#James Travis's bookshelf: read

[bachaboska]

Explore my bookshelf!

Tagged by @meadowlarkx 😘

An estimate of how many physical books I own: I have no idea and I will not count them so lets say 250.

Favorite author: I would say Jamie O'Neill but I also really enjoy books from Sarah Monette (Katherine Addison), Marlon James, Michael Nava, Colm Tóibín, Elizabeth Bear.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (when I want to suffer I just think about my financial situation - I don't need a book for that) and My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh.

A popular book I thought was just meh: Everything I've read so far by TJ Klune, Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse.

Longest book I own: To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara or the compiled editions of all of the Trilogy books by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Longest series I own all the books to: I can't really afford buying books for longer series - sometimes I get one of them from the used bookstore and then borrow the rest from the library or my friends. My bookshelves look like a battlefield - random tomes of different series scattered all over the place.

Prettiest book I own: I recently got Radical Love by Neil Blackmore and I think looks pretty good.

A book or series I wish more people knew about: At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill (I need to reread this book), The Bone Key by Sarah Monette, Tall Bones by Anna Bailey, and Bel Dame Apocrypha series by Kameron Hurley.

Book I'm reading now: Seep by Chana Porter. It's really interesting so far.

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it: I really need to get to Pilcrow by Adam Mars-Jones.

Do you have any books in a language other than English: In Polish.

Paperback, hardcover, or ebook? Depends on what I'm in the mood for.

Tagging @stellasapiente - tell me about your books Alice!

[alyosiuscreightonward]

-part two-

The 45 minute drive from Long Beach was turning into a three hour trip because it’s L.A. traffic and yes, it’s a thing, but Gerta wasn’t letting that bring her further down.

The ferry to Catalina was so close yet so far away but she just drove.

Monday, the start of the week. What? After a lazy dreary Sunday, the world needed to be ready to begin again. Ugh. Gerta’s hand trembled a little bit as she began to write down her perspective of the previous week.

There was nothing new here, wherever this is, nonetheless it’s considered unincorporated Travis County and just another typical day: just about a hundred or degrees on top of a hundred percent humidity. Gotta love telling folks, yeppers, this is Texas in all its glory.

I had come to the barn to check on things and to see if I could get a ride in on my horse, Doctor Pepper. A great steed at twelve or thirteen hands high. He knew that I was just around the corner every time since I’ve got a thing for Estée Lauder. He’d stick his head out of the stall and snuffle and then he’d be whinnying for me to say hello. The good Doctor would easily jump over the gates with such a flair and land as gracefully as Fonteyn or Villella. Well that was quickly abandoned by the sound of pickup trucks’ door slamming shut.

I turned on my heel and walked towards the sound. Before I could even get to the door of the barn, there he was. Some tall drink of water in thread bare denim and a flannel shirt that had seen better days. His cowboy boots were well worn and he had spent good money on getting them to the local cobbler pretty much on the regular.

“Howdy, I’m Derrick Saint James Smythe. I’m glad to fill in for Gallegos while he’s away,” he said in stern silky smooth voice and the way he spoke his last name, that got me. Not one fucking iota of a drawl or Texas twang. It sounded like Sin Jin Smythe. God. Damn. To the manor borne. Derrick stood just over six feet and some change. Built like brick silo.

We stood there in the doorway just eyeing each other’s stature. I’m no slouch either closing in at 5’11” and he must have been taken aback by my blonde hair and hazel eyes. As we stopped cruising each other, I said to him, “Travis. You’re years too late.” I smirked at him and continued on my way back to get Doctor Pepper ready for our morning ride.

Everything after that was a blur. I rode, jumped and got my steed safely secured in his stall. I had deliberately put him out of my mind. God. Damn. That cinnamon colored skin from being a raised on a farm. Trust me, I knew underneath it all, milky white skin due his obvious English heritage.

The itinerant Derrick was off and doing the things that need to be accomplished in the barn and our paths did not cross after the two minutes we had actually spent together. I had no idea what time it was when I heard and saw a familiar car approaching the barn. The unmistakable Land Rover Defender swerved into the nearest parking spot near the barn. The space between the lodge house and the barn had enough room for about ten cars and the Defender jerked to a stop.

The drivers side door opened and this diminutive man popped out. My dear friend, Melouk, plunked down to the caliche drive.

“Yes, my dear I have arrived with swag in tow. I’m just so excited about my new tack. After months of waiting, those handmade and monogrammed pieces are finally here,” he said. Melouk and his five foot self is a bit too much at times. “I’m off to the barn to put them down and I’ll be right there. Could you be an absolute crown roast and get something cool to drink presently?”

Melouk waved at me and went to the barn. I watched him walk towards the barn and I made my way to the lodge to fix us something. I was thinking of a Campari and soda might be perfect for such a miserable day. As I went into the lodge and got to bookshelf which served as our bar, I noticed the clock on the microwave reading 5:16 pm in its green digital display. I pulled from the cabinets some glasses, a few plates and silverware. Rummaging around in the kitchen and icebox, I whipped up a quiet little happy hour.

After a moment, I glanced over at the microwave again and saw it reads, 5:40 pm. What in the Sam Hill is going on with Melouk? I pushed the cheese and crackers out of the way and made a beeline out to the barn to ask Melouk if he was going to join me or not. As I was just about to call him out into the open, I froze.

“You okay,” Derrick’s unmistakable voice questioned.

“Mount me, stallion,” Melouk’s also unmistakable voice stated.

[hatingwithfears]

BOOKS READ IN 2022

Here’s the complete list of books I managed to read in 2022.

168 books. 54,494 pages.

Renata Adler- Speedboat

Kendra Allen- The Collection Plate

Jonathan Alter- His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life

Kenneth Anger- Hollywood Babylon

Jason Bailey- Fun City Cinema: New York City and the Movies That Made It

Peter Baker, Susan Glasser- The Divider: Trump in The White House 2017-2021

JG Ballard- The Atrocity Exhibition

Julien Barnes- Elizabeth Finch

Brit Bennett- The Vanishing Half

Charles M. Blow- The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto

Anthony Bourdain- Medium Raw

Anthony Bourdain, Laurie Woolever- World Travel: An Irreverent Guide

Box Brown- Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America

Mariah Carey, Michaela Angela Davis- The Meaning of Mariah Carey

Nick Cave & Sean O’Hagan- Faith, Hope, and Carnage

David Chang- Eat a Peach

Dan Charnas- Dilla Time

Leonard Cohen- A Ballet of Lepers

Lee Cole- Groundskeeping

Teju Cole- Black Paper

Ray Connolly- Being Elvis: A Lonely Life

Brian Contoir- Practical Alchemy

Antoine Cosse- Metax

Charles R. Cross- Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain

Daniele Cybulskie- How To Live Like a Monk

Travis Dandro- King of King Court

John Darnelle- Devil House

Michael Deforge- Heaven No Hell

Rita Dove- Playlist for the Apocalypse

David Duchovny- The Reservoir

Jennifer Egan- The Candy House

Robert Evans- The Kid Stays in The Picture

Scott Eyman- Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise

Nicolas Ferraro- Cruz

Mark Fisher- Ghosts of My Life

Mark Fisher- Capitalist Realism

Johnathan Franzen- Crossroads

Harry Freedman- Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius

Matti Friedman- Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai

James Gavin- George Michael: A Life

Lizzy Goodman- Meet Me in The Bathroom

Andrew Sean Greer- Less

Dave Grohl- The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music

Joseph Hansen- Troublemaker

Joy Harjo- Poet Warrior

Robert Harris- The Ghost Writer

Noah Hawley- Anthem

Wil Haygood- Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Film in a White World

Clinton Heylin- The Double Life of Bob Dylan

Andrew Holleran- The Kingdom of Sand

Michel Houellebecq- Serotonin

Sean Howe- Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

Dorthy B Hughes- In a Lonely Place

John Irving- The Fourth Hand

Walter Isaacson- Leonardo Da Vinci

Kazuo Ishiguro- Klara and The Sun

Junji Ito- No Longer Human

Robert Jones Jr- The Prophets

Saeed Jones- Alive at The End of the World

Stephen Graham Jones- My Heart is a Chainsaw

Rax King- Tacky

Stephen King- Billy Summers

Katie Kitamura- Intimacies

Chuck Klosterman- The Nineties

TJ Klune- Under The Whispering Door

Karl Ove Knausgaard- The Morning Star

Hideo Kojima- The Creative Dream

Milan Kundera- Slowness

Wally Lamb- I Know This Much is True

Yiyun Li- Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life

Thomas Ligotti- The Conspiracy Against The Human Race

Roger Lipsey- Make Peace Before the Sun Goes Down

Patricia Lockwood- No One is Talking About This

Ling Ma- Bliss Montage

Stuart B MacBride- Halfhead

Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner- Heat 2

Greil Marcus- Dead Elvis

Mike McCormack- Solar Bones

Jennette McCurdy- I’m Glad My Mom Died

Janelle Monae- The Memory Librarian

Ottessa Moshfegh- Lapvona

Leila Mottley- Nightcrawling

Alan Moore, Melinda Gebbie- Lost Girls

Grant Morrison- The Invisibles

Mannie Murphy- I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Sequoia Nagamatsu- How High We Go in The Dark

Joyce Carol Oates- Blonde

Joyce Carol Oates- American Melancholy

John O’Connell- Bowie’s Bookshelf

Ryan O’Connell- Just By Looking at Him

Jenny Offill- Weather

Paul Ortiz- An African American and Latinx History of The United States

Hiroko Oyamada- The Factory

Hiroko Oyamada- The Hole

Helen Oyeymi- What is Not Yours is Not Yours

James Patterson- Hear No Evil

Larissa Pham- Pop Song

Brian Phillips- Impossible Owls

Stephanie Phillips- Why Solange Matters

Keith Phipps- Age of Cage

Michael Pollan- This Is Your Mind on Plants

Richard Powers- Bewilderment

Questlove- Music is History

Kristen Radtke- Seek You

Sue Rainsford- Follow Me to Ground

Claudia Rankine- Just Us: An American Conversation

George A Romero, Daniel Kraus- The Living Dead

Karen Russell- Orange World

George Saunders- A Swim in a Pond in The Rain

George Saunders- Liberation Day

Samantha Schweblin— Fever Dream

Leonardo Sciascia- Equal Danger

Mark Seal- Leave The Gun, Take The Cannoli

Seth- Clyde Fans

Alan Sepinwall- Breaking Bad 101

Zadie Smith- Feel Free

Won-Pyung Sohn- Almond

Bob Spitz- Led Zeppelin: The Biography

Elizabeth Strout- Oh William!

J Randy Taraborrelli- The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe

Herve Le Tellier- The Anomaly

Manjit Thapp- Feelings

Olga Tokarczuk- The Books of Jacob

Jia Tolentino- Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion

Leo Trezenick- The Confession of a Mad Man

Stanley Tucci- Taste

Una- Becoming Unbecoming

Ocean Vuong- Time is a Mother

Chris Ware- Rusty Brown

WC Ware- Jimmy Corrigan

John Waters- Liarmouth

Peter Weiss- The Shadow of The Coachman’s Body

Missouri Williams- The Doloriad

Antoine Wilson- Mouth to Mouth

Sarah Winman- Still Life

Laurie Wollever- Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography

Kenneth Womack- Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and The End of The Beatles

Hanya Yanagihara- To Paradise

Ed. Jelani Cobb & David Remnick- The Matter of Black Lives

Ed. Sinead Gleeson & Kim Gordon- This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music

[vinehasnohopeleft]

A small story for the Alice's madness returns au-

+++

James was slowly becoming quite annoyed that Sam wouldn't drop this "wonderland". Pinching the bridge of his nose, he listened to the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Come on, Duncan, you silly cat." James heard Sam say. Duncan, that damned cat, was something James got the red head to feel more at home in the orphanage and now he can't tell if it did anything good or just made things worse.

"Sam! Just the person I wanted to see!" James said, turning to look at Sam. A forced smile painted both their faces. "How are you feeling?"

"Feeling alright...?" Sam replied, though, it did sound more like a question than an answer.

"That's good, up for your therapy appointment today?"

Sam rocked back on his heels and held his hands behind his back "Maybe later?".

"Alright, sounds good." James said, gritting his teeth and watch Sam walk off and out the door. He was getting no where with this kid! Was the fire that damaging to his mental state? Sam was smart and knew alot of things most men haven't yet learned, probably from spending all of his free time reading books or in wonderland. This "wonderland" was the only thing stopping James from getting to Sam and erasing his past. His eyes fell onto the cat.

"well, scram!" James practically shouted, watching as the feline bolted out the door "stupid fleabag, why did I think it was a good idea to got you?"

---

"How much longer until your out of the straitjacket?"

"How much longer until you are in one?" Travis chuckled as Sam kicked the bed he was strapped to. Travis was placed into the asylum a few months back and Sam had visited whenever he could.

"I guess I forgot to laugh." The red head replied coldly.

"I was joking, geez." Travis said.

"Well your jokes aren't very funny." Travis hummed in response as Sam replied and adjusted the chair he sat in.

"How's that cat Dr. James got you?" Travis said suddenly.

"Duncan is doing just fine."

"You named the cat Duncan?"

"Any better ideas?"

"No."

"Then stop complaining about what I named my cat." Sam said, crossing his legs and resting an elbow in his knee "I probably game him a better name than you would have."

Travis huffed, he knew Sam was right. He would've named the cat Buttons or mittens. "At least people would know I am referring to an animal-" he could barely finish his sentence before Sam used all his might to shove Travis's bed into the wall, the metal hitting the wall rang in Travis's ears and he gave a small whimper in response.

Turning to glance at Sam, he grew a little scared. He knew about the house fire, the wonderland Sam has created to cope, the people who 'tried to help' Sam. But day after day it would take Sam one wrong move to be shoved into the asylum, Sam has barely managed to avoid being caught and placed into a straitjacket.

Yes, he has spent a few nights in the place but was never truly kept. Perhaps he wasn't mad enough? Or was James just managing to keep Sam out of the asylum for a reason or another?

They finished chatting and Sam left, leaving Travis to rest his head in his pillow and sigh. He prayed that Sam wouldn't be tossed into this place.

---

Sam held the candle holder as he opened the door, the dark hall illuminated by the single Candle flame. He made his way down the hall and down the stairs. Sam held the candle out infront of his to make out the bookshelf and reading the labels, his nail tapping against the spines of each book as he scanned the shelf for a book.

"Looking for something?" Sam swiftly turned around once he heard the voice and a hand on his shoulder. The candle was inches way from James face as Sam turned to face him.

"I thought you went to bed."

"Oh, I did, I just happened to wake up around the same time you did." James replied. The redhead looked over the Doctors's clothes and could tell he was lying, he hasn't changed from this morning, which led Sam to believe that James knew what he was here for.

"So you have it?"

"Have what?"

"My book." Sam replied.

James hummed and removed the book from behind his back and held it up. "This book?"

The book in question was one Sam's mother had gave to him when he was a child. It was the other good thing that wasn't burnt in the fire and he would be damned if anything happened to it. "Yes, may I have it back?"

"Why do you wish to have it? It's caused nothing but damage." James said, fingers tightening around the spine of the book.

"It was a gift from my mom, so please, give it to me." James pondered for a minute before turning away and walking toward the living room. Sam tried to protest against his action and followed him.

A worried look soon found its way onto Sam's gave as James made his way to the fire place, that was recently lit, and looked up at James. The doctor didn't say much before lifting the book toward Sam and tossing it into the fire.

Sam hastily ran to the fire place after dropping the candle, the weak flame going out upon impact with the ground, and grabbed the metal poker to fish the book out of the fire. Sam quickly put out the mini flames the book as gotten before looking up at James, with anger and hatred replacing fear. Same stood up and ran toward his room, slamming the door. James could have sworn he heard some of the kids complaining about the sudden noise it it could've been the wind.

James turned to lock eyes with the cat. The doctor narrowed his eyes slightly before watching as the cat smiled... A large, Cheshire grin. James rubbing his eyes and looked back at the cat, Duncan no longer had the smile on his face and instead, tilted his head and meowed. James stood there and stared at the cat for a few minutes, surely the imagination was caused do to the lack of sleep and not to him becoming mad.

...right?

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Ursula K. Le Guin name: James Travis average rating: 4.25 book published: 1970 rating: 4 read at: 2020/07/24 date added: 2020/07/24 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3459644548?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[char27martin]

9 Tips for Writers from The Outsiders Author S.E. Hinton

Fifty years ago, Viking Press published S.E. Hinton’s classic The Outsiders, a mainstay in schools and a worthy novel on any young adult’s bookshelf. Part of the reason the book has stood the test of time, Hinton believes, is because readers still can relate to the emotions in the book.

In flipping through our archives, I found an interview with Hinton in the 2000 edition of Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market, written by Anne Bowling. The interview covers Hinton’s writing life, and her switch from writing young adult to focusing more on children’s picture books, like The Puppy Sister and Big David, Little David.

Below, I pulled nine writing tips from Hinton’s interview that you can apply to your writing life:

Be patient with your release:

[The Outsiders] wasn’t an overnight success. It got some attention because I was so young, but the success of it built over the years. It was definitely a word-of-mouth book.

On writing for an audience:

I wasn’t thinking about the audience, which I try never to do. You start feeling them looking over your shoulder, and you start thinking you’re going to make a mistake. I’ve never thought, “Oh, kids would like this, I’ll stick this in.” I especially don’t make that mistake when I’m writing for young adults.

I have to write a story the way I see it and take the consequences. You never can completely get the audience out of your mind once you’ve been published, and after The Outsiders, I found that very difficult to deal with. But since then, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it.

Overcoming writer’s block:

Click to order the 2017 CWIM!

Get the right boyfriend. I was in college and I was reading good writers, but at that time, I couldn’t write. I was seeing everything that was wrong with The Outsiders; I was feeling the pressure of, “What is she going to do next?” and, “She wrote this well when she was 15, and she’s going to have a masterpiece.” And I knew I didn’t have no masterpiece.

My boyfriend, who is now my husband, was saying “I don’t care if you never get published again, but you’ve got to start writing again. Enough of this gloom and doom stuff.” He said, “Write two pages a day. Nobody’s every dropped dead of two pages.” And he’d come over to take me out, and if I hadn’t done my two pages we wouldn’t go out. So that was a great motivation for writing. And I was so careful with That Was Then, This is Now—I was thinking, “I’m not going to make the mistakes I did in The Outsiders.” I did two pages, but they were hard. I didn’t put down a word that I didn’t want, and when I had a stack about the size of a book, I sent it off.

Think of all writing as practice:

The Outsiders was the third book I had written; it was just the first one I had tried to publish. The first two ended up in drawers somewhere—I used characters from them in later books, but I certainly didn’t go back and rework them. Everybody’s got to practice.

Find your reason for writing:

One reason I wrote [The Outsiders] was I wanted to read it. I couldn’t find anything that dealt realistically with teenage life. I’ve always been a good reader, but I wasn’t ready for adult books, they didn’t interest me, and I was through with all the horse books. If you wanted to read about your peer group, there was nothing to read except “Mary Jane Goes to the Prom” or “Billy Joe Hits a Home Run”—just a lot of stuff I didn’t see any relevance in.”

The key to success:

The only way you’re going to be a writer is to read all the time and then do it.

On thinking about specific writing elements:

Don’t think about what you’re doing, just keep your story going. Years later somebody’s going to write you a letter and tell you what you wrote about. So don’t worry about that part of it.

How to write believable characters:

With your characters, you have to know their astrological signs, you have to know what they eat for breakfast, and so on. That doesn’t have to come out in the book, you just have to know it anyway in defining your character. But on the other hand, no matter how well you think you’re imagining somebody, or even basing it on somebody you know, the writer is still the filter that the character goes through, so the character is still some aspect of yourself.

On writing for the young adult market:

I think the most common trap is the idea that the writer is going to take a problem and write about it: You’re going to take divorce, date rape, or drugs, and write about it, instead of thinking you’re going to take Travis, and write about him, or Rusty James, and write his story.

I think the problems are identical to the characters. One reason The Outsiders is still selling as well as it ever has, including the year the movie came out, is the kids identify with those emotions. The names of the group change, the uniforms change, but the emotions remain the same. If you’ve got ten kids in a school, they’re going to divide up into the “in” group and the “out” group.

The biggest literary agent database anywhere is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the most recent updated edition online at a discount.

If you’re an agent looking to update your information or an author interested in contributing to the GLA blog or the next edition of the book, contact Writer’s Digest Books Managing Editor Cris Freese at cris.freese@fwmedia.com.

      The post 9 Tips for Writers from The Outsiders Author S.E. Hinton appeared first on WritersDigest.com.

from Writing Editor Blogs – WritersDigest.com http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/9-tips-writers-outsiders-author-s-e-hinton

[detective-fucklizard]

author: China Miéville name: James Travis average rating: 3.74 book published: 2004 rating: 4 read at: 2020/07/24 date added: 2020/07/24 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1661589066?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Ursula K. Le Guin name: James Travis average rating: 4.09 book published: 1975 rating: 4 read at: 2020/07/24 date added: 2020/07/24 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3459613383?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Fuminori Nakamura name: James Travis average rating: 3.17 book published: 2013 rating: 4 read at: 2020/07/24 date added: 2020/07/24 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3459613248?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Fuminori Nakamura name: James Travis average rating: 3.04 book published: 2005 rating: 3 read at: 2020/07/24 date added: 2020/07/24 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3459613313?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Christopher Rowe name: James Travis average rating: 3.26 book published: 2019 rating: 4 read at: 2020/07/24 date added: 2020/07/24 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3459613254?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Hassan Blasim name: James Travis average rating: 3.46 book published: 2016 rating: 3 read at: 2020/04/17 date added: 2020/04/17 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3285777846?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: William Gibson name: James Travis average rating: 4.13 book published: 2020 rating: 3 read at: 2020/04/17 date added: 2020/04/17 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3285777976?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Octavia E. Butler name: James Travis average rating: 4.13 book published: 1984 rating: 4 read at: date added: 2020/03/01 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1898977761?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Alissa Nutting name: James Travis average rating: 3.68 book published: 2010 rating: 4 read at: 2020/02/02 date added: 2020/02/02 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3173044018?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss

[detective-fucklizard]

author: Joe Abercrombie name: James Travis average rating: 4.31 book published: 2008 rating: 4 read at: 2020/02/02 date added: 2020/02/02 shelves: review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3173043594?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss