Off-Topic Winter Reading 2016-2017

[difit]

Here are a few new release's for December. Happy Reading!

6th
Island of Glass (Guardians Trilogy, book 3) - Nora Roberts
Frosty the Dead Man (Snow Globe Shop Mystery, book 3) - Christine Husom
Better Off Thread (Embroidery Mystery, book 10) - Amanda Lee
Prose and Cons (Magical Bookshop Mystery, book 2) - Amanda Flower
Dead, Bath, and Beyond (Victoria Square Mystery, book 4) - Lorraine Bartlett and Laurie Cass
Above the Paw (Paw Enforcement, book 6) - Diane Kelly
The Ghosts of Misty Hollow (Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery, book 6) - Sue Ann Jaffarian
All the Breaking Waves - Kerry Lonsdale
Marry Me on Main Street (Cricket Creek, book 11) - LuAnn McLane
Days Like These - Sue Margolis
The Christmas Promise – Sue Moorcroft (audio)
Good Time Coming – C S Harris

13th
Most Curious Murder (Little Library Mystery, book 1) - Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

20th
Egg Drop Dead (Cackleberry Club Mystery, book 7) - Laura Childs
Witness - Caroline Mitchell

27th
Custom Baked Murder (Pawsitively Organic Mystery, book 5) - Liz Mugavero
Iced Under (Maine Clambake Mystery, book 5) - Barbara Ross
Bell, Book & Candlemas (Wiccan Wheel Mystery, book 2) - Jennifer David Hesse
Pearls Gone Wild (Samantha Kidd Humorous Mystery, book 6) - Diane Vallere
I’m Going to Give You a Bear Hug! - Caroline B Cooney
Spiced Apple Autumn (Fairfield Orchard, book 2) - Emma Cane

[BunnyHop]

How is it December first already?

Lately I've been reading Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones.

Finished The Secret Garden the other day, which inspired me to hunt out an unabridged copy of Black Beauty. I'm a fan of the Collector's Library series of smaller format, hardback, classic books that fit so nicely in my purse, but when I've tried to order a copy of this one used on Amazon I keep winding up with a completely different (abridged) version. Crossing my fingers, emailing back and forth with a seller who was willing to check their stock, I've ordered, again. Here's hoping the third time is the charm. Not an expensive book, but still.

Also bought myself used copies of Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy. The library had the first one (Ancillary Justice) in the series, but I can't even find the others at our local book stores.

[sherry7899]

I am just posting to subscribe to the thread-thanks for starting it.

Sherry

[beyond.omega]

Originally Posted by BunnyHop

Lately I've been reading Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones.

How is this going? I've been thinking about picking this up.

[BunnyHop]

Originally Posted by beyond.omega

How is this going? I've been thinking about picking this up.

I've really enjoyed it. I like her ways of thinking and expressing herself. A lot of what she says about developing your skills as a writer would just as easily apply to developing pretty much any other aspect of your character or intellect. Very thoughtfully crafted, without being preachy, IMO.

I've got Annie Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life and
If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland up next.

[beyond.omega]

Originally Posted by BunnyHop

I've really enjoyed it. I like her ways of thinking and expressing herself. A lot of what she says about developing your skills as a writer would just as easily apply to developing pretty much any other aspect of your character or intellect. Very thoughtfully crafted, without being preachy, IMO.

I've got Annie Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life and
If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland up next.

Thanks. I think I will put it on my list.

[LynnO]

I've been a book reading/listening fool the last week, trying to meet my reading goals.

Bad- First Star I See Tonight by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. So much wrong with this book from an author I usually really like.

OK- Christmas Caramel Murder, Hannah Swenson mystery. Must have been sitting around, husband is only around in intro- story told in flashback. This is pretty much a novella.

Literary Life, Larry McMurtry. Another short book, interesting but too choppy and inconsistent to get a high recommendation. But, some interesting talks about the process of writing. Some gossip too.

Recommended
On My Own - Diane Rehm- she's a radio interviewer (that I don't listen to) but it is a memoir of her husband's death and her marriage. This has almost nothing about her show in it. A lot of people didn't like this book, ymmv.

My Name is Lucy Barton- Strout. Short word portrait of a woman's troubled life. So, not a lot of plot. I really like this kind of thing, and recommend it if you need a well written, literary book to finish up your year's goals.

[Messe]

I'm currently reading two very different but equally good novels:

• The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson
• Girl at War by Sara Nović

Girl at War is for a monthly book discussion group I'm supposed to write an article about for one of the e-newsletters I edit.

Also on my to-read list is Small Moments by Mary M. Barrow. The author describes it as being "creative nonfiction" as opposed to purely a memoir. This one's for my regular book group.

[Judy W.]

I finished The Whole Town's Talking, Fannie Flagg's new one. I loved every word! The town of Elmwood Springs is the protagonist, and the time period is from the founding of the town in the late 1800s up until the present day (and a bit beyond). You'll see a number of folks from her previous Elmwood Springs novels, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl, Standing in the Rainbow and Can't Wait to Get to Heaven.

It's a lovely, feel-good story of small town life, death and what lies beyond. It got a rare 5-star rating from me, and I recommend it highly.

[BunnyHop]

Still reading the book on writing I mentioned above, but it's kind of slow going. It's a good read, but there's a lot to think about and I don't want to rush it.

Also, I just got a bunch of Star Trek dvds, and somehow they keep using up my free time.

This afternoon I discovered that the reason I don't listen to holiday music much is that I don't have my cd's ripped to mp3 format for easier access, so I've been putting them all on a flash drive to put in the car. The nice thing is that once the holidays are over, I can tuck the flash drive away for next year. Easy.

I only wish I had some way to play music from a flash drive in the house. Sitting at the computer listening is nice, but I wish I had something more portable (other than my MP3 player).