Stephenie Meyer to Release new Book

Welp.

Stephenie Meyer is releasing a new book later this year. But thankfully it has nothing to do with werewolves or vampires or poorly written female characters. It’s actually a thriller.

Wait, what?

Yes. The author who gave the world Bella and Edward is now giving us something we all want. A novel for adults. I was surprised when I read it’ll be her second novel written for adults. The Host was evidently the first one, which was always shelved in the young adult section at my store.

I think it’d be wonderful if she does what other prominent authors have done and starts writing in every genre imaginable. Because we need more of those authors, right?

Do you have any interest in Stephenie Meyer’s new book The Chemist?

No, These Book Series are not the Same

A few nights ago I was working a closing shift, right? Which generally means it’s pretty slow toward the end of the night. But then I was awakened by a comment a co worker made. She said Twilight is the same as The Hunger Games. You can imagine my reaction to this.

I couldn’t believe it. And she was quire serious. Though another worker did immediately tell her that she was quite incorrect, I was the only one there who’d actually read any of the books around Katniss. So no one could really jump in with me.

Anyway, sure both series are obviously young adult, but to say that they are the exact same thing is outrageous to me. And disrespectful toward Suzanne Collins. Ugh. Have you ever heard anyone compare two books or series that don’t belong in the same sentence?

One Last Bit of Twilight News

I wrote last week about the new book in the series in which the genders of most of the characters are swapped. Well I learned something else about the book.

I was bouncing around WordPress for a bit the other day and I came across a review. So I read it. It was not good. It appears that Meyer put in even less work than I expected. The text of the book appears to be the exact same. She didn’t actually rewrite anything. There were a few things that were changed because Meyer figured a guy would see them differently than a girl, but most of the text wasn’t.

I think it’s both arrogant and disrespectful. Because people are buying this book. But it’s not really anything new. Just some stupid names changed. I think I’m forever done discussing Stephenie Meyer after reading this. What do you think?

Another Twilight Book?

Oh man. Yesterday I finally got to reading some blogs and I found out something interesting. There’s going to be a new book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. But she won’t just be adding more to the story. Nope.

It’s a gender swap. Not sure if that’s what it’s called, but basically Bella and Edward will be renamed and switch places. So that Meyer can prove that Bella was just a “human in distress” and not a damsel in distress. I’ll sum up my thoughts: , “Um, why?”.

We know why, of course. Money. For everyone involved. And didn’t E.L. James just do something similar with Grey? She didn’t switch the characters completely, but she did switch perspectives.

Are you looking forward to this new book by Stephenie Meyer?

On Reading Bestsellers

Have you ever met someone who only read bestsellers? Or perhaps someone who refuses to do so. I believe I’ve interacted with people on both sides of the question. And neither position makes any sense whatsoever to me.

Let’s start with person #1. Only reads bestsellers. Which means they likely spend more on each book than the rest of us. And they read a pretty small number of authors. Doesn’t really matter to me, but I think they’d quickly adopt the mindset that the books and authors they read are inherently better than everything else. I mean, obviously they’re bestsellers for a reason. Which is downright ridiculous. We all know that sales numbers don’t really reflect the quality of the book. There are some extraordinary books appearing on bestseller lists and not.

Now on to person #2. Doesn’t read bestsellers. They’ve essentially taken the notion that bestsellers aren’t very good books to a whole new level. We know not ALL bestsellers are good books. We get it. But to say that no bestseller is a good book (or to think it) is pretty outrageous. Sorry, Mrs. Rowling. Your books suck. It’s easy to toss around names like E.L. James or Stephenie Meyer as prime examples of this, but shall we start throwing in Stephen King and Margaret Atwood too? No. Of course not.

Both positions are going way too far in their positions. If you want to read bestsellers, then read them. If you don’t, then don’t. But don’t sit there and act like whatever you read is somehow better than EVERYTHING else out there. It isn’t.

What’s your take on reading bestsellers?

PS: I’m not even going to apologize anymore for my sporadic posting times. I can’t do anything about it. I’ll be replying to LOTS of comments when I have time later tonight.

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On this day in 2014 I published Publishers Giving Away Books?.

 

 

Which Authors Would you Invite to Thanksgiving Dinner?

Photo Credit: Delish

I know Thanksgiving has already passed, but I wanted to post my poem on Thursday and then I thought you guys might like to know about Amazon’s promotion yesterday. So you’re getting a post related to Thanksgiving a bit late. Sue me.

Okay. It’s the beginning of November and you’re trying to figure out who is and who isn’t coming to Thanksgiving dinner. Except this time we’re not talking about family members you see each year. Nope. They’re on vacation in Cozumel. Now you’re inviting some of your favorite authors instead. How exciting!

Let me tell you who I would invite. Michael Connelly, James Patterson, Robert Crais, Robert B. Parker, and Suzanne Collins. The first four all for the same reason. Because they all write truly great detective series that I’ll never be able to compete with. So I’d just pick their brains about writing the genre for a few hours. I probably wouldn’t eat. These guys are heavyweights going strong with no sign of slowing down. Except for Parker, who died a couple years ago.

And Suzanne Collins. Because I’m obsessed with the character she created. I mean, I want to get a freaking Mockingjay pin tattoo. Oooh. Maybe I could get it before she arrives and show her how crazy I am. I’d just tell her everything I love about her stories and Katniss. Then I’d beg to get all three books signed by her AND Katniss herself. Then I’d just die. Right there.

So those are the authors I’d invite to Thanksgiving dinner! What about you? And don’t you dare try saying EL James or Stephenie Meyer. I’ll block you. Not kidding.

Books I Will NEVER Read

Photo Credit: Book Snobbery

I’m not a fan of bashing authors, but I’m not bashing authors really, I’m bashing their books. There’s a difference!

Okay, so I know most avid readers like myself have a number of books that will not ever be read for any reason. Not even if there’s a zombie apocalypse taking place and I’m the lone survivor with just the one book thrown on the floor in front of me. They are to remain off-limits forever and a day. Let me just give you the list.

1. Fifty Shades of anything

If you’re a fan of EL James, great. I’m not and never will be. I’ve known the very basic concept of the book for a long time now, but I just read a little of the Wikipedia page that made me want to slap someone. The first book sounds absolutely horrible. I mean, if you want to read about that stuff then partake in it yourself. Or go watch a movie. Or find a website. Do something. Don’t read about it. Makes me think you’re kind of gross. Don’t get angry at me for saying that. It’s my blog.

2. Twilight

I know Stephenie Meyer has been heavily criticized for her writing skills and the way she portrays Bella. Those are pretty much the two reasons why I won’t be reading any of the books in the series. Let me be clear, though, I would read this entire series 100 times before ever reading the first book from the above mentioned series. My reasoning for not reading these books is mostly because they don’t seem like they’d be interesting reads to me. Sure the writing may not be great and Bella isn’t the most memorable literary character of all-time, but the only book I’ve ever read about vampires was Dracula. Yes, I loved it.

3. Divergent

I think some of you may be thinking how I’m putting this series of books in with the other two. What I’ve read and heard about this series of books has mostly been that the first two books were pretty good and the last one was disappointing. I could be wrong, but that’s what I’ve read. Those have nothing to do with my decision not to read this series. There’s only one reason why I won’t read these books. It’s going to sound crazy, but oh well. I won’t read them because of all the comparisons they get to The Hunger Games. THG is my adult obsession. I LOVE those books. LOVE them. You’ll recall that I named the trilogy my favorite series ever in a previous post. Well, it’s because of the very slim off chance that I like Divergent more than THG that I won’t read them. I’m in love with Jennifer Lawrence and Katniss and Effie and Prim. I don’t want that to be overshadowed by Veronica Roth.

4. Anything written by a celebrity

I fully realize that most celebrities who ‘write’ books don’t actually write them. They have the help of a journalist or author or someone who actually writes the book for them. It’s not that I think the books are poorly written, it’s that the books are generally bad. For instance, I don’t have any interest reading about the whole rags to riches stories that so many athletes claim. It’s great that you went from food stamps when you were little to millions of dollars a year in salary, truly, BUT you won’t find me reading about it. I’m not including former presidents in this group. I think their books would be rather interesting to read. I look forward to reading George W. Bush’s book at some point. Not necessarily because I’m a supporter of his, but because his presidency was the first of my life that I actually understood a little about what was going on.

5. Anything with seductive people on the cover

I mean, come on. What’s the point? I work in a store that carries a very selective section of books. You’ll pretty much only find the major bestselling authors there. The ones I can name off the top of my head who I can recall seeing this past weekend are James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Tom Clancy, and Stephen King. BUT half of the books that I don’t recognize the author names have half-naked people on the front. It’s annoying. Won’t ever be reading those books. Not a one.

This would be my reaction to reading any book on the list.

Photo Credit: BuzzFeed

Okay, so I know my list wasn’t exactly a list of particular books so much as it was a list of types of books I won’t read. But that’s it. Do you have any books that you’ll never find yourself reading? Tell me why.

In other news, I just passed 500 WordPress followers less than a month after reaching 200! You guys seriously make me happy.

World’s Ten Bestselling Authors Since 2001

Photo Credit: The Telegraph

I first saw this story tweeted a few days ago. I tried to guess who would top the list before clicking through. My guess was JK Rowling. It took about half a second for me to come up with her. Even though so many authors have written more books during that time period than she has, I thought Mr. Potter and friends would be enough to catapult her to the top. I won’t tell you if I was right or not. You’ll just have to continue reading!

10. Jeff Kinney

Now you may not know him by name, I do, but he’s the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series. I’ve never read any of these, though the first in the series is on the Amazon list so I’ll be reading that one at some point. It’s very understandable that one of the bestselling children’s authors today would make the list.

9. Janet Evanovich

Another author that is understandably on the list. Her Stephanie Plum novels are as popular as any. Another author I haven’t read.

8. Nicholas Sparks

All of this guy’s books are seemingly made into movies. So obviously he’s selling A LOT of books, right? Haven’t read him.

7. Dan Brown

Honest question, what does he even write about? I know everything with his name on it becomes an instant bestseller, but I have no idea what his books are about. The Da Vinci Code and Inferno are the two that I know the names of. I just did a quick Amazon search and his books look like nothing I would be interested in. Author number four I haven’t read.

6. Stephenie Meyer

I just threw up in my mouth. I’m not going to say anything other than that I haven’t read any of her ‘books.’

5. John Grisham

Hey look, we have the same name. And last initial! I haven’t read any of his books, BUT I have A Time to Kill on my shelf waiting for my reading pleasure. It’s long. Like really long. I’ll read it eventually.

4. Dr. Seuss

No commentary needed. First author I’ve actually read on the list.

3. Nora Roberts

I know she writes A LOT of books but I haven’t read any. I’m sure they’re quite good.

2. JK Rowling

UH OH. Who the heck could pull the upset?! Think! Think! Think! Read the first book of Potter. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I was slightly surprised by her not holding down the top spot. All of these authors are great, all of them, but she’s one of those authors who will be remembered a hundred or two hundred years from now. Harry Potter will never be forgotten. I guess we can only continue on to the final name on the list.

1. James Patterson

Ahhhh of course. I was surprised by Patterson taking the top spot, but I wasn’t shocked by this. If you aren’t a fan of Patterson’s, you should know that he has several series ongoing. He utilizes the writing of ghostwriters whom he credits as co-authors and every one of the series is a bestseller. Every one. He has six of them. And standalone novels. He has nine books scheduled to be released in 2014.

Photo Credit: In Other Newz

So there you have the list of the world’s bestselling authors since 2001. Were you surprised by any of the names on the list? Or any of the names who didn’t make the cut? Let me know!

Read the original article here.

Literary Adaptations: TV or the Big Screen

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago titled Has Hollywood Run out of Ideas in which I discussed the nature of the relationship between Hollywood and bestselling authors. You may want to take a look at that post once you finish or before you start this one because the relationship is somewhat fascinating.

Let me ask, if you happen upon an article discussing a new adaptation of your favorite book or series, would you prefer a full-length theatrical release or a TV series? I won’t wait until the end of the post to give my answer because it doesn’t matter to me. Both mediums have proven in recent years that it’s all about the product. A bad movie is no different from a bad TV show when it comes down to adaptations.

TV

Books that are adapted are often hundreds of pages long, no matter the genre, right? One of major advantages of a TV adaptation is that it allows for more of the story to be told. I don’t watch Game of Thrones but I do know that it has been wildly successful on HBO. I also know that the books have been VERY successful. TV gives the reader/watcher more of what he/she wants, the story. What is it that we always hear after going to our neighborhood movie theater to watch the most recent literary adaptation? “I can’t believe they left that part out.” As readers it’s hard to justify leaving ANY part of a great book out of its movie adaptation because that’s part of the reason why we liked it in the first place. But we also don’t know a thing about writing a script or making a movie. Things are left out not because those working on the movie wish to upset fans, but because there are very real constraints to making a movie.

A TV series also gives viewers something new each week. It isn’t a one time thing that goes and comes in a matter of an hour or two.

Movie

I would guess that authors prefer their books be adapted into full-length movies over TV shows. I don’t particularly agree with this sentiment because movies are limited in how long they can be, they cost A LOT of money and guarantee no return, and not everyone is willing to dish out ten bucks for a movie ticket. I’ve done so myself only three times in the last two calendar years, two of those were for The Hunger Games movies. But I think there is a great amount of pride for an author to have one of his/her books adapted into a theatrically released full-length movie. J.K. Rowling had eight. Stephenie Meyer has had five. Suzanne Collins will have four by the end of next year. These are some of the bestselling authors today who keep making their books into movies. AND the money made by these authors from their movie adaptations is something we can only dream of. I mean, J.K. Rowling became the first billionaire author recently, until she fell below that threshold after taxes and charitable donations the following year. Movie adaptations of books enable authors to get their product in front of millions more people than ever before, because let’s face it, not everyone is a reader.

I’d love to know what you think.