NaNoWriMo 2018

Hi! In case you're wondering where I've been for a month, well, I've been busy doing NaNoWriMo. If you haven't heard of it, it's a challenge where you write 50,000 words of a novel in the 30 days of November. I first heard of it way back in 2005, and I won it that year and in 2006. I didn't win then for years. Some years I tried and gave up, some years I didn't even try. I won in 2014 with a novel that is now finished and which needs some basic editing before I try to submit it to agents. I won in 2016 with a novel which is finished but maybe needs a bit of expansion as it's quite short, and which needs a LOT of editing before it's ready. I don't think I tried last year, but this year I was determined to do it again. I had a plot in mind and had a few basic pointers written down, but then a few days before I changed my mind!

I decided to write a book which I've had the bare bones of for a long time now. I actually wrote one version of it in 2006, I think, starring the same family. But over the past few years I've had it in my mind to expand it, write it differently. So I thought I'd give it a go again.

Once I got started, I got really into it. I had a few things going on in November so gave myself a couple of days off. On days I really got writing I wrote over 2000 words per day (the average is 1667 per day) and the plot was going well. It's a dual narrative novel now, one set now and one set in the 90s. I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to happen before the main event, so I kept writing and kept writing. I was helped with some word wars by my friend Stephanie, so many thanks to her!

Then on Tuesday, the 27th, I had only around 5000 words to write to pass 50,000, and I was just kind of sick of concentrating so much and just wanted to win. I didn't have anything else to do all day so I just got my head down and got on with it.

I finished around 10pm with over 50,000 words, and knowing that the book had at least two more events before it was complete. But weirdly, I hadn't got to the main event! I just had lots of stuff to happen before that. So I think there'll be a sequel! YA novels are often around 75,000 words, so I don't want to make it happen now and not give it the words it needs. It's weird how this stuff happens while you're writing, though!

I read loads in November - eight books! - but decided to not write ANYTHING except my Nano, so I wrote down all the blogposts I needed to write and am now getting to them. I'll space them out so as not to overwhelm you. I think I'll already be trying to cast my mind back to the books I read at the beginning of the month. November seems to have gone on forever.

I'm really proud of myself for achieving Nano and I'd say give it a go if you've ever thought you might want to.

Author Talk in Manchester

My partner and I went to Manchester on Sunday to see Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera in conversation with Lucy The Book Belle. It was part of their promotional tour for their collaborative book, What If It's Us. I knew I wouldn't be able to go by myself, so I'd asked Lee to come with me. I booked our tickets way back in June; I booked a general ticket for Lee but for myself I got the one that came with a copy of the book and a poster.

Lee and I went across to Manchester on Sunday morning and then ate our lunch in the car just around the corner from the library. The library staff were really friendly and the event was packed - Lee and I estimated there were around 225 people there!

Lucy introduced Becky and Adam and then she asked them some questions. Their book is based around a 'meet cute' between two boys, Ben and Arthur, who meet in New York one day and then try to find each other again. They talked a lot about how they'd written a book together and a little bit about what they're working on next. They talked about fun things like what Hogwarts houses Ben and Arthur are in, and they talked about things they'd disagreed with their editors about. After Lucy had asked her questions they opened up the floor and I decided to ask a question. I asked "What book do you wish you'd written and, relatedly, how would you maybe change it?" It's a question I love to ask authors because it's something I think about a lot - I love books where I think "Yes, I would've written this, only I might have changed X". They both liked the question and gave really nice answers. Asking a question is way out of my comfort zone so Lee was proud that I had.

After the talk was a signing. The queue was ridiculous. We were about two thirds of the way down it and we still queued for an hour and twenty minutes. I wish the organisers had given out raffle tickets or numbers or something. I can't stand for that long due to my chronic pain issues, so I was glad to have Lee with me. There were seats so I kept sitting down, but this could have been done better I think.

Becky was exactly as lovely as I thought she would be, and I really warmed to Adam as I didn't know much about him before the event. I said I was grateful for his tweets about poverty and he thanked me and we agreed that we need more stories about poor kids. They both signed their book and then the others of theirs that I own - I assured Becky that I have read the Upside of Unrequited but it was on Kindle! I'm really glad we got to meet them. They both seem like such forces for good in the world and in the YA world in particular.

Afterwards Lee and I went to Revolucion de Cuba for tapas and cocktails, it was really nice! I'd definitely go back

Lucy and Becky and Adam from where I was sitting

Thank you to the kind person who took this!

These are all signed now :)

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - Review

I've had this book for ages, I think Janet sent me it in a Christmas swap a few years ago, but I've never picked it up. Then last year at my book club we were picking titles out to read. We like to read some library books, because we were born out of Penistone library and get a lot of support from them, so like to support them in return. We alternate between library books and buying books. I noticed that this was on the list of library books, so suggested it, knowing I had a copy which would be less demand on the half dozen or so library books.

It's the November book and I'll be leading the discussion, which is never very much of a job because there's around ten of us in the book club so we tend to bounce off each other. I don't think we've ever all liked a book so it's usually a very lively discussion. I love my book club; it makes me read things I'd never pick up and I like hearing other people's opinions (which is partly why I'm a book blogger!).

I have to say I wasn't entirely looking forward to this book, even though I chose it. I thought it would be dense and hard to read and would maybe go entirely over my head. But everyone I know who's read it - Janet included - has raved about it, so I thought I'd get ahead of myself for book club and read it now.

So basically, it's a retelling of the Iliad, only it starts much earlier than that. I'm not familiar with the story of the Iliad so I didn't have any spoilers as to what was going to happen, which I was glad about. The main character is Patroclus, a prince, who grows up with a somewhat cold and detached father. Patroclus accidentally kills a boy and is exiled from the kingdom; he goes to live with Achilles' father and becomes a close companion of Achilles. Achilles is the son of goddess Thetis and there are prophecies about him and his immortality.

The two boys go to the mountain with a centaur called Chiron, whose name Patroclus later adopts as his own name. There they begin a sexual relationship and Patroclus becomes Achilles' closest companion. But the idyll cannot last long - Achilles must join the other Greek kings and go to Troy to retrieve Helen of Sparta, who has been abducted by Paris.

I had only the most basic idea of the story of the Trojan War, so I didn't realise it had lasted quite so long. I thought the narrative of the book dragged a bit, but the book did compel me to keep reading it because I wanted to know what happened. No spoilers here but I thought it was really well done. I liked the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles, but I felt like Achilles was a little closed off at times and I would have liked that veneer to fall a bit more.

Madeline Miller teaches Latin and Greek history and I think that really shows through. The narrative isn't dense at all. The speech patterns can be a little odd but I soon got used to them. I'm glad to have read this, I liked the reimagining of the relationship between the two men (an idea which is pretty old but told beautifully here). I would definitely read something else by the same author.

All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth - Review

Where did I get it? I bought it over the summer in a shop in Thirsk when I went with some friends. 

What's it about? I was confused for most of this book as to whether it was being marketed as a Young Adult book or not, but the internet seems to think it was. But while it's about young adults, it's an odd book that doesn't seem to fit in YA entirely. 

The main character is Charlie Galloway, aged seventeen. She is a pupil at an exclusive prep school in New England, the school her father Alistair attended. At the beginning of the book Charlie gets an invite to join the A's, a secret club which everyone wants to join. She has to pass several challenges as a hazing ritual, and when one of her fellow initiates fails the test, she sees exactly what the punishment can be for crossing the A's. 

Meanwhile, we learn about Charlie's family. Her dad is the president of a multi million dollar company; her family is definitely old money. Her mother, Grace, mysteriously disappeared ten years ago. Alistair was in the frame for having murdered her, but then bank tapes revealed Grace had withdrawn a lot of money in the weeks before her disappearance. Charlie has dealt with being abandoned by her mother, but she's still hurting from it and she doesn't talk to her mother's family anymore.

Then one night her mum's brother Hank comes to see her at school and hands her some photographs from before Grace disappeared. They make Charlie start examining the past and everything she thought happened between her parents.

Meanwhile, we also get chapters from Alistair's and Grace's points of view, and this confused me because they're obviously adults at the time and this is unusual in YA books. But it did allow the reader to see how Charlie's parents met as well as see what happened between them. I didn't mind these parts, and I liked Grace as a character, but the themes were often quite adult and for that I'll trigger warn for violence and sexual assault. 

What age range is it for? Due to aforementioned themes, I'm going to say 16+ 

Are any main characters LGBTQ+? No 

Are any main characters people of colour? No 

Are any main characters disabled either mentally or physically? No 

Is there any sex stuff? Yes, plus the sexual assault. 

Are drugs mentioned or used? Maybe prescription ones

Is there any talk of death? Yes, obviously 

Are there swear words? Yes 

What criticisms do I have? Well, it is extremely white and privileged, obviously. That said, there was a real sinister feel to the school in its entirety, showing it's not all it's cracked up to be. I liked Charlie and the plot kept me reading, but I didn't feel like there was enough at stake in parts. Like at one point I thought she was going to be kidnapped, but it was just a boy grabbing her. I felt like the A's storyline didn't get a satisfactory ending, even though we could see the futility in the group's existence. The book's really long, I felt like some of it could have been edited out. But I did like it, don't let me give the impression that I didn't. 

Would I recommend the book? Yep, if the plot appeals 

Why did I choose to read it at this point in life? I liked the cover, if I'm honest, and was seduced!

What other books is it like? I feel like I compare a lot of books to We Were Liars, but it definitely has that vibe to it. I think it's a bit like S.T.A.G.S by M A Bennett, too. 

How many stars? Four out of five

Where is the book going now? I think I'll keep it!

I Passed My Goodreads Challenge!

I set myself a challenge on Goodreads to read sixty books this year, and I've now done that! I'm really pleased because anything I read for the rest of the year feels like a freebie!

In 2015 I set myself the fairly low challenge of 50 books, and I read 69. In 2016 I upped my game and set myself a challenge of 70 books, and I managed to smash that with 82 books read. Last year I got cocky and tried to get to 80 books, but I didn't manage it - I only read 78. I felt bad about it and I felt like I'd compromised myself a bit. So for 2018 I set my bar low again and also tried to implement better reading habits.

I am one of those people who always reads before bed. Lee and I generally head to bed around 10.30 and I scroll Twitter, then I read for probably half an hour before going to sleep. I often read at the weekend before lunchtime, and sometimes at tea time too (although sometimes I get distracted and just play games on my phone instead). If a book really grabs me I will do nothing but read it, Lee always thinks it's funny when that happens! If I'm going somewhere I usually take a book, but I don't commute or anything like that. I could read more, sure, but I do also do a lot of crafting which keeps me occupied too.

Next year I will try to read more, I think. I might put my challenge up to 65 books, because that feels achievable. I can implement better reading habits, for sure. I should read more books that I totally fall in love with.

For the last ten weeks for 2018 I would like to read another ten books, which would take me to 70. That feels like something I can do!

The Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham - Review

Let me tell you about this book. It's a reread, which is unusual for me. I had put off rereading it in case it didn't live up to how great I remembered it being. But I'm glad to say it did live up to it, and I'm so glad I read it again because I really love it.

It must have been 2002 or 2003 and I went to visit my aunt in Surrey, and crossed London via Tube to get to Waterloo station. On the tube I saw a woman reading this book and I was intrigued by the cover. A couple of weeks later I went on holiday and saw the book in the airport for sale, so bought it and read it.

At uni I lived with a girl called Katie, who is still a friend of mine, and she and her mum had really similar taste in books to me, so I took this and lent it to them. Katie's mum bought lots of books and we had a whole cupboard full in our house. I remember this really fondly as I didn't read much as a teenager (I was too into music and just read Kerrang and the NME) but had fallen in love with reading at university. I'm pretty sure I spent most of my first year curled up in bed reading a novel.

I remembered this being good, and I remembered some of the basic storyline, but I didn't remembers the ins and outs. Then last week I heard that there's now a sequel, called The Early Birds, so I immediately ordered it. I thought I'd better reread this in order to know the story before I read the sequel, but like I say I was slightly cautious because I wanted it to be as good as I remembered!

The story concerns six women. Five of them are Americans, and all married to airmen, and are all living in England, in Norfolk, at the airbase there. There's Lois, from NY, married to Herb. There's Gayle, younger than the others, married to Okey. There's Betty, Ms Homemaker herself, married to Ed. There's Audrey, who has ambitions of her husband Lance climbing the ladder, and finally there's Peggy, our narrator, who's married to Vern. Peggy and Betty were at school together in Texas and they've met the others along the way. It's the early 1950s and King George VI dies, so Betty makes the five of them and their kids go to see his funeral train pass close by. While there, they meet Kath, Norfolk born and bred, and make friends with her.

The novel then takes us through the next forty years of these women's lives. Through phone calls and letters and visits, we see them have children and grandchildren, get divorced, leave the military, get jobs, have careers, and so on and so forth. The book is written in a really chatty way which draws you in while the action dances around. We see pivotal points in history, like the death of John F Kennedy and the first man on the moon. We uncover secrets and make our own assumptions about the people Peggy describes. It's laugh out loud funny at times, and it's always pithy and often moving. I am so glad that I still absolutely loved it and I've recommended it to a few more friends. I am so excited to read the sequel now!

The Truth and Lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr - Review

Where did I get it? Netgalley, thank you to Penguin for the opportunity to read it!

What's it about? Ella Black is seventeen, and lives in Kent with her over protective parents. She is doing okay at school, although she has few friends. She has a hidden side - a side of herself that she calls Bella, for Bad Ella, a side that encourages her to get angry and lash out. She fights with herself daily to control Bella.

Then one day she's at school and in trying to protect her friend she gets into trouble. She's called to the headmistress' office and her mum is there, so she thinks she's in real trouble. But her mum tells her they've got to leave straight away, and before Ella knows it she's at Heathrow airport, headed with her parents to Rio.

They lie to her and tell her it's about her dad's work, but once in Rio it becomes clear that they're not telling her the truth. Still, Ella is trying to make the best of it in Rio, a place she's always wanted to visit, and she meets Christian. She sneaks out one night to meet him and then the next day breaks into the safe in her hotel room in order to get her phone back. There she finds a letter that proves she's not who she thinks she is. Ella Black is adopted, and her birth mother will be looking for her. 

Ella takes off, angry with her adoptive parents, and into the back streets of Rio. Things keep happening and keep happening, which is par for the course in Emily Barr novels, and although at about the 20% point I wasn't sure if I liked the book, I found I couldn't put it down and I read it in a couple of days. I did like it by the end. Often, with YA novels especially, I think about how I would have written the same book, and with this I just know I couldn't write a book like this. The energy within it and everything that happens is so different to my own style, but that's not to its detriment at all, it's just how I like to look at books. 

Ella isn't altogether a likeable character, I found, but I still wanted her to succeed and was behind her all the way, and I thought Emily did an excellent job of portraying a difficult character. I'm sad it took me so long to read this, to be honest, even though all of Book Twitter kept saying how great it was!

What age range is it for? 16+

Are any main characters LGBTQ+? No 

Are any main characters people of colour? There's a few people of colour around, and I thought Emily did a great job of getting across the racial mix of Rio 

Are any main characters disabled either mentally or physically? I'm going to say yes, since Ella has the stuff with Bella going on inside her. 

Is there any sex stuff? No

Are drugs mentioned or used? No 

Is there any talk of death? Yes, some of it is quite explicit 

Are there swear words? Yes 

What criticisms do I have? Almost none. I did have to suspend belief a couple of times, but I always feel like that about Emily's books (whether Young Adult or her adult novels, of which I've read several), They gallop through the story and make you suspend belief and just go with it for the sake of a good book, and I like that. 

Would I recommend the book? Yes 

Why did I choose to read it at this point in life? Honestly, I'd earmarked it to read on holiday but never got round to it, so it was at the front of my Kindle carousel. 

What other books is it like? Emily's other books definitely. I like that she always has exotic locations and believable female characters. Look at my tag for more by her!

How many stars? Four out of five