Wednesday, May 30, 2012

What is Kim Culbertson reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Kim Culbertson, author of the YA novels Songs for a Teenage Nomad and Instructions for a Broken Heart, and the eBook novella The Liberation of Max McTrue.

Her entry begins:
Arcadia by Lauren Groff

Like, well, everyone, I read Utopia in college and I’ve always been drawn to the idea of an idealized community. In Arcadia, Groff explores one such community through the eyes of beautiful Bit, who starts the novel as a boy, held in the arms of his mercurial mother, Hannah, and ends the novel a man – somewhere in a not too distant future. This book is lush and dreamy, and for me it triumphed because of Bit. Lovely Bit – who sees the world differently because he notices beauty in small things and loves people even when they are hard. Arcadia is a meditation on the line between community and freedom, and the ache that grows from needing people, but also knowing...[read on]
About Instructions for a Broken Heart, from the publisher:
Top 20 Reasons He’s a Slimy Jerk Bastard
Jessa: To help you get over your train wreck EX, I’ve enclosed 20 envelopes. Each one has a reason why Sean is a jerk and not worth the dirt on your shoes. And each one has an instruction for you to do one un-Jessa-like thing a day. NO CHEATING!
Ciao! —C

When Jessa catches her boyfriend, Sean, making out with Natalie “the Boob Job” Stone three days before their drama club’s departure to Italy, she completely freaks. Stuck with a front-row view of Sean and Natalie making out against the backdrop of a country that oozes romance, Jessa promises to follow all of the outrageous instructions in her best friend’s care package and open her heart to new experiences. Enter cute Italian boy stage left.

Jessa had prepared to play the role of humiliated ex-girlfriend, but with Carissa directing her life from afar, it’s finally time to take a shot at being a star.
Visit Kim Culbertson's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Writers Read: Kim Culbertson.

--Marshal Zeringue