A month or so ago, I posted about a contest Shiloh Walker was doing for her new release, The Missing. If you still haven't read that, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?? After reading Hunter's Choice in the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance, which was the first time I had the privilege of reading her work, I was hooked!! She has a way of writing that really brings her characters to life.
So, in that vein, she's announced her newest, Fragile, will be released in February and I'm just passing the word. Click that link and you can pre-order now. In the meantime, here's the blurb. Enjoy!
BATTLE SCARRED
Six years after trading in his combat
gear for hospital scrubs, Luke Rafferty still hasn’t found what he’s
been searching for: a normal life.At his job, Luke is
faced with things just as heartbreaking as those on the battlefield,
none more so than the abused children brought in by a pretty red-headed
social worker.
HEARTBROKEN
For Devon Manning, being a social worker is a rewarding job, but also a constant reminder of her own troubled youth. Devon takes everything one day at a time—unable to form a relationship with anyone except the children she rescues.
A DESIRE TO HEAL…
When Luke meets Devon, he
thinks he might have found what he’s been looking for, but in order to
get the life he wants, Luke has to break through Devon’s emotional
barriers and make her realize that his healing touch might be just the
complication her life needs…
And there you have it!
If you can't wait for this one to come, you can order The Missing or, if you want to try a short story and love vampires as much as I do, you can read her, along with several other awesome authors in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance. But either way, read her.
When the movie, Nights in Rodanthe was in theaters a couple of months ago, I picked up the book on a whim, intrigued by the idea of a love story involving more mature lovers.Though I’ve only read one other book by Mr. Sparks (The Notebook, years ago), I felt I was familiar enough with his style to expect a story simply told, simply written, likely with a sentimental message.In that respect, the book didn’t disappoint.
Nights in Rodanthe tells the story of Adrienne, a woman whose recent divorce has left her withdrawn and hopeless, having given up on love and on life, seeming to exist solely for her children and her ill, elderly father.Through rather interesting if unlikely circumstance, she meets Paul, a man who has just voluntarily given up the life he’d always known, looking for something more fulfilling, and trying to find his way back to his estranged son.
As much as I love the idea of two people meeting later in life, when both are older and wiser, and having the meeting change both of their lives, for me it didn’t quite work here as well as I’d hoped.Perhaps if their affair had taken place over the course of weeks or months rather than a few secluded days, I would have felt as much faith as we are to believe the characters did.I felt that the author held back too much of the “getting to know you” moments and as a result, I was left feeling that they didn’t really know one another enough to have had a life-altering experience.Yes, yes, I know; it’s supposed to be a “once in a lifetime love”, but for me, it fell a bit flat.Maybe I just can’t suspend my disbelief that much.
The story is told in flashbacks as Adrienne finally shares the details of her secret affair with her daughter, who is at a place in her life where she, too, needs to believe again.This aspect of the story, to me, was the most moving.I enjoyed the moments between mother and daughter, and could relate to the idea that a mother will dig to the depths of her soul and lay it bare in the effort to take away her child’s pain.I’ll even admit to getting misty toward the end.The comparison of Adrienne giving of herself for her child’s sake with Paul doing something similar works well, and evokes the expected emotion.
Nicholas Sparks’ writing style is spare, sparsely detailed, and there was a brief POV switch in the middle that threw me for a moment, but didn’t prove too jarring.It’s a definite “quick read” at 222 pages.Maybe that was the problem for me; had the relationship been expanded, even just a bit more, and the characters’ psyches delved into more deeply, I may have found the story ultimately more credible and moving.As it is, I was left wanting more – more evidence of great love, of a life-changing connection being forged.
Perhaps, too, the very briefly mentioned physical expressions of such a strong and seemingly significant love between the two left me feeling a bit short-changed.Detailed love scenes are certainly not always necessary to depict the emotion between two characters, but the skirting around it that was done here seemed a bit of a cop-out, as though the author didn’t want to explore it in such depth, and rather wants the reader to take his word for it that it was passionate and meaningful.The reason for the omission given by the character of Adrienne – that she backs off from relaying such a personal thing to her daughter due to a sense of propriety – winds up feeling contrived, a rather flimsy excuse tossed in so the author could avoid the attempt, in my opinion.Not being familiar with enough of his other works to know, I can’t say if it’s simply his style.But combined with the lack of depth shown in the relationship itself, the omission only added to my remaining largely unconvinced that the love between the Adrienne and Paul could have had the hugely significant impact we are told it does.
Despite all of this, Nights in Rodanthe is not a bad book; I did enjoy reading it. I would say that if you are looking for a quick read, a sweet story with a few tears wrenched out of you by the end, you won’t be disappointed.But if you are looking for in-depth characters, the type who are written in a way that makes you truly feel what they are feeling, with a well-rounded, credible storyline, you may want to look elsewhere.
While the masses move on to Kindles and electronic reading
devices, I dip my toe into the world of audio books. It started with Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I freely
admit that I’m obsessed with Gabaldon’s characters, Jamie and Claire and their
entire family. But when I heard Devina Porter’s voice they absolutely came to
life.
Another aspect of audio books gives me the freedom to sit
and knit or sew, or fold laundry if I must truly do chores while remaining in
the book’s world. I’ve gotten so accustomed to audio books that I find it
awkward to pick up a book because I can’t hold my knitting needles as the same
time.
Now that I’ve found this wonder land, I’m finding there are
pitfalls – books and voices that don’t invite me in quite as completely and
delightfully as Devina and the Outlander series. Thankfully, on Audible.com I
can pre-listen to an excerpt to see if the book, reader and I are compatible.
Almost like that E-Harmony dating service – or so I’ve heard.
Perhaps I am a purist, but I only want to listen to
unabridged books, which means not a single word has been omitted. The abridged
versions may be fine, but not for me. And as a writer, I would like to think
that what I write requires every word I’ve included. Outlander has approximately 32 CDs for the one book – I thought
that daunting, but once immersed in the story, the action flies by much too
quickly and 32 CDs just means I get to spend more time with Jamie and Claire.
One book I can highly recommend, in addition to all of the
Gabaldon books read by Devina, is Vanishing
Acts written by Jodi Picoult from Recorded Books .
I’ve read Picoult in the ‘old fashioned’ way and thoroughly
adored her writing. She has this magical way of twining such fascinating
subjects together – magic and search and rescue and love triangles and
alcoholism and fathers and childhood memories – in this book at least. I always
learn something when reading her books and while listening to Vanishing Acts, I truly appreciated
Picoult’s talent. Not every book was made to be read aloud. Hers works
exceptionally well and the pace was perfect because it is a book that requires
some thought, some mulling over and the slower pace of the readers words worked
perfectly with my brain’s timing. The readers are: Jonathan Davis, Julia
Gibson, Jim Jenner, Robert Ramirez and Sharon Washington.
I have also enjoyed an audio book of one of Lillian Jackson
Braun’s Cat Who mystery series read by George Guidall. If you visit Amazon.com
and click onto George’s name or any narrator/reader’s name, you’ll find a list
of other works they have recorded. Guidall also has narrated: Extreme Measures and other novels by
Vince Flynn, The Notebook by Nicholas
Sparks, Night by Elie Wiesel, and Wolves of the Calla and several other novels
by Stephen King.
Friends have made some suggestions. One recommended Barbara
Kingsolver reading her own works. (Poisonwood
Bible, etc.) Another, who can only listen to nonfiction and must read
fiction gladly suggested Devil in the
White City by Erik Larson, but didn’t mention who did the reading. I
suspect it was Scott Brick. Scott has gotten rave reviews by a few other
friends, too. He narrates along with a cast of other voices the sci-fi classic Dune by Frank Herbert.
I also asked for recommendations from members of my favorite
mystery list: DorothyL which resulted in an interesting discussion of readers
as well as suggested listening. Someone offered the Ian Rankin Rebus series,
but couldn’t remember the reader’s name. I believe it is James Macpherson.
Joe Mantegna’s reading of the Spenser series written by
Robert. B. Parker received several positive comments. One member mentioned
that, “ Mantegna captures the poetic rhythm that Parker writes into his
dialog.”
Also anything read by Barbara Rosenblatt got a thumbs up.
She reads among other things the Lisa Scottoline, Linda Fairstein, Sarah Graves
and Diane Mott Davidson mysteries.
Other recommended readers:
Dick Hill
Phil Gigante (reads Karen Moning’s Beyond the Highland Mist)
Jeff Woodman
John McDonough who reads Jan Karon’s Mitford series.
One that might be a real winner during the Christmas season
– Charles Dicken’s classic A Christmas
Carol as read by Orson Welles.
If still in doubt who to listen to, check out the awards
list. Yes, in addition to Emmys and Edgars, Golden Globes and Tonys, there are
Audies – awarded by the Audio Publishers Association. The 2008 winners list
offers an opportunity read an excerpt and of course listen as well. Audio File
Magazine offers reviews as well as excerpts. I listened to Sue Monk Kidd’s
“Secret Life of Bees” – I think its one I would want to listen to from
beginning to end. A brief listen to Xanthe Elbrick’s reading of Kathleen
Woodiwiss’s Everlasting leaves me
entranced by her delightful voice. And listen to some of the children’s books.
Jessica Almasay’s narration of Clementine by Sara Pennypacker is especially
fun. Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci invited me right into The One and Only Shrek by William Steig and I was bereft when the
excerpt ended. I am afraid that this may be the next book I must download.
Most public libraries have a healthy collection of audio
books including some classics I haven’t been able to wade through the ‘old
fashioned’ way, but maybe by listening and knitting my way through them, I can
find a better way to appreciate the old masters. And I can’t think of a more
exciting adventure than to give voice to some of my old favorites – Little
Women by Louisa May Alcott or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte or….
Of course you can listen to them anywhere now that Ipods and
MP3 players are the norm. Downloads of audio books are readily available. In
your car, on a walk, in a plane, or while munching celery stalks (poetry is not
my forte) – you get the picture. One person suggested downloading several books
on her electronic device, changing the titles so that censors and customs and
border police can’t discern that they are contraband and take them along on
news assignments or vacation. Much lighter to transport than the paper and ink
books. And obviously much easier to smuggle.Now, that’s an aspect of audio books you may not have considered…. -- Clio
I didn’t read juvenile fiction when I was a juvenile, so you
can imagine my surprise that I’ve recently enjoyed so much fiction geared
toward young adult readers. Perhaps I’ve hit my second childhood?
During the first adolescence I read books like Exodus by Leon Uris, Hawaii by James Michener, and various classics – Dickens, Bronte, Salinger. Plus
Taylor Caldwell’s massive tombs and Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt’s gothic
romances and well, biographies and histories and…. You get the picture.
But when Harry Potter came along, I was sucked into the
series along with the international mass of readers who have turned Harry’s
creator into a billionaire. Did you hear? J.K. Rowling tops Forbes list of wealthiest
authors with a whopping 300 million earned just this PAST YEAR?)
Over the years I managed to withstand Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Anne Rice’s vampire series
and Buffy and Angel and friends. But now, I find myself stuck on, of all
things, a vampire teenage love story. Well, the girl is seventeen when the
story begins, the guy hmmmm more like seventeen for the past 100 years. Yes,
I’m talking about Twilight by
Stephenie Meyer. Bella and Edward.
I’ve heard the rumblings that some of Meyer’s fans have
turned on her, are in an uproar about the final book (Breaking Dawn) of the series. Jane,
a reviewer at the blog site Dear Author breaks the series down this way: “I
totally loved Twilight, was less than enthralled with New Moon, watched the
wheels fall off the bus in Eclipse, and now have come to this sad and somewhat
crazy conclusion.” She speculates that Breaking
Dawn reads more like a compilation of fan fictions.
I’ve heard that Bella ends up with the wrong guy. I’ve only
read the first book, so I didn’t know that there’s another guy vying for
Bella’s affections. As soon as I get my hands on the second book of the series,
New Moon, I’ll have a better idea of
what the hubbub is all about. I’ve also heard the hype and read the first chapter
of the unfinished manuscript Midnight Sun
released on Meyer’s official website. This manuscript posting resulted from the
actions of a trusted friend posting her copy online, breaking copyright
infringement laws willy nilly, not to mention damaging a friendship. In Midnight Sun the author ventures into
telling the first book (Twilight)
from Edward’s point of view. From reading that first chapter, my interest is
definitely piqued.
Even if I never read another book of the series (like that’s
going to happen!), I am amazed to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this little
play on Romeo and Juliet meets Moonlight
(TV series) and (now I’m revealing age) the soap opera Dark Shadows. Ohhhh Barnabus how we loved you back in the 1960s –
and how our mothers worried that our little Ids would be damaged by such an
evil-worshipping soap opera. What is it about young women (and not so young)
that ‘bad boys/men’ seem irresistible. In my mother’s day it was Valentino and
later Clark Gable of Rhett Butler/Gone
with the Wind fame. In my mother-in-law’s day, it was Bogart, Marlon
Brando, Elvis Presley, James Dean. Come to think of it, there seemed to be an
abundance of bad boy heroes and celebrities during the war years and into the
50s. Having raised two sons, I’m not sure who the baddie romantic interests
were of their generation – Sean Penn? Rockers like Axel Rose?
But, back to Twilight.
If you have not heard of this book, let me ask -- Where have you been? If you
have, then you’ve probably already read it at least twice. The premise seems
like a straight forward girl meets boy with all of the angst and moodiness of
adolescence. Bella Swan – I know, I know, a little to Hans Christian
Andersen-ish-- has exiled herself to a dark and dreary spit of land in the rainy
Pacific Northwest: Fork, Washington.
(Put a fork in it, it’s done!)
She moves back to live with her father, a man who lives for
sports and fishing. Bella exiled herself to give her flakey mother freedom to
forge a life with her new love. Bella has been the adult in the family since
she was old enough to walk, living with, protecting and trying to please her
dear old mum who absconded with her baby daughter to Arizona, leaving a bewildered and
heartbroken husband behind. Bella, one of those rare heroines who can not only
kick butt, but can also cook and clean and do domestic chores, lives to nurture.
She takes care of people and even when behaving like a sullen teen, she wants
people to like her.
A review posted by Sarah on Smart Bitches site describes
Bella well and hits on many of the series’ weaknesses. Sarah writes, “But what
really bothers me is the degree to which Bella subsumes her identity at every
turn. She inserts herself into her father’s home by doing the things that will
make him happy…. She inserts herself into Edward’s world by doing the same -
the biggest show of spine she has is asking a shit ton of questions, but mostly
only with his permission to do so.”
On Bella’s first day at the new high school, she sees a
group of beautiful students sitting together, isolated from the majority of the
student population. They look like an exclusive club of Greek gods, perfection.
Bella’s new friends quickly inform her about the Cullen clan, a group of five foster
and adopted children of a much admired surgeon and his wife.
The first meeting between Bella and Edward -- one of the
Cullen kids -- goes less than perfect. His attitude toward her was described as
“if looks could kill.” Of course the biology teacher assigns them as lab partners,
forcing the young couple together for at least one class a day. The problem, we
eventually discover is that Bella has the sweetest blood and Edward wants
nothing more than to taste her, ravish her, kill her. At the same time he’s
frustrated because Bella’s thoughts are the only ones he cannot read and he’s
developing an overwhelming need to protect her. Well, since this is basically a
romance, you can imagine that they figure out how to be together without any
blood shed. An interesting byplay involves Bella accompanying Edward home to
meet the little family – all vampires of course. All on edge for fear they
can’t stop themselves from ‘tasting’ little Bella.
The author creates engaging characters. Bella is charming, strong,
sarcastic and vulnerable and not over the top. Edward too is believable, a
thinly veiled image of a rock star, right down to music that makes a girl’s head
spin. He’s moody, but not melodramatic. A bit angst ridden, but he’s been
living with raging teen hormones for a century, so maybe his extremes are to be
expected. Thankfully no flashing fangs or red eyes and no, he does not turn
into a bat. For the most part the writing is even, the pacing works, and the
storyline fraught with a comfortable balance of difficulties and light moments
to provide readers with a satisfying diversion from the harsh realities of
life. This is, after all, a fairy tale.
Meyer, unlike Rowling, has serious problems with her fan
base. Writing a series can be a fun indulgence until readers take ownership and
turn into a raving mob when the series fails to meet their expectations. I
suppose that is one of the pitfalls of success. Perhaps Meyer watched Rowling
and decided that when ending a series everyone should be happy and all dangling
story lines should be neatly tied up to form a happy little knot – thus the
fairy tale “Happily ever after” ending. She may have gone overboard with that
concept, I couldn’t say -- yet. But when it comes to the first book in the
series, Twilight, I think she’s
written a winner. -- Clio
Note: Opening Nov. 21, the movie based upon this book and
with the same title will debut. Check out some of the trailers.
I'm very excited to tell you of a cool contest Shiloh Walker is running this month in anticipation of her newest, The Missing. I'd never read her until reading the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance. I liked her voice. A lot. So much so that she was one of the three most outstanding stories for me from that book and one I reviewed below. So I am excited to be passing along the following information to you. If you've read Miss Walker and like her, you'll want to enter. After all, with great prizes like this, what more can a reader ask for. If you've not read her before, take the time to enter, then look through her books. They're hot, sexy and great fun. I doubt you'll be disappointed!
Excerpt
The weird sense of deja vu exploded into something else entirely.
Something that shook her to the core. His eyes narrowed and he reached
up, caught her chin in his, staring at her.She was pale and Cullen
thought she looked every bit as shaken as he felt. “The dreams,” he
muttered. He caught her face in his hands and forced her to look at
him, staring into her pale gray eyes. The ugly, dark bruise around her
left eye made her iris seem that much paler and as he watched, the
pupil flared, enlarging until just a sliver of gray of visible.
Taige tried to jerk away and he wouldn’t let her. “You had the dreams, too, didn’t you?” he demanded.
Her voice shook as she reached up with one hand to jerk on his wrist, trying to break his hold. “Let go of me.”
Slowly, he shook his head. “You have,” he whispered, dismay spreading through him.
Dismay–and something else. She’d always held herself apart from him
in those dreams. But through those dreams, he’d gotten to know her,
gotten to know the woman she had become. She was pulling away from him
not because she was angry at him, or because she didn’t want anything
to do with him.
Two things make my heart sing -- books and quilts. Okay, the husband
and kids, still place number one on my top hits list. But books and
quilts are what I turn to when left to my own devices. When I can
combine the two, I'm in heaven.
How to combine books and quilts? Well let's see. Helen Stamm and Jeannie Kretsinger created the "What If" quilt.
My
heart skips a happy beat when I see words on a quilt. It just makes
such sense that a quilt should contain a message. Maybe that's why we
all want to embrace the story of Underground Railroad quilts and their
secret messages in plain sight. The simple names and dates on crazy
quilts make me smile, but when I see Susan Shie's work, I become quite giddy with all of the words!
Remember
those autograph or friendship quilts where friends and family made
blocks and signed them, or wrote a message on them. They were popular
when the Wild West was being settled and the quilts were sent along as
a memory of all the people they would probably never see again. These
quilts have been popular on and off through the ages.
And the
Red Cross quilts that had messages of support and comfort written on
them and distributed to prisoners of war or wounded soldiers during
several wars.
Or think about quilts that are made from book
cover art. Make a copy on fabric of your favorite book's cover and
stitch away. Perhaps combine various book titles to form a message of
their own. You know "Lassie Come Home" plus "Meet Me in St. Louis" plus
"Don't Stop the Carnival" or maybe "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" plus
"Eats, Shoots and Leaves." Or want to electrify a quilt -- put Thomas
Edison's biography and Nikola Tesla together on a quilt. Sparks will
fly!
We've all seen the quilts that look like book shelves with
all kinds of books on them. Maybe make a few to open up so we can read
the opening lines. Warning. Don't chose Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One
Hundred Years of Solitude" -- the opening sentence is paragraphs long
if I remember correctly.
Or put together a quilt of the titles
that most influenced your life. Or the authors. A little Alcott,
Dickens, Jong and her Fear of Flying.... what a combination that makes!
You could do a little psychotherapy in cloth just by piecing together
the authors and books that influenced your life's path.
Or a
children's quilt with kids lit on it. Or again, a quilt of your
favorite childhood characters. Peter Rabbit and Madeline meets Junie B.
Oh my!
Or your favorite foods and cookbooks and authors -- Julia
meets Betty Crocker! Or sexiest chefs. Or old family recipes. You could
even do a first aid kit using books you use as resources for
diseases.... Well, the possibilities are as endless as the kinds of
books. A bodice ripper quilt. An erotic quilt. Hmmm?
And then,
there is the combination I'm enjoying today as soon as I finish this
blog. Audio book and sewing. I'm going to put a CD from Diana
Gabaldon's "Outlander" into the old player and sit back in my crap (I
mean craft) room and sort through fabrics. I'll cut, sew, create all to
the dulcet tones of Davina Porter reading about my favorite characters:
Jamie and Claire Fraser.
I’ve been reading through the new Mammoth Book of Vampire
Romance and it’s high time I put my review up. You can see on our side bar that
I gave this book three stars, (Amazon won’t let me give it bells there). There
were several other stories I enjoyed, but with so many, it would take pages to
review each one. So, I have highlighted my three favorites here, but must give
a nod at then end to several others whose work I’d never read but found
interesting enough to try a full novel.
Lilith Saincrow
Rebecca York
Jenna Black
Delilah Devlin
…and several others were very good reads. There were a few
clunkers for me but that’s my take and I won’t mention them here. Overall, this
was a great read, easy to carry with me with stories just the right length to
finish while waiting at the doctor’s office or sitting down with a cup of
coffee for half an hour.
If you like vampires, you won’t be disappointed! Overall Grade:
What’s at Stake? Alexis Morgan
Josalyn Sloan – Chancellor, neither human or vampire, she is
the equivalent of our Federal Marshall-District Attorney-Executioner. (Well,
okay, we don’t technically have people who carry the title of Executioner, but
in the justice system, someone has to push the button).
Rafferty O’Day – Vampire. Once a lead arbitrator for the
council between vampire and human, he now stands accused of murdering a human. And
it’s Josalyn’s case to prove guilt or innocence. If she finds he is guilty, she’ll
be his executioner.
The only problem is, they spent one hot, sex filled night
together and fell hard for each other, though neither was willing to admit it, long before the accusations. Rafferty has asked that Joss handle his
case, because he knows, if she finds him guilty, his execution will be quick
and as painless as possible. Joss doesn’t want her face to be the last thing he
sees.
Wonderfully self contained, this was a great read and the
characters stayed with me long after I’d finished it. They are clear and well
defined for a short story, pulling the reader into their emotional ups and
downs. Josalyn aches for the man she may have to kill, Rafferty aches for Joss
and the fact that he’s never wanted another woman the way he’s wanted her. The
plot is concise, no plot holes, the sex was hot and the story wrapped up
nicely. I would love to see more of this world and I have a feeling, judging
from Miss Morgan’s site, that we will.
Hunter’s Choice Shiloh Walker
Sarah stands on a rooftop, crossbow aimed at a vampire,
feeding in a dark alley, when she hears a familiar voice behind her. Wyatt, the
man she’d met a year before, spent one scorching week with him before walking
out on him, now stands on the rooftop with her, though she never heard his
approach. She’d found comfort in his arms during that week, after tending to
funeral services for her twin brother and his new wife, brutally killed on
their honeymoon. The police didn’t do much. But Sarah knew who killed them.
Vampires. Now she was determined to wipe out as many as she could.
Wyatt is a Hunter, the vampire equivalent of our elite
police force. He was sent that week to make sure Sarah would be all right. He
wasn’t sent to bed her or to fall in love with her. But he did both. Now he’s
back to stop her from killing because not all vampires kill and she doesn’t
know that, or care.
What follows is a well plotted short with great characters
and no plot holes. The ‘good guys’ were easy to sympathize with, the ‘bad guys’
easy to hate and another story that ended much too soon. I had never read Miss
Walker prior to this, I certainly will read more in future.
Play Dead Dina James
Nikolai is a lost soul. A vampire, destined to mate with one
of his own, or die alone. He is on a mission to find and kill a Betrayer, one
of their kind outcast from their world. Instead, he meets his soulmate in the
form of a human woman.
What follows is a well orchestrated ballet of give and take,
trust and suspicion, between Nikolai, Kail the Betrayer and Katrina, the mortal
Nikolai wants as his own. Should Nikolai stumble in the dance, it means not
only his life, but Katrina’s. If he completes it, it means his salvation. Not
to the human world, but to his clan.
I really enjoyed this story. I’d never read Miss James, but
she brought her characters to life in a way that made them whole. It didn’t
feel like a short story in its execution, but did in the fact that I didn’t
want it to end. I won’t give away the ending, but I could see a much longer
story generated from this. Her writing draws the reader in, the old world style
of Nikolai and the modern of Katrina are well defined and Kail keeps his
secrets well, demanding we know more about him, which is my one regret. Because
I do. And in that instance, this ended much too soon. This is another author I
will have to add to my TBR list.
Jane at Dear Author asked the question; What do readers want
in terms of hardware for a perfect reading device? Several have responded with
the standard, ease of reading, good screen, ability for annotations. But some
have noted the inability to read all formats available on one Reader. Evidently,
some cannot read PDF, which has been a fairly standard format for a long time
now, or the formats are not interchangeable.
Much has been discussed recently about eReaders with the
release of Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader Digital Book as it’s shown on
their website along with several other models available. There are pros and
cons aplenty, both from the publishing market but also from the reader’s point
of view. Many publishers are branching into the eBook format because the
overhead is less and the profit margin of course, higher. Some see it as the
wave of the future.
The average reader sees it as a way to build a library in a
limited amount of space then carry that library with them wherever they go. The
Kindle allows immediate download from Amazon directly to the device. Others
must download to your computer and then to the eReader. I’ve read a huge list
of reasons why they feel this is preferable to books. But I’m just not
convinced.
I tossed my two cents into the ring, and some of my comments
you’ll read in the remainder of my post. These are just my personal thoughts on
eReaders, of course not everyone feels the same way I do. If you want a good
sampling of what others want, I encourage you to read Jane’s post at Dear
Author. It’s an interesting commentary on technological progress.
What do I want in an electronic reader...hmmm...I want it to
be reader friendly. I want the ability to see the cover in the blink of an eye
if I want, to flip to different pages and look something up immediately, to be
able to take notes, highlight wonderful passages where the author's words moved
me. I want to grasp it, wring it, as I read the exciting finish to a great
conflict. I want to be able to tell my friends, ‘sure, I can let you read that
story! You'll love this author!’ I want it portable, lightweight, a battery
that never dies, especially at the best part of the story, waterproof, drop
proof, puppy proof (well, on that, let’s say rather…easily and inexpensively
replaceable).
In short, I want a book!
A paper book, with a front and back cover and a spine that
catches my eye when I pass my bookshelf. I want to read that book, smoothing
the pages as I go along, simply for the tactile experience of holding someone's
words in my hands. Words they spent hours of their life creating for me. I want
to fan the pages as I read because I'm anxious that the H/Hn are in trouble and
wondering how they'll get out of it. To be able to go back through to a spot
I've dog-eared and flip back and forth to make sure I have something right, to
curl the pages a bit if I need to, just enough so I can see the two, side by
side, but without ruining the paper. To highlight a particularly awesome line,
or phrase or paragraph and then later on, like a flip-book, run my finger along
the outside edge of the pages and find it almost immediately. I want to hand
that book to my friend and watch as they turn it over, flip through it while I
laud the promises it holds. I want to look at my bookshelf with its thousand
books and remember that I've read and enjoyed every one of them and have probably
taken to the used bookstore at least as many that I did not. But maybe someone
else will.
I want to go back and reread a dozen times, a book I
particularly love and watch as it takes on the characteristics of a well
cherished read. Softer pages, a bit more wear and tear every time I open it,
perhaps a bit of coffee here or juice there because let’s face it, we all have
that special corner where we curl up in our pillows or favorite chair, drink
and maybe snack alongside, prepared for the long haul of reading cover to cover
non-stop.
I want to know that, should I be so frustrated with a story,
so incensed to find it isn’t what I’d hoped, that the hero has turned into an
overbearing pig and the heroine into a TSTL even I want to kill, I can throw it
against the wall with little fear that it will shatter into a hundred pieces.
I don't suppose I'll ever be an eReader. I can see the
benefits if someone travels constantly. Who wants to carry twenty books on the
plane/train/bus/boat with them? But for me at least, there will never be an
experience like crying over the ending of a good book and watching your tears
fall on those pages only to soak into the paper, making me a true part of the
book.
Somehow, watching my tears roll off an eReader screen to
fall in my lap doesn't hold the same meaning or importance for me.
A friend came by to visit yesterday and mentioned that she had never read “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,” and was considering buying it, just out of curiosity. In an effort to save a good friend from tossing her money on a less than worthy cause, I offered to dig through my bookshelf and give her my old copy, excited that I had finally found a way to get rid of the burden and open up the space. I told her what I thought of it and handed it over gratefully, on the condition that she would never return it.
I bought the book years ago, when John Gray was busily penning his follow-up works, and the initial excitement over “Men are from Mars” had died down. Impressed by Mr. Gray’s credentials (which, I’ve since learned, are possibly less than stellar after all – mail-order PhD, anyone?), and equally impressed by the apparent popularity of the book, I opened it with great enthusiasm, prepared to learn all I’d ever wanted to learn about communicating with the opposite sex.
Not even halfway through, I closed it for good.
I found Mr. Gray’s book to be a pompous pile of patronizing drivel, a thinly-disguised attempt to turn us all into Ward and June Cleaver. My interpretation of Mr. Gray’s views boil down to women being overly-emotional, constantly needy creatures who need to be humored, and men as nomadic Neanderthals (insert grunting Tim Allen sound byte) who have a primal need for excessive time and space away from loved ones in order to remain human. I can’t condemn the book as completely sexist, though, as it seems Mr. Gray views both men and women as equally selfish, ridiculous and reprehensible.
Not even those overly simplistic views managed to offend me enough to close the book. No, I think what turned me off the most was the suggestion that if my man comes home at the end of the day and needs his “space”, then it’s my obligation to give it to him, without any regard to my own needs or those of other family members, and without time restraint. (No mention was made of bringing him a pipe and slippers, or wearing my best dress, prettiest pearls, and brightest smile, but I am assuming that is a given in this scenario). Evidently, I should encourage the children to respect his time in his “cave” (a barf-worthy analogy; we won’t even get into any of the others, some of which have thankfully faded from memory), and I should hold off on any important discussion, decision, or less than pleasant discourse in an effort to ensure his overall happiness. Only when he is good and ready will he emerge from his Man Cave, content and willing to take on all issues being held back in deference by the obviously needy and weepy woman he is encumbered by.
No wonder I was nauseous.
In return for indulging my hard-working, misunderstood man, apparently I will then be rewarded by his nodding enthusiastically, if emptily, in agreement to my endless whining about housework and inequality. There will be no need to discuss anything, because if we women can simply learn to let men handle things only if and when they want to, then they will be kind enough to put up with our silly sniveling about mundane things like bills, children, health, etc.
What could make for a better relationship than all that?
If my friend makes it any further in the book than I did, I will applaud her fortitude. I consider it to my credit that my own sense of horror at the idea of anyone’s written words being destroyed ensured that I didn’t burn or trash this book when I closed it. Instead, I stuck it in the very back of a bookshelf, allowed it to collect dust, and prayed to forget. Now that it has left the premises, perhaps I will.
This book is still available, used and in paperback, from Amazon. The lowest price I could find was $4.13. Personally, I’d put it toward a gallon of gas instead; I’d get a lot more mileage.
Rating:
(one bell, only because it did give me a laugh or two)
Just a couple of days ago, a man the media has dubbed
the “Spam King” was ordered to pay six million dollars for spamming MySpace users. It wasn’t the first
time this man has paid millions for this particular misdeed, and I would
venture to guess it won’t be the last. Judging by the overwhelming amount of
spam I receive myself, he very likely has plenty of company in that particular
endeavor.
The more I consider it, the more I think that his big
mistake is simply one of oversight. He has neglected to categorize his
sales pitches and aim them toward the proper markets.
Personally, as a forty-something mother of two, I can’t
seem to drum up much enthusiasm about learning “How to Find Hot
Latina
Babes."
And I most certainly have no need of the hundreds of Viagra pills I can obtain
at such incredible prices, direct from
Canada
, 100% effective and guaranteed to get me some action within 15 minutes.
And though it may come as a surprise to my most zealous of spammers, I have not
been hoping someone would email me with a miraculous way to “Enhance your Penis
Size” or find “The Easy Way to become Well Hung.”
They are so devoted to sharing this with me that I feel
rather bad about not even opening their mail, but the fact is and shall always
remain that I simply don’t have the necessary equipment. True, my husband
does, but as far as I’m concerned he needs no “enhancement”,
thankyouverymuch, and I believe I quite resent the implication.
Some of the other spam emails I’ve received recently
have baffled me even more, considering where I fall in the marketing curve.
Here are a few more examples:
“
Perfect
Way
to Get More Manly” (umm…no thank you.)
“Gain 3+ Inches in Length!” (I suppose it *could* be
a hair growth thing…but no, maybe not…)
“Give your Wife Greater Stimulation” (I imagine this
was misdirected and should have gone to my husband’s account. Perhaps I
should forward it…)
And the most disturbing subject line thus far:
“Bomb her Womb with Your Huge Cannon.” Well.
I don’t imagine that one needs any commentary.
All of this spam wouldn’t be so bad if it were anything
at all useful to me, personally. For instance, I might get past the
subject line if they sent me emails offering “Free Daily Housecleaning for One
Full Year!” Or even “We’ll Scoop the Poop from Your Yard FOR you!” That
would certainly be worth looking into further. Considering that I spend
most days feeling like Mom’s 24-hour Taxi, perhaps if they sent me something
like “Free Chauffeur Service for the Entire Summer!” I could keep my finger off
that “delete” key altogether.
But until the “Spam King” decides to ask his unwitting
subjects which products they might actually use, or at the very least takes
into consideration whether or not all parts required are actually
present, I am afraid he will have to keep paying his millions, and I will
have to keep dragging his email to my recycle bin.
