Bits & Pieces

Bits & Pieces…

• Sunday June 10th 2022

My Reading Slump...And How I Got Out Of It.

I recently hit a reading brick wall. I just felt like I could be bothered to read anymore. Perhaps the miles on the clock had got to me. By setting up this website and associated twitter account I had created a self imposed demand to read and reviewing, perhaps the self-induced pressure to post was getting to me? But I had set it up because I enjoyed reading and reviewing so what had gone wrong, why had I lost the love?

After about a month on non reading I began to ponder. Is it just a natural cycle. If you eat cheese every day then pretty soon you're going to want a break from cheese right! But the more I subconsciously thought about the more I realised that this theory was quite right. Cheese equals books in my scenario, but that's not quite right is it. Books are are vast and varied category. Perhaps books should equal food in my scenario.

You cant get fed up of the world of food, similarly you cant get fed up of the world of books, can you?

Perhaps it was a specific sub section that was at issue rather than the whole. I looked back at what I was reading when the slump hit. I had recently reviewed a well written book about a gangsters rise up the from the bottom of society as well as reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, a classic novel about class structure and capitalism written and set in the early 1900s. Both books deal with the everyday grind about surviving poverty. Grim Realism, I have christened this strata of books. I am someone who avoids the news because it is just too depressing. So I believe I have found the reason behind my slump. Grim Realism is my brussels sprouts. A sub section of a food that I just don't get on with. Going forward I need to avoid Grim Realism (and brussel sprouts.) It's just not for me. A man's got to know his limitations.

I DNF The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist (which is an amazing book, sad to see the very same problems and political bullshit that affecting us in 1900 are exactly the same in 2022) Any way I digress back to the books. So what book should I choose to drag me out of the doldrums? When in doubt go for a safe pair of hands. I have always enjoyed Anthony Horrowitz writing. I have read his Sherlock Holmes books and his James Bond books along with his Magpie Murders books. I chose the latest Hawthorne investigates book. It's set in the real world it's just not ultra real. It's not so real that it makes you sad, it's just real enough to be enjoyable. Finished it within a week, loved it, slump over!

Now what the opposite of Grim Realism? possibly Magical Realism? I decided to download the most famous Magical Realism books One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the most famous book in the genre. 

Enough of the brussel sprouts time for some chocolate.

• Thursday 10th March 2022

I know its a bit late but here are the top  books that I enjoyed the most in 2021. Together with a fewhonourable mentions.  I think this will be the first in an annual series. Instead of Oscars I will award"Grumps" see above image. Obviously they are all differing genres and types of books, so it is like comparing apples to elephants and as such is impossible and a load of old nonsense but here goes.

So enough of this blathering, lets crack on..

BEST OVERALL

1. Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Persig (Click Here for review) 

2. Exit by Belinda Bauer (Click Here for review)

3. Slow Horses by Mick Herron (Click Here for review)

4. Dandelion by Mark Lowes (Click Here for review)

5. Devil's Advocate by Steve Cavanagh (Click Here for review)

6. The Unwanted Dead by Chris Lloyd (Click Here for review)

7. None So Blind by Alis Hawkins (Click Here for review)

8. Fatal Solution by Leslie Scase (Click Here for review)

9 Inside Out by Thorne Moore (Click Here for review)

10. August Lost by R.G. Vaughn (Click Here for review)

Honourable Mentions.

• Best Autobiographical book Fish Town by John Gerard Fagan (Click Here for review)
• Best Anthology Mists and Megaliths by Catherine McCarthy (Click Here for review)
• Most interesting format Back Stories by Simon Van der Velde (Click Here for review)

So what, If anything can we learn from the above?

I would have thought my go to books were crime fiction, which they are. However  judging by my first four picks, the ones that stay with me the most are heavier, slightly more philosophical books that aren't afraid to look into the dark psyche. Followed by less dark crime fiction. In addition I have read a fair bit of cosy crime, all of which I enjoyed immensely but they do not tend to stay with me.

So there you go.. Wonder if the trends will repeat in next Grump awards.

Monday 28th Feb 2022
Both the long list and the short list were recently announced in the Crime Cymru First Novel Competition. I had entered my novel "Blood & Lies" but sadly it didn't make either list. Gutted!

Oh well. Onwards. I need to tart it up a bit, then I think I will try submitted to a few selected publishers maybe an agent or two. If it isn't picked within say 6 months I think I may have a bash at self publishing. So that will be an adventure....😁  

• Monday 14th Feb 2022

So it was announced recently that the in person Crime Cymru Festival would be postponed until next year. I really enjoyed my first taste of a book festival in Crickhowell last year, it really whetted the appetite for the Crime Cymru Festival. I had been looking forward to this event for almost two years. The event was supposed to be held over mayday bank holiday weekend. I thought that would give us enough time to be free of covid restrictions. Sadly the organisers deemed it too much of a risk especially with the Welsh Govt being one of the strictest re Covid rules. So fair enough, better to be safe than sorry and better to cancel now that the week before. Sad but sensible decision.

On the plus side the virtual festival is back. New and improved with heavyweight authors Mark Billingham (who is always down to earth and entertaining) and Belinda Bauer whose latest book Exit I read last year and thoroughly enjoyed (click the link for review.)  One aspect of the panel line up for the virtual festival that left me slightly disappointed was that there no were no associate members on the lists. At Crickhowell I found the aspiring authors tales of trying to get a foothold in publishing to be highly interesting. That minor quibble aside I think the organisers of Crime Cymru do an absolutely amazing job and to pull a virtual festival of such quality together with such a short lead time is exceptional.

So  Aberystwyth was down the pan, we decided to range further afield and have booked accommodation at the Harrogate Festival in July. A more established festival. So it will be me and and the kids first time in Yorkshire. Just got to work out how to book to see the panels now🤔

Of course it's only a pre-cursor to the really big one Crime Cymru Festival 2023 😉