BW22: Choices: Literary Legend or Author Bookology

 

Happy Sunday!  Which direction should we go with our reading this month?   Left is our Literary Legend Laurence Sterne with his satirical story Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy.

"Laurence Sterne's great masterpiece of bawdy humour and rich satire defies any attempt to categorize it, with a rich metafictional narrative that might classify it as the first 'postmodern' novel. Part novel, part digression, its gloriously disordered narrative interweaves the birth and life of the unfortunate 'hero' Tristram Shandy, the eccentric philosophy of his father Walter, the amours and military obsessions of Uncle Toby, and a host of other characters, including Dr Slop, Corporal Trim and the parson Yorick. A joyful celebration of the endless possibilities of the art of fiction, Tristram Shandy is also a wry demonstration of its limitations."

Right is our Author Bookology with Sonali Dev and her Bollywood style contemporary romances.  I thoroughly enjoyed There's Something About Mira. 

"Mira Salvi has the perfect life. A job she loves, a fiancé everyone adores, and the secure future she's always imagined for herself. Really, she hasn't a thing to complain about, not even when she has to go on her engagement trip to New York alone. 

While playing tourist in the city, Mira chances upon a lost ring, and her social media post to locate its owner goes viral. With everyone trying to claim the ring, only one person seems to want to find its owner as badly as Mira does: journalist Krish Hale. Brooding and arrogant, he will do anything to get to write this story.

As Krish and Mira reluctantly join forces and jump into the adventure of tracing the ring back to where it belongs, Mira begins to wonder if she is in the right place in her own life. She had to have found this ring for a reason? Right? Maybe, like the owner of the lost ring, her happy ending hasn't been written yet either."

Or straight ahead with your mental safety blanket, the all encompassing comfort read or reread, depending on your mood. 

I'm 0 for 5 in our Literary Legend conquests as I have started to read each author and parted ways soon thereafter as I have immersed myself in Robin Hobb's worlds with her Farseer Trilogy as well as the Live Ship traders trilogy. I have had better luck with our author bookology although I have yet to read Abraham Verghese but I'm hoping to make it 6 out of 6 soon. But only after I dive into Sonali Dev's Recipe for Persuasion.  And of course, continue what has turned into a year long quest of reading Robin Hobb with the first book in her next series Rain Wild Chronicles:  Dragon Keeper. 

But first I must finish my comfort read with author Nora Roberts and her newest stand alone book - The Final Target.  I thought she gave it all away in the synopsis, but as usual her interesting characters have drawn me in. 

Oh! And I've finally fallen into the world of Dungeon Crawler Carl. We'll see for how far I get. 

Happy Reading!

BW41: October Author of the Month: Nora Roberts

 

Happy Sunday! Our Author of the Month is Nora Roberts and this week, October 10th,  just so happens to be her birthday.  Roberts is the diva of romance, romantic suspense, action and adventure, and supernatural thrillers.  I discovered her books back in 2007 and fell in lurve.  I have one very full bookcase dedicated to all her books. She is a prolific writer and has written 242 novels which include multiple trilogies and stand alone books. All of which are unique and interesting.  She writes stories that are full of world building, settings, and characters I have fallen in love with and makes me want to reread them over and over again. She also has written a unique futuristic police procedural under the pseudonym of J.D. Robb and recently published the 55th book in the ongoing series. I've reread them a number of times as well. 

Roberts and her husband also own a bookstore in Maine called Turn the Page and a historic inn called Inn Boonsboro with rooms named after literary characters including Eve and Roark from the In Death series.  

Interesting tidbits from her website:

Nora Roberts’ books are published in over 34 countries.

There are enough Nora Roberts books in print to fill the seats of Wrigley Field over 9,900 times (selling out Cubs’ home games for more than 124 seasons).

If you place all Nora’s books top to bottom, they would stretch across the United States from New York to Los Angeles 18 times.

Her official blog, Fall Into The Story, contains updates on books, conversations with readers and insights into Nora’s home life.

Although romance is an element of most of her stories, she has written a number of books that are spooky, thrilling, chilling, and include ghosts or are post apocalyptic such as The Sign of Seven Trilogy or Chronicles of The One.  All good choices for our October Spooktacular. 

Big L, Little L, what begins with L? Why Love, of course. As well as literary, library, letters, and lullaby.

Happy Reading! 

BW21: A bit of this, a bit of that!

 

Happy Sunday! I'm in a mood. Can't tell you which one, but a mood. So today, you get a bit of this, a bit of that.  A bit of this from my wild mind as well as a bit of that from the world wide web. 

One of the dusty books in my virtual shelves is A.S. Byatt's The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye. It's one of those one day I'll get round to it. Saw George Miller Presents His “Anti-Mad Max” in Three Thousand Years of Longing Trailer on Tor which is based on Byatt's book and is quite intriguing.  Especially since Idris Elba is in it. Yum.  I'll be diving into The Djinn soon. 

I recently got sucked into a Korean drama on Netflix, Romance is a Bonus Book which is set in a publishing company.  It was quite fascinating and wondered if any of the books mentioned were real. Quite pleased to discover they are!  Discovered there are a few K drama's that are based on books. 

Stumbled across Lessons Learned from a Year Listening to the Fictional Octopus in My Head by Shelby Van Pelt. Reminded me of my very literal minded son when he was young and how I had to rethink each sentence and learn how to talk to him without slang or metaphor. Will definitely be reading Remarkably Bright Creatures this year. 

As we all know, Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors. Her assistant Laura recently posted her latest Notes from a Cranky Publicist in which she mentioned books she read while recovering from hip surgery.  Besides Nora of course, she listed several great books including other authors I love such as Nalini Singh and Sarah Addison Allen. She talked about some new to me authors and Beach Read by Emily Henry and Every Summer After by Carley Fortune immediately went on my wish list.  My ever growing wish list because my buying ban is still in force.  Maybe I'll break down in June. 

Okay, enough about me.  LOL!  Several interesting things happened in history on May 22.

1819:  The steamship SS Savannah set sail from Savannah, Georgia for Liverpool, England on the first trans Atlantic crossing.  Read a book about a steamship.  

1859: Birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:  Read about the author or read a book about his character, Sherlock Holmes.

1868 - The Great Train Robbery:  Read Michael Crichton's Great Train Robbery, or other fiction and non fiction books about train robberies 

1906 - Patent 821,393 is to Wilbur and Orville Wright for “new and useful improvement in Flying Machines.”    Read a book about how airplanes were invented and/or the Wright Brothers.

1933:  first declared by U.S Congress to be National Maritime Day in honor of the Merchant Marines.  Read a book about marine heritage.

1933 - First reported sighting of the Loch Ness Monster.  We enjoyed reading the book written by Dick King-Smith, The Water Horse as well as watching the Movie.

1967 - The debut of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood:  We recently enjoyed both the movie and the book tie in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood  based off of Tom Junod's article about Mr. Rogers for Esquire magazine. It touched our hearts and gave us a new appreciation for Mr. Rogers. 

1977 - the Orient Express takes it's final trip across Europe.  Read a book about or which takes place on the Orient Express.  Hint, hint - Agatha Christie. 

Have fun following rabbit trails!!!!

And if you are still following along with our letter of the week, we are back on track with the letter U. 

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BW5: Isn't it Romantic

 

Welcome to February's month of love as we celebrate Creative Romance Month as well as an Affair to Remember month and National Weddings month. And least we forget, February 4th is Thank a Mailman day. Did you remember to send those letters you wrote?   

A to Z and Back Again -  Our letter and word of the week are E and Earnest

Speaking of earnest and romance, our Crime Spree hostesses Sandy and Amy have a challenge for you to partake in.  Take it away, ladies: 

Few things go together better than crime and romance. Actually, there are hundreds of things that go together better, but few things are as exciting to read as Romantic Suspense. These novel are equally balanced with the romance playing as bit a part as the mystery/suspense elements. Are you a fan?

Authors to explore:

For a gothic feel check out: Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart

 If you like modern heroes/heroines escaping likely murder, then check out: Nora Robert/JD Robb, Laura Griffin, Marie Force

For a sweet Christian take on Romantic Suspense: Terri Blackstock and Dee Henderson

Suspense? Romance? Werewolves/Vampires/Ghosts? We got that too! Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Jayne Ann Krentz

Challenge: Bat your eyes at your favorite getaway driver and read a book featuring someone in love and in danger.

Thank you ladies! Batting my eyes earnestly at Juan, my oh so hunky getaway driver, as we drive hastily away from some serious risky business we found ourselves part of. 

Happy trails, mi amors! 

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Please share your book thoughts reviews and link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week.

In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field paste a link to your post, then check the privacy box and click enter.