Still editing. Still incommunicado. Sorry

I’m making decent headway on my TBR shelves, too, which is great–but there are a couple of books I’ve had on there for a while that I just can’t bring myself to get excited about with all these shiny new books people have been raving about dropping on my doorstep.

So, let me outsource this decision to you, my lovelies. It’ll be much easier to pick up my next read if people I trust vouch for its awesomeness.

Which of these books should I read next, and why?

The Damned Busters, by Matthew Hughes
Under the Dome, by Stephen King
Kraken, by China Miéville
Finch, by Jeff Vandermeer
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

(Yes, this is the majority of the adult books on my shelves. Um. I have a much easier time working through my YA books, okay?)

Would love to get your thoughts on any of the above. Thank you! <3

Since my adult TBR pile is about twice the size of my YA TBR pile, I’ve been trying to read at least one adult book for every YA book I read. I thought I was succeeding.

Red Glove, by Holly Black
Crossing Over, by Anna Kendall
Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane
Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
Darkfall, by Janice Hardy
The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
Where She Went, by Gayle Forman

… evidently not.

In my defense: a) I’m working on two adult books right now, and b) new YA books are showing up at my house at a frightening rate.

This would be good–yay books!–but it makes it very hard to stay on top of things, especially since I’m leaving for my epic US trip in less than a month. Before that time, I need to:

• Edit a novel.
• Edit a novella.
• Edit a short story. (Probably.)
• Pack and prepare and irrelevant stuff like that.

It will come as no surprise that with that much editing to do, I’m really in the mood to do some rough drafting.

Maybe when I get back. In July. *cringe*

March was an unusually slow month. These numbers are slightly skewed, as I’m still working on three books that will probably end up added to April’s count.

Either way, I’m finally making my way through some of the books that have been on my shelves for years, and it’s great to see those stacks steadily shrinking.

Bareback, by Kit Whitfield
Raising Demons, by Rachel Hawkins
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress
Spell Bound, by Rachel Hawkins
Soulless, by Gail Carriger [DNF]

I think the reason for not reading is much is that I didn’t have much energy–between falling ill and having visitors over, I should probably be relieved I even made my monthly minimum of five books.

My choice in books didn’t help. Aside from Rachel Hawkins’s novels, all of the above went slowly for me, for very different reasons. Given my defunct attention span, though, the YA vs. adult factor is probably a significant one. I can’t remember the last time I blazed through an adult novel the way I regularly do with YA. Is that difference as blatantly obvious for anyone else?

Last month I read nine books, two of which are graphic novels, one of which I didn’t finish. Lots of great books in here–it was a good month to read.

Between a very looong book (by my admittedly questionable standards) and working on the novella, March is proving slower, but I hope to make a frantic dash towards ten books the moment I finish this draft of the novella. I am determined to make a dent in my pile of adult books, to be particular. Some have been collecting dust for years.

Anyway, in order of reading them:

Bleeding Violet, by Dia Reeves
Incarnate, by Jodi Meadows
Avatar, The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures, by… lots of people
A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness
Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins
Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Promise, pt. 1, by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru
Five Flavors of Dumb, by John Anthony
Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi
The World House, by Guy Adams [DNF]

If you’ve read any of these, do share your thoughts!

… to getting caught up on my TBR shelves.

A year ago, this seemed like an insurmountable task. Last August, though, I decided to make a dent in my unread books while recovering from Clarion West. I started reading.

A lot.

Since then I’ve read anywhere from 6-14 books a month, and it’s made all the difference in the world. Right now, my TBR shelves look like this:

Adult novels: 15

YA novels: 5

Short story anthologies: 7

Non-fiction: 8

Ebooks: 3

Graphic novels: Unsure; probably no more than 5.

Pre-orders arriving over the next few months: A LOT.

This seems incredibly doable. Most of my pre-orders will be arriving in the summer, so if I keep up this pace, I may catch up on my novels before then, after which I can juggle reading pre-orders as they come in and non-fiction/anthologies. Since I tend to be slow at reading those latter two–which is why they’ve built up like this–I highly doubt I’ll stick with my average of ten books a month.

So here’s my conservative estimate: I’ll be caught up on my TBR pile at some point before the end of the year. If that doesn’t happen, you have permission to flog me.

Whatever happens, though, at least I’ll come close, which is pretty exciting on its own. I haven’t been caught up in years–probably since before I started on this whole author gig.

This post was brought to you by a) NERDY EXCITEMENT and b) the compulsive need to show off exactly how compulsive I am.

I’m a little late with this, partially because I’ve been really caught up with other things, partially because I’ve been trying to figure out if I want to continue with these mini-reviews. I’m having a more and more difficult time keeping it to one or two sentences only, and I don’t want these to grow into fully-fledged reviews.

I think I’ll keep posting a list of my monthly reads, because it’s nice to keep track that way.

In January, I read ten books, which is pretty decent. Since I didn’t finish one of them and several others were graphic novels, though, I’m not sure how valid that count is. *g*

The Spirit Thief, by Rachel Aaron [DNF]
Ash, by Malinda Lo
The Kingdom of Gods, by N.K. Jemisin
Supernaturally, by Kiersten White
A Million Suns, by Beth Revis
The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson
Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft
Pixu: The Mark of Evil, by Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan, Fábio Moon and Vasilis Lolos
Chew, vol, 1: Taster’s Choice, by John Layman and Rob Guillory
Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey

All my troubles seemed so faaar–

Wrong one.

Yesterday was January 31st. This marked two things:

1) It’s been a year since I e-mailed Mr. Agent Man and said (paraphrased): “Let’s roll.”

I have been an agented writer for one full year. It… doesn’t seem anywhere near as long.

2) INCARNATE came out. This is the first time I’ve seen a book grow from idea to draft to final book and it’s been a wonderful journey to be a part of, however slight. In a couple of years, I expect to have a huge shelf of books I can point to and say, “I knew these books before they were books. My friends made those. I have awesome friends.”

(I can say that last thing already, but you know what I mean.)

Right now, I am very happy to have INCARNATE as the first book on that shelf. (Metaphorically speaking. Man, I wish I had enough shelf space to dedicate one to a single book…)

In INCARNATE’s honor, I drew this:

(This may look a little garish on Macs. Here’s a version that will look better on Macs, but more washed out on PCs.)

December was a step up from November, but not quite where I’d aimed for it to be. With edits upcoming in January, I’m not quite sure how that will change.

I set a goal of reading sixty books in 2012, though; I’m setting my sights high, but I managed a little more than that in 2011 (or exactly sixty if you don’t count unfinished books) and that’s with some pretty slow months in there.

So, here’s hoping.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon: This is a fat, dense, literary book; I didn’t think it’d be my sort of thing. I loved it. It’s got art and comics and superheroes and queerness and fantastic, real characters. Beyond heart-breaking. It’s 700 pages of please please please be okay.

The Escapists, by Brian K. Vaughan: Re-read. I liked it less now I’ve read K&C–it pales in comparison. I found the digs at fatness and autism disappointing, as well as a “not gay!” moment that’s extra awful given the book it spins off from. I do recommend this GN, but mainly as a love letter to comic books. Gorgeous shifts in and blending of art styles.

Riot Boy, by Katey Hawthorne: I blazed through this. Great characters, intriguing romance, and written in the smooth, distinct voice that makes all of Katey’s works so damn readable. If you dig smutty romance, read this.

Enclave, by Ann Aguirre: Some feminist concerns aside (I know, so not me *g*), this was a quick, gripping read, with fun world details. I won this in a contest and I’m glad I did.

Midnight Riot, by Ben Aaronovitch: This had a fantastic start–exactly my sense of humor. The rest of the book went slightly downhill, but stayed very enjoyable.

The Wolfman, by Nicholas Pekearo: Didn’t finish this. The protag tried cartoonishly hard to be an antihero badass. When you’re talking about “broads” and “fairies” while grunting your way through conversations, I have a really hard time taking you seriously.

Nightshade, by Andrea Cremer: I read this in one day, which says a lot. I even appreciated all ends of the love triangle–though not whole-heartedly. That ties in to some feminist/queer-related concerns, though I’m on the fence about those. Depending on how they’re addressed in the sequel (which I’ll probably read) I may forgive a lot.

Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits, by Cate Gardner: Cate’s head seems like a dizzying place. I would like to take a peek inside some time. I’d probably die horrifically at the hands of something so out-of-this-world bizarre I can’t even begin to describe it, but that’s all right.

The Drowning City, by Amanda Downum: This was tough to get through mainly because of the incredible amount of names. It took me a really long time to have an idea of what was what, and some things stayed unclear all the way through. Aside from that, I really liked this, especially the rich, moody world-building and the magic. May pick up the sequel.

Deadline, by Mira Grant: I agree with a lot of the criticism I’ve seen about this book, but I still raced through it. And of course, after a cliff-hanger like that, I can’t wait for Blackout.

The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater: Maggie’s books are so eminently readable that I keep getting drawn back into her stories even when nothing is really happening. The water horses were lovely and terrifying, and the prose was beautiful. On the downside, I do feel like her writing is becoming more recognizably Maggie with every book, to the point where certain quirks of voice became distracting in this one.

Stray, by Rachel Vincent: I tried one book by this author before and didn’t finish it. This one underwent the same fate. The book isn’t badly written, it just… didn’t agree with me.

Between workshop preparations and BioShock (1 and 2), this month was a lot slower than others. I hope to pick up the pace in December. I’ve been loving the sight of this shrinking to-read pile and I’d hate to let it build up again.

Of course, I do have a lot of books to beta. Maybe I’ll need to start counting those. *tents fingers*

Fourteen books this month. New record! \o/

Rosemary and Rue, by Seanan McGuire: Aside from a bit of a slump in the middle, I really enjoyed this book. Interesting faerie mythology, interesting characters — definitely picking up the sequels at some point.

Gone, Hunger, Lies, and Plague, by Michael Grant: Fast reads with lively characters and interesting moral dilemmas — though occasionally they’re a little too silly. As you can see by my having read all four books in this series in the space of a week and a half, they’re pretty darn addictive, too, and I’ll be getting parts five and six once they come out. Unfortunately, the portrayal of Little Pete, an autistic kid, made me put the books down every now and then so I could work past my hurt and anger before reading on. Not pleasant.

Tithe, by Holly Black: Since I loved White Cat so much, I had high hopes for this, but I won’t be picking up the rest of this series. I loved Kaye’s living situation and family; they were fleshed out and real and interesting. The rest of the book fell flat in comparison, and since that’s what the focus was on, my interest faded pretty quick.

Moonshine, by Alaya Dawn Johnson: I wasn’t gripped for the first third, but it picked up to become a pretty fun read. Loved the setting.

Black Blade Blues, by J.A. Pitts: I wanted to love this, even when the queerness became less incidental and more of a focal point, but it seemed like the book couldn’t decide what it wanted to be: a fun romp with Norse mythology and magic swords or an angsty relationship drama. The balance didn’t work for me. The chatty voice also bothered me, and I normally love chattiness.

Guardian of the Dead, by Karen Healey: Definitely recommended. The writing style is exactly up my alley and it keeps the parts I love about YA UF while being its own thing.

Liar, by Justine Larbalestier: Loved this. Was proud to catch two of the lies before they were revealed. *g*

Sisters Red, by Jackson Pearce: This was very fun, and I loved the sisterly interplay. The romantic relationship was slightly on the bland side, though.

For The Win, by Cory Doctorow: Enjoyable read, interesting concepts, great female characters — but pretty wooden villains. Unsure about the resolution. Like with Little Brother, at times the infodumps made me feel like I was back in class.

Magic Under Glass, by Jaclyn Dolamore: A light, quick read. Effective writing and lovely, magical concepts. I enjoyed this.

The Secret Year, by Jennifer R. Hubbard: Another quick read. I liked what was there, but it never entirely grabbed me — I expected it to go deeper.