Have you started buying your summer reading books?
I absolutely had to buy “From a Buick 8”. It is my favorite Stephen King book, hands down. I have taken it out from the library so many times it is ridiculous, and I finally bought it! I dare you to read this book and tell me you did not love it!
I also got another book by Mr. King, which I have never heard of. It is pretty small, and I am betting that I can get it read in a day. Any takers? A 9 year old girl gets lost in the woods with nothing but her walkman (yes, dated). Are you familiar with Tom Gordon? Me either. I will be reading this on Sunday.
And then as I love shopping the bargain shelves, and this is where I find my favorite books, I found this little history book, which I will be reading right away. I love history anything and everything, and I cannot wait to tell you what is in this book!
Congratulations Tony on winning the drawing for the autographed Dean Koontz book. I sent an email to you, and look forward to hearing from you.
As it is officially “Black Friday”, the only store I have any desire to go to is Barnes and Noble, and bless their hearts, they do not open until 8am. There is nothing specific I have in mind that I absolutely have to get today, so I get to leisurely wander the store and see what catches my eye. I will definitely be on the look-out for anything I think my fellow readers and writers may like!
Three more days of Thanksgiving break for me, and then it is back to work for 3 weeks before Christmas break. I can honestly say I am ready to go back to work; sitting home has never been my thing, no matter how many wonderful books I have lined up to read!
It seems there is quite the battle between those who have given up their paper books for electronic readers, and those who refuse to use one. I have to admit that last year I got Barnes & Noble’s latest HD electronic reader, and have read some stories on it. I have people that ask me to review their books, and in some instances this is the only way I can access their stories.
I also said I would never own one. Because I could never give up my paper books. This is still the case. I have not even turned it on in at least 3 months. My excuse for getting it was I wanted to use it for my magazine subscriptions since I do not like throwing away magazines after I read them. I do get some subscriptions sent to my reader, but, as I haven’t used it in months, I am proving to myself that I just do not care for it all that much.
With that being said, I have crossword apps on it, and I love doing crossword puzzles. I have used it for that more than anything. But alas, I am too busy with other things to even have time for that.
I do not believe that the electronic reader will ever replace “real” books, and I would be devastated if that ever happened. But with so many authors finding it easier to publish, or self-publish this way, the brick-and-mortar publishing companies are possibly seeing a decline in manuscripts being sent to them.
Another reason I prefer real books? The fact that in most of the cases, that person writing that book had to endure the lengthy process of finding a publisher to accept their book, print it, and market it. Although I have never tried, I think it is safe to say this is no easy task. That doesn’t mean you still cannot come across a real book that does not completely suck, but the chances of you seeing spelling, grammatical, and story line errors are no where near as likely to happen.
I have read some pretty terrible things from self publishers. And I have also read the most amazing stories from self publishers.
Quote: Andy Greeley once said of the nation’s Catholic Bishops that they are “morally, intellectually, and religiously bankrupt.”
Andrew Greeley has definitely turned into one of my favorite authors. I found his books completely by accident, roaming around the aisles of my library looking for something to catch my eye. I believe it was a book from his “Irish” series, and the word Irish is indeed what caught my attention. What turned into reading a couple books over a weekend (yes, over a weekend; life was simpler then!) turned into me reading every single book I could find at my library and buy from Barnes and Noble. That these Irish stories also took place in Chicago, with references to real places in Michigan was just an added bonus for me. He wrote over 120 books, and had 10 that were on the New York Times Bestseller list, starting with The Cardinal Sins, which was published in 1981. One of Numerous Amazing Books!
He wrote numerous stories and short series with different priests in the main role, and his stories were very open and honest about how he really felt God felt about his followers. These books had swearing, and sex, and even murder, as they were fiction, but I cannot imagine anyone of any religious background, or none at all, as being offended by what these stories told.
Mr. Greeley was a Priest, Scholar, Social Critic, and avid storyteller. He was very outspoken about demanding punishment for priests who abused children, often finding himself in hot water. He became wealthy from the publication of his stories, and donated his first earned million to charity, and continued to support numerous charities throughout his lifetime.
I have to say, I am not Catholic, I have only witnessed a Catholic wedding once, I have never been to a Catholic Mass, and am only familiar with the fact that Catholics say “Hail Mary’s”, use rosary’s, and confess their sins to a priest. I in no way mean any disrespect what-so-ever. I am a Lutheran (Protestant) and was raised that way, so that is what I know. I am only pointing this out because I grasped these stories with both hands and couldn’t bear to set them down. The storytelling is incredible, and when you finish one, you cannot wait to get your hands on the next. Reading about a priest who solves murders, and has a sense of humor, is fun and refreshing. I can honestly say I was deeply saddened when I began looking into information on Mr. Greeley and discovered that after suffering a stroke, he was no longer able to write, and was incapacitated for several years. I was even more saddened to learn of his passing when it happened last year, and thinking about the happiness his stories have brought me is making this difficult to write as well. There are many, many authors whom I deeply enjoy and will read their numerous books, but there are indeed only a few who truly get their words and stories wrapped around my brain and leave an indelible mark on me forever.
My latest read I started, I have read it before, but am definitely happy to be reading this one again, and will be getting all of the books in this series. Not too many things make me happier than going to Barnes and Noble!
Title: Real Murders – An Aurora Teagarden Mystery
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime: New York
The 1st book in the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series
Main Character: Aurora Teagarden; 4’11” tall, big, round tortoise rimmed glasses, and was lucky enough to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a librarian (Oh, I wish!!)
Aurora, affectionately called Roe by those near and dear to her, is one of 12 members of a club known as “The Real Murders Club”. They meet once a month to discuss murder cases. Each person gets one month a year, and they bring in guest speakers, such as a detective that worked on the case, news reporter, or a family member.
By the time I reached chapter 3, we already had our 1st dead body. Mamie Wright, a fellow member of the Real Murders Club, is dead in the kitchen of the VFW hall where they have their monthly meetings. Found by none other than Aurora.
I will introduce you to the rest of the residents as they become more important to the story.
It has been so long since I have read this story that I really do not remember what happens, or what the body count might be by the time I make it to the end. I think I will have plenty of time to read today since the second round of Michigan blizzard is set to hit around noon.
Are you going to get some reading done this weekend?
Wishing you and yours a Blessed, Wonderful Christmas, with everything you wish for, granted. To enjoy the gift of giving, and making others happy, is what truly makes me happy!
My Christmas gift to myself is going to be a Nook HD+ 🙂 I have enough gift cards to get this this year. I have always said I will never get an electronic reader, because I love my physical books! But I will definitely be using the apps on here, as well as managing my magazine subscriptions. I stopped my subscriptions to all magazines quite some time ago; I could not stand reading something once, and then throwing it in the trash.
Environmentally, this is a wonderful idea 🙂
Has your Christmas been everything you expected or hoped for? Did you have an outrageous surprise? I would love to hear about it!
It is snowing and freezing cold out, again! Another weekend off for me means another weekend of no sleep. Hopefully I can turn that into a lot of reading and homework completed! I bought a series of books for one of my girls for Christmas, but am planning to at least get the first one read before I wrap them 🙂 I mean, I have to make sure there is nothing inappropriate, right?
These books are the “Unwind” series by author Neal Shusterman. There is the 1st book, “Unwind”, then Unwholly”, and finally “Unsouled”. (Yes, Unwholly is spelled like that; my computer doesn’t like it either!)
Book 1
The premise of this series is that there has been a second Civil War, over reproductive rights. Children are safe until the age of thirteen, and then, from 13 to 18, the parents have the option to have their child “unwound”, meaning putting all of their organs into different donors, thereby not technically ending their life.
If a child is misbehaving, he can be unwound. Rebellious? Unwound. Doesn’t fit in with social standards? Unwound. You get the idea. Yes, this seems a bit “Hunger Games” meets “Gone” meets Stephen King.
I got a deal on the books, what can I say? Barnes and Nobles really, really needs to stop sending me coupons!
Have you read these books yet? What did you think? Do you think there is an age restriction and what do you feel is too young for these books?
I will post my feedback as I work through this first book.
The latest book I grabbed off from my bookshelf is one I picked up about a year ago from a clearance table at Barnes and Noble. The synopsis on the jacket sounded interesting, and the price was right, so I figured “Why not?”
Very Good Book!
And there it sat. As I pulled out other books and read them, and pulled this one out, looked at it, and put it back on the bookshelf. Time and again. Until it was just about the last book on my shelf I had not even read once. So I started reading it this week. And boy am I ever glad I did. It is a really great story that actually holds my interest, and I am not looking at how many pages I have left to read as I have been with the last couple of books I have read.
It is a political book, which I don’t generally tend to read very many of, about the presidential election and 3 Republican candidates. One is a religious leader, one is a divorced man dating a Hollywood actress, and one is basically a puppet for another man who wants control over the internet, since he already has control over the news stations and journalists. There tends to be a lot of mud-slinging (who would of thought) along with giving the back story on the divorced man who is the central character of the story. Parents who weren’t supportive, a bright military career, current Senator, and living with the guilt of his brothers suicide as well as the loss of his navigator in the Iraq war.
I have to say the story is really less about war and politics and more about the lives of these people, and how they interact and effect each other, both good and bad.
I haven’t finished the story yet, and am forcing myself to not sneak a look at the back of the book to see if Corey Grace, the main character, wins the nomination and future election. So needless to say, I will have what is left of this book finished in short-order, because the suspense is almost too much!
booksandopinions.com 