Currently Reading
I read a lot. And my tastes are eclectic. Since I’m a romance writer, I’m currently making my way through AAR’s Top 100 Romances list. But since I’m also part of a literary book club, I’m always making my way through that list, too. … And I love to talk about books — all books! Drop me a line if you’ve read any of these and want to chat about any of them. I’d love to hear from you. …
Here are the books on my nightstand right now (June 2010):
- Ain’t She Sweet – Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Another SEP re-read for me, but I always go back to her to see how contemporaries are done well. … Love Colin and Sugar Beth!
- Men to Match My Mountains – Irving Stone. I’m trudging my way through this, and it’s a definite trudge. (It’s well paced for a history book, but not for a novel.) But I’ve been meaning to read this book for about 10 years, and now seems like a good time, while I’m looking for inspiration for wild-west characters and planning a summer trip to the Sierra Nevadas (where much of this historical novel takes place). My mom and my husband have each read this book about two or three times, and tell me it’s one of their all-time favorites. So onward I trudge. …
- Outliers — Malcolm Gladwell. Had enough conversations with my brother-in-law about this book that he brought it for me to borrow. I’m not sure if I’d call it interesting or depressing so far. A bit of both. …
So far read in 2010:
- The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Wild West (1840 -1900) – by Candy Moulton. Great reference for everything from that era, from professions and food storage, to clothing and furniture. It was a tad dry (definitely a reference book!), but so packed with info that I read it cover to cover anyway. Just reading about how refrigeration came into being, for instance, or how after 1865 condensed milk was available in cans was interesting to me. … huh. …
- Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West – Anne Seagraves. Another interesting reference book that covers madams, the various levels of “houses,” how much money prostitutes made, some of the rough towns like Dodge and Bodie, and even some famous “wild” women like Calamity Jane and Josephine Marcus (Wyatt Earp’s eventual wife). Great reference for historicals if you’re writing in that era.
- Dream a Little Dream – Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This is a re-read for me, but I always go back to SEP to see how things are done well. … Love this story of Gabe and Rachel.
- Writing the Breakout Novel – Donald Maass. Excellent, excellent, excellent writerly advice!
- The Cinderella Deal – Jenny Crusie. I’m a huge Crusie fan, so as soon as I saw this in the book store, I snatched it up. It’s actually one of her first books (I think her first? or second?), so this is a re-release. I love seeing my favorite authors’ early works — you can really see how they grew and improved.Same with Crusie. I liked this story, but it’s missing something that her later books had — can’t quite place my finger on it. Maybe some of the “extra” quirkiness that her later characters had. But it was fun, and a quick, light read.
- The Secret Pearl – Mary Balogh. I’d had this on my nightstand for quite some time, a lend from my mom, who had been wanting me to read Mary Balogh. So after finishing Patti’s ms, then “Lessons in French” late one night, I picked this one up. It was really cute. I was a little annoyed that the title seemed to have nothing to do with the story, but other than that, I really liked the book. I would definitely read another Mary Balogh. If you have favorites to recommend, I’m all ears!
- When Angels Fall (manuscript) – Patti Lynn. My critique partner’s book! It was great! Patti wrote a deep historical about Nicholas and Niles — twins, the first-born of which is set to inherit the St. Aubyn home. But the second-born one attempts to murder the first when they are boys, and — although he’s not successful — fourteen years pass before the first-born comes back to seek his revenge. And now he’s got a lot more to be angry about. … Can’t wait for Patti to publish this!
- Lessons in French – Laura Kinsdale. My first fictional read of the new year! And I chose Laura Kinsdale’s new book, because she rarely disappoints. This one didn’t either. It was very cute. Not her usual deep, disturbed hero, but good nonetheless. This was a lighter romp, which I was totally in the mood for. Some clever, funny dialogue between Trevelyan and Callie. The hero Trev is very charming. Made me smile.
- Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents (2009 Edition) — Huge. Intimidating. Took me a couple of months, but I finally looked through the entire thing with my little sticky notes and made a long list of possible agents. Then I gave them letter grades for how much they appealed to me (“C” through “A+”), and sorted the list in Excel. Whew! Now on to the next step in the agent search. …
Here’s my list of what I read in 2009.
My bedroom bookcase: I didn't even squeeze in the last messy shelf!
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Change of Heart-Jodi Picoult. Kept me glued. A complex tale of loss, redemption and justice against the back drop of religious belief and the death penalty. Waiting on my nightstand is, The Tenth Circle.
Thanks for sharing, Sharon! Let me know how you like The Tenth Circle. You know, I’ve never read Jodi Picoult, but a lot of people have recommended. Have you read most of her books?
I discovered Jodi Picoult a little late in the game and then went back and read everything (thrift shops are great resources for older books). I think what I love most about her writing is her character development — lots of gray — her characters are flawed, even the ones you love. The other thing I love is nothing is really like it seems — just like life.
Dixie — Yes, I have a feeling that’s exactly what I’ll be doing — discovering her “late” in the game, and then going back and reading everything! I tend to latch on to authors that way: if I like them, I’ll read everything on their backlist. So which one would be a good one to start with?
Lavender Morning – the new Jude Deveraux was actually pretty good. I haven’t liked her past few books as well as all the beginning stuff (the Velvet series, Twin of Ice/Fire, Sweet Liar, Remembrance – I cried so hard when I read this book) – but it was getting back to the stuff I loved, so I would recommend it!
KristiBug — Thanks for this recommendation of the new Jude Deveraux. (Plus I’ll have to write down some of those others!) I liked A Knight in Shining Armor. Thought it was very sweet…
Reading GLITTER BABY now. I’m still reading but it’s a bit odd to me.
Crystal — I had the same reaction about GLITTER BABY. You can tell it was written years and years ago, huh? Sort of dated, plus it doesn’t have her usual humor. But I enjoyed it for the fact that it gave a cool glimpse into SEP’s growth and change as a writer. It made me feel it’s “okay” to grow and change! : )
Laurie, I loved the Gabaldon series and my favorite is Butterfly in Amber. I think that’s actually the second book but it’s my favorite.
I’m like Laurie. Once I read and enjoy a book, I’ll go out to find and read all the other books by that author. I loved Judith McNaught, and I’m wondering why she hasn’t written anything in years. I miss her stories. I’ve read most of Maive Binchy’s books, LaVerle Spencers, Catherine Anderson, Julie Garwood, Mary Balogh,Jude Deveraux, Stella Cameron, Kinsale, Klepas,Howard, Landis, Woodweiss, Williamson, Johnson, and who hasn’t read a few or all of Nora Roberts? I liked her “Born in Fire” series. But,…..the BEST books have been the Galbaldon books. I’ve read all six, and will anxiously be waiting for the next one. Has anyone read the book she wrote about John Gray?? I just love the historical romance books, whether it’s castles, the “ton” or western. (“Cherish” was my favorite western.)
I also find time to read other genres, N. Demille’s thrillers, Ken Follet, Jane Auel series, John Jakes, Michener, and Conn Iggulden’s Julius Ceasar series. Those were really good. Oh and I loved “The Other Boleyn Girl”. I just finished “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” book. Which I liked also. So I read “all over the place”. The author that always piques my interest but have never read is Jodi Piccoult. Can anyone suggest the best of hers to start with? Many (many)years ago, I started with Danielle Steele, but after a while they seem “okay” for me.
Has anyone read a book that someone kept recommending, and you felt like you’d pacify that person and read it, only to find out it really was a good book? That’s how the Iggulden series were.
Okay, don’t want to rattle on about books, but I just love to read and share !!!!
I’ve had you bookmarked for several months on my must read blog list and my illness and subsequent journey into the depths of my soul have kept me from doing anything outside of that for quite some time. I am off this week for yet another surgery and have devoted the entire week to napping, blogging, and reading. I am already enjoying your blog immensely and just have to say that I love your bookshelf. I began blogging this year after being diagnosed with breast cancer. I have found it very therapeutic to hang all my laundry out on the line, yet, I have been finding some things with WordPress that have bugged me. So, I started another blog at Blogger and bought the book Bloggin for Dummies. I agree. Some really neat stuff in there. Maybe I will pull that back out and surf some of those blogs this week as well. I have recently bought Twitter for Dummies. I guess as much of a techy as I would love to be, i must just be a dummy? Anyway, just thought I’d pop in while I have some down time and let you know I’ll be following along more avidly and have just added you on Twitter–although I’m not very good at it. Would love some feedback or lessons if you feel so inclined–screenname is cjheald and my blog is http://www.specificallyspeaking.wordpress.com
I’m looking forward to getting to know more about the writing process through you.
Hi, Christina! So sorry to hear about your recent journey with breast cancer. (Set you up with those folks on Twitter because I’m on there all the time with them for work, and I’ve come to really like them — helpful, inspirational women.) Anyway, glad you like blogging! I really love it, too. I checked out your blog — I’ll have to set aside some time when I can spend more time there reading everything! Looks good! I do social media for a living now, so I might put some more tutorials up here, but for now I have a couple of Twitter tutorials here on the blog (search for “Twitter 101″ in my search bar beneath the Recent Comments). Let’s stay in touch!
Hey Laurie! I totally dig the bookcase, but might I suggest you get a Kindle? I’m finding that I’m reading so much more often because of it. Whenever I hear about a book, I often think “Ooh, I’ve been meaning to read that, but I don’t have time to get to the store.” But with the Kindle, I can just do a quick search and download the book for around $10. Instant payment and instant delivery.
Ooh, Amanda — Well, I’m not a hard-sell on the Kindle, trust me. I do really want one! Chris was going to buy me one at Christmas, but I started going on and on about a Netbook instead, so he bought me that instead (at my request)! But Kindle is next on my list! (Although now, to be honest, I’m thinking I should’ve waited for the iPad … hmmm …) So how many books have you purchased so far????
Hmm, I’ve subscribed to the NYT blog and bought 3 books and 2 short research reports. I just wish I read faster!
Nice, Amanda! It will be interesting to see if you mostly purchase new books, or end up re-purchasing a lot of your old faves, too. I like the idea of having a lot of old faves to carry around with me, because I do like to reread books. And I especially like the idea of being able to buy a book whenever you want (in the middle of the night, even!). So I’m sure I’ll be a Kindle convert soon.