I'm currently reading Jennifer Probst's The Marriage Bargain, because I read her wonderful writing book, Write Naked and her amazing story of how The Marriage Bargain became a NYT Bestseller, and ended up selling for a million bucks. (Apologies if I've got that order wrong.) This just does not happen for category-length books! The author's own fairy tale story, to be sure. Wonderful characterisation and dialogue in the novel, too.
On the non-fiction front I am making my way through Judging Shaw by Fintan O'Toole; it's a look at George Bernard Shaw and his GBS brand. There is an exhibition on GBS coming to New Zealand next month so I'm getting up to speed on this fascinating man, his self promotion, and lapping up his sayings. Admission: I only ever knew Shaw as the author of Pygmalion, had no idea about the whole GBS thing and how he invented himself. This book has wonderful images in it as well, and is an eye-opener. I may put it on my birthday list for the fam to consider buying me. It's a beautiful hard cover. Shaw visited New Zealand in 1934 and the public couldn't get enough of him and his superstar status.
For work, I've been making my way through a stack of local history books for an article I'm writing for a journal on a small town down south, although, to be fair, it's more like consulting the index at the back to find what I want. But it counts! That's what I'm telling myself, anyhoo. The article is due at the end of March but I have yet to start writing it. When the editor asked me the other day how it was going, I said I was 'pondering'.
And in romance fiction, I read a lovely hearth-and-home romance this week, Tina Radcliffe's Falling for the Cowgirl.
~ Joanne.
