If you recall the Winter TBR pile looked
different, in that it was in fact two piles.
Like so;
I also read
The Art of Letting Go (The Uni Files: Year
One) by Anna Bloom
Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey
Star of the List goes to;
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This was recommended to me right back in
May, (Alexa and Fairview, thank you) and I loved it. The phrasing was brilliant,
as was the amazingly huge arc that supported the book like an arching spine, of
the excruciatingly delicate growth of a relationship. I will admit there was a
point where I thought that the end was going to make me howl, not with tears
but frustration, but it didn’t let me down in the end.
Starter for Ten. I felt David Nicholls was funny when I read One Day. This is funnier, but maybe mostly to people who were at a UK uni in the Nineties. He does great lines, sets his narrator up for ridicule beautifully, and lines up one joke after the other with a deftness of touch that is
breathtaking and relentless. Strangely I haven’t liked how he ended either book, but the journey getting there has almost made up for that. If you write humor for adults, then I can only recommend his writing as a shining example as how it is done.
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. A heartbreaking 1st person account of
dementia and a murder at same time. This was sent to me as an arc, so got a
shoo-in. Clearly the writer has had experience of a loved one with dementia,
but the way she wove it into the structure of the book was excellent.
The Art of
Letting Go by Anna Bloom was one of those books that I
had on my ipad, without quite remembering how or when. But it was a very pleasant
surprise. NA set in a UK university. It was young, fresh and sexy without being
too grinding. And it is only the first of three, with two short stories out
there already to tide you over between release dates.
And the
other thoughts:
Remember that second pile, where I was going
to take a literary trip through Venice? Yeah, it was a bit of a damp squib.
- One, though the plot was fine in premise the
execution was poor. Time/travel limitations were broken depending on what the
plot required, blowing all credibility.
- Another
book seemed like a huge saga that had been stripped down to a standard length
story. It was almost as if the writer had embarked on it, and halfway though
felt that they had bitten off far more than they could chew, but contractually
had to dish up a book and this is what they managed.
- Three
of the books I gave up. Three! Like half. Simply down to the writing or
the style.
- One I
pushed myself all the way through and wished I hadn’t bothered. It was enormous
and while the premise was intriguing, it played out as far too tenuous and
unbelievable. And my, it needed a sound thrashing by an editor....
At the very least though I did manage to shift 6 books off my
book case which was one of my goals. Hurrah!
Would
I take a trip like this again? Not for the foreseeable. I think I'll go with
theme or form again over location.
Anyone read anything good or lame in the last three months?
So, I have been away. Well, away from here, that is. You didn't notice? Huh.
Anyways, I have been blatantly neglecting the blog, but in my defense I have been doing words.
Back in October, I was asked
by the delightful Belinda Jones to write a story for the second Sunlounger
anthology, which is due out this summer.
More to the point, this was a request, not an invite to take part in the
competition again. Obviously there was a
fair amount of Happy Dancing around here, which I managed to string out for
quite some time, before I realized that having a deadline meant I also had to
stump up the goods.
I had a ropey first draft before Christmas,
which mulled until this new year, when it took a brutal beating and slashing,
before being cast under the meticulous eye of my Lovely Critique Partner who
was vicious but fair. The words "annoyingly wishy-washy" about one
segment made me wince but also made me pull
my socks up. That is what good crit partners are for: to dole out The Truth.
So finally, after a lot of tinkering,
re-tinkering and faffing, and killing a darling at the very end, I delivered it
to Belinda. I have to say it gave me a sense of relief, as my brain had been
filled with it forever, along with that nag of a deadline looming. But
there was also a sense of nerves, as what if she didn't like it? Last year I
would never have known any different if she simply hadn't picked mine. But I
guess that is the case with anyone who writes and sends their work out to
anyone else. You always risk them not liking it, be it a short story or novel,
or whether it's going to an agent, publisher, or the reader. Luckily, I know
now that Belinda is happy with it. Hurrah. Cue Happy Relieved Dance which is
altogether more slouchy.
Essentially, writing this Sunlounger story has been a timely reminder of how I write and
what my process is. It’s also shown how my attitude to my words has changed
over time, where once I would have defended them stubbornly to a point of
weeping before making a change, I can now take the comments, try the
alternative ideas, and kill those darlings without even a pout. (OK, maybe a small one, a mini-pout...)
So that's where I've been - Killing and Happy Dancing.
What have you been up to?
