Tag: books

twigbookshop:

Seven Small Books for Graduates Instead of Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Let me explain. 

Dr. Seuss’s classic Oh, The Places You’ll Go! is wise and wonderful and a favorite graduation gift, but as a grad gift it is a bit predictable. If you’re looking for something short and sweet and a little unexpected, try one of these alternatives. 

Because, to be quite candid, we’re sold out. 

Steal Like and Artist and Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon’s advice on creativity and self-promotion is clever, entertaining, and refreshingly practical. 

Congratulations, By the Way, by George Saunders

“Down through the ages, a traditional form has evolved for this type of speech, which is: Some old fart, his best years behind him, who over the course of his life has made a series of dreadful mistakes (that would be me), gives heartfelt advice to a group of shining, energetic young people with all of their best years ahead of them (that would be you).”  

Instructions, by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess

Neil Gaiman offers advice on traveling safely through a fairy tale world, and coming safely home again.  

Oh, the Places You’ll Eff Up!, by Joshua Miller and Patrick Casey, illustrated by Gemma Correll

This foul-mouthed and funny “parody for your twenties” uses a variety of children’s classics to offer insight into everything that’s waiting after graduation. 

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Little Golden Book, by Diane E. Muldrow 

This lavishly illustrated piece of charm and nostalgia celebrates all of the values you’re taught as a child as a grown-up. 

Make Good Art, by Neil Gaiman

This small and beautifully designed book contains the entirety of “Fantastic Mistakes,” aka Gaiman’s make good art speech, the commencement speech he delivered in May 2012 at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts. 

hollyblack:

twigbookshop:

A long time ago we used to be friends…

I’ve thought of you lately, Veronica. In fact, I’ve thought about you enough to annoy everyone with tragically off-key renditions of the Dandy Warhols and put together a list of Marshmallow-appropriate reading. 

White Cat, by Holly Black

Cassel is just trying to get by in his posh boarding school, running an unofficial bookie operation for his wealthy classmates and concealing his past with his con-running family and the mob princess love of his life…whom he may or may not have murdered. Black combines magic, noir, long cons and lies, heartache and politics into something unique and engrossing. 

Confessions of a Murder Suspect, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Tandy is in danger of taking the fall for her powerful parents’ murder, but that might be nothing compared to the danger of hunting down the truth. 

The Basic Eight, by Daniel Handler

Senior year is stressful. You’ve got gossip, drugs, conniving classmates, tyrannical teachers, party-planning, school plays, ill-fated romance, tests, oh, right, and scandal, murder, and tabloid coverage. But Flannery Culp and her sharp-tongued, high-achieving clique of girlfriends aren’t going to back down from the challenge. 

Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

This original story picks up after the movie, with Veronica back in Neptune and back on the case. 

Heist Society, by Ally Carter

Kat thought she’d pulled off her last con: stealing herself a spot at an exclusive private school and a life away from her high-flying criminal family. But there’s always one last job. 

One For the Money, by Janet Evanovich

It’s New Jersey, not California, but if you’re looking for side-splitting mystery with larger-than-life characters, a wise-cracking heroine, and a selection of unsuitable love interests to choose from, check out Stephanie Plum.  

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda Sordino begins her freshman year as a cynical social pariah with a bad attitude and a nightmare she won’t talk about. Speak is a stark, poignant, darkly funny depiction of high school hellscapes and the aftermath of sexual assault. 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by F. Lockhart

Frankie was mild-mannered. Frankie was well-behaved. Frankie wouldn’t pull pranks, date a senior, infiltrate a secret society, smash the patriarchy, or become a criminal mastermind. Frankie needed a change. 

What I Saw and How I Lied, by Judy Blundell

Loyalty, betrayal, and secrets in the wake of World War II. 

Nice.

maggie-stiefvater:

Speaking of art, today my friend Jackson Pearce’s book TSARINA comes out (under her pen name J. Nelle Patrick). I took the liberty of ordering an extra copy to give away. What, I thought, would be a good way to enhance the beauty and thrill of the text inside?

______________________

so here we have myself riding a moose drawn in this copy. I have also signed it. This is how friendship works, and if you are not finding yourself doing this regularly, you need to step back and ask myself, “am I good friend? Am I someone I’d like to know?”

If you would like to win the Moose Tsarina, either reblog this or tweet the cover (er, if you’re a twitter person, better hashtag it #winamoose so I see it). Then I’ll pick a random winner at 9 p.m. EST today (Feb 27th). Yes, it’s international, yes, it’s signed by me and not by Jackson.