Liz! in Adventures with Bookcases and some important news

I've not blogged about the madness that is my bookshelves for the longest time.

This Sunday past we had a "let's tidy the house" day which invariably means in Mark-speak: "Liz, you get to tackle the bookcases in the dining room and I'll clean the rest of the house and I'll be done before you".

I accepted the challenge.  I've known for some time now that I need to tidy the shelves - they've become a health and safety risk, along with the piles on the floor and the piles ontop of the piles on the floor.

I've tidied.  I "got rid" of around 200 titles.  These will either go to the charity shops down the road or to one of my blogger pals - both of whom look after libraries.   You can't actually see a that I've made a dent on the shelves, at all, which is both frightening and (I think) pretty damn cool.  Here are photos my "tidied" shelves.  There is no rhyme or reason to them - some authors are put together, but not always.  Some are by publisher, but not always. Some are literally just put together because they fit together by size - again, not always.  These shelves are all double shelved.  And these photos are only the four book cases in the dining room.  I've not yet touched the two bookcases upstairs or the three in lounge.  Please don't think I need an intervention.

Because I will fight you.

Here we go: (the text between the photos refer to the photos above the text)

The first bookcase only has two double stacked shelves on it as it also contains our glasses and music and all my creatures which don't feature in any of these pics.

This is the second large fully stacked bookcase - a lot of hardbacks are hidden away on this behind the smaller paperbacks on the front.

This is the bookcase that I tend to use and peruse the most - it is because (very deep this) it is directly in my line of sight when I sit at my spot at the dining room table.  Some of my favourite titles tend to migrate to this bookcase as I like looking at them.  Told you I was deep and complex.

This is the higgledy piggledy bookcase - this is the one next to me so I very rarely get to see what awful state it's in.  But it's the one Mark sees from his side of the dining room table.  When this bookcase gets too much is when we have the "Liz, we need to tidy the house" talk.

That's not too bad, is it?  I don't think so either.

Now, for a change of pace and the news:

My Favourite Books will be closing its blogging doors on 31st December 2012.

It's been a long time coming.   Mark, Sarah and I have been talking about this for some time and we decided that this would be our final year of posting reviews on MFB.  It's probably one of the hardest decisions we've had to make, yet also one of the easiest.

I've been running MFB since 2005/2006 - Mark joined later (I say "joined" but he was coerced and bribed with books) and then we met Sarah, and we got her to write some reviews, the bug bit and hey presto: Team MFB was born.

We've had possibly the best time running MFB.  We read widely, wildly and fell in love with a variety of characters, genres and authors.  We met a vast amount of truly great people and became good friends with all of them.  But this year, is definitely our last year of being online as Team MFB.

All three of us are fledgling writers.  I recently nabbed an agent which I'm ecstatic about.  I hope we get to sell my books.  Both Mark and Sarah are working hard at their respective manuscripts and building their craft.

As our lives are getting busier and our priorities are changing, we've decided that continuing with MFB would mean something will suffer - either the blog or our writing and everyday lives.  It wouldn't be fair on us or to the publishers and the authors whom we love for entertaining us.   You can't do something like blogging and reviewing half-heartedly.  Your readers can tell and if it's one thing we're super proud of, it is the integrity that's kept MFB afloat and our mad-love for well written stories by talented writers.

The three of us are girding our loins for the last reviewing stretch to the end of the year - as the shelves above show there are some fantastic books out there that we want to review and we hope we get to scratch the surface.

Hang out with us till the end of 2012 and we'll reward you with reviews, interviews and the occasional give-away.  I reckon this year we'll end up doing a big old Christmas give-away too as there will be a lot of books to go to new homes.

Here's to the next 88 days!

Indigo Bloggers Event

We were very lucky to be invited to the Indigo Bloggers Event held at Orion's offices last night.

This wasn't the official launch of their new Indigo imprint, but rather it was an exclusive preview and a nod of thanks to the bloggers who review Orion's existing children's list.

Sadly, I was around ten minutes late due to the Central Line dying - eejits - so I had to bus it along Oxford Street - eejits - and managed to slip in late...only to be shown to the VERY front row! I was mortified, much to everyone else's amusement.  Thanks guys!

However, the lovely Nina Douglas and Louise were on hand to get everyone else's attention yet again.  They talked enthusiastically about the books being launched from September through to April next year as part of the list:


Marcus, Sara, Kate, Sally


September 2011

Darkness Falls by Mia James - the second novel by the Mia James authors which does sound very involved and interesting and I know Sarah really did like the first novel, By Midnight.

Soul Beach by Kate Harrison - she read from the book and it is sounding very good! She also gave a little talk about the idea behind Soul Beach and what she did in her Previous Life as journalist and romance writer. 

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

Shelter by Harlan Coben

October 2011

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick - the Sedgwick also read from his new book and it sounds incredible.  The story starts in the future and moves backwards through time, basically making use of the "have you ever felt that you've lived another life" idea and toying with that.  It sounds superb.

Dark Parties by Sara Grant - who also read an extract.  I am very proud to know Sara as she is a fellow SCBWI member as well as a great writing coach and I've had the benefit of sitting through one of her classes on revising.  Listening to her read made me realise how much hard work she's put into this, her debut novel.  Sara is also one of the key members at Working Partners so she knows how stories go!  Am really looking forward to reading this dystopian novel.

White Cat - Holly Black (Love It!)

The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

November 2011

The Double Shadow by Sally Gardner - Sally read the opening sequence of her novel and on the way home Mark turned to me and said: That lady, Sally Gardner really knows how to write, doesn't she?  The words just flowed and the descriptions were amazing.  I couldn't agree more. We are looking forward to reading The Double Shadow as the concept just sounds wow.

The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima - now, I've not been saying anything about these books because I know nothing about them apart from he fact that Jenny over at Wondrous Reads is a fan.  Which is good enough for me.  I actually have the first book which I bought last year on a whim from Foyles as one of their imports and it sounds excellent.  However, Indigo/Orion confirmed that these will be released in standard sized paperbacks which is far better for me personally as I tend to read the majority of my books on commute and travelling with oversized books is not idea.




Kate chatting to us about Soul Beach


January 2012

The Hunting Ground by Cliff McNish - ah, yes.  Lovely Cliff writes deeply worrying things and I'm very much looking forward to this!

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding - Chris is a tremendously prolific writer, writing for both adults and younger readers.  Retribution Falls was published in the past by Gollancz, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Orion.  However, it was decided that Chris has such a strong following of younger readers that it would be a great idea to offer them Retribution Falls and the follow up novel, Black Lung Captain, on the Indigo imprint too.

Crossing Over by Anna Kendal - also a Gollancz release in the past, but again it was felt younger readers would love the intrigue.

The Double Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood - Sarah is also equally prolific and this is her fantasy novel for younger readers.  Adult readers would know Sarah as Sarah Pinborough who excels at writing darker fiction for adults.

February 2012

Hollow Pike by James Dawson - looking at James in Real Life you would never expect anything dark and supernatural to come from him.  However, we have it on superb authority to not be fooled by James's lovely looks because, like Cliff, looks can fool you and Hollow Pike is grim and scary and dark and wonderful.  I can't wait! Also, the cover which I did not take a photo off (sorry) is simply stunning.



Sally being utterly charming whilst talking to us about The Double Shadow

 An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons - Alan is such a mainstay of great writing and I cannot wait to read this novel about two blood brothers who grow apart.  I know he has done a tremendous amount of research to get the facts and story right for this novel and it sounds like it is one of those books that might become a game-changer.

Dark Mist Rising by Anna Kendall

March 2012

Firespell by Chloe Neill

Darkness Falls by Mia James

Raining Fire by Alan Gibbons

The Traitor's Gate by Sarah Silverwood

April 2012

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

A bright and Terrible Sword by Anna Kendall

The evening ended with much applause and we all decamped to their outside patio balcony area for air and lovely treats.   We got the chance to chat to the four authors in attendance and get all fan-girly. 

It was a really lovely evening and Mark and I are very proud to have been asked to attend.  The Indigo imprint looks like it is going from strength to strength and I wish Nina and the editors the best of luck in their new endeavour.

Also a massive shout-out to all our blogging friends who were there - it's always so great to see them all because (selfishly) events like this always make me feel like we're at some kind of convention of our own.  I know, totally self-centred but hey, what can I say? If I can't talk books and blogging to my mates, who can I talk to?

In attendance were (the ones I can remember speaking to!):

Wondrous Reads
Floor to Ceiling Books
Bookzone for Boys
Feeling Fictional
Teenage Fiction for All Ages / Eurocrime 
Books and Writers
The Bookette
Carly Bennett
Matt Teen Librarian
Serendipity Reviews

This is the original Indigo press release sent through to us a few months ago, should you be interested in reading it.

And these are the titles I nabbed for MFB's reading pleasure:

Ready Steady Book

The most excellent Mark from The Book Depository dropped me a lovely email thanking me for mentioning TBD on my MFB blog and he also let me have the link to another of his very good sites which he runs. (I don't think he ever sleeps!)

Ready Steady Books is a fantastic literary site with snippets of very useful information for booksworms, writers and publishers and other people who have an interest in the literary world.

I have also fixed the comments problems which means that those of you who are not on blogger can now leave comments. Yay! Thanks Mark for pointing the obvious mistake out to me.

Happy reading everyone!