Method Man

Few books make me happier to be happily married than this one did. I read an ARC of Method Man, the new romance novel from Naomi Neale and it was downright scary the way that people picked up other people in bars. Bleh. The absolute best part of the book (for me) was toward the end there was a radio call in show and a stereotypical geek called in. He answered the question "tell me, what do you like to do in your spare time" by saying "And I'm on one of the largest raiding guilds on World of Warcraft, the Perenolde server. That's a computer game."

Hello! Too weird -- I play that game, on that server, with my spouse. To take it one step further (and prove I am cooler than the geeky character in the book), our guild is the Magnificent Lovers. So take that, romance fiction that demeans my hobbies.....

Anyway, I'll review it for freshfiction.com. It was still a cute romance, and what the world needs now is love, sweet love (stories.) 341 pages.

Wasn't I supposed to be writing something?

I read Real Women Eat Beef by Tracy McArdle and reviewed it for www.freshfiction.com. It's a coming-of-middle-age story about going back to find yourself after you get divorced. And trying to advertise meat when you don't eat it yourself. It was pretty fun. 350 pages.

I listened to Thyme Out by Katie Fforde. It was narrated by Davina Porter with lovely British accents. I am such an addict when it comes to British fiction on sound recording. Of course, I only discovered Katie Fforde because I was looking for Jasper Fforde, and they (frankly) don't have much in common....12.5 hours. I checked it out.

Nanowrimo made me famous!

The Topeka Capital Journal reporter Taylor Atkins wrote an article about our local Nanowrimo in the November 16, 2006 issue:
http://cjonline.com/stories/111606/ent_novels.shtml

A novel competition - Entertainment

A novel competition - Entertainment

The Washburn Review article by Melissa Treolo about Nanowrimo!

Writing instead of reading

I've been busy doing National Novel Writing Month since November 1, so my pleasure reading had declined significantly.
My two book groups met back to back this week, Sunday and Monday, so I did take a break from writing to do some extensive reading. I always forget just how theraputic it can be to completely escape into a good book for several hours.

I read Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, which was beautifully narrated and much less racy and more literary that I was anticipated, although I loved it all the more for making me think. The most erotic bits were about the geisha makeup, and how a Y or W design of bare skin was left on the back of the neck at the hairline, while the rest of the face and neck were painted white. 434 pages. I checked it out.

For Literature with Lunch, I read A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. I think my colleague wanted to kick me out of bookgroup when I ever so eleoquently compared Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley hooking up in the encampment during the break before the war started with my own experiences with hooking up with people at church camp, but it's all about the idea that the 'game of love' and flirting is signifigantly different from the real thing. I liked this much better now than when I read it at 14, and I think I understood the romance much better also.
314 pages. I read a musty brittle paperback copy from a used bookstore.