Reading by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

I have been doing lots of reading this month. And by that, I mean I haven’t done any writing except for my blog posts.

At this point, I’m in the middle of my 28^th book for this month.

It started out with me reading what Jana Deleon books I did have on my reader, and then I decided to look up more of her works. I am currently on her Miss Fortune series. I have now read ten of those, there are 24 or 25, so I still have more to get. And that’s only one of her series! I just want to get through all the Miss Fortune books before I read anything else of hers. I plan to read the Mudbug series after the Miss Fortune series.

By the way, if you are looking for funny cozy mysteries, look up the Miss Fortune series. They are more of a fish out of water combined with a comedy of errors than anything. And they are hilarious, which is saying something since I don’t get jokes too often.

After I read those ten books, I thought I’d read another mystery. I read one that is more suspense than mystery, the author of that one gives the POV of several characters including the bad people.

Then I decided to read something less intense and switched to my Marta Perry “The Three Sisters Inn” series. That’s three books of cozy, sweet, mystery.

After that, I decided I’d had enough of mysteries for a while and switched to Brenda Minton’s Cooper Creek series, what I had of them on my reader. I am still one book short on them. I read the first seven, but somewhere along in there, I realized some of the characters mentioned were in her series about cowboys, which I have six of in hard copy, so I dug them out and reread them, only to discover I was missing the final two of that series both of which are before Cooper Creek starts.

I got those two at an exceptionally low price on my reader. The first one of those two is the one I am on now.

However, in talking to Konnie about authors she knows and likes, we got on the subject of Rusty Ellis, another mystery writer I like, and well, he is family. He’s married to a distant cousin of ours.

But in talking to Konnie, I realized he had more books out than the one I already had, so I looked him up on Amazon, and now I have four of his books. So, I already have my February reading list.

I have tons of mystery books. I know I have mentioned Dick and Felix Francis before, but I also have some of the likes of Agatha Christy and Patterson, as well as all the mystery writers I've already mentioned. I even have the first twelve of the Boxcar Children mysteries.

And as far as sweet romance goes, well, clearly, I have several by Brenda Minton. More than I have already mentioned. Three more to be exact. Brenda Minton is one of the authors in the “After the Storm” series on the “Love Inspired” line. That series is good too. And I have two of Minton’s standalone books.

I also have several “Love Inspired” books by Linda Goodnight, some are in a series, and one is a standalone. My favorites of hers are the “Whisper Falls” series and “Special Delivery Baby.” I have four of the “Whisper Falls” series and five of the “Triple C Cowboys” series. I really should look up if there is more sometime. Can’t afford to buy more right now though.

Then again, I got my first Linda Goodnight for free on Kindle. Yeah, I’m hooked. Of course, I know that any “Love Inspired” book isn’t going to have scenes I don’t want to be reading.

This reminds me, I received three books as Christmas presents this last year, and I’ve never heard of any of the authors, so I have no idea what I’d be getting into with them.

Years ago, I first read Nora Roberts in a Reader’s Digest condensed book. On reading a full book of hers, I discovered I can only handle her in the condensed form, and that made me hesitant to read any full works of Dick Francis. I didn’t delve into his uncondensed works until a friend promised me his writing was clean.

Hence why I am reluctant to read unknown authors.

Not that I haven’t done that. Any book published by Deseret Book or part of the “Love Inspired”, “Sweet Romance” lines, or family, guarantees to be a safe read.

Anyway, happy writing everyone.

Of Reading and Favorites by Konnie Enos

 

Bonnie’s post last week about favorite authors got me thinking.

My very first thought was about going to the big city library with my siblings. Sometime after we’d mastered all those stories about Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot we were able to get our library card and could check out any books we wanted to read.

The city library was a big building. I know it was two stories and it might have been three. The check-out desk was easily seen from the entrance and just to the side of the children’s section where all the bookcases were half-height. It was in this lovely section that I was introduced to the delights of Gertrude Warner (Boxcar Children) and Sydney Taylor (All-of-a-Kind-Family). It may also be where I was introduced to The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I’m sure there were many others but those were the ones I remember still.

Then in school, I was introduced to more delights. The type of book I gravitated to was historical fiction. I particularly loved those stories about famous people, especially Americans. Yes, I have a copy of Across Four Aprils. I also used to have a copy of the three-book set on Abraham Lincoln by Carl Sandburg (Yes, I know that was a biography). Little House on the Prairie? Anne of Green Gables? I’ve read those too.

In school, I was also introduced to the delights of Scholastic Books. I’m sure that’s where I got my copy (still have it) of Pollyanna. It’s also how I got my first copies of Boxcar Children and All-of-a-Kind-Family. I kept these and other favorites until a certain child, who shall remain nameless, got ahold of them. (She has replaced some of them.) When my children started getting forms to order Scholastic books, and I could afford a few, I’d get me one or two. However, the last time I got a Scholastic Book they were no longer doing the order forms, but book fairs in the schools. It was a book about the U.S. presidents through Obama (shows how long ago that was). Maybe my grandkids will invite me to one of theirs someday.

Then there are books I’ve been introduced to later in life, like A Wrinkle in Time. I don’t remember when I first heard of Madeleine L’Engle, but I know I have a copy of that book and would love to have others of her work. I’ve also read Ray Bradbury and Orson Scott Card (some of those on writing) and am actively searching for other sci-fi authors I would enjoy.

Then there’s fantasy. I have enjoyed books by Terry Brooks and J.R.R. Tolkien. I was introduced to my first fantasy in sixth grade. Someone gave Bonnie and me a boxed set of The Chronicles of Narnia. I dove right in, and though she read them, she wasn’t as enthralled as I was. I ended up with them and kept them until they disintegrated. I acquired another set. I wore those out too. I think my above-mentioned child helped me wear out, or lose, the third set. My husband got me a large bound copy of it. And…. I wore it out too. I got my newest copy since the pandemic. Since I love sci-fi as well, I also have a copy of C.S. Lewis’s sci-fi books (all three stories, bound in one book).

Then there are the books and authors I learned about because of my insistence on reading the books my kids brought home from school. Either from class reading assignments or because the teacher just gave a stack of them to my daughter, for keeps, because he knew she loved to read. One of those books was Alanna: The First Adventure. I’ve been hooked on Tamora Pierce’s Tortal books ever since.  In fact, I have all the currently released Tortal books, all 19 of them.

I also like romances. I have a nice physical pile of romances (most of those are the Love Inspired imprint). Not to mention at least half my Kindle books are romances. The one romance author I have the most novels by is Arelene James (she writes for Love Inspired).

Then there are some by friends of mine, mostly sci-fi or fantasy. Such as Dragon Protocol by Ali Archer, and Noman’s Land by Mel Newman. L.C. Ireland is a great writer too, though I have never met her. Bonnie has though, L.C. is one of her husband’s nieces. I enjoy her books Fatal Heir and Horrid. Not of a fantasy or sci-fi nature, and probably the best of this bunch, is Gawain: A Novel of Arthurian Legend by my friend Paul McLerran.

As you can tell from this list, I’m eclectic in my reading choices. After all, variety is the spice of life.

Smile. Make the world a better place.