Kick-starting the Swim the Fly blog tour! The Importance of Dude-lit

It gives me great pleasure to be coming to you today with the first stop on Don Calame’s UK Swim the Fly blog tour. I recently read this book and it was amazing, laugh out loud hilarious about three boys setting a summer time goal to see a real live naked girl. With plenty of boisterous mischief and mishaps along the way this makes for a very funny read- think John Green meets The Inbetweeners. Anyway it really got me thinking about how little dude-lit there is out there for guys. Sure there are guy’s books but there mainly all about action and spies and what not which is great but what about books about the truly tough stuff like growing up? Yep barely a drop. Especially when you take into comparison the amount of chick-lit and magazines girls have to read about all those embarrassing problems whilst growing up. I’m a firm believer that it only takes one book. One book that really speaks to you that can develop a lifetime love of reading and upon reading Swim the Fly I truly believe that if enough word gets out about this book and boys are encouraged to pick it up this could be that special book that sparks a lifetime’s love affair with reading. Here’s what Don Calame author of Swim the Fly had to say on the importance of there being some decent dude-lit out on the shelves...

The Importance of Dude-Lit By Don Calame

"Boys aren’t reading. You hear it all the time. In the newspapers, from teachers, from parents, from librarians. But if you take a look at the teen section of most bookstores you might get a clue as to why. The majority of the books that are geared toward teenagers are meant to be for girls, about girls, doing girl things. Whether that’s finding out that they are secretly a princess, learning that their friend has the problem du jour (anorexia, cutting, drugs, alcohol, pregnancy), or perhaps most disturbing of all, discovering that the boy they are in love with is a vampire (or werewolf, or zombie, or angel, or alien from another planet). And then there are the books the students are meant to read in school. Novels by Steinbeck, Melville, Shakespeare, Bronte, etc. All very important works of literature, all having absolutely nothing that might appeal to a teenage boy. And nothing that a teenage boy can relate to in his current life. In fact, it takes quite a lot of effort to find those really good books that address what it’s really like to come of age as a teenage boy. And believe me, I’ve tried, with the help of some very knowledgeable booksellers. I’m not sure why this is. Because guys are half the population. These types of books should and need to be published. “Well,” some people say, “teenage boys won’t read even if you do publish them. Because they have short attention spans. And because they like sports. And because they play video games.” I’m sorry but I don’t buy it. Why? Because I’m a guy. And I have a short attention span. And I like sports. And I play video games. I also happen to love reading. And I learned to love reading when I was a teenager. Beyond that, most of my friends are exactly the same. I honestly believe that if you hand a boy a book that he can relate to, that feels realistic to him, that presents guys the way guys really are, with all the humor and confusion and awkwardness that we experience at that age, then boys will not only read that book, but they will thoroughly enjoy it and ask for another one just like it. And hopefully, more and more of them will be published, so that when they do ask for that next book it’s available for them to pick up." Big thank you’s to Don for stopping by the blog today and to Templar for setting this whole thing up. To learn more about my thoughts on Swim the Fly you can stop by my review here. The tour will next be stopping at Chicklish where they’ll be offering up an exclusive extract plus your chance to win a signed copy of Swim the Fly! Exciting stuff right? For more info on the tour you can check out Templar’s post here to find out more about what will be taking place and to watch the trailer for Swim the Fly (trust me you don’t want to miss THAT!)

Swim the Fly is out in the UK 1st June 2011. Don is currently in the UK promoting Swim the Fly so be sure to give him a warm British welcome and check out his website here.

Review for Swim the Fly by Don Calame

"Matt Gratton and his two best friends, Sean and Coop, always set themselves a summer-time goal. This year’s? To see a real-live naked girl for the first time. As far as Matt is concerned, they’d have better luck finding the lost city of Atlantis. But seeing a girl in the buff starts to seem like child’s play compared to the other summertime goal Matt sets for himself: to swim the 100-yard butterfly (the hardest stroke known to God or man) in order to impress Kelly West, the hot new girl. So what if he can’t manage a single lap, let alone four? He’s got the whole summer to perfect his technique. What could possibly go wrong?" As you can probably tell from this blog I am very much a girly girl and that is definitely reflected in what I enjoy reading. My favourite genres have to be contemporary young adult fiction and chick-lit and so when Swim the Fly was pitched to me as “dude-lit” the male equivalent to the kind of books I love I HAD to read this book. Swim the Fly will make even the most reluctant teenage reader compelled to read more. Don Calame spins a tale that is effortlessly funny and surprisingly heart warming. Laugh out loud hilarious I could not put this book down because I just had to know what crazy scheme Matt, Coop and Sean would come up with next on their summer quest to see a real live naked girl. The fantastic characters were definitely the biggest highlight of this book for me. Each character is so hilarious and hugely likeable right from main character Matt to secondary characters like the lovable Grandpa Arlo. I really became attached to the characters and even developed a teeny tiny book boy crush on sweet, dorky, Matt. Matt is a fantastic main character at the beginning of the book he’s so naive and young but as the book goes on he really grows. Matt’s definitely a character you can get behind and cheer on through embarrassing and at times impossible situations. Despite Swim the Fly being a debut novel Don Calame already has a boisterous, mischievous, effortlessly funny writing style that will speak to teenage boys. Swim the Fly is a strong addition to the dude-lit genre that’s good enough to make king of dude-lit John Green’s toes curl with envy. If you’re looking for a mood boosting, feel good read Swim the Fly is the book for you. I absolutely flew through this book because it was so effortlessly readable and most importantly enjoyable. This book cheered me up and took my mind off things and brought some sunshine to a gloomy day. This is the kind of book that I could happily read forever and I was so sad as I got closer to the end and even made a conscious effort to slow my reading down savouring every last page. I’m ecstatic that Don is carrying on the boy’s story in a second book Beat the Band told from my personal favourite character Coop’s point of view. I hope the boys have many more exciting adventures to come because I for one can’t get enough and spring 2012 seems oh so very far away. Overall Swim the Fly is a very much needed breath of fresh air in Young Adult fiction. Perfect for the nerdy teen, fans of The Inbetweeners, Napoleon Dynamite, Adrian Mole and anybody who can remember those socially awkward, hormone ridden, acne filled years will love this book. If you’re looking for a book with warts and all characters, laugh out loud humour and not a supernatural creature in sight this is the book for you and comes with the highest of recommendations from me. My Rating 5/5 stars Synopsis taken from goodreads Thanks go to Templar for sending me this book to review

If you enjoyed this review and are interested to learn more about Swim the Fly be sure to stop by the blog on Friday for my tour stop where Don will be discussing the importance of dude-lit. I got the post through today and let me tell you Don raises some very interesting points! For anyone interested in following this tour here is a list of blogs participating.

In My Mailbox!

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren Hello happy readers! As I very fortunately didn’t die from the rapture yesterday I thought I would bring to you an IMM 1.) As evidence of my existence and 2.) To celebrate another week of undisturbed reading ahead! As some of you may know I’m on a book buying ban and with the computer not working IMM posts are few and far between however I got some great books this week and wanted to share so without further ado let’s bring out the books!

Bought

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown But I Love Him by Amanda Grace Ellie Andrews Has Second Thoughts by Ruth Saberton

For Review

Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen So that’s what I got this week I’m so excited about every single book it was definitely a good book week! If you’ve read any of the books I got this week and want to leave me a comment letting me know what you thought please do and make sure you leave me a link to what you got in your mailbox. Here’s to another week of fantastic reading ahead :-)

Review for City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

This is a review for the fourth book in The Mortal Instruments series. Although there will be no spoilers about City of Fallen Angels there may be spoilers about the first three books in this series. "City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels." Unlike a lot of you reading this review I only just recently read and discovered the awesome that is Cassandra Clare’s books. I’ve been working my way through The Mortal Instruments and when I finished City of Glass I knew at that point that the story was going to be carried on. Now I thought City of Glass tied things up very nicely and was a little apprehensive as to where Cassandra Clare was going to take not only City of Fallen Angels but the next 2 additional books after that. Regardless I was still beyond excited for this book and didn’t even question reading it because hello? It’s by Cassandra Clare! And when Cassie writes a book you read it. Even if it’s just because she created Jace Wayland because that after all shows the obvious genius that is there. ANYWAY yes, SUPER excited but also a little anxious, but no need to bother yourselves worrying folks because City of Fallen Angels is amazing, an excellent addition to the series and complements City of Glass and the previous books so well that if you didn’t know Cassie only originally planned to write 3 books you never would have guessed it. In CoFA Cassandra completely evolves her story showing us the aftermath of the events that took place in City of Glass. I thought that everything regarding that story line was finished but Cassie brings to the table a whole lot of questions I hadn’t even considered. Like how will Simon’s life be affected now that he bares the mark of Cain? Will Jace being brought back from the dead have any consequences? And how can Alec and Magnus pursue a relationship together when Magnus can never age or die? All of this is mentioned during this book along with brand new problems and the epic twists and turns that Cassandra Clare is famous for. What I really enjoyed about this book was how it really revolved around Simon. Simon is by far my favourite character from this series and I loved delving more into his life especially now that he’s increasingly more interesting with his vampy day lighter status and his mark of Cain that brings sevenfold on to anyone who harms him. Underneath all of his new found awesome he’s still the lovable, dorky, teenage boy that we all fell in love with and I found it interesting watching him juggle his old life with his new one. This book features all of our old favourite characters and some new faces. If you’ve read Clockwork Angel there are also some references from that thrown in which I found fun to read. I would love if Cassie intertwined her stories even tighter in the future. The ending of this book finishes on an intense cliff-hanger and I’m already pining for the next book. With City of Fallen Angels Cassandra Clare expertly entwines events in past books with a new exciting plot mixing the old with the new to keep things fresh but still maintaining what the fans love about this series. Cassandra’s mind is a labyrinth of awesome stories and ideas and this woman’s writing never fails to amaze me. I can’t wait to see where she takes us next! My Rating 4.5/5 stars Synopsis taken from goodreads Thanks go to Walker for sending me this book to review

Review for Flawless by Lara Chapman

"Sarah Burke is just about perfect. She's got killer blue eyes, gorgeous blond hair, and impeccable grades. There's just one tiny-all right, enormous-flaw: her nose. But even that's not so bad. Sarah's got the best best friend and big goals for print journalism fame. On the first day of senior year, Rock Conway walks into her journalism class and, well, rocks her world. Problem is, her best friend, Kristen, falls for him too. And when Rock and Kristen stand together, it's like Barbie and Ken come to life. So when Kristen begs Sarah to help her nab Rock, Sarah does the only thing a best friend can do-she agrees. For someone so smart, what was she thinking? This hip retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac is filled with hilariously misguided matchmaking, sweet romance, and a gentle reminder that we should all embrace our flaws." I love modern retellings and Flawless is a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac about Sarah a seemingly beautiful, funny, intelligent girl if it wasn’t for her one flaw- her unusually large nose. For Sarah this one imperfection cancels out the rest of her perfect life ultimately defining who she is and the decisions she makes. So it really comes as no surprise that when she befriends hot new guy at school Rock she’s willing to cast aside her new found feelings for him to help her beautiful bff Kristen nab him for her own. When I first started this book the thing that really drew me in were the characters. I loved Sarah so much she’s hugely likeable given the fact that she’s intelligent, funny and despite feeling self conscious about her nose doesn’t take any rubbish from anybody regarding it. As for Sarah’s best friend Kristen she’s a character I really wanted to hate, after all she is putting Sarah through emotional hell by dating her crush, but I just couldn’t because deep down Kristen has a heart of gold and would be mortified to know what she was putting her best friend through. Despite everything Kristen is an excellent best friend standing by and sticking up for Sarah when she’s ridiculed for her nose and even trying to set her up with a cute guy. Sure Kristen’s a little ditsy but her heart was always in the right place making her a really great character. Sarah and Kristen share a true but complicated friendship that feels very real and is a key feature to the book. I for one certainly envied the fiercely loyal relationship between the girls. This book has everything a girl wants in a book. It’s got a hot forbidden romance, best friend drama, and struggles with body image and self confidence making Flawless relatable to pretty much any girl! But despite this book having a good dash of romance above all this is a story about the true meaning of beauty and coming to terms with who you are and how you look. The one strong message throughout being should Sarah change her nose to fit in with society’s idea of beauty? Is her flaw really her nose? Or is it actually how Sarah see’s her nose that’s the problem? I loved the little quotes at the start of every chapter on beauty and found that they provided a lot of food for thought on the concept of beauty and the role it plays in this story. As a reader I’m hugely surprised that this is Lara Chapman’s debut novel. Already she has such a strong distinctive voice as a writer that takes many authors years to perfect. Lara writes with confidence and humour making Flawless quite literally its names sake! I can pick no fault with this book and flew through it constantly thinking just one more chapter that chapter turning into 3 more! Overall I think that Flawless is an important book for teenage (or older!) girls to read given the pressures to look perfect in today’s society. I can’t recommend it enough and will be eagerly awaiting another book by Lara Chapman. My Rating 4.5/5 stars Synopsis taken from goodreads Thanks go to Bloomsbury for sending me this book for review