Enough About Me

August 31, 2011 by meredithmansfield

Whew! It looks like we’re going to make it through August without any major problems. If you’ve read last year’s post about Awful August, you’ll know what a relief that is. Of course, other parts of the country are having a truly awful August after Hurricane Irene.

Now, enough about me and what I’m doing. (If you’re interested, I’ve finished up revisions to SEVEN STARS and MAGE STORM. I’m about to make some final revisions to my Writers of the Future entry and send it off. Then I’m going to plunge back into MAGIC’S FOOL.)

But, I’m going to start doing something a little different on this blog. Occasionally, instead of talking about what I’m working on, I’m going to write about what I’ve been reading. Writers read. Maybe once a month, maybe more often, I’ll do a post about what I’ve been reading.

I just finished PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White and loved it. I’m going to have to get my hands on the sequel. I knew it was going to be a fun read as soon as the main character took out her hot pink, rhinestone-encrusted taser to deal with the menacing vampire. It didn’t let me down for a moment.

It has a very sweet romance, too, because you know every young adult novel has got to have some romance and I’m a sucker for the sweet ones. For some reason, almost every steamy (adult) romance I’ve ever cracked open has left me at some point with my head cocked to the side and my nose scrunched up thinking “Really?” That usually happens in the payoff scene, too. Sweet works just about every time, though.

Now I’m reading THE FLOATING ISLANDS by Rachel Neumeier. I’m only into Chapter 4, so it’s a little too early to say on this one. It’s definitely got a great premise. A young boy arriving at the islands that float above the ocean by dragon magic and instantly becoming obsessed with joining the elite corps of men who fly by dragon magic. And his cousin, who wants very badly to do things that girls simply aren’t allowed to do.

When you write mostly young adult and middle grade, you read a lot of it, too. Although I do take a break now and then for something aimed at a slightly older audience.

In that vein, I’ve also just finished BROTHERS IN ARMS by Lois McMaster Bujold. It’s Lieutenant Lord Miles Vorkosigan at his usual insubordinate, extemporizing best. Miles is the master of chaos, even when he discovers he has a clone he never knew he had–and the clone wants to take over his life. I came to the Vorkosigan Saga late, because it’s science fiction and I mostly read fantasy. But really, whatever your tastes, read something by Bujold. If I’ve ever been disappointed by one of her stories, it’s only because the others have set such a high standard.

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

15 Responses

on August 31, 2011 at 2:11 pm | Reply Kurt

I’ve been a lot more active on Goodreads and posting reviews of books to my blog – it’s incredibly helpful to process the books shortly after finishing them and think about how the author told the story.

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on August 31, 2011 at 3:43 pm | Reply meredithmansfield

True. With PARANORMALCY, it was clearly the voice.

BROTHERS IN ARMS is a continuation of the fun that ensues wherever Miles shows up.

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on August 31, 2011 at 7:11 pm | Reply Brenda Sills

I enjoyed reading about what you write and read. And I’m so glad to meet a fellow Campaigner in the Fantasy group!

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on September 1, 2011 at 1:40 pm | Reply Gail Shepherd

I have The Floating Islands on my To Read List also, but the list keeps getting longer and longer, and I can’t possibly keep up with it!

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on September 1, 2011 at 3:27 pm | Reply meredithmansfield

Oh, I know what you mean. I counted my To Read pile recently. 30 books.

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on September 2, 2011 at 1:52 am | Reply Kate

Hi, just visiting my fellow campaigners. Those books sound really interesting. I’ll check them out 🙂

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on September 2, 2011 at 6:08 pm | Reply Susan Kaye Quinn

I loved Paranormalcy too, just started Supernaturality a little while ago, but haven’t made much progress. Maybe over the long weekend!

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on September 2, 2011 at 7:42 pm | Reply meredithmansfield

Paranormalcy was great. Haven’t picked up the sequel, yet.

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on September 2, 2011 at 8:22 pm | Reply Susan Oloier

I blog about reading once a week by participating in a weekly meme. I love it. So much fun to hop around and see what others are reading. I highly recommend it.

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on September 2, 2011 at 9:28 pm | Reply meredithmansfield

I saw that on your blog. It’s an interesting idea. However, as I only blog twice a week–Wednesdays and Sundays–I’m not sure I want to talk about what I’m reading quite that often. We’ll see.

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on September 3, 2011 at 5:43 am | Reply PK Hrezo

Oh I’ve been wanting to read Paranormalcy for awhile now. And I prefer sweet romances also. It’s just better. 🙂

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on September 3, 2011 at 6:18 am | Reply Rachel

Hello fellow campaigner!

I’ve been wanting to read Kristen’s book. I’ll check it out now after hearing how much you liked it. I’m sure we’ll see each other around!

Rachel

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on September 3, 2011 at 10:09 am | Reply meredithmansfield

Hi, Rachel and PK. Yes, PARANORMALCY was a lot of fun to read.

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on September 7, 2011 at 6:28 am | Reply Daina

I love Miles. I think master of chaos is the best description anyone could ever give him. The thing I like about Bujold’s writing, is that she puts Miles in so much trouble, and when she finally can’t think of anything else to torture him with, she lets him claw out of it with his teeth and nails. I need to learn how to do that.

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on September 18, 2011 at 11:15 am | Reply meredithmansfield

Yes. It’s not just Miles, either. She does that with a lot of her characters. If you think Miles gets into trouble, you really should see what she cooked up for poor Caz in THE CURSE OF CHALION. But she really does torture all of her protagonists at some point.

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