Hiddey-ho J Monkeys, here. Happy Saturday to you and yours! One of the things I hear again and again from authors, is that we love to read. And reading is a great procrastination technique…I mean…research opportunity…I mean…way to learn stuff about story structure.
Okay, seriously…who cares why they say reading is good…it just is! I love to read. Left to my own devices, I would do very little other than read. It’s my favorite thing to do. Now lately, I’ve read a bunch of fun stuff and I thought I’d take a few minutes to tell you about it.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: This is a wonderful story of two young women working for the war effort in England during the blitz. If you have any interest in WWII or young women for that matter, you need to get this book. Let me put it to you this way. When I hit the 30% mark on this book, I emailed the author to tell her how much I was enjoying the story and to ask if she’d consider doing an interview with us. Stay tuned for my interview with Ms. Elizabeth Wein next Saturday.
Sanctus & The Key by Simon Toyne: I raved about this series a few weeks ago. Check out that post here. Only 6 months or so until the third book comes out.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson: Have you heard of this guy? Why didn’t I ever come across Mr. Stevenson during my years studying English Literature? I read that crap by Mary Shelly in three different classes. Three! And James Joyce? Yuck – I’m not a fan. But this Stevenson guy? He’s pretty cool. Seriously though. I’m 1/2 way through Treasure Island and it’s really good. The writing is really accessible to today’s reader. I love movie adaptations of Dickens’ books, but I find reading them tough. I’ve tried a couple of them and I find that I read it with my finger stuck in the end notes to figure out what the heck-fire he’s talking about. None of that with nonsense with this Stevenson fellow.
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling: This is Ms. Rowling’s new adult book. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and I love Ms. Rowling’s writing in those books. Love the imagery, the richness of the description, the cleverness of the plot twists that I totally should have seen coming. But I’m having a bit of trouble with this book. I’ve been reading it for two weeks. Two WEEKS! I can’t remember the last time it took me that long to read a book and I’m only 1/2 way through it. It kinda reminds me of some of Stephen King’s books – like Under the Dome. I read that one last year and I liked it. Like Under the Dome, The Casual Vacancy has a huge cast of characters. And I know this is a silly thing, but it’s full of four letter words. It’s kind of like if Laura Ingalls Wilder decided to follow Little House on the Prairie up with Fifty Shades of Gray. Somehow, I just never imagined Harry Potter’s “mom” using those words. As I said, it’s silly. I don’t dislike the book, but I can’t give it a glowing recommendation yet either.
Today’s Secret: Code Name Verity! Read it.
Today’s Question: What was the last great book you read?
Writing Secrets of 7 Scribes 
I found The Casual Vacancy very…British, if you know what I mean. I don’t know why, but the whole atmosphere I got from it was a sort of a upper-middle-class-stiff-upper-lip-but-secretly-gossiping-middle-age-people. You know that show “keeping up appearances?” Well, that’s how I imagined it, it just didn’t suit me, I couldn’t ever read a third of it, unfortunately
I really have been digging into Paranormal and Supernatural romance lately.
I read liked the Talisman series by Brenda Pandos. Another good one was The Halflings series by Heather Burch.
I find myself re-reading the romantic or unbelievable parts again and again!
That’s awesome! I’ll have to check those two out. I love Lynn Kurland’s time travel romances. If you haven’t read her, pick one up.
Great tips, J. I was just looking at “Codename Verity.” It’s gotten excellent reviews. I’ll have to add it to my Kindle. I’m bummed that i have so little time to read these days. I know it enhances my own writing, but I just can’t seem to muster the time and effort it takes to focus on reading a good book. I’m currently reading Harley Brook’s YA romance called Riley’s Pond. I’m really liking the teen mail POV in the story. Great characters and a well written story. I love my Indie author buddies. So many good writers out there!
I know, I’m more apt to drop a book that isn’t holding my attention these days because there is so much out there. I hate to waste my reading time on something that isn’t working for me. I used to read 5+ books a week and nowadays I’m down to 1-2 a week.
I agree with your comments on Treasure Island. I generally hate classics. I read them, but I don’t enjoy them. But TI was a big surprise. I wished a teacher had assigned that when I was kid!
A great book I just read was Blackberry Winter. A little smaltzy at the end, but a wonderful story.