Monday 18 January 2010

Morris Winner

Congratulations to L.K. Madigan, author of Flash Burnout and winner of the 2010 Morris Award. I highly recommend this book. It is the story of a teenage boy, Blake, who loves one girl, but discovers a strong sense of commitment to a friend in great need. He isn't quite mature enough to handle the difficulties such a situation presents to him, and struggles to make the right choices, then struggles to deal with the fallout from some of his wrong choices. This book has a wonderful message for teenagers, and the content is dealt with honestly and in a true teen voice. Blake's family members (a hospital pastor mother who suddenly throws off her shirt during hotflashes, a medical examiner father, a brother who doesn't quite know when and how to be a mentor to Blake) make an excellent and fun supporting cast. The story is original and the characterization, for the characters who ultimately matter, is excellent.

Sunday 17 January 2010

A Book Trailer for the Yalsa Contest

YALSA did me the extreme honor of nominating The Everafter for the Morris Award (which is given to a previously unpublished author). I am, of course, excited that tomorrow morning the winner will be announced. All the books on the short list are so good and well written that I'm incredibly grateful to be on the short list no matter who wins.

Meanwhile, YALSA also decided to have a trailer contest. Readers could make a trailer for one of the five nominees. 0Talie0 made this trailer for The Everafter. It's so fun to see what one reader thinks of my book as it's rendered into this new form. Thanks for making this.

My Good Reads...

Amy's bookshelf: read

The Other Boleyn Girl
The Twentieth Wife: A Novel
Conrad's Fate (Chrestomanci, #5)
Circle of Friends
The Handmaid's Tale
Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter
Dairy Queen
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
Possession: A Romance
The Call of Earth
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Lovely Bones
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-The Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England
The Hunt for Red October
To Kill a Mockingbird
City of Bones
How to Be Good
Great Expectations
The Thirteenth Tale
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Joy Luck Club
Beloved
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Wives and Daughters
Howl's Moving Castle
The Kite Runner
Nothing But the Truth
Anne of Green Gables
About a Boy
Doctor Thorne
Romeo and Juliet
Among the Hidden
The Color Purple
World Without End
The Children of Men
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Sarum: The Novel of England
Doomsday Book
The Golden Compass
Year of Wonders
Memoirs of a Geisha
Flowers for Algernon
The Subtle Knife
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Valley of Horses
A Tale of Two Cities
Uglies
Bridget Jones's Diary
Dune
The Serpent's Tale
Angels & Demons
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Dracula
Among the Impostors
The Frog Princess
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Nanny Diaries
The Ships of Earth
Charlie Bone and the Beast
Spanking Shakespeare
Ender's Shadow
Wake
A Farewell to Arms
Emma
The Outsiders
Frankenstein
Witch Week
Allegra Maud Goldman
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Ellie McDoodle: New Kid in School
Charlie Bone and the Hidden King
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Charlie Bone and the Shadow
Among the Barons
The Name of the Rose: Including Postscript
Thirteen Reasons Why
The Crucible
Charmed Life
Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel
Timeline
Framley Parsonage
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Man Who Was Poe
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Little Women
The Shadow of the Wind
The Pillars of the Earth
Ender's Game
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Night
Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy
The Clan of the Cave Bear
The Secret Life of Bees
The Shifter
An Inspector Calls


Amy Huntley's favorite books »