Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What else are you reading? (June 2010 - May 2013) *closed*
Aleksandr wrote: "Charlinda - maybe read it in a salt circle. :) But I had no experiences and I've read it twice. Maybe ghosts don't like me."That's good to know, LOL.
Lady*M wrote: "I'm reading Sarah Black's latest - The General and the Horse-Lord. The woman is a wonder."I just read the blurb - it sounds really interesting. I can't believe I've only read one book by Sarah Black, Marathon Cowboys. I'll have to remedy that.
Carlita wrote: "Just finished Lover At Last and Touch & Go. Thinking I need a day or two reading break. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts. :-)"I am reading Lover at Last, but I'm only at 25%. It seems to be dragging for some reason. I hate all the skipping around she does. I wish she would have stuck to a couple story lines and that's it. And maybe it's because I just finished Touch & Geaux and still have Ty and Zane on the brain. :)
Lady*M wrote: "I'm reading Sarah Black's latest - The General and the Horse-Lord. The woman is a wonder."Shit, I forgot it's out today! Probably because I've just found out I should cook for 20 persons this evening: I'm a volunteer in a center against racism and we are not so well organized ;-)).
I love Sarah Black. She deserves to be better known.
Advertisement: buy or read an excerpt here.
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Absolutely. When there is snow I'm unhappy to have to take a train instead of my bike to go home from the city center b..."
There was an incident once when a drunk college student was standing up on the moving train next to where I was sitting. He was swaying with the train, but over-swaying, not controlling his movements, which put his butt right in my face multiple times. I jabbed his ass with my elbow. Hard. Then turned to chat with my friend and that was the end of that. I just pretended I didn't know what had happened. He said something I've forgotten at first, but didn't do anything about it, just stopped his swaying.
I know exactly what you mean, Aleks, about the victim thing. I hadn't thought about being drunk on heels though, but it does make perfect sense. All I can think of when I see women clutching the arm of their guy as they attempt to walk is WHY? Those things kill your feet and make you dependent on someone else to walk with you if you're unsteady, or on extremely high heels.
I like to think that because it can be hard to determine my gender, especially in the winter when I'm all bundled up, that that will help me because some guy probably doesn't want to attack me to carry me home and then discover I'm a guy. At least, one would hope that's what they're all thinking. lol.
But yes, I've taken Tae Kwon Do, and if I had to, sure, I'll use it. Hope I never have to. It's been a few years since I've praticed. On the other hand, I definitely have a tendency to look sad, lonely, I'm always lost in thought walking home at night. But at the same time I'm always aware of where I am and who's around me, even if it doesn't look like it. It's the problem of being a creative thinker, my characters like to butt into my thoughts on my way home. I just try to make up for their lack of good timing by being aware, by rarely talking on my cell phone while I walk unless it's absolutely necessary, and wearing sensible shoes (either sneakers or combat boots made for running).
I agree on all the extra story threads, which I acknowledge has become her writing/plot device. I wish she had cut back for this one so we could have enjoyed Qhuay. It's one of the many things Josh does extraordinarily well. When you finish one of his books, you "know" aspects of the main characters and you are satisfied. AE and CUTYS come to mind instantly.
Antonella wrote: "Lady*M wrote: "I'm reading Sarah Black's latest - The General and the Horse-Lord. The woman is a wonder."Shit, I forgot it's out today! Probably because I've just found out I should cook for 20 p..."
Favorites to recommend by Sarah Black?
Good luck with the cooking. That's one thing I am not good at and hate to do. That's why I married a cook, LOL. ;)
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My problem is that I'm always cold, so I'm always hunching up into myself, shoulders up to my ears and all, just to try and stay warm, which doesn't do much for how I appear to strangers and other people. The day I figure out how to raise my body temperature without having to dress like I'm in the tundra will be a glorious day!
Reggie wrote: "Darkm wrote: "Susinok wrote: "Hj wrote: " I have just finished Touch & Geaux. Book seven in the series. It is good... very good. The way she writes, brings a story to life. Sometimes it was so tens..."Thanks for the info :)
Valerie wrote: "Favorites to recommend by Sarah Black?"Can I butt in with a recommendation? ~_^
If you never read a Sarah Black book, you can start with Sucker-Punch written for Hot Summer Days event. It's free and great sample of her work.
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The girls were frightened. When night falls, they weren't going..."
I agree, it can definitely feel demeaning when a guy tries to be protective of you in that fashion just because of your gender. I generally hate it when guys make assumptions like that. It's rare when I allow it to happen, and really depends on who the guy is and how close we are friend-wise. Twice in the last 7+ years I've lived in my neighborhood one of my guy friends has driven around the block a couple of times instead of dropped me off right away because of odd characters hanging around. I was fine with that. I mean, who wants to get out of a car next to a guy pissing on the sidewalk next to the payphone? Um, not me. But other guys, insisting on walking me home or what not, not so much in favor of that.
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Wow, I'm learning a helluva lot about the UK today. Guess it's a good thing I don't live there since I don't drink. lol.
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if you want to look how you classify regarding traditional sex roles, you can fill out the questionnaire here http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/bsri.html
The Bem..."
Awesome test! Thanks for posting this. I turned out to be 50 masculine, 38.3 feminine, and 45.83 androgynous. So, I guess that puts me in the middle tending toward masculine, which sounds just about right.
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I am agreeable to be polite to a point until it infringes on my loyalty to others then I am extremely aggressive. Or I am quiet in b..."
Yeah, some of those were hard to answer without a context. When I compare my writing life vs my day job life, some were a little different. Ambition was different, for example. Oh that's such a bad example. lol.
So I picked up Screwing the System, on about Chapter 9 now. I'm in the air about it. Didn't realize it's was a British book, its been interesting trying to figure out what something means. there were just a couple things so far that didn't do it for me. Like he traipsed out... didn't seem right, funny thing everyone around me thought it meant like flitting out of the room, but in fact its like not wanting to go, so sorta like begrudgingly leaving.Also, this is stupid that I reacted this way, but the 22 year old is thinking to himself that wow, this man's tongue has me noticing erogenous zones I didn't know I had. Honestly, at 22 I wasn't thinking about erogenous zones... I spent a good 15 minutes complaining about that to my friend.
Otherwise pretty good book.
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I'm afraid that being androgyn..."
According to one of my good friends, being androgynous, or gender neutral, means you can wear whatever the heck you want. Just so long as it's something YOU LIKE. And I like that idea.It allows me to be me and wear my combat boots every day whether or not I've got tight jeans on or my baggiest of baggy jeans. It also allows me to pull of black knee-high Doc Martens with a pale blue prom dress if I so choose. :-)
The funny thing was, last week my coworker actually asked me if I knew when fashion week was. Then she stopped, and said, "Oh, never mind." lol. I had a good laugh over that. Definitely not something I care about. I rock my own style.
Jordan wrote: "The funny thing was, last week my coworker actually asked me if I knew when fashion week was...."I'm jealous, no one has ever asked Me about fashion week!! **stomps feet, pouts**
Manu would know!! It's good to have friend in-the-know. ;-D
Joe wrote: "Like he traipsed out... didn't seem right, funny thing everyone around me thought it meant like flitting out of the room, but in fact its like not wanting to go, so sorta like begrudgingly leaving."Wow; I never knew that definition. Thanks. It also means this:
"to walk or go aimlessly or idly or without finding or reaching one's goal: We traipsed all over town looking for a copy of the book. verb (used with object). 2."
But that isn't quite right either.
Charming wrote: "But that isn't quite right either. "Right, I just think it's funny...
Jordan wrote: "According to one of my good friends, being androgynous, or gender neutral, means you can wear whatever the heck you want. Just so long as it's something YOU LIKE. And I like that idea.It allows me to be me and wear my combat boots every day whether or not I've got tight jeans on or my baggiest of baggy jeans. It also allows me to pull of black knee-high Doc Martens with a pale blue prom dress if I so choose. :-) "I've been thinking about this a lot lately. If you google "genderqueer" you get a bunch of tumblrs filled with slim, young things rocking their androgynous looks. You might think it's about fashion sense or a sub-culture like goth instead of a gender identity. And I read a news story recently about a store hoping to open in NYC with clothes based on both men's and women's fashion, but cut to fit the whole gamut of human bodies. Which is fantastic, except the sizing stops well below anything that would fit me. So it's all very inclusive, until you get past age 25 or size 12.
I've taken a couple of cracks at writing about it, but I keep wandering off on tangents. :P But sometimes I feel like shouting, "It's a gender identity, not a fashion statement! There are fat, middle aged genderqueers too, you know!"
Lady*M wrote: "Valerie wrote: "Favorites to recommend by Sarah Black?"Can I butt in with a recommendation? ~_^
If you never read a Sarah Black book, you can start with Sucker-Punch written for Hot Summer Days..."
Thank you! I will check it out.
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I'm always half daydreaming, lost in my thoughts, and people, as much as I like them, tend to make me nervous, so i have no clue h..."
No, you are totally right Charming. Communication, love, everything in life is a two-way street. The same should be said for sexual assault. Men have to step up just as much as women. On the whole, that is.
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I hadn't heard about the fashion thing before. How odd. It's definitely a gender identity and not a fashion statement. I definitely don't need people copying how I dress just because they think it's the new thing or whatever. Never mind the fact that what I wear is definitely not cool, or ever should be. lol.
Jordan wrote: "Becky wrote: "Jordan wrote: "According to one of my good friends, being androgynous, or gender neutral, means you can wear whatever the heck you want. Just so long as it's something YOU LIKE. And I..."Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was commenting on what you like to wear. Whatever people feel happy wearing is exactly what they should wear. I've just been thinking a lot lately about how invisible the community is if you don't have that androgynous look, and it bothers me.
Valerie wrote: "Favorites to recommend by Sarah Black?Good luck with the cooking. That's one thing I am not good at and hate to do. That's why I married a cook, LOL. ;) "
Sarah Black: everything, really. I even read - and enjoyed! - m/m/f and m/f from her.
Here you'll find all the covers of her books, if you click on them you can read an excerpt. The worst cover I've ever seen is still there, but ''Fearless'' is absolutely wonderful, as it is the sequel Lawless, also available as Kindle. Another great book is Border Roads.
There are four free stories here. ''Gregori's Ghost'' is quite a long one.
My cooking went well, but only 12 persons turned up (we never know in advance), so a few people won't have to cook tomorrow because they took home our leftovers ;-).
And now I'm finally going to start
. I promise I won't jump forward. And I won't try to finish it in one go. You are my witnesses!
Antonella wrote: "I promise I won't jump forward. And I won't try to finish it in one go. You are my witnesses! "We'll hold you to that! ;)
Charming wrote: ""to walk or go aimlessly or idly or without finding or reaching one's goal: We traipsed all over town looking for a copy of the book. verb (used with object). 2."But that isn't quite right either. ..."
Traipse can also have a connotation of weariness:
"Verb - Walk or move wearily or reluctantly.
Noun - A tedious or tiring journey on foot."
These meaning are more familiar to me.
Instead of reading Josh's books, I am reading his blog and giving it a good think. There has got to be a viable answer.
Antonella wrote: "Valerie wrote: "Favorites to recommend by Sarah Black?Good luck with the cooking. That's one thing I am not good at and hate to do. That's why I married a cook, LOL. ;) "
Sarah Black: everything..."
Thank you, Antonella. That should keep me busy! And I do not even know what to say about that cover...LOL.
Antonella wrote: Sarah Black: everything, really. I even read - and enjoyed! - m/m/f and m/f from her. Here you'll find all the covers of her books, if you click on them you can read an excerpt. The worst cover I've ever seen is still there, but ''Fearless'' is absolutely wonderful, as it is the sequel Lawless, also available as Kindle. Another great book is Border Roads.
There are four free stories here. ''Gregori's Ghost'' is quite a long one.
..."
I agree with Antonella about Border Roads. It was well-written but, as many of hers are, was not an easy read because of some difficult subjects and sad incidents. Her books The Lincoln County Wars and Idaho Battlegrounds tackle similar topics. I easily rated all of them four stars.
One of my favorites is Tootsies, which is lighter in tone and subject matter, but still has the same great relationship between the main characters.
Calathea wrote: "Antonella wrote: "I promise I won't jump forward. And I won't try to finish it in one go. You are my witnesses! "We'll hold you to that! ;)"
How did it go: I didn't jump forward, but I read till 4 o' clock in the morning.
I had decided to read half of the book. Then I thought 60% was also all right, as long as I didn't reach the 70% mark, because then it is really difficult to stop. But somehow I went on reading. I finally managed to stop at 90%, mainly because I had officially promised I would stop...
So now I've got a delicious 10% left. But I can give the 5 stars rating already now ;-).
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It's Calathea's turn now, I think!!"
I'm glad you liked it, Katharina! I wouldn't have bought Every Time I Think of You in the first place if various people hadn't recommended it on this thread (I remember at least Anne, Karen and maybe John mentioning it).
I'm enjoying the other travelling book As Meat Loves Salt, but it's going to be a slow read for me. It enquires my whole attention while reading — kind of like The Charioteer did. Yesterday I learned a new neat word (well, new to me, but old otherwise) while reading: syllabub. :-)
I give in. What are the travelling books? I can see that they're books which are being sent from one person to another, but I missed the start of this so don't know which books are out in the world on journeys, and which people have them to stay a while.
Hj wrote: "I give in. What are the travelling books? I can see that they're books which are being sent from one person to another, but I missed the start of this so don't know which books are out in the wor..."I think those two are the only ones right now, aren't they? At least I don't know of any other book... It's a super idea, a lot of fun!! :-D
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LOL. Aleks (UK) started it all by sending As Meat Loves Salt to Caroline (UK) and Caroline then sent the book to me (Finland). Next it's going to travel to Anne (Norway) and Pender (Canada).
I wanted to join in by offering to send my Every Time I Think of You to someone. Katharina (Germany) was interested and now when she has read the book she's going to send it to Calathea (Germany).
So, they are literally travelling books. I also recall Aleks calling them communal books (or something equally apt...) at some point. Anyway, if anyone of you are interested in reading either one of them, just holler. ;-)
Johanna wrote: "Hj wrote: "I give in. What are the travelling books? I can see that they're books which are being sent from one person to another, but I missed the start of this so don't know which books are out..."I really love this idea. I think I'd like to jump in if someone doesn't mind sending to the U.S. Maybe I could get in the Every Time I Think of You line. I'm just not sure As Meat Loves Salt is for me. It sounds so bleak.
Johanna wrote: "Hj wrote: "I give in. What are the travelling books? I can see that they're books which are being sent from one person to another, but I missed the start of this so don't know which books are out..."Thank you for the explanation, Johanna.
Na wrote: "I do feel better. Thank you for the thoughts and e-hugs. :)I'll add to the wikipedia articles that nowadays, Grog is used as a grandmother's remedy in some families. Drink it, sweat it, and tomor..."
Glad you're feeling better! Very interesting about the grog. :-)
Antonella wrote: "So now I've got a delicious 10% left. But I can give the 5 stars rating already now ;-). .."
I haven't read any of her work, but the fact that you're dearly hanging on to 10% of one of her books is making me want to. My to read list is getting so long I'm tripping over it.
Johanna wrote: "Hj wrote: "I give in. What are the travelling books? I can see that they're books which are being sent from one person to another, but I missed the start of this so don't know which books are out..."I've also written my name and my location in the book, so then, when Johanna gets it back, she will know exactly where it was and who has read it. That's going to be really awesome, I think (I'm almost jealous, LOL).
Tina Kay wrote: "Johanna wrote: "Hj wrote: "I give in. What are the travelling books? I can see that they're books which are being sent from one person to another, but I missed the start of this so don't know whi..."I don't think it should be that big a problem sending it to the US, or is it? We'd have to ask Calathea about that :-D
Tina Kay wrote: "I haven't read any of her work, but the fact that you're dearly hanging on to 10% of one of her books is making me want to. My to read list is getting so long I'm tripping over it."She is an excellent writer. As I said to Valerie, you can find all excerpts here. See if you like her stories!
About the reading list: probably all of us here share the problem.
I've just counted the print books I own and I have to read: counting only the gay themed books I come to 95. Although The Complete Brandstetter should probably count for more than one book with its 1200 pages...
My explanation for the fact that I keep procrastinating reading print books and I buy (and mostly read) new ebooks is that my print books are classics of the genre, often not easy to digest. For ex. I already know about a tragic ending or they deal with ''heavy'' subjects and so on...
Antonella wrote: She is an excellent writer. As I said to Valerie, you can find all excerpts here. See if you like her stories! About the reading list: probably all of us here share the problem. "..."
Thank you... I will definitely check out her work. I'm always on the search for another author to add to my automatic buy list, and your enjoyment of her stories is making me hopeful she could be another one. :-)
I was thinking recently of what my home would look like if all my ebooks were print books. I think I'd be sleeping on the roof, snuggled up to the chimney.
Katharina wrote: I don't think it should be that big a problem sending it to the US, or is it? We'd have to ask Calathea about that :-D "..."It's been so long since I've mailed something overseas that I'm really unsure of the cost for something like that.
It might be easier to send the book from the Canadian reader. I didn't know so many of you were out of the country. How very exciting.
Tina Kay wrote: "Katharina wrote: I don't think it should be that big a problem sending it to the US, or is it? We'd have to ask Calathea about that :-D "..."It's been so long since I've mailed something overseas..."
Well, we'll see, but since it's one of the ideas to get it travelling the world... :-D
Katharina wrote: "Tina Kay wrote: "Johanna wrote: "Hj wrote: "I give in. What are the travelling books? I can see that they're books which are being sent from one person to another, but I missed the start of this ..."Are you still coming out to Stanford? You could bring a traveling book with you and mail it from here.
I live about 3 hours from Stanford. So let me know when your coming!
Reggie wrote: "Katharina wrote: "Tina Kay wrote: "Johanna wrote: "Hj wrote: "I give in. What are the travelling books? I can see that they're books which are being sent from one person to another, but I missed ..."That's awesome, Reggie!! Yeah, my PhD supervisor will do a sabbatical at Stanford and the plan is that I'll visit him and work there for a couple of weeks either November this year or February/March 2014. Not sure yet. I'll definitely drop you a line when I'm going, though!! My next visit place in the US will be Seattle in June for a conference. I could always mail it from there, if that isn't too long a wait for y'all!
“A novel of immeasurable sadness, in a league with Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair. John Boyne is very, very good at portraying the destructive power of a painfully kept secret.”—John Irving
I'm not sure if that review makes me want to read it, though I guess if I need to cry real hard, I'll try it. I mean I just finished watching season 3 of the Vampire Diaries and I cried my eyes out.
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
Books mentioned in this topic
Chained Melody (other topics)The Far Pavilions (other topics)
Death in Kashmir (other topics)
The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (other topics)
Mistress of the Art of Death (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
M.M. Kaye (other topics)Elspeth Huxley (other topics)
Lauren Willig (other topics)
Charlie Cochet (other topics)
Damon Suede (other topics)
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Now that only makes me more eager to read it. I can handle creepy/scary books. Now scary movies... not so much.