Can you give e-book gifts?

I must admit, I've stopped giving books to people in my life who now own e-readers. I used to spend lots of love and energy choosing perfect reads for specific people. One time I bought a gift card for my dad and told him which books I wanted him to buy, but somehow, that didn't feel quite right.

So I was thrilled to find out Amazon has addressed this frustration. There is now a way to give a specific digital book! If you go to the kindle book store, under the "buy" button, there is an option to "give as a gift." You can have the book emailed to the recipient and they can download it either to their computer or whatever device they use to read. The best part is you can choose the date your gift is delivered!

I feel so free! Even though I've already purchased gifts for everyone on my list (almost) I think I'm going to try this just for fun. So somebody gets a bonus gift this year!

And if you'd like to give it a try, here's a great idea: buy my Christmas story for $.99! It's a great little stocking stuffer - and you can stuff an email box with it too. Search for Jennifer Fromke on Amazon and check out Special Delivery.

If you get a chance to try this, come back to the blog and let me know what you think. Did the whole process work seamlessly? And what did you think about the story?

The Gift of a Book

Do you give them? Do you put them on your list?

I attended a birthday celebration a few months ago and as my friend opened her gifts we began to notice a trend. The first gift was a handmade necklace - given by a girl who makes jewelry, a real jewelry hound. The second gift was something like a calendar or organizer - given by a girl who is well known for her type-A highly organized nature. (this makes me jealous, by the way) The next gift was from me, a book. And everyone said, well of course! Jenn gives her a book.

We give what we like to get, don't we? To me, there is nothing sweeter than a book given with special thought for my tastes. Someone who knows me well can pick a story I will love, and it means so much that they would put thought into choosing one especially for me.

A book is not just a thing to set on your coffee table. (especially those e-books!) It's an adventure, an escape, a process, a ride, a friendship (or two), a heartbreak, a victory, true love. It's a mirror for life which can sometimes reveal truth about yourself that you wouldn't recognize outside of fiction.

However, I know there are people in this world who will pick up a wrapped book and think to themselves, "Great. It's a book." And this reaction before they even know which book! So lately I've tried to put myself in the place of the person for whom I am buying a gift. If I know you read, I'll probably still give you a book. Because I love giving them.

Are you giving books this Christmas? If so, which ones? If you love giving books, check out this great opportunity:

 

http://www.writeintegrity.blogspot.com/p/99-hour-99-cent-e-book-sale-win-e-books.html

Can Weather be a Character?

I've heard of the setting becoming a character, or even the time period in a novel, but can you think of any books where the weather almost seemed like a person in the room? I have a few to get the discussion started.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. Part of this story takes place during the siege of Leningrad. Though I read it over a year ago, I can still feel the extreme elements, the desperation fed by freezing temperatures, unending snow, beautiful, but imprisoning. The near-empty apartments filled with people who burned almost every item they ever owned, just to keep warm for one more night. Winter became an indomitable enemy.

What about Death in Venice by Thomas Mann? I read it ages ago, but my most distinct memory is the hot, sultry beach scenes. The intensity of the heat and with it, the sickness . . . palpable.

Of course, The Perfect Storm comes to mind as well. I suppose that is self-explanatory.

Leave a comment about a "weather-character" you've read.

Do you YA?

YA = Young Adult and particularly references Young Adult Fiction.

Do you read it?

I do, and I love it. Well, I love some of it. I shy away from those titles whose covers boast a pasty white face with blood leaking from the corner of the mouth. Don't get me started.

So right now, I'm reading Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25, by Richard Paul Evans. He writes the pretty little gift-type books you buy at Christmas time. The Christmas Box, The Letter, etc . . . and those books are nice. They look great on the bedside table of your guest room. But let me tell you, Michael Vey is a world away from those other very successful, very nice books.

This book is aimed at kids. It boasts international intrigue, secret powers, teenage angst, and (I'm only 2/3 through the book) possible romance, but definite teeny-bopper crushing. And it reads fast. Can't wait to see what happens next, where did he come up with that, can I stay up just a half hour later to finish this next chapter, fast.

In case you don't know me, I'm an adult. And I love this story. I love it for all the reasons a kid might like it - suspense, great characters, interesting story, fascinating story world. But I also love it because of the questions it raises. Right versus wrong. Can what you know to be right ever become wrong? But these questions are posed in such a way that we get to witness kids making moral decisions and applying their character to outrageous situations.

I can't wait to talk about this story with my kids. Of course, I need to finish the book so they can get their hands on it first. I've read some other great YA lately. Of course, who hasn't read the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins? LOVED IT! The discussions between my kids and me felt like my book club discussions with adults around the table.

And then I thought, huh. Talking books with people is one of my favorite things to do. And if I read YA, then I can have that experience with my kids too. Obviously, I'm not a rocket scientist. But I finally figured this out. So I'm reading more YA these days. And my teenagers and I are having some great discussions that I'm hoping will continue on indefinitely as they become adults.

Oh, and by the way, don't tell my kids, but I get to actually teach them stuff as we talk. I don't think they've noticed yet. I'm keeping it on the down low.

What YA novels have you read recently? Have you had some great chats with kids about them? Any wonderful gems you can pass on to the rest of us?

Crossing Over . . .

I remember climbing into an attic space through a small door in the middle of the wall of my dad's home office. I hauled blankets and pillows and books in with me and I camped out there for the day. After awhile, I'd just leave all my stuff there and retreat to the tiny attic whenever I could. A naked light bulb with a string hanging from it lit the space and the books I dove into lit my imagination. 

I read. I re-read. I wore out the steps leading up to the children's room at the Sage Library in Bay City, Michigan. I carried home stacks of books all summer long, and even after summer was over. I didn't know it then, but that's how I became addicted to story. I immersed myself in other worlds, made friends with imaginary people, and solved the world's problems all without leaving my little attic space. Well okay, I did take my books to the pool, the swing set, my bedroom, the car, pretty much everywhere I went. 

Once in awhile I'd finish a book and sit with it in my lap, back cover closed, and sigh. Reliving the moments with the characters, still fresh in my mind. And sometimes my mind would wander to a question something like this: If I wrote a book, what kind of characters would I write about? Where would I want the setting to be? What would my author photo look like? (gimmee a break, I was probably 12!)

And now I know. It's a bit surreal, but I've signed a contract to publish my first novel. The dream is on its way to reality and I remember those moments in the attic so long ago and though I'm excited to bursting, a little bit scared, and worried about the marketing side, what I mostly feel is . . . grateful.

Crossing over to the other side reminds me of that scene in Indiana Jones where he has to step out into thin air before he can see the path his foot will fall upon. Every scene is written in faith that it will fall into the right hands and be read by the right people at the right time.

That God would give me a dream so long ago and bring me to this moment is humbling. I'm happily grateful and joyfully pecking away at the keyboard.

Closed a book early yesterday.

Yup! I've talked about it before, but I had to do it again. I didn't care about the characters. Kinda wanted to know what happened, but the remaining 250 pages were not worth my time.

This go round, I think the problem was the point of view (POV). The main characters were all men and the few women appeared to be very stereotyped. The wimpy mom. The obnoxiously dressed career secretary who files her nails and stares out the window. The hot babe sunning herself on the back porch. Gag me with a spoon. Yes, I just wrote that. If the main character is always tramping through the woods carrying a gun, peeing behind trees and ogling a girl from afar, I cannot relate to these non-universal experiences. I'm pretty sure this is the reason men don't read chick-lit. Too much girl stuff. So this book is what they must refer to as "lad-lit." I've heard of the phenomena but never read any. Now I know why. But for all the guys out there, I'm glad the book exists. It actually won a fairly prestigious award for the excellent writing. I'm guessing the judges were men.

As I'm working on my next novel, this makes me look at my male characters more carefully. Are they cardboard cutouts? Are they placeholders/props? I want all my characters to be real; three-dimensional. How do I avoid the cliche? I'm working on finding some kind of universal experience in each character that every reader will relate to. Something to think on.

What makes you quit reading a book? (Please don't name names).

Do You Believe in Magic?

I'm not talking Harry Potter magic, either. I mean, when you read a story - seemingly normal, and then the author throws in a little bit of magic, do you believe it?

It's easy to believe magical things will happen in a magical place. For instance, we easily believe a ring found under a mountain can prolong the life of a hobbit in Middle Earth and also destroy the entire world. But what if a woman finds a ring under her bed in Muncie, IN? Would we believe it could destroy the known world?

I love to believe in supernatural stories. It's like a ride the author takes me on, painting the backdrop for amazing, irregular things to happen. But have you ever read a story where it just didn't work?

What if the setting is contemporary, the people are all normal, but "out of this world" stuff begins to happen and the author provides no reason at all? What is your threshold for believability?

I happen to believe that if the author makes me believe it, he's done a great job. It's when the "seams" of a story become noticeable that I stop believing. An author who decides to dump a magical or mystical element into the story to make it work is using magic as a crutch and nine times out of ten, it will not work. But when an author writes a story so believably that it doesn't matter how realistic things are, beautiful things happen.

One such story is The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. She tells an intriguing story about interesting people I care about. I believe the story. But then she weaves in this subtle, magical thread and while I know it's not possible, I love it. I eagerly follow this part of the story and it brings me joy because I wish it were possible in my own life.

It's a quirky novel (I just love them!) and I'm not sure it's overly well-known, but it's worth the read. A light-hearted and serious story, not too deep, but providing quality characters I'm still thinking of two weeks after I read the last page.

Check out The Sugar Queen and tell me, did you believe the magic?