RocTBF2017: Books I Already Read

This will be my third year trying to read one book from each RocTBF author. I’m just dropping this little post as a shout out to the authors that I have already read who will be participating this year. I have discovered some awesome books. In fact, the reason I keep failing my own challenge is because I get caught up reading multiple books by the same author, rather than moving on down the list.

	Previously Read	Any Strong Feelings?
Renée Ahdieh	"Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn, book 1)", "The Rose & the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn, book 2)"	I talked about Book 1 for days.
Charles Benoit	"Fall From Grace" and "You".	Both books were awesome.
Libba Bray	"Diviners"	I think I don’t like this time period?
Zac Brewer	"The Blood Between Us ", "Cemetery Boys", "Eighth Grade Bites” Books 1 – 5, I think	This is an author I go back and forth about.
Michael Buckley	"Undertow: Undertow Series (Book 1)" "The Fairy-Tale Detectives: The Sisters Grimm”	Love both series so far.
Ellen Hopkins	"Burned", Smoke	I was surprised at how much I loved Burned.
A. S. King	"Reality Boy", "Ask the Passengers" "Dust of 100 Dogs". "I Crawl Through It"	Ask the Passengers was a must read. I Crawl Through it was SUPER confusing.
David Levithan	"Every Day"	This is a wonderful book, but I’m scared to read the second one.
Sarah J. Maas	“A Court of Thorns and Roses”	Great.
Danielle Paige	"Dorothy Must Die” Trilogy	One of my favorite retellings.
Benjamin Alire Sáenz	"Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe"	I didn’t love it as much as the internet told me I would. But I did like it a lot.
Terry Trueman	"Stuck in Neutral"	I was so pissed off about the ending!

Related Posts:  My Other Current Book Challenge

 

RocTBF2017 - Running Post

It’s an absolute travesty that I have yet to post about the 2017 Rochester Teen Book Festival. What is my life, yall?

RocTBF is an annual event focused on… yes… young adult literature. It’s grown into a massive event with over 2000 teens and 300 volunteers. This will be my fifth year volunteering I think.

So, for the last couple of years, I’ve tasked myself with having read at least one book by each author who will be there by the day of the festival. This can include books that I previously read. Ya know, the beauty of giving yourself a challenge is that you can basically change the rules when you realize that you were over- ambitious!

I’ve never actually met the goal completely,  though 2015 was NOT MY FAULT!!

 

So, this year, there are 28 (AAAHH) authors scheduled to attend. For the last couple of years, at least one or 2 authors have to cancel at that the last minute but you can’t predict who it’ll be! So... here's the running list/ progress (updated 5/13):

2016 Book Challenges - June Update

 I can't believe that we are already halfway through 2016. That is crazy! Here's how my reading challenges are going so far. I'll post an update about blog challenges separately. Can you tell I'm trying to reach a goal for posts before the end of the month? 

Book Review: Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

You know what I hate about books like this? They make me want to read about history. I hate history. Honestly, if I ever go back in time and am expected to profit from my knowledge of events, I’m totally screwed. I think it’s interesting that people who get sent back in time in books always seem to know what the hell is going on… I mean, seriously. Eleanor of Aquitaine? As far as I know that name is completely made up!

But I digress. This was another book I read for my Rochester Teen Book Festival challenge. (I’m almost done talking about that for a while, so hang in there y’all!)

 Goodreads Summary:

When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing.

My two cents:

RocTBF2016 Recap Post

All right. My two month OBSESSION is over and done with. The 11th Annual Rochester Teen Book Festival is DONE. I have already started stalking the web site for plans for next year, but apparently, no one cares about MY needs!!

As you may know, the plan was for me to read (or have read) one book for each author that would be at TBF. Once again, I was so close to completing this goal that I could taste it! One barrier was that I was scheduled to participate in a book tour for a ginormous book during the final week of the challenge. Hashtag bad timing. I ended with three measly authors to go! However, I read a few books by authors I already knew and loved, so no tears from me. I guess.

I was an adult Author’s Assistant again this year. This basically means I was the Head of an author’s entourage. Here’s a picture of the team and the Spectacular Cathleen Davitt Bell.

Book Review: Two Audiobooks by Steve Sheinkin (RocTBF2016)

I wish that I had understood that history is basically a bunch of stories that really happened back when Social Studies was my least favorite subject in school. Of course, all that memorizing names and dates would have killed the intrigue, anyway, but maybe I would have hated it less.

Speaking of which! On my journey to Teen Book Festival madness, I picked up two books by Steve Sheinkin that were available through Overdrive as audio-books.

Both were excellent. They are told with narrative and supported with information from research letters and testimony from witnesses and participants in the events.

Lincoln’s Grave Robbers is the story of counterfeiters who decide to concoct a plan to free their previous boss and make their own big pay day by stealing the body of beloved President Lincoln. The plan will go down on election night in 1978. What could possibly go wrong!? There’s a lot of information about the Coney Men (counterfeiters) and the secret service that I never knew.

The Port Chicago 50 is about the 50 black navy men who were charged with mutiny after “refusing” to return to work following an explosion on their ammunition loading dock. The case became part of Civil Rights history as it forced folks to consider segregation and the fake notion of Separate but Equal in the military during World War II. This is a great story that includes a look into the experience of men who fought for a country that was simultaneously denying them basic rights. There's a scene where one of the men can't eat in a restaurant and watches prisoners of war being served and treated well that made me grateful for my own place in time.

Related Post:

Book Mini- Reviews: Three TBF YA Authors I'll be Fangirling Tomorrow (Talley, Hopkins, Anderson)

The problem with trying to read ALL THE BOOKS at one time is that I don’t have time to review them in a way that gives them justice. And I could say something ridiculous like, “oh, I will just review them later.” But when I say things like that, my psyche physically steps from my body (like Peter Pan’s shadow) and slaps me HARD across the face. She’s kind of a bitch, actually, but she’s right. It’s just not going to happen.

But I want to pause in my brain numbing readathon and post about the last three books I finished. Two were written by authors I had already read and one was an author discovery. They are all planning to be at the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival tomorrow. [Click here for the last update on my RocTBF2016 challenge.]

Each tells the tale of a teen on the brink of adulthood who have to figure out what they believe about themselves after a life time of input from parents and peers. Many of whom have their own baggage and agendas.

Robin Talley's book, Lies We Tell Ourselves is set in 1959 during the forced integration of a white school in Virginia. The story the experience from the point of view of two characters: 1) Sarah, a talented Black senior whose family has moved to the South to be part of the movement, and 2) Linda, a White classmate who is the daughter of one of the most outspoken anti- integrationists in the land. Linda's been given a great deal of miseducation her whole life about Black people in general and learns a lot about race and about her self as she gets to know Sarah. And they both discover their feelings for each other are much more complicated than they expected they ever could be.

Smoke is the sequel to Ellen Hopkin's Burned, a book I read for last year's TBF challenge. Burned FLOORED me last year. It tells the tell of a teenager who is being raised in the Mormon tradition. She's the oldest and has taken the brunt of her father's drunken abuse over the years. When she is sent away to live with her Aunt, she discovers love and her own strengths. The book's ending was... well... I still can't talk about it. Smoke was a great book of redemption and a wonderful wrap up. The feels just keep coming with this book set and I will definitely be checking out more of Ms. Hopkins shenanigans.

Twisted was written by Laurie Halse Anderson, an author I already love based on several other books I've read. I also met her in person last year at Book Riot Live, which made me love her all the more. We hugged. I'm just saying... Anyway. Twisted is about Tyler, a 17- year-old nerd boy who is on probation for a stupid prank he pulled last year. He's getting some new attention this year as a senior from the most popular girl in school, and the girl's brother who has been Tyler's bully since middle school. Tyler goes through the year trying to figure out how to handle his new attention, his new stronger body (built from doing community service), and his ever- present hard on in the context of an emotionally abusive father. For a while, Tyler isn't sure that he can cope and he struggles with a serious decision. I loved the ending of this book for many reasons. But I don't want to give it away.

What I've Been Reading (Outbox May 11, 2016)

My last outbox post was on April 20^th, probably when I started focusing on getting the TBF books read. I’ve read 15 books since then and done book reviews for many of them. 

I did a blog tour for the Double and for Friday Evening, Eight O'clock, the only two "adult" oriented books I've read that weren't audiobooks.

I posted an update about how the TBF challenge is going and it has links to the related book reviews over there [Link here]. I’ll give you a little bit of a highlight reel for my overall outbox and then I gotta get back to business!

Bout of Books Update, Midweek!

This week is all about binge reading all the books to complete my RocTBF2016 Challenge. I’ve joined the bout of books readathon for the first time mostly to support the goal. It’s super fun. The other people participating are nice and run some great blogs. Follow the hashtag #boutofbooks on twitter if you don’t believe me. I'm sure you can follow it on other platforms, but I'll leave that all up to you to figure out!

Since Monday I've:

• 972 actual pages 
• Listened to about 8.5 hours of audiobook
• Finished 4 books (completing one that was already started before the challenge started).
• Participated in 1 twitter chat (monday)
• Been tweeting encouragement to other #boutofbooks tweeps

Currently reading:

  

Up Next:

Bout of Books Challenge

May 11: Bout of Books Challenge today is “Five Favorites”

So… My Five Blog Posts (Don't judge me for being overly self- focused! I needed something quick!! Plus, it is *my* blog!)

1.    My post about the Unofficial Book Riot Book Crawl last year.

2.    A post about what I do in my "spare time."

3.    This post about my favorite Bookish people in the 'verse.

4.    This one from when I got my Little Free Library posted!

5.    My post after Broadway con in January.

Book Review: The Haters by Jesse Andrews (RocTBF2016)

This author has gotten a lot of press lately because of another one of his books: Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl. Apparently, it is being turned into a movie that I will refuse to see. I actually own that one as it was in one of the Book Riot YA boxes last year. In fact, there are three Teen Rochester Book Festival authors that were featured by Book Riot last year… coincidence? Probably.

Anyway, my plan was to read MEatDG, but I’m on a time crunch now so I downloaded the only Jesse Andrews available via Overdrive. You know how audiobooks can save your life, right?

Here’s a part of the super long Goodreads summary:

“For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It’s pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It’s three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: They need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they’re in Ash’s SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.

In his second novel, Andrews again brings his brilliant and distinctive voice to YA, in the perfect book for music lovers, fans of The Commitments and High Fidelity, or anyone who has ever loved—and hated—a song or a band. This witty, funny coming-of-age novel is contemporary fiction at its best.”

My own babbling:

Mission: Rochester Teen Book Festival 2016 (Update 2)

9 Days Left!!!!!

The 11^th annual Greater Rochester Teen Book festival is May 14^th!! It’s a huge event that has author panels, books for sale, and food trucks. YAY!! This has become one of my favorite events of the year and this will be my 4^th or 5^th time being a volunteer. I’ll be one of the author assistants working with Cathleen Davitt Bell. I’d never read one of her books before but Slipping was great (linked below). This is the second year that I have tried to have read at least one book by each author who is scheduled to attend. Last year I missed the goal by one book! ONE!! Which is obviously some bullshit (recap post).

My failure this year will be much more complete, probably. But, I’m still trying trying trying. Some of the reasons I might not make it:

• I’m doing a book review post for a 400+ page book for a blog tour that is due next Tuesday and I haven’t read the book, yet.
• I would like to post with for Book Blogger’s International Mental Health Month and they want that submission by Wednesday!
• There’s an audition on Saturday that I have to practice for.
• I haven’t had time to track down all the books.
• I want to read at least one more of Cathleen Davitt Bell’s.

Below is my current status as of today. Green books are being currently read and yellow books are already at my house, just waiting patiently for their turn. I had previously read books by the authors with the asterisks. Review posts are linked.

Author	Read
Laurie Halse Anderson*	Speak and others
Jesse Andrews	The Haters
Cathleen Davitt Bell	Slipping (Review)
Charles Benoit*	Fall from Grace
Sarah Rees Brennan	Unspoken (review)
Anna Breslaw
Jennifer Donnelly	These Shallow Graves
Tim Federle	Better Nate than Ever (mini-review)
K. L. Going	King of the Screwups (mini-review)
Chris Grabenstein
Harriet Reuter Hapgood
Rachel Hawkins	Rebel Belle
Ellen Hopkins*	Burned
A. S. King*	Reality Boy; Ask the Passengers
Justine Labalestier	Razorhurst (review)
Mercedes Lackey
Carolyn Mackler	The Earth, My Butt, and other Bog Round Things
Kekla Magoon	How it Went Down (mini-review)
Kory Merritt
Ridley Pearson*	Peter and the Starcatchers (old, dumb mini review)
Tamora Pierce*	Song of the Lioness 1-4
Gary Schmidt	Orbiting Jupiter (Review)
Steve Sheinkin	Lincoln's Grave Robbers
Alan Sitomer	No longer coming
Jessica Spotswood
Robin Talley
Mariko Tamaki	This One Summer
Janet B. Taylor
Terry Trueman*	Stuck in Neutral
Scott Westerfeld*	Uglies, Afterworld, Peeps
Suzanne Young	Hotel Ruby
Jeff Zentner	The Serpent King (review)

So, if I manage to get through just what I have in my possession right now, I will be short 5 books.

I’d like to also make a shout out to the authors who are on this list that I have loved since before: Laurie Halse Anderson (who I’ve met in person (self- five)) and Scott Westerfeld at my secret best friends. Ridley Pearson co-wrote Peter and the Starcatchers series which I loved! I have big plans for his Kingdom Keeper series. Also, A.S. King joined my top favorite authors last year when I discovered her through the RocTBF2015 challenge.

Related Links: