To my most esteemed readers:
It's been an amazing six long years, but I think the time has come.
As most of you have undoubtedly noticed, The Book Muncher has been updated very sporadically over the last few months. I've still been reading (can we talk about E. Lockhart's upcoming book We Were Liars?!), because deep down, I am a reader and will always be one. But I just haven't had the time or energy to dedicate to this blog like I used to. I haven't been attending as many book signings, and I haven't been seeking out as many new or unreleased books. As a college graduate living in New York City without a steady source of income, I unfortunately had to deal with some bigger details than what to include in a blog post.
But books will always be a big part of my life. I joined a book club. I interviewed for a ton of publishing jobs until finally I got one that was right for me. Starting today, I will be working in the Reading Clubs division of Scholastic. I couldn't be more excited. Scholastic is an amazing company, and I'm thrilled to be working there.
Getting this job has opened up a new chapter (pun intended) in my life, but with this new opportunity, some things must come to an end. Some things like this poor little blog. I've loved the experience and I appreciate each and every one of you who's ever taken the time to read one girl's bookish opinions, but the time has come to move on. This is my last blog post here. But if you'd like to stay in touch, you can find me on Twitter at @rachaeljstein, where I will hopefully be a little more present than I've been here.
Thanks again to all of you, and happy reading!
Signing off,
Rachael Stein
The Book Muncher
All good things must come to an end
From the page to the screen: Adapting The Book Thief
For readers, there's always a simultaneous excitement and worry when we learn that one of our favorite books is being adapted for the silver screen. On the one hand, it's undeniably exciting to see the stories we love come to life visually, but on the other, the movie will never match up perfectly to the images we have in our own heads.
This worry is the main reason why many people I know are hesitant to see the movie version of The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, and I have to say that I completely understand. However, I am in the unique position of someone who has (1) not read the book, though I am ashamed to admit that, and (2) seen the movie, as I had the opportunity to attend an advance screening. So, I can't exactly reassure my friends that they won't be disappointed in some respect, but I can tell you all that the movie was spectacular and brought me to tears.
And I think this is a movie that will bring many others to tears, whether they've read and loved the book or not. Why? Because the people involved with this movie have been so committed to telling this story. At a recent press junket for the The Book Thief movie, Producer Karen Rosenthal mentioned that Director "Brian [Percival's] vision for this film was to make it as organic and real as possible and not allow visual effects to overpower this elegantly simple story, and allow the characters to take us through, especially Leisel." That's the kind of statement that can only come from someone who gets it—so major props to the Director and Producers! I think their vision really carried through.
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| Leisel, Rosa, and Hans |
The ultimate test of that vision, to "allow the characters to take us through," was in the casting. I think they did a great job. The characters Hans and Rosa Hubermann, played by Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson, felt so real to me. And it's because Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson are such great actors and because they took so much care in getting into their roles. Emily Watson noted with regards to researching World War II, "We've seen all those movies. We've learned it all in school. . . . The book [The Book Thief] was really the resource for us. For me, anyway. That was where all the detail was." I love the extent to which the details from the book pervade the movie, down to the level of actors performing the smallest parts of their roles.
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| Leisel, our beloved book thief |
And then there's our protagonist Leisel. Director Brian Percival noted that "the crucial thing is that we choose someone who's as close to Leisel as possible" because "It's difficult to ask somebody of that age to rely on technique or to just purely become a character like Emily Watson becomes a character." In this case, that was Sophie Nélisse. Unlike other children who auditioned for the role who were, as Percival observed, "either quite feisty or didn't have that vulnerability or were too vulnerable," Sophie has "both sides to her." Having seen her play Leisel, I wholeheartedly agree.
For those of you who loved the book and have trepidation about seeing the movie, I urge you to give it a chance—the film is wonderful in its own right. And for everyone already excited to see it, I don't think you will be disappointed! The Book Thief movie releases tomorrow, November 8.
Introducing Swoon Reads
Are you a fan of romance? Then you need to know about Swoon Reads, a new website, community, and publishing imprint dedicated to all things romantic and swoony!
So what exactly is Swoon Reads? In their own words...
Fall in love with falling in love.
Swoon Reads is a teen romance imprint publishing under Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan.
Swoon Reads is dedicated to publishing books that capture the intensity of teen love. More than an imprint, Swoon Reads is a community – one whose members are included in every step of the publishing process. We open the doors for writers and readers to discover the best, most Swoon-worthy teen romance novels and make their voices heard. Together, we publish love stories you will want to read over and over again.
So if you love reading romance, writing it, or both, then Swoon Reads is the place for you!
Since I'm so excited about this new venture, I interviewed Jean Feiwel, the driving force behind it!
Swoon Reads is all about the romance. What elements, if any, do you think are necessary to make a great romance, and why?
My unoriginal definition is partly derived from the great romance writer, Jennifer Cruisie, and a RWA panel from some years ago. A great romance is a love story with an emotionally satisfying ending.
What do you think about novels where romance is not a central feature or present at all?
I am an avid reader of books of all kinds. But books without romance don't have a place on Swoon Reads.
And now for a fun question! Out of all the swoonworthy boys in the books you’ve worked on, which three do you swoon for the most?
Wolf in Marissa Meyer's Scarlet; The Darkling in Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone; and Galen in Anna Bank's Of Poseidon.
So what are you waiting for? Head over to Swoon Reads and start swooning!
Visit Swoon Reads: http://www.swoonreads.com/
Read the Swoon Reads Blog: http://www.swoonreads.com/blog
Follow Swoon Reads on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/swoonreads
Become a fan on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/SwoonReads
Follow on Pinterest! http://www.pinterest.com/swoonreads/
What has The Book Muncher been up to?
You may or may not have noticed that my online presence has been a little sporadic of late, particularly on my poor little blog! I'm still running around, doing all things YA, but sadly I just haven't had the time to write about most of all that yet here.
So what's been going on in my bookish life?
Anyway, thanks to everyone for being patient with me through my spotty attention at The Book Muncher; I hope to get lots more fun posts scheduled soon!
A note on future reviews
I mentioned in my catch-up post earlier this month that there would be some changes with regards to reviews at The Book Muncher, but I didn't really specify exactly what those changes would be. So, from now on...
1. I will not be reviewing all the books I read.
While it is true that I didn't review every single book that I read before my blogging hiatus, I did write full length reviews for the majority of them and shorter reviews for most of the books left over. And since I read a lot, that's a lot of reviews! So, in the interest of keeping reviewing fun (instead of feeling like an obligation), I've decided to be more selective in which books I will review here.
2. All reviews will be shorter reviews.
What this mainly means is that I won't be writing my own summaries and the actual review content will be somewhat condensed. I've found that I can usually distill my general opinions about a book down to a few main points, so why not turn those into my review? This also saves me a lot of time—since I tend to be very particular about writing my reviews, down to individual sentences and words, I'm cutting down on time spent perfecting a review (which I can then use to read!).
3. I will be reviewing upcoming books.
When I first started blogging, I sometimes posted reviews of upcoming books that would not come out for several months. Part of this was because I was really excited then to get an early look at these books (I still am!), but then I realized that people might not remember a book because of my review by the time the book finally released. So I stopped posting reviews ahead of time. I've changed my mind now partly because so many of the books I've read lately are advance copies, but also because I feel like I'm going to forget that I was talking about these books by the time they come out. So, I'm experimenting with something in the middle: I'll review books before their release date, but only a couple months in advance at most. That way, hopefully, everyone will remember these books to talk about!
What has The Book Muncher been up to?
You've probably noticed that I took about a month-long hiatus from this blog. Why? Well, after graduating from college, I realized I needed a little break from everything. I'd been working the same schedule of college priorities (for three years) and running this blog (for over five and a half years) that I needed to pause to take a breath.
So now that I've taken that breath, I'm back!
This is actually somewhat of a surprise to me. Originally, I intended to close down this blog after graduation to focus on my goal of becoming a publishing professional. I hadn't really enjoyed blogging in a while; it became more about scheduling posts than a hobby. But, even through all of that, I love this blog. It's connected me with so many other readers, led to so many interesting discussions, and given me so many amazing opportunities. So I've decided to stick around for a little while longer, after all.
With all that in mind, there will be some slight changes around here. Most importantly, I will probably be posting fewer full length reviews in favor of shorter ones (i.e. Quick Snacks)—you'll still get my thoughts on the books I've read, only more succinctly. I'll still be doing interviews, blog tour features, event recaps, contests, and the like, because those are always fun (both for you guys and for me too). Other than that, I'm not sure yet, so I guess we'll just see what happens!
So that's that! Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me this whole time!
Thoughts on my publishing internships
This is my last week as an editorial intern at the Arthur A. Levine Books imprint at Scholastic! So I thought now was as good a time as ever to talk a little bit about this and my other past internships, especially since I've never really done that before. I'll try to make this short and sweet (so that it won't read like a boring resume!), but feel free to comment or email me if you have any specific questions.
Lee & Low Books
This was my first ever internship in publishing. I was in my second semester of college, and all that I knew was that I wanted to do something with books (especially children's books) and to learn about the industry. Fortunately, Lee & Low Books gave me all that and more. Working in the publicity/marketing department, I got to be the person reaching out to bloggers instead of the other way around, and in editorial, I learned all about "reader reports," which are basically a compilation of all my thoughts on a submission to help the editor make a more informed decision about requesting the full manuscript. Learning to write reader reports was definitely my biggest takeaway from this internship—it's a huge part of any editorial internship and the editorial process in general!
Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
In preparing for the summer after my first year in college, I applied to tons of publishing internships because I wanted more than anything to learn more about publishing (okay, spending time in NYC was a goal, too). But nothing was happening until I got in contact with a Macmillan publicist I'd met once—she helped get my resume and cover letter to the right people, I interviewed, and then I got the internship! As a marketing intern, I did a lot of mailing (to bloggers, librarians, booksellers, industry people, etc.), but I also got create material for the teen website, which was a lot of fun. I think one of my favorite parts about this internship was that every week, Macmillan would host lunches for all of the company's interns; the week after BEA, after having mentioned that I had attended, some of the other interns thought that Macmillan had paid for me to go! I admit I felt a bit like a celebrity.
Fox Literary
I fell into this internship sort of by accident. I had just turned down another internship due to scheduling conflicts but really wanted to do some work, publishing-wise. A friend referred me, and things just sort of took off from there. As an editorial intern at a literary agency, I learned a lot about reading and writing—so, what makes a good story, what makes a good revision or rejection letter, and the like. It was really interesting to see the agency side of things; for once, I was helping prepare manuscripts to send to publishing houses instead of being on the receiving end of those manuscripts. I had an amazing experience at this internship, because I learned so much, but it also helped me realize that I want to be working in editorial at a publishing house instead of an agency. Which leads me to my next internship...
Scholastic
I turned down another internship to be an editorial intern at Arthur A. Levine Books, because Scholastic has always been one of my favorite children's publishers and because I knew that working with Cheryl Klein would be an amazing opportunity. And I have to say that I was completely right! I've learned so much at this internship, both in terms of just practicing reading and writing, but also because I've gotten to work a little bit with acquisitions—so basically, all the hurdles and approvals before an editor and buy and publish a book. Aside from all that, one of my favorite and most memorable tasks here was to read the manuscript of a sequel to a book that, at that time, had not yet been released; even though I had to read it over the weekend instead of in the office, I can't say that I complained, considering I really wanted to read this manuscript—it definitely didn't feel like work at all!
Well, having just looked at these huge paragraphs, I guess this post didn't turn out to be too short after all. But I hope it's been interesting and informative! As I said above, feel free to to comment or email about any specific questions—I am always happy to chat about my internships or publishing internships in general!
The Muncher behind The Book Muncher is no longer a teen
Today is the day that I must change my bio. For 5 years, I've been a "prolific teen reader," but since today is my 20th birthday, I can no longer call myself a teen! It's sort of weird to think that after being a teen running a blog about teen books for so long, the label doesn't apply to me anymore.
But just because I'm no longer technically a teen doesn't mean that I will stop reading books about teens. The thought of doing that is almost unfathomable. We all know that young adult books aren't just for teens anymore; even if they are still the targeted age range, plenty of other people of different ages (like me, now!) enjoy YA, whether it's because they're still teens at heart, or because these are just the books that they enjoy reading. Since when did anyone ever need a reason to read a good book?
On this most auspicious of days (i.e. the official end of my teen years), I wanted to take a little time to reflect on why YA is so important to me. I mean, I have run a YA book blog for over 5 years, held a number of internships focusing on children's publishing, and aspire to be a young adult book editor. But what is it about this market or genre or whatever you want to call it that has made me want to dedicate my life to it?
My adolescent years certainly weren't terrible. I had good friends who shared similar interests, including reading YA books. I did well in high school and wasn't bullied. I didn't have issues with self esteem, substance abuse, or any serious physical illnesses. But every teen feels misunderstood at some point, and I was no different.
But isn't that part of what being a teen is? Feeling out of place and learning to find a place that's yours? Reading YA as a teen gave me perspective; while it didn't necessarily give me a true appreciation for how good I had it (that came later), it did allow me to better understand people. I honestly don't think I would be the person I am today had I not discovered YA books; without these stories, I wouldn't be as open-minded, conscientious, and thoughtful as I am now.
There's something magical about this time in life, so much opportunity for self-discovery, such a potential to change and grow. And I guess that's why, both in books and real life, I really love YA—why do you?
The Book Muncher gets her dream internship!
Those of you who follow me on twitter may have seen this little burst of excitement from me earlier this month:
That's right! I have another internship, and, more importantly, it's one that I've always wanted and even dreamed about: for the spring semester of my senior year, I will be interning at Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic.
For me, Scholastic is the epitome of children's publishing—and since that's basically what I want to do with my life, I couldn't be more thrilled to be working there this semester. I look forward to reading a ton and being surrounded by great books and even more amazing people!
5 year blogaversary
It's been five years, and here I am, back where it all started—back in my house in California, that is. And yet, it's quite clear that a lot of things have changed around here: from as mundane as the blog layout or visitor statistics to, more interestingly, the types of features on the blog and quality of reviews (at least, I hope!).
To celebrate that today marks the fifth year of reading, munching, and loving it, I'm holding a well deserved contest. For all of you who don't live in Southern California and actually experience the season of winter, I thought I'd throw in some seasonally appropriate snackage, along with a few books with which to cuddle up!
(1) lucky winner will receive
- an ARC of The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
- an ARC of Unremembered by Jessica Brody
- an ARC of Nameless by Lili St. Crow
- a "Keep calm and Read a Book" mug from The Strand
- a tin of peppermint hot chocolate (to drink in your new mug!)
- chocolate dipped pretzels (to snack on while reading!)
Other details:
- US mailing addresses only.
- Contest ends 1/15/13, at 9 p.m. PST.
My most popular blog posts...ever! (or thereabouts)
I was curious as to what the most popular posts on this blog were, so I did a little digging (and by digging, I mean, I looked at some stat counting sites which may or may not be exactly accurate). But even though the statistics may be a little off, I'm mostly using the numbers as a point of comparison...
Anyway, without further ado, here are the 5 blog posts with the most hits on my blog, and my thoughts about their popularity:
1. Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler - 333 hits
I don't think I'm really surprised that this is my most popular post. I've gotten a ton of comments on this review (32 in total) over the course of three and a half years, or so. People seem to really like this book (and having read it, I understand why)!
2. Mara Madness Blog Tour - 327 hits
I used to not participate in many blog tours, but based on recent experience, I've found that blog tour posts usually get a lot of hits the day and week that they go live. In the case of the blog tour for The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, though, apparently I keep getting visitors. I guess I have the author's publicity efforts and fan base to thank for that...
3. ALA recap & giveaway - 326 hits
Event recaps and contests always seem to be pretty popular on my blog, so it's no wonder that a post with both features has so many hits. Interestingly, though, this isn't the biggest contest that I've ever held...
4. A long overdue event recap post - 264 hits
As I mentioned above, event recap posts tend to get a lot of visitors. I'm not exactly sure why this one in particular got so many, at least in comparison with other event recap posts. Maybe it's because I went to so many events and saw over 30 authors? Perhaps I will never know.
5. Win Shut Out and The DUFF by Kody Keplinger - 236 hits
Also mentioned above, contests are popular. This is obviously because people like winning things (at least, I like winning things, so I assume it's the same for my readers). I think this contest in particular got so many hits and entries because the author did a fantastic job of promoting it, too.
The trend seems to be that contests, event recaps, and blog tours get the most hits—which means that despite not having been able to read much since the end of summer (and consequently, not writing many reviews), this little blog has still gotten a fair amount of traffic. And even though these changes have been rather unexpected, I really can't complain, especially as it seems that most of you aren't complaining either... And for that, all I can say is: Thanks. I have the best readers!
Why I don't review certain books
Before I succumbed to the madness of senior year of college, I read a ton of books. All the time. And then I reviewed most of them.
But there are still a few that I did not review. Why exactly is that? A variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s because the book is part of a series and I don’t have anything else to say once I reviewed the first book. Sometimes I feel like the book is too hyped up and popular that it won’t matter whether or not I share my thoughts; that or I just wouldn’t know where to start in a review. And then, sometimes it’s a matter of conflict of interest.
It turns out that out of all the books I’ve read over the past five years, not including the books I just haven’t gotten around to reviewing yet, I have chosen to not review only 16 books. Here they are, from most to least recent:
As you can see, the most recent reason for not reviewing a book has been conflict of interest—though I can’t say that I’m necessarily upset by this trend. It just means that these books are too related to my publishing internships that I feel that I shouldn’t write a review. Since my current internship is quite reading intensive and my boss represents a lot of YA writers, it will be interesting to see what others books I choose not to review in the months to come…
2012 YA Readers Survey
Have you ever wondered who else besides you is reading YA? Or what specifically everyone else is reading in YA? Or how this may have changed over time? I know that I certainly have—which is why I wanted to tell all of you about Teenreads.com's 2012 YA Readers Survey!
Basically, this is a way for you to weigh in on what your reading habits are and what you think is important in YA right now. I'm eager to see what the latest trends are, both within YA and for YA readers, so I (maybe selfishly) hope you all take this opportunity to share your thoughts.
Oh, and if your curiosity isn't enough of a motivator, then you should probably know that completing the survey enters you in a contest to win one of 450 books. That's a lot of prizes! So head on over to the Teenreads.com website and fill out this survey before it closes on November 30.
You can access the survey through the Teenreads.com website: http://www.teenreads.com/2012-ya-readers-survey
The Book Muncher's 1000th post!
If you can't tell from the title of this post, this is indeed the 1000th post on this little blog. That's kind of exciting, right? I'm not going to have a celebration right away, if only because I have another big milestone coming soon (don't worry, it is coming!).
Instead, I want to think a bit about numbers and such. About a year ago, I wrote a post titled "Let's Talk Numbers," and since 1000 is a pretty big number, I thought I'd take another look at some of this blog's stats.
Blog posts: 1000 (!)
Books read: 650+
Reviews written: 625+
Books given away in contests (including ebooks & audiobooks): 250+
Book events attended (including signings, panels, & festivals: 100+
Subscribers (via Feedburner): 1400+
Blog hits: 225,000+
Not only am I a little in awe of these numbers themselves, but I can hardly believe how much they have risen in one mere year. All I can really say is, wow, I read a lot of books/write a lot of reviews/give away a lot of books/go to a lot of book signings. And wow, I'm somehow still doing this in my senior year of college. But hey, it's something I love. And that's really why I'm here in the first place, regardless of and yet because of all these numbers.
Thanks for your love and readership, all! You made writing all these 1000 (and hopefully more to come!) blog posts truly worthwhile.
Introducing ReLIT NY: a cool new way to share & donate books
As both a girl living in NYC college housing and someone simply with too many books, I'm all about giving books away. I'm so lucky to have lots of friends who read, so that's generally my go-to place when I need to clean my shelves. But still, there's always the few straggling books that can't find a home, and I have to scramble to figure out what to do with them.
But I think I may have just found my solution! A couple weeks ago, after attending a book signing, I was wandering around Union Square and stumbled upon a strange sight: boxes and boxes of books free for the taking.
Intrigued, I took a closer look. And this is what I learned: that people can drop off gently used books at several donation sites and every month, this organization ReLIT NY distributes them around major subway stations. Isn't this an awesome idea? I made sure to take a bookmark so I could look up where to drop off some of my books later!
Here's a little about ReLIT NY, from their website:
ReLIT NY aims to encourage and promote an interest in reading by making books accessible and cost free and to also spark conversations and bring together the community that surrounds literature..
At the same time ReLIT NY offers a simple solution to a problem faced by many New Yorkers –– a lack of space for all their books, many of which are thrown out and not recycled properly. ReLIT NY offers the first ever attempt at an organized and mass-scale book-sharing program, providing not only a hassle-free but also an environmentally friendly reading option.
For all of you New Yorkers out there, I encourage you to get involved with this amazing program (as I hope to do soon!).
I've been interviewed!
Sorry for what seems like just a bunch of recap posts, but it's been a very busy month! Hopefully, I'll get some more book reviews scheduled soon...
In other news, my good friend Kristi who blogs over at Cherry Tree Notes, a writing blog, has interviewed me! I talk about books for which I'm excited, my favorite genres to read, and a little bit about my current publishing job.
So, if you're in any way vaguely interested, I encourage you to go over to Cherry Tree Notes and check it out: http://cherrytreenotes.blogspot.com/2012/06/quick-interview-book-muncher.html
Introducing Quick Snacks: The Reviews that Slipped through the Cracks
It happens to the best of us. You know, not writing a book review. This actually happened to me a lot last summer, since I read so many books so quickly, it was nearly impossible to collect my thoughts between each book, let alone formalize them into a review.
That's where Quick Snacks comes in.
What is Quick Snacks, you ask? Why, it's a feature that encompasses all of the Reviews that Slipped through the Cracks. I've known for a while that I've wanted to do such a feature; the hardest part, honestly, was naming it! I was so torn between Quick Snacks and Bite-Size Portions...but clearly, I decided to go with the former (it helps that Quick Snacks rhymes with its subheading, the Reviews that Slipped through the Cracks!).
So here's how things will go: every so often I'll feature one (or more!) previously read but unreviewed title(s) and include its jacket summary, a few candid sentences with my thoughts, a rating, and nothing more. Basically, it'll be like the title says, a really quick snack!
It's easy for me and easy for you! Now let's do some snacking...
Twitter and World Read Aloud Day
That's right, The Book Muncher has finally joined the year of 2012 and is on Twitter.
Feel free to follow me @thebookmuncher. Who knows? This could be an exciting adventure for all of this.
The other reason I bring up Twitter is because I decided to create on just in time for World Read Aloud Day on March 7. What is this World Read Aloud Day, you ask? Well, here's a little snippet I took from their website:
Worldwide at least 793 million people remain illiterate.
Imagine a world where everyone can read...
World Read Aloud Day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology.
By raising our voices together on this day we show the world’s children that we support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world.
It’s time to join the Global Literacy Movement.
It's a fantastic movement organized by a fantastic organization, LitWorld, and I encourage everyone to take part.
If you're in New York City, then I especially encourage you to come to Books of Wonder for LitWorld's signature World Read Aloud Day event. There's going to be read alouds, workshops, live blogging, prizes, and lots and lots of fun! And, if you show up between 3:30-5:00, you'll get to see me, leading the Teen Blogger Power Hour.
Check out the full schedule and details here:
http://litworld.org/worldreadalouddaynyc/
The Book Muncher: 4 years and still going strong!
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Dear Muncher, happy birthday to you!
Can you believe it?! I hardly can. It's been four whole years since the conception of this little blog. Four years of reading, munching, and loving it. In human years, age four would mark close to the end of toddlerhood, but in book blogging years, age four makes me feel like a bit of an old lady.
Four years. Wow. I'm still a little bit in shock. I've been in the business of book munching for four whole years.
I'm going to keep the celebration simple this year. So I have no party favors to give out, but I do offer my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for visiting my little corner of the internet. Without you, The Book Muncher would be nothing.
Let's Talk Numbers
Internships Held: 3
Friends Made: also too many to count
