Storied Women and Book Recommendations

HWWF:SW ended last week. Great course, I already miss the community. It was a lot of fun, but now it's time to get back to my regular writing schedule. As you saw from Monday's post, I'm mostly doing editing, because it would be fun to submit a few more pieces this year.

The only deadline for December (for now) is for the Cosmos Pen short story, which is nearly done, anyway. I've got a week of vacation time coming up before Christmas, and though it will mostly be taken up by activities of the present-wrapping, gingerbread-baking, and glögg-drinking variety, I'm hoping to get some writing done, maybe finish one of the stories I wrote for Storied Women. It's only  got the opening so far, but I've got it all plotted out in my head.

And now onto the book recommendations.

I had the flu a few weeks ago, and the only good thing about being sick is that you get to stay in bed and read all day without feeling guilty. I was too tired for anything too cerebral, so I picked books from my "fun book" pile.

November is definitely the best time to read Jenna Kostet's Marrasyöt. The name doesn't translate directly. "November Nights" is the literal translation, but in Finnish it also calls to mind the twelve night after Kekri (Finnish version of Halloween), when the gates between the worlds of the dead and the living are open. The novel is a detective story with speculative elements, set in the Finnish archipelago. I enjoyed it a lot, read the whole thing in one sitting. It would have been even better to read it at the summerhouse in front of a roaring fire. I think I'll give it to my mom next so she can do that if they decide to go up for a wintery weekend.

I also started Katri Alatalo's new short story collection Älä riko pintaa, set in the same word as her fantasy trilogy Mustien ruusujen maa. (The Land of the Black Roses), and am enjoying it a lot. She's doing a series of posts on her website about how the stories in the collection came into being, which is fascinating to read.

Another one I tried was Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey, and I absolutely loved it. Loved the main character who's literally been to hell and back, loved the character voice and dark humour, loved the gritty feel to it. This one's a thrill ride, if you want a vacation from reality.

What about you guys? Read any good books lately?