The Art of Murder - Jose Carlos Somoza

When people are painted and displayed as canvases, where is the line drawn between humanity and art? In this novel, the art world sees the hyperdramatic models who are on display in galleries or up for sale to be shown privately as art first, and people second, but not everyone agrees with this rather simplistic view. The brutal murder of a child-canvas at the start of the book instigates an examination of the shady corners of this exploitative yet creative movement through they eyes of various characters, including several canvases, a detective investigating the murder and employees of the Master, Bruno van Tysch.

I did find some of the skips between characters a little distracting, as it took me a while to work out who they were in relation to everyone else (and I got two characters with names starting with the same letter muddled). Once I had sorted that out, the story felt a lot stronger, with more substance than a regular whodunnit. By the end, it seemed that hyperdramatism was less an artform but more of a cult, complete with brain-washing and sacrificial rites, and the choices made by the cast of converts showed how successfully they had been indoctrinated. Good science fiction (as opposed to fantasy) tends to take a simple 'what if' and run with it, and the ramifications of this plausible shift from current reality are chilling.

Christmas cheer

The week before Christmas is always a strange mix of excitement and worry, with too much to do but lots to look forward to if everything goes according to plan. This year is fairly typical, and while I'm way ahead of normal in terms of buying presents (I set a new record by buying a present in August) I still haven't tackled the mountain of Christmas cards we need to write and send. I also decided in the last week of November that it would be a really good idea to make a scarf for each of my brothers as part of their Christmas present. Hmm. Then I decided it would be really fun to try out a design I had concocted myself to make scarves with diagonal stripes. Double hmm. The first scarf is knitted, but I still need to sew in all the ends from the stripes and do the tassels. I've done about 10 inches of the second one, and can feel a couple of evenings with crampy fingers coming on...

NaNoWriMo update 2

Well, halfway through November I should be up to 25,000 words. Not quite there, mainly due to a fabulous long weekend down in London where I saw 2 concerts (both involving my brother, either playing the natural horn or singing), went to the British Library, went to a fabulous hen party and enjoyed a long lunch that lasted 6 hours over 3 venues with a group of friends (and their various friends and relations who wandered in, which was also lovely). So now I'm 12,000 words behind. But that still means I've written 13,000 words since 4th November, so it's not all bad news.

NaNoWriMo update

Having been engulfed by NaNoWriMo fever over the last few weeks, my poor blog has been a little neglected, for which I can only apologise. A kind commenter has nudge me back into blog-mode (thank you, Anonymous!), so I will hang my head in shame and get on with telling you how it's going...

On day 6 I have got up to 5,127 words. This is a slightly lower total than I was hoping for at this point, but I must admit that I didn't entirely begin until Sunday evening, that traditional time for starting tasks you really should have got on with days ago. I got through 2000 words on that first day, and over 2000 more yesterday, so if I carry on at this rate, it should be fine. I'm actually enjoying myself, and finding that the knowledge that I just have to get on and do it, rather than pootle around with plots or stationery (my ongoing weakness...) has liberated my typing fingers, and lots and lots of words keep tumbling off the ends of them! Now, I have locked up my internal editor, and am only allowing myself to read back over what I have written if I need a piece of information ('What colour jumper did I say she's wearing?' etc). As seasoned NaNo-ers have pointed out, December 1st is for editing! This is my 'don't look down' draft, and I'm not even going to peep through my fingers unless I absolutely have to.

I also have a little more time than usual, especially in the mornings, having done something peculiar to my ankle at the gym, so I won't be going back there for a little while. Unfortunately this unexpected time bonus may just get eaten up by the huge amount of time it takes me to get anywhere now, especially if stairs are involved...

The Seventh Gate - Richard Zimler

My brothers always used to tell me that it was weird watching comedy on TV with me because I never laugh when it's funny. I laugh a lot in real life, but I've always found a disconnect between finding something funny on TV or in a book, and actually laughing out loud. I also find this applies to finding something sad in a book and it making me cry, but when reading this book, especially the last 100 pages or so, I was in floods of tears.

Having read 'The Last Kabbalist in Lisbon' and been a bit confused I wasn't sure at all what to expect. This is a very different sort of story, though there are similar themes in both books, such as the mysteries that are central to both tales and looking at being Jewish in a time when that could mean death. Sophie, an Aryan teenager in 1930's Berlin, wants to be Jewish, while having to protect her 'distant' (possibly autistic?) mute brother. The conflicts her family have in their journey from being Communists to paid-up members of the Nazi party intensify this desire, and she begins a relationship that breaks nearly every taboo of the time. While the story grows in unexpected ways, the heart-breaking inevitabilities that loom through every page are tackled in particularly poignant matter-of-fact descriptions, painting realistic pictures of the horrors that ended so many lives. The ending to such a story could never be happy, but it seems balanced and the culmination of Sophie's lover's internal quest gives an interesting slant to factual events. One day, I'll read this again to take in more of the intricate layers, but when I do I'll be armed with a gigantic box of tissues.

NaNoWriMo

My NaNoWriMo profile is all up and running - lazyperfectionista (come and make me your buddy!) - and I'm researching like crazy to have enough to write about to achieve my 50,000 words. I'm slightly apprehensive about how busy I'm going to be, with two of the four weekends already filled with non-writing activities, but I'll have to be really disciplined on the days when I don't have people visiting or plans down in London...

Eek!

Have signed up for NaNoWriMo! The rest of October is now fully dedicated to researching, noting, outlining and thinking. And November will be manic.