Tag Archives: reading

Nothing to Read?

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For me, bookstores are as much fun as orlando vacations, but I haven’t had a chance to visit one in weeks, and my TBR (to-be-read) stack is dwindling. Sort of.

I mean, I have all but the first two Aurora Teagarden books left to read, but the problem here is that I’m leaving on Thursday, for vacation, and I can’t take someone else’s books with me. It’s just wrong.

I did find a Christopher Moore book I hadn’t read yet – it had somehow ended up beneath bed. So what book is it? The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove.

Now, normally I love Moore’s work. I mean, I want to BE Moore – well, with breasts – and finding one of his novels I hadn’t read lurking in my own house would be a boon.

Except…

Except I’m ready for crisp weather, and creepy stories. I want something like The Historian, but I’ll settle for something like Dracula or The Southern Vampire Mysteries. I want something long, mysterious, and satisfying. I want a novel I can sink into, that sets a tone so perfect that even if it happens to be sunny, I’ll feel like it’s not, and I’ll keep glancing behind me to see who’s there.

I want something as amazing as The Eight, or as chilling as Stephen King’s early work – although I prefer clown-free stories.

I want…shadows, and suspicion and surprises.

What do YOU want to read?

Nostalgia with a Side of Butter

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When I was in college, I worked in the snack store, a fro-yo and candy store that also had one of those big commercial popcorn machines like the kind you see in movie theaters.

One of my favorite things to do on rainy weekends was to make a batch of popcorn, and sit there with a good book, letting the scent of buttery salty goodness entice passers-by. In that way, not only did I sell a lot of stuff, but I also got to meet a healthy cross-section of my campus-mates.

Last weekend, and again on Monday and Tuesday, I disconnected from the web, popped some popcorn (alas, the microwave kind) and curled up with the last two books in the Kushiel’s Legacy trilogy. The only passers-by were my husband and the dogs, but the combination of a great read (two actually), and a crunchy snack were all I needed to spend some blissful time away from the glare of the LCD screen.

Of course, now I have to review those novels for ATG, and prep the interview questions for Ms. Carey, and so I have to pull my head out of my virtual life in Terre d’Ange and back into that of a working writer.

I might need more popcorn for this.

Red Chairs and Work Shoes

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We caught the end of Ever After on television tonight, while eating dinner. Or drinking dinner, really, since my dinner was a smoothie from Jamba Juice. I always enjoy that movie, and not just because Dougray Scott looks great in tight pants (though that’s definitely a plus).

Tonight however, while watching the last snippet of this re-telling of “Cinderella,” I found myself drawn to a childhood memory, of sitting on my grandfather’s lap, my bare feet resting on top of his sturdy leather work shoes, his back resting against the back of the red leather wing chair that currently occupies a corner of my writing studio.

Together, we would read from one of the big red collections of fairy tales. I suspect they were Reader’s Digest offerings, but it doesn’t really matter. Those books were magic and I wish I’d stolen them away before he died and they disappeared.

In any case, I’d read a page, and then hold the magnifier so he could see better. Those page-sized magnifiers were used once in a while, but often a more traditional glass was the lens of choice.

I wish I still had one of those, too.

A Question: Can’t You See I’m Reading

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To those with spouses, partners and roommates who read:

Fuzzy is a generally sweet guy, but when he’s reading and I need to talk to him about something, he gets all glarey and grumbly and says, “Can’t you see I’m reading?”

Yet if I’m reading, and clearly absorbed in my book, magazine, or website, and he needs to discuss some burning issue like adding more laptop memory to his brand new computer, it is somehow okay for him to interrupt me, and not okay for me to shoot back his favorite response, “Can’t you see I’m reading?”

Does this imbalance exist in your relationship, as well?
If so, what do you do about it?

Coming Attractions: November

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First, I won’t be reading or reviewing much this month, as I’m writing up a storm. I’d say that I’m participating in NaNoWriMo, but I’m not, exactly. I’m cheating. For details, please read this post at my regular blog. The post in question has a link to fragments and snippets and suchlike.

Second: Interviews with Keith R. A. DeCandido, and Julia Holden will be posted this month. Both of them. Really.

Third: I’ve finished Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason (who is turning out to be a great correspondent as well as a kickass novelist. Go buy her stuff and then read it), so a review will be posted soon-ish.

Fourth: I’m currently reading Sex, Murder, and a Double Latte by Kyra Davis and What They Don’t Teach You at Film School: 161 Strategies for Making Your Own Movies No Matter What by Camille Landau and Tiare White, which was recommended to me by The Fabulous Clay, and is, as well as being helpful to moviemakers with no money, one of the best writing books I’ve ever encountered.

And that’s all for now.
Any questions?