Friday, September 30, 2011

Brain Dead

I was going to post a review yesterday of Nina LeCour's Hold Still, but I had the GRE at 8 AM and then got called into work from 1-9 PM. Obviously the review didn't happen. Today I woke up late and have to be at work soon. So you have my apologies on the delays, but I promise you will get reviews of Hold Still, Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready, and Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore next week. With any luck I'll have Veronica Roth's Divergent up as well, but no guarantees on that one.

Go forth; have a terrific Friday; and enjoy the lovely weekend!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Writerly Wednesday

If you've followed the blog for a while, you know I used to do Work in Progress Wednesdays. Obviously I don't do that anymore. I would, however, like to get back to talking about books and writing and all things publishing so I think I'll dedicate Wednesdays to that. Not to say that I'll have reviews every other day of the week or anything, but who knows?

So that's that.

I'm excited to tell you all that I've jumped back on the revisions horse and am going to start Draft 4, Chapter 4 today. Hopefully I'll get quite a bit done. It's amazing how easy it was for me to just pick back up with Taryn in The Sandman's Apprentice. I got 2 chapters done yesterday, putting me about 4,300 words into this draft; if I keep it up I should be done in no time and can move on to the more nit-picky things like word choice and sentence structure. And then, my dear friends, I can ship it off to be read and start something NEW. Which I'm dying to do because half-formed ideas keep coming to me and I'm trying really, really hard not to develop them into something real. *sigh*

In reading related news, I read Divergent on Monday. I sat down with it and read it all in about 7 hours (It's nearly 500 pages of totally fantastic characters and wonderful writing.). Expect a glowing review sometime next week. And go check out Veronica Roth if you haven't already, because she's literally made of awesome. I've also started my first Sarah Dessen novel (Just Listen)so we'll see how that goes. Oh! and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is out now. WANT.

Alright, your turn: spill. Made any great writing/editing progress? Waiting for any particular books to come out? Reading anything you think is brilliant?

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Review: Nerd Do Well

Nerd Do Well: A Small Boy's Journey to Becoming A Big Kid by Simon Pegg

Age Group: Adult
Format: Hardback, 384 pgs
Published: June 9, 2011 by Penguin (US release)
Source: Library

Description:

The unique life story of one of the most talented and inventive comedians, star of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Star Trek.

Zombies in North London, death cults in the West Country, the engineering deck of the Enterprise: actor, comedian, writer and self-proclaimed supergeek Simon Pegg has been ploughing some bizarre furrows in recent times. Having landed on the U.S. movie scene in the surprise cult hit Shaun of the Dead, his enduring appeal and rise to movie star with a dedicated following has been mercurial, meteoric, megatronic, but mostly just plain great.

From his childhood (and subsequently adult) obsession with science fiction, his enduring friendship with Nick Frost, and his forays into stand-up comedy which began with his regular Monday morning slot in front of his twelve-year-old classmates, Simon has always had a severe and dangerous case of the funnies.

Whether recounting his experience working as a lifeguard at the city pool, going to Comic-Con for the first time and confessing to Carrie Fisher that he used to kiss her picture every night before he went to sleep, or meeting and working with heroes that include Peter Jackson, Kevin Smith, and Quentin Tarantino, Pegg offers a hilarious look at the journey to becoming an international superstar, dotted with a cast of memorable characters, and you're rooting for him all the way.  

Monday, September 26, 2011

Review: Bad Taste in Boys

Bad Taste in Boys (Kate Grable #1) by Carrie Harris

Age Group: Young Adult
Published: July 12, 2011 by Delacorte Press
Format: ARC
Source: Contest
Debut Author Challenge

Description: 

Someone's been a very bad zombie.

Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steroids are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe--not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate!

She's got to find an antidote--before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town. . . and stay hormonally human.


Saturday, September 24, 2011

Book Ratings

Putting a star classification on a book has always been incredibly difficult for me. I want to be honest and give you all an easy way to see what I thought, but I can't do it any more. It's too hard on me and makes me feel like a judgmental asshat; so, from now on I am removing the star ratings from my reviews. But I'll try to come up with something else, some other kind of description for you all... maybe a 'one-word-description' type of thing. Anyway, star ratings are no more because, frankly, I don't even like rating thigns on Goodreads but feel compelled to tell people where that book stands with me.

*Sigh*

Oh well. Also, I will probably be removing ratings from former posts just to keep things consistent.

In related news, review of Bad Taste in Boys coming Monday!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Moving Forward

As much as I've wanted to write lately, I haven't had anywhere to work. No where to spread out my papers, no where to set my computer. It's been obnoxious. So I've been putting it all off: the brainstorming, the drafting, the editing... Only now it's driving me nuts. I want to make progress, but I don't have the space. And I'm sick of it.

I want to be editing TSA. I want to be working on all the book ideas I have. I want to be querying.

Despite everything, I'm going to resume editing The Sandman's Apprentice. I miss it; I need to finish it; and I'm not going to let the lack of a desk stop me any more.

In other news, reviews to come next week. I'm working on 4 of them and reading Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore, meaning that'll be review number 5.

So how is everyone? Read any good books? Come up with any amazing book ideas lately?

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remembering 9/11

Ten years ago I was in the 7th grade. I had beginning band 1st period, and while the choir director came in to speak to Mrs. Manley (Yes, that really is her name. She was, and still is, married to my high school band director.), we did not stop learning how to play our instruments. In 2nd period we all new something was up, but our Orchestra director told us something had happened and at the end of class we caught the briefest glimpse on the TV as we headed to 3rd period.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Books sans Reviews

I've been talking about giving you guys some reviews, but I don't think that's going to happen, not because I don't want to, I just don't feel like I could give all of you good enough reviews now that it's been a while since I've read most of them. Instead, I'll just tell you what I've read lately and give you a little tidbit about whether I liked it or not and a link to Goodreads, more like a mini-review than no review at all. Sound good? Great. Hope you see something you like!

1. City of Glass, Cassandra Clare - Loved it. Every bit as intriguing and wonderful as the first two books in the Mortal Instrument series. Still a tad predictable, but plenty of surprises to keep you on your toes. Super excited to read the final book in this series and begin the prequel series that starts with Clockwork Angel.

2. Radiance, Alyson Noel - I found the concept very cool and enjoyed the first bit, but I thought the character development was VERY rushed; yes, it is a short book, but if your snotty preteen is going to completely change into an understanding, caring, and enlightened individual it needs to be believable. I didn't buy it, and it ruined the whole book for me. Am hesitant to read anything else by this author since I have heard her other series, based on the same family, also fizzles out.

3. Sookie Stackhouse Books 1-11, Charlaine Harris - Absolutely wonderful. I read all 11 books out so far (of which there will only be 13 total), and I loved everyone of them. I was a little concerned the writing and characters would get stale, and I had heard that some of the books were infuriating, but this only seems to be the case if you're actually waiting a year between each book since many details can be forgotten. Also, Harris has a tendency to leave some major things out between books, making you wonder if you've missed something only to be fully informed of what occurred later on. An interesting trick, and one that I'm not terribly fond of, but it doesn't ruin the series at all for me. Loved every single book. On another note, the books have little in common with the show (True Blood), just FYI.

4. Parasol Protectorate Books 2-4, Gail Carriger - This series may be the greatest thing since tea was discovered, and I really like tea. I cannot say enough good things about the writing and the plot and the characters; they're all fantastically crafted. I love the chemistry between the characters and the relationships between them all, good and bad, and I absolutely love the world-building: paranormal, historical, steampunk? Yes, please! I will admit that book 4 wasn't quite at the same level as the first 3, but I only say that because it's written a little differently than the others; the characters and plot are still positively wonderful.

5. Bad Taste in Boys, Carrie Harris - This book is actually going to get a review since it's a 2011 debut and was fairly recently read, but I wanted to go ahead and tell everyone that it's super awesome, totally adorable (despite the whole zombie thing), and hilarious.

6. Nerd Do Well, Simon Pegg - I don't do a whole lot of non-fiction, but I'm currently reading Simon Pegg's autobiography and absolutely loving it. Pegg is behind such hilarious films as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Paul, as well as staring in Mission Impossible III as a nerdy IT guy and the new Star Trek reboot as Montgomery Scott, AKA Scotty. If you like Simon Pegg, you'll want to read this. (And I usually don't advocate books I'm not even finished with, so that should tell you something.)

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