Some Midsummer Catching Up

[tree_lady]

I was inspired to write this because of a thread at the Lost Genre Guild on the same subject.
I actually have nothing extraordinarily new. I'm just plugging away at many of the same things you've heard me talk about.

1.  I'm reading Kat's "Finding Angel" 
( http://kat-findingangel.blogspot.com/2011/07/reality-is-sinking-in.html )   in manuscript, or

Comments

Re: my summer (Andrew B)

[tree_lady]

Thanks for the information! I look up Steven Hayes, the next time I'm at LT.

I hope that the dark parts of Earthbow didn't put you off too much. If so, if you ended up disliking the book more than liking it, please feel free to say so. I trust your input, which may help me with future writing.

I read all of Chestomanci many years ago--probably when they first came out; however, i discovered when inputting them into LT that I seem to be missing a volume. Very strange--it's not like I had ever borrowed any copies from a library. I hope I find what I'm lacking around here somewhere. Some of my books are really not as organized as they look. One of the distinct advantages of LT is rectifying that.

As for suggestions, two of my favorite books are the humorous, Ogre Downstairs & Archer's Goon. Did you say whether you read her Touch Guide? I've hard that Deep Magic & Fire and Hemlock are some of her best. I own them but have yet to read them--like so many other books.

Sometimes, much of the time, I wonder if I'll even have a chance to do so.

Partial non sequitor. Have you read any of Patricia McKillip? I read her Forgotten Beasts of Elder decades ago, and followed it with the trilogy the Riddlemaster of Hed. This was at a time when I was sort of a "proto-Christian". (I don't believe that McKillip is a Christian but I could easily be wrong about that!)

I remember certain passages in Riddlemaster being very mystical & leaving me with a joy & a longing that I couldn't quite put my finger on back then. A friend just a few weeks ago, happened to mention a similar feeling the books evoked in her, so it wasn't just me. Now I long to read them again.

Too many books, way too little time!

Re: my summer (Andrew B)

[tree_lady]

I think Earthbow overall was good. Liking it is a different question in my mind. I think I connected its darkness with a lot of the feelings I've been facing, and I can't really get some distance on it. It's made me think and helped me understand more of what I'm going through, so I think it'll help in the long run.

Thanks for the reading advice. Her Tough Guide to Fantasy, you mean? I do have a copy but I've only read from it here and there. I didn't really pick any more Diana Wynne Jones up yet with school starting in just a week, but the Riddlemaster trilogy looks really interesting so I ordered a copy. I think such a joy and longing is something I always look for in reading, and something I'd want in my own writing -- if I ever really do any.