Monday, October 21, 2019

5 Bookish Things I'm Loving Right Now

This is the 4th installment of 5 Bookish Things I'm Loving Right now.  You can find my last post here. 

1.  So the first thing, isn't so much a thing I love, as a thing I read and felt the need to share it.  YA author, Julia Watts was recently uninvited to a teen literary festival because someone on the library planning committee googled her and found out she also writes erotica! WTF?? The library system putting on the festival claims it wants to represent diverse authors and include LBGTQ persons, yet dis invite her because she also writes a different genre? As any rational human being does, I'm sure Ms. Watts isn't about to go on a tangent about her erotica writing when her YA writing is the focus of the festival.  Also, it makes seem like erotica is wrong and no matter what she writes or does she won't be suitable for young adults because of the other writing, which is just wrong! They tried to make it better by inviting her to a standalone event, but I think they are making a huge mistake by not allowing her to participate in the teen lit festival.  And, now I've added one of her recent books to my to-read list.

2.  When I saw this Book Riot post I got super excited! Growing up in the 90s, I was a HUGE fan of Sweet Valley High and Saved by the Bell.  This article compares the two and matches them up with their doppelganger from the other! I felt their matches were on point and it was funny at how the characters matched up so nicely! I enjoyed the Screech / Winston Egbert comparison.  I had almost forgotten about Winston.  I'm sure the similarities have a lot to do with the simple set ups of YA/ teen TV but this trip down memory lane was fun!  My favorite Sweet Valley character was Elizabeth Wakefield and my favorite Saved by the Bell character was Zach Morris.

3. I saw a review for the book Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay and the cover caught my eye first and then I read what it was about! 


"A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder.

Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story.

Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth -- and the part he played in it.

As gripping as it is lyrical, Patron Saints of Nothing is a page-turning portrayal of the struggle to reconcile faith, family, and immigrant identity. "


This sounds like a infusion of present day politics, diversity, coming of age and YA that should appeal to a lot of different audience.  It came out in June, and I will be checking my library for it!

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My oldest girl reading to my littlest girl!!!! Melts my heart.  There have been many stories shared here so far.  Favorites include Don't Press the Button,  That's Not My Unicorn, and The Going to Bed Book

What bookish things are you loving right now?

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