/lit/ - Literature

>>1919847

No, I haven't, but I've seen his work on the shelves. I may check into it. Thank you.

>>1919805

Yeah, I know. Only take the one that just says Book 1. It should have an orange cat sitting on the front of it.

This series is kind of a mega series with smaller series in it. There is an original series (the ones I read and liked), The New Prophecy series, The Power of Three series, and the New Omens series. Basically, the first series is told from the POV of one character. The next series and mangas are told from other characters POV, including the first character's descendants and other cats that live in that world. It's kind of complicated. But it's good for 3-4 grade readers, maybe 5th grade.

>>1919724

Now, I hate to let you down, but I only read YA when A) my good friend the YA Librarian assures me that it isn't crap, B) it's a classic, or C) I read it when I myself was a Young Adult.

I never read City of Bones. Don't worry about the Hunger Games, you should be able to get through them in under a week. Plenty of books have male main characters. Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn is about a teen boy going through anger management. One of my favorite books, Looking for Alaska details a young man spending a year away from home at a boarding school. Kevin Brockmeier has awesome books. A lot of short story compilations are put together for young adults, and my favorite is Geektastic. What Ever Happened to Lani Garver? by Carol Plum-Ucci is a great story.

I most highly recommend Going Bovine by Libba Bray for an awesome book with a male main character. It's a retelling of Don Quixote starring a teen diagnosed and dying of Mad Cow Disease. It is trippy and fantastic. READ IT.

One last author, who I have NOT read but who I am most assured is BRILLIANT, is Chris Crutcher. He is a psychiatrist who writes books reflecting cases he has worked on in order to raise awareness and bring support for different causes. On top of his good intentions, I've been told that the actual writing is phenomenal. Recommended book: Whale Talk.

enjoy.

>>1919687

No strong feelings about it. Books (unless extremely boring) are usually ruined after being at the library between 6 monthhs to 2 years. Or they are stolen. Things happen to them and then we replace them. The stickers, glue, and tape are necessary to provide an invaluable service to the community.

>>1919699

Seems like he likes a little of everything, huh? I personally lovr the Series of Unfortunate Events. My favorite as a kid. They are written in a way that expands vocabulary, and become larger and more complex with each book, so that a kid can grow with them. Or at least they could when they were still being released and you had to wait at least a year for the new one. I also love classics like The Little Prince. Some Beverly Cleary books like Runaway Ralph and Dear Mr. Henshaw are good for boys as well as girls. Anything by Louis Sachar (Holes and Wayside School) or Jerry Spinelli (Eggs, Maniac McGee) is usually pretty awesome. The Warriors series (about a tribe of feral cats living in a forest) is a good introduction to the talking animal genre (Redwall ftw). I'd stick with the first 6 though, quality sinks after that.

>>1919643

Less interesting than you think. Those are the three that were actually pretty noteworthy. The rest of the time, it generally means that a worker from the adult side wasn't paying attention and shelved one of their books on our side. Since it's all on the dewey decimal system, it just means that a calculus book might accidentally end up surrounded by "2 apples plus 3 apples makes 5 apples". Either that or a kid will pick up a book some place, decide they don't like it, and reshelve it in a completely different area.

>>1919624

Unwind or the Skinjackers Trilogy by Neal Shusterman. Unwind is a futuristic dystopia describing a horrible compromise the was meant to end the Second Civil War fought over abortion rights. Skinjackers describles a place between life and the afterlife and a battle being fought there.

I really loved The Hunger Games. I'm sort of afraid that it's going to be ruined by fans because it is getting a movie and gaining popularity and merchandise, but it is very well written if a bit popcorn. Well thought out, good characters, good variation on a classic theme. If you don't already know, it's about a ompetition where children between ages 13-18 are randomly chosen to fight to the death as tributes. This is done to keep a poor country in fear of it's wealthy capital so they won't get the balls to rebel. Being vague so as not to spoiler.

Many classics are kept in YA as well since they are required for school. Childhood's End by Authur C. Clarke is a good alien invasion story.

>>1919613

Hell no. Those things are rarely checked out, less because of the artstyle and more often because the writing is crappy, overly sentimental, and pointless.

Books with fun, cartoony art are the most popular, and books with well rendered, high quality, painted art are usually the award winners.

Example: The "No David!" series by David Shannon are extremely popular, but are meant to look as if drawn by the 5 year old main character.

>>1919581

Quite the opposite. It would seem that other adults llike to do this, but it is part of my duty to keep the books in their correct places. I have found naughty (i.e. Striptease) movies mixed in with ours, a photo book of past playmates of the year in our restroom, and a very violent comic series about Lovecraft mythos on our shelves.

Truly, when I started working here, I thought I might have a moral problem with shelving and thus making available to the public books that I feel might rot their brains. I had thought of putting the Twilight series under the category for infectious diseases.

However, after working for awhile you A) become deaded to stupid people, B) realize it's not worth your job, and C) end up searching for lost and misshelved books so much that the thought of someone purposefully misplacing one makes you want to shoot flames out of your eyes.

I have however displayed books about the Inquisition next to "Jesus Loves Me" and books about childhood obesity next to books about starving children in 3rd world countries.

>>1919503


There is one child names Lady Xeona (I shit you not) whose mother is convinced she is a genius. She is maybe 4 now, but she's always checked out books on chemistry, advanced history, etc... She is a member of MENSA, but I am not convinced that these are her choices as opposed to her mother's. Other than that, most kids pick what you would think. Interests jump around and they try different things. If they were picking out something really advanced, I wouldn't know because it would all happen on the Adult Side, which is a different building.

>>1919503

For story times, which are usually 6 and under, comedy is very important. They like stories that are written in rhyme or musically, because it helps them repeat and remember. For this reason Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom and Llama Llama books are popular. Beginning readers and moms of kids that can't read yet generally grab whatever the fuck and try different things on. Little boys fucking love trains. Thomas is our number 1 for boys 4 and under. Girls seem to like disney princess books. After age 4, they start to get different and more individual interests. Middle school and elementary school kids love things like 39 Clues (an interactive mystery story with links on the internet) and Percy Jackson. A little bit younger and they like things that still incorporate pictures, like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants. Many children love the Bone series of comics.

Kids go with trends, but once they finish a series (Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson) they come to us and ask for similar stories at which time we direct them to other things. The similar themes in these books (diary keeping, younger children fighting through supernatural events) are the basis of course for hundreds of books, so it's pretty easy to give them something good. You might not be able to start with the Wizard of Oz series, but if something has exposure,you can work your way back. Percy Jackson > Harry Potter > Series of Unfortunate Events > Narnia > Oz > Alice.

I am a Page in the Children's Section of my local library. 2 years. Our section ranges from baby books to Young Adult. We do story times, programs, and clubs. Ask me stuff.

ITT: children's lit,librarians, etc..

>>1849775

I like "I am the Cheese" better but Chocolate War is good. Robert Cormier was one of my favourites in jr. high.

>>1341507

Thanks hun. Going Bovine has been on my list for ages, but reading's been slow due to work and school.

Also, Libba Bray is smart,funny, and hot. Some of her interviews given in library journals are hilarious.

I've only read Looking for Alaska, but it is one of my favourite books from my teen years.

What's great aboout the book is A) It doesn't glamourize being a teenager. But, it isn't all ANGST ANGST ANGST either. Probably the most realistic portrayal of how real teenagers act and think I've ever read. And B) the book doesn't end when she dies. It doesn't take the easy way out. It keeps going and going, and makes the reader go through the process of greif and recovery every painful step of the way without flinching. Even to he point of acknowledging that, yes, you will begin to forget people, no matter how much they meant to you.

I read it about the time of my grandfather's death, and honestly, it helped me. So, even if it is a teen romance, in some aspects, I'm not going to say I'm ashamed to love this book. I work in a library in the kids/teen section and I know very well what the alternative books are for this age group. They honestly don't get much better in terms of fiction written for teens.

Also, second thread about this book/author on first page? wtf?

Ok, so I work for a shop that sells any sort of "geek" related merchandise - comics, manga, anime, traditional game stuff, sci-fi and fantasy literature, the works. We're adopting a female cat to be the shop pet. She is white with gold eyes, and we'd like to name her after a character with similar features. Could be from anything, although neither anime or manga are my thing, so I wouldn't recognize suggestions from either of those, and we don't sell video games. Any suggestions guys?

My first thought was Raistlin, from D&D's Dragonlance, but since that's a guy, it was vetoed. :'(

pic related, not the cat we're getting, but similar appearance.

I loved it, but I'm a 21 year old girl. It's mostly about how no matter how shitty something is that happpens to you, life keeps going, even if you feel like you'd rather die than keep going. That's what I got from it anyhow. And along the way you have your standard growing up story, with booze and sex included. But beautifully written, so I recommend it to you.

Anime: Full Metal Alchemist (barely watch anime
Video Game: Katamari Damace
Comic: Preacher
Cartoon: There She Is!!!
Television show: Babylon 5
Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Traditional game: D&D
Book: 1984

Happy to help.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/2LGJQ2BNDNQFK

Here's mine. Thinking of getting "It was a pleasure to burn." on the opposite side in a handwritten classy calligraphic font. Not sure yet.

Yes, I do indeed enjoy entry-level dystopian novels. I'm ok. with this.

>>1157509

; ) No kidding right? If only it were as simple as "We're art students, therefore no one will ever make us write a paper or turn in an artist's statement."

Honestly, I really do hate artist's statements, they're incredibly dull to everyone except the artist. I do a lot of nudes and abstract pornographic work, so I think for my first show, my artist's statement might be something along the lines of "I < 3 dicks and tits" and see how that goes over.

>>1157481


Holy shit, I'm so tired. your* not "you are", sell* not "seel", and learn* not "lern". Forgive me, I promise I am not illiterate.

Art student here. It's useless if you're idea is that you will immediately be able to seel your work like hotcakes, or get picked up by marvel/dc/television if that's your goal. But I mean, they make you take art history, and if anything that tells you that being an artist hasn't really been marketable since the days of royalty/church commissions. You are often reminded that many of the world's most renowned artists made no money in life. It is useful if you are someone with raw talent who needs to learn technique. Learning art from a book has no comparison to having a seasoned artist show you how, and although you can teach yourself, it's easier to lern from the mistakes of others than to make them all yourself. If your ambition is to make art and you are serious about it, as in YOU HAVE TO DO IT, then art school is great. Seriously, many artists are like addicts, if they aren't working, they're fucked. And if you are working, then it is a slow process of gaining recognition. You don't do it to make a living, you do it because you must.

guess not, lol.

So, I'm halfway through reading Blindness by Jose Saramago, and I'm wondering if he always writes like this. It seems to me that the style of writing is probably intentional and designed to mimic the situation of the characters, which is the only reason I don't find it annoying. For a book about blind characters, the writing has a lot of impact because it makes you feel like you have to try harder to get a grasp on what is being said. I don't know how to best put this, but I feel as if I am also having to grope around in the darkness. However, with different subject matter, I don't know how you wouldn't find all of the run-on sentences and lack of punctuation annoying.

Basically, I'd like to know if anyone else has read any of his work and whether or not he writes in the same manner in all of his books. If he does, does he make it work?