YA New York

No, my friends, I am not inviting you to go see an all-star special screening of Twilight with me. This is because I myself have not received any such invitation.

HOWEVER, I am inviting you to send me your pictures. If you go to the film on opening night, e-mail me pics of the crowd. I want to see any and all wackiness, from lines extending down three blocks to people in vampire and werewolf outfits to … well, you get the idea. I’ll post the best pics here on YA New York. Please be sure to include you names (or your internet handles) and locations, so I can give you attribution. A short description wouldn’t go awry, either.

Now, it’s the weekend. I may or may not be attending one or more events this weekend, and I may or may not tell you about them come Monday. For now, everyone go re-read E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.

Much love,
brina

Hi guys, it’s Jami B. again.

I did some Nancy Drew style sleuthing and uncovered a link to the Ryan Seacrest/Obama interview that I mentioned in my last post right here.

If you’re curious, The Seacrest also does daily readings on his morning show from Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, in anticipation of the upcoming film release. There are links to some of his recent reading passages on the same webpage if you scroll a bit. Good for a chuckle, since he has some colorful commentary.

And finally, I’d like to get some thoughts about Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist off my chest. I had high hopes for this film. The novel, coauthored by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, is pretty kickass. Like seriously. Kick. Ass. Reading. So the suggestion that some Hollywood studio might smear this adorable, yet meaty book with bubblegum pop music and cheescake tween idol actors really gave me pause. What if they f’ed it up? Really, I was concerned.

I’ve seen the movie, though, and it’s actually pretty good. Its not 100 percent accurate to the book, but it does get the important stuff right. As a screenwriter who loves YA books, I was ready to roast this film if need be, but it’s really been done right. The lead actors (Michael Cera and Kat Dennings) deliver spot on, emotionally real performances as the titular Nick and Norah. The soundtrack, of course, is respectable. And the big diffs — including edits to the Tris and Caroline characters — mostly result in more laughs for the audience or help to trim bulky plotlines to make the 2 hour movie work. I also just liked it because the chemistry between the two leads totally crackled, and that’s how it comes off in the book! Finally, a movie that gets it! GETS that they have to make the audience feel what it feels like to be living-reading-breathing it as if you’re on your own night-in-the-life of adventure!

Bottom line: It’s a good adaptation, because it gets the feelings and tone of the book down pat. In Hollywood, that’s almost unheard of. So bravo Columbia Pictures, director Peter Sollett, and screenwriter Lorene Scafaria. Let’s hope others follow your lead and we get more great page to screen adaptations like Nick and Norah and a lot less like … City of Ember.

We’re still gone fishing, but you should seriously consider spending election night at the liveblog at YA for Obama.

Hey there,

I’m Jami B., one of Brina’s “lit lieutenants.” I’m here to check in and help fill the gap while Brina is on sabbatical. To wit … you’ll find all kinds of good bits once you jump on in and read my inaugural post:  (more…)

Starting Monday, a whole slew … slough … slew … BIG BUNCH of entries: interviews, event updates, and a gazillion billion reviews. Hopefully we’ll also have a great play-by-play of Nick and Norah from our awesome L.A. correspondent, Jami B.

Don’t worry, dearest friends. I’ve not forgotten you. Now go read some stuff while I continue to hide out for another twenty-four hours or so.

Much love,
brina

One. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (the film) comes out in theaters on Friday. Our LA correspondent Jami B. will be attending and writing up a review. I’ll also be going, with luck, and I may chime in as well.

Two. Terry Gross interviewed Michael Cera (who stars as Nick in the film) on her NPR show, Fresh Air. The interview was almost entirely good, except that she failed to mention the film is based on the fantabulous book by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. Umm … hello? Anyway, you can read about and listen to the interview here.

Three. It’s Banned Books Week, as you’ve probably already heard. There are about a million great books that have been banned, so try picking one up. My personal top three from the “frequently challenged” list include the works of Philip Pullman (killing God makes you not so popular), Lois Lowry (dystopian societies are a no-no), and Stephen Chbosky (all sorts of ban-attracting stuff in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I’ll say no more). Anyway, while I adore those three authors and their works, I’d encourage you to have your pick — there are gazillions of amazing books being banned all the time.

Four. There’s a new blog in town, started by Michael Grant, author of Gone and something like 700 other books, all under pseudonyms. Michael is really cool, because he created this massive group blog called Stupid Blog Name, and he invited all sorts of people to contribute. Including me! I was so surprised and amazed, and even more surprised and amazed when I looked at the site today and saw that MEG CABOT is blogging on the site too. Umm, hello? I cannot believe I am occupying the same web space as Meg freaking Cabot. And Michael freaking Grant. You should go check it out, and soon.

Okay, I usually wouldn’t do this to you. I really wouldn’t, but it’s important. As you may know, Paper Towns by John Green will be in stores soon (Oct. 16, to be specific). And you need to do a little pre-reading.

First of all, if you’ve never read John’s work before, I highly recommend An Abundance of Katherines, which is super freaking cheap on Amazon. $3.99. Seriously.

But more importantly, I’m going to ask you to read a rather long poem by a very famous man named Walt Whitman. This is the kind of stuff that, if you’ve not yet reached college, you will be reading in college. It’s hard work, and it’s honestly not my favorite thing in the world because I read the book under the tutelage of a college professor to whom I was allergic. Also because, while reading Leaves of Grass, I happened to be dating a guy I am now ninety percent sure was gay, and Walt Whitman was gay, and I felt like a magnet for gay guys.

ANYway, it actually is kind of a great idea to have a familiarity with this particular poem, Song of Myself, which luckily for you is old enough to be legally available free online. Bring up the page, print out the poem — it’s too long to read online — and be prepared for a bit of an intellectual struggle. You won’t regret it, especially because this particular work is sort of central to Paper Towns and also because it’s a Good Poem That You Should Read.

For fans of Michael Grant’s Gone: the man is nothing if not prolific and hard-working. Not only is the second book in the Gone series coming next year, but until then we have a blog to read. Introducing … The Fayz. If you’ve already read Gone, you know what the Fayz is. And if you haven’t read the book, maybe the blog will tempt you. Or maybe you should steer clear of it until you’ve gotten your hands on a copy of Gone, as there are some slight spoilers within. So you can either (a) click on the link above, or (b) go read the book, then come back here and click the link above. (Note: There are no other options.)

I’m loathe to admit it, but I must: I’m a Twilight virgin. If you’ve wondered these last few months why I didn’t say anything about Stephanie Meyer, or anything about Breaking Dawn … well, it’s because I wouldn’t know what to say. I’d be like, “So, these are some really popular books about vampires, right? And this author is like the new JK Rowling? Is that the deal?”

I mean, I really do want and need to read Stephanie’s books, and I plan to. But for now, I’m just going to start an open thread here, where you can all talk about the Twilight series, what you think of how it ended (so yeah, if you click on the comments, I’m guessing there will be spoilers), and what you think of all the hoopla. I must say, I haven’t seen so many one-star reviews on Amazon.com in a long time. It seems some fans were really disappointed. Your thoughts?

Today’s New York Times boasts an article by Margo Rabb about being published as a YA author … accidentally. Rabb, author of Cures for Heartbreak, writes, “When my agent called to tell me that my novel, Cures for Heartbreak, had sold to a publisher, she said, ‘I have good news and bad news.’ The good news: an editor at Random House had read it overnight and made an offer at 7:30 a.m. The bad news: the editor worked at Random House Children’s Books.”

Rabb goes on to say that she was shocked, at least at first, that her “literary novel about death and grief,” which she’d worked on for eight years, was YA.

I’m sorry, and I know this is going to sound snarky, but, just a few things:

1. Oh noes! You’re a YA writer! Wherever did you go wrong?
2. Now that the NYT has caught on to this whole “YA Ghetto” thing, maybe we can forget it permanently, right? I mean, I know this wasn’t published in the Style section, but can we treat it that way?
3. No, seriously, though. Margo Rabb is getting some crap for what she’s got to say, but let’s try to be fair. (More inside, including a comment from Margo herself!) (more…)