Omnivoracious

YA Wednesday: Chatting with Lauren Oliver

Lauren Oliver first appeared on the YA lit scene in 2010 with Before I Fall, which was a New York Times best-seller as well as one of Amazon's top 10 books for young adults last year. In 2011 she doubled her output, releasing the first in a new young adult trilogy, Delirium, while also making a foray into middle-fiction with Liesl & Po. Both books made our respective top 2011 teens and middle grade lists as well as various other "best of" (e.g. Kirkus, goodreads.com) round-ups.

To put it mildly, Lauren Oliver is awesomely talented, personable, and according to this article on BusinessWeek.com yesterday, great at co-running her own company. So when her publisher told me she would be coming through Seattle I eagerly jumped at the chance to interview her, the result of which is below. Hopefully it'll make the wait for the follow-up to Delirium, titled Pandemonium (it's out on March 6, 2012 but who's counting, right? Wait, I am...), at least a little more bearable.

 

Trend Stetting 8: Fine Whine

There’s no entry for “curmudgeon” in Robert Hartwell Fiske’s new Dictionary of Unendurable English, but no matter—the entire book might well serve as the definition. Lest you turn right around and call me curmudgeonly, let me clarify that I mean that as a compliment.

Fiske, the language-obsessed creator of online journal The Vocabula Review, does not mince words. Nor shall I: His dictionary is one of the grumpiest, most self-righteous intellectual exercises I’ve ever had the genuine pleasure of reading. In the appendixes alone, he defrocks one of academia’s most trusted resources (“Merriam-Webster’s definitions of peruse nicely illustrate how useless this book has become”), charts his own ranking system for dictionaries and recommends that “this essay...could be printed on the dust jacket flap of each dictionary,” and provides a form letter for his readers to send to “the editors of descriptive dictionaries” that begins “Dear Sir: I am appalled” and closes with “Do be sensible.”

He’s right, of course. And there’s the rub. Those of us who earn our keep by reforming errant English would love—more than that, would celebrate with unseemly dance moves and quantities of liquor—if everyone around us used the language a little better. Should you opt to spend some time with Fiske’s dictionary, you’ll be well on the way. Bring an open mind, a thick skin, and a sense of humor.

Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2011

2011 was an excellent year for Science Fiction and Fantasy; we have everything from killer video games to dragons. It was a hard choice to drill down just the top 10.

Of course, it's rather hard to talk about 2011 without talking about George R. R. Martin's long-awaited fifth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance with Dragons, especially after the huge hit of the Game of Thrones mini-series on HBO this spring. Fans finally find out what happens to Jon Snow, Tryion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and other characters who weren't featured in A Feast for Crows. Of course, with two more epic novels yet to come, there are far more questions posed than answers given, but this is still required reading for any Martin fan.

The top slot on our list, however, goes to Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. A combination of Massive Multiplayer games and scavenger hunts, the story centers on a virtual reality with all-too-real consequences...including finding the keys to inherting a massive fortune. When Wade Watts finds the first of these keys, both his virtual and real world are quickly jeopardized. A Best of the Month pick in August, this fascinating read continues to captivate us.

Check out the full list of our Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy books of 2011, including books by Lev Grossman, China Mieville, Christopher Paolini, and more. Or browse our 100 Best Books of the Year.

Sarah Kay, Spoken Word Poet, Makes Her Print Debut

She’s young, talented, and has a true gift for language. Poet Sarah Kay, now 23, got her start as a spoken word poet at the age of 14, hiding under the famous Bowery Poetry Club in Manhattan’s Easy Village and listening to New York’s most talented poets perform. When she performed her poem, “Point B,” at TEDTalks, she received numerous standing ovations (Check it out after the jump.)

We had the chance to talk to Sarah about the published version of her popular poem, available for the first time in a beautiful hardcover edition. See what she had to say:

Question: How old were you when you started writing poetry?

Sarah Kay: I’ve been making poems since I could string words together. Before I knew how to write, I used to follow my mother around the house and yell, "Poem!" until she found a pen and paper to write down my dictation. I think that’s why she taught me how to write early on, so I would stop making her do it for me.

Question: Are your parents poets? Did they influence your interest in poetry?

Sarah Kay: From kindergarten through fourth grade I brought my lunch to school with me every day. And every day for those five years, one of my parents wrote me a poem and tucked it in my lunchbox. It was usually on a colored piece of paper, folded in half. They were short poems that were sort of Dr. Seuss-y or Shel Silverstein-esque. They made poetry something to look forward to. Each note was a story, a message, a secret, a rhyme; each note made me stop whatever I was doing and surrender to the surprise inside. I don’t think either one of them considers themselves poets, but they definitely gave me a hunger (wink!) for poetry.

Best Science Books of the Year

The best science books of 2011 have one thing in common: wonder. These books are written by, and for-- borrowing Marjorie C. Malley's words from her dedication in Radioactivity--"those who wonder and seek to understand."

And Malley would know. Radioactivity: A History of a Mysterious Science, on our list at number four, is an accessible and comprehensive book about how energy that was once nothing more than "a scientific riddle" went from being the world's "magical elixir" to its "poisonous apple." In a bit more than 200 pages, Malley covers more than a century of scientific research while leaving out all the heavy technical jargon us nonspecialists don't understand and including the romance, mythology, and philosophy behind the science.

Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, has made it his life's work to wonder and understand what the rest of us were wondering and understanding. Thinking, Fast and Slow is an introduction to and discussion about the research in congnitive psychology that earned Kahneman the Nobel Prize and our number three spot. The way humans think is predictable and flawed, but Kahneman shows readers how to use  our two systems of thought to overcome some of our biases.

Too much information? James Gleick wrote a book about that. The Information: A Theory, a History, a Flood is our top pick of the year in Science. Information systems and technologies are a whole lot older than the Internets. Gleick tells the story of information and introduces readers to some unlikely characters who brought us into the modern (flood of) information age.

Check out the complete list of best science books of the year and Amazon's Best Books of 2011.

What We're Reading: "Nightwoods" by Charles Frazier

Having lived for a few years in the mountains of rural North Carolina, I’d developed a kinship with certain southern writers (Ron Rash, Sharyn McCrumb) and bands (Avett Brothers, Drive-by Truckers). Twenty pages into Charles Frazier’s lush and lively third novel, I found myself grateful for his ability to recreate the look and feel of the land my family and I once called home. When the light is just right, the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky mountains can be warm and stunning places. But the light can shift slightly and the woods suddenly feel creepy and unsafe, and you think you’re being watched or followed.

That same sense of unease and discomfort pervades Nightwoods, a tale with a menacing edge that pulls the reader along in a style that reminded me of Denis Johnson’s Nobody Move--that is, a master trying his hand at a leaner, meaner story. In this case, the story is set in the 1960s, in an unnamed region of Frazier’s home state. After two Civil War-era novels, he manages the change of century quite well.

A woman named Luce is living in a rural lodge, hiding from her own demons, when she is suddenly forced to raise her sister's two wild young children. Neither child has spoken a word since witnessing their mother's brutal murder, and they’ve developed a fondness for breaking things and starting fires. Hardly a word is out of place. Here are Luce’s niece and nephew during a tour of her henhouse: “The girl found the egg first. She held it cupped in her palm and studied it. Then she smashed her other fist against it and smeared the mess on her brother’s face.” Gone With The Wind this ain’t.

These mute, trouble-making kids are among Frazier’s finest characters, and when their ne'er-do-well father is acquitted and released from jail, the action flares. Frazier toys with earthy themes--fire and heat (danger!); water and dirt (life!)--without being overt or precious about it. Displaying a skill for sharp dialogue and unexpected humor, as well as a powerful ability to depict the scents and sounds of loamy Carolina backwoods, Frazier has crafted an impressive narrative, proving that his National Book Award-winning Cold Mountain was no fluke.

Suggested soundtrack while reading: The Drive-By Truckers’ “Southern Rock Opera.”

Media Monday - Cyber Monday Edition

The month of November leading into the holiday shopping season has been hectic and busy here at Amazon. I have missed writing Media Monday, and hopefully a few of you have missed reading it. It's late here in Seattle, the end of a long Cyber Monday, and I've been looking forward to writing this since this morning.

First things first: For those readers who like biographies, I highly recommend Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie. It's the best thing I've read in the last month-- one of those histories that's more novelistic than most fiction you'll read. It's also very difficult to put down once you get into it. A few months back my colleague, Jason Kirk, called it the best biography he'd read all year. I'll admit I was skeptical going in, but he was right.

 

New York Times

• Christopher Buckley reviews And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields, a book that Buckley calls a "sad, often heartbreaking biography." Vonnegut's life didn't start out very well-- like Mark Twain, to whom his writing and general disposition are often compared, he seemed to have earned his dark view of life. As Buckley points out, "It’s a truism that comic artists tend to hatch from tragic eggs." In this case, that egg was first laid by Vonnegut's mother. "When he was 21," Buckley tells us, "his mother successfully committed suicide — on Mother’s Day."

NaNoWriMo Special: "The End" Is Nigh

The end. We’re not talking about the climax or the resolution here, we’re talking about those last few lines. The last words your reader reads. The last sentences an editor sees. We’re talking about not needing to say “the end” because it feels right and natural. We’re talking about the difference between leaving your readers in state of awe . . . and meh.

First lines are important, because they hook your reader. And because of that, authors obsess over them. But last lines are almost equally important. Like the last notes of a glass of wine—they leave a strong taste in your mouth. So if your ending falls flat, it can dampen the enjoyment and appreciation of the whole. On the other hand, if the last lines of your book are resonant, they can amplify reader appreciation tenfold.

So how do you find the perfect ending for your story? There is no one answer for every story. The best endings are those that suit the work in question. That said, here are a couple of tips on how to work four of the most common kinds of endings.

The Cliffhanger

JANE: Gee willikers, I’m so glad we got away from that pack of angry red balloons!
DICK: By golly, it was a close call! Lucky for us, we had our Swiss Army knives!
JANE: The way they swarmed all over Ginger and Roger . . . I . . . I can still hear their screams!
DICK: There, there, Jane. Come here. [DICK takes JANE’s knife, gently puts both knives down] It’s all over now. . .
[DICK puts an arm around JANE, they walk off stage. Ominous music starts again. RED BALLOON drifts after them, its string dragging on the ground. Fade to black]

Writing About Writers: Charles Shields on Kurt Vonnegut

Charles Shields is a writer who writes about writers. He previously penned a bestselling biography of Harper Lee (Mockingbird), and now he's written the definitive portrait of Kurt Vonnegut, And So It Goes, which chronicles Vonnegut's slow and often difficult path to the upper ranks of American literature.

It's not always a pretty portrait. "Kurt wanted to be a writer from the time he was a teenager," Shields told me during a recent phone interview. But after serving in the military, getting married and having kids, he faced a dreary life behind a desk "which is not the kind of artistic one that he thought he'd have."

Yet the truth about writers is just that: they don't often live the exciting, public lifestyles of a Hemmingway or a Mailer. Most toil in solitary exclusion. It's a desk job in an office of one. It's sedentary, quiet, and often dull. Still, Shields is fascinated by the process of writing, and by the power and reach of the written word, which he discovered at age 15 upon earning a byline for his first high school newspaper story.  "That was a magical moment for me," he said.

Shields has worked since to grow and change, to learn from others. That desire led him to study the works and habits of other writers, and eventually to become a biographer, joining a group he admiringly refers to as "snoops" and "gossips." (Shields is co-founder of Biographers International Organization.)

His interest in Vonnegut began when he learned Vonnegut was miffed that no one had tried to write his biography. Shields reached out, was rebuffed, persisted, and finally received a postcard on which Vonnegut had sketched a self-portrait, smoking a cigarette. The card contained two letters: "OK."

Reading & Drinking: Brewmaster Garrett Oliver Pairs Beers & Books

Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and the author of The Oxford Companion to Beer. He's also a bit of a literary egghead and a voracious reader, so we recently asked him about books that deserve to be read with a pint.

Amazon: What beers would go best with the following books?

• Moby Dick: "Bass Ratcliff Ale 1869, because it is the oldest beer that's been tasted recently. It's big, beautiful, powerful, old, awe-inspiring, and you cannot get your hands on it. "
• Frankenstein: "Magic Hat #9, because animating a pale ale by using apricot extract seems morally wrong; just because you can do it, that doesn't mean you should."
• The Call of the Wild: "Hansen's Gueuze, because it is among the best of the lambics, Belgium's wild-fermented beers, which have no laboratory yeast added. It's sharp, funky and represents a type of beer nearly as old as human civilization."
• The Devil in the White City: "Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, because Chicago's Goose Island brewery is named after an island in the Chicago River that was pretty seedy, got dredged away, and then was essentially re-built as artificial land elsewhere in the river. And at 13% alcohol, if you drink too much of it, you might not be seen again."
• Seabiscuit: "Kentucky Ale, because it's from Kentucky, and no one ever expected that it was going to end up winning awards."
• Fight Club: "Brooklyn Black Ops, because according to the label, Black Ops doesn't exist. The first rule of Black Ops is that you don't talk about Black Ops."