I'm organizing a book fair at work this week and happened to see a copy of The Hitchihker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I've only ever read a borrowed copy before! So I picked it up, and will reread it on Saturday, towel in hand.
Actually, to be perfectly honest, I'm only rereading it so I can finally get Neil Gaiman's Don't Panic!...
I've been reading a lot, which is wonderful, but still procrastinating like there's a thousand tomorrows on the editing front (hello, ROW80 goals falling by the wayside).
Author Joe Hill has a morning To Do List of 5 Items. The same five items every morning:
Write 1000 words, "read a poem, take my Paxil, gobble down a New York Times article, walk the dog."
I like the idea of reading a poem a day, as well as the New York Times (I don't currently have a dog or a prescription). Writing 1000 words would be fun! But what I really need to do is EDIT that many words. Sigh.
Back to reading!
Dorothy Parker in From Writers at Work, the Paris Review interviews, published 1957 (yes, another book fair find!): "And Harold Ross, the New Yorker editor. ... He had a profound ignorance. On one of Mr. Benchley's manuscripts he wrote in the margin opposite 'Andromache', 'Who he?' Mr. Benchley wrote back, 'You keep out of this.'"
I love that 'who he?' line that editors used to use. Also love the author being snarky back to the editor.
And now... drum roll... The winner of the ebook of James Forrester's The Roots of Betrayal is:
First up are two new releases by James Forrester and C C Humphreys.
I was lucky enough to feature an interview with James Forrester last autumn, on the release of the first book in his Elizabethan conspiracy series, Sacred Treason.
The second installment in the trilogy, The Roots of Betrayal, is now published in North America!
"It's 1564, and Clarenceux has been entrusted to protect a dangerous document, containing a secret so powerful that it could challenge Queen Elizabeth's legitimacy on the throne.
When the document is goes missing, Clarenceux suspects an underground society known as the Knights of the Round Table. With England on the verge of a bloody conflict, Clarenceux's determination to protect the Queen (and his own life) takes him from the dungeons in the Tower of London to the high seas (with a roguish captain inspired by the real Elizabethan adventurer Peter Carew).
With Forrester's mix of vibrant history and edge-of-your seat plot twists, Clarenceux discovers a shocking conspiracy, and is forced to confront personal questions of loyalty and love, faith and fear."
"James Forrester captures the sights, smells and dangers of Tudor England and tells a gripping story." -- Philippa Gregory
"No one can create a sense of historical space as convincingly as [Forrester] does." -- The Daily Telegraph
I almost feel guilty reviewing this book because I enjoyed it so much both as a story and as research - if only all research could be as exciting as this! My historicals are set one hundred years before this time frame, but I don't think day-to-day life had changed all that much - yet. Forrester's detailed descriptions of London and seaside towns in England, down to the sights and smells on an ordinary village street, are so vivid that I felt I was walking directly beside Clarenceaux, or Carew.
For those who've read the first book, Raw Carew is an intriguing new character that appears in this second installment; a daredevil captain with his own system of honour, whom the reader can't help empathising with.
A sense of honour is woven throughout the story, in fact, as each character struggles to do what they think is best for their country, their family, and the friends they value. Clarenceaux's internal struggles give an added weight to the fast pace of events, as he attempts to reconcile his feelings for Rebecca and his desire to protect his marriage - put to the test when he finds out exactly what sort of secrets his wife has been keeping from him.
I won't give away what happens, but if you're looking to dive into a historical novel, no matter your favourite period, move this one to the top of your list.
One lucky commenter on this post will win a copy of The Roots of Betrayal!
Also, if you're in England at the end of the summer, here's your chance to meet James Forrester in person!
Actor and author C C Humphreys also has a historical novel out this month in North America (yes some of these books are already available in England. Unfair, no?)!
"Meet the real Jack Absolute – not the comic captain from Sheridan's play The Rivals. Meet the Redcoat. The Mohawk. The Lover. The Spy."
"The year is 1777. As the war for American independence rages across the sea, London is swept off its feet by Jack Absolute, the dashing rogue in Richard Sheridan's comedy The Rivals. That is, until the real Jack Absolute, former captain of the 16th Light Dragoons, returns after years abroad to discover this slander of his reputation.
Before he can even protest, he is embroiled in a duel over an alluring actress of questionable repute, and his only escape is the one he most dreads: to be pressed again into the King's service—this time, as a spy for the British in the Revolutionary War.
From the streets of London to the bloody battlefields of Saratoga, from the forest fights to the Hudson to the seedy corners of wintry Philadelphia, Jack Absolute marks the exhilarating beginning of an epic historical series and a character you won't soon forget."
Don't you love it when a novel introduces you to characters that you can follow elsewhere? My favourite part of this novel was a plot twist I can't mention for fear it's a spoiler, but my other favourite is being able to discover Sheridan's play - I've only ever read Rochester when it comes to Restoration-era-and-after writing.
Jack Absolute is a grand introduction to a dashing character - but don't take my word for it:
"An absolute delight! Swashbuckling adventure, eighteenth century wit, hugely entertaining plots, and one of the most appealing military gentlemen ever to wear a sword.”" -- Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander and Lord John Grey series.
In jump-up-and-down news, I've just discovered that Humphreys has also written a book called A Place Called Armaggedon: Constantinople 1453. Looks like an Amazon order is in my near future!
I'm really excited to announce that Barbara Rogan's Café Nevo is being reissued as an ebook and in paperback!
"CAFÉ NEVO is a Tel Aviv gathering place for artists, politicians, lovers, and Bohemians—both Arabs and Jews, young and old, conservative and radical. Nevo is presided over by Emmanual Sternholz, the waiter whose unblinking gaze takes in the tangled web of destinies and desires spun out around him. In this comic, tragic, and compelling mosaic of intertwined lives, Barbara Rogan has created a dazzling work of fiction—and a marvelously illuminating mirror of Israel in its pioneering heyday."
I started the book on a Sunday and finished on Monday morning - I'd have finished Sunday night but I knew I was reading too quickly and wanted to savour it just a little longer!
I love books that you can't put down - I know we all say this, and some of my friends think I read everything just because I'm willing to devote time to fellow authors' books no matter what the genre - but it really only happens to me once or twice a year, if that (and usually with YA - the last two books I devoured in one sitting were John Green's The Fault In Our Stars and Amanda Howells' The Summer of Skinny Dipping).
If I could write a book about real people, Café Nevo is just the sort I'd love to write - vaguely omniscient, theatre-like in its being centred on one location (and where the location is as real as the characters), and with threads running through all the characters even when they don't realise it. Also love some of the similes and analogies, especially the 'natural pun' of how the main events in one character's life always seem to be reflected on in one location. Also this: "Too late he learned that couches were anathema in a married home, for, like new weapons systems, they demanded use." One other aspect I enjoyed - the unexplained mysteriousness of a certain character's ability to draw on the past, literally; I like it when otherwise everyday-world books have a hint of something other.
Plus Rogan got back cover blurbs from Madeleine l'Engle and Alan Sillitoe. Wow.
One more book I have to mention - I got to read the sequel to Linda Grimes' In A Fix:
"The second installment of the original urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan
Ciel Halligan, an aura adaptor with a chameleon-like ability to step into the lives of her clients and fix their problems for them — as them — is working a job at the National Zoo with her boyfriend, Billy, and his ten-year-old sister, Molly. It's supposed to be a quick fix, giving her time to decide if it's wise to pursue the romantic relationship her charming scoundrel of a best friend wants, or if she should give Mark, the CIA spook she's crushed on since hormones first rattled her pubescent brain, a chance to step up to the plate.
Molly has already begun to show signs of being an adaptor herself. She's young for it, but she's always been precocious, so it's not impossible. What is impossible is her taking on the form of the baby orangutan she touches — adaptors can only project human auras. Until now, apparently. Worse, Molly is stuck in ape form. She can't change herself back.
Escaping from the zoo with their new baby orang, Ciel and Billy head for NYC and the only person they know can help: Ciel's brother James, a non-adaptor scientist who's determined to crack the aura adaptor genetic code. But when Billy winds up in jail, accused of attempted murder, Ciel begins to suspect Molly's unusual adapting ability is more than just a fluke. Who's been experimenting on Molly, and what do they hope to gain? And will Ciel survive to find out?"
Quick Fix is just as exciting as the first book, and Ciel is as irrepressible as ever! And, of course, the two guys are... well, you'll have to discover them yourself.
Another new release this month: Tiffany Allee - who was one of my Revising Fiction Workshop colleagues! - has a new book coming out: Don't Bite the Bridesmaid!
"Alice Shepard needs one thing: a date for her sister’s wedding. And not just any date. A hunk who will make her fiancé rue the day he left her for her best friend. Her drop-dead gorgeous neighbor fits the bill—even if he is a bit quirky and never comes out during the day—and Alice has downed just enough appletinis to ask him. But she makes it quite clear that there will be no funny business.
Spending a week on a cruise ship full of humans while sleeping close to his sexy next-door neighbor sounds like a helluva bad idea to vampire Noah Thorpe. But his friends need time to get him out of a shotgun wedding—a vampire bonding that will tie his fate to a female vampire he’s never met. And Alice’s offer comes at just the right time.
What could possibly go wrong?"
Get a free review copy of Don't Bite the Bridesmaidhere!
While I'm reviewing, I should mention that I finally finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo. If I'd read it in English, I'd have barrelled through it - reading in the original French, and reading only on the commute to and from work, forced me to read slowly, something I am not accustomed to. I ended up rereading bits here and there because I was forgetting - especially over a weekend - what exactly had happened.
Possibly because Dickens is in English, and I can read at my usual pace, I don't find some of the 19th Century storytelling conventions as jarring in his work as I did in The Count of Monte Cristo - speaking especially of the vagueness of some character interactions, and the fact that we're not even in the main character's point of view for many - many! - chapters at a time, even in scenes that focus on his choices.
On the other hand, I did love the story. I love the ending. And I think it's hilarious that so many tropes have been spawned by this one book.
Why is this post so long you ask, and where is my ROW80 check in? Well, you see, as part of my ROW80 prerogative to revamp my goals any time I see fit, I'm going to attempt to drop to one blog post per week.
Last year around this time I came up with a brand new schedule that worked wonders for my progress and motivation. It's been a year now, and I think the schedule, in all its variations, has run its course.
I need something new! I need something that will keep me motivated and on-task for editing. I feel like drafting a new story, but that's a cop out. I need to edit the ones I already have! Any motivational tips will be very much appreciated.
1. What's your favourite cancelled television show?
A lot of the old British ones. The Young Ones, Father Ted, Blackadder... Or is that not quite what you meant by cancelled?
2. Which show do you wish would get cancelled?
Well, I do wish music channels played more videos and fewer reality shows...
3. If you could meet any author, who would it be?
All of them? No, seriously, dead = Tolkien. Living = Neil Gaiman (at the moment, but I'd make a fool of myself with any author)
4. If you could relive high school, would you?
Relive how? With my current brain? I might. Just think, all that uninterrupted reading time...
5. Why would you want/not want to relive high school?
See above re: reading time. And with my current brain, I'd be a lot more outgoing.
"...the members of The Babysitter's Club girls, Hermione and Jo March; I'd also love to be friends with Anne Shirley, Prince Caspian, and Anna Solden of Jean Little's From Anna. I'd like to know Luthien as well, not to mention Lord John Grey and Peter Wimsey. Then there's Calvin and Meg from A Wrinkle in Time, James Qwilleran of the Cat Who books... It seems that rather than a best friend, I'd like an entire group!"
7. What do you like best about writing/blogging?
Writing - I love the high of drafting, discovering characters and a story right in the moment of being born, and following the twists and turns and serendipitousness of their creation.
Blogging - all of you guys! The fun and excitement of friendliness.
8. How would you like to spend your summer vacation?
I'm currently fantasising about going to Turkey this summer. Unless someone invents the Star Trek transporter already, this will remain a fantasy. Plane tickets start at 1400$, before tax. All I want is a sandy beach...
I've got to share seven things about myself!
1. I'm a pile of opposites: I cringe at the thought of public speaking, but don't mind a conference or interview around a board table; I love email and face to face interaction but will avoid the phone whenever possible. And I don't even know why!
I'm supposed to reveal ten things about myself, so I'll tack three on to the list above:
8. I don't like mushrooms. There, I said it.
9. I've donated to a couple of Kickstarter projects just for the thrill of, if the project hits the big time, being able to say "I was there when..."
10. I've invented the word 'fussling' to describe the all over petting/eating/back rubbing/kissing I give to my cats at least once a day. Can easily be applied to any pet, not just cats, though.
I'm going to be one of those freewheelers and say, if the award catches your eye, go ahead and nab it! But, okay, one catch: each of the above awards is now linked to this one as well:
I have to report epic fail on the ROW80 front. I even got some feedback on a short story and still haven't edited it. ALL my motivation for editing seems to have evaporate, and now it's cold and rainy so not even the outdoors are an excuse. That's it! I'm going to start drafting something new, and see if I can't get a spring in my step again.
What're your foolproof methods for kickstarting your mojo?
A year ago saw the debut launch of Ripper, My Love by Glynis Smy. Today, the sequel makes its presence known:Ripped Genes.
Ripped Genes will be at a special launch price of 99c(77p approx) for the ebook version, until end of May.
The descriptive blurb holds a spoiler for those who have not read the first book. If you would like to read Ripper, My Love first, then contact Glynis at: glynissmy at outlook dot com, and put FREE BOOK PLEASE in the subject line. You will be sent a code for Smashwords, where you can download a copy in any format you please. This offer will finish at the end of May, so spread the word. Growing up in late nineteenth century East London,
Kitty Harper’s life is filled with danger and death – from her mother, her
beloved neighbour and the working women
of the streets ... Read more.
The author has lived for eight years in Cyprus. Her historical novels carry a twist in the tale, and she creates strong female characters who struggle in life. In June 2013, Glynis returns to her hometown, Harwich, Essex, in the UK, where she will gain inspiration for her next novel, The Man in Room Eighteen. Find Glynis on: Twitter: @ghunibee Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glynissmyauthor Glynis also runs a site where she showcases (not reviews) books for authors. It is free of charge, with no catch: New Book Blogger (not just for newly published books). She actively encourages self-published authors to submit to the blog.
Congratulations, Glynis!
In the face of all that excitement, I'm almost ashamed to check in for ROW80 - I haven't even checked in on the Goals threads on the Forum lately (though there are some wonderful writers' exercises going on!).
The one thing I can say is that I've been reading a lot, and am hoping that this will continue to fire up the inspiration and eagerness part of my mind - the way it did last week. Love it when short stories appear out of the blue!
I've won two blog awards and will be passing them on soon!
The trouble is, it's too lovely out - averaging 25 degrees Celsius all week, and sunshine galore!
Here're a few glimpses from recent weekends:
Images from Cornwall, Ontario
Old-timey Guinness ad about a drinking mouse!
Chicago, Montreal, Canadiens Fan Zone, and Montreal's milk bottle
The playoffs are here!
Random statue of Queen Victoria (well, her location isn't random, but me adding this photo in here is!)
View of Montreal looking down from the mountain (near Queen Victoria Hospital (yup, that's where the statue was))
Voyageur Provincial Park entrance
Voyageur Provincial Park resident (look for the darker green in the lower-left of the photo)
nd now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
A to Z was amazing!
Thank you to Arlee, to Alex, to Matthew, to everyone who made it possible.
I thought, naively, that scheduling my posts would mean more free time for editing. Of course it didn't work that way, both because I didn't schedule as many posts in advance as I should have, and because commenting on others' posts was so much fun.
And I've reached 400 followers! Thanks so much to all of you, new and old. Makes me giddy just thinking that so many people are reading!
Despite ROW80 and having signed up for CampNaNo, I barely got any editing done in the past couple of weeks. I'm at the point where I keep revising the first chapter or two of Druid's Moon, and can't seem to move beyond that. So much tweaking. But I'm also rereading Book 6 of the History of Middle-earth, which includes many of Tolkien's drafts for the first few chapters of The Lord of the Rings - not only did they take him nearly a year to write (and this is just the drafting!) but they're so... well, basic, that it gives me hope, knowing the tightly-woven masterpieces he achieved in the end, with diligent and careful editing.
I also feel a little less guilty because I wrote a short story in one sitting last week! I was reading the third book in the collected Sandman series (Neil Gaiman strikes again!) and there was a throwaway line of a story idea: inheriting a library card from the library at Alexandria.
So I wrote the story!
I have other exciting news but first, two notices of passing... In the past couple of weeks, author E. L. Konigsburg and actress Deanna Durbin have passed away. I had no idea Deanna Durbin was still alive, in fact. She's been retired from the public eye for years, apparently, living in the French countryside. I wouldn't even have known who she was, if it hadn't been for Beatrice Thurman Hunter's wonderful Booky trilogy, about growing up in Toronto during the Depression.
There's probably no need to say anything about E. L. Konigsburg. Every single one of her books is genius. When I heard that she'd passed away, I went and splurged on Amazon, buying the five books I hadn't read yet. So far I've read the two short story collections Throwing Shadows and Altogether One At A Time. Like I said, genius. She nails point of view and voice and plot twist in ways I aspire to.
Speaking of editing and writerly aspirations, I'm pleased to feature Jessica Bell today!
Too many adverbs and clichés in your writing? I've got just the fix for you.
by Jessica Bell
Writers constantly have rules thrown at them left, right, and center. Show, don't tell! Stop using so many dialogue tags! More sensory detail! More tension! Speed up the pace! Yada yada yada ... it can become overwhelming, yes? I used to feel overwhelmed by it all too. In fact, I still do sometimes. It's hard enough to get the words on the page, let alone consider how to put them there.
In Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, she says that in order not to be overwhelmed, a writer needs to focus on short assignments. She refers to the one-inch picture frame on her desk and how that little picture frame reminds her to focus on bite-sized pieces of the whole story. Basically, if you focus on one small thing at a time, the story will eventually come together to create a whole. I believe the same applies to learning the craft of writing. If writers focus on one aspect of the craft at a time, the process will seem less daunting and piece by piece it will come together.
My name's Jessica Bell, and my own struggles with feeling overwhelmed inspired me to write the Writing in a Nutshell Series of pocket-sized writing guides. So you can learn to hone your craft in bite-sized, manageable pieces. In the first book of the series, I focused on demonstrating how to transition "telling" into "showing." In Adverbs & Clichés in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions of Adverbs & Clichés into Gourmet Imagery, I deal with another of the most common criticisms aspiring writers face: to absolutely avoid adverbs and clichés like the plague. But see, right now, I just used one of each. I also used a couple in the first two paragraphs of this post because they come naturally, and we utilize them frequently in everyday speech. But in fiction, too many adverbs and clichés weaken your prose. It's considered "lazy writing", because it means we don’t have to show what’s happening.
If your manuscript has too many adverbs and clichés, it most likely means that the emotion you felt while writing it is not going to translate to the reader in the same way. So how exactly can we approach the subversion of adverbs and clichés? For starters, play around with simile and metaphor when you’re trying to convey emotion, and for action, use strong verbs to show it happening in real time.
The key? Think smaller details rather than the bigger picture. Need some help and inspiration?
“Jessica Bell's latest pocket guide, Adverbs & Clichés in a Nutshell, will inspire you to leave bland behind and pursue your creative best. With force and clarity, she demonstrates how adverbs and clichés hobble vibrant writing. She then marks a course toward unique expression and provides workouts that will help writers at every level develop a distinctive voice.” ~Laurel Garver, freelance editor, author of Never Gone and Muddy-Fingered Midnights
Australian-native contemporary fiction author and poet, Jessica Bell, also makes a living as an editor and writer for global ELT publishers (English Language Teaching), such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning.
Then there are updates from astronaut Commander Hadfield! Here's his April Fool's Day joke. All the photos he's posted are free to use. "Please just credit NASA" he says. Also this: "A thought - maybe some of these pictures would be useful on Wikipedia to show how places really look. Please add to Wiki pages if they help."
On other days, he tells us about life on board the International Space Station: "We bathe, shave, wash hair and brush teeth, all with less than 1/4 litre of water" and "Where does Station water come from? We collect humidity and urine, purify it, heat it, dispense into instant tea bag - tea time!"
Every once in a while he talks about how awesome his job his: "This is such a phenomenal place to be. I'm an adult busy working, but the little boy in me is screaming and running around and laughing."
"Spacewalking has been the most memorable. It is magic to be between the Earth and the Universe, alone, holding on with one hand."
If you missed his conversation with Shatner, here's the video!
One another day, there was this conversation...
Meanwhile, on the Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer front, Amanda commented: "so weird to see all of my musical parents getting older and facing hardship. peter murphy, morrissey...where is our village? i want to help."
Neil's assistant Cat was in Australia, along with Duff McKagan, and I got jealous:
Duff McKagan@DuffMcKagan14 Mar200k followers?! Awesome! Let's start r own militia, buy a country (S.Pacific anyone?), and have a radio station that plays music we like! Expand
Becky Yerak@beckyyerak6 FebStephen King riffs on horror for full @Fearnet hour: not a werewolf fan - "too literal." Among desert-island horror films: Psycho, ExorcistExpand
Joe Hill@joe_hill9 FebI always wanted to be a guy who smoked two pipes a day when he was 40. Instead I became a jogger. WHERE DID I GO WRONG?Expand
I like that last one a lot. I wish I could be as organized in keeping journals. Sadly, I always start with the greatest intentions, then fail to keep up after a couple of months. The only list I'm accurate in keeping is the Books Read list at the bottom of the blog. I'm so happy to have the blog as a place to keep that list - I wish I'd maintained such lists from when I first started reading!
Fellow bloggers are a wonderful morale-booster when it comes to Insecure Writers Support Group Day! Here're a few of us:
This is a real thing: "Your Paintings Tagger is part of a project run by the Public Catalogue Foundation and the BBC to put all 200,000 publicly owned oil paintings online on the Your Paintings website. Currently we have only basic information about each painting such as title, artist, and execution date. We have no information about the type of painting, the subjects portrayed in the paintings and the styles and movements represented. Tagging each painting will provide this information enabling Your Paintings to be searched by users in a more sophisticated and helpful manner. Without this extra information it will be very difficult to search Your Paintingseffectively."
This year's A to Z was lots of fun! I'm glad I found a topic that lent itself so easily to photos, though each post took - of course - longer to prepare than I expected.
As for ROW80... I slacked off a lot in the past couple of weeks. I'm not where I want to be at all. So, no more excuses. I've got to return to focusing on the blog only one night a week, and have to sacrifice some reading time, if I ever want others to read and enjoy my own stories!
The Return of the Shadow - Book 6 in the History of Middle Earth series by Christopher Tolkien and J R R Tolkien (reread)
***Reading At Intervals***
Stories in Words by C S Lewis
Poison by Bridget Zinn
Medieval Comic Tales (Folio Society edition)
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Lessons for a Sunday Father by Claire Calman
Shadow Show (Anthology in Honour of Ray Bradbury, including Neil Gaiman!)
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
Warriors (anthology) edited by George R. R. Martin and G. Dozois (featuring a new Lord John story by Diana Gabaldon)
The Jerusalem Bible
***Finished Books***
Acquainted With the Night by Rober Frost (read by Amanda Palmer) (here: http://amandapalmer.net/blog/20120510/)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (reread)
Star Trek Book of Opposites (board book)
Alligator Baby by Robert Munsch
Causeries: l'Etat Civil du Comte de Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (essay)
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo par Alexandre Dumas
About the B'nai Bagels by E. L. Konigsburg
Parragon's Encyclopedia of Animals a Family Reference Guide (skimmed)
Throwing Shadows by E. L. Konigsburg
The Devil on the Staircase by Joe Hill (short story)
Horns by Joe Hill
Altogether One at a Time by E. L. Konigsburg
Orders From Berlin by Simon Tolkien
The King of Diamonds by Simon Tolkien
Quick Fix by Linda Grimes (arc!)
Jack Absolute by C. C. Humphreys
The Lost Road - Book 5 in the History of Middle Earth series by Christopher Tolkien and J R R Tolkien (reread)
The Roots of Betrayal by James Forrester
Leaf by Niggle by J. R. R. Tolkien (short story) (reread)
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (reread)
Sandman: Doll's House by Neil Gaiman
secret beta read!
An Easter Walk by Zan Marie Steadham (reread)
Celtic Myths and Legends by Mike Dixon-Kennedy (reread) (skimmed)
Rainy Days with Bear by Maureen Hull
Down to a Sunless Sea by Neil Gaiman (short story) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/22/down-sunless-sea-neil-gaiman-short-story)
Sandman: Prologues and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, the Music edition
The Circus by Emma Trevayne (short story) (http://the-cabinet-of-curiosities.blogspot.ca/2013/03/the-circus-by-emma-trevayne.html)
Ghost Stories of Canada (compilation) (read a few)
Red Shoes and Doll Parts by Claire Legrand (short story (available at: http://the-cabinet-of-curiosities.blogspot.ca/2013/02/red-shoes-and-doll-parts-by-claire.html)
In A Fix by Linda Grimes
A Calendar of Tales by Neil Gaiman
It Came from the Far Side by Gary Larson
Boy O'Boy by Brian Doyle
Mary Ann Alice by Brian Doyle (so sweet! I wish there was a sequel)
The Man Who Loved Flowers by Stephen King (short story) (reread)
Celtic Myths and Legends by (forgot) (skimmed)
Night Surf by Stephen King (short story) (reread)
On This Day I Complete My Thirty-sixth Year by Lord Byron (poem)
11/22/63 by Stephen King (brilliant)
When Summer Comes by Brenda Novak
All My Life Before Me - the diary of C. S. Lewis (finally! after 15 years!)
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
The Cake Made Out of Teeth by Claire Legrand (short story) (READ IT! Here: http://the-cabinet-of-curiosities.blogspot.ca/2013/01/the-cake-made-out-of-teeth-by-claire.html)
Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey (wonderful!)
Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels by Helene Boudreau (ARC)
The Great Explorers (Folio Society edition) (skimmed)
The Shaping of Middle-Earth - Book 4 in the History of Middle Earth series by Christopher Tolkien and J R R Tolkien (reread)
Medieval Civilisation by Jacques le Goff (skimmed)
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (sooo many questions!)
Highland Moonlight by Teresa J. Reasor (skimmed very fast)
Not So Funny When It Happened (a travel humour anthology; I read a few of the essays, specifically by Douglas Adams, Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, Anne Lamott, etc.)
Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (reread)
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper (reread)
The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis (reread)
Emerson (bits and pieces of his essays on his travels through England and Scotland; read aloud to me)
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
The Cove by Ron Rash
see the 2012 list and statistics here http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.ca/2012/12/the-hobbit-review-and-year-end-books.html
see the 2011 statistics on http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.ca/2012/01/books-read-in-2011-statistics-fourth.html
see the 2011 list at http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.ca/2012/01/books-read-in-2011.html
see the 2010 list at http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2010/12/books-read-in-2010-listed-here.html
see the 2009 list at http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2009/12/books-read-in-2009-part-ii.html
also in 2009 at http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2009/12/books-read-in-2009-part-iv.html
see the 2008 list at http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2008/12/books-read-in-2008-part-ii.html
also in 2008 at http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2008/12/books-read-in-2008-part-vi.html
also in 2008 at http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2008/12/books-read-in-2008-part-iv.html
owel Day on Saturday!
've got lots of book reviews!
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wards galore!
ey look! Glynis Smy has a new book out!
nd now back to our regularly scheduled programming....jpg)
is for ze end of ze list. A to Z month is over!
