Walker Books Bookish Brunch

I was VERY kindly invited to Walker Books' Bookish Brunch. So, dealing with a train journey, the London underground and downing my first drink that contain caffeine of the day (just to scare everyone at Walker with my sudden hyperness! I had an mental image of this...)

You think book publishers would be too scared/frightened to invite me to these type of events...

But after meeting so many lovely other bloggers and vloggers (too many to list but I met Julianne [aka the Queen of Hats], Lucy from Queen of Contemporary and Sarah from SCJammycustard [or Cluminessisacurse - what is your right name?] for the first time and chatted to those who I haven't seen in what feels like FOREVER! I miss meeting up with you guys!), Walker sheperded us into a room (that had tea! TEA! Walker are my kind of people! [yes, that was my first tea of the day! On weekends, am usually on my third by then!]) and show us some exciting reads for next year. Well, January to June/July with one expectation. 

Ok, confession. I lost my notes on half of the books - I had them then I got my second cup of tea when we had a break and they went walkies. So, you will have to bear with me. And because there are FAR TOO MANY BOOKS, am going to pick some that I think you MUST check out and research! 

That ok? Ok. Let's get cracking! 

The first two is Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere and I'll Give You The Sun. Ok, I know The Sky is Everywhere has been out for AGES, but there is a cover redesign (out in Feb, I do believe) which fits perfectly with I'll Give You The Sun. Already huge with US vloggers/bloggers, I'll Give You The Sun looks like the book fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell might love. With themes of love (in all forms [straight, gay, family, friends, lovers, etc), the idea of art and grief, the leads being twins (so dual narrative and two very different timelines), this seems to be the one to watch. 

(and if I have my way, the books I shall be reading within the next few weeks... might have to give up my Christmas TBR pile but WHO CARES?!)

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13b by Teresa Toten has the feel of the maybe-cancelled US show The Red Band Society. With an OCD support group at its heart, our hero falls in love. But how can he tell the girl he's falling off when his OCD is standing in the way? This sounds quirky, interesting and give the love story a different edge.

Lottery Boy by Michael Byrne follows a 12 year old runaway and his dog on the streets of London. One day, he finds a winning lottery ticket and he has 5 days to claim it. But he's 12 and you must be 16 to buy a ticket. Soon, the wrong people hear about the ticket and he's on the run. It has, according to the publisher, a Slumdog Millionaire feel to it and, after chatting to the author (who is very nice and I don't think I scared him that much while we spoke all things book), and very intrigued on how this book plays out. Plus, if I remember right, this has been optioned so we might see this in TV/film form... 

Already published in the US, Evil Librarian is for those of us who were fans of the silliness yet creepiness of Point Horror and Goosebumps. A new librarian has come to school and... well... he's evil. I think the title says it all. Imagine Buffy meets Glee and you have an idea... 

Remix by Non Pratt follows best friends who go to a music festival. So, 2 days, two best mates, one music festival... what could possibly go wrong? Non spoke at the event and she explained what inspired this book: two questions. The first: why aren't there more books about ex-boyfriends? The second: why isn't there more books about best friends? If you're a fan of her debut novel, Trouble, you're in safe hands. But, music festivals with friends and humour - this sounds like a yummy read! I might have upload a random 6 seconds of her talking on Vine... Sorry Non. 

If you don't know my thoughts/reactions over The Name of the Blade trilogy by Zoe Marriott, please go here! But this book is A MUST for me! Urban fantasy, Japanese mythology, so much diversity & LGBT that you begin to wonder why other books do this, this is going to be wonderful and heartbreaking for me. 

The only book that isn't being published in the January to June time period is Patrick Ness's The Rest of Us Just Live Here. As someone who is only just getting into his writing (though I have followed him on twitter for what feels like ages. HE'S FUNNY AS HECK!), am excited/scared to read this once. Set in a world similar to ours - expect it's like being inside a YA novel, we are hit by the question: what if your not the Chosen One? How do you carry on with your life in this world when your school gets blown up - again. What if you don't get the girl - because the Chosen One has her? What if...

And, to make things more scary for me, Walker were very kind and gave me A Monster Calls and The Knife of Never Letting Go. One thinks I need to get the tissues at the ready when I read these three beasts *gives Walker Books and Patrick Ness death glare in advance of my tears*... 

But this event was wonderful! The books I have listed (and the others I haven't) sound really good and should excite most of you guys. I must thank Walker again for inviting me (and sorry if I freaked anyone out). Oh, and thank you to Jim who gave me a spare copy of Lockwood and Co: The Screaming Staircase (yes, know that's not Walker, but I had to thank him and I can't remember if I did in person or not...) 

PS - Oh, just remembered. After the presentation and we all had a talk over the books and a catch-up, Walker had a board up, asking the question "What Would You Give Up For The Sun?" and we all had a go. It's a very hard question to ask and most of us aren't very arty and I tried really hard to draw something cool and nice. 

But compare it to this, I don't know why I bothered...