What's up with me

Work drama/overload continues. Nothing new on that score.

Survived the G20. It was very surreal downtown in the last week, particularly on Friday. Very little foot/car traffic, the place was pretty much a ghost town (I'm talking the financial district here, which is usually bustling with activity. And there were packs of police and/or security guards everywhere.

On my way home on Friday I swung by the Eaton Centre (huge-ass 5-level mall smack in the heart of downtown), just in time for the mall to evacuated by police. Not sure what the threat was.

Of the books from the last library haul, I read the trad, skimmed a bit of the Graham Hurley book and put it down (can't remember why now) and I did start reading Precious Dragon, but while the world-building was awesome, at some point I realized just wasn't engaged, there were three separate storylines going on, and I didn't feel vested in any particular protag. If I owned this book I'd probably try reading it again, but back to the library it went.

I did however pick up another book I'd DFN'd awhile ago. The Secret To Everything, because I wanted that connection to the character and I wanted romance, but not typical romance.


The odd thing about this book is, it turned out to be a keeper. The type that has you staying up late into the night reading, and yet I still skimmed great swaths of it. There were several povs and subplot I wasn't too interested in. And while I love magical realism, it didn't quite work for me here. But I LOVED the hero. Vince is powdered sugar awesome. Hands down one of my favourite heroes ever. Deep-fried Yum, with creamy yum dipping sauce. Oddly he's one of the few characters I couldn't picture clearly. For instance from the author's discriptions I pictured the heroine as Amanda Seyfried.



And the heroine's laid-back, former hippy father as Sam Elliot.




I really liked the heroine. She was practical and confident and not perfect. Also liked hero's kids (and I'm not a big fan of kids in romance, but here the kids felt like kids, but they were also complex and not just little cardboard people that showed up to be cute and/or bratty. I'm looking forward to re-reading this one.


So I hit the library again yesterday because a Hold came in:

The Long Song by Andrea Levy.

From Publishers Weekly:
A distinctive narrative voice and a beguiling plot distinguish Levy's fifth novel (after Orange Prize–winning Small Island). A British writer of Jamaican descent, Levy draws upon history to recall the island's slave rebellion of 1832. The unreliable narrator pretends to be telling the story of a woman called July, born as the result of a rape of a field slave, but it soon becomes obvious that the narrator is July herself. Taken as a house slave when she's eight years old, July is later seduced by the pretentiously moralistic English overseer after he marries the plantation's mistress; his clergyman father has assured him that a married man might do as he pleases. Related in July's lilting patois, the narrative encompasses scenes of shocking brutality and mass carnage, but also humor, sometimes verging on farce. Levy's satiric eye registers the venomous racism of the white characters and is equally candid in relating the degrees of social snobbery around skin color among the blacks themselves, July included. Slavery destroys the humanity of everyone is Levy's subtext, while the cliffhanger ending suggests (one hopes) a sequel.


Also picked up:

What's Yours Is Mine

Like a princess in a fairytale, Grace Hamilton has been showered with blessings: professional success, a happy marriage, and she even lives in a beautiful castle. But the only thing she really wants - her heart's desire - is the one thing she can never have. Her sister, the beautiful Susannah, has made a mess of her life. Like a reverse Midas, everything she touches turns to shit. But the Fate puts Grace's future in Susannah's hands, changing the balance of power between the sisters forever.


The Red Necklace

From Booklist:
*Starred Review* A Gypsy boy, Yann, and the dwarf who has raised him are caught up in drama on and off the stage, where they work with a magician and his automaton. Outside their Parisian theater, revolution is beginning to boil. Inside, the magician is murdered by the villainous Count Kallovski, who has Yann in his sights as well. So begins a finely crafted tale that crosses years and crisscrosses countries, as Yann becomes a young man with a mission: to save the lovely Sido from her heartless father, even as he struggles with the extraordinary gifts bestowed upon him by his Gypsy heritage. If the success of historical fiction depends on how well setting and story mesh, this is a very successful book, indeed. Gardner sweeps readers into a turbulent time, dissecting eighteenth-century French society and the evolution of the revolution, from a yearning for liberty to a chaotic bloodbath. The history becomes personal when seen through the eyes of an astoundingly rich, carefully drawn cast, whose lives are interwoven like pieces of string in an elaborate cat’s cradle. Scores are waiting to be settled on every page; this is a heart-stopper. Grades 9-12.

And I Can See You Now. I started this one last night and stay up pretty late reading it. Karen Rose is one my favourite romanantic-suspense writers and it looks like she's written another winner.


From Publishers Weekly
Virtual reality meets bloody reality in bestseller Rose's spine-tingling 10th thriller, which introduces the Minneapolis PD's Hat Squad, whose members earn snappy fedoras for successfully fighting crime. Almost six years have passed since Eve Wilson, a former runaway introduced in Rose's debut, Don't Tell (2003), moved from Chicago to the Twin Cities after a vicious assault. Plastic surgery has improved her looks, and she's begun researching a Web role-playing game, Shadowland, and how it can be used to build self-esteem. Eve also connects with a homicide detective investigating the Red Dress Killer, who finds some victims through Shadowland. Samantha Altman is the killer's first victim, but she's not identified until the second, Martha Brisbane, is found. When Eve learns Martha was a fellow research participant, she becomes a Hat Squad confidential informant. Rose keeps the action popping as the psycho claims more lives, hoping to add Eve to his list.


Currently playing the waiting game on the werewolf book and thinking about the next story I'd like to write--which should be book two of the werewolf series, but that book was such a grind I need a break.

Catch up

Time to change my pen name to Vanessa Van Winkle, ya think?

Surprisingly, I've been making more progress than I thought. I updated the writing meter for the revisions/additions and it's up to 7k. It's actually more when you consider that I cut out a sh*tload of over-writing and still ended up with a higher net word count (so far). That's all I'll say on the writing, or I'll start whining, and that won't be pretty.

As for that horrible bug I picked up over a week ago, I seemed to have gotten over the worst of it, thank god. I was sick of being sick and really begining to wonder how it was possible to produce so much snot and still be upright. [/gross out] Plus with a last minute project dumped on the department, I didn't really have the option of taking time off but that meant I was doubly worn out by the time I got home in the evenings.

Anywho....

So I dug into the TBR pile again and pulled up Ender's Game.




Product Description from Amazon:

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

What a fantastic book!! I'm almost done but don't foresee it book falling apart at this point. I really love the character og Ender, and I love the deft yet bare-bones/subtle world building. Not sure if I'll continue with the series because there is an overall sense of, I dunno-- bleakness? futility?--to the story. Yeah, I'm a wuss for the hopeful/in-a-better-place ending, if not the happy one. :-P (

btw, over on Amazon I noticed that the author had a 'response' to some of the negative reviews posted. While his response was level-headed/calm, it also felt slightly 'lecturing' and wholly unnecessary, imo, given that out of 2,669 reviews(!!!), 2,118 of them were 5 star, 323 were 4 star. I really don't think authors can win this one. Unless you're correcting a point of fact, you gotta let people have their opinions, right, wrong, hateful, ignorant or indifferent, just walk away from the keyboard. *my opinion* on his response is in the minority, since 434 out of 456 found his comment helpful. *g* Still giving thumbs waay for this one. I feel like digging up my old copy of Lord of the Flies now.

btw part 2: I know some peeps don't care for rec's that are little more than 'I loved this book!!' and the synopsis, without an analytical breakdown of why the reader (me in this case) loved the book. Well... I'm lazy. lol. Plus I tend to be more analytical about why a book didn't work, while, if it did work, I respond on a more emotional level. Taking into account that I read a lot--with many book either 'mehs' or DFNs, if I make the effort to post about a book, take that as a bona fide handstand, shout-it-from-the-rooftops recommendation.

Interesting Books

I skimmed through an email from Amazon this morning and came across this recommendation:

Beautiful Creatures:

Blurb:There were no surprises in Gatlin County.

We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.

At least, that's what I thought.

Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

There was a curse.

There was a girl.

And in the end, there was a grave.

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Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.



Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

I ran across this review while googling for a pic of the book cover, it doesn't get into the story/character development analysis much, but it's definitely a ringing endorsement.

Happy Today

Why?

Well, I'm not at work! I know both my coworkers intend to go back into the office this weekend, but I'd rather bust my a$$ motoring straight through an extra long workday during the week and keep my home *work-free* rather than bring work home or, in the case of one coworker who lives in condo a 10 min walk away) go home, then come back to the office.

So I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

...to do laundry, grocery shopping and housework. *g*

But I'm also happy because after being in what feels like an eternal slump for months, I read two books back to back that I really enjoyed. (Ahhh, now my fellow readers understand the scope of my joy.) Not perfect reads, I had my quibbles with both, but still just loved the time I spent with both sets of heroes/heroines.


Kristin Higgin's Fools Rush In


This is has been languishing in the tbr pile since it's release (in 2006?). I love KH's voice, but she's one of those authors I can't read back to back or the similarities between books becomes too apparent.

Also, while i know she's marketed as contemporary romance, *to me* she's not. She writes woman's fiction with a strong romance. In this case about 300 pages of the almost 400 page book was about the heroine settling back into her small Cape Cod town after years away at University/med school and her self-improvement plans (the usual hair/make-up/weight loss/fix-up new home, establish career thang)--plans which tie-in very neatly to her bigger plans of landing her high school crush.

Who's not the hero. In fact, Millie's pursuit of Joe Carpenter falls pretty much into the realm of 'stalking'. Seriously. The author skirts the border of making the heroine unlikeable because of this, but aside from this touch of madness, the heroine is such a good egg, you can't help but like her. And the hero is just a real stand-up guy. What you would want in a real-life hero, not the fantasy hero-types you read in romance books. KH does a bang-up job showing the easy bond/caring/friendship between the heroine/hero before the romance really kicks in. Good thing, since he's her ex-brother-in-law. KH makes it work though! I totally believe that the HEA for these two will last.


The next book I read, I finished in 24hrs (stayed up till 5am this morning to finish!). Rachel Gibson's True Confessions, is definitely more of a straight contemporary romance, although there is a bigger story surrounding the core romance.


I loved the heroine and the hero. They were both distinctive, layered, imperfect and strong, and a really good match for each other. Loved their banter/witticism, and the sexual tension? Whoo baby! This is how it's done. Reminded me of some ol skool Linda Howard. I've missed reading build-up like this. I like the money-shot/pay off scene as much as the next reader, but the tease/foreplay/build is just so much more interesting/fun.

What I also enjoyed about this book is, I read RG's See Jane Score (I think it was her first book) and I a bunch more of her book in the tbr pile but haven't read them yet, but I could see that RG has taken her writing to another level with this latest release. I thought See Jane Score was great, but her writing in this book is just so much better.


I just love when a (favourite) author *gets better*, because it doesn't always happen. Sometime they stay at the same level re plotting, characterization, word-smithing, and in some instances that's fine. Whatever you loved about them, you still love.

But sometimes it's not, because you saw the 'rough diamond' of their work and kept reading in anticipation of that polishing and refining of writing skills. Gets frustrating when that doesn't happen, especially when the rough edges are things you might feel should/could be dealt with if just a little more attention/care were applied.

Worse scenario is, when it seems like they've regress (burn out? Not enough time to polish/flesh-out their work? Less attention given on the editorial end? Change of genre/publisher?) whatever the reason it's always disappointing.

Kinda got of track there, a little, didn't I? Well as long as I have rambled off topic I'll add that the last thing that's got me chuffed is, reading good books makes me want to be a better writer and to that end, I'm off to deal with the wip.

Library Grab-bag

Raine had a great post up at Southern Fried Chica's on Friday on the possible ways the current economy might affect the publishing industry and individual purchasing habits. One of the things I mentioned in the comments was that I was using the library more.

Unfortunately for me, my (new) library isn't that big on paperbacks, and by extent romances (three measly shelves on one bookcase in a three storey building!) So I've been reading more fiction/hardbacks with mixed results.

Today's haul:


Mercedes Lackey's THE GATES OF SLEEP (This one is a paperback, and my first book by this author. Dang! Just checked Amazon for the link and this is book 2 in a what looks like a fabulous series!)

Synopsis from Publisher's Weekly:

Putting a fresh face to a well-loved fairytale is not an easy task, but it is one that seems effortless to the prolific Lackey, best known for her Valdemar series (Arrows of the Queen, etc.). In a brilliant twist, the author sets the classic story of Sleeping Beauty in Edwardian England, imbuing her characters with the power of elemental magic, including the cursed child herself, Marina Roeswood.

In an uninvited visit to her christening, Marina's evil aunt, Arachne, arrives in a puff of smoke and delivers a deadly curse, which is mitigated by the blessing of a family friend who imparts one last gift on the baby.... For more info check Amazon.


Colin Bateman's DRIVING BIG DAVIE (also a paperback and my first by this author. I like Guy Ritchie's movies and this sounded like a classic GR story.)

Back cover copy: Dan Starkey - journalist of il repute, international man of inaction--is happily reunited with his wife Patricia and determined to keep out of trouble.

But the sudden death of punk icon Joe Strummer and the impending nuptias of his old friend Davie Kincaid combine to send him off on an American Odyssey. Or extended stag night.

But, Dan, with fantasies of Florida sun, sea and girls, is in for a rude awakening which involves a massive deception, mayhem, violence, robbery, Al Capone's gold and a very severe case of sunburn.




Emma Darcy's THE PLAYBOY BOSS'S CHOSEN BRIDE (obviously a pb. I'm sure I've read something by ED in the past. This one sounds like fun).



Synopsis: Jake Devila is hugely successful and women love him—with the exception of his assistant, Merlina. Jake adores getting under Merlina's oh-so-professional skin and stirring the passion that simmers beneath.

Merlina wants Jake, but she knows he prefers skinny blondes to curvy brunettes like her. Enough is enough! Suddenly Merlina sees her chance to teach her boss a lesson and show him what he's been missing….



Markus Zusak's I AM THE MESSENGER (YA Hardback) This one showed up as a suggested reading by Amazon.com one day when I was over there nosying around. I put it on hold at the library and the whole reason I went to the library today was to pick it up. I'll probably start it tonight. (Hmmm...I think I'll have to read this guy's entire backlist; his other books sound pretty cool too.)
Synopsis: Nineteen-year-old cabbie Ed Kennedy has little in life to be proud of: his dad died of alcoholism, and he and his mom have few prospects for success. He has little to do except share a run-down apartment with his faithful yet smelly dog, drive his taxi, and play cards and drink with his amiable yet similarly washed-up friends.

Then, after he stops a bank robbery, Ed begins receiving anonymous messages marked in code on playing cards in the mail, and almost immediately his life begins to swerve off its beaten-down path. Usually the messages instruct him to be at a certain address at a certain time. So with nothing to lose, Ed embarks on a series of missions as random as a toss of dice: sometimes daredevil, sometimes heartwarmingly safe.

He rescues a woman from nightly rape by her husband. He brings a congregation to an abandoned parish. The ease with which he achieves results vacillates between facile and dangerous, and Ed's search for meaning drives him to complete every task. But the true driving force behind the novel itself is readers' knowledge that behind every turn looms the unknown presence - either good or evil - of the person or persons sending the messages.




Jimmy Buffett's SWINE NOT? (Hardback). The photo on the cover was eye-catching. The blurb sounded like fun.


Synopsis: When Southern belle Ellie McBride moves her twins from Vertigo, Tennessee to New York City, they wouldn't dream of leaving behind the family pig Rumpy.

But the posh hotel where Ellie has found work (and living space) has "No Pets" writ large on its portal. So hiding Rumpy from the hotel staff---especially the ultra-carnivorous hotel chef, who would like nothing better than to transform their pet into pork roast---becomes imperative.






MASTER OF THE DELTA by Thomas H. Cook. (hardback). Liked the title, blurb sounded interesting, so I grabbed it.




Synopsis: "...examines the slow collapse of a prominent Southern family in this magnificent tale of suspense set in 1954.

Jack Branch, who's returned to his hometown of Lakeland, Miss., and taken a job at the same high school where his father once taught, is dismayed to learn that one of his students in his class on historical evil is the son of the town's infamous Coed Killer.

Eddie Miller's father confessed to torturing and killing a local girl when Eddie was five, but died in jail before he could stand trial. Hoping to help Eddie step out of his father's shadow, Jack proposes that the boy write a research paper on the Coed Killer. Eddie is soon immersed in the project, which grows in scope until it encompasses the entire town's sordid past...."

Checking In

Sorry for the absence, I'm still getting over this stupid, stupid cold. I'm like a phlegm farm. yuk. Aside from that, in the last couple of days I've been spending time with some long time bestfriends (a different friend each day). I REALLY needed that time-- it's like going back to the well, filling up on support, love, laughter. Nothing like it, especially when with peeps you've known you since you were kids (definitely more than half you life).

I did manage to get in some good reading (not even attempting my usual half-assed reviewed, suffice it to say that I loved the following books enough to recommend them).

Lynn Viehl's Evermore:


Loved it! Twilight Falls is next up.

I'm very late to this party, but finally read Memoires of a Geisha.



What a fantastic read! Historical type fiction with a romance subplot, that takes place in Asian, is a favourite genre/subgenre of mine-- so this book pushed that pleasure button dead-on for me.

A Note on Characterization & a Book Recommendation

I’m reading TEN THOUSAND LOVERS by Edeet Ravel and loving it. I’ve missed my stop on the subway three times in the two days since I’ve started the book. Synopsis:

Israel, 1970s. Lily, a young emigrant student exploring the wonders and terrors of her new land, finds the man of her dreams -- Ami, a former actor. Handsome, intelligent, and exciting, but like his beautiful, disintegrating country, Ami has a terrible flaw -- he is an army interrogator.

As Ami and Lily's unexpected passion grows, so too does the shadow that hangs over them. They must face the unspeakable horrors of Ami's work and their uncertain future.

While set in the '70s, Ten Thousand Lovers is a brilliant and terrifyingly contemporary tale of passion, suffering, and the transcending power of love.


And here's a real review (because I suck at them).

I’m only about a 1/3 of the way through, but unless this thing slips on a character/plot banana peel and goes tips over ass into a story mud-hole, it’s a keeper. The author’s voice is elegant and engaging and the characters likable and intriguing. There’s something in the language that reminds me of Judith Ivory. This is not a romance, though. It’s a love story/fiction. So I’m not expecting an HEA, and the love scenes are definitely fade to black/closed door. I wish they weren’t. I like the straightforward fresh way these scenes are handled.

The story flips back and forth seamlessly in time with the ‘older’ heroine talking of the time in the 70s when she met and fell in love with Ami. She’s also writing a book/memoir of that time and she’s a linguist so the reader finds the book is pepper with references to linguistic antecedents of the Hebrew and Arabic languages.

The exploration of language is important here, because you have a heroine who isn’t quite comfortable, or fluent with the language, and the hero, an interrogator, who uses language as his tool. She’s constantly asking clarification, of words and meaning and also asking many questions of him and his work. She also young (19/20yrs?) so this constant naiveté and gaucheness of the things she says/asks goes towards character.

For the hero’s characterization, there's a part in the book where the heroine notes-
‘…for Ami sex was tied in to conversation. He never stopped making conversation, even when he was on the verge of coming, or when I was. Mostly the conversation was related to what was going on: a running commentary on what he was feeling, observing, noticing. For example: ‘

And there follows 2 pages (no paragraphs) of stream of consciousness from the hero pre, mid and post, coitus. It’s funny, and also a bit erotic (in a somewhat clinical sense) since he’s is giving a narrative of their loving making. But here’s the hat trick, in a subsequent scene, the hero tells the heroine he’s just completed a 67 hour interrogation:

"What took sixty-two hours?" I asked him, in the car.
"The interrogation."

....Then a little later in the conversation,

"What did you do?"
"Talked to him."
"You talked? That's all? You didn't hit him?"
"I don't hit prisoners."

Wow. See that? The author had previously shown that the hero has been able to extract information for the heroine, whether by cajoling or by being a little ‘scary’, (even though he always presents this as being for her own good, and given his line of work, and her lack of sophistication, we can accept this), but the anecdote about the lovemaking was a brilliant stroke of characterization imo, because it truly shows that the hero *is who he is*, an interrogator. It's not just a job. He doesn’t turn it off.

I remember when I used to play the viola (junior high), my fingers were always running scales, or going through the movements of a peice, when I didn’t have my instrument in my hand. On my desk, my leg, the strap of my bag, anywhere there was a (semi)solid surface. Everyone else I knew in the orchestra/band had the same habit. That little mannerism marked us as musicians. It’s a tell and it goes towards characterization. Ami’s habit of narrating their loving making was one of his tells. Very effective taken with the random points of questioning he subjected the heroine to and the adroit way he evaded answering her own very pointed questions.

Writers should remember those tells.

Back to the book. Love the characters. Love the history and sense of setting, place, and love the tidbits of info in regards to the development of the Hebrew language. Didn't care too for when the author gets a bit too deep in the politics. I've got another 150 pages to read, so I'll probably pop into the comments of this post to give my final verdict.



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Am I the only one who didn't know about this page?

Dikipedia

lol @ some of the names.

Gotta to admit I was a little disappointed....

it wasn't exactly what I expected.

And here I thought I'd hit the motherlode. ;-P


**Totally work-safe. It really isn't what you think.


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