THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins

This was my one March read, or more appropriately, reread. I first read this book years ago (before the book even came out) and LOVED IT. I’ve wanted to reread it for a long time, but haven’t gotten around to it. So with the movie coming out, I knew I wanted to read it again. I got surprised with an invite to a screening, so I didn’t have a chance to read the book before seeing the movie. And I’m glad I didn’t. While I remembered so much of the book, I ended up enjoying the movie without comparing it so closely to the book. So then I read the book and watched the movie again. (Yep, I’m a HUGE Hunger Games fangirl and Team Peeta, obviously!) I love this book so much and (name drop alert!) Suzanne Collins is one of the nicest people, so I’m EXTRA happy for all of the success of the book and movie. I’m hoping to get to revisit Catching Fire and Mockingjay this year as well.

THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefvater

I’ve wanted to read this book since I heard Maggie read a teaser last spring at Scholastic (name drop #2!). This book is astonishing and several times I thought, “Yep, that Printz honor sticker so belongs on this book!” First, Maggie created such a well-founded world that was in turns familiar and foreign. Yet, I resonated with the characters and their different challenges and wants. And then there’s the action! There were times I was literally holding my breath wondering what was going to happen. I really wanted to close my eyes toward the end, but that would’ve been hard since I needed to, you know, READ the book. And it had humor in just the right places. Oh, and it really made me want to eat sticky buns. And since I haven’t named dropped enough yet (just you wait!), I got to go on tour with Maggie in Texas and we had a blast (read her tour blog here). She has officially become one of my favorite people EVER. 

CONFESSIONS OF AN ANGRY GIRL by Louise Rozett (coming August, 28, 2012)

One of the many cool things about being an author is that you get asked to read books coming out for a possible blurb. I’ve only been able to do this a couple of times due to pesky deadlines, but when my friend TS told me about this book I wanted to read it from the title alone! It did not disappoint. I found myself laughing, cheering on the main character, and nodding a lot while reading this book. I think the blurb I gave sums up my feelings best: “Confessions of an Angry Girl gives readers a refreshingly honest character with Rose, a smart, sassy heroine with heart. You’ll cheer Rosie on through the many ups and downs of Freshman year: first crushes, loss, and just trying to fit in. Louise Rozett delivers a debut novel that is in turns sweet, heartbreaking, and empowering.”

I was given the green light to share the cover with you (LOVE IT).

WHATEVER AFTER: FAIREST OF ALL by Sarah Mlynowski 

I love Sarah (name drop #3!). I was so excited when I found out she was doing a middle grade series that mixed up well-loved fairy tales. The first one takes on Snow White. I was cracking up while reading this book. It is hilarious, and adorable, and clever — everything I love in a good book! I don’t have it pictured above because I was on the road and gave it to a middle school librarian after I finished reading it. It’s so important to (legally!!) share book you love! 

THE STORY OF US by Deb Caletti

I was on a panel with Deb at the Texas Library Association (name drop #4!) and was given her newest book before our panel. I found myself stopping myself a few times while reading this book and studying how Deb lets the story unfold (it appeared seamless, but I know there must’ve been a lot of work involved). I always try to take note when I’m awed by an author’s storytelling ability and I’ll hopefully be a better writer for it (I learned a lot from ALL these books). 

PURITY by Jackson Pearce

So…I’m going on the road with Jackson this weekend (ding! ding! ding! Name drop OVERLOAD!). I was looking forward to reading Purity since I’ve heard so much about it. I devoured it in two sittings. I’m so impressed with how Jackson was able to tackle a very personal topic, losing your virginity, with such wit, humor, and sensitivity. What makes this extra impressive is that fact that this is a pretty big departure for Jackson (who’s previous novels, Sisters Red and Sweetly, have been best described as “twisted” fairy tales). I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next from her!

Phew! So that was March and April. Can I just say, how cool is my job that I get to hang out with these authors and get to read books before they come out? Let me answer that: VERY.

As I’ll be on the road, I’ll hopefully get more reading done in May. I still have a lot of catching up to do. But fortunately (?), I have a HUGE to-read pile waiting for me to dive in.

Happy reading!

XO, Elizabeth

I flew directly from Houston to Wisconsin just in time to make it to my dad’s birthday party.

With the birthday boy!

The yummy birthday cake!

Since I was in town, my old high school asked me to come and speak. At first I was a little nervous, going back to high school? Yikes! But then I realized that the high school is in a different building than back when I went, so it almost didn’t feel like my high school. One of the first things I saw upon my arrival were all these adorable flyers promoting my visit:

This made me feel fancy.

Then I arrived in the library (now called the iCenter). My mom was my high school librarian and retired five years ago. She accompanied me today and it meant a lot for me to share this with her. I did notice that the library had a certain yearbook on display and it was opened to my senior high school photo. And since I have no problem embarrassing myself, please enjoy a seventeen year old Elizabeth:

Hey, it was the 90s.

I HAD A BLAST! I first did a writing workshop for about twenty students first, and one of them was already published — impressive! Then I moved to the auditorium to give a larger talk. The students ROCKED. They were so supportive and kept applauding me AND my mom. Seriously, anytime I mentioned my mom, they clapped for her. It was very, very sweet.

With my mom at Portage High School - go Warriors!

The students had such great questions as well. I got to meet with a bunch of them afterwards while I signed books. It’s always great to talking with people who are so excited about reading and writing, especially ones from my hometown.  And I got a little teary when I went by the PHS Hall of Fame as both my dad and grandfather have been inducted.

My granddad, who passed away when I was 3.

I’m very proud to be from Portage. So it seems that you can go home again.

I want to thank everybody who came out in Texas and here in Wisconsin. I’ve been blown away by the response to Take a Bow – it really means the world to me. After my Portage Public Library event this evening, my mom and I are off to Chicago for an event tomorrow at Anderson’s in Naperville, then I’m home for a week, before heading off to Boston, Atlanta, and Nashville. Looking forward to even more adventures on the road, hopefully will less embarrassing photos.

XO, Elizabeth

I’ve been having an absolute blast in Texas. I started off in Dallas and did some awesome schools with the beyond fabulous librarian Rose Brock (it’s been decided that Rose and I are basically the same person). Needless to say, I was excited to finally get out there and talk about Take a Bow.

I screamed when I saw this and jumped out of the car. Who's a big nerd? ME!

After Dallas I headed to Houston for TeenBookCon. I was on the panel Reality Bites with Siobhan (my new BFF), Lisa McMann (Dead to You), Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray), and Jesse Andrews (Me, Earl and the Dying Girl). I don’t want to brag, but we were AWESOME. I don’t think I ever laughed that hard on a panel.

The laughter wasn’t reserved only for the panels. On our way back from lunch, I saw that they had a bunch of cardboard standees from various YA movie adaptions, including Peeta from The Hunger Games. I gave Lisa my camera and asked her to take a picture of me with Peeta. I ran up to him and well, apparently you weren’t supposed to touch the standees since they could break. And as you can see from this brilliant photo, I got in trouble (see the woman waving at me frantically). 

"Don't touch the talent!"

Oops. After I was reprimanded, I took another, more appropriate, photo. Notice that I’m not touching Peeta at all.

Jealous much, Gale and Jacob?

This is further proof that I really shouldn’t be allowed out of my house. Ever. I can report that I pretty much behaved for the rest of the day (mostly). I LOVED meeting everybody at the festival and putting Twitter handles to faces. I also was asked to sign my very first shoe, this made me VERY excited. Thanks Ami!

After tonight in Austin, I’m heading back to Houston for TLA, then more events to come in Portage, WI; Naperville, IL, Cambridge, MA; Atlanta, GA; and Nashville, TN. See my EVENTS page for details. Hope to see you out on the road!

XO, Elizabeth

I first want to thank you all for the amazing responses to Take a Bow! I’ve gone from dancing around to being in tears of joy. It means so much to me that people have reacted so well to my book.

As those of you who followed me on Twitter or Facebook last year may remember, Take a Bow was referred to as “Untilted Book #3″ for months. This was because it didn’t have a confirmed title for the majority of the time I was writing it. This was unusual for me as I’ve always had the title first. In fact, Take a Bow was originally entitled All About Sophie when I first conceived of the story. But that was back when it was only being told in Emme’s point of view, then I realized that not only did the readers need to hear from Sophie, but that Carter and Ethan had their own stories to tell. Suddenly, All About Sophie no longer fit.

So began the long journey to naming the book. My editor (the fabulous David Levithan) suggested Audition, which inspired the first line in the book from Carter: “My life has been one big audition.” But then we realized another book called Audition was coming out the season before mine.

Since the Senior Showcase is a big moment in the book, I came up with Showcase Showdown (I was a huge Price is Right fan back in the Bob Barker days–I even went to a taping and met him. Yep, I’m cool like that.). There were some concerns over copyright, so I was back to the drawing board. I have a huge list of potential titles in my Take a Bow notebook, including Setting the Stage, Hitting the Mark, Taking Centerstage, Stealing the Spotlight, The Fame Game, etc. But none of these really worked. I then came up with Chasing Fame, which I really liked (and is used as one of the tag lines in the book), but we were worried about it drawing too many comparisons to the recent Fame remake (which I did not see and didn’t do too well at the box office). 

This is when I started to worry. I began asking friends for suggestions. My friend Carolyn came up with Performance Anxiety, which is hilarious and pretty accurate to a lot of the book. But it also has another meaning, ahem. I did decide to mention this title to David (as a joke) and he just walked away from me. My friend TS (who is an editor) came up with a list for me and my favorite suggestion of his was Staged. 

But there wasn’t a title that we could all agree on. So I decided to let it go, finish the book, and worry about the title later. It was really weird to be working on a book and having the file be called “TITLE TK.” So I started to referring to it as “Untitled Book #3.” 

Then I met David to go over the edit for the book. When we were done, he mentioned the small matter of getting a title for the book. He made two suggestions: Teenage Kicks (named after the band in the book, although we both agreed it was too obscure of a reference) and Time of Your Life (after the Green Day song, which I love, but I kept thinking of the Dirty Dancing song, and oddly enough, the Jennifer Love Hewitt short-lived Party of Five spin-off. And David’s reaction was probably a lot like yours, “THE WHAT?”).

David suggested that I go home and go through my iTunes and see if anything called out to me. “Take a Bow” came up three times in my iTunes, first as the Glee Rihanna cover, then Madonna, and finally Muse. I was taking this as a sign. But I also had Teenage Dream, All I Ever Wanted, Dream On, For Your Entertainment, but the overwhelming favorite in a poll of friends was Take a Bow. I sent it to David, he liked it, sales liked it and after MONTHS I finally had a title.

Phew! Bet you didn’t realize how much agonizing there can be over a simple title!

Take a Bow perfectly captures the book, as does the cover. I’m so thankful we were able to come up with one because “Untitled Book #3″ would’ve looked really silly on a book jacket.

XOXO, Elizabeth

To recap, Take a Bow beings with the auditions of the four main characters (click on links to read):

CARTER

SOPHIE

ETHAN

EMME

After that it jumps to Senior year, from Emme’s point of view. It’s pretty long, so please note that you have to go to the second page to finish reading it! So without further ado, more from Take a Bow!

SENIOR YEAR – EMME

I never in a million years thought I’d be sitting here. Well, truth be told, I think that every time I’m in CPA’s auditorium. Freshman year, sitting with Sophie by my side, I couldn’t believe I’d made it in. Then sophomore year, I was shocked that I’d survived the first year. Junior year was the biggest surprise since I’d almost wanted to sabotage my audition for that semester because I was so tired — tired of the auditions we have to do to be accepted each semester, tired of the extra classes and studios, tired of the concerts, the pressure, the competition. The constant competition.

Fortunately for me, the music composition department is the least competitive of all the programs. Ethan, Ben, Jack, and I work together on pretty much every project, and have since the very first day of school.

But other groups don’t have it so easy. Jack’s girlfriend, Chloe, is in the dance department, and she has to eat her protein bars in secret during lunch. It’s a double competition, to see who can dance the best and eat the least.  It’s as if being the skinniest person in the group is a badge of honor, not an eating disorder.

The drama department is full of . . . well, drama. I stay far away from anybody in that department when a show is being cast. It’s not pretty. Leading up to the auditions, there is backstabbing and sabotage of Hamlet proportions, and when the cast list is posted, those without parts are les misérables.

And then there’s Sophie. As we wait for our first assembly of senior year to begin, I look four rows in front of me to where Sophie is sitting with Carter. Sophie’s had it a lot rougher than me and I feel so guilty. After all, if it wasn’t for Sophie, I wouldn’t even be here.

(Click below on Page 2 to continue reading…)

]]> http://www.elizabetheulberg.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=816 18 http://www.elizabetheulberg.com/blog/?p=830 http://www.elizabetheulberg.com/blog/?p=830#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:46:48 +0000 Elizabeth Eulberg http://www.elizabetheulberg.com/blog/?p=830 Happy March! (March?!?! Moving fast much, 2012? The good news is that this means Take a Bow will be out soon!!!)

When I decided that I was going to blog about the books that I’m reading this year for my 2012 Reading Challenge, I was worried about what would happen if I read a book and I didn’t like it. I’m not much for trashing something, because everything is subjective. And just because I didn’t like something doesn’t mean that others won’t. Fortunately, that wasn’t an issue this month as I absolutely loved the three books I read. (I was hoping to read at least one more, but a nasty cold this past weekend left me practically in a coma.)

Since I’m not great at summarizing, just click on each title to go to the author’s website to read a description of the book.

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

I’ve been hearing buzz about this book for months before its publication last fall. Completely worthy of all the praise. First, I’m in awe of Taylor’s writing, such gorgeous prose. Second, her characters are in turns relatable, funny, and mysterious. Even though the book is over 400 pages, I found it a very quick read because everything happens so fast that I kept turning the page wanting more!

My friend Natalie loved this book and she even transformed one of her Monster High dolls into the main character, Karou. Check out the photos here! 

The List by Siobhan Vivian (coming in April)

I’ve been looking forward to The List since my editor (and Siobhan’s), David Levithan, told me about it. Loved this book so much. Each of the eight girls profiled in this book came to life and I was thrown for a loop more than once – love when that happens! I found myself thinking about the characters long after I turned the last page, a testament of a good book. It also makes you think about the labels we give others, as well as ourselves. AND I’m doing a couple events with Siobhan this April so I’m extra excited to go all fangirly on her!

Being Friends with Boys by Terra Elan McVoy (Coming in May)

I know I already said this on Twitter, but it needs repeating: If books could have BFFs, this book would be Take a Bow‘s. Seriously. And I couldn’t be happier for Terra’s success. Terra and I worked together years ago at Scholastic. I’ve been so happy seeing her blossom into one of my favorite authors. As someone who loves music and writing about it, Being Friends with Boys makes you feel the music in the book, something very difficult to do. You feel like you’ve been given a backstage pass into these character’s lives and know their inner thoughts. And just when you think you know where it’s all going, Terra has some surprises for you. Gah! I love this book!

I’m telling you, the spring is going to be an amazing season for books. You have to put The List and Being Friends with Boys on your spring list (um, along with Take a Bow, obviously…ahem). And since I’m so excited for these books and I’ll be seeing Terra and Siobhan this spring, I’m going to get autographed copies of each and do a giveaway. Just doing my part of spreading the book love!

So 6 down and 44 more to go! Yikes, March is going to be a tough one as I have to finish my edit on book #4. The good news is that I’ll be traveling a lot in April and May and I always get a ton of reading done in airports, airplanes, hotels… ah, the glamorous life on the road!

XOXO, Elizabeth

I’ve teamed up with four wonderful sites – Mundie Moms, Novel Novice, Eve’s Fan Garden, and PageTurners – for Take a Bow Sneak Peek Week. Starting Monday, February 27th, you’ll get a chance to read the opening auditions of each character. The sites will have a special intro from me, the excerpt, and we’ll even be doing Take a Bow giveaways! Here’s the schedule:

Monday, February 27: CARTER – Mundie Moms

Tuesday, February 28: SOPHIE – Novel Novice

Wednesday, February 29: ETHAN – Eve’s Fan Garden

Thursday, March 1: EMME – PageTurners 

THEN! On Friday, March 2nd, I’ll be posting an excerpt from senior year on my blog. So by the end of the week, you’ll have access to the first 30 pages of Take a Bow! (HUGE thanks to my publisher, Point/Scholastic, for letting us do this!)

I’m so proud of this book and am excited to share this special preview with all of you. I got an advance copy of the finished book and it’s gorgeous (I’m allowed to say stuff like that because I have nothing to do with the design or production!). And as you can tell, it’s love.

So now you have only a week to wait to start reading the beginning of the book! I hope you all enjoy Take a Bow Sneak Peek Week!

XO, Elizabeth

*Take a Bow does not have a “strict” on-sale date, so while we are saying that the pub date is April 1st, you’ll most likely start seeing it in-stores late March. Hooray!

My New Year’s Resolution is to read 50 books this year, about a book a week. So how did I do in January? Um, okay… I read three books! Not as much as I was hoping, but I was on a pretty serious deadline for two weeks so I wasn’t able to read during that period. When I spend 10-12 hours in front of the computer working, all I want to do when I’m done is stare at a TV and turn into a zombie.

Without further ado, my January reads:

1) Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella – Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorite adult “chick lit” authors. Some fun facts: Penny’s last name in The Lonely Hearts Club was inspired by the character of Rebecca Bloomwood in Sophie’s Shopaholic series (which is also why Mrs. Bloom’s first name is Becky). I went to one of Sophie’s signings last year for Mini Shopaholic and picked up this book as well. It was so much fun. Basic premise: Lara is haunted by the ghost of her great-aunt Sadie, who makes Lara find her missing necklace before she can properly “rest in peace.” The duo continually spar over clothes, guys, family – they don’t see eye to eye on anything! It’s parts comedy, romance, mystery, and family drama. Highly recommend!

2) Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link – This was my book group’s January read. It’s a collection of nine short stories. All the stories were very clever and extremely diverse. You have one where a guy accidentally digs up the wrong grave, another where a father and son are stuck in quarantine, then there’s one with a magical handbag that contains an entire village inside it. I found myself wanting more at the end of most of the stories, which I think is a test of a great story!

3) Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein – I went to a lecture given by Gabby on 11/11/11. I really believe in putting good intentions/dreams out into the universe. But sometimes I get caught up in the every day that I forget to take time out for myself to reflect. This book was a nice reminder to not give into fear, let go and forgive, not be afraid to ask for help, and to listen.

I’m not going to speculate on the books that I’m going to read this month. I already have five books set aside, but you never know what’s going to happen! I’m going to Puerto Rico next week and plan on sitting by the pool and do nothing but read and relax for a few days so I’ve got my fingers crossed for lots of reading this month. Unless I’m hit with another deadline. Which is bound to happen sometime soon (let’s just hope it’s not when I’m on the beach!) 

That’s it for my list. Have you read any good books this month?

XO, Elizabeth

For those of you who have younger siblings, please be careful what you tell your far-too-impressionable siblings because seemingly innocent fibs can have lasting effects. Case in point: I saw Nada Surf in concert on Tuesday night, the same day their new album, The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy, was released. I pre-ordered the album, but was scared to listen to it on Tuesday. Why? you may ask. Don’t you know, it’s bad luck to listen to a band on the same day you’re seeing them live.

Say what?

Um, yes. See, my older sisters took me to two my first two concerts, both in Milwaukee, which is about two hours away from where I grew up. And, for some reason, neither wanted to listen to Debbie Gibson and New Kids on the Block for the entire ride. So they decided to tell their sweet, naive youngest sister that it was bad luck to listen to those acts on the way to the concert. In fact, it was bad luck to listen to them that day at all. 

And I fell for it. Granted, I was twelve and going to my first concert and convinced that Joey McIntyre was going to fall in love with me, so best to not tempt fate.

But here we are all these years later…and I still don’t like to do it. Even though I now know why they told me that. And I know it’s stupid. I really do, but what if?

So then I had the Nada Surf dilemma, I wanted to hear some of the new album before the concert, but would I be okay if I did? Then I thought, Enough is enough, you know better, don’t you? DON’T YOU?  So that morning, I downloaded the album (LEGALLY, paid for it and everything!) and listened…and nothing happened! My day went really well, the concert was phenomenal. The only bad thing was this super tall guy who decided to stand RIGHT in front of me, like six inches in front of me. I kept having to move over and then he moved over. That was annoying, but honestly, that was it. Tall guys at concerts are ALWAYS annoying!

So Eileen and Meg, thanks for the emotional scars, but I have finally accepted the fact that nothing bad will happen if you listen to the band you’re about to see. At least, I think I’m finally over it. 

And to you older siblings out there, play nice! Your little sister or brother may one day be a published author and have the power to unfairly portray you in a work of fiction (although I’d never do that…but don’t push me!).

XO, Elizabeth

P.S. – For those who are interested in Nada Surf (and you should be!), the concert I saw on Tuesday night at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC is online, you can watch it here. You won’t see me though, as I was in the back apparently hiding behind a super tall and rude guy.

Now that we’ve counted down to 2012, today starts the inevitable New Years Resolutions. Although I always start my resolutions on January 2nd. Who seriously wants to start exercising more on the 1st? I’m still tired from last night. I’m not doing the basic “eat better and exercise more” resolution this year, although I always try to do that. And I’m pretty happy that I was able to stick to last year’s resolution of writing more thank you letters, actual handwritten letters.

This year I’m going to do something that’ll help me with my increasingly stressful “to-read” pile that keeps growing and growing. My resolution is to read about a book a week: 50 books in 2012. I’m sure most people are thinking, “That’s not hard, I read a hundred books a year!” Congrats to you! This, however, would be a big deal for me. I’m always woefully behind (I just finished The Help in October and over Christmas break finally read The Devil Wears Prada). 

So my goal is a book a week. And, to make sure I’m sticking to it, I’m going to blog each month about the books that I’ve read so I can share them with you. I might even do a giveaway or two, you never know!

I’ve already got my books lined up for this month. First I need to finish Sophie Kinsella’s Twenties Girl that I started reading on the plane right home, then Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein (figured it’d be a good way to start off the new year), Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (told you I’m far behind), The Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor, and my book club book, which I can’t seem to remember what it is, which may be a problem… Of course I reserve the right to change this up, but these are the books I’m really hoping I get to this month. Oh my goodness, how on earth did it get to be January 2012?

So that’s what I’m doing. Any good resolutions you’re starting? Any books you recommend I add to my woefully overflowing pile?

May your 2012 be filled with joy and sparkle!

XO, Elizabeth