What Are You Reading?

*hugs from faraway* Sorry you've been sick, that's no fun. Yaays on extra reading time!

It's got to be tricky with a long series to retain all of your readers from the first book to the last one. But it's still sad and disappointing as a reader when you loved the earlier books so much and then each one that comes next is worse and worser.

Just finished The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (trans Philip Gabriel). Very good book, very highly rated and deservedly a bestseller internationally. Superficially a weepie for cat lovers, it gently explores some deeper themes. It's well written, but it felt like a very different type of translation from the Japanese to those I'm accustomed to - I'm not sure how well it captures the 'Japaneseness' of the original and being unable to read Japanese I have no way of knowing whether that was a feature of the original or not.

It's all about the editing! The same story can be told in so many different ways, but oftentimes the book is rushed and the better, alternate ways are left unexplored. Especially if the author is on a deadline.

I have read Gullivers Travels and seen the movie. I do not remember a message, but it's been a loooooong time since I've read that.

All of my reading is of Kboards and my novel. I read that a lot and often since I am sort of editing and drafting at the same time.

There's two reasons for not seeing a message. One, it's mostly Bowdler's censored version that is seen now. Two, the targets of the satire were aspects of the culture of the time and hard to see unless you have studied it.


Mostly.
An editor may have pointed out the implications of the decision about action Vs issue, but I fear that indie editors would simply push the action approach, lacking experience (or expertise) of the other.

And no editor could give the writer the skill to take the issue approach. Some writers can do it without apparent effort but most can't, and it takes study, graft and time for them to develop a capability.

To be fair writing mysteries is hard! And trying to make it so that the reader doesn't guess the murderer while still telling them who did it is even harder. But I still prefer when authors play fair, anyway. The reader should be able to figure out everything on their own. Or at least most of it, on their own. That's part of the fun of reading it.

I read a Myrtle Clover book (I've read most of them) but in this one I found the murderer quite early cos I found the clue, and I felt so proud of myself. LOL

At some point I'll have to pick up some Josephine Tey because the excerpts you gave were really enjoyable.

For her mysteries, Georgette Heyer (usually?) subcontracted devising the puzzle/crime aspect to her husband.


I've never read a Myrtle Clover, so got the first one to try sometime.

Finished A Question of Upbringing (Book 1 in the Dance to the Music of Time cycle by Anthony Powell).
A very very good book. (I removed the comma; I'm using 'very very' as a single word rather than a two word reinforcement: maybe I should remove the space too.)

Despite seemingly being mostly description, despite there being virtually no action, there is nevertheless a steady (though quite laid back) drive forward.

It covers approximately the last year at school and the first year at (or not at) university. Covers a small elite section of English society in the years after the First World War (1921-24 apparently). Obviously drawn from real life observation, it's a study of relationships and how they change with the passage of time. Elements of social comedy but more real world than PG Wodehouse and Mapp and Lucia and stylistically denser than Diary of a Nobody (which I'd recommend). But they are all very English.
[There's one event that would have been plausible in his experience of being that age, but would have been unlikely in the year chosen; very few readers would spot it and I doubt anyone would care.]

There were two points that struck me as a writer.
One, his use of language and words was frequently better than mine. There are writers (and I know some) who have a degree of facility with language that I don't possess - and will never acquire however hard I try. But Powell is in my class, so I'd be hopeful that I can learn something there.
Two, his ability to achieve a sense of movement and direction from description of people and circumstances rather than events was very noticeable. I'd like to learn that trick.

Of course, his is a literary novel. I don't write literary novels and have never had aspirations in that direction; I wouldn't mind having literary readers - but they'd have to come to me because I don't want to go to them. And he wrote it 70 years ago. So I'd have to be careful in what I picked up; but still it's nice to have something to work on.

I am reading "Pretty is as Pretty dies," by Elizabeth Spann-Craig. It's the first book in her Myrtle Clover series. I thought that rereading some of my favorite cozies would be a good idea whilst I am stalled. One thing I don't remember from previous readings is all the head hopping. It's not interfering with my enjoyment of the story at all, which I suppose is why I didn't notice before.

I'm just about finished reading a novel. I'll post about it when I'm done, but that might not be till tomorrow, as I have things to get to today. But reading these last two comments brought up some advice that happened to come up in a Twitch stream I was watching last night. The advice was along the lines of consuming or experiencing stories can be helpful in telling stories. The creativity you see can spark your own creativity.

Books written in different formats can be fun. A long time ago I read a book about the first kid juror, and the entire book was her diary sharing her experience of being on the jury. I believe there was some sort of mystery involved, as well, which the kid solved. It was a really fun book anyway.

Just finished "Pretty is as Pretty dies," by Elizabeth Spann-Craig.
In the main, it was a quietly enjoyable cozy. Lively, spiky text, warm locality (I assume its accurately described, but I don't know it so can't comment) with distinct characterisation.
The overall feel was of the first series of a TV show which goes on to become a great once all the rough edges have rubbed off.

Downsides were the prologue (more of that elsewhere), jarring continuity at times, some typos and a poor conclusion (probably OK if written twenty years ago). Some of the head hopping stuck out; I'm happy with headhopping as part of a style but it should facilitate not hinder the flow of the story. The continuity jumps meant that I put it down quite often, taking it up again later. I think it would have been better with a tough editor.

It read as if it were speed-written with little revision but with a very warm and predictable feel and characters who bounced off each other; probably a continuing cast. I assume it has a lot of fans who read every one. Ideally done for the cozy genre.

That's interesting. Given the typos in the first, and the 'wrongness' of its prologue, I'm not sure that the publisher brought much to the party anyway.


You are quite right; they are.
I'm perfectionist, so I like things to be as good as they can be. But I also doubt that improving the quality (typos/continuity) would improve the experience of her readers or gain new ones and I'm sure her current approach maximises her output. So that's perfectly fine.

I noticed the detailed reference to Dickens in the book. Seems to me that she's taken some style tips from him in that her characters are exaggerated and larger than life, the language is hyper-vivid and over the top and it doesn't matter if the plot creaks.

I have now finished A Body In The Backyard by Elizabeth Spann Craig (No 4 in the Myrtle Clover series). The problems seen in No 1 were largely absent (with one exception). Continuity was good, and there was often momentum. The downside was that some of the individualistic ups had been smoothed too. Editing was evident. As K'Sennia said they are light and fun; and warm and cosy. They are evolving. The people are clearly drawn and nice, popping in to visit them would be like visiting old friends. I can understand fans rereading when new ones aren't available, which is a recommendation in itself even if it earns the author nothing. Better than OK, but I can't quite bring myself to say Good.

Sure, I can do that.

And yays for liking or almost liking Myrtle Clover!