First Half Favorites for 2016

My friend Lesa posted her First Half Favorites for 2016 at her blog - https://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/.

Nor surprisingly, we share a few faves.


I don't always do a favorites list at the end of the year any more, but I do post the list of what I've read during the year.  And I will highlight a few that have stayed with me.

But this half year list intrigues me.


When I thanked Lesa for coming up with such a clever idea, she told me it was actually Jen Forbus's idea of a couple years ago.  And that doesn't surprise me a bit.  Jen keeps her blog - http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/ - fresh with a wealth of continuous new ideas.


So, I'm going to hop on this bandwagon and tell you my favorites of the year - so far.


"The Never-Open Desert Diner" by James Anderson


"My Southern Journey" by Rick Bragg


"The View From the Cheap Seats" by Neil Gaiman.  (Actually, I haven't finished this on yet.  I'm plucking essays out slowly and savoring them.  Which is exactly what I did with Rick Bragg's "My Southern Journey."  They're both delicious books and I can't say enough about them).


"Night Shift" by Charlaine Harris


"Wilde Lake" by Laura Lippman

"A Great Reckoning" by Louise Penny (I read an ARC - official publication is not until August, but worth the wait!)

Me, Charlaine Harris, Doc Watson and Jen Forbus - What do we all have in common?

Here's me reading Charlaine Harris' "Midnight Crossroad" to Doc Watson while he plays guitar for me. 

Read about it at my friend Jen Forbus's blog. Jen's Book Thoughts -http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/

Doc Watson - "Just One of the People"by Alex Hallmark, Sculptor

This statue commemorates the Grammy Award-winning artist and Watauga County (Deep Gap) native Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson. It is located at the Northeast corner of North Depot and West King streets in downtown Boone, N.C and depicts Watson sitting on a bench, playing a model of his favorite guitar, a customized Gallagher.

Discovery by Jen Forbus

Jen Forbus is above all else a crime fiction reader and fan. She’s been blogging at Jen’s Book Thoughts for the past four years and is always concocting schemes to encourage awareness of great crime fiction. When she isn’t doing that, she’s probably vacuuming pet hair from her two chocolate labs and four rescue cats. 

Discovery

by Jen Forbus

We as humans, by nature, like what we know, what’s safe and comfortable. Our reading choices don’t tend to be different from that. We have our “must reads” from those authors we’ve come to know well.  And if we’re honest with ourselves, many of us continue reading an author religiously long after he/she has started “phoning it in.” It’s safe and comforting. Sometimes that’s exactly what we need.

But what about the new authors you discover? How do you go about that? Do you seek it out actively or do you find yourself saying, “I don’t have time for a new author; all my favorites take up my reading time”?

Part of the fun of reading for me is discovering new authors.  Last year I read 97 novels and of those 97, 51 were from new-to-me authors. Some I’ll not likely read again. Not that they were bad, necessarily, just that they weren’t the right fit for me and my reading preferences. But a good number of those new-to-me authors are going to be authors I look for in the future.  And I’m thankful I took the chance to read them.

Let’s face it, it IS taking a chance. You’re giving up more than the money you might spend on the book; you’re giving up hours of your life on something you don’t know about yet.

I say “new-to-me” because many of my “new” discoveries are authors who have been around awhile: Mike Lawson (http://www.mikelawsonbooks.com/), Laurie King (http://www.laurierking.com/), Ace Atkins (http://www.aceatkins.com/). These are fun because you don’t have to wait for them to write more if you want to read more immediately. There’s already more available.

Other “new” discoveries were 2011 debut authors: Daniel Palmer (http://www.danielpalmerbooks.com/), Sara Henry (http://www.sarajhenry.com/), James Barney (http://jamesbarney.com/). There’s something special about getting in on the ground floor with a brand new author.

I come across these “new-to-me” authors in a plethora of ways: I may be assigned a book for review or receive a pitch letter that is too enticing to pass up. I may agree to participate in a blog tour. Or I might encounter that individual on social media and establish a relationship of sorts. I get to know that author as a person and then want to read his/her work. And then of course there are recommendations from people I trust.

2012 is already taking off like gangbusters in the new-to-me department. I’ve experienced Kyle Mills (http://www.kylemills.com/), David Ellis (http://www.davidellis.com/), Charlie Newton (http://charlienewton.com/), and Dana Stabenow (http://www.stabenow.com/), as well as debut author G.M. Lawrence (http://www.gmlawrence.com/).

I’m looking forward to Owen Laukkanen’s THE PROFESSIONALS (http://owenlaukkanen.com/) and Robert Greer’s ASTRIDE A PINK HORSE (http://www.robertgreerbooks.com/). 

I’ve been reading a lot more non-American authors of late. I intend to add more new-to-me authors from this category as well, among them: Sarah Blædel (http://sarablaedel.com/) and Liza Marklund (http://www.lizamarklund.com/).

I’ll continue to be a devoted fan to my tried and trues. Elvis Cole still makes my toe curl and Ellie Hatcher will always be my hero. Visiting Absaroka County and Sea Haven are bonus vacations. But I’m going to continue to take chances as well because at one time, all my tried and trues were brand new, too.

How about you? What was a great new discovery for you in 2011? Do you know someone you’re going to take a chance on in 2012? How do you decide which books to take a chance on?

I Can’t Believe I Read the WHOLE Thing by Jen Forbus

After the stork accidentally dropped Jen Forbus in the wrong place - NE Ohio for God's sake - she has spent the better part of her life not knowing what she wanted to be when she grew up: she’s worked in the high school classroom, as a tech writer, a spec writer and a software programmer. These days she’s back in the education realm, coordinating adult professional development at the National Association of College Stores. Her love of crime fiction was ignited by Linda Fairstein and Robert Crais who hooked her on their respective series. From there the obsession snowballed and Jen’s Book Thoughts was born. Jen contributes to CRIMESPREE MAGAZINE, SHELF AWARENESS and is proudly a member of Team xuni.

 I Can’t Believe I Read the WHOLE Thing

by Jen Forbus 

In quite a few circles the question of “do you finish every book you start?” has come up. There was a time when my answer to that question would have been, “Absolutely! Are you kidding me? It’s sacrilege not to finish a book.” In the last few years my response has done a 180, “Life is too short for bad books.” Or rather, “Life is too short for books I don’t like.” I’m sure the towering pile I want to read has a lot to do with my change of heart. And reading is my hobby, why would I want to torture myself in my free time forcing myself to…wait, that sounds a lot like the time I spend at the gym…never mind, I digress. 

 The real question is what makes me want to stick with a book to the end? What grabs me and won’t let go until I find the resolution?

  The key for me is character. A book could have the most amazing, action-filled plot, but if the characters fall flat I’m gone by page 30. The book could have stunning imagery and flowery, poetic language, but if the characters aren’t interesting to me I don’t care.

 So then that begs the question, what makes the characters interesting to me? There are many factors that can come into play here. I look for characters with character. We’re all unique people and I look for that uniqueness in my characters. When I was young, I loved MacGyver but I don’t need seven different versions of MacGyver. I’d like something different, please. 

 I look for realism. I’m far more likely to connect with a character I believe I could meet on the street, work with, or live next door to, than say a super hero or a zombie. While Superman is fun, I know I’m not going to see a grown adult in blue tights flying overhead anytime too soon. But an ordinary person doing something extraordinary because of special circumstances; that grabs me. Alafair Burke pulled me in to Dead Connection with Ellie Hatcher experiencing online dating. I experienced that! I made a connection.

 I look for depth and dimension and growth in characters. While growth takes a little more time to establish, depth and dimension show up fairly quickly in a book if they are going to be present at all. And that’s important because if they aren’t there by page 30, I’ve moved on to the next book. The character doesn’t even need to be a “good” person to keep me interested. If the character is a felon, but has depth and dimension, I’ll be just as hooked as I am with the cop who might be pursuing him/her. A great example of this is Robert Crais’ last book, The Sentry. I was absolutely fascinated with his antagonist and thought I’d love to read a whole book about just Daniel.

As for growth, this is especially important to me in a series. There have been many very popular series that after two books I’m done. The main reason is the protagonist. He/she is fun in the first book but after that the character is exactly the same. I know some readers are comforted by that predictability but personally, I’m bored and moving on. Craig Johnson’s Vic Morretti never fails to surprise me. And I’m always anxious to find out what Linda Fairstein’s Mike Chapman is going to pull.

In genre fiction there are a series of loose rules that govern the structure, but with character there’s a lot of freedom. I look for the books that take advantage of that freedom and create characters I want to spend hundreds of pages getting to know…and love. That, above all else, motivates me to finish a book.

Your turn! What grabs you and engages you so that you want to finish a book?  

Three Bookish Women

Hi, Everyone - Welcome to "Three Bookish Women" where Lesa Holstine of Lesa's Book Critiques and Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts and I are going to chat about books.

If you're a mystery reader you probably know all three of us through our blogs or through the mystery community in general.  We thank you for joining us for this little gab fest and hope you'll enjoy it.  Make yourselves comfy and please feel free to jump right in.


Mornin' Lesa and Jen!  Sending a virtual hugs, my friends!


It's always fun to chat about what we're reading.  You, Lesa, as I've told you so often, are one of the people who can take credit for this huge "to be read" stack that keeps my side of the bedroom cluttered and messy.  I LOVE those monthly peeks into your closet at Lesa's Book Critiques - keep 'em coming, please!


Today was one of those fun days when our mail lady came to the door with a couple of packages.  Books - Yay!  One of them was one I tore into immediately.   An Advance Reading Copy of Felix J. Palma's THE MAP OF TIME.  It's being touted as a "phenomenal international bestseller."  It's an historical fantasy novel set in Victorian London filled with both real and fictional characters.  H.G. Wells is asked to investigate some rumors of time travel and the question throughout the story is "what happens if we change history?"  I'm loving it!


What's on your nightstand, Lesa?  Are you one of the people I envy who is able to read more than one book at a time?  And if you are - tell me, please, all about them.


   *****

FROM LESA:

Thanks, Kaye! I get the pleasure of passing this on to Jen Forbus of Jen's  Book Thoughts. Good morning, Jen. And, I can't wait to see your answers to the questions.


If you haven't met Jen, you're missing out. I had the chance to meet her last summer in Ohio. I'm originally from there, and Jen and I had the chance to get together for lunch when I went home to visit. Needless to say, we spent most of that time talking about books and authors! And, that's exactly what she and Kaye Barley and I will do now.


I'm so glad I can take responsiblity for some of the books on Kaye's enormous TBR pile. And, I know Jen introduced me to Craig Johnson's books. In the last year, he's become one of my favorite authors.


But, to answer Kaye's question, I'm sorry. I am one of those people who read a couple books at a time, usually one mystery and something else. Right now, I have two books going.


I do tend to read mysteries that are a little more traditional than Jen &  Kaye read. I'm reading a cozy right now, Miranda James' new Cat in the Stacks mystery, Classified as Murder. It's set in Athens, Mississippi, and it features a librarian and his Maine coon cat, Diesel. Charlie Harris uses Diesel in his visits to discuss crime, in this case, the murder of a man who had asked Charlie to inventory his collection of rare books.


I'm also reading Sandra Dallas' new book, The Bride's House, the story of  three generations of women who love a house in Georgetown, Colorado. I ALWAYS read Sandra Dallas' new books. My favorite though, is one with a murder in it, The Persian Pickle Club. When it originally came out, it was sold saying, if you can tell us who did it, you'll get your money back. I've read it 3 or 4 times. I still don't know who did it.


So, I've answered Kaye's first question. Jen, it's your turn. What's on your nightstand right now? What are you reading?


***


FROM JEN:

Thanks Lesa! I'm so excited to be part of this chat, seeing as I've been in the mystery community the shortest amount of time and still always feel like the newbie. I was honored to be asked to participate with Lesa and Kaye who I admire greatly.


As Lesa mentioned, we were able to meet this past year. What a highlight for me.  Lesa is the person who introduced me to both Chris Grabenstein and Louise Penny.  I can't wait until I can see her again. And Kaye was around to hold my hand for my very first Bouchercon. Of the three of us, I probably favor the most hard boiled books.


As far as what's on my nightstand. I, too, usually have two books going at once, but instead of two print books, like Lesa, I have a print book and an audiobook going. Today I'll be finishing up one of each. I have about 30 pages left of Alafair Burke's upcoming LONG GONE. I love Alafair's work and it's been so fun to see her progress as a writer. LONG GONE is fantastic and I hope a lot of people pick it up and discover how wonderful Alafair is. Going from an ARC to an oldie but goodie. On my iTouch, I'm finishing up THE ALIENIST by Caleb Carr. It took me awhile to get to this one, but I finally have and just adore it.


Since those two will both be done today, I'll tell you that tomorrow my nightstand will hold a book called GOOD NEIGHBORS by Ryan David Jahn and my iTouch will load up THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X by Keigo Higashino.


I'll pass this question back to Kaye to see if she has any final thoughts and then I believe we'll get a question from Lesa! By the way, Kaye, I'll be interested to hear what you think about THE MAP OF TIME. I'm always fascinated by how people perceive changes in history if we fumbled with small details. Do you think we could go back and alter something so that I wouldn't have been born and raised in a cold climate?


****


FROM KAYE:

Jen, you may be the newbie, but honey - you are a star!  You've been welcomed into this community with much love and much respect.  Every bit of it earned and deserved and I'm proud to know you.  You're doing great things.  Keep it up, please!


Lesa, you too are a star and there's not a writer I know who doesn't say "oh, don't you love Lesa Holstine?"  To which I say, "Yes.  Yes, I do."


You guys, I envy your ability to read more than one book at a time. I want to do that!  I try and I try and my mind has characters jumping back and forth between stories.  Not pretty.  Its kinda like a very badly written take-off on a Jasper Fflorde novel.  Jasper Fforde does it brilliantly; but my versions are nothing short of frightening.


Of the three of us, I guess I'm more the middle of the road with my reading than Lesa and Jen; more straight up traditional seems to be my cup of tea; not too cozy, not to hard-boiled.  Although the three of us certainly share some favorites, including Craig Johnson and Louise Penny to name just two.  And we all agree that not only do they write great books, they're pretty darn great people.


THE MAP OF TIME is going to take awhile (I'll keep you posted, Jen).  What I'm looking forward to reading next hasn't arrived in my mailbox yet.  It's one of my "auto-buy" forays into the more hard-boiled (but not too)  end of the spectrum.  I'm looking for it any day now, and it'll be a bittersweet read.  Robert B. Parker's SIXKILL, which is the last Spenser.  I know I'll be sad to say good-bye to Parker's Spenser, Hawk, Susan and Pearl and the entire supporting cast of characters, including Parker's much loved Boston.  I'm always going to be a huge Robert Parker fan and think his name will remain at the top of the crime fiction legends forever.  I understand Ace Atkins has been chosen by the Parker Estate to continue writing the Spenser novels.  This will, I think, prove to be  interesting and I wish Mr. Atkins well in his endeavor.  But, in my mind, Robert Parker is going to be sitting pretty heavy on Ace Atkins' shoulder while "they're" writing the next one.


Lesa - What's next for you?

*****
FROM LESA:


Kaye! That's perfect to lead into my next question for both of you. But, then, we know we're all three on the same wavelength (smile).


I have Robert B. Parker's Sixkill sitting on the counter at home to read as soon as I finish these couple. I agree, though. It's with a little sadness that I'm going to pick it up, knowing it's the last Spenser book he wrote. I read every one of the Spenser books. I loved the witty conversations.


I also want to get to Rosemary Harris' Slugfest since she's appearing at my library, Velma Teague, this weekend. I have six mystery authors appearing for Authors @ The Teague in five days - Avery Aames, Kate Carlisle, Rosemary Harris, Jane K. Cleland, Earlene Fowler and Carolyn Hart.


I'm looking forward to reading a few books that aren't out yet. One is S.J.  Bolton's Now You See Me, featuring a female cop dealing with a modern-day Jack the Ripper in London. Then there's Sophie Littlefield's A Bad Day for Scandal.  And, I know Jen already Craig Johnson's Hell is Empty.


But, I guess I'd have to say the book I'm most looking forward to reading is Louise Penny's A Trick of the Light, due out at the end of August.


So, that's my question, Jen. What book are you most looking forward to reading?


****


FROM JEN:

Ohhh, this has been just such a fabulous year for books, Lesa. It seems like I've been excited about new books for months on end. Early in the year I was looking forward to Don Winslow's SATORI, which was wonderful. Then I was looking forward to THE TWO DEATHS OF DANIEL HAYES (Marcus Sakey) which I'm literally recommending to everyone I see - whether I know them or not. As you mentioned, I recently finished Craig Johnson's HELL IS EMPTY, which has now taken over as my favorite Walt Longmire book. Both of those books are due in June.


Of course, I'm finishing up Alafair Burke's LONG GONE, and I ALWAYS look forward to a new Alafair Burke novel. That's due in July. So after that, my next big anticipation is Gregg Hurwitz's YOU'RE NEXT.  I'm also pretty excited about Jo Nesbø's THE SNOWMAN and Andrew Gross' EYES WIDE OPEN. That's just for summer.  There's a whole slew more in the fall!


How about you, Kaye? What would you add to the mix?


*******


"Thanks very much for joining us today.  I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I have.    To continue, please hop over to Lesa's for Part Two and then to Jen's for Part Three.  You might want to grab a fresh cup of coffee . . . "

Jen's "Crime Readers Caught Reading Crime"

I am constantly amazed by how my friend and fellow blogger, Jen Forbus, is able to keep coming up with terrific fun ideas and contests at her wonderful blog - Jen's Book Thoughts (with THE coolest banner in blogdom).

Her latest fun idea is to spotlight "Crime Readers Caught Reading Crime."  - at their favorite indie bookstore.

I'm tickled pink to be included:

http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/2011/05/kaye-barley-crime-readers-caught.html

My favorite indie bookstore is Black Bear Books in Boone, NC, and the book I'm caught with is - - - well, why don't you drop by Jen's and see!  (a hint - it's by one of those Ephron women.  You know, the one who writes some great crime fiction - Hallie is her name).

Do drop by Jen's to see what this is all about.  It's a fun thing (and Donald took a pretty good picture, if I do say so myself).

Now I can't wait to see who the next crime reader will be and what they'll be reading. 


Thanks, Jen!

The Versatile Blogger Award

I'm excited.

One of my favorite bloggers, Michael, who writes the "Lazy Thoughts from a Boomer" blog, has bestowed me with an honor.

The Versatile Blogger Award.

I'm honored and tickled pink - thank you, Michael!

The award comes with some rules. 

• Thank the person who gave you this award  -  Easy Peasy - Thank you, Michael!
• Share 7 things about yourself - I can do that!
• Pass the award along to 15 who you have recently discovered and who you think fantastic for whatever reason (I'm going to copy my friend Jen who writes the wonderful blog "Jen's Book Thoughts," and cheat a little. And for the same reason Jen did.  We must be hanging out at the same places because a lot of the folks on Michael's list would have been included on my list - so many of my favorites are already recognized).  

But.  As time goes on I think I'll bend the rules a little more and pass this along kinda piecemeal when people are least expecting it.  Which may mean more or less than 15 people could be receiving this at some point in the future.  Is this a terrible thing?  My bending the rules like this?  I'm sorry!  I can't help it.  Truly!  I refused to color inside the lines when I was growing up, and I guess I just haven't moved beyond that.

But I can share seven things about myself.  They're probably not going to be new things to most of you though.  I seem to have very few secrets.  I need to work on this and become more of a woman of mystery, don't I?!


1.  I was a very clumsy child.  My parents, being concerned about how clumsy I was, mentioned this to our family doctor.  Dr. Wolff suggested they sign me up for dance lessons.  I took tap and I took ballet.  For a lot of years.  Unfortunately - I'm still clumsy.

2.  I am mommy to Harley the Wonder Corgie.

3.  I am wifelett to Sir Donald of the Loom.

4.  Two of my very best gal pals are Sissyfriss Sockmonkey and Lou Lou Skiptoo.

5.  I'm a lot like my mom.

6.  I like to bake.

7.  A sunrise, especially at the beach, is one of my favorite things ever; 'course, sunset at the beach is pretty special too.

 This was fun!  Thanks again, Michael!!

A Special Family by Jen Forbus

When Kaye invited me to be a part of her guest blogger series, I thought she had included me on the distribution by mistake. After over two years of blogging at Jen’s Book Thoughts, I’m still getting use to the wonderful community of crime fiction – its writers, its readers,…everyone.

If you don’t know me, I taught high school English for many years. When I left the classroom, I had a huge void that use to be filled by reading and discussing books with my students and colleagues. When I was teaching, I didn’t read much beyond my curriculum simply because I didn’t have time. So, when I stopped teaching, I was on a mission to find what was available and fun in the reading world. I crashed head long into Robert Crais and Linda Fairstein about that time. Can you say, “hook, line and sinker?” A discussion group for Robert Crais lead me to Michael Koryta and my very first book event. I was so excited after leaving Michael’s event that I had to talk about it. Most people around me will politely listen and be happy that I enjoy books and events, but they don’t really get it; after awhile, they’re just like, “alright Jen, enough is enough.” That was really the motivation to start Jen’s Book Thoughts, a place where I could talk to my heart’s content, and hopefully find people as excited to talk as I was. 

I was going along writing about the books I was reading, people were offering up new suggestions, and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. So, I decided to try some new things on the blog. I contacted a few writers that I admired to ask if they would answer some questions for blog interviews. Those writers included Michael Koryta, Lisa Unger and Alafair Burke. They all enthusiastically said “yes.” Looking back on my questions from those interviews, I see they left a lot to be desired, but it truly meant the world to me for them to agree to give of their time. I’ve done a few more interviews since then; I think I’ve grown a little better at developing my questions, but it still leaves me on Cloud 9 whenever I ask someone I admire for an interview and they say, “sure.” And it still means the world to me that Michael, Lisa and Alafair were willing to give of their time. I mean, after all, who was I? 

When Tim Hallinan contacted me to ask me to read his book THE FOURTH WATCHER, I was incredibly flattered. He was the first person to ask me to read his book. Wow! Someone really cared what I thought about their book?

 

 

In this past year, another pair of extremely special people came into my life, Jon and Ruth Jordan. These two are a part of many of your lives, so you understand how treasured my relationship is with them. They, too, took a gamble on me and invited me to submit reviews to CRIMESPREE. When the first issue to include one of my reviews came out, I forced everyone I knew to read! I still get ridiculously excited whenever I get my new issue and see my name under a review. 

November brought yet another adventure; I conducted my first video interview. Tom Schreck agreed to take a chance on me with that one. Bless his heart. And my most recent jump, my live interview with Alafair Burke at a Muskego Library event. Could I possibly be more blessed? 

People who know me most likely know me because of a series I started last summer called “You’ve the Right to Six Words: Six-Word Memoirs from Crime Fiction’s Greatest Writers.” The folks at Smith’s Magazine have published a few collections of people’s six-word memoirs and I had read their first book, NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS EXPECTING: SIX-WORD MEMOIRS OF WRITERS FAMOUS AND OBSCURE. I took the query to writers I was interested in hearing from and was overwhelmed by the response I received. I had originally hoped to pull out 8 or 10 weeks of posts, maybe 40 authors. More than 100 authors responded with their memoirs, and I honestly still can’t believe how well the series was received. I’m going to resurrect it for Season 2 because of its popularity with readers and writers alike.

So you’re asking, “Jen, what’s the point of all this?” October was my first Bouchercon, and if I remember nothing else, I’ll remember Jon Jordan saying, “she’s a part of the family.” The crime fiction community has become just that for me, a family. Every time I’ve ventured further with my blog, there have been amazing people along the way to stand beside me, encourage me and support me. Isn’t that what family’s about? I once heard a person say, “your friends are the family you choose.” I’ve chosen so many people in this community to be my “family” and to be chosen back is a gift beyond all others.

A question I hear regularly now is, “But Jen, what’s YOUR six-word memoir?” It would have to be:

"They welcomed me into their family."

So, to Kaye, who’s been a constant source of support, and all the other writers and readers who have contributed to my love of this genre and this community, THANK YOU, for letting me be a part.

Jen Hosts "The World's Favorite Detective Tournament"

My friend Jen Forbus is too clever by far.

The woman just keeps coming up with wonderful new things at her Jen's Book Thoughts.

Drop by and join the fun as she hosts The World's Favorite Detective Tournament.

This is going to be SO much fun.

Neat Stuff ! including a Give-Away

I find the neatest stuff at other people's blogs!

Today at Jen's Book Thoughts there is "neat stuff." Jen has a weekly feature that is one of my favorite things on the web. "Six Word Memoirs," and she has had some of the best and brightest from the mystery world there. Today is a bonus day with Reed Farrel Coleman giving Jen not just one, but six "Six Word Memoirs." He's definitely one of the best and brightest.

Today at Sam Sattler's Book Chase there is "neat stuff." Sam tells us about what might just be the answer to the ebook problem that some of us have experienced. The financial one. But, in addition to the Asus E-Book Reader's probable price (it's not on the market yet, I don't think), is the fact that it also includes a color touchscreen, a speaker, a webcam and a microphone. And it has a dual screen. I do know people who own the Asus Eee PC, and all are impressed with the product and the company.

Today at Significant Objects there is "neat stuff. Laura Lippman (who most definitely fits nicely in the "best and brightest" category mentioned above -as does her Memory Project) gives us her contribution. I love the Significant Objects project (love Laura Lippman too) (did I just sound like Tom Petty singing "Free Falling?"). Anyhooo - If you're not familiar with Significant Objects, please give it look - and today would be the perfect day.

Enjoy!

and come back and tell me about more neat stuff!

I think Tom Petty's "Free Falling" falls under neat stuff too - -



Also included under the heading "neat stuff" might be book give-aways. And since I'm enjoying a "neat stuff" kinda evening, I do believe I'll toss in a book to give away. If you're interested in reading Allison Burnett's UNDISCOVERED GYRL just leave a comment saying so. I'll draw the winning name on Sunday evening and send the winner an ARC of the book on Monday. I somehow ended up with two copies in my mailbox, so one of them may as well go flying out to someone who might be interested. From the back cover - "Only on the internet can you have so many friends and be so lonely." Author Rachel Resnick writes - "Imagine an 18-year-old Lolita, updated to the 21st century, blogging her own provocative adventures." I haven't read this book yet, so can't offer an opinion, but will say that from these statements I'm guessing this is a book that might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

The short-listed blogs which are up for awards for Book Blogger Appreciation Week have been announced.

Sincere congratulations to all the terrific bloggers who were nominated and a round of applause to those who were short-listed for awards. Sadly, Meanderings and Muses did not make it to the short-listed stage,

But!

My friend Jen's wonderful blog - Jen's Book Thoughts - did! For the Best Thriller/Mystery/Suspense Blog - Yay! This is a well deserved honor and I hope she wins - and we can help! Jen does a terrific job and she's gained the respect and admiration of the mystery community in a big way. If you're not familiar with Jen's blogspot, take a peek, and if you like what you see, take a second and vote for her. The voting booth is now open -




Good Luck, Jen!!!! Here's a hug!