Monday, November 29, 2010

Grinding gears and what are you reading?


Books, books, books. I'm in grinding gear mode pedalling up the steep slope to meet my manuscript deadline tomorrow. Now it's hunting for a better word, polishing a detail and wait...that middle of the night sit up right in bed bolt of panic...I grab the Paris map and realize my detective would never go down that street it's one way!
So my apologies for a short post.
Tomorrow I'm looking foward to READING again at midnight after I send off my ms. Yrsa spoke about finishing a manuscript and for me, this home stretch is the best and the worst, it's that sheer moment of terror before sending a child off to college, you've prepared, prayed you've done your best and when the child goes that's it. Your child will come back, changed, smarter, more sophisticated, polished and different. But it's in the hands of god, the editor.

Tomorrow night I can't wait to READ. To dive into my big TBR pile. There's submissions for the Edgar committee, a Paris anthology of short stories to review and Yrsa's book that she kindly gave me at Bcon.
But I'm a snoop and scan what people read on the plane, on the Metro in Paris

in the doctor's office, check the book poking out of their bag, what title's on the seat of their car. Or the newspaper

Do you? During a break in a conversation, do you ask "What are you reading?" I find people love to talk about a book that touched them, how they learned something or how it inspired them to think in different ways. A book is a journey, one we we all want to take.
I check out bookstore windows, too. This month in Paris I saw RJ Ellory's Vendetta and I'd just met him at Bouchercon.

So what are YOU reading?
Cara - Tuesday on deadline

8 comments:

  1. I'm on a South Africa kick. Just finished Sarah Lotz's Tooth and Nailed - funny, irreverent, and most enjoyable. Reading The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn, who returns to writing novels after 15 years. TBR: Jassy MacKenzie, Sifiso Mzobe, Richard Kunzmann, Mike Nichol, Margie Orford, and Chris Marnewisk. Where can I find the time? I want audio books of all - speeded up threefold. Even if they sound like the Mouseketeers.

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  2. Jar City: A Reykjavi­k Thriller by Arnaldur Indridason and Bernard Scudder (Sep 19, 2006). Fabulous writer, fascinating country.

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  3. That's a great book L.M.

    Every Man for Himself by the late Beryl Bainbridge for me at them mo. Best novel ever written about the Titanic>

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  4. I am finishing James Doss' latest book in the Charlie Moon series, A DEAD MAN'S TALE. Anyone who was a fan of Tony Hillerman's will enjoy equally Doss, Charlie Moon, and his aunt, Daisy, who is a shaman.

    Next will be Gary Corby's THE PERICLES COMMISSION.

    Beth

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  5. Hi Cara,

    I talk to anyone I see reading a book, anywhere. I like to know what kind of books they like and talk about the ones I do.

    I'm reading David Peace's Red Riding Quartet. I'm on the third book and just now catching on to some of the story. It's the most difficult book to follow I've ever read and stuck with.

    I wonder if anyone else has read it?

    What's the title of your new book? Do you want to say what it's about?
    Susie

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  6. Stan, Jassy's on my pile, as well. I loved Jar City I.M. and Dan I want to read Beryl Banbridge. Beth, as a Hillerman fan I will look for this and thanks for suggesting it.
    Susie, I don't know the Red Riding Quartet but it sounds like you find it worthwhile enough to persist.
    So update - sent the ms off last night at 11:55 PM electronically and collapsed into bed with Murder at Pere Lachaise by Claude Izner...wish I could say more but fell asleep with it on my face.
    Thanks for asking Susie yep the next book is Murder in Passy and comes out in March 2011.
    It gets personal for Aimée when her godfather Commissaire Morbier is accused of murder, Basque terrorists show up and a Spanish princess is kidnapped before a reception at the Marmottan museum.
    Cara

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  8. Susie, the Red Riding Quartet reward persistence - they are great books, though dense, difficult at times and very disturbing. They were turned into a fabulous TV series over here recently, which captured the dark brooding menace. David Peace is a talented if frustrating writer - some of his books and their distinctive style are wonderful - others verge on the unreadable. In particular, I'm fascinated by the way he uses real events and crimes as the heart of his fiction...I feel a blog idea coming on!!

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