Sandi Shilhanek | Hurry Up And Wait...How To Stay Occupied?

This weekend I pretended to be the good wife, and took my husand’s car to have the oil changed.

While I sat in the waiting room I not only typed this blog, but observed the other people waiting with me.

One man was smarter than I and able to figure out the wireless connection the dealer offered and get online, two men had some sort of conversation about their cars, and the rest just sat their twiddling their thumbs.

I’m sure like me they were thinking about the zillion of chores awaiting them at home, but that’s just a depressing thought isn’t it? Then they were watching some sort of news debate about the state of the economy, another really depressing thought…where were the books? Not a soul brought a book.

To read more about Sandi's waiting experience and to comment for a chance to win a prize please click here.

Sara Edmonds | Watching My Favorite Authors Grow...

I was reading the latest by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, WHAT I DID FOR LOVE, last month and as I finished I was so pleasantly surprised at how much she has grown as a writer and how much I have enjoyed reading (and watching) it evolve. The way that she weaves two stories into a single arc, and the way she can develop a character as been a joy to read.

I have the same feeling with Nora Roberts, who I have read for a very long time now. VISIONS IN WHITE starts a new quartet by Nora, which is a step up as the norm is triplets. From way back when with DANCE UPON THE AIR, the strength of her characters and plot lines only gets better each year.

There are a lot more on my list of must haves (Madeline Hunter, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Karen Marie Moning to name a few), but listing them would make this a very long blog.

Click here to read the rest and learn how to win a bundle of books from Fresh Fiction

Sandi Shilhanek | 2008 Reading

As the year begins to wind down I thought it would be interesting to reflect back and share with one another how our reading year was.

Let’s start with did you discover a new author this year? As I looked at my list I believe I read about two dozen new to me authors this year. I was pleasantly surprised with Shadow Of Turning by Valerie Hansen as it is a Love Inspired Suspense, and that’s not a line I normally read. I also was totally hooked on Running Scared by Cheryl Norman. Of course there were a couple of books in the new author tryouts that didn’t please me much, but I’ve decided to only focus on my favorites.

What book do you think was the best one you read this year? Can you really limit yourself to only one? I of course cannot name just one. I loved everything I read by Susan Wiggs, and Robyn Carr. Both had books that had moments that made me cry. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs was a discovery that I wish I had been warned about because it also had me crying. Can’t even think about closing out a favorites list without adding Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.

Do you have a reading goal? Is it by books read or pages read? Is it to read so many group reads or perhaps so many new authors? I always hope to read 100 books, and this year I didn’t make it. I do have the page count for each book listed, but I haven’t mastered EXCEL enough to be able to figure out how to get it to add that up for me!

What about audio books? Do you count those as part of your yearly total if you listen to them? Was there a favorite there? A new author? This year I discovered Mary Kay Andrews, and Harlan Coben in audio. I enjoyed Charley’s Web by Joy Fielding and can’t recommend it enough.

Next week we’ll discuss reading goals for 2009. Start thinking...

Sandi Shilhanek
DFW Tea Readers
Readers 'n 'ritas

Sandi Shilhanek | Reading while Sick

I hope that everyone who is in the United States enjoyed their Thanksgiving, and had plenty leftovers so that there was plenty of time to curl up and read. My family always does Thanksgiving with Elizabeth, a long time friend. Since she’s the better cook all the cleaning and prepping is at her house, so I have plenty of time to read should I so desire or be able to.

However, as I write this I am stuck with a home in need of some good cleaning, and a cold attacking me and not letting me out of its nasty grip. My email often brings a message of someone’s illness and that the good thing that came out of it was how much they read.

I think if you’re sick and can read it’s fantastic. I however only want to hide under the nearest blanket and burrow into the best pillow and sleep until the illness has given up hope of something exciting happening, and moves on to its next victim.

Are you like me…a sleeping sick person or are you like others who can gobble up one book after another while fighting the cold, flu or other nasty ailments that come our way? If you can read do you read something new, or do you rely on a comfort read the way I rely on my favorite blanket and pillow?

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and that it was a spectacular start to a illness free happy healthy holiday season.

The Reader and the Book Club...

Book clubs are HOT HOT HOT now and I know why! If you find a good one, it's more than just a time to discuss books and find reading "soul mates." It can be a time just for "me" when I can rattle on about a loved book, rant about the waste of paper for another, or marvel over the world created by a talented author's imagination and skill. Being part of a "club" gives me companions to go to a book signing or just the reassurance a series will continue. The power of group thought outweighs all those other publishing business strategies.

My favorite part about being a member of a book club is when we can all get together--over a great cocktail--and talk about what our favorite books of the past month have been. We do our book club a little bit differently than your usual Oprah book club. Instead of everyone being assigned a mandatory book, we each read what we like and "swap" books over tea or dinner. Doing it this way allows everyone to learn about a hot new author, or even rediscover an old friend. Either way, everyone always leaves our meetings with arms over flowing with new adventures. A few of us have even been known to sit in a cushy chair outside of the restaurant and read a recently traded book after a particularly serendipitous meeting! Everyone reads something different, and everyone always leaves satisfied!

I always invite anyone I meet at a signing, PTA meeting, or at doggie daycare to join us for a book club meeting. Of course, many of them respond with a polite "I don't read very often." And my response is always the same: "you don't have to read now, but after a few meeting with us, you will start!" Being a part of a book club makes even the most apprehensive reader embrace something new, or find out that she had never been reading what she liked to begin with! It's so amazing when someone sees reading for pleasure as pleasurable!

As the summer sun pushes us into the shade, remember that good friends and good books make a fantastic couple!

My Book Club.

Linda Gerber | My Fiction Addition

Hi. My name is Linda and I’m a fiction addict.

I live fiction, I breathe fiction, I make up really creative excuses when I forget to turn in my PTA sign-up sheets. Honestly, I can’t go through the day without a fiction fix.

Today, for example, I went to the bookstore to grab Stephenie Meyer’s latest. Just walking into the fiction section was like entering an enchanted canyon where everyplace I turned, something wonderful called out to me. Sadly, THE HOST was not on the shelves. The bookstore had just sold their last copy. I panicked. Leaving the bookstore without a book was not an option. Heart palpitating, I ran back to the fiction section and scanned the shelves frantically until found the next two books on my TBR list. Holding them in my hands, I was finally able to breathe easier.

Once, on vacation, I finished all the books I had brought with me. And I a whole day left at the beach and an entire flight home to get through! I made my dear husband drive into town – thirty miles away – and find a drugstore with a decent fiction selection(it was too small to have its own bookstore. I know, sad!)

With my fiction fixation, writing books is like a dream job for me. And exciting! Case in point, while working on DEATH BY BIKINI, I got to live at an exclusive tropical resort where I rubbed shoulders with senators and rock stars and ultimately outwitted an assassin. How can you beat that?

Speaking of DEATH BY BIKINI, if you like YA fiction, you are cordially invited to my cyber launch party May 15-18 at lindagerber.blogspot.comwhere you can win books from over 15 YA authors, including yours truly.

Meanwhile, what about you? Are you addicted to fiction? What is it about fiction that grabs you?

Thanks again to everyone at Fresh Fiction for having me!

Linda Gerber

lindagerber.com
lindagerber.blogspot.com

Coming May 15 from Puffin Books – DEATH BY BIKINI