Firstly happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends. I hope you all had a good holiday and got to spend some quality time with the people you love.
I just wanted to give you a quick note to say that I probably won't be blogging now until next Wednesday. Some things have come up that really need my attention and to be honest I am not feeling too good either. I am an asthmatic and the weather has turned quite cold here, which has hit me straight in the chest. Energy levels are at a low, so I need to keep the energy I have to sort out a few things here.
I hope to be starting my Christmas journal on the 1st of December, so I will try and keep you posted on that. I also have some outstanding reviews which I will post next week.
I hope you all have a good restful weekend and I will see you next week.
Thursday 25 November 2010
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Finding Sky by Joss Stirling
This book was read as part of the UK Book Tours. If you are interested in being part of a book tour, then do go over to the site and have a look at the tours on offer. I have to say a big thank you to Lynsey for including me in the tour.
Pages - 308
Published in 2010 by Oxford University Press
The car drew away, leaving the little girl on the verge. Shaking with cold in her thin cotton T-Shirt and shorts, she sat down, arms locked around her knees, her light blonde hair blowing messily in the wind, pale as a dandelion seed head.
'Be quiet freak, or we will come back and get you,' they'd said.
She didn''t want them to come back for her. She knew that for a fact, even if she couldn't remember her name or where she lived.
Sky has had to move to America with her adopted parents as they embark on a new artistic contract. She runs into a bad boy who she can't get out of her head. She doesn't think she stands a chance and then he begins to speak to her through her mind. He can read her every thought. He is destined to be her soulmate for the rest of her life and their is nothing she can do about it. Their relationship won't happen easily. There are dark forces out there intent on destroying her boyfriend and his family. Sky must face these forces alone and come to terms with her past that she has kept hidden most of her life.
I loved this book!
Completely.
It is one of the most thrilling Young Adult books I have read in ages, leaving YA books flailing in the shadows. It is different from the present paranormal YA books available on the market and I couldn't help but lap it up. I picked this book up and just couldn't put it back down. Within two days I had read it and fallen in love with and I am having great difficulty sending it on to the next person in the tour to read it. It is not often that I buy a book after I read it, but I will definitely want to read this one again.
The characters are strong and interesting and you are on their side from page one. I dare you all not to fall for the charms of Zed, who sits quite nicely in an Edward mode for me. Or at least one of his six dark brooding brothers. This book is definitely like riding the ski slopes of Colorado where it is set. One minute you are standing at the top of the slope, waiting to fly and then you are down at the bottom, exhausted and ready for more action. The plot had me on my toes and I couldn't actually guess what would happen next.
This book is full of romance, the Edward and Bella kind of romance. It deals with love, friendship and family commitment and even though the book ends with an excellent finish, you are still left wanting more. Luckily I have read that Joss Stirling is presently writing a sequel. Yay!
Sky, Zed and his family are all savants, whereby they all have exceptional abilities using their minds. Each one has a different ability and I came away wishing I could have one too. I haven't read many books that involve using telepathy and mind reading, so this really was a breath of fresh air.
For a debut novel, I found the writing to be a breath of fresh air, littered with original metaphors and similies, I found myself quoting them to my friends. The book managed to produce a variety of emotions in me, which is definitely a first for me. If I ever reach a stage where my own book will be published, I want it to be as good as this one.
I predict great things for Joss Stirling and a very bright future in the Young Adult market. If this is her first book, I can't wait to see her next. Anyway don't sit there listening to me waffle on, go buy it and read it for yourself.
Tuesday 23 November 2010
Really Random Tuesday
Really Random Tuesday is a meme created by Suko at Suko's Notebook which is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related things you can think of.
First things first. Drum rolls please......
I completed NaNoWriMO.
Yay me.
I would like to thank my fellow writers, Amanda, Laurel, J.Kaye, Molly, Jen and Blodeuedd for supporting me on my journey. Without you guys I wonder if I would have completed it as quickly as I did, but there was nothing like watching your word counts go up to spur me on. At one point Laurel and I were neck and neck and I do think it kept us going to the end. For those of you still to finish, keep going you can do it. There really is nothing that can describe that moment of completion. Also thank you to all you lovely bloggers who kept popping by to see how I was getting on. I really appreciated your support, especially as I seemed to neglect my blog a little during the last month.
So now I have two first drafts finished (remember I had a trial run in October) as well as a final first chapter and a synopsis written for my NaNoWriMo attempt, which I produced this month for a local writing competition. To be honest, I do feel that both of my first drafts are pants, but I am OK with that. After reading an article on local author Julia Crouch, I have decided to follow her words of wisdom. She sold her NaNoWriMo novel, so there is hope that I can turn the first draft into a final publishable novel.
So in the words of Julia Crouch:
be open and free for the first draft, be ruthless with the structure for the second, and fanatical about the words for the third—examine every sentence.
I never realised how tiring it would be, but I am really exhausted now. I have decided to put both drafts away for a little while and concentrate on organising Christmas. So I may go back to my drafts to begin rewrites before Christmas, but if I don't then I will definitely start in January.
On to bookish news; I presently have five books waiting to be reviewed, so now that NaNoWriMo is finished, my blog may become a little review heavy for a few days.
The books to be reviewed are:
1) Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys
2) Finding Sky by Joss Stirling
3) Three Men In a Boat by Jerome K.Jerome
4) The Haunting by Margaret Mahy
5) Dear Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, our book club came together last week to review Her Fearful Symmetry, which I reviewed yesterday. Most of my group were in agreement about the book, but a couple actually hated it and have stated they will not read another Audrey Niffenegger.
We decided to choose our next book from a selection of Young Adult books. The chosen book was City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Now you may have remembered that I have already read this book, but that is OK, because I have been meaning to read the other two books in the trilogy but I felt I couldn't read them without recapping on the first book, so I am pleased to be reading it again.
As you can from the picture above, they are not slim books to be read. I have just started I Am Number Four and Bright Youngs Things, so hopefully they will be finished in a week.
What have you been up to this week?
Monday 22 November 2010
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Julia and Valentina are identical mirror twins who are so wrapped up in each other that neither wants any purpose to their lives. They don't want to go to college or to work for a living. There world changes when they receive notice that they have been left a flat and a bundle of money by an aunt they did not know existed. They cannot sell the flat without living in it for a year together first. The flat is situated right next to Highgate Cemetery in London, so the girls pack up their lives in America and move to England. They hope that the move will be the beginning of their new lives, what they don't realise is that their lives will change for ever. They end up living amongst a range of unusual neighbours. The man above them suffers with severe OCD, the man below them happens to be their aunt's younger lover and residing in the flat with them is their dead aunt . On top of that, the secrets from their own past and their mother's past come back to haunt them.
I was so pleased that we chose this book to read as I had been desperate to read it for ages. This book was a wonderful read but unfortunately it wasn't as good as I expected.
WARNING - THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS
Right from the beginning I had a feeling of deja vu. We are introduced to the twin's mother as well as their aunt Elsbeth who also happen to be twins. From the start, you know something is afoot and it doesn't take you long to realise that the older twins switched lives when they were younger. I was instantly transported back to the 80's when the American mini series used to rule the television screens every weekend and recalled one that starred Stephanie Powers playing twins who switched lives with each other. It kind of spoilt the book for me a little. The beginning of the book is rather promising though and I did find myself quite gripped by it to begin with. Unfortunately, it began to go down hill afterwards.
The younger set of twins relationship with each other is far from healthy. Julia is more in control than Valentina and really does order Valentina around, trying to take control over her life. Having twins myself, I found it all rather creepy and worrying. It is not surprising that Valentina needs to find a way out of the relationship and the way out Audrey created was a very original one. It reminded me what a talented author she really was and why I had loved The Time Traveller's wife so much. The incident involving a kitten is very sad, but such an original idea and very well written.
After reading about Highgate Cemetery, it is now calling me to visit it; Audrey Niffenegger brings the place to life, and it appears to be a bigger character than anyone else within the book. In fact, Highgate Cemetery was my favourite character in the whole of the book. The rest of the characters seem to annoy me. I do wish I could say something nice about them, but I find that I can't. Robert, their aunt's lover, was a spineless creature and would never have had the guts to carry our what he was asked to do. The twins appeared spoilt and brattish, and Elspeth was selfish and showed no love for the girls even though she had given birth to them.
On the whole the book was well written, the writing was descriptive and the story line was very original.. What let the book down the most was the ending. It just wasn't believable. Valentina's journey over to Highdown Cemetery as a ghost and the way she behaved there, seemed ridiculous. The fact that she rode off on the back of a pigeon had me throwing the book down in disgust. I just found the ending to be an afterthought, to get the book finished and it really let down the rest of the book. It was almost as though, Niffenegger knew she had all these character left in limbo, and quickly drew endings out of a hat to finish their stories.
If you loved The Time Traveller's Wife, then I have to warn you this really isn't as good. It has originality, but what I feel it lacks is a good editor, because I do feel that this book has been rushed, and the story could have been developed a lot more to make a fantastic novel. I am disappointed, but I do hope that Niffenegger's next book more than compensates for this one.
Sorry if you loved this book, but it really didn't keep me spellbound.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
He's Making A List.....
Christmas is creeping up on us and I know that if I shut my eyes just for a minute, the Christmas trees will be up and decorated and the mulled wine will be wafting from the kitchen. So as I mentioned earlier this month, I intend to immerse myself in the festive season. I will be making my Christmas journal once again, but this year I hope to also watch loads of cheesy Christmas movies, as well as read lots of Christmas fiction.
Now I know a few of you have felt like doing the same, but have struggled to find many books to fit into that category. Well fear not, for I am flying to your rescue. Due to one evening of procrastination, rather than writing for NaNoWriMo, I found that it was my utmost duty to compose a list of Christmas novels for your perusal.
I nearly forgot to mention I am not the only mad person who has composed a Christmas Reading List. The rather talented Verity at Cardigangirlverity has also made a list and we both decided to share them with you today, so do pop over to Verity's blog through the link on the line above.
I have found an abundance of books, so I hope within my list you find something that peaks your interest during the festive season.
I nearly forgot to mention I am not the only mad person who has composed a Christmas Reading List. The rather talented Verity at Cardigangirlverity has also made a list and we both decided to share them with you today, so do pop over to Verity's blog through the link on the line above.
I have found an abundance of books, so I hope within my list you find something that peaks your interest during the festive season.
9) Matchless by Gregory Maguire - retelling of Christmas fairytale
12) December - Elizabeth H. Winthrop - contemporary
16) An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor - comedy, rural
27) Lanterns Across The Snow by Susan Hill - non fiction
32) A Week In December by Sebastian Faulks - contemporary fiction
32) A Family Christmas by Glenice Crossland - war, family saga
33) London Christmas by Marina Cantacuzino - anthology of seasonal memories
34) The Gifts by Richard Paul Evans - family
35) Snow by Orhan Pamuk - east meets west, istanbul
37) Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow by Peter Hoeg - mystery, scandanavian
38) Home For Christmas by A.M. Greeley - war, historical
39) Frost at Christmas by R.D.Wingfield - crime
40) Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie - crime
42) Mr Ive's Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos - life
43) Eve's Christmas by Janet Dailey
44) Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham - classic
45) Christmas Truce, The Western Front, December 1914 by M.Brown - historical
46) Christmas Eve at Friday Harbour by L. Kleypas - chick lit
47) Night Before Christmas by A. Taylor
48) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - classic.
49) Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop by Otto Penzler - short stories, suspense
50) A Mistletoe Kiss by Katie Flynn - historical, war
38) Home For Christmas by A.M. Greeley - war, historical
39) Frost at Christmas by R.D.Wingfield - crime
40) Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie - crime
42) Mr Ive's Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos - life
43) Eve's Christmas by Janet Dailey
44) Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham - classic
45) Christmas Truce, The Western Front, December 1914 by M.Brown - historical
46) Christmas Eve at Friday Harbour by L. Kleypas - chick lit
47) Night Before Christmas by A. Taylor
48) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - classic.
49) Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop by Otto Penzler - short stories, suspense
50) A Mistletoe Kiss by Katie Flynn - historical, war
Monday 15 November 2010
Moondial by Helen Cresswell
Published in 1987 by Faber and Faber Ltd
Even before she came to Belton, Minty Cane had known that she was a witch, or something very like it. She had known since she was tiny, for instance, about the pocket of cold air on the landing of the back stairs. (Though she could not have known that a man hanged himself there.) She knew too, that she shared her bedroom. She had woken at night to see shadowy presences gliding across the floor. She had never spoken to them, merely watched, sensing that they were on some silent business of their own.
Minty has been sent to stay with her aunt for the summer holidays as her recently widowed mother had to work. Her aunt lives across the road from a former manor house which is now open to the public. Whilst staying there, Minty becomes aware of some strange stories about the gardens and the house and sets out to investigate. Whilst walking the grounds, Minty comes across the moondial and finds it has a unusual power. The gate keeper thinks that Minty and the moondial are connected and that Minty holds the key to the mysteries of the manor house. Minty sets out on a mission to help the haunted children and solve the mystery of the moondial.
This book is definitely one of my guilty pleasures and upon reading it, I am instantly transported back to my last year at secondary school, into my old childhood bedroom in the house where I still lived with my parents. Ah those were they days, no responsibilities, no mortgage, no one to please but myself. When I am tired and in need of a comfort read, then this is one of the those books I reach for. During the 80's, this first came to my attention through the television series of the same name. A lot of children's books used to be made into series around that time and I fell in love with that, long before I found the book. The book was only discovered by chance in the last few years and has been a well read one since. I do feel that this series was the one that had me longing for Victorian Gothic ghost stories.
This book is a lovely haunting read, that has you travelling across time to the Victorian era. Minty is a strong leading character and doesn't appear to be afraid of anything. The story has you hooked from page one and you will find it difficult to put down. It is quite a slim book, but packed with action and easily readable within a day. If you ever saw the television series as a child, then reading this book will be like a wonderful journey down memory lane.
Helen Cresswell was one of our most cherished children's writers of the 80's. She was responsible for bringing us the joys of Lizzie Dripping and The Bagthorpe saga. She also was responsible for the adaptations of books to series for television, such as Five Children and It, The Famous Five and The Demon Headmaster. If you ever watched these series, then you might find you already have an interest in Helen Cresswell's work.
Thursday 11 November 2010
Cheerful Weather For The Wedding by Julia Strachey
Pages - 119 - Read for the November Novella Challenge
First published in 1932, republished by Persephone in 2007
On March 5th Mrs Thatcham, a middle-class widow, married her eldest daughter, Dolly, who was twenty-three years old, to the Hon. Owen Bigham. He was eight years older than she was and in the Diplomatic Service.
It had been a short engagement , as engagements are supposed to go - only a month, but Owen was due out in South America at the end of March, to take up a post there for several years, and Dolly had agreed to marry and go out with him.
First of all, extreme excitement envelopes me at finding a Persephone in the library that fitted perfectly in the November Novella Challenge. Secondly doubled excitement, at discovering that this quirky little book is about to be made into a film.
This book follows the supposedly joyous day of Dolly's wedding to the Hon.Owen Bigham; starting with the morning before the wedding and finishing after the bride and groom leave to go away. The wedding itself is noticeably absent. The book is a whole day of wedding satire at its best. You realise from the title and the first few pages that this book is full of satirical episodes, when the weather turns out be atrocious due to the howling gales outside.
The bride is on her way to being morbidly drunk, taking generous swigs from a hidden bottle of Jamaican rum, as she takes the rocky road of marriage to the wrong man. The other man in her life, Joseph, never quite showed her his true feelings and rather than being left on the shelf, Dolly marries the first man that asks her. Right up until the wedding takes place, you are convinced that Joseph will stop the wedding, and then you are disappointed by his inability to do so.
This book really focuses on unrequited love. If only Joseph and Dolly had been honest with each other and explained how they felt, they would be the chosen ones walking down the aisle.
The bride's mother, Mrs Thatcham, is hilarious. She really hasn't got a clue what is actually going on in her own house. She seems to have confetti in her eyes because she cannot see that her daughter is making a huge mistake with her life. All the characters within the book will have you giggling with their quirky little ways.
A most enjoyable comedy caper that shows that not all weddings begin with a happy ever after.
Tuesday 9 November 2010
Really Random Tuesday
Really Random Tuesday is a meme created by Suko at Suko's Notebook which is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related things you can think of.
I meant to show these pictures last week, but NaNoWriMo took over and I didn't get time. Speaking of NaNoWriMo, you will see that I now have a word count widget on the left hand side of my blog. As of last night, I had written 17,306 words, if it has more on it now whilst reading this post, then I am probably having a good day.
The pictures below were taken during Half Term which ended with Halloween. The weather was rather dismal, so we decided that we would have a bit of a cooking and crafting week. Now I don't usually like to cook with the girls as they tend to argue over who does what, but I think I have finally cracked it by giving them each a recipe to cook. I let them pick what they wanted to do, then got them make their own shopping list and then when we reached Sainsbury's I sent them off to find the items they needed.
One of my girls decided she wanted to make Rocky Road and we followed a rather simple recipe from Nigella Lawson. I love Nigella Lawson's cookbooks, but she is destined to make me rather fat.
We enjoyed the Rocky Road a bit too much and had to make a second batch.
My other daughter decided she wanted to make Cheese Twists. This is a picture before they were cooked. We then made a second batch of these and added some crispy bacon. They were rather yummy.
I haven't done a lot of reading this week, due to NaNoWriMo, but the novellas have definitely been the ideal thing to read this month.
I have begun Christmas planning already. I am hoping to do my Christmas scrap album again this year. I have already bought the album and hope to prepare a few pages in advance. I have also made a list of Christmas books I hope to read, which I will share with you later in the month.
I know I am blogging a lot less recently, but it really should only be like this for this month, once NaNoWriMo is over I hope to be around a lot more regularly. So thank you to all you lovely bloggers who are sticking by me through this busy month.
Monday 8 November 2010
The Small Hand by Susan Hill
Pages - 167
Read for the November Novella Challenge
Published by Profile Books in 2010
And as I stood I felt a small hand creep into my right one, as if a child had come up beside me in the dimness and taken hold of it. It felt cool and its fingers curled themselves trustingly into my palm and rested there, and the small thumb and forefinger tucked my thumb between them. As a reflex, I bent it over and we stood for a time which was out of time, my own man's hand and the very small hand held as closely together as the hand of a father and his child. But I am not a father and the small child was invisible.
I have developed a mild obsession with Susan Hill over the last week and I have found myself searching out her books, especially after realising that she wrote children's books too and that one of my girls was reading one. I had read a lot of reviews of her book 'The Woman In Black' and found myself mildly curious about her work. So I thought I would start with this book as it fits nicely into the November Novella Challenge. OK, 167 pages may seem a little too big for a novella, but this book is a lot smaller in size than a normal book, so I definitely think it would count.
Adam Snow is an antiquarian bookseller, who takes a wrong turning in his car one day after visiting a client and finds himself standing outside a derelict Edwardian house. Curiosity gets the better of him and he ventures into the grounds to look around. Whilst taking in the scenery, he feels a child's hand take his, but he soon realises that the child cannot be seen. He becomes obsessed with the house and the child until the child takes a sinister turn to his visits.
What I found that I loved about Susan Hill's prose was her attention to detail. Her writing is full of description, allowing you to fully experience the situation she is writing about. I cannot tell you how much it has helped me during my first week of NaNoWriMo and I found myself really looking up in awe at her talent and wanting to write in the same manner as her.
This book is a ghost story, but not a scary one. It is very atmospheric and the ghost is completely believable, but I did not resort to leaving the hall light on after I went to bed. I wonder if that may have been more because I found myself studying the way she wrote rather than absorbing the content of her story.
Even though, this book is quite short, the characters come to life quite quickly and your involvement with the story occurs at once, leaving you spellbound by the end of the first chapter. The book appeared to be quite timeless to me, and I found myself shocked when they mentioned emails as I had convinced myself that the book had been set in the 50's or 60's.
This book has all the makings of a good ghost story: atmosphere, a haunted house, a Gothic feel and a ghost with a purpose and a sinister twist.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Susan Hill's work.
Thursday 4 November 2010
Halloween Fun
Just in case you thought I had forgotten Halloween, you would be wrong. It is one of my favourite nights of the year and I thought I would share some pictures from the evening.
We always decorate our hall for Halloween as we get so many children knocking for Trick or Treat.
These two paired up for the evening! What a lovely couple they make.
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Yay me!
I have also successfully begun the official NaNoWriMo challenge with a whole new Young Adult story which at present does not have an ending. Am I worried, NOOO! I have to admit that it is lovely to be writing with over 150,000 people all over the world at the same time. Although I will have to stop reading everyone's word counts as they are beginning to make me rather nervous, especially when I spoke to one young lady on Facebook on Monday evening who had just written 11,000 words. My aim is to write 2,000 words a day rather than the 1,670 that is the ideal word quota. If I am at home a lot during the day, I aim to write more. So keep your fingers crossed for me.
If you are participating in NaNoWriMo and you want to link up as a writing buddy then you will find me listed as viviennejane. I have only just managed to put my picture up, so you will see me tucking into a lovely doughnut.
I may not be around as much as I would like this month, but I will try and post as much as I can. I hope to visit all your blogs later today too.
Thanks for all being so supportive this month. I have put my word count up at the top of my screen for all of you to keep an eye on my progress.
Onwards and upwards.
TTFN
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