That was the unspoken resolution. Get more writing done. Finish The Wills Tower, and move on to rewriting Levels 4. The good news is that I've printed out the first draft of Levels 4 in small writing on A3 paper. The whole thing is only 20 double page spreads, for me to scribble over and highlight. I particularly need to find where add some Great Gatsby, and some violence.
And I will do all that, and more, once I get started. Unfortunately I'm still loving the Vulture a bit too much. This is a chart that tells you what YA book you should read. Genius.
I'm not going to read the book, of course. I'm going to get on my new exercise routine, then get that final Wills Tower chapter done. The exercise involves walking up the steps to Jabal Webdei, walking down then back up again. Kittens skitter around my feet and from time to time the mosque drowns out my audio book. Got to get fit before Christmas...
This recommendation is a tiny bit complicated, as its kind of not just for one book, but for three. The book I'm recommending is the last of a trilogy, and you really should read the first two. Interestingly I almost didn't get to the 2nd one. I think I downloaded it mainly cos I needed something to read, and I was going to be out of wifi range in a moment... Needless to say, I read it, liked it, got drawn along to the 3rd one...
I'm currently in the very early days of writing a long series of books, and so I have especial admiration for what the author of this one has done, really achieving a spectacular climax and answering a ton of questions.
What's the book?
City of Glass (Incidentally, full props to the guys who made this trailer, so imaginitive... )
I'm trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible, but apologies in advance if I give anything away, or tell you something I didn't think was obvious.
So in CoG the Mortal Instruments saga moves to Alicante - long time home of the Shadowhunters. And that makes a nice change. It's fantasy, without being too fantastic. I only have two quibbles, the first is with Venice-like canals, somehow halfway up a hill, the second is that though the setting is a massive confrontation between all the most important supernatural beings in the world, how come 99% of them are from New York? Including practically all the werewolves and vampires?
But that's picky. The Jace/Clary issues are resolved beautifully and Cassandra Clare plays her trump card - the revelation of the angels - with massive style. There's even a little hook left for us into another sequel - a good thing, considering hoe badly everybody wanted City of Fallen Anegls.
So there you have it, heroism, romance, drama, violence. Recommended to everyone.
I didn't like Hush Hush. Why? Two Reasons. The first is because of the character Patch. He's rude, a bully, unpleasant. He works with a shy, sweet girl in class and he's unhelpful, makes sexual insinuations, and tries to scare her. He makes Charlie Sheen look like a saint. Why is it that in stories being a 'bad boy' somehow means you're guaranteed to get the girl. I don't get it. Watch the clip of Charlie Sheen, current bad boy supremo. Though he seems to have his Goddesses, he's also a laughing stock. That's how Patch would be treated in the sequel if I wrote it. everybody pointing at him and laughing.
The second reason is the heroine, Nora Grey. She's almost as mad as Charlie Sheen. She repeatedly realises that such-and-such a course of action is crazy dangerous, and then does it anyway. And gets in horrible trouble. She's rescued, and then proceeds to do something idiotic the next chance she gets
And now I've thought of a third reason. The way the mystery is revealed is cumbersome and completely unbelievable. Nora googles fallen angels and all the information is there there. Patch's secret is completely explained in three minutes.
Having ranted a bit, I should also say that the story's not all bad. It's well written and the dialogue is very tight. Considering she's such a wimp, Nora has some very sharp one liners, as does her best friend Vee. One of the funnest parts of the story is when they get into little confrontations with their arch enemy at schools. Most of the lines are about hair, clothes, and being fat, but some of them sting.
The other character with some sharp lines (though his are generally either about having sex with Nora, or hurting her somehow) is Patch himself. And now we've got back to the subject of the mystery man himself, let's look at another current bad boy, who demonstrates what REALLY happens if you get over excited even a little bit, and break the rules.
The new best place - or places - in the world, for this year at least are The Azores. There's something about islands, about archipelagos, that really catches the imagination. For me, I think part of it is the idea of self-contained, miniature worlds isolated, all by themselves, away from it all. Rachel Neumeier takes this a step forward in 'The Floating Islands,' an amazing young adults book that I'm reading. It's set, unsurprisingly on a small nation of floating islands. She manages the the world creation perfectly, interpreting it through the eyes of Trei, a fourteen-year-old orphan, arriving in the islands to live with his uncle. He decides he wants to join the flyers, men who defend the islands and travel between them on massive wings, constructed from borrowed feathers.
The Azores are the kind of place you can imagine housing dragons, like The Floating Islands. But actually, besides the hordes of frogs I wrote about here, the best Terceira can offer is a race of fearsome wild cattle. They evolved in the wild hills of the centre of the islands, and led the islanders to build weird structures, like really narrow, deep doorways, by the side of roads. These were so, if you got menaced by the wild cows, you could hide in them!
Once the cattle were famed because, when the island was attacked by Spanish warships, the islanders herded a thousand of the savage beasts straight at the Spaniards. The soldiers who didn't get flattened jumped back on their boats and didn't return! Now, sadly, the cattle are mainly used for these street bullfights.
Travelling through the centre of the island we saw the bulls, three or four to a special, spacious pasture, building themselves up for their exertions. They're kept there, far away from the dairy cattle, because if they could get to them they would cause all kinds of aggro. The dairy cattle meanwhile, produce some of the most amazing butter and cheese I've ever tasted in my life...
The Floating Islands have amazing stepping stones across empty air, and magic-hung stair cases. Terceira can't match those, but it does have astonishing volcanic chambers like the one on the left.
There are also weird, jet black, spiky volcanic shore lines, like the one below at Biscoitos framing a country cliff in the distance. The black stone also criss crosses the island in millions of black walls, that section it up into tiny fields, used to house the other, friendly cows, and protect the vines from the Atlantic winds. In the summer, the black walls heat up and keep the vines warm all night, like growing the grapes in an amazing volcanic outdoor incubator.
The people of the Azores are also slightly different, their lives a bit magical. They talk to every stranger they come across, unabashed, about the charm of life on an island. I asked the owner of our local bar about crime. He shrugged and said 'It's not really a problem, there are two people who might steal something, and we know who they both are, so...'
The Azores are actually so astonishing that to me, they were only fractionally less amazing than The Floating Islands. And Terceira isn't even the best one, next Pico and Faial...
Who doesn't want to find a door into another world? I reckon I know where they are...
I'm half way through the brilliant 'Iron King' by Julie Kagawa, a young adults book about a girl called Meghan Chase who discovers her connection with another dimension, known as Faery Land. The first time she goes there she accesses it through the back of a closet. Remind you of anything?
What is it about going through the back of wardrobes and finding magical worlds? In fact, why the massive appeal of all the other doors into enchanted worlds that you read about in children's stories? Rabbit holes, trapdoors, or this one, so appealing that real people injure themselves trying to go through it...
The Iron King is a great read, which employs all the classic ideas of magical worlds. Dwarves living in hollow trees, cats appearing and disappearing, and dragons eating you up. For me, though, the charm is the idea of the portals, or 'trods' offering an escape from harsh reality to something entirely charming. There's a reason of course, why such things only exist in children's books. As adults, we know there are no magic doorways leading to enchanted worlds. But maybe we're wrong.
Last year I travelled to Damascus. I went through a doorway in a cold and rainy London and emerged at 2am into 90 degree heat. The road from the airport was lined with parked cars and picnicking families. I wound through the silent, shuttered alleys of Damascus old town to a hotel with a sparkling fountain in a tiled courtyard. Exactly like a magical world.
More recently there was the Azores, enchanted in a completely different way.
So if you're looking for a trod, a magical wardrobe, or an otherworldly doorway, look no further than the arrivals door of an airport in an exotic destination. You can only go through it one way, as is the case with all magical portals, and who knows what you may find on the other side.
If you're really luckyyou might emerge into a land like arrivals at this Cuban airport. If it's not a magical world I don't know what is.
In 'My Blood Approves,' seventeen year old Alice Bonham falls in with a family of vampires. The first half of the book is mainly about when is she going to realise they're vampires, and then it's all about which of them will she devote herself to, and how will a possible vampire life conflict with her human life and her family.
The plot is neatly built up, and you want to know what happens next. The book's great strength, I think, is the authenticity of the teenage voice. The moods, the turns of phrase and the pop culture seem to me to be absolutely dead on.
The thing that bugs me about this is the thing that bugs me about other vampire stories: Why are teenage vampires so amazing? Why are they always beautiful, cool, smart, fearless, and supremely athletic. And I reckon it's some kind of wish fulfillment. As a teenager, school can be a complete jungle and I think writers get a lot of success with vampires, because they've invented the 'Superteenager.' Readers visualise these beings and think 'if only that was me, if only somebody bit me and I became a hero.' Vampires even have the 'not bothered' quality that teens admire. They're amazing, but they don't even care. Edward Cullen and his family are prime examples. I suppose stories with amazing teenage vampires are the ones that sell, but I'm still looking for the story with the vampire who never gets asked to the prom, or gets his lunch money stolen.
This is because teenage readers are continually being let down. It's not possible to be a school prince or princess by being a vampire. The message I wish writers would give them is one I got from Nigella Lawson. 'It's not possible to be a 'superteenager' but don't worry. You'll get through it, and then you'll be brilliant.
I was terrible at being a teenager. I didn't get any of it. I always looked two years younger than I was, I was scared of the opposite sex, I liked answering questions in class, I didn't know what was fashionable, I wasn't interested in music or other teenager interests, I had a stupid haircut... (I could go on). And for years afterwards, as I learned how to make life work, I was regretful that I had messed up my schooldays. And then Nigella spoke to me. Or rather, I read a quote of hers in a newspaper article, where she described herself as something like 'not very good at being a schoolgirl' (I can't remember her exact words, if you track it down please let me know). And that was actually no big deal, she was much better at being older. My proof is the video above. Look at her. She is a marvel of decadent food and downright sauciness. The ten seconds of Wham is just a bonus...
So there it is, my message to Alice Bonham and all the teenage losers out there, courtesy of Nigella Lawson: You don't survive teenage years by becoming a vampire. You do it by just waiting. I know it seems like forever, but in fact it's not that long and you get far more mileage out of being a Superadult than a Superteenager. Pass it on.
So last night I watched Last Night. And loved it. And so today I'm offering you a review. First, though, watch the preview. Aren't they all beautiful?
What's not to love about a film starring Keira Knightly AND Eva Mendes...? Especially when you add that in the film she plays an author, though not - I suspect - of young adults books...
The film's set in New York, based around a couple, played by Knightly and some guy ;) They seem to have a perfect, wealthy, young, cool life in a massive loft somewhere. The film certainly made me nostalgic for New York...
A perfect life apart from 2 things. 1, the husband works with Eva Mendes, 2, Kiera Knightly's ex is French and charming and in town all of a sudden...
The film is beautifully put together. The dialogue is incredibly natural, nobody says exactly what they mean but there is plenty to read between the lines. Much more of the story is shown us than told us. There are lots of meaningful silences and loaded looks. Very intelligently crafted...
Last Night is a film for grown-ups. The plot is unpredictable, complex, and has nothing in common with young adults books, but still I really enjoyed it and thoroughly recommend it. It's tricky to review without giving too much away, but hopefully you have enough of an idea. Enjoy!
