I try not to be jealous of other people. I try not to covet. Really.
But this chick sorta blows me away. And I wish that there was some kind of magic serum she produced that I could drink, or rub on my scalp, or pour into my bathwater that would give me just a portion of her talent. (Hmm, that last sentence may have sounded slightly weird and stalker-ish.)
But anyway, wow.
She’s just finished writing her fourth book. I’ve read two of them, and plan to read the other two. Also, she’s artistic… with both paintings and doodling. And I don’t mean doodling like how I do it: drawing a stick figure and putting horizontal lines behind him to make him look like he’s running fast. Nay, I mean absent-minded freehand Sharpie to your Fender guitar while you watch Harry Potter kind of doodling. And music? Oh yeah, she does that, too. Bagpipes, harp, tin flute, guitar, piano, and probably a few others that I can’t think of or have never heard of.
Ridiculous!
She put all of this talent to work and made a trailer for her newest book. So: she wrote the book. Then she wrote a score for it, playing many of the instruments. Then she did all kinds of paper cut-out stop animation to make a cool trailer.
Again, ridiculous.
Maggie Stiefvater’s “Linger”, ladies and gentlemen:
And now excuse me… I have 500 words to eek out today and a really fast running stick figure to draw on the phonebook cover while I sort through medical bills.
Already this year I’ve read probably a dozen books. A chronically sick husband (who spends an inordinate amount of time in either the hospital or bed) + insomnia + a natural love for books anyway = me with my face crammed into a book while my children starve and the house caves in around me. Okay, that may be a bit dramatic… but I have read quite a few books in the last couple of months.
But now I come to the book that has most recently grabbed me by the brain and given me a good shaking:
It has ZOMBIES! And KISSING! (but no kissing of zombies because that would be a little too weird even for me.) And a love triangle with brothers! (I have a clear favorite.) And while I’m not normally a “romance” fan, this didn’t stray too far into the realm of heaving bosoms and torn corsets. I can honestly say that this is the only book I can recall reading that has left me equal parts creeped out of my pants and first-love-heartbroken… at the same time. It’s a terribly thin line to balance upon, and Carrie Ryan manages to do it. In the same paragraph I’m yelling “Don’t let her eat your arm!” and “Come on, kiss him!” Very strange. And very satisfying.
Originally I bought this book for my Kindle. I love, love my Kindle. The only downside to the Kindle is that when you find a book that rocks your socks, you can’t lend it out to people. This was frustrating as I found myself telling my friend Katie (a fellow creepy book lover) how awesome this book is, and then not being able to lend it to her.
So guess what? I went out and bought a paperback… just to lend to Katie. And yeah… she loved it.
Check back periodically as it will change. I read a good bit. Feel free to chat me about any of these titles, or let me know if there’s something great that you’ve read lately.
