This is Going to be Good

My Children Shall be Named Albus Severus, Renesme, and...Vincent?

I was just thinking to myself the other day (a dangerous pastime, I know), reflecting on a conversation I had with a friend of mine where he said that Albus Severus has to be one of the worst names to give a child ever. He hasn't read past the first book in the Twilight Saga, so I sat him down, gave him some hot cocoa and toast, gently put my hand on his shoulder and broke the news to him:

Edward and Bella name their child Renesme.

In all actually, this conversation took place over facebook... But who doesn't love the idea of hot cocoa and toast? If you're raising your hand, please put it down before someone hurts you. Thank you.

Last night, my parents were telling my brother and me how they came up with our names, which is probably why I was thinking about the Albus/Renesme conversation in the first place. I know names like Isabella and Jacob are quite popular at the moment, but I found myself wondering if I would name my child after a character in a book and if so, which names would I consider and which would I absolutely avoid.

No offense, but Albus Severus and Renesme are both names that would probably end up on the top of the "do not use these" list. Although I did hear about someone who named their dog Severus. Totally okay with that. But if I look at some of my favorite books (or even some I just think are good), I come up with names like these:

Fitzwilliam
Milo
Bilbo
Harry
Taran

Aurora
Katniss
Winifred
Maggie
Elizabeth

And now I'm drawing a blank. I'm not saying any of those are bad names. They're very fitting for each of the characters they belong to. I just don't know that I want to use any of them for my future children. There's actually a couple there I would or have considered for possible future baby names, but not because of their place in books.

I'm not ruling out the possibility of naming a child after a character, but I haven't thought of one that I really like yet. Of course, I'm sure names I choose are in some book somewhere, but that's not the same as telling my future son, Tom Edward Lastname, that I specifically chose his name after the Dark Lord and a sparkly vampire.

Hmm, perhaps I should name future son Vincent after the Final Fantasy VII character. True he's not the main character, but Vincent sounds cooler than Cloud. He kind of looks creepy though...

I've just opened the door to so many name possibilities.

What do you think? Would you name your child after one of your favorite characters? Which names are in the running and which or totally out of the question?

Move Aside, Coriander!

So according to my lovely sidebar, the book I'm currently reading is I, Coriander. All that changed when about two seconds ago, give or take, a familiar vehicle pulled up to my house. It was the UPS man with gifts!

Thank you, UPS man! Never fear, Coriander. Your time will come. But for now, you must step aside! I gots to finish what I began! (Note: I'm entirely aware that that is not proper English.)

Emily Ritter, Welcome to the Book Blogging World

Interestingly enough, considering I just finished The Hunger Games, a friend of mine from the Denver Publishing Institute just finished the series and started a blog to celebrate. Like me, she's very much into YA fiction, and she's looking for suggestions on what to read next. She's only got one post so far and it's about the wonderful Hunger Games. I admit, I think her post is better than mine. Ha ha. check it out and hear about the book from her perspective. She's really fun, and I have no doubts that her blog is going to be well worth reading. Just click the link and be on your way!

http://yay-books.blogspot.com/

Edgar Sawtelle and The Hunger Games

You know what can be a problem? When you read the first book in a series, really like it, and then you don't have the next book of the series in your possession. Drat. But before we get to that, let me introduce you to Edgar Sawtelle.

Before attending a book signing with a bunch of my peers, I'd heard the name Edgar Sawtelle, even seen the book on the shelf a few times, but I knew absolutely nothing about the book. Still, I stood in line and shared a wonderful conversation with the author (that's code for once again I had no idea what to say to a famous person, so I simpled grinned, uttered a thank you, and walked away with that silly grin still plastered to my face). From what I picked up while standing in line and listening to what David Wroblewski had to say, I gathered this was going to be a tragic tale. I cannot deny that it was tragic, but I'm nearly 100% satisfied with the way things turned out. The tragedy was beautiful in a way. I suppose you'll only understand what I mean once you've read it yourself as I don't want to give anything away.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is the story of...well...a boy named Edgar. Edgar lives on a farm in Wisconsin with his parents. They run a successful business of breeding dogs, training them, and placing them with families. When tragedy strikes their family, Edgar is forced to make a run for it. While traveling through the woods, Edgar must fight for his own survival as well as the survival of the three dogs that are with him.

As I began reading, knowing that I needed to brace myself for tragedy, I made a sad sort of moan and said, "This is going to be Where the Red Fern Grows all over again, isn't it?" (In case you're wondering, that's not a bad thing. I happen to be a big fan of Where the Red Fern Grows. It just meant I knew there was a possibility of rivers of tears staining my face as boy and dog become best of friends, of course something will happen to the dog, and perhaps there'll be a little ray of sunshine at the end to make the sadness seem a little less heartbreaking.) Well, I wasn't entirely right in my assumption. This book is a lot different.

I really enjoyed this book. I don't think I'd give it 5 out of 5 stars, but it was still good. I loved the feel of it--being out in the country, simpler way of life, that sort of thing. Plus having a boy with a strong connection with an animal always seems to be a strong connecting point. Something else I really loved about the story is the fact that Edgar is mute. Not only did it work really nicely with the story and add some interest, it pulled me in especially because of the opportunity I had to learn some ASL and spend some time in the deaf community. So I really enjoyed the setting and the characters.

If you're a fan of only happily ever after endings, this may not be the book for you. But if you don't mind a little tragedy mixed in with adventure and a few dogs for good measure, you should give the book a chance.

As for wishing I had the next book in a series, I finally decided I wanted to read The Hunger Games. I'm the kind of person who buys books faster than I can read them, so it's been sitting on my shelf for a while now. I knew the concept of this one, and for the most part, I'd heard positive feedback. I finished it today, and now I won't know how the series ends until I get my hands on the other two books of the series. Sigh. In case you couldn't tell, I was pleased with this book. I can't really call this a happy book either. It's full of violence and death, but it was a really good story. For those of you who don't know what it's about, it's a dystopian novel where every year two contestants are chosen from twelve districts to compete in the Hunger Games. The Games are one giant fight to the death, which is televised to all of Panem. 24 contestants. 1 winner. 1 survivor. Intense, no?

What book is next on the list? I don't know yet as I sat down to write this the moment I finished reading. Happy reading! More updates to follow!

Also, for those of you who don'e know, The Hunger Games is being turned into a movie. It comes out next year. Will you all join me in watching it on the silver screen :)