E L James’ notorious Fifty Shades of Grey series is almost too easy to ridicule. Does that stop me from doing so? Of course not. However, its abundance of editorial issues, coupled with its titillating subject matter, has overshadowed an issue that has serious implications in the book world. In light of the movie’s release, it’s high time to address it.

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Time recently released their list of the 100 best YA books. Like all “best of” lists, it can be taken with a grain of salt, especially because the category of YA only really became a thing in the last 15 years or so, and many of their selections predate that.

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Holiday season is a time of giving --- also of consumerism and incessantly peppy songs that play on repeat. Even if you’re generally an agreeable person, it’s a time of year that can bring out your inner Grinch.

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Mockingjay - Part 1, the newest addition to the Hunger Games franchise, has recently hit theaters, and between that and the success of HBO’s “The Leftovers,” the dystopian genre is back in the spotlight. I’m not a scientist or anything, but I predict that many gifts of grim futures will be given this holiday season.

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Once upon a time (read: last year), I wrote a post on fairy tales for adults. You can read it here.

I’ve decided to make it annual, because modern authors are constantly borrowing from fairy and folk tales, invigorating them with fresh life.

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Scotland has been getting a lot of attention lately. Emotions may still be running high in the wake of their verdict to remain part of the UK, but it's a good time to be a Scotophile (the jury seems to be out on whether that's a real word but we'll pretend it is). It’s certainly a good time to be a bagpiper; bagpipe music has abounded in the background of the coverage. It’s a good time to be someone who doesn’t get annoyed when people ask what you’re wearing under your clothes (a frequently asked question of kilt-wearers).

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As a person who writes about books, I’m pretty much required to turn up my nose and say the book is better any time one is adapted into a movie or a show.

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It’s been a week and winter is no longer coming. Whether you are a fan of “Game of Thrones” or are sick of hearing everyone talk about it, the fact remains that the ubiquitous cultural phenomenon is going dormant for the next 10 months.

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For those of us who aren’t Stephen King or Donna Tartt, which should be everyone --- unless you are reading this, Stephen or Donna, in which case, hello! --- writing a novel is a strange, complicated and occasionally ridiculous undertaking. Writing time has to be balanced with other obligations. There is no certainty that there will be some kind of payoff in the end. And, when you are between the ages of 18 and 22, there is the added complication of Not Sounding Like a Douchebag when you tell people you are writing a novel.

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I’ve always been interested in what classifies a book as “highbrow” or “lowbrow.” What elusive factors --- aside from the basic quality of the writing --- make some books more valued than others? And readers have different tastes; so who gets to decide these things, anyway?

But our culture seems to have an invisible yet ever-present value system; a mutual agreement of which books we would most proudly display of if we ever met an alien who asked to see examples of our art.

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