BEA and TAC the video edition
So I am kind of lazy and instead of writing everything I did in a post. I let my husband work for 4 hours to make a video YAY. I have some video of great authors from the Teen Author Carnival, and other things you guys haven’t seen. I met a wonderful gaggle of bloggers and I am grateful for that. You all rock!
Why must we compare books?
I was reading some tweets this morning from Vampire-diaries.net this morning and they posted a link to yet another article from main stream media comparing The Vampires Diaries books and show to the Twilight books and movie. This made my wonder why we have the need to compare things to one another just because they have one small thing in common. To the “Twilighters” who are assuming the show and the books are “ripping off” Stephanie Meyer and Twilight, I would just like to mention The Vampire Diaries original trilogy was published in 1991. Meyer was born in 1973, a teen when Smith’s book were published. Perhaps she read them way back when?
It usually is entertainment writers fueling a level of idiocy when it comes to literature. If I Stay by Gayle Foreman also had the problem of being compared by the media to Twilight, and compared to Twilight the reviewers believed the book was lacking. If you try not comparing it to Twilight this is a book that well stands on its own two legs very well, when I was reading this novel I had not one thought of the Twilight Series. There is no Vampire, no real supernatural plot, and the main character was way better fleshed out and adjusted compared to Bella Swan.
So this brings me to my question for all of you, why must we compare things and make decisions based on unfair comparisons? The Vampire Diaries came first, has a completely different plot and should be able to survive on its own merit without unfair comparisons.
Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Gayle Forman tugs at your heart strings in this latest YA novel. Mia is a self adjusted, happy teen who loves her parents her younger sibling, and her life in general. Which in it’s own is a pretty novel concept for recent YA literature. A talented cellist with a very bright future, everything in Mia’s life is absolutely perfect. You get an immediate sense of the character and she is an easy character to love and maybe even adore.
Mia gets an unexpected snow day from school, her parents decided to take an impromtu car drive as a family. A car crash later Mia has major life decisions to make. She is a spriting outside of her barely breathing body. Does she choose to stay earth bound and return to her beaten and bruised body and the people left who love her, or does she move on to a different plane and leave her weary body behind.
As I stated before I really love the characters in this book, the building and relationships fit and mesh well and it was refreshing to have a teen who actually isn’t embarrased of, or who just dislikes her parents. Her relationship with her boyfriend is healthy and she has a good sense of self esteem. The writing style of the book read straight through. No huge plot jumps. You really will not want to put this novel down.
Now I just want to touch on the “I am going to compare this book to Twilight” reviews. This book at no time or in no way reminded me of Twilight. There was an actual story line, a real plot,and even awesomely structured sentences. There was no character in any way resembling Edward or Bella, Mia is self adjusted and confident, Adam the boyfriend is a wreck worrying about his girlfriend to the point of doing illegal things to see her. Just so we are clear, this book is not a replacement for or related to Twilight in any manner.
If you enjoyed books such as The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray, Evermore by Alyson Noel, or Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher then you will really dig into this YA thriller.
