Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What Are you Reading?
Just finished Rarely Pure and Never Simple, and liked it overall. Good for those who like sci-fi/powers with their romance. :)Now I'm on Jaded, book 3 in the Precious Gems series. I enjoyed the first two books, but this one is a little slow so far. Hoping it picks up....
ttg wrote: "Just finished Rarely Pure and Never Simple, and liked it overall. Good for those who like sci-fi/powers with their romance. :)Now I'm on Jaded, book 3 in the Preci..."
I read Rarely Pure and Never Simple the other day too, and liked it a lot. I especially liked that we could see the connection between the two MC', not only in the sex scenes. So often I find that authors tell us there is such a connection, but they never show it outside the bedroom. I am old enough to realise that sex is important, but a solid relationship needs connection beside that as well :)
Josh's books have that of course, and other good authors as well, but I find it lacking in many of the books in this genre.
I agree with you Anne. Josh's books have plot and a relationship that develops as part of the plot. I have read so many books in this genre that are just pages and pages describing sex. I actually think it is just lazy writing. I find it so boring and often start skimming pages. I am hoping to avoid that in my reading this year.
Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I agree with you Anne. Josh's books have plot and a relationship that develops as part of the plot. I have read so many books in this genre that are just pages and pages describing sex. I actually ..."I have become much more critical and read reviews to see it the books contain too many sex scenes. If they do, I don't order them anymore. I have become so disappointed when I have thought a book contains a good story line just to find it an excuse for page up and page down with repetitive, boring sex. I know many people like that in a book, and that is fine with me, but I find it rather uninteresting.
I wont be doing a lot of book buying this year because i have so many books to read already, both paperbacks and on my kindle. If i do buy any then i shall be choosing very carefully indeed.
Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I wont be doing a lot of book buying this year because i have so many books to read already, both paperbacks and on my kindle. If i do buy any then i shall be choosing very carefully indeed."I keep telling myself this too, but then I see something I just MUST have :) It's a sickness ...
Ije, Anne: I think it is a compulsion. For ex. now I've read the excerpt of Rarely Pure and Never Simple and I find it quite promising...
Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I wont be doing a lot of book buying this year because i have so many books to read already, both paperbacks and on my kindle. If i do buy any then i shall be choo..."I keep telling myself this too, but then I see something I just MUST have :) It's a sickness ...
What an opportune post! I was reviewing my Kindle orders for the last year and concluded I have a real problem because I keep buying books which I don't get round to reading. I'm relieved to see I'm not alone in this! Would I buy fewer if they were physical books in a pile? I'm not sure - my post-lady used to be amazed at the number of books she delivered to me but it didn't deter me.
I don't like New Year's resolutions so I'm not going to make one, but I must read more of the books which I already own and buy fewer new ones.
Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I wont be doing a lot of book buying this year because i have so many books to read already, both paperbacks and on my kindle. If i do buy any then i ..."This is not something that only happens with my Kindle, I bought too many physical books as well pre-Kindle, both from Amazon and in bookstores. (I love browsing in bookstores, even when travelling and I can't read one word in the local language) My basement is full of them, my flat too, because in addition to getting books, I have a hard time getting rid of them.
And I love the sight of full bookshelves :)
I have trained myself to using the sample function more often, so at least there are fewer misses nowadays. But there still are too few hours in the day..
Hj wrote: "Would I buy fewer if they were physical books in a pile? "No. I'm still sitting on a mountain of paper books waiting to be read. And the mountain is growing...
Anne wrote: "And I love the sight of full bookshelves :)"
Me too.
About New Year's resolutions: mine would be to read one Italian book every two English books. But I don't know if I can stick to this, it looks like a limitation, I'd like to read what I want...
The reason behind the resolution: I've been living abroad for over 20 years and I was always worried the moment would come when something not properly Italian would sleep in my speech, and I wouldn't notice it. It happened! Asked about what I ate I answered ''rests'' instead of ''left-overs'' (''resti' instead of ''avanzi''), because probably I'm used to answer the same question in German.
Aaargh! I'm still shocked. For sure I'm going to listen more to the alternative Italian radio I usually follow. But reading is also essential.
Yesterday evening I read Harper Fox's Tinsel Fish. I liked it even better than Once Upon a Haunted Moor, this is one is a bit spookier, but not too spooky, just the right amount. I hope she will write more Gideon and Lee stories soon. I love it when a writer can make me care for their characters, and with Harper's stories it's always the full experience :-)
I have piles of lovely unread paperbacks and hardbacks. I am challenging myself to read through a couple of my book piles this year. I have been using wish lists to distract myself from buying more kindle/ e- books. It works sometimes :)
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I do not care what the book is. If a primary ingredient for the reader is the quantity of sex scenes? This is a reader I do not have anything in common with.
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I'm not sure why this should be. Maybe because you'd have to be pretty out of touch at this point to believe print was the sole or even primary publishing vehicle?
I think older first time writers are perhaps not industry savvy? Or are just so conditioned to believe print is the only real medium?
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Last year this wasteful habit of buying books I don't get around to reading was really bothering me. But I've decided I would rather throw money away on books than sweets or fast food, so every time I resist being sweets or fast food or something unhealthy, I'm rewarding myself with the purchase of a book! :-D
My worst, most wasteful habit is buying tons of veggies and fruit and then not eating them. THAT I don't know what to do about.
Josh wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I wont be doing a lot of book buying this year because i have so many books to read already, both paperbacks and on my kindle...."I am the same way. I have great intentions when I buy all these wonderful fruits and veggies, but I don't ever seem to be able to prep them in time before they spoil... And I also 'reward' myself with books instead of sweets.. I figure, at least books don't 'spoil' and they will be waiting for me when I need them, like good friends :)
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Exactly. The food really bothers me. It is so unredeemedly wasteful.
Well, I do get around it, a little, by having a wonderful compost pile (grin), but it would do so much more for me if I ingested the healthful food! I get very disappointed in myself when I see food waste, especially because I have such good intentions...I do find, if I can at least try to juice some of it right away, I can ingest quite a bit in one shot....
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Exactly. When I throw out leftover sweets or dips or whatever, I feel virtuous. SAVING THE WORLD FROM EATING CRAP!!! When I throw out rotting veggies the thought soundtrack is WASTING FOOD WHILE OTHERS STARVE.
Josh wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I wont be doing a lot of book buying this year because i have so many books to read already, both paperbacks and on my kindle...."After I started downloading e-books I feel virtuous because no trees were killed from making books I don't read.
But of course, I do intend to read them all, some time, later, when I retire, of course...
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Books weeded from the library are falling apart, but friends have recommended them (Pratchett) or they just looked good(everything else) so I ordered new copies for the library and took the ugly books home to maybe get me to read them sooner rather than later.
As far as food goes, I don't ever get to eating fresh stuff before it dies so I just don't bother with it anymore. Instead, I make large batches of food and freeze it, then just pull out however much I need at a time. Works great!
The Christmas turkey and leftover peas got mixed in with rice and frozen. Otherwise I'd never get around to finishing it.
Josh wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I wont be doing a lot of book buying this year because i have so many books to read already, both paperbacks and on my kindle...."I buy healthy stuff and immediately forget that it's there. And I have some weird refrigerator/pantry blindness that makes me incapable of seeing the good stuff when I'm hungry. I keep meaning to write myself a note with a list of the healthy stuff on it and stick it to my computer so I remember it's there and grab that instead of a half a box of crackers the next time I'm starving but there's nothing to eat in this house OMG.
As far as book buying goes, my goal for this year is the same as it was last year- to end the year with fewer books on the TBR waiting to be read than what I started the year with. (Only books that I've bought for myself, someone bought for me, or I borrowed from the library or through Kindle lending go on the TBR. And the borrowed ones don't shift over onto the TBR until they're actually on my Kindle. Any freebies I pick up don't "count" toward my goal- although I'm trying to be a lot more choosy about what I pick up there, too.)In 2013 I finished the year with 1 book less than I started. It was a win, although not the resounding success I was hoping for. :P
I started out last year with a rule that I could only buy one book for every five I read. That went pretty well until RT, where I lost my mind and bought one of everything at the book sale. After that it all fell apart.
Maybe I need to come up with a different rule for paper/signed books. I don't read paper very often because they're so hard on my hands and wrists. They're really more about mementos and lovely, literary decorations for my room than books I actually plan to read. (Often, they're books I've already read digitally, anyway.)
Josh wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hj wrote: "Anne wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I wont be doing a lot of book buying this year because i have so many books to read already, both paperbacks and on my kindle...."I stopped buying a lot of fruit, for example, because i know that i will always choose as a snack something else, and there's always something else around (to avoid sudden low blood sugar), so that brought it to one fruit per day after dinner, which works.
Josh wrote: "Last year this wasteful habit of buying books I don't get around to reading was really bothering me. But I've decided I would rather throw money away on books than sweets or fast food, so every time I resist being sweets or fast food or something unhealthy, I'm rewarding myself with the purchase of a book! :-D "What a great idea! :-)
I like that everyone has piles of books or cant resist buying books. It makes me feel good to know that I am not the only one with a large to read pile. :)
Josh wrote: "My worst, most wasteful habit is buying tons of veggies and fruit and then not eating them. THAT I don't know what to do about. ..."
Oh God, me too. I still do that WAY too much, but I've gotten better when I started buying some of the pre-cut food my favorite grocery store does. Since no/little prep work is involved, I find that I actually EAT the veggies rather than throw them away.
Nice acorn squash--sits in the crisper until I drag it out wearing rubber gloves to throw it away. Pre-cut squash cubes--sauteed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and eaten within a couple days.
Inexpensive whole cantelope--see acorn squash above. Pre-cut cantelope cubes--eaten within a couple days.
Precut broccoli, carrots, etc for stir fry? This is the ONLY way I'll do it anymore. Okay, they didn't have precut broccoli the other day and I actually brought it home and cut it up. Wow, I REALLY wanted that stir fry. LOL
I still wince sometimes when I buy the pre-cut veggies, but I've decided that if I really eat them, I'm going to look at it as more economical in the long run.
Anne wrote: "I read Rarely Pure and Never Simple the other day too, and liked it a lot. I especially liked that we could see the connection between the two MC', not only in the sex scenes. So often I find that authors tell us there is such a connection, but they never show it outside the bedroom. I am old enough to realise that sex is important, but a solid relationship needs connection beside that as well :)"
I'm glad you liked it too! I thought it was a nice surprise. For me, there was some pacing issues near th end, but overall, I liked it, and I really liked the main characters. I agree that there was a nice focus on their relationship outside of the bedroom. (I really appreciated how the one MC wasn't too judge-y of the other MC's OCD tendencies. He recognized it and gave him space, rather than trying to fix him. I liked that. :)
Sammie wrote: "after readingAntonella's post, I feel like an idiot. she is pretty fluent in 3 languages and I am muddling along in only one. :)"Dear Sammie, I'm sure you have just applied your talents in other sectors.
And to be fluent in three other languages at the price of starting to forget your own mother tongue is not something I'd recommend...
Na wrote: "it's not unusual for me to have the foreign word in mind and be at lost trying to remember its meaning in my mother tongue."This happens also to me. I've noticed though that sometimes there isn't a single word expressing the same thing, or anyway also other native speakers can't find it. For ex. I was talking about books with two friends and we couldn't find ''world building'' in Italian.
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I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding on what to do about books at the UK meet. I want to bring books for authors to sign, but don't want to lug them over and back. And the same goes for buying books there. I might not buy any just because I won't have room in my bags for them and I'm sure the locker at the hostel I'll be in after the meet won't be huge. We'll see.
I'm sure there are, actually, I know there are, plenty of people only self pubbing in print. That's what they know and they're usually stuck up enough to think their book is amazing enough that the entire world wants to buy it. In print. Oh, and the first draft is a perfect work of art no matter how many crit partners read it and say otherwise. Truth. I know someone who left their crit group because of people like this who thought everyone else's work needed lots of help. Lol. I don't get people like that.
Jordan wrote: "I try not to buy junk food at all. It saves me money and forces me to eat something else instead. I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding on what to do about books at the UK meet. I want to brin..."
Maybe you can buy books at the meet and then ship them to your home while you are travelling?
I do so looking forward to the meet :)
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I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding on what to do about books at the UK meet...."
Not a bad idea, Anne. And I'm so looking forward to the Meet, too. I'm going to do some booking for that this weekend. Yay! :-)
Johanna wrote: "Anne wrote: "Jordan wrote: "I try not to buy junk food at all. It saves me money and forces me to eat something else instead. I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding on what to do about books at..."
I have already booked the plane to London and the hotel. A question; apparently there is a dinner on Saturday, is that something I should do as well, or should I just see what happens when I am there? Decisions, decisions...
Anne wrote: "apparently there is a dinner on Saturday, is that something I should do as well, or should I just see what happens when I am there?"Book it! If it is like in the other years basically everybody will take part to the dinner. And you don't have to bring your evening dress (unless you want to!)...
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Last year's dinners were lots of fun, although very hot and crowded. But this time they are arranging Saturday's dinner in the Meet hotel's restaurant that looks spacious to me. :-) Most of us Fanyons attended the dinners last year and I was thinking to do so this year, too (but I haven't talked to the others yet and don't know what they are thinking of it).
ETA: If you are planning to attend the dinner, I think you should book/pay that advance, because they have only so many places in the restaurant.
I agree! Book the dinner. It's a good chance to spend time with people you've met, and to meet new people as well. Last year we Fanyons found each other and had a great time!
And I'm onto the last book of my Psycop reread.
After that I'd better finish off The Handmaid's Tale.
Okay. I finished Christmas Kitsch and In Sunshine or in Shadow. I have a proof reading assignment of a series I'm not so excited about.... The author is soo wordy, and I find I'm not too excited, as it's a series rewrite, but it's still painful to get through.. Ugh. But I also have a couple BOMs that look interesting. Funny, two different people picked for me, but two books have a number theme (smiles). Can't decide between Six or Seven. I was also assigned Santuario? They all sound interesting...
Hj wrote: "I agree! Book the dinner. It's a good chance to spend time with people you've met, and to meet new people as well. Last year we Fanyons found each other and had a great time!"Thanks, guys, then I know what to do :)
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Thanks, guys, then I know what to do :)"
Cool. :-) I just paid the Saturday's dinner for both me and hubby. Charlie (Cochrane) said that I'm allowed to bring him to the dinner, because he's a UK Meet "veteran" even though he doesn't take part in the actual Meet. ;-) The organizers are very nice about the spouses traveling along.
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I read Joseph Hansen's Gravedigger and Nightwork for our Brandstetter Challenge. I adore the brilliant way Hansen tells his story. If you haven't read his Dave Brandstetter books yet, I really think you should give them a change.
Thank you so much for recommending Jim Grimsley's Comfort and Joy Ginn and Anne (and others?). I loved this one. I loved the way it tasted like real life. I loved its melancholic, simple beauty and the dark undertones. It gave me exactly what the title promises: comfort and joy. And it'll make a wonderful re-read!
The Essex dialect in Glitterland didn't bother me at all, quite the contrary. I found it amusing and entertaining and very suitable for the story. I actually liked this one more than I thought I would, although I'm glad I didn't read it in the airplane because it very unexpectedly made me cry, quite a lot, twice. (And that's a compliment.)
In the airplane I re-read Black Blades by Ginn Hale (book #3 in The Rifter series) which I enjoyed immensely. Even more than during the first read — and I never could have imagined that it would be possible to enjoy it even more than that. :-)
In the plane on the way back home I read Harper Fox's The Lost Prince. Boy, I like those two, Laurie and Sasha. And oh boy, this story was totally excruciating at times! Harper Fox really made me suffer, but what can I say — I absolutely love her writing, she is one of the very few authors that are welcome to make me suffer any time she wants. ;-)
I'm currently reading Kari Gregg's I Don't: A Christmas Wish (45% through). It's fun and refreshing and I'm enjoying it a lot. And there is this cool mother character that makes me think of Kari herself! :-)
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I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding on what to do about books at the UK meet...."
That thought did cross my mind. And I might consider it, depending on how the meet goes and what books are available.
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I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding on what to d..."
I'm definitely going. I look at it as one less thing I have to figure out amongst all the other meals not provided by anyone. Plus, hopefully there will be a lot of people to talk to and I won't be so exhausted from all the chatting already, that it should be fun.
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Book it! If it is like in the other years basicall..."
I liked that about this dinner, unlike others I've attended where they want you to dress up a bit. Yet, in reading guide books, apparently I would be way under dressed for this one anyway. I hate dressing up that much and I guess it's more of a thing in England. Ah well.
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Anyone else bringing something like that to do?
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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Of course, I do have to amend my statement to add that if a book is part of a series I will sometimes jump on it and read it ASAP. Psycop is one of those series. And Infected too.
I didn't know there was another White Hell book planned, but I'm excited too and really glad I recently finished the first two!