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What I read -- May 2013



“Writing the Breakout Novel” by Donald Maass. This talked me into my next editing project. It was sitting at the top of my pile for a while, but I moved it aside to read other things – you know, fiction.

“The Practice” by John Grisham. I hated this book. I did not engage with any characters except the one who inexplicably did something inexplicable at the end. JG seems to dislike people in general. Donald Maass made a lot of references to this, and I had it lying around, and hadn’t read a proper novel in a little while, and I was curious. The story sure does move along.

“Red Glove” by Holly Black. These are just as well-plotted as the Grisham book was, and with likeable characters. The magic system is really nicely worked out. Blowback is great.

“Black Heart” by Holly Black. In real life, adults constantly tell teens that the choices they’re making will affect them for the rest of their lives, but then tell them that their emotions aren’t valid. YA fiction doesn’t have that problem. The ending was great, though Cassel is a terrible role model.

“Crackpot Palace” by Jeffery Ford. Another one Amazon and Locus really wanted me to read. Also, I had to try out the new credit card I got after the incident of the Quebecois robots. “Sit the Dead”, a YA story, was my favorite. So funny.

“When Will You Rise” by Mira Grant. The boy really liked the Newsflesh trilogy, so of course he said “I’d read that” when the last book had an exerpt from this in its bonus materials. So I ordered it for his birthday. It was pretty cool, because it’s a special edition, numbered and signed by the author, which he seemed to think was pretty awesome. The story was good too, as was the other short story. MG must have an interesting set of friends.

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