If you're new to Write Well Me, read this to understand why I tell you what I'm reading. :
I finished Blood Noir, the newest Anita Blake book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I was a little disappointed by it. The writing at first felt forced, or maybe it was just the dialogue.
The first few chapters were awkward, a rookie problem, and Hamilton is so not a rookie. Maybe she sped too fast through the 16th book in the series.
I motioned at the mountains. There were hotels and fast-food places tucked in near the road, but it wasn't close enough to ruin the view. A river cut along the left-hand side of the road, all silver shallows and sparkling rapids, set in all that green, all those trees. "This is prettier than the Smokies in Tennessee."
"Well, it's the Blue Ridge Mountains," [Jason] said matter-of-factly.
I had a smart thought. "You grew up here, so it's not spectacular to you, it's just normal."
"Yeah, and have you ever noticed where it's beautiful, there's a lot of pretty, but not a lot of jobs. Unless you worked for the university."
"University?" I made it a question.
"University of North Carolina at Asheville."
That whole exchange leaves me with a "Huh?" feeling. I realize Hamilton is trying to give us more information about Jason, but I don't think any of this tells me anything I really need to know about Jason. It lends nothing to the story later on. And that whole "'University?'" That just sits wrong with me. It feels fake and forced.
But it got better, and I was happy to be further along in the Anita Blake story arc.
Next on the list was a long-lost book that took me months to find. With the help of the coolest site on earth, Stump the Bookseller, I found this book as well as another from my childhood. For $2, you enter as much as info as you can remember about a book, and very nice people help you find it. It took a couple of months, but then I was rewarded with full titles and authors. I promptly bought both.
I started with The Best of John Bellairs: The House with a Clock in Its Walls; The Figure in the Shadows; The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring. Reading it has been like coming home. Bits and pieces of memory from my childhood now are stitched together.
Comments