J. H. Authors

One Woman. Three Names. Many Books.

Reading

Cozy Holiday Reading

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Last fall was so nuts that I didn’t read a single book. Or shall I say a single fiction book. But I made up a lot of ground during the holidays, and thought I would catch you up.

I read IF WALLS COULD TALK by Juliet Blackwell, THE DIVA COOKS A GOOSE by Krista Davis, HOLIDAY GRIND by Cleo Coyle and DEATH OF AN AMBITIOUS WOMAN by Barbara Ross. I am fans of the Diva series, and the Coffehouse series and these holiday themed books didn’t disappoint. IF WALLS COULD TALK promised to be a good series as well.

DEATH OF AN AMBITIOUS WOMAN is Barbara Ross’s first published novel. It is not a cozy, but more of a traditional mystery. And it is wonderful. I highly recommend it.

Now that I’ve rejoined the reading world I have started Rachel Brady’s DEAD LIFT. I will report back.

Happy reading!

 

 

The Girl…

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Who read all of Stieg Larsson‘s novels on her vacation.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The Girl Who Played with Fire. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. I had heard so much about these books. My book club selected the first one for our next book. I’ve been reading DorothyL posts about them. And I’ve archived an in depth reading/picking apart of Dragon Tattoo.

One problem with being a writer is that it is hard to turn the critic off. And I’ll admit, I was wary when I waded in. There are a ton of characters. Lots of info dumps. But I decided to just go along for the ride.

And what a ride it was. Two good stories (I count Dragon Tattoo as one, and Fire and Hornet’s Nest as two parts of the same story) well told. And two great characters. Mikael Blomkvist. And especially Lisbeth Salander.

I normally don’t like noir, or graphic violence. And there is plenty of both. That said, I got through them, because I wanted to find out what happened.

I think I may try and see the movies. Or should I let them live in my imagination for a while longer? What do you think?

To Kindle or Wait? That is the question…

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Throughout December I had cause to haul home several hundred pages of text most nights. Student's papers. Plays. Articles. One day it occurred to me that a eReader would help. Till then I hadn't really seen the point, because of the limitations. Not being able to share books with others. The cost of the reader itself. But when I realized that I could put PDFs on an eReader, the wheels began to turn. And then when I wanted a specific title that wasn't at the bookstore, they turned some more.

I love technology, but usually wait until the bugs have been worked out. I read the rumors of an Apple eReader, and hope that they are true. But then…version 1. The waiting list. The bugs. The initial cost.

And then there's the Kindle. Version 2. Amazon. The size. The number of books it holds. The free Jane Austen books. (Another New Year's resolution, reading all the Austen books. Will be posting more about that.) I am planning a long trip in March, and would love to have a lot of books to chose from without the suitcase room being taken up. Is that enough to justify it?

The fact that I am even writing this down tells me I am wavering. Any thoughts?