Coming Soon: 60 Page Reviews

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin

My book club has a policy which states that in order to disqualify a book from the very fierce competition toward the Melinda Awards, two or three (not sure exactly how many at the moment) persons must read at least sixty pages in order to give it a "No." I've done that at least once (Vampire Crush - even the title is terrible!), and I'm currently struggling to reach the sixtieth page of What Boys Really Want by Pete Hautman. So this is basically a preview of something to come. First I shall probably review the aforementioned "vampire" novel. Also, I may be amending my New Year's resolution to 100 or maybe even 150 books. At least. I really need to get up to speed on my reading. In addition to these, I'm trying to read more good books and sixty pages each of more gods-awful books, which means my ascending standards won't tolerate any "decent" or "OK" books - it must be on either side of the fence for me and not on its tip. This is in order to improve my own writing and throw off more books for Printz. Another reason for which I do this is efficiency: I must read more. I already read far more than most people, but I was surprised at the reading abilities of many of my fellow members, particularly Ara. Much power to that one! I must, of course, make room for non-Printz books, but that should't be an issue. Anyhow, time to go!

Peace!

- Lewis

Terrible Books

"Novels so often provide an anodyne and not an antidote, glide one into torpid slumbers instead of rousing one with a burning brand." - Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

My friend Ara intentionally reads books that are awful and blogs about them. For the longest time I would read only books I thought I would like, and generally my predictions were accurate, with a few exceptions such as Twilight, Requiem: Poems from the Terezin Ghetto, and The Lightning Thief. But now, in order to season myself as the amateur critic that I am, I chose a poorly-reviewed book from Printz (Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma). It's about a brother and sister who fall in love, which in itself is odd. Could be a good book (not too far yet), but I only hope to whatever gods may or may not exist that it doesn't encourage incest. I still hope to read some other of the well-liked ones before this fall when endings are spoiled, but if I love everything I read, then what kind of critic am I? A person once told me I couldn't critique stuff properly. Of course the bloke was wrong, because he hardly enjoys any books and anyone who's a bit less cynical is apparently a softy.

If I've made any typos and left them, you must excuse me: I cut open my left thumb and index finger and am wearing plasters at the moment, which makes it hard to type.

Love,

Lewis