But don't worry, if you don't finish a book or skip a week or start late, that's okay! This is just to make you think more about the types of books you are reading and to broaden your horizons.
If you didn't see the original post with all the challenges, click HERE.
If you are participating (or want to without checking, that's cool too), you can keep track of your reads with my Handy Dandy Charts.
Author: Patty Blount
This week's theme is...
Book With "Some" In the Title
Here are some books that you can check out to read for this week's challenge!
I'll be reading...
SOME BOYS
Author: Patty Blount
Series: N/A
Source: Purchased from Kobo
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: August 5th, 2014
Summary:
Some boys go too far. Some boys will break your heart. But one boy can make you whole.
When Grace meets Ian she's afraid. Afraid he'll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses the town golden boy of rape, everyone turns against Grace. They call her a slut and a liar. But...Ian doesn't. He's funny and kind with secrets of his own.
But how do you trust the best friend of the boy who raped you? How do you believe in love?
A gut-wrenching, powerful love story told from alternating points of view by the acclaimed author of Send.
When Grace meets Ian she's afraid. Afraid he'll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses the town golden boy of rape, everyone turns against Grace. They call her a slut and a liar. But...Ian doesn't. He's funny and kind with secrets of his own.
But how do you trust the best friend of the boy who raped you? How do you believe in love?
A gut-wrenching, powerful love story told from alternating points of view by the acclaimed author of Send.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Native New Yorker Patty Blount is the award-winning author of several critically acclaimed internet issues novels for teens as well as a few contemporary romances for grown ups. She is inspired to write by such greats as Judy Blume, JK Rowling, and Gayle Forman. In fact, Judy Blume is the reason Patty elected to write under her real name…so she’d appear on shelves close to her idol. Patty lives on Long Island with her family and wants you to know she loves chocolate…really, really loves chocolate. When not crushing on actors Gilles Marini or Sam Heughan, Patty can be found sitting in traffic, somewhere on the Long Island Expressway, listening to audio books or talking wildly to herself about plots and characters. Prone to falling madly in love with fictional characters, Patty suffers frequent broken hearts when they all invariably prefer the heroine to her… go figure. When she’s not writing, Patty loves to watch bad sci-fi movies and live tweet the hilarity.
Connect with the Author:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
I also have the wonderful Patty Blount here for an interview so you can learn more about the book I am reading this week!
Describe SOME BOYS in 10 words or less.
Patty Blount: Grace won't back off. No matter what people say.
How long does it take you to write first drafts?
Patty Blount: The first draft literally took seven weeks to write. But there were several months of thinking, playing around with ideas, and research that also went into that first draft. I first got the idea in February and finished writing the first draft in October.
What are the hardest scenes for you to write in all your novels?
Patty Blount: The hardest scenes for me are always the 'black moment'. That's pretty much the climax, when things just can't get any worse for the heroes. In this book, that scene took place in the woods... the scene of the crime committed against Grace. She was vulnerable. She felt like she'd lost her will to keep fighting. But she didn't give up. Even she thought she was, but somehow – didn't. In SEND, my debut novel, that Hardest Scene to write took place on a Long Island Beach. Main character Dan Ellison is staring down the barrel of a gun pointed at him by the father of a boy he bullied to death. He knows there's nothing he can say to make that right. So he accepts it, accepts his death as a form of justice. These scenes just rip me apart. Luckily, I'm a touch typist. If I had to look at the keys while I typed, I'd never be able to write through all those tears.
Who was your favourite character to write in SOME BOYS and why?
Patty Blount: My favorite Some Boys character is Mr. Russell. I think he's the ultimate Dad. Mr. Collier is too removed from Grace's life to be effective. He bears a lot of blame for what happened to Grace but instead of owning it, he accuses her of dressing wrong, behaving wrong. Mr. Russell, who has daughters of his own, shows Ian how women are respected. My favorite scene – well, actually, there are two. First is when Mr. Russell shows up at one of Grace's photography assignments after she was taunted by a previous customer so badly. And the second is in the hospital at the end of the book when he, rather than Grace's own dad, leaps to his feet to defend her against a cop's disrespectful line of questions. Ian and his dad don't always get along so well, but how he treats Grace and how he teaches Ian to treat Grace (and all women) is special.
What was the most rewarding part about writing a book that features sexual assault at its centre?
Patty Blount: Letters and emails from readers. I got one from a seventeen-year-old reader who told me that she'd read Some Boys twice. Right after she read it, that events in the book happened in real life to her best friend. Nobody believed her, including her parents. This girl was the only person who did. So she read it again to figure out how she could help. By the time she'd written to me, she shared that her friend had found the courage to go to the police and have her attacker arrested. Her friend was in therapy and so was she, as a "secondary supporter." And then she ended with her plan to become a rape crisis counselor because of my book.
I get dozens of messages like these and every one of them makes me feel like we're winning the war against rape culture, against misogyny.
I get dozens of messages like these and every one of them makes me feel like we're winning the war against rape culture, against misogyny.
What do you hope readers take away from SOME BOYS?
Patty Blount: I hope readers close the book feeling a sense of injustice and outrage. That's what I felt while writing it. I want readers to be mad, so mad – they can't see straight. I want them outraged every time some guy cat calls them while they're just trying to walk down a street. I want boys who read this book to be outraged, too. There's a subtle message inside that says ALL BOYS ARE POTENTIAL RAPISTS. This is what girls are taught to believe. It's why we never accept drinks from guys we don't know and it's why we go to the bathroom in groups. Every boy is a potential rapist.
That should make all men angry. It should infuriate them. That ALL men are treated with fear, with suspicion, with distrust because of the few who do rape. This is where the title came from. Some Boys rape but not all. And Some Boys can love you, but not all. In fact, I often use a certain analogy when I speak at schools: I start off telling a story. "Imagine you're walking down the street one day, minding your own business and suddenly, THIS appears in your way." I then display a photo of a snake. "What do you do?" I wait while students call out answers like run away, kill it, call for help, and so on. Then I state a fact – only about 20% of snakes are actually venomous. But we treat ALL snakes as if they're lethal.
That may be fine for snakes, but it's not fine for men and men should be FURIOUS at being treated that way. But women have no choice. When we're faced with catcalling and shows of force and other 'macho' behavior, we get scared. We can't tell the rapists from the real men. We can't tell if the snake is venomous.
I want men to understand that women's issues affect them, too. That every time someone tells an inappropriate joke, hangs "truck nuts" from the back of their vehicle, or continues pursuing a girl who has no interest in him – they all pay a price. Every time they sit silent while a girl experiences misogyny, they're paying a price, too. I want guys to start speaking up when they hear or see their friends engaging in such forms of "humor." The more I can get them to see rape culture, the better the chances of ending it are.
And most of all, I want all readers – boys and girls – to understand that the only person who is ever to blame for rape is the rapist. Not drinking (though it's a contributing factor), not what you're wearing, not where you're walking or dancing or attending school.
That should make all men angry. It should infuriate them. That ALL men are treated with fear, with suspicion, with distrust because of the few who do rape. This is where the title came from. Some Boys rape but not all. And Some Boys can love you, but not all. In fact, I often use a certain analogy when I speak at schools: I start off telling a story. "Imagine you're walking down the street one day, minding your own business and suddenly, THIS appears in your way." I then display a photo of a snake. "What do you do?" I wait while students call out answers like run away, kill it, call for help, and so on. Then I state a fact – only about 20% of snakes are actually venomous. But we treat ALL snakes as if they're lethal.
That may be fine for snakes, but it's not fine for men and men should be FURIOUS at being treated that way. But women have no choice. When we're faced with catcalling and shows of force and other 'macho' behavior, we get scared. We can't tell the rapists from the real men. We can't tell if the snake is venomous.
I want men to understand that women's issues affect them, too. That every time someone tells an inappropriate joke, hangs "truck nuts" from the back of their vehicle, or continues pursuing a girl who has no interest in him – they all pay a price. Every time they sit silent while a girl experiences misogyny, they're paying a price, too. I want guys to start speaking up when they hear or see their friends engaging in such forms of "humor." The more I can get them to see rape culture, the better the chances of ending it are.
And most of all, I want all readers – boys and girls – to understand that the only person who is ever to blame for rape is the rapist. Not drinking (though it's a contributing factor), not what you're wearing, not where you're walking or dancing or attending school.
Connect with the Author:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
Fun feature. I like the idea of trying to work recs around a theme.
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