Fun Friday: #BookadayUK No. 27

A final Friday contribution to #BookadayUK explores characters I'd like to be. These won't be a shock to anyone who's ever looked at this blog or anything else I've written. Ever.

BOOK A DAY No. 27: I Want to Be a Character in These Books

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Scholastic, 1997
Can I be Hermione? Please? I'm really good in school and my hair is sometimes a nightmare, so I'd fit right in. And I'd learn all the spells. Over summer holidays. Honest.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
HarperCollins, 2006 (orig. 1952)
The only character to be is Lucy--she of the unshakeable faith. Also, my sister is prettier than I am, so again, I'm a natural. I want to look through the old magician's book all day.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Children's Classics, 1998 (orig. 1911)
I'm pretty bad at growing things, but I love gardens. And I want to meet all Dickon's animal friends. I can scowl with the best of them, so I'm a natural for Mary Lennox.

Fun Friday: #BookadayUK No. 20

Time for my Friday contribution to #BookadayUK. Today we're championing the outside of the book, and with good reason. Cover design has taken off in the last few years in an amazing way. Much as I don't want to, I do judge a book by its cover. I often read books on my e-reader, but nothing beats owning a beautiful book.

BOOK A DAY No. 20: Books That Wear My Favorite Cover

I'm going to make this easy and look at only those books I've read in the past two years. Because otherwise, covers could take all day. These are a few of my recent faves.

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann
Greenwillow, 2012; MG fantasy

This cover grabbed me right away--so strange, so colorful! I knew I wanted to read the book.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2012; YA fantasy
I'm a sucker for cool typography. Don't you love how the S is dragonish? I adored this cover even before it was reissued in midnight blue, and now I love it even more, especially the contrast with the city.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland
Random House, 2011; adult historical
I know, there's a color pattern here. I didn't intend it, but I am drawn to deep blues. This cover for a novel about Louis Tiffany and his unsung female assistant does a gorgeous job of inegrating the silhouette with the instantly recognizable Tiffany style. Love.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Disney Hyperion, 2012; YA/adult historical
Not a lot of color here, but it's haunting; the World War II fighter plane, another silhouette, and again, beautiful typography. The word Verity has a breezy style like a young girl from the 1940s. This cover perfectly captures the story elements--much better than the hardcover edition, in my opinion.

The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver
HarperCollins, 2012; MG fantasy
More fantastic typography on this cover. The title looks like spider legs, and a spider is even woven in as a motif. Liza's deer-in-the-headlights expression has a timeless feel, despite her wardrobe. The story looks magical, chaotic, and a tiny bit dangerous--just as it should.

The Man Who Walked Away by Maud Casey
Bloomsbury, 2014; adult historical
This cover intrigued me enough for me to add it to my TBR list before really knowing what the novel was about. But now that I do--a mentally ill man walks through 19th-century Europe trying to put himself and his life back together--I'm doubly interested. The concentric circles and gentle colors are perfection.

The Diviners by Libba Bray
Little, Brown, 2012; YA paranormal
And we're back to blue. This creepy eye superimposed on glittery, jazz-age Manhattan hooked me; the gauzy, not-quite-there aspect adds to the shiver factor. Cool.

Note:  Borough Press has changed the hashtag of this event from #bookaday to #bookadayUK to avoid confusion with the original #bookaday. I know. It's confusing. 


Next Friday: The book whose characters I want to become. Check out more #bookadayuk fun here, on Twitter.

Fun Friday: #BookadayUK No. 13

It's Friday the 13th, friends! And what better day to laugh at the darkness than today? I'm participating in the superfun #bookadayUK hashtag event only on Fridays because, well, I have other things to do. Frankly.

But here it is--Friday--so let the hilarity begin!

Oh ... and before you jump all over me about the scandal known as bookaday-gate, read the note at the end of this post. I'm just trying to fill my blog here, people. Honest.

BOOK A DAY No. 13: Books That Made Me Laugh

I could go on and on about Tim Federle and his books Better Nate Than Ever and Five, Six, Seven, Nate! But you can read about them in the links I just snuck into the last sentence. They are books to make you snort your milk out your nose, but then, so are these:

King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography
by Chris Crutcher
Greenwillow Books, 2004
YA/adult memoir

Told in the spirit of A Christmas Story, Crutcher's memories of boyhood in the 1950s are hilariously told in this short memoir. Read my Goodreads review here for more, then go buy this. Chris is an amazing writer whose YA titles include the fantastic novel Deadline (Greenwillow, 2007) and Period 8 (Greenwillow, 2013), among many others.

The Code of the Woosters
by P.G. Wodehouse
W.W. Norton, 2011 (originally pubbed in 1938)
adult fiction

When I'm down, or sick, or just want to laugh until my stomach begs me to stop, I reach for Wodehouse. He's been lauded as the funniest writer in history, and while I love Mark Twain and so many others, I have to concur. Hapless Bertie Wooster, who has too much money and time on his hands, would be in desperate straits were it not for his faithful valet (a "gentleman's gentleman"), Jeeves. Bertie is happily forever lost in 1920s Britain, before the war, when the most anyone had to worry about was a missing cow-creamer. This is Jeeves & Wooster at their hilarious best.



Note: Borough Press, which sponsors this fun idea, lately realized that there was already a #bookaday hashtag out there. So ... sorry for the confusion. Borough Press has changed their hashtag to #bookadayUK. The original Book a Day campaign is going strong! It's an annual summertime challenge hosted by The Nerdy Book Club here. So go do that. I would, but I have other things to do too. Frankly.

Next Friday: The book that wears my favorite cover. Check out more #bookadayuk fun here, on Twitter.