A Crooked Kind of Perfect

by Linda Urban

Middle Grade Contemporary

Release Date: September 2007

Synopsis (from the Book Depository):

Ten-year-old Zoe Elias dreams of playing a baby grand piano at Carnegie Hall. But when Dad ventures to the music store and ends up with a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe’s dreams hit a sour note. Learning the organ versions of old TV theme songs just isn’t the same as mastering Beethoven on the piano.

And the organ isn’t the only part of Zoe’s life that’s off-kilter, what with Mum constantly at work, Dad afraid to leave the house, and that odd boy, Wheeler Diggs, following her home from school every day. Yet when Zoe enters the annual Perform-O-Rama organ competition, she finds that life is full of surprises – and that perfection may be even better when it’s just a little off centre.

My Thoughts:

Zoe is a 10-year-old girl who dreams of one day playing the piano at Carnegie Hall… but when her father comes home with a strange organ instead of a baby grand, Zoe’s dreams fall flat.
But rather than indulge their daughter and take it back, they make a deal with her to pay for lessons. She may be learning organ versions of old TV hits, but it’s still something! Meanwhile, her mother is a workaholic and never at home, and her father has severe agoraphobia and is terrified to leave the house (and spends his time at home getting diplomas from all those strange study-at-home courses you see advertised in magazines and on TV).

So, things are far from perfect. But what I love, love, love about this novel is — even as strange as the characters seem — the parents are real, make logical choices, and their daughter is a good kid who has clearly been raised right. Instead of taking the organ back, or Zoe raising a tantrum about it, they find a solution as a family. Zoe’s parents also remind her that she wanted lessons and needs to practice because of it, and Zoe recognizes her parents’ authority, even when she doesn’t want to do what they say.

In other words, we have a real family here that clearly loves each other. The parents aren’t perfect, but they’re trying, and how often do we see that in children’s books these days? I also thought the idea of an agoraphobic parent was highly unique, as I’ve never seen that concept brought into a novel before. In fact, Zoe’s father was one of the best (ie. unique, funny, and real) characters I’ve ever met in a novel… he’s one of those characters that will pop into your head and make you smile long after you’ve finished the book.

And even better? The voice is perfect. I felt like I was reading something in a 10-year-old’s voice, and not once did it seem to venture into ‘older’ territory. Very well done.

I picked this book up on a whim at a Scholastic warehouse sale (I think it was $3), and didn’t know what to expect. After reading it, I think this may be one of my favorite children’s books, not just of 2010, but ever. I wrote an email to the author to thank her for such a unique and wonderful story, and I hope to buy more copies to give away to my friends’ children once they’re a bit older. I hope to see more from this author in the future!

 About the Author

Linda Urban has a lovely (& lengthy!) bio on her website, which I encourage you to head over and read! The gist of it is: Linda wrote a lot, then kept writing, and wrote some more. Despite many rejections, eventually someone thought they’d like to publish one of her books. She said “yes, please do”, so they did!

Whoo-hoo, it’s the Weekend Before Christmas IMM… what does that mean? That means I expect there will be LOTS of exciting new books on everyone’s posts next week!!! Or maybe you’ll all still be celebrating and the books won’t go up until the week following (which may be the case for me), but still… exciting!

And while you’re here, why don’t you pop down to the post below and enter to win another book for your shelves? I have a great interview with author Rosy Thornton and a giveaway that’s open internationally (until Dec.24th) along with plenty of other giveaways coming up in the week ahead… so stick around!!!

But, on to the books for this week (er, and last week…)!

FYI: In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by The Story Siren to showcase books you’ve received for review, bought, borrowed, or swapped. Anyone can participate, and it’s a great way to showcase new books and encourage blogger/commenter interaction!

So many books to read… so little time!!!

…am I glad it’s the holidays tomorrow or what… how about you?

What came in your mailbox/shopping bag recently? Anything you’re particularly looking forward to reading this week? I think I might start with ‘Brand New Emily’, it looks absolutely adorable…

That’s right, lads and lassies… it’s one week until Christmas! And I have 100 followers! So that means:

Giveaway Tiiiiiiime!!!

I have a number of nifty little things lined up for you, so come back all week to see what’s up next on the List ‘o Goodies.

To start us off, I have an interview (and giveaway, yes) with UK author and law professor Rosy Thorton, who was kind enough to offer a copy of her latest book, The Tapestry of Love, for one of you, dear readers! Haven’t heard of Rosy’s work before? Well, never fear! Read on below…

My questions are in bold, and Rosy’s answers follow!

*

Hi, Rosy! Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions today, and allowing my readers to get to know a little bit more about you. I have a number of North American readers who, I suspect, may not be familiar with your work, so it’s wonderful to be able to learn a little more about an author ‘across the way’, if you will! Let’s start off with an easy one:

F: How long did it take you between realizing you wanted to write a novel, to actually sitting down and writing it?

R: No time at all. To quote Mr Darcy completely out of context, “I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun”. I started by writing fanfic, and I thought I’d just try a few experimental chapters, with no idea of carrying on further – and before I knew it I had written a complete novel.

F: So have you always wanted to be an author, or did the urge simply smack you upside the head one morning?

R: I never wanted to be a novelist, or to write fiction at all (although writing non-fiction is a large part of my day job as a legal academic). But then I watched the BBC’s adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s classic novel, ‘North and South’ on television at the end of 2004. I had loved the novel as a teenager, and now as a 40-something adult I fell head over heels in love with actor Richard Armitage who played the lead rôle of millowner John Thornton. I went online to chat about the series – and discovered the world of internet fanfiction.

Why not have a bash myself, I thought? And three months later I found I had completed a full-length pastiche sequel to Gaskell’s novel! It was utter tripe, of course – but by now I had caught the writing bug, and went straight on to write my own first independent novel, ‘More Than Love Letters’, which was published in 2006.

F: Speaking of previously published novels… the Tapestry of Love is your fourth published novel (congratulations on that, by the way), but where did your inspiration for this novel in particular come from?

R: The inspiration was a place I went on holiday – Mont Lozère in the Cévennes region of France. I only spent two weeks there, back in 1990, but the place was so beautiful that it somehow got under my skin, and twenty years later I found I had to write a book about it. Take a look for yourselves, and you’ll see why:

http://rosythornton.com/my/placeonearth.php

F: You’re not kidding about it being a beautiful place! It can’t be easy to draw on memory from so long ago – I’d be scouring travel books to try and remember what went where! But description has always been my weakness. What have you found to be the biggest challenge in writing?

R: Plotting. I find the process of writing comes easily and naturally, and characters seem to emerge and develop almost by themselves. But I am terrible at plots – simply terrible. That’s the part I really have to work at.

F: How about your greatest joy, or the thing that has made it all worthwhile?

R: The best thing is when people tell me that my books have given them pleasure. It can be friends and family, or complete strangers who get in touch via my website – but it is always a fillip. The urge to write, after all, is the urge to communicate – and it is wonderful when I can feel I’ve made a connection through my books.

A colleague of mine who has had a difficult time in her family life recently told me that reading ‘The Tapestry of Love’ had been an escape for her when things were tough. That was very special – feeling that my book had made a difference to her.

F: How wonderful! And do you have a writing schedule? Or a special location where you feel particularly inspired?

R: I have a full-time job and a family, so writing fiction has to be squeezed into borrowed time. My usual pattern is to work on my novels in the early mornings before I get the children up – say from 5.30 to 7am. When you’re trying to fit in so much, there’s no time for the luxury of waiting to feel ‘inspired’ – you have to seize the chance to write when you can!

F: 5:30am!!! Yikes! I know what I’d be drinking at that hour, but what is your writing food and/or beverage of choice?

R: Coffee – I invariably have a cup of coffee at my elbow. My brain wouldn’t function at 5.30am without a good dose of caffeine! Food, though, is generally a mistake – it usually ends in raspberry jam gumming up the keyboard.

F: Ahh… coffee… the writer’s lifeblood. What are you reading right now?

R: Lorrie Moore’s ‘A Gate at the Stairs’ – and I’m loving it. It’s the first one of hers I’ve read, and I’m entranced by the fresh, sharp, witty voice.

F: And finally, any advice for the writers reading this interview?

R: Keep writing. Write a little every day, and try not to listen to that voice in your head (which all writers have) telling you it’s self-indulgent rubbish. Write for yourself, for enjoyment – and meanwhile read and read and read a wide range of good quality fiction, because that’s the best way to learn how it’s done.

F: Great advice! Reading great fiction can make all the difference in a writer’s own work. What’s next for Rosy Thornton? Are you working on anything right now that you can give us a sneak hint about?

R: I have one more completed novel which is currently with my agent. I don’t want to say anything about it for fear of jinxing it! And I have some preliminary ideas for the one after… but I am not writing anything right now.

F: Fair enough! Thanks Rosy!

*

Isn’t she sweet? I’m so grateful that she contacted me, and I’m really happy to be able to share this interview and her work with you. I highly recommend that you check out her website and read her bio and take a look at the books she’s written. There are some excellent testimonials for each book if you’re interested, and links to places where you can purchase each book.

But, you might be able to receive a copy of her latest book right now! Okay, not this minute, exactly, but Rosy has offered a copy to one lucky reader of this interview… so what are you waiting for?

Leave a comment below with your thoughts or questions for Rosy (or let us know if you’ve read one of her books before!), and include your name and email address (use a format that spammers can’t grab!). Yes, I’m really making it that easy to enter!

Contest is open Internationally, and I’ll leave entries open until December 24th. Then I’ll draw a name and, once I have your address, Rosy will send you your book!

**Good luck, and Merry Christmas… and come back later this week for more

Christmas Week/100 Followers giveaways!**

So, I had a crazy thing happen this past week… it was rather unexpected, but at the same time, something I’d been hoping for…

This fall (and last winter), I’ve been TA-ing for two professors at the college where my father works (he’s the Dean of something-something, I honestly don’t know anymore because the title keeps changing as he makes administrative changes to the school). I do TA work because it’s a little extra cash on the side, and though it always takes longer than it should to do marking, I figure it’s good experience.

I’ve always harbored a secret hope that one day, possibly, doing a good job as a TA would turn into something else… I’ve taken classes at the college & seminary level there, so I know how things work, and I’m familiar with the faculty and staff because my father works there and I’ve been in and around the school for the past ten years for various reasons…

This week, I went in for a quick meeting with a prof that I’m doing TA work for next semester, and as I walked up to the school, I thought to myself: “Why am I doing this? It’s too much work, it takes too long… but maybe someday someone will let me teach something, so here I go again…”

Ahem. Well. Turns out that the woman who was supposed to teach the English Composition class next semester – who is very pregnant – will need to have a C-section, which is going to put her out of commission for the first six weeks of the winter semester (at minimum). And the first guy they asked to fill in for her wasn’t able to commit. And – here’s where it gets really weird – the class is to be held on Monday nights, the only night of my schedule I hadn’t filled up yet.

Soooo… as of yesterday, I’m officially an English Professor! For one semester, anyway. But whaddaya know, my random TA-ing has paid off!!!

Yes, it’s a mandatory class of first-year students who failed their English competency exam (there’s one for grammar and one for essay-writing, and they’re required to take it and pass in the first year) and who absolutely do not want to be there, let alone on a Monday night…

So, it’s going to be a tough class. And I don’t know yet if I’m teaching the full course or half, but either way, talk about an unexpected blessing and work paying off…!

And there’s a moral of the story here: Take the opportunities that come your way, and do your best… because you never know when that opportunity could turn into something else. I know, it seems like common sense, but that little critique you’re working on? Or that workshop piece you edited? Or that information you passed on to a journalist friend? That could be where an unexpected, great opportunity comes from in the future.

Treat every job, every task, no matter how big or small, with the attitude that doing your best is the only way to complete it. And as you do this, be willing to build relationships with the people around you, who will see that you’re working hard and that you care about what you’re doing, and then will be more likely to give you more responsibilities in the future.

As writers, we often think that it’s only what’s on the page in front of us that counts or makes the difference. In reality, it’s our work and our relationships with others that make the difference, and doing our best in both, even when the task seems tedious or difficult.

Now, share with me! I want to know: What wonderful and/or unexpected opportunities have come your way in the past, due to your good work or good relationships with others?

I read this one awhile ago, but I enjoyed it so much that I couldn’t resist sharing, just in case you haven’t read it yet…

Hex Hall

by Rachel Hawkins

YA Paranormal

Release Date: March 2010

Description (from Amazon):

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It’s gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie’s estranged father—an elusive European warlock—only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it’s her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire on campus.

Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect. As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

My Thoughts:

School for magical types… hmm… sound familiar? We’ve seen this theme before, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if readers passed over this book based on the cover copy description. Unfortunately, they’ll be missing a wonderful read if they do!

This is a strong debut to a series, with realistically developed characters and non-contrived subplots. Sophie, the main character, is likable, flawed, and logical: When she develops a small crush on a guy at school, she doesn’t fall head over heels for him, but the feelings grow over time in a way that’s so natural I found myself reminiscing about my own time as a 16-year-old. I don’t know how Hawkins did it, but she captured the spirit of an intelligent, funny, and realistic 16-year-old inside this book. Hmm, maybe Hawkins went to Hex Hall herself…

I also found myself a little surprised at how mystery-oriented the book was, but this wasn’t a bad thing. When students start being murdered, Sophie suspects there’s a plot surfacing to kill off Prodigium, but when no one believes her (as you might expect), she decides to do something about it and solve the problem on her own. A significant portion of the book is given to this, and makes the story feel a bit more like a YA mystery than a YA paranormal at times, but as I said, it isn’t a bad thing.

As for secondary characters? A vampire roommate who loves the color pink and who experiences severe discrimination is one of the strongest secondaries, and the primary "bad guy" (another female student) is the kind who you feel sorry for at times, because she’s not your typical evil character — she’s just another teen trying to get by at school, doing what she thinks she needs to do to survive.

Of course, the big issues aren’t resolved in this book, and there’s a huge reveal at the end of the book that I didn’t see coming. The second book in the series releases this February, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

(I should also mention, I won my copy of this book on author Tera Lynn Childs’ blog, so if you haven’t read any of her books before either, go take a look!)

About the Author

Rachel Hawkins is a high school English teacher. She lives with her family in Alabama, and is currently at work on the next book in the Hex Hall series.

It’s December… how did your NaNo-ing or projects go in November? Well, whether they went as planned or flopped, you’re still here, reading this blog, which means: You made it through the month, and that’s something to celebrate!

Here, have a cookie:

And while you’re munching away, why don’t you tell me what your goals are for December? Anything fun or exciting planned? I have a couple non-writing related things happening for these next few weeks, so my goal is to get through those without perishing, and then get back to the writing goals… though I still hope to participate in storypraxis as much as I can!

Anything else…?

*squints at Google Friend Connect*

It’s my understanding that in the blogosphere (also, I’m torn on whether I like that word or hate it with a passion), it’s tradition to hold a 100 Followers Contest… and seeing as how I am almost there…

Heck, I like tradition (usually), so a contest it is! Next week, keep your eyes peeled for a contest/giveaway/blog party to celebrate YOU, my readers, and also to contribute to the holiday spirit by giving away PRESENTS. Who doesn’t like presents? Crazy people, that’s who.

Also, anyone submitting these days? I know things start to slow down in December, but there are still lots of open markets and anthology calls! I sent something to The Vestal Review and Tesseracts 15 at the end of November and have been refreshing my mailbox obsessively ever since.

And, that’s my update for today! Helpful posts will resume at some unscheduled point, but in the meantime, keep checking back for a giveaway or two. *w00t w00t*

(…er, if this post seems rather scattered, I *did* have two coffees this morning, and not quite enough sleep over the weekend…)

It’s been over a month since I did one of these! But that’s okay, I didn’t get a whole lot in November anyway, comparatively speaking, of course. I’m really looking forward to a lot of these… I just have to make it through all the reading for the course I’m taking (and get my final paper written) first!

FYI: In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by The Story Siren to showcase books you’ve received for review, bought, borrowed, or swapped. Anyone can participate, and it’s a great way to showcase new books and encourage blogger/commenter interaction!

My Dearest Husbando also had a birthday in November, and he received these books that I can’t wait to read :

So, that’s my November on a bookshelf! How have your November mailbox adventures been?

Received anything that you just can’t wait to snuggle up with as the holidays approach?

With less than a week to go in NaNoWriMo Land, I find myself sitting at 37,010k and wishing the month was over. Not because I don’t love NaNo – I do, very much – but when you’re writing at this pace with the goal of completing one specific novel, after awhile I start to miss the freedom to work on other projects.

But that’s all right… November is almost over, and I think for once I’ll be writing THE END when it’s all said and done. Not that I’ll have all the necessary scenes inside the story, but I think purposely finishing the story will help motivate me to go back and edit it in January. Otherwise, I’ll dawdle around for a few months trying to wrap things up, ultimately get frustrated that there’s no specific end goal in sight, and it’ll sit in a drawer for several years like all the other NaNo novels. I don’t want that to happen again!

And with the dawning of December right around the corner, I’m beginning to emerge from the November fog to realize that, well… I have 13 books to review that I really should have reviewed earlier. But, of course, November hit and anything not NaNo-related went out the window (and my memory).

So, in order to space them out a bit, I might backdate a few reviews here and there. I’m just weird like that when it comes to looking at blog posts. And plus, it’s my blog, so I can do it if I want to. LOL. I just thought I’d mention it so you’re not looking at the dates thinking…”Am I going crazy? That was posted 2 weeks ago???” No, it wasn’t (or WAS it? *cue Twilight Zone theme*), I just have a touch of OCD when it comes to posting.

With that, how are you doing with NaNo or your other November projects? I’m looking forward to getting back to all your blogs soon… I’m sure I’ve missed out on hearing about great stuff this month, so I’ll have to do a marathon-blog-post-reading-day or something.

See you all again soon

I’m still here! Writing, writing, writing.

Our NaNoWriMo target for the 15th is 25,000 words, and as of this morning I’m sitting at 21k. I’m hoping to jump the gun a bit and be closer to 40k by the end of this week, as my weekends this November have been filled with anything but writing… just too much going on, but isn’t that the way life is?

I’ll be back in December with regular posts again. As for right now, good luck with whatever you’re working on!

In the meantime, look at this adorable cover that a fellow Wrimo made for me!

Talk to you all soon!

And thanks again to those who voted / are voting for my Husbando’s Pepsi Refresh proposal… I really really really appreciate it!