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Friday Fun Facts!

Angela7 Comments

It has been a long time since I have done a Friday Fun Facts post, and it is long overdue. Today’s topic: Bizarre book facts.

  • Best selling book of all time: The Holy Bible
  • Book that is stolen the most: I have seen two different answers on this, with the Bible being one; but the book I saw referenced the most is The Guinness Book of World Records.

  • Guinness world record by tattered cover
    Photo from Guinness World Records
  • Longest book to date: A la recherche du temps perduby Marcel Proust contains an estimated 9,609,000 characters (each letter counts as one character. Spaces are also counted, as one character each). The title translates to “Remembrance of Things Past“.

  • Marcel Proust cover image
    Photo from Pinterest
  • Author with most published books: L. Ron Hubbard, with 1,084 published works.

  • L Ron Hubbard cover image from Goodreads
    photo from Goodreads
  • Most expensive book: Bay Psalm Book; auctioned for 14,165,000.00 at Sotheby’s.

  • Bay Psalm Book image from Reuters
    Image from Reuters; Carlo Allegri
  • Oldest story known: The Epic of Gilgamesh; written on clay tablets between 2700-2500 BC.

  • Epic of Gilgamesh image
    Photo from Ancient History Encyclopedia

 

Do you know of any strange or fun facts about books? I would love to hear them!

References:
1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/248141/most-read-books-in-the-world/
2: http://mb.ntdin.tv/en/article/english/stolen-book-guinness-book-world-records-10-fun-facts-never-imagine
3: Guinness World Records
4: https://malwarwickonbooks.com/who-has-written-the-most-books/5:
5: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10475282/The-worlds-most-expensive-books.html
6: https://andyrossagency.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/the-first-book-ever-written/

 

 

 

 

Double Fudge Brownie Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery– Joanne Fluke

Angela8 Comments

It has been quite a while since I have read one of the Hannah Swensen mysteries by Joanne Fluke. They are all titled with fun food references, such as Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (book 1), Carrot Cake Murder (book 10), and Raspberry Danish Murder (book 22). I am currently reading book 19, The Wedding Cake Murder. The Double Fudge Brownie Murder that I am reviewing here is book 18.

Double Fudge Brownie Cover Image

Although I know I have not read all of the books up to book 19 that I am on now, I would say by looking at all of the covers and titles, I have read about 14 or 15 over the years. Hannah Swensen owns a bakery, and is the classic cozy-mystery heroine whom solves the murder case in each story. These books are significantly longer than most cozy mysteries, and they also contain several wonderful recipes throughout the story.

Hannah has her mother and two sisters in her life, a fluffy orange and white tomcat, as well as her assistant at her bakery; Lisa. She has two men in her life throughout this series, Norman and Mike. Both love her, she loves them, and they are obviously aware of the other being in Hannah’s life. Traditional to a cozy mystery, there is no swearing, graphic murder scenes, or sexual innuendos or unbearable scenes to read through.

I will not go into too many details on this story, in order to avoid spoilers, but Hannah and her sisters are helping their mother get married, and they all enjoy a trip to Las Vegas for the nuptials. What Hannah does not know, is that she is in for her own surprise in Las Vegas. This helps to keep her in positive spirits as she knows when she returns home she has to go to trial for an involuntary manslaughter charge from an accident she had (I am guessing in the book immediately before this, that I have not read). Finding the Judge who is going to try the case bludgeoned to death with his own gavel gives Hannah a lot more to worry about!

You can find all of the book titles here: Hannah Swensen Mysteries by Joanne Fluke

I highly recommend all of the Hannah Swensen mysteries! Have you read any of the Hannah Swensen mysteries?

It’s Time To Put Down The Iron…

Angela18 Comments

…and pick up the pen!

I have been investing a lot of time trying to make my Etsy store better; with bookish gifts for everyone. It has also kept me from writing my 2 books.

I will admit first and foremost; I am afraid to finish these books; only to be told they are rubbish. So I bide my time doing any number of other things in order to leave them sit in my files; rotting and angry because they have a story to tell.

My poor characters want to be heard; and I continue to silence them. It is time to give them the recognition they deserve; because if I do not speak for them; no one will.

What keeps you from writing?

 

 

Crafting and Reading!

Angela14 Comments

Well, mainly crafting; I don’t count all the Nancy Drew books I have been going through as heavy reading, as I can read one in a couple hours.

New Christmas ornaments are going into my store; slowly but surely. Yes: I said the naughty “C” word, and believe-you-me, I could wait about 11 1/2 more months for it to get here if it were up to me.

DSC_0001 (2)DSC_0003 (2)

I will have some baby onesies (bookish-themed, of course), in the next couple of days, as well as personalized book boxes for anniversaries and other gift ideas.

If I had more patience with my Cricut machine, I would be a lot farther along than I am. Luckily, my 17 year old is awesome at weeding vinyl letters 😉  I am also working on some more book bags, with a variety of images available.

There is not much in it at the moment, but you can find my Etsy store here: Books and Opinions Etsy Store

What is keeping you from reading at the moment?

The President is Missing…

Angela14 Comments

…I loved it; liked it; had a few moments of mehhhhh.

It takes a LOT of hype to get me to buy a book outright, but I really wanted to read this one. I am glad to have it in my library, and to be able to loan it to friends. But I would not read it again. I am a huge fan of re-reading books, so I felt a little let down.

The President is Missing

I feel at this point that so many people have read this book that my review would mean nil, so I am not writing a review here.

I am more curious about how all of you felt about this book?

I am a huge fan of Patterson, and have no issues with Bill Clinton (Yes, as a woman and the whole scandal; sorry, but I do not care).

Did you read this? What did you think?

Personalized Book Boxes

Angela47 Comments

Yes; this is what I am doing after working 10+ hours a day and not reading your books!

None of these are completed, and all need some alcohol ink and a whole lot of resin!

Another vacation is forthcoming, along with 4 book reviews for what I have read in the last 2 weeks.

What are you reading right now? I am missing reading my cozy mysteries as I am in the middle of writing two!

I Really Never Went Anywhere…

Angela3 Comments

…but it has been a helluva few weeks for me.

I am still writing, and reading. I am currently taking the week off from work because my youngest, my last high school freshman, has major pre-band-camp practices all week.

I know I don’t usually get too personal here, but I am pretty sure my followers know I am a single Mom of four daughters.

Last Thursday; I put my 2nd oldest, my 20 year old, on a plane to move to Colorado. All my girls and I were able to have a last night together and a sleep-over at my oldest daughters house, and I had a panic attack as soon as I walked in her apartment. It’s been a long time since I slept somewhere other than my bed, but we swam, hit 3 different drive-thru restaurants so we could all get what we wanted to eat, and played Mario Cart for hours.

my girls 8-3-18

My anxiety had been 150% this week coming up to her leaving, and I thought it would stop once she got there; but it has not…

So I’ve been working on stuff for my Etsy store.

Not impressed….

Christmas Ornaments 12018-08-06 16.54.41

2018-08-06 16.53.34.jpg
Yes; I had a problem with the first W

Still working on the book boxes; trying to get the 3-D effect on the paint.

I haven’t given up on my cozy mysteries; but I have Stephen King’s Outsiders, and Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s The President is Missing. I officially got the diagnosis that my Nook has died; and honestly, I don’t care about the books, but I am really pissed about my Townspeople who are dying in my app….

As soon as I get caught up on Castle Rock, Shameless, and the Kardashians, I will be right on it!

The New Writing Machine…

Angela36 Comments

…so I honestly have been putting off getting a new laptop, for several reasons.

My laptop of almost 7 years was my best friend. It helped me create 3 blogs, edit thousands of photos, and never shut down because it was tired.

It did NOT have Windows 10, which I loathe, and everything was right at my fingertips.

But it did indeed get tired. And would not turn on if it wasn’t plugged in; and would never charge.

So for the past two hours, I have been “setting up” my new laptop. I have logged in codes and passwords 37 times (I wish I was lying, but I’m not), and am still fighting to get Office downloaded so I can get my books saved on here.

I had to force it to download Chrome so I can function like I am used to, and does anyone really use Bing?

No; seriously…does anyone use Bing?

All of this so I can focus on getting my stories cleaned up, and start submitting to agents.

I know it will all be worth it in the end, because I truly feel my stories will bring joy to others.

Microsoft 10: you bring no joy to me 😦

Coming Out of The Writing Closet

Angela42 Comments

It is scary; painful, and putting yourself out there for everyone to judge.

I have been writing stories for 30 years, and have 4 different stories completely written.

Am I ready to share them? Hell NO!

But no one ever wrote the next great book by saving them in their Word file.

I wrote a letter to an author who captured me in 1987; and he encouraged me and helped me.

Yet I keep these stories hidden.

I have over 3000 followers on my blog where I review books. Am I strong enough to let someone review MY book?

How do you authors do it? I have to learn to do this. I have something to share, in many ways. Cozy mysteries, dramas, and fantasy.

I have gotten to a point in my life that I truly believe; it is now or never.

Fingers crossed; I am scouting an agent, and hoping for the best!

 

Old School Book Favorites!

Angela54 Comments

I was a voracious reader growing up; I would read a book in a day, easily, and quickly collected quite the collection of books in my preteen and teen years by going to the grocery store with my Mom. They had a section of paperbacks, and I got one on every trip. The fact that I had the book read before I went to bed that night did not please her any, but I always reread my books. I lost so many of those paperbacks when they were stored in my parent’s basement and they had a water issue. To replace them now is near impossible as these older books are very expensive.

If you have followed me for a while you know that William W. Johnstone was my favorite author as a teen, and I could not read his horror stories fast enough. I honestly cannot believe my Mom bought them for me, considering what the covers looked like. Go Mom! “Rockinghorse” sent me down a path that literally had me typing a letter to him on my sister’s typewriter, telling him how much his story inspired me, and that I wanted to become a writer. It led to several back-and-forth correspondences, and I am so blessed that he sent me a couple autographed books which are among my prized possessions. As well as the letters I received from him. He went on to write many Western series, which have always been on the best-sellers lists.

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators were another set of books I always checked out of the school library. I read the series several times, but unfortunately now, they have become collector’s prizes and to even get a hard cover book is very expensive.

Encyclopedia Brown anyone? How I loved those stories. And who could ever not read Beverly Cleary? She got me through some tough teenage angst! And my favorite elementary school book was “The Adventures of the Black Hand Gang”. A picture after every 2-3 page story for you to figure out the clues. That one will set you back over $30.00 if you try to buy it now. I have my beat-up-worn-out-copy in my library.

Adventures of the Black Hand Gang Cover Image

What are your favorite books that you cannot let go of?