TRAVEL MONTH GUEST POST - POTENTIAL BOOK IDEA THAT AUTHORS SHOULD WRITE FOR ME (PBITASWFM) by Jo from Wear The Old Coat

Now, with a theme month comes guest posts, and I knew exactly who I as going to ask to do my first one. I am very, very, immensely pleased to welcome the very funny, very fabulous Jo from Wear The Old Coat. Her reviews always have me in stitches as I'm sure they do you, because if you're not reading them, then you bloody well should be. 


Anyway, over to you Jo...

Now because I have the slightest of slight book buying problems, most of my money goes on decorating my bookshelves and adding to my teetering ‘to-read’ pile. And because I’m an impoverished book buyer, I don’t have much spare cash lying around to go wandering around our glorious globe. 

But one of the joys of reading for me is the ability for them to take you to places that you’ve never been before.
I know that sounds like an awful cliché, but it’s true.
The rain can be hammering on my bedroom window or I could be stuck on a crammed train pressed up against a random stranger who is eating cheese and onion crisps, but if I’ve got a book in my hand, I could be anywhere.

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.” 

― Roald Dahl, Matilda

However, when I am sitting in my little room in an English village, there are a few places that I would like to travel to but these books haven’t be written yet.
And I know young adult authors are very busy people, what with the writing and all, and they just don’t have time to plan and write books willy-nilly.
So, to help them out, I have compiled a list both of places I’ve been to and would like to go again and places that I’m desperate to go to and I’ve come up with a Potential Book Idea That Authors Should Write For Me [PBITASWFM].


Berlin.

 
I have always, always wanted to go Germany and do it properly. I say ‘properly’ because I have actually been there once (a high school trip to Cologne but we were there for approximately two hours and I nearly fell down the stairs of the bell tower. If any of you have ever been there before you will know that there was a great risk of me breaking me face!). A couple of months ago, the comedian Al Murray did a travel documentary around Germany and it was absolutely wonderful. I fell in love with the beauty of the landscape, the breath taking architecture and the fantastic characters he met along the way. And ever since I saw that, I have been desperate to go. 

PBITASWFM: This is going to be a historical novel and before you groan and roll your eyes and shout at me because woah, woah, woah Germany was only part of one period in the entire history of the world… I want this to be set in the ‘60s at construction of the Berlin Wall a la Goodbye Lenin!     

I’m going big with this one because I am desperate for this book to be written. I’m thinking that this book is going to have to be told from two perspectives because I believe it would be the only way to do this subject justice. The first perspective is going to be in modern day Berlin where the MC looks back at his/her history and the second is going to be told by a person who was directly affected by the construction of The Wall. After all, history affects everyone, doesn’t it?
I would love a young adult book that not only gave a realistic portrayal of this period but also celebrated the brilliant spirit of Germany and its culture and, of course, took me on a tour around modern day Berlin.
Obviously, this book would be a bit of a project, so I would not mind coming to Berlin and helping out with the research and the eating of delicious German cuisine. 


New York.

Like any girl who has watched every single episode of Sex and the City approximately ONE MILLION times, I want to go to New York. To me, New York is the place where you go when you’ve made it. Naïve, I know, but I don’t care. I do heart NY.
But because I’m a bit of a film geek [I actually did my dissertation on films set in NY] and I’ve seen lots and lots of films set there, I feel like I’ve already been there. That’s not to say I wouldn’t go in a heartbeat if someone said “HEY JO! FREE TICKETS TO NEW YORK. GO!”
So if there is a book that’s going to be written set in New York, I want it to be somewhere I’ve never been before. Like this: 

   

Isn’t that gorgeous?! That’s the abandoned underground station underneath City Hall. 

PBITASWFM: Basically, I’m after Cath Crowley’s Graffiti Moon… but set in New York. A mad night in New York where two characters who have only just met run around the streets of NY, seeing things that tourists aren’t usually privy to, and fall in crazy, beautiful love. 


Kenya

If I could visit anywhere in the world, it would be here. Can you imagine waking up to a giraffe looking at you through your window?! 

PBITASWFM: Who am I kidding? I would literally read anything set here. You want me to be more specific? *Sigh* OK, fine. I’m using the idea that Reynje and I came up with a few weeks ago.
Warning: It’s mental.
A girl discovers that she can change into a lion when she gets angry and discovers that her sensitive best friend who has been in love with her since she was about two can turn into a zebra. One day, she turns into a lion and runs around the Serengeti and meets a brooding Wildebeest who turns into a dangerous boy with floppy hair and a crooked smile.
And together they… like, save the world or something.  


Edinburgh 

OK, I’ve been to Edinburgh so many times I’ve lost count but, after Manchester, it’s my favourite city that I’ve been to. I just love everything about it.
This book is going to be set in Mary King’s Close. You can find out more  here but basically, it’s an underground street just off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and it combines period dress, history and GHOSTS. That’s right, ghosts.

PBITASWFM: A history student from Edinburgh University gets a job as a guide in Mary King’s Close and… wait… why am I telling you this? This is the book that I want to write. You’ll just have to wait and see...



Thank you to the gorgeous Anna for allowing me to ramble all over her blog!




Wow, thanks Jo! I think you'll all agree that these MUST BE WRITTEN. Preferably by Jo herself. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Check out her awfully good blog right here folks. Maybe we can all start petitioning her to write the German one...

REVIEW - 'Graffiti Moon', Cath Crowley (Pan MacMillan Australia, 2010)

After finishing Year 12, Melbourne teenager Lucy celebrates by embarking on a night of possibilities with her friends. Always on her mind is the possiblity of catching sight the mysterious street artist, Shadow, a boy she has set her heart on, despite never actually setting eyes on him. Instead, her path crosses that of Ed, a guy from a her past she would rather just forget...

And so, my quest to absorb as much Aussie YA as my brain can cope with in the next six weeks continues...

There's been so much contemporary YA from this country that being shouted about at the moment that's it's been tricky to decide what to feast on next. I've been reading and hearing many a positive word about this one. And I have been taking note and listening to these words studiously and have picked up a copy from trusted local library.

The downside of reading good reviews before you actually read good book - RIDICULOUSLY HIGH EXPECTATIONS. I try and I try to wipe away all preconceptions, but they do creep in, those little pesky critters and feast on my objectivity. I've read so much stuff recently that I have adored and I have to admit, this doesn't fall into that catagory. Definitely more of a like that than I love. It ticks all the right boxes, but it just didn't break/melt/ignite my heart in the way I expected it to. Just made it ZING just the teeniest bit.

I didn't really feel a great connection with Lucy from the start. The whole premise of falling for a myth, yes, I can buy that. But telling everyone about it? Would you? Really? I think not. She took this crush a little bit too seriously and comes across and a little bit too naive, which I just couldn't get past. Although I did start to warm towards her closer to the end, especially with her confusion and stress over her parents very confusing, very stressful relationship (a nice little sub plot there too).

Now, Ed, on the other hand... my kind of boy, without a doubt. I love my boy characters who wear their flaws on their sleeves. Man, if I was seventeen again... A great example of a well-rounded, complex YA hero, and I'm pleased the author gave up half the novel to his voice.

I'm a big fan of different story telling devices, and I liked the addition of Poet's little entries to break up the narrative. Although I wasn't that interested in the sub plot between Leo and Jazz (not a big fan of that name either, by the way), they gave us a little more insight into his relationship with Ed, and the book was all the better for it.

Overall, a good story, well-told. Just didn't get me into a emotional tizzy, I'm afraid.