Armchair BEA--Children and Young Adult Fiction

I had some stuff come up this weekend so I wasn't able to live blog the end of the Armchair BEA week :( So I will do it now a few days after! I also won a prize on day 4 due to my participation! Woot :) I got to choose my top three choices and they'll let me know within a day what I have won! I'm very excited :)

I am really enjoying the discussions on book genres and what our favorites are and what we recommend to others. I love young adult fiction. Just like adult fiction it can be crappy or awesome, but young adult fiction can really pack a big wallop in a small package. I can finish the books pretty fast and get great stories that teach and entertain.

Some of my favorites:

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Looking For Alaska by John Green

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jaqueline Kelly

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

I love anything from historical to zombie and fantasy to mystery and realistic fiction. I have a hard time getting through books that are just candy. They need to mean something to me, either the characters, the plot, the moral of the story, or the world. Something needs to grab me deep inside and make an impact. All of these books did just that in one form or another or all of the above!

In some ways teen fiction and children's fiction can be harder to write. Most teens and children aren't actually writing and publishing books about what they are experiencing. I think it can be tough portraying a world in which teens are the focus when you aren't actually one, even though you may have been one relatively recently...like me...oh, wait.

Another aspect of great teen fiction is how readable it is apart from its target audience. Is this a story only teens or children will like or will adults be entertained as well? I think it has to be pretty tough to make a book accessible to multiple audiences and great teen fiction does just that. So when it comes to fiction, for me, it's young adult fiction all the way!

Armchair BEA--Nonfiction

Image by Nina of Nina Reads

All about non-fiction today over at Armchair BEA! I love learning about all sorts of things. Science, psychology, the cosmos, history, language, biographies, philosophy, religion, culture. All of it.

I have a skeptic book club and we read one sciencey book a month. This month we're reading The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail--But Some Don't by Nate Silver. It's all about finding the signal among all the noise of hard statistics and combining that with a little human intuition. Fascinating!

The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons was truly thought-provoking. If I ever get called for jury duty, I will say that I cannot convict on eye-witness testimony alone.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an amazing biography of her journey out of Somalia and ultimately out of Islam.

Made in America by Bill Bryson. It's a fascinating biography of American English. He travels all around America and finds out why certain areas have their dialects and accents.

I could go on, but I won't. I would have to say that half of my yearly reads come from non-fiction. They've literally changed my life and have truly opened me up to new worlds, ideas, and possibilities!

Armchair BEA--Genre Fiction

Image by Emily of Emily's Reading Room

Armchair BEA's third day of fun is all about Genre Fiction. What are my favorite kinds? What is literary fiction anyway? According to the Wiki: Literary fiction, in general, focuses on the subjects of the narrative to create "introspective, in-depth character studies" of "interesting, complex and developed" characters. This contrasts with paraliterary fiction where "generally speaking, the kind of attention that we pay to the subject in literature ... has to be paid to the social and material complexities of the object".

Character studies? I don't know. I lump whatever I read into a few categories and any literary fiction I read will either fall under historical fiction or contemporary fiction. Do I read a lot of literary fiction? I want to read more. But I usually find myself reading for entertainment and that usually pushes me toward young adult fiction.

Zombie fiction is a favorite of mine and steampunk and when you combine both? Heaven :) Boneshaker by Cherie Priest combines both fabulously! Steampunk and the paranormal? Try Soulless by Gail Carriger. Urban fantasy can be fabulous with the right author and Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles is stupendous.

Young adult fiction is also great. Anything by John Green or Melina Marchetta for real fiction. For young adult fantasy my favorites are Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

Literary fiction? Anything by Barbara Kingsolver.

Non-fiction? The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd was a life-changer for me. Doubt: A History by Jennifer Hecht is wonderful, Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine, Why Evolution Is True by Jerry Coyne. All of these have impacted my mind and life for the better!

I love many types of genres. I love thinking about the world, I love learning about it, and I love learning about people. I can get all of that by picking up so many different types of books!

Armchair BEA--Classics

Image by Sarah of Puss Reboots

Classics! I have read some. Let's see...Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is my all-time favorite book. Period. Classic story of overcoming our past and learning to love unconditionally and staying true to who you are.

Persuasion by Jane Austen. My personal favorite of Austen's. It's a powerful love story. One that stands the test of time. People can change. Good stuff.

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I read this in 2 days, it would have been one if I hadn't had school the next day. Something about Rhett and Scarlett and true love and all that...

Shakespeare. He's a classic. I've read The Merchant of Venice and Romeo & Juliet. Both were very hard to read but oh, so worth it. If you can't get into actually reading them, I recommend the movies. A great way to piece it all together visually. Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream are probably my favorite movies for Shakespeare. I also saw The Merry Wives of Windsor on stage a few years back! Something about the visual helps bring out the subtext and main points. Pure genius. Then you have modern-retellings....10 Things I Hate About You for The Taming of the Shrew.

I think "classics" can be tough because they really do speak to us on a subconscious level, not every single one, but almost. Books really help us to make a sense of what the author was experiencing in his/her age and time. And the fact that so many reach out to us and make them classics says a lot about the human experience and how universal it is across time.

I say pick one up. There are so many to choose from, from any time and place. Hug a book and mourn for a second that we have lost so much to time but then be ever so grateful that we have as much knowledge as we do, the eternal nature of ideas and the eternal way to share those ideas with others.

Armchair BEA 2013--Introductions

Armchair BEA is a virtual conference for book bloggers who can't attend all the book stuff in New York City. I've decided to join in this year because I've never done so before and I'm sick (and feeling like doing something to make me happy) and one of my favorite book bloggers is also doing it and has just inspired me :)

Image by Nina of Nina Reads

The first day started yesterday....but I'm late to the game so here I go. Introductions are in order.

1. Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

I'm a mom of one little boy. I'm a stay-at-home mom for a tiny bit longer until my son gets into school. I have a great husband who keeps me laughing. I love books, wine, making AMFs for my friends, chai tea, dancing in the rain, kick boxing, my family and friends, the Cosmos and science, Earth, myths, pagan rituals, humanistic and feminist philosophy, and TV and movies. So a little bit of everything.

I hope to be the best parent I can be to my son. I hope to leave this Earth a little better than I found it.

I've been blogging for 3 years now! Wow! I got into blogging because it was a way for me to get some thoughts out about what I was reading and watching. I have connected with so many amazing people and ideas that my life has literally been changed for the better and drastically over these last three years.

2. Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location.

I'm blogging from Eagle Mountain, UT. My city began as housing developments in the local county, which evolved into a city that has had almost as many mayors as it has been around. We have a mean age of 12 in this city, meaning it's mostly made up of young children. But Utah is home to some amazing mountains and I like to get out and hike, hike, hike!

Bell Canyon in Sandy, Utah

3. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013?

I am currently reading Sophie's World by Jostein Gaardner, The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver, and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed.

My favorite book so far is Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. This was a beautiful historical fantasy/romance. I will reread this one!

4. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

It's probably cliche but I would have to say Charlotte Bronte. She wrote my favorite book of all-time and I would love to hear anything she had to say on any subject.

5. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community?

I have been in and out of the book blogging community throughout my three years of blogging. But it's always there to accept me back in when I have the time and ability to be involved.

I have been given books by the author or publisher to review. I have won so many books and swag. I have had authors personally comment on my blog or respond to my emails and thank me for my reviews.

I have been introduced to some amazing books that I would never have known about otherwise.

I have met some incredible people through book blogging. Many who have sent me letters or cards when someone close to me died.

It's an amazing community of which I'm proud to be apart.