Team Human

I think about things other than books. Just not often. (Kidding, kinda)

A couple of days ago I finished Team Human - Sarah Rees Brennan & Justine Larbalestier, it was lighter than I was expecting given the authors, but good.

It got me thinking about writing with some one else though. I have read books that are collaborations but often in a back and forth method between writers. In letter form or like that. This was not like that. There was no break in the story, it was told in one voice, and I wondered what that must be like. Does one person take the lead and another edit? Just how would that work for a thing like a book.
Just wondering.

Oh... my mum is in Ravenclaw.

Back to our reality.

Fire - Kristin Cashmore

In the back of this book there is a section where the author is talking about building a fantasy world, and the words and language that can't be used of else it jars us out of their created world. And yes, when someone is not careful the language it can disrupt what I am reading, but the thing that brings me out the most often,  is the use of contraceptives.  I don't know if it is just because the editor tells them that if something sketchy is going to happen between characters they better put it in, or if we have lived so long in the land of messages of  "safe sex" that if they don't talk about it they feel a gaping hole where the mention of contraceptives has been since they were little.

Anyway, it always brings me back to reality. Especially in fantasy where the setting is quasi medieval. I get lulled into thinking that I might not have to deal with my reality, just the bigger reality of good vs. evil, and then contraceptives enter the picture and lines get blurry again.
In spite of this I did enjoy this sequel to Graceling. I will be reading Bitterblue.

It is slightly disturbing the things that have made it into the subconscious of our society.

Enchanted

*Drum roll* Today's topic is once again books. Surprise!
I bought this book on a whim. RED was considering two books and could not make up her mind, I said pick one and I will get the other. So she did, and so did I. I had never heard of this book, never read a review, had no idea what it was about, and definitely had not read it first. So for flying blind I really liked it.

If you have ever read fairy tales, then some (or all) of the threads in here would be familiar. Which makes sense. In the acknowledgments it is stated that it started as a challenge to write all the fairy tales in one. It is clever and funny, and considering that you can see the ending happening in the first page builds some lovely tension.
Also, pretty cover.

Enchanted - Alethea Kontis

Maybe at some point I will talk about something, anything else. Maybe.

Books, books

This is unintentionally turning into a book blog. I appear to only update when I have to add to the book count.

Went book shopping on Sat. with tremendous results. Nine new books in total. Just finished two of the new ones.
Shadow in Hawthorn Bay - Janet Lunn
This was a quasi sequel to Hallow Tree, which I have read to pieces. It was interesting to re meet characters and the second sight aspect was fun.

And City of Bones - Cassandra Clare, which I have been seeing around for so long I thought it was a travesty that I had never read it. Like a lot a books published now it is in a series, so I will be reading more of them.

Inbox

Keeping life organised has never been one of my failings. I can for the most part keep it together. But I am terrible at keeping my email inbox tidy. I was judging whether I had new mail based on if the inbox was reading higher than 93. No, I am not making that up. So, I decided to do the big girl thing and instead of cleaning the house I cleaned out my inbox. Now it is reading 1. I can't find one unread email. Some where between 2006 and now there is an unread email hanging around in my inbox.
Oh well, never said I could make it spotless.

I finally gave into a Summer craving and reread Girl of the Limberlost - Gene Stratton-Porter
I kept telling myself that I had to read some of the new material that was hanging around before I could cave and reread Summer books. I caved.

Going back through email I came to the realization that at least in 2006 - 7 I was much more active on facebook. I have some many more messages that I never bothered to delete. Now my most common message from facebook reads like this "Christina, you have notifications pending."
Yup, I don't hand out on facebook much anymore.

Wanna see my new shoes? OK.

Pretty, ya? Fluevog's. They restored my faith in pretty shoes after the lousy seasons Spring/Summer 2012 turned out to be. I didn't like the shoes that came out this year. Sigh.

I needed to talk?

Olympics, weather, books, struggles with the parish priest, work, meeting new family, new shoes, these are just a few of the things that have been occupying my mind recently.

I could if pressed speak on any of these. Badly, but I could. Much to my shame trying to translate that into writing is harder.

I have been watching the Olympics. One observation about becoming an adult is that there is less time to obsess about things that when I was younger I had the time to fixate on. It was always easier with the Summer Olympics too because I wasn't in school, I could if I wanted to spend almost all day watching sports. I knew the stats, I knew the events. Bursting full of useless info I was. Now, not so much.

Saturday and Sunday this week I was on the mainland and hot. It was hot at home I heard, but I didn't care that it was hot here, I just cared that it was hot were I was. I was nowhere near a body of water and it was almost 40 degrees. Blarg.
Just in case anyone is curious I function in Celsius. Yup, I measure in feet and inches and drive in kilometers and temperature in Celsius. I am a child of parent raised in imperial taught both American curriculum and am still staunchly Canadian.

I finished Insurgent -Veronica Roth
Still good. It did not hold the tension as well as, say, Hunger Games, but still good.

Jeepers. I hope you didn't read all this.
We will talk aobut my new shoes later.