I'm feeling pretty lucky today because I have Amy Reed here on the blog. Her fifth novel DAMAGED released earlier this month. She is here to share the books that made her fall in love with reading in writing. Find out what books inspired her to become a writer and then enter for a chance to win a copy of DAMAGED.
Welcome Amy!!!
I’ve been thinking about what made me want to be a writer,
particularly what books I read that that made me fall in love with writing. The
first book on this list would definitely be The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton,
which I discovered at age thirteen, and the timing couldn’t have been better.
Though I did not end up being a poet (trust me, you’re lucky—my poetry was horrible), Sexton’s poetry was the first
time I saw myself in something I was reading. She was a sensitive and deeply
wounded woman, and I immediately related. I think before that, I had only
really read things by men that were about men. Or the things I read by women,
particularly books for people my age, were so wholesome and squeaky clean I
couldn’t relate. Sexton’s poetry was dark and confessional, perfect for a
troubled kid like me. In reading her writing, I realized I could write too,
that there was a place for my voice on the page, that writing could be a way to
work through pain. During a very lonely time in my life, her words helped me feel
less alone and inspired me to start writing my own.
Another
book that inspired me to write was Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen.
I read this for the first time as a teenager and, like the work of Anne Sexton,
I felt like it gave me permission to write, to tell my own story. It is
Kaysen’s memoir of her commitment to a psychiatric hospital as a young woman,
and I was blown away by how vulnerable the book was and how much I related to
her feelings of being lost and trapped. The book taught me that it is brave to
be vulnerable in writing, that giving yourself fully to the page is the purest
form of truth. I realized that what I wanted was to write stories that move
people; I wanted to make people feel.
Other books
that affected me in similar ways when I was young are The Lovely Bones,
by Alice Sebold, and Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison.
All these books are about young women in trouble, women who
are hurting and are yearning for ways to heal. I guess that’s the kind of thing
I needed to read during a certain time in my life, and it turned out to be the
kind of thing I write about now. Who knows what would have happened to this
lost kid if I hadn’t found those books when I needed them. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t
be a writer now. Maybe worse. Books have the power to change lives, and they
definitely changed mine. I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to write
books that hopefully do the same.
DAMAGED
by Amy Reed
Published by Simon Pulse
October 14, 2014
384 Pages
About DAMAGED
Two teens must come to terms with their friend’s death—and her afterlife—in this gritty and realistic novel from the author of Beautiful, Clean, Crazy, and Over You.
When Kinsey’s best friend Camille dies in a car accident while she was behind the wheel, she shuts down completely, deciding that numbness is far better than mourning. She wants to be left alone during the last few weeks of high school, but Camille’s mysterious boyfriend Hunter, who was also in the car that night, has a different idea.
Despite all of Kinsey’s efforts, she can’t shake Camille, who begins haunting her in dreams. Sleep deprived and on the verge of losing it, she agrees to run away with Hunter to San Francisco. As the pair tries to escape both the ghost of Camille and their own deep fears, Kinsey questions how real her perception of her friendship with Camille was, and whether her former friend’s ghost is actually now haunting her. Hunter, meanwhile, falls into a spiral of alcoholism, anger, and self-loathing.
Ultimately, Kinsey and Hunter must come to terms with what they’ve lost and accept that they can’t outrun pain.
When Kinsey’s best friend Camille dies in a car accident while she was behind the wheel, she shuts down completely, deciding that numbness is far better than mourning. She wants to be left alone during the last few weeks of high school, but Camille’s mysterious boyfriend Hunter, who was also in the car that night, has a different idea.
Despite all of Kinsey’s efforts, she can’t shake Camille, who begins haunting her in dreams. Sleep deprived and on the verge of losing it, she agrees to run away with Hunter to San Francisco. As the pair tries to escape both the ghost of Camille and their own deep fears, Kinsey questions how real her perception of her friendship with Camille was, and whether her former friend’s ghost is actually now haunting her. Hunter, meanwhile, falls into a spiral of alcoholism, anger, and self-loathing.
Ultimately, Kinsey and Hunter must come to terms with what they’ve lost and accept that they can’t outrun pain.
Amy Reed is the
author of the edgy, contemporary YA novels BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN, CRAZY, and OVER
YOU. Her new book DAMAGED released October 14, 2014. Find out more at
www.amyreedfiction.com.
Follow Amy online:
twitter: @amyreedfiction
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Giveaway Details
Prize donated by Author
Must be 16 years or Older to enter
U.S. addresses only
To enter, fill out Rafflecopter below
Giveaway ends October 30, 2014
Must be 16 years or Older to enter
U.S. addresses only
To enter, fill out Rafflecopter below
Giveaway ends October 30, 2014
If I cannot verify an entry, that entry will not count.
I spent endless hours in the Brooklyn Public Library as a kid. I read anything that looked good in the children's section. I do fondly remember reading Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew books when I was very young, though.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember which books specifically made me love reading because I have always loved to read. Ever since I was a little girl I love to read everything. I think growing up in a house with lots of books made me love reading.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in middle school, I picked up MANDY by Julie Edwards (Andrews). I still have the first edition. To this day, the book has a special place in my heart. It's timeless. Liza
ReplyDeleteLet's see, I recently read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire this past week, it made me really motivated to read more. I can't really say what books made me fall in love with reading as a child though, I was fond of the Babysitter's Club series though. :)
ReplyDeleteI used to write poetry in middle school and high school, it wasn't amazing, but some of it wasn't bad. I've read a few of Anne Sexton's poems, I love Emily Dickinson's work a bit. Girl, Interrupted and The Lovely Bones are two books I'm dying to read, as is The Bell Jar, which I think you would be familiar with given you like Anne Sexton and Girl, Interrupted, but I could be wrong, haha.
I have Amy's three other books, so this would completely complete my collection. :) Great giveaway.
--Amber
Definitely the Harry Potter series. And Fear Street from RL Stine
ReplyDelete