Showing posts with label genre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genre. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2014
Friday, August 05, 2011
Light reading catch-up
I am finding it very enjoyable to be back at work on the style book: this is the book that I have waited my whole life to write! It should be done by the end of the month, although I might need a few library days to check some quotations and follow up a couple of last-minute thoughts; I will try not to let impatience get the better of me if that is the way things go.
My cold is mostly gone, only the lungs are still full of junk in a way that is problematic for exercise, and much nose-blowing seems to remain necessary. Otherwise feeling pretty much better; energy levels back to normal, which is probably the most important thing.
I read two books I wished I hadn't (seriously, these Amazon reviewers are clearly working on some sort of demented cost-to-quality ratio when it comes to assigning stars: the book can be only half as good as something else, but if it costs less than half as much, it will come out ahead!). Then I read a very beautifully written short book by Cody James, The Dead Beat; it is now lost in the mists of internet tabbage where I initially got the recommendation, but I thought it was very good, perhaps slightly reminiscent of Jesus' Son though probably only because of the subject matter. Conrad's The Secret Agent more than lived up to my memory of it: it is a minor but distinct work of genius! I found Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy well worth my while, only I wish that it were possible to purchase 'bundled' YA trilogies for Kindle at a discount, it does not seem cost-effective to purchase individual books that one races through at such a rate. Erin Celello's thoughtful debut novel Miracle Beach falls into a genre category that I don't often read, but I enjoyed it and it will repay attention by fans of Joshilyn Jackson and Sara Gruen: I found this one because several years ago I was very much a fan of Erin's triathlon blog!
My cold is mostly gone, only the lungs are still full of junk in a way that is problematic for exercise, and much nose-blowing seems to remain necessary. Otherwise feeling pretty much better; energy levels back to normal, which is probably the most important thing.
I read two books I wished I hadn't (seriously, these Amazon reviewers are clearly working on some sort of demented cost-to-quality ratio when it comes to assigning stars: the book can be only half as good as something else, but if it costs less than half as much, it will come out ahead!). Then I read a very beautifully written short book by Cody James, The Dead Beat; it is now lost in the mists of internet tabbage where I initially got the recommendation, but I thought it was very good, perhaps slightly reminiscent of Jesus' Son though probably only because of the subject matter. Conrad's The Secret Agent more than lived up to my memory of it: it is a minor but distinct work of genius! I found Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy well worth my while, only I wish that it were possible to purchase 'bundled' YA trilogies for Kindle at a discount, it does not seem cost-effective to purchase individual books that one races through at such a rate. Erin Celello's thoughtful debut novel Miracle Beach falls into a genre category that I don't often read, but I enjoyed it and it will repay attention by fans of Joshilyn Jackson and Sara Gruen: I found this one because several years ago I was very much a fan of Erin's triathlon blog!
Saturday, May 07, 2011
SEAL-themed pitches
"A SEAL who travels in time to the land of the vikings": the universe of Navy SEAL romance novels!
(I read one of these books once by accident; I bought it in the airport in Grand Cayman, which has a total selection of about 15 mass-market paperbacks to choose from, under the mistaken impression that it was a straight thriller, and was startled and slightly disturbed as a multi-page sex scene several chapters in alerted me to my generic misapprehension!)
(I read one of these books once by accident; I bought it in the airport in Grand Cayman, which has a total selection of about 15 mass-market paperbacks to choose from, under the mistaken impression that it was a straight thriller, and was startled and slightly disturbed as a multi-page sex scene several chapters in alerted me to my generic misapprehension!)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Joyce-Armstrong Fragment
At the TLS, Jonathan Barnes on the power of Conan Doyle's short stories:
There are few English writers capable of crafting so arresting a first sentence as that which opens “The Lost Special”: “The confession of Herbert de Lernac, now lying under sentence of death at Marseilles, has thrown light upon one of the most inexplicable crimes of the century”. “Danger! Being the Log of Captain John Sirius” begins with: “It is an amazing thing that the English, who have the reputation of being a practical nation, never saw the danger to which they were exposed”. “The Horror of the Heights” has “The idea that the extraordinary narrative which has been called the Joyce-Armstrong Fragment is an elaborate practical joke evolved by some unknown person, cursed by a perverted and sinister sense of humour, has now been abandoned by all who have examined the matter”, and the opening of the first of the Holmes short stories, “A Scandal in Bohemia”, is famously inviting: “To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman”. It is in these stories – and in the chronicles of Baker Street in particular – that one encounters the puzzling energy sensed in “The Adventure of The Creeping Man”, which is largely absent in the poetry, drama and longer fiction.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Gun with occasional music
Lev Grossman on what you say when you're asked whether you write fantasy or literature.
Not really related, but I've been keeping the link open on my browser and perhaps will insert it here, with tongue in cheek: Maddie Chambers' year-long project to build a miniature model of Bag End!
Not really related, but I've been keeping the link open on my browser and perhaps will insert it here, with tongue in cheek: Maddie Chambers' year-long project to build a miniature model of Bag End!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Culture wars redux
I like Jeff VanderMeer's thoughts on belonging and self-exclusion and the tribe of fantasy-writers.
(On another note, I am back home in New York after an idyll in tropical island paradise! Alas, all good things must come to an end - but I am always in a good mood, too, in September as the school year starts - it is a time of hope and possibility, and even better, I have a semester of sabbatical in the spring, so I only need to take a very deep breath and make it through to December, not all the way through to May!)
(I've got several not-yet-written blog posts, a half-read novel that I am meant to comment on for a roundtable discussion and have also not yet written my Shakespeare adaptation essay - distracted by diving, triathlon training and other such frivolities...)
(On another note, I am back home in New York after an idyll in tropical island paradise! Alas, all good things must come to an end - but I am always in a good mood, too, in September as the school year starts - it is a time of hope and possibility, and even better, I have a semester of sabbatical in the spring, so I only need to take a very deep breath and make it through to December, not all the way through to May!)
(I've got several not-yet-written blog posts, a half-read novel that I am meant to comment on for a roundtable discussion and have also not yet written my Shakespeare adaptation essay - distracted by diving, triathlon training and other such frivolities...)
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