Well If This Doesn't Deserve a Post I Don't Know What Does

My entire morning just got about 8 billion times better.


Friends, J.K. Rowling is writing a new book. 
 
Cue: squealing. 

Potter fans, we do have something to live for.

That, or The New York Times, Huff Post, Publisher's Weekly, Media Bistro, The Leaky Cauldron, Rowling's agent, and the woman herself are in cahoots on the biggest and most dangerous prank this world has ever seen.  (Dangerous because, hello, if it turns out this was a joke then you will have millions of furious fans on your hands who are not afraid to hunt you down.)

We don't know much about it yet.  I can garner no more information out of these articles other than that the new novel is written for adult audiences, is "very different" from the Harry Potter series, and that more details (title, publication date, plot details, etc.) will be released later this year.  If you hear something more, though, def pass it on.  :)



From a recent press release:

"Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life."

Excuse me while I go do cartwheels around my office.

2011: A Literary Review

For some reason all I can think of when I see the above image is Desmond punching the numbers into the computer every 108 minutes on LOST. 

Anyway.

I've noticed that some people (book bloggers, mostly) do these kinds of annual reading recaps.  I've always enjoyed reading others' annual literary reviews, so I thought I'd make one of my own.  I'm not sure anyone else will get anything out of this post - this is just something for me to keep track of my nerdiness.  But I had fun compiling this list so I thought I'd post it.

Note: This list was not comprised out of books released in 2011, but rather of books I read in 2011. 

And so, here is Mel's Great Literary Review of 2011...


Best Book of 2011: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. 

Worst Book of 2011: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. 

Most Mediocre Book of 2011:  Caleb Williams by William Godwin.  I honestly can't remember hardly anything about this book, it was that bland.

Most Unenjoyable Good Book: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.  (Unabridged.)  It really is a great book and one that is worth reading, but I did not enjoy the process of reading it.

Most Enjoyable Bad Book: Wither by Lauren DeStefano.  I enjoyed laughing at this book more than I enjoyed reading it.  I had fun with this book, probably not in the way the author intended, but oh well.        

Pleasant Surprise of 2011:  Outlander by Diana Galbadron.  I was seriously expecting to loathe this book with a hatred to rival my loathing of the Sherbert Land level of MarioKart.  Instead, it turned out to be a more Wario's Stadium kind of book. 

Book I Can't Believe I Waited Until 2011 to Read: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  (This is also my runner up for Best Book of 2011.)

Shakespeare Texts Read: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, plus all the sonnets.  (I was in a Shakespeare class; I'm not usually this Bard-tastic.)

Book I'm Ashamed to Admit I Read:  The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer. 

Book That Improved The Most Upon Re-Reading: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  I absolutely despised this book after my first read-through.  I gave it another shot and my rating went from 0 stars to 1 star.  That's a 100% increase, so congratulations to Mockingjay.   

Book I Can't Believe More People Haven't Read: Ghostbread by Sonja Livingston.  I seriously do not understand why this is not at the top of every reviewers recommendation list. 

Best Feel-Good Book: The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.  This book offers the warm, life-affirming kind of good feeling, not the superficial, hollow one.  It's like finally hugging a loved one after being apart for a long time. 

Books I Re-Read in 2011: The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Quiet American by Graham Greene, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins, the Harry Potter Series by the Goddess of All Things Fabulous herself, and all the Shakespeare reads except Merchant of Venice and most of the sonnets.

Books I Expected to Like More Than I Did: Divergent by Veronica Roth. Legend by Marie Liu, and The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.

Awesomest Book Character of 2011: Flavia de Luce in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.  Flavia seriously rocks.

Scariest Book Character of 2011: August Rosenbluth in Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Greatest Disappointment: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen.  The book itself wasn't a disappointment, finding out it was at least partially fabricated was.

Most Controversial Book of 2011: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.  I wasn't as put off by this book as everyone else was, but I think that's probably because I am not a mother.  Still, it's pretty easy for me to understand why this book pissed everyone off.

Books I Read that I Can't Come Up With a Category For: The Chosen by Chaim Potok, and The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton.

Book Released in 2011 That I Can't Believe I Haven't Read Yet: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  (Note: This is high on my to-read list of 2012.)

Conclusion: A solid 2011.  Bring it, 2012.

If We Had a Christmas Card*

This is what it would say:

Melissa's version: "Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings from South Bend, Indiana!  2011 has come and gone, and with it another year of school, work, vacation, projects, laughter, and the usual plots for world domination.  Mike is currently taking his second-to-last final of his second-to-last semester, so it is up to me, Melissa, to write the annual review.

2011 was a very meat-and-potatoes kind of year, all things considered.  Mike keeps busy finishing up Law School at University of Notre Dame, working at South Bend's Legal Aid Clinic, working with the youth at our church, watching football, listening to NPR, and trying to beat Melissa at MarioKart.  Melissa keeps even busier working full time at Notre Dame's Office of Graduate Studies, earning her MA in English from Indiana University at South Bend, also working with the youth at our church, writing, and convincing Mike that we need even more books in our apartment.  They are both very much looking forward to their respective graduations this coming May, that is, if Melissa finds time to finish her thesis.  (Side note: we are now accepting suggestions for ways to survive without sleep.)

Believe it or not, we also did stuff besides working on our scholarly and professional goals.  (Yes, MarioKart qualifies as a professional goal.)  2011 saw us in Washington DC, Southern California, Salt Lake City, Portland, Pittsburgh, and even in a protest rally in nearby Chicago, though we only lasted a few minutes at that one.  Summer brought on a unique challenge when Mike's clerkship took him out-of-state for a few months, leaving Melissa to plot for world domination on her own in South Bend.  We are both now exceptional Skypers, and have vowed to never repeat the lonely experience.  Still, Melissa made sure that 2011 was filled with Thai food, poetry, and card games, while Mike made sure we didn't forget to eat our vegetables or miss a re-run of Seinfeld.  We are happily looking forward to another year of laughter, fulfillment, and arguing over the correct usage of the word 'renown.'  We wish you a wonderful holiday season, and cordially invite you to our home any time you wish to play Bang!"   

Mike's version: "We're still here, suckers!"

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas,

Mike and Melissa Wilde

*Which we don't (in either version), so don't feel badly if you didn't get one because no one else got one either.

Movie Trailers Done Well

I love movie trailers.  It follows, then, that I would appreciate movie trailers that are well made.  My definition of a well made movie trailer is:

-One that does not give away the ending of the movie. 

-One that does not assassinate the plot or any key story lines before I've even seen the film.

-One that does not set up unrealistic or misleading expectations. (To this day I am convinced this is why M. Night Shyamalan's The Village did poorly at the box office.  The movie is brilliant, but poor advertising made audiences expect a horror/thriller flick, and were therefore confused and annoyed when they got a love story.  Never mind that it's the greatest love story since Romeo and Juliet.) 

-One that does all the above and still manages to show why this movie is different from every other movie ever made (read: why I should see this rom com instead of the 83460879074 other rom coms being released this year.  Without revealing the ending.)

I think this is actually harder than it sounds.  Movie trailer creators have to cram an entire movie's themes, energy, mood, and conflict into a couple of minutes, maximum.  And yet, some really pull it off.  Great movie trailers are their own stand-alone versions of entertainment, not just advertisements.  Which is why I like them.   

So what movie trailers rock?  Well, the brand new Hunger Games trailer sure does:

And, just for fun, here are some of my other favorite movie trailers.  Enjoy.

(What?  you thought I'd get through an entire post without referencing Harry Potter?  Pssshhh.)

Picture Book Recommendations

November 2011 has officially been declared picture book month.  I think this is great.  Picture books are often overlooked in favor of their more "mature" counterparts, but they shouldn't be forgotten.  None of us literary omnivores would be who we are today without picture books.  They definitely hold a place on any bookshelf.  To commemorate this oft-overlooked category, I bring you my top ten favorite picture books of all time.  Enjoy.

10. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.  Because what kid doesn't need to know that they're loved even when they're grumpy?

9. The Legend of Lightning Larry by Aaron Shepard.  Read it with a glass of lemonade.

8. The Mask of the Dancing Princess by Judith Gwyn Brown.  Gypsies, dancing, royalty... what more could a little girl ask for?  (Plus, the illustrations are pretty incredible, especially since kids books usually have more cartoony-type images.)

7. The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base.  If you have not read this book, DROP EVERYTHING AND READ IT RIGHT NOW.  Interactive reading at its finest.

6. Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard.  Funny and thoughtful for kids and adults.

5. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.  This book actually doesn't have a single word in it.  Still, it's one of my favorites.

4. Where's Waldo? by Martin Handford.  Again, no words.  Again, fabulous fun.

3. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  Because of the incredible imagination this kind of book endorses.

2. The Monster at the End of This Book by Grover Jon Stone.  I'm pretty sure our childhood copy had pages falling out by the time we were through with this book, we read it so many times. 

1. It's a Tie! The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs and The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka.  These are my all time favorites from growing up.  I plan on owning everything ever written by Jon Scieszka and/or illustrated by Lane Smith, they're that good.  Don't believe me?  Read it yourself.  I dare you to not fall in love with these books. 

This walk down memory lane has got me feeling suddenly nostalgic.  I sense a re-reading of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic or Sideways Stories From Wayside School coming on.

What were your favorite picture books when you were a kid?

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween we are muggles... or are we? 

Mike and I Made A Pact To Never Say Anything Gushy and Gross to Each Other On Facebook

...But there was nothing in that deal about blogger.  Mwahahahahahahaha.

Many thanks to the Pittsburgh Wildes for making this gross and gushy photo possible.