C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 95

speaking of reading

Not that I was actually speaking of it, but I have faint ambitions of actually re-reading TIGANA this month (technically it was April’s book and I should be reading A SONG FOR ARBONNE this month, but, er, it didn’t work that way :)) just in case anybody wants to do my lurching read-along on that book.

Ted just finished reading Marion G Harmon‘s Wearing the Cape series, which he’s enjoyed very much, so I gotta put those on my reading list. Which I should update, to keep me honest. Although fra...

dynastic nonsense

I swear to god, real political dynasties are so complicated & disbelief-suspending that if you wrote them people would be like OH HOW CONVENIENT.

For example, I’m reading about Joanna I of Naples. Joanna’s grandfather was the 3rd son, never intended to inherit anything, except he and his next oldest and next youngest brother got sent away to be hostages and treated brutally for 7 years just before he returned his oldest brother died and his next oldest brother who had been imprisoned with him...

Picoreview: The Other Woman

Picoreview: The Other Woman: pretty good, actually.

The premise is that Cameron Diaz falls in love with Jamie from Game of Thrones only to discover he’s married and she’s the other woman. His horrified wife, who has no one else to talk to about it, sort of mugs Diaz emotionally and they (through an actual decently developed period of time) become friends, and then after a while discover Jamie is also cheating on them with a third woman, whom they also befriend. Hijinks ensue.

There are parts th...

Recent Reads: Shadows

I blew through Robin McKinley‘s SHADOWS yesterday (somewhat foolishly, actually, since after already staying up too late watching a movie I noticed the book with only 4 chapters left sitting beside me and thought “well, I’ll just finish that chapter,” and everybody knows how *that* story ends).

I’ll read anything McKinley writes (although it appears I’ve failed to read PEGASUS, so I need to remedy that), though I find her books to be–not exactly hit or miss. More like more like “out of the ba...

magic & manners under the wire

I forgot to post the 12th chapter of MAGIC & MANNERS at the Patreon page on Wednesday! Or at least, I forgot on Wednesday my time, BUT IT IS STILL WEDNESDAY IN ALASKA AND HAWAII SO I HAVE MADE IT WHEW

For those still considering the Patreon campaign (or, I admit, not considering it; that’s okay too), the first 6 chapters of MAGIC & MANNERS are now available to read for free!

Honestly, if I had about a 3 week solid run on this book I’m pretty sure I’d just bang it out and get it finished. It’s w...

Recent Reads: The Poor Relation

I accidentally blew through MC Beaton‘s entire Poor Relation series in the last two days. Three days. Since Monday, anyway.

It should be no secret by now that I like Beaton (aka Marion Chesney)’s writing, but the truth is that I like her Regencies even more than her Agatha Raisin or Hamish Macbeth books (though I’ve only read one of the Hamish books, I think. I need to read more of them.). They’re just delightful stories, quick-paced, clever, funny, and with characters I care about. This parti...

whew!

Turned out the Morganville Vampires books reached the end of a story arc with book 6, so I didn’t have to read 15 books this weekend. :) Whew!

Seriously, though, the books are a lot of fun, and if you haven’t read them, I feel you ought to go right ahead and get books 1-6 so you can gulp down the first story arc all at once. I’m gonna have to check with Rachel to find out where the next story arc ends or to see if I have to block out a whole weekend to read the other 9 at once. :)

I wasn’t in a...

Recent Reads: Morganville Vampires

I appear to be determined to binge-read Rachel Caine‘s entire Morganville Vampires series (15 books) this weekend. I’m on my 5th one since Thursday and have read 2 in their entirety today. Or possibly 3. I’ve lost count. This whole instant download of the e-books thing is terribly dangerous, and what’s even worse is that Caine does not wrap her books up, she just stops in mid-scene, leaving the reader to go “AAAAAAAAAAAAGH” and reach for the next one immediately. And worse than THAT is the fo...

still busy!

Ridiculously beautiful day yesterday. We spent FAAAR more time at the zoo than expected, and saw Everything. Ev.Er.Ee.Thing. Attempted to go to the Botanic Gardens today. Well. Succeeded, actually, but got rained on so only went through the greenhouses and not all the grounds.

Tonight I made a strawberry rhubarb crumble. It was gorgeous.

I got some unexpected writing time in, and MAGIC & MANNERS is now up to 33.4K, which is nominally the 1/3rd mark. I think it’s probably even fairly close to *b...

so. very. busy.

It has been a very, very busy several days. A very EXCITING several days, from Young Indiana’s point of view.

Friday he got to go hang out with his cousins for a few hours. Saturday his Nana and Papa arrived. Sunday was his birthday (“NOW I am four years old, Mama!”) and the whole fam damily was over, which is *excrutiatingly* exciting. Today he has still not gotten over the excitement of Nana and Papa’s arrival and is pretty well beside himself.

Ted is off work for NINE WHOLE DAYS. This means...