YA New York

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?

Yes, my friends, I am still having electrical difficulties. As in, I’ve had zero internet access for the entire day, and much of last night. Yesterday I even paid $6 to use the web at a Starbucks. This, when I’m already paying for internet in my own home.

Ahem. I’ll stop complaining. But I wanted to let you know that I’ll be shooting out a few things this week:

1. A review of Zombie Blondes by Brian James. The zombie trend, it has started.
2. An interview with the esteemed and truly awesome Melissa Walker, author of the Violet on the Runway series.
3. Another review or three, of one of the trillion books I’ve got sitting on every available surface. Do leave a comment if there’s anything in particular that you’d like to hear about asap.
4. Next week, July 11: A big, gigantic, fantastical review and maybe more of Lauren Mechling’s Dream Girl, which will be released that day! Which reminds me, I need to fill the bathtub up and re-read that one.

Ahem. So you’ll get all of that, and soon, if I can just get the interwebs to cooperate with me for more than ten seconds at a time.

Much love,
brina