My Reading So Far and Moment-by-moment of 'City of Bones'

I can't say that I've been reading extensively of late (and I don't think listening to audio books by Deepak Chopra counts all that much).

Books that I've picked up recently:
- Kraken
- Game of Thrones
- Clash of Kings
- Stormbringers

I've not got very far into Kraken and it's still just sitting there...I don't know why but I can't say I've warmed up to it, mostly in part because of the protag and the 'voice'. I read to the end of Book 2 of A Song of Ice and Fire and decided I don't think I can take more of this kind of killing, this 'no-place-to -hide-in-something-sanctimonious-or-even-half-decent', ambling plot. (SPOILERS?!) I'd rather skip to when George RR Martin decides to throw the world of fire (dragons) and ice together (nightwalkers).
I have yet to read Stormbringers.

BUT, seeing as there's a host of kids/YA fantasy film adaptations about to hit the ole big screen, I thought I would recount the emotional journey I had when I leafed through 'City of Bones', the Mortal Instruments book by Cassandra Clare. I know reader, you are thinking, 'why, why?' I don't know, I don't know why I pick up these woefully lacklustre tales that adorn the YA shelves at bookshops, my 12 year old self lured in by something that might, *might* be intriguing. Perhaps it's some residual left over feelings from when I would day dream that I'd find other worlds and so I could escape from Physics or Maths class. Whatever. (And being lured in also by a female lead: 'Ooh, she's gotta be cool, right?...Right?' Oh how I kid myself, reader, how. I. kid.)

You're now entering the domain of **Spoiler Alert** Sam!

MOMENT 1: should have known when I read the blurb and saw 'sexy demon hunters'

MOMENT 2: should have known better when it's revealed that the antag's name begins with 'V' and was once a powerful whatsit but had ideas about 'purging' the race and so turned bad.

MOMENT 3: should have known more so when I realised the protag was a self deprecating, klutz. Paraphrased from the book:  "I'm short so I'm always called 'cute', never pretty, always 'cute.'" (First world problems, B****!!)

MOMENT 4: should have known more more so (huh, sounds like 'mimosa' if you say it fast enough) when the protag thinks 'He called me beautiful. No one had called my beautiful before.' (Sweet mercy, I'm crying it's so heart-wrenchingly vomit-inducing!)

WHAT THE HAY? MOMENT: I would say around 75% of the book's content. 

But I still read the book, reader, all of it. I am ashamed. Yet I shall not being going to see this tripe plastered over our screens. Oh no. Alas, there are, like, more books in this stupid-ass series. 

Something 'emo', I'd imagine, something touching on some forbidden love nonsense.

Too pretty to fill in...!

Hello reader! Many of us writerly folk keep an array of notebooks, of course. And while most of my notes have been haphazardly penned in several different books, which are your bog standard fare, some of these notebooks are pretty...special.

And to be honest, I canna bring myself to actually write in them. They are built for that purpose but I just don't want to spoil their unspoiled perfection. Crisp and untouched.

Still in their original packaging!

If I did indeed jot something, I feel it can't be any old drudge conjured from my mind spill (so I wouldn't be 'jotting' at all, that's just vulgar. I would need to sculpt). It would need to be precious prose or contemplations, the kind of repository that is worthy of such wonderfully crafted pages - the word-crafting would need to suit its home. So of course, with that impossible aim, one isn't going to write anything in them at all, is one?

Does anyone else have the same affliction? I mean with the first book (see below), I had the joy of making it at Annexe Mag's 'Interrobang' Festival, courtesy of 'We Make Books.' So again, how arbitrarily can I write in it? Particularly because there aren't actually that many pages, so you would indeed have to be selective, otherwise its contents would consist of you wondering about commutes to work, food and general non de-script/generic musings. Which is what this blog does - or Twitter serves as. So again, nothing that would illuminate the future humankind. Is that the point? Do we always write with a mind to adding to history so that people can know what it was like? Huh, if they did look back, goodness, wouldn't it be mundane.

Made at Interrobang! 2012

The extent of what I'm prepared to write in it!

Then there's this second book - I bought it in Pike Place in Seattle. Gorgeous day, buy a handmade, soft leather bound book with cotton paper - what more can you want? This is the kind of book you would dig out of some excavation site and be enamoured with the contents of a weird and wonderful existence, dusting the cover and pages down and pouring over the meticulous compilations. It just smells so great as well...I would have to write in it with a fountain pen or something and using such a pen would discount any random ramblings. It would have to be thought out - no one likes crossings-out from a fountain  pen. But then it is organic, so imperfection is a given.... The real truth is that I should pay heed to the name of the makers, 'No Boundaries' and what's wisely written below on the lovely bookmark:

Stumbled on...Demotivation for Publishing and Evil Editor

Well I said I'd be updating the blog more on a weekly basis and I'm kind of cheating because I'm referencing another's blog post. Though it is on topic - namely, publishing -  but a rather bleak out look on the prospect of getting your book out to the masses en print but hey ho! It's still a good laugh.

I stumbled across this when perusing 'Evil Editor (why you don't get published)' - a blog I have lost many hours to. Ideal for procrastinating. Have a click through and enjoy. Particular favourite posts are the 'Guess the Plot' - Evil Editor posts up five summaries based on what the book title might pertain to and then we are treated to the original query letter/synopsis which a budding author has submitted. The perk? You get to read EE's inline comments - witty to the point of being illegal. Oh and also sound advice on how to rewrite a query/synopsis for max. impact.

Below are two of my fave images posted by EE. To see the full post, visit here.

FULL POST: