Aug. 2014 Reading / Media

[FelineFriend]

I got 2 hardbound books at The Dollar Tree:

CAT IN A VEGAS GOLD VENDETTA, by Carole Nelson Douglas. She writes oodles of cat books. It's a Midnight Louie Mystery. If I'm not mistaken, this author and her books, are what an old pen pal used to read the series of and laughed and laughed.

A FAIR MAIDEN - A NOVEL, by Joyce Carol Oates.

Both books are mysteries, I'd been looking for free mystery Nook e-books, but a lot are too gory-looking, from the cover, plus a lot are previews, where you read 25 chapters and need to buy the book, to read the remaining chapters! I'm glad these 2 mysteries were only $1 each. I've never read either author, I'm familiar with Joyce Carol Oates' reputation and she was featured in "Writer's Digest," along with her adult Dson, who's a writer, too.

[Nancy]

FF Joyce C. Oates sounds familiar. I got a book at the thrift store today "The Bend In The Road" by Dermot Healy a memior, the author is Irish it sounded interesting to me. Got a couple of card board kids books too on prayer.

[FelineFriend]

Nancy, Joyce Carol Oates writes mystery and sort of "different" thriller-type spooky stories. Sort of like Stephen King, in a way. I've never read her, but I've read excerpts and an interview of hers in Writer's Digest Magazine. Joyce Carol Oates has a very unusual look about her, too. If you did a "Google" search, I'm sure they'd have photos of her, too.

The author Dermot Healy, sounds familiar to me, too. I'm wondering if maybe there's a movie about his life, too.

[Nancy]

Yep did a google search engine looks like she is from our neck of the woods.

[FelineFriend]

Nancy, I did a "Google" search on Joyce Carol Oats and they said she was born in New York. You said your search said she's from our neck of the woods. Are you from NY? Or did you search Debbie Macomber, who is from Port Orchard, WA?

Do you have a Dollar Tree or Dollar Store there? It's a good place to get novels. Also, we have a Friends of the Library sale occasionally. I think I'll try to go to the next one. I heard you can get a lot of good finds, reasonably and it benefits the library problem, too. Thrift stores, estate sales, and rummage sales or garage sales are good places to find books cheap, too.

I'm going to send away for "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine," and "Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine," next week to study, read and get the "feel" of mystery and suspense stories. It will be interesting to read something new.

Dmom wanted me to be an RN, a dream unattained for herself because of marriage and my being born, etc... I used to go to the library in town, check out nurse story books, found them to be rather boring, so I sneaked checking out Alfred Hitchcock books of short stories. I hid them, always displayed the nurse books, to keep Dmom very happy, but I was having a ball reading the creepy stories. I, now, as an elder person, think Dmom would have been happy that I was just READING and it wouldn't have mattered to her WHAT genre it was!

[Nancy]

The search I did said something about Spokane must have miss read it maybe it was just a book store.

[FelineFriend]

I searched again. Joyce Carol Oates was born in NY, went to Princeton, and now lives in NJ. But there was a "Get Lit," I believe they called it, author thing at a Spokane shop or theater for authors and she was there, too. Anyway, she's from back East, but came to Spokane. She might even come to Seattle sometimes, I bet.

I ordered a library book, e-book, to read on my laptop, but it doesn't show up in my Inbox. I'm getting tired of waiting. I'm thinking about canceling it, to concentrate on books I have here to read. I must have 50 novels, between myself and what my DD has loaned me to read, to get read!

[FelineFriend]

I went to the library's site last night. On one page it said I never put a hold on that e-book. I hit the button to hold it, which took me to another page, which said I DID have a hold on it! That was right AFTER I put another hold on another Debbie Macomber book called "Hanna's List," in the Blossom Street Series books. It's an e-book, too. It came in this afternoon, I'm reading it in baby steps. Soon, another Blossom Street book will come in. The book is about a deceased wife, Hannah, writing a list of prospective wives for her husband. Hannah's brother kept the letter list in his safety deposit box for 1 year, before giving it to his brother-in-law. She picked out 3 prospective wives for him to decide who he wants to marry. He's a pediatrician, wanted children, but Hannah had found out she had ovarian cancer, when they went to a specialist to find out why they couldn't get pregnant. I haven't gotten into the 3 women on the list yet; just their names and a brief bio about each one. It'll be interesting to see which woman he decides on or if it might be a woman not on the list, but somebody who enters his life unexpectedly. It's a bit depressing to me, when he talks about losing Hannah because DH had a 2nd cousin who battled ovarian cancer for 4 years, before she died in her 80's. This book is close to home, in that regard. Ovarian cancer is practically (to me) the silent killer because the symptoms are so secretive and don't show up until almost the end.

Today, I put a larger print book on hold called "Shirley Jones: A Memoir." It's written by Shirley Jones. It's an "adult" book. She talks about her love affairs, etc. She's elderly now, she's such an endearing woman, so I wanted to read about her life. I like her very much, I wanted to see what she said, and decided to read it. I'm glad it's a larger print book, too. DH said he doesn't want to go to the library often, because of gas $. But when we go, since it's in another neighboring county, we'll make a WM trip, too. I need to write my list, as it sometimes only takes 2 days for the book to come in.

[FelineFriend]

Hannah's List came in FAST, so I read it on-line within 24 hours. I took breaks to do other things, then came back to it. Now I'm awaiting The Shop on Blossom Street, to become available via e-book version. I put a hold on Shirley Jone's memoir, but now I'm wondering if I've gotten her mixed up with Florence Henderson. I'll know more, when I'm reading her book, if I got the 2 stars mixed up or not. I think I'm right though. I hope it comes in soon because DH and I need to go to WM the day we get the library book, too.

[FelineFriend]

I got a free B 'n' N Blog Free Friday e-book, called STIRRING THE EMBERS - THE STARTING OVER SERIES, however, I've forgotten the author of it. It's not on my e-receipt either. It's by a woman and I believe her first name started with an "M" and last name was a "P". I'll go look, will check again and will be back to tell you. This is so embarrassing!

I'm BACK! The book's written by Mary Jo Putney. I've heard her name before, so this is another reason I got the free Nook e-book. It is a romantic mystery, too. It's the beginning of the series, too.