I'm Reading!

Oooooh, don't interrupt me. I'm reading!

My children probably heard that a zillion times when they were growing up. Or something similar. Dinner burned while I stirred the pot with on hand and held a book in the other. Family impatiently knocked on the bathroom door while I finished "another chapter".

I've always carried a book--or two--in my purse or diaper bag every time I left the house. And vacation? That required an entire bag of books.

Then the e-book revolution came along, making the availability of books even easier. Now I can take a library along with me when I leave my home. I enjoy that convenience, but I also love reading the print books on my library shelves at home.

I grew up with books in my home. My parents had a real reverence for books and I was taught to treat all books with respect. I look at the current generation of youth and wonder if they are growing up with that same respect for books...or if the electronic book is something viewed as less valuable and worthy.

What do you think?

anny

By the Book

Heh! Could not resist this pic. I've been wading through more of my Big Too Be Read (BTBR) pile this week. And I've decided that I have a new bitch. Lest you think that my books are all from e-pubs, I've read a wide variety this last week (18 books) in various genres from both dead-tree pubs and e-pubs though I read them all in e-format as I don't buy them otherwise.

So here's the thing that I found seriously annoying. Well... two things I found seriously annoying. The first is the story line that has boy meets girl... boy and girl have misunderstanding... boy and girl fail to work this out for 200 to 300 pages. Then in the last ten pages SOMEONE runs up and solves the problem and presto, they have a happily ever after.

Now I'm not talking about a genuine case of each must grow and change to make it work out. No I'm talking about Susie thinks John is cheating on her for the entirety of the book. There are a series of encounters where they have childish conversations to the effect of "I can't trust you" and "Do what you want", etc. Then at the end of the book, some person who Susie considers trustworthy tell her that John could not have cheated on her because he was doing thus and so and was not anywhere near the other female... Blech. Immediately, Susie runs to John's arms begging for forgiveness for not trusting him. Immediately, John declares that that's all right because he loves Susie. HEA!!! Am I the only one that wonders why these books are published?

A) What kind of relationship do they have if she doesn't trust him? B) What kind of man says yeah, baby, it's okay if you walked all over me, I love ya anyway? And C) If the trustworthy friend knew the truth all along, why not just speak up? Argh!

In the second case, the heroine has been through several bad relationships (why is it always several? Does that tell us something about her?) and now is afraid to trust the big gorgeous alpha hero because he's probably just toying with her. So for 200 to 300 pages we are privileged to hear her whine to all and sundry about how she's afraid to trust him as he most likely doesn't really love her, but will leave her as soon as he gets what he wants from her. Now in the old days that would be sex, but in our new jump-into-bed-before-we-know-each-other's-name era, that isn't so. They're screwin' from page three. So what's the hero hanging around for? Pizza?

In both cases, there didn't seem to be much of a story. I know what you're thinkin'. They couldn't have all been that bad. Yeah, they were. Out of 18 books, 15 were romances. Out of that 15, 12 had storylines like I've described. Kinda sad. The other three were older books from my library. Sigh. It's enough to make you go back to Helen MacInnes and Elizabeth Cadell. I can do without sex. I can do without kissing. Just give me a story. Give me people that don't whine. Give me characters that act like real people. Do you suppose that is too much?

On the other hand, I read a couple of excellent books:

Compulsion by Jonathon Kellerman. Want a book that will curl your hair and yank it out? This is it. As usual, Mr. Kellerman delivers.

Trial by Fury by J.A. Jance. This is one of Ms. Jance's JP Beaunont mysteries... a story that kept me turning my virtual pages until 2 AM.

Reckless Love by Elizabeth Lowell. An oldie, but goodie...one of Ms. Lowell's western historicals. I love her western historicals.

What about you? Read any good books lately? I have a pile still left to read--some from e-pubs and some from the dead tree pubs. Amarinda Jones, Katie Blu, Regina Carlysle, to name just a few. What's on your TBR pile?

Shoot! Forgot to mention that I'm guest blogging at Jenyfer Matthews blog today. Check it out at http://jenyfermatthews.blogspot.com/
Anny

The Secret Vice

Some people drink. Some smoke. Others, like my husband and kids, play computer role playing games. I have variously crocheted, embroidered, done calligraphy and genealogy, and written stories. But always through the years I've been a reader. Reading requires the presence of reading material.



Recently, I've met up with several people who don't quite get this fundamental fact. One woman in particular was appalled at the amount of money I spend on books. "Go to the library," she suggested. Well, for what I pay in overdue fines, I may as well own the book. Yes, I am that worst of all persons, the one who never makes it back to the library to return the book. I finally just quit going there. Instead I buy the book and then read it... and re-read it.



On one of the chat loops I occasionally visit, they had a question recently. What do you do with you books after you read them? KEEP them, of course. So I can read them again. That's why they're called KEEPERS! I have seven bookcases (make note to self--buy another bookcase soon) that are all overflowing. I read pretty fast. I read often. And I usually read most of the books I have every year. When I buy the newest installment in a series, I read the entire series before reading the newest one. At different times--if I'm on a reading jag--I have read as many as six books in one day.

It was wonderful when I stumbled across e-books. The difficulty with a print book is that it's so hard to hide. After a while the hubby notices that books are stacked on every flat surface in the room. "When did you get this book?" he demands. "Ummm. Oh, I've had that one for a while..." (since Monday, I think). So e-books were a god-send. E-books are invisible.

I keep them stashed on my computer in the e-book file. And since they are purchased with my mad money, no alarm bells go off to snag his notice. Eventually he caught on, but it seems that his major objection wasn't the money spent, but the room occupied by the print books. Since the e-books occupy no space, he's perfectly happy for me to indulge my secret vice. So happy in fact that he bought me an e-book reader for Valentine's Day last year.

Of course, that didn't solve ALL of my problems because there are some authors that still don't sell in e-format. But the odd thing I've noticed is that I've been gradually shifting away from the print books and authors. That's primarily due to an aging problem.

The print books have tiny print I can barely read. I can set my e-reader on large print so I can see it. Isn't that wonderful? And if that isn't big enough, then I can go up to the next size. There now. That's much better!

I have an idea as more and more of the population reaches the post fifties, that e-readers may become wildly popular. I hope so because then my favorite authors will be available in e-format. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the work of my fellow authors at Ellora's Cave and Cerridwen Press. Discovery of new talent is always one of the joys of my secret vice.

Anny

Don't forget to trot over to Kelly's site and see what she's done with Emmeline at www.kkirch.blogspot.com and then check out Amarinda at her best at www.amarindajones.blogspot.com