Top Ten Tuesday: Book Characters that Would Be Sitting at My Lunch Table

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


Hey guys :) Welcome to my first TTT post in forever (I mean it, my last one was at the end of January). I love the idea of today's topic! If book characters went to your school, who would be sitting at your lunch table?




Varen Nethers - Nevermore, by Kelly Creagh
The amount of times I've featured that guy on my top ten lists is ridiculous, but he'd definitely be at my table! If there had been a group of goth/emo/whatever kids at my school, I would have sat with them. And if he wasn't at my table, I'd go out of my way to sit at his :P

Noah Shaw - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkins
Noah is into literature and theory among other things, so he might drop by my table every once in a while. I could imagine that he's a bit of a drifter between several groups of people and sits with whoever he feels like on that particular day.

Tate - The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff
The girl wears combat boots and kicks ass in the mosh pit. We could talk about bands and go to shows together.



Riley - The Demon Trappers series, by Jana Oliver
When she'd bother to actually show up to school, I'd love to sit with her and hear about her latest adventures hunting and trapping demons.

Cam - The Fallen series, by Lauren Kate
Most of the time, I was more of a Cam fan than a Daniel fan (though after the end of the second book, the series went downhill for me anyway). He's fun, entertaining, and devious. Also, he can procure all kinds of stuff and it always comes in handy to have someone like that at your table.

Hale - Heist Society, by Ally Carter
I'd say he has more money than brains, but that wouldn't be true. He has lots of brains. But he's also a gazillionaire. And a thief. And a conman. And well-connected. In short, you'd want him at your table. But you'd have to keep an eye on him, too.



Saira - Marking Time, by April White
Saira is a Clocker - she can time travel. She's also a badass free runner, she can fend for herself, and she's loyal. Great at sarcastic witticisms, too. I'd want her to have my back.

Simon - The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare
Because he may be a daywalking vampire now, but he was a nerd first. And I just realized that my table is kind of lacking in the nerd department. Can't have that.

Sirius Black - The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
Siriusly, who wouldn't want teenage Sirius at their table? He'd entertain everyone. I can already see Varen glowering at him. But I think he might get along with Noah.

I'm not quite sure whom to give the last place to. I've thought about Tod from the Soul Screamers series, but that might be too much snark in one place. Or Nick from The Demon's Lexicon, but he might kill everyone out of annoyance. I've also considered Karou from Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but somehow I can't picture her in such a mundane place. Oh! I know! I'd pick Sebastian Michaelis from Black Butler. Because demon butlers. We should have one.

This was hard, guys! There are so many other characters I considered picking but somehow felt wouldn't quite fit the table. I'm very curious to see who you guys picked! Do we have anyone in common?

Promo and Guest Post: I'm With Stupid, by Geoff Herbach

Hey guys!
Today I'm part of a promo tour for the last book in Geoff Herbach's Stupid Fast series. The first two books are called Stupid Fast and Nothing Special. This is a bit different from the usual genre of books I feature here but I liked the description and the way Herbach discusses the books and high school stereotypes on his website. Below you can find more information about the book as well as an exclusive guest post about the author's own time in high school - hint: it's hilarious XD

Release date: May 8, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Format: Paperback, 320 pages

Description:
Felton Reinstein has never been good with stress. Which is why he's seriously freaking out. Announcing his college choice on national TV?

It's a heart attack waiting to happen. Deciding on a major for the next four years of his life? Ridiculous! He barely even knows who he is anymore without football. And so...he embarks on The Epic Quest to Be Meaningful.

Which leads to:

1. Mentoring a freshman called Pig Boy.
2. The entire state of Wisconsin hating him.
3. His track coach suspending him.
4. The funniest viral video the world has ever seen.
5. A whole new appreciation for his family, his friends and what what's really important in life.

The Book Depository     Amazon

GUEST POST BY GEOFF HERBACH

HIGH SCHOOL
The Lover?

I was a geek and not a geek. I was a jock and not a jock. I tripped over my own feet and my ears turned red and I played the cello. Also, I turned into an all-conference football player and held the triple jump record at my school for twenty years.

When we think about jocks and geeks, we so often picture these monolithic stereotypes. We assume a gamer is a guy who sits in the basement all summer long drinking Code Red Mountain Dew, while the debate team captain reads the New York Times in the sunroom. Truth is, most kids exist in the brackish water between the extremes. I certainly did. I loved my cello. I also wanted to run linebackers over on the football field.

I’m not sure if this is a small-school deal, but no one ever said a single word to me about being an orchestra dork. No one called me names or pushed me around. I played with impunity. I wore a white dinner jacket and a bow tie. I loved Kris, the first cellist, so much. I wanted to take her curly head into my arms and kiss her hard.

Even though I played football, no one seemed scared of me or gave me any extra credit or an easier path. Football was just a game. I really loved Maureen, the head cheerleader. I wanted to take her sweet-smelling brown-haired head into my arms and kiss her hard.

I’m discovering, as I write this, that I wanted to kiss other girls. All girls. In fact, the feeling that dominates my remembrances of high school is colored, almost entirely, by how much I felt great love and admiration for nearly every girl I met. I wanted to make them soup. I wanted to cook them pizzas and mix them up some Crystal Lite.

I remember creating an air-conditioner out of buckets of ice and a large window fan for Maureen. She was hot after a day of lifeguarding at the local pool. I sat her in a chair in front of the fan and I ran to the store and bought her ice cream. I spoon fed her that ice cream.

My God, it’s possible I wasn’t a geek or a jock. It’s possible I was a love-obsessed freak jacked on hormones with random cello and football playing proclivities.

I wrote long love letters to Michelle Faherty. I never gave her a single one of them. I’d sit in the backyard, staring at her house across the block, and I would write about our marriage and our kids and our boat and our dog and how we’d make snow angels after Christmas dinner.

Thank God I didn’t have texting or messaging.

If I grew up now, I might be in jail for stalking. I rode my bike past Tracy Hallgren’s house 86 times one day. When I had a driver’s license, I drove past a giant constellation of girls’ houses. I wanted to make tacos for all of them. I wanted to give them all back rubs. I wanted to buy them all engagement rings.

If I’d had Facebook, I would’ve been so in all their businesses. If the only phone in the house hadn’t been connected to the wall in the kitchen, but always in my hand, I would’ve called them all constantly, texted them, messaged them. They’d have known how crazy I really was!

Because I had no phone and no internet, I enjoyed playing cello (next to Kris) and football, where Maureen kicked on the sideline. I never once went to jail.

I was a lover of the ladies.

What do you think of the book premise or guest post? Have you read any of the previous books in the series? Let me know in the comments :)

Know Me Better: kindness, high school, names, and adrenaline junkies

Know me Better is a meme hosted by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. Every week she posts 5 questions from her author interview list that the participating bloggers then answer and link to.

This week's questions:

What is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?
What is most memorable about your high school years?
Have you ever gotten up early for a "black Friday sale"?
Were you named after anyone?
Would you bungee jump, skydive or something similar?

What is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?

I've been racking my brain for something that stands out for a while now... many people have done kind things for me - my parents, my sister, friends... but I'm looking for this really small, seemingly-unimportant thing that came just at the right time and meant so, so much in that particular situation. I'm sure such things happened, but I can't remember right now.
But one thing that changed my life was finding people on Myspace who were from my country and listened to the same type of music! When I met them in real life they were so, so kind to me, inviting me along to shows, letting me crash at their homes, and asking things like 'hey, I'm organizing this show for a couple local bands at the Dynamo next week. Wanna help out at the  entry register for an hour or so or help with catering? You can come in and listen to the bands for free afterwards. And don't worry about catching the last train home, we're all camping out at my apartment and having breakfast together in the morning.' They just accepted me into their midst, and that year-and-a-half when I was 17/18 and met so many amazing people and bands and dared to actually DO things is still among my most treasured memories. They didn't have to do any of these things for me, but they did them anyway and I would be a completely different person if I hadn't met them.
 
What is most memorable about your high school years?
High school is sort of split up differently here. At 12, after 5 years of primary school, all students are assessed and put into one of 3 different schools according to their grades, for 4 more years. At 16, most enter an apprenticeship. Only those in the 'smartest' school-type who manage an average of at least 4.7 (6 is the best grade) can opt to go to school for another 4 years, and only if they pass the finals there can they enter university (no application necessary, just pay 700 bucks for the first semester and you're in).
So, high school... the first 4 years (age 11-15 for me) were awful. Awkwardness, bullying, and lots of fear. After that when I could start over in the new school that would prepare me for university, things got a lot better. Many people in my new class (you're with the same people for all your subjects in Switzerland, and you have at least 12 of them) had been through similar things. So it was a lot better. I made friends I'm still close to, got into writing, got a better grip of who I was. I think that's what I'm mostly taking away from it. Finally having the space to actually grow and be myself, not trying to hide in fear all the time anymore. The first few weeks I had sore muscles in my cheeks because I was laughing so much more than before!
 
Have you ever gotten up early for a "black Friday sale"?
There's no such thing in Switzerland, so nope. I probably wouldn't do it to myself anyway - from what I've heard it's full of grabby, buy-crazy people crammed into too little space. Horror.

Were you named after anyone?
No. My parents weren't fully aware of the meaning of my name, either. My mum always told me it means 'the woman from the mountain of Carmel', who apparently was a wise/cunning woman (some sort of witch). Imagine my surprise when I was cramming my Latin vocab and stumbled across my own name! It means 'song' or 'poem'. From then on I liked my name a lot more :)

Would you bungee jump, skydive or something similar?
Hell no! I'm sort of afraid of heights and not at all an adrenaline junkie. I never go on rollercoasters either. Skydiving is the one I could imagine I'd be most likely to do if forced though because it must be like flying...

That's it... some very long answers again. I wanted to put a picture in originally (of some of my friends mentioned above) but then decided against it. Anyhow... comments on my answers? And please link me up to your own :)