Colourful bookshelves

I was a little bored a couple of weeks ago, and re-ordered two of my bookshelves by colour.

It's a little messy (these are mostly fiction books so come in all shapes and sizes) but it's always nice to walk past and see!

Time well spent. If only I could take all my other books out of cupboards and do this over even more bookshelves...

100 book challenge - the story so far

At the start of the year I said my goal was to read 100 books in 2012.

It's going ok so far... (an inner ear has forced me to be more idle than normal, allowing for more reading time).

20 down, 80 to go.

Here's what I've read so far (you should be able to click on the cover to see more details):

Laura's favorite books »

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Script Frenzy 2012

"Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April. Screenplays, stage plays, web series, TV shows, short films, and graphic novels are all welcome."

I'm going to write a screenplay for this year's Script Frenzy. It's been rattling around in my head for ages - since last year, in fact, when I came up with an idea for Coming Up (a competition I didn't enter as my treatment made it clear I was writing a feature).

Script Frenzy prompted me to give a film poster style 'my film is x meets y' for the screenplay, which was fun. I've had to come up with a tentative title too.

[ start film trailer voice ]


In April 2012, Alien meets Bluebeard in 'Into the Deep,'  a new screenplay by Laura Anne Anderson.


[ end film trailer voice ]


If you're on Script Frenzy already, do pop by and say hi, add me to your buddies etc - view my Script Frenzy profile.

Review - The Stone Gods

The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Right. RIGHT... Right.

Second book in a row that I've had rather conflicted feelings about. The quality of writing is high, no doubt about that. The concept is fantastic, and I almost felt like I was reading Atwood.

The book is sectional, however I shall go into absolutely no details at all as it would give everything away. The first section drew me in so completely, so deeply, that I didn't want it to end. While the other sections were good, they just weren't the same for me: I never got drawn into their storylines. The first half of the last section (!) almost put me off the book, as it felt almost unnecessary.

I think perhaps I didn't find the characters absorbing enough, nor deep enough. I can't put my finger on it, which is of no use to anyone.

Anyway, ultimately I did like this and would recommend it. I've read Winterson's 'Weight' in the past and thoroughly enjoyed it, will read more of her work in the future.

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Review - Baba Yaga Laid an Egg

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hmm. This is a tricky one to review, as I have hugely mixed feelings about it.

The first section, the story of an author, her mother, and their relationship with another woman, was interesting. The second, of three elderly ladies who go to a spa together, was just incredible, beautiful, will not forget it. The third section, a critical review and summary of the fairy tales used in parts one and two, just felt overlong, although it was interesting once more.

Without giving away any actual plot points, I feel like I could have read a whole book just on section two and been none the worse off for it.

Still, I enjoyed this and will now seek out more of the author's work. This is another person I met when working at the Edinburgh Book Festival but hadn't actually read - oh, the regret!

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