Steamed!!!!!

I just finished a book by a well known, and usually very entertaining, author. I won't say which one in case someone else is reading it...BUT.....I'm just steamed. The bad guys totally win and are extremely smug in the end. What is up with that? I read for total relaxation and entertainment. There are the occasional non-fiction, self-help, autobiographies, but for the most part I love to read and be totally taken away with a book. I can even handle it when the bad guys are reeeeally bad because I know that they will get it back in the end. Not with this book. The good guys were really hurtin at the end and the bad guys were triumphant. I don't want reality when I read. I want to know that good will always trump evil. The authors I read always have great endings or I don't read them. That's why I have authors I read and those that I don't. This guy has always had great, happy endings. Not this time. In reading his little blurb at the end of the book he was making a political statement. PLEEEEEEZE! I just want to live in a world where everything is made right at the end. Good always wins, bad always loses. I can with books, but this one as totally disillusioned me. Reality has entered into my fantasy. I need to read some Agatha Christie.

Some Of My Favorite Reads

Over the last year I have stumbled upon some new favorite authors who have actual series that I can spend hours consumed by. Here would be my new favorite Authors: Blaize Clement - Dixie Hemingway Mystery Series. These are a kick to read and very enjoyable. Janet Evanovich - Stephanie Plum series and the Full series are a great read, funny suspenseful and easy to get through. I can't wait for the next one. I have two new authors that I have enjoyed as well, Brian Freeman - Stalked and C.J. Box - Blue Heaven. Both are suspenseful.

Of course I have my old faithful authors that I love to read, Vince Flynn writes political thrillers that should be read in order. His main guy is Mitch Rapp and this guy is pretty amazing. John Grisham is another author that I just can't get enough of. I have read every single one of his books and have loved 99% of them. Fern Michaels has started a new series that has been a lot of fun to read. It is the Sisterhood series. Read them in order. They are about a bunch of female vigilantes and you just have to love 'em.

Deadlist Catch

OK, I admit that I am totally addicted to Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, about crab fishing on the Bering Sea. I have watched all of the three season's that are on DVD. I'm hooked...and then.....in looking through the Costco ads I see that there are two books out on this subject. One is called "Deadliest Catch, Desperate Hours", and it's a book about all the adventures and stories about the boats and crews of the Discovery Program. The other is called "Time Bandit" which is the name of one of the boats owned and operated by two brothers, Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand. It's the story of their life and experiences on the Bering Sea. So I put down my Grisham book, and picked up these two and read as often as I could. Just finished them and would highly recommend them for anyone whose interested in this stuff. I read parts to Don continually and he was very interested in them also. Not enough to read the books himself, as he has read maybe 3 books our entire marriage (34 years...well actually no, just two as he read one before we were married.) It's kinda hard to understand as I have had at least one, most times 2 or 3going the whole time. But anyway.....good books. I'll let Joe read them now. Now I'll go back to see how the nasty and vindictive Mr. Carl Trudeau is doing in "The Appeal." But first, it's wednesday, so I better be getting on Romans 13. (Any help in Romans is totally appreciated.haha)

For the love of words..

Ok, enough dilly-dallying. I read, I promise, although the mystery/adventure/thriller gene that seems to run in the family has escaped me. I'm addicted to memoirs and fiction that could have been true if you stretched your imagination. I carry on love affairs with the main characters and often get so lost in their lives I forget about mine. My bookshelves are full of past affairs, lovers that I can't bear to part with, that each hold a part of me.. my hand, my arm, my toe.

My most recent 'affair' was with the memers of a fully disfunctional family in The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This is the story of her life, growing up with a brother and 2 sisters and parents who were self proclaimed 'wanderers.' The father is a drunk who spends all their money on booze and unsuccessful get-rich-quick schemes. They live poorly, without electricity or running water in the Apalachans. When the kids are around 15 they decide to leave their parents and move to New York. Choosing to be homeless, the parents follow.

I HIGHLY recommend this book. I read it in a day. It was amazing.

Books I have Read

Hi. Cari and Shana have graciously invited me (Eve) to add my thoughts to their realreading blog. As Cari mentioned Stephen King, I have to add my thoughts on him. I loved Stephen King. Yes I did say "loved". He has become waaaaaay to "wordy" for me. "Just get to the scary parts, Stephen." I started his Duma Rey, of which my sister Diane said was great, and couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll try again. Some books that I have read I'll comment on. I finsihed reading the new James Patterson, "Double Cross" with his Alex Cross character. Very good, but, the bad guy gets caught, the really bad guy doesn't. Why does he do that? Now I have to wait another year to find out what happens to poor Alex. One of my very favorite authors is a kid (he's about 20) named Matthew Reilly. Loved every one of his books. But the last one, which was really really good, he left as a cliff hangar also. AAAHHH! I would absolutely recommend any one of his books for total entertainment. He's written, Ice Station, Temple, Contest, Scarecrow, Area 7, 7 Deadly Wonders and it's sequal, 6 Sacred Stones. All very heavy on action. While I was in Kuaui I read "Gods in Alabama, by Joshilyn Jackson. A very light murder mystery with a little romance and insight into life and family relationships. I would defintely recommend it to anyone. I'm in the process now of reading The Appeal, by John Grisham. It's a typical Gisham book, fast and entertaining but a little too liberal for me. Well that's it for me, Happy reading.

Just a thought...

I thought I'd pose a question... genre fiction (romance, mystery, thrillers) or literary fiction? Which one has more merit? What is more important-- pure entertainment (which some would say is why you even read at all) or the ability to provoke a deeper sense of thought and meaning? I'm kind of in the middle, and pretty much enjoy both kinds of books. But I wonder if there are people who are squarely one side or the other. OR, whether there's some authors who transcend this idea. Stephen King is trying to go "literary", but is it working? Or will he always be known as the guy who can scare the daylights out of you? Just my daily rambles..

Cari's Introduction

This is my introduction to the blog... it feels a little self-indulgent, but isn't that what reading is?
All I know is books make me happy. I love walking into a bookstore. I feel like I could spend hours in there, walk out spending way to much money and yet feel okay about it. I love the smell of books, the covers of books, the way page 1 looks so far away from page 456, and yet somehow you get there in a millisecond. I love talking about books! Which is why Shana and I decided to start a book blog. Hardly pioneering, I know, but yet still, everyone needs a forum.

Oh, and to kick this off: Right now I'm reading: ('scuse the double colon: it's gramatically correct but awkward looking. I just realized I made it a TRIPLE colon. It might be the first one EVER.)

Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
Thinner (Stephen King, but actually been working on this one for five months or so)
The Shipping News (Annie Proulx)

Of course I have LOTS to say about all these books, but this is just an intro!! More later, I'm sure!!


P.S. Anyone is welcome to join this blog! Just contact me or Shana!!