just another sunday

I actually slept in today, for once. I know that sounds silly, but I tend to set the alarm for a reasonable hour, even on weekends. There are twenty-four usable hours in every day, you know!
Anyway. I had a nice lazy morning. Big breakfast, coffee, and a good book. (Okay, plus a little editing on my novel.) Speaking of, I've got several books to share:
57) The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I really enjoyed this book! Grossman starts with making fun of some contemporary YA fantasy concepts (think Harry Potter and Narnia), then goes on to turn those concepts on their ears. Completely entertaining. Both the story and the writing are good. I do have some small dissatisfactions with the ending, which I'm hoping will be adequately addressed in the sequel next year. But overall, I think this is a good book. Definitely a keeper. And I'll absolutely be checking out whatever else Grossman comes up with!
58) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I'm surprised it took me so long to get around to reading this book. It is, on one level, a book about a book, which I always enjoy. More than that, it's a story about stories, and a very well-crafted one. The intertwined storylines are equally gripping, most of the characters are easy to empathize with (except for the bookstore employee, to me; he just irritated me most of the time), and the writing is lovely. This book is definitely a keeper, and I would definitely recommend it.
59) Kiss Me Deadly, an anthology of paranormal love stories. This was a fun read. Some authors I really enjoy---Maggie Steifvater, Melissa Marr, Diana Peterfreund, to name a couple---contributed to this collection, which is partially why I picked it up. I will say that I felt the writing in the collection was uneven, but not terribly so (I only skipped one story). For anyone who enoys paranormal stories or love stories or both, consider this one. It's a keeper for me.
60) Runaways #2 continues the story begun in the first book, about a group of teenagers on the run after they discover their parents are actually supervillains. In this one they encounter robbers, vampires, and good guys hired to chase them down! This is a fun series about superheroes and supervillains. Check it out; it's worth it.
61) Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe. This is a fun paranormal YA book about a girl who starts seeing ghosts after her older sister dies, and how she finally starts to spend time with the living instead of the dead. I was skeptical when I picked it up, but the characters quickly won me over. No one was perfect; they were all regular people dealing with regular problems. The high school characters were believably written; they weren't too extreme on the good kid or bad kid end of things. This isn't a keeper for me, simply because I don't know that I would pick it up for a reread, but I am sending it to my oldest goddaughter for her to read. I would definitely recommend this for YA readers.
62) Shake the Devil Off by Ethan Brown. This is true crime, which is a genre I don't tend to enjoy. However, this book was well researched and well executed, and was very careful to not portray the people involved in the crime as monsters. This is the story of Zach and Addie, a couple who, between the two of them, weathered time in the military, sexual abuse, teenage parenthood, alcoholism, and Hurricane Katrina, and didn't make it out the other side. Beyond the crime, Brown discusses a lot of research that has been done on PTSD, the willingness of military people to seek out help for things like PTSD, and the similarities between Iraq war vets and Katrina vets. This book really delved into the "why" of things, not just the "who" and "how." I may not be a true crime reader, but I'll certainly recommend this to anyone who is interested in any of the topics addressed within this story.
63) Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked by Catherine Orenstein. This book delves deep into the many versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" out there and discusses the cultural underpinnings and representations of those versions. For someone interested in the study of fairy tale and folklore like me, this is a great, focused study on one of the best-known fairy tales out there. Orenstein deals with several widely varied versions of the tale, from the Grimm brothers to Perrault to Anne Sexton to porn to the movie Freeway. Definitely a keeper!
And now, I should get back to my to-do list for today. I've got to add several more pages to one of my radio play episodes today, do more packing for Thanksgiving, do a little freelancing, and hit a book release party in Brooklyn at 6:30 p.m. I'll try to get back here again before I fly away to Vegas early Wednesday morning, but don't hold it against me if I don't.
Happy Sunday!

if i seem to be confused

Last weekend didn't turn out quite as expected; I spent a fair portion of Saturday feeling miserable from some sort of twenty-four-hour bug, and Sunday recovering. While I did do some of the things I wanted to get done, it wasn't the relaxing two days at home I'd anticipated. Oh, well. Now my partner-in-crime's sick, and his is definitely more than twenty-four-hour bug. 'Tis the season, I suppose.
Tonight is a kid lit trivia night, which promises to be entertaining even if I'm not helpful to my team. Tomorrow night, a birthday party, and Saturday night, maybe a play. Social butterfly, that's me. One of these weeks I really am just going to stay home (except for the day job, of course) and write. I'm making good progress on editing the Superheroes novel, but I'd like to make faster progress. I'll get it done sooner or later, I know. I'd love to get it done before I go away for Thanksgiving. We'll see if I can knock it out by then.
On my lunch break today I bought a pair of Frye high heels. They're beautiful!
Tomorrow or Friday, I promise an update on books I've read lately, but for now, I've got to get out of here for trivia. Have a good night, everybody!

whenever i'm alone with you

This is me on the weekend with no freelancing to do. Thank goodness! The last couple of weeks were a disaster due to one project taking substantially longer than I'd estimated, and another coming in earlier than anticipated. Ah, well. The important part is that I got it all done. And I am determined to make this weekend lovely. Some good work time on Emmelina, on the Superheroes novel, and on the radio play. Some down time hanging out with my partner-in-crime. A birthday party to hit tonight, and then maybe a friend over tomorrow for a while. Sure, somewhere in there I need to do things like laundry and grocery shopping, but still, it's going to be a nice weekend. With no work!
I'm still torn on what to write next. I know, I know, I shouldn't get ahead of myself, but my brain always starts considering the next book at this point in the process. I've been talking about the witch/ghost series for a while, and I do really want to do that, but I haven't sorted out the overarching storyline for it, which I need to have firmly in mind before I can do much writing. And meanwhile, in the underside of my mind, a sort of Gothic noir urban fantasy is taking shape, all angular, rain-wrapped city buildings and gritty, narrow streets. Two of the characters are stalking me at odd moments. Here's the thing, though: I don't know if I'm a good enough writer yet to tackle that one. Maybe I just need to keep scribbling out notes on that one for now while I tackle the witch series.
Anyway, time for a quick breakfast and then a walk in the park with LG. Happy weekend, everybody!