Monday, February 23, 2009

Got a superhero-loving kid? BUY THIS BOOK!

I would like to point out that A) Smith Magazine has not yet chosen my six-word memoir as their Memoir of the Day, and B) my husband is totally famous.

There's something about seeing your book (and by "your" book I mean "the one I totally helped write"*) on Amazon that feels 15 kinds of awesome. Gives me hope that someday I'll see mine there. I've been dipping my toes into the world of magazine writing (one pitch out - no response) so my novel's on the back burner while I see if I can make money writing shorter stuff. The hardest part is turning off my voice. I don't know if it's habit or total, blinding narcissism but writing neutrally is like pulling teeth. I'm always so envious when people can be chamelionlike. I was never a transformative actor (more ME-ME-ME! than Meryl) and my writing is the same way. I've been reading Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl again and swooning over his talent. I read it the first time right after I gave birth and it was the only thing that kept me sane during the late-night feedings. Yes, the book is for teens and has a slightly goofy cover but argh, it's so good.

Speaking of books and teens, we might as well go ahead and talk Twilight.

I'm just going to come out and say it - Stefenie Meyer can bite me. I think I threw the book across the room six times. I used to read passages to Matt until he held his hands over his ears and yelled at me to stop. The writing is embarrassing and mawkish and if Bella mentioned Edward's "angel face" one more time -

I just threw the book across the room again.

Want to know the worst part? The part that's summed up beautifully here? I'm actually considering reading the next book.

I blame the bad vampires.


* This statement is completely untrue.

12 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Stargirl is one of my very favorite books. And I was also disgusted by Twilight. The writing was just so so so so so very bad. I threw it out after I painfully forced myself to finish it, that's how much I hated it.

Missy said...

Ugh. I told #1 we would check it out if she was interested in reading it. So far she says no. Thank goodness if it is this bad.

Anonymous said...

Do you have a picture attached to your account? Silly but true-- it really helps with memoir of the day...

Ali said...

E - Stargirl is great! I just read the sequel and loved it too.

M - Give #1 Stargirl. She'll dig it.

The thing with Twilight, it's like Rock of Love. I spend the entire episode screaming that the badness - but I can't help getting a little excited when there's a new one.

R - WELCOME!

I did put my picture there. I just submitted it two days ago - what's the time lag, do you know? Of course there's always the possibility that it wasn't clever enough... Were you featured? I'd love to read it!

Valerie said...

Yay! Great cover! congratulations Ali... er I mean Matt!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, good grief people. It's a TEEN ROMANCE novel. TEEN. I wasn't expecting Jane Austen. You want Jane, read Jane. I was looking for an easy escape read. That's what I got. Much like John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, or Nora Roberts. Was it as good as Harry Potter? Hell no! But it is not the worst thing ever written, or read.

Congrats Ali, and Matt. That is thrilling! I'm going to check out Stargirl. Sounds good!

Anonymous said...

I dated an apple fritter once.

Ali said...

V - Thanks! It's beyond exciting.

B - That's what's so frustrating about Twilight! The writing was awful, awful, awful - and yet I STILL WANT TO READ THE NEXT ONE. Those damn bad vampires reeled me in!

R - Glad you're here! The hilarity has arrived!

Woman with a Hatchet said...

Congratulations Matt!

Now...what the heck is his book ABOUT? All I see is what looks like a toy falling from the sky, but nothing in the way of summary, back page blurb or nothin'. How am I supposed to know if I want to buy it? Hmmm?

I'm all picky that way. Sorry!

As for the other books, I haven't read either SG or Twilight.

Hell, it takes me weeks to read books anymore. *sigh*

Ali said...

Hatchet - Unfortunately Matt doesn't have control over that part (I assume Knopf publicity handles it). But I assume as the release date gets closer they'll cover it. But you TOTALLY WANT TO BUY IT, take it from the man's wife.

Anonymous said...

Twilight was just OK. I didn't feel really compelled to read the next one, just skipped ahead to the fourth book and read the end of it while standing in the bookstore...that was good enough for me. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and kept reading about people calling S. Meyers "the next J.K. Rowling", so I had to try it, but I still like Harry Potter better.

If you want to read some REALLY bad writing, check out the Left Behind series. I read the first one and the writing was so horrible, I can't believe how many books they've sold! Maybe they got better with practice?

I didn't know about the sequel to Stargirl! I'm going to look for that Monday.

Rob said...

http://www.pvponline.com/2009/08/03/maneuvers-in-the-dark/