THE DIVINERS by Libba Bray

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - September 18th, 2012
Synopsis: Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

This is going to be an ultra-short review. 

I can figure out if I don't like a book within the first 30 pages most of the time, and this, sadly, didn't float my boat.

I was excited about giving the story a go because of the positive reviews covering her previous books like GOING BOVINE or BEAUTY QUEENS. This, tacked onto the fact that I absolutely adore the 1920's. Also, throw some magic, and you've got me hooked. 

I did like the classic story of a main character having to go and stay with their eccentric uncle, and believed that, having heard of the fun and strange ways Ms. Bray writes, she would be able to spin the story into literary gold. And maybe she did, but I didn't stay in long enough to find out. The reason I set the book down was the dialogue and characters. I was so annoyed by how purely cliche they all acted and spoke. I could hear their annoying and oh-so-typical Roaring Twenties accents in my head. I couldn't stand it, in fact. So that's why I sat it down. 

I'm an insanely harsh reviewer, I know, and so for that I can still recommend this, because I know a lot of people really liked it, and, even from what little I read, I could tell the story would be a lot of fun. It's just that this is another one of those books where, if turned into a movie, I'd see it in a heartbeat, but the way it's presented on the page now isn't for me.

Another instance where this "I'd-see-it-if-it-was-a-movie" thing happened is with BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (you can read my review here), two trailers of which have just come out, and both look fantastic, yet still filled with enough cheesiness to win the swoony romance fans over!

And the other one, which shows more footage:

GAHHHHHH! They look fantastic and so much fun! And may I just gush for a moment about their using Florence + the Machine's "Seven Devils"! :DDDD

See ya!

-Aaron

Sisters Red Soundtrack + NaNoWriMo!!!!!

Alrighty then! I honestly don't know why I've waited this long, but I've finally posted the rest of the Sisters Red Soundtrack onto Youtube. The last three songs are "Plato", "Scarlet's Theme", and "Rosie's Theme".

Here's "Plato":

Just visit my channel to see the rest. Also, again, sorry for the long spaces of emptiness afterwards. When I upload it, it's supposed to end when the song does, but it turns out like this. So, weird.

ANYWAY, NaNoWriMo is ALMOST HERE!!!!!!!!!

I'm spazzing! In case you don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The actual thing didn't start until a couple of years ago. NaNoWriMo.org has been going strong for some time, and thousands (maybe millions, I don't know) sign up to write an entire. Novel. In. A. Month. 50,000 words is the exact point, I think. No editing. No revising. A lot don't even read what they've written until they finish.

It's the most insane, hardship of creative inspiration ever.... And I've never done it.

I actually just found out about it last year when several of the bloggers I'm subscribed to started talking about it. It was weird. I thought "What the booty does NaNoWriMo mean?" So I looked it up. I realized what it was, thought it was cool, but couldn't do it yet because it was already into November.

BUT THIS YEAR. I AM.

Lately I've been having trouble with my current novel, and so I've decided to take a break from it and write an entire other novel for November. I actually write best when I write a lot, then have a break, then write a lot, then have a break. I don't understand it. I guess it's like a so-so girlfriend/boyfriend relationship: "I think we just need some time alone."

What's also really cool is that people in your area actually have write-ins, where y'all can meet up at a Panera or Starbucks or whatever and discuss each other's books and write. They also track your progress, and with their word counter tool you can make goals for every day, and they have pep talks from great authors that they e-mail you to boost your spirits as you trudge through the Dreaded Middle.

Well, so long and thanks for all the fish! I'm off to work on my outline!

-Aaron