Is anyone else watching this show on TBS called Search Party? I don't watch a lot of television. (Unless you count 6 hours of Gilmore Girls, but that couldn't be helped. Nothing keeps me from the Lorelai ladies.) Along with periodically catching up on episodes of Atlanta and Nick Cage, Search Party is really the only other show I watch consistently. It's like HBO’s Girls and Veronica Mars had a baby with Sam Spade! (Yes, I realize that sounds crazy. But the show is crazy – crazy good!) And, of course, since my mind went to Sam Spade, it then took the not so far leap, where my mind is concerned, to detective novels.
If you love books, you love to get books. Since tomorrow is Cyber Monday, it’s a great time to find and buy books to give to others this season. In honor of that, I plan to donate part of the proceeds from the sales on amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com from my YA fantasy novel, The Travelers, to charity. But, what charity, you ask? Excellent question. Deciding on that was difficult...
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!
Today is Black Friday, if you're braving the malls and high traffic areas - good luck! We're going to play table tennis and watch Gilmore Girls. Tomorrow, however, I will brave the shopping areas because it is Small Business Saturday, at least according to Kristen Bell. (You may know her from Frozen fame and the great new show The Good Place. She'll always be Veronica Mars to me. Go Marshmallows!) She's done a series of commercials to support the day and they worked on me, at least! I'm in!
It’s no secret among my friends and family, and anyone who follows me on twitter, that I have a tiny obsession with the Gilmore Girls. It’s one of my favorite shows of all time. I’ve seen every episode more than once and my favorite episodes so many times I can’t count. Since the premiere is only 5 days away, I thought it might be fun to rank my top 5 favorite Gilmore Girls episodes. Trust me, this wasn’t easy and, to be clear, these are not even what many might call the “best” episodes. But, I have a personal connection to them!
It's finally Friday. And I'm in much need of a distraction. So let's have some silly Friday Fun and pretend for 5 minutes that all the world's problems could be solved if we just cared about each other as much as we cared about our dogs. I mean. I get it. I love my dog, even when she wakes me up at 5 am to throw up on my carpet (which she does more frequently than I'd like). How could I not love that face though? Look at her, she's adorable and she loves books! She's perfect! Alright, so we've established dogs are adorable and great. Let's take this up a notch. Since I had so much fun writing a blog on “if my characters were Barbie dolls,” I thought I’d try a variation on this theme. In this blog, I’m going to do, if my characters from The Travelers were dogs.
The Travelers, my first published novel, falls into the young adult (YA) genre of fantasy/paranormal/sword and sorcery (I never realized so many genres and sub-genres of YA existed!) People often ask me what inspired me to write for young adults. I had several reasons. For one, young adults seem to actually read books. More importantly, they are more open to ideas and exploration of truths. I wanted to write a book that was fun and exciting. But, I also wanted it to be more than just a book about two teens who fall in love and overcome obstacles. I wanted it to say something, maybe even teach something.
K.L. Kranes and I are in the same book club, which is now three years old. I like to think of myself as a reader, and someone who loves learning. I have been in a several different book clubs in... Continue Reading →
We've never needed a day like World Kindness Day more and it is actually today November 13, 2016. Seriously, it's a real thing and feels ironically timely. In honor of that, I pledge to read more books about goodness and kindness overcoming obstacles and prejudice. And, I pledge to talk about those books with my daughter and other children and young adults to help spread kindness rather than hate. Books can change the world, if we just read them. Therefore, here is a World Kindness Day book YA list of books that I want to read to help fulfill my pledge. I'd love more suggestions for adding to the list!
K.L. Kranes 