New arrivals:
- Your Alien by Tammy Sauer and Goro Fujita
- Sloth Slept On by Frann Preston-Gannon, and
- Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth by Jeff Anderson - all from Sterling Children's Books for review.
- Dragonmede by Rona Randall - a pretty exciting-looking gothic library-sale find.
- Poldark by Winston Graham - won in the recent Sourcebooks Poldark giveaway.
I'm thrilled with everything that arrived. As to the library find, I chose Dragonmede thinking it would make a nice, atmospheric autumn read to usher in the cool weather. What little I read when I flipped through the book was definitely intriguing.
Posts since last Malarkey:
- Pamela by Samuel Richardson (review)
- Fiona Friday - Because cats are just toddlers in fur (cat photo)
Books finished since last Malarkey:
- Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (for F2F book group discussion)
- Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders by Julianna Baggott
The discussion of Salvage the Bones was pretty lively. I don't think anyone loved the book (one person liked it; the rest of us liked the writing, although not necessarily the story) but the fact that it was set in Mississippi with Hurricane Katrina as a backdrop meant it hit close to home in some way for all of us.
Currently reading:
I just started reading The Dust that Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernieres, 2 days ago. I was sleepy, at the time, and only managed to read 15 pages. Then, yesterday (still working on going through various bins and boxes) I found a binder that contained what I would refer to as the "book of my heart" - an almost-finished novel that I wrote in the late 90s/early 00s. At the time, I knew the ending but didn't manage to finish the book before I abruptly stopped writing fiction. I put it away -- and always considered it unmarketable, even had I finished -- but after I began reading and found that I didn't want to put the book down, I realized that I was finding words and entire scenes I would cut but plenty I'd keep. The fact that the book appears to be something I can work with actually shocked me.
Huzzybuns is encouraging me to type my old novel back into the computer (it was written about 3 computers ago) and make changes as I go. I've really struggled to get back into the swing of writing, this year, because I'm so badly out of practice but . . . yes, I think that's something I can do. If I disappear for a while, you'll know why. I'm really pretty excited about the idea of updating the book. It's unintentionally startling in some ways. Everyone still had a landline when I wrote the story, for example. So, it almost feels like sort of a "historical document", even though it's no older than about 15-16 years.
Here's another thing I keep finding in plastic bins:
In other news:
Because I've accepted a number of children's books for review, recently (more are coming), I've decided to bring back "Children's Day" - a day when I post several reviews of children's books on a single day. I always enjoyed doing Children's Days because they're a great excuse to pile up children's books, flop on the bed and have fun digging in.
I will be taking a week off for routine computer maintenance, soon (cleaning the email in- and outboxes, etc.) but I'm just going to do that when the mood strikes me. If I don't manage a Monday Malarkey post, next week, that's one possible reason why. I also have a cyst that suddenly popped up on the back of my hand, a couple weeks ago, and I'm having that drained because that sucker hurts . . . and it looks ridiculous, like someone injected a marble under my skin. Weird. I don't know if the splint I have to wear will get in the way of typing or not, but if it does I'll have no choice but to disappear for a week or so. We'll see. I don't anticipate it being a problem but you never know. I've never had this done before.
Happy Everything!
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South Slept On looks very fun. I look forward to your thoughts. I've also heard great things about three Poldark miniseries. Looks like I'm going to have to check it and the book out.
ReplyDeleteLove kitties in boxes!
I liked Sloth Slept On but there's a slight cringe factor. The children who find him discover that sloths are from the rainforest so they ship him to a rainforest while he's asleep. Then, he wakes up in the rainforest and says, "Do you know the way to the zoo?" because he's a zoo sloth. Horrors. It's really cute.
DeleteThe recent Poldark miniseries was wonderful - beautiful cinematography, very atmospheric. The older version is a bit slower and not so pretty to look at. I've only watched part of it but I plan to watch the entire thing. Can't wait to read the books!
LOL Me, too. Cats and their boxes. They're so funny.