Waiting on Wednesday: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

"Waiting On" Wednesday spotlights upcoming releases that everyone's excited about (created by Jill at Breaking The Spine.)

WoW: The Raven Boys (Book 1 of the Raven Cycle) by Maggie Stiefvater

Scheduled to be released: September 18, 2012

Why I'm waiting: 

I think it is clear from previous blog posts, how much I enjoy Maggie Stiefvater's writing. Plus her books seem to get better and better. Short and simple explanation this week. (insert smile) Oh yes and raven on the cover . . . ravens are so 'Edgar Allan Poeish' and therefore must be devoured as such. A cycle! We get a cycle! How many books is that again?

Book Synopsis: 

 You can read the synopsis I'm about to post from Goodreads or . . . you can watch the book trailer!



Synopisis from Goodreads:
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Be sure to add The Raven Boys to your Goodreads!

An added bonus!
Sara King's next eBook is scheduled to be released this Friday! Don't miss Outer Bounds: Fortune's Rising


Only 3 Days Left to Win Books from my first giveaway!

 

Tattoo Tuesdays: Her white blank page...and a swelling rage

I was listening to my Mumford & Sons Pandora radio station today and across the airwaves came, perhaps my favorite song by these talented fellows, White Blank Page*. This song comes on and I want to stop what I'm doing. I want to absorb the lyrics, poetic infused that they are and just listen. It is one of the songs I sit and think, "Please Lord (I'm being sincere right now) give me the opportunity to pour words out to someone like this someday." I think we can all agree "Lead me to the truth and I will follow you with my whole life," is a feeling we can admit to having, even on a spiritual level, if not a romantic one.

I wanted a tattoo that would put this song to good use and do it justice. So I went "a'Googling" and didn't come up with much. The search brought up mostly word tattoos, which is fine, just isn't striking the mood for today. Option 2 was to do some tumbling on Tumblr . . . and this is what I found.



Jason Perkins Photography**

I can picture what my mum and some of my more conservative acquaintances would say right off about this picture. I'm almost inclined to go down that path myself. Then I think, she looks happy, she looks at home in her skin. Is it not a feeling we all want? She has decorated her skin with art and she holds in her arms the next chapter of her life...her white blank page. I wish I could be there when this little girl is growing up. Watching as the curiosity gets the better of her and to hear the stories her mum is going to tell her about the gorgeous neck tattoo she is wearing and the reason for each inking.

 

In other Tattoo News:

You can now follow someone on Twitter who features bookish tattoos, check it out @literarytattoos!

featuring via a friend on G+

Tattooed Hands . . . (sigh) a weakness.

*In this video, I love how the bookstore shelves "Wales, Arthurian" and "Creatures, Fairy". Can I go there?


**After Googling his photography, I'm a little worried I should clear my web browsing history.*** In my defense I was only trying

to link to the original photo to give him the credit. So let this be your warning . . . don't leave me nasty comments on here or anywhere I post the link saying "Oh Maddie what were you thinking looking at such things," because it was completely with innocent intentions. I'm not robbing you of your opinion, simply asking please don't judge me and don't judge him . . . it is his art.

*** I realize, some of you, after reading this sidenote are going to do this very thing. Go and Google Jason Perkins . . . oh you silly people. (insert smile)

Mundane Mondays: Memos and Dilemmas

Perhaps you didn't get the message, but I own a bookstore. One fact I'm not certain the salesman, who visited the shop Saturday, cared to pay attention to. A nice guy, easy to talk to and once we got to talking I wondered if the conversation was ever going to lull into him leaving . . . so I could get back to my paperwork (not that I was in any hurry for that dosage of fun).

What was he selling? DVDs. He is/was proposing that the bookstore sell DVDs to our customers. Heh . . .

Maybe you had the same reaction I did, but I couldn't help picturing angry Walmart customers. At my day job, the one I work to support my 'habit', I deal with customers and DVD sales. There is no end to the number of odd requests, complaints, and scenarios that most retail workers would scoff at if you asked the same of them. I can't deal with that in my little shop and really I don't want to.

He gave a convincing argument and I even told him that compared to other salesman I've dealt with* he was kind and not pushy. I may have misled him, a little, giving him hopes that we could partner in the future. Meanwhile, he is going to put together a package of the type of DVDs I told him would sell best in a bookstore.

The age old question now arises, "Which is better, the book or the movie?" This led me down another questioning path. When you think about books made into movies, automatically a mental list pops up in your head, the big ones. The books that have “defined a generation” or stirred in people a desire to read who “never thought to pick up a book before.” In pondering this question, I wondered "What were the top selling children's books 50 years ago?" If you can find a good source for this information, let me know. I was not so lucky with my quick Google search or maybe I don't have the patience today to dig.

Instead I found this Wikipedia's List of Best-Selling Books and I started thinking more (me and thinking today, I'm bound to get into some trouble soon). The list features numerous titles and the many millions of copies they have sold since publication. Take a quick glance and see how many of these books have made it to the big screen; leaving me with one last thought and question for today's post.

I see many types of people come into the shop, different readers and enthusiasts and the same goes for people I talk 'book' with outside of bookstore life. Of these people, I hear a lot of "I was never a reader before such and such came out as a movie" or "I only read the book if the movie was good." I notice this more and more as people rely more on the herd concept. They no longer want to try things or risk doing something if their friends haven't or if some celebrity hasn't told them to. It becomes "the thing" to read the book because it is a movie or because someone else says it is a MUST READ. This begs the questions, would we have readers, would publishers sell books . . . if it wasn't for movies?


*My sister and mum both tell these lovely creatures that I'm the owner, rather than a co-owner, thus I have the good fortune to deal with ALL salesman that come to the shop.

Don't forget about my Celebrate Good Times Giveaway!