Becca Fitzpatrick's 'Hush, Hush' Saga

After a month interval, I've finally finished reading Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush Saga: Hush, Hush, Crescendo, Silence, and Finale. Yes, they're supernatural YA, but the up side is there are no vampires, werewolves, or zombies. Only angels, demons, and nephilim. None of the books have a religious slant, so the books can be enjoyed for what they are: fiction.

Being a big fan of happy endings, I wasn't disappointed with the series. I bought the first book on a whim from Hasting's in Tullahoma, TN during my last trip to Sewanee, and I'm glad I stumbled upon it. Usually, I hate getting sucked into a book series (or saga, in this case). After Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, and The Mortal Instruments, I felt I'd had enough of a single story being told in multiple books, but Fitzpatrick's series wasn't draining in the least, and each book can easily be read in a day or two. Plus, they're all available--so no waiting (except for the movie, which is going to be made sometime in the future).

Now, back to my thesis...

Updated reading list for 52 books in 52 weeks

Updated reading list for '52 books in 52 weeks' (2013)

•                The Family Fang: A Novel by Kevin Wilson

•                The Convalescent by Jessica Anthony

•                Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (YA)

•                Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (YA)

•                Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick (YA)

•                Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick (YA)

•                Becoming Jane Eyre by Shelia Kohler (fiction)

•                The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

•                David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 

•                Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood 

•                City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (YA)

•                City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (YA)

•                City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (YA)

•                City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (YA)

•                Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (YA)

•               Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (YA)

•                Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (YA)

•                The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry 

•                The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

•                Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

•                Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

•                A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz 

•                Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

•                Lady Susan by Jane Austen

•                Jane Austen by Carol Shields (biography)

•                The Dark Angel by Meredith Ann Pierce

•                Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman

•                The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories edited by William Trevor

•                The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

•                The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark

•                A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry

•                Defend and Betray by Anne Perry

•                Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

•                Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (YA)

•                 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (reread)

•                Villette by Charlotte Bronte

•                The Professor by Charlotte Bronte
•                Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

In the thick of things

My Mobile  Thesis Station

My last Sewanee summer ended in July, a blurred frenzy of Shakespeare (with the great Ann Cook), and Classical literature in translation (a.k.a. ancient Greek literature). I became a Shakespearean actress for 6 weeks, watched more plays than any person should have to endure in a lifetime, travelled with my classmates into the depths of Solomon's Temple cave on the Domain (convinced I wouldn't survive the ascent back up the mountain), and visited Athena at her temple in Nashville. Like I said, a blurred frenzy.

Now that summer has passed, I'm deep in the bowels of the thesis beast, trying to find my way back out. While I prepared a year in advance for my research, I find that it hasn't set me ahead by much. My first chapter is due in the middle of December, and I'm praying I can make the deadline.

Meanwhile, I'm also participating in NaNoWriMo 2013, which I probably shouldn't be doing, but it's only for the month and I need something to keep me sane, right? Last year's NaNoWriMo was awesome, and I'm finally getting around to editing the novel I wrote for it. It seems if I'm not super busy, I'm bored to death, which forces me to have many irons in the fire. In fact, if I had a Native American name, the English translation would probably be "Many Irons in the Fire".

The Convalescent by Jessica Anthony

I ran across this strange work of fiction last week. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down--as unusual as it was. Rovar, the main character, was raised to be a butcher, yet detests the idea of butchering the meat he sells from his truck. So, he steals it from the local market instead, reselling it to his faithful customers at a discounted price. This would seem a deplorable act, except that the reader gets a terrible glimpse into Rovar's childhood, therefore bringing an understanding of his actions as an adult. This tale shifts between Rovar's story and the story of the early Hungarians, making it both entertaining and educational. 


The Convalescent is the story of a small, bearded man selling meat out of a bus parked next to a stream in suburban Virginia . . . and also, somehow, the story of ten thousand years of Hungarian history. Jessica Anthony, the inaugural winner of the Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award, makes an unforgettable debut with an unforgettable hero: Rovar Ákos Pfliegman—unlikely bandit, unloved lover, and historian of the unimportant. --Amazon.com

Letter Writing Blog

FInd my new blog about letter writing here.

Back in the saddle again?

Three weeks ago I started having cluster migraines. If you've had these headaches, you know how awful they are. If you haven't had them, I hope you never do. It started out as eyestrain. I thought I had done too much reading, but then I started waking up with eyestrain, and then headaches that wouldn't go away. I confined myself to my bedroom (windows covered so no light could get in) for three days or so, hoping that they would go away if I rested my eyes. I couldn't read books or look at a computer screen. I still wrote my 750+ words a day, but only by typing with my eyes closed. I'm getting better now (wearing sunglasses in the house helped), and I'll probably get some tinted reading glasses to help with the light sensitivity that I'm still experiencing, but for the most part, I'm back to normal.

All of that to say this: I'm seriously behind with my reading, and writing for Camp NaNoWriMo. I've decided that none of this could be helped, however, and I'm not going to risk straining my eyes too much in order to catch up.

My graduate school session in Sewanee is coming up in June, so I'm slowly making my way through assigned reading. I'm currently reading Homer's Iliad (from The Essential Homer). I have six other texts to read for this course (Classical Literature in Translation, taught by Christopher McDonough), including Hesiod's Theogony, and works by Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle and Aeschylus. So, I have my reading cut out for me in that department. My other course is Shakespeare with Ann Cook, and luckily, she puts more emphasis on watching the plays than reading them. This is fortunate for me, because I'm not a Shakespeare fan (as blasphemous as that sounds coming from a grad student of English lit).

Books I'm currently reading:

• Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff that Made Me Famous by Kathryn Williams (a Sewanee SOL classmate of mine).
• The Family Fang: A Novel by Kevin Wilson (professor at Sewanee)
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
• Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (trying to finish this series up)

Updated Reading List for 2013

My updated reading list for '52 books in 52 weeks' (2013)

• The Family Fang: A Novel by Kevin Wilson (currently reading)
• Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff that Made Me Famous by Kathryn Williams (YA)  (currently reading)
• The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller (Nonfiction read recommended by professor Jenn Lewin)
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (recommended by author Susan Mccallum Smith)
• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry (recommended by author Susan Mccallum Smith)
• Me Funny by Drew Hayden Taylor (essays)
• The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz (Nonfiction read recommended by professor Jenn Lewin)
• The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• Lady Susan by Jane Austen
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (YA)
• Jane Austen by Carol Shields (biography)
• The Running Sky by Tim Dee
• The Dark Angel by Meredith Ann Pierce
• Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman
• The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories edited by William Trevor
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
• The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
• What the Robin Knows by Jon Young
• Bird Sense: What It's Like to be a Bird by Tim Birkhead
• A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry
• Defend and Betray by Anne Perry
• Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
• The Odyssey by Home
• The Iliad by Homer
• The Aeneid by Virgil
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (YA)

New Books from Daedalus

Just wanted to share a pic of my new books that arrived today from daedalusbooks.com. I bought 8 books for $34 and paid $5.95 for shipping. I love this store!

Daily Writing Website: 750 Words

I recently found this website, which is devoted to daily writing, and I love it. It's called 750 Words, which basically says it all. The goal is to sign up (for free until April), and write at least 750 words a day, which the website tracks for you. No one else can see what you've written, but it does give you stats on how fast you're writing, what words you use most often, the mood of your piece...that you can share with others. After March, there will be a small monthly fee to use the site (I think it's $3/month), but if you need a great motivation tool to write, this is it! Plus, they have monthly challenges that you can sign up for to keep you on track.

So check it out!  750 Words

Camp NaNoWriMo 2013

Visit the website to get started!

Bookmarks and Birding

During my last post, I was busy everyday with creative writing, now I'm back to reading at a furious pace...and bird watching. In order to justify my time spent with the birds, I'm taking photos of them, and then having my husband design bookmarks using my photos. That way, I can combine my interests of reading and birding. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Here's the first bookmark that has been printed up (Overnight Prints). I got 30 bookmarks (with UV coating) for $6.95 + shipping. Turnaround time was fast, and bookmarks were shipped FedEx. Not too bad, in my opinion.

Back to writing prompts

While I'm researching for my upcoming thesis, I've been slacking in the creative writing department. I found a great website called The Write Practice that focuses on writing for the sake of the writing craft, and they offer a free ebook called 14 Prompts.

Basically, it gives you a pep talk and then a prompt. You write non-stop for thirty minutes using the prompt, and then put it away. The idea is to keep you writing daily, especially if you aren't sure what direction you want to go creatively.

Good writing doesn't just happen, it is something that is developed. The more you do it, the better you become (theoretically). Talent is 20% (or less) and hard work (practice) is 80%.

Using the first prompt from the free ebook, I wrote for 30 minutes, which ended up being a little over 1,000 words (4 pages or so). I didn't read what I had written, and probably won't until I'm finished with all 14 prompts.

When you don't know what to write, just write. That's my new motto.

Where I'm going...

I began the new year with bronchitis, and I can't seem to break out of the funk of being sick. I sit down to write, but find myself wandering to other tasks instead. I've been reading new books (and old), but I feel guilty for not writing. I lost my Grandfather on Thanksgiving Day, and my Grandmother has been in the hospital, so needless to say, my mind has been elsewhere. After my Grandfather passed away, I began to write about my memories of him, which turned out to be a good way of dealing with my grief,  but since Christmas, I've slowed down...almost skidded to a halt.

The weather has been ridiculous over the past couple of months, alternating between warm days (70 degrees) and cool days (39 degrees). It rained for 4 days straight until it flooded, and then snowed on Thursday, shutting down schools and roads. The snow began to melt before the day was up. Mother Nature's mood swings are reflecting my own. Up and down, unable to decide where to be and how long to be there. Grief is the writer's bane, or it has been mine anyway.

Sometime next month, I will be choosing classes for my last summer at the Sewanee School of Letters. I'm forced to take Shakespeare and a literature in translation course, and I (unwisely) saved those two classes for last. As sacrilegious as it sounds, I'm not a Shakespeare fan, but perhaps this summer will cure me. It will either cure me or make me hate Shakespeare more, one way or the other. I can't tell you why I don't like Shakespeare. Maybe it's because I despise plays? I don't mind his sonnets, just the plays (the major body of his work).

So, while I'm deciding what to do and how to do it, I'll be researching for my upcoming thesis and reading books that are beginning to pile up. 

Waiting for new books

I've been waiting over the last couple of weeks for new books to arrive. I found the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th books in the Mortal Instruments series (Cassandra Clare) on sale at Daedalus Books for $3.95 each, which I thought was a steal. I later found Meredith Ann Pierce's book, The Dark Angel, on sale there as well ($2.98). I read this YA fantasy novel when I was around 12 or 13 years old, and I hadn't seen it since then.  I wouldn't call myself a fantasy/sci-fi reader in general, but I do enjoy it from time to time.

One of my penpals (from Yorkshire, England) recommended a bird watching memoir to me (The Running Sky by Tim Dee), which I received in the mail today. I love getting book recommendations, so feel free to comment your recommendations to me anytime.

I also ordered a Chickasaw language program, which I'm excited about. My mother's family has Chickasaw ancestry, and since the language is endangered, I thought it would be a great language to study. So, with that said, Ayala'chi!

Welcome, 2013.

Since it's the first day of the new year, I feel that a post is required. I'm still recovering from a bad cold, which I can't seem to shake, and while my husband and I had planned to see The Hobbit tonight,

we ended up shopping instead. I was having too many coughing fits to be in a theater for 2.5+ hours. 

I started reading A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz, a book I started during the summer, but didn't finish due to grad school reading. My professor for the 19th century British novel recommended it, so I bought it while I was in Sewanee and read the chapter on Persuasion (the novel we were reading for the course). I'll divide my time between this books and Collins' The Woman in White, which I technically started a few days after Christmas, but haven't finished yet.

Now that I'm reading about Austen, I have a feeling I'll be adding her books to my 2013 reading list as well, even though I've read most of them in previous years.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading in 2013!

Austenprose: A Jane Austen Blog