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Friday, July 18, 2008

Aye! And I'm Supposed to be on Vacation

I took a couple days off work simply because it's a use them or lose them situation (which technically isn't legal in this state, but there are ways around it, as my employer knows) It's been lovely being home. Everything I've put off is on the to-do list. (I hate to shop. Spent three hours at the mall today. Ick. But it's done now and I won't have to go back for several months. Anything I forgot I'll do without, gladly.)

So of course, as I'm prioritizing my teetering reading stacks, I get edits in on three short stories. I always dread opening those files, which is weird, because I never find much to complain about. It's interesting to look at my stories through an editor's eyes. I've noticed that there seems to be a trend toward more passive sentences. I write about 97% active, which is probably why my gender pings as completely male (not even European male, whatever that's supposed to imply) on those
text analyzers. Recent editors have a habit of making my sentences passive. As long as I don't drop under 80% active, I can live with it, but it's definitely not my style.

But I did get to my reading stack. Huzzah!

Toy Box: Floggers (Torquere) I'm in this one, so can't rate it, but I liked the other two stories by Chris Owen and Sean Micheal.

The Good Thief by Jame Buchanan (Torquere for ebook, I think MLR for print?) Loved it. James evokes parts of L.A. that no one else writes about, and does it wonderfully. James also knows policeprocedural inside and out, so everything rang true.

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger (Back Bay Books) Hey, J.D. didn't only write Catcher in the Rye. Excellent short stories.

Death in Venice and Other Tales by Thomas Mann (Penguin Classics) Classic,
yes. From another time, definitely. His sentences went on about as long
as I could stand, and then a bit more. Maybe it was the translation. Now I've read it. Wouldn't pick it up again.

End of the Affair by Graham Greene (Penguin Classics) It grew on me. I didn't care for it as much as Our Man in Havana - which I read last month - while I was reading it, but on reflection, realised there was a lot to reflect on.

Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis (Vintage) Can you endure a novel if you don't care very much for the characters? I set it aside, but it didn't get the fling under the bed, so I may give it a go one more time.

and a book that I'm reviewing.

Next up: I bought the Lost Girls collection b Alan Moore as a gift to myself when Love Runes came out. There's a William Gibson I've been meaning to get to, a couple Christoher Moores, a series of essays on gender and sexual politics (whee!) and a new-to-me detective series. And about a hundred others, many of which are squirreled away in the trunk of my car because I know I have a terrible addiction and I'm trying to hide it from my loved ones.

1 Comments:

Blogger Helen said...

What is this vacation thing of which you speak? I am not familiar with it...

But I do know about that teetering stack of books on the bedside table! I'm reading The Big Sleep right now, by Raymond Chandler, getting in the mood for ERWA's next theme weekend. I find myself very inspired...

10:32 AM

 

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