The Week That Was #4
Sometimes I feel like these The Week That Was posts are full of excuses. It may be that a pattern is emerging. But this time I have a really good excuse as the week was brought to a close in a most drama-filled fashion. If I am ever reincarnated – as anything at all – I will not be having children. So for this week:
I read – (1) Mr Romanov’s Garden in the Sky by Robert Newton. It’s a middle-grade book #LoveOZKidLit and Robert Newton hasn’t written a book I haven’t loved yet. When this arrived for review, I read the blurb and stayed where I was until it was read. I wasn’t disappointed.
I read (2) Nevernight – Jay Kristoff. This one has been sitting on my desk since my birthday in September waiting for the right moment to read it from start to finish. I thought that would be my annual January holiday but not so – as I ended up unholidaying (see my earlier comment about not having children). Last weekend, when I desperately needed a distraction, the wonderful worldbuilding, characterisation, background history footnotes and storytelling of Nevernight kept me sane.
I smiled at – this quote posted on Twitter by @aussiepicturebooks from @lyndajdickson at BooksDirect
“Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are.” – Mason Cooley
That was me on the weekend, reading Nevernight. How does Twitter know this stuff?
I began – zero inboxing with a little help from Trello. If it’s not done and filed on the spot, it’s prioritised and Trelloed (my new favourite verb). And if it never makes it to the top of a Trello list – it just wasn’t important. So far it’s working but it’s early days.
I reviewed – for the Funday section in the Sunday Telegraph – (1) What Do They Do With All the Poo from All the Animals in the Zoo – a fun rhyming picture book from Anh Do and Laura Wood and (2) 400 Minutes of Danger by Jack Heath. This had been sitting on my desk for longer than usual and now I’m wondering why. Maybe because the cover didn’t grab me. But the writing did. Middle-grade at it’s most action-packed and frenetic (while being clever at the same time) in ten short stories. Wonderful. Easiest review I’ve ever written. I’ll can see I’ll probably be reading, reviewing and recommending more Jack Heath titles.
I blogged – about paper made from poo (No, this is not a pattern despite the review above) – The books of the future could be made from elephant dung
I wrote – a chapter of Algernon and the Outside Girl. I am still exploring the plot options – so lots of potentially unnecessary writing – but that’s the way I write and roll – and it seems to have worked so far.
I taught myself – about swordtails, x-wings and colour chains. That’s sudoku talk. I’m trying to exercise my brain.
I worried – about the world. I was not alone.
