If you're a reader or a writer or a watcher of theater or of television. Even if you like music, then you like stories. And, you know that stories can take many forms. As a writer (see The Travelers), obviously I like the written word. But I can fully appreciate that a story doesn't need to be made of up letters on paper, which is one of the reasons I like all types of art forms, including the ballet. And, yesterday, my best friend took my daughter and I to see one of the best in the country - the San Francisco ballet.
It's the New Year. That means it's time for resolutions. I've decided to make my own 2017 reading challenge list as part of my New Years Reading Resolution.
2016 wasn't completely awful, right? Here are some things I found in 2016 that not only didn't suck but were kind of awesome...
No sleep till...Well, not Brooklyn. But we did stay up late getting into Manhattan last night. I think that's close enough that I had to quote the Beastie Boys song. So, now, I'm happily in Manhattan, my former home. (I did live in Brooklyn for a little bit in a tiny apartment with an oddly huge, completely pink bathroom. Only in NYC people.) This is the first place I tried a knish. The first place I went to a professional basketball game. (My husband had season tickets to the Knicks once upon a time.) The place my daughter was born. If I'm being honest, when I left the area, I left a little bit of my heart behind. NYC will always feel like home to me. In honor of my trip here, are some of my favorite movies and books set in NYC.
Once upon a time, before I’d even decided to try to publish my own book (The Travelers, Saguaro Books), I was unaware of the world of independent publishers. I didn’t read books by small presses and I definitely did not read anything self-published. I determined my reading list based friends' recommendations or reviews in large media outlets. (Don’t judge. I just didn’t know better at the time!) Until one day, a friend recommended that I read this new book “Lost Girl”...
Everyone has a guilty reading pleasure, right? Well, in my world my characters do also. Therefore, in this blog I’m going to talk about the books my characters would recommend and their secret guilty pleasures, including books on vampires, zombies (ooo, shiver), pants (yes, you read that right, pants) and Mandalas. What's a Mandala you ask? Read to find out!
Yep, I admit it. I'm a total book nerd. I love Shakespeare. It all started in 9th grade… My English teacher introduced us via Romeo and Juliet. At the time, I rolled my eyes and groaned, mistakenly thinking I’d be bored to death by long-winded prose and overly flowery language. But, even though my moody, everything-sucks, 14-year-old self wanted to hate it, I couldn’t. (Thanks Mrs. McDermott!)
Since it's October, I felt the overwhelming need (perhaps compelled?) to combine the awesomeness of Teen Read Week and Halloween. It just had to be done. And since my own book, The Travelers, is about witches, that seemed like an appropriate place to start. Therefore, here are some spellbinding YA books where the main characters are teen witches or thought to be.
K.L. Kranes 