It’s been a sleepy January. Literary. Normally, I try to get by on as little sleep as possible as I squeeze every bit of life out of the time I have available every day. Often, I’m done with the computer by 9 and I turn it off and read. Here’s what I’ve been reading lately:
Prospero in Hell by L Jagi Lamplighter. This is the second volume in the Prospero’s Children series, which looks to be a trilogy. Like the previous book, I loved it, but there were some things about it that drove me crazy. I’m going to ask Kat if she wants me to review it for her at Fantasy Literature. If I do, I’ll put a post linking to it here.
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I’m a quarter of the way into this novel and it is very enjoyable. I find Sanderson’s writing to be entirely invisible. That’s a compliment. No clever turns of phrase that gets me thinking about the author (even in a good way) rather than the story. It’s total immersion. I do wish I could get even deeper into the heads of the two main characters, Vin and Kelsier. However, maybe that’s just be because I’ve been reading a lot of romances lately, where the POV tends to be much deeper.
In Enemy Hands by KS Augustin. I’m reading this on my iPod Touch via the iFlow reader (which I LOVE. The text flows, and you control the speed of the flow by tilting the iPod. Very cool and highly readable.) I’m only in the opening chapters, but so far I’m intrigued!
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I’ve also been writing. I finished the first draft of my Cinderella prequel, and I’ve done one editing pass with a red pen. I’m now incorporating those edits back into the text. That will require only one or two additional nights. Then I’ll read it aloud, make any finishing touches and send it to my beta readers.
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My daughter is working very hard on a poem. It’s not making much sense to me at this point, but she’s definitely getting an A for effort. I am bemused by this because I too, wrote poems when I was a child, but when I was three years older! So am I a proud mama? I am.
Oh, and she insists its a cheer, not a poem. 🙂
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Read anything good lately? Got any kid brags?
I’m single and kidless, so no kid brags, but I think it’s awesome that your daughter is writing poetry. Congratulations on having the Cinderella almost done. 🙂
I’ve been reading a lot of mid-grade novels lately. I just finished the last of Gerald Morris’s “Legend of the King”. It’s the final volume in his Squire’s Tales series. The books are humorous retellings of King Arthur legends. This last one was a little darker since it dealt with the end of Camelot, but it’s still fun and enjoyable, and Morris keeps things from getting too dark, which is not easy when you’re dealing with the death of Arthur.
I really need to pick up the next book in that Last Templar series that I reviewed last year. Really enjoyed those MG novels!
I really want to hear why you had problems with Prospero in Hell – I really liked it and as usual with books I really liked I have a terrible time talking about them.
A new book that is coming out soon that I am suggesting to pretty much everyone is A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. About a witch who has renounced her magical heritage and become a scholar, and a vampire scientist who become involved with her after she pages a book from the depths of the Bodleian library that turns out to have been lost for 160 years. And everyone wants it.
Harkness said she started it when she wondered, what kind of jobs would vampires have?
Attention reader: if you’re not Jessica, SPOILERS are ahead!
The rape was soooo predictable. What would have been fresh and original is if she decided to GIVE away her virginity. HOWEVER, I loved the conversation with Gregor afterward. But once it was over she kind of shrugged it off easily.
And why did she keep doing stupid things? Walk number 1, walk number 2 and the playing of the flute in hell seemed to me that they were just dumb things Miranda did so the author could have the plot go the way she wanted.
Even so, I really loved it and can’t wait till Book 3!