I was at the bookstore yesterday...
and, while poking around found that there were things to be noted:
1. The Order of the Poison Oak (I <3 Brent Hartinger, ask me more) has come out in paperback, and has a new cover. This amuses me greatly, because the new cover is much less, uh, suggestive, than the hardback cover. Having heard people's opinions on this and whatnot (and the author doesn't get a choice in the book cover, by the way), I think this is better. If a cover is too suggestive - and this is a teen book note, not a dopey romance novel - people won't feel as embarrassed about picking it up. And plus, while Hartinger's books do not shy away from "adult" topics in their books, they are hardly graphic
2. This book, and I've seen it advertised, called "why do men have nipples" is actually better and more scientific than you might think. Now the authors are trying to make it accessible to the average joe, and so don't get as technical and pedantic as I like. But it's still not entirely frivolous as the title might suggest. I stood there and read the whole first chapter - a fair bit I knew, but I learned some things too (for instane, did you know that your fingernails grow faster on your dominant hand? Or so they say. I wish there were more detail on this, but this is clearly something I will be curiously observing. And, I bet it's not "true" as such, but that simply using your dominant hand causes the fingernails to wear down more. They didn't clarify that either.) However, there some things that should be more in depth, so as to answer people's followup questions.
3. I picked up Tamora Pierce newest book (I forget what it's called, but it's the newest one about the four mages), which stood about a bit, as, like with Harry Potter books, she gets a shelf to herself. Now, despite rereading the Alanna books a ridiculous amount of times, I never could get through the mage books. So while I've skimmed them, I've never read them as such (but I plan to!), but nevertheless, know a fair bit of the story. Anyway, my point is that I was excited to read that one of the girl mages gets a girlfriend (at least for a little while, and I suppose I won't spoil you any more than that.) This is exciting because this is the first time Tamora Pierce has put an openly gay character in one of her books (there were subtextual ones, which you can find out from the forums, and Pierce goes on the forums as so can confirm this stuff.) So, kudos to Tamora Pierce. Now gosh darn it, I need to get back to actually reading her books. Am so behind.
4. Those ttyl books written all in IM speak. Oh dear, kill me now. I needn't say more, I think
1. The Order of the Poison Oak (I <3 Brent Hartinger, ask me more) has come out in paperback, and has a new cover. This amuses me greatly, because the new cover is much less, uh, suggestive, than the hardback cover. Having heard people's opinions on this and whatnot (and the author doesn't get a choice in the book cover, by the way), I think this is better. If a cover is too suggestive - and this is a teen book note, not a dopey romance novel - people won't feel as embarrassed about picking it up. And plus, while Hartinger's books do not shy away from "adult" topics in their books, they are hardly graphic
2. This book, and I've seen it advertised, called "why do men have nipples" is actually better and more scientific than you might think. Now the authors are trying to make it accessible to the average joe, and so don't get as technical and pedantic as I like. But it's still not entirely frivolous as the title might suggest. I stood there and read the whole first chapter - a fair bit I knew, but I learned some things too (for instane, did you know that your fingernails grow faster on your dominant hand? Or so they say. I wish there were more detail on this, but this is clearly something I will be curiously observing. And, I bet it's not "true" as such, but that simply using your dominant hand causes the fingernails to wear down more. They didn't clarify that either.) However, there some things that should be more in depth, so as to answer people's followup questions.
3. I picked up Tamora Pierce newest book (I forget what it's called, but it's the newest one about the four mages), which stood about a bit, as, like with Harry Potter books, she gets a shelf to herself. Now, despite rereading the Alanna books a ridiculous amount of times, I never could get through the mage books. So while I've skimmed them, I've never read them as such (but I plan to!), but nevertheless, know a fair bit of the story. Anyway, my point is that I was excited to read that one of the girl mages gets a girlfriend (at least for a little while, and I suppose I won't spoil you any more than that.) This is exciting because this is the first time Tamora Pierce has put an openly gay character in one of her books (there were subtextual ones, which you can find out from the forums, and Pierce goes on the forums as so can confirm this stuff.) So, kudos to Tamora Pierce. Now gosh darn it, I need to get back to actually reading her books. Am so behind.
4. Those ttyl books written all in IM speak. Oh dear, kill me now. I needn't say more, I think
posted by Taira @ 10:36 PM
1 Comments:
At 1:47 AM,
Brent Hartinger said…
Hi Ginny:
Not to horn in on your blog, but I was technorati-ing myself (hey, a new verb!), and I saw your comment on the new POISON OAK cover. Yeah, I think it's better too, if only because I heard from sooooo many librarians who said it was too much for their collections. I certainly don't want to get anyone in hot water. And as you say, the book is hardly explicit, so the cover wasn't exactly accurate.
Also, as you say, we authors have no say in these things, so I can only sit back and enjoy the show...
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