anna genoese

Oh, Psych. I am done watching that show -- there is enough homophobia and anti-GLBTQ sentiment in the real world. I don't need it in my entertainment, too. Last night's episode is not necessarily horrifying as a standalone episode, but in the context of the show's run... I am pretty appalled. Blah.

Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)

You know what didn't occur to me when I was writing this meme? Just how many of my answers would be Anne of Green Gables.

An incomplete list of YA books I've read and loved, in no order:

• Bloom by Elizabeth Scott -- the setup is similar to other YA books about sad teenage girls, but the book itself is so different, and written so well... Loved it.



• Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott -- This is the best book Elizabeth Scott has written so far, in my opinion. It's about a teenage girl whose mom is a conwoman, and the girl works with her to run cons in small towns -- until one summer, the girl is ready for a change. Funny and painful in turns, and, of course, extremely well-written.



• Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyr -- As some of you might remember, I read every single book by Garret and wrote long posts analyzing the books and describing what I loved about them, and also what I didn't like. They were pretty critical posts, and... that's how I became friends with Garret, who I adore beyond measure! So that worked out well for me. Stay With Me is undoubtedly my favorite of her books (although My Heartbeat is also amazing, and I really enjoyed her most recent book, After the Moment as well)... Garret's books are so powerful and great -- she should really be way more popular and famous.



• The Girl in the Box by Ouida Sebestyen -- This book is creepy, and I guess I understand why it wasn't on the shelves at any of the public libraries I frequented as a kid and teen. By today's standards, it's pretty tame, but in the 80s and early 90s, I bet it freaked some adults out.



• Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden -- I only just read this book last year, but I really wish I'd gotten to read it as a kid. It's super dated now (and sort of ridiculous on a lot of levels), but it's also from 1982, and about two lesbians who do not die or have unhappy endings as punishment for being gay. I wish I'd gotten to read it when I was seven or nine.



• Gravity by Leanne Lieberman -- The coming of age story of an Orthodox Jewish teen girl who is also a lesbian. The writing is clunky, the plotting is not always as tight as it could be, some of the story and character choices the author made struck me as being extremely weird, but nevertheless I really enjoyed this book.

I really wanted to add Saving June by Hannah Harrington to this list, but apparently it's not coming out until 2011! What the heck is that about? I read it and loved it back in 2008, when it was a draft, and thought it was great and enjoyable. I'm pretty eager for it to come out so that my YA-reading friends can finally read it.

One thing this book meme is making clear to me is that I need to keep better records of books I've read, because even the books I really enjoy, I can't always remember off the top of my head. Oops!

How about you guys? Which YA books are your favorites? Which books -- YA or not! -- did you really love as a youth?


( Other days of the book meme )

I just finished reading Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyr. I feel as though I sank into the pages, and now I have no idea how I am supposed to do anything else all day. It's definitely my favorite of her books -- it has all the things I loved about her other books, and none of the things I found troublesome. And, in fact, all the things I found troublesome are done extremely well here.

I think I have a new author for my top five! (Don't ask who is in the top five. I couldn't tell you. It's a nebulous, ephemeral list.)

So listen. My hideous roommates are moving out. I am going to be living alone for the month of February. This is the first time ever that I have lived alone. I am really excited about it. I have all these big plans for what I'm going to be doing -- mostly lying naked in the middle of the living room and singing in the kitchen and enjoying the empty space. And, of course, painting.

There are a lot of things I want to use this time to do, though -- like streamline my life. I have so much stuff that I'm overwhelmed. One of the things I want to do is start getting rid of this stuff.. Time to be more ascetic! I have a lot of size 9 or 9-1/2 shoes that I never wear. I have a lot of size 14 - 18 clothing I never look at. I have a lot of... well, stuff. Stuff.

This is the deal: if you have any interest in a surprise package of clothing, shoes, or stuff (including but not limited to packets of glitter, old data cds full of music and tv shows, books, arts and crafts supplies, random skeins of yarn, jewelry, mugs, tarot cards), leave your email address in the comments and I'll add you to an email list of people who will receive instructions. Everything is completely free. There is no catch.

(Edited to note: (1) feel free to post what you're particularly interested in when you post your email address -- whatever you can think of. If I don't have it, you'll just get a surprise.

(2) this is limited to the first 100 people, and I'll post a note when I've hit my limit. I am dubious that I have more than 100 exciting magical surprise packages in my apartment.)

Note: As of 11 AM on Thursday, there are still about 20 spots left! Come get free stuff!