Frozen

Musing Monday: March 6, 2017

Lee4 Comments

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION:  If you could be best friends with an author, who would you choose and why?

I wish I could read literally anything, but… I’m totally scattered right now and it’s hard to even get through a page before my consciousness just checks right out, like, “Goodbye Lee, nice knowing you, nothing is real anymore!” And then I’m just staring at a wall or doing some totally weird impulsive thing that I drop halfway through. I haven’t even finished Skinned yet which is so embarrassing because I should be able to read a ~300 page book in less than a day.

If you could be best friends with an author, who would you choose and why?
Um… if it has to be best friends then I say Cynthia Voigt. She seems like she’d be the most enjoyable to talk with.

But if I can change this question to something like “what author would you most want to be related to” then I’m saying Robert Fulghum because I’ve always thought he’d be the world’s coolest/most interesting grandfather. Of course, I’m basing all of this on reading/tv because I’ve never had a grandfather and don’t actually know what they are like! But I really like to think they are like Robert Fulghum.

Friday 56: March 3, 2017

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The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice and the rules are simple:

  • Grab a book, any book (I, personally, prefer to use my current read.)
  • Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
  • Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
  • Post it

Skinned by Robin Wasserman
(Cold Awakening, book 1)

“I feel the same, even if I feel different? Is that supposed to make sense?”

 

Response from Robin Wasserman (author of ‘Skinned’)

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So as I mentioned before in this post I sent a message to Robin Wasserman regarding a line in her book ‘Skinned’ (later re-titled as ‘Frozen’). I wanted to know if Wasserman believed a line spoken by one of her characters regarding people being upset about racism, the Holocaust in particular: “Statute of limitations on grudges expires after a hundred years.”

I was fairly confident Wasserman was not a racist, based on her online presence. But the idea that people might believe there was a limit on how long someone could be upset about racist acts nagged at me, so finally I had to message her to set my mind at ease.

And set my mind at ease she did!

I asked about posting her response, and she asked that I just paraphrase so here goes:

Basically she said that she did not believe we should ever stop being upset by what the Nazi Party did, and that forgetting it or believing it was too far in the past to be upset about could lead to a repeat of those terrible events. She expressed a desire to clear up any doubt about that, especially with the current climate of racial tension.
(I wish I could post her own words here for you, because the way she said it was so powerful, but I’d rather respect her wishes.)

She was very kind and I’m so glad I messaged her about it. I even learned that, not only is she the type of person to try to call out racism publicly (check her twitter if you don’t believe me), she’s also Jewish herself, which I had not seen mentioned online. I’m glad I know, because it makes me read her books (and especially a character like Lia’s dad) with a new perspective.

She also actually confirmed my belief that Lia’s dad is totally racist.

To paraphrase her again: Lia isn’t the type to notice much about people other than herself, so these statements are put in for the reader to know.

I’m so glad I messaged her and I actually found several more books by her I want to read as soon as I can get my hands on them! You should check out her books too.

Thursday Quotables: March 2, 2017

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This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week; whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written.

Just because you can’t take something back, doesn’t mean you don’t want to. Just because you want to, doesn’t mean you try.

Summary:

The Download was supposed to change the world. It was supposed to mean the end of aging, the end of death, the birth of a new humanity. But it wasn’t supposed to happen to someone like Lia Kahn.

And it wasn’t supposed to ruin her life.

Lia knows she should be grateful she didn’t die in the accident. The Download saved her–but it also changed her, forever. She can deal with being a freak. She can deal with the fear in her parents’ eyes and the way her boyfriend flinches at her touch. But she can’t deal with what she knows, deep down, every time she forces herself to look in the mirror: She’s not the same person she used to be.

Maybe she’s not even a person at all.

Thank you Bookshelf Fantasies for this fun book meme!

WWW Wednesday: March 1, 2017

Lee2 Comments

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:  Skinned by Robin Wasserman (also published as ‘Frozen’)

I’m only about halfway through, and for the most part I’m enjoying myself.

The least part (the not enjoyable part) is that I just want Lia to move on and stop trying to have her old life with her lame friends and her prejudiced family. As far as I can tell, Lia cares about Lia more than anyone else, so why is it so hard for her to just move on? Why am I at the halfway point and still watching her try to fit in with a bunch of morons? Why has she not realized her relationship with Walker was crappy even before she was dead?

I did have a message from Robin Wasserman herself who confirmed both that Lia isn’t that aware of things outside what’s happening to her, and used the phrase “hasn’t quite yet [caught on]” so I have hope that soon Lia is going to realize the people from her old life don’t deserve to stay in her new one and she’ll MOVE ON so I can see some awesome Mechs-People.

Also I miss Quinn, I hope she comes back.

Recently Finished:  Psych Major Syndrome by Alicia Thompson

I tried to like this book, I swear I did. But after two days of desperately trying to find something to like about any of these characters, I gave up.

I even reviewed it, which I normally wouldn’t do for something I couldn’t get more than 28 pages into, but the people deserve to know (or possibly I just wanted to complain).

You can read the review for yourself here.

I also found some problems regarding racism in some Goodreads reviews and at that point I just figured I couldn’t be asked to continue reading.

Reading Next:  Crashed by Robin Wasserman (also published as ‘Shattered’)

I will most likely get to this one Friday or Saturday and I’m pretty eager, even though the summary makes me think there’s going to be more Walker, who I really don’t enjoy… But maybe by the time this rolls around I’ll have grown to like him. (That laughter you hear in the distance is me totally not believing what I just said.)

What Are You Reading Wednesdays: March 1, 2017

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What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate.

Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:

  1. What’s the name of your current read?
  2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
  3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

  1. Skinned by Robin Wasserman (has been republished as ‘Frozen’)
  2. The doctor’s voice was cold. “There’s nothing to put back. There’s no body to go back to. The body of Lia Kahn is dead. Be grateful you didn’t die with it.”
  3. I’m only about halfway in. I wouldn’t mind living in that world, as long as I didn’t have to associate with Lia’s friends and family… I’d love to chill with Quinn. And I’d probably be one of the people who volunteered for the download.

Your friends are embarrassing, Lia. (Skinned by Robin Wasserman)

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Lee is on page 159 of 368

I find myself frustrated that Lia keeps trying to be friends with these obvious losers. But more than that, I’m embarrassed for her that she was ever friends with these people pre-accident!

I’m also completely done with “Zo Zo”. Seriously. And the boyfriend gets more annoying as time goes on. (Actually, the more Lia recalls, the less I think they had a good relationship pre-accident anyway.)

I’m just going to sit back and wait for her to start being friends with Auden like she’s obviously meant to do.

Teaser Tuesday: February 28, 2017

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Like when everything flipped upside down and the scream of metal on metal exploded the silence and the world churned around me, ground over sky over ground over sky, and then, with a thunderous crack and a crunching of glass and steel,  a twisted roof crushing me into a gutted floor, ground, I wasn’t surprised.

– Robin Wasserman, Skinned (Cold Awakening, book 1), pages 10-11

Version:
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published September 9th 2008 by Simon Pulse

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

Message to Robin Wasserman (author of ‘Skinned’)

LeeLeave a comment

I am reading your novel ‘Skinned’ and got to the passage where Lia’s dad tells her “Arbeit macht frei” and then when she learns that it is a Nazi saying from the Holocaust days says “Statute of limitations on grudges expires after a hundred years.”

I was just curious whether you personally believe that after enough time has passed people no longer have a right to be angry at the actions of the Nazi Party?

This is not intended as a leading question or anything like that, I just couldn’t shake my curiosity and I appreciate the time you’ve taken to read this.

I eagerly await your response,
Lee

I sent this to Robin Wasserman on Goodreads because while reading Skinned I noticed the main character’s father seemed somewhat racist (talked about here).

I couldn’t shake the nagging curiosity over whether this statute of limitations was something the author truly believed in. I don’t expect a response, but I had to at least ask.

I know from Wasserman’s twitter she doesn’t seem to be racist, in fact she often uses her twitter to call out racism. My question is specifically about whether she believes there is a “statute of limitation on grudges” in terms of racism. I wasn’t able to find a time when she specifically addressed that line. If anyone has seen something of that kind, I would appreciate a link.