Ah, Gentle Reader, I was ceased with the sudden mad desire to read Tamora Pierce on Wednesday night. Possibly because I’m trying to get in touch with my teenage self while writing this Finishing School young adult series.
Well, my teenage self took over.Stupid teenage self.
It was 11:30 when I picked up First Test and I thought, “Oh I’ll just read for a half an hour or so.” Next thing I know I’m three books in and it is 3 am!
Gail Tamora & Beyond the Trope Podcasters
It’s been years since I did that. And while Alanna is my one true love, Kel can certainly sucker me in. Luckily, the forth (and longest) book in the Protector of the Small series is my least favorite, so I managed to stop reading before I lost the entire night.
The thing is, I’m definitely not 14 anymore. I just can’t get away with going to sleep at 3 in the morning. (Except perhaps at a convention once or twice a year.) People often ask why I don’t blurb. This is one of the reasons. Books suck me in. With an adult length novel, I could easily lose whole days when I should be writing. (The other reason I don’t blurb is that I used to review professionally and I’m unremittingly cruel as a result.)
Anyway, so yesterday, I was fuzzy and entirely out of it which had the direct consequence of getting me derailed into research. In Etiquette & Espionage at the moment, the young ladies of quality are having breakfast. So what did I do? Delve into the Victorian breakfasts (recipes, table settings, assessable ingredients depending on time of year, and so on) for about three hours.
Sigh. Reading has such tremendous and wide ranging consequences.
Victorians At Breakfast
The less luxurious your breakfast table is, the better, always provided you are careful to have the four essentials, – good tea, good coffee or cocoa, good bread, and sweet butter, together with a fitting supply of milk and cream. I would therefore recommend a few savoury things suitable to the several months of the year, harmless, nutritive, and easily digested.
Never forget to have a fair damask cloth upon your table; nothing shows off so sweetly the morning repast with its bright silver, its cheerful china, and the merry, hissing urn. When the months have flowers, by all means have the epergne well filled; for, as the poet beautifully says, ‘They are the smiles of God.’
From Things a Lady Would Like to Know ~ Henry Southgate
Some recent Fan Art generated by the Japanese edition of Soulless
This is a preview for Monday, Gentle Reader when you will get to see the first of the actual manage character sketches!
Quote of the Day:
“To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend; to read it for a second time is to meet an old one.”
~ Chinese Saying