Oct 30, 2008 | Books, Reading |
I read a lot of books I love, and I don't usually talk about them because there are review blogs that do a much better job than I can. But last night I started a book I could NOT put down. Marjorie M. Liu's Tiger Eye. It's the first book in her Dirk & Steele series. I'd been hearing about this series for a long time, and I finally decided to give it a try. OMG. Could. Not. Stop. Reading.
I didn't finish. Alas, sleep became a necessity, but tonight — must finish. This book is different than anything I've read lately. Not a vampire in sight! And this was a debut novel back in 2005. Holy sheesh, the woman's power with words! I saw her at RWA in San Francisco a few times, but I hadn't yet read any of her work. Good thing, because I might have stammered in awe. 🙂
What gives this book the page turning quality? The words, yes. But also the style. There's a question on every page that you want the answer to, often quite desperately. (This wouldn't work if you didn't care about the characters.) That's what I hope to do with my writing. To make the reader care and to ask questions to which she simply must know the answers. It's a continual learning process, but I do hope I've succeeded.
Have you read any really fabulous books lately that knocked your socks off? Or do you have a favorite author who always delivers? (I have those too, but I love branching out. I also have Kresley Cole on the TBR pile. I've never tried her, so I look forward to it.) What's the best book you've read lately? The most unusual book?
Sep 1, 2008 | Books |
As I write this, I still don't know where Gustav will hit or at what strength. My brother has chosen to stay; he's on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, about 4 or 5 blocks from the lakefront. He has a generator, food, and water, and he and his family will ride it out. They don't expect it to be as bad as Katrina, so that's the decision. The aunts went to Baton Rouge, Grandma was evacuated a couple of days ago, and I suspect the cousin is with her mother in BR. I've been there during the remnants of a hurricane. Can't remember which one, but it had to be the late 70s or early 80s. I remember a lot of wind and rain, but it wasn't scary. These days, I'd be terrified — but then Katrina and Gustav are completely different from what I experienced.
When I read that Grand Isle had evacuated voluntarily several days ago, it made me think of a book. So, I stared to think it might be nice to talk about books set in Louisiana.
Naturally, any English major who studied Modern Lit would probably think of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Set almost entirely on Grand Isle and in New Orleans, this book is about a woman's struggle to define herself as an individual during a time when women were only allowed to be wives and mothers. Edna Pontellier dares to want something more — and society does not approve. Nor did it approve of Kate Chopin for writing such racy stuff.
Then there's this novel:
Why is this book so famous? Well, here's where I admit I haven't read it yet. It's set entirely in New Orleans, but I think what makes this book so amazing to me is the story of how it came to be. John Kennedy Toole killed himself before it was published. Eleven years before it was published. His mother found the manuscript in his belongings. Then she insisted that a prominent literary professor read it. He did and championed it to publication.
Oh, and did I mention that it won a Pulitzer Prize? John Kennedy Toole wrote a book, committed suicide at the age of 31, and never lived to see his masterpiece in print. It's still in print, it won the Pulitzer, and it's considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.
A woman claims to have killed a Cajun farmer, but when the sheriff arrives, several old black men are claiming to have done the deed. It's the first time these men have stood up for themselves, and they do so in the face of white power and the racism of the day. The book is described as powerful and moving. I own it, but haven't read it yet. I intend to.
Now, what about James Lee Burke and the Dave Robicheaux novels? I've read a couple, and I'm always amazed by Burke's way with words. He tells a fine story. There's All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, loosely based on the life of Huey P. Long — this book is another Pulitzer winner.
I realize this isn't a complete list by any stretch. For instance, there's also Anne Rice, who lived in New Orleans for many years and set the Vampire Chronicles there. Jennifer Blake, romance writer, is a native Louisianan and sets many books there.
Nora Roberts set at least one book that I know of in New Orleans (probably more as prolific as she is). Tami Hoag set Lucky's Lady in the bayou. And who can ever forget Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire? Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando are unforgettable in the movie version of the famous play. Stanley Kowalski standing in the rain and bellowing “Stellaaaaa!” — whoa. Was Brando not amazingly gorgeous back then?
Okay, so he wasn't nice as Stanley, but he was nice to look at.
That's my Literary Louisiana tour. I'm sure I've left things out, so if you know a good one, give me a shout in the comments! Have you read any of these books? Have you seen Streetcar? The Brando/Leigh version or a different one? If you've seen the Brando/Leigh version, have you seen the uncut version with the rape scene? I haven't yet.
Oh, and Happy Labor Day. Can you believe it's September already? Another year, another birthday. Wow.
Jul 2, 2008 | Books, General, Life |
I got nothing to talk about. You? Any big plans for the July 4th holiday? Mine involved New Orleans, crawfish, family, and sightseeing. Until mon pere had a tiny little car accident last night. Now, the trip is canceled until the fall. Ah well. Really, I need the time to prepare for SF anyway! Much shopping to do, lists to make, etc. (Everyone is fine — except the car, that is.)
I'm also reading Roxanne St. Claire's Then You Hide and feeling depressed. Rocki is SOOOO good. I've been wanting to read the book for a while, but deadlines and all that kept me from reading much of anything. And now I'm turning pages like my fingers are on fire and wondering if I'll ever be this good. I can only hope!
Any good books on your list this summer? Any cool trips planned?
Jun 11, 2008 | Books, Promotion |
Video book trailers are the hot thing now, it seems. Everyone is doing one. Some are great (no, I have no examples because I really, really pay very little attention to them) and some are downright corny (no examples because my mama said if you can't say anything nice, etc). Apparently, according to the Wall Street Journal, it's turning into quite the cottage industry:
Circle of Seven Productions, a Brentwood, Calif.-based production company specializing in book trailers, had more than 100 clients last year, up from about a dozen in 2005. TurnHere, a two-year-old Emeryville, Calif.-based production company, has deals with Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, Hachette and Chronicle Books. And HarperCollins has cut out the middleman; the publisher just built a book-trailer studio in its offices and says it hopes to churn out 500 author videos this year.
The article also says that book trailers can cost a lot of money to produce. Obviously, this puts them out of reach of the average author, which is why the homemade ones crop up a lot. Nothing wrong with homemade and, again, some of them are pretty good.
But do they work?
There is scant evidence, however, that the average book trailer actually has much impact on book sales. Despite Doubleday's recent video upload for the self-help book “We Plan, God Laughs,” by Sherre Hirsch, the book has sold only about 3,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70% of U.S. book sales. And even though Jami Attenberg's trailer for her novel “The Kept Man” is reminiscent of Miranda July's short films, only 3,000 copies of Ms. Attenberg's recent book have sold. Most trailers cost about $2,000 to produce.
I think romance writers have embraced the idea of trailers and many work hard to make them. But what do I do when I click over to a site that has a trailer? I skip it. Unless you're a friend, or you've specifically asked me to look at it, I skip. Why?
Dunno, guess I'm in a hurry. And that, to me, is the crux of the trailer issue. If you want to do a trailer, make it short, sweet, and to the point. Just my opinion, of course!
What do you think about trailers? Like them, hate them, want to do one? What are your criteria for good trailers? What makes you watch or not?
**The WSJ article is here.
**Wow, here's a site where you can go watch book trailers! In the interest of research, I watched. Okay, there are some good ones here. Hmm… 🙂
Feb 8, 2008 | Books, Writing |
Go congratulate Nalini Singh on making the NYT list!!! Yay, Nalini!!!!!
Jan 2, 2008 | Books, Life, Photos, Travel, Writing |
I forgot how much I enjoyed 80+ degree temps at Christmas. Alabama isn't bad in the winter, but it was in the 30s last night when we drove to my parents' house for dinner. Brrr! To think that just last week, I was wearing a bathing suit…..
Here's a pic of Nassau. Doesn't that look inviting? No one warned me about the Straw Market. In consequence, I wasn't prepared. I didn't take enough cash off the ship and only managed to buy two purses instead of the 5 or so I would have liked to buy.
Some people don't like the hassle of bargaining with merchants. Some people don't like the close quarters of the market. But I loved it. I have no problem saying no and no problem walking away. Therefore, I think my designer knockoffs were a bargain.
Next stop was St. Thomas on Christmas day. Isn't it gorgeous? Reminded me of a cross between Hawaii and the Amalfi coast in Italy. I would definitely love to spend some time in the USVI. It's much closer than Hawaii, and just as lovely.
Finally, here we are with the famous coconut monkey cups. Yes, they are tacky tourist tchotchke. They are over priced. But I teased my hubby one too many times about getting sloshed on coconut monkey drinks. So he went to the bar and bought two (with margaritas inside) just to shut me up, I think. 🙂
All in all, the cruise was fun. The difficulties I imagined in traveling with both sets of parents were just that — my imagination. Everyone got along fabulously. No one felt pressured to do anything they didn't want to do. We spent whole days doing nothing. When the ladies wanted to go shopping, we went. When the men wanted to lounge around doing nothing, they did it.
I think I will cruise again. I enjoyed being waited on, enjoyed lounging around reading books. I tried the casino, but wasn't hooked. After I lost $50 in the slots, I was cured of any desire to keep trying. I also went to an art auction, but I set my number on the table, face down, and put my sunglasses on top to keep me out of trouble. It worked, thank God. Not so much for others, though. Someone in the room spent eleven grand on four Peter Max prints. PRINTS, not oils, not one-of-a-kind paintings. Then there were the Rembrandt woodcuts for 15K. No one bought them.
I only read two books on board (though I took about 10), but they were both very good. I finally read J.R. Ward's Dark Lover. Yeah, I'm hooked, and I don't even like vampires that much. It's her characterization. Fabulous. I had some quibbles with the story, but not enough to make me stop. That's good writing, when you get mad at the characters but are too interested in their story to stop reading.
I also read Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study. Another winner. Great book, and now I have to buy the sequel in trade paperback because I can't wait for mass market. I took along a J.D. Robb, but didn't get to it. Hubby read it, and he was hooked, but ultimately didn't like it. Too much romance for him. Still, Nora had him turning those pages.
What did you do over the holidays? Get everything you wanted for Christmas? Make any new resolutions? I have to think about mine. I purposely didn't take a computer or Alphie on the cruise because I wanted time away from writing, so now I'm getting my brain back into gear and thinking about what I want to accomplish this year. If you've figured out your goals, please share!
