Book Review: On Humming & Rooms

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of The Humming Room, by Ellen Potter.


This book was an interesting and quick read. Quick both because it was entertaining, as well as because it is a short book (only 192 pages).

The length is nice for those intermediate readers who are just beginning to enjoy chapter books. The writing is also very clear. The descriptions are excellent, without getting too lengthy and without using exceedingly sophisticated vocabulary.

I found this book refreshing. It pays homage to The Secret Garden, (which is noted on the front cover), making it a great jumping point for children to become interested in the classics, particularly the writing of Frances Hodgson Burnett.

More than that, however, it was simply a book that I enjoyed reading. The characters are great - they seem real. Protagonist Roo Fanshaw is not a pretty princess; she is a kid with problems who is okay with being different, and partially lovable because of her faults.

Yet in the 192 page span of The Humming Room, Potter creates characters that are rounded. Roo grows, becoming well-adjusted, becoming more content with herself, without this process feeling too unrealistic (or just hokey). As a reader, I found myself liking Roo throughout the entire book, whether she was behaving herself or not.

This book is now available for sale. I strongly recommend picking it up, whether you have an intermediate reader in the family, or you are simply looking for a children's book to read, yourself.

"Being a writer is not about owning the right gadget or program. It’s about sitting down and doing the work. Just like the invention of the vacuum did not mean 20th century housewives no longer had to clean, the invention of the iPad does not mean 21st century writers no longer have to write."

This quote is from an Indie Jane blog post written by Nancy Kelley. The original blog post has to do with writerly gadgets, which I, personally, don't relate to much (mainly because I am too poor to buy all of the latest gadgets). Yet this quote jumped out at me.

Regardless of your budget, if you consider yourself a writer, you probably at least have access to a computer, a printer, and the internet. And all of these technological advances are a great help - as well as a great distraction.

Check out this blog, which also features this comic strip & which covers the similar tangent of procrastination. Procrastinating while pondering the evils of procrastination? How awesome is that?!

Well, maybe the printer's not a distraction, unless there's a copier/scanner attached...

Just remember, if you're doing this at work -- you do not look as adorable...

& it's not as though Internet & computer games are the only distraction, either...

• Most writers have either school or a job (and many have both),
• many writers have children to take care of & raise (a blessing, but undoubtedly time-consuming),
• and then there are the small necessary chores (cleaning the house, laundry, etc.);
• not to mention, who doesn't get sick once in a while?
  

I know that I, personally, need an adequate amount of sleep to function like a halfway decent human being.

& even then, to be honest, it's not very pretty

With a myriad of other things to do with one's free time, and all of the obstacles whittling away at this so-called "free time;" why write?

I mean, really, doesn't it often feel that writing is a waste of time? Who doesn't feel like their writing is complete shite as they are writing their first draft? (Leaving F. Scott Fitzgerald and his ego out of this conversation, thank you very much.) Who doesn't feel drained? Uncreative?

Although he does look lovely in drag...

I suppose part of it is that a writer gets depressed, does research into his or her favorite writers, and generally realizes that he or she is not alone - almost no one feels like they know what they're doing when they're writing. Yet they keep writing, and some people get rather good.

For some reason, writers feel compelled to continue practicing & refining their craft - despite occupations, children, and illness.

And all writers know that there is no better feeling in the world than having placed the last mark of punctuation on a first draft.

That's why I keep trying, anyway. Thoughts? Please share them in the comments below!

You should read this

"Hell, every Christmas we celebrate the tale of the wealthy Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. We hate him in the first part of the story, and then we love him by the end. Not because he gave away all of his wealth and became poor (he didn't), but because he stopped acting like a shithead. Do you get the incredibly subtle and nuanced message of that story?"

Here's the link to the full article: 6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying

Book Review: Fairy Re-tellings in a Predictable Future

I finally got around to reading my ARC of Marissa Meyer's Cinder. A lot of you have probably heard of or already read this novel. It is a re-telling of Cinderella, in a future setting, and has a distinctive cover that highlights the android element that makes up a large part of the story:

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I had some problems with it, but I wanted to continue reading it, and felt that overall, the writing was fairly accomplished.

So, let me begin by talking about my biggest problem with the book: predictability. I realize that, as a fairy tale re-telling, obviously, some of the plot should be obvious. But the twist at the end, when the main character essentially becomes a princess character, was something that was obvious at the beginning of the novel. What feels like it should be a "clue" is actually a very obvious foretelling.

Yet, despite the predictability, as I mentioned previously, I did want to continue reading.

Also, I liked the setting of the novel. One, it doesn't have that "fake historical" feeling that a lot of novels get by trying to re-tell the fairy tale in a middle ages setting into which the current setting is all too present. I also liked that the novel takes place in China - or rather, New China, in this futuristic setting.

I like that this novel was fairly interesting to read, despite the fact that much of the novel lays out a lot of groundwork for the series of which it is the first book (the Lunar Chronicles series), and is therefore fairly full of exposition.

Upon finishing this book, I am actually interested to continue the series -- which lately, has felt pretty rare to me when I pick up a series.

Book Review: Bedlam...Or Not

I received The Bedlam Detective as an uncorrected proof awhile ago. It became available for sale February 7, 2012.

The cover:

Written by Stephen Gallagher, this book has a great title and an interesting premise. Essentially, the title refers to Sebastian Becker, a former Pinkerton detective who is now barely making ends meet in a destitute section of London. His current job is to meet with rich people whose sanity has been questioned, reporting information to a superior who ultimately decides whether these rich people will be allowed to continue living on their own and making their own decisions, or placed in a cushy asylum.

While investigating a gentleman named Sir Owain in a small England town, Sebastian stumbles across the disappearance (which is ultimately discovered to be the murder) of two little girls. The little girls were violated on the moor in a manner that resembles the previous treatment of two little girls years before.

The story line is pretty interesting, but the writing is not. The author tried too hard to make the characters likable and full fleshed, and ultimately ended up adding many scenes and much information that was not necessary. I also felt as though the author tried to make the novel historically accurate, yet failed; the novel feels inauthentic.

I also did not like that Sebastian does a lot of investigating in the novel, but ultimately, I did not feel that the solution to the mystery was something the reader could figure out. There simply were not enough clues that were relevant to the murder itself.

Overall, I'm not sure what the author's intent in writing this novel was. It's not a horrible novel; it's just not very good.

Book Review: Born Wicked

I believe this book is now available to purchase, but I received Born Wicked, the first book in the Cahill Witch Chronicles, as an advanced reader copy. The book is by Jessica Spotswood, and along with a great title, has a girl who is potentially in her underclothing on the cover --

Born Wicked is a fiction that takes place in an alternate history. In this novel's world, the time is the late nineteenth century, the place is New England, and the problem is a world full of witches and rules. This review will have spoilers, so if you are interested in actually reading the novel, you can skip down to the last paragraph to read my summary.

The Cahill Witches are three sisters. This book primarily focused on the eldest sister, Kate -- I have a feeling the next couple of books will focus on the other sisters. They live in a world dominated by a religious order called the Brothers, men who make and enforce rules that essentially prevent women from having power, under the guise of seeking to protect everyone from witchcraft. According to the Brothers, women have two choices once they reach the age of 17 - they can get married, or they can join the Sisterhood.

The Sisterhood is supposed to be like a less educated, less powerful, overly pious female sect, but is apparently actually a good cover for witches.

Cate is almost 17, and so has to figure out if she wants to get hitched or join the Sisterhood. While pondering this life-long decision (which will ultimately get taken out of her hands, anyway), she is also investigating a prophecy that she finds out about near the beginning of the book. The prophecy indicates that she and her two sisters were foretold, and can either bring women & witches back into a powerful position, or can bring about death and horror which essentially sounds like the Burning Times in Europe.

Overall, I wasn't a huge fan of this novel. Like a lot of young adult fiction, I felt like there were some interesting ideas, but wasn't particularly fond of the manner in which those ideas were executed. The writing was not bad, it just wasn't of high caliber. And the ideas were okay, but I found some of them rather far-fetched (I'm not even talking about the witch stuff).

This novel had a lot of potential, which it did not live up to. I do not recommend reading it.

Flash Fiction #1

Amber knew that her toaster had a secret life.

Ever since she had seen the Disney movie featuring the same appliance, Amber had realized that her toaster was a spy - leading a double life, wanting to communicate with the 7-year-old girl with the little blonde pigtails who encouraged her mother to make toast every morning, but unable.

The toaster had secrets. What kind of secrets, Amber could not be entirely sure, but that there were secrets the appliance was unable to divulge, Amber was positive.

The secret that Amber was most desperate to learn, however, was the toaster's name. Referring to the double agent residing in your house as "the toaster" felt too vague, too obscure. Surely, discovering the toaster's actual name was the first step towards an understanding, towards a friendship.

Every morning, as her toast was cooking, Amber would whisper: "Who are you?" to the toaster in the lowest voice possible, lest her mother hear her and begin her "imaginary friends are not real" speech.

One day, Amber discovered the patterns. Her toast would come out with blackened areas. Her mother thought the toaster was broken. Amber knew the truth. One day, the blackened areas formed a butterfly; the next, a pony.

Amber was so excited - the toaster had figured out how to communicate! Its' name would surely be apparent the next day (fish), or the day after that (circle), or the day after that (stapler)...

Then, one day, Amber's mother plopped two slices of bread in the toaster. "I don't know why you like burnt toast so much..." the woman muttered, walking out of the room to get dressed.

After a minute, the coils of the toaster lost their cherry red coloring. The toast remained in position.

Amber understood - the toaster was shy. It wanted to become friends, and reveal its' name to Amber, but it was scared at the same time.

But Amber knew how to retrieve toast. She had seen her mother handle this situation, and so she went to the drawer to the right of the sink. Opening the drawer, she retrieved a butter knife from its' innards, and headed over to the toaster. She stabbed the knife into the toaster, aiming for her bread, anxious to see name thereon inscribed.

Unfortunately for Amber, she lived in an old house. The wiring was not set up ideally, and those dark coils in the toaster were still quite active. Amber never discovered the name of the toaster that was thrown in the dumpster after the "accident." She woke up in a hospital room, and was shortly thereafter subjected to questioning to ascertain whether her mother was guilty of neglect.