Summer '13 Gut Reactions

So here we are at the end of another reading season and it’s gut reactions time.

Strangely I'm not feeling so upbeat about this pile. Maybe it was just because some of the recent ones were disappointing, or else summer has got in the way and it has felt more of a chore. How bad is that? I LOVE to read.

So lethargy or lethargic reactions aside, here's the run-down of the summer books.  (Remember - I'm not a reviewer, just spouting gut reactions here.)

The pile looked like this;

The additional e-books were,

Slammed, Colleen Hoover (YA)
Point of retreat, Colleen Hoover (YA)
The Naughty Girls Books Club, Sophie Hart (Adult)
Losing It, Cora Cormack (NA)
Play with me, Kristin Proby. (NA)
Sunlounger, Belinda Jones and various (like me!! No, I'm not reviewing this one.) (ChickLit)

Star of The List goes to Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. This was the last in the Infernal Devices series, and a fabulous example of how to tie up a trilogy – and two love stories no less- perfectly. Loved it, and was so satisfied by the end.

Anti-Prom  by  Abby McDonald – I do enjoy a book that it set in one night, ie Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, or Graffiti Moon. I’d love to write one, just haven’t been able to plot one yet. This one was very neatly done.

Swim the Fly/ Beat the Band by Don Calame – Great teen boy humour. I was laughing out loud at the fart and diarrhea gags. Don’t judge me.

Heart –Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne Ooh this was good and a strong contender for the Star of The List, given it was a debut. The premise is strong (teen in prison for doing something that we don’t know what is (yet) and she is not remorseful for) and I enjoyed the journal format.

The Naughty Girl’s Book Club by Sophie Hart was interesting as it was both  a story in itself a study of a genre. Its own story reminded me of a Maeve Binchy novel, with various people with their own issues coming together to an event, and their stories moving on over time. The genre study of the current popularity of Erotica was an intriguing angle and vehicle for the main plot.

21 Proms- Various - This is what a good anthology should be with different POVs, tones, and genres. I blogged about anthologies here if  you haven't already got one in your TBR pile.

Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List – David Leviathan & Rachel Cohn. Oh, I do like what happens when these two team up for a book.  This is the third collaboration of theirs I've read. I wish I had a writing-boyfriend like this. 

What’s Up with Jody Barton? by Hayley Long–  I think I might have moved away from younger teen books at the moment, but this one has a twist to make you gape.

And then the rest;

• One of these books was by an author I had read one book from before. I hated her MC then, and I didn’t warm to this one either. My gripe is that in both the MC was portrayed as fat, clumsy and not very bright. And that really annoyed me. One day I am going to write a character who is big but by some miracle still capable of being graceful and brilliant.
• One of these books was bloody hard work and felt deranged. It used lots of different forms;  musings, transcripts, reports, letter memos, emails from the MC and then other people hacking the email account. Too much! This had me all excited at the beginning, and exhausted very soon after.
• The next book (by the same author as the one above) also had me excited at the beginning as the form was exam answers. Brilliant, yes? Then there were school reports, meeting reports and I realized she’d done it again…. Too much already. I jumped to the end and bailed eventually as I just didn’t care about them. BUT lesson learned; It was too much of a good thing. The variations in the form lessened my ability to engage with the story and the characters.
• Two of these books I have already moaned about here, as nothing happened in one and in the other it took far too long and I only got to it as on this rare occasion where I had the patience of a saint. Lesson Learned – Don’t believe the Hype.

Look at that. The summary was as lack-luster as the pile itself. Sorry about that. I'm hoping that next season will blow my socks off a bit more. 

Recommendations anyone?

Reading relief

Ahh, the joy of reading a book that restores our faith after a run of lack-luster or disappointing stories.

Tanya Byrne's  Heart Shaped Bruise has been a relief.

 Thank you Ms Byrne.


P.S .The new TBR pile is under construction. Any recommendations?

Measured cheering

I've become a bit of a cheerleader for novels that start with a slower burn. Primarily this is because my stories aren’t of the type that set everything up in the first 250 words. I whinged about it here. I do appreciate pace in a book- it’s a large part of what makes me love YA books- but I don't demand that I have to be hooked in a paragraph. If the wording is good, I am more than happy to sit back and let things unfold over the first three chapters. I can be generous like that.

Two of the last few books I have read had this slow fuse characteristic. I spotted it and consciously read on, geared up to enjoy the ride. However, in these two cases the ride went on and on and on... The thing with a slow fuse is that it should still lead to an explosion. The ride has to still arrive somewhere, otherwise it isn't a journey, it's just  passing time. Amusing as that might be, the payoff isn't overly moving.

The first, a book called Penelope that was shouted about in various places, dawdled to the point of never actually getting anywhere. At all.  It covered the first year at Harvard for a socially awkward girl. I felt I was being smartly led, and I was happy to go as the small insights were well observed and humorous, but frustratingly nothing ever came of it all. I was as flummoxed by the whole experience as the MC was by Harvard. I had to check the Amazon reviews to see if it was me that had missed the point. Apparently not.

I've just finished Prep, which has many accolades, and I know I'm late to the party on this one. The writing and observation is great, and the build is slow, allowing us to get a feel for how the MC feels about her boarding school  and peers on just about every single level. But 285 pages of small font before there is any proper drama?!? (I'm not counting fainting at having her ears pierced at page 63.) If the author's intention was to convey the four years of prep school as being  long and drawn out, maybe she hit the mark after all.

Additionally, I don’t know if it is coincidence, but I didn’t connect with or like either MC.  Was it because I was shouting “Come on!!” at them all the time?

Ultimately, my slow-fuse cheerleader status just got adjusted. YAY! for measured starts that let stories unfold, but BOO! for stories that take the reader's goodwill too far or don’t bring the goods at all. 

Anyone else experienced this?

Cheaper than a Mr Whippy!

Yup, still  banging on about Sunlounger, but it seems like a public service to herald the fact that it has just gone on Summer Sale at 99p on Amazon, which is less than 3p a story. Yes really, 3p. (Actually 0.0225p if you want to be mathematic about it). I'm sure penny chews can't be had for 3p nowadays, in spite of trade descriptions rules...
(For those in the outerworld, you can  currently acquire it on Amazon.com for $1.51. Sorry, did you want the math too? That's 0.034cents a pop. Bargain!)

For those who haven't bought it yet, the saving you'd make means you could have a ice-cream while you read it on your sunlounger. 

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Stories, stories, stories

I know I have been hammering on about the Sunlounger anthology quite a bit recently, but forgive me- it might be my only moment. However, more importantly,  it has highlighted that I had forgotten briefly how much I like short story anthologies. So this is about anthologies in general, and why I’m suggesting you should have some in your TBR pile.

As a form they are perfect for busy times when you really cannot afford for your brain to be wrapped up in a humdinger of a full length story. Like when summer holidays are imminent and school is at Defcon 5, or when you are plotting something of your own. It might just be me, but it is hard to lose yourself in your own thoughts when you are a slave to someone else’s. 

Anthologies are pick-up-and-put-downable. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. And let's be honest, if you don't like a story, you can just skip to the next without anyone noticing that you are cheating...

Genrewise, if you are new to a genre or want to extend your field of preferred writers, anthologies are fab for giving you a taster without the commitment to a whole book. Some writers will appeal and some might not. You cannot like everyone’s style. FACT. You’ll know not to seek their books out in future, but instead to go hunting for that author who you'd never heard of but who wowed you. 

Reading them as a collection, they bring something else to the table. I've just finished reading 21 Proms. As you can imagine all the stories were based on the theme of prom in all its guises. Reading all these stories as a batch showed how all these different writers tackled the theme in a vast variety of ways. They wrote from differing genres and with different POVs and tones. Across the book, you come to consider the choices they have made in constructing the story.

 If you write, it encourages you to try something new in your own writing. I just had a go at 2nd POV, which isn’t my norm, prompted by one of these stories. Using Sunlounger as an example, the collections shows a multitude of ideas based on women travelling. They are all so different. Some involve a love interest, some don’t; some are open ended, some complete; most are realistic, but some have a fantasy lilt. So many styles, all within the umbrella of Women’s fiction or Chciklit.

This isn’t just a one off. There have been various anthologies in my TBR lists in the few years;

21 Proms -ed. David Levithan and Daniel Ehrenhaft

Losing It - ed. Keith Gray

Let it snow. (Three stories by three writers, to form one whole.) -John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle)

Steampunk! ed. Gavin J Grant

Naked City , Tales of Urban Fantasy – ed. Ellen Datlow

 The Curiosities -Maggie Stiefvater, Tess Gratton & Brenna Yovanoff)

If you are looking to add something different to you TBR pile, this would be my summer recommendation: Whether you are a writer or not, grab yourself an anthology, of the theme of your choice, and see the joy that a cluster of little things can bring.

Anyone got any to recommend? Please let me know through the comments box below.

It's all gone quiet

After the posting frenzy that the Sunlounger extravaganza instigated, you may have noticed that things have slowed down somewhat. I suspect it is a welcome break from my witterings. Given school is about to kick out here, you're probably good for another six weeks too.

I'm spending the summer thinking about something new. I'm plotting, researching, writing character sketches and generally taking the time to write around it, getting to know it. This is new for me. I usually have a premise and then write hundreds of snippets of dialogue, until the story emerges. That hasn't really been working for me recently, so a new approach was required. I posted here about how ideas need to have time to simmer and develop, how they cannot be expected to be perfect from the word pop. Because they cannot be. It is too much to ask of something so newborn and fragile.

So I'm plotting and nurturing this summer, in the hope to have something to throw myself into. What are you up to?

Christmas in July

If anyone is in the mood for a pitching competition, then the annual Christmas in July  event is about to start over on Ruth Lauren Steven's site, which you can find here.

 Entries need to be in on Tuesday the 9^th July and the selected pitches, based on the first 500 words, will be announced on the 15th and potentially requested by 16 agents on the 18 & 19th.   Unfortunately for us on this side of the pond there don't seem to be any Brit agents (Boo hoo!), but you still might find it suitable for your MS.

Good luck!