1) Beverly Cleary. She’s so cool. We went to her birthplace McMinnville, Oregon and it’s adorable. For some reason they don’t have any big signs or anything announcing this fact (that she was born here, not that she’s super cool, everyone already knows that) like they do for Ronald Reagan in Dixon, Illinois*. I’m not sure why — I’m sure she has more fans than most presidents. I think Portland lays claim to her though as her childhood home — we’re going there later today, so I’ll check it out then.
2) Graham Salisbury. I think I read online somewhere that he lives in Lake Oswego, this super ritzy suburb of Portland. We stopped there for a stroll down the street and a trip to Rite Aid for the contact solution I forgot to pack. It’s like Oz. There are flowers bursting out of every nook and cranny. Even the 7-11 looked like something out of a fairy tale with huge swaths of flowering trees out front. Will post a pic of this when we download our camera. It was especially wonderful and surreal coming from snowy Madison, WI.
3) Ursula Le Guin also lives in Oregon, I think in Portland. Oregon has the craziest and most diverse topography ever and I can see why it would be the perfect place for a fantasy writer to live. Within a few hours drive you can go from barren desert to super lush rainforest to mountain top to ocean side and on and on… Sometimes it seems like you’ve slipped into a different world.
4) Powell’s Bookstore. Also on our list for later today. How can you not love such a gigantic indie bookstore? [added later -- Powell's is one of the biggest independent bookstores in the world. It's so big they have maps!]
5) The million other bookstores in Portland. The place is just bursting with them. I can’t wait for the tour.
6) The ocean!!!!! (and sunshine ON THE OCEAN!!!!)
BZ
*On further research it turns out that Ronald Reagan was not born in Dixon, but I SWEAR that I saw signs stating this last time we were there. Either the signs are lying or my memory is faulty.
Posted in Book Reviews at 11:23 am by Bridget Zinn
Why is it that all of the books I REALLY want to read aren’t coming out until April and May??? Or, even worse, not until this summer. I’m going on vacation this week — I can’t wait for release dates!
Books I would have bought IF they had been available:
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (not available until APRIL 22)
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson (not available until MAY 1)
The Host by Stephenie Meyer (not available until MAY 6)
Airhead by Meg Cabot (not available until JUNE 1)
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot (not available until JUNE 24)
Stop in the Name of Pants! by Louise Rennison (not available until JULY 1)
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (not available until AUGUST 2)
There must be a conspiracy to keep those of us in the frozen tundra who are escaping to warmer climes from having great airplane books.
I settled on Pretty Little Liars 2 & 3 to read on the plane, but that’s only going to last me one way. If only Pretty Little Liars 4 weren’t coming out until MAY 27!
If I were a smart and savvy librarian, I would have attended ALA mid-winter and picked up some gallies, or gotten on a review committee like my coolest of cool friend Amanda M. (who has to buy new bookcases for all of the Newbery books she’s getting in!!), or I would take up authors on these kinds of offers of advance copies.
Instead I’m left galley-less and advance copy-less, trapped by the late release date conspiracy.
You might notice that there’s a new photo of me on this page. The thinking was that maybe you didn’t get here through the home page and wouldn’t have a clue who I was, so a photo and a brief caption would give you a quick idea. And due to Barrett’s web master magic the background sort of looks like I’m somewhere where springtime actually exists and not in the land of ice and snow that I actually live in. I appreciate that.
However, I’m a bit concerned that I look sort of scary and vampiric. Maybe it’s the lighting? Doesn’t it look like I’m about to sprout fangs and take a taste from the nearest hapless victim?
But it isn’t as though there’s a photo I like better. In fact, the current photo on my homepage was taken by Web Master Barrett AFTER a five mile bike ride and two mile walk in the middle of summer. There’s definitely a glow there and it’s not an overly flattering one. Plus, there’s the lovely exercise t-shirt I have on. Yes! So fashion forward. And yet, still there isn’t a better picture.
Justine Larbalestier wrote a great rant on author photos. I think web site photos are equally impossible. You just have to pick one and deal with it and hope that people don’t hate you on sight. But the bonus of the vampiric photo? Maybe people will be too scared to do anything about it.
Happy Easter!
BZ
p.s. I don’t know what J.L.’s worried about though, her recent author photo is perfect — it’s all about the boots!
Yes, I am copying Sarah Dessen’s blog idea, but I think her Friday Five blog where she writes about five interesting things is totally fabulous. As I can’t compete with her entertainment-wise (she’s so funny!), I’m going with Six — quantity over quality. Friday Six! Woo Hoo!
So here’s number 1) I can’t believe it but I’ve fallen in love with Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. I didn’t think I would — they are NOT even slightly nice girls, not that girls need to be nice, but these ones have plain crossed the line to mean. And yet, these books are totally addictive. I think it’s the mystery aspect to them.
2) Revisions. I love revising — having a completed novel to muck around in is my idea of heaven. And yet… I can’t stop thinking, Why did this one have to be such a looong book? I’m going to be revising for the next twelve years! Okay, it’s not quite that bad, but there is definitely PLENTY to do.
3) Unwind by Neal Shusterman is the sickest book ever! It was sooooo groooooossssssss and horrifying and nightmare inducing! Really good as far as the being intrigued enough to get through the tough stuff and being compelled to keep reading thing, but wow. It’s all about “unwinding” teens i.e. TAKING ALL OF THEIR BODY PARTS AND USING THEM ON OTHER PEOPLE!!!! Ew, ew, ew. I read a review that said it was a stretch to believe that parents would ever agree to this, even if they were unruly difficult teens (and who wasn’t???), but I found it far too believable as I was reading. I was totally sucked in.
4) I’ve added some links on my Writing Page to book reviews I’ve written for the Isthmus. Kashmira’s super fab (and epic) novel Keeping Corner is reviewed here, as is the funny funny funny Inside the Head of Gideon Rayburn by Sarah Miller.
5) I did follow up on Seeing Me Naked by Liza Palmer and I read her first book Conversations With the Fat Girl. It was definitely fun and entertaining, but Seeing Me Naked is still my fav.
6) CHOICES DAY at the CCBC was great — if you’ve never been to this, plan to come next year!
A whole entire month has flown by since my writers group’s spring editor retreat. It was brilliant and thrilling and everything a retreat weekend should be, and yet… I haven’t blogged about it. Why, you might ask? If it was so brilliant and thrilling and so on WHY haven’t you blogged about it? Everyone wants to know! But here’s the thing — last year I was so inspired that I made a movie as a result of the spring retreat. The infamous Boots video. How can I top that? I can’t just whip that kind of genius* out at the drop of a hat. I must be Inspired. Making videos is nothing like writing where you just have to keep going and can’t wait for Inspiration. Videos are all about Inspiration. And snacks for the cast. So I’ve been waiting. There was that Bitch’s Brew nail polish Gretchen recommended. The Super Valentine Dog Pansy. The music school librarian who appeared at the weekend’s end party and who most of us had never met before but who has been immortalized in our group photo. What, what, what could be the seed for the best video ever? Could it possibly top last year’s video????
-BZ
*In case it isn’t obvious, this is sarcasm. I realize true film-making genius is far far from my film-making, but a girl can dream, can’t she?
Why is it that all of the books I REALLY want to read aren’t coming out until April and May??? Or, even worse, not until this summer. I’m going on vacation this week — I can’t wait for release dates!
There’s definitely a glow there and it’s not an overly flattering one. Plus, there’s the lovely exercise t-shirt I have on. Yes! So fashion forward. And yet, still there isn’t a better picture.
A whole entire month has flown by since my writers group’s spring editor retreat. It was brilliant and thrilling and everything a retreat weekend should be, and yet… I haven’t blogged about it. Why, you might ask? If it was so brilliant and thrilling and so on WHY haven’t you blogged about it? Everyone wants to know! But here’s the thing — last year I was so inspired that I made a movie as a result of the spring retreat. 
Videos are all about Inspiration. And snacks for the cast. So I’ve been waiting. There was that Bitch’s Brew nail polish Gretchen recommended. The Super Valentine Dog Pansy. The music school librarian who appeared at the weekend’s end party and who most of us had never met before but who has been immortalized in our group photo. What, what, what could be the seed for the best video ever? Could it possibly top 
