Books I Read in May

I didn’t read a lot this month. Between getting my new website done (should be launching the first week of June) and wrapping up The Devil’s Shadow, I’ve been swamped. I did however manage to get some reading done.

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson.

I have been wanting to read this for a while, happened to see it while I was book shopping and picked it up right then. Worth the wait? Absolutely. I love a good gothic and Hill House certainly fits the bill. While there are no grab you by the throat, terrifying moments, the general creepiness is wonderfully written. The subtlety of Nell’s possession is also brilliant. And could anyone not love prose that include lines like this, “insist on your cup of stars. Once they force you to be like everyone else, you’ll never see your cups of stars again.”

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Yes, I realize that I am probably the only person left on Earth who had not yet read this book. But I had the flu this week and spent a couple of days in bed, so figured why not? To be fair, I had already seen the movie so there was really nothing new for me. I was impressed with how close the movie stayed to the book. It was good quick read, and I will likely read the next two books in the series.

Back From The Dead

Yeah, I know. I kind of dropped off the face of planet there for a bit. I've been working on a mad rewrite of The Devil’s Eye. This story has been driving me crazy almost from the start. Something about the pacing was off. No matter how many times I looked at it, or tried to fix it, I just made it worse. After few months since I “finished” it, I pulled it out and started to tweak. Then it struck me. The problem with the pacing wasn't not enough happening, the problem was too much happening. With that epiphany, the rest of the rewrite fell into place.

I back burnered The Devil's Shadow while I did that and now I'm getting back to work on it. I'm at 70,000 words so I there's still a real possibility I could finish it by the end of March. I'll keep you posted.

And lastly, I'm building a new website. Hoping to launch it soon. Will keep you posted.

I'm reading The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson--or least I was. I've put it down somewhere and can't remember where. It's driving me crazy too.

That new show Bates Motel starts tonight. I loved Psycho, so you know I have to check it out. The actor they have playing young Norman Bates kind of looks like Anthony Perkins, don't you think?

One Down, Forty-Nine to Go

One of my new year's resolutions this year is to make a point of reading more. With that in mind I decided to do the Goodreads reading challenge for 2013. I'm aiming to read fifty books this year--actually, I'd like to read more than that, but I figured 50 was totally doable. I hope I didn't just jinx myself with that.

So I finished the first of my fifty books--Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

I read 1984 last year and it quickly shot to one of my favorite books of all time. Animal Farm touches on many of the same themes, but focuses on the corruption of ideals with power, and how that power goes unchecked when confronted with ignorance and apathy.

Now, it's probably not fair to compare the two books, and perhaps had I not read 1984 so close to reading this one, I wouldn't be. But I did and I am. I enjoyed the book. It was cleverly written, and  Boxer's plight nearly brought me to tears, but it just didn't have the same intensity that 1984 did. That said, there are certain books that I think everyone should read, and Animal Farm would be one of them.

Anyone else doing the Goodreads challenge? How many book would you like to read this year?