Protected: Is there anyone who doesn’t love a meme?

T

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When he was 13, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

In response to this – (eta: original full post here.)

My mom gave me To Kill A Mockingbird for Easter, when I was 9 years old, and told me, “I think you’re old enough to read this now.” I remember vividly thinking, ew, an issues book.

So I didn’t read it until I was 10, because what kid wants to read a big thick book with small print and seriousness.
But then, when I was 10, I read it.
And as soon as I finished I read it again.

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LET ME EXPLAIN. NO, THERE IS TOO MUCH. LET ME SUM UP.

AHHHHH TOO MUCH IS GOING ON THAT I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO PROPERLY POST ABOUT. HERE GOES MY FEEBLE ATTEMPTS:

• aliwilgus‘s THE LAST AIRBENDER MANGA DEBUTS AT #2 ON THE NYT BESTSELLER LIST DDDDDDDDD *hugs everyone in the world*
• cindypon‘s Silver Phoenix has a) sold out at Amazon!!!!! b) been re-ordered by Amazon c) AT THE ORIGINAL PRICE, which means that sales will count towards her advance and will be used by the publisher to count towards the success of her series.

  Here, again, is where you can read the first 70 pages of this wonderful, fierce, proud, important, trail-blazing book online.

  And here, again, are PLACES WHERE YOU CAN BUY THIS AMAZING, WONDERFUL, FIERCE, PROUD, IMPORTANT, TRAIL-BLAZING BOOK IN ITS ORIGINAL TRAIL-BLAZING COVER, OKAY <333333:
  - through your local independent bookseller at indiebound.org;
  - here through bookdepository (free shipping!)
  - here through Powells (currently onsale at bargain price ALSO NOW SELLING AT ORIGINAL COST!)

• Brown Girl Magazine is an online cultural magazine focused on South-Asian women and women of Brown heritage living all over the world. They are currently looking for new writers, readers, and fans! It seems like a really interesting, really smart magazine, so please check it out and see what you think!
• INFINITUS 2010!!!!!

  I am going to be attending! Specifically, I’m going to be doing a panel with the fabulous jlh and the brilliant karenhealey, where we’ll be talking about real-life issues in fiction and fandom, engaging with issues of diversity, privilege, and cultural appropriation, in fiction and in our own world. I’m super, super-excited to get the opportunity to talk about this in a real-life fandom space, and especially excited to do so alongside two amazing, smart women. I hope you’ll join us!

• Infinitus also needs Volunteers for room preppers and other small jobs, so if you want to get involved, please consider joining the volunteer team!
• AMAZING FESTS OF AMAZING:

  - Hosted by access_fandom, Festibility celebrates disabled characters in fandom! All fanwork and all characters are allowed, but the starter list of characters who are disabled in their respective canons is a wonderful way to get your brain storming.

  - realwomenfest, a follow-up to the Awesome Ladies ficathon that celebrates Women in RPF!
  

  (and one more for blindmouse)!
  

  You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth, where there are currently comments!

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  Posted by bookshop on Jul 9, 2010 in books, fandom | 0 comments

i don’t want to be this person. Dear Publishing Industry, stop FORCING me to be this person.

I don’t want to be the person who only rants about issues I have with the Publishing Industry, but I just saw the new cover for Silver Phoenix and I’m so upset that my hands are shaking as I write this.

OLD COVER!	NEW COVER + SEQUEL COVER

I reviewed and loved Silver Phoenix last year. It was on my top 10 list of books read in 1009. In fact I loved it so much that I gave away not one, but 3 copies of it.

This story, which anyone who’s read it can tell you, is authentically Chinese. It is set in the Xian province of historical China and is deeply, deeply ingrained in Chinese history, Chinese culture, and Chinese folklore and mythology.

This is not a Chinese-inspired alternate universe. It is not a matter of disguising willful racism as poetic license. It’s a story set in *actual* pre-China, with *actual* Chinese characters. It is a story with mythical elements and fantastic adventures, but it is never inauthentic in any way. What I love most about this book (besides Ai Ling’s unabashed love for EATING ♥) is that at its heart it is a story about female empowerment that is brought about through connection with culture and heritage. It is a coming of age story that is inextricably tied to Ai Ling’s empowerment through her identity, not just as a woman, but as a Chinese woman.

In short, when you create a cover that attempts to make Ai Ling look less Chinese, you rob this story of its integrity.

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this is a very important issue to me ok.

Aja: I JUST BOUGHT A ZOMBIE T-SHIRT FROM THINKGEEK
Aja: i really like zombies
Aja: i will wear it with my TEAM ZOMBIE PIN THAT I GOT AT THE BOOK BLOGGER CON
Aja: maybe on the day Zombies vs Unicorns is released! MAYBE I WILL STAND OUTSIDE BARNES AND NOBLES EXCITEDLY
Aja: GLARING AT ANYONE WHO APPEARS TO BE TEAM UNICORN
Cathy: a;lsfdkja
Cathy: ~is team unicorn then~
Cathy: just to be contrary
Aja: >:E
Aja: BUT CATHY
Aja:

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Book Blogger Appreciation Week!

Hi, people from the Internet!

I didn’t really consider myself a book blogger until I went to the book blogging con and realized that I kind of… am becoming one; so because of that, and because I’m always looking for a chance to get more people to read the first post listed below, I’m participating in the registration for BBAW, under the YA Book Blogging category.

For your consideration, dear Book Bloggers of the Universe, here are a few of my favorite YA-related posts I’ve made:

• Bad Romance (or, YA & Rape Culture)
• New Magic Under Glass cover! + Book giveaway!
• The Most Influential YA of the Decade

  And, 2-non-YA-related entries:

• Pride & Prejudice in Emoticons.
• I’m done explaining to people why fanfic is okay.

  I like that whatever book-posts occur on this LJ happen organically, and I’ve decided not to force myself into a corner where I think I know what being a “book blogger” means! I love that this journal remains tied to and informed by fandom. I like that I talk about issues that crossover between fandom and publishing. And maybe it’s not a traditional-looking book blog, but I’m pretty sure I will never have another 6 month stretch like this one in terms of posts I make going viral and getting passed around and linked in noteworthy places. So, I celebrate that! And I celebrate my readers, both new and old, and all the reasons you guys are here.

  ♥!

  P.S. The rest of my book-centric posts are tagged here, and the whole journal is duplicated on Dreamwidth.

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  Posted by bookshop on Jun 16, 2010 in books, fandom | 0 comments

A suggestion.

I don’t know who Elizabeth Bluemle is, but this week she is my hero for doing an incredible job of stating the so-damn-obvious:

The truth: we in the book trade have fallen shamefully behind our own culture, and our own times. We can remedy that with open dialogue, new paradigms, and concerted effort. And—we have to remedy it. When adults shout racial epithets at our country’s elected leaders, when bullied children are hanging themselves out of despair and shame, when children’s faces in art murals on the sides of schools are criticized for being “too dark,” when racism is still alive and vicious in this country, we can’t politely avert our eyes.

It is our responsibility—as people who create, produce, and distribute the lion’s share of books that reach and teach and entertain children—it is our highest calling to provide written, illustrated worlds that embrace and prioritize all children, books that resemble the playgrounds and classrooms and homes of this country and the rest of the world. And in order to do that, we must open the gates of our publishing houses to a greater variety of voices and cast aside outdated assumptions of what people will or won’t want to read, will or won’t want to edit or publish or sell.

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Books!

hello, all! the list of books i have read this spring and need to review has been getting longer and longer so in an effort to purge myself of this one of many sins, my Riesling-soaked brain and I are taking pen to hand and attempting to write about them all in one fell swoop! — Not to be confused with one fallen swoop, fell swoop’s disgraced step-cousin. (I have been reading romances; the influence is obvious.)

Unless otherwise noted I ordered all of these books through my local indiebound bookstore or occasionally picked them up at B&N on a shameful shopping splurge.

MY LIST IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER IS LIKE SO:

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