The end of 2014 has sneaked up on me. I think I usually post my favorite reads of the year before now. Rather than give you an analysis/breakdown of why I chose what I did, I’ve fixed this fun graphic to showcase what for me were some of the best hours of reading that I can remember in several years. …
From My Bookshelf
My guilty pleasure, I confess, is reading. The time was when I would finish a book every two or three days. My to-be-read pile could easily occupy a single shelf in those days. Being an author has not changed my insatiable appetite for fabulous books, but it has caused a dilemma – now I have to carefully choose which books …
America’s Future
Today I had the sublime opportunity to talk to a group of students. Yes, I knew it was launch day for Stardust, but I’d been talking to a teacher for awhile, and the students at her small central Oklahoma school would soon be dispersing for the summer, so we set a date for me to visit. What a splendid way …
Thirty Days of Thanksgiving – Day Nine
Day 9. The Letter I. Today I’m thankful for Inspiration. WRITER’S MYTH: If you just wait for inspiration, it will come, and the words will flow like molten lava onto the page, igniting the world with your brilliance. Oh, if only that were so. The truth is writing is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. It’s hard work. And sometimes grueling. …
>Heady Stuff – Pulpwood Queens’ Bestseller List for January 2011
>The first best-seller list for Chasing Lilacs!! I’m thrilled and hats off to Kathy Patrick, Tiara wearing and Book sharing founder of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs: the largest “meeting and discussing book club in the WORLD”! What I really love about Kathy is her non-stop efforts at bringing authors and readers together and her heart for …
>The Year of Reading Pleasures
>One of the gifts I’ve given myself this year is permission to read great novels and not get waylaid by trying to catch up on the books I should have read and didn’t quite get to. Yes, some of those shoulda, coulda, woulda books are still on my “waiting to be read” shelf, but some are not. Here’s why: On …
>TEN GREAT BOOKS I’VE READ THIS YEAR
>My reading pile has grown and grown and now is stacked two deep and spilling over on two shelves. Some of the books I read this year didn’t necessarily have a 2009 release date, but this is the year I read them, so my rule is . . . if I read it this year, it qualifies. There are so …
>CAFE SPECIAL OF THE WEEK – World’s Best Scones!
>A week or so ago I read The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows). Oh my! Just a delightful book, set in London and on Guernsey, one of the Channel Isles. Written entirely in correspondence, it was an unusual presentation of story, but one which drew me in at once. The year is 1946 …
>Book Reviews: SUMMER OF LIGHT and RETURN POLICY
>As promised, I’ve got a couple of reviews for you today—books by male authors. Just keeping the balance here. Summer of Light. This book is not a new release (2007, Bethany House), but I’ve just now discovered W. Dale Cramer’s writing and am delighted that I chose this one as my introduction to his fine novels. Mick Brannigan, a construction …
>REVIEW OF HOW SWEET IT IS by Alice Wisler
>It is my pleasure to bring you How Sweet It Is by Alice Wisler (Bethany House. 2009). This book is a little like taking a walk along a lovely mountain path. There are rocks to watch for, bends in the road that lead to unknown vistas, an incline or two that has to be climbed, but the sights and sounds …