Good Thief's Guide To Amsterdam

Loved this but it triggered a memory of another writer I used to love reading. I went through a serious teenage sci-fi phase and then for reasons I couldn't figure out I stopped reading altogether. Then I came across the Lovejoy books by Jonathon Gash, Lovejoy is a shifty antiques dealer and his mis-adventures kept me entertained over the whole summer The Judas Pair being one of my absolute favourites. The Good Theif's Guide made me want to dig them out and re-read them but they never survived the move to the US.

Anyway here's the review

Charlie Howard, writer and sometime career criminal is approached by a mysterious American in an Amsterdam bar and asked to steal a couple of worthless objects from two separate men on the same night. Charlie says no way to start with but ends up doing the job out of curiousity but when he goes to meet the American he finds him dead. The police think Charlie killed him but can't prove it so Charlie goes up against the seedier side of Amsterdam to find the 3 wise monkeys who could prove his innocence. All the while trying to fix a huge plot hole in his latest novel and meeting con men, corruption and diamonds along the way an entertaining read and a character I hope to read more of.

A rare moment of peace

In between all the shoveling, shopping etc the snow relented yesterday long enough for me to finish the 77 Clocks and start the Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam. Fowler (77 Clocks) is one of those writers where you just go with the characters and let the whole thing unfold - really enjoyed this one - not sure which one of his to read next, Ten Second Staircase I think. Another Christopher - Ewan this time - is keeping me reading the Good Thief's Guide, I love the idea of a writer whose research into his thief character comes from personal experience and it's set in one of my favourite cities - Amsterdam - so far so good.

My top books of 2008

They are in no particular order as I love them all.

Rose Labyrinth - Titania Hardie
Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society
The Victoria Vanishes - Christopher Fowler
Curse of the Spellmans - Lisa Lutz
Likeness - Tana French
In the Woods - Tana French
Losing You - Nicci French
In Defence of Food - Michael Pollan
Little Book - Seldon Edwards
Murder Book - Martinez
Pure in Heart - Susan Hill

Also the year I discovered the prolific Laurie King and Christopher Fowler.

Last post of 2008 - 2009 titles I have lined up (hopefully) Silent Man, Scavengers Manifesto, Fault Tree, Revenge of the Spellmans and many more.

Merry Christmas!

New books this week

New for me anyway.

Currently I'm reading the arc of the PD James The Private Patient - it's good so far and Dalgleish hasn't even come on the scene yet. Still working my way through the 2 Cara Blacks that Wendy lent me and I've finally got my copy of The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan. Christmas is trying to take over my life I'm being invited to all sorts of things some with Chris some without I haven't even got the deccies up properly yet and we've got the parents arriving a fortnight Saturday at least the snow yesterday made it seem a bit more Christmassy (yes I know that's not really a word!) In between all this and a ton of extra shifts at TKE I'm trying to work out a Plot Map for my book and making a few adjustments to version 3.5.

The Victoria Vanishes by Christopher Fowler

Public houses in London – the very fabric of working class society are being targeted by a killer with a strange agenda and a gentle but deadly MO. The case comes to PCU’s attention and then it’s business as usual at Peculiar Crimes. Arthur Bryant is convinced his memory’s going after witnessing one of the middle-aged victims entering a pub that hasn’t existed for over 80 years. May is hiding secrets and only one is in a manila envelope. With no surface connection between the dead women the unit digs deeper. What they discover is conspiracy, murder, a nanny state plot gone horribly wrong and cover-ups galore.

The pencil pushers at the Home Office keep throwing roadblocks into PCU’s path, like a new coroner, a by-the-book Detective Sergeant and one final masterstroke from the sinister Russian Home Secretary could mean this is the last case they ever solve and solve it they do but Bryant’s convinced there’s something vital they’ve missed…..

Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie

This book could be classified as mystery, love story and an esoteric treasure hunt. Two hearts, one locked in grief the other ravaged by a tropical disease, both need mending.
When Lucy King has a life saving operation in London she gains not only a new heart but the key to a legacy kept hidden for more than 400 years. As she embarks on the long road to recovery, Lucy, her Doctor Alex and their friends race to unlock the secrets of Dr John Dee, advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, scientist, mathematician and quiet heretic. A man who talked to angels.
On their heels are a rich and powerful group of religious zealots who want to bring about “The Rapture”. They think that Dee’s papers have the information they need to achieve their goal and will stop at nothing to possess them.

This is fun, escapist fiction edged with little dark tinges of truth. Dee is a historical figure with ties to amongst others, William Shakespeare and the rapture books are a best selling series here in the US.

As a footnote I love the package this comes in - it's got all the puzzle elements that you read about but in my case couldn't see so I bought one of the first copies we got in but the really spooky thing I sold a copy of it on Monday to a lady whose daughter is a documentary producer.

Psyched!

I did it and I actually finished yesterday which was the first day that the winner feature was activated. It was nearly midnight before I got to bed but it was worth it:-)

aching fingers starting tomorrow

I'd like to wish everyone about to embark on this years Nanowrimo good luck! Rather than post my word count each day - which I will be doing on the nano site anyway I've decided I'll just be off the blog for November. See you all in December.

Safer - and sad

This taking an arc out at lunchtime is a good idea - I've read a bunch of stuff that I wouldn't normally have picked up. Safer by Sean Doolittle is one such example. I test drove it over lunch and that was enough to make me take it home. Full review in March when it comes out but once you've read it you may never look at your neighbourhood watch quite the same way again.

Sadly we've lost another colleague at the store - I'm hoping she will come back when she is feeling better..... her encyclopedic knowledge of books and her sunny disposition will be missed:-(

Fault Line

I like Eisler's style of writing so this was an easy pick. It's out in March of 2009 so I'll post the full review then. What I can say is that it's a very contemporary book, raising more than a few moral questions and adding a family element makes it even better.

And now back to the re-writes.

Informal Book Club - update

I'm still waiting for the books to come rolling in - none have rolled so far.

Google analytics continues to provide me with impetus to post. People are visiting and what's more they keep coming back. If I had way too much time on my hands I could drill down through the data ad infinitum but I have to be at work in an hour and a half and I still haven't started the Eisler yet.

Signed Up

Today I officially signed up to do Nano again - my second year. It was so much fun to do last time and I'm really looking forward to November 1st! Of course this means I'll be off the grid for the whole of November no arcs, pre written reviews and funnies if there are any. Wish me luck.

The Graveyard Book and an arc by Barry Eisler

I borrowed a copy of Neil Gaiman's new book - as we didn't have an arc well not one I could find. Gaiman seems to be able to write for most genres and The Graveyard Book is aimed at younger kids. It's the story of Nobody Owens or Bod. His family died in unpleasant circumstances and it seems that young Bod is about to be next when he's saved by the Graveyard up the hill and its' inhabitants. With ghosts as parents and teachers and Silas who only comes out at night as his guardian Bod grows towards adulthood but the people who killed his family have never stopped looking for him. This book is a funny, scary, sweet coming of age story as only Neil Gaiman can tell it.

Finally got around to putting a pic on this site - it's the same one I've just changed my facebook one to. As my friends and family know only too well point a camera at me and don't expect good results (unless you're our wedding photographer!) Chris knows how to take sneaky ones (he's the one closest to the camera - obviously).

The Eisler arc called Fault Line isn't a John Rain - it seems he really has retired his ethical assassin and I can read this one a little slower it's not out until March next year.

New shift pattern rewrites and a creepy arc

So this week is the start of the 'new' shift pattern. Considering what a grinder that Monday shift is I was allowed an 'off the premises' lunch break. I embraced this by going to Sbucks with the first arc I could grab off the pile. 'The Angel Maker' by Stefan Brijs which I'll review in full when it comes out in January of 09. Creepy, really creepy, it gives you that unsettling feeling of seeing something nasty out of the corner of your eye and then you blink and it's not there. If I was younger this would be giving me nightmares. Good Halloween book.

Rewrites - I'm going to do another draft. Wendy is reading my manuscript at the moment and has given me some great feedback and constructive advice (thanks Wendy!). I spent my Saturday morning in bed with the laptop re-writing a scene in the third person so that I can make it more powerful.

And it seems to be the week for blasts from the past. I signed up to Friends Reunited 3 or 4 years ago put my profile up and actually forgot I'd done it. At the time it cost five pounds to sign up for a year so at the end of that year I let it lapse but the profile stayed up. Last week I got an e-mail from a guy I used to work with and when I went onto the site I recognized some of the people from my class at Grammar School so I e-mailed a couple of them. (Deb if you're reading this I did reply to your e-mail but it had no return address - leave me a comment I'd love to stay in touch.) So I'm now in touch with Helen and on Tuesday during our weekly phonecall Mum told me she'd run into the son of a friend of hers that I thought had left the village for good. I used to really fancy him (but never did anything about it) so I shall not say his name here a) so I don't embarrass him and b) in case he didn't realize how I felt about him back then. God I sound like a love struck schoolgirl!

The Murder Book

Small but perfectly formed book, left me with an eerie feeling. Martinez' last book 'The Oxford Murders' explored mathematical puzzles which might or might not help to solve a series of bizzare murders and save the next victim. This one is more about cause and effect.

The author - our narrator - gets a desperate phonecall which plunges him into an impossible position. He fell for Luciana over the course of a month, 10 years ago. At the end of the that month she went back to her employer, rival novelist Kloster who according to Luciana is slowly extracting revenge for the destruction of his marriage by killing her family off one by one.

Is she mad? Is Kloster - now a best-selling novelist - plotting murder in his spare time or does his writing trigger an action in real world. Kloster's working on his masterpiece and it's going to be a killer.

Lurgy and Zoe Heller

I've got the lurgy - it's been brewing all week and finally here it is. I'm fighting with all the ammo in my medicine cabinet, lockets, alka seltzer (here they're for colds not hangovers I'll never quite get used to that) and some rather spiffy Robitussin which I took last night and it worked better than Night nurse or Bennalin. I was out cold - until about 10.30 this morning.

I've just read Zoe Heller's new book and while I liked it I was reading from the whodunnit perspective so of course Joel had to be banging Daniel - wrong!!!!! It's nicely written and there's a review below but the thing I learned from this book is that I couldn't ever be Jewish - all those rules!

The Believers – Zoe Heller

Heller introduces us to the Litvinoff family at a crisis point. Joel, the head of the family suffers a stroke at the start of an important trial in a New York courtroom. His wife Audrey calls her son and two daughters to his bedside. In between battling with the Doctors over her husband’s medical care and wrestling with her conscience over keeping him alive Audrey learns that Joel had a mistress – she was tolerant of his many affairs – but this mistress had a son which Joel has secretly been supporting and the family has its own troubles.

Lenny the recovering drug addict may have fallen off the wagon again. Barren Karla, dieting social worker whose husband Mike is so desperate to foist an adoption on her that’s he pushing her towards another man. And finally Rosa, whose radical atheist upbringing means that her work with disadvantaged African American kids should be ideal. But instead she feels a pull towards her Jewish roots and beings to explore her denied faith.

A complex study of nature over nurture in post 9/11 New York.

I've got the new Guillermo Martinez to read over the weekend we'll see how that goes and I plan on doing some writing tonight. Chris is out at the airport taking night shots and then he's going on a ride-along in South Jordan.

The Little Book by Seldon Edwards

Not an arc and more of this in a moment.

We had the midnight release for Brisingr - the last of the Paolini books and it was fairly well attended - not anything like Breaking Dawn but not bad. It still meant being up past midnight and in between selling books I kept looking at "The Little Book" and in the end I took it home and read it over the weekend. The review follows. It didn't hurt that Sunday a small furry animal fried itself on a powerline which knocked about 6000 people's power out - ours included.

We had a TW meeting yesterday afternoon - which was fun because we had it at Donna's new house. I think we need to do some more writing exercises soon because although we briefly discussed the Monet to Picasso exhibition we barely discussed our writing and while that is a good thing once in a while - shaking things up a bit - we're all talented writers and we don't want to lose that angle.

Anyway here's the review.

Two things attracted me to "The Little Book" The first - I'm a sucker for a Time travel story and the second the majority of the book is set in Vienna. A city I love. My first trip abroad sans parents. We stayed in youth hostels first in Austria and then Switzerland. Vienna was our first stop and I fell in love from the moment we left the airport. We went to the opera, saw the famous Viennese White Horses perform, did a fiaker ride (horse and carraige) bummed around art museums and had coffee and pastries in a wide selection of Viennese cafes. We even went to the Prater and took a ride on the famous Ferris Wheel. I have never felt so instantly at home in a city before or since.

The Review

So how did 47 year old Wheeler Burden, last of the Boston Burdens go from being attacked in a doorway in 1988 San Francisco to walking around the Ringstrasse in Vienna in 1897?

Wheeler is quite a character, baseball legend, famous musician, writer and now Time Traveller? Once he's sure this isn't some kind of surreal coma dream, Wheeler starts to realize that this time and this place is significant in the creation of his own history and of his father's - the equally legendary Dilly Burden.

The whole 'don't mess with the past you may damage your future' reasoning of his father doesn't apply to Wheeler, he becomes a patient of the soon to be legendary Sigmund Freud, takes a lover who may paradoxically destroy them both and makes an instant enemy of his own grandfather. Wheeler sets about creating his own legacy. We learn about the Burdens and the good and bad ways they have influenced historical and current events and the strong woman who was the love of Wheeler's life who Waltzed with him one last time.

If you've never been to Vienna this book will make you want to go, if like me you've been it makes you yearn to go back. Fab!

NanoWrimo

Just got an e-mail from the nano people. It's hard to believe that in a couple of months NanoWrimo will be happening again. I did my first one last year and I fully intend to do it again. The object is simple, write a novel in a month, 50,000 words. There are no prizes but that's not the point. Hopefully you end up with a body of work that you can edit to death in the coming months. With Nano you just write - give your inner editor the month off and get stuck in.

Hopefully I can find some arcs to read this week!

62,397!

Third draft - complete. I'm going to step away from it for a couple of weeks and then re-read and do a final edit before printing a copy.

Reading Chris Fowler's first Bryant and May mystery Full Dark House so far so good! I'm going to check for arcs tonight - hopefully they'll be some good ones.

The Pure in Heart - Susan Hill

The second of the Simon Serrailler books (not sure how you pronounce his name I've been doing it the French way) This is much darker than The Various Haunts of Men, it deals with themes we shy away from, child abduction, a would-be stalker, Simon's reaction to the the fallout from the murders in Lafferton a year ago. Simon is called back from his holiday in Venice his sister - not Cat - is desperately ill. He throws himself back into his work rather than explore the feelings he had for DS Graffam. At the same time Andy Gunton is released from prison and returns to Lafferton. It seems all roads lead to Lafferton as Diana, Simon's old flame invades his life. This book is more procedural than the first and the course of the investigation is all too familiar. I'm thinking that the final book in the trilogy will resolve some of the thread left hanging by this - I hope so. I felt we only got half a story. Still it's a fascinating one. Hill gets the portrait of village life just right and nails the issues with GPs and locums which are a very real problem in UK at the moment. Andy the ex-con also gets a sympathetic portrayal his determination to stay straight dented by the probation system, his bitch of a sister and old 'friends' who won't take no for an answer. Overall a good follow-up. Looking forward to book three.

Informal Book Club

That sounds so much better than chain letter book club. You wouldn't think those two things would go together would you? It's simple you mail a book off to the person whose name and address is on the bottom of the letter. Then you copy the copy you have and put one of the address labels that come with it on the bottom of the six letters you send out. Honestly the letter explains it better than I have.

Why am I doing this you ask? Well for a start it's free books and I've promised myself that I will read every single one I get as a way of freshening up what I read - and I will of course review them here.

I've got six people in mind but I'm asking them first because well it's polite. If anyone is interested in being in my part of the chain that's assuming the six don't say - free books sign me up! Send a comment to this blog - US only though.

No writing today - we are finally getting a new bed - yay! This means lots of moving furniture around - also lots of swearing as various parts of my anatomy make painful contact with corners, wooden and metal. I've got bruises up both my arms and knees that look like a painting by David Hockney.

You are Here

I'd like to think that I take the environment seriously - I recycle as much as possible but this book gave me a hefty slap in terms of how much I actually know about climate change. I'm not going to call it Global Warming which if we are honest has become a byword for the green marketing machine. Thomas Kostigan - the author - travels to parts of the planet actually affected by what we do here. He connects the dots in a way that is both revealing and horrifying. The most polluted city in China - and no it's not Bejing - polluted because US consumers want cheap Chinese made goods (I knew I hated Walmart for more than just it's annoying adverts). Mumbai - our future if we don't wake up and do something about it. Fresh Kills, New York - the world's biggest landfill and best kept secret. You see all the things we throw away don't actually go away - they come back in our air, our water, our food.

This book - out in October - should be required reading for school children.

As a side note after Kostigan's comments about where our clothes come from I checked the labels in the four loads of laundry I'm doing, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, England (clothes I bought in UK) and only 2 T-shirts were made in the US.

I finally got a copy of the next Susan Hill - The Pure In Heart and I'm dotting the I's and changing commas to full stops on my 3rd draft.

Update

I've spent the weekend researching alternative energy sources and home composting. The Susan Hill is good but it's not going to end well:-(

The Victoria Vanishes

I've never read any Christopher Fowler but we had an arc for his new one so I took a look. Loved it - his peculiar crimes unit is right up my street. So much so that I've bought 'The Water Room' (second book I've bought this week it must be coming up to payday!) because we didn't have the first one in the series so I'm reading them in reverse order.

The new book comes out in October so I'll review it then. Fowler lives in London and it shows and Bryant and May are two pretty unique characters as are the rest of the squad. If you like your mysteries a little (ok a lot) on the weird side the match boys are for you (Bryant and May is a well-known brand of matches in UK) I would highly recommend these books to fans of Jasper Fforde, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Oh and third draft nearing completion.

Guernsey Literary etc review

This is a great book which tells the story of the Society through a series of letters and telegrams to and from author Juliet Ashton. The fact that the whole story is told through letters doesn’t detract from the power of the subject matter.

The Germans occupied Guernsey and the other Channel Islands because the British foolishly left them undefended. They confiscated the locals livestock and forced them to live under harsh and constantly changing regulations and curfews. The society was formed under false pretences but became an escape for the islanders who had no news from the outside world for the last five years of the war. Juliet in a London still reeling from the might of the Luftwaffe gets a glimpse of the Society and wants to know more and the more she learns about the Islanders in general and Elizabeth McKenna in particular the more she knows she’s got to visit Guernsey.

The story is told in letters, and telegrams to and from Juliet, her publisher and friend Sidney Stark, his sister Sophie, Dawsey Adams, Amelia, Isola, Eben and Eli and many others.

I laughed, was suitable affronted and yes in some places I cried. A brilliant book and it’s about time someone shone a spot light on this little-known part of history. It had some interesting things to say about booksellers (Juliet and Sophie worked in a bookstore when they first moved to London) and the complicated relationships between the islanders and the Germans. And to say the path of true love doesn’t run smooth for one character would be an understatement!

I was very sad to learn that Mary Ann Shaffer one of the authors died before the book’s publication.

The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows

Another spectacular title. I read this over the weekend and I'm not taking it back I'll buy a copy because I enjoyed it so much and know I will read it many times in the future.

I'll post my review in a moment but first a few observations. The bits about booksellers in here are well observed. We don't do it for the money - we do it because we love to read and recommend books. The three questions. What's it about? Is it any good? and Have you read it? come up on a daily basis.

Every family in England has a war story that floats around from generation to generation and ours has to do with a doodlebug - the soft and fuzzy name for a V1 flying bomb. Granny Curtis my Mum's mum heard a doodlebug go over. Doodlebugs are OK as long as you can hear them, when the engine cut out you had about 30 seconds before the thing plunged to earth and possibly blew you to bits. This one was faulty and the engine kept cutting back in. Mum told me that every time the engine stopped Gran backed a little further towards the open fire, fortunately the V1 blew up just before she toasted her behind.

The Terminal Spy by Alan S. Cowell

Another review - this one just came out


On November 1st 2006 a man is assassinated in broad daylight in Central London. Add to the facts that this man was a Russian defector, former KGB and that the murder weapon used was a little known radioactive substance and you might think you’ve stumbled into a Le Carre spy novel, but this isn’t fiction.

From his death bed Alexander Litvinenko charged the Kremlin with his murder and Cowell - the then bureau chief for the New York Times in London - lays out all the major suspects in and outside of Russia during the turbulent times of the collapse of the Soviet Union when Moscow resembled the wild west. He charts the twin careers of Vladimir Putin and Litvinenko – whom he gives us warts and all - and most chillingly details the first known act of nuclear terrorism on British soil.

Black and White and Dead All Over by John Darnton

Here's the review

Globe Editor Slain in Newsroom screams the headline of the New York paper Theodore S Ratnoff worked for before someone spiked his life story, literally.
Jude Hurley is assigned to cover the story. He’s not a favorite of the police who are lining up a long list of suspects. Did Ratnoff uncover a criminal conspriracy? a plot to take over the Globe’s media empire, did he wrong a woman, or is he just the first name on a grudge list?
There’s also the matter of a bastard son about to inherit controlling interest in The Globe’s stock, a murderous ‘avenger’ with a nice line in poetic justice, mistaken identity, boardroom power struggles, a megalomaniac Aussie media baron, and a pack of newsman hungry to snatch the lede away from Jude.
It all adds up to a complex but enjoyable thriller set in the heart of the newspaper business.

Canada, How to mess up on Trax and Who's Reading this Blog

Last week I realised a childhood dream to visit Canada and it didn't disappoint. I could go on and on about how lovely it was or I could just put a link up to the photos of the trip (click the title for this blog entry and it'll take you straight to them). The one of Victoria harbour at night will be my new screensaver shortly. Anyway it was back to work yesterday - in the morning and then my usual afternoon shift at TKE.
Funny story - I came back on Trax but I got the wrong one and ended up at the U. I got off at the Stadium onto 1300E and started to walk along it. Note to self 1300E is a long road when you're on foot, had to be rescued by hubbie. The moral of this story is never get on Trax without looking at the destination board!
I've got a copy of 'The Guernsey Potato Peel Pie Society' to read this weekend and the John Darnton book 'Black and White and Dead all Over' came out this week so I'll post my review of that next.
Interesting point I've set up Google Analytics on my blog - because I wasn't sure if anyone (apart from family and friends) was reading it. The good news, people are and more than I thought but the thing that floored me was where they're coming from. Not just the US and the UK (thanks Mum!) but from as far afield as Norway, Poland, Australia and South Africa. So thanks for reading!

Hard at work on draft number 3

Nuff said.

Feedback , Breaking Dawn and UMFA

I started my Friday on a high - I got some constructive and positive feedback - thanks Linda! and to be honest for the rest of the day nothing could dent it. Even a pretty busy shift in the run up to the Breaking Dawn release. Our pre-solds were gone by 10.30 and after we got everyone out of the store and locked up it was my job to walk down the line checking that the people in the queue really did have their vouchers - some didn't but we sorted that out. Some people had just gotten in the queue because it was there, by the time I got to the back my voice was going and my throat has been a bit sore all weekend. Once we got to midnight the books flew into the hands of eager readers and we were done by 12.30.

Yesterday Chris took me to the Monet to Picasso exhibition at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. The last time I was in an art gallery was Vienna in the 80's. The paintings at UMFA are all from private collections so rarely seen. They were great but the Rodin sculptures just blew me away. If we ever got a piece of fine art to go in the house and it was my choice it would be a Rodin.

Nothing to do with books!

I'm proud to say that I'm married to a Superhero. Chris witnessed an accident yesterday and when the driver who ran over a cyclist tried to drive off he chased him down - on foot - and sat on him until the police arrived. Bob is threatening to get him a T shirt with a flaming C on the front. I think the Calgary Flames got there first!

The Likeness Tana French

Came out this week - here's the review.


A Trinity college student murdered in a remote spot, someone who looks exactly like you and who was using one of your undercover aliases at the time of her death. You being Detective Cassie Maddox, damaged by the fallout of an Murder case gone wrong and licking your wounds in Domestic Violence. The dead girl is Lexie Madison living a life you created as an undercover operative run by Frank Mackey.

Mackey thinks this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Cassie becomes Lexie, out of a coma with no memory of the night of the attack. She can feed information to the police from the inside. Now Cassie has to fool Lexie’s four strangely protective housemates but Cassie could be getting too close to the case to remain objective and Lexie who shed identities like snakeskin is messing with her head from beyond the grave and all the while in the dark lanes a killer waits.

This is a great follow up to 'In the Woods' can't wait for the next two books - that's if she follows the pattern set up in books one and two.

Mars and Venus

I've got a new title for the Men are From Mars Women Venus etc. Mars and Venus writing about sex. It's really funny that I've never noticed it before but when a man writes about sex the woman's doing most of the work and she's usually on her knees (hmmmn so much for sexual equality!) When a woman writes about making love it's a more equal union eye to eye rather than eye to balls. I'm sure some university bod is drumming up money to fund a study about this totally useless piece of information.

It also takes a heck of a lot of imagination not to use your own bedroom antics as a template for your characters! Think about that next time you read a love scene. I think the reason for that comment is that I've just read a rather touching love story wound into a esoteric treasure hunt.

Rose Labyrinth and The Terminal Spy

Finished 'The Rose Labyrinth' about an hour ago. I'll review it properly in November when it comes out. I've also got an arc for the book about the Alexander Litvinenko case. This was the Russian spy and very pointed critic of Putin who was poisoned - very cold war tactics - very KGB and guess who used to head them up?? yep Vlad!. - and died last year. Haven't written much this week - bit of an anticlimax getting to the end. I've got a lot more work to do but until I get some serious feedback I'm not going to touch it.

arc, loaner and a completed manuscript

It's been a while since I requested and got the arc of my choice in this case "The Rose Labyrinth" by Titania Hardie but from now on I'll put a yellow sticky note on any I want to read 'cos that works a treat. The blurb for this book sounded intriguing and the marketing campaign is I think unique you can read the book purely as a book or you can solve the clues before the characters in the book do - I think. Anyway it doesn't come out until November so plenty of time to read and review it and work out the marketing campaign.

Wendy put a book in my box - perfect she said in her note for a plane flight. I've dipped into it - "The Gilded Seal" by Mark Twining. Art thief turned art recovery expert Tom Kirk is the main character and this is one of those books where the good guys are handsome and the bad guys are ugly and you just know that the gorgeous and therefore good FBI agent is going to be taking down his 'particulars' a bit later on in the plot.

Second draft - complete! 59,954.

Loser's Guide to Life and Love

This is a YA book set in Salt Lake City and written by my friend Ann Cannon who used to work Monday nights at TKE with Shelly Williams and I. The launch was last night on our Patio and it was a really fun event. Instead of the usual author reading Ann gave us an insight into how the book came about and how it was a bit ahead of it's time, she took a couple of questions and then we had a little "Loser's" theatre with four kids reading the parts of Ed, Quark, Scout and Ellie. So much fun and the place was packed. I have my signed copy and though I didn't get the chance to review it for the Inkslinger or Inklinks here's my take.

Ed works in a video store with his best friend Scout. Ed doesn't have his own name badge so Ali the owner gives him one with Sergio on it. So Ed becomes Sergio and when the girl of his dreams walks into the video store Ed doesn't stand a chance of going out with her but Sergio does. It doesn't help that Scout has a massive crush on Ed and Ed's next door neighbour Quark has a similar crush on Scout. Will Ed get the girl, and which girl will he get? This will appeal to YA and adults alike because we've all been teenagers and had to go through some - or all of the mis-steps that Ed and the others make. This is laugh-out-loud funny and a great read.

Live from Park City

Discovered some things I didn't know about Park City
1)You can park underground
2)but you need to get validation to park for free
3)The Alpine Internet Cafe has fantastic coffee and comfy chairs.
4)It's 20degrees cooler than SLC.
Props to Donna for suggesting we go up there. She blogged and wrote and I wrote.

A title I couldn't resist

OK I admit it I'm a sucker for a good cover and a spectacular title and this book has both. It's not an arc I'm having a bit of a dry-spell arc-wise. I was shelving on Friday and this book just hooked me and get this it's not a mystery! Well it's more the story of a search. It's called "The 351 books of Irma Arcuri" by David Bajo. Irma Arcuri has vanished, not just left the country, she bascially stopped the world and got off, she absented herself from her life. Philip Masryk a maths genius has been in love with Irma since University. Their friendship spanned Philip's two marriages but Irma leaves Philip her collection of books all 351 of them and Philip whose first language is numbers starts with 3,4 and 7 as she knew he would.

Irma a writer, restorer and binder of books has bound the collection herself and that's not all. She's added little pieces of herself into the books - altered texts added stories that perplex and unsettle Philip. Philip travels from Philadelphia to Spain seeking clues to Irma, along the way he finds that her influence has pervaded his family and friends even his step-children. Is Irma trying to warn him away, or to open him to a better life. Will Philip find Irma?

NB There is an awful lot of sex in this book - just so you know. It didn't detract from the story but for a maths geek this guy is really nookie friendly!

I'm also reading the second of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books 'Monstrous Regiment of Women' it threw me a bit on the first couple of chapters (marriage? when we left Mary at the end of the first book she was having trouble tolerating any man but we are five years further on so I'll forgive Laurie King that) Plus I'm experimenting with a TV tie in. Torchwood - I love the series but books of TV series aren't usually very good. However I downloaded a couple of TWood audiobooks last year and they were pretty good so we'll see.

David who?

So Chris phones me up from St Louis about 30 mins ago and says "Have you heard of David Sedaris?" Well of course I have. "Oh" he says, "I'm having dinner across the road from Left Bank Books and he's there doing a reading". He couldn't get in - it was packed duh! - so that makes me feel a little better but bummer! I would love to have listened to him.

I Love My I-Tunes

Most of the time I write with music in the background and I-tunes just threw out 2 treats I'd completely forgotten were on here. "Gorecki" by Lamb and "Sour Times" by Portishead course then it ruins everything by playing the only Spice Girls track I own!

Research teaches you the weirdest things

At one of our meetings recently we discussed the factual side of fiction ie even if the event is made up if you don't have your facts straight you could turn off some readers.So I've just spent most of my time online today researching amongst other things water heaters, yes water heaters. I could tell you the number for the nearest corgi installer with my eyes shut. I now know far too much about gas water heaters I could probably troubleshoot any problems in ours. I know why the tank doesn't smell funny, how to relight a pilot light and that the gas I researched yesterday is not only highly toxic but highly flammable (dammit!!) and therefore wouldn't work in the context I was using it in.

Not much going on this week.

I finished the Darnton - it's good and I'll review it when it comes out in July. Darnton worked for the New York Times and there is a lovely swipe at a certain Australian media tycoon:-)
Writing is throwing my reading out of balance the other arc - the Martini - I couldn't get into it. I'll let someone else have a crack at that one. Need some non-fiction I think. The second draft is going well, I made some of the changes suggested by the girls but a couple of things I couldn't take out so I tinkered and made a character a bit less pompous and even though he's pure exposition hopefully he's a bit less of a puzzle piece.

New Arcs, Draft Number 2 and Devil May Care

2 new arcs this week. Black and White and Dead all Over by John Darnton - by the title and a quick peruse inside it looks like murder in the newspaper business. Also Shadow of Power by Steve Martini - legal thriller? I know he writes them.

Draft number 2 is shaping up nicely.

Interesting quote I came across the other day from Alexander Graham Bell, 'Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.'

The new Bond book - Devil May Care, came out this week with Sebastian Faulks now helming the franchise. It was a quick read, good and rather than bringing Bond into the present day he keeps him in the swinging sixties. The plot is pure Fleming, cold war, missing/experimental aircraft, evil genius, clammy henchman, glamourous locations, death of a few minor characters, only one of whom I cared about and good old British technology saving the day. Faulks has obviously done his research well and the story fitted with nods to Flemings books like on OMHSS and The Man with the Golden Gun.

Scary but exciting

First things first, loving The Likeness. It's a brilliant premise and as far as I know it's never been used before. Can't wait for the book to come out in July and I'll review it fully then.

On the scary but exciting front - I have a finished draft. I'm going to add a couple of elements and expand a couple of scenes but yikes. Talk about diving off the high board!!!! 43505 words not sure how many pages that translates to. When I did nano in November 50,000 words got me two and a bit stories.....

One rewrite down. Laurie King & Tana French

I got my 20 pages down in time for our meeting Saturday, Mexican food and a very productive meet. Good job we can all take criticism as well as we dish it out and I hope I saved some time by critiquing it the way they do, cliche, placeholder, adverb, why would the character do that, where did he come from did he just beam in? stuff like that and most important show don't tell. Of course that threw up a whole bunch of other problems but I fixed those - I think - guess we'll see in June.

Along with the re=writes I've been hitting the books again. Laurie King, excellent and so good I bought the second in the series sight unseen. Tana French - all I can say is wow! She's just won the Edgar prize for best first crime novel and now 'In the Woods' is out in paperback I got the chance to read and review it.

In the early 80's three children vanish in Knocknaree, Ireland. Only one of them, Adam Robert Ryan is found. His shoes are full of someone elses blood and he can't remember what happened to him or his young friends. Twenty years later police detective Rob Ryan and partner Cassie Maddox are called to a murder scene in Knocknaree - a little girl. Rob thinks this murder might hold the key to what happened to him and his young friends but can he hold himself together long enough to finish the case or will it finish him. Great first novel and the partnership between Rob and Cassie is so well portrayed that the reader can see what's coming before they do. Un-putdownable.

Now I just need the arc for her new one "The Likeness"

This sucks!

Life isn't fair I know that but all I can about what just happened is that IT REALLY REALLY SUCKS! And who's next I wonder? Me? Maybe that would give me the kick to start accumulating rejection slips.........

Amazing what a bit of research can turn up

Still doing the re-writes. In the course of this I decided to do a bit more research into the Royal College of Music - after all this is where some of my book is set and it always helps to have a first hand view. Now I used to go up to RCM every weekend. My brother had a scholarship and Mum and I would go up with him, spend the day in London and then catch rehearsals before we all took the train home. Sometimes the whole family would go up if Martin was in a big concert. The point is - I know the place I used to race up and down the steps at the back of the Albert Hall. I couldn't find any old pictures of us outside RCM so using Google Earth and Image finder I pulled up some photos of the College. I must have a black and white memory, it's not granite grey, it's bright freaking red. Sandstone red! That's not a colour you can hide.
See below.

Rewrites

I haven't written anything new the past couple of weeks it's all been re-writes. This is not a bad thing - it's great to have four fresh pairs of eyes pointing out things that I've missed. Read an arc of The Host. Am currently reading 'The Beekeepers Apprentice,' It's the first of the Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell series by Laurie King - so good I bought my own copy. Also reading 'Bonk' by Mary Roach and 'Willful Creatures' by Aimee Bender - I sold books at the event last week - not many but the reading itself was really good and so I've borrowed a copy (thanks Linda!)

Hold Tight by Harlen Coben

How far would you go to keep your kids safe? Would you spy on them, track the GPS in their phones install software on their computer? Add to these troubling moral questions the seemingly unrelated puzzle pieces of two suburban murders, a homicidal brother in law, teenage suicide, pharm parties, paternity issues and a tough as nails police investigator trying to connect the dots.

Hold Tight is part police procedural, part hi-tech and part twisted soap opera. It also shows the damage done by the click of a mouse. After finishing this book you may just want to pop upstairs and check on your kids……

The Rosetta Key by William Dietrich

If only all history lessons could be like this! Adventurer Ethan Gage arrives in Jerusalem still on a quest for ancient knowledge and hardened by the loss of the woman he loves. The French, led by Napoleon are trying to conquer the Middle East, do they seek the same thing Gage does? Old enemies and new friends help Gage in his quest. Gage uses his brain and his mentor Ben Franklin's knowledge to survive against impossible odds. Will Gage find The Book of Thoth? and can he trust the Rosetta Key - a woman risen from the dead to bewitch him again.

This is fic-history at it's best. The battles of Jaffa and the subsequent massacre, the Siege of Acre and the battles at Mount Tabor are all historical record. Dietrich winds Ethan Gage into this world and makes it real for the reader. He also shows how the supposedly civilised French could be capable of such horrific atrocities and how war un-civilises even the most cultural of races. A cracking read, I can't wait to read Napoleon's Pyramids - the first of the Gage books.

Finally writing again - review of Compulsion

We've been back since Monday and today is the first time I've written anything. 599 words but this is a bit of puzzle piece, not quite sure where to stick it or even if I'll use it at all.....

I'm reading an arc of William Dietrich's Rosetta Key. I started it last night at the Art Barn in between setting up and waiting for people to arrive for the event - no I didn't read it in front of anyone else. One of my Uncles who has long since passed away used to spin stories of his exploits in India and the Far East and I used to lap them up. Dietrich's Ethan Gage, reminds me of him and now I have to find Napoleon's Pyramids because that seems to be the first book in the series. Again more fic-history - this one comes out next week.

Also trying to get hold of an arc for The Host - the new Stephenie Meyer - nothing to do with the Twilight series. She's coming to SLC in May and we're hosting (no pun intended!) her.

I reviewed Compulsion before we went away but it's out now so here's the review.

Ten years ago murder made him a millionaire and now he’s turned it into a hobby.

LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis returns from an extended sick leave to zero case load. Then a girl goes missing, a harmless old lady is attacked in her front yard and across the country a serial murderer claims he killed missing 16 year old Antoine Beverly. Swamped, Milo calls on Dr Alex Delaware for help. Alex travels from the bright lights of New York city to a forgotten ghost town North of LA. He and Milo are on the trail of a crafty killer whose twisted ‘benevolence’ leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. Can they catch him before he kills again?

Losing You - Nicci French

On her 40th birthday Nina Landry, her son Jackson and daughter Charlie are due to leave remote Sandling Island and jet off to Florida with Nina’s new boyfriend. But 15 year old Charlie vanishes and normal life is suspended. When a desperate Nina can’t get any help from the local police, she turns detective, questioning Charlie’s friends, lovers, even her own ex-husband, uncovering her daughter’s secrets, deconstructing her teenage life in order to save it. But can she? Who can she really trust on this island of secrets? Nina isn’t going to stop until she’s found her daughter but the tide is rising and time is running out.

I couldn’t put this down. French spins a gripping tale out of every parent’s worst nightmare.

Sepulchre

Past, present, revenge, murder, betrayal, doomed love and tarot cards. It’s all here among the drab of old Paris and the wild beautiful countryside of Southern France.

The story spans 2007 where Meredith Martin an American researching the mercurial composer Claude Debussy in Paris gradually uncovers the legacy of his upstairs neighbour Leonie Vernier a 19th Century Parisienne who arrives at the Domaine de la Cade an estate belonging to her widowed aunt after a headlong flight from Paris. As the plot seesaws between time-periods Meredith travels to the village of Rennes-les-Bains, her luxury hotel, Domaine de la Cade. According to local superstitions a place where devils run free. It is said that the ruined Sepulchre in the grounds is a door between worlds and that a deck of Tarot cards hidden somewhere on the property is the key. The spirit of Leonie wants Meredith to find the cards and bring her justice, but Meredith isn’t the only one who is looking. I much preferred this to Labyrinth Mosse's first book.

Back to the reading business

Right, won't be leaving the country for at least six months so I'm posting this while still awake. For some arcane reason my body saved up two lots of jetlag and sicced them onto me when we arrived back. Successful trip, downloaded over 100 photos off my camera this morning. I had Wednesday to myself while C was visiting DK in London. I haven't read anything yet 'cos I'm not back at work until tomorrow but I notice that a few books have come out - or are out this week that I've done reviews for so they will be my next few posts.

Curse of the Spellmans

Izzy Spellman has finally left home but that doesn’t mean she is not still in the family PI business. Dealing with ex-boyfriend #9, a grumpy bartender, Olivia Spellman’s new sabotage streak, loosening up Henry Stone and stopping little sis from running him over with his own car not to mention an awol best friend. Izzy has a lot on her plate including the case of the copy-cat vandal. Also there’s her obsession with “John Brown” the Spellman’s new neighbour. Izzy’s convinced he is up to no good. Can she prove it? Will she get arrested – again?

This is a great follow-up to last year's “The Spellman Files.” By turns, funny, mysterious and downright kooky but well worth the ride.

loads of arcs!!

OK, now it's raining arcs:-) but more of that in a moment.

Book of Air and Shadows, takes a while to get going but once it does... Premise is this. After a fire in a New York bookstore Carolyn Rolly takes a damaged set of books to break them and sell off the illustrations/maps for the owner. Inside the cover she and Albert Crosetti her colleague find clues to what could be one of the greatest discoveries of all time - a lost Shakespeare play. Carolyn offers to sell the papers to a former professor of hers. When that professor is murdered things get out of hand. A tale of revenge, ye olde english, cyphers, blurred identities and forgery. It will keep you turning the pages until the end.

Enjoying the Capra but haven't finished it yet.

Curse of the Spellmans was released in hardback this week but I've been given the arc to keep:-)
I'll post a full review shortly.

These are coming soon but just FYI
Compulsion, Jonathan Kellerman, my first Alex Delaware but not my last.
Hold Tight, Harlan Coben
City of the Sun, David Levien - full reviews as they are released.

Will be off the grid for the next few days as we'll be in Europe and unless I can get to an internet cafe around the university or we drive by one our connection will be sketchy at best.

No arcs:-(

This process with the arcs is really slowing me down. People keep saying they'll put arcs in my box but they don't and I hate asking over and over it's not like I've never lost or mislaid one and I read them within a week. Sorry I'm grumpy because I've got something - not a full-blown cold. This thing is in my head and my throat but apart from coughing fits and a stuffed up head I can function normally so forget sympathy!

OK enough of that. I've borrowed a copy of Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber. Good so far, I'll review it fully when I've finished it. Also I made an impulse buy yesterday The Web of Life by Capra. Read the back of it while I was shelving yesterday and he's just published one about the science of Leonardo da Vinci which sounds fascinating.

Loaf of words and Labyrinth

Someone once told me that writing is like making bread. I never quite understood the analogy until now. When I beat down 20 pages to 10, left it for a while and when I went back to work on it again the ideas in my 10 expanded to 20 and then 40 pages. Now I'm looking at 80 pages. Dare I tighten those 80 down to 40 and see what happens?

Also this week finished Labyrinth. Kind of glad I read the arc of Sepulchre first, although I didn't hate Labyrinth her 2nd novel is much better, tighter, and I connected with her main character immediately. It took me a while to warm up to Alice.

Spent most of my time today editing I'm due to submit my hard copy to the group tomorrow.

Breaking Dawn

Stephenie Meyer's fourth - and final book in the series comes out in August. We're taking pre-orders - no reservations this time. I love midnight launches. Stephenie will not be there. I mean we tried to get JK for HP7......

In the meantime here's a countdown for all you Edward/Jacob/Bella fans.

Spellman Files in paperback

One of my favourite books of last year is now out in paper. The Spellman Files is about this family of dysfunctional private eyes, told through the eyes of eldest daughter Izzy. Izzy, reformed bad girl, still lives at home is obsessed with the 60's TV show Get Smart and collects exes like some people collect stamps. When parental prying goes way over the line Izzy threatens to leave the Spellman family business for good. To stop her Mum gives her an unsolvable cold case. Will Izzy solve it? Read the book and find out.

Word counts - we've been talking about this for a while but Eva finally flat out said that she's going to e-mail us her word count every day just so that she knows that she has to report it. I think it's a great idea so at the end of each post I'm going to put my word count for the day even if - as today - it's zero. Hey it was 206 yesterday! Today I have a ton of housework to do, ugh! Also while we're talking about writing I had a complete blep on Friday and realized that this simple past lark isn't working. So Friday I re-edited it all back to the present tense. God it reads so much better like that:-)

More writing than reading

Finished arc of the 'The Killer's Wife' it didn't really grab me. I'm halfway through Eat, Pray, Love and so far her sense of humour is carrying me through the preachy bits. Plus the fact that I've just started doing the type of yoga she's talking about and although it's doing something I'm not quite sure what:-) Crystal Skull by Manda Scott was good, I seem to be on a history kick at the moment or maybe that should be a past/present kick. The ending was OK but I felt she built up one particular character to be the bad guy and then switched teams on us at the end. I liked her characters though and the emotion between Stella and Kit was nicely played as was Owen and Fernandez's friendship.

I'm written a few stories this week - all short - none of them short enough to fit on the back of a postcard. This was the exercise we didn't do at the last meeting. Going to try Lyns' suggestion of creating a brochure for the LWPP and when we go back to Europe in March I'm taking my camera to get as many pics of the village as possible.

Predictably Irrational

Well the title’s an oxymoron if ever I heard one but the book is really interesting. Dan Ariely, a professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT taught me some interesting lessons. Firstly, nothing is ever FREE. Too much freedom of choice is a bad thing. Procrastinators have to be given rigid deadlines to succeed especially if they’re MIT students and cold hard cash keeps us honest.

The book is a study of the way our brains are wired up and how big business, especially advertising is taking advantage of that. Fans of Blink, Tipping Point, Freakonomics etc will lap this up. Up next after The Killer's Wife, the arc of Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson (I hope!). Eat Pray Love and Labyrinth - Kate Mosse again. These last two I've been lent by friends (thanks Donna and Barbara)

Break out the Martinellis

Last night's meeting was a combination of celebration and commiseration. DeAnn got her first rejection slip. Eva already has one. So that's two of the four unpublished in the group. Donna and I don't have any but that might have something to do with not having submitted anything! We did a really good writing exercise last night and from it came a story I wasn't expecting. Now I just have to find a place to submit it to. As this is a writing entry rather than a book review I've also started reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I thought some of it sounded familiar and I read a Q and A with her years ago. Oh and I've finally sorted out my first person tense problem, I'm using the simple past, it seems to be working pretty well. With the remainder of my Xmas bonus I'm going to buy the Novels/Short Story version of Writer's Market 2008, then we can all use it.

Sepulchre, I will review properly when it comes out in April, will be trying to get Labyrinth her other book today. Over the weekend I read Rory Stewart's The Places in Between. In 2001 just after the fall of the Taliban, Rory walked across Afghanistan and this is the story of his journey and it is fascinating and now back outside to shovel more snow:-(

Three New Arcs

That'll teach me. Having been through the arcs in the back room I made a list thinking I might get at least one, maybe two. I got all three!!
Sepulchre by Kate Mosse (no not that one!) I'm 200 pages in and I only started it this afternoon.
The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd (comes with a rather swish sleep mask) and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. (non-fiction - there had to be one non-fiction in the bunch) Will be reviewing these as they are released. Kate Mosse looks like an author I could read a lot of.
Also because we're meeting next week I've got a couple of assignments to knock out. I also bought Strunk's Elements of Style yesterday because I'm having real trouble with first person viewpoint - a lot harder than it looks.

Six Sacred Stones

In good there is always some evil, in evil there is always some good. Between Jupiter and Saturn there lurks an ancient destroyer. In this fantastic sequel to "Seven Deadly Wonders", Reilly pits Aussie Jack West Jr’s team against the now renegade Caldwell Group who have allied themselves with the Chinese and taken 'Wizard' Max Epper prisoner. But other quicksilver alliances exist and while some seek to prevent the Earth’s destruction there are others who will do anything to bring it about. Jack’s team face all manner of lethal challenges that some of them may not survive.

A real rollercoaster ride! Reilly gives you a few seconds to catch your breath and then throws you right back into the action. This book has it all, adventure, betrayal, some serious daddy issues, mystery, history, sacred relics, ancient tribes and a hero with more than a dash of Indiana Jones in his DNA.

Reilly leaves you "dangling" at the end with only two of the six stones placed!

Bit of a mixed bag

There's been a bit of a change in how we get the arcs. We can't just wander into the office and take them because some of the ones needed for review in the Inkslinger or Inklinks have been missing when needed. If I get a chance tonight I'm going to look through, make notes on which ones I want to read and then get permission from the arc-master - my good friend Kelly. So this week as the title suggests here are what I have and have yet to read. "Travels in the Scriptorium" by Paul Auster - one of our reps kindly brought these and 3 others in on Friday last week. Fascinating premise, an old man, in a room, no idea why he's there, is he there voluntarily, or being held prisoner. Who are the people who visit him and leave him feeling a weight of guilt. Did he send them to their deaths or is he a figment of someone's imagination. Bit too many descriptions of male bodily functions for my taste but whatever. "Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy" by Robert Leleux, not my thing, gave it a try but stopped after Chapter 5 no real reason, just stopped.
"The Killings at Badgers Drift" by Caroline Graham. Ah - a nice complex murder mystery. Have only just started it but it has promise. These aren't new if I like this - and so far I do - there are many more.
"Killing Rain" by Barry Eisler. Another in the John Rain series, the ethical assassin (!) I first came across in "Requiem for an Assassin." Someone special ordered this and then didn't want it. It looks good.

In Defense of Food

Small book - big message. This book is a direct result of The Omnivore's Dilemma because people kept coming up to Pollan and asking him OK so what do I eat? His answer - Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants. What kind of advice is that you may ask. Pick up a copy of In Defense and you might be shocked by the fact that what you think is food is actually not. It's engineered or imitation. Pollan is a voice of commensense in the wilderness of nutritionism - that pesky practice of breaking food down into fats, sugars, carbs, vitamins etc. FYI did you know that the 'Western Diet' of refined flours, lots of sugars, way too much processed foods has produced more obese people with malnutrition (yeah I know) It's a fascinating book packed with insight, advice and thankfully no receipe section at the end. He gives you a set of rules and then it's up to you what you do with them. Three which stick out, don't buy anything your granny wouldn't recognize as food - twinkies are not food, people! Don't buy anything with more than 5 (unpronounceable) ingredients and stay away from the centre of the store, shop the periphery. Borrowed, then bought this book. During my shift yesterday I went to S'bucks and on my receipt (!!!) under all the promotion bumpf was the message that if I sipped a low fat latte, I would be getting umpty ump percent of my daily calcium intake and so and so of my protein. Coffee is not a nutrituious foodstuff! I rest MP's case.

Missed the Night Train waiting for more arcs.

New Year - New Books

Happy New Year!

I'll be honest I've haven't had time to read much - The Golden Compass is still on my Ipod but I did read Hawke. Ted Bell is the new Clive Cussler is the hook but as the only Cussler I've read is Raise the Titanic (youth hostel - it was raining they had a library - go figure) I can't attest to that. Hawke is good fun though, anyone who likes Patrick O'brien, Bernard Cornwell should be very happy with this.

Commander Alexander Hawke, businessman, freelancer for the UK/US governments hides a dark secret. At seven years old both his parents were brutally murdered but he never talks about it. An assignment to find a black market Russian sub - now in unfriendly hands - takes him to the Bahamas. Alex follows the trail to the submarine, having run ins with dodgy Russian arms dealers, Cuban mercenaries and in the process stirring up some long buried memories and possibly avenging his parents death. Suspend disbelief - this is fiction after all - and you will enjoy this book. I did.

Books for this week include the new Michael Pollan and - if I can get hold of a copy - Night Train to Lisbon.

I'm also now working on two manuscripts. The one I did for nanowrimo and GhostWriter. Our writing group are looking at setting up a subgroup just for novels!