Author Archives: TheHouseworkCanWait

Review: I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Posted on by

I listened to the audio version of this book.

I think you all know how much I loved Markus Zusak’s book, The Book Thief. Both the story itself and the way it is told are beautiful and moving in a way I hadn’t experienced in other books. After reading The Book Thief, I had several friends recommend another of Zusak’s critically acclaimed novels, I Am the Messenger. They swore that although the reading experience was very different from Book Thief, it was just as rewarding.

It’s true that I Am the Messenger varies significantly from The Book Thief. It takes place in Australia, not Germany; the narrator is a 19-year-old cab driver, not Death; and the story revolves around the stagnant and hapless Ed Kennedy instead of the clever and quietly defiant Liesel Meminger. But it still utilizes Zusak’s captivating prose, and his wholly unique method of storytelling.

The Plot (from Goodreads):

Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He’s pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery.

That’s when the first ace arrives in the mail.

That’s when Ed becomes the messenger.

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

My Thoughts:

I have a hard time summing up my thoughts on this book. I’ve been thinking about it for months, trying to come up with a neat little 3-paragraph blurb that can adequately encompass I Am the Messenger, and I’m not sure it’s possible. I can say I liked it. I can say that the audio narration is excellent. I can say that it was smart and funny and touching and wholly original. I can say I’m still not sure I liked the ending. But I’m not sure that really covers it. So I’ll just do my best, and you’ll have to take my word for it that this book is one that really must be experienced to be understood, and nothing I can say in a review will really do it justice.

From the opening moments, Zusak grounds the story with Ed Kennedy’s authentic voice, and I immediately settled into the mind of this 19-year-old unmotivated cab driver, who in a moment of uncharacteristic fervor, foils a bank robbery. Ed’s not quite sure why he does it, but his choice is the catalyst for all that comes next. He starts receiving playing cards in the mail, and on the cards is information about a list of strangers. Ed figures out that he has to intervene in the lives of these strangers to “complete” the card and move on to the next one, and his encounters with the people he is tasked with vary from sweet and quiet to violent and disturbing. He doesn’t know who’s sending the cards or why, just that he must complete each card…or else. Or else what? He’s not quite sure. He only knows he doesn’t want to find out.

I liked Ed a lot, which is good, because if you don’t like Ed, you won’t like this book. There are so many questions floating around — Who’s sending the cards? Why? How do they decide what Ed must do? What will they do if he fails? Why does Ed comply so easily? — that the only way it works is to go along with Ed, accept his confusion and his actions as just part of who he is, and enjoy the ride. He is a remarkably well-developed character, one of the most well-rounded and personable narrators I’ve encountered. I don’t know if it’s a fault or a strength that next to the fully formed person that is Ed Kennedy, the other characters in the book — with the possible exception of his malodorous, coffee-loving canine companion, the Doorman — seem like simply that: characters. Even his best friends and the girl he’s loved forever feel viewed through a fuzzy lens when compared to Ed. It doesn’t really take away from the story; it just puts the whole thing so firmly inside Ed’s head that it sometimes felt almost dreamlike, like he was the only real thing in the crazy world he inhabits. (Interestingly enough, I noticed this same almost hazy effect with Zusak’s other critically acclaimed novel, The Book Thief, although the devices used to achieve the effect were quite different.)

I loved the intrigue of the story, although it’s not what I’d call a mystery. In a mystery, there are clues along the way that allow an astute reader to piece together the truth of what’s happening along with the characters. In I Am the Messenger, there aren’t clues. Ed spends almost the entirety of the book mystified, moving blindly from one task to the next. It wasn’t frustrating for me — I felt that I was supposed to be lost along with Ed, and that when answers were finally forthcoming, they would be because someone outside of Ed decided to let him in on the secret, and not through any deductions of his — or my — own.

I also loved all the individual challenges Ed found himself up against. They were almost vignette-like, self-contained bubbles of story that occasionally intertwined, but most often remained separate. My favorite was Ed’s relationship with an elderly woman suffering from dementia, who mistakes Ed for her late husband, Jimmy. His interactions with her were so tender and bittersweet that I could have read an entire book about just the two of them. Each of Ed’s other encounters has a distinctly different flavor, oscillating between wholesome and uplifting to dark and sinister, and everything in between. The only constant linking them together as all part of the same narrative is Ed. And being such a wonderful character, Ed is enough.

The only problem I had with this book was the ending. And I’ve spoken to plenty of intelligent, well-read friends who love the ending, so take this with a grain of salt. It may just be me. But for me, after this book full of questions and genuine emotion and a fantastically authentic narrator, I wanted the ending to fit really organically into the grounded world Zusak created for Ed. And instead I got an existential crisis of an ending that seemed almost like a cheat. Like there really was no way to pull all the disparate threads of story together, so Zusak gave himself an out.

Now, don’t get me wrong. If an author is going to use a device like this, I don’t think there’s really a better way to do it than the way Zusak did it. I think the man is a masterful storyteller and a stunning wordsmith, and I have no qualms with the mechanics and skill with which he crafted the ending. I just wish he hadn’t used the device he did at all. I wish he didn’t pull me out of the story the way he did. For me, it diminished what I find to be the main selling point of the entire story, which is the authenticity of Ed. I wanted to stay fully submersed in Ed’s world, and have everything come together to make sense from that vantage point, right up until the very end. Instead, it forced me to pull back and re-frame my perception of everything that had happened, and I didn’t appreciate that.

However, ending aside, I did truly love this book. And I know plenty of people whose opinions I deeply respect that love this book, including the ending. So whether or not you like those last few pages, I still highly recommend I Am the Messenger. It’s smart, engaging, original, and will keep the wheels in your head spinning madly long after you turn the final page.

Review: Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Posted on by

To explain why I read this book, I must first tell you a story. Gather round, children.

This year I’ve set a somewhat lofty goal for myself. Somehow, using logic I can’t quite work through anymore, I decided that I was totally up for running a half marathon with three other friends. Nevermind that I’ve never been much of a runner, and that last year my year-long goal was to be able to run a 5K over Thanksgiving. I spent a year training my body to be able to run three miles. And then this year, my brain was all, “Hey, if I can run three miles, what’s another ten?”

Brain, you suck.

So anyway, I’ve been training for the past few months to try to whip my horridly reluctant body into shape for this race, and something I learned early on is that I’m not a fan of running to music. Besides the fact that my playlist gets repetitive after days of running to the same music, seven years of marching band has trained me that I must step on the beat. My feet don’t really give me a choice in the matter. And you know what? Very few songs, even upbeat ones, are performed at my ideal running tempo.

So instead I turned to audio books. I’ve never been an audio books person before, but they seemed the perfect distraction/reward to take my mind off the miles passing underfoot. And they work wonderfully. I still don’t enjoy running (although I don’t loathe it quite so much as I did when I first started), but once I find my rhythm, I’m able to sink into the book and tune out the pavement and the breathing and the sweat. (Okay, not the sweat. There is no ignoring the sweat.)

Being cheap, I get my audio books in digital form from the library, and the only problem with that is that the selection is somewhat limited, and there is often a waiting list. So I’m constantly putting multiple audio books on hold, in the hopes that by the time I finish one, I’ll have progressed to the front of the queue for another. The problem with this is, sometimes I finish a book and none of the others on my list are available, and I’m left drifting and bookless and alone.

The last time this happened, I put out a plea on Twitter for someone to suggest an audio book that was:

A) Good (Because running is hard enough without running to a bad audio book)

B) Popular enough that my library would probably have it

C) Under-the-radar enough that it would be available for check out right now

Kind of a tall order, but I had several helpful Twitter followers suggest a few titles, including one I’d never heard of, Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King. However, I was desperate, and she swore it was fantastic, and HEY, the library had it available for instant digital download. Score. I loaded it onto my phone, threw on my running shoes, and headed out the door, wondering what kind of book I was getting myself into. I often know very little about a book when I start it, but this time I knew literally nothing except the title. Eep.

Fortunately, the book lived up to its promise.

The Plot (from Goodreads):

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

My Thoughts:

Please Ignore Vera Dietz is one of the more uniquely crafted tales I’ve read. First of all, the bulk of the story is told by Vera, but occasionally we get another point of view, and none of them are your run-of-the-mill YA narrator. One is her dead ex-best friend, Charlie. One is her dad. And one is a building. Yup, that’s right, a building. And strangely, even with an adult POV and an inanimate object POV, it works.

Then there’s the structure of the story, which oscillates between the present narrative, several months after Charlie’s death, and the past, jumping around from the time Charlie and Vera were small to the weeks leading up to his death. Even though the story is told in an extremely non-linear fashion, following more a stream-of-consciousness than logical chronology, I didn’t find it hard to follow at all. It made sense. An event would happen, and it would remind Vera of a memory, which we would view through her eyes. Or Vera would wonder why something happened, and we’d flash to her dad or Charlie, giving a perspective Vera never knew about.

There’s also the barest hint of the supernatural, with Charlie observing Vera from beyond the grave, and eventually, seeming like he still has some sway on the outside world. But it’s subtle, and this is by no means a paranormal story. Charlie and Vera each have their own interpretations of what’s happening, and it’s up to the reader to decide what to make of it.

Digging into the story itself, I thought it was a beautiful examination of so many big issues, each of which was handled with care and presented thoughtfully, without making this seem like a Big Issues Book. There’s the obvious one: the death of a friend. But there’s also the betrayal of a friend, and the perils inherent in navigating the treacherous waters of trying to keep a friend from childhood through the teen years. There’s alcoholism, viewed from the perspectives of a person in recovery and a person on the brink. There’s romance, and all the various ways teens approach flirtation and dating and jealousy and sex. There’s abandonment by a parent, the struggle of a single parent, and the tension between a parent trying to protect his child from the mistakes he made, and the teenage girl yearning for the independence to make her own mistakes.

And those are just the main plot points. There’s a bunch more Big Issues that arise in the subplots, and though that may seem like way too many Big Issues for one book, they’re handled masterfully, so they all play off each other and interconnect in a way that seems balanced and real. Honestly, until I typed them out right now, I didn’t realize just how many Big Issues there were. It seemed organic and natural, giving good perspectives and making some excellent observations without ever once giving even the slightest hint of being preachy.

The characters were treated with equal deftness. Vera was a wonderful narrator. She was smart and sassy and funny, but she also had her share of insecurities and doubts. She screwed up in some pretty major ways without it ever feeling like she had to screw up for the sake of story. All her choices felt like things she would really do, even though she was a smart kid and some of her decisions were pretty terrible. Because sometimes smart, good kids make bad decisions. And this book does an excellent job of exploring why. I was totally sucked in by her story, her history with Charlie, and how she was dealing with his death.

Then there was Charlie, who did some pretty rotten things before he died, but who is never a completely unlikable character. He explains some of his more abhorrent activities without really making excuses. Mostly, Charlie regrets the choices he made that hurt Vera and led to his death, and works to make the reader understand why those choices seemed necessary at the time, even if he wishes now he could take them back. Charlie’s story is a sad one, and it seemed his whole life was a series of trying to make the best of the terrible hand he was dealt — and sometimes he failed. Big time. His sections do an excellent job of providing explanations, not excuses, and they made me really feel for this screwed up kid.

The biggest surprise in this book is Vera’s father, Ken. He starts out as your typical YA parent — overprotective and clueless. The kind of YA parent that I think is way overused (and only marginally better than the Dead YA Parents) and always leaves me frustrated. But through the inclusion of his POV, we’re able to see why he treats Vera the way he does, his struggles, his aspirations for her life. And although this is YA and he is an adult, he goes through a coming-of-age arc of his own, as he fights with his own inner demons to try to give his daughter the life he never had. I really love that he was treated so thoughtfully as a character, and that the reader was able to understand his perspective. I wish more YA books took the approach of presenting the parents as real people, and took the time to explore the often-strained relationship between teens and their parents from both sides of the coin. I understand that teens aren’t necessarily chomping at the bit to read a story told in the voice of their parents, but if it’s handled well, as it is in this book, I think it really enhances the story, no matter the age of the reader.

Overall, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is a beautifully constructed tale of love, friendship, loss, and betrayal, with a varied cast of wonderfully realized characters who really brought the story to life. It tackles a myriad of tough issues, any one of which could bog a lesser book down, with grace and aplomb. It’s in turns funny and poignant, thoughtful and carefree, and one of the most unique and well-executed books I’ve read in a while.

Summer 2013 Action Movie Roundup

Posted on by

I’ve been to the movies a good amount this summer. At least, a good amount for me at this stage in my life. In high school, I used to go to the movies once or twice a week. Any movie. Even movies I didn’t really care about. And I’d regularly see movies three or four times in the theater.

Once, a friend and I went to see X-Men because we were thirsty at 11:00 at night and, for some reason I will never quite understand, decided going to the 24-hour diner was just too much effort.

Once, I went to see Titanic for the fourth time in the theater, by myself.

Oh, to be young and to have every penny you earn count as disposable income. Those were the days.

But I digress.

Nowadays, I only go to the movies when I really want to see a film on the big screen. Which means sometimes, I go months without a trip to the theater. But this summer, I’ve been going every few weeks. It seems Hollywood has gotten my memo about making more comic and sci-fi action movies, and they have decided this is a good plan. This pleases me greatly, because I love me some explosions.

I know. It’s shocking. Please try to contain yourselves.

For a little while, I thought I’d review each movie separately, then realized this was never going to happen. They are too many, and I’ve procrastinated too much. So instead I’m going to give you a one-paragraph mini-review on all the action movies I’ve seen, and let that be enough. Because I’ve already rambled on forever, and this is just the intro.

Here we go.

Star Trek Into Darkness

I was a huge fan of the rebooted 2009 Star Trek, so this sequel was one of my most anticipated films of 2013. Especially when I found out the villain would be played by none other than Sherlock himself, Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock is seriously one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t seen it…fix that). I’m pleased to say Star Trek Into Darkness did not disappoint. I absolutely adore every bit of casting in this franchise (Karl Urban as Bones is my favorite) and feel they do a fantastic job of capturing what was so amazing about the original Star Trek, while making it fun and accessible for a whole new generation of fans. Yes, there were a couple minor plot holes, and yes, I wish there were more Klingons, but as a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed Into Darkness and eagerly await the next installment in the reimagined Star Trek universe. Verdict: Must see. Must own.

Iron Man 3

As a huge fan of The Avengers, I was super-curious to see the first movie to kick off phase 2 of Marvel’s unprecedented multi-film lead-in to the Avengers sequel (P.S. If you want a recap of how all the movies leading to the first Avengers film tie together, this is the best one I’ve found). Call me crazy, but I’m one of the only people I know who merely liked the first two Iron Man movies. I know, most people think they’re the best, but I just thought they were okay. But. BUT. I absolutely LOVED Iron Man 3. The writing is brilliant. Not only does Tony have to deal with the after-effects of the events in Avengers, but the writers figured out a way to make a billionaire superhero, with a supersuit and limitless resources, vulnerable. No small task. And don’t even get me started on the genius that is how the villain is handled. And the women! Pepper Potts! I don’t want to spoil those of you who haven’t seen it, but suffice it to say, Iron Man 3 blew me away with its awesomeness. As with most comic movies, there are some plot holes, but I didn’t even care. See it. You’ll be glad you did. Verdict: Must see. Must own.

Man of Steel

Man oh man, Man of Steel, I wanted to love you so bad. But sadly, despite some undeniably excellent casting in Henry Cavill as Superman, and despite some rather impressive special effects, I just couldn’t get behind this movie. Mainly because it decided it would just be an alien/explosion movie, with a superhero, and not a SUPERMAN movie. There were so many missed opportunities. No Kryptonite. No intriguing dichotomy between mild-mannered Clark Kent and Man of Steel Superman. No playful banter between Clark and Lois Lane. And then we get into the things that are just plain wrong for Superman. Superman would never cause so much senseless destruction. Superman would never stand by and watch someone he cared about die, out of fear for himself. And Superman would never do…the thing he does in the end. I can’t say I hated Man of Steel — as an alien action movie with a superhero, it was fine. And it was wonderfully acted, and certainly had its moments of explosion-y greatness. But as a Superman movie — which is why I saw it in the first place — I was disappointed. Verdict: Wait for DVD. Or skip entirely.

The Wolverine 

After suffering through the travesty that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I was nervous about this movie. I love X-Men. I love superheroes and comics of all shapes and sizes, but X-Men has been my favorite for decades. I even collected the trading cards as a teenager. Yes. I was that kid. And while the most recent X-Men movie, X-Men: First Class, was amazing, I can’t ignore that films like Origins and The Last Stand also exist. So really, going to an X-Men movie is a crapshoot. However, I was pleasantly surprised by The Wolverine. It had a creative, engaging story with some awesome new characters and loads of slice-and-dice Wolverine action. I had a couple complaints — one of the villains is horribly cheesy and totally unnecessary, and some of the plot is convoluted, and the movie kept insisting on reminding me that The Last Stand actually happened and wasn’t just a bad dream — but while I was watching, I had an enjoyable experience. None of my problems were large, and none of them occurred to me until after the movie. (Well, except for Viper, the aforementioned unnecessary villain. All of her screentime was stupid.) It’s not my favorite X-Men movie, but I enjoyed it, and it was far from being the worst. Verdict: Worth the price of the ticket.

Pacific Rim

I wasn’t planning on seeing this movie in theaters. I wasn’t planning on seeing it ever. The trailer looked awful, like a Transformers/Godzilla ripoff, with nary a plot or interesting character to be found. But then all of Twitter and Tumblr started gushing about how awesome it was. I had friends assure me it was better than the trailer. I became curious. So I went. And holy cow. The trailer doesn’t even begin to do it justice. Yes, there are very large robots fighting very large monsters, which is a common trope in Japanese cinema, but it’s much more than a monster/robot action movie. It has a fabulous, diverse set of characters and explores a variety of relationship dynamics. It has a creative premise and a solid plot. And yes, it has giant robots fighting giant monsters, and that is awesome. No, it’s not going to win any Oscars or redefine the future of American cinema. But it was a thoroughly entertaining and exhilarating roller coaster of a movie that far exceeded my expectations. Verdict: Worth the price of the ticket, bordering on must see. Will probably own.

So there you have it, folks. My take on the big action blockbusters I’ve seen this summer. I also want to take a moment to give a shout-out to Now You See Me, which I didn’t include above because it’s not an action movie, but I did find thoroughly enjoyable. It’s everything I wanted in an adrenaline-fueled magician heist movie. I don’t think it’s in theaters anymore, but once it hits Redbox, check it out.

How about you? See any good movies this summer?

Thoughts on Waiting and Contentment

Posted on by

(I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while. Then today, my dear, wise friend Courtney posted on her blog about conditional happiness — nearly the exact topic I’ve been mulling over for weeks — and I took it as a kick in the pants to go ahead and write my post. So thanks, Court, for being my shoulder angel, yet again.)

So. I suck at waiting. But I find myself forced to do it a lot — in life in general, not just in writing — and it occurs to me, perhaps some of you are waiting too, and would like to know if your crazy is Crazy crazy or normal crazy.

Well, I can speak with zero authority on normal. But I can tell you what waiting is like for me, and what I’ve learned from it about contentment.

As I sit here smack dab in the middle of my search for an agent (no news on that front yet, so you can let out that breath you’ve been holding), I’ve read lots of “How I Got My Agent” posts from other writers. It sometimes makes the waiting easier to read stories of writers who went through this process and survived. Of course, it also sometimes makes the waiting harder, especially when I read a post about how the author got an email five minutes after querying and ten full requests and eight offers of representation, all in the course of two days.

That is not the norm. And it has most definitely not been my experience.

I’m not going to get into details of my agent search, because in case you haven’t noticed, it’s not over, but I will tell you I’ve had ups and downs. I’ve had form rejections and enthusiastic requests. My work has been met with both wonderfully encouraging feedback and thunderous silence. I’ve had critique partners praise an aspect of my writing, only to then have an agent pass because of that very thing.

It’s enough to drive a person batty.

I’ve done all the things I swore, months ago when I first dipped my toe into the query waters, I would not do. I’ve compulsively refreshed my email every 30 seconds. I’ve Twitter-stalked the agents who had my query/pages/partial/full. I’ve prayed for immediate good news, and given God ridiculous deadlines, because I was tired of waiting (He said to chill). I’ve texted friends lamenting how badly I suck as a writer, asking them to please drop everything to give me a pep talk because otherwise I’m going to set fire to my computer.

(Sorry, friends. I hope to never do that to you again. Especially not in the middle of your hair appointment.)

Waiting is hard, folks. Especially when you don’t know if the light at the end of the tunnel even exists. I don’t know if I’m waiting right now on acceptance or rejection. Waiting for something good — like a birthday or Christmas — can be hard enough. Same goes for waiting for something bad, like a root canal. But when you’re not sure if the thing you’re waiting for is Christmas or a root canal — well, that’s the hardest of all. Do I wait with excitement or dread? Fear or giddiness?

I started querying five months ago, and at first, my heart would sink with every rejection and soar with every request. I would bounce with nervous anticipation for days after shooting off an email. A surge of adrenaline would course through me with every ding of my inbox. I quickly learned to hate promotional emails with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. (Darn you, Chili’s!)

In case you’re unaware, for most authors, every stage of the publishing process is long. It takes a long time to write a book. It takes a long time to revise a book. It takes a long time to query, a long time to hear back from agents, a long time to revise again, a long time to submit to editors, and a long time from sale to publication. Yes, there are those happy few who find some of their steps abbreviated, but they probably experienced other steps that seemed to stretch out interminably. Such is the nature of the beast.

Now that I’m a few months into this process (and my journey thus far has been a tad different from many other querying writers, which I may explain to you someday…or I may not. It depends on how my story plays out. Suffice it to say, right now, I’m doing a lot more waiting and a lot less active querying), I’ve learned to calm down a bit. I don’t think so much about the things I have no control over. I can’t control whether an agent likes my book, or whether they think there is a market for it. All I can do is send my best work into the world, and hope someone loves my story as much as I do.

And meanwhile — and here’s where I get philosophical — be content. Because if I let the waiting and the agent (and later, the book deal and the book release and the sequel and the movie and on and on to infinity) become The Thing That Matters, that’s going to be a problem. Not only because I don’t know if I will achieve any of those things, but because none of that gives me any enjoyment or fulfillment right now. And now is the time I have to live in. (Unless someone wants to drop by in a TARDIS.)

Here’s the thing. None of my future goals are guaranteed. Heck, the future itself is not guaranteed. I could be hit by a bus later today, or struck by lightning tomorrow, or abducted by aliens next week. That doesn’t mean I need to hunker down and await my inevitable demise. That’s the Crazy talking. I still need to live my life with a purpose and work toward my goals.

But I also need to be able to be content with where I am, now. At peace. I need to live my days as if they have value in and of themselves, and not merely as a piece of a greater, as-of-yet unrealized Future Goal.

Because I hear — tell me if I’m wrong — that the waiting never stops. Never. So we’d best learn how to deal with it.

Taking a page from Court, I’m going to list a few things I’m thankful for, right now, today, that writing has given me, even if I never get an agent or sell a book. These are the reasons I’m grateful to be doing what I’m doing. These are the reasons that, regardless of what happens with my publishing career (or lack thereof), writing has been, and will continue to be, worth it. And these are the things that I can enjoy, no matter how long the waiting takes.

  • I have sitting on my bookshelf, right now at this very moment, four ARCs of friends’ books coming out in the next few months. FOUR. And even more book launches for friends on my calendar. I can’t begin to express how happy I am for them.
  • Speaking of book launches, I live in a city that has fabulous book events all the time. Friends’ events aside, there are a bunch of book and author events coming up locally in the next few months that I am ridiculously excited to attend. In my experience, book people rock.
  • There’s a book coming out next week with my name in the acknowledgements. It’ll be the first time that’s happened for me. You have no idea how happy this makes me. A friend once told me that having your name on a spine is great, but what matters most to her is how many acknowledgements she appears in. I think she’s right. Life is more joyful when you can sincerely celebrate the achievements of others with as much enthusiasm as your own.
  • I’ve spent the majority of the past four days with various people I met through writing, but who are now some of my dearest friends. Books and words were discussed, but we also went to restaurants, drank margaritas, watched action movies, stood in line for ice cream in the rain, went shoe shopping, and talked about everything from So You Think You Can Dance to German U-boats (okay, those two conversations might have happened simultaneously). These are my people. I have no idea how I functioned before I knew them.
  • In the past couple weeks, two of my friends have signed with wonderful agents. I can’t wait to see their hard work turned into books on shelves.
  • I’ve written an entire book. A book I love. Whether or not it ever sees the light of day, I can be proud of that.
  • I’m working on two others, and have ideas for many more. In the past year, I’ve discovered a love of writing I never knew I possessed. I’m so thankful to have learned that about myself.
  • I’m running a half marathon in twelve weeks (?!?!) for the first time in my life, because a writer friend talked me into it. I’m not entirely convinced that I won’t live to regret this, but I can say that I can now run further than I ever have in my life. It’s not 13.1 miles (yet), but just training is an accomplishment.
  • I’m attending the SCBWI Midsouth Fall Conference in September, and I will know tons of people. Last year I just attended the mixer, and I only knew a couple people. What a difference a year makes.
  • I’m traveling to Charleston, SC in November with four writer friends to attend YALLFest. Again, these are all people I either hadn’t met or barely knew a year ago, and now we’re going to cram five of us in a hotel room for three nights so we can attend a weekend full of YA book goodness.

So there you go. My thoughts on waiting and contentment, and how contentment makes the waiting easier.

Do I still compulsively check email or Twitter stalk? Very possibly. Would I be over the moon thrilled if my dream agent were to call me tomorrow and offer representation? You betcha. Do I still dream of one day walking into a bookstore and finding my name on a spine (or several)? Absolutely. And I will keep working toward that goal, for as long as writing brings me joy (which I imagine being the foreseeable future).

But in the meantime, I can take happiness in the journey. Not just in the writing itself — which is a gift — but also the people, the opportunities, and the experiences it’s given to me. And if you’re waiting, and struggling (as one does), I hope that you too can find contentment in the present. To be excited for what’s to come, but also to take joy in the now.

Thus endeth my philosophical musings for today.

EDIT: A few (wonderful) friends in the comments and via various other methods of communication have felt the need to encourage me after reading this post with some version of “And don’t worry, I know it feels like it’s taking a long time, but I’m sure you will get there!” To you, friends, I first say, thank you. Your confidence in me is bolstering and inspiring, and I am in constant awe of the utter fabulousness of your friendship and this community I’m so blessed to be a part of. I appreciate you.

But also, I just wanted to clear up, in case it is somehow unclear: this post is not intended as a lament that I have not yet achieved my goals. I’m not in despair, or even moderate discouragement. I’m actually really, really good with the whole waiting thing (obviously I have my days of WHY WAITING WHYYYYY, but fortunately, those are few and far between. And not today). I just  thought it may help some people — or maybe just me — to have a post about what waiting feels like, written by someone who is still in the midst of waiting and has no promise to ever emerge victorious on the other side. Most posts (that I’ve read) that talk about waiting are written from the finish line. I wanted to write one from heart of the race.

It doesn’t mean I think I won’t, someday, reach the finish line (of course, then there’s another finish line after that, and one after that, and one after that…). Just that I know it’s not guaranteed. And that I can still be okay with the waiting, no matter what happens, because there are still things to be grateful for in the now.

Review: Infinityglass by Myra McEntire

Posted on by

So you want to know my absolute favorite thing about this blog? Not only has blogging helped me discover oodles of fantastic books, but it’s helped me become aware of the large and thriving book community right around where I live. A community that includes published authors, soon-to-be-published writers, agented writers, non-agented writers, bloggers, and everything in between. A little over a year ago, I had never heard of Myra McEntire. Since then, I’ve discovered her fabulous books, but more importantly, I’ve gotten to know her, and she’s become a wonderful friend.

Next week, the last book in Myra’s Hourglass trilogy, Infinityglass, will hit shelves, and I’m so, so excited for you to read it.

This review is going to be a little different from my usual, because I actually had the privilege of beta reading Infinityglass. So I can’t review it with complete objectivity, since I was so involved in the writing process. (Really, I just want to write READ IT READ IT NOW IT’S SO GOOD YOU’LL LOVE IT READ IT NOWWWWWW!) But I’m going to try my best.

The Plot (from Goodreads):

The stakes have risen even higher in this third book in the Hourglass series.

The Hourglass is a secret organization focused on the study of manipulating time, and its members — many of them teenagers -­have uncanny abilities to make time work for them in mysterious ways. Inherent in these powers is a responsibility to take great care, because altering one small moment can have devastating consequences for the past, present, and future. But some time trav­elers are not exactly honorable, and sometimes unsavory deals must be struck to maintain order.

With the Infinityglass (central to understanding and harnessing the time gene) at large, the hunt is on to find it before someone else does.

But the Hourglass has an advantage. Lily, who has the ability to locate anything lost, has determined that the Infinityglass isn’t an object. It’s a person. And the Hourglass must find him or her first. But where do you start searching for the very key to time when every second could be the last?

My Thoughts:

From the first few moments of Infinityglass, it’s clear that this is going to be a different sort of story from the first two books in the series. For one thing, as with Timepiece, we have a new narrator — but this time, there’s two of them, and one of them is someone we’ve never met. And for another thing, it moves out of Ivy Springs, Tennessee, to the bustling streets of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The first voice we’re treated to in Infinityglass is the titular character herself, Hallie. Hallie’s different from the other female characters in the series; she’s bold, reckless, assertive, and a bit on the dangerous side. She also, like the other members of the Hourglass, has the time gene, giving her unique and uncanny abilities. However, Hallie’s grown up in a very different environment from the Hourglass folks we know and love, and her attitude about time genes, time rips, and her role in it all does not necessarily jive with what all the characters have believed and discovered in the first two books.

Enter the second narrator, Dune. Unlike Hallie, Dune is a character first introduced in Hourglass, but he’s always remained a secondary character, his powers explained, but not explored. In Infinityglass, Dune finally gets his chance to shine. He goes to New Orleans as an expert on the Infinityglass, tasked with figuring out the best way to handle “it” now that they know “it” is a “her.” Now, I liked Michael, and I loved Kaleb — and I know many of you did too — but Dune is not either of them. He’s his own person, strong and quiet, intelligent, analytical, and haunted by a few demons of his own.

One of my favorite things about this series is the diverse cast of characters (both in personality and heritage), and all the different ways a person can be strong and complex. And of course, in true Hourglass series style, there are swoons and kisses galore throughout the book, both from our favorite established couples, and from a sizzling new pairing.

Together, Dune and Hallie try to puzzle out what it means for Hallie to be the Infinityglass, both for her personally, and for the world as a whole, which is still being flooded with ever-intensifying time rips. Meanwhile, the nefarious Jack Landers is still at large, along with Teague, the head of the anti-Hourglass organization Chronos, who wishes to use the Infinityglass for her own, undoubtedly villainous, purposes. The more Dune and Hallie learn about the Infinityglass and Chronos, and Hallie discovers about her frightening abilities, the more it becomes clear that they’re going to need help from the rest of the Hourglass team.

The book builds to an action-packed conclusion, allowing the key players from the first two books to return while keeping the spotlight firmly on this book’s two protagonists, Dune and Hallie. Questions posed throughout the series are answered, action is abundant, and it ends on a satisfying note full of promise for the future. Just like the first two books, it’s chock full of action, kissing, superpowers, witty banter, and pop culture references (including several Doctor Who nods — of course). I loved it, and I hope you do too.