Wandering Wednesday, September 29

An odd mix of articles for this week, a few quite old (sorry) and some just gleaned today! 

  • Literary mashups. Whether you like them or not, it seems they're spreading, and according to the Guardian, children's classics are next.
  • Author Lauren Willig on editing her first novel for mass paperback -- and what she chose to change.
  • The Paris Review blog on welcoming a new translation of Madame Bovary.
  • Allegedly, people (always? often? usually?) read page 99 of a book to get a sense of whether they want to purchase it or not.  Now there's a test for authors to see if their book would pass.
  • An appropriate article for Banned Books Week: what are books good for?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashes of War by Katey Schultz

Image
Title:Flashes of War
Author: Katey Schultz

Genre: Fiction (Contemporary / Soldiers / War / Iraq / Afghanistan / Short Stories / PTSD / Military Families / Non-Combatants)
Publisher/Publication Date: Loyola University's Apprentice House (5/2013)
Source:MindBuck Media

Rating: Liked.
Did I finish?: I did, in a single morning.
One-sentence summary: Thirty-one short stories about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the soldiers, the survivors, and the citizens in Iraq and Afghanistan responding to the violence.

Do I like the cover?: I do -- it's simple and sparse. As many of the stories have the POV of someone young, the use of the toy soldier is smart, I think.

I'm reminded of...: Tara L. Masih

First line: Now there's waiting to get deployed and there's waiting to get shot at., from 'The Waiting: Part I'

Buy, Borrow, or Avoid?: Borrow or buy, especially if you're interested in stories about the military and those impacted by war.

Why did I get this book?: Curiosi…
Read more

Historical Novel Society 2013 Conference: Gushing & a Story

Image
I'm back from both my work conference and the Historical Novel Society's 2013 Conference.

I had an amazing time.

Some off-the-top-of-my-head points:

I rode in the same van as Diana Gabaldon on the way to the conference, and me and my fellow shuttle-mates all tried to play it super cool.  Gabaldon was incredibly gracious. Amy of Passages to the Past and Historical Novel Virtual Book Tours and Heather of The Maiden's Court are as fabu as one would expect and I'm grateful that they were my con buddies! (Also, how crazy is it that I had to go to Florida to meet Heather, who lives, like, 40 minutes away from me!?!)got to meet bloggers like Meg of A Bookish Affair and reviewer/author/GoodReads friend Jane Steenevery author I met was adorable, gracious, enthusiastic, collegial, sweet, and supportive, not just of each other, but of the aspiring writers, bloggers, readers, and fanshad the head spinning experience of people gasping when they met me!the panels were fun and intere…
Read more

Reading Challenge: Read Harder 2019

Image
I've basically quit doing reading challenges since I wasn't actually challenging myself in my reading, just trying to tick off boxes for what I was picking up. But I want to change things up in 2019 since I did what I wanted in 2018 and I didn't blow myself away with my reading. (Although I read far more authors of color than in other years, which was an intentional choice I intend to continue.)

Book Riot's Read Harder challenge intrigues me -- but also daunts me.

The categories always include options I've zero interest in, but I'm going to attempt to hit each one this year!

To help me out, I might populate this with ideas as I hit them -- so if you've any recommendations for me, please share!


Read Harder 2019

An epistolary novel or collection of lettersA Tale for the Time BeingAn alternate history novelQuicksilverFarthing A book by a woman and/or AOC (Author of Color) that won a literary award in 2018Home FireA humor bookA book by a journalist or about jour…
Read more

Book Review: The Changeling by Victor LaValle

Image
First line: This fairy tale begins in 1968 during a garbage strike.

Holy expletive, this book was intense!

A quarter of the way in, I told my wife this was American Gods by way of Laura Lippman, and now that I've finished, I stand by that description. This is a family mystery, a domestic thriller, a supernatural mindfuck.

Perfect for Halloween and the creepy autumn days around it.

This was my book club's October read, and I inhaled it in about three days. All of us who read it loved it, although pretty much none of us expected some of the elements -- although it varied which plot point or character surprised us.

Apollo Kagwa loves books and stories; his parents' courtship, which opens the novel, has the magic of a fairy tale. His own marriage seems similarly fantastic, from his unusual courtship to his mesmerising wife Emma. But the pressure of a new baby takes a toll on all of them, especially when Emma becomes convinced their baby isn't really their baby. The famili…
Read more