Latest Posts by thebookwenches-blog - Page 2

Hey, friends! Tori here. I just wanted to gloat about this awesome haul I got at work this week, a glorious blend of paperbacks I've been lusting after and some advance reader's copies that I can't wait to dive into! Definitely top of the stack is gonna be The Land of 10,000 Madonnas by former bookseller and general awesome person Kate Hattemer. Here's what I get from the back of the cover: Prior to his death from a rare congenital heart condition, Jesse prepared a once-in-a-lifetime trip across Europe for his cousins, best friend, and girlfriend. We as readers get to join them on this excursion, as well as in their search for the answer to the question Jesse poses for them: Would you rather live a long, quiet life or a short, heroic one? This isn't my usual shtick; but I cracked it open just to get a feel for it, and before I knew it I'd read the prologue and the first two chapters. I'm definitely hooked, and can't wait to let you guys know about it and my other new treasures. Happy reading!

Hello!

I’m Claire. I am 25, still shelving away at the bookstore, and hopefully a librarian someday. A little about me: My favorite things in the whole wide world are reading, movies, popcorn, tiny towns on Lake Erie, music, art and making art, and British panel shows. And also my fellow booksellers. I will love them forever.

I tend to be a bit of a reading odd-ball. I adore children’s books, especially middle-grade, picture books, and YA. And pretty much in that order. I read a possibly unhealthy amount of romance novels, fair number of graphic novels, the occasional literary memoir, and fiction. I will probably post a lot about illustrators, book covers, and picture books. Because they are pretty much my favorite things about the book industry.

This year I am attempting to branch myself back out into grown-up people lit. Because, like Tori, I don’t usually have the attention span for an adult book that takes me longer than a week to read.

My favorite books of all time are the Queens Thief middle grade series by Megan Whalen Turner. I will probably be writing at least one entire post about my love for her and her books. I have a very strong belief that absolutely everyone needs to read her books. They are wonderful and hilarious and Eugenides is just the bomb-diggity and holy-crap Attolia and Eddis are badasses and I could go on and on. -> Like that sentence, WHAT!

I can’t wait to get started!

Hi all. I’m JoAnn and, at the tender age of 30, hold the position of Crone in The Book Wenches. I split my work life between managing the operations of the bookstore and being a massage therapist. I split my personal life with reading, gaming, various crafting, and pounding back movies/shows/anime.

I have fairly eclectic reading tastes, but my go-to comfort zone is genre fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, horror, and romance). I also read a bunch of YA and graphic novels.

I’m a giant nerd so that is my wheelhouse and probably going to be really evident in the bulk of my posts.

(lol sorry for the weird ass pic.  This coffee place is super crowded and I can’t smile at my computer without people looking at me like I have the plague)

Heyoo!  I’m Melissa and I’m Book Wench number… four?  I am 24, live in good ol’ New York City, and I used to work with these lovely ladies in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Well, I’m def no stranger to the book industry.  Former English major, former production editor at Pearson, former Cincinnati bookseller, current freelance editor (Mosaic Editing holler at me, this is a shameless plug for your editing services), current bookseller at Books of Wonder.  I’m currently working on procuring a full-time job in publishing (aren’t we all HA HA HA).

A little about myself: I love Beyoncé with every fiber of my being.  More than is really healthy probs.  I listen to a lot of Christmas music.  I’m really into astrology currently even though I’m very skeptical of it (it doesn’t make sense to me either).  My favorite author is Hemingway, but not as a person. My favorite person is Libba Bray, but not necessarily as an author. I read primarily YA and middle grade (Books of Wonder is a children’s book store), and the occasional feminist adult fic.  My reviews and recommendations will primarily be YA, holler.

I’ll post a normal pic of myself, idk, when one exists.

(That’s my cat, Casper.  Casper the Friendly Cat.  He’s probably the most important thing about me tbh)

Hello!

So--me in a nutshell. I’m Marita. I’m 24 years old, I have a degree in biology that I’m going to do something with eventually, I’m fluent in French, I’m a vegetarian, and I ride a scooter. I love theater, traveling, music, and boating.

In terms of fiction, I gravitate towards science fiction and fantasy, especially in a modern-day setting. I love the books that make me feel like there’s still magic in the world, that the near future is full of limitless possibilities, and that I could walk out my front door on any given day and get swept up in an adventure.

I prefer to find weird, unrecognized books no one’s ever heard of as opposed to reading whatever’s getting a ton of attention at the moment. And yes, I know this makes me a huge hypocrite because I love telling other people what to read.

When it comes to nonfiction, I read my fair share of science writing--especially in the hard sciences--but I also like to read a lot of philosophy and theology because while science is an extremely powerful tool, there are a lot of big questions that it will never be able to answer.

My all-time favorite fiction books include John Dies at the End, Breakfast of Champions, Uprooted, Strangers and Sojourners, The Blue Castle, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Sandman, The Raw Shark Texts, Society of S, Good Omens, and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.

Favorite non-fiction books include Guns, Germs, & Steel, A Beautiful Question, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Something Other Than God, The Violinist’s Thumb, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension, Christianity for the Modern Pagan, and Lab Girl.

It would take a long time to list my all-time favorite YA books, but I’ll inhale anything by Scott Westerfeld, Neal Shusterman, Garth Nix, Holly Black, Marissa Meyer, Rosamund Hodge, and William Sleator.

The other book wenches already know this because I mention it at any given opportunity, but my favorite series of all time is Animorphs. If you need me to explain why it is a masterpiece of the English language, give me a few hours and I’ll set you straight.

Hello! :) Bookwench #2 reporting in. Here’s a little about me...I’m Alia, I’m 27 years old and I love books, cake and Korean food.  I used to be an elementary school teacher in Daegu, South Korea for about four years. Daegu is famous for being hot (it’s in a valley), has lots of great food and people there have the best Korean accent ( it’s like a tough southern accent). With a background in teaching and experience in children’s bookselling, my contributions to The Bookwenches will mostly be children’s literature related.  I specialize in Picture Books. You have questions? I have answers. Need a suggestion? You got it. You like looking at pretty pictures?...WELL ME TOO! I also read quite a bit of middle grade and some YA. I like a little bit of everything; fantasy, historical fiction, sci-fi, fairy tale, realistic fiction, romance, coming of age novels, graphic novels etc.  One of my favorite books of all time is Zel by Donna Jo Napoli. Like Tori, I like that medieval, princessy but AWESOME story stuff!  In 2016, I’m looking forward to Sherman Alexie and Yuyi Morales’ new book Thunder Boy Jr. It’ll be Alexie’s first picture book!! If you don’t know him, just check out The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. You won’t regret it. I’m also looking forward to Pugs of the Frozen North by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre!  You can also check me out at my blog readitrealgood.com and I have a twitter @readitrealgood. On my blog I share diverse and excellent reads. It’s intended to be a resource for people looking for great kids books, especially ones focusing on diversity. I also discuss diversity in literature and publishing and share my thoughts from time to time. 

Nice to meet you...만나서 반갑습니다! 촣은 하루 되세요! ^_^

A Feminist Reading List for the Holidays: Books by strong, spirited, whip-smart, flawed, fantastic, human, devastatingly talented women for anyone - female, male, or otherwise - on your list.

My Life On The Road by Gloria Steinem

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Hissing Cousins by Marc Peyser and Timothy Dwyer

Isabella: The Warrior Queen by Kirstin Downey

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

A House Of My Own by Sandra Cisneros

Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff

Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

Missoula by Jon Krakauer

Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson

The Mare by Mary Gaitskill

You Don’t Have to Like Me by Alida Nugent (@thefrenemy​)

Peruse all of our holiday lists here!

A Diverse Reading List For The Holidays: Because representation matters. We’ve gathered some of our favorite authors and characters from 2015 who speak from just a few of the myriad perspectives humanity has to offer. (Don’t see what you’re looking for here? Send us a chat!)

Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehesi Coates

Negroland by Margo Jefferson

City of Clowns by Daniel Alarcón & Sheila Alvarado

Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older (@danieljose)

The Book of Phoenix by @nnedi Okorafor

Speak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial by Kenji Yoshino

Everything, Everything by @nicolayoon

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh (@rahdieh)

The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak

The Girl at the Center of the World by Austin Aslan

Becoming Nicole by Amy Ellis Nutt

Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin

A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk

All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu

The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami

Peruse all of our holiday lists here!

[Publishing] is a world where writers of color are damned if they do and damned if they don’t—we often find ourselves either being asked to “emphasize” (read: exoticize) our identities (“I love your writing about race,” one editor told me. “Do you have anything else like that?”) or pretend our difference doesn’t exist, to pretend our trauma doesn’t exist, to pretend that the audience we’re looking back at isn’t 90 percent made of white men. We’re pulled in so many directions, it’s a wonder we still have the energy to produce creative work. “Indict us!” the white audience shouts. “Comfort us! Teach us!” It’s an enormous amount of pressure. Sometimes, it can be embarrassing. In the words of Jay Z, “Can I live?”

Morgan Parker in Equity in Publishing: What Should Editors Be Doing? (via richincolor)

Hello from your friendly neighborhood Book Wench!

Since I’m the first of us slackers to actually post something on here, I figured I’d go ahead and introduce myself and our blog and what we’re about!

So, About Us:

The Book Wenches are a collective of fantastic booksellers, former coworkers, and eternal friends Alia, Claire, Jo Ann, Marita, Melissa, and Tori. Life has drawn several of us away from our beloved bookstore to distant and varied lands of the book industry. Thus out of a desire to keep in touch and to keep each other updated on the books we love, this blog was created!

While you will certainly encounter a wide range of genres, age levels, and interests here, we are all deeply invested in reading and promoting diversity in literature and are huge fans and supporters our faves @weneeddiversebooks.

We’ll be here to talk with you about what we’re reading–what’s new, what’s classic, what’s yet to be…and what’s good.

About Me:

Oh hey, I’m Tori! I’m 25, biracial, and coming to you live from the coffee shop I work in when I’m not out peddling books.

I primarily read Young/New Adult, but you can also expect a good deal of Middle Grade, some picture books, and occasionally an adult book or two (my attention span isn’t really capable of handling anything over 300 pages). The vast majority of what I read is Fantasy and Science Fiction (I am a sucker for a good fairy tale retelling), with a little Romance thrown in. I’m also a big fan of comics and graphic novels.

My favorite book of all time is The Two Princesses of Bamarre. The best book I read this year was Welcome to Night Vale (@welcometonightvalebook). The book I’m most excited about in 2016 is Catherine Egan’s Julia Vanishes (seriously guys, it is so good–I plan to read it at least twice more before it comes out in June)

Let's be friends