So, Word Nerd decided she wanted to re-read all the Stephenie Meyer Twilight books before "Breaking Dawn" comes out on Aug. 2. That book she already has a hold on at the library.
Great plan? She owns "Twilight" and has started re-reading it and also owns "New Moon" and she can get "Eclipse" from the library too, right?
Wrong.
There are currently 81 holds on "Eclipse" at the library. 81. She will not get a copy before she gets a copy of "Breaking Dawn." She's only 16th on the list for that one.
She could buy "Eclipse" but wait, Word Nerd is poor and it's not out in paperback yet like the first two she owns.
Can anybody help? Loan her a copy or something?
Sigh.
22 July 2008
Book Banter -- Treason's River
Title: Treason's River (The Reluctant Adventures of Lt. Martin Jerrold, bk. 3).
Author: Edwin Thomas
Length: 354 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Plot Basics: Having upset many in the British admiralty with his last caper, Lt. Martin Jerrold is sent off on an errand to America by Mr. Nevell of the Post Office. His mission is to deliver a letter to a man in Pennsylvania, learn his plans and then stop them. Easy enough sounding, but Martin is realistic about his cowardice getting in the way of any actual heroics. The only redeeming part of the trip, Martin think, may be the company of the beautiful Miss Catherine Lyell as America itself is a hostile, uninviting place.
Banter Points: This is the best of the series, both in scope of adventure and the character of Martin Jerrold. His unwilling heroics are spot-on and funny and Thomas' look at a little-known piece of British and American history is fascinating.
Bummer Points: According to Thomas' website, this is the last of the Martin Jerrold books because the publisher pulled the plug on the series. Word Nerd's glad the series ended on a high note, but is really disappointed that there are no more.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Despite the brevity of this series, it's very much fun to read. Historical fiction/adventure story fans should be sure to pick it up.
Author: Edwin Thomas
Length: 354 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Plot Basics: Having upset many in the British admiralty with his last caper, Lt. Martin Jerrold is sent off on an errand to America by Mr. Nevell of the Post Office. His mission is to deliver a letter to a man in Pennsylvania, learn his plans and then stop them. Easy enough sounding, but Martin is realistic about his cowardice getting in the way of any actual heroics. The only redeeming part of the trip, Martin think, may be the company of the beautiful Miss Catherine Lyell as America itself is a hostile, uninviting place.
Banter Points: This is the best of the series, both in scope of adventure and the character of Martin Jerrold. His unwilling heroics are spot-on and funny and Thomas' look at a little-known piece of British and American history is fascinating.
Bummer Points: According to Thomas' website, this is the last of the Martin Jerrold books because the publisher pulled the plug on the series. Word Nerd's glad the series ended on a high note, but is really disappointed that there are no more.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Despite the brevity of this series, it's very much fun to read. Historical fiction/adventure story fans should be sure to pick it up.
18 July 2008
Book Banter -- Feast of Fools
Title: Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires, book 4)
Author: Rachel Caine
Length: 242 pages
Genre: YA paranormal
Plot Basics: SPOILER ALERT
Claire Danvers is trying to get over the arrival of parents in Morganville -- her own and vampire-leader Amelie's father Bishop and his scary lackeys. Her parents want her to leave Glass House and move in with them, but Claire doesn't want to leave her friends -- no matter how much danger living with Shane, Eve and the newly-vampiric Michael is. She keeps working with mad scientist vampire Myrnin, trying to find a way to cure the disease eating away at the vamps. But Bishop has other plans for the town and makes power play at special feast... that they would be fools to attend and maybe fools to miss.
Banter Points: Word Nerd loves Rachel Caine's books and this one is no exception. Caine is a master and continually raising the plot stakes throughout a series and while Word Nerd was into this book, there might have been a few unkind words muttered about how long she will have to wait for the next one and how unfair that is. What was nice about this book was seeing the character development of Michael and the Glass House mates in reaction to him. Also, the introduction of Bishop twisted the plot in interesting ways and kept the series fresh.
Bummer Points: See above and the unkind words about having to wait for awhile for "Lord of Misrule" to be released.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you like YA fiction, or vampire fiction or YA vampire fiction (think Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight saga here), read the Morganville books. If you liked the boy wizard, read the Morganville books. Ok... if you like good books, read the Morganville books.
Author: Rachel Caine
Length: 242 pages
Genre: YA paranormal
Plot Basics: SPOILER ALERT
Claire Danvers is trying to get over the arrival of parents in Morganville -- her own and vampire-leader Amelie's father Bishop and his scary lackeys. Her parents want her to leave Glass House and move in with them, but Claire doesn't want to leave her friends -- no matter how much danger living with Shane, Eve and the newly-vampiric Michael is. She keeps working with mad scientist vampire Myrnin, trying to find a way to cure the disease eating away at the vamps. But Bishop has other plans for the town and makes power play at special feast... that they would be fools to attend and maybe fools to miss.
Banter Points: Word Nerd loves Rachel Caine's books and this one is no exception. Caine is a master and continually raising the plot stakes throughout a series and while Word Nerd was into this book, there might have been a few unkind words muttered about how long she will have to wait for the next one and how unfair that is. What was nice about this book was seeing the character development of Michael and the Glass House mates in reaction to him. Also, the introduction of Bishop twisted the plot in interesting ways and kept the series fresh.
Bummer Points: See above and the unkind words about having to wait for awhile for "Lord of Misrule" to be released.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you like YA fiction, or vampire fiction or YA vampire fiction (think Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight saga here), read the Morganville books. If you liked the boy wizard, read the Morganville books. Ok... if you like good books, read the Morganville books.
17 July 2008
Book Banter -- Stealing Shadows
Title: Stealing Shadows
Author: Kay Hooper
Length: 356 pages
Genre: thriller
Plot Basics: Cassie is a psychic, with a scary gift -- being able to read the minds of killers. After a mistake when trying to help the San Francisco police catch a killer, she moves to North Carolina and the home her reclusive aunt owned. But she can't run away from her gift and when she gets a flash of a pending murder, she tries to convince the local sheriff and prosecuting attorney to take her seriously. As a string of local women are murdered, Cassie, Matt the sheriff and Ben, the attorney, have to trust her powers to stop the killings.
Banter Points: Word Nerd was pleasantly surprised by this title. It was recommended to her by a librarian at Central (THANKS!) during a discussion of good paranormal/urban fantasy/thriller type books (for the record, she didn't like Charlaine Harris either...) A psychic working with cops sounded good to Word Nerd so she picked up this first one in Hooper's Bishop series. The plot had a good pace, a good twist and was better-than-average writing for a paperback thriller. Also, while there's a love story between Cassie and Ben, it's not as over the top as the romantic suspense in Allison Brennan's book
Bummer Points: So, this is the first of Hooper's Bishop series... and Bishop himself doesn't show until halfway through the book and is not a well-rounded character at all for a series bearing his name, at this point.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Fans of Allison Brennan and the J.D. Robb 'In Death' series should check out Hooper. Word Nerd's planning on continuing reading.
Author: Kay Hooper
Length: 356 pages
Genre: thriller
Plot Basics: Cassie is a psychic, with a scary gift -- being able to read the minds of killers. After a mistake when trying to help the San Francisco police catch a killer, she moves to North Carolina and the home her reclusive aunt owned. But she can't run away from her gift and when she gets a flash of a pending murder, she tries to convince the local sheriff and prosecuting attorney to take her seriously. As a string of local women are murdered, Cassie, Matt the sheriff and Ben, the attorney, have to trust her powers to stop the killings.
Banter Points: Word Nerd was pleasantly surprised by this title. It was recommended to her by a librarian at Central (THANKS!) during a discussion of good paranormal/urban fantasy/thriller type books (for the record, she didn't like Charlaine Harris either...) A psychic working with cops sounded good to Word Nerd so she picked up this first one in Hooper's Bishop series. The plot had a good pace, a good twist and was better-than-average writing for a paperback thriller. Also, while there's a love story between Cassie and Ben, it's not as over the top as the romantic suspense in Allison Brennan's book
Bummer Points: So, this is the first of Hooper's Bishop series... and Bishop himself doesn't show until halfway through the book and is not a well-rounded character at all for a series bearing his name, at this point.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Fans of Allison Brennan and the J.D. Robb 'In Death' series should check out Hooper. Word Nerd's planning on continuing reading.
11 July 2008
Book Banter -- Dead Until Dark
Title: Dead Until Dark
Author: Charlaine Harris
Length: 292 pages
Genre: mystery/paranormal
Plot Basics: Sookie Stackhouse works as a cocktail waitress, doing her best to not let her "gift" -- the ability to read minds -- interfere with her life too much. It does make for hard times dating though, so when Bill, the very handsome vampire comes to the bar and Sookie realizes she can't hear him, she is interested. Other women in her small southern town start dying, however, and all indicators point to a vampire murderer and Sookie worries she may be next.
Banter Points: The scenes where Sookie "head-hopped" with her psychic abilities was a clever way to get into the minds of other characters.
Bummer Points: It's been a long time since Word Nerd really just didn't like a book. It was bound to happen. The plot for this seemed all over the map, Sookie was a bland character, Bill the vampire was even worse and though touted as a mystery novel, Word Nerd thinks it should have been labeled as a vampire romance with some dead people popping up inconveniently.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Word Nerd's not going to keep going with this series. Others love it, so you may just have to judge for yourself.
Author: Charlaine Harris
Length: 292 pages
Genre: mystery/paranormal
Plot Basics: Sookie Stackhouse works as a cocktail waitress, doing her best to not let her "gift" -- the ability to read minds -- interfere with her life too much. It does make for hard times dating though, so when Bill, the very handsome vampire comes to the bar and Sookie realizes she can't hear him, she is interested. Other women in her small southern town start dying, however, and all indicators point to a vampire murderer and Sookie worries she may be next.
Banter Points: The scenes where Sookie "head-hopped" with her psychic abilities was a clever way to get into the minds of other characters.
Bummer Points: It's been a long time since Word Nerd really just didn't like a book. It was bound to happen. The plot for this seemed all over the map, Sookie was a bland character, Bill the vampire was even worse and though touted as a mystery novel, Word Nerd thinks it should have been labeled as a vampire romance with some dead people popping up inconveniently.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Word Nerd's not going to keep going with this series. Others love it, so you may just have to judge for yourself.
10 July 2008
Writers Group Launch
Saturday is it.
Word Nerd's new writers group is officially starting.
She is excited and nervous about this all at the same time.
First, it's exciting because, hey! new writing friends to bounce ideas off of.
Second, it makes her nervous because hey! new writing friends who might hate everything she puts on paper.
So far, it's a small group which is a good thing. When Word Nerd helped launch the Oshkosh Writers Club, 40-some people came to the first meeting. This group has been by application only and it looks like a neat mix of people who have applied and are coming -- some memoirists, a few fiction writers and a poet or two.
If you are in the Indy area and want to know more, drop a comment with your e-mail. There's still some room in the group.
Word Nerd's new writers group is officially starting.
She is excited and nervous about this all at the same time.
First, it's exciting because, hey! new writing friends to bounce ideas off of.
Second, it makes her nervous because hey! new writing friends who might hate everything she puts on paper.
So far, it's a small group which is a good thing. When Word Nerd helped launch the Oshkosh Writers Club, 40-some people came to the first meeting. This group has been by application only and it looks like a neat mix of people who have applied and are coming -- some memoirists, a few fiction writers and a poet or two.
If you are in the Indy area and want to know more, drop a comment with your e-mail. There's still some room in the group.
08 July 2008
Editing
The Editing Meter over there --> shows that Word Nerd has edited half her novel-in-progress. This is deceptive.
What's been happening lately is that Word Nerd is going through all the chapters twice. While she's technically looked at and made some small fixes to Chs. 13-17, she really needs to go back and hit them harder.
Hopefully, this can start tonight, with printing out the chapters and at least getting through ch. 13 again with a much more intense level of scrutiny. The middle of the book is tough, because it needs to keep the plot moving along, build tension, but for this particular book -- be an interesting lull because the character grows complacent during this part of the story so that when she acts later, it's too late. (makes perfect sense, right?)
Anyhow, the middle of the book was also written while Word Nerd was going through a pretty big life transition of leaving her reporting job for a year in poverty 400 miles away. If the middle of the book feels like the author is keeping a big secret, it's because when she first drafted it, she was --that horrible time of knowing that she was sending out job applications and having interviews for other things that her current bosses knew nothing about. Ditto for the protagonist... only more of it for her is that she is the one being kept in the dark, that things are moving around her that she doesn't fully know about and can't stop.
This second-pass editing is where Word Nerd really rips chunks of the story out and inserts new stuff. Expect the Word Count Fluctuator to start jumping around soon.
This is such hard work. Word Nerd's new writing group starts Saturday and she's really looking forward to more community. More on that later...
What's been happening lately is that Word Nerd is going through all the chapters twice. While she's technically looked at and made some small fixes to Chs. 13-17, she really needs to go back and hit them harder.
Hopefully, this can start tonight, with printing out the chapters and at least getting through ch. 13 again with a much more intense level of scrutiny. The middle of the book is tough, because it needs to keep the plot moving along, build tension, but for this particular book -- be an interesting lull because the character grows complacent during this part of the story so that when she acts later, it's too late. (makes perfect sense, right?)
Anyhow, the middle of the book was also written while Word Nerd was going through a pretty big life transition of leaving her reporting job for a year in poverty 400 miles away. If the middle of the book feels like the author is keeping a big secret, it's because when she first drafted it, she was --that horrible time of knowing that she was sending out job applications and having interviews for other things that her current bosses knew nothing about. Ditto for the protagonist... only more of it for her is that she is the one being kept in the dark, that things are moving around her that she doesn't fully know about and can't stop.
This second-pass editing is where Word Nerd really rips chunks of the story out and inserts new stuff. Expect the Word Count Fluctuator to start jumping around soon.
This is such hard work. Word Nerd's new writing group starts Saturday and she's really looking forward to more community. More on that later...
03 July 2008
Book Banter -- Windy City
Title: Windy City
Author: Scott Simon
Length: 420 pages
Genre: literary/political fiction
Plot Basics: The mayor of Chicago is found dead, late one night, face down in the last of his pizza. Sunny Roopini, alderman of the 48th district, is the vice-mayor, and so is sworn in to be interim mayor until the council can elect a new mayor to fill out the rest of the dead mayor's term. Sunny, who has been thinking about getting out of politics, must try to keep order in the council and dodge the questions of a probing U.S. Attorney and make sure Chicago is left is competent hands after the vote.
Banter Points: Word Nerd loves Scott Simon during Weekend Edition Saturday. He's the voice of Saturday morning. He is also a darn good novelist and Word Nerd's sure this book will make her top 10 reads in 2008 list. SPOILER ALERT for what's next!
What amazed Word Nerd about this book was its subtlety. A reader can certainly look at how Sunny was elected mayor at the end because of his humility and humanity OR one can see how it was calculated and planned through the whole book.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd thinks she should have gotten it on audiobook if Scott Simon read it because a whole novel in that voice would have made in better.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Any one who likes politics, has written about politics, covered politics or just wants a good story should read this book.
Author: Scott Simon
Length: 420 pages
Genre: literary/political fiction
Plot Basics: The mayor of Chicago is found dead, late one night, face down in the last of his pizza. Sunny Roopini, alderman of the 48th district, is the vice-mayor, and so is sworn in to be interim mayor until the council can elect a new mayor to fill out the rest of the dead mayor's term. Sunny, who has been thinking about getting out of politics, must try to keep order in the council and dodge the questions of a probing U.S. Attorney and make sure Chicago is left is competent hands after the vote.
Banter Points: Word Nerd loves Scott Simon during Weekend Edition Saturday. He's the voice of Saturday morning. He is also a darn good novelist and Word Nerd's sure this book will make her top 10 reads in 2008 list. SPOILER ALERT for what's next!
What amazed Word Nerd about this book was its subtlety. A reader can certainly look at how Sunny was elected mayor at the end because of his humility and humanity OR one can see how it was calculated and planned through the whole book.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd thinks she should have gotten it on audiobook if Scott Simon read it because a whole novel in that voice would have made in better.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Any one who likes politics, has written about politics, covered politics or just wants a good story should read this book.
02 July 2008
Two-timing
Word Nerd's been two-timing with her characters lately.
She's still working on the edits for her WIP, but she's also been checking in with some old friends -- characters she first dreamt up in graduate school.
She does not feel bad about this.
The editing of the WIP is hard, hard work. It's tough to look that critically at what you wrote and fix bad things and throw good stuff out that just doesn't fit and add new scenes that, hopefully, aren't terrible. Hard work. There's certainly a sense of accomplishment when the scene truly is better later, but it's no fun getting there.
Word Nerd's been needing some writing fun and so she went back to two characters she first invented for a story in her creative fiction class in graduate school. They are two gentlemen thieves -- sort of Scarlet Pimpernel-ish -- who fight well, dance well, dress well, flirt well and do an equally darn-good job of turning the kingdom on its head. In short, it's been a while since Word Nerd spent any time with them and it's fun to see where their latest caper is taking them. (Right now, inside the Magistrate's castle...)
It's not that Word Nerd doesn't love her WIP characters still... she just needs someone else (or two someones in these two characters) right now to keep things fresh.
She's still working on the edits for her WIP, but she's also been checking in with some old friends -- characters she first dreamt up in graduate school.
She does not feel bad about this.
The editing of the WIP is hard, hard work. It's tough to look that critically at what you wrote and fix bad things and throw good stuff out that just doesn't fit and add new scenes that, hopefully, aren't terrible. Hard work. There's certainly a sense of accomplishment when the scene truly is better later, but it's no fun getting there.
Word Nerd's been needing some writing fun and so she went back to two characters she first invented for a story in her creative fiction class in graduate school. They are two gentlemen thieves -- sort of Scarlet Pimpernel-ish -- who fight well, dance well, dress well, flirt well and do an equally darn-good job of turning the kingdom on its head. In short, it's been a while since Word Nerd spent any time with them and it's fun to see where their latest caper is taking them. (Right now, inside the Magistrate's castle...)
It's not that Word Nerd doesn't love her WIP characters still... she just needs someone else (or two someones in these two characters) right now to keep things fresh.
01 July 2008
June Bibliometer
Here's the count for June:
10 books
2,874 pages
92/pages per day average
YTD:
51 books
17,322 total pages
10 books
2,874 pages
92/pages per day average
YTD:
51 books
17,322 total pages
30 June 2008
Book Banter -- Moonshine
Title: Moonshine
Author: Rob Thurman
Length: ~350 pages
Genre: paranormal/urban fantasy
Plot Basics: Cal Leandros and his brother Niko have taken up doing bodyguard/detective work in New York City, cleaning out monsters and working for the city's paranormal residents. They are hired to help one of the city's mafioso werewolves make a move against one of his competitors. The hit goes south and in retribution, Cal and Niko's friend -- Georgina -- is taken hostage. As they work to find and free her, Cal deals with his half-non-human side, a side that might save or destroy them all.
Banter Points: It had been a while since Word Nerd read the first book in this series, "Nightlife." Thurman gets a thumbs-up for nicely recapping the plot of book one without it feeling like an info dump. Also, Thurman writes good action sequences and nicely elevates the stakes in the plot throughout.
Bummer Points: Cal has a very sardonic voice through the book... while his insults are usually funny, the wry tone gets a little tiring.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you like an author like Charles de Lint but would rather your urban fantasy be a bit grittier, this series is for you. Thurman has a third book out, "Madhouse" that Word Nerd will pick up sometime.
Author: Rob Thurman
Length: ~350 pages
Genre: paranormal/urban fantasy
Plot Basics: Cal Leandros and his brother Niko have taken up doing bodyguard/detective work in New York City, cleaning out monsters and working for the city's paranormal residents. They are hired to help one of the city's mafioso werewolves make a move against one of his competitors. The hit goes south and in retribution, Cal and Niko's friend -- Georgina -- is taken hostage. As they work to find and free her, Cal deals with his half-non-human side, a side that might save or destroy them all.
Banter Points: It had been a while since Word Nerd read the first book in this series, "Nightlife." Thurman gets a thumbs-up for nicely recapping the plot of book one without it feeling like an info dump. Also, Thurman writes good action sequences and nicely elevates the stakes in the plot throughout.
Bummer Points: Cal has a very sardonic voice through the book... while his insults are usually funny, the wry tone gets a little tiring.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you like an author like Charles de Lint but would rather your urban fantasy be a bit grittier, this series is for you. Thurman has a third book out, "Madhouse" that Word Nerd will pick up sometime.
29 June 2008
Book Banter -- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Author: Mark Haddon
Length: 221 pages
Genre: literary fiction
Plot Basics: Christopher is a 15 year-old autistic boy. One night, he finds his neighbor's poodle murdered in her front lawn and decides to be like Sherlock Holmes and figure out who killed the dog. His quest lands him in trouble with his father and opens up family secrets that Christopher wasn't supposed to know.
Banter Points: All the hype that surrounded this book a few years ago when it came out was well worth it. Haddon's writing -- a first person narration from Christopher -- is inventive and accurate. Anyone who's worked with an autistic or special needs kid will marvel at Christopher.
Bummer Points: The ending, to me, seemed like a let-down. Word Nerd wanted a little bit more of a glimpse that Christopher was going to be OK at the end of the story.
Word Nerd Recommendation: A must-read for everyone to gain a better appreciation of the unique gifts and talents that those around us who are labeled as "special needs" really have.
Author: Mark Haddon
Length: 221 pages
Genre: literary fiction
Plot Basics: Christopher is a 15 year-old autistic boy. One night, he finds his neighbor's poodle murdered in her front lawn and decides to be like Sherlock Holmes and figure out who killed the dog. His quest lands him in trouble with his father and opens up family secrets that Christopher wasn't supposed to know.
Banter Points: All the hype that surrounded this book a few years ago when it came out was well worth it. Haddon's writing -- a first person narration from Christopher -- is inventive and accurate. Anyone who's worked with an autistic or special needs kid will marvel at Christopher.
Bummer Points: The ending, to me, seemed like a let-down. Word Nerd wanted a little bit more of a glimpse that Christopher was going to be OK at the end of the story.
Word Nerd Recommendation: A must-read for everyone to gain a better appreciation of the unique gifts and talents that those around us who are labeled as "special needs" really have.
24 June 2008
Book Banter -- The Dark Flight Down
Title: The Dark Flight Down
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Length: ~250 pages
Genre: YA horror
Plot Basics: Now free of the magician Valerian, Boy finds himself taken in by the mysterious Kepler and separated from his friend Willow. When Boy goes to retrieve something for Kepler from Valerian's old house, he's taken by the imperial guards of Emperor Frederick. Frederick's right-hand-man, Maxim, thinks Boy's connection to Valerian could lead him to the book and help him aid Frederick's quest to become immortal.
Banter Points: A wonderful sequel to "The Book of Dead Days." It wraps up loose ends from the first one, but is enough of a story on its own, perhaps even more gripping than the first.
Bummer Points: The revelation about Boy's true identity seemed a bit predictable.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Read it.
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Length: ~250 pages
Genre: YA horror
Plot Basics: Now free of the magician Valerian, Boy finds himself taken in by the mysterious Kepler and separated from his friend Willow. When Boy goes to retrieve something for Kepler from Valerian's old house, he's taken by the imperial guards of Emperor Frederick. Frederick's right-hand-man, Maxim, thinks Boy's connection to Valerian could lead him to the book and help him aid Frederick's quest to become immortal.
Banter Points: A wonderful sequel to "The Book of Dead Days." It wraps up loose ends from the first one, but is enough of a story on its own, perhaps even more gripping than the first.
Bummer Points: The revelation about Boy's true identity seemed a bit predictable.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Read it.
18 June 2008
May 2008 Bibliometer and 500th book
Word Nerd apologizes for this post being so late... she just kept forgetting to crunch the stats.
Here's the reading for May:
8 books
3,493 pages
avg. 113 pages/day
YTD:
41 books
14,538 pages
avg. book length: 354.6 pages
Also, Word Nerd has crossed the 500 book milestone since starting her list! It took a little better than five years, but she has now read 500 (actually, 501) books since March 2003.
The book to cross the 500 mark? The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick.
Here's the reading for May:
8 books
3,493 pages
avg. 113 pages/day
YTD:
41 books
14,538 pages
avg. book length: 354.6 pages
Also, Word Nerd has crossed the 500 book milestone since starting her list! It took a little better than five years, but she has now read 500 (actually, 501) books since March 2003.
The book to cross the 500 mark? The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick.
17 June 2008
Book Banter -- The Book of Dead Days
Title: The Book of Dead Days
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Length: 273 pages
Genre: YA/paranormal/horror
Plot Basics: Boy spends his life as the famulus for the magician Valerian, assisting him with his stage show and doing his bidding, hoping to please the enigmatic man. During the dead days between Christmas and New Year's Valerian sends Boy on an errand to retrieve some vital information for him. When the errand goes awry, Boy, Valerian and Boy's friend Willow start a race against time to find a piece of knowledge to keep Valerian alive.
Banter Points: Gripping and un-put-down-able. Sedgwick keeps the tension high throughout the whole story but doesn't lose his wonderfully sparse and lyrical style because of it. One part "The Prestige," one part "The Gunslinger" and one part invention, Sedgwick delivers all around with "Dead Days."
Bummer Points: Word Nerd wishes this were actually an adult book instead of a YA title because she's interested to see how Sedgwick would have ramped up all the characters.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Grab a copy and read it in the bright light of the day because you won't want to read it in the dark!
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Length: 273 pages
Genre: YA/paranormal/horror
Plot Basics: Boy spends his life as the famulus for the magician Valerian, assisting him with his stage show and doing his bidding, hoping to please the enigmatic man. During the dead days between Christmas and New Year's Valerian sends Boy on an errand to retrieve some vital information for him. When the errand goes awry, Boy, Valerian and Boy's friend Willow start a race against time to find a piece of knowledge to keep Valerian alive.
Banter Points: Gripping and un-put-down-able. Sedgwick keeps the tension high throughout the whole story but doesn't lose his wonderfully sparse and lyrical style because of it. One part "The Prestige," one part "The Gunslinger" and one part invention, Sedgwick delivers all around with "Dead Days."
Bummer Points: Word Nerd wishes this were actually an adult book instead of a YA title because she's interested to see how Sedgwick would have ramped up all the characters.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Grab a copy and read it in the bright light of the day because you won't want to read it in the dark!
16 June 2008
Book Banter -- Murder Melts in Your Mouth
Title: Murder Melts in Your Mouth (Blackbird Sisters mystery)
Author: Nancy Martin
Length: ~280 pages
Genre: mystery
Banter Points: Philadelphia amateur sleuth Nora Blackbird is trying to figure out who was responsible for the death of philanthropist Hoyt Cavendish. Unfortunately for Nora, all the signs point to one of two people -- either her father, mysteriously returned, or her best friend, Lexie. As the investigation continues, Nora discovers new things about her family and find the truth about Hoyt's murder, with the help of her off-again Mafia boyfriend Mick Abruzzo.
Banter Points: This was a good entry into a good series. It was nice to see Nora's parents as characters and this book had a little more depth for Nora and everyone else and less of the silly antics that pervaded the other ones. Martin also seemed to realize that Nora's repetitive fainting was getting old as a plot device and used it sparingly in this book.
Bummer Points: It'll be awhile before Martin comes out with the next one...
Word Nerd Recommendation: Thumbs up again for the Blackbird Sisters. Fans of Janet Evanovich, take note.
Author: Nancy Martin
Length: ~280 pages
Genre: mystery
Banter Points: Philadelphia amateur sleuth Nora Blackbird is trying to figure out who was responsible for the death of philanthropist Hoyt Cavendish. Unfortunately for Nora, all the signs point to one of two people -- either her father, mysteriously returned, or her best friend, Lexie. As the investigation continues, Nora discovers new things about her family and find the truth about Hoyt's murder, with the help of her off-again Mafia boyfriend Mick Abruzzo.
Banter Points: This was a good entry into a good series. It was nice to see Nora's parents as characters and this book had a little more depth for Nora and everyone else and less of the silly antics that pervaded the other ones. Martin also seemed to realize that Nora's repetitive fainting was getting old as a plot device and used it sparingly in this book.
Bummer Points: It'll be awhile before Martin comes out with the next one...
Word Nerd Recommendation: Thumbs up again for the Blackbird Sisters. Fans of Janet Evanovich, take note.
11 June 2008
Word Nerd Returns
Word Nerd is packing up her car tomorrow and heading back to the northern climes of Wisconsin to see her pals from her reporter days.
She is very excited about this.
She might even skulk about the Oshkosh Public Library a bit for old times' sake.
After this trip, Word Nerd also plans to return to some serious work on the book. It's been sorely lacking of late with major work deadlines and writing workshops to teach and travel. She also really hoping to return to doing author interviews to bring some regularity back to the blog. It's harder to do those since they aren't work related anymore, but far from impossible. (Maybe here's Word Nerd's public thanks to the authorsontheweb.com promoters who are keeping Word Nerd in review copies and interviews so far.)
Anyway... if you are a O-towner, keep your eyes open for Word Nerd and say hi.
She is very excited about this.
She might even skulk about the Oshkosh Public Library a bit for old times' sake.
After this trip, Word Nerd also plans to return to some serious work on the book. It's been sorely lacking of late with major work deadlines and writing workshops to teach and travel. She also really hoping to return to doing author interviews to bring some regularity back to the blog. It's harder to do those since they aren't work related anymore, but far from impossible. (Maybe here's Word Nerd's public thanks to the authorsontheweb.com promoters who are keeping Word Nerd in review copies and interviews so far.)
Anyway... if you are a O-towner, keep your eyes open for Word Nerd and say hi.
10 June 2008
Book Banter -- Blood Rites
Title: Blood Rites (Dresden Files, book 6)
Author: Jim Butcher
Length: 372 pages
Genre: urban fantasy
Plot Basics: Chicago's only professional wizard Harry Dresden accepts a case from Thomas, a White Court vampire who has helped Harry out in the past. The case is to protect an adult film director from a wacky, but deadly, entropy curse that keeps hurting people around him. Being Harry, however, his goals to do the right thing and protect women land him in much hotter water than he expected, going up toe-to-toe with a succubus, a nest of vampires, and undead lord and his own heritage.
Banter Points: Word Nerd really likes this series. Just to be clear, Word Nerd really likes this series. One of the biggest things that sets it apart is how Harry Dresden is forced to change through the series. By book six, it is very much not the same Harry readers were introduced to in book one. Butcher manages, however, to not only deliver a great character story, but his fight scenes and the book's action makes for a fast-paced, page-turner.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd was a bit disappointed with how Butcher did some pretty big info dumps in this book. They were thinly veiled as a confession from Harry's former mentor Ebeneezer, but all in all, still an info dump.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you haven't become familiar with this other wizard named Harry, it's high time.
Author: Jim Butcher
Length: 372 pages
Genre: urban fantasy
Plot Basics: Chicago's only professional wizard Harry Dresden accepts a case from Thomas, a White Court vampire who has helped Harry out in the past. The case is to protect an adult film director from a wacky, but deadly, entropy curse that keeps hurting people around him. Being Harry, however, his goals to do the right thing and protect women land him in much hotter water than he expected, going up toe-to-toe with a succubus, a nest of vampires, and undead lord and his own heritage.
Banter Points: Word Nerd really likes this series. Just to be clear, Word Nerd really likes this series. One of the biggest things that sets it apart is how Harry Dresden is forced to change through the series. By book six, it is very much not the same Harry readers were introduced to in book one. Butcher manages, however, to not only deliver a great character story, but his fight scenes and the book's action makes for a fast-paced, page-turner.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd was a bit disappointed with how Butcher did some pretty big info dumps in this book. They were thinly veiled as a confession from Harry's former mentor Ebeneezer, but all in all, still an info dump.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you haven't become familiar with this other wizard named Harry, it's high time.
03 June 2008
New Release
Today this book hits shelves.
It's the fourth book in Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampire series. The first three have been great reads and if the cover art is any indication, this one looks good too. Word Nerd may be making an emergency trip to Borders after work today to pick herself up a copy.
As if that wasn't enough, next Thursday, this one comes out. 
Since that picture is small, it's "Kushiel's Mercy" the sixth of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel books, a top-notch fantasy series.
Too many good books. Not enough hours in the day.
02 June 2008
Book Banter -- My Swordhand is Singing
Title: My Swordhand is Singing
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Length: 200 pages
Genre: YA horror
Plot Basics: In the old woods of Eastern Europe outside the village of Chust, Peter and his father Tomas work as woodcutters. As the deep of winter descends on the village, a rash of strange deaths reignites legends of the Snow Queen and perhaps a darker evil. With the help of gypsies, Peter and his father must face this menace in this retelling of an early vampire legend.
Banter Points: Word Nerd wonders if there's something about writers named Marcus... Sedgwick definitely takes his place in Word Nerd's mind as a writer to watch along with Marcus Sakey and Markus Zusak. Kudos to Sedgwick for once again making vampires scary, and not the almost-human type of character roaming around a lot of popular fiction. Word Nerd wasn't that familiar with this particular early vampire legend, but that didn't detract from the story. In fact, it rather helped to keep the story moving. It was the title of this book that got Word Nerd to pick it up and Sedgwick did a good job of waiting until the end of the story to make the title click.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd would have liked this book to be scarier, but perhaps for its intended YA audience, it's scary enough. Also, Sedgwick writes these ridiculously short chapters that broke the action up too much.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you are a vampire fiction fan, try this one out. Or, if you like YA fiction with some substance, it's a good read.
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Length: 200 pages
Genre: YA horror
Plot Basics: In the old woods of Eastern Europe outside the village of Chust, Peter and his father Tomas work as woodcutters. As the deep of winter descends on the village, a rash of strange deaths reignites legends of the Snow Queen and perhaps a darker evil. With the help of gypsies, Peter and his father must face this menace in this retelling of an early vampire legend.
Banter Points: Word Nerd wonders if there's something about writers named Marcus... Sedgwick definitely takes his place in Word Nerd's mind as a writer to watch along with Marcus Sakey and Markus Zusak. Kudos to Sedgwick for once again making vampires scary, and not the almost-human type of character roaming around a lot of popular fiction. Word Nerd wasn't that familiar with this particular early vampire legend, but that didn't detract from the story. In fact, it rather helped to keep the story moving. It was the title of this book that got Word Nerd to pick it up and Sedgwick did a good job of waiting until the end of the story to make the title click.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd would have liked this book to be scarier, but perhaps for its intended YA audience, it's scary enough. Also, Sedgwick writes these ridiculously short chapters that broke the action up too much.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you are a vampire fiction fan, try this one out. Or, if you like YA fiction with some substance, it's a good read.
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