Starling Lines

I got to watch a real cute movie the other day with Melissa McCarthy and Kevin Kline. It was called the "The Starling." And although there wasn't a ton to recommend it, Melissa McCarthy is so cute and fun that she can just about turn even a stinker movie into a winner. 

There was one moment though, . . . almost two, that got me.

Quick Review: Grydscaen

 I'm not sure if this is the author's first novel or not, but it reads like one. There are some interesting ideas, and the writing is grammatically sound and free of errors, but there is a lot of telling the reader what's happening. 

This book and the author's writing tends to lead the reader feeling like he is outside the action just looking in, rather than an integral part of the book and the writing. There are few things better than feeling as though you, as a reader are a part of the book and the writing, and you're on a roller coaster, going up and down with the main characters, being taken away. 

The author's writing doesn't bring the reader to that place. Instead it keeps you at arm's length. I wish it was more engaging because it's smacks of Neil Ferguson's Snowcrash, a book that I loved. I look forward to more from this author, but this wasn't what I was hoping for. 

Just One This Week

 Once more in the Ever Shade label, a simple yet long one. Spoke to me. Maybe to you too.

It wasn't personal to her, but it was to him. She was like a tidal wave when he could barely tread water. He just wanted to know her, but that was too much. Still she stayed, in the back of his mind, and all he could hope for was that she truly knew he'd always be there for her.

That one hit me.

Evershade, evershades, ever shade, ever shades, shades of Betsy

More Ever Shades

I've fallen in love with these Ever Shade posts (see here), and really enjoy being on the lookout for new ones to post each week. Here's this weeks sample:

This first one comes by way of "austere" and she says:

Asking yourself if their feelings were real, will destroy your heart.

Quick Review: Rise from Slumber

 Whenever I review a book I try to limit it to several things, the author’s intent, the writing style, the mechanics, and the overall story. On two of these, Qatarina Wanders fails. 

If I were a tween girl I would love Rise from Slumber. This must be who it’s written for. The story is light and superficial, the characters are caricatures, and the dialogue is unbelievable. Worst of all, the story tries to be quick and substantial, but comes off as slow and superficial. 

That being said, the writing is solid. The mechanics and the style aren’t all together bad, I just wish I could give a damn about the story and the characters. The author tries to instill a sense of mystery and intrigue but fails completely enough that I had to force myself to keep turning pages. Worse? I didn’t like the main character at all. This is always the worst aspect for me. I want to involve myself in the main character’s life, I want to care. Instead I wanted nothing to do with the main character. I wanted her only to finish up quickly and move on so I could as well. And the intrigue? The mystery? I didn’t care. 

There are some good things, but for me it wasn’t enough to overcome the bad.

Quick Review: I Hate My Brother

I picked up and started to read “I Hate My Brother” for the worst possible reasons, it kept showing up in my feed and it had a disturbing cover image (two babies facing each other with weapons). I suppose there is also the fact that I have brothers. I don’t hate my brothers (at the moment) but there have been times in my past. 

Don’t worry Big Dave and Bubba, this book will not make me hate you more. The brothers in this book are people in Yugoslavia going through their civil war. Imagine Johnny Reb vs the Union Soldiers. I gave this book more leeway than I probably should have, I kept hoping for more. It failed to deliver. 

Mr. Bojcic, the author is from that country and probably from that time and place. It reads more like an autobiography and a stream of consciousness story. The mechanics of the writing need a lot of work, at least in the online version I read, which really takes away from the reading. Not a native English speaker or writer (I’m assuming) there are also a lot of grammatical mistakes that also take away from the story. The worst aspect is that I didn’t really care. The story unfolds slowly, too slowly. I kept wanting more, a reason to care. I never got it. 

But the author has an earnestness to his writing, and I suppose someone more interested in the conflict and politics in Yugoslavia might like it more than I. But for me? I didn’t need a history book. 

Quick Review: Face-Off

 I spent some time today with this book. I'm a huge fan of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plub novels, and I went into this expecting that style. I don't think I got what I expected. Instead of levity this story brings seriousness and romance. The problem? The writing style would have been more aligned with comedy. 

The author uses cliches, and much of the writing tends towards over-the-top. In the first few pages the author does a good job of describing the setting, but the characters are all caricatures rather than believable, this tends to undermine the value of the writing and like I said, makes a reader expect comedy or humor. 

Although I found it fun, the writing tends to lag, and like I said, I don't think the author was going for fun, as much as they were going for hard-boiled or hard-hitting. Thankfully the mechanics of the writing were clean in that I only saw a few problems, but nothing too rough around the edges. All in all, I was disappointed that it wasn't a book that could draw me in and deliver on what I thought was promise. Back to Evanovich for me I guess. 

Quick Review: Sultry Quagmire

 This book, if nothing else, provides a tretise on the importance of finding a good title. Which is odd, I find that good novel titles are everywhere! Behind Locked Doors, Sunset Perfection, Oasis Club. That's just off the top of my head! Sultry Quagmire? Needs work. Sounds like a slow, mad, racing horse name to me. 

The book itself is  . . . well to be nice, it's trying very hard. Sadly, I don't think its achieving much despite all that effort. The author has an earnestness to his writing, which is simple, and surprisingly refreshing. 

One thing this novel has going for it, along with the writing style, is the era that the author picked. I am a sucker for war novels and for depression era novels. The life, the troubles and challenges, the simplicity of the life with the coming complexity of the war. For me, this is a wonderful era to read about which was enjoyable to find in this work. 

This is 4 stars. Would have been 5 with a better title, and a little bit more elegance and panache to the writing style. 

More On Old Friends

The other day I wrote about my friend Betsy and how much she changed (see HERE). I find it funny how much she changed over time, not just in the small day-to-day things, but in the major things. 

Like I said, she changed over time, but what I found amazing is that she changed so fundamentally. I remember the first time we met, on a run, I looked over at her and said, "What are you doing?" She looked like she was trying to race me. "I'm just a mom trying to keep up."

That's what I liked most. She would always try to keep up. She was not a quitter. She was a fighter. I like fighters. 

This is what changed though. She stopped being a fighter. She turned into a quitter by the end. Before she would take on the world and never quit. By the end, she wouldn't even try and take on the world. And if coaxed into it she'd quit within a few steps. 

Had I met the Betsy at the end on that run, and I said to her, "What are you doing?" She wouldn't have even been there, and the probably would have said, "quitting" or "hitting pause". It was infuriating to lose the fighter that I liked so much. 

Last Tango for Publishing

I read with much verve and enthusiasm the article in today's WSJ about "late in life" publishing (see here). If it's behind a paywall, I apologize, but try to get it, it's worth the time.

I don't necessarily consider myself "late in life" just yet, although there are those who would argue that I should. Still, I do try to publish writing, and I am past 40, so I think I qualify. So for those reasons the article was intriguing. 

I wrote a few months back about Gillian Flynn (see here) and her writing routines. This one is more about the success of publishing in later years and how just being older shouldn't mean that you have no hope of publishing. 

I am in no way intrigued by Miss Boulley's premise, although she might be a fantastic writer, I'm not into Nancy Drew style YA mysteries, nor am I a huge fan of native american heros in my writing. I've dallied in it some, sure, but I don't have a penchant for it. 

I was intrigued by this line and if I had the time I'd probably go read this novel:

Nancy Pearl was 72 for the arrival of “George and Lizzie,” which includes a teenage character who sleeps with the whole high-school football team. Anne Youngson was 70 for “Meet Me at the Museum,” an epistolary love story between elderly strangers—and a left turn after her career running new vehicle development projects at Land Rover.

Two things struck me. First, I'd love to read Anne Younson's novel, Meet me at the Museum. That sounds like such a fun book, so similar to the show Last Tango in Halifax which I adored. 

Secondly, I was struck by the fact that she was just a new vehicle PM for Land Rover. I was expecting more connections. So often people who publish late in life have oodles of conncections that they rely on for getting their work noticed. PM for Land Rover hardly seems like it would yield many publishing connections. Wonder what her husband does . . . (my cynical side screams)