I've decided (at the very last minute) to jump in on today's 24-hour Read-a-thon.
I figure it'll give me a good excuse to get some of my Cybils reading done. It has nothing to do with just, you know, wanting to read all day or anything. I swear.
Anyway, onward! I shall begin at 9AM, which, according to my computer, is in seven minutes, and periodically, I'll post reading responses and whatnot.
So here I am, next to the wood stove with a cup of tea and a pile of books. According to my husband the weather fanatic, we might actually get snow today, which would make for the coziest day EVER. (As long as, you know, I stay inside.)
[ETA: Rather than writing lots of separate posts, I'm going to compile all of the read-a-thon activities here.]
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Books read:
This is What I Want to Tell You, by Heather Duffy Stone
The Blonde of the Joke, by Bennett Madison
My stats:
Hours reading: 5.5
Hours writing/socializing: 4
Due to my inability to remain undistracted by my husband (who, it must be said, put forth an AMAZING effort), those are my final, completely pathetic, stats. I'd like to say I'll do better next time, but unless he'll be away for the weekend, I'm not making any promises.
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Breaktime Shindig #1 (courtesy of I Heart Monster):
Sarah has two (new to her) very beautiful cats. Who may or may not be aliens. Also, she herself is lovely in real life.
The title of Ash's blog -- English Major's Junk Food -- made me laugh out loud.
BrownGirl BookSpeak is new to me, but I'll be keeping an eye on her from now on -- her writing voice is understatedly hilarious.
I've always loved the header over at Biblio File, but I've never mentioned it. So here I am, mentioning it.
Sasha has books lingering on her Currently Reading list, and she's actually going to DO something about it! I am inspired.
Even though I'm sort of participating in a couple of challenges already (must get back to those), I can't resist this one: Carl's 4th annual Readers Imbibing Peril Challenge.
From September 1st through October 31st, he's encouraging people to explore the Land of Spooky: Mysteries. Suspense. Thrillers. Dark Fantasies. Gothics. Horror. The supernatural.
But as the challenge doesn't have rules other than to have fun, and share the links to your reviews (if you choose to write them), he decided to break the rules and start early.
And so will I.
I'll be pulling books from this pool (they're all from my TBR piles and from the milkcrate of library books I've been working through):
Summer of Fear, by Lois Duncan√
Poison Ink, by Christopher Golden
Look For Me By Moonlight, by Mary Downing Hahn√
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Katherine Howe√
Meridian, by Amber Kizer√
Never Slow Dance with a Zombie, by E. Van Lowe
A Deadly Game of Magic, by Joan Lowery Nixon
Prophecy of the Sisters, by Michelle Zink√
I mean, unless I decide to add something else. Anyway, I'm shooting for four, but secretly (well, not so secretly now) hoping to read more of 'em than that. Anyone else in?
The Name of the Game Was Murder is Joan Lowery Nixon's take* on the classic Island Mystery set-up**, but it isn't just that -- it's also a solve-the-puzzle-to-find-the-treasure story. The difference is that the characters aren't seeking a nice treasure, like in The Last Treasure. Oh, no. They're looking for a hidden manuscript that contains career-ending, life-ruining secrets.
Fifteen-year-old aspiring writer Samantha Burns invites herself to her great-aunt's house for a vacation because she wants some face-time with her great-aunt's husband: novelist Augustus Trevor.
Turns out, he's a total jerk. He's got two sides -- nasty and nastier. It also turns out that her visit coincides with a treasure hunt/house party he has planned. At first, despite her disappointment about her great-uncle's disposition, Sam is excited at the thought of rubbing elbows with celebrities: an actress, a romance novelist, a football star, a Senator and a clothing designer***. But she soon realizes that this is no regular house party -- none of the guests are really here by choice -- their "invitations" all included the line:
"If you don't take part, you'll soon regret it."
At dinner on the first night, Mr. Trevor outlines the game he's come up with: Each guest will receive a series of clues, and the person who solves the puzzle won't be included in his tell-all book. Everyone else will be ruined.
It will come as no surprise to anyone who's read a single murder mystery: Augustus Trevor doesn't make it through the night alive. And so it becomes a race to find the manuscript before the police investigation begins: For Sam, because she believes the manuscript will be the key to finding the murderer, and for everyone else -- including her aunt -- because if it is destroyed, all of their darkest secrets will be safe.
I can't believe I just spent so much time explaining the very simple premise of this book. I found, actually, that as I read, I kept trying to make the story more complicated than it was: MAYBE HE'S NOT REALLY DEAD! MAYBE THE HOUSEKEEPER IS ACTUALLY HIM OH NO WAIT THERE WAS THAT SCENE WHERE SHE WAS IN THE ROOM WITH HIM DAMN WELL MAYBE HE'S HIDING IN THE SERVANT'S HOUSE AND THE SERVANTS ARE ALL IN ON IT AND HE'S REALLY A JOLLY NICE FELLOW AND THERE'S A GOOD REASON FOR ALL OF THIS! (That would be The Westing Game influence.) Let me help you out here: He's really dead. He's really a nasty piece of work, and he's really dead. There. Now you can read it and try to figure out the clues without distraction.
I'll give you a hint, though -- you don't need the clues. If, as you read, you keep an eye out for the MOST OBVIOUS HIDING PLACE THERE IS, you'll do just fine. And you'll probably find the manuscript a good 120 pages before Sam, despite her Puzzle Prowess.
Joan Lowery Nixon does lurrrve the similes -- a few for your enjoyment:
Finally, his pupils, swimming like fat fish in goldfish bowls, focused on me. (4)
...her golden eyes [she's a sparklepire?] trained on Thea like piercing spotlights. (20)
...her words dragged, plopping themselves down like reluctant feet. (23)
I actually stopped keeping track of them because, despite the silliness of many aspects of the story, I got pulled in -- and despite my being almost 99.98% sure about the identity of the murderer, there were moments that had me genuinely feeling the suspense. So, fun. I'm glad I've decided to revisit Nixon and Duncan.
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*Or at least one of her takes -- she's got so many books that I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that there are more.
**You know the one: A murder occurs at a gathering in an isolated area while there is coincidentally a storm so that all of the characters are stuck together with a body and a killer for at least a weekend. Think And Then There Were None.
***Who wears at one point, I kid you not, a shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest and what must be the world's largest ascot.
I need to balance out the awesomely terrible with the awesomely good, so I'll be participating in the Montgomery Mini Challenge. For it, I need to read four books by L. M. Montgomery that aren't part of the Anne series.
As I've never read the Emily books or The Blue Castle, I figured this was a perfect challenge for me. So, I'll be reading:
Emily of New Moon√
Emily Climbs√
Emily's Quest
The Blue Castle
The rules of this challenge require that I attempt to read eleven V.C. Andrews books over the course of this year.
...
...
WHAT ON EARTH IS WRONG WITH ME???
Okay.
I'm definitely planning on revisiting the Dollanganger series:
Flowers in the Attic√
Petals on the Wind
If There Be Thorns
Seeds of Yesterday
Garden of Shadows
I hope they're just as bad as I remember. I suspect they'll be worse.
I'm not sure what my other six picks will be. I must do some V.C. Andrews research.
I can't believe I just typed that sentence.
