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?