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Books and cold
Jan. 13th, 2013 04:42 pmIt was -18 when I got up this morning. The low was supposed to be -8 and the high 10, but seeing as we haven't even made it to zero today, I don't think that's going to happen. My kids are crossing fingers that it will get down to -20, because then they cancel school (fuel issues in the buses, plus yanno, hypothermia). Since we live right around the corner from church, we walked, but um, maybe today would have been a good day to try the car. Did you know that at those temperatures, your nose hairs freeze in like, two breaths? It feels rather crunchy and not at all pleasant.
The rest of today, we are all wrapped up in blankets, reading. (And feeling grateful for appropriate insulation--this house really was built for this climate.) So, some book commentary for you today, too.
First, the negatives. I don't know why I'm striking out so much, but I'm having a hard time with yet another book. My husband bought me a book I already had for Christmas, not realizing, and so I traded it for one I'd never heard of while at a nice used bookstore. (That way the original author, who I wanted to support, still got royalties.) Um. The premise is cool, but the writing...is not. It's published by a major publisher, which is rather surprising and a little disappointing, since I've critiqued quite a number of unpublished mss that felt far more original and substantial and solid. The story moves too fast, with events happening that are all very convenient and seem to happen "just because," and not from any organic reasons. Plus, instalove and love triangles, o how I dislike thee! It turns out that indeed, the book is a packaged book, robotically written by someone who was paid pittance (you can see the sum the author was paid and the sum the publisher paid for it--a difference of several zeroes.) If I had known this, I would have spent my money elsewhere. More original books and less packaging. Please.
But--good ones! Brandon Sanderson's recent novella, The Emperor's Soul, is about a Forger who is called in to make a copy of the emperor's soul to keep the kingdom from civil war. He was the target of an assassination attempt that didn't kill his body, but destroyed his mind. So, the trick is for the Forger, Shai, to recreate his mind and also escape herself before the emperor's guards kill her.
Quicksilver, by RJ Anderson, was also very enjoyable. It's a companion novel to Ultraviolet, only this one is about Tori Beaugrand, who, as you recall, disappeared in Ultraviolet (and Alison was accused of murdering her). It's a fast-paced scifi thriller (sorry, don't want spoilers in case you haven't read Ultraviolet), and it was interesting to see some of the characters from the first book from a different perspective. Okay, I'm having a hard time talking about this book without revealing spoilers from the first one. But they're both a lovely break from other overdone genres, plus the writing is excellent. (Perhaps this is part of the reason the other book I tried felt so thin in comparison.) My girls both loved Ultraviolet and both followed me around yesterday, trying to swipe this one from me so they could read it themselves.
Other books my kids have really enjoyed lately: Winnie's War, by Jenny Moss--historical about the great flu epidemic of 1918. My 11YO had to do a report on a historical novel, and chose that one. Every time she works on her project, she tells me how much she loves that book.
Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings, by Helene Boudreau. Definitely for tween girls, not boys. Funny. About a girl who finds out her mom was a mermaid when she er, sprouts a tail one evening.
There are still Christmas books on the kids' shelves that I haven't read yet, plus a bunch of my library holds came in, so there will be more reports in the near future. But I'm also hard at work on a revision and liking how it's going, so sometimes the only story I have in my head is mine.
What have you enjoyed reading lately?
The rest of today, we are all wrapped up in blankets, reading. (And feeling grateful for appropriate insulation--this house really was built for this climate.) So, some book commentary for you today, too.
First, the negatives. I don't know why I'm striking out so much, but I'm having a hard time with yet another book. My husband bought me a book I already had for Christmas, not realizing, and so I traded it for one I'd never heard of while at a nice used bookstore. (That way the original author, who I wanted to support, still got royalties.) Um. The premise is cool, but the writing...is not. It's published by a major publisher, which is rather surprising and a little disappointing, since I've critiqued quite a number of unpublished mss that felt far more original and substantial and solid. The story moves too fast, with events happening that are all very convenient and seem to happen "just because," and not from any organic reasons. Plus, instalove and love triangles, o how I dislike thee! It turns out that indeed, the book is a packaged book, robotically written by someone who was paid pittance (you can see the sum the author was paid and the sum the publisher paid for it--a difference of several zeroes.) If I had known this, I would have spent my money elsewhere. More original books and less packaging. Please.
But--good ones! Brandon Sanderson's recent novella, The Emperor's Soul, is about a Forger who is called in to make a copy of the emperor's soul to keep the kingdom from civil war. He was the target of an assassination attempt that didn't kill his body, but destroyed his mind. So, the trick is for the Forger, Shai, to recreate his mind and also escape herself before the emperor's guards kill her.
Quicksilver, by RJ Anderson, was also very enjoyable. It's a companion novel to Ultraviolet, only this one is about Tori Beaugrand, who, as you recall, disappeared in Ultraviolet (and Alison was accused of murdering her). It's a fast-paced scifi thriller (sorry, don't want spoilers in case you haven't read Ultraviolet), and it was interesting to see some of the characters from the first book from a different perspective. Okay, I'm having a hard time talking about this book without revealing spoilers from the first one. But they're both a lovely break from other overdone genres, plus the writing is excellent. (Perhaps this is part of the reason the other book I tried felt so thin in comparison.) My girls both loved Ultraviolet and both followed me around yesterday, trying to swipe this one from me so they could read it themselves.
Other books my kids have really enjoyed lately: Winnie's War, by Jenny Moss--historical about the great flu epidemic of 1918. My 11YO had to do a report on a historical novel, and chose that one. Every time she works on her project, she tells me how much she loves that book.
Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings, by Helene Boudreau. Definitely for tween girls, not boys. Funny. About a girl who finds out her mom was a mermaid when she er, sprouts a tail one evening.
There are still Christmas books on the kids' shelves that I haven't read yet, plus a bunch of my library holds came in, so there will be more reports in the near future. But I'm also hard at work on a revision and liking how it's going, so sometimes the only story I have in my head is mine.
What have you enjoyed reading lately?
