Monthly Archives: October 2010

Just a quick note about NaNoWriMo…

Writing, , ,

Yep, that banner across the lightbulb says “Participant” because that’s what I’m going to be, come 1 November 2010.  The National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo to its closer friends, is a project out of the Office of Letters and Light.  I can’t hope to summarise it better than they have themselves, so from their website:

“What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month’s time.

Who: You! We can’t do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let’s write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.”

I have friends who have done this and I watched from the sidelines, wishing I had the skill and ability to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  I was missing the point.  Published or not, this program encourages people to write…which is the only way to become a novelist, blogger, or just interesting person to have at parties.  It’s good for my creativity, it’s good for my ability to meet a deadline (which currently is nil), and it’s good for meeting other people just as insane and fascinated by writing as I am.  Should be a good time…I’ll check in here with my progress so stay tuned.

While you’re waiting, head over to NaNoWriMo (gosh, I feel like an insider calling it that!) and check out the other programs on offer with the Office of Letters and Light, like the Young Writers Program, the Great NaNoWriMo Book Drive, the 2010 Night of Writing Dangerously (held in one of my fav cities on the planet, San Francisco), and April’s Script Frenzy.

Cross your fingers…November’s going to be a crazy month here at Well Read.

 

The Great Dog Bottom Swap, by Peter Bently and Mei Matsuoka (illustrator)

Picture books,

Okay, one more post today because 1. I haven’t updated Well Read in a shameful amount of time, 2. I absolutely adore this book, 3. I haven’t done nearly enough posts that focus on anything but YA fiction, and finally 4. I’m trying to avoid doing laundry.  I may be Well Read, but I am certainly not Well Pressed.

The Great Dog Bottom Swap came to my attention thanks to another colleague of mine, Julian, who demanded that I stop what I was doing and read the entire thing on the shop floor.  Looking back I think he was daring me not to laugh, but laugh I did and I know you will too.   The basic premise is an explanation of why dogs greet each other by sniffing each other’s bums…a question that I know has kept many a parent and child alike awake long into the night.   It all goes back to a fabulous party where the dogs who attended were asked to remove their bums and leave them in something like a cloakroom.  The illustrations are top notch and the rhyming quality of the story will make it a good one for early readers…though I wouldn’t discount it as a favourite for parents alike to read aloud…if you can stop laughing long enough to read, that is.

This is a fantastic find in picture books that is destined to become a classic.  We gave it to my niece recently for her birthday and while she (at age two) was more fascinated with the birthday cake shaped hat that played “Happy Birthday” that accompanied the book, the adults at the birthday party read it aloud and laughed until they cried.

Angel, by L.A. Weatherly

Fiction, Paranormal and Supernatural, SciFi/Fantasy, Teen, , , , ,

Back I go to YA fiction, but that shouldn’t be a surprise.  I want to talk today about Angel, by L.A. Weatherly.  I read an ARC of this book (thanks much to my colleague, Roz, for lending it!) because I needed a filler for a weekend.  Honestly.  Roz had been telling me at work that I HAD to read it and she thought I would LOVE it…something that usually puts me off a book immediately, regardless of who it is that is doing the pleading.  I guess that’s because my taste in books is pretty eclectic…no really, I do read more than just books with pretty covers and/or the latest YA Kissy-Bitey/Growly/Floaty book that turns up in the bookshop.  I promise.

Let me start by saying this is NOT another Fallen Angel Meets Teenage Girl/Boy and Falls In Love book.  Not by a longshot.

At first seeming like yet another in the constant parade of supernatural romance books for teens that we’ve seen in the wake of Twilight, Angel soon becomes something very different.  Though written for teenagers, it is lacking in the misguided and immature longings for adult intimacy that plague many YA novels.  While there is a romantic aspect and interest in the plot, it doesn’t subsume the rest of the story, but serves as a secondary plot that helps the primary cause along, if that makes sense?

It’s hard to write a proper review of this book, really, without giving away spoilers, so I’ll tell you what I know and then take away the bits that you need to find for yourself, fair?  The main characters in the book are Alex, an Angel Killer or “AK” and Willow, a girl who has grown up without the knowledge that she is half Angel.

In the story world of Angel, we’re not looking at the celestial beings that sit on clouds, strum harps, and eat Philly cream cheese…we’re talking about creatures who feed on energy to survive, and have searched for a new home now that theirs can no longer sustain them.  The energy rolling off humans in waves is perfect for the dietary needs of these beings, and the Angels find humans to be easy prey due to their need to “believe.”  Churches of the Angels are formed and the populace flock to be touched by these beings, so that they may know the peace and love this contact brings.  Peace, love, and total mental destruction, that is.  So-called Angel Burn is irreversible and devastating, and is the thing from which Alex is fighting to save humanity.  He was born and raised for this life and it is all he knows…until he meets Willow, half-angel yet a direct threat to the beings and their invasion of Earth.

The twists and turns the plot takes weren’t new, but put together into a story took me along, breathless, for the ride.   Angel is well worth a look for those fans of YA paranormal romantic fiction as well as sci-fi/fantasy readers.  You have GOT to read this book.  Trust me, you won’t be sorry.