*Drumroll Please* My Spring 14 TBR Pile

Just the one pile this time, and it feels small, but it is one that I am really looking forward to.
Without further ado then;

They are;
 A Beautiful Wedding by Jamie McGuire (NA)
Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry (YA)
This Song Will Save Your Life  by Leila Sales (YA)
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (YA)
Just A Girl Standing In Front Of A Boy by Lucy-Anne Holmes (Women's Fiction)
It Felt like A Kiss by Sarra Manning (Women's Fiction)
Kissing the Rain by Kevin Brooks (YA)
The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti (Yeah, so actually not sure...)
Surrender the Pink by Carrie Fisher (Women's Fiction)

 

On the ipad are
The Guestbook by Holly Martin (Women's Fiction)
How to get a (Love) Life by Rosie Blake (Women's Fiction)

(Full disclosure: I know both of these two writers from the Sunlounger anthology)



I know there is only one guy in there. Sorry , guys. Couldn't be helped.
But there are some very current books in there, (courtesy of some fab Christmas gifts from My Lovely CP - I am The Spolit,) which, in my efforts to do some bookshelf house-keeping, I have felt have been lacking in recent piles, although admittedly Carrie Fisher's book is no spring chicken...

 I'll let you know how it's gone in June!

What are you reading this season?

Winter '13 Gut Reactions

 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?

Murder most useful

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?

Eeeeek!

A Very Happy (and yes, I know, six days late) New Year!

 I jotted down my 2014 writing aims down on the 1st and then ran away screaming, as there seemed to be so many. Way too many.

 I want to ramp up my output this year, but I also want to increase the quality. In essence, I'm hoping to up my game in general.  Here's hoping that it isn't just January bravado, because with my list I am going to need more than that.

 Anyone else write their aims down this year? Anyone else quaking in their boots?

Oh. Just me? Right...

Fa la la la lah, la la la laaah.. Again

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

 Wishing you a lovely festive season.

 

Yeah, so I know it isn't the most festive pic, but I have limited resources at the moment, and my boys are minion mad, so  enjoy The Happy!

It's that time again...

  Mmmmm, the joy, the excitement, the savouring of special moments. The counting down, the anticipation, the desperate hope that you'll get what you want  in the end and the underlying-and increasing- anxiety that maybe you wont...

Christmas?

 Nooo - Am having another book crush.

*Cue fanfare* My Winter TBR Pile(s)

Da da da da da da daaaahhhhhhhhh! 'Tis December, the first month of winter and the season of goodwill. With this in mind, I present to you this fine day, my Winter TBR pile(s). I'll have to warn you it is a bit of an odd one, but with bear with me -there is method in the madness. For once…

The pile looks like this;

OK. There are two. I knew I couldn't sneak that past you. Please just go with it for now. All will become clear.

In detail they are, to the right;

Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt (YA) 

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigagalupi (YA) 

Screwed by Joanna Kenrick (YA) 

This is Push ed. David Levithan (YA anthology) 

Starter for ten by David Nichols (Adult

I love New York by Lindsey Kelk (Women's fiction)

Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop by Abby Clements (Women's fiction)

Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan (Women's Fiction)

The Chalet Girl by Kate Lace (Women's Fiction)

And then there is the pile on the left;

The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark  

Carnevale by M.R. Lovrie  

The Venetian Affair by Andrea di Robilant

Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb

The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin

The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich

Still to come is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (YA)

Now obviously this pile(s) is clearly not my usual YA fest. In fact there are only 5 YA books in there, which is less than 30% (Yay, I done maths again). What is afoot?

Firstly, two things that I am currently working on are Chicklit, so I am feeling the need to bathe myself in Women’s Fiction.

Secondly, this pile covers January, which is the month of change, resolutions and good intentions. I already have my dietary practice, and I am not remotely interested in going the exercise route, so I am dedicating the month to getting through some of the books that I have accumulated and that always get overlooked.

Currently my bookshelf looks like this, so some will have to go, and I hate turfing books out before I have read them. Therefore all the books to the left are in fact part of this scheme, but they have been selected very specifically, as I felt a plan was needed. Last January, I spent a fabulous long weekend in Venice (Hello Liz!). This year I'll be taking a reading trip through the city. ALL those books on the left are set in Venice.

So let’s call this a housekeeping pile to get me through the winter.

What are you reading this Winter?

(PS, Can I just apologize for the formatting bun-fight going on in this post. My computer is clearly having a paddy with fonts and spacing and stuff. Being Amish, I can't work out how to sort it. Sorry)