Let's revive this blog!

Even if you're too busy to keep up a blog of your own, you could still probably contribute one MOLDy post every two weeks or so. And I know I'm not the only MOLDy girl out here. Besides, this blog's a decent enough way to keep in touch. And the summer's coming up. Plenty of time to read and give into MOLD then. ;-)

So post!

I'll be back soon with something MOLDy, be it a book review or something else. Promise. 

♥anilee

What makes a book popular?

Reviewer X asked this question recently, and I decided to blog about it myself.

(And right now, I'm calling Sunday as my day to post weekly ramblings about bookish topics, 'kay? And I realize that this is Monday, not Sunday, but I started writing this on Sunday with the intention of finishing it, but then I felt like watching Music and Lyrics and then my younger brother and I watched Camp Rock and laughed at it and by then it was like ten thirty and I went to sleep.)

When I was younger, I really didn't read that many bestsellers. I mean, I liked historical fiction. That wasn't exactly mega-popular for the most part. I mean, yes, there was American Girl and Little House on the Prairie but for the most part, who read historical fiction? Not many.

Eventually, my reading tastes started to change. I remember when The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants came out. I didn't really want to read it; it didn't seem like my kind of book. (And one of the rules of the Sisterhood...well, let's just say I was positive the book would not be appropriate.) Regardless, I added it to my "list of books to read someday" because it was so popular. And one summer when I was at camp, I bought it and ended up really enjoying it. The same with The Lord of the Rings and Twilight. It seemed like everyone else had read them so I thought that I should.

In the case of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, one reason I think it became so popular is simply because it was real. You could relate to Carmen, Lena, Tibby, and Bridget. So there probably is no such thing as a pair of pants who fit four girls with very different body types, but it's not really about the pants. It's about four young women who are best friends spending their first summer apart. And the story is real. The characters, their emotions, are real. They don't always make smart decisions, aren't always likable, but they are girls you can know, girls you could be friends with yourself. Despite being a great summer read, Ann Brashares' young adult series has substance. It's not all happy-happy, but nor is it depressing. It's about life. Why wouldn't it be popular?

Gossip Girl and similar series are very popular right now. I've never read Gossip Girl, The A-List, or The Clique. I've read Private by Kate Brian, though. It's about a girl from the suburbs of Pennsylvania who ends up with a scholarship to an elite prep school and what happens when she falls in with the most powerful girls at the school. The seventh book, Ambition, recently came out, and I decided not to buy it. I've already read spoilers online, and I know there's just going to be another cliffhanger, probably more frustration, and it would just probably be a waste of ten dollars. Probably fun to read, but just overall not worth it.

Private is highly unrealistic. Seriously, if you thought the drama in BoBRPGv1 was over-the-top, I don't know what you'd think about Private. But it's addicting. Really. Who doesn't want to read about girls who have like zero self-respect despite seeming super-confident? And who doesn't read about a life they can only dream about: the life of the mega wealthy. I imagine the draw of Gossip Girl is the same.

Reviewer X discusses the Gallagher Girl books by Ally Carter. I have read both these books and I really enjoyed them. They're clean, fun, cute, and just impossible but whatever. Still fun, and that's all they're supposed to be. But then I reread the first (I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, and for the sake of my sanity, from now on, I'm going to call it LYKY) and thought it was only so-so. It sort of annoyed me, mainly the writing. The premise is so farfetched, and why the writing is just so spy-oriented...it just became "Enough already!" I wasn't sure I hated it, but I'm kind of sorry I reread it because the books are kind of ruined for me now. Actually, I'm hoping that they do make LYKY into a movie (it's been optioned) because it might be a better book than movie.

I think part of what makes the Gallagher Girl books popular is that how many books are about teenage girls who attend spy school? Not that many. I think that books that take place at boarding schools of any kind are popular (Private is another bestselling series, and there is of course Harry Potter) and the Gallagher Academy is like Hogwarts in that it's populated by normal enough kids with super-special talents and the actual building is just so zany and you'd love to take a class or two there someday.

Maybe it's sort of the same draw as Hannah Montana: A mostly normal teenage girl with a huge secret.

Reviewer X brings up The Da Vinci Code, which I've never read. I agree with her that the controversy is responsible for its popularity. Controversy never hurts. However, I must disagree with her discussion of Prep, another book I've never read (but again, set at a prep school). I'm not looking at the Amazon.com page, so I don't know what it's average rating is, but I've seen it appear in many lists and stuff on Amazon.com, and I'm thinking that the number of negative reviews might be a reflection of its popularity. The proportion of fans to non-fans might be the same, but the numbers are larger. Also, if you love a super-popular book, why write a review? Yours is just going to be lost among the other gushing five-star reviews. But if you dislike a bestseller, you want to tell others that they may not want to waste their time and money, that keeping up with the latest trend is just not worth it.

Most people read for fun, so they want fun books. They don't want to have to focus on what they're reading in order to understand it. I know when I'm feeling sick or whatever, I'm more likely to reread one of my favorites or pick up a Meg Cabot book or something similar. Why? Because Meg Cabot's books are entertaining.

It's really hard to pinpoint what is and isn't going to sell well. (Okay, so if you read some editors'/agents' blogs, you'll see that there are some obvious "My goose, what on earth was this person thinking?" type queries, but mostly...) I mean, who knew Twilight was going to be so huge? Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? How many rejections did J. K. Rowling receive, and what was the initial printing? Bloomsbury was pretty clueless that they were publishing the next literary phenomenon.

So publicity is another thing. I know that I would recommend LYKY simply because it's a pretty easy read (if torturous sometimes) and is fairly entertaining and it's clean. A book being put out on display...talked about a lot...it's going to sell. (So maybe I should just start throwing in Books of Bayern randomly?...) But how does a book get put on display? I don't know. Someone with power really likes that book? And how does a book get talked about? Someone either loves it or hates it.

So really, it comes down to people. Marketing people. Bookstore people. Reader people. And then the readibility/funness/power of a book...that sort of thing. But I don't think it can be pinpointed, my conclusion after this lengthy discussion.

READ BOOKS OF BAYERN BY SHANNON HALE! (Even though I know you guys have. :P)

♥anilee

A Post on Historical Fiction

I'm experiencing deja vu; when I was in ninth grade, I wrote a 2500 word essay on the genre of historical fiction. It was fun; my bibliography was pretty much made up of my favorite books.

Anyway. When I was younger, historical fiction was my favorite genre. When I was in elementary school, I either wanted to read about times before I was born or else stories about witches. Nothing else. Contemporary fiction didn't really interest me; neither did other sort of fantasy. Except for Ella Enchanted but that book is so awesome. But I'll talk more about why I love fantasy in a different post.

So historical fiction. It's probably my second favorite genre. I still love it. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly is my second favorite book. And if you haven't read it, you simply must. You girls will probably really like it because you will totally be able to relate to Mattie, the main character. She loves to read and she wants nothing more than to go to college and study writing. She often references literature. And the story is just fantastic. Highly recommended. And I'll read pretty much anything else set in times long ago. (Another reason I love A Northern Light; how many books are set in 1906? Or the Adirondacks?)

What brought about this post is the fact that I recently finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. It only took me like five months. *rolls eyes* I started reading it maybe several weeks before I saw the movie. It wasn't that the book was horrible or anything. It actually reads pretty quickly. I just didn't have a lot of time and was reading a lot else at the time.

When I was younger, I really enjoyed the Young Royals series by Carolyn Meyer. Actually, it was Mary, Bloody Mary that in fifth grade introduced me to the marvelous world of Tudor England. I've loved everything related to Tudor England since.

Historical fiction is really interesting. When I was younger, I'd read it to gain an understanding and learn something about history, so I wanted the books to be as accurate as possible and to have detailed author's notes explaining what was fact and what was fiction, why the author wrote the book and changed what he or she did. That was one of the best things about Ann Rinaldi's books; a lot of her books have fantastic, in-depth author's notes.

But fiction means "made up". Authors don't have to stay true to fact. And sometimes, there's just not enough fact.

Take the person of Mary Boleyn. Mary narrates Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl. She also appears in Meyer's Doomed Queen Anne (whose narrator is the one and only Anne Boleyn, who is either my first or second favorite of Henry VIII's sixth wives. Katherine Parr also rocks. Both were smart, independent women). Not much is known about Mary other than the basic outline of her life. She married William Carey, became Henry VIII's mistress, her husband died, and she remarried a poor man, William Stafford, for love (have to love her for that). And she a son, Henry, and a daughter, Catherine. That's just about it. But who was she as a person?

Gregory has a sweet, obedient Mary who really hates court life. She's actually sort of dull. (Anne's got a lot more personality, but I'm not a fan of Gregory's portrayal of her, either.) However, when we first meet Mary in Doomed Queen Anne, she's haughty and confident, reveling in being Henry's mistress. Quite a difference, right? Which is right and which is wrong? I don't know; I haven't done enough research into the figure of Mary Boleyn; I don't know what the historical accounts say about her. Since there are two pretty different portrayals of her...I don't think there are many accounts of her.

I think if I had to say which book I liked more...I'd have to say that The Other Boleyn Girl is vastly more entertaining, but I'd rather read Doomed Queen Anne, paired with Mary, Bloody Mary. Why? Because I think Meyer's books portray Tudor England better. It was more than just the setting; it was part of the story. I don't think that you can read The Other Boleyn Girl and come away with the same understanding. I could be wrong; maybe the fact that I knew enough about Tudor England to know that most historians actually think Mary was the elder of the two Boleyn sisters and not the younger as Gregory has her sort of ticked me off. I mean, why change that? It just seemed like Gregory sensationalized the events; Meyer's seemed less dramatic. And as much as I love drama, I'm not into it when it's based on true events and people because I think the author has an obligation to keep it realistic. I mean, if you want to dramatize things, change the names, some of the details, and call it fantasy. Seriously.

So historical fiction...it should entertain. However, I'm more likely to like a "boring" historical fiction novel because chances are, it's more historical.

What about you?

♥anilee

Wondering if you suffer from MOLD?

Here are some telltale signs that you may be MOLDy (suffering from Mental Obsessive Literary Disorder:

• Love of reading.
• Love of fictional characters.
• State of anxiety when you cannot read.
• Increased impatience due to impending releases of highly anticipated books.
• Addiction to Little Red Reading Hood.
• Worry when people A) tell you they don't like to read and/or B) ask you why you like to read.
• General state of randomness and/or craziness.
• Buying more books than you can read.
• Frequently referencing various books without a second thought.
• Having trouble not talking about your love of all things book-related.
• Anger and/or fear at books being made into movies.

If you are experiencing any or all of these symptoms, it is highly likely that you are MOLDy. However, don't fear. There is no cure, but MOLD is not life-threatening. (Unless you get run over because you forget to check both ways before rushing across the street in your haste to get to the library.) It can lead to a state of panic or feeling depressed or otherwise strange, but these side effects are MOLD are easily treated by a visit to your local bookstore or by talking to other MOLDy people or reading a favorite book.

Like mold, MOLD tends to spread. One eager, MOLDy person sharing their love of all things literary can pass the disorder to another reader and so on. However, do not worry about limiting contact. As has already be stated, MOLD is not life-threatening and its side effects are easily treated.

♥anilee (who suffers from all those symptoms and loves it!)

I'll go first!

Since Anilee likes being first. Okay, not really. She does like to talk in the third person, though. ;)

Obviously, all you guys will know that my favorite author is the one and only Shannon Hale. And my favorite book of all time is The Goose Girl. And the rest of the Books of Bayern. Maybe Book of a Thousand Days. Not Austenland or Princess Academy, though I do really like both those books.

Second favorite book is A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, which is completely amazing and you should all read it.

I also love Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and the movie too, which is very true to the book. Kristen Stewart may or may not be a good Bella, but she's a perfect Melinda.

The older books by Ann Rinaldi. I'm not a fan of her stuff published in this decade, but last decade's stuff (and some late-eighties) are excellent historical fiction.

Another author I enjoy is Tamora Pierce. I guess Tamora Pierce was my second favorite author. The first time I could name a favorite author, it was Ann Rinaldi. Then I read Trickster's Choice, realized fantasy was amazing, and quickly read everything that Tamora Pierce had written and loved all her books. So then she became my favorite author.

And then I read The Goose Girl. Waited for Enna Burning to come out in paperback. Joined LRRH...

Anyway, I love pretty much every fantasy book ever written, especially those that don't really have a lot of magic or epic-ness. Like I really enjoyed Legacy by Cayla Kluver (teenaged author!) and Crown Duel and Court Duel by Sherwood Smith. Political intrigue! And Ophelia by Lis Klein, but that's Shakespeare, not fantasy. Well...so Shakespeare did write fantasy, and The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, does have a ghost.

And on the epic side of fantasy, The Lord of the Rings. Without a doubt. Nothing else can compare.

As far as contemporary young adult fiction goes...I prefer the fun, light, chick lit type stuff to the darker books. I mean, I do love Speak, but I'd take Meg Cabot over Laurie Halse Anderson any day. Or Jen Calonita's Secrets of My Hollywood Life series (and these books are completely clean, and I highly recommend them). Or the Gallagher Girl books by Ally Carter.

I'm probably leaving somthing out, but oh well. I've rambled long enough...

♥anilee