Tuesday, April 25, 2017

The Weirdest Books on My Bookshelf

The book on my nightstand is currently The White People and Other Weird Stories by Arthur Machen. So far it holds true to its title in terms of "weird." Bonus points that Machen inspired Lovecraft. Woot! Anyway, it got me thinking about my love of weird books. Enter my list of the weirdest books on my bookshelf.

weird foreign language books

Le Petit Poisson dans un Grand Etang: A few years ago, I began teaching myself French in preparation for a trip to Paris. I did a combination of Rosetta Stone, Duolingo, and workbooks. I had read someplace that reading children’s books in the language you are learning is also beneficial, so I bought Le Petit Poisson dans un Grand Etang (The little fish in the big pond) because it looked like a cute and quirky story that was easy to read.

This book immediately put me in my place! Labeled as “kindergarten level”, I had difficulties reading from the first page. As I worked through it (with some assistance from my hubby) we discovered that this book wasn’t your typical children’s book. It was the story of a fish that has an existential crisis. Yes, you heard me right! An existential crisis. The fish questions his existence, decides to leave his home and family, and on his many adventures questions the meaning of his life. The book wouldn’t be complete without a depressing existential ending - that being that he dies at the end. This book was a 10 on the weirdness scale and made me realize that my French needed some serious work. 😝

platypus book

Platypus: This book is about the extraordinary story of how a curious creature battled the world. It uncovers the earliest theories and latest discoveries about the delightfully odd member of the animal kingdom - the platypus.

What prompted me to read an entire book about the platypus? I guess it just sounded neat, and neat it was. I pulled a lot of weird (albeit possibly useless) knowledge from this book. For example, did you know that the platypus has a stinger? Look it up!

flying spaghettit monster

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: This book is completely silly, but impressively creative. It provides some really interesting ways to think about religion and the world in a funny, weird way. The pictures also really add to the hilarity.


Case and point...






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What are the weirdest books on your bookshelf? Can they top my list?

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Writing Update - A Darling Secret

I know I haven't been posting much lately. I'm in the final writing stages of Book III in the Strange Luck series (A Darling Secret).

As of this week, I'm pleased to report that I've officially surpassed the length of The Nightmare Birds. If all goes well, the book will be finished by the end of the month. Woot!

I'm so excited that the series will be coming to a close soon, and that Daisy will finally discover her true self, but I'm also quite sad that it will be over. :( I've really enjoyed getting to know these characters and sharing their stories. It has been SOOOOOOO much fun writing these books and creating these worlds. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself once it's over.

Is it weird that I grieve over my own characters???

Each of my books has focused on a different theme. In Strange Luck it was memories. In The Nightmare Birds is was meaning. A Darling Secret will focus on strength. My hope is that this final book will be even more intense, magical, dark, and full of surprises than the first two, and that overall, this series will be something that will stay with you forever. I can only hope you'll agree when you read it. :D

More details to come soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a book to write...