A Year of Reading

This week saw the launch of the National Year of Reading. 

According to the website, "Nearly half the population struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work. There are 46% of Australians who can't read newspapers; follow a recipe; make sense of timetables, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle." On the face of it, 46 per cent is a staggering number for a sophisticated Western Democracy, until you consider the migrant population.

Government, libraries, media, bookstores, schools and community groups are banding together for events to encourage children to read, and to share their passion for the written word.

Australian author, P.D. Martin blogs about it over on Murderati

The Australian Women Writers website has a twelve month reading and reviewing  challenge

Elizabeth Lhuede steps into controversy on gender bias in the decision-making process of Love2Read's (host of the NYR) "Our Story"shortlist.

Mrs Mac's Library  has a list of events and ideas.

And then there's this: The Joy of Books, an animated sequence on You Tube - a lot of work and a lovely ending.

A Little Patch in Sun

I've been feeling a little stressed lately, for numerous reasons. Today, I decided to take a break.

Although it's winter here, the sun has shone down in all its fiery glory. I finally gave in to temptation and grabbed a book - Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews - and sat out on the balcony in the sun.

Time passed all too quickly. Magic Slays is an outstanding book that kept my attention throughout the afternoon. It's full of action, snarking between Kate Daniels and mate, Curran the Beast Lord as they come to grips with their relationship, and Kate's fear of discovery. I'm not doing a review, but I will say that the ending has opened a lot of possibilities for the next book - and one scary possibility that could have dire consequences. I certainly want to see how Andrews' handles the aftermath of the ending.

I have no idea when the next book will be out, but I'll be waiting. Time to treat the mild case of sunburn... damn it...

How goes Hugo?

I've been consuming the Hugo Nominees: the short stories, novellas, novelettes, novels and the John W. Campbell nominees: From the Ice Age to a billion years into the future; aliens and Victorian-era sleuths; stories of luck and tales of fate; gods and demons; genetic manipulation and hidden personalities; paranormal and supernatural; complex quantum time-spatial theories and inevitable linear events. Oh, and 'wow' to 'wtf?'.

I would like to know how they were nominated, what the process is. I also have to come up with a method to make my decisions. Do I go with what I like, or with how clever a story is; whether I'm intrigued with the story or admire the uniqueness? Do I vote for how easy a story is to read, or my understanding of the science and how it knits into the work? How about whether the words evoke an emotional response or whether I find myself thinking about the story for a while? Then there's the style, the grammar and intent of the work. Do I consider all of the above?

Voting ends on Saturday and I'm up to the big prize: the novels. Only a couple more to go. My decisions on the other categories is still pending while I work out how to make the final vote.

And now, back to the novels.

Catch up

Canine the Destroyer is acting more like a cat than a puppy, climbing on - or sliding under - as much furniture as he can. I might give him a spray, but five minutes later, he's at it again. His new target are socks. And now he's curled up on a blanket having a snooze.

So. This round of edits are done and I'll get to more next week, but I have a longing to read someone else's work and to catch up on some DVDs and that's what I've been doing - when not watching for the next bit of mayhem from the hound.

I'm deep into Lynn Viehl's Dreamveil and I can feel a suspicion sneaking up on me. But then, I'm always suspicious of Lynn because she hides her clues in plain sight and it's only at the end of the book that you slap your forehead and say 'Of course, it was there all the time and I missed it! Damn that woman!'

I can imagine Lynn mwahaha-ing all the way to the publisher...

And I'd best read some more while the puppy is napping.

New Reads

Enough wangsting about my stress levels - they're coming down with the help of a good dose of medicinal Rum & Raisin Dark Chocolate; which I'm taking religiously o.O

Two books coming out next week (oh, I truly hope they are in the shops, waiting patiently for me...) that I have my greedy eye on:

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen:

In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they're stranded with no help in sight. As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town's previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness-someone who is watching Maura and her friends. Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura's charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless-and the chilling truth about Maura's fate.

SQUEEEEEE... Gotta love Tess Gerritsen!

And:

The Search by Nora Roberts:

To most people, Fiona Bristow seems to have an idyllic life-a quaint house on an island off Seattle's coast, a thriving dog-training school, and a challenging volunteer job performing canine search and rescues. Not to mention her three intensely loyal Labs. But Fiona got to this point by surviving a nightmare...

Several years ago, Fiona was the only survivor of the Red Scarf serial killer, who shot and killed Fiona's cop fiancé and his K-9 partner.

On Orcas Island, Fiona found the peace and solitude she needed to rebuild her life. But all that changes on the day Simon Doyle barrels up her drive, desperate for her help. He's the reluctant owner of an out-of-control puppy, foisted upon him by his mother. Jaws has eaten through Simon's house, and he's at his wit's end.

To Fiona, Jaws is nothing she can't handle. Simon, however, is another matter. A newcomer to Orcas, he's a rugged and in-tensely private artist, known for the exquisite furniture he creates from wood. Simon never wanted a puppy-and he most definitely doesn't want a woman. Besides, the lanky redhead is not his type. But tell that to his hormones.

As Fiona embarks on training Jaws, and Simon begins to appreciate both dog and trainer, the past tears back into Fiona's life. A copycat killer has emerged out of the shadows, a man whose bloodlust has been channeled by a master with one motive: to reclaim the woman who slipped out of his hands...

Ooooh, shiney!

I still have a couple of books to get through before I can read these, but the maternal influencer has a birthday in two weeks - I'll purchase one... hell, I'll get both for her. There. The moral high ground. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

New and interesting

"Home again, home again... something, something..."

I've been busy with werk for the museum. We're putting together a presentation to give to University of Wollongong marketing students so they can develop a, well, marketing plan. I have so many ideas for it, but it's not my job, it's theirs. How much info to give them?

I've created a slide-show to give them an idea of the museum and two team leaders will be given a tour... I'll muddle on, I suppose; it's taking me away from editing, which, I have to say, I resent. Just a little. I fear it shall be me to make the actual presentation, since I have a media background, but public speaking stresses me out to near speechlessness. I can only hope the lights hide the audience.

* * *

While in Canberra, my brother-in-law set up his six-inch mirror telescope to peer at the heavens with. It was definitely a 'wow' moment; up close and personal with the craters of the moon, the clear lines between shadow and light, with the slight shimmer of Earth's atmosphere. And Saturn. OMG! Sure, it was a white dot with a line through it, but I've never seen it with my own beady eye. It was all to easy to see why the night sky inspires so many people.

He says he might be able to lay hands on a twelve-inch mirror telescope and if he does, I'm taking photos!

* * *

I've also been catching up with the family tree. Another cousin X-times removed has sent me buckets of info from a side we, here in Aus, know little about.

And I have a couple of DVDs to watch, new books to dive into and a trilogy to edit...

So many things to do, so little time.

Hunting and gathering

So, I feel like I've been on a weekend hunting binge. From book store to book store, wheeling the aged parent around searching for the tbr-in-waiting pile.

I found nearly everything: Ilona Andrews, Rachel Caine, Anne Perry, Mercedes Lackey... but it took until the last shop I visited to discover the truth: DREAMVEIL WON'T BE PUBLISHED IN AUSTRALIA UNTIL AUGUST!!!

I can't tell you how pissed I was finding that out. And, I have to say, I am over shops telling me to check out 'the online facilities' to purchase other items I might find of interest. GAH!!!

Not. Happy. So not happy, that I'm over book stores. I'd like to help out the industry, keep people employed, but if they won't provide adequate service to the book buying public, then there is no point. And no, the Twilight books are NOT an acceptable alternative!! No, paranormal romances are not all the same... pushed a button there...

I have most of what I need. I shall purchase Dreamveil from the Galaxy Bookshop. I know they have it; one phone call and a couple of days later it's mine. No stuffing about, no false regrets or fake smiles.

Now, I shall read...