KimberlyFish

Downloading to Kindle

I’ve been trying to get better acquainted with my Kindle simply by using it more. This summer I’ve discovered the fast and easy way to acquire books without ever having to change out of my pajamas. Though preferring the smell of a crisp binding, paper and ink–e books have their place in my library. Before I tell you about the assortment of books I’ve read, let me tell you two wish list items I have for the Kindle 7 or 8 whenever those are invented –flexible font sizes for those us in denial about needing reading glasses. And back lighting for night reading. The one thing I do not like about Kindle is not being able to flip through the e-book easily. I’ve been known to read my fair share of back pages first (don’t judge me, you’ve done it too) and that’s hard to do with an e-book. For one thing the little page turner button does one page at a time. If you’re stuck in a boring section and want to skip ahead this can be a tedious process, not to mention frustrating since you can’t stick a bookmark in the section you’re temporarily escaping and jump around. But, overall, I’ve become a fan of the e-book reader and though I can’t really compare it to an iPad since I don’t own an iPad, I’ve heard others say that the simpler one application Kindle is easier to to hold your attention than something that can all but dance in your hands.

So, what have I been downloading? A wide variety of things actually. That’s the beauty of a free e-books, cheap e-books and $9.99 for a bestseller. It’s affordable to read across genres because I don’t sweat spending $26 on a book only to find out the book is dismal. I’ve been reading Susan May Warren this summer–always a delight. Revisiting some classics because in addition to being free, many of them are just great–Carson McCullars. Found a fun (if racy) author in Meg Benjamin–her books are freakishly like mine except for the sexual content. And Seth Godin.

What have you been reading this summer?

Jeffery Archer does it again

Years ago, I discovered Jeffery Archer, the author (aka British representative in one of their political parties and fallen from grace national icon.) I liked his books. The first one I read, Kane and Abel, is still easily accessible in my memory. So, when I ran across another of his books recently, I snatched in from the discount bin. Who knew he was still writing? I thought he was hiding under some table at one of those cozy British pubs. Well, to get on with it, let me say this novel, Paths of Glory, was worth waiting for. It’s plum Jeffrey Archer–which means well-researched, not too schmaltzy and engaging to the bitter end (even when you know in advance that the end will be bitter because it was based on a true story.) In one of those too weird to be coincidence moments, I was scanning MSN’s news page the other day (might I add three days after I’d started this novel) when one of their feature stories was about the mysterious death of George Mallory (the previously unmentioned hero and subject of this novel.) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38639968/ns/technology_and_science/?GT1=43001  I loved that these two events coincided and now wonder if there’s some deeper meaning to the whole conflagration of fact and fiction. Am I to become yet another researcher of George Mallory? Am I to be a biographer of Jeffrey Archer? Am I supposed to scale Mt. Everest? Wow. . .you know this spinning could go on for a while. As it is, I’ll just take comfort knowing that lives well lived are far more fascinating than anything fiction could dream up and maybe I should spend a little more time living large than just writing about. So, see you next time, after I’ve done a bit of bungee jumping or something equally death defying. And PS I did enjoy the book.

Kindle e-books and hot summer days

Since the summer season seems predestined to be a reading season–ergo all the Turner Classic Movies and Nick at Nite episodes showing people picking blackberries then leaning against tree trunks with Hardy Boy novels and purple stains around their lips. (Okay, maybe that’s just one movie.) I willingly walked into the stereotype. I must be “off” though. I can’t seem to get into a book to save my life. Maybe its in small part to the emotional distractions involving with getting a firstborn ready for university life, but I think it could be the novel writers. At the beginning of the summer I downloaded about twenty books to my Kindle. And traveling on vacation with a Kindle is wonderful and a major luggage improvement, But with the exception of the Linda Lael Miller trilogy “The McKettrick Men” or something like that, I couldn’t tell you there was one memorable story in the bunch. And I’m bummed about it. I wanted great page-turners, some vicarious emotional release courtesy of a great cliff-hangers. I’d taken several Amazon recommendations into consideration when buying these e-books and now I’m thinking the authors’ mothers must have written the recommendations because I put myself to sleep with some of those books. I’m not going to name names because if I get my books recommended on Amazon I don’t want irate mothers coming after me with bad press. Just go wisely into the sunset and I hope you have better e-reading than me.

Driftwood Summer and Summer Shift

Driftwood Summer and Summer Shift were two books I bought from Barron’s summer reading table–summer, you see the theme? There’s just something about hot afternoons and sunshine glare that make me want to find a cool fan and stretch out on the hammock with a breezy book. These two definitely fit the bill—just look at their titles. Driftwood Summer was a delightful read, as charming as a tide rolling in and out. Very authentic and gripping via its family dramas. I did wish for more romance though, Patti Callahan Henry had set things up nicely. But those relationship were implied for later. The here and now was all about rebuilding sister’s fractured relationships. Summer Shift was a little harder for me to get into. It also took place in a shoreside community, a busy restaurant scene and a catastrophe that brings people together—its just that these people didn’t seem to have as much hope as the characters in the Georgia book. I guess that’s what draws me to characters–do they have a sense of hope? I can ride with them along torturous journeys, if they seem to have an ounce of hope in satisfying resolution–but character without hope? I guess I don’t see a reason to keep on reading. You decide which book touches you, but for me I’ll keep on reading.

An Ode to Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I met Susan Elizabeth Phillips at a writer’s conference one year and told her the first book of hers that I read (Fancy Pants) was one of the most entertaining novels I’d ever read and still today it would rank high in my top twenty. The other nineteen books would also be largely made up of SEP novels. The woman knows how to craft memorable characters thrown into unforgettable situations. And though sometimes her characters seem awfully familiar from book to book, she’s still a magician with dialogue and development. Through Kindle, I downloaded two novels I’d never read of hers and devoured them this weekend. Who knew SEP had tried her hand at historical romance? Every agent I’ve heard discuss this issue say never stray from what works (what sells) –that is don’t crossover genres. Just Imagine (a dumb title and I’d even tell her that) breaks that trend. It is set in post Civil War South Carolina and New York and a little bit in Texas. Though a reader might be inclined to think this is SEP’s version of Gone With The Wind, I wouldn’t. Too much of what is organic to all SEP novels is right there on those humid, pre-Industrial age pages; a scrappy heroine too stubborn for her own good and a larger than life hero who can’t resist getting involved. Maybe that does sound a bit GWTW. Since hours after finishing Just Imagine I started reading Honey Moon, I saw up close how SEP never strays from the female character arc that has made her stories bestsellers. Though this female character, Honey Jane Moon, was one of the most scarred I’d ever read in one of her stories. Actually everyone in the story was scarred and flawed and just inches away from self-destruction. This story was a twist on the SEP formula, and it was a good one. I can see where her later novels are more breezy and blingy, these earlier books are grittier and pack more of an emotional wallop. One year, maybe I’ll try to read her novels in published sequential order so I can trace the footsteps of one of America’s favorite romance writers, but it won’t be any time soon. I’m too invested in looking at my manuscripts and getting them polished. In the mean time, I’ll think about those memorable scenes of character development and pray that I write something with the same deftness as my much-admired Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

Another Summer

It’s that time of year when I crave a beach book. Something fun, light-hearted that gives me a mental vacation. So wandering my favorite independent bookstore, Barrons, the other day. I bought three books from Vickie’s summer reading table. I just finished, Another Summer. Georgia Bockoven’s novel about a house and it’s summer renters was charming and delightful. I was so intrigued by the prologue that I really wanted more from those characters, but that wasn’t the direction of the novel. If you’re in the mood for a good story about a rocky cove outside Santa Cruz,California and the lovely people who live there then buy this book.

Songbird Under a German Moon

This novel by Tricia Goyer has special meaning for me because a) its set in an area Mel and I lived twenty years ago b) I’ve sat through one of Wagner’s Ring operas in that Festspielhaus c) I chatted with her for research purposes related to this novel. On top of it being a sweeping good story, I feel so connected to the plot! This is part of her WW II collection and takes an interesting angle with the post WW II pause as Americans were still stationed in Germany after the war.  It’s an easy read and one that is sure to resonate with anyone who has an interest in the music of that era. Don’t pass this one up!

Recent Books

Since school has wrapped up for summer, and I finished edits on a novel with my editor, I’ve actually had time to read. Of the four books I will list  one I loved, one made me laugh out loud and two I had to work to finish.

Jacqueline Winspear’s The Mapping of Love and Death was the sixth (?) in the Maisie Dobb’s series and I was a fan of the earnest private detective making her way in a male dominated society from the first page of book one. This new novel has moved the reader a few months farther down the road of Maisie’s life and introduced a character, that though murdered, is imminently intriguing. Ms. Winspear must have an inexhaustible reference for World War One and in particular British life during those times. Once again, I was with Maise through her turmoils with Maurice and the bloom of romance with James. I’ll patiently wait for the next novel.

Years ago, I read Franky Schaeffer’s Portofino and thought it was one of the funniest novels I’d read because I could relate to the family. This second novel in the Swiss missionaries life, Zermatt, deals frankly with a young boy’s deflowering, male depression and questions of faith, but I laughed so hard I cried at their antics. Mainly because this man (son of Francis Schaeffer) knows intimately well the conflicts of conservative evangelicals and he has a deft hand at pointing fingers at their eccentricities. (Of which I seem to have a few too.)

I read two authors new to me, Dorothea Benton Frank (Bulls Island) and Cathleen Schine (The Three Weissmanns of Westport) but honestly, for all their literary connections and acclaim, did not connect with either of the stories or their characters.

Two Books in One Week!

Okay, that might not be a real impressive statistic,but in light of the hectic schedule around my house (grad parties, church events, recitals, etc.) it’s a feat. I received a copy of Lisa Wingate’s soon to be released novel, Beyond Summer (the cover is pretty) and started in immeadiatly because I love everything she writes. Lisa does two line of fiction–one more romance driven and one more women’s fiction driven. The stories she sets on Blue Sky Hill (an imaginary Dallas suburb that’s seen hard times) fall into the latter category. This is third in a loosely linked series that began with A Month of Summer, then The Summer Kitchen and now, Beyond Summer. She writes such relatable characters with a wry sense of humor that you’re cheering folks on from the first chapter. I recommend this and all Lisa Wingate books.

Second, I’d read on one of the blogs I subscribe to that Irene Hannon’s book, In Harm’s Way, was climbing the best seller’s lists and when I was out the other day and saw a copy, I snatched it up (paying first, of course.) It was very well written and she certainly knows the romantic suspense craft but I had some reservations with falling head over heels for the story. Don’t let that stop you from reading her though, she knows her stuff.

Since this is high school graduation week at our house, I don’t know when I’ll get time with another novel. The relatives are coming. But the next time  I post, maybe I’ll be a bit more relaxed and a lot less sleep deprived.

Castle

Late on Monday evenings, I hike back up the stairs to post some of my favorite lines from the previously watched Castle episode on ABC. I’m not sure how this Facebook status turned into something people expect, but I’ve had folks say they look forward to reading which dialogue I liked best. One friend even mentioned that when she watched the episode, she KNEW which one was I was going to post about. All that being said, you must know I love the witty banter on Castle. This past week, I missed the episode because we had company. When I asked other Facebook friends to tell me which lines they liked, I had one write that she’d never watched Castle till that Monday and wasn’t too impressed. She said Castle (as in Rick Castle, the main character) was weak. Hmm. I had to think about that one and it didn’t take long to come up with a rebuttal. She was right. (I never said it was a brilliant piece of deduction.) I don’t know who writes for the show, but I’ve come to the conclusion that Castle is the 2009-10 version of a politically-correct, metro-sexual man. He’s America’s answer to Hugh Grant. Granted the actor, Nathan Fillion, just plays the part, but Rick Castle is handsome in a non-threatening manner, hopelessly clueless about women, charming/debonair, more comfortable around the elite than the criminal, and always being pulled up short by every smarter-savvier-than-he-is-woman in his life (to include his mother, daughter, and his proposed love interest.) He’s as cute, cuddly and harmless as a Maltese.

HELLO!! Is this really what women want? Can the Kate Beckett character (who’s tough as nails no matter how she looks in red lingerie) really and with any credibility fall for a guy that she can beat in arm wrestle? I was drawn to this show because of the banter–maybe I’ve never gotten over the old Rock Hudson/Doris Day movies (or Moonlighting, for that matter) but I’ve just realized that in this show Castle is the blond. What does this say about our culture that the man we’re conditioned to admire is really just weak and  hapless even if he is fabulously wealthy. I’m pretty sure there’s a good explanation, so why don’t you tell me your opinion.