question.
“Cat is smart, funny, and okay, maybe she wishes she hadn’t been living off of ice cream and Doritos for most of high school, but hey, no one’s perfect. But when she gets the chance to make herself her own science experiment and live like a cave woman, giving up all modern food and technology, look out—the results are something neither Cat nor the guys in her life are quite ready for.”
And there would be lots of sound effects and explosions and maybe Angelina Jolie laughing maniacally in the background, just because.
Meg: I think Angelina would also be shooting guns off. Although that’s not in the book. But it could be.
Okay, so who were your favorite (real or imaginary) heroines growing up? Who are your favorite heroines, real or imaginary, now?
Robin: Growing up: Any girl in a book or movie who had a horse, a dog, or special magical powers.
Now: Any woman in real life who swims to Antarctica, treks to the North Pole, rows across the Atlantic, climbs Mount Everest, etc. And if she has a horse or a dog or special magical powers–bonus.
Meg: Why am I not surprised. Did you always want to be a writer? Did you ever get rejected?
Robin: I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since 5th grade. But my parents were all “be practical!” and I knew I had to support myself after I graduated from college, so I took the chicken route and went to law school. Which is not something you should do if you don’t really want to be a lawyer. But I was a lawyer for about seven years, until I felt my soul slowly leaking out of my eyeballs. Then I did a few other things until I finally came to my senses and started writing full time, which is all I’ve ever really wanted to do.
(Note from Meg: I think this is great advice. It’s always good to have something to fall back on, just in case the writing thing doesn’t work out right away.)
Robin: Rejection? Ha! Plenty of that. The first novel of mine that was published, EVOLUTION, ME & OTHER FREAKS OF NATURE, was actually the sixth one I’d written. But that’s okay, because none of those earlier novels was a waste of time. As I’m sure you’ve experienced, Meg, every time you write a novel you get better at writing novels. So it’s all cool, it’s all wonderful, and I have no complaints.
Meg: We’re almost even on the same level of rejected books but I think I beat you. Do you eat while you write and if so what and how many per chapter?
Robin: Why are you the first person who has ever asked this? This is an awesome question!
Eating is my break from writing. Because it still feels like I’m doing *something.* I’m not really goofing off, I just have to quickly go make this chocolate zucchini bread. For research. Yeah.
Actually, since Fat Cat involved so much cooking and so much eating, I had a great time constantly doing “research.” My readers deserve to know whether Cat’s deep-dish double-espresso brownies really are that great. Yes, readers, they are.
Meg: If you want some of Cat’s recipes from the book, click here. What are you working on now, Robin?
Robin: I’m working on a very tight deadline at the moment, eating and writing—I mean, writing—the next book, which involves quantum physics and string theory. And love and romance, of course. And the girl in it has a dog and maybe even magical powers—I’ll leave that up to the readers to decide. The book is a lot of fun to write, but sometimes I do get a little sweaty when I have to explain the science. But there’s food in this one, too, so I can always take a break to go do “research.”
Meg: I can’t wait to read it!!!
Robin: Meg, thank you for your fabulous questions! I loved them all!! And now I’d like to know your answer to the food one: Do you eat while you write, and if so, what and how many per chapter?
Meg: I do! Right now I’m eating these mini Heath Bars (because you have to treat yourself SOMETIMES…moderation is the key) I found at CVS. As to how many per chapter, judging by the wrappers, at least five.
Meg: And now Robin has GENEROUSLY offered to give away TWO COPIES of Fat Cat, along with two of her amazing cool Karmic Café t-shirts (the Karmic Café plays a big part in the book. Many hot scenes happen there).
The winners will be chosen from posters on my message board! So click here to answer these two VERY difficult questions:
What would be the hardest unhealthy food for you to give up, and what would be the hardest technology for you to do without?
I already answered the first one: Chocolate chip cookie dough for breakfast (although breaking the diet soda addiction was definitely worst).
And even though I used to do so, I can’t imagine HOW we ever got along without the Internet! (Although makeup would be hard for me to give up, too.)
Read Fat Cat! I guarantee you’ll love it!
More later.
Much love,
Meg
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Keeper Shelf Monday: Laini Taylor
Monday, January 25, 2010The thing I think is so cool about the author of today’s book for Keeper Shelf Monday is that she started out as an artist making her own line of cool greeting cards (something I’ve always dreamed of doing!).
And then she got a got book published!
Plus, she has pink hair!
How cool is that?
Answer: Totally cool.
For those of you who don’t already know her, her name is Laini Taylor, and her latest book, Lips Touch (which I loved from page one…it’s magical and romantic and takes you to another world—but one that’s totally grounded in this world!) was a National Book Award Finalist.
Her husband illustrated Lips Touch. And they have a new baby named Clementine.
The minute I found all that (plus the above, about the greeting cards and the pink hair) I was like: “What? Get out! Must…know…more…about…this…author!”
So…I emailed her and asked if I could interview her.
And she was kind enough to say yes!
Laini and her husband and publisher—who dyed his beard pink for the occasion of the National Book Awards!
So find out below how Laini got started writing (and selling her cool line of cards), what her books are about, and how she gets her hair SO PINK!
One of Laini’s Ladies, who are just as romantic and lush and kickass as her heroines
Meg: So, Laini, you have a background in art, but now you write AND do art. What made you go from being an artist to a writer…or did you always want to do both?
Laini: Writing was my first love. When I look back now, I can see that my whole art journey was really an elaborate procrastination from writing. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and in college I majored in English and took writing workshops, planning (in the vaguest possible way) to take the publishing world by storm after graduation.
Another one of Laini’s Ladies
Laini: Well. There was one small problem. I didn’t actually write very much. Minor detail! I thought about writing a lot, but actual words on the page? Not so much. Writing was really hard, so, out of avoidance, I began to do art instead. It started as a hobby, but I got obsessed, and within a couple of years I was applying to art schools. It was years before I got back to writing seriously, and I can’t help but imagine all the books I might have written in that time. Still, I’m glad my life took that path. Art has been a great second career AND I met my husband in art school!
Check out Laini’s cool website about how writing is not for robots.
Meg: Did you ever experience rejection along the way? How did you deal with that if it happened?
Laini: The rejections I remember the most viscerally relate to my artwork, because they were on-the-spot and in-person, rather than form rejections in the mail. When I was still making my gift line, Laini’s Ladies, by hand, I went to some local gift boutiques to see if they would carry them.
Fortunately the buyers at the first store I went to were lovely and gracious and placed a big order, because the next several places I tried were awful. Nasty. It was really hard for me to put myself out there like that to begin with, and these women, these haughty, self-important gift-shop buyers, could really make you feel small.
(Meg: I can’t believe this! I love Laini’s Ladies! Find tons of them here! Don’t tell Laini I told you!)
Laini: The orthodox answer to how to deal with rejection is you just keep on doing your thing, no matter what. In my favorite picture book, Max Makes a Million by Maira Kalman, there’s an artist who only paints invisible paintings, and nobody gets it.
“But Bruno is no crybaby. He just keeps working on the ideas in his head.” That’s really the necessary spirit.
But. I have another way of dealing with rejection that’s much more fun: make enemies. Really. I have a secret nemesis, a writer who snubbed me at a convention once (no, I won’t say who!). Since then, I’ve only ever said his/her name in the way Seinfeld says “Newman!”
Laini: And I’ve tried (unsuccessfully) to forbid my husband from buying his/her books. This writer, of course, has no idea he/she is my nemesis, that’s the “secret” part — I do not advocate reciprocal meanness. It’s all in fun, and really, it is fun blowing a minor snub out of all reasonable proportion. I recommend everyone have at least one nemesis. It takes the sting out of rejection.
Meg: HA! I think that’s hilarious.
Another one of Laini’s Ladies
Meg: So, the girls in your stories seem very strong. Who were your favorite heroines (real or imaginary) growing up? How much of you is in the heroines you create now?
Laini: Weirdly, I don’t remember who my childhood heroines were! It’s making me feel old. Childhood just seems so long ago! I do remember that, as a 70s baby and a gymnast, I worshipped Nadia Comenici.
(Pause for Meg to go: Eeeeee, I loved Nadia too! So hilarious Laini mentioned her. Now back to the interview:)
Laini: The other one that comes to mind is really obscure: Lady Oscar. She was from a Japanese cartoon I watched on Italian TV (I lived in Italy as a kid). She was Marie Antoinette’s kick-ass female bodyguard and she dressed and fought like a man but she was beautiful and had a great love story. I love a character who can smooch and kick ass.
Laini: As for the heroines in my books, I would say that the least strong of them, Kizzy (from Goblin Fruit, in Lips Touch), is the one most like me — her yearning and huge daydreams are a portrait of my high school self, and I can say absolutely that I would haven fallen victim to Jack Husk.
Meg: Me, too! So how does the collaboration process on your books work, with your husband Jim di Bartolo illustrating and you writing? Do you ever look at his illustrations and go “No! It’s not supposed to look like that!” Would you like to illustrate your own book someday? Would he ever want to write his own book someday?
Laini: Jim works from my manuscripts to develop the art. We have meetings (sometimes at home and sometimes at our favorite restaurants, and once we even conjured an excuse to go to Prague!) where we discuss what/who will be illustrated and Jim makes thumbnail sketches. Later, when he gets to developing the look of things, there can be a bit of, “No, that’s not what he looks like,” but mostly I’m amazed by how much Jim brings to the process, capturing my vision, but also adding his own to it. It’s so much fun!
Art by Jim di Bartolo!
Laini: As for illustrating my own books some day: yes! Picture books were my reason for going to art school, and along the way I got sidetracked by an awakening love of middle grade and YA fiction, but I still adore picture books, and hope to be able to write and illustrate at least one. As for Jim and writing: also yes. He has several ideas at various stages of development.
More art by Jim!
Meg: Awesome! I can’t wait for them. So what new projects do you have coming up that we should look out for?
Laini: I have a YA novel in the works (for Arthur Levine, my Lips Touch publisher), that’s like the Lips Touch stories in style — supernatural romance, creepy and sexy — but is bigger and juicier and you can really sink your teeth into. Also, Jim and I are also collaborating on an illustrated project for younger middle-grade readers that’s very different from my other books—very silly and full of boy humor. Neither of them have pub dates yet.
Meg: I’ll be totally looking out for them! OK, this is something I’ve been longing to ask, since I used to have a pink streak in my hair, and maintaining it was really hard! How do you get your hair SO PINK?
Laini: Actually, maintaining the pink isn’t that hard! I have it done at a salon, and my stylist uses
Elumen by Goldwell. That’s really the key. It’s a “magnetic” color and fades and bleeds very little. The product is so good that I really only have to re-dye about every 12 weeks, but I have a half-way appointment every 6 just for the roots. My natural color is brown, so my stylist has to bleach me first (after the first time, only the roots get rebleached) to make the pink as vivid as it is. The full-head appointments take about three hours, the roots appointments about half that.
Laini: I’ve had pink hair for about 2-1/2 years now, and it’s so much more fun than my old color. It’s hard to imagine ever changing back!
Meg: YOU ARE AWESOME. Thanks so much for letting me interview you!
Laini: Thanks so much, Meg! It’s a thrill to *be here*!
The funniest part about my interview with Laini was, after I sent her an email asking if I could interview her (along with all my interview questions, hoping she’d say yes), she reminded me that I had already met her and her husband Jim at BEA last year when she was pregnant with her new baby Clementine.
How funny is that???
(I remember very little from that morning, because I got up so early to do the Children’s Breakfast with Julie Andrews. And I am not a morning person.)
But as soon as she sent this photo I remembered! And then I was like, “Oh, yeah! She was so cool!”
So, there you go. Laini Taylor, for everyone who hasn’t already met her!
Great writer and fun pink-haired lady. READ HER BOOKS!
More later.
Much love,
Meg
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Making Fetch Happen
Saturday, January 16, 2010I’m so out of the loop trying to finish my next Allie book, I actually can’t keep track of anything anymore!
Like, I didn’t even realize this book was out yet.
But it is!
(Seriously, it’s a problem. I just asked my mom, who’s crafty, to make me a bulletin board because even though I have all the fancy gadgets in the world to remind me of stuff, I don’t seem to pay attention to them. So I’m going old school: bulletin board. You can’t turn off a bulletin board!)
I read this book a long time ago when it was still in galley form. It’s by the author of the book on which the movie Mean Girls was based!
Only this new book is fiction!
I met the author, Rosalind Wiseman, when I went on the Today Show once for a segment about gossip.
As the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes, Rosalind is an expert on how hurtful gossip can be, and as the author of books like Queen of Babble, so am I (ha!).
Being on the Today Show (which I’ve done a couple of times now) is always crazy fun (You get to meet totally random people in the green room! Professionals do your hair and makeup! You get to see if you’re taller than Matt Lauer!)….
Rosalind and I had to act like enemies during the show, because she was taking the anti-gossip stance, and I was pro…
…but only to make the segment more interesting, of course. Because gossip is wrong! Especially gossiping over the Internet, which I would never do!
Speaking of which, did you hear what happened to poor Teresa on Real Housewives? Teresa, I am here for you, honey. Call me, we’ll talk, I’ve never missed an episode of Intervention, I can help.
Wait, where was I?
Oh, yeah. Rosalind is super nice, one of those people you can tell is trying to do good in the world, and who really worries about kids and their self-esteem. Like, worries! She even has this video advice column she actually remembers to update and everything. Love her!
So, now Rosalind’s written this new book that was so much like actually being a freshman in high school that I was all, “Wow, I’m so glad I’m not a freshman in high school anymore.”
If I knew a middle schooler who was going into high school (which I do), I’d buy this book for her as a sort of how-to guide.
And what’s more, Tina Fey loved Rosalind’s new book, and gave it a blurb.
Seriously? There is no word to describe any of this except fetch.
More later.
Much love,
Meg
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What A Girl Wants
Monday, December 28, 2009Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? I didn’t. Well, not everything.
I wanted a Pomeranian puppy, a pedicab, and a new swimming pool with a built-in outdoor Jacuzzi and slide (like the one they have at Atlantis in the Bahamas, complete with sharks).
But then I read this essay in the New York Times by Krista McGruder, about the time the author moved into a new sublet and the previous owner (also a woman) came back in the middle of the night, drunk, and screaming her ex-lover’s (and dog’s) names.
This caused Krista to reflect (after she called the police, of course) that perhaps all women want is:
A lover with whom to draw a warm bath
A closet stuffed with pretty dresses
A scale that subtracts seven pounds
A bank account that speaks to her usefulness
A dog to comfort her
And a burly cowboy who drives the bad guys the hell out of Dodge.
Isn’t this a brilliant list?
That’s when I realized: This is all I really want.
Forget the pedicab. Forget the pool with shark tank.
Although truthfully I think Krista’s list could be pared down even shorter (at least for me).
A lover with whom to draw a warm bath:
I love baths, but I don’t want anyone to draw one for me. I like my baths to be solitary, so I can read essays (like Krista’s) uninterrupted.
A closet stuffed with pretty dresses:
Who wouldn’t want this? I wish I had more dresses.
This is not my closet. I wish! This is Peaches Geldof’s closet.
This is more what my closet looks like, only mine is even messier:
The 27 Dresses closet. Sigh.
A scale that subtracts seven pounds:
As long as I’m healthy and the pretty dresses in my closet zip up all the way, I don’t need any kind of scale.
A dog to comfort her:
I think cats are much more low maintenance than dogs, and decided I don’t want the Pomeranian puppy after all, since I’d have to walk it, and it might chew my shoes.
A bank account that speaks to her usefulness:
Every woman would love this, of course, but I think it’s just as important, if not more so, to have a career that you enjoy…
…even if it doesn’t pay well. Just so long as you can pay for the necessities (like rent, the hot water bill, and the pretty dresses, of course)!
A burly cowboy who drives the bad guys the hell out of Dodge:
I never realized I wanted this until Krista wrote it. She’s a genius!
(Except that I don’t want to take a bath with him. He has to take his own baths).
This guy isn’t exactly burly, but he’ll do.
Of course a girl should be able to drive her own bad guys the hell out of Dodge. But it gets so exhausting. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a burly cowboy around to do it for her once in a while?
But it would be great if he could also take out the garbage.
And remain good-humored about it.
And put up with my irritable cat, my pretty dress fetish, and respect my career.
And he can’t sleep around with the dance hall girls at the saloon!
Really, isn’t this what we all want?
Edited later to add:
It has been pointed out to me that guys who are good at cooking and doing our taxes, WHO SHALL BE NAMELESS IN THIS BLOG, are just as good as, if not better than, cowboys.
Obviously, I know this! Because guys like this drive the bad guys the hell out of Dodge, too…with their fearless barbecuing, and filing of 8802 US Residency Certifications (in order to request a Form 6166).
Don’t worry, guys: We love you just as much, whether you’re wearing a Stetson or an apron, or carrying a Colt or a calculator.
More later.
Much love,
Meg
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Insatiable
Wednesday, December 2, 2009Busted!
I was kind of trying to keep a low profile about my adult Summer 2010 release because
a) I’m still tweaking it (it’s kind of hard to finish a book when your husband breaks his ankle!), and
b) I have two other releases (Glitter Girls and Runaway) before it even comes out!
But I guess it showed up in some catalog somewhere, because 30,000 people have emailed me about it already this week!
So, yes, hopefully if I finish tweaking on time, I finally have a new adult book coming out in July 2010 called Insatiable.
(Don’t worry: I’m working on a new Heather Wells mystery, too!)
Here’s the full disclosure:
Sick of hearing about vampires? So is Meena Harper.
But her boss is making her write about them anyway, even though Meena doesn’t believe in them.
Not that Meena isn’t familiar with the supernatural. See, Meena Harper knows how you’re going to die (not that you’re going to believe her. No one ever does).
But not even Meena’s precognition can prepare her for what happens when she meets—then makes the mistake of falling in love with—Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side…a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire-hunters, would prefer to see him dead for.
The problem is, Lucien’s already dead. Maybe that’s why he’s the first guy Meena’s ever met that she could see herself having a future with. See, while Meena’s always been able to see everyone else’s future, she’s never been able look into her own.
And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare.
Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future….
If she even has one.
The cover you’re seeing all over the Internet is just a placement cover for the catalog, meaning it may not be the final cover.
This book is actually a modern sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula!
PS: This is the book I was finishing for NaNoWriMo. Congratulations, fellow NaNoWriMoers! Give yourselves a well-deserved pat on the back. Whether or not you finished, you tried, and that’s what counts.
Now I’m going to go back to finding my husband some home help, so I can finish editing this book, and maybe eventually turn it in!
I’m glad we got that out of the way, so next time we can talk about Tiger Woods! People keep going, “Did you ‘Tiger Woods’ your husband? Is that how he broke his elbow AND his ankle in one year?” I didn’t, I swear! He’s just very active.
But thanks so much for asking about Insatiable. I’m so grateful that you care! And I really can’t wait for you to read it! I think you’re going to like it.
More later.
Much love,
Meg
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New in November….
Tuesday, November 3, 2009It’s November….
And you know what that means!
No, not pumpkin pie! (Although it means that, too!)
It means, among other things….
The Glee cast album is out!
Finally! I thought I was going to go crazy if I didn’t get that cast version of Bust a Move.
But now I can relax.
November is also the month when controversial end-of-the-world movie blockbuster 2012 comes out!
I so want to see the White House underwater (no offense to the current residents…The White House looked totally cute on Halloween)!
And since it’s November, that means Stephen King fans are just days away from being able to get his new book, Under the Dome! The one with the creepy cover! That he swears isn’t a rip-off of The Simpsons Movie (I believe him)!
Also, November means they finally printed that article about the Betsy books in New York Magazine (of all places) that they interviewed me for so long ago!
And (sadly) November means Daylight Savings Time is back.
And it still sucks! My cat doesn’t understand that it’s not OK for her to start crying for breakfast at 7AM.
“What’s the problem? The sun is out! Get up, Meg! Feed me Whiskas Temptations now! Are these curtains supposed to be so wrinkled? Where’s Debbie Travis when you need her?”
How can something so small make so much noise?
Oh, and finally, November means it’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)!
Have you started your novel yet?
Don’t worry…it’s OK if you haven’t! No pressure.
It seems like too many people are putting pressure on themselves to write novels…and then publishing them by a certain age. This is a phenomenon author Diana Peterfreund blogged about recently.
Well said! No one expects anyone to have published a novel by the time they’ve entered college. Or ever, really.
PS How good does Diana’s new killer unicorn book, Rampant, look, by the way?
Anyway, if you like to write, do it! The whole point of NaNoWriMo is just…to…write.
Write without revising or worrying about getting your book published.
I know what you’re thinking, though:
“Meg, a novel? Really? Where do I even start?”
The answer to that is in this video:
So, whether you’re participating in NaNoWriMo or not, don’t worry—there’s more fun stuff coming out this November than I could even get to in one blog post (more is coming)….
(It goes without saying that I will be participating in NaNoWriMo. I have another deadline!)
And for those of you who DON’T want to write a novel, this November or ever, well, that’s cool:
Because we need readers, too!
More later.
Much love,
Meg
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Glitter Girls
Thursday, October 15, 2009Guess what I just got?
A big box of the new Allie Finkle adventure, Glitter Girls and the Great Fake Out!
I know! I was like, didn’t Allie’s Rules for Girls, Stage Fright, just come out? How can the new one be here already?
But this is just the advanced reader copy (uncorrected proof) for Allie #5, which won’t be out until March 2010 (so far away)!
I got super excited anyway because this is the one where Allie gets a big makeover (both in the book as well as on the cover, as you can see. Allie has a whole new look, although the same model plays her).
In Glitter Girls, Allie has a choice between going to a Twirltacular (please don’t tell me you don’t know what one of these is!) and supporting her friends….
…or going to a birthday party given by her frenemy Brittany at a store called Glitterati (special thanks to Becky Lee at Blue Willow Bookshop for the inspiration for this), a special store for kids where you can dress up like a model and get your photo taken on a real runway.
Which do you think Allie chooses?
You have to read the book to find out, of course!
But I have a hard time choosing myself. Glitterati. Twirltacular. Glitterati. Twirltacular. They’re both so SPECTACULAR.
My heart breaks a little with yearning every time I think about it. I want to do both!
Anyway, I was trying to take a really hot picture of the Glitter Girls ARC for all of you, but my plans were ruined when from out of nowhere my husband’s cat Miss Slutty-McSlut-A-Lot showed up, having seen me taking photos and deciding she had to butt her way into the whole thing, ruining it.
(Slutty has been REALLY bad lately, bringing birds and tree rats into the house through her cat door, LIVE, to play with. It’s like the movie Paranormal Activity where I live, only instead of demons, we have birds and rats popping out all over the place when we least expect it. Like, quietly eating oatmeal, watching Robin Meade on Headline News. Oh, there’s a BIRD flying around the room.)
Anyway, I was like, “GET OUT! GET OUT OF THE PICTURE!”
And she was all, “What? Is someone saying something? I can’t hear you. Don’t I look great? Look at my butt. Did you happen to see my incredible butt?”
So then I tried to put the book in her paws so at least she could be useful and look like she was reading it.
But she was like, “Stop touching me. I’m a star.”
Then she got mad that I was making her work and she walked away.
Anyway, the new cover is AMAZING.
The older book covers are getting makeovers too.
I heart them. Especially Stage Fright, because it really captures Allie’s longing to be a star (much like Slutty’s…only Allie isn’t as in love with her butt, of course).
Anyway, if you have a book review blog and you want a sneak peek at Glitter Girls (I KNOW! Glitterati! Twirltacular!), email me with your name, the link to your blog, and a snail mail address where we can ship the book, and I’ll send you a copy someday soon! (You will be notified if an ARC is coming your way. I have only limited supplies. My publisher is sending some out, too, though, so we’ll try to combine our efforts.)
Also, I just realized that I totally forgot—I never sent out copies of Stage Fright (except to teachers and librarians)!
So if you have a book review blog and you want a copy of Stage Fright (the ACTUAL book), I’ll send you one of those, too! (Please specify which book you want, Glitter Girls, Stage Fright, or both.)
In other news…some people have pointed out that Mia’s latest blog entry is ever so slightly reminiscent of the first chapter of a certain book I wrote.
All I have to say about that is, obviously when you’ve written as many books as I have, a few things are bound to come true (and may already have)! I can’t help it if Mia’s life is imitating my art.
Truth really is stranger than fiction.
Poor, poor Mia. I wonder what will happen to her (not to mention poor Allie) next.
More later.
Much love,
Meg
Read It
Ash by Malinda Lo
Wednesday, October 7, 2009I’m so excited that Malinda Lo’s brilliant retelling of Cinderella, Ash, is finally in stores!
I was fortunate enough to be able to read a review copy of this book a long time ago, and couldn’t wait to be able to talk about it with you.
And now here it is!
Finally!
Publishers Weekly says Ash “should establish Malinda Lo as a gifted storyteller,” while Kirkus calls it “exquisite and pristine,” with “beautiful language, magically wrought.”
School Library Journal says “fans of romance, fantasy, and strong female protagonists will embrace this fine debut novel.”
I said when I blurbed it that Ash was “A rich and darkly moving tale I couldn’t put down. Malinda Lo is an exciting and welcome new voice in YA.”
But weirdly, now that the time has come for me to finally be able to talk about Ash, I find myself at a loss for words. Those of you who have read it will know what I mean. It’s just such a beautifully written book…like I said, so dark and complicated, you don’t really know what to say about it (or at least, I don’t).
So I was really happy to stumble upon Bookslut’s review of Ash, because it put into words what I find myself unable to.
So I’m reprinting some of what the review said (without Bookslut’s permission–naughty me! You can read the entire review here) with my comments. I stole the pictures from other websites all on my own. Go me!
From Bookslut:
Malinda Lo deserves a lot of credit for taking on Cinderella in her new book, Ash. Lo does not discard all of the tropes — fairy is here and so is romance — but Ash is a mature retelling of a classic and one that startles as much by its subtlety as it does with its hint of passion.
Young Aisling or “Ash” struggles mightily with the loss of her mother early in the story and is very nearly broken with incapacitating grief. Her father’s subsequent remarriage is a shock, as is his rapid illness and the dishonor (due to poorly managed finances) revealed by his death.
From a happy childhood in the country, Ash finds herself transported to a city home with a stepmother who feels duped by her husband’s lack of wealth and two stepsisters who lumber under the weight of finding necessary lucrative marriages.
Drawn repeatedly to her mother’s grave and the happy memories she represents, Ash finds herself walking the borderlands with faerie, a place she was taught to respect by a family friend and now hopes will show her the way to her lost parents.
While she is not suicidal in the conventional sense, Ash does want to end her miserable life and sees an escape into faerie as the way to accomplish that. She meets Sidhean who offers to take her away but not yet — he is waiting for something from her and she must be patient until he is satisfied, so she can leave her pain behind.
(Note from Meg: Instead of a fairy godmother, this story has a fairy godfather. He is called Sidhean and I have no idea how you pronounce that. But he is super sexy.)
This being a Cinderella retelling, there is of course a prince, a ball and a masquerade.
(Note from Meg: The prince is super sexy, too. He has a scar across his face. I love that!)
The step sisters are preening ninnies–
(Note from Meg: Actually I disagree with this, I found that one of the stepsisters turned out to be kind of nice, at least in the version I read, but maybe that changed prior to publication. Or possibly I am just an idiot.)
–the stepmother an uncompromising harridan, and magic makes a romantic moment possible.
But this is also Lo’s version of Cinderella, and so there is a heavy bargain made for that magic and Sidhean is no sweet-faced fairy godmother.
(Note from Meg: Heh. This is a major understatement. Sexy!)
The struggle here is with grief and finding a reason to live. While love can certainly light a spark, it cannot save you, not when you are filled with this much despair.
This is what the typical Cinderella stories miss — that it was a tale full of sorrow and not about being noticed in a pretty gown. How do you go on when everyone and everything you ever loved is taken from you? Is it reasonable to expect Ash to be excited about a prince she has never even exchanged a word with? Her stepsister Ana sees him as a financial solution to her woes (money and prestige will fix everything).
This would be the Gossip Girls solution to life in the 21st century. But Ash must find a way to simply bear living without her family and it is that pain which makes faerie — even with the harsh price paid to gain entrance there – so appealing.
Happily ever after is so much more complicated than the princess stories would have us believe. Lo knows this, and she makes sure that her readers know it as well.
Ash is a very subtle tale of grief and longing that requires a quiet read; it is not about hot passion so much as a cool appraisal of life’s tragedies and decisions to survive. There is a happily ever after here, but it is found in Ash’s decision to live and love and find happiness. That she makes unconventional choices will just endear her even more to her readers and elevates Ash high above the standard fare.
Read this one as the leaves fall and the weather changes; it is a perfect autumn tale that will haunt you long after the last page is turned.
I couldn’t have put it better myself (which is why I re-posted it here).
There’s a twist to Ash that it isn’t revealed here. I’ll leave it to you readers to discover it as you read, because it’s much better if you don’t know.
Enjoy.
More later.
Much love,
Meg
Read It
Betsy Rules
Saturday, October 3, 2009Be sure to check out my piece on the Betsy-Tacy books in today’s Wall Street Journal! Just click here.
If you haven’t read the Betsy books yet…what are you waiting for? The Betsy-Tacy Books by Maud Hart Lovelace have been beloved by girls and women since they were first published in the 1940s. Fans of the series include New York Times bestselling authors Laura Lippman, Anna Quindlen, Judy Blume and Nora Ephron.
(Check out Meg Ryan hand-selling the Betsy books to Tom Hanks’s niece next time you watch “You’ve Got Mail”!)
Now the high school Betsy-Tacy books (Heaven to Betsy and Betsy In Spite of Herself, Betsy Was a Junior and Betsy and Joe, and
Betsy and the Great World and Betsy’s Wedding) which follow Betsy and her Crowd through 4 years of high school, on to a year of travel in Europe and to her marriage to (Name Deleted As It Is A Spoiler), have been reissued with original cover illustrations by Vera Neville and forewords by Laura Lippman, Meg Cabot and Anna Quindlen!
(This one is obviously the best because the foreword is by me)
When HarperCollins asked me if I’d like to participate in this project (for which I might add I am not getting paid a cent. This is a labor of love), I said, “Only if I can have dibs on my favorite books, Betsy Was A Junior and Betsy and Joe.”
And they said, “Okay.”
(Actually, it was more like, “…um, okay, weirdo.”)
Then I called my friend Beth, who loves the books too, and yelled, “Guess what I get to do????”
And she was like, “LUCKY!!!! Those are the ones with the romantic love triangle and all the fighting and kissing!!!!”
Of course they are. I’m not stupid.
Then Beth wanted to know, “Will you please send me free copies of the books????”
And I was all, “Maybe…if you do everything I say.”
(But I did. Also, I sent her a Betsy mug and some notecards that I got in the Betsy-Tacy Gift Shop.)
So now you too can participate in the serious dishyness that is Deep Valley High School, circa 1910 (I swear to you, it’s exactly like Princess Diaries, just no tiaras or text messaging).
GO FOR IT.
Only I warn you: You will be hooked.
And then you too will want a mug.
More later.
Much love,
Meg
Read It
Separated at Birth
Monday, September 28, 2009Don’t I know you from somewhere?
I knew the cover for the new book in the YA series by Robert B. Parker looked a little familiar.
I just couldn’t figure out where I’d seen it before.
Then I was like, Oh yeah….
That’s where!
Well, they’re a little similar.
And no, you can’t find that Jenny Carroll book anymore, she’s the pen name I used to use when I wrote for Simon Pulse (that was my dead cat’s name) and she’s out of print! You can find that book with a different cover, under Meg Cabot:
(I know, I like the original cover better, too. Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone.)
Anyway, I love RBP. I’ve been to so many of his signings, but he never knew I was there because I was too shy to go up and talk to him to myself. I worship the ground he walks on. But I have like seven of his books signed…I made my friends go up for me. I like to call him The Bear!
More later.
Much love,
Meg
