Olivia Anne Gennaro

Waiting on Wednesday: Some Kind of Happiness by Clare Legrand

This might not be a feature I’ll do every week, but there are a lot of books I’m excited about that haven’t been released yet.

Today’s pick is Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand, which comes out on Tuesday! I’ve got it preordered and I can’t wait to dive into it when it arrives.

This is one of the many 2016 releases that I became interested in based off its synopsis rather than hype (though it has gotten good reviews so far), so here is that blurb:

THINGS FINLEY HART DOESN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT

• Her parents, who are having problems. (But they pretend like they’re not.)
• Being sent to her grandparents’ house for the summer.
• Never having met said grandparents.
• Her blue days—when life feels overwhelming, and it’s hard to keep her head up. (This happens a lot.)

Finley’s only retreat is the Everwood, a forest kingdom that exists in the pages of her notebook. Until she discovers the endless woods behind her grandparents’ house and realizes the Everwood is real–and holds more mysteries than she’d ever imagined, including a family of pirates that she isn’t allowed to talk to, trees covered in ash, and a strange old wizard living in a house made of bones.

With the help of her cousins, Finley sets out on a mission to save the dying Everwood and uncover its secrets. But as the mysteries pile up and the frightening sadness inside her grows, Finley realizes that if she wants to save the Everwood, she’ll first have to save herself.

Reality and fantasy collide in this powerful, heartfelt novel about family, depression, and the power of imagination.

A middle grade book about mental health and escaping through imagination and fiction?

This book was made for me, basically. It’s especially relevant as I have been working on a middle grade book that discusses anxiety, and it’s difficult to strike the balance between character and plot, and light and darkness.

Currently Reading and Updates 5/9/2016

Happy Monday! I thought this seemed like a good day of the week for a currently reading and other updates post. Right now, I’m sort of reading two books, one audio and one print, though not too avidly as this is my last full week of school and I have a lot of exams. The end is near. I can taste it.

The Books

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood:

This is my print read. I’ve just started it, because I want to make sure I don’t read it while I’m tired and ruin the experience, which has happened and embarrassing amount of times when I read classics and literary fiction on top of a lot of studying. I know the general premise of the book because it’s so famous, but I don’t want to gloss-over the beginning and miss something important! . It also comes highly recommended from a friend. So far, I love the writing style and I’m curious to see more details of this world. I’m excited that Hulu is making an adaptation soon…but I also don’t have Hulu. (Time to get a free trial when it premieres, I guess.)

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente

I’ve fallen in love with this middle grade fantasy series right now, which is a little unusual because I haven’t really read many series–middle grade, YA, or otherwise–since middle school. I read the first on my Kindle because I bought it on a deal, and then I was at the library and couldn’t help but pick up the second, and now I’m listening to the third (and the rest of the series, probably) on audiobook. Audiobook is one of my favorite mediums for middle grade, and Valente even reads it herself, which enhances that lovely feeling of something reading a magical story to you. This series is inventive, cute, and clever–I love all the worldly adult insights that are thrown in!

The Rest

Mostly getting through exams and excited to graduate. There’s certainly things I’m going to miss, but at this point, I need to move on and be more independent. Plus, I’m really excited about the classes I’m going to take!

TV-wise, I’ve been zooming through Gilmore Girls, which I love very much. I’ve just started Season 4, and now Rory’s older than me. I have so many thoughts, but haven’t been writing much down because I’m addicted and don’t want watching to feel like work. I love it’s balance between humor and drama that feels natural and not manipulative, as well as all the bookishness! But my favorite thing is that everyone is so lovable and yet they’re flawed, make mistakes, and navigate rather complicated relationships with each other. I really wish I had seen that it when I first started high school.

the thing that reads a lot — (Me, basically.)

Welcome!

I’ve been putting this off for months, waiting for school to end, but it almost has now and I have the courage to move forward with this project, so it’s time to stop overthinking and hit “post.”

My name is Olivia, and I’m 18 years old and headed to college in the fall, where I will be studying English Secondary Education and Creative Writing. I’ve wanted to be an author since I was five, and I’ve been longing to have my own corner of the Internet that I updated regularly for a while now. I blogged here for the longest time, and on and off on Tumblr about TV and books, but Blogger was not the easiest to share across platforms. Furthermore, I felt the need to review in-depth everything I read, which took away from other things I wanted to talk about (the “big ideas,” if you will), and I want to start fresh and tackle things more regularly.

Topics will likely include:

My writing journey (also a motivation to write, so that I have something to talk about!)
Books! More specifically:
- Classic and new
- Recommendations/favorites/personal stories as they relate to books
- Literary fiction and classics, which I also enjoy
Education, both my continuing academic journey and the classrooms I will eventually teach in
Observations and discussions going on in the book industry and community
TV, because I’ve always got something to say about the show I’m currently obsessed with
Other things I’ve just got to say something about!

I’m really excited to get back to blogging–and blogging more than ever before–so thank you for coming along with me!

Olivia