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As usual I'm not going to mention the books that I didn't like because I don't want the authors to hunt me down and kill me. ((Or their family and agents.)) Writers are scary people.
I'm still on a bit of a crime binge. And have been reading a scary amount of adult books. Who'd've thunk there was some good books over on those shelves? Colour me, shocked.
So here are the novels:
The final book in
Denise Mina's Garrnethill trilogy, Resolution, was every bit as good as the other two. I have a major writing crush on Mina. She's amazing. I love the way she writes. I love it so much, in fact, that I typed out an entire chapter of ...
Posted by Justine at 0:18, May 6th, 2008 under Manga, Praising, Reading, Travelling |
Posted by Justine at 19:25, December 14th, 2007 under Admin, Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Manga, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
Guess what? The entire Magic or Madness trilogy just sold to the Japanese publisher, Hayakawa Shobo. That's right! I'm going to be in Japanese! I can't tell you how over the moon I am. Woo hooo!!!
Ever since I first heard about the whole foreign-rights thing there were two languages I've been desperate to be translated into: Spanish (cause I speak it un poco) and Japanese on account of my Japan obsession (oh, okay, mostly Kurosawa movies, Kimba, and now manga).
I screamed when I got the email. And started entertaining fantasies of a manga adaption following on from the straight translation. How cool would that be?
Now we just need to get a Spanish-language publisher to pick up the books and ...
Posted by Justine at 1:10, October 4th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Manga, Praising, Travelling, Vainglory |
Last night we went to
Anderson's books in Naperville, Illinois. Much fun was had. Scott explained the origins of the Uglies series and of Extras. The first is all about our society's beauty obsession; the second deals with
the fame thing. There was lots of Q & A. The questions were ridiculously smart and interesting and there didn't seem to be a single person who hadn't read at least three or four of Scott's books so he didn't have to worry too much about spoilers.
During the hours and hours that he was signing for the smart and very appreciative crowd I got to hang out with some fabulous folk who ...
Posted by Justine at 12:45, October 3rd, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Manga, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Scott's books, Travelling |
I recently had a
conversation with Oyceter about the conventions of romance in which I confessed that I love books where a girl has to pass as a boy. I've loved them ever since I was little. The book that set me off was These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer.
I don't think the appeal of these books is mysterious. First of all, almost all of the books I loved were historicals. Most were (in one way or another) about how constrained the girls' lives were. About all the things they couldn't do and all the things they had to do, like marrying someone erky just because their father ordered them to. So for a girl character to be able ...
Posted by Justine at 11:47, September 25th, 2007 under Bloggery, Manga, Praising, Reading |
A warning: this is one of those stumbly thinking out loud posts.
I just read a dead interesting essay by
Jim Huang reflecting on twenty years of selling books. Most of his comments have to do with mystery books but a lot of it applies to other genres. I've been thinking about this comment:
When I think about the center of gravity of the mystery genre, I still believe that it lies in series. Seventy percent of the titles on the bestsellers lists of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association in 2007 year to date are part of a series. Seventy percent of these series titles belong to long-running series of five or more books. Sales in IMBA member stores ...
Posted by Justine at 11:45, September 11th, 2007 under Bloggery, Manga, Praising, Reading, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 5:25, June 2nd, 2007 under Manga, Praising, Publishing business, Young Adult literature |
It's
Her Majesty's Dog not
Her Majesty's Dragon. Damn you, Naomi Novik!
Posted by Justine at 12:27, March 27th, 2007 under Manga, Reading |
John Joseph Adams doesn't quite have the full set (that would be Scott who's not done his bit---he's too busy writing Extras) but here are his interviews with the other Norton nominees:
Maureen Johnson who's nominated for Devilish
me for Magic or Madness
Susan Beth Pfeffer for Life as we knew it
Megan Whalen Turner for King of Attolia
Pending: Scott Westerfeld for Touching Darkness and Peeps
I finally took a break from inhaling manga to inhale Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life as we knew it. Wow. I'll admit I'm fond of post-apocalypse books to start with, but this is a decidely superior example. I read it in one sitting. Could not put it down. Go forth and read! My only complaint: ...
Posted by Justine at 12:20, March 27th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Manga, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Scott's books, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
So, as mentioned I've been reading of the manga and the graphic novels and there has been much joy and bliss and wonder. As usual I don't mention those what I've read and not enjoyed.
Buddha by Osamu Tezuka (Vol. 1)
Fabulous. I don't have words for how much I loved it. Especially as I put off reading this one for almost a year. And I put it off for the lamest reason imaginable. See, back in the dark ages when I was in primary school one of my scripture teachers gave us all these Jesus comic books to read. They told the story of Jesus, and, well, there is no gentle way to put this: they sucked. The art ...
Posted by Justine at 21:04, March 21st, 2007 under Manga, Praising, Reading, Whingeing |
Remember
way back when I asked you to help me to decide what to write next? You all told me the fairy book, which I dutifully wrote, but now I'm feeling all indecisive again. Can you help me out?
Here are the options:
The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel . This one is written.
The compulsive liar book narrated by a---you guessed it---compulsive liar. Downside: will involve lots of outlining. I hates outlining. Plus it's going to be so hard! Upside: whenever I mention this one folks get very excited.
The beginnings of cricket historical romance. Downside: lots of research and all my cricket history books are in storage in Sydney. Upside: yumminess. I am besotted ...
Posted by Justine at 8:07, March 16th, 2007 under Liar Book, Manga, Research, Writing goals & milestones |
Now available for your delectation: gorgeous
Magic's Child screensavers complete with animated butterflies. I just tested it and it made me squeal with happiness. It comes in mac and pc flavours. Happy sigh. Thank you, Courtney Wood, for all your hard work!
What better way to celebrate the final book in the Magic or Madness trilogy's arrival (just eleven more days) then to have pretty butterflies flutter across your computer screen?
And now I will return to my manga binge. I gave myself a much deserved (truly!) holiday: I went out and gathered up armloads of delicious manga and now I'm reading it. Why, oh why, did I only get the first four volumes of Monster?! What was I thinking? Everyone ...
Posted by Justine at 17:43, March 12th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Manga, Praising, Reading, Vainglory |
I've been dipping my toe in the worlds of manga and graphic novels over the past year or so. Allow me to express some neophyte enthusiasm: WOW!!! Seriously, I've loved the majority of what I've read and the stuff I haven't like that much in the early volumes (I'm looking at you, Saiyuki) has become fabulous later on.
I'm pretty sure the 90% rule ((Otherwise known as
Sturgeon's Law: "Ninety per cent of everything is crap".)) still applies, I just happen to have very excellent guides (thank you, Micole, Rachel, and Doselle). And
Anne Ishii of
Vertical Books who led me to
Osamu Tezuka's Ode to Kirihito, which I loved so much I feel compelled ...
Posted by Justine at 23:55, February 27th, 2007 under Manga, Praising, Reading, Viewing |
Scott and me were taken out for lunch by the lovely women of the
CCBC, Hollis, Katy, Megan and Merri. We talked graphic novels, manga, YA books and censorship and much fun was had.
My favourite moment was Megan or Merri's (I'm jetlagged and can't remember which) anecdote about a twelve-year old asking to borrow a newly arrived library book because the cover so appealed to her. The book was M. E. Kerr's Deliver Us From Evie. Evie of the title is a seventeen-year old lesbian; the girl wanting to borrow the book was from a very conservative rural family. So the school librarian looked at the girl desperately keen to read the book and imagined the outrage that would ...
Posted by Justine at 19:34, May 25th, 2006 under Book challenges, Cons & Other Gatherings, Manga, Reading, Travelling, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 16:57, May 1st, 2006 under Manga, Praising, Ranting, Reading, Scott's books |
Blandine Longre, the editor of the French literary magazine,
sitartmag.com, just sent me the link to a
lovely review of
Dans les griffes de la sorcière, the French version of Magic or Madness. From what I can tell from babelfish it looks like Anne-Judith Descombey's translation is a very good one indeed. Thank you! This is the first review of any of the translated versions of MorM. Colour me excited!
To reward myself for sending off the first rewrites of MorM 3 on Friday I've been reading whatever I want to read! Woo hoo! And seeing some movies. Namely V for Vendetta---most entertaining, though what accent was Natalie Portman doing?---and last night
Night Watch. ...
Posted by Justine at 10:25, May 1st, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Manga, Praising, Reading, Vainglory |
Wow, thanks to everyone for sharing all their
writers' humiliations. Apparently I'm not alone!
This post is for the bookseller who wrote to tell me that if I went to her bookshop I could sign whatever books I wanted.
On the same day I had my less than stellar experience at a chain I also visited
Galaxy,
Kinokuniya,
Gleebooks and
Better Read than Dead. All of them had many copies of Scott's books and all told me that Uglies in particular is flying off the shelves. And they all had the Oz version of Magic or Madness and were very keen on me signing them. At Galaxy I didn't even have to ask. Bless Galaxy. They rolled ...
Posted by Justine at 8:31, January 5th, 2006 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Manga, Praising, Reading, Scott's books, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature |
