Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Wednesday Weekly: The Tortoise and the Clockwork Orange

I just made my word counts for SHARDS this week, but I'm happy. I'm on the end stretch now -- no more wondering what has to happen next!

SHARDS OF GLASS... 76.588 words. That's 2,683 words further along.

That's it for the writing side this week. School's back in session, and work is cuh-razy. But getting up early (Earlier, I should say) to write each morning is working for me!

We all know what the tortoise is about. Besides being adorably cute.

On the reading side... thanks to crazy snow this weekend that altered my plans, I did a lot of reading! I'm up to 16 books so far in 2010 for the 100+ Book Challenge (links in the bar at the bottom of the page).

I loved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. It's about a Chinese boy and a Japanese girl "scholarshipping" to a well-off white school from their ethnic neighborhood in Seattle during World War II, and what happens to young love when the Japanese-Americans are interned.  I enjoyed the history in this book, the beautiful writing, and the true-to-life characters. It's just truly a wonderful and satisfying novel.

I also finished Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder. It's a verse YA novel, which was a little different for me.  She does much with her characters in such a short amount of text; they're nicely developed. Enough so that her end made me misty-eyed, because I'd certainly come to care about them too.  I'm not sure I'd read another Lisa Schroeder book, though, in the same style (such as I Heart You, You Haunt Me) becausthe verse style was not my favorite.

Switch by Carol Snow was a quick YA read that I enjoyed.  And I also read A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, which has been on my to-do list for ages.  This is the new, or British, version, which has Burgess' seventeenth chapter (which was edited out of the American version, for its optimistic tone suggesting that youth outgrow the violence throughout the earlier chapters). I definitely recommend getting this version! 

*In other news, no Thursday round-up this week. Thursday is MJ's birthday, and my focus is on cake-baking and spoiling. Did I mention that I forgot his birthday last year? Yeah.*

7 comments:

Dawn Simon said...

I want to read HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET. I keep hearing it's really good.

Congrats on being in the home stretch! :)

Guinevere said...

Dawn, I definitely recommend it. It's the type of historically-based fiction that I love -- you're just wrapped up in the fact that it's a good story, but then you want to learn more and discuss the historical events, too. I appreciate novels where I come away both satisfied and more aware!

Unknown said...

Yikes for forgetting birthdays, but have fun today with cake baking!!!!

Congrats on the writing!!!

The Rejection Queen said...

With the word count you are at now, you pretty much have a full length novel! Good job.

dolorah said...

OMG; my sister called last night to remind me my dad's birthday is Saturday and I told her I'd remember to get a card and put it in the mail. And until I read your post, I completely forgot.

Eeeeks! To late now.

I watched the movie "A CLOCKWORK ORANGE" but didn't know it was a book until recently. Definitely one I need to put on my reading list.

I'm glad you're meeting your writing goals. I'll expect the end soon. I haven't forgotten your critique; I've just been way busy at work and when I get home, I vege on blogs. Shame on me.

This weekend, I'm sure, is yours.

.........dhole

Guinevere said...

Jen, in my defense, I was deployed to Iraq at the time and very busy... but I still feel like a terrible wife! If the reverse had happened and MJ forgot my birthday, I'd tease him about it into eternity. Luckily he's nicer than I am!

Thanks Jenny! I'm almost there. Again. lol

Oops Donna! These things happen. At least you remembered in time to call and wish him a happy birthday on Saturday!

I'm also behind on your critique, in part because I realized I needed to read it through for the story before I went back and commented on specific things. One of my bug-a-boos as an editor, I guess; I found making the little comments makes it harder for me to enjoy the whole. I'm getting there, though! I really enjoyed the critique of chapters 1-18, and it made me think about some things I hadn't considered before.

The Rejection Queen said...

Hey I'm don't feel bad. I'm still working on my second novel...and I've been working on it for over 2 years.