I'm happy to announce that Jude Deveraux finally has her own website:
http://judedeveraux.com/
It's focused into her new series (Edilean), but also has a nice bibliography page (although not all of her books are listed).
I hope she'll keep us updated on what she's doing!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Mass production of books
It seems that I've gotten a lot of ideas in the weeks I didn't post. I got this one from an article about how authors are pressured to produce more books in less time, and if this affects the quality of their writing.
I didn't read the rest of the article, because I have a very strong opinion about it (also, I was in a hurry). And my opinion is a rotund YES.
Even if it's the most talented writer in the world, their writing is going to suffer if they're being rushed to a deadline. And today deadlines are awful. How can you write something magical if you have to produce 2 books a year? You don't have time to do proper research. You can't go over and over again your manuscript, changing a word here, pulishing it. Maybe changing a couple of scenes. You have to rush to finish it and then start with the next one, and the next one. And what about the ideas, and the argument?
Thomas Harris takes 7 years to write a book. Diana Gabaldon takes a lot of time, too. Herman Melville spent years in his Moby Dick. And Margaret Mitchell labored years and years over her manuscript of "Gone with the Wind". Even Anne Frank rewrote and pulished part of her diary when she was thinking about publishing it.
I'm not saying that a writer should spent years over his book before turning it in, but I have the impression that now books are considered almost like skirts, or hats, or something you can manufacture in a factory, instead of a work of art.
Because that's what literature is, a kind of art, and you need your own time to create it.
I didn't read the rest of the article, because I have a very strong opinion about it (also, I was in a hurry). And my opinion is a rotund YES.
Even if it's the most talented writer in the world, their writing is going to suffer if they're being rushed to a deadline. And today deadlines are awful. How can you write something magical if you have to produce 2 books a year? You don't have time to do proper research. You can't go over and over again your manuscript, changing a word here, pulishing it. Maybe changing a couple of scenes. You have to rush to finish it and then start with the next one, and the next one. And what about the ideas, and the argument?
Thomas Harris takes 7 years to write a book. Diana Gabaldon takes a lot of time, too. Herman Melville spent years in his Moby Dick. And Margaret Mitchell labored years and years over her manuscript of "Gone with the Wind". Even Anne Frank rewrote and pulished part of her diary when she was thinking about publishing it.
I'm not saying that a writer should spent years over his book before turning it in, but I have the impression that now books are considered almost like skirts, or hats, or something you can manufacture in a factory, instead of a work of art.
Because that's what literature is, a kind of art, and you need your own time to create it.
New blog found!
In this era of technology, I feel the same kind of exhilaration when I find a new and noteworthy blog than when I was younger and came across a hard-to-find book. Where I grew up, the bookstores were scarce and only carried the most boring books, and the library was laughable (except for its collection of Enid Blyton's and Agatha Christie's), so I felt in paradise whenever I found a good book.
The same thing happened to me today when I stumbled accross this blog-library thing between friends, and I think it's not only because they have listed the spanish version of "Moonstruck Madness", a book I've been hunting down forever.
This blog is a jewel, for the spanish-speaking-romance reader. A group of friends uploaded their romance novels, and you can find all these books you once read but didn't keep and later had you banging your head against the wall. With the growing romance novel business, the publishing houses don't reissue their older novels - they're not classics, after all - unless they were written by a very famous writer who's still writing today (like Johanna Lindsey, Jude Deveraux and Catherine Coulter). And why would they, when there's a bunch of new writers waiting to be published, and a lot of famous ones who have been transformed into machines that produce 2-3 books a year?
But sadly, this leaves us without the opportunity to get our greedy hands again in that Laurie McBain, or Valerie Sherwood, or Meagan McKinney that at the time didn't seem so good but has one or two scenes that have haunted you since and you would sell your soul to read it again. Or, to read that sequel or prequel, or relationed book that you didn't (or couldn't, if you lived at the end of the world as I did) buy. Or even get the last book of the author to complete your collection (yes, it definitely sounds annal, but WTH).
Even with amazon, or iBooks, or - name your poison - you can't get this Very Hard to Find books, and you are reduced to haunt used bookstores, garage sales, thrift stores, even garbage cans, in the vain hope that someone would have left some copy lying around - fat chance. Every single copy has been hoaged by the romance connoiseurs.
It's at this point that the friendly blog comes to your help, giving you the chance to get reaquited with your old friends, or to meet new ones that you have been waiting for a long time. For some reason, this is more common in spanish speaking blogs (and in eastern european ones, which could motivate you to learn a new language) than in english ones.
After thinking a little about my own experiences in a spanish speaking country, I guess this could be caused by the way the publishing houses torture us with their releases.
I'll explain: For a couple of years, you will find a pretty decent amount of romance novels. Nothing like in the USA, where RN are responsible for about 50% of the books sale (or so I read someplace... but you can go to Barnes & Noble or Borders and you'll find a HUGE collection... at least as big as Mystery). No, in my country you could find books by 5-10 of the most famous of the romance authors (J. Lindsey, J. Deveraux, K. Robards, C. Coulter, K. Woodiwiss).
But after they got you hooked, there was a drought of RN. Not a single one to be found in miles. Even used bookstores, petty snobs that they are, wouldn't buy them, so you wouldn't find a single title between their decaying copies of The Odissey.
It was like being a drug addict forced on abstinence, and it was awful. The only thing you could think was how to get another one. The RNs you had were reread 10 times each, but even that wouldn't satisfy you. And when you read in internet how your romance readers fellows were enjoying themselves with the latest Judith Ivory - which you hadn't seen in your life - well, sometimes things could get pretty though.
And then, out of the blue, another publishing house appeared, and started to sell RN again. But wait! They didn't publish the authors you loved and were dying to read, but some new to you authors. Something is better than nothing, so there you go, reading what was available. Sometimes they were good, sometimes not.
One of the problems is that the publishing houses try to sell books that are famous in the USA, by well known and big bucks authors. And they don't care if they start in the middle or the end of a series. That's how my first Stephanie Laurens was like her 10th book in the Cynster series. Sometimes they'll publish the rest of the series, sometimes not. And nobody can predict in which ilogical order they're going to publish the books. Most of the times, they don't bother to finish a series, either, even if it's only a duet or trilogy. Speaking of respect and consideration for their costumers!
That's why I started to read in english, because this torture/ilogical publishing thing was driving me crazy. Not to mention that they didn't publish a lot of the books I was dying to read and that I knew thanks to AAR.
Since a lot of the other spanish speaking readers have gone through similar experiences, I guess they decided to upload romance books that aren't easily available to many of us. All of these are in spanish, which means that a lot of time these same girls do the translation.
I'm very thankful to them. In their archives I've found books I read when I was little and have been lost while moving house or in the deepths of the attic/basement, and books I've been dreaming to read and haven't been able to buy ... like "Moonstruck Madness".
I still prefer to read in english, and I still prefer slightly the paper books over the electronic ones (but that's only since my Sony eReader died), but it's very relaxing to know you can surf the web and find books you thought you were never seeing again.
The same thing happened to me today when I stumbled accross this blog-library thing between friends, and I think it's not only because they have listed the spanish version of "Moonstruck Madness", a book I've been hunting down forever.
This blog is a jewel, for the spanish-speaking-romance reader. A group of friends uploaded their romance novels, and you can find all these books you once read but didn't keep and later had you banging your head against the wall. With the growing romance novel business, the publishing houses don't reissue their older novels - they're not classics, after all - unless they were written by a very famous writer who's still writing today (like Johanna Lindsey, Jude Deveraux and Catherine Coulter). And why would they, when there's a bunch of new writers waiting to be published, and a lot of famous ones who have been transformed into machines that produce 2-3 books a year?
But sadly, this leaves us without the opportunity to get our greedy hands again in that Laurie McBain, or Valerie Sherwood, or Meagan McKinney that at the time didn't seem so good but has one or two scenes that have haunted you since and you would sell your soul to read it again. Or, to read that sequel or prequel, or relationed book that you didn't (or couldn't, if you lived at the end of the world as I did) buy. Or even get the last book of the author to complete your collection (yes, it definitely sounds annal, but WTH).
Even with amazon, or iBooks, or - name your poison - you can't get this Very Hard to Find books, and you are reduced to haunt used bookstores, garage sales, thrift stores, even garbage cans, in the vain hope that someone would have left some copy lying around - fat chance. Every single copy has been hoaged by the romance connoiseurs.
It's at this point that the friendly blog comes to your help, giving you the chance to get reaquited with your old friends, or to meet new ones that you have been waiting for a long time. For some reason, this is more common in spanish speaking blogs (and in eastern european ones, which could motivate you to learn a new language) than in english ones.
After thinking a little about my own experiences in a spanish speaking country, I guess this could be caused by the way the publishing houses torture us with their releases.
I'll explain: For a couple of years, you will find a pretty decent amount of romance novels. Nothing like in the USA, where RN are responsible for about 50% of the books sale (or so I read someplace... but you can go to Barnes & Noble or Borders and you'll find a HUGE collection... at least as big as Mystery). No, in my country you could find books by 5-10 of the most famous of the romance authors (J. Lindsey, J. Deveraux, K. Robards, C. Coulter, K. Woodiwiss).
But after they got you hooked, there was a drought of RN. Not a single one to be found in miles. Even used bookstores, petty snobs that they are, wouldn't buy them, so you wouldn't find a single title between their decaying copies of The Odissey.
It was like being a drug addict forced on abstinence, and it was awful. The only thing you could think was how to get another one. The RNs you had were reread 10 times each, but even that wouldn't satisfy you. And when you read in internet how your romance readers fellows were enjoying themselves with the latest Judith Ivory - which you hadn't seen in your life - well, sometimes things could get pretty though.
And then, out of the blue, another publishing house appeared, and started to sell RN again. But wait! They didn't publish the authors you loved and were dying to read, but some new to you authors. Something is better than nothing, so there you go, reading what was available. Sometimes they were good, sometimes not.
One of the problems is that the publishing houses try to sell books that are famous in the USA, by well known and big bucks authors. And they don't care if they start in the middle or the end of a series. That's how my first Stephanie Laurens was like her 10th book in the Cynster series. Sometimes they'll publish the rest of the series, sometimes not. And nobody can predict in which ilogical order they're going to publish the books. Most of the times, they don't bother to finish a series, either, even if it's only a duet or trilogy. Speaking of respect and consideration for their costumers!
That's why I started to read in english, because this torture/ilogical publishing thing was driving me crazy. Not to mention that they didn't publish a lot of the books I was dying to read and that I knew thanks to AAR.
Since a lot of the other spanish speaking readers have gone through similar experiences, I guess they decided to upload romance books that aren't easily available to many of us. All of these are in spanish, which means that a lot of time these same girls do the translation.
I'm very thankful to them. In their archives I've found books I read when I was little and have been lost while moving house or in the deepths of the attic/basement, and books I've been dreaming to read and haven't been able to buy ... like "Moonstruck Madness".
I still prefer to read in english, and I still prefer slightly the paper books over the electronic ones (but that's only since my Sony eReader died), but it's very relaxing to know you can surf the web and find books you thought you were never seeing again.
Resuming my task
Today I realized that I haven't posted in a long long time, and set about to rectify it. I know nobody reads my entries, but I like to write anyway.
After Elie Wiesel's book I changed subjects to something a little bit more cheerful and fell into the realm of romance (once again).
I was ecstatic when I found "The Bodyguard", by Joan Johnston, because I had read the sequel "The Bridegroom" a long time ago and couldn't find this book. I can only say that the Duke of Blackmore is to die for. Such a nice guy! And it's the first book with an amnesia plot that I actually liked.
Then, I finished listening to an audiobook, "This Charming Man", by Marian Keyes. This is one of my fav books by her, and the girl who read it was charming. I particularly liked the voice she did for Lola.
The last book I finished - actually yesterday - was "Julie and Julia" (no wonder I remembered my own blog). I tried to find hers, but the project is closed, and even though you can get access to the blog entries, it's kind of complicated and slow. She has a new blog, though, if anyone's interested.
Oh, and today I saw one of Julia Child's cooking shows in the Cooking Channel, and I found her very funny. It doesn't matter if you make a mess or things are less than perfect, because only you know what happens in your kitchen (unless you're on national TV).
After Elie Wiesel's book I changed subjects to something a little bit more cheerful and fell into the realm of romance (once again).
I was ecstatic when I found "The Bodyguard", by Joan Johnston, because I had read the sequel "The Bridegroom" a long time ago and couldn't find this book. I can only say that the Duke of Blackmore is to die for. Such a nice guy! And it's the first book with an amnesia plot that I actually liked.
Then, I finished listening to an audiobook, "This Charming Man", by Marian Keyes. This is one of my fav books by her, and the girl who read it was charming. I particularly liked the voice she did for Lola.
The last book I finished - actually yesterday - was "Julie and Julia" (no wonder I remembered my own blog). I tried to find hers, but the project is closed, and even though you can get access to the blog entries, it's kind of complicated and slow. She has a new blog, though, if anyone's interested.
Oh, and today I saw one of Julia Child's cooking shows in the Cooking Channel, and I found her very funny. It doesn't matter if you make a mess or things are less than perfect, because only you know what happens in your kitchen (unless you're on national TV).
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The Night Trilogy, by Elie Wiesel
Last weekend I finished this book. I liked it a lot, because Elie Wiesel writes quite well, and the way he expresses his thoughts and questions is very compelling.
The first story, "Night" is an account of his time in the guetto and in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, when he was a boy. The experience was like a very long night, and it destroyed the faith he had in God. This is particularly sad, because he was a very religious little boy, and I think it's terrible when children lose their innocence and beliefs.
The other 2 stories are fiction: In "Dawn", an israeli terrorist has to kill a British prisoner come dawn, in the time when the State of Israel didn't exist and the British controlled Palestine.
In "Accident", a concentration camp survivor gets hit by a car many years after his liberation, but in the aftermath (among hallucinations and flashbacks to his old life) you realize that the camp - and Death - are still a part of his life.
This book is called one of the masterpieces of Holocaust literature, and it's really very deep and thought-provoking. The main issue, in my opinion, was the loss of God.
The first story, "Night" is an account of his time in the guetto and in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, when he was a boy. The experience was like a very long night, and it destroyed the faith he had in God. This is particularly sad, because he was a very religious little boy, and I think it's terrible when children lose their innocence and beliefs.
The other 2 stories are fiction: In "Dawn", an israeli terrorist has to kill a British prisoner come dawn, in the time when the State of Israel didn't exist and the British controlled Palestine.
In "Accident", a concentration camp survivor gets hit by a car many years after his liberation, but in the aftermath (among hallucinations and flashbacks to his old life) you realize that the camp - and Death - are still a part of his life.
This book is called one of the masterpieces of Holocaust literature, and it's really very deep and thought-provoking. The main issue, in my opinion, was the loss of God.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Very nice interview with Marian Keyes
Anyone who has read any Marian Keyes novel realizes that it's more than chick lit. Enveloped in a bright package, full of jokes and funny lines, there is some dark and serious stuff lurking beneath the surface. Whether it's depression, drinking problems, drugs, or violence against women, Keyes is not afraid to write about it... and in a very truthfully way.
I found an interview today, quite a bit outdated (from de late 90's, I think), but nonetheless interesting. In it, Marian talks about how she became a writer, her first novel (Watermelon), and her own drinking problems.
Here's the link:
http://www.mariankeyes.com/Books/Watermelon/Interviews
Enjoy!
I found an interview today, quite a bit outdated (from de late 90's, I think), but nonetheless interesting. In it, Marian talks about how she became a writer, her first novel (Watermelon), and her own drinking problems.
Here's the link:
http://www.mariankeyes.com/Books/Watermelon/Interviews
Enjoy!
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
Very good book. It's one of Stephen King's favorites (he actually has a character from one of his books reading it), which was the main reason why I picked it up.As it turned out, it's also about one of my fav plots: what happens when a group of people are left alone, cut out from civilization.
In this case, the group of people are schoolboys, who are being evacuated during a world war (in the future) and are left alone in an island.
At first, they enjoy the sudden freedom, but soon they start a steep descent into savagery, which will only lead to violence and destruction. The author's point of view is that, without the rules of civilization, man becomes beast.
The main character is Ralph, the elected chief of the boys. He is torn between two forces, represented by Piggy and Jack. Piggy is the fat, spectacled and asthmatic "outlaw" in the group of boys, but he is also the voice of reason and civilization. He is always thinking about how to get organized and what to do to get rescued.
On the other hand, Jack represents the savage. The leader of the choir, he is ashamed when he is not elected chief, and turns into the group's hunter (still commanding the choir boys). He becomes obsessed with hunting and killing pigs.
Events are precipitated by a fight between Ralph and Jack over the signal fire, and the break from civilization is enhanced by an irrational fear of "the beast", a fearsome creature that is supposed to live in the island.
The book is full of symbols and allegories that get you thinking about the true nature of men.
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