Tag Archives: book

Love Books? Love Book Blogs?

Posted in Books by

P1020176 P1020163

I love to read. I have been an avid bookworm since I can remember, way before it was ‘cool’ to be a geek and wearing the ironic oversized thick black glasses with clear lenses. Although in my case I have such bad sight that the glasses are super strength! I also love to follow book bloggers, writers and book reviewers on twitter and bloglovin’ to find out about new releases from my fave authors, hear top recommendations in different genres and also try my hand at book competitions.

Because of this love for the written word I get quite excited when talking to others who are just as obsessed with reading as I am. Although books don’t feature all the time on Not Wed or Dead in the background I always have my nose in a book and when I realised that on twitter there isn’t a chat group for other book-nerds I decided to start one!

Which is why tonight is the first twitter book bloggers chat and I’m hosting. Eeek. I feel as nervous as when you organise a party and desperatly hope people will turn up and enjoy themselves.

If you are on twitter and have as much love for books as I do then please join us tonight (and every Tuesday evening) between 7-8pm UK time by either following @BookBlogChat or using the hashtag #bookbloggers. Each week there will be a new topic to discuss and even if you don’t have a blog that features books but just love to read and talk about books then please get involved.

Tonight’s topic is ‘Getting to know you’ as it is the first chat so it will be nice to hear from those taking part where their love of books came from. It is planned to be informal, chatty and positive as we don’t want it to become a place for bitching about other bloggers/publishing houses/authors etc or for giving unnecessarily negative and crap reviews. So get yourself on twitter, all comfy with a brew and a few biscuits and get involved at 7pm tonight!

Hope to chat to you later!

 

Catching up with Rosie Blake

Posted in Books by

BeFunky_rosieweb-image.jpg
On Friday I shared with you my review of ‘How To Get a (Love) Life’ the debut novel from Rosie Blake (you can read the full review here) which includes cackling to myself like a scary lady all alone. Classy. I contacted Rosie and she ever so kindly agreed to a little chat to talk over men, dodgy dates and tips on writing.
NWOD (Not Wed or Dead): Can you please describe your writing process? For example do you follow a strict routine that can only commence after certain rituals?
Rosie: Ha, ha, I SO want to lie and tell you that I can only write when the moon is in Sagittarius and my husband has cleaned the house but TRAGICALLY that would be a lie. I write in grabbed moments a lot of the time around a full-time job but then I take stretches of holiday where the real hard graft gets done. I have also worked out I am great in the mornings and evenings and useless in the afternoon so I tend to do my research* then.
*read faffing about

NWOD: Where do you find inspiration for your characters? Is it easier to take certain personality traits from people you know to create characters such as Caroline.
Rosie: Very few of the characters I write are based on a particular person. I genuinely enjoy creating them from scratch. Often it starts with an anecdote or a line or a feature or an idea and the rest grows from there. For example Nicola’s [the main character] cleaner, Basia, pathologically happy, is named after my Mum and her relentlessly positive attitude is an exaggeration of my own Mum’s joie de vivre.

NWOD: Have you based any of Nicola’s disastrous dates on real life experiences?
Rosie: Um… *looks at floor, prepares lie* Noooo. Maybe. Just one. Yes Chris the actor was partly true, there was a guy who spent the entire meal making me rate head shots of himself. And then he wrote down the answers in his little book.

NWOD: Tell us about publishing day did it feel like you were in a dream?
Rosie: Publishing day was amazing, and completely hectic. I don’t live in London and am also, *coughs, checks for husband*, am not the most organised or punctual of individuals. So I managed to arrange a launch party with lovely book bloggers, all the fabulous agents from Darley Anderson and… well… I was late. And then I had something to drink. And then I made a speech. So it was like a dream in that it ended up with me wondering what had happened the next morning.

NWOD: How did you stay positive and dedicated during the writing process?
Rosie: Oh this is a great question. If it cheers you up (or makes you more depressed) ‘How to Get a (Love) Life’ was actually the second novel I finished and there are plenty of other manuscripts, short stories and rejection letters sitting in drawers. I think you have to realise that you have to learn things along the way appreciate that (unless you are super lucky or super talented) it takes practice. I started getting closer and closer, placed in competitions, the odd win, requests for full manuscripts etc and I realised I was getting there. That gave me the energy to keep going. But, I hate to say it, I think you also just have to write knowing it might end in nothing, it might just be that you have to write that story down.

NWOD: Where can we find more of your work?!
Rosie: Ooh well I have written a short story for the first Sunlounger anthology, I am writing a second one for the anthology this year and I am working on Book 2 which I am LOVING with a capital LU. It has a deal in Germany already and should be out in 2015.

Thanks Rosie and if you fancy checking out this book then find her here http://www.rosieblake.co.uk or follow her on Twitter here.

If you haven’t read How to Get a (Love) Life yet it is currently on offer at a teeny tiny price of 78pence for your Kindle and you can find it here.

6a010536b33b69970b01a510797a81970c

The fault in our stars

Posted in Books by

I have just finished – no devoured- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I need to tell you about this book. Picture the scene: Me turning each near final page as my sobbing gets louder and uglier. Then slamming the book shut as I pause to gather my thoughts on what I have just read as well as wipe my tears and gather my breath before reopening the book and continuing. Thus ensuring more snotty gasping crying as well as talking out loud to the characters trying to change the outcome of the text to how I want it to end as I can’t take what is happening . Then ending the book and sitting in silence for about 5 minutes. Over dramatic? Probably but read it and then let me know!

stars book

It is about two teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and what follows is both funny, thought provoking, philosophical, romantic, and harrowing in one. You know when you are a teenager (I am still doing this now) and you start to question the reason behind everything, you know what the hell is the purpose of it all, what happens when we die and what you will leave behind? When you realise you are not invincible and that you are only on this planet for such a short time and how do you spend this time to do something that matters. That you won’t become just a distant memory for a handful of people but you actually do something to be remembered for. Then try imagining these existential questions as a teenager with terminal cancer.

This book tries to give you answers but not as if you are reading a philosophy textbook but more that you have reconnected with the younger-you that asked these questions (although I wish I was as eloquent as the main character Hazel is). This is the kind of book that when you finish it you wish you could re-read it all again but without knowing how it ends. Sometimes when you are enjoying something so much you kind of speed through it as you need to absorb it all but when it’s over you wish you had taken your time to notice every single thing. This was how I felt about Breaking Bad too!

It is full of quotes that you know will soon be spotted on Instagram pics or turned into urban art.

I fell in love the way you fall asleep. Slowly then all at once.

I die. It has won so many awards and is now being made into a film due out in the Summer. Eeek! Fault_in_our_stars

Credit: IMDB

What was the last book you read that you didn’t want to end because it was just so good?