I'm writing this while I should be working on my novel. I've come to a wall in the narrative: a love scene. Up until now it's all been Azrea, my main character, with her snappy dialogue slashing tires and being sucked in and out of portals. (She had good reasons for slashing tires. The guy's a total dick. Trust me.) But now I have a love scene and I'm just not feeling that romantic this week. I'm feeling strung out. Not conducive to romance at all.
So. Procrastination!
This week I couldn't wait to tell you that my vintage editions of all the Night World books had arrived from the US ... and now I can't wait to tell you all over again! Here's a cover montage for you if you haven't seen them. The link to the original post is here.
No books for review this week but I got some good-uns from the library. I've been meaning to read some Ellen Hopkins, especially Tricks or Crank, but I saw Identical on the shelves and it's shiny silver cover was just too good to resist. I also picked up the sequel to Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer--amazing book, apocalyptic and heart-breaking--called The Dead and the Gone. Book three, This World We Live In will be published in 186 Days, 15 Hours, 54 Seconds. TOO LONG! How do I know? It says on her blog, which is here. It's adorable. Her cat Scooter is all over it. She also gives a polite *ahem* that the "as" in Life As We Knew It is meant to be lower case. But I like maximal caps for titles, not minimal caps, where you don't capitalise the prepositions, conjunctions and the thingies. Thingies isn't the technical word but really it's all TMI for a Saturday morning!
I also got Before I Die by Jenny Downham, which is about a girl with a terminal illness that is supposed to be brilliant but will induce buckets of tears. One to read at home, I think. I received from BookMooch (I love you BookMooch!) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
Lastly, also from the library, I got Lonely Planet USA, because ... I'm going on holiday! Yay! When I heard about the blogger convention at BEA next May I thought, I want to go to that. Then I thought, I WILL go to that! My plan is to spend two months in the US travelling around by myself from the end of May until July, and then head down to Santiago, Chile for two weeks where my friend will be on exchange. Santiago is in the foothills of the Andes, and Easter Island isn't far away. It'll be the middle of winter and coming straight from the US summer, but I'm a Melbourne girl and used to rapid changes in temperature. Crowded House didn't sing "Four seasons in one day ..." for no good reason!So first question is, how much does the BEA conference cost, because their website is oddly reticent to say.
UPDATE: Adele just found me this link about registration pricing.
Second question is, where should I go in the US! Should I visit your hometown/city? New York is a given and Anne Rice's books make me want to visit New Orleans. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Josh Homme's Desert Sessions makes me wanna go through Arizona. I've already been to San Francisco and San Jose. House music means visiting Detroit (all hail Derrick Carter and Stacey Pullen) and I want to get some good beaching time in too. Where else should I go? I'm into Epic Rail Journeys, so if you know of any of those, do tell!
This means no more buying books *cry* but there's still the library and BookMooch. I won't starve for literature!
I'm off to read the romantic bits of Jane Eyre for inspiration. Happy Caturday!
*BANG*That was my head exploding from cuteness.
Review up shortly for Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Love the NIght World stuff - I really have to read those again - I remember in late primary/ junior high school pretending my life and love would be like Kestrel's (I think that was her name). One of the witchy ones.
ReplyDeleteand AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH you're reading the Book Thief!!!!!!!!!!!
tis one of my favourite books EVER
EVER EVER EVER
oh gosh I hope you like it.
So cool you're going to the US!! I can't wait to read your posts about BEA.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how much BEA is...I'm trying to think of someone I know who went this year but can't :)
ReplyDeleteI plan on going in 2010. I'm not that far from NYC and I have family there. Maybe we can meet up!
Wow - two months in the US! How are you going to get around? NYC is great - so is Boston which is nearby.
I would be so excited if I were you! I love to travel :)
That would be great, WilowRaven! Boston sounds like a great idea too.
ReplyDeleteBefore anyone pulls me up on it, I just realised the Desert Sessions was recorded in California and Fear and Loathing is set in Nevada. But it's all the same desert, right??
Ah, travel. I am so jealous!
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine has the Book Thief. She says it's good. I must convince her to let me borrow it sometime...
Great books! Enjoy reading them! :)
ReplyDeleteOooh, I can't wait to read The Dead and the Gone. I'm waiting for the paperback to come out in January to read it, but Life as We Knew It is still one of my favorite books of all time, as it is rightfully so.
ReplyDeleteI want to know what you think of Before I Die because I own it too and haven't read it yet...
I just decided two days ago that I probably need to read The Book Thief. Now I can wait and see what you think first. Yay! I think Before I Die is an interesting and slightly odd book, so I'll be interested to hear what you think of that too.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how exciting about BEA and the whole major trip thing. I'm so envious!
Looks like you had a great week. I love the Night World series. My library has the old style cover off Huntress. Hope you enjoy reading all your books.
ReplyDeleteYes! Vintage "Night World" covers -- my favorite. I, too, am waiting rather impatiently for "The World We Live In." It cannot come fast enough.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading!
I loved Identical so I cant wait to see what you think! ENJOY! It's AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo, amazing books! I've really enjoyed The Book Thief and would love to read Before I Die.
ReplyDeleteps: My head just exploeded from all the cuteness too, aww!
travel plans! i love travel plans! and bea! you must come! i'm so excited to meet bloggers! i hope you have a wonderful time!
ReplyDeleteAwesome books! I need to find The Book Thief, I've heard it's great.
ReplyDeleteHave fun reading!
Wow. Seeing the LJ Smith like that has quite an impact. :) Also, I am so jealous of your cover of The Book Thief. That is so much more striking than mine (the one with the domnino). I mean, I like mine, but that one is WOW. Great stuff this week!
ReplyDeleteWow, the US of A and Chile? You'll have a blast in both places. I've lived in Santiago (just for a summer exchange), and loved it. Pack lots of warm clothes, though! I have to recommend Seattle, as it's my hometown. It's gorgeous, it's the birthplace of grunge, Starbucks and Microsoft, and it's VERY hip (in parts). Wherever you go will be wonderful, I'm sure. Best of luck with the love-scene-writing, too!
ReplyDeletei'm starting out with l.j. smith's vampire diaries. your recent nightworld collection will have to follow soon after.
ReplyDeletebtw: you've just been awarded...again ;-D
http://vvb32reads.blogspot.com/2009/09/lemonade-award.html
Ugh! Before I Die - I did cry a little bit, but I really did NOT like this book. The main character was SO annoying, and the writing style was just. . .BAD. That's really the only adjective I can think of to describe it.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I hope you'll post a review of it, because I look forward to hearing what someone else has to say about it.
And YAY for travelling!!!! YES, you must definitely go to New Orleans! And while you're in Louisiana, you have to find your way to the middle of nowhere and go on a swamp tour. And then make your way over to Avery Island, the home of Tabasco.
And then head up to Northern Louisiana, and check out Natchitoches, where I went to boarding school and where Steel Magnolias was filmed. It's the oldest settlement of the Louisiana Purchase, so you'll see plantations and cuteness galore. It's also super close to Vicksburg, Missippi, where there is a really cool old Civil War Memorial.
So that's my two cents - spend time in Louisiana!
How fun!
Have you already read The Book Thief? If not, I hope you love it - it's amazing, fantastic, brilliant... any good word you can think of!
ReplyDelete