Unique Books & Gifts for Your Hard-to-Please Literary Friends

Do you have any challenging book-loving folks on your holiday gift list? Have they already read every book imaginable so you just don't know what to get them? I recently went to the 2008 Book Arts Jam sponsored by the Bay Area Book Artists (BABA) and Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA where I saw lots of cool stuff.

This truck and camper in the Foothill College parking lot foreshadowed that this would be a fun event.

I don't usually peek inside parked vehicles but I couldn't resist. Inside the camper was a cute little kitchen, a space to sleep and ladybug pillows!

Okay, out of the parking lot and on to the Book Arts Jam...

There were many artists displaying their wares. Here are a few of my favorites.
How about a journal made out of an old recycled lp? Here's a spiral "Personal Record Book" by Jaki Ernst. Cool, right? I bet your literary friends don't have one of these!



Here's a lovely little book for wine-lovers. Yep, the front and back covers of this tiny accordion book are made from matching halves of a wine cork! The little circular band on the left (kind of like a cigar band) slides over the closed book to keep it all together. That's another cork book all closed up on the right.








Here is the artist, Suzanne Lydia Thomas, with her cork book, cool mini-book earrings and pins. I bought a nifty little pair of mini-book earrings she created using paper handmade and marbled by her mom & dad.


Suzanne makes all kinds of unique books. Take a look at another of Suzanne's books below. It's small and could fit discreetly in the palm of your hand or tucked into a purse.




This one is titled, Protection.



It's another beautifully designed accordion book. When you open it up it reveals 10 pockets, filled with...











...protection!

This book contains a quote on what "Papa says" about never leaving the house without protection. Surely, this is the perfect present for someone on your gift list. You can find more of Suzanne Lydia Thomas' unique books, earrings and pins here.
Great stuff--take a look!
Tell her Lynn at The Imaginary Blog sent you.

Check out the Bay Area Book Artists, the Book Arts Jam, the other exhibitors and various book artists here.

Forecast: Holidays approaching with increased chances of book buying.

And of course if you'd like to buy one of my books for someone on your holiday gift list, please visit your local bookseller or click on these Amazon links for Shifty, Cinder Rabbit, Buzz Bumble to the Rescue, or Mermaid Mary Margaret. Thanks!

Imaginary Readers, if you know of any other cool book artists, Book Art Festivals or places on and off the web to find unique one-of-a-kind books, please tell us via the comment function below.

For Kidlitosphere posts about gifts and reading check out November's Carnival.

Urban Moon Over The Mission

No Parking Moon

A similar moon shows up in my new YA novel, SHIFTY.

In my books you will not find overly flowery descriptions of my characters--or setting either. But I love San Francisco and the juxtaposition of urban life, man-made objects and the natural light you'll find here. I like the diversity of people in all neighborhoods, the beauty of things we want to see. But I also try to be aware of the people and parts of the city we pretend not to see or frequently turn away from. So I've begun to carry my camera around with me to try to capture some of what I see in "my setting."

I took these photos Wednesday evening on a "not quite full moon" night.

Stop Sign Moon (above)

Telephone Pole Moon (below)

Forecast: A free online interview chat between the author (that's me) and the English class of the first middle school or high school student (this could be you!) who comments below on where you'll find the moon in my YA novel, Shifty. (including the page numbers).

My Heart Belongs to Vermont College...

My heart belongs to Vermont College where I got my MFA in Writing For Children & Young Adults. I met many wonderful and talented writers, connected to my Salon sisters, and honed my craft with the help of amazing faculty in an exciting, intensely challenging, yet fun creative environment. So it's great to get together with local MFA grads. It's even more fun when a member of Vermont's faculty comes to town.

Here's M.T. Anderson with Vermont MFA grads Lynn Hazen, Sharry Wright and Jandy Nelson after his reading and signing at NYMBC in San Francisco. M.T. Anderson read from Feed and his new book, Octavian Nothing II. Having drinks afterward at Max's Opera Cafe was fun, too--though the waiters failed to burst into song as we had hoped. Maybe next time.

If you'd like to read an interview with M.T. Anderson, including his musings on the merits of broccolli, new strategies for plotting and more--please check out this post on the Imaginary Blog back in April 2008.

Forecast: Happy Memories of The Dame Has a Lame Tame Crane--Hmm, can you forecast memories? I think I just did.

Yay!

Sweet! What's so sweet? Dianda's St. Honore cake, the little guy in the hat, our new president elect, Yuyi's birthday & Jim's, too.

Don't Forget to...

Why?

Because our leaders and policies we choose today will affect children, families and many others here in the U.S. and around the world for years to come.

Today's Forecast: Hope

To see a wonderful collection of Blog the Vote posts from other authors and KidLitosphere folks, go here:
http://www.chasingray.com/archives/2008/11/blog_the_vote_2008.html

LitQuake and NaNoWriMo

Why is San Francisco such a great place to live? Do we need any more reasons? Well, there's LitQuake, San Francisco's Literary Festival.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Lit Quake's Lit Crawl & enjoyed a lively gathering at The Lone Palm led by NaNoWriMo's Chris Baty. Chris wrote the book, No Plot? No Problem.

Great title and here's one of my favorite parts of his book about a few of the benefits of being a novelist:

“Novelists, we knew, had it made...They had license to dress horribly, wear decades-out-of-date hairstyles, and have their shortcomings interpreted as charming quirks and idiosyncrasies rather than social dysfunctions.”

That's from page 9 in the introduction of No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days.


That's right, NaNoWriMo is all about writing a novel in just 30 days...

Well, November is upon us--National Novel Writing Month--the 10th year of NaNoWriMo in fact. Have I ever written a novel in a month? Nope. It takes me much longer than that. But I like the silly creativeness of the idea, where aspiring novelists attempt to hack out a novel in a mere 30 days. It doesn't have to be a good novel. In fact they encourage quantity (50,000 words) over quality.
But look at this. If you poke around their website you'll not only find the Procrastination Station but you'll also see some quality resources in NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program--wonderful free downloads of Young Novelist Workbooks for students in Elementary, Middle School or High School. You'll find extensive useful writing tips here for writers of any age all created by the Office of Letters and Light Young Writers Program. Are these folks enlightened or what? I think so! By the way, young writers get to choose their own word count goal.

So Happy 10th Anniversary to NaNoWriMo. It'll be my 10th anniversary of NOT writing a novel in a month, but also my tenth year enjoying watching everyone else do it.

And me? Maybe I'll try to complete my unfinished novel this month!

How about you, imaginary readers?

Got a plot or not?

Either way, take a look at NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program or NaNoWriMo.org. A whole lot of good creative fun happening there.

Forecast: Letters, light & "shortcomings interpreted as charming quirks and idiosyncrasies..." What could be better than that?

Thoughts on Anita Silvey's "Has The Newbery Lost Its Way?"

In a recent School Library Journal http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600688.html article, Anita Silvey poses the question, "Has the Newbery Lost Its Way?"

The whole piece was interesting on many levels but one line resonated with me as an author:
"...titles that combine quality writing with exciting pacing and heart-tugging characters—remain perennial best sellers even though they never captured Newbery gold."

So that's my goal for the week, the month and my entire writing life-- to aspire to create stories that combine:

1. Quality writing
2. Exciting pacing
3. Heart-tugging characters

Will my books ever win a Newbery or Newbery honor? I wish. Will they become best sellers? I have little control over that. What I can control is immersing myself in reading great books with quality writing, exciting pacing & heart-tugging characters--then keep working at perfecting the craft of my own writing.

We've finally had a hint of rain here in San Francisco and it makes me want to reserve a stack of good books from the S. F. Public Library.

So please tell me Imaginary Readers, which (old and new) middle grade and YA novels do YOU think fulfill Anita Silvey's 3 criteria above? Which books would you recommend reading or rereading on a rainy fall day?

Forecast: Fall rain and lots of good books