Challenge Tuesday part 2 – 35

As promised, here are the details of the second book I read over the last week.

Book 35 – My Soul To Take, by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.  Lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdottir is called out to a client’s new hotel to discuss the possibility of a claim against the previous owners: his business is a spiritual retreat, and the rumours of ghosts on the site are affecting both his staff, and his potential bottom line.  It’s a strange case, and not one that seems particularly likely to succeed. But when the hotel architect is brutally murdered, Thóra has a far more complicated investigation on her hands – and one that may prove her client is guilty…

This is one of the books I bought at the crime writing convention back in April – the writer was one of the panellists and she was really funny and interesting, plus she wrote in my book which is always nice!

I’m telling you this for full disclosure before my review!

I enjoyed this book – I wasn’t sure if it would be too gory as it was described as ‘spooky and gruesome’ but actually it wasn’t too much for me.  The setting was extremely atmospheric: remote, foggy and grey, and this bleakness permeated the story.  The writing was not too convoluted, considering it is a translation, and despite the subject there was also a light touch that balanced out the darker elements.

In fact, this was one of the more unexpected elements really – not only a dark humour but also despite the atmosphere and the subject matter, this book did not have the feeling of heaviness I associate with this genre.

It is also the only crime novel I have come across with a resident sex therapist as part of the story!

This is the second book with the same lead characters and I will probably get the first one now to see where the story starts: I liked the characters, the interaction of murder with the acknowledged tedium of legislation and the glimpses into Thóra’s less than perfect personal life.

So overall I would recommend this for those who, like me, don’t want a lot of explicit gore but want an atmospheric book with a good story.

Happy reading,

EJ

🙂

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Free Post Thursday – A retrospective!

Apparently I used up all my energy on yesterday’s post because the lurgy is back and I am writing this wrapped up feeling sorry for myself.

So it seemed a sensible time to go back to my Mediterranean sunshine images and find a few to share.

Maybe they’ll cheer you up like they do me, or inspire a bit of writing, or maybe they’ll make you want to head off on your own holiday!

I’ve limited the number but there are lots so don’t be surprised if we head back there another time!

Whatever they make you think, I hope it’s positive!

Happy writing,
EJ
🙂

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Every Day in May – 31.05.16

Ending with a whimper, not a bang I’m afraid – I have been poorly today and unable to write…

I will write my book review tomorrow, if I am better.  In the meantime I am leaving you with this picture from my holiday.  Mostly because I need to remember that there is sunshine somewhere, even if it’s not where I live!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

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Every Day in May – 24.05.16

It’s my last full night away so I will be trying to turn one of these backwards, just for a few hours more.

Saying that, I do love being away, but I do love coming home too! Hopefully I will have a lot of fun, exciting and entertaining memories to share – or at least a lot of writing done!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

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Every Day in May – 19.05.16

I am still on my jaunt to discover another beautiful place; I love to be able to explore a little of the environment when I am away, even if I’m not the type of person who braves rock-climbing and skiing!

Today’s inspiration is on that theme; it’s not a new photo but it is a place I hold in my heart:

This is the beach we were on last May – the grey-looking lines are the black volcanic sand, the white the golden sand that sits on top of it. When we put our feet in the waves and the sea rolled back, these lines were created from the lighter golden sand washing away.

It looks like art to me – but then nature is like that!

I hope you can see the beauty in it too.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

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Every day in May – 18.05.16

My feet are by now on Spanish island soil, and I’ll be getting into the sunshine spirit – but I still need to fulfil my promise to you!  So here is today’s inspiration:

 This picture is called, jokingly, mask for tea, because it’s all set up ready for me to eat it…  It is a very small reminder of a great Christmas night out with one of my best friends – and I still have the mask!

What I love about this is that the mask is so dramatic but a dinner table is fairly mundane, so the two together look rather incongruous, especially without the back story.  It gives an awful lot to ponder from a writing point of view.

So there we have it – May inspiration straight from December last year!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Every Day in May – 17.05.16/Challenge Tuesday – 20

I am on holiday – woohoo!

So for the next week I’ll be unable to blog and you’ll have to put up with a bunch of pre-prepared posts (say that 20 times fast!) but these are things in my world I find inspiring.

Today’s offering is this – a book mark.  A few years ago, I got a set of these with a calendar; there was one for use each month.  Now I just use whichever one I can find – this was November’s!

The reason I find this inspirational is because it is a brief snapshot of another culture, one I will never experience and can never fully understand – but I can read about it, look at images like this, and imagine it.

It makes it possible, in other words, to escape my reality and make a new one, and what fiction writer doesn’t do that?!

The bookmark has to have a friend, of course – and that brings me on to this week’s challenge Tuesday…

Book 20 – North of Nowhere, by Liz Kessler.  First, I will tell you I bought this because I liked the name, and only when I started reading it did I find out it was YA!  This is the story of Mia, a 13 year old girl, whose world is thrown into chaos when her grandad disappears.  Taken to quiet, boring Porthaven for the week to support her gran, Mia finds herself in the middle of an impossible reality…

So, as I said, this was a YA, and therefore not directed at me.  However, I rather enjoyed it.  There are three strands of the story – Mia and her missing grandad, her friend Peter, and the mysterious Dee.  These are neatly interwoven and although I could pick up the outcome relatively early on, I’m not sure if a younger reader could. Mainly because they might not have seen Terminator…

The style of writing is complex enough to keep me engaged, and I always appreciate YA books written without condescension; there’s nothing I like less than being spoken down to in a book!

Overall, I liked this story – it was descriptive, the characters were well-drawn and the premise worked well.

Happy reading,

EJ

🙂

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Week 245 – Not the Change Of Pace I Wanted…

It’s been another of those weeks where you could count the hours I’ve spent on writing on one hand. I’m not even reaching my minimum personal writing target each week.

I already know this month is a bit haywire, as I am off to Menorca soon, but I need to do something to change things before I go – I cannot wait for the end of my holiday to reboot my writing life. So, I have a cunning plan…

For the month of May, with the exclusion of my holiday period, I am going to post every day. They will be short posts, but they will include a few lines I have written that day, or an image I am using as a prompt, or something of that nature.

Getting back into the daily habit is important so this will be good for me, plus it takes a little pressure off thinking about what I will be writing about. Hopefully, it will also be useful for you guys!

 So here is today’s prompt; I call it ‘bunny in hiding’ for obvious reasons! I got a few other pictures of life in the country – bluebells in woods, sheep and lambs, a chaffinch – but I have gone for this because it was a young rabbit and it trusted me to get quite close to take its photo. Perhaps I’ll use the others for when I am on holiday so I can post even when I am away!

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it for today – tomorrow I will share a few lines which may or may not be related to the prompt, but will be new work.

Let’s see if I can get my daily mojo back!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Free Post Thursday – Just Visiting

Recently, I went to Lacock, and spent some time in the Cloisters at Lacock Abbey.  I have wanted to go there for ages – I love ruins anyway, as I have told you about 70,000 times (or thereabouts), and I wanted to see it because it is one of the places the Harry Potter films were, well, filmed!

Here is a shot through from one walkway through to another, and some of you may even recognise it from its role as part of Hogwarts 🙂

 

I am not a Harry Potter obsessive, although I know I’ve talked about the books and films a few times here, but I like to visit places which have appeared on screen because it gives me a chance to view them as ‘live’ places.   We get so used to seeing buildings as historical artefacts that we forget that they were once homes, offices, workplaces.  We forget they were something more than a tourist attraction.

I guess I just like to have a different point of view from which to look at a place.  I also get over-excited when I see somewhere I know on screen – when Dover Castle appeared behind Chris Pine in Into the Woods I was particularly happy because not only have I been there on a few occasions but I’ve also blogged about it, and how it’s part of coming home.  Yes, in some strange way, Chris Pine was at my place 🙂

On a more serious note, I also think visiting these places reminds us how we’ve got where we are – how we’ve changed over time. When I see that places reflecting the history of humanity are being destroyed, it feels as though we’re losing sight of all those people who came before us.

Maybe putting them on screen is another way to keep them intact for the future.

Happy visiting!

EJ

🙂

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Week 214 (because I missed one!) – Back to Normality

It’s taking me a while to get back into my normal routine. I have not done any writing since Wednesday (on my way home), and I haven’t even done any reading since Thursday.

This weekend was busy, with a friend’s art show and another friend’s public reading, a family gathering, a visit to my aged nan and a bit of shopping so I haven’t  caught up with myself over these two days, which I would normally try to do.

But I will not worry for today.  I’ll get back to it all next week, and see how far my motorway writing took me…

Due to the lack of anything writerly, I’m going to share a few moments from Germany with you. These are just some of the many pics we took.

Number 1: Free ice cream with coffee 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number 2: Wobbly buildings.  The look a little bit tipsy, like they’re holding each other up!

Number 3: A beautiful town hall with a market square (and a market, where I bought sweets, as you do…  You can just see the awnings of the stalls.  The vast majority sold foods including lots of fruit and veg, honey, sauces and spices, cheeses, breads and cooked foods like the famous German sausages).

I’ve never been so far north in Germany, and my husband has never been before, so it was great to get a chance to explore.  We were treated to some lovely home-cooked traditional German foods which I will try to recreate someday, and our forays into eateries made me realise how very expensive it is to buy food in the UK!!

I will leave it there for tonight, as it’s nearing midnight and I am close to that point where I type random words in the vague hope they make a sentence…  I’ll be back on Tuesday with at least one book to talk about, and hopefully the second is nearing completion, so I’ll see you then!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

 

 

 

 

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