BLOG TOUR: The Dark Days of January

Welcome friends to the Dark Days of January. Amidst the gloom and slightly apocalyptic weather of this month, there is a book-shaped beacon of excitement. Dark Parties by Sara Grant is an intense and emotional dystopian thriller that you won't be able to put down. You can read my review here and perhaps see why I was most excited to welcome Sara Grant to my blog. When I found out she was going to be writing about literary crushes, I was even more excited. Now she's here, and the excitement has reached epic proportions and I think I'd better go and lie down. So while I do, get ready to feel the book-love...

The Dark Days of January

Literary Crushes
by Sara Grant

When I was a teen, I had a chronology of crushes – Shaun Cassidy, Tom Selleck, Rick Springfield to name only a few of my celebrity crushes. You only have to watch vintage footage of the Beatles or modern-day Justin Bieber concerts with screaming, fainting girls to understand a little something about the power of the crush.

I suppose I’ve never grown out of my crush phase. I don’t have posters of One Direction on my wall or anything, but I do periodically succumb to what I like to call the ‘literary crush’. The literary crush is something a bit more mature and reserved. I don’t (often) scream or faint at book readings. These crushes are about admiring – okay coveting – talent. There are all kinds of literary crushes; here are just a few of mine...

The Classic Crush

Harper Lee for To Kill A Mocking Bird. Probably my all-time favourite book. It’s endured the test of time. It’s a book that lingers with you long after you’ve read the final page. (I also have a bit of an old fashion crush on Atticus Finch. Yeah, influenced by Gregory Peck’s performance in the movie version of the book.)

The I-Wish-I’d-Written-This-Book Crush

A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly, another of my faves......it’s a story within a story. The main character is a writer in waiting and a lover of words. There’s a mystery. It’s jam-packed with so many plots, themes and ideas.....

The Comedic-Envy Crush

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. It’s pitch-perfect kid humour. For example, Kinney’s description of the Cheese Touch is hysterical. I think every elementary school had something like that. I laughed out loud when I read Wimpy Kid. Oh, to be that funny.

The Wish-I-Could-Do-That Crush

I’ve seen Marcus Sedgwick speak a few times. He’s smart, funny, organized and effortless. He blends storytelling with writing wisdom, sharing the clever spark behind each book. Oh, and his novels are amazing.

The Controversy Crush

Meg Rosoff and Melvin Burgess for oh-so-many books. They aren’t afraid to tackle taboos and start difficult conversations.

The Originality Crush

Nothing by Janne Teller is disturbing, powerful and thought provoking. It was so distressing at times that I had to put the book down and walk away from the story for a moment. But it is a real ‘meaning of life’ book that is challenging and beautiful. I couldn’t stop thinking about this book. I have never read anything like it.

The Crazy-Genius Crush

John Green writes wonderful young adult books but also has built an amazing online community through vlogging with his brother Hank and creating Nerdfighters.com, “A place where nerds gather and play. We fight to increase awesome and decrease suck.”

The I-Just-Plain-*Heart*-This-Author Crush

I’ve only recently discovered Libba Bray. I read Going Bovine and Beauty Queens last year. The books are wild and imaginative and layered. As soon as I finished them, I wanted to go back and read them again because there was simply too much to appreciate in one reading.

Who’s your literary crush? Come on, you know you’ve got one?