First of all, I promise that I have not stopped reading. I'm just a strange combination of swamped and lazy, so I haven't posted since...well, you know better than I do. Probably.
Second, I am currently in the process of PhD school research/applications, adding to the giant to-do list I already had (which includes taking the GRE--in two weeks, preparing a chapter of my thesis for publication, editing my novel manuscript, querying for another novel manuscript, traveling to and presenting at RMMLA, attending a mystery writer's conference in Santa Fe, teaching three sections of English 104, getting ready to perform a show this weekend with my band, making paper bead bracelets for a local craft/food festival, and tutoring at a local community college).
What does this mean? I pretty sure it means that I hate myself, because I was rarely ever this busy even in graduate school. It also means that my reading has been sporadic and all over the place. Right now, I'm reading The Sorrows of Satan, Vanity Fair, and How Novels Think: The Limits of Individualism from 1719-1900. There are also a few books in my currently reading pile that I hope to finish soon but have set aside for other, more pressing, reads.
It also means that if I can pull all of this off I will be one happy camper come the middle of December. And one waiting-with-baited-breath camper, because once I submit those PhD applications I know I'll be checking my email every day even though THE LOGICAL PART OF MY BRAIN KNOWS BETTER. Sorry. Just yelling at myself...
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Update: It's Fall and I'm Still Reading
Yesterday, I finally finished drafting my mystery novel, and that accomplishment set me thinking about other things I've been meaning to catch up on. This blog, for example.
August had me missing in action on here, and for that I apologize. Theoretically, my schedule should be fairly laid back, now that I have completed my M.A. and am *only* working, but between two part time jobs (one of which includes teaching/grading three sections of Freshman Composition and Research), converting my thesis into journal articles for publication, getting ready to present at RMMLA, finishing my novel and a couple of short stories, prepping for the GRE, preparing PhD school applications, and little things like housework, marriage, and a social life, I've been mostly swamped.
Still, my loyal readers (all two and a half of you) deserve to know how my reading quest is going, and it's about time you got an update. Right? Right.
Since July, I've read
- Third Grave Dead Ahead, by Darynda Jones (book 31)
- 'B' is for Burglar, by Sue Grafton (32)
- Blackbirds, by Chuck Wending (33)
- Kitty Takes a Holiday, by Carrie Vaughn (34)
- 'C' is for Corpse, by Sue Grafton (35)
I'm currently reading:
- An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England, by Venetia Murray
- The Sorrows of Satan, by Marie Corelli (Victorian Sensation, Oh Yeah!)
Books I've started and intend to finish soon:
- Bitter Seeds, by Ian Tregillis
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
- Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami
Books I intend to read next:
- Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray
- The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
- October Country, by Ray Bradbury
- Mockingbird, by Chuck Wendig
- The rest of the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones
- The rest of the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn
- WHATEVER JIM BUTCHER PUBLISHES NEXT
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Friday, July 26, 2013
Thirty: Second Grave on the Left....Plus, Some Grave (pun intended) Realizations
Second Grave on the Left, by Darynda Jones, 2011.
TTR: One day. Again, I say MUAHAHA.
Comments:
I feel like this book was written in a hurry, because there are quite a few places where I noticed continuity and/or typo issues.
That said, I DEVOURED this book so fast my eyes are still a little spinny. I love the world Darynda Jones creates, I love her characters, and I love her obsession with coffee.
I also love that the books are set in Albuquerque, NM, which is part of my beautiful home state.
Moreover, and this may attest to my love of the series, I've decided to hold out on reading #3 until I've finished the current draft of my novel. That's right, Third Grave Dead Ahead just became the proverbial carrot at the end of the stick.
SEGUE.
I've come to the somewhat depressing realization that, on this, the thirtieth week of the year (unless my math is wrong, which it could very well be) I have only read thirty books. That's right. I'm averaging JUST ONE BOOK A WEEK. I blame my newly minted attention span. I also blame my schedule. Not to worry, I will still prevail.
*maniacal laughter*
TTR: One day. Again, I say MUAHAHA.
Comments:
I feel like this book was written in a hurry, because there are quite a few places where I noticed continuity and/or typo issues.
That said, I DEVOURED this book so fast my eyes are still a little spinny. I love the world Darynda Jones creates, I love her characters, and I love her obsession with coffee.
I also love that the books are set in Albuquerque, NM, which is part of my beautiful home state.
Moreover, and this may attest to my love of the series, I've decided to hold out on reading #3 until I've finished the current draft of my novel. That's right, Third Grave Dead Ahead just became the proverbial carrot at the end of the stick.
SEGUE.
I've come to the somewhat depressing realization that, on this, the thirtieth week of the year (unless my math is wrong, which it could very well be) I have only read thirty books. That's right. I'm averaging JUST ONE BOOK A WEEK. I blame my newly minted attention span. I also blame my schedule. Not to worry, I will still prevail.
*maniacal laughter*
Twenty-Nine: THE DIABOLIST
The Diabolist, by Layton Green, 2013.
TTR: three or four days
Comments:
I read about this book on a book blog, or heard about it on a podcast, or maybe just noticed it on Amazon and decided it sounded intriguing. I can't really remember anymore.
Apparently, it is the third book in a series, but I didn't realize that until after I'd finished it. This should tell you that it works well as a standalone novel. However, perhaps the constant absinthe references would've made more sense to me if I'd read 1 and 2 first.
I liked it. It has an interesting blend of reality and the supernatural that errs on the side of realism, which is a nice break from all of the urban fantasy I've been reading (not that I don't love me some urban fantasy).
TTR: three or four days
Comments:
I read about this book on a book blog, or heard about it on a podcast, or maybe just noticed it on Amazon and decided it sounded intriguing. I can't really remember anymore.
Apparently, it is the third book in a series, but I didn't realize that until after I'd finished it. This should tell you that it works well as a standalone novel. However, perhaps the constant absinthe references would've made more sense to me if I'd read 1 and 2 first.
I liked it. It has an interesting blend of reality and the supernatural that errs on the side of realism, which is a nice break from all of the urban fantasy I've been reading (not that I don't love me some urban fantasy).
Twenty-Eight: A IS FOR ALIBI
A is for Alibi, by Sue Grafton, 1982.
TTR: one day! MUAHAHAHHAHAHA
Comments:
As you might remember from some of my earlier posts, I havean unhealthy fascination with an ongoing academic and creative writerly interest in female detectives. I wrote my Master's Thesis on them, for heaven's sake. I'm also writing a mystery and a couple of Urban Fantasy novels featuring female leads who solve conundrums of varying severity.
Somehow, despite all of that, I had never read a Sue Grafton novel (or really any semi-modern female detective novels, for that matter). This was a problem I needed to remedy, stat.
So I picked up a used, three novel omnibus of Grafton's work at the local Hastings and started setting things right.
I love Kinsey Millhone. Despite the fact that her character is old enough to be my mother, she is also a relevant and realistic (for the 80s/90s) female P.I. She is tough but still concerned with the things an actual forty-year-old woman might be concerned with. She cares but she also has had enough life experience not to be too touchy-feely or invested in other's lives.
I'm in the middle of reading B is for Burglar right now.
TTR: one day! MUAHAHAHHAHAHA
Comments:
As you might remember from some of my earlier posts, I have
Somehow, despite all of that, I had never read a Sue Grafton novel (or really any semi-modern female detective novels, for that matter). This was a problem I needed to remedy, stat.
So I picked up a used, three novel omnibus of Grafton's work at the local Hastings and started setting things right.
I love Kinsey Millhone. Despite the fact that her character is old enough to be my mother, she is also a relevant and realistic (for the 80s/90s) female P.I. She is tough but still concerned with the things an actual forty-year-old woman might be concerned with. She cares but she also has had enough life experience not to be too touchy-feely or invested in other's lives.
I'm in the middle of reading B is for Burglar right now.
Twenty-Seven: CONFESSIONS OF A FREELANCE PENMONKEY
Confessions of A Freelance Penmonkey, by Chuck Wendig, 2011.
TTR: about two days
Comments:
GO TO THIS WEBSITE, NOW: http://terribleminds.com/
BUY THE BOOKS AND FOLLOW THEIR ZANY AUTHOR ON THE TWITTERS...
Seriously, guys, it's not often that I read one book by an author and slap them into my little black book of favorite authors who will one day suffer at my hands ala Stephen King's Misery. Haha. Just kidding. I'm too busy hobbling myself so that I can't leave my desk and am forced to write my own novels. Please don't shun me, favorite authors! I promise not to go all Annie Wilkes on you. I'm not even a nurse. It does't even snow where I live, not usually.
Anyhoo.
There are few books that make me chuckle and snicker and grimace and and weep little girly tears on almost every page, and Confessions of a Freelance Penmonkey is one of them (the Bloggess' book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, is another one of those books, but I have not yet finished it 'cause I haven't actually purchased it, yet. I just read the bits I could for free on Amazon, 'cause I'm cheap like that. What? Don't look at me like that. Your eyes are like needles right now. I just graduated, I'm broke and looking for a full time job. I'M MELTING. Oh, wait, you're just giving me that look because there's an obvious solution? The library, you say? I think I might have one of those library card thingies...it's buried under the broken shells of a million Kindles, but hey, I'll give it a go).
Gurg. I've taken up too much time on crazed parenthetical rants again, haven't I? Well, here's what I said about the book on Facebook:
TTR: about two days
Comments:
GO TO THIS WEBSITE, NOW: http://terribleminds.com/
BUY THE BOOKS AND FOLLOW THEIR ZANY AUTHOR ON THE TWITTERS...
Seriously, guys, it's not often that I read one book by an author and slap them into my little black book of favorite authors who will one day suffer at my hands ala Stephen King's Misery. Haha. Just kidding. I'm too busy hobbling myself so that I can't leave my desk and am forced to write my own novels. Please don't shun me, favorite authors! I promise not to go all Annie Wilkes on you. I'm not even a nurse. It does't even snow where I live, not usually.
Anyhoo.
There are few books that make me chuckle and snicker and grimace and and weep little girly tears on almost every page, and Confessions of a Freelance Penmonkey is one of them (the Bloggess' book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, is another one of those books, but I have not yet finished it 'cause I haven't actually purchased it, yet. I just read the bits I could for free on Amazon, 'cause I'm cheap like that. What? Don't look at me like that. Your eyes are like needles right now. I just graduated, I'm broke and looking for a full time job. I'M MELTING. Oh, wait, you're just giving me that look because there's an obvious solution? The library, you say? I think I might have one of those library card thingies...it's buried under the broken shells of a million Kindles, but hey, I'll give it a go).
Gurg. I've taken up too much time on crazed parenthetical rants again, haven't I? Well, here's what I said about the book on Facebook:
Best thing I've read all day: "Remember: someone paid Shakespeare. He didn't do it 'for the love'...Shakespeare got to get paid, son." From CONFESSIONS OF A FREELANCE PEN MONKEY. |
If you're a writer, read this book. If you or someone you love knows or is a writer, read this book Yes, I sound like one of those Melanoma commercials right now. Maybe I should apply to be the voice of those commercials....
Nah.
I'm just gonna stop typing now...
Book Twenty-Six: Zen in the Art of Writing
Zen in the Art of Writing, by Ray Bradbury, 1990.
TTR: a couple of days
Comments:
This is the sort of book that could very easily end up highlighted front to back, if I had no self-restraint. It is soooooo quotable that, while I was reading it, I posted one or two quotes to Facebook a day. Yup. I finally had to cut myself off, slap my hands whenever I reached for a highlighter or facebook, and content myself with underlining in pencil.
Perhaps my favorite post and quote from the book:
TTR: a couple of days
Comments:
This is the sort of book that could very easily end up highlighted front to back, if I had no self-restraint. It is soooooo quotable that, while I was reading it, I posted one or two quotes to Facebook a day. Yup. I finally had to cut myself off, slap my hands whenever I reached for a highlighter or facebook, and content myself with underlining in pencil.
Perhaps my favorite post and quote from the book:
Feels very true (if melodramatic) of my life this summer:
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