8.22.2010

The TBR Pile

Anyone who reads knows that at any given time she might have half a dozen or more books on the ol' TBR (that's To Be Read) pile. And by 'or more' I, of course, mean 87.

You think I'm exaggerating. Let me assure you I am not. As a matter of fact, I'm probably underestimating the actual total by ... well, a lot.

Now that I am free of some extra writing obligations, I'm making a promise of sorts to myself. A few years ago I set out to read at least one book a week (and almost made it, 2 years in a row). I'm going to try again. At that book-per-week rate, I have enough on the TBR pile to get through the next year and a half (at least).

At some point I really need to go through the bazillion (again, not exaggerating) books on my study shelves, sort and reorganize them. I'm not a type A personality, really. But it's just a real mess. I have books shelved and double-shelved, stacked and double-stacked. It's bordering on ridiculous. My husband suggested at one point in the past that I should (gasp) get rid of some of them. My look of horror followed by the rather feral snarl that erupted from deep within my core must have been enough to convince him to never (ever) make that suggestion again.


Tuesday last my Wonder Twin and I met up at a book signing at Davis-Kidd Booksellers here in Nashville. I have a hard time going to a book signing and not buying the author's book. In this case, I'm very glad I did. Currently on my nightstand is a lovely Southern fiction book called The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore. I'm less than halfway through it at this point, but I only started it yesterday. Let me just say - AH. MAY. ZING. As soon as I finish this one I'm putting Susan's first, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, on the To Be Purchased list. Sigh. Which also has about 87 books on it.

It's a lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon in the South. The weather forecast is pretty much the same for the entire week - abundant sunshine with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s. Which would be gorgeous if it weren't for the humidity that seems to be a prerequisite for any state south of the Mason-Dixon line. Perfect for staying in the AC and reading a book.

What's on your TBR pile?

8.16.2010

Reading, Writing, and ... No, Just Reading and Writing

I can now say I have read the entire Twilight series. And enjoyed reading it. But I'm not going to get into a long, drawn-out, detailed, element-by-element comparison between Twilight and Harry Potter, as I've seen happen waaaaaay too often in the forums devoted to such. On my list, Harry wins. Hands down.

As a writer, I tend to be - at least subconsciously - more critical when I read. I'm reading our church book club selection, and it's a lovely book, but I almost threw the thing across the room when the author described this particular Veteran's Day as one of the warmest of October. What went through my mind at the time was, how did the author make that mistake and nobody catch it?

Because my Wonder Twin is about to release her fifth novel, I've learned a bit about how the whole manuscript-to-book process works. At least four people (sometimes more) read the thing before it goes to print. Could one of these four not have fixed this glaring error? (To be fair, it may only be glaring to me, considering I'm the daughter of a veteran, but still. Look at a calendar, for Pete's sake.)

Our critique group has an unwritten list of rules for writing well. One of these rules is, Variety is Queen. Especially when it comes to adjectives (which are not evil, really). Don't use the same word to describe something over and over again, or even different somethings ... for instance, do you have any idea how many synonyms there are for the word 'good'? The late, great George Carlin used to do a bit about 'nice' - "He's so nice, and she's so nice, and they're so nice together, and isn't that nice?" And from one of my fave movies, Pretty Woman: "I'm fine." / "That's seven 'fines' since we left the match. Could I have another word, please?" / "[Expletive]. There's a word." / "I think I liked 'fine' better."

Maybe I'm hypersensitive, or hypercritical. Maybe it's just ingrained in my psyche from being in my fabulous writers' group. But when I read books that break our rules, I cringe. Not that I always follow them, either, but just as there are unwritten rules with our group, there also seem to be unwritten exceptions. Not always, but sometimes.

Today I'm reading more than I'm writing. I added 3000 words to the WIP over the weekend, most of which will constitute my 10 pages to take to group Wednesday night. I'll be out of pocket tomorrow evening, so I'll probably print those 10 pages today so they'll be ready. That small burden lifted leaves me time to finish this book club selection as well as catch up a bit on my saved industry articles I've been promising myself I'd read.

Sigh. So much to do, so little time.

What are you reading?

8.05.2010

Girls' Day Out

My youngest and I are going up to the lake to spend the day with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law - 'just us girls,' while the boys are on their annual fishing trip.

I'm taking three books with me - finally got Breaking Dawn back; also have a book called Babydoll (a Saylor Oz mystery by Allyson Roy) and Karen Kingsbury's Take Four that we're reading for our church book club. Not that I expect to get all three read today, of course. But I do expect to make a huge dent ... er, let's say move the bookmark back a lot of pages.

Our day is all about relaxing and enjoying the quiet of our surroundings and doing practically nothing. Last year it was just my MIL and I, so we'll have to see how adding 2 more to the mix affects the dynamic. I have a feeling there will be card games in our future too.

Enjoy your day today - if you're in the South like me, it's darn hot, so keep cool. We're apparently going to be spending the day in the camper with the AC on. I'm okay with that. ;)

And read a book!