THIS! So tempting. Wanted to give it a shout out.
That's all. Back to the wrapping now...
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Fa la la la lah, La la la laaaaaah........
BUT I won't leave you with nothing. It is the season of giving after all, so I am going to direct you (the writers of you out there) to something else for the next few days (- as if you don't also have planning, mulled wine drinking and wrapping to do, or maybe you are that űber-organised bod who has all this malarky covered already...)
Notes from the Slushpile are running their Twelve days of Christmas blog event, and if you haven't visited it yet, then it features a different agent or editor each day, sharing their 2013 submissions wishes. CLUES!!! It's good to know what they want sometimes and well worth a nosy.
Monday, 17 December 2012
Heads Up! Incoming!!
So I’ve posted my Winter reading list, which should see me through to the end of February, but there are new books due out all the time in YA, and if you are interested in seeing what they might be, then these sites, show a selection of the line up for 2013.
I already have my eye on Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Princess for the Spring TBR list, which, would you believe, already has its foundations, with three books (by male writers as it happens) courtesy of Christmas presents sent to me by My Lovely Critique Partner. (Have I mentioned before that every writer should have one? Why yes, I do believe I have. Gold dust. Seriously.)
Suddenly I feel very organised, having a current schedule, and already booking slots into Spring. Mmmmm, I love books. The excitement just never stops...
Which 2013 books are you hanking for?
Today's Distraction Tool (yes, remember this?) Glee at the sound of packages being popped through my letterbox by the postman. My Christmas shopping plan is coming together...
Today's Distraction Tool (yes, remember this?) Glee at the sound of packages being popped through my letterbox by the postman. My Christmas shopping plan is coming together...
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Gut reactions.
As I have now
thrown myself- with blissful abandon no less- into my Winter TBR list, I figure
that I should cast an eye back on the
pile that went before.
I'm not a proper reviewer, (as I'm sure that you are well aware by now);
I generally just like to flag up the books that I have the urge to say
something about.
So, instead of reviews I'm going with some reactions. For
illustrative purposes, the pile looked like this and there were 6 other books
in there as late additions or e-books.
They were, in no particular order;
Tammara Webber- Easy
Mike Wells - Lust, Money & Murder
Cath Crowley - Graffiti Moon
Maureen Johnson -
13 Little Blue Envelopes
Trisha Telep (ed.) -
Kiss Me Deadly
Jerome K Jerome -
Three Men in a Boat
My Star of the
List award went to Cath
Crowley's Graffiti Moon,
which I gushed about here.
(Yes, I know there hasn't been an award before. I just made it up. Like just
now. Because I'm impulsive like that...)
Sarra Manning is the
queen of voice. I'll take notes of how she writes.
John Green writes
teen guy and friends banter soooo well.
Jenny Downham wrote
possibly the best death scene I've ever read. I knew it was coming, I even knew
how it was going to happen- because she'd told me, and yet still it crept up on
me. Skillful. (She writes a smart teen sex scene too.)
Maureen Johnson was new
to me, and has a voice that I really want to read more of.
Tammara Webber’s Easy confirmed my interest in the emerging
category of New Adult.
That's it for naming names. Now for some other comments;
With one of these books, I didn’t make it past chapter two. I got Bored.
In one of these books I hated the main character. She was
criminally stupid and it annoyed me deeply. The ending was a cliff-hanger
and I literally did not care whether she lived or died.
One of these books was hugely over hyped on twitter.
One of these books must have been the “difficult second book” or
the latter half of a two-book deal. Otherwise it dismays me that it both got
the author an agent and a publisher.
One of these is an OK story, but nothing special and I suspect the
celebrity of the author made the difference.
One of these books, the writing and POV were great, but the story
made me feel deeply uncomfortable. But I think it was supposed to.
Two of these books have been made into films. I'd rent both on
DVD, but there’s only one of them I would read again.
I think I need to start a little book diary to record my top-line
reactions on each book I read as I finish them, and see if there is an even mix
each time. Watch this space in March, then....
Monday, 10 December 2012
Ranting as form
I've blogged before about being interested in
different forms writers use. I blogged here about epistolary novels I'd been
reading, and about the Amazon fiction, and also about some flash fiction here.
But the book I have recently finished is a new one on me.
I came
across Daniel Handler's book Why We Broke Up, because someone tweeted about the pictures in it. Yes, there are lovely
painted illustrations by Maira Kalman. But they aren't just pictures. No, no, they are so
much more than that, but more of that later.
And on the basis of the title and it being YA contemporary I ordered it in. (See how little it takes with me? So easy to sway - but some people like that about me.)
Having got the book I found out that Daniel Handler is in fact none other than Lemony Snicket. Now, I know that Lemony Snicket isn't a real person, and I daresay I've seen numerous things which have outed his real name, but I hadn't been paying attention, and suffice to say the information was greeted with a groan. Some years ago I bought and read all of the thirteen parts of A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I was so disappointed with the end, that I turfed them out immediately. (That's a reader scorned for you, hell hath no fury...)
Nevertheless I did read it, and I have to say that I prefer Handler to Snicket.
But here’s the thing that I wanted to flag up;
this story is told through the medium of Rant.
Min, has broken up with Ed ( no spoilers here, as it says what it is on the tin..), and Min has collected the “prizes and debris” from their time together in a box which she is delivering to his door. And on the way over, she rants about how she has got to be in this situation in a missive to Ed. And it is a heartbroken, angry, humiliated and hopefully cathartic rant, the likes of which many may recognize from their teen years. It even gets so ranty at one point, that I couldn't keep up with the sense of it and had to go back and re-read it when I knew the outcome. (I definitely remember those rants as a teen where my train of thought was heading all over the shop, yet it still made sense to me if nobody else.)
Min feels the need to tell Ed what he has done, explaining her hurt, even though Ed might not care or might be oblivious, and her telling is glorious. I distinctly recall writing a letter like that myself once, complete with toe-curling references to song lyrics. Thank God I burnt it.)
I love the idea of 350 pages of ranting.
But there’s more... It is also an inventory, and this is where the pictures come in.
There are no chapters in the book, but instead it is divided into segments pertaining to each item in the box, which deftly leads us through the five weeks Ed and Min were together. And each item has a picture. I do love a good tweak to the standard Chapter heading or number, such as the inclusion of temperatures in Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver. There the temperatures, as they drop, have their own little narrative, without the need to cover it in the text. In the same way, the illustrations here flag each new chapter and remove any cumbersome need to describe each object. In addition, some of the illustrations are strategically placed, so like in the best picture books, the turn of the page can bring a shock, or a joke or a revelation.
So this was a book that I really enjoyed having in my hands, as much for its construction and form and illustrations as purely for its story, energy and the nostalgia.
Toe-curling memories aside, good things can come from a proper rant.
But the book I have recently finished is a new one on me.
And on the basis of the title and it being YA contemporary I ordered it in. (See how little it takes with me? So easy to sway - but some people like that about me.)
Having got the book I found out that Daniel Handler is in fact none other than Lemony Snicket. Now, I know that Lemony Snicket isn't a real person, and I daresay I've seen numerous things which have outed his real name, but I hadn't been paying attention, and suffice to say the information was greeted with a groan. Some years ago I bought and read all of the thirteen parts of A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I was so disappointed with the end, that I turfed them out immediately. (That's a reader scorned for you, hell hath no fury...)
Nevertheless I did read it, and I have to say that I prefer Handler to Snicket.
Min, has broken up with Ed ( no spoilers here, as it says what it is on the tin..), and Min has collected the “prizes and debris” from their time together in a box which she is delivering to his door. And on the way over, she rants about how she has got to be in this situation in a missive to Ed. And it is a heartbroken, angry, humiliated and hopefully cathartic rant, the likes of which many may recognize from their teen years. It even gets so ranty at one point, that I couldn't keep up with the sense of it and had to go back and re-read it when I knew the outcome. (I definitely remember those rants as a teen where my train of thought was heading all over the shop, yet it still made sense to me if nobody else.)
Min feels the need to tell Ed what he has done, explaining her hurt, even though Ed might not care or might be oblivious, and her telling is glorious. I distinctly recall writing a letter like that myself once, complete with toe-curling references to song lyrics. Thank God I burnt it.)
I love the idea of 350 pages of ranting.
There are no chapters in the book, but instead it is divided into segments pertaining to each item in the box, which deftly leads us through the five weeks Ed and Min were together. And each item has a picture. I do love a good tweak to the standard Chapter heading or number, such as the inclusion of temperatures in Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver. There the temperatures, as they drop, have their own little narrative, without the need to cover it in the text. In the same way, the illustrations here flag each new chapter and remove any cumbersome need to describe each object. In addition, some of the illustrations are strategically placed, so like in the best picture books, the turn of the page can bring a shock, or a joke or a revelation.
So this was a book that I really enjoyed having in my hands, as much for its construction and form and illustrations as purely for its story, energy and the nostalgia.
Toe-curling memories aside, good things can come from a proper rant.
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
*Cue fanfare* My Winter TBR List
Given the first snow fell here this morning, it seems like the right time to
declare this season's pile open. (OK, so I have read the first one already, but
it is December 5th already, and "Have books, must read." That is a real adage, isn't it?)
I'm quite tickled about this pile, as for the vast part, I have absolutely no idea of what they are about. In fact all the ones with an asterisk are a complete mystery to me. That’s Living on the Edge, right there...
Two aren't featured in the picture, but are incoming. I'll update as they deign to cross my threshold, but I just couldn't wait any longer.
In depicted order, the members of the merry bunch are;
The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater
Why we broke up - Daniel Handler
Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour – Morgan Matson
Emma (hearts) LA - Keris Stainton*
Notes from the Teenage Underground – Simmone Howell*
Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher
Lucas - Kevin Brooks*
An Abundance of Katherines -John Green *
You killed Wesley Payne - Sean Beaudoin*
Struts and Frets - Jon Skovron*
Going Nowhere Faster - Sean Beaudoin*
The Curiosities - Maggie Steifvater, Tessa Gratton & Brenna Yovanoff
The Duff- Kody Keplinger
Skin Deep - Laura Jarratt*
No e-books up there currently, but as you know they are slippery little buggers and sly their way into my i-pad when I'm not looking.
And just to show that I do in fact follow up on (some) of my plans, of the 14, 7 are by male writers. I feel I am doing my bit today for equality in the YA world.
So, let the reading commence! (Yes, it already did – I know, but “Let the reading continue” doesn’t sound as Gung-ho.) What are you reading this winter?
I'm quite tickled about this pile, as for the vast part, I have absolutely no idea of what they are about. In fact all the ones with an asterisk are a complete mystery to me. That’s Living on the Edge, right there...
Two aren't featured in the picture, but are incoming. I'll update as they deign to cross my threshold, but I just couldn't wait any longer.
In depicted order, the members of the merry bunch are;
The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater
Why we broke up - Daniel Handler
Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour – Morgan Matson
Emma (hearts) LA - Keris Stainton*
Notes from the Teenage Underground – Simmone Howell*
Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher
Lucas - Kevin Brooks*
An Abundance of Katherines -John Green *
You killed Wesley Payne - Sean Beaudoin*
Struts and Frets - Jon Skovron*
Going Nowhere Faster - Sean Beaudoin*
The Curiosities - Maggie Steifvater, Tessa Gratton & Brenna Yovanoff
The Duff- Kody Keplinger
Skin Deep - Laura Jarratt*
No e-books up there currently, but as you know they are slippery little buggers and sly their way into my i-pad when I'm not looking.
And just to show that I do in fact follow up on (some) of my plans, of the 14, 7 are by male writers. I feel I am doing my bit today for equality in the YA world.
So, let the reading commence! (Yes, it already did – I know, but “Let the reading continue” doesn’t sound as Gung-ho.) What are you reading this winter?
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Quick Quick, don't miss the action
The entries are up for comments now, and the bidding from the 13 agents starts Tuesday. (Don't ask me what time, as it is happening across the pond and frankly US times are just all over the shop. You'll have to do the calculation yourself. OK, so I retract the making things easy for you thing.)
I think the bidding is going to be exciting, and even more so if you've read them and have your own favourites.
Who knows? Months from now, some of these might even appear in my TBR pile. Just wait and see...
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