Books Read in October

Ah, it's that time of the month again.

No, not that time of the month. I mean the time where I post about all the books I've read.

I didn't manage to read too many books this month. I was busy with assignments during the first two weeks on October, and then I was fretting about NaNo.

While I didn't read as many books as I'd have liked to, I still managed to hit a few jackpots, which balances things out, I guess.

As always, * indicates a fave, and ~ indicates a graphic novel or manga.

1. Night Beach - Kirsty Eagar *
2. Friday Brown - Vikki Wakefield
3.  A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
4. Bayou Moon (The Edge, #2) - Ilona Andrews
5. Holier than Thou - Laura Buzo
6. Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades, #3) - E.L. James
7. Fall for Anything - Courtney Summers
8. The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (Zelda, #10) - Akira Himekawa ~
9. Tiger's Destiny (The Tiger Saga, #4) - Colleen Houck
10. The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) - Stephen King
11. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami
12. Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy, #1) - Wendy Higgins
13. Seraphina (Seraphina, #1) - Rachel Hartman *
14. Death at Victoria Dock (Phryne Fisher, #4) -Kerry Greenwood
15. The Audition (Seraphina, #0.5) - Rachel Hartman
16. Zombies vs. Unicorns -edited by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier

Of the selection, two really stood out: Night Beach and Seraphina. If you remember in my last monthly book recap, I posted a picture of Night Beach as a currently reading picture. It's a book that I can't help but love. It is subtly scary, has gorgeous prose, and well-thought out imagery and metaphors. And I am all about themes, imagery, and metaphors. I loved it so much I even wrote a review of it for a Non-Fiction assignment.

Seraphina caters to the love of a high-fantasy world with dragons that my younger self used to harbour.   Hartman writes with such fluidity that it's hard not to be enchanted. Coupled with Seraphina's strangeness and the garden inside her head (oh, the garden! Definitely my favourite part of the book), it created a world that I never wanted to leave. I'm greatly anticipating the next book. I don't think I can handle waiting till next year.

Other notable books include both of the Murakami books I'd read this month, A Wild Sheep Chase, and What I Talk ABout When I Talk About Running. Sheep was just amazing. I wasn't quite expecting such a mind-fuck of a book. It felt so surreal, much like a dream, which I've heard is Murakami's usual style, so that makes me super excited to read more of his stuff. Running is a memoir about his life as a marathon runner, though he draws heavily on his writing career, as well. He uses running as an analogy to writing, giving lots of great tips that apply to both. It really perked me up for NaNo.

On Having Writer Friends

It was only in the last few years that I met people who were just like me: people who were just as obsessed with words as I am. I met three of my best friends over the internet. Angela and Krystle via LiveJournal (thanks to our love for Throne of Glass, or Queen of Glass, as it was called when it was still on FictionPress), and Nafiza through book blogging. One thing we all share in common is our love for reading, and our love for writing. In fact, Krystle and Nafiza are both doing NaNo this year.

Before I started uni, my writer friends were only the people I met on the internet. I had never ever ever come across a person in real life who'd shared the same passion for words. And, to be honest, it felt kind of lonely. It felt like I was the only person in the whole of Australia who liked writing.

Now that I've finished my first year of uni, where I study Creative Writing, I've met so many wonderful, like-minded people. I already have two best friends, and many other people that I would openly call my friends. I know, it's starting to sound really sappy right about now, but just bear with me.

So, a few of us RMIT kids are doing NaNo this year. Last Monday, we gathered at a bar and talked about our ideas, and man, it was awesome. It really got me thinking about my story, and it was really inspiring to sit with a whole bunch of people who share the same love for writing.
On Thursday, which will be the 1st of November, the first day of NaNo, we'll be having a write-in, and I'm super excited. I'm expecting myself to write a lot, since I'm really competitive, and I can't stand the thought of someone writing more than me. And the best part is, that if I'm struggling, they'll be able to cheer me on, and help me out. Ditto with my internet writer friends.

The moral of this post, I guess, is to surround yourself with people who write. Wether it be on the internet, or in real life. People who share your passions are far more likely to understand why you're crying in the middle of the night because you just killed off your favourite character. Non-writer people, on the other hand, will just think you're just a bit crazy.

Totally Unprepared for NaNo

So, literally 2 minutes ago, I finished my last essay for uni. It was a comparative essay concerning the Australian landscapes of two of the set novels, if anyone cares.

This means that I finally have time to relax and read books and play Pokemon Black and Black 2, and, of course, plan for NaNo.

Honestly, I have no idea what I'm going to write for NaNo. Usually by now, I'd have a rough idea of what I want to write, but this year, I have absolutely nothing. But that's okay, I guess. I do have 10 days until it starts. That's plenty of time, right?

Anywho, I'll be updating the blog more frequently now that I'm on holidays, and during November, I'll be updating at least once a week with stats (if you followed my old blog, you'd know how much I love word metrics).

If you want to be my buddy on the NaNo website, my username is ChibiJeshka. I love meeting new people, especially if they love writing as much as I do. :)

Books Read in September

Gosh, this has been the crappiest month ever. I've been constantly sick, with on-again, off-again flus, and then I found out that it was because I have sinusitis.
Sinusitis totally doesn't sound like a real sickness. Every time I catch myself saying it, I keep thinking, you just made that word up, didn't you? But I promise I didn't make it up. My doctor must have made it up, or something.
But yeah, that's what my life has been for the past month. I've missed a month's worth of classes, but that's okay, because most of my classes don't actually seem to need me to be present, so I'm a bit lucky. I've also gotten a bit behind on my reading and editing, because sinusitis apparently means that I need to have constant migraines because of the pressure of constantly blocked sinuses. Fuck you, sinuses!
I've been on antibiotics for the last 9 days, and they end tomorrow, but I don't feel much better. Bleh. I hate being sick.

Anywhos, enough of my whining, here are the books I managed to read this month:
As always, * indicates a favourite, and ~ indicates a graphic novel or manga or picture book.

1. Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades of Grey, #2) - E.L. James
2. The Little Storm Dancer (The Lotus War, #1.5) - Jay Kristoff ~
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte *
4.  Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation  Elissa Stein & Susan Kim
5. Every Other Day - Jennifer Lynne Barnes
6. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell *
7. The Assassin and the Empire (Throne of Glass, #0.4) - Sarah J. Maas
8. City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5) - Cassandra Clare
9. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame Smith
10. The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) - Stephen King
11. Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1) - Michael Crichton
12. Throne of the Crescent Moon (The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, #1) - Saladin Ahmed
13. Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires, #1) - Rachel Caine

Image taken on my Instagram

14. On the Edge (The Edge, #1) - Ilona Andrews
15. Adorkable - Sarra Manning
16. The Avengers vol 1. - Brian Michael Bendis & John Romita Jr. ~

So yeah, not much of an exciting list this month. I finish uni halfway through October, so maybe then I'll have more time to read. If my sinusitis goes away, that is.
Of the books I read this month, only two really stood out: Jane Eyre and Cloud Atlas. 

Jane Eyre was read for my literature class for uni, and I loved every moment of it. The writing is just phenomenal, even though sometimes Bronte does tend to ramble on about the most inane detail. I can't wait to write my essay on it concerning gender and societal roles. I'm so excited. *is such a nerd*

Cloud Atlas also had phenomenal writing, but what made this book stand out was the sorta gimmicky way it combined six separate strands to make one overarching story. And each of the six stories, despite focusing on completely different topics, characters, and even genres, was fantastic in its own way. Several weeks later, and I'm still thinking about it. This book definitely needs a reread at some point in the future. Maybe before I watch the film.

Hopefully next month will bring a more fruitful list. I've been going insane from not reading enough. I'm not used to reading at the speed of a normal person. I don't like it. :c

Currently Reading.
Image taken on my Instagram

Can Adults Read Young Adult?

I was in the library today with my mother. We had an hour to kill before an appointment, so we were sitting in the Young Adult section: I was reading Adorkable, and my mum was flicking through some magazines. Then, a middle-aged woman, around my mother's age, walked into the section, and began browsing through the books.

As soon as the woman left, with a stack of YA books in tow, my mother started her rant:

"What is a woman her age doing reading books for teenagers? Has she no shame? Is she so dumb that she needs to read children's books?"
etc. etc. etc.

There's always a stigma towards books that aren't classics and/or literary. Genre books always get a lot of flack. But Young Adult seems to be getting the worst of it. People seem to think that because YA is aimed mainly at teens, that only teens should be able to read it. And, sometimes they go a step further, assuming that because it's aimed towards teens, it's somehow not as intellectual or as deep as adult novels. Basically, there's a lot of ageism going on.

It makes me wonder how people view me. I'm twenty years old. I haven't been in high school for three years. I'm definitely not a teen anymore, and I'm slowly ceasing to become a young adult. And, most importantly, I read practically nothing but young adult. I write only young adult.

Sure, there may be lots of YA books that are vapid and shallow, that are pale imitations of Twilight. But isn't that the same for books for adults? I don't mean to sound like a genre snob here, but a lot of smutty erotica novels are hardly deep (hurr hurr....). I've read a few books that are classed as literary (what is literature, anyway? But that's fodder for another post), that feel shallow, with stupid characters that are nothing more than Edward and Bella as adults.

But on the other hand, I've read some really deep YA, such as The Book Thief, Twenty Boy Summer, or Looking for Alaska, and they all deal with important topics. They are hardly vapid, and there's potential to teach a lot of people. Ditto with adult novels, whether they be literary or genre fiction.

I appologise for this ranty post. I realise it's not really going anywhere. I'm just trying to sort my thoughts into some semblance of sense, and I know it's not really working. Regardless of how much I'm failing at understanding this phenomena, I'd like to know what you guys think. Do you think that adults should be able to read books for teens, and vice versa? Is there something dumb about an adult reading below their age level? Why do you think this is?

I Hate Editing

Dearest Readers, I hate editing.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

It is the bane of my existence, but considering I want to get published, I have to deal with it. Woe is me.

I can handle writing thousands and thousands of words of first draft, but when it comes to editing the drivel, I get lost and it's as if I'm being waterboarded.
The reason I'm feeling so much hate towards editing right now is because I'm in the middle of editing my NaNo'10 novel, a steampunk with leprechauns and thieves and bluestocking girls. And it is tough. It's kicking my ass. But, I must persevere.

I guess what I hate most about editing is that I don't know how to do it. There's no rules on how to do it. Every book or guide or piece of advice on editing is different, and a lot of the time, it's contradictory, so I have no idea what to do and where to start and how to go about perfecting my precious novel.

So far, I think I've managed pretty well. My first step was to read through my manuscript and type out an outline of everything that happens. Important plot points. Character deaths/injuries for future reference. What weapons are used (because I'm unable to keep track of what weapons my characters use, apparently. (in one scene, my male main character was stabbing people with a sword, in the next scene, the sword became a gun).
At the same time, I wrote down all the things that needed to change in comments on the document, so that I know what to do.

And... now I'm stuck. I have no idea how to go about making these changes. I have no idea what to do. All I want to do is lie in a foetal position and cry forever and hope that an agent takes pity on me.

I've been slowly--super slowly--making changes to my document. I've never realised how hard it is to actually edit a whole novel.

I feel that editing is a bit like time-travel: if you tweak a slight bit at the beginning of the novel, the end can be vastly different, much like the theory that if you accidentally killed a plant, then the future can be supremely different. Blah, there's so much responsibility.

It doesn't help that my betas are impatiently waiting for my newly revised novel to arrive in their inboxes. So much pressure! What if they don't like it? What if I suck? Argh, can you see why I prefer to write novels and not edit them? (Though, funnily enough, I have no problem with editing other people's work.)

So, how do you edit? What do you do to make editing less of a terrifying chore, and something that can be enjoyed?

Books Read in August

Howdy, folks. I know, I know, it's been a month since I last wrote. I promise, I was going to write a cool post about writing, but then I got horribly sick, right at the time that most of my assessment tasks were due. So yeah, I've been a bit busy. And as a result, I haven't read that much this month.
* indicates a favourite
~ indicates a graphic novel or manga

1. Past the Shallows - Favel Parrett
2. The Doomsday Vault - Steven Harper
3. Ship Breaker - Paolo Bacigalupi
4. The Selection - Kiera Cass
5. Princesses and Pornstars - Emily Maguire
6. Wildwood - Colin Meloy & Carson Ellis
7. Ascendant (Kiiler Unicorns, #2) - Diana Peterfreund
8. Murder on the Ballarat Train (Phryne Fisher, #3) - Kerry Greenwood
9. Rapture (Fallen, #4) - Lauren Kate
10. Irresponsible (Ultimate Spiderman, #7) - Brian Michael Bendis ~
11. End Run (New Birds of Prey, #1) - Gail Simone ~
12. Blood - Tony Birch
13. The Theban Plays - Sophocles
14. Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, #5) - Ilona Andrews *

Photo taken on my Instagram

Wahh, only 14 books read this month. That's almost nothing. And what makes this even worse is that most of the books were pretty meh. The only book that really stood out was the most recent book in the Kate Daniels series, and you can see me rant about how much I love that series here.

So, what books am I planning to read in September? Well, Jane Eyre and Notes From Underground for my Intro to Lit class (*swoon*!). I've already started Jane Eyre, and I'm loving it. It is taking a long tim to read, though, because of the dense writing, but oh man, it's so worth it.

Other books I'm planning on reading:

• Hoping to finish Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I'm so close to finishing it, but it's just so boring and dry, that I haven't wanted to pick it back up again.
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I really want to read this before the movie comes out. It looks like it could be a fantastic film (yellowface issues aside. Let's not go there.)
• Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. I've never read any of Woolf's works. Perhaps I should start now. 
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Can't believe I haven't yet read this. 
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I love the movie. So so so much. Let's see how the book compares.
• Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami. Can you believe it, I've never read any Murakami, either. Hopefully this first foray into his work will not be my last.
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. This is for research purposes. My current novel is a sci-fi/cyberpunk that deals with the idea of humanity in a world with cyborgs and androids. 
• Finally, Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. I'm so excited to read this. I love love love  books set in a non-white/European fantasy world. And it has a gorgeous cover. Just look at it.

Those are just the books I have from the library. I'm not even going to go into the books I own/ARCs from publishers. Maybe I'll save that for another post.

In the meantime, stay classy, internet.