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Published March 18, 2009 | 
Have you ever read anything by Anne George or Janet Evanovich? If you haven’t you should give both these authors a try. Sadly, Anne George passed away in 2001 and she no longer has her won website but she wrote 7 of the funniest mysteries. Beginning with “Murder On A Girl’s Night Out” and Ending with “Murder Boogies with Elvis” you are dropped into the world of southern women. These stories revolve around two sisters who reside in Birmingham, Alabama and are total opposites. One sister is petite, demure, married to the same man for years, Patricia Anne, and the other is big, brassy and has been married to several different men and is currently looking for another, Mary Alice. Between the two of them they seem to get into all sorts of trouble besides tripping over dead bodies. The stories are fast-paced and suspenseful. They hit the right note on what being a southern women is all about.
Janet Evanovich, on the other hand, has a northern women character she writes about called Stephanie Plum. She is young, sometimes attached and sometimes not, recently unemployed but finally lands a job as a bounty-hunter. She has no skills for this trade but she has heart, determination and the insane ability to fall over her prey. She was born and raised in New Jersey with a hot-to-trot grandmother and parents who can’t understand why their little girl isn’t married with kids of her own. The stories are fast-paced and laugh-out-loud funny. Stephanie has the worse luck with cars. I can really relate to some of her trials and tribulations, her problems with money, and her Murphy’s Luck. There are currently 19 books featuring this character with more on the way.
When comparing the these characters you will find that they are truly funny, trying their best everyday and the epitome of what characterizes northern versus southern women. I hale from the south and have all of my life but I have friends who were born and raised in the north. We have different outlooks on life. Of course, there are similarities as well as opposites in what the rules are. You know what I mean; “never leave your front room dirty in case of company”, “don’t stay in your bathrobe after a certain hour unless you are sick”, “when company comes over have both non-alcoholic as well as alcoholic beverages available (that might just be a southern one)”, “a lady always dresses appropriately for any occasion”, etc. I am sure you can think of many more.
So, give these books a try and tell us what you think!
Cheers
Jolenemacinjax
Published February 6, 2009 | As I stated in one of my previous entries. I like to re-read my favorite books each year. The best is when there are several of the same character. Laurell K. Hamilton writes the Anita Blake series and currently has 16 books out with the great female character with a new one being released in June of this year. The first story, Guilty Pleasures (Buy a box set = Laurell K. Hamilton Set – Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned and The Lunatic Cafe
These stories are packed full of fun, adventure, mystery and after the 5th book has some very interesting love scenes. The series centers around a female character who is in her mid 20s, short, black hair, buxom but fit and has some strong values and, of course, would like everything to go her way. She is a typical 20-something female in the modern era living in St. Louis except she raises zombies for a living and on the side she assists the local police with cases involving supernatural bad guys. Meanwhile she is trying to cope with being a single woman dating a Vampire, a werewolf and later on in the series living with two leopardmen as well as dating the vampire – Master of the City- and sometimes dating the werewolf – Ulfric or Clan Leader. She has to cope with the stress of the police work and the “good-ole-boy” code, a pushy boss who wants all of her time devoted to raising zombies and making him money, the demands of her boyfriends and their weird relatives, as well as trying to keep fit so that she can outrun the bad guys. Later in the series the vampire hunters are granted Federal Marshall status so that they can hunt bad guys across state lines. This is a help as well as a hindrance for her. She also has an edge. She is what is known as a necromancer with the ability to control all of the “dead”. As her power grows so does her enemies.
This story also touches on the problems of those of us who work nights. Granted she has been taught that zombies can only be raised at night and one of her boyfriends is only alive at night but she also has to deal with friends who call when she has only had two hours of sleep, sales people who call during the day when you forget to turn the answering machine on and in the beginning of the isolation that comes from not being on everyone else’s schedule. For me I just turn the phone off, wait till the kids are off to school, and call my friends and relatives first thing in the morning. And, I like her attitude about life in general, if you can’t do anything to change the bad things happening right now deal with what you can one thing at a time.
These stories will take you out of your stress-filled days and entertain you as only good stories can. These books appeal to both men and women, young as well as old alike. And by old I mean those who are over 100 as are most of the vampires in this series. So, if you feel that you are different and just don’t fit in anywhere just remember somewhere out there there are more people like us we just have to find a way to connect. As these books are about those who are different from the norm each of us can find someone to connect with if we keep trying, reading, researching and participating. Life is an active exercise!
Published January 4, 2009 | Practically everyone I know of will make at least one new years resolution. I haven’t made one in a few years because I never seem to keep them. One resolutions that I, personally, would like for everyone to make is to read to your children. You just need to carve out 30 minutes a day to read to them. It really doesn’t matter what you read. You can even read the back of the cereal boxes so long as you do it everyday. Even newborns love to hear the sound of their parents voices. My oldest son is expected a baby real soon and I have always encourage him to read to his 3-year old step-son. He doesn’t like to read as much as the rest of us but you have to think of the children. Even if he would just read the sports section of the newspaper to him he will learn more and more everyday that he does it. We have bought little books with lots of pictures that only take a few minutes to sit down quietly and read to him. And with the new baby coming he needs the practice.
My oldest daughter likes to read and reads to her daughter almost everyday. Now my 3-year old grand-daughter will repeat the story to us after we read each book. Granted, we have to read the same story almost every day until she gets tired of it but she is learning a little more each time we read her favorite stories. We pick up books from the “Dollar Stores”, at used bookstores and yard sales. Most children need to be able to see the pictures and words together to learn quickly. You also want to encourage your young ones to learn more than one language. You may only speak one language but there are more and more cartoons and daily TV shows on the Disney Channel and public television stations that teach children how to say and spell words in two languages. I have read several medical studies that state that children between the ages of 3 to 6 can learn to be bi-lingual more quickly during these years and retain more in adulthood if this practice is encouraged. Who knows you might even start to learn another language. And in these trying times we all need an edge in our work to keep our jobs and get promotions.
If you start them young and keep up with the encouragement as well as letting them see you read your children will be better prepared for school and be more willing to learn new things as they present themselves. This is true of us older people as well. We have to keep our brains active and I have read some studies that say that keeping an active mind may help stave off alzheimers. This may or may not be true but what could it hurt? My grandmother is in her late 80′s and still reads books, goes to church and visits others who don’t have anyone. She may not be as spry as she once was but she keeps active as much as she is able. I still can’t get her to use a computer so the eBooks are probably out but she does go to the library every two weeks.
One of my favorite authors is Nora Roberts. She has written and published over 100 books and even her older books are being republished. She is one author that I like to read her stories over and over again. Everyone in our family who likes to read reads her books. I think we have her entire collection. We check her website regularly and can’t wait until the next book comes out. Some of her books are even being turned into TV movies. Now if you can find an author(s) that you like we would encourage you to read them out loud to your children. Granted, you may need to edit out the “love scenes” and any scene that is not appropriate for your child’s age group but there is no law that says you can’t paraphrase through some of those parts. When telling your children the story you don’t have to tell it word-for-word just the story itself. The point is to have the children see you reading, read to them on a regular basis, and encourage them to tell you stories as well!
Published December 4, 2008 | We all would like to receive free stuff and during the holidays it is more prevalent than ever. When you do a search on the web be very careful when you download stuff to your computer. One source that you might want to try would be my bookstore. I have several ebooks that are virus free and available for immediate download for everyone who would like to get them. Right now we have 11 ebooks on a variety of different subjects. I like to read books on a variety of different subjects. I read recipe books, old time classics, books on how to do things as well as current fiction novels. This will give you an opportunity to try ebooks for yourself. The books are in Acrobat Reader format and some have both the Acrobat format and the text format zipped together. I still haven’t been able to find an ebook reader to try for a reasonable amount of money. All of them are still around $300 but I am forever hopeful.
If you would like to try some more free ebooks you can go to the Gutenberg website and download as many of the “out of print” books in text format. You might want to try your local library as well. Some have ebooks available for checkout but you will need access to their online website. These are 3 sources that I trust. If you find another source of free ebooks and would like to share them then please feel free to comment or email us at: jolene.macfadden@jolenesreadingguide.info
http://jolenesbooksandmore.com/Freestuff.html
Published November 15, 2008 | This is a great little interview by JA Jance on her book “Web of Evil” that I found on YouTube! Have you had a chance to read this great writers books? Give them a try. Visit her website for more information and a booklist. I have read all of her books and my favorite character is Sheriff Joanna Brady. She begins as a wife of the local deputy who is running for sheriff and is the daughter of a former sheriff in a small town in Arizona. The story lines moves from working for an insurance agent to her losing her husband and her becoming sheriff while trying to raise her little girl with the help of her best friend, a woman minister, and her in-laws. Her mother is a little “stuck-up” and not much help more of a hindrance to her daughter. Sheriff Brady must get training for herself after she is elected where she meets her future love interest. There are now 13 books with this character. “Web of Evil” is a middle book in the series with the character Ali Reynolds. Ms Reynolds is recently divorced lady who decides to create a blog and gets involved with murder! She also writes about a Detective in Seattle J.P. Beaumont. There are 18 books with this character. I haven’t read all of these yet. Ms. Jance has one book that involves both of these characters called “Partners in Crime”. That is really a great story. I have read all of the Joanna Brady series at least twice. She is another one of those authors that you can re-read her books over again every year and find something that you missed the first time and still enjoy them!
A Great Interview with JA Jance by Stacey Cochran that was talks about how she got started writing, how she creates her characters and her latest book Damage Control. This video is about 20 minutes.
Authors@Google Interview with JA Jance as she talks about her book “Damage Control”! This video is about 50 minutes.
Published October 15, 2008 | I have done a lot of research on Ebook Reader devices. I know that the Ebook Readers are supposed to be more “green” and the “wave of the future”. I sure hope so as I have created an inexpensive ebook site at: www.jolenesbooksandmore.com . I believe in the future of ebooks and have even read a few of them on my computer. I haven’t, however, broken down and actually bought an Ebook Reader Device.
I love electronic gadgets and am always willing to try something new but I am also always on a tight budget. Thus, my constant researching on the subject. I am still holding out for a decent, easy to use, generic ebook reading device that doesn’t cost somewhere between $250 to $400 to buy. I love the concept of the Amazon Kindle Reading device and have even incorporated a bookstore link page to them at: Jolene’s Ebook Store2. Don’t get me wrong, I have and will continue to buy things from Amazon and their concept is great. But I also would like to be able to upload my own acrobat reader files. According to their own literature on the website the Acrobat Reader Format is not quite perfected yet and any personal files uploaded may be charged an additional $0.10 fee. That is really not such a big charge but HEY! why pay any more for something I already own or have created myself? Plus, for right now, the price is a little too prohibitive for me.
Like I said there are other alternatives to Amazon and one of them is the Sony PRS-505/RC Digital eBook Reader – Redwhich comes in Red, Silver and Black. This product, from all of the literature, would be a great Ebook Reading Device to try and they claim to be able to read the Acrobat Reader files just fine. I have even found them for about $50 to $70 less than the Amazon Kindle. I may be able to try out that one if the discounted price offered at J&R Computers and Music holds out until I can save the money to get it. As soon as I get one to play with I will post another review.
Getting back to my original title of this post. “Going Green” is pretty important to me. I try to recycle as much as I can and I am looking into ways to convert from electric to solar for our home heating and cooling needs. (That is the subject of a very long post in the future). I have read and written articles at work for helping our environment with recycling, turning down or up the thermostat to comfortable for that particular season, using hand-dryers instead of paper towels (also another great subject for later) and cutting down on the trips back and forth for work by working longer shifts and taking more days off (that hasn’t been accepted yet but I am still hopeful). I am not as good about buying glass jars of food and reusing them as I have clumsy teenagers running around the house all the time and they have a tendency to break glass. I also own approximately 600 books. I keep the books that I buy and only give the ones I don’t want to read again to the library or exchange books at the local used bookstore. The concept of electronic books hasn’t really taken hold in our household yet!
There are always good and bad points about anything. The good about electronic books is that they do not collect dust, invite pests, take up room on a bookshelf, can fit about 100 of them into one device and only weigh as much as they device they are stored in. The bad about electronic books is that you have to have a device of some kind to read them, requires some form of electric power to see them, as of yet there isn’t a market to swap or exchange them for new ones, and if they device gets broken you cannot tape it back together again.
Now, I am homeschooling my daughter and starting next week I will be homeschooling my nephew as well. We are using a service offered by the Florida Virtual School. There are no textbooks, no papers to turn in and no reports or notes written to the parents. The whole thing is electronic. Everything is turned in via attachments from our computers. The tests are online, the grading is online and available 24/7. The teachers communicate via email, online bulletin boards and over the phone. This is a truly “green” service. I’m sure if the books that are required for reading in language arts classes were available in ebook form they would find a way to get them added to their virtual library.
Our local library and the University of North Florida offers the Net Library to check out electronic books as well. These, of course, require that you belong to one of these institutions with privileges to check out electronic books. The Net Libraries however are limited in that you have to check out the book on their site and read it with software on your computer at their site.
The other drawback to electronic ebooks is that not all authors are happy with the service. Some have stated that they would not want their books to go electronic because they can be “hacked” and sold without their consent. I hate to tell them but after the initial sale of the books by bookstores or from the publishing houses their books are sold, traded or just given away by those who own, traded or received the books for free anyway. Electronic books are protected under copyright just as the printed versions are protected so long as the guidelines are followed. Any infringement can be taken to court just like any other work. Copyright protection can be established for the courts by anyone who writes a novel, textbook or short-stories simply by printed out a copy, sticking the pages into an envelope addressed to yourself and mailing it. Once you receive it back, “DO NOT OPEN IT”, just file it away and the date of the postmark becomes your copyright date. The US Copyright office does not require that your work be published at all. If you fill out the application, pay the fees and turn in a copy of your work as required in their publication you will have your letter from them in a few weeks!
Finally, “GOING GREEN”, with electronic books is a good thing all in all. For it to take a good hold on our economy and our way of life the devices themselves will have to come down on price, be in “True Color”, and have more authors willing to accept it as “THE MEDIA” to publish in.
Till next time, be sure a read a book, whether it is electronic or paper!
Jolene
Published September 15, 2008 |
I have always loved the writings of Faye Kellerman. Her characters Peter Decker and Rini Lazarus have always been entertaining. Her latest book, Mercedes Coffin, is a great read for her fans and for someone new to her writing as well. I opened the book Saturday morning and couldn’t put it down until a few hours before I had to be at work at 11:00pm. Needless to say I wasn’t fit for much at work that night. But I couldn’t wait until my breaks to sneak in another paragraph or two before trudging back to work. By the time I got back home the next morning I had finished the book and was wondering when the next one was coming out. Of course, I have read almost all of her books with these two characters but I seem to have missed one.
I went to her website to see if there was another book in between that I had missed and low and behold she has done two other books that contain short-stories with these characters. Now I will have to go to the library and see if they are available. That is what I do when I’m broke otherwise I run on down to Books-a-Million to pick up the latest releases. I haven’t been keeping up on Ms Kellerman as the last two books were a collaboration with her husband. I don’t like his stuff as much however so I don’t read them unless I happen to be desperate for something new to read. Don’t get me wrong Jonathan Kellerman has some good characters but his novels tend to get a little graphic or have a tendency to drag a little bit.
Now their son has also published a few books. Jesse Kellerman has published 3 books so far each of them in January. I haven’t had the time to read these either so there is some more new material for me to look for when I get a chance to read another book.
Each of these writers have their own style. It must be nice to have all of that talent in one family. It gives each of them lots to talk about as well as having plenty of common ground. On the other side there are probably problems with “ego” with 3 famous writers in the family. Now from reading the excerpt on the ‘Garden of Eden’ on Ms. Kellerman’s website it notes that one of the stories “Luck of the Draw” is credited to Rachel and Ilana Kellerman. From the information on the web this is Faye and Jonathan’s daughters. WOW, how did they get all of their kids into writing. I’m lucky to get my children to text me let alone actually write a book.
Right now I am trying to homeschool another of my children. The first two did not work out so well but with my youngest daughter (who is 12) I may have a better chance of getting her through school. There is this great free resource for Florida called the Florida Virtual School. They have everything available online and free (well so far) beginning with 6th grade up through 12th. There was a post at the beginning of the semester that they have a sister site or resource available for younger children. They stress short lessons with lots of writing exercises in all of the classes including Math. So, despite everything at least my daughter is learning how to type a paragraph.
Cheers and until next time!
Jolene
Get Your Copy of Mercedes Coffin
Faye Kellerman Talks about her book Mercedes Coffin
Published August 30, 2008 | That question gets asked a lot in various forms on any kind of social networking website such as this one, myspace and reunion.com to name a few. I think it is a great question because it tells you a little bit about a person and whether or not they really have similar interests as you. I love all kinds of books but mainly I read mysteries. The romance and suspense novels are great for a little light reading but a good mystery whether or not it has a sex scene is a great diversion for me. I have read and enjoyed all kinds of mysteries over the years and my favorite authors are JA Jance, Iris Johansen, JD Robb, Faye Kellerman, Nevada Barr and Elizabeth Peters to name but a few. Each of them have a certain style with their characters that keep me coming back for more. I just wish we could instill in our children this love of reading as well. I am having a half and half success with mine. My oldest and youngest children don’t seem to be great readers and my middle two are doing much better. I have always told my children that I didn’t care what they read so long as they do.
If you haven’t had a chance to read any of these authors I have listed the first book in the series of my favorite characters that each of these writers have created. I seem to always start in the middle of a series when I find a character I like to read about so I end up having to backtrack to find out what happened in the beginning. So, if you are like me and would like to read a series from beginning to end then try the books below. You can go to their websites and get a listing of the other books within the series once you have found one that you really like!
Until next Time — Keep Reading!
Jolene
Elizabeth Peters – Crocodile on the Sandbank (1st Amelia Peabody)
Iris Johansen – Face of Deception (1st Eve Duncan)
JD Robb – Naked in Death (1st Dallas & Roarke)
Nevada Barr – Track the Cat (1st Anna Pigeon)
JA Jance – Desert Heat (1st Joanna Brady)
Faye Kellerman – Ritual Bath (1st Peter Decker & Rini Lazarus)
Published August 15, 2008 | Every year I read an entire series from my favorite authors. Usually, it is because he/she is publishing a new story in the series and sometimes it is just because the author is no longer publishing and I haven’t read the stories in a while. While it is great to read new stories and new authors, the ones we love the most are great to re-read. There are a variety of different reasons but the main one for me is that I have forgotten the story and like to relive it once more. It’s like watching reruns of your favorite shows when they come out on DVD. They can be like old friends and you just want to get reaquainted. The classic tales never go out of style. We should all try reading one of the classic stories at least once a year. You will be amazed at how much you will enjoy the story again. For me I like to re-read all the great mystery novels from Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie to the more modern Nora Roberts, Dorothy Gilman and JA Jance.
What stories have you read more than 3 times? I think a book is not considered a favorite until it has been read at least 3 times. The first time is only because it is new or that it was recomended by a friend or relative. The second time is usually because you think you have read it before but aren’t sure so you read it again to remember. By the third time you are hooked and will probably read it again and again over the years. I confess that several years ago I was introduced to the science fiction writer, Anne McCaffrey, with her PERN series. The story line was good, the characters were well-developed and she had written quite a few books. So, I read one of the stories in the middle somewhere and then became obsessed with reading the entire series from the beginning. I printed off her book list from her website and proceded to drive around town to the various branches of our local library to get ALL of the books. I then spent the next 3 weeks reading every one of them. It has been several years since then and Ms McCaffery and her son, Todd McCaffery, has written several other books since then so now I must gather all the books together again and have another reading marathon. Maybe, this year I will just go online and order all the books from Amazon or Barnes-N-Noble to save myself some time and trouble and almost the price of the tank of gas it will cost me to get all the books in one place.
I have done that with several other authors but now I go online or to my local used bookstore to get all of the books in a series. My mother and I are both avid readers and we have a tendency to buy a lot of books when we have extra cash. We now have 7 bookcases filled with books that I won’t let her get rid of. She likes to trade her books in but I like to keep them and re-read them. I think I have the entire collection of Nora Roberts and JD Robb (minus 4 of her earliest works), all of Laurel Hamiltons, Dorothy Gilmans (except for 3 that are out-of-print), and Elizabeth Peters. I think I might be a little obsessed or put a nicer way, I AM A COLLECTOR.
Until Next Time….Keep Up on Your Reading!
Jolene
Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 1)
Published July 21, 2008 | GoogleSearch
