Day 2 - A Book I've Read More than 3 Times

It's week two of my 30-Day (Week) Book Meme, and I'm supposed to talk about a book I've read more than 3 times. Excluding children's books read more than 1,000 times to kids and grandkids, I think the list is probably fairly short. Not because I don't have some favorite books, but because I'm always feeling so behind on the stack of books waiting for me to read them for the first time. 

I mean, I'm currently reading Mary, Mary by Ed McBain, a book I bought new when it came out back in 1993. That's more than 20 years ago. I've packed and moved that book all around town and then, finally, across the country. It's been such a patient book, I thought it deserved to finally be read, so even though I'm feeling the pull to read an old favorite again, I moved Mary to the top of the list. 

But that's not the issue here. The task today is to talk about a book I've read more than 3 times. This one's easy. My book of choice is Cashelmara by Susan Howatch. (Surprise! Another Susan Howatch book) 

I'm choosing it because I received a notice yesterday that it was available on Kindle for a ridiculously low price -- ridiculous when you consider how much I love this book. I think I own at least two print copies--maybe three--because you can never own too many of a favorite book. 

In nineteenth-century Ireland, the de Salis family carries on through times of both riches and hardship, but their hard-won resilience will be threatened by tragedy of their own making

When Edward de Salis travels to America after the death of his first wife, he is astonished to find himself falling in love with Marguerite, a young woman many years his junior. Full of hope for the future, he returns to his Irish estate, Cashelmara, but in nineteenth-century Ireland—a country racked by poverty and famine—his family eventually becomes trapped in a sinister spiral of violence that Edward could never have foreseen. Cashelmara follows the fortunes of three generations as they struggle to survive both the tragedies of history and their own chaotic lives.

That's what the back cover copy says about the book, but it's so much more than that. I love big, rich, historical family sagas to begin with, and I love Howatch's style of writing. I love the way she works with point of view and how she manages to pull me into each of the characters' skins so completely that I'm rooting for them 100% -- until I'm suddenly not. Howatch is a true master of her craft. 

Some day when I grow up, I want to try my hand at writing something as rich and wonderful as a Susan Howatch book. 

Day 1 - The Best Book You Read Last Year

Or maybe I should say Entry 1 -- because if you've been around for a while you know that I'll get sidetracked and even if I didn't, I don't blog every day, and even if I did, I'd get sidetracked. See what I did there? Full circle. 

You also know that a few years ago I started, but never finished, a 30-Day Book Meme, so you're no doubt rolling your eyes and thinking, "What? Again??" 

Well, yes. Because I'm an author and I think about books .. a lot.  

So here goes: The best book I read last year. Would it surprise you to know that it was an older book? Or that it's a toss-up between two books? Or that both books are older books? Well, try not to be too surprised.  

I read quite a bit last year, but not as much as I could have. As I look back on my year of reading (thank you goodreads!) I realize that several of the books on my list from 2014 were books for young readers that I read along with my oldest granddaughter. We plowed through the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and knocked off several Judy Moody books, which added to my somewhat impressive list. 

I read several books that I already owned (including my two favorites) and several that I checked out from the library. I don't borrow books from friends because (a) I don't like to loan books to friends and (b) I've already proved that I can't be trusted to either read them in a timely manner or return them before the friend moves to parts unknown, or I move across country. (Yes, that is shame you hear.) 

I read several books for contests in which I acted as a judge. All of those books were newly published last year. Sadly, none of them qualifies as a favorite read. I won't discuss them here because that would be against the rules and unethical. 

So which two books did I read (or re-read) last year that qualify as my favorite?  

1.  The Rich are Different by Susan Howatch. 

You could substitute several books by Howatch here (Penmarric, Cashelmara, Sins of the Fathers) if I'd read them last year -- but I didn't, so this one wins. 

Dinah Slade was young enough to be Paul Van Zale's daughter. But she didn't care. She was a very ambitious and beautiful woman with her eye on Van Zale's tremendous fortune. However, she hadn't counted on falling in love. Paul found himself attracted to Dinah in a way he had long forgotten. Her vitality, her sensuality, consumed him. With her he could forget his past, his wife, his enemies, his empire....

If you like family sagas, the kind that were big in the 1980s, you'll love this book. If you prefer short reads, well, you'll want to give this one a miss. As for me, I'm sure I'll be reading it again. 

2. Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer.  

Again, you could substitute a number of books by Mr. Archer here, and any one of them would do. This was the first book of his I read back in the day, however, and this one remains my favorite. 

Again, this one's a family saga full of all the stuff a family saga should have: love, hate, lust, greed, betrayal ... You know. All the good stuff. 

Born on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world, both men are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream. These two men -- ambitious, powerful, ruthless -- are locked in a relentless struggle to build an empire, fuelled by their all-consuming hatred. Over 60 years and three generations, through war, marriage, fortune, and disaster, Kane and Abel battle for the success and triumph that only one man can have.

And yes, I'm sure I'll read this one again, too. 

What about you? What was the best book you read last year? 

Two Things

What are the two things everybody needs to know about your job? Interesting question. I'll play along.

The two things everybody needs to know about my job are:

1. It's much harder than it looks. In fact, this is the hardest work I've ever done. It's also the most rewarding, but that leans dangerously close to being the second thing, and I'm not sure I want to go there.

2. Authors don't get paid from the sale of used books, or from the downloading of bootlegged copies of books on the internet, or from sales of books on eBay (which, you know, are mostly used), or for the sale of stripped books (selling these is illegal anyway, but they show up with alarming regularity, so I thought I'd mention them.)

 Authors, in fact, don't get paid for much of anything, with the notable exception of a few cents on the original sale of each copy of their books. Any advances they may have received are exactly that -- advances. Not bonuses, not additional money, but an advance against payment the publisher expects to be coming. Some authors agree to contracts that don't incude advances. Assuming the author has received an advance, the author now has to sell X number of books to loyal readers before the author gets any additional money from the publisher. So while I think most of us understand all about the lack of money and either not being able to or not wanting to spend $7.99 for something you're just going to read and then toss, we hope that all of you understand that while picking up a used book is a whole lot easier on your wallet, it's not so kind to ours.

There is an argument to be made, however, that the circulation of used books builds readership, and that's our ultimate goal, right? Word of mouth is always a good thing. So if you've read one of my books and want to pass it along to a friend, I say go for it! Just please keep in mind that authors don't get paid every time somebody opens a book they've written.

Most importantly, please remember that if you find a free download of someone's book on the internet (other than respected book stores where the author may have opted to give the book away for a certain amount of time) chances are the book has been uploaded there illegally. Please don't encourage people to do this. Don't download from pirate sites!

photo credit: A book is a book via photopin (license)

Candy Shop Mysteries Available in e-book Format!

It's amazing what you can find when you're clicking around on the Internet. The other day, I stumbled across copies of all five books in the Candy Shop Mystery Series available in e-book format. Who knew? I certainly didn't! I'm not sure why, but this was news to me. Great news! Exciting news! I'm personally thrilled to learn that the books are still available, and excited to have a way to share them with readers. 

I'm working on getting excerpts up for all the books, but it may take me a few days, so please be patient with me. 

First up, Candy Apple Dead, which is the first book in the series. 

Abby Shaw has returned to her hometown of Paradise, Colorado--leaving behind a career in corporate law and a cheating husband--to take over her aunt's candy shop, Divinity. But her sweet new life quickly turns sour when a fellow merchant dies in a fire. With all clues pointing to arson--and Abby's brother as the number one suspect--she must sink her teeth into finding the killer.

To read an excerpt and for information on where to buy a copy, click here:  

If you're read the series before, I hope you enjoy reconnecting with Abby, her family and friends. If you're new to the series, welcome! Enjoy! 

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 20

Okay, so I'm not exactly getting this thing done in 30 days. It's not even close. The important thing is that I'm still plugging along -- right?

Day 20's prompt is: Favorite Kiss.

Which is probably why I've procrastinated posting for so long. Favorite kiss in a book? I can't answer this one. I don't think I actually remember a single kiss from a single book in which there actually was a kiss. Kisses are usually so similar, so ordinary, so forgettable. I can barely remember character names from most of the books I read. I've tried and tried and tried to remember a single kiss from any book, but I honestly can't. I can remember a few on-screen kisses from TV and movies, but books? Nah.

I wonder why that is.

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 18 & 19

Okay, I'm cheating. I know that. But the prompt for Day 18 is: Favorite beginning scene in a book. I don't even know how to respond to that. Maybe I have a really bad memory, but I don't remember details like that. My ex-husband remembered in great detail every single childhood disease our oldest daughter had. I could barely remember if she had measles or mumps. With very few exceptions, I don't retain character names from books I've read either. 

So my favorite opening scene? ........ blank ........ 

Next? 

Day 19 - Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)

Still not easy. I'm seriously wondering why I decided to take on this challenge -- as evidenced by the number of days that have gone by since I last posted a response to a meme prompt. But ... sigh ... I said I'd do it, and by gum! I'm gonna. So my favorite book cover.  

Cricket. Cricket. Crick......et. 

 I'm going to go with this one -- or any cover that looks anything like this one. Put a couple of Adirondack chairs in any location that looks out over any body of water-- stream, river, pond, lake, ocean, they're all good -- and I'm hooked. Mackinac chairs work almost as well. Beach chairs, not so much. Folding canvas chairs? Nah. I appreciate the folding canvas chair immensely. Don't get me wrong. Especially the drink holder apparatus. But for visual effect, it loses everything in the translation. 

A single chair--if it's the right chair--can work almost as well. I have a healthy appreciation for the healing properties of solitude, if used correctly and applied in the right situations. Don't you think?  It looks like the perfect place to ponder the oddities of life. Put a good book on that chair, and I'd knock my best friend down trying to get myself into it--especially if that book had a really great Adirondack chair on the cover.

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 17

Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)

I'm really not a short-story reader. Not a novella reader either. I don't even like really short novels. You won't find a book that's only 50,000 words long on my bookshelf unless someone has given it to me for free. Whether or not I'll read it is kind of a crapshoot, depending on my mood.

So the only possible collection of stories I can list here are the Childcraft books that my parents bought when I was a kid. The set consisted of 15 volumes, and I loved them all, especially Volume 3, "Folk and Fairy Tales," which was filled with great stories that led me into a lifelong love of stories and the written word. My favorite story of all from that book was called "Tom Tit Tot," a retelling of the classic Rumplestilskin. To this day, if open one of the books I can hear my mother's voice as she read the stories to me.

I read them to my granddaughters now, and I love sharing these beloved stories from my childhood with them -- but even though I do my best, I have to admit I don't do the stories justice. Nobody read these stories better than my mother did.

For all those reasons, these books will always have a special place in my heart.

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 16

Day 16 of the 30-Day Book Meme asks me to list my favorite poem or collection of poetry. I'll confess that I don't read a lot of poetry. Not because I don't like it. I do. But because I don't have a lot of poetry collections lying around the house, I tend to forget about it until someone mentions it. Then I wonder why I don't read more poetry and vow to rectify that, and wander around full of good intentions for a few days.

So this question is actually pretty each for me to answer because only one poem came to mind when I read the question. 


Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. It is, hands down, the most powerful piece of poetry I've read in decades. Every word of it speaks directly to my heart. It's about a strong woman who knows exactly who she is. And she dares every woman on the planet to recognize just how incredible she is. 


And it is a dare. For many of us, it's far too easy to make ourselves small. To hide what makes us great and apologize for who we are. It's much easier to do that than to lift your chin and stride forward in boldness. 


As Marianne Williamson said in Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles," 1992:

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  

 And that's exactly what Maya Angelou challenges us--inspires us--to avoid in Phenomenal Woman. Writing this has inspired me to dig out my copy and place it beside my bed. This is a poem every woman should read on a regular basis. 

Your Favorite Comfort Book

The 30-Day Book Meme, Day 15: Your "Comfort" Book. 

Do you have one? Just one? If you had to pick one Comfort Book, what would it be? 

I think I'm going to have to say So Big by Edna Ferber because (a) it's a book I've read more than once, and (b) it's a book I think about frequently, and (c) every time I think about it or read it, I think about my mother. 

Not because she resembles any of the characters in the book, but because this is one of the books she helped me pick out on my very first grown up trip to the library all those years ago. Which gives this book a special place in my heart. 

I'd tack on Edna Ferber's Giant for the same reasons. Good memories. The comfort of Mom on one of our best days together.

You can't get much better than that. 

So what about you? What's your favorite comfort book? I'd love to hear what's tops on your own list.

 

Who is Your Favorite Character in a Book?

This is getting hard. These daily topics are either too similar or too difficult to make this fun, but I did say I was going to do this and keeping my commitments is important to me. Even little, seemingly insignificant commitments. Commitments that don't matter to anyone else in the world.

So Day 14: Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)

Okay, first of all, any sex OR gender? Wow, that just opens up all sorts of possibilities.

This is a tough question for me. I have lots of favorite characters in books, all for different reasons. My reading tastes are varied. I don't read just one kind of book, so it's not like I can stroke my chin for a minute and say, oh, sure, Anne Tyler's Maggie Moran from Breathing Lessons. It has to be her. Or almost any one of Susan Howatch's characters. She brings every one of them so brilliantly to life, they're each my favorite when I'm reading from their point of view.

Maybe I should default to George Fayne from the Nancy Drew series. Nancy was swell, but George was my gal. I also loved George Harrison best of all the Beatles, but that's a topic for another day.

A sweep of my keeper shelf helps me narrow my search for Favorite Character of all Time down a bit. I have a few keepers on the shelf, including other books I've mentioned during this challenge, but some of my prize books (besides Nancy Drew, of course) are my collection of Agatha Christies. And that narrows down my options down considerably.

Marple or Poirot?

For me, it's gotta be the delightful Miss Jane Marple. She was sharp. She was an amateur. She solved complex crimes based only on her ability to notice things about people, and everyone underestimated her.

What about you? Who is your favorite character in a book? Of any sex OR gender? 

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 13

Day 13 - Favorite Childhood Book OR Current Favorite YA book (or both!)

Favorite childhood book. I've already talked about my love of the Nancy Drew mystery series, so I'm going to go with a book I loved when I was even younger. Raggedy Ann Stories by Johnny Gruelle. Oh, what a magical world the author created for me in this book and its companion, Raggedy Andy Stories.

I loved the idea of my toys coming to life when I wasn't around. Dancing and moving and playing and talking and eating and doing all the things I secretly knew they did, even before anyone told me. My dolls and toys were so real to me when I was little, and Johnny Gruelle understood that. 

I'd almost forgotten how much I loved the idea of my things coming to life until a few years ago when the movie Night at the Museum was released. The idea was slightly different, but I watched that movie eagerly, waiting for that same magical world Johnny Gruelle created for me years ago. 

I wonder if any adult experience can truly match a childhood memory. 

What do you think?

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 12

Day 12 - A book or Series of Books You’ve Read More than Five Times: 

Hmmm. I'm not sure there is such a thing. I have a few keepers on my shelf, but I tend not to read books again unless I really, really love them. Really. Right now, I've listed 62 books on my "Favorites" shelf on goodreads.com but of all those books, I can't find a single one I've read five times. Penmarric and Cashelmara by Susan Howatch probably come closest with 3 times each. And my Agatha Christies. And Gone with the Wind. But though there are some books I really enjoyed on that list, most of them are one shots only. 

I've tried re-reading some old favorites, but that's ruined a few books for me. They were favorites at the time, but my reading tastes have changed and I didn't enjoy them the second time around. So now I'm kind of hesitant to take the chance. I like the memories I have. I don't want to ruin them with my current reality.

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 11 A Book that Disappointed

Day 11 - A Book that Disappointed You:

Unfortunately, I have a lot of possibilities here, but I'm going to pick just one. Once Upon a Town by Bob Greene. I read this book for a book club several years ago. In theory, it sounded like a pretty good book club book. Turns out, it was a pretty good book club short story stuffed with a whole lot of filler. 

I had a really tough time getting all the way through it, simply because nothing happened. Or maybe I should say, the same thing kept happening over and over. Like I said, it would have been a nice, inspiring short story but a book? Not so much. 

How about you? Read any disappointing books lately? 

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day #10

Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

This one's an easy answer for me. At the risk of being stoned by 90% of the romance-reading world, I'm going to admit that I'm not a huge fan of Nora Roberts' books. I am, on the other hand, a huge fan of Nora, herself. I love that she's forthright and pretty down-to-earth considering how rich and famous she is. But the books are too inconsistent for me. In fact, up to a certain time in my reading history, I'd never actually finished a book by Nora.

I'd tried. Oh, how I'd tried. Millions of readers can't be wrong, I told myself. Obviously, the woman delivers on many levels to not only win, but keep, so many fans for so long. But book after book ended up moving from my To-Be-Read stack to my Not-Gonna-Happen...Ever stack, and my confusion kept growing.

What was it about her books that kept readers shelling out so much money year in and year out? I just didn't get it. And worse, I began to feel a little bitter over her numerous RITA Award wins. I suspected that some judges automatically marked her books high just because of who she was. 

One year, in my role as judge for a published author contest, I received a box of books to judge and among them was Nora's Birthright. Eager to give the book the score I just knew it would deserve, I plunged in. And within just a few pages, I was hooked. I can't say that I was forever hooked on all of Nora's work, but I can say that I've since found several of her books that I not only finished reading, but liked a lot.

When she's good, she's very, very good.

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 8 and/or 9

Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once: 

Seriously? I think I've answered this question already, haven't I? David McCullough's JOHN ADAMS. Moving on. 

Day 09 - Best Scene Ever 

I don't think I can come up with a best scene ever. I'm not 16 anymore. There is no best ever of anything in my world, but there are lots of goods, a very few exceptionals, and way too may mediocres. So instead of the best scene ever, how about a scene that had a great impact on me?

A few years ago, like everyone else who was old enough to read at the time, I read The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher. I loved the book, so I immediately picked up September when it came out. Didn't love it with quite the same fever pitch, but it was pretty good, so I picked up Winter Solstice when it came out -- but never got around to reading it. At least not for a very long time.

Flash Forward several years. I'm struggling through a personal crisis, and like a lot of people when they're in personal crisis, I was praying for answers, guidance, and help. A lot. One day I woke up and had the strong impression that I should leave the TV off. And the radio. And everything else that made noise. I spent the next 30 days in silence, doing what I felt prompted to do at any given time. I played the piano, cleaned my house, and I read. 

The first book I felt guided to read was Winter Solstice.

I started the book, but just couldn't get into it, so I put it down. A couple of days later, I again felt strongly that I should pick up the book and finish it. 

After the third time the feeling hit me, I finally listened. I picked up the book and I read. I struggled to keep reading because the book just wasn't connecting for me, but I only have to get hit upside the head a few times before I pay attention. 

The main character was an older woman who (if memory serves) takes in a young relative for the Christmas holiday season. The older woman has just moved to a village in the UK where she also meets an older man who (again, I'm not sure I remember) recently lost his wife. He's the organist for the church, but he hasn't played since his wife died.

The book is definitely a character study because not much happens except that each of the characters is struggling with something. I didn't understand why I was supposed to read that book until almost the final chapter when the old man plays the organ in the church for the first time since his wife's death. And then I knew what I was supposed to get from that book. There was, buried beneath the fiction, a message of healing that I needed at that time.

It's been several years since I read the book and felt the chills of truth revealed in that scene, but I can still remember the feeling. So maybe it does qualify as one of the best scenes ever.

What about you? Is there one scene you'd list as the best ever? Or can you remember one scene that had a profound impact on your life?

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 6

Day 06 - Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time

Is it just me, or does this feel like we're repeating ourselves? It's been way too many years since I read several Nancy Drew mysteries in a row, so it's hard to talk about which book from that series might qualify as my favorite. I can remember a little thrill of danger whenever I looked at the picture of Nancy Drew inside the moving van in The Secret of the Old Clock, and something about The Mystery of Larkspur Lane has always drawn me to that book. But I also loved The Hidden Staircase and The Message in the Hollow Oak and The Clue in the Diary. And let's not forget The Mystery at Lilac Inn. 

I could fudge a little and pick an Agatha Christie novel, but I run into the same trouble there. I mean, first I'd have to decide whether I liked Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot better, and how do you make a choice like that? Okay, I may lean a little toward Miss Marple in general, but Hercule was so delightfully flawed in his utter perfection, he's hard to resist. 

So do I move instead to my favorite book of all time? How do I pick that? 

So many books hold special places in my heart. 

I have the best memories of going to the library with my mom the summer she realized I was too grown up for kids books. We wandered through the stacks while she showed me books she'd read and loved, and I read and loved almost all of them myself. Since then, I've read Edna Ferber's Giant several times, and I'm still fascinated by the book. I think it may qualify as my favorite of the books my mom helped me choose at the library that day and certainly ranks right up there near the top of my list. But is it my very favorite book of all time?  

If I chose the book I've read the most in my lifetime, I'd have to say it's Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Yes, I know it's a horribly insulting depiction of African-Americans and paints an unrealistically rosy picture of the lives they lived, and for that I truly do apologize for including this book on my list. But my love affair with it exists in spite of all that. I've never considered GWTW a romance, and still don't. But I do consider it a fascinating character study in self-delusion on several levels. Scarlett O'Hara was a deeply flawed character whose reality didn't even come close to matching anyone else's and I go back to Gone with the Wind as a prime example of how to write an unreliable narrator and make her sympathetic enough to keep readers connected.

And besides, I thought Clark Gable was hot. Even if he was dead long before I ever saw the movie or read the book. 

And what about Penmarric and Cashelmara by Susan Howatch? Or Rosamunde Pilcher's The Shell Seekers?  Or Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse? That book was recommended to me several years ago by Mrs. Wilson, my youngest daughter's 6th grade teacher. It's a poem cycle that reads like a novel. The language is sparse but beautiful, and Hesse wrings emotion from me with every line. Every time I read it, I'm amazed by what she accomplishes with so few words. 

I don't know. I can't choose. In fact, I could probably add several more books to this list if I had the time. 

What about you? What's your favorite book in your favorite series? Or do you have a favorite book of all time? I'd love to hear about yours.

The 30-Day Book Meme: Day 5

A Book or Series you Hate:

Seriously? Hate? Um....my answer to this one has to be N/A. I don't hate any books or series. Sure, there are some I don't particularly enjoy reading, but like I said before, anything that gets people reading is okay by me. I applaud the author, the publisher, and the readers, even if I don't particularly enjoy the books. My reading tastes are pretty broad. I like just about everything if it's done well.

I have abandoned a few series over the years, usually because I think the author has gotten lazy or because I think they've compromised the integrity of the series, or because the main character has simply become too unlikeable for me to spend time in his/her head. I've read a few books that have made me seriously consider abandoning a series that I've previously enjoyed, but I usually give the author another chance or two because I know that life sometimes gets in the way of your ability to turn out a page-turner. Trying to write your next funny cozy mystery after your father has died, for example, isn't easy. So it takes two or three seriously mediocre books for me to bail on an author.

I've also picked up a lot of books that I simply can't get through for one reason or another. Simplistic writing. Such weak motivation propelling the character through the book that I can't relate. Too much telling (wa-a-a-a-ay too much telling). No conflict. I recently read a book that fell into this last category by an author whose books I usually love. The main character strolled through the entire mystery anticipating trouble, but only occasionally encountering anything to throw her off her path. Nobody refused to talk to her. Nobody tried to get her to stop investigating. Nobody created any trouble for her at all until around pg 200. She just kept running into people and thinking about that person's history until I felt my eyes roll back in my head. I didn't care what happened but I kept reading because, like I said, I've loved the author's books in the past, but it wasn't my favorite book on her shelf, by any means.


But hate? Nope. It just doesn't apply. How about you? Which series or books are your least favorite?