So what do you think of the new look? I like the colors much better than the original hunter greens and navy blues of the old template. And Look Mom 3 columns! Woo Hoo!
All visitors, please take a moment and let me know how the new layout works for you!
:)
Mame
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Fiction Fix Part II
Fiction Fix Part II
Well today’s news has kept me in the fiction realm. Bailout or rescue plan the real world seems like it is on shaky ground. I have to admit I have become a bit obsessed by the economic woes of our country and my household. I shared in Part I of the “Fiction Fix” the Library is a great place to get away from the insanity of the everyday. Today I have another suggestion for getting what I need. I have to be honest, even though the Library tries to provide the most mainstream titles of today they have limited options due to budget constraints. Many of my paranormal, science fiction and romantic faves are still not regularly available. The next best value is my local second-hand bookstore. This is a great place to find titles or authors that I can’t often find at the library like Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Susan Johnson and Rebecca York. A lot of second-hand bookstores are great resources for old magazines and even text books. Some used bookstores have special focuses like comic books, romance novels, and other collectable books. Another reason I really love second-hand bookstores are they are owned by besotted bookworms like me. I don’t think anyone gets really rich running a used bookstore but they are surrounded everyday by the things they love most. All the booksellers I have met in these stores are friendly, informed and excited to share their treasures with me.
I am especially fortunate to have a bookstore with in walking distance of my house. “The Bookworm has a great staff. They are always up on the next J.D. Robb novel that is dropping or have comments on the last James Patterson mystery they just read. I get excited every time I walk in, as I am surrounded by a grand variety of paperbacks, hardbacks, and magazines. I can trade in books I have purchased or gotten from friends and use them as credit toward books from their inventory. All the books are half off of the new price. This does make the paperbacks a better value than the hardbacks. I have actually picked up a month’s worth of reading for less than $20.00. (That comes to about 6 books for me). Just the other day I strolled out with the newest Jayne Castle book, “Dark Light” and a Jennifer Cruise novel I haven’t read before. It is great knowing I am being frugal while indulging in my favorite past time. I feel like I am doing something good for me and for my budget and then I can face the news again.
Well today’s news has kept me in the fiction realm. Bailout or rescue plan the real world seems like it is on shaky ground. I have to admit I have become a bit obsessed by the economic woes of our country and my household. I shared in Part I of the “Fiction Fix” the Library is a great place to get away from the insanity of the everyday. Today I have another suggestion for getting what I need. I have to be honest, even though the Library tries to provide the most mainstream titles of today they have limited options due to budget constraints. Many of my paranormal, science fiction and romantic faves are still not regularly available. The next best value is my local second-hand bookstore. This is a great place to find titles or authors that I can’t often find at the library like Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Susan Johnson and Rebecca York. A lot of second-hand bookstores are great resources for old magazines and even text books. Some used bookstores have special focuses like comic books, romance novels, and other collectable books. Another reason I really love second-hand bookstores are they are owned by besotted bookworms like me. I don’t think anyone gets really rich running a used bookstore but they are surrounded everyday by the things they love most. All the booksellers I have met in these stores are friendly, informed and excited to share their treasures with me.
I am especially fortunate to have a bookstore with in walking distance of my house. “The Bookworm has a great staff. They are always up on the next J.D. Robb novel that is dropping or have comments on the last James Patterson mystery they just read. I get excited every time I walk in, as I am surrounded by a grand variety of paperbacks, hardbacks, and magazines. I can trade in books I have purchased or gotten from friends and use them as credit toward books from their inventory. All the books are half off of the new price. This does make the paperbacks a better value than the hardbacks. I have actually picked up a month’s worth of reading for less than $20.00. (That comes to about 6 books for me). Just the other day I strolled out with the newest Jayne Castle book, “Dark Light” and a Jennifer Cruise novel I haven’t read before. It is great knowing I am being frugal while indulging in my favorite past time. I feel like I am doing something good for me and for my budget and then I can face the news again.
Just a reminder: Don’t forget to vote on November 4th! I am an Obama supporter but no matter who you support change won’t happen without our voices being heard. Just think, this election makes us all a part of history and someday someone will walk into a library or bookstore and read about the decisions we make that day.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Fearless Fourteen wasn't very Fearless
Dear Ms. Evanovich,
I fear that your newest installment in the Stephanie Plum series, “Fearless Fourteen” fell a bit flat. I love Stephanie and the Burg. One of my first posts on this blog was in praise of you and your zany cast of characters. I patiently waited at my library until it came available. I didn’t get out of the parking lot before I had cracked open the cover to see what Stephanie was up to. Would she and Joe make it permanent or would she and Ranger finally become a couple. What trouble would Grandma Mazur get into? Had Lula managed to hang on to Tank? None of these questions were answered to my satisfaction.
The book started off well enough with Stephanie and Lula collecting a bail jumper named Loretta Rizzi. As always the apprehension is not without its complications, this time it is Loretta’s son Mario, a.k.a. Zook and her parolee brother Dom. I hesitate to give much more detail beyond this or I risk giving away key plot points and I hate being a spoiler. Suffice it to say the complication of Loretta grows until it becomes a potentially life threatening situation for someone. In the meantime Stephanie helps out Ranger with a crazy celebrity named Brenda and Lula is putting together a wedding that Tank, the groom, doesn’t remember proposing. Grandma Mazur doesn’t fail to get in the picture as she takes out Griefers with Moondog, Zook and Garth. This sounds like a typically hysterical Stephanie Plum adventure doesn’t it? Well….the usual sharp humor that made me laugh out loud in some embarrassing public places was missing. In previous installments I am laughing less than 10 pages in. With “Fearless Fourteen I didn’t crack a smile until Grandma Mazur and the ladies got online and nary a laugh until Moon invented his potato canon. I know Brenda was meant to be funny but I feel like you thought Stephanie’s arch nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt, was out of town getting botoxed so Brenda was a last minute stand in. I would have left her out.
The other disappointment was leaving me hanging over Lula. That just wasn’t right. I was so looking forward to how she was going to actually get Tank down the aisle in a Pink Tux. Oh! And the brides maid dress she would have put Steph in would have been worth at least a chapter. Maybe she would have had to do an apprehension in the dress outside the church! OR Lula in a leopard print bridal gown. Now that has me laughing out loud!
What happened to Steph’s sister and her new husband, Albert Kloughn? I miss them. I miss the buick. Mom Plum made only a cameo appearance and I just want to say that having mom tipple wine in the kitchen is funny, having her put back a stiff whiskey at the table seems said and depressing. I miss the laughs. I miss the burg.
Respectfully,
The Besotted Bookworm
Mame
I fear that your newest installment in the Stephanie Plum series, “Fearless Fourteen” fell a bit flat. I love Stephanie and the Burg. One of my first posts on this blog was in praise of you and your zany cast of characters. I patiently waited at my library until it came available. I didn’t get out of the parking lot before I had cracked open the cover to see what Stephanie was up to. Would she and Joe make it permanent or would she and Ranger finally become a couple. What trouble would Grandma Mazur get into? Had Lula managed to hang on to Tank? None of these questions were answered to my satisfaction.
The book started off well enough with Stephanie and Lula collecting a bail jumper named Loretta Rizzi. As always the apprehension is not without its complications, this time it is Loretta’s son Mario, a.k.a. Zook and her parolee brother Dom. I hesitate to give much more detail beyond this or I risk giving away key plot points and I hate being a spoiler. Suffice it to say the complication of Loretta grows until it becomes a potentially life threatening situation for someone. In the meantime Stephanie helps out Ranger with a crazy celebrity named Brenda and Lula is putting together a wedding that Tank, the groom, doesn’t remember proposing. Grandma Mazur doesn’t fail to get in the picture as she takes out Griefers with Moondog, Zook and Garth. This sounds like a typically hysterical Stephanie Plum adventure doesn’t it? Well….the usual sharp humor that made me laugh out loud in some embarrassing public places was missing. In previous installments I am laughing less than 10 pages in. With “Fearless Fourteen I didn’t crack a smile until Grandma Mazur and the ladies got online and nary a laugh until Moon invented his potato canon. I know Brenda was meant to be funny but I feel like you thought Stephanie’s arch nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt, was out of town getting botoxed so Brenda was a last minute stand in. I would have left her out.
The other disappointment was leaving me hanging over Lula. That just wasn’t right. I was so looking forward to how she was going to actually get Tank down the aisle in a Pink Tux. Oh! And the brides maid dress she would have put Steph in would have been worth at least a chapter. Maybe she would have had to do an apprehension in the dress outside the church! OR Lula in a leopard print bridal gown. Now that has me laughing out loud!
What happened to Steph’s sister and her new husband, Albert Kloughn? I miss them. I miss the buick. Mom Plum made only a cameo appearance and I just want to say that having mom tipple wine in the kitchen is funny, having her put back a stiff whiskey at the table seems said and depressing. I miss the laughs. I miss the burg.
Respectfully,
The Besotted Bookworm
Mame
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Getting My Fiction Fix Part I
The US economy is in turmoil. We’re still at war. My truck needs an oil change. My cat, Larry, is missing and I need a fiction fix bad but gas prices, grocery bills, and even my favorite book seller prices have all risen. What do I do to escape? 
Thank God for the Library. Living in Palm Beach County Florida
I am very lucky because we have an excellent library system.
No matter where in the County I live I am only 15 minutes from a fiction fix. I consider the Library to be my one stop shop book paradise. The best thing about the Library is it’s FREE! I can get hard back, soft back, large print and audio books, as well as, music cd’s and movies on dvd. I can peruse current magazines and newspapers in the reading lounge. The library provides high speed internet access for me too. When I can’t get there, I can log onto their website to renew my books, or reserve books I want, download an audio book, (I love to listen at work), or download an e-book. For Free!
When life gets me down I retreat to my library. I take a deep breath when I walk in and the scent of the books gets my endorphins singing and my blood pressure lowering. While the library isn’t a completely silent place there is a sense of hushed understanding for quiet and respect for the other visitors like at a church or museum. I love walking through the stacks checking out titles, touching covers, admiring book cover artwork, and feeling the weight of my next read in my hand. Oh! And did I mention it’s FREE!
(Disclaimer: There is no cost for books as long as materials are returned on time. There is a .10 cent daily fine for overdue items, which is still better than buying in these financially stressed times for this besotted bookworm.)
Besides checking out reading materials, the Library also offers a variety of other activities. I can join a book club, or take a class in glass painting, computers and the internet. My husband and I can have an evening out at the movies with showings of the classics. Did I mention I
can do any or all of these activities for FREE?! Do something good for yourself and your wallet this week,
visit your neighborhood library!
P.S. for those who were worried too, Larry has been found! He was hiding behind the bookshelf in the guest bedroom and we accidently closed the door on him. Maybe he likes to read too!
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