New favorite article of the week

The New York Times has begun what promises to be a *fantastic* series called "Draft," on the art & craft of writing. (Please go check it out, so they get good traffic/stats and choose to continue it!) Here's an excerpt from one of the pieces, by Pulitzer winner Jhumpa Lahiri, who is a master of powerful, evocative writing: 

“For surely it is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do. . . .

We encounter books at different times in life, often appreciating them, apprehending them, in different ways. But their language is constant. The best sentences orient us, like stars in the sky, like landmarks on a trail.”

Ahhhh....isn't that all just so perfectly captured, so elegantly true?

Book recommendation: THE NIGHT CIRCUS

Before I'm an editor, I'm a reader. Or I guess another way to phrase it would be, I'm an editor because I'm a reader. In any case, every now and then, you find a book that you just have to shout about to every other reader in the world, you know? And happily enough, I have a blog, which helps me to do precisely that, on occasion. :)

(In short: you should probably buy this book. Or you should go
beat everyone else at your library to checking it out. Hurry!) 

The Night Circus is a book that I fell head over heels in love with with as a reader a few months ago, when I got the lucky chance to grab an early copy. I've been telling people ever since that it's the best book I've read for adults in years, and I promise there's no hyperbole involved in that statement! I truly can't think of the last time I enjoyed a book as a reader as much as I did this one. Oh, and let me be clear, since I most often talk on this blog about books I've played some role in developing: I had *absolutely zero* part in making this book--I can take credit for none of its magic. But I applaud all those who did work on this book, especially its lovely author Erin Morgenstern, and her editor and agent, because they've brought to life a story that is positively bursting with magic. The Night Circus is a tale that's alive with wonder and possibility; it's a mesmerizing love story, and it's rich with sensory detail and fascinating characters (I haven't wanted to eat book food this bad since the first time I read the Narnia books and hungered to try Turkish delight). Best of all, it does one of the things I love most in a story: it creates a sense of place that feels so vivid and real and absolutely essential to the story's telling that the setting is practically becomes a character of its own.

Curious to know more? Here's the blurb from the jacket (and if you read it, come back and tell me if you enjoyed it as much as I did!):

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. 

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

Summer (Vacation) Reading List

I head out on vacation in a few short weeks (once we're past ALA, that is, where I hope to see some of you fine folk). But it's never too early to start thinking about what books I should take on vacation with me! Here's what I'm planning so far:

(I always like to take a volume of poetry on vacation, because I find few things more luxurious than whiling away a summer afternoon overlooking the ocean with a glass of wine and a book of poetry. And though I know and love her "greatest hits," I'm curious to see what I think of lesser-known Millay.)

(You better believe I'm going to do whatever it takes to get my grubby little hands on this at ALA, b/c if it's anything like Anna and the French Kiss, it'll be the perfect vacation read.)

(A colleague whose taste and editorial skills I quite admire edited Breadcrumbs, and I've been wanting to read it since the moment I heard about it--but I've been waiting till I had time to really savor it. It's a retelling of The Snow Queen. I adore retellings and The Snow Queen is my very favorite fairytale (so heartbreaking! so magical!), so I am primed to love this.

(Is it redundant to read travel writing while traveling? Perhaps, but both my editor self and my rookie travel writer self are excited for this one. "A sense of place" is one of the things I fall hardest for in any kind of writing, so a book devoted to that idea itself sounds delicious. Add that to it being a volume of general inspiration and craft-talk by some travel writing greats, and I'm totally sold.)

So that's a start, but I think I might have room in my bags for just a few more books. So...help me out! What have you read lately--any genre!--that was un-put-downable, or that made you stop and think, or that made you laugh, or that you just flat-out loved?

Why I Work in Publishing (in brief)

There are a million reasons I could tell you. Catch me in person some time, in fact, and you'll be hard-pressed to avoid me telling you some of them, probably whether you've even asked or not! ;) In fact, maybe "Why I Work in Publishing" should become a regular feature on this blog.

But for now, as the simplest answer to that question, I'll point to this. Reviews like this--heartfelt responses from readers like this--are why I work in publishing, and specifically, why I work in children's/YA books. Because I get to help make books that carry this much power, for readers of every age. Because stories become a part of us and stay with us forever and shape the person we become in the world and the mark we choose to leave on it. Because the things a writer has to say, and the words s/he crafts, can become black marks on white paper (or the technological equivalent thereof) that just might make someone else want to become a better person. And I get to help make all of that happen.

Does there need to be any other reason?

Beauty, of the writerly sort

Every now and then, someone uses words in a way that stops me short. It's an amazing feeling to stumble upon words--writing--like that. When a writer is able to perfectly, expertly, seemingly painlessly (ha! I know better!) capture old truths, to restate things I already know, but in a gorgeous way that makes me pause and nod and see them as if they are completely new discoveries, it makes me nothing short of ecstatic. And if a writer does all that while also using vibrant, beautiful language, then I'm completely, entirely that writer's captive. A willing captive, who wants to shout out words of agreement and encouragement from rooftops for that writer.

Since this blog is the closest thing I've got to a rooftop, please read this as me shouting: RUN, DON'T WALK to read Alexander Chee's "100 Things About a Novel, Pt. 1." His "things" (which are far too lovely to simply be given such an ordinary title, but it's his name for them, not mine) are honest and true and both perfectly stated and understated at the same time, and to top it all off, the editor in me is mad-in-love with his perfectly elegant use of syntax. Right now I'm caught between both hoping he'll post the other 70 or so right-away-fast-like-tomorrow, and hoping he'll post them oh-so-slowly, so I can luxuriate in imagining just how perfect they'll be, when he finally does so.

Which "thing" resonates most for you?

Short & sweet (& also, profound)

Here's one of the best quotes I've found in quite awhile about books & bookmaking. To me, this quote rings so true--and it sums up a great part of what I hope for in each book that I'm a part of bringing to life.

"The best service a book can render you is not to impart truth, but to make you think it out for yourself."--Elbert Hubbard

Poetry Friday: "Wealth"

Publishing salaries are, in a word, woeful. But by the standards of wonderful contemporary children's poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, I'm wealthy and then some--in fact, I'd say I'm quite probably a millionaire! I hope you can say the same.

(P.S. Isn't the line that reads, "Her life starts everywhere" just exquisite?)

Wealth
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Who's rich?
The boy with a book he hasn't read yet.
The girl with a tower of books by her bed.
She opens and opens and opens.
Her life starts everywhere.

Who's rich?
Anyone befriended again and again by a well-loved book.

This is a wealth
we never lose.

You tell me: book evangelizing

Here's a question I get asked A LOT, in one variation or another. "What have you read lately that's good?"/ "What's your favorite book published this year?" / "What are you excited about?" Sometimes, those questions are the perfect lead-in for me to talk about one of the recently-published books that I've edited or worked/assisted on (and I like to think I've helped to sell at least a few books that way!), which is something that I never get tired of doing.

Other times when I get asked this question, it would be a bit gauche to mention books that I've had a hand in putting out into the world. Happily, though, I'm not the only editor whose authors have written great books, so quite often I also find myself evangelizing for other books and authors who I admire. And I think that evangelize (which Websters defines as "having crusading zeal,") is exactly the right word, because I think there's something in all of us readers that instinctively wants to share the goodness of books that we truly connect to/admire/find truth in. It's easy, these days, to click a button that makes you a "fan" of something, or to retweet someone else's praise--and these are good things, and important tools in today's world. But I don't think those sort of automatic, reflexive actions take the place of honest, person-to-person getting-worked-up-about-a-book excitement (though a great thing about today's world is that I don't think those exchanges have to happen in person anymore, thanks to blogs, goodreads, facebook, twitter, etc.).

I'm curious how spreading the word about books looks and feels to those outside the industry, though, as I know my perspective sometimes gets skewed by being surrounded by so many professionally bookish types. So think back to the last few books that you haven't been able to stop telling people about. What makes you talk about those books/give them as gifts/make your book group read 'em/lend out your copies/determined to spread the word about them in a zillion other ways? The floor's wide open in the comments--what books (or qualities about books, if you don't feel like naming titles) are you an evangelist for, and why? And how do you find yourself doing your book evangelizing?

Poetry Friday: "A Book on a Shelf"

Moving into a smaller office space has meant much packing and purging of books over the last few weeks, some of which, alas, I never did manage to read despite good intentions to do so, so this poem seems terribly appropriate for this week's Poetry Friday!

A Book on a Shelf
by Roger Mitchell

A history of some sort, one that made us,
a war and what the war had meant, or since
meaning eludes war, what it did to the look
of the trees and the sides of the buildings,
most of which survived, only to be torn down
later to widen the street or put up a new
office complex. There it was on the shelf.
I was there only a moment, but still,
I wanted to know what happened to the man
in the photograph wearing a flat cap
standing outside the important building
cheering. He was there. He was part of that
moment, one of the first into the streets
when the turn of events came, the declaration
or pronouncement, words that would change
the look of everything he smiled on, words
that may have cost him his life. Here it is
in a book I found on a shelf. The person
who lives here bought it at a library
stock reduction sale. No one had read it.
It looked interesting thirty years ago.
It was practically new, the back uncracked.
But the person did what those before her had,
put it up on a shelf and never found
a way back to it. The history sits there,
unread, unbelievable, somebody else's.
Even I have only looked at the pictures,
at the man smiling between the cold pages.
Maybe ending the world as he knew it
was ok. Maybe it was the only way.
Maybe the world has to come to an end
in the first place to be the world. And the man?
He has to smile, though he knows so little
of what's coming, even looking right at it.
As we do, who still haven't read the book.

Poetry Friday: "Percy and Books"

I'm feeling exceptionally fond of Mary Oliver this week--so in honor of her, here's a favorite that never fails to make me smile, no matter how many times I've read it:

"Percy and Books"

by Mary Oliver

Percy does not like it when I read a book.

He puts his face over the top of it and moans.
He rolls his eyes, sometimes he sneezes.
The sun is up, he says, and the wind is down.

The tide is out and the neighbor's dogs are playing.

But Percy, I say. Ideas! The elegance of language!

The insights, the funniness, the beautiful stories

that rise and fall and turn into strength, or courage.

Books? says Percy. I ate one once, and it was enough.

Let's go.

Summer (Vacation) Reading List

I'm going on a vacation soon (although first I'll be here...will I meet any of you there?) and have already mentally begun packing. Packing the books, that is. There are few things I despise as much as the actual packing-packing. Planning out which books will accompany me is far more pleasant than checking weather.com and worrying if I've chosen the right shoes. So here's what's going in my bookbag--and yes, I'm being WILDLY optimistic about how much reading I'll actually do over the course of a week, but it's important to have options, right? (That said, all items below are subject to last-minute, suitcase-too-heavy fits of purging.)



Some grown-up books for a change for heaven's sake!

*So Many Ways to Begin - Jon McGregor's first book, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, is one of my favorite adult books. I'm several years behind reading his next book, but am hoping I'll love it just as much.
*Good Things I Wish You - A. Manette Ansay was one of my professors in college, and her writing is gorgeous! I've been looking forward to this, her newest novel, for a long, long time.
*The Best of Everything - A bookseller pal on Twitter (@bookavore) raved about this one, and told me that every gal in publishing should read this book. I'm nothing if not obedient.




In case I need to revert to my comfort zone/native language of YA/MG:

*This Lullaby - I'm on a Sarah Dessen kick (I've only read two of her books so far, but am speeding to catch up) and when I asked the collective brain of Twitter which of her books should be next, this got the vote.
*That Summer - One summery Sarah Dessen book might not be enough (especially if all the adult books above end up disappointing as grown-up books sometimes do), so I thought I'd read her very first and see how it compares to her more recent books.
*The Kind of Friends We Used to Be - this is the companion/sequel to one of my favorite middle grades, The Secret Language of Girls. I've wanted to read it for awhile, and am looking very forward, despite the non-summery cover art!



For soaking up inspiration alongside the ocean air:

*Walking on Water - my favorite, well-worn copy of all Madeleine L'Engle's books on the intersection of faith and creativity and art. I find new revelations every time I re-read it.
*At the Corner of the Eye - a poetry collection by Pat Hooper, who I discovered in an anthology earlier this year and quite liked.
*My trusty moleskine travel notebook (I like these ones b/c they're nice and thin and take up next-to-no-space) to catch all the thoughts that fall out of my head while I remember what it means to relax!

Book reports on at least some of the above to follow! In the meanwhile, tell me...what's in YOUR vacation bag and/or on your summer pleasure reading list?

You may not be able to look at me the same way once I admit this...

Last week, I did something I haven't done in a long time. I cheated. An editor friend recently hooked me up with a much-coveted advanced readers copy of Once Was Lost, the third novel by Sara Zarr, a writer who repeatedly blows me away with the emotional richness of her stories. But alas, as much as I've been waiting and waiting for that ARC, it came at the worst possible time. May has been a crazy-busy month. I totally did not have time to read anything that wasn't a manuscript. And yet I totally couldn't wait any longer and NOT read it. So I dove in. And...it was as great as I expected (isn't it wonderful when an author doesn't let you down as a reader, not even for a minute?). Rich, nuanced, totally human characters that I thoroughly believed in. Deep ideas about questions that don't have easy answers. Complex, REAL, confusingly muddled relationships and situations that made me ache. I think that's what I love about Zarr's writing--she writes thoughtfully about stories and characters that feel so very honest and alive.

But you're waiting for the confession, aren't you? So here it is. Once Was Lost is also totally full of suspense. And I had a limited amount of time, and really needed to be spending some of it sleeping, instead of reading past 2 a.m. So I skipped to the end to find out what happened. I've since finished it for real, and I don't think the reading experience was too scarred by my late-night, non-linear bout of weakness--in fact, I think I could even claim that it's a compliment to Sara Zarr that I HAD to know what happened before I could fall asleep. But, tell me I'm not the only one who sometimes does this? And, hey, guilt loves company--what's the last book that made *you* cheat?