Diary of a Word Nerd

Book reviews/Favorite Authors/How to encourage reading/News from book business

Book Suggestions from the Goodreads Choice Awards

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Julia Tomiak / 16 Comments

It’s that time of year again!

No, I’m not talking about the holidays. Actually, I’m too exhausted to even contemplate December right now. This fall kicked my butt, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get enough sleep to recover. Can you relate?

Instead, I’m talking about my favorite form of escape- books! Specifically, choosing book club books for 2016. Goodreads can help me, and you, too, if you share my predicament. My book club meets next week, and I need ideas.

Help from the Goodreads Choice Awards

Every November, Goodreads hosts the Choice Awards. Goodreads members vote for their favorite books of the year in a broad range of categories, including children’s, YA, YA Fantasy, Mystery and Thriller, Historical Fiction, Humor, and Horror. There are three rounds, with the final stage of voting set this year for November 17-23.

Usually, I’ve read only a smattering of the books that make the list, and although I vote sometimes, I primarily use the Choice Awards to help me find books to read, both for me and my kids. I didn’t know Rebecca Stead had a new book out. Now I do. I haven’t heard of most of the YA fiction titles. New books for the TBR list.

One title from the nominees I’d like to tackle in 2016 is Go Set a Watchman, the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. There was a lot of chatter about it in the literary world this summer, and since Mockingbird is one of my favorites, I feel compelled to read Watchman. Other books I’ll suggest to my book club:

Mr. Owita’s Guide to Gardening by Carol Wall, a non-fiction piece about finding happiness
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, a non-fiction about a Pakistani girl who stood up for her right to an education

That’s a lot of non-fiction for me! Better add some YA fiction to the list, like:

Saint Anything, by Sarah Dessen Lately, daughter and I have been reading quite a bit from Ms. Dessen
Mosquitoland by David Arnold, is a modern American Odyssey, told in a “kaleidoscope voice”.

Word Nerd Workout

Help me and my book club out, please. What books are you planning to read in 2016? Has anyone read Go Set a Watchman? What did you think?

Thanks for adding to the discussion.

How to encourage reading

Vocab from The Glass Cage: Putative

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Julia Tomiak / 4 Comments

Do you like non-fiction? I struggle with it. My book club selection this month is The Glass Cage: How Computers Are Changing Us, by Nicholas Carr. I can only read it in small doses because it is both dry and disturbing.

Guess who suggested the club read it? Me!

The Glass Cage has given me lots to think about as well as new vocabulary. If you like learning about new words, check out Kathy’s Wondrous Words Wednesday meme. Bloggers share new words from their reading or celebrate words they love.

Here’s the excerpt for my word this week:

From my putative friends, I received no sympathy. They found my struggles [with driving a manual transmission car] a source of endless, uproarious amusement.

putative \ˈpyü-tə-tiv\ from Latin putatus, past participle of putare to think

commonly accepted or supposed
believed to exist or to have existed

Thanks Merriam-Webster!

Putative is a synonym for a word I’ve previously featured on Wondrous Words Wednesday, ostensible, which means seeming to be true or real but possibly not.

Word Nerd Workout

Can you think of another synonym for putative?

I’ll be sure to follow up with a review of The Glass Cage in coming weeks- hopefully I’ll get through it! How do you feel about non-fiction? Any good recommendations?

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to visit Kathy’s Wondrous Words Wednesday meme.

Awesome Young Adult Books

My YA Manuscript is ON THE BLOCK

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Julia Tomiak / 7 Comments

My fiction writing first went public thirty years ago. I was a freshman in high school, sweating at my desk while my English teacher read several short stories to the class, including mine, a tragic piece about a boy whose best friend committed suicide. Fortunately, my classmates liked the story, and it made it into the school literary magazine.

Now here I am, many years later, still pulling words into something I hope resonates with readers. Today, the first page of my young adult manuscript, REDEFINED, is up at Miss Snark’s First Victim. I made it into the ON THE BLOCK contest, along with 23 others, which means I’m putting my writing out there for readers and writers to critique. On Tuesday, November 10, agents will bid on manuscripts they want to read more of.

Hopefully, if the stars fall into line and my character’s voice is strong enough and the conflict is clear enough, an agent, or maybe two, will ask to read more of my work. It’s not a guarantee of publication, but it’s a giant step in the right direction, my work in front of agents’ eyes.

Did you know it took Kathryn Stockett five years to find an agent for The Help? The road to publication isn’t for wimps. Thank goodness I’m stubborn. And I have supportive friends. 😉

Word Nerd Request

If you feel inclined, please stop by Miss Snark’s blog, read my first page, and offer a critique. My novel is a young adult contemporary, which means it’s about real kids with real problems. It’s similar in style and content to something written by Sarah Dessen or Morgan Matson. I won’t dare to compare myself to John Green, but there are literary references, as in his books.

Here’s the log line- publishing speak for a 1-2 sentence summary of the book. (Do you know how hard it is to summarize a book in two sentences? )

Seventeen year old Cat craves a social life, but a neurological disease is wrecking her mom’s health and her uptight dad wants her to stay home to help. When Cat falls for a guy who understands family weirdness, she must stand up to her overprotective father or lose the boy she loves.

Word Nerd Suggestion

If you enjoy writing, please follow Miss Snark’s blog. She offers valuable advice and support, as well as several contests each year to help you get your work out there.

Can you recommend any other online contests or writing sites? I’m also a big fan of K.M Weiland.

If you have any good luck mojo, please send it my way. 😉

Thanks!

Improving vocabulary

What Does Peripatetic Mean?

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Julia Tomiak / 4 Comments

Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme for word nerds who care enough to look up words they don’t know. Join Kathy at Bermuda Onion to learn more new and interesting words.

My word today comes from the YA contemporary Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson. Emily’s best friend Sloane has mysteriously disappeared at the beginning of the summer. The only thing Sloane left behind for Em is one of her crazy “to do” lists, which includes items like:

Kiss a stranger
Go skinny-dipping
Steal something
Break something
Dance until dawn
Hug a Jamie

Since You’ve Been Gone is a fun read about getting out of your comfort zone and learning to take chances. Here’s the word nerd word:

Sloane and her parents lived the kind of peripatetic existence- picking up and moving when they felt like it, or when they just wanted a new adventure- that I’d seen in movies, but hadn’t known actually existed in real life.

peripatetic \ˌper-ə-pə-ˈte-tik\ adjective from Greek peripatein to walk up and down, discourse while pacing (as did Aristotle), from peri- + patein to tread

related to walking
moving or traveling from place to place

Example:

Maria lived a peripatetic life after graduation, selling kids books while seeing many different parts of the country.

Note: Peripatetic can also mean “Aristotlean”, as Aristotle reportedly paced a lot.

Word Nerd Workout

Suggest a synonym for peripatetic. Mine: itinerant.

Thanks for “playing”!

How to encourage reading/News from book business/Words and Technology

How Kaya Thomas Used Technology to Solve a Bookish Problem

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Julia Tomiak / 3 Comments

The Internet is a blessing and a nightmare. We have access to so much information, but, also, we have exposure to distressing things that we don’t have much control over, such as the refugee crisis in Europe or the latest shooting here at home.

News outlets and social media seem to flourish on the sensational, but I much prefer the positive stories about people using all of this information around us to do good things. Give me the inspiring over the scandalous any day.

With that in mind, let me introduce you to Kaya Thomas. She’s a computer science major at Dartmouth University who saw a problem and used her brains and her ability to access information on the web to fix it.

Thomas always loved to read, but as a young girl, she struggled to find books with characters she could relate to – people of color who were more than just a stereotype. Thomas was, in her words, “black and nerdy.” She wanted to read about girls like her.

Unfortunately, many library displays and popular book lists don’t feature books written by people of color that feature characters of color. Thomas eventually discovered that plenty of books like that have been published, she just needed a better way to find them. And so did other readers.

In the summer of 2014, Thomas used her knowledge of programming to create the App WE READ TOO. Basically, the app helps readers find books with diverse characters. Readers can also suggest books to be added to the database.

Thomas hasn’t stopped with the app. She wants to empower other girls of color and help them embrace technology. She says on her site:

Knowledge is power and coding is an outlet to create technology that makes positive impacts on communities.

Girl power! If you’re interested in creating apps or learning more about technology, no matter what your gender or ethnic background is, Thomas suggests visiting these sites:

I’m also going to put in a plug for Girls Who Code, a nonprofit striving to close the gender gap in technology and engineering.

To learn more about Thomas, visit her website or this interview with her on Innov8tiv.com. You can also learn more at the We Read Too Facebook page .

Can you help me grow more good news on the Internet? Please share this story through social media, and, even better, tell us about another “feel good” story in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by!

Awesome Young Adult Books/Improving vocabulary

What Does Ensorcelled Mean?

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Julia Tomiak / 13 Comments

Who says YA literature isn’t sophisticated? I’ve already had to look up two words in my latest read, Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson. It was nominated by YALSA to be one of the Teens Top Ten books of 2015.

If you like to learn new words, join in the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme, where Word Nerdy bloggers share new words we’ve learned from reading.

Here’s one of the words from Since You’ve Been Gone, a contemporary realistic YA novel about one girl’s quest to find her mysteriously missing best friend:

They didn’t think about the fact that [the old Victorian] was pretty much falling down, that it was three stories and drafty, shockingly expensive to heat in the winter and, with central air not yet invented when the house was built, almost impossible to cool in the summer. They were ensorcelled with the place.

ensorcell \in-ˈsȯr-səl\ verb from French en + sorcerer from ensocier

to bewitch or enchant

Word Nerd Workout

Use ensorcell in a sentence. For example,

The White Witch ensorcelled Edmund with her Turkish Delight.

Thanks for getting nerdy with me today. Don’t forget to check out Wondrous Words Wednesday!