Books read in 2020

1.  The Betrayal, by Sabin Willett, mystery fiction, DC area and Wyoming, library ebook. Good writing. Took a bit to engage, politics distracting, but very suspenseful later. It kept me reading past bedtime.

2. House of Echoes, by Brendan Duffy, suspense horror, paper book. Gift to me. One of the most suspenseful, creepy books I’ve read ever or in years. Well written, good read. Kept me up past my bedtime. I bet this becomes a quiet horror movie. 

3. When We Left Cuba, by Chanel Cleeton, “mystery" audiobook. Another misrepresentation of a book as a mystery. This was a romance with a sprinkle of mystery on top. I was intrigued by the spy aspect but it was disappointing. Audiobook.
4. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. Seeking God in the Crucible of ministry. By Ruth Haley Barton. Nonfiction recommended to me by German friend and Blogger. I read this slowly over 2 years as it had many ideas that were good to sit with for a time.
5. The Cruelest Month, by Louise Penny, mystery fiction, set in a small town in Canada. Interesting characters in this series and Inspector Gamache I like. The theme of this had to do with seances while it wasn’t the main idea, I wearied of some themes here. I will take a break before I revisit the series. She’s a very good writer.
6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, nonfiction, audio library book. While medical themes are hard for me, this book was fascinating. History was changed because of this story. Recommended by a friend who loves biographies.
7. Adrennaline, by Jeff Abbott, espionage fiction, Amsterdam, London. Interesting complicated plot, the protagonist didn’t like killing but unrealistically kicked people unconscious rather simply and frequently, so I eventually became fixated on that in the fight scenes. Library ebook. Sets up for a series. Not sure if I’ll read more. Possibly.
8. Emotional Healthy Spirituality, by Peter Scazzarro, nonfiction ebook. Did this as a workshop with a workbook. Some really good points about getting stuck emotionally and how that stifles growth.
9. The Hush, by John Hart, fiction. ebook. Follow up to an earlier book which I loved, maybe a favorite of the last decade. I was shocked but saw how he was able to develop this into a supernatural horror type story. He’s a very good writer. I’d say just not my taste the way this turned out. I prefer the mystery suspense type story to this but it was very suspenseful! I will always read more of Hart.
10. Everything but the Squeal; Eating the Whole Hog in the North of Spain, John Barlow, nonfiction ebook library. I enjoyed this though I did not read straight thru, picking it up and putting it down. I have a friend from Galicia. We’ve visited the region and so I enjoyed this food travel tale.  I’m ready to visit again.
11. Final Girls, by Riley Sager, suspense fiction, New York and Pennsylvania, audiobook. My frustration with the protagonist a few times was off set by several surprising things I should have seen coming but didn’t. Good writing.
12. Death Row, by William Bernhardt, legal thriller, fiction. Set in Oklahoma. Library ebook. Good plot line. He’s a good writer. I’ve read some of this character but not in order. Random House should edit better. I find copy errors distracting.
13. Tell Me Lies, by J. P. Pomare, Australia, psychological thriller. Literally, a psychologist who has weird client things happen and has a twist ending. Audiobook, a free offer from Audible. meh. 
14. Break Shot: My First 21 years by James Taylor, yes the singer. I love him. Pretty rough early situations, depression and drug addiction. It’s a wonder we didn’t lose him. Audiobook, he read. A short book, free from Audible.
15. The Body Reader, by Anne Frasier. Mystery suspense, a city that didn’t leave a strong impression on me. A detective is held captive for years and escapes. She develops sharper observation skills and unravels a crazy conspiracy. Good suspense. Audiobook.
16. Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke, Texas Ranger gets caught up in a racial related case. Interesting characters, complicated story. Fortunately I read it before the US blew up with riots so I wasn't distracted by that while I read a good plot.Audiobook. It's a series start. I would possibly read more. 
17. Exit Strategy, by Kelley Armstrong, all over the USA hitmen, serial killers, library ebook. Some things were hard to suspend my disbelief but an interesting premise.
18. Missing You, by Harlan Corbin, Northwest USA, fiction suspense. I like him he’s a good writer. I got distracted by some politicking in this one, over all a good read. Audiobook.
19. Deep Storm, by Lincoln Child, a deep sea underwater research platform in North Atlantic. I like his writing so I just grabbed it on a whim, lots of stars. Not a typical mystery. No spoiler but not a murder investigation at all. Audiobook.
20. The Body Counter, by Anne Frasier, detective character, from the series I started earlier. Enjoyed the first one enough that picking this for another audio read seemed like a easy quick pick. Good read, the character was less about reading the people she dealt with than in the first book but I like her. Audiobook.
21. Persia and the Bible, Edwin Yamauchi, Historical Research very much a text book type thing. Research for a work project. A big used hardback, a hard go but useful.
?# Norm MacDonald, Based on a true Story. Another SNL memoir. I stopped. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t entertaining me either. Supposed to be a funny book. Library audio book. No harm no foul no funds lost. Stopped before the end.
22. The Reading Group, by Elizabeth Noble, UK. It was a light chick lit type book. I found it on a list of feel good books that the blogger likes to re-read. It had interesting characters but the most unrealistic male female arguments but maybe that’s what makes it a feel good. Happy ending and all. Good writer. Bought a used paperback. 
23. The Late Show, by Michael Connolly, LA Cop Detective, almost hard boiled but modern, engaging and yet minimalist writing. Audiobook.
24. The Hunt, by Allison Brennan, Montana, Mystery fiction, a bit romance for my taste but good suspense. Paperbook living in my house. I’m losing faith in the description of relationships in fiction but maybe a real fight would be hard to read?
25. The Red Road, By Denise Mina, Scotland, Mystery Fiction. Library audiobook. Good Scottish accents on the reading. I liked the police detective character, multiple points of view in the book. I'd read more.
26 Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb, nonfiction , audiobook. A therapist gets therapy. Entertaining but encouraging as well, overcoming hard times theme.
27 The Code of the Wooster, by P.G. Wodehouse, 1931 aristocrat UK, humor, fiction, ebook. Poorly edited to the point I wondered if it was a pirated version, but it was from Amazon! Entertaining, slapstick at times. I had to look up some vocabulary that we no longer actively use! Enjoyed it for a light read.
28 The Drifter, by Nick Petrie, fiction, set in Milwaukee. Tough ex military suspense. I enjoyed the characters and some of the beat up the bad guy stuff. A lot of language if that turns you off be forewarned. Fight scenarios were quite satisfying. Audiobook.
29 The Tie that Binds, by Kent Haruf, Fiction set in Colorado farm country, Holt County. It’s a vintage contemporary collection, copyright 1984 but probably set in 50s. Moody, broodsome, tense. ebook. Very compelling read. Dark.
30 A Serial Killer’s Daughter, by Kerri Rawson, nonfiction library ebook. Her father is the Wichita BTK killer. It’s a good bit autobiography and I had anticipated more about her and her dad. Later in the book that happens some.
31 The Case of the Love Commandos, by Tarquín Hall, mystery fiction, library audiobook. The reader is so good. You feel like you‘ve been on a trip to India when you read this series. Fun stories. Good writer. Library book. 4th in the series.
32 Inside Jobs, by Ben H.Winters, fiction short stories of crime in quarantine. Free audiobook. Not very long. Cute.
33 Nut Jobs, by Marc Fennell, nonfiction about almond thefts in California. Audiobook, so a bit of a podcast feel really. Intriguing crime. A bit of a soap box about food production the last chapter or two which felt like a deviation from the actual crime story being told. Still interesting at times, dark humor.
34 Isabella, the Warrior Queen, by Kristin Downey. Nonfiction, audiobook. A big book about Queen Isabella of Spain. Fascinating. Inspiring. Troubling. Great writer/researcher.
35 Shamed, by Linda Castillo, fiction, mystery set In Ohio Amish country. Nice main character formerly Amish. Library ebook. Random read. It was book 11 of the series. Good, smooth writing and suspense
36 Cop Town, by Karen Slaughter, mystery cop fiction, set in Atlanta during race tensions in 1970s, good writer, mostly believable. A bit of soapboxing but maybe it’s the times we live in now too.
37 King of Sting: Australian Conman Peter Foster. True podcast turned “audiobook." 
definitely a true con, over and over. I wasn’t clear at the end what the resolution was but intriguing. Lowers your trust in people.
38 The Lies I Told, by Heather Gudenkauf, mystery fiction Ebook. Done with different character points of view. This was good writing and had a good twist at the end that brought a lot together. I realized there’s a phenomenon, a subgenre of thriller of unreliable protagonist. It is suspenseful. The first book I read like that in the 90s left me shaken as the character himself was when he realized what he was. Gone girl is the more famous version perhaps. I recognized I like to be clear about my character even though this is a very popular genre inside mystery currently.
40 The Unlikely Spy, By Daniel Silva, WW II UK espionage, oh the tangled webs! Lots of characters, good writing. Audiobook. This is the book I discovered I’m embarrassed when the sex scenes are read out loud, just a couple but still. I’m apparently a prude and skim that stuff in writing but on audio I got stuck where I couldn’t fast forward one day! ack!  Great writing.
41 Dark clouds, Deep mercy, Discovering the grace of lament, by Mark Vroegop, nonfiction ebook. Good points to ponder. I was encouraged to explore this theme by a trusted connection. I disagreed with some ways of looking at or defining terms of grief but took away a lot from the thinking here. 
42 Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith, Comoran Strike detective series, book 3, mystery fiction set mostly in London. Library ebook. Enjoyed this. Lots of tension but in different parts of the story. These are a bit darker than some things I read but I continue to pick up the series.
43 Lethal White, by Robert Galbraith, book 4 of series. Mystery fiction set in London. A situation not related to the main plot was left unresolved at the end of the previous book and in a rare move for me,  I picked up this one immediately. I don’t like to feel I didn’t get the ending and feel blackmailed to buy the next book. I know that’s a technique of writing cliffhanger style but I like each one resolved where I just want to see those characters again. This was more subtle but drove me to want more. Round of applause for the author’s technique. Library ebook. Liked the complex characters here.
44 Secrets of Wishtide, by Kate Saunders, Victorian England, A Letitia Rod mystery fiction. A light audio read that was engaging. I liked the characters and setting. I would read more. Historical is not my go to but I enjoy it when I do. This was on sale and had high ratings.
45 Cold Cold Heart, by Tami Hoag, mystery fiction audiobook, set mostly in Indiana town. Good suspense and even though I had pretty strong suspicions about the bad guy watching it unfold was a good story. Protagonist’s injuries helped make some of her actions more feasible as well as her fear. Two thumbs up.
46 The Kill Artist, by Daniel Silva, espionage fiction set in Europe, audiobook. As he usually does a large cast of characters that eventually come together with great suspense... this was the beginning of a series. While everything resolved, one of the characters disappointed me, so I’ll give it some space before I read another. Bought on sale, a good hook for me: cheap book 1 of a series!
48 The Girl Beneath the Sea, by Andrew Mayne, mystery thriller set in Florida with diving as a theme. Again an on sale book one of a series. Good suspense and interesting characters. I will likely read more.
49 Deliver us from Evil, by David Baldacci, espionage fiction, France and UK contemporary. Follow up, loosely to The Whole Truth. Good plot, a bit more description of the hardware than he usually has, maybe a touch of Tom Clancy. I think it set up for another in series. This was a paperbook I think I found cleaning out my grandparents house or on a book swap table. Nice to read in paper but trade paperback is just too big to take around with you.
50 Don’t Let Go, by Harlan Coben, mystery suspense set in New Jersey, on sale audiobook. Engaging I read it in a couple days. I should have seen that ending coming but didn’t. I liked the characters.
52 Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, audiobook. Great audio read going into the autumn, morose and spooky. Much more of an emotional drama than I realized. First time to read it after being challenged by a friend who was reading it.
53 Espionage and Covert Operations: A Global History, by Veja Gabriel Liulevius, a 12 hour lecture/audiobook. A bit like a history class but he is good at presenting the information. I learned a ton. Does it count as a book? It is longer than some novels I’ve done on audible.
54 Nine Women One Dress, by Jane L. Rosen, fiction chic lit, New York City, mostly. It was fun. A light read that I found on a humor list and as an audiobook in my library.
55 Iron Lake, by Willem Kent Krueger, fiction very cold small town Minnesota. Great emotion and character development in an intense mystery plot. Didn’t know it was the beginning of a series. I would not hesitate to read more. Library ebook. He's a very good writer.
56 Therapy, by Jonathan Kellerman, mystery in LA, older series, hard boiled style. Not sure if it was the age of the tech or the characters. Didn’t like this. It is part of a big popular series so my opinion clearly doesn’t hold. I like Kellerman’s writing and other books, just not an Alex Delaware series fan. Library ebook
57 The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion, fiction, a bit of romantic comedy. I listened as an audiobook and the Australian accent was fun. The character’s ocd was delightful. I find rom com a bit light and unrealistic but it was an enjoyable book.
58 Boundaries, by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, when to say yes and how to say no to take control of your life. A best seller nonfiction. Got it on audio library book. Very good in that includes examples, how to-s, as well as things to help you identify your own tendencies. I will probably buy for my own collection.
59 The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides, UK modern day Mystery Fiction, library ebook. It was well written and I saw it coming a bit before the twist hit toward the end. Not my favorite type of book but it was a best seller and I think it is slated for a film as well.
60 Someone Knows, by Lisa Scottoline, suburbs of Philadelphia (or was it Baltimore?). Mystery fiction, multiple points of view audiobook. The downward spiral of the first third or half was a bit hard. I ended up playing it on a higher speed to get it over, the last third is full of suspense and the pay off on some character strengths made me like the book much more by the end.
61 The Talented Mr. Ripley, By Patricia Highsmith. On a classic recommendations list. Mostly set in Italy. Good writing but I tired of the characters. Audiobook listened at high speed which is a sign I just want to be done.
62 Everything you told me, by Lucy Dawson, mostly near London. Intrigued by the premise but found the main character passive for a good amount of the book anda bit deus ex machina at the end. Audiobook listened at high speed. It is popular though.
63 The Cornish Coast Murder, by John Bude, fiction written in the 1930s, Cornwall. Library ebook. Very light reading exactly what you’d expect. A bit of the little lady tone regarding female characters. Contemporary authors ie Parker or Christie certainly didn’t take that tone.
64 Zeal without Burnout, by Christopher Ash, nonfiction ebook. I probably was not the intended audience since I’m thinking in terms of an organization not a church. Some good points but not so much as I’d hoped.
65 A man called Ove, by Federik Backman, modern fiction Sweden. On a lot of book club lists and humor book lists. It is funny in many places but it is also poignant and sometimes sad. I can highly recommend it for the writing and characters. Ebook library. Full disclosure: finished on New Year’s Day 2021

Reading and Cereal

I was reading Linda Castillo's book, Shamed. A murder occurs in an Amish community and the sheriff who was raised Amish and left the community is racing the clock to solve a kidnapping and murder. Good suspense and it kept me engaged. It was book 11 because it was one I randomly grabbed in my library app not wanting to study on what to read. I won't go back in the series but I would read more.

Do you know the term "brought out of the story"? I am pretty easy going about playing along with plots and twists-turns. Grammatical errors and typos always make me pause and think about if the book was published by a big New York firm and that sort of thing. Sometimes something in a story doesn't sound quite true and it will make you stop and think. This is being pulled out of the story instead of staying in the flow. 

While I can highly recommend this book there was one moment that brought me out of the story. The sheriff is talking to the 5 or 6 children under 11 years old. It is late almost bedtime and they are eating cereal. 

I did not grow up Amish but my parents went through some hippie phases. If you want a play on words, they can be a bit granola. In fact, most of my life they have made granola from scratch. We would buy it at times as well as a healthier alternative to processed cereal. I did get to eat cereal from boxes too. It had to be something with some nutrition in my mother's estimation Wheaties or Life Cereal if I begged. I've never had Captain Crunch, still. It was considered sugar and no substance.

I know about home made granola intimately. And we call it granola we don't call it cereal. So this begs the question from me: do Amish communities, or does a conservative Amish family buy cereal? The family in the book is designated as a strict family. Or is there a recipe for cereal that I haven't encountered with my everything made from scratch up bringing?? I find this very interesting. If you happen to know, I'd love to hear. 

It was a silly detail that made me pause in my reading.  I know some Mennonites but they can be very modern so I don't think I'll get my answer there either.

At my house today, I buy my cereal, happily. I mix three varieties including one here in Spain called Chocolic, it is the store brand of the pictured product here which is name brand. Chocolic would not meet my mother's cereal standards, please don't tell her. 

My reads of 2016

I'm a bit late posting these this year. I've never binged one series before like I did the Charles Todd books in WW I - that was fun and it was hard not to keep talking about the era since I was reading so much. Continued the audio book mix and made room for some books outside my normal mystery genre too. What were favorite reads last year?

1. The professor, Charlotte Bronte, ***, ebook

2. Look Twice, Lisa Scottaline, PA, Philly, ebook, ***.5

3. An impartial witness, Charles Todd, WWI mystery, ebook library, ****

4. A bitter truth, Charles Todd, WWI, mystery uk, ebok library, ****

5. An Unmarked grave, Charles Todd, WWI  mystery UK, ebook library, ****

6. A Question of Honor, Charles Todd, WWI, mystery UK, France, ebook library, ****

7. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared, Jonas Jonasson, Sweden and many others, audio, ***.5, if not for political side trips 4 stars. caper.

8. An unwilling accomplice, Charles Todd, wwI mostly inside UK this time, **** library

9. The maharani's pearls, Charles Todd, bess crawford,  short story , library. 

10. Blood work, Michael Connelly, LA region current day, ***.5, audiobook 

11.  The Icarus Deception: how high will you fly?, nonfiction, library audio. ****

12. A Pattern of Lies, Charles Todd, Bess Crawford WW I, library ebook. ***p

13. Essentialism,  the disciplined pursuit of less, Greg  McKeown,  Library ebook, nonfiction 

14. In a cold dark place, Greg Olsen, Emily Canon series, Washington  state, audiobook. ****

15. Go set a watchman, Harper Lee, Macomb, Georgia, 1960s, audiobook, library

16.  Todo esta tranquilo, Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, modern NH, ebook in Spanish, won't try English translated to Spanish anymore. ***

17. Dog Tags, David Rosenfelt, fiction NJ, audio ***

18. Furiously Happy, Jenny Lawson, nonfiction depression and anxiety issues, audio, ***

19. The Daughter, Jane Shemilt, uk modern day, not exactly mystery but sort of, 3.5* well written but didn't feel the ending and that pulled back my rating. 

20. The Tourist, Olen Steinhauer, *** espionage so lots of places in the world modern day. Audiobook 

21. The wild inside, Christine Carbo, glacier national park, mystery, audio, ***

22. And then there were none, Agatha Christie, soldier island uk, 1930s ebook, *****

23. Seated with Christ, living freely in a culture of comparison, heather holleman, nonfiction. Very simple and well written. *****

24.  Four seasons in Rome, twins, insomnia, and the biggest funeral in the history of the world, Anthony Doerr, travelogue, library****

25. The Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham,  London mostly post WWIi, published 1952, paperbook, ****

26. Best Kept Secrets, Jeffrey Archer, UK post WW II, series, I accidentally picked up the middle of a series, audiobook, library. ***

27. Cold sassy tree, Olive Ann Burns, Georgia 1906, fiction, ****

28. The Whole Truth, David Baldacci, Europe modern day, fiction, paperbook, ****

29. Death du Jour, Kathy Reichs, Montreal and North Carolina, mystery fiction modern, paper book. ***

30. Vanish, Tess Gerritson, Boston modern day, mystery, paper book, ****

31. The Shining, Stephen King, 70s, Colorado, audio library book. *** because of my taste. Very good writing of course, but hurry up and do the killing feeling. Maybe I knew too much of the story.

32. A Sun burned Country, Bill Bryson, Australia travelogue, audio read by the author, library. **** I did laugh out loud at times

33 The Case of the Man who Died Laughing, the files of Vish Puri, detective, by Tarquin Hall, modern India, fiction mystery. Ebook mystery fiction, *****

34. The Careful Use of Compliments, Isabel Dalhoise book, by Alexander McCall Smith, Scotland  fiction  ebook library ***, well written 3 stars is just due to my taste.

35.The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck, China pre-revolution, drama, audiobooks ****

36.Rage, by Zygmunt Miloszewski, Poland Warmia area, contemporary fiction, ebook, ****

37.   Amnesia, g. H. Ephron ****, Boston, recent

38. The Butterfly Garden, Dot Hutchinson, *****, current day, fbi investigation, maybe one of the creepiest things I've read in a long time.
 39. The Expats, Chris Pavone, Luxembourg, Paris, audiobook library. **** espionage. I really enjoyed the expat aspects of this book.

40. The Emperor of Ocean Park, by Stephen L. Carter, modern day New England and D.C. Literary mystery. Ebook. ***.5 very well written but more of a literary feel than compelling mystery, we chased something the whole book only to let it go.
41. The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher, autobiographical, audiobook. ***.5 She read it herself. Quick easy read. She died a couple weeks after I listened to her voice for six hours so it was like I knew her. 42. The last witness, Joel Goldman, Kansas City, ebook. ***
43. One day after, by William Forstchen, today/post apocalyptic North Carolina. audiobook, *** not amazing writing, too much info dumping but a fascinating and haunting premise.
44. As you wish, by Cary Elwes, audiobook, reflections from actors and crew on princess bride movie****
45. The Bee keepers apprentice, Laurie b. King, a derivative of Sherlock Holmes, audiobook, *****
46. The Whistler by John Grisham, Florida fiction, audiobook, finished on Jan 1, 2017 ***

Reads of 2015

I  read a variety of genres last year and more audio books. I kept track of library borrows as well as audio. I find it interesting to see my own habits change and evolve with technology. I also read more sort of top books, probably thanks to library access and Audible credits. I felt like I read more, but the list says not so. I did draft a book in writing as well as move house last year, traveled more for work...so my hands weren't idle when they weren't in a book. Favorite reads on your list from 2015? 

Books 2015

1. The Hike The Missing Link to Transformational Leadership Copyright © Danise DiStasi Nonfiction business allegory ***

2. Is everyone hanging out without me?, Mindy Kaling, humor memoir, ****, audio

3. El salon  de ambar, germany, spain, portugal  in Spanish! **** matilde asensi

4. The weed that strings the hangman's bag, UK, post WW II, Alan Bradley, **** audio

5. The Joy Diet, martha Beck,nonfiction, started in 2014;this one is a process not just a book. *****

6. Gone Girl, gillian flynn, Missouri, hard to rate since I knew so much hype. Well written. Didn't like the end which colors your overall feel. 

7. For Women only, shaunti feldhahn, nonfiction, paper book, started in 2014

8. Murder in the afternoon, Frances Brody. UK after WW1, **** audio

9. Gung-Ho, leadership story, ****, Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, audio

10. Cut and Run, carla neggers, holland and new york, *,  it was like a rough draft, needed editing, names spelled erratically, repetitive. 

11. Amy Pohler, yes, please, autobiography, *** audio, never quite finished even though I liked it. 

12. The  Antelope in the living room, Melanie Shankle, memoir humor, ***, library 

13. The Racketeer, John Grisham, ***, ebook, library

14. Dad is fat, Jim Gaffigan, memoir,*** audio

15. Dying to meet you, Patricia Scott, uk, fiction**

16. Rules of Prey, John Sandford, Minneapolis/St Paul, fiction, ebook, ***

17. The One You Love, Paul Pilkington, London, uk, fiction *** e book

18. The Four Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss, nonfiction

19. The Husband's Secrets, Liane  moriarty, Fiction audio, Australia, ***

20. The shawshank redemption, stephen king, audiobook, rough language  ****

21. Dear Theo, Irving Stone and Gene stone, audiobook,  letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo ****, this was really long but I enjoyed it. Incredible look inside his life.

22. Walking with God thru pain and suffering, timothy Keller, nonfiction, ***

23. King of Lies, John Hart, North Carolina, audiobook, fast read, ****, library 

24. The Kind Worth Killing, Peter Swansen, Boston New England, ebook, library ****

25. Gray Mountain, John Grisham, Appalacian Virginia and DC, NYC, audio, library ***

26. Last Man Standing, David Baldacci, DC virginia, audio book. ***

27. Paranoia, joseph Finder, Seattle? , *** audio

28. Suspect, Robert Crais, LA, ***

29. 80/20 principle, the secret to achieving more with less, richard koLch, nonfiction.****

30. The Girl on the Train, Uk, Paula Hawkins, audio****

31. Beyond Belief: jenna miscaivage hill, scientology, nonfiction ***, audio, very interesting 

32. Mr. penumbra's 24 hour bookstore, Robin Sloan, san francisco, audio. ****, present tense. 

33. Evelina, historical fiction, UK,  Fanny Burney, pub date 1778, ***

34. The Handmaid's Tale, alternate future USAish, top 100 books list, audio, ****

35. Deliver us from Evil, italy, Roberto Constantini, ***.5, didn't love the main character or it could have been 4 stars, plus second half had some typos probably from the translation. Library 

36. the Stranger, Harlan Corben, NJ, ****, library ebook

37. the Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton, Australia, Cornwall, mixed time periods, **** audiobook

Books read in 2013

1. Narrow Dog to Indian River, Terry Darlington, South USA, travelogue ****
2. The Sholes Key, Clarissa Draper, UK, **
3. Sick Puppy, Carl Hiaasen, Florida, ***
4. Mothers, miniskirts, and muslims, Christine a. mallouhi, nonfiction***
5. Fever Dream, by Preston and Child, Africa, Louisiana, etc.****
6. Cabal, Michael Dibdin, an Aurelio Zen detective mystery, Rome & Milan, ***
7. Dog-ma, the zen of slobber, Barbara Brunner, nonfiction dog stories, ***
8. winter in Madrid, CJ Sansom, Madrid  during WW II, ****
9. Death of an obnoxious tourist, Maria Hodgins, Florence, **
10. The psyhopath Test: a journey into the madness industry. Jon Ronson nonfiction. ***
11. Approacing Menace, June Shaw, alabama, *
12. The Absent One, Jussi adler-olsen, copenhagen, ****
13. The dog who bit a policeman, Stuart m. kaminsky, Moscow, ****
14. the last page, Libby Fischer Hellmann & David Walker, novella in a library, **
15. Subterranean, by James Rollins, caves in antarctica, ****
16. Spying in High Heels, By Gemma Halliday, LA, ***.5
17. The Scent of Rain and Lightening, by Nancy Pickard, Kansas, *****
18. The Bookseller, by Mark Pryor, Paris, ****
19. The Appeal, John Grisham, Mississippi ***
20. Grass Roots, Stuart Woods, DC Georgia, not my politics, ***
21. Extreme Measures, Vince Flynn, Washington DC and others ****
22. Betaread for someone...not fun, too much like work
23. Cold Vengeance, *** due to cliff hanger ending, by preston and childs, scotland and new york city
24. Two graves, Preston and Childs **** lots of USA
25. Kissing Christmas Goodbye, MC Beaton, *** Cotswalds UK
26.  The angel of the odd, edgar allen poe, short story.
27.  Silent Night, Mary Higgins Clark, NyC ***
28. Road to Gandolfo, robert Ludlum, switzerland, d.c., italy, ****

This year again I read fewer books than a couple years ago and that makes me feel somehow sad. I can tell you about editing, writing or a really intense new day job, but it just is what it is. I used to read a book a week or more a few years ago, but I do a lot more writing than I used to and that I count as a success. I also make myself accomplish a few household tasks as well as writing tasks before I start a new book (to motivate me!), so that slowed me down, but was productive for my life. I wish I'd had more five star rating worthy books the last couple years but more I liked this year than last. 

Hard vs. paperback vs.ereader

I love books and I love reading often choosing it over other activities like TV. I've been traveling with my ereader and I love  having multiple books in just a few ounces of weight. Passing thru airports I still have a gut instinct to want to go into the bookstores. 

Clearly additional weight is not added by shopping, only by buying. I have to be disciplined or I will still succumb because I do love paper books, but my back doesn't like carrying them. 

All this looking got me thinking about the various merits of the different types of books and why over the years I have purchased various formats.

I love the way hard backs look on a shelf. There's a presence and definitely more majesty to them than worn paperbacks. Another advantage I like in hard backs is that they are easier to convince to stay open while my hands are busy, usually eating. I love to read while I eat. I have never been a habitual reader of hardback books mostly because of price. I was never sure what to do with the dust jacketeither Keep? I feel obligated to keep it. But if you want a shelf of black or leatherette books the dust jacket detracts, but I understand the books may be worth more with them.  I disliked the idea of discarding them, but they often tore and seemed less dignified then.

 If you read an earlier blog of mine,  I talked about finding books hanging around my parents' or grandparents' houses, so I didn't come into the idea of buying new until later and I was quite poor in that phase of life. Hardback purchases were generally only done if they were on sale and then likely only if it was a favorite author.

Since I mostly scavenged books for a long time, I was rarely up to date with an author's releases so buying the paperback was never a hardship of waiting for me. 

I love the way paperbacks can fit in a bag or sometimes a pocket. I used to feel really weird and insecure about leaving the house without a book so paperbacks fit my life easier. I learned the art of eves deopping  and people watching so it doesn't stress me out so much anymore to not have a book on me daily. Odd observations of people end up as bits in books I write later I find.

I like the friendly feel and the price of paperbacks, but they don't stay open as easily when your hands are busy, say eating. I don't break spines on books for me that's a no-no, so it's about finding random things and using the edge of plates trying to prop them open. It wasn't always tidy. 

I also like the colorful creative covers of paperbacks but those clearly don't lend the elegant look to the bookcase. I like owning a quantity of books and that was easier with the price of paperbacks. 

Size matters for me. That's why I recently switched to a mini ipad. The full size was too much weight for taking on the run or for a long day when you weren't sure of reading time. Like a hardback.  I'm very happy with the new size and I love that you can prop up ereaders (with the right case) for hands free reading, great for eating. Smile. 

The odd dilemma I have on ebook purchasing is my old price habits. I don't mind paying up to paperback prices but when we get up to $12-15 that starts to feel like hardback rates but without the sort of visual benefit of that book on the shelf. It's probably my old cheapskate ways. I know with my brain that $12 is not a hardback price, but so far I haven't been able to bring myself to pay that much. The virtual bookshelf I like well stocked, colorful and affordable. Oh but I love having many books with me and not worrying about coming to an end without a new book nearby. I WILL admit to worrying about wifi and fresh downloads though.

Psyching yourself out

Breathe in, breathe out. I went thru a spell a while back where it felt like I couldn't get my breath. I told a stomach doctor that after I eat sometimes I feel like can't breathe very well. He said don't eat so much. Thanks, I couldn't have figured that out by myself. But in reality it didn't seem to be related to the food. I also noticed the sensation of being short of air when I lay down at night.

I recognized lying in the darkness that I could escalate the situation or calm it simply by how I thought about it. I could concentrate on the tightness in my abs or I could concentrate on air flowing in and out of my chest as I breathed slowly and steadily.

I started thinking about the power of the mind. As a writer, I do often try to get inside people's heads. The thing is I'm not a super psychology student and it's not my first instinct to look into the thoughts or motivations of someone else. I like plot so I easily get swept away in the activities. Next they did this, and then they did that.

But seeing in myself my own "opportunity" to talk myself into near panic over catching my breath or calming myself down if I talked differently made me think about the psychology of characters and strangers more.

A friend of mine described how she took the anger level of driving way down by imagining that the person that cut her off had to pee or was on their way to an emergency. Or even she could imagine that they were having a really bad day and if cutting her off could make them feel more in control of their lives maybe they just needed that at the moment and she would "give" them that.

The power of our thoughts on our perspective is amazing really.  You hear stories of the bitter victims of disease faring worse than those who make peace with it and fight on. In both cases they are fighting but one seems to do so with more grace and sometimes more success.

Whatever was causing my own breathing issues went away on it's own with no medical intervention. I could have spent a lot of time in emergency rooms at bedtime had I listened to the panic voice in my head. Instead, I concentrated on the air I did have. I wonder what other situations in life I could adjust the way I see? Opportunity or problem? I think in psychology they would call it "reframing" how I look at the situation.

So as I'm beginning to think of my next book I'm going to write I'm trying to imagine what kind of psychological journey I can take my characters on this time. From panic to serene? Maybe that's a bit too much, but it makes me want to look at how people cope and their motivations more.

Book hunting in the e-world

I was shuffling papers on a desk I only store things on since I carry the laptop around and slouch on the sofas these days. I noticed a pile of bookmarks and flyers about books in one of my cubbyholes. They are from a mystery convention I went to years ago, a mystery book store I frequented in the USA when I lived there, and maybe a couple that were direct marketing pieces from Sisters In Crime, a group I belong to, as well.

I realized I don't think I've ever gone to that pile of papers to look for a book title to read. Despite having kept these and toted them between two or three residences, I don't think to go look there. And despite having read the cards and kept them because they seemed interesting to me.

This got me thinking about how finding books has changed. I blogged a year ago about this a little bit too.

Now, I'm involved with Mystery Readers Corner on Facebook. It's a private group and for a good reason - though if you're a mystery reader you can ask to be a part. I was involved with two other groups on Facebook that turned into marketing blitzes by authors who didn't realize a little decorum might be called for. Posting about your book and it alone every day is a turn off. Those of you who follow me know I try to keep it fun, light, hopefully interesting and occasionally I mention my book stuff.

Anyway - on Mystery Readers Corner I hear about books everyday. Often I don't have time to pursue it but when I do and I like the way something sounds I try to put it on my GoodReads list. (Me on GoodReads) This way I maintain a digital list that doesn't accumulate papers in a cubbyhole in my house. By far this is not all the books I'm interested in but it gives me a place to start.

Though many of my GoodReads list are also ones I saw on GoodReads when I was shopping for a specific destination book and now that I'm not going to that city they don't hold as much appeal. They have a page of Around the World in 80 books that has a page listing books by place, for me the challenge is they are not all mysteries and it just depends on my mood. It's a fun list to look at though. They also do a challenge of reading around the world in a year or countries that touch each other etc. I have never taken the challenge but it's fun to see the suggestions. This too is a place I find books.

One of the most helpful things for choosing a book or adding it to my wishlist on these page feeds is when someone describes the tone of a book. I don't always want too much of a plot summary, but I do want to know if they liked it and if it was dark, light, serious, police procedural, historical, cozy etc. These words help me know according to my mood if that is a direction I'm ready to go on my next read. I don't always get to maintain that little tone-tidbit when I put it on GoodReads but I at least know it appealed to me on a specific day.

One thing I've noticed on various list feeds is that I feel like a very slow reader comparatively and a very behind the times reader. I grew up scavenging books not getting them new, so I wasn't one to rush out and buy new until I got an ereader. I'm very rarely on the latest of anyone's series and as there are so many good books in the world I'm often picking up ones from a few years ago that aren't so expensive. So I guess even as an ereader, I'm still scavenging rather than looking at the latest and greatest, but hearing what people like in the latest and greatest gives me something to look forward to, maybe in a couple years.

Are you finding books differently and keeping track of them differently than you used to?

Who said you can tell me what I want?

I was on the search for a new book. I remembered someone had recommended a website for books based on setting and wanted to find it again. I was on a different computer and I couldn't get it to come up.

Then I was on the train coming back from Madrid and in my usual way I'm always jealous of the people commuting who have reading material. I decided to search for my next book on my phone.

I did a search for books by location since I couldn't remember the name of the website and I found this very interesting library mystery list based on locations in the world. (Murder in Far Away Places.) Well, I got interrupted talking on the train, so I didn't finish my perusal of the list.

When I got home on the computer I decided to find that library website and finish looking, but when I did the exact same search, nothing like that came up. In fact the original website I'd seen months ago came up. It definitely is worth a look if you're trying to find a look by location. It has a mystery category but also has books in general by their setting. Books set in

What I find so interesting about this is that on different devices doing the exact same search on Google is resulting in different list. Drastically different. I knew that push marketing and algorithms were at work when I searched, but I always assumed they were somehow pushing the real things I was looking for. After this experience, I have lost faith in Google and push marketing in general. It must be working for them. For me, I know I've seen things that interested me in the side bar push marketing way, but rarely have I bought from there.

When a search has the top color bar of people who have paid to come up first, I avoid those sites unless I'm totally not finding my desires in the list that I assumed were more organic choices below. Now I'm not really sure about any of it.

The same search - a different device - and I couldn't get the same page to come up. Who made you Google or anyone else for that matter the keeper of what I really want or what I'm really looking for? I know in theory they are trying to help me find things faster, but it's disturbing.

Reading ratings. How many stars?

I like to read. In recent years I've taken to trying to share that with others on Good Reads and some on Amazon. I'm not real active but it's fun to share and look for new books. I started tracking what books I read each year about four years ago, but last year I started rating them for myself on my list as well as trying to rate them on Good Reads.

After some time of doing this, I noticed that my rating system seems to be quite different than other people's ratings. I think I may be quite stingy with stars but that's not how it feels in my head. I'm curious how other people view their own rating system.

For me a three star *** rating, is a basic average book. I enjoyed it but there was nothing that blew me away. Four stars **** I reserve for a book I really enjoyed or found the writing really exceptional or perhaps the plot and suspense were really good for me. I know that is really subjective and even is influenced by my mood.

For example, I rarely feel in the mood for a historical book, but I often read them and quite enjoy them, but that's seems not to be my first choice. Though when I had access to bookstores, I did find myself picking one up after browsing around in the mystery section. One I'm interested in getting at the moment is based on Charlotte Bronte as a main character. I love the real Bronte's writing, so it would be fun to learn more about her through some fiction.

Back to the stars -- a five star ***** rating is reserved for my favorite books of all time. So this is a rare thing for me to give out. A precious gold sort of thing. You'll find few in my Good Reads pages. Sometimes they only go to a book I read a long long time ago that has never left me.

Two stars ** or one * are very rare as well. I feel bad to give them because to me they are not so good. Two** is a book that I did enjoy some but was poorly written or too predictable and one star * I wonder why I bothered to finish.

I did in the last year or so take up quitting books. In the past I never did, but if I'm not into it or it's too easy to see where it's going and not cleverly written, well, I move on. It's a new enough idea, I still feel somewhat guilty about it, but I've given myself permission. I do not rate books that I do not complete.

When my first book came out and started getting ratings on Amazon, I was delighted by several five star ***** ratings by complete strangers I might add, not my best friends. (Killed in Kruger)  But stars are free and some people aren't stingy like me. I noticed also on Amazon one of my three star *** ratings was a bit negative and in my head three isn't bad.

I also saw on Good Reads someone give a one star to a book saying it was worth the read but wasn't a great book, which is totally different than my version of a one star.

So I ask myself if they are free why am I so tight with my stars? I know I will take a recommendation from someone who merely liked a book or enjoyed it. They do not have to say it is a new favorite or anything to convince me. I also feel self conscious about recommending things to people. I want to know I liked it before I can recommend or that a trusted friend or resource recommends it if I haven't personally read it. A lot of marketing sites all the authors promise to recommend each other's books, but I feel I have to read them first.

What is your system of stars? Or do you have a different way of rating books? All these online networking sites mostly give us stars as our way to rate. I wonder if I should change my ways, but then that doesn't seem fair to all the books I already rated!

Ebook impact on my reading

So in 2011 I took the plunge into ebook land. It was premeditated because I knew I would be moving to a place where English books would be hard to find and expensive. I chose the ipad because it also worked as essentially an extra laptop in the house, and it has some usefulness in my day job as well.

My first book was a free classic. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by one of our grand dames Agatha Christie. Enjoyed it just as much digitally as I've enjoyed her work on paper. I went to see if all of her books were free in ebook form only to get my first lesson in ebook marketing. Make the first one free, hook them, then charge full price.

I was a bit frustrated when I looked for specific books and didn't find them in the Apple Ibookstore. It also was hard to just browse. I think I should try to browse from Itunes and I'd enjoy it more. I was delightted to discover that Nook and Kindle have Apps for the ipad which opened up a whole new world. I now feel like I can visit different bookstores depending on what gift certificates I have or what mood I'm in or where an author makes their work available. I'm not limited.

I tried some different books that I wouldn't have risked money on when I experimented with booklending.com that lends via the Kindle. A little weird to figure out but then the books appeared on my app. I also borrowed a couple I couldn't finish. A rarity for me. I have not tried - yet - the library lending programs yet. I did download Overdrive but my home town library changed systems before I could borrow, so on to yet another app. Library borrowing: a blog for another day.

When I finish reading a book now, I have the internal debate of what's next. Paper or ebook? I don't want to deplete my paper shelves too quickly. I also consider how much am I going on the train or am I going to go to a Spanish tutoring class. If I'm going to class, which means the train and taking notes in class, I'll have my ipad anyway, so it's better not to add a book to the load. I am jealous of others on the train with a Kindle. It's much smaller and can be handled with one hand which I can't manage with my ipad. The weight of the ipad makes me think twice about dragging it with me everywhere. I have to get bigger purses and stronger shoulders if it is going to go automatically with me. The good news is I just downloaded the Kindle app to my phone, so I can read there too without taking the ipad. This makes me a bit more inclined to buy my books on Amazon, but I think I may have a nook app available for te phone too. I need to see if I can see my ibook cloud on my phone (not an iphone, so I doubt it.)In general I think I'm buying more on Amazon.

Something I enjoy in ebooks is that I can tap a word to get a definition instantly without leaving my book. I love this. I always read books and thought I should look that word up (Thanks, Elizabeth George), but then I didn't want to interrupt my reading to go do it. I also like marking great passages or turns of phrase that are good characterization. I don't like to deface paper books, so it's nice to mark things without the sense I'm making a mess in my book. I'm not good with straight lines or tiny printing in the margins, what can I say?

Here's an idea that would never have occurred to me pre-ebook. I might try to find a Spanish book as part of my journey of learning the language. If I can do the word look up thing, like I do in English, it would be a great learning experience. Maybe. Might be too much work in the end and reading is after all my mental release and recreation.

My Books of 2011

Here's my reading list for 2011. Not including whatever book I start tomorrow, but I likely won't finish one tomorrow so I think it's not too premature to post my list. I read 8 more books than the previous year which surprised me. I've only been keeping track the past couple years. I know I had a phase of one week when I was younger, but now we have the internet and other distractions.


I know that non-fiction slows me down because it just doesn't keep me coming back for more and often I am reading it at the behest of someone or some project and it feel obligatory not relaxing. I do force myself to read it because I know I should at times as well. I prefer to use reading as a relaxation though and not to "better myself."

I read a couple travelogues which I know technically are nonfiction but they flow for me like fiction. A good one is one of my favorite things to read.  I tend to enjoy them more and read them faster if they are humorous. So in this category for 2011: The Narrow Dog to Carcassonne wins. Delightful.

It's hard to pick a favorite in the fiction category because when I look at the titles they each say something different to me about the stories and then where I was myself at that time last year. I slept in more beds than I can count (with only one person I might add) so life was a bit topsy turvey last year. Historic favorite: A monstrous Regiment of Women. Really liked Down River and The Case of the Missing Servant opened up a new world of Indian humor and mystery. Take the Monkeys and Run was the best humorous mystery I read this year. Death of a Cozy Writer feels like the beginning of a new favorite author find.

1 A monstrous Regiment of Women, Laurie B King
2 The art of deception, Ridley Pearson
3 Telling Yourself the Truth by Backus and Champion, finished in 2011
4 Expectations and Burnout, Women Surviving the Great Commission, by Eenigenburg & Bliss, finished in 2011
5 Thrilled to Death, How the Endless Pursuit of Pleasure is Leaving us Numb, by Archibald Hart
6 - 12 'Christian' Beliefs That Can Drive You Crazy: Relief from False Assumptions, by Cloud and Townsend
7 Desert Lost, Betty Webb
8 Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers
9 The Rosewood Casket, Sharon McCrumb
10 A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller
11 Freedom from Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles Hummel
12 Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy
13 Brush with Death, an art lovers mystery, by Hailey Lind 
14 Death on Demand, Carolyn Hart
15 Driving over Lemons, an optimist in Spain, by Chris Stewart
16 Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff
17 Chamomile Mourning, Laura Childs
18 Fire and Ice, Dana Stabenow
19 Rikki Tikki Tavi, Kipling
20 Digital Disciple, Adam Thomas
21 The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie
22 The Meeting of the Waters: 7 Global Currents that Will propel the Future Church. Fritz Kling
23 Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott
24 Think Twice, Lisa Scottaline
25 Down River, John Hart
26 Narrow Dog to Carcassonne, Terry Derrington
27 Hemingway Cutthroat, MIchael Atkinson
28 How to Write Killer Fiction, Carolyn Wheat
29 Say it With Poison, Ann Granger
30 The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence.
31 Straight, Dick Francis
32 The Case of the Missing Servant, Tarquin Hall, Vishi Puri mystery set in India.
33 Murphy's Law, Rhys Bowen
34 Take the Monkeys and Run, Karen Cantwell
35 Brett Battles, The Cleaner
36 The Killing Hour, Lisa Gardner, kidnapper-killer using odd environments
37 The Summer Snow, Rebecca Pawel, post Spanish Civil War
38 Stalker, Faye Kellerman, police procedural. Peter Decker lieutenant
39 Woman to Woman, Sharing Jesus with a Muslim Friend by Joy Loewen (Jan 1, 2010)
40 Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane
41 Missing Persons, Clare O'Donohue
42 Still Life: An inspector Gamache Novel, Louise Penny
43 Last Breath, Michael Prescott
44 Shameless Promotion for Brazen Huzzies, by Roberta Isleib, ed.
45. Death of a Cozy Writer, G.M. Malliet
46. Retirement can be Murder, Phil Edwards

To post a book by Denise

I spent a good deal of the last couple months researching and reading about posting ebooks. I read a lot of pros, cons, and instructions. Some of the instructions were a year or two old on the internet and didn't really serve a purpose anymore. I decided to stick to new ones. I downloaded the Smashwords Style guide which is a long book-like document and read a few bits of it. This is a case where everyone seems to have a different idea and you eventually have to pick one and try it.

Ultimately, someone on a forum was testing a video that they put on youtube of how to format your book. It's only a 5 minute video, so I invested the time. It's from an author CJ Lyons: How to Format your Ebook Video. 

I found the video easy to follow and clear. It was helpful to see what she meant on screen in Word rather than just read it. Normally I'm a read it and do it person because that is often faster for me. I thought it was helpful and a doable process that did not take hours. Of course this is a short story. I'd have to spend more time eliminating some formatting in my novel (coming soon!) but it does not seem out of reach. I have been a graphic designer in a former life so maybe this stuff is easier for me, but personally I'd recommend trying to do it yourself before you hire someone.

Another tip that was very helpful was to have certain things prepared and ready before you go to upload. I got this tip from John Kremer at this helpful blog. ebook-publishing guide
This was the list I found helpful but he's got lots of other information there too and other links.
Book (preferably in.doc format) – See detailed formatting guidelines below.
Cover picture (in JPG format, max 1200 pixels high)
Short book description (400 characters max)
Proper book description (up to about 2,500 characters)
About the Author summary
Book categories (i.e. Young Adult, Fantasy, etc.)
Decision on selling price of book

Barnes and Noble's Pub It gets the prize for the easiest and most pain free upload-my-book (short story) process. Amazon is a close second but slightly more cumbersome at their kdp website that was hard to find.Find it here. Smashwords I almost skipped because they are a much smaller share of the market (Kobo, Sony, Indies) but they do epub for ibook which meant I needed it if I wanted to see my finished story on my ipad, so I got on board. It was the most cumbersome, the most fussy not liking my formatting etc. They do however have a way to do a coupon so you can give away the book.

I did not see immediately any way to have a free book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It must be there and I will investigate further.

I downloaded my book from Smashwords since the ipad is the only reader I've got. Looks really good -- except for 2 sentences that seem to be in a different font (and they weren't) -- and it appears to be bold face throughout which it also was not. So a little more investigating to be done, but overall a good look I'm pleased with for a start. Waiting on a friend with a Nook and a Kindle to tell me how they look there and then I will take another look at the formatting.

Honesty in writing

In writing circles you hear a lot about honesty in your writing. It's something that perplexes me and yet in another way I understand it. I'm not sure I've acheived it in all I write yet.

I know they mean sincerity and not forcing things into the story that don't belong just because you want to talk about them subtly. The story needs to be real and hang together in its own storyline skin. I know what they mean and I know when I read something that doesn't follow this rule.

In fiction, however, you're always making it up. I haven't killed anyone (yet) but I make up stories where people get killed. In fact, the tradition I was raised in makes it hard for me -- being true to my own self -- to even put a swear word in a bad guy's mouth. But the bad guy would say the word. It's just that I wouldn't.

I also cry out to God at the slightest hint of challenge or distress. If I was "honest" literally all my characters would do this too. Instead, I must listen to the character and the story and be true to that story as it germinates in my brain. It's hard not to redirect based on something I can hear my mom saying, or my friends saying.

I'm reading a rather fresh tongue in cheek travelogue. I know at times the author has added to the story and yet it is truly in his own voice. I can feel that. It inspires me to try my hand at some bits of honest nonfiction. Okay, if I'm really honest, it would be sarcastic nonfiction.

Evolution of a blog

This blog was started originally when I moved to Spain between a few friends and myself to keep in touch and I'm grateful to you who have hung with me on this.

The evolution of which I speak now is that I am creating the pieces of a writing career if I do in fact decide to launch myself in self publishing. Even if I decide ultimately to search out an agent and a traditional publisher having a writers blog, writers page on facebook, a twitter account, and other marketing/contact elements is still essential. So for this I am migrating this blog to be attached to my author page on facebook: "Denise M Hartman."

I will then migrate my day job blog to my personal facebook page. So depending on which part of my life you are interested in, you can choose accordingly.

This blog will feature writing things or perhaps random life things. The day job blog will focus on the video production/religious aspects of that side of my life. So there we have it. The evolution as it now stands.

My first ebook

I have read my first entire book on a reader. It was a light read that only took a couple days and I wanted to put down my reflections on such a momentous moment for me. Things were different and some I liked and some I did not.

I borrowed the book from BookLending.com. That was a very positive experience - after some initial stumbling and not being sure how my book would be delivered to my ipad. Still not sure how, but it was there with almost no fussing. And I'm psyched about still being able to get free books from time to time.

I read on my kindle app for the ipad. It worked well and I had no problems. I noticed an occasional glitch that would eliminate a space between words, but then I notice typos in real books so as we say in Spanish de igual.

I missed the front cover of the book lying around the house when I read a book. I couldn't remember the author's name or the exact title and I couldn't just flip it over to see that. It's like a little of the personality of the thing is missing, but this of course doesn't effect the read or the content. You can click out of the book and see the cover.

I had some reservations about reading in bed. I hate reading magazines in bed; they're so unwieldy and it's hard to see the page when lying down. The ipad actually performed better than I expected or should I say the cover did. The cover acts as a stand so I could balance it on my (ahem) mid section or the mattress.

The angle at which I normally read (not in bed) made one portion of the screen dimmer than the rest, but by no means illegible. I read outside for a bit with a concern that the glare would make it hard but I was in the shade and it didn't bother me. I could see myself reflected in the screen while I read but I forgot about it after a while. That might bother some people though. I guess the dedicated book readers are non-reflective and I can see how that would be nice.

I was trying to flip back through and reference something earlier in the book. Never ever has a paper book given me a spinning wheel signal when I am flipping pages too fast, but I found what I was after.

I miss page numbers and seeing how far along I am in a book. I did discover that there's a way to see how far along percentage-wise and a location number but it is not a page number. I wanted to make some notes for myself and normally I would put down for myself what page number I'm referring to, but a location number seems less tangible or less accessible somehow.

My husband had to help me figure out how to lock my screen. The sensor that flips between horizontal and vertical would get excited and hop around when I was shifting around in my chair and that was quite annoying. Real books don't jump upside down when you're reading them. Once it was locked in place it ceased to be a problem.

I will be doing it again as I am far from bookstores and as we've seen there are going to be fewer bookstores even in the USA to browse. I'm importing a bunch of books too but a limited supply to be sure. I'm already grateful for my ipad as I may run out of paper reading material before my boxes arrive.

A new idea creeping up on me.

I have even in this blog explained the differences between self publishing and traditional publishing and been a proponent of going the traditional way. It garners more respect, especially in publishing, writer circles. Recently from some of the writer ezines, I've seen some articles that are challenging the way I think.

I am beginning to soften my own perspective on self publishing. Two authors I've read of recently are making good money on their books by self publishing ebooks. I think one of them offered print on demand books for a higher cost. Both of these articles featured people who are making so much money on their own that the publishing industry couldn't afford to get a contract with them. They did ebooks and started out with small sales and built up over a few years.

In traditional publishing, authors generally make a very small amount per book. Often under a dollar of the price of paperback actually pays the royalties. Suddenly with self publishing the author can make $3-7 dollars a book or more. It seems fair in this American land of free enterprise that the person who actually wrote the words would make more from them than others.

I have worked in desktop publishing and even laid out a few books for one of my jobs. I feel I do have the technical skill to figure out how to format and design books for epublishing. But my argument against self published books, is also against myself. The books often read as though they need to be edited -- because they DO need to be edited. I don't want to put out a book that reads that way.

So I saw a company that is helping authors who want to do this themselves by letting them chose different items of help from a menu. Just need formatting? $X price. Just need editing, $X price. It's a one time service rather than a percentage of your book for eternity. It's a great idea in this time of evolution in the publishing world.

I'm beginning to consider doing it myself. I will need to pay an editor and I'm not sure if I've got enough of my writing money left. I also am uncertain about my ability to promote myself sufficiently that it would be a successful endeavor. Keeping in mind I still have my day job that has to be sustained. A botched self publishing book would be a kiss of death with the New York publishing houses. They would stay far, far away after that and I don't want to ruin my chances, but it's such a different day. It's worth considering the risk.

2 lighter mysteries

I've been doing a lot of travel lately which leads to lots of reading time for me and so I'm struggling this year to keep up with my own commitment to review the books I read. And in an ironic twist, on my last plane ride I was the only one for rows with a real book, therefore, I needed a real light and mine was broken. Everyone else had their personal glow-y readers.


http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Under-Pressure-Manor-Mysteries/dp/0425235211
Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy
 The idea here is a young art historian who has been hired as a assistant curator for a mansion spread from her home town. Grace is in her probationary period of the job when the curator is killed and the pressure mounts. The mansion's owner lives upstairs, the staff is suspicious of grace, and her inherited home is falling apart. She needs to figure out who the bad guy is before she ends up losing her job or herself. I liked Grace and cheered for her along the way.

http://www.haileylind.com/brush-with-death.php
Brush with Death, an art lovers mystery, by Hailey Lind
Hailey Lind actually is a pseudonym for two ladies that write this series. One is an artist, the other a historian, so they make for a variety of information in the story. It's an easy read and they had some hilarious dialogue lines now and then. The mystery is set in California in the Oakland/San Francisco area and this one in a particular graveyard. There were some good hooks of using the graveyard as a specific place. How does this tie to art you might ask? The faux finisher Annie, the protagonist, was repairing a antique ceiling in a columbarium - a sort of mausoleum building but huge. I enjoyed this and didn't have the murderer figured out like I thought I did. This is not the first in the series, but the first one I ran into.

A million miles in a thousand years

By Donald Miller

So I read this book at the recommendation of a friend who is challenging me to go to a new level this year. It's a challenge to discover dreams and understand your desires anew. Well, haven't gone as deep with the entire challenge yet but she recommended reading 3 books with the challenge. This is the first one. I may be one of say 15 people in north America who did not read Blue Like Jazz by the same author. I had no aversion; it just wasn't ever laying around when I was between books. So I have nothing to compare this too.

This personal memoir with a self depreciating tone is entertaining but in this book he's exploring life from the perspective of a screenplay. Don bit by bit decides to add a deeper level of living and adventure to his life because of the exploration of story and what makes a good story. I don't know if this makes sense, but he really develops his own life experiences along with exploring what makes a good screenplay.

I enjoyed this on two levels. As a person who needs to write screenplays and who writes fiction stories, I loved the advice about writing and that Don was looking at it from a fresh perspective since he had not considered this writer advice previously.

The other level was a self exploration of what makes a good life which gives the book an almost self help feel. I don't know if it only did that for me because of the combo of things I'm interested in. I also felt an affirmation of the missionary calling I've been operating under the last eight years. It was good timing for me to have encouragement in my writing and my work life.

It was a fairly light and easy read too that didn't feel imposing. I can recommend it.

Book reviews: 3 mysteries and 1 self help

Recently I was reading about doing synopsi (is that the plural of synopsis?) for books and they said it is good practice to take books you've read and do a synopsis as a practice exercise. Since I thought I'd try to blog reviews of books I'm reading this year, I will try a few abbreviated synopsi with my two cents at the end.

Desert Lost, by Betty Webb
Private detective Lena Jones is at a trailer park trying to catch some graffiti artists when she discovers the body of a woman who appears to be from one of the polygamist compounds, but those are a couple hours away. It's not Lena's case but she gets pulled in when she goes to help her best friend pick up some escapees from the northern Arizona polygamist camp, but it's a trap. They escape but with more questions than answers. Lena wants to know why threats are escalating and who killed the dead woman before things turn deadly.

DG: While this was a pretty standard detective story, I was intrigued to learn about the atmosphere of the polygamist world. Lena is a detective with some unusual flaws and a childhood shooting which has left her with memory gaps. It will be interesting to see how this personal side of her unfolds in the books to come.

The Rosewood Casket, Sharyn McCrumb.
The four distant and very different Stargill brothers are called back to their mountain farm home in Appalachia to see to their dying father. He was a hard unemotional man, but they obey his wishes to build him a casket. The men awaken to their mountain roots and skeletons start tumbling out of their father's closet. It's time for the ghosts of the past to come to light, so they can rest.

DG: This book is high on atmosphere of the Appalachia mountain living and including a couple characters who have the "sight" for things unseen. It is strong on character development and an intriguing family mystery to be solved. For me, maybe too much history as the author couches the atmosphere around Daniel Boone. My significant other read this and liked that aspect of the book, so that is about taste not about the writing.

Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers
Lord Peter Whimsey is summoned by his mother the Duchess to help the architect who is working on the church. Apparently, a dead man has turned up in the little architect's bath. Whimsey is delighted by such an intriguing set of events and involves his valet, and his friend from Scotland Yard in discovering who this dead body is and how it came to be in a stranger's bathtub.

DG: This is a great light read. Sayers was a contemporary and friend of CS Lewis, an Oxford graduate, a believer and scholar. She's had a lot of influence in the mystery realm even though that wasn't her first calling. This story is from the 1920s and you do have to work a little to get into the language and slang of the day, but if you can do it, you'll enjoy Lord Peter. I don't know how many books she wrote of Lord Peter as a rich, idle, amateur sleuth, but there are a great number.

Murder at the National Cathedral, Margaret Truman
Mackenzie Smith marries his long time sweetheart Annabell in Washington D.C.'s National Cathedral, but the priest that conducts the ceremony ends up murdered a short time later. Mac steps out of teaching law to advise the Cathedral on legal matters around the murder, but he soon finds himself caught up in the investigation as much more than an advisor. Threats on he and Annabel on their honeymoon in London eventually lead to clues much closer to home.

DG: While I enjoyed this story, I was somewhat distracted by the lag in technology. It was published in 1990, so there are no mentions of cellphones (it would have been early days in that,) there are answering machines, etc. I felt that Mac and Annabell were a little passive in discovering the mystery, even though they do indeed get it sorted out. It made me worried that my own WIP (work in progress) is too passive which just leads to another re-write and I don't really want to go there right now.

12 'Christian' Beliefs That Can Drive You Crazy: Relief From False Assumptions
by Henry Cloud, and John Townsend
Christian advice sometimes well meaning leads to a trail of hurt and failure. This book debunks some phrases and jargon that gets thrown around in Christian circles that often harms the hearer more than it helps.

DG: This book takes some common phrases we throw around and examines them a little more closely and provides scripture to back up their expanded or opposed views. It's a book for people who are within in the church or who have left after feeling harmed by the church, but at it's heart it is just solid advice for those who haven't found help in catch phrases.