27) How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier




28) Chalice by Robin McKinley




29) The Magic Thief: Lost by Sarah Prineas


30) Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout


31) Graceling by Kristin Cashore

porphyrin asks:

These are books that aren't written, haven't been written, and I'm not sure will ever be written.... What books do you WANT with a WANT for which all other wants become pale shadows?

I find my answers there were incomplete. I'll do better justice here.

First, I'm cadging porphyrin's first two:

1. Doris Egan/Jane Emerson - City of Pearl, City of Opal
Doris Egan/Jane Emerson - the next 3 Ivory books

2. Kate Elliot - the next Jaran novel

Adding in my one's from the comments:

3. Another Sharon Shinn Truthteller-world book.

4. I *really* long for another Cynthia Voigt Kingdom book.

And the ones I'm adding here:

5. I have dreams where I come around the corner at the library and discover that there's a whole shelf of Jane Austen books I've never heard of, and nearly fall down weeping with joy.

6. Jo Walton was saying for a while that she was writing Mansfield Park in space... I want that.

7. Another Damar book from McKinley. Perhaps such a thing is too much to wish for--I don't want another Deerskin, for all that it's a great book--its Damar connection seems very pale. I want another full on mate for Blue Sword & Hero and the Crown.

8. McKinley again: sequel to Sunshine. OMFG. NEED. WANT. SIGH.

9. Something I suspect is coming soon enough: Megan Whalen Turner's next Attolia book.

10. The full story of Elestra and what I would hope would be the redemptive romance with Flauvic Merindar from Sherwood Smith. I guess that's not what happens, based on what the Sartoras-deles wiki says, but I can dream.

11. I wouldn't mind a sensical additional prose book or two about the Dark Tower from Stephen King, but I think he would just Stephen-King it up, and that would suck. (As I complained elsewhere recently, I wish King would trust that he writes compelling characters, and that I enjoy the heck out of them, and I don't need horrible dooms to fall upon them to be interested in their lives.) That said, I'd also be excited to see a sequel to Cell.

( 21 & 22: Meg Cabot's Airhead and Being Nikki )

Then I read:

23) The Stepsister Scheme by jimhines

24) The 10% Solution by Ken Rand

( 26: More Cabot (Boy Next Door). )

26) Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King by Antonia Fraser

For serious, does rereading your own work 63 times count at all? No, of course not.

I've read a whopping 2 books since May 10th. Well, maybe there was a third, but I have no idea what it is.

18) Writing for Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias
19) Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
20) The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

And of course, half of a dozen other books, but haven't managed to finish any of them. My brain has just been too consumed with writing to read. Getting through Into the Wild felt like a slog, and I don't think it had anything to do with the book itself--it was entirely due to my brain.

Into the Wild felt extremely young to me--even younger than The Magic Thief, which is pointedly aimed middle grade. Actually, The Magic Thief impressed me quite a bit by being emotionally satisfying, which is not usually the case with middle grade books and me. I read most of it in a big gulp today.

I'm ready to reclaim my brain, I am, but all I can think about is the next book.

Mystery ailment week around Casa Fuller. I don't want to talk about the other stuff other people are experiencing, but for myself, Mystery Hives. It's probably my detergent or my shampoo. We'll see. I itch. I am itchy. I have itchiness. I'm also Super Attractive, especially since part of how my hives are manifesting includes intermittent dermographia.

Also, you know what's not interesting about dermographia? Being told 43 times that there's an artist who incorporates her dermographia in her art. I'm all for taking your lemons and making lemonade, but right now I want to stop itching. And also? I'm a writer. You have not met the Weird Thing That's Happened To Me that won't make it into a story or novel or poem one day. Incorporating your pain into your art? This is not new territory. And also, I want to stop itching.

In other news, Stepdaughter has passed me in number of books read this year. The Haskell Campaign has No Comment.

14) Traitor to the Crown: The Patriot Witch by C.C. Finlay (you can find my amazon.com review by following the link)

The next three books are workshop books for later this week, so all you get are initials and names.

15) TT by Victoria Witt
16) G by Emily Kajsa Herrstrom
17) HiNY by A.M. Lau

But they are IN THE RECORD, so I'm back in the running. And I have a month and a half to hit 25 at the mid-year point. WATCH OUT, STEPDAUGHTER.

For serious, it is nearly May, and I've only read 12 books this year.

8) Playing For Keeps by Mur Lafferty

Read this as a writer, particularly trolling for first-published novels. This is definitely a book that reinforces the belief that story trumps everything else. Very fast-paced and enjoyable, which kept me going through the blocking muddles and the word repetition.

9) Romanian Folk-culture by Nicolae Constantinescu

Absolutely jam-packed with details, and relatively accessible.

10) Unstrung Harp, Or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel by Edward Gorey

Adoration. Mounds of it.

11) Broken by Megan Hart

A re-read. I skipped all the sex (yes, I really did) in favor of the emotional wallops. I have not been able to get these characters out of my head since I read this the first time. This may even be the third time.

12) The Career Novelist by Donald Maass

This is currently offered as a free download on Maass's website. It's very good, and still very relevant in most chapters. Lovely Agent was, I think, pleased that I was reading it. I skipped right over the chapter on e-books, though. Some solid advice on advances, rights, contracts, expectations, agents, publishers--oh, everything. A lot of "don't quit your dayjob" advice, which is good. I'll be keeping this around to dig into periodically.

I'm reading The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel by Edward Gorey.

Have the other writers out there read this? It's so. Apt.

...there is rewriting. This is worse than merely writing, because not only does he have to think up new things just the same, but at the same time try not to remember the old ones.

I am theorizing that this book should be funny, but it instills merely bleak recognition in me.

Okay, a few chuckles.

Especially this part:

The night before returning home to Mortshire Mr Earbrass allows himself to be taken to a literary dinner... The talk deals with disappointing sales, inadequate publicity, worse than inadequate royalties, idiotic or criminal reviews, others' declining talent, and the unspeakable horror of literary life.

Written well over fifty years ago, I might add. The more things change...

6) The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer

Read as: both a reader reading for pleasure and a writer reading to learn.

Problematic gender issues. Actually, "problematic" is too small a word. As a writer, I was intrigued by the narrowness of focus. If I'd written it, I'd have thought I was failing by sticking with such a small cast of characters, but it may be the biggest strength of the novel. As a reader, I was repelled by the narrator for 80% of the book, and yet somehow gained sympathy. Back to as a writer: I don't know how she did that.

7) The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

Reread.

Read as: both.

Too much love in my heart for this book. Reread due to recent obsession with the movie. Book and movie are a nicely matched pair. I think the changes for the movie were well-done. The book is slyer than the movie, the humor more Austen-esque. I'm ready to read more Fowler.

As a writer, I'm still madly impressed by the book club being the collective first person narrator.

I can't think of the last time I wanted to reread a book (for the first time; old rereads are here to stay). Probably not since reading and rereading the Vorkosigan series back to back in 2002.

I went internet silent this weekend, and it felt great. I got some good writing done, and spent some quality time with my husband, some gym equipment, and a few books--and with my stepdaughter when she returned from her mom's house. I'm going to have to do that again sometime soon.

---

I finished Breaking Dawn, which is book 5 for the year. Much like when I ate Imperial Jello Salad for the first time (now there's a story to tell), my main impression was "Not half as bad as anticipated. What is everyone bitching about?"

5) Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

The long and the short of it is, as a writer, I'm as annoyed as anyone else by the breaking of the rules in a non-masterful way. There are quirks in Meyer's writing that would get her kicked out of every slushpile in the land, were her works short stories and her name not her name--in short, if she were one of us. Her sentence level stuff wouldn't have made it through any writing group I've ever been in. My current group, plus splash_the_cat, wouldn't let her get away with her torpid beginnings.

But, as a reader, I've read enough Meyer to trust that I'm going to be pulled along to an emotional conclusion that will be satisfying on the first read; that the tension will at some point be more than worth it; and frankly, the prose style is not that distracting--it's not the worst of the things I have on the shelves. Plus, my inner thirteen-year-old girl is still alive and well and totally enthralled. There's a Mary Sue itch in my soul that has heretofore only been scratched this well by Mercedes Lackey.

Or, to examine it another way... On the literal level, I'm not sure what to make of the story. It's all rather unsurprising, and when it does surprise, it's kind of laughable. (Sparkly vamps, e.g.) On the metaphorical level, I worry about some of the subtext in the gender dynamics. On the emotional level, it's all good. These books hit me where I live. They hit a lot of people where they live. On the spiritual level... Well, I dunno if I've even thought about examining these books on that level. I'm not sure I want to.

I guess my basic reaction, once again, is: it's going to be okay, people. The end times are not upon us. No one is going to hell for reading Stephenie Meyer. No matter how much anyone might wish otherwise.

---

In other news, Esli sent me a contributor copy! Awesome!

Stolen from a locked journal.

( Reading meme, basically. )

Where did last week go? Where? And where will this one go? No idea, I just know that there's a ConFusion at the end of it. (I have blown past the point of being excited about cons for their own sake, and am now at that stage where I love them for their opportunities to connect with friends. I think this makes me some sort of curmudgeon? Or something?)

This weekend, I went to sunnydecho and mickshadeland's wedding, and it was easily the most low-key wedding ever. We sat around the living room and signed papers (I was the witness for the bride). Then we went out to the Blue Nile with about fifteen other people and ate until we burst at the seams. So, that was pretty much awesome, in spite of the weather. I need to upload the wedding pictures, like, yesterday, but it'll probably be staged throughout the week.

I just watched Lost in Austen. It was nice to have a Jane Austen fix of any sort. ( Spoilery bit )

The weather has continued to suck in new and more varied ways, though I guess today wasn't all that bad. It got up into the 20s and some things melted.

On the writing front, I've reached one of those points where nothing I do seems like enough, and yet I can't keep track of everything. It's not actually that different than usual, I guess, but it frustrates all the same.

On the reading front, I read:
4) The Shattered Rose by Jo Beverley

( Summarize )

Now, I need to go re-read everything I've forgotten about Lieschen the Bee-Maiden, and digest the comments I've gotten on my attempts at writing a query letter for The Herbalist's Apprentice. And sleep. Must sleep, too.

1) The Premodern Teenager: Youth in Society, 1150-1650

( You take the good, you take the bad, and there you have a book of essays... )

2) The City in the Lake

( Read at penmage's recommendation )

3) Metatropolis

( Listened to the audio version )

( I'm not even sure I remember what I read in the past two months, honestly, but here's my effort at filling it in: Jane Eyre, Adele and Boy Proof. )

And the year in review...

It may be early to do this--there are 3.5 weeks left, after all--but I suspect I'm not going to cram any significant reading in

I read 40 total books this year, down 30% from 57 last year. I suspect, though, that I read rather more words this year than I have in other years, between the internet, journal articles, fan fic, parts of books rather than whole books, and short stories. (And at least one MS for critique.) Or, that's what I tell myself. But I've read a lot for research, and I wrote a book and a half, so I'm not giving myself a real hard time.

( The break down follows. Also, this is the first time my maths came out right on the first try. )

Number One: Seem to have developed TMJ? (Note the question mark.) It feels like someone replaced my right jaw joint with razor blades when I wake up in the morning, but you know, only when I move my jaw. Throughout the day, it dulls, but not in a helpful way. I subtly move my jaw all the time, I guess, because it's only when I concentrate (at the back of my mind) on holding my jaw perfectly still that I don't feel like I've got the worst earache/headache/toothache combo going on ever. It's like, one minute I'm coming down with the flu, the next (in a jaw-still moment), I'm perfectly fine.

I see the dentist on Monday, anyway, and the doctor the week after that. My crisis is timing itself nearly perfectly with my regularly scheduled appointments for once.

Onward. To Number Two: Books this while.

( The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald )
( Duma Key by Stephen King )
( The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (reread) )
( The Giver by Lois Lowry (spoilers) )

So, two books for all of July. No, I haven't been reading much. I've been writing much, though, so maybe that's where my time is going?

( Madensky Square )

ETA: The turn-of-the-century (19th to 20th, that is) Vienna details in Madensky Square are probably its strong suit. I'm curious to know if stephanieburgis has read this one.

( Scene and Structure )

On Wednesday, I sent my 200th short story submission out. Which means, you know, that rejection 200 is not long off now.

A tiny clutch of writer types are at the lake for semi-impromptu ultra-serious retreat: me, daveamongous, dendrophilous, and splash_the_cat. So far, we've all been pretty on task. I think? Yes. Probably, anyway.

I've recently read:
( Magic or Madness )

( Beauty )

Once again, I stare at my list of recently-read books and go, "Wait. I only read three???"
( The Clan Corporate and The Merchants' War )

( Flora Segunda )

Day six of viral house arrest. Or two. Or three. Depending on how you count.

So, I've been abed, and I've been reading...

( The King's Equal: Tiny Chapterbook )

( The first 2 Gossip Girls )