Karen Sandler

Karen’s Blog

  • Best Book in December

    I completely forgot about YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday this morning. Today’s topic was What was the best book you read in December? Since it’s so late, I was tempted to just give RTW a pass this week, but I just finished a phenomenal book and I’ve been itching to give it a mention.

    Before I get to the title, there were some things I was pondering about highly recommended books. Such as, I sometimes pick up a book that lots of people rave about and for me it turns out to be kind of ho-hum. I don’t much like the characters or the plot drags for me. Other times I read a book (The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater comes to mind) that I just swoon over, but other people didn’t much get into it.

    Then there are those books that I know will be a bit of an emotional roller coaster so I’m hesitant to buy them. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a good example of that. But I did put on my Big Girl Panties and read TFIOS and despite the gushing tears that blurred the words sometimes, I loved-loved-loved it.

    WonderMy fave book for December falls into this latter category. I’ve seen many recommendations for R.J. Palacio’s Wonder, but it seemed like it would be an emotionally hard book to read. But I went ahead and bought it a few days after Christmas, and wow! It was fabulous.

    The characters were fantastic (especially Auggie, the main character) and the uplifting plot was just a joy to read. It was one of those impossible to put down books that I kept thinking about even when I wasn’t reading it. Truly, the ideal holiday read. I can’t recommend it enough.

    So, what have you been reading during the holidays?

  • The Shopping Gene

    If I say, let’s go shopping, and the destination is the local mall, or the outlet stores, or those cute little shops on Main Street, does that invitation fill you with dread or excited anticipation? Does the necessity of going in search of something you can’t do without seem like torture, or are you happy for the chance at the hunt?

    While I am not by any means a shopaholic, I do like shopping. I generally prefer it when there’s something in particular I’m looking for. For instance, I had a lot of fun shopping for dress shirts and ties for my husband’s Christmas gift. I get a great deal of satisfaction finding a shirt in the right size, the perfect color, and the tie that pulls it all together. It’s also nice when the price is right.

    JacketBut I am aware that there are others who just despise shopping. When the jacket we’d ordered from Amazon for my son didn’t fit right, nor was it warm enough, we decided to shop locally for another jacket before he returned to the East Coast. To say he dislikes shopping is putting it mildly. While I see it as an opportunity to search out exactly the right thing at the right price, his reaction is more along the lines of dread.

    But we truly lucked out. We headed for Eddie Bauer at the outlet stores. It just so happened they’d gotten in a couple of “East Coast” jackets, jackets that were rated for zero to 20 degrees. It was a mistaken delivery in chilly but still rather temperate Northern California. Because they knew the jackets were too warm for 99% of their shoppers, they were selling the two at a 50% discount.

    Woo-hoo for us. One of the jackets fit fine and was plenty warm. We added a few pairs of jeans to the pile and in very short order we’d completed our shopping goal. I felt triumphant and fulfilled. My son was just relieved.

    So how about you? Is shopping one of your favorite activities? Or would you rather chew dirt?

  • Merry Christmas

    Christmas 2012b-sTo all who celebrate the holiday, I hope you have a blessed, joyful, family-filled day.

  • Who Are You (woot-woot)?

    Tankborn smlThis week, YA Highway asks the questions How do you decide on names? Would you ever name a character after a friend/family member/ex?

    Back when I was writing romances, I wanted everyday names for my characters. So I kept a baby names book near my computer. I’d flip through it for my hero’s or heroine’s name, looking for one that seemed to match the character’s personality. When I found the right name, a little bell would go off inside me. I could see the character that much more clearly.

    When I started writing the Tankborn series, I couldn’t use a baby name book anymore. The Tankborn trilogy is set hundreds of years in the future. To set the tone for the world, the names needed to be a little more exotic than what’s on offer in the naming books. Also, I had a multi-ethnic cast and I needed names that would suit them. So I had to rely on the Web, and sites that listed, for instance, Brahmin or Chinese or Zimbabwe given names and their meanings. Here’s one of my fave sites for finding international names.

    Kayla, the name of my main character in Tankborn, isn’t super unusual. At least it isn’t now. When I first came up with it, back when I was writing the movie script that later became Tankborn, I thought I’d made up the name Kayla. Not so much.

    When I wrote the first book, I did make up some of the names of other characters: Tala, Jal, Tanti, Quila. In real life, people make up names all the time for their children, why wouldn’t they in my future world? I used made up names mostly for GENs, sometimes for lowborns. And just as with Kayla, sometimes the names I thought were made up, that originated with me, were actually “real” names (Pia and Risa come to mind).

    For my trueborns, I used real names of various ethnicities. There’s Devak (Indian), my main male character, Devak’s friend, Junjie (Chinese), Devak’s father and mother, Ved (Indian) and Rasia, (Indian). Raashida (African), is an important character in Awakening, the upcoming follow-on to Tankborn.

    Do I ever use the names of real people in my books? Yes, although I don’t match the character to the real person. I just “borrow” the real name because I like it and it works for my book. I borrowed Zul (Devak’s great-grandfather) and Azad (Devak’s dead half-brother) from people I actually know.

    How about you? If you write, how do you come up with those character names? If you’re a reader, have you ever stumbled across a name that didn’t seem to fit the character, or a name that was absolutely perfect?

  • It’s My Birthday, and I’ll Blog if I Want To

    Phone 12-12-12I have the coolest birthday in the world, most especially today’s. I’m lucky enough to have a birthday in December when all the Christmas festivities are in full swing (and Chanukah, since I married my Jewish hubby 30+ years ago). I like that my natal day is early enough in the month that I always got plenty of presents both for my birthday and for Christmas.

    Last night, I jolted out of a light doze at an auspicious time. I looked at the clock, and it read 12:12am. How perfect is that to open my eyes on my birthday and see it was 12:12am on 12-12-12?

    Yes, I can hear you saying, “That was really 00:12. It wasn’t 12:12 yet.” Well, I just so happened to look up from my work (okay, I was Christmas shopping online) and I saw the above on my desk phone. I caught a quick shot of it, then also took a picture of my computer clock below.

    Computer 12-12-12This picture has the extra bonus of a few tantalizing words from my current work-in-progress–Revolution, book 3 of the Tankborn trilogy. You’ll want to click the photo to get the larger size.

    I hope you enjoy the run-up to the holidays, whichever end-of-year festivities you celebrate. As for me, I’m going to party tonight with a few good friends. Because this date is special.