Pause...

This year has been rather strange so far. There have been some big changes, and some small ones, which add up to massive changes when combined, so my focus has been somewhat blurry. Things are starting to feel a bit more normal now, and my optimism is gradually returning.

I haven't forgotten about writing exactly, but other things have sort of taken over the time I would normally use to write and to plan, but it has all been ticking away in the back of my mind. I've had a few minor epiphanies along the way, and I'm really hoping that this month I'm going to get the ball rolling on my second draft. Now, I just need to remember what it's all about...

Read in 2009

1. A Florentine Death - Michele Giuttari (trans Howard Curtis)
2. A Most Wanted Man - John le Carré
3. A Secret Alchemy - Emma Darwin
4. A Wedding in December - Anita Shreve
5. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
6. American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
7. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
8. Black Boxes - Caroline Smailes
9. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
10. Daphne - Justine Picardie
11. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris
12. Devil Bones - Kathy Reichs
13. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
14. Ethel and Ernest - Raymond Briggs
15. Falling Angels - Tracy Chevalier
16. Fast Women - Jennifer Crusie
17. Guernica - Dave Boling
18. Heaven Can Wait - Cally Taylor
19. Hold Tight - Harlan Coben
20. I, Claudius - Robert Graves
21. Key of Knowledge - Nora Roberts
22. Key of Light - Nora Roberts
23. Key of Valor - Nora Roberts
24. Library of the Dead - Glenn Cooper
25. Light of the Moon - Elizabeth Buchan
26. Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett
27. Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman
28. Man in the Dark - Paul Auster
29. Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer
30. Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin
31. Nation - Terry Pratchett
32. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
33. Northern Lights - Philip Pullman
34. Once Upon a Time in the North - Philip Pullman
35. Past Imperfect - Julian Fellowes
36. Pigeon Pie - Nancy Mitford
37. PopCo - Scarlett Thomas
38. Revelation - CJ Sansom
39. Romanitas - Sophia McDougall
40. Rome Burning - Sophia McDougall
41. Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
42. Small World - Matt Beaumont
43. Stephen Fry in America - Stephen Fry
44. Temptation - Douglas Kennedy
45. Testament - Alis Hawkins
46. Testimony - Anita Shreve
47. The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff
48. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
49. The Book of Unholy Mischief - Elle Newmark
50. The Chalk Circle Man - Fred Vargas
51. The Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters
52. The Dogs and the Wolves - Irene Nemirovsky
53. The Fire - Katherine Neville
54. The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
55. The Ghost - Robert Harris
56. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Steig Larsson (trans Reg Keeland)
57. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson (trans Reg Keeland)
58. The Grass is Singing - Doris Lessing
59. The Great Lover - Jill Dawson
60. The Information Officer - Mark Mills
61. The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce - Paul Torday
62. The Island - Victoria Hislop
63. The Last Samurai - Helen De Witt
64. The Library of Shadows - Mikkel Birkegaard (trans Tiina Nunnally)
65. The Lost Book of Salem - Katherine Howe
66. The Magic Scales - Sam Wilding
67. The Maze of Death - Ariana Franklin
68. The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
69. The Mummy Case - Elizabeth Peters
70. The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster
71. The Other Half Lives - Sophie Hannah
72. The Other Hand - Chris Cleave
73. The Other Queen - Philippa Gregory
74. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
75. The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
76. The Separation - Christopher Priest
77. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
78. The Sorrows of an American - Siri Hustvedt
79. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
80. The Sunflower Forest - Torey Haydn
81. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale
82. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
83. The Well-Tempered Clavier - William Coles
84. The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davis
85. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
86. Volevo i pantaloni - Lara Cardello
87. We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
88. When Will There Be Good News? - Kate Atkinson

Considering I also managed to finish the first draft of my WIP, do my Italian A level and work considerably more than my contracted hours, I think 88 is a pretty decent total. I'd be surprised if I manage as many this year, but I'm hoping more of them will be in Italian!

Read in 2007
Read in 2008

Eek!

I've just taken the plunge and splashed out on lots of course books for my new degree course. I don't know whether it will mean that I spend less time blogging, because I'll have so much to do, or whether I'll spend more time procrastinating, which could lead to a blogging explosion...

Seriously?!

I have ONLY JUST noticed that I have three characters with the same name. Oh well, I've only been writing this for A YEAR.

This has not been a good weekend for my brain. I'm going to take a brief chocolate break before I carry on with the text edits.

Blushing retraction

In future, when I am driven to such lengths of frustration by my computer that I am compelled to post a ranty blog on the subject, I will endeavour to check that, for example (hypothetically, of course), I haven't set the default language to Italian.

Sigh.

I growl at technology

I am taking a break from re-plotting to go through the top-line text edits of my first draft, and for reasons of version control, am doing these edits in Scrivener, rather than in my over-sized and rather lumpy Word document of the whole 100,000 words. But, for some INFURIATING reason, EVERY new word I type comes up with a red line underneath it. And sometimes the word next to it too! I KNOW HOW TO SPELL 'THERE'. AND 'MIND'. AND 'TO'. But currently, my computer doesn't believe me.

Heaven Can Wait - Cally Taylor

I don't read a lot of chick lit, but 'Heaven Can Wait' had two major advantages for me. Firstly, I know the author, Cally Taylor, and secondly, I have a bit of a weakness for all things supernatural. I started reading as soon as I got home. Every time I tried to stop and get on with the many jobs I needed to do that evening, I thought, 'Oh, just one more chapter...' and eventually I realised resistance was futile - I finished it in one evening.

Something about the writing reminded me of Neil Gaiman, possibly the mix of the everyday with the supernatural, and the unlikely hero (or rather heroine in this case) overcoming bizarre obstacles to achieve the 'right' thing, not necessarily their heart's desire. The humour was also a wonderful mix of juvenile guffaws with clever observational gems, but the ending achieved something special, as it brought a tear to my eye. This is easier said than done, because I have clinically dry eyes - I have to use eye-drops with the worst name ever (I can't put it here, it could have an interesting effect on my searches profile...). I've also persuaded one of my colleagues to buy her own copy, by cunningly letting her read the back, then refusing to let her borrow it! It's a risky book-selling technique I realise, but it's working so far...