In talking to Chelsea (The Page Flipper) and Heather (Book Woman), I thought it would be a fun to turn the tables and do a series on my blog of interviews with YA book bloggers — let them be the stars! So now every Tuesday, another Book Blogger will be featured.
If you’re interested, please e-mail me.
Jacee S., 18, The Art of Losing
1. Describe yourself without using any qualifiers relating to reading, blogging, or writing… who are you outside of your literary life?
This is the one question that forever leaves me at a loss for words, despite how frequently it is asked and how many social networking sites of which I am a member. I suppose I should start by saying that I am 18-years-old and a freshman in college, hoping to major in something that’ll lead me into the realm of music marketing, which, sorry to say, book-lovers, is my true calling in life. I work currently as a webmaster for a talent management company, but I also do a little freelance web design on the side. Oh, and I have a cat! I cannot tell you her name or how she got it; I’d be breaking the rules!
2. You’re trapped in a dystopian society like that in Fahrenheit 451, where all books, periodicals, scriptures, texts, or other forms of written communication have been banned… but in this society, every person can hoard away one piece of writing to keep for herself. What is the one written piece that you choose to keep, and why?
You know what? Despite how badly I’d like to start flapping my hands like a fangirl and name something by the ever-enchanting J. K. Rowling, I really think I’d want to keep Grendel by John Gardner. It tells the opposing side to the epic poem “Beowulf,” which is about this very one-dimensional, ultra-buff hero type that comes to a village to kill all of the monsters. Grendel is told in the point of view of one of those monsters, and not only does it demonstrate how things are never all that they seem, it also is very thought-provoking in that it explores a lot of different philosophies as the protagonist struggles with finding which one best fits him. I don’t think I will ever come to a point where I won’t still be pondering over that book and all it has to offer. There’s just so much left in it that I’ve yet to wrap my mind around.
3. Congratulations! You’ve been given the position as Personal Assistant to any author of your choice (all time periods and genres allowed)… who is it, and what’s the biggest problem you have to overcome working with them?
Charles Dodgson, who some know better as “Lewis Carroll,” author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. (He wrote many more stories, poems, and essays, but those are his most popular works.) Not only did he have such a clever way with words, but he was also a teacher of mathematics and a great logician, a church deacon, and an inventor. He even dabbled in photography. Although he found great talent in so many arenas, he remained quite a private man. His enigmatic tendencies both on paper and in real life make him all the more intriguing, but that’s an aside.
I read once that he decided to quit teaching and take up photography because he felt that most of his students were lazy, stupid, and altogether unwilling to learn, and, though I would most certainly experience quite an inferiority complex when standing next to the genius himself, I cannot help but laugh along with him for now. His rejection of his students and his compassion for Alice Liddell, for whom he wrote both of the Alice books, made obvious in a favorite poem of mine, “A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky,” make him seem likable enough as a person.
More importantly, I have the impression that every word that ever came out of his mouth was perfectly placed and deep and thoughtful, and I would just love to work for someone so … absolutely brilliant.
I think my biggest problem, besides feeling so dwarfed by his talent and intellect, would be that, his being such a hero of mine, I wouldn’t want him to be other than as I imagine him!
4. When it comes to reading and reviewing, which aspect of a book is the most important to you? The plot? The characters? The setting? Something else entirely?
Plot advancement is important, yes, but aren’t the parts of books that we always remember most the characters and the things they say, the little things they do? Without interesting characters to carry the plot, there is little reason or motivation to finish reading a book in the first place.
5. If book blogging weren’t an option, how would your reading habits be affected? Would you be as motivated to read if you couldn’t widely impart your thoughts on books to other readers?
I do not currently reach quite a large audience, and I am actually very new to book blogging. However, I have noticed some differences in my reading patterns already. I am the type that loves familiarity. There is nothing more comforting to me or more enjoyable than reading a book I have read a hundred times before! Suspense can be nice, but, for me, the absence of it does not at all make a great book any less enjoyable. Perhaps that is the mark of a great book! But to answer your question, I have noticed that I have much more motivation to read new things. I think I also pay much more attention to details that change often, like setting and periphery characters, that I don’t always remember so specifically by the time I have finished the chapter. Telling others about what you have read requires a deeper knowledge than simply reading for entertainment does.
6. You’re giving a dinner party for three contemporary (living) YA authors and three dead classical authors. Who are they, and who do you seat next to whom? Why?
Classical: Charles Dodgson, C. S. Lewis, and Sir James M. Barrie. Contemporary: J. K. Rowling, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jerry Spinelli. I’d seat myself at one end of the table with Dodgson and Barrie on either side of me so that they faced one another. Judging from each of their most renowned works, I don’t think I’d want to miss a second of interaction between them. I’d have Lewis seated next to Dodgson because I can’t imagine him stranded at the other end of the table with the contemporary authors. Rowling would be next to Barrie, for no reason that I can put my finger on. Oates would be on Rowling’s other side with Spinelli on her other side, seated at the end of the table opposite me. I think Oates and Spinelli would get along best out of the three contemporary authors, and Rowling might just be perfectly suited between Barrie and Oates.
7. What’s your favorite punctuation mark? Why?
Common as it may seem, I love the comma. If it were allowed, my sentences would go on forever like one flowing, continuous thought. Unfortunately, most people aren’t fans of elongated sentences, laden with comma after comma, and after reading Charles Dickens, particularly A Tale of Two Cities, I cannot blame them.
8. What literary device could you happily never see used again? (Simile, metaphor, spoonerism, hyperbole, etc.)
Portmanteau! As clever as it is to group together words to form new ones, I have no idea what you’re trying to say to me.
9. What is your favorite local bookstore? What’s a bookstore that you’ll never set foot in again? And do you have a ‘dream bookstore’ that you’d either love to visit… or would love to design and own one day?
Unfortunately, I have no local bookstores! (That goes only if Walmart and the public library don’t count, and, if you ask me, they don’t.) There used to be this really lovely one downtown that looked a bit on the inside like how I imagine Ollivander’s Wand Shop (from the Harry Potter books). The walls were of some sort of dark wood and the books, though separated, thankfully, into sections by genre, were just sort of strewn about so that finding just the right book seemed a bit like magic in itself. I was sad to see it close! A bookstore I would never set foot in again? I went inside one once that was only sci-fi and harlequin romance! The horrors! The cheesy covers! My dream book store would be a lot like the old local bookshop that I previously described, only much larger. Perhaps I would also require an employee of chalk-white hair and pale, blue eyes to creep out the customers a bit.
10. Have you been to any Teen Read Week events or other Writers’ Conferences? What was your favorite meet-and-greet or interview experience?
Unfortunately, no.
11. In your opinion, what is a YA novel? How is it different from a children’s novel, and how is it different from an adult novel? What makes someone a YA reader — because it’s clearly more than a matter of their being “a young adult.”
My impression is that it’s largely got to do with the way an author introduces the protagonist. In children’s literature, the author’s first task is to ensure that the child reading the book will even want to read about the lead character. In a way, it’s like introducing him/her to a new friend, and the character in question should be someone the kid would want to be best friends with. In young adult literature, it is generally understood that the reader is of a little more maturity, and so, while the protagonist may not be someone that the reader totally identifies or agrees with, there is usually a certain respect or empathy (or both) that the reader has for the lead character for one reason or another, and this is established very early in the novel, as so with a children’s novel. With an adult novel, the author may skip this step altogether, realizing that the reader will have already experienced a disillusionment with society and the real world, expecting the protagonist to be flawed and carrying a bit of baggage.
12. What’s your guilty pleasure reading snack? And what’s your guilty pleasure to read while snacking on it?
There is something about warm tea that makes me feel really clever when I’m drinking it and reading a book. My guilty pleasure books all include classic children’s novels like Peter and Wendy and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
13. “Don’t judge a book by its movie!” As a connoisseur of all types of books, which genre do you think translates the best from page to screen? What’s your favorite book-to-movie adaptation? Conversely, what’s a book that you hope never to see filmed?
This may sound a bit weird, but what about Nicholas Sparks books, particularly? I think they tend carry over very much in one piece. Perhaps adult romance fiction, in general, though I don’t have much knowledge of the genre.
My favorite film based on a book is a version of Tom’s Midnight Garden that I frequently saw on HBO Family as a child. I don’t believe it’s ever been released to video or DVD, but it was so lovely that it inspired me to search for the book at my local library (contrary to its popularity, I’d never actually heard of it before). The film actually did an excellent job of not only telling the story accurately and with a well-casted set of actors and actresses, but also of portraying the book’s feel, which for any story is nearly impossible to describe and probably much harder to reproduce.
Though it has probably already been done, I hope never to see a film version of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Do not misinterpret me; it is an excellent book. I only think that, upon seeing it played out, because of its intensity, I might vomit.
14. What are your plans for the future? Do you see yourself working in the literary community?
I think I will always be a part of the literary community, but as a simple fan of books. Like I previously stated, I would like to work in PR or marketing someday, but my focus, more preferably, would be in the music industry.
15. You’re one of only two Book Bloggers who has read Green! Without spoiling too much, describe the book… a “mini-review” of the Focus Group draft, per se.
You know how you read one of those YA romance novels for which your only true motivation for getting through the book is that you wish that you could be the leading lady so that you could have that fantasy romance? When you’re done, you might feel very skeptical about the mythology of the book, find some gaping holes in the plot, and realize that the writing is really not that good at all. Thankfully, Green is not one of those books! The first of the Metempsyche novels chronicles protagonist Lindy’s discovery that she is, in fact, the physical embodiment of the universe. As if discovering smack dab in the middle of your teenage years, when everyone is telling you that you aren’t the center of the universe that you actually are, after all, isn’t enough, imagine struggling to accept that coupled with falling in love with the most beautiful boy you have ever laid your eyes upon. Oh, and he’s a werewolf! But he isn’t perfect, he can’t make the world bend to her every will, and he sometimes gets a little too caught up in his knitting. That is the gist of Green, but I must also vouch for Hayley here in saying that besides all of the aforementioned, which had me squeeing all the way, there is a truly stunning cast of characters backing the novel, all of them complex and well-rounded, and the work put into researching the mythology of the series is mind-blowing. Reading Green, there are no, “Huh. He sparkles?” moments. It is truly fantastic.
