August Reading Round-up – Re-reading, Learning, & Talking Cats

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[et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]Okay, I think it actually is a month since my last video, which is an improvement from trying to remember what I read two months ago, or whatever silliness I was engaged in during the last couple of videos.

However, it doesn’t mean I can talk, or remember that a book I’ve loved since I was a teenager is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, rather than the Universe. Or that I remember to find the cover of the book I’m talking about before starting the vid.

However, technical difficulties aside, here are my reads for the month (other than a DNF that very nearly met the wall due to some very bad male writing of women. Which, if you’d like to save yourself the pain of reading that sort of thing, you can use the handy description generator below (from Electric Literature). Although the book in question was more “oH i aM sTronG woMan wIth gUn bUt reaLly I juSt waNt tO Be saVed anD geT mArRiEd”.  Because obviously that’s all any woman wants. Not that I have strong feelings on the subject.  Ahem).

Rant done. Now, on to the ratings!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. Not universe. Funny, deft writing, full of very human truths as demonstrated by aliens and a depressed android. Also a wonderful reminder that re-reading is so much more than revisiting something well-worn and familiar. Rather, it’s a whole new discovery.  Five cookies, a cuppa and a towel.

“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande. A lovely and encouraging (if, at times, unintentionally funny) book giving advice on how to find the writer in us all. Some advice is definitely dated, but some resonates beautifully (and has me plotting a full blog post on it for next week). Four cookies.

“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure towards success.”
― Dorothea Brande, Becoming a Writer

Belfast Confidential, Colin Bateman. Good, darkly funny crime read with many nefarious characters, lots of corruption, and a quite brilliantly hopeless sidekick. The MC is both unlikable and impossible not to cheer for. Four cookies.

“If cleanliness is next to godliness, then f***ing feng shui and and designer breads are the work of a bigger, badder devil.”
― Colin Bateman, Belfast Confidential.

Farthing House & Other Stories, Susan Hill. Beautifully written, in many cases haunting and touching stories. The sort of stories you read sparingly, allowing each one time to seep in before moving on to the next. Favourite story? The Custodian. Five cookies.

“When he went down between the fruit trees to the bottom of the garden the first of the buds were breaking into green but the grass was soaked with dew like sweat, the heavy air smelt rotten and sweet.”
― Susan Hill, The Custodian.

The Case of the Love Spell, Amorette Anderson. Easy cozy mystery read (with talking cat!). More of a romance and series starter regarding how bumbling PI Penny becomes a witch than a mystery, but a fun read (Annie is a particularly good character!). You can grab it free by going to her FB page. Three cookies and a cuppa.

“Today I ate a balanced diet of choco-puffs cereal with soy milk — and banana slices on top. See? Potassium. Go, me.”
― Amorette Anderson, The Case of the Love Spell.

Write. Publish. Repeat. Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. Interesting read on how to turn your art into a business while not losing the fun and magic of writing. Very specific to how they work, of course, but fascinating and inspiring all at once. I particularly love the story of how their Unicorn Western series came about (basically because their third business/writing partner said if they weren’t going to research a Western properly, they may as well put a unicorn in it …). Five cookies.

“Timidity is not a good trait for any creative person. Bland, hesitant art is the most banal and uninteresting thing in the world.”
― Sean Platt & Johnny B. Truant, Write. Publish. Repeat.

And finally the video …

What have you been reading and loving (or ranting about) in August, lovely people? Let me know below!

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book chats, book reviews, cozy mysteries, DNF, fun reads, reading, writing