Reading~~A Vacation for the Mind!

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”

Mason Cooley


It’s the middle of summer! Time to get away, which is not always that easy, so remember this: a book can take you anywhere you want to go. Where would you like to go?


Think about it~~want to visit jolly old England? Pick up a book by Edward Rutherfurd, Phillippa Gregory, Sharon Kay Penman, Alison Weir, Bernard Cornwell, just to name just a few. What did it take to build a cathedral in England? Pick up the classic Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Fantasy and British history together…Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley; Jennifer Roberson will take you on a very merry romp with Robin Hood and Maid Marion in her wonderful novel Lady of the Forest.


Take a trip through America? How else would I know how Centennial, Colorado started from a speck of sand millions of years before it became a town? I learned more about geology from James Michener in Centennial then I did in school. Larry McMurty took me on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana in Lonesome Dove that I wouldn’t have gone on otherwise. How about going along with Lewis and Clark in Stephen E. Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage as they head west to the Pacific? Civil War? MacKinlay Cantor’s Andersonville will haunt you with what one human being can do to others. Michael Shaara wrote, for me anyway, one of THE best fiction books on Gettysburg, Killer Angels. Don’t forget Margaret Mitchell to check out that most southern of southern belles, Scarlet, in Gone With the Wind. Even if you have already read it, celebrate Gone With the Wind’s 75th anniversary and read it again!

What to tag along and help solve a mystery? Help find out who the real killer is? Find out what happens when things aren’t quite what they should be? Any of these authors will love to have you tag along… Lisa Gardener; Chelsea Cain; Ridley Pearson; Charles Todd; Cara Black; Dashell Hammett; Raymond Chandler; James Ellroy; Nancy Pickard; Donald Westlake; Julia Spencer-Fleming; Karin Slaughter. This is a few of the variety of mystery authors that will envelope you in some twists and turns to the end.


How about helping to stop terrorism around the world? These are a few of my favorites, Daniel Silva; John le Carre: Stella Rimington (Rimington was the first woman to head MI5) Helen MacInnes; Alex Berenson: Clyde Eagleton; Charles McCarry; Tom Clancy; Len Deighton~~check any of these out and go on a page turning ride that will make your adrenalin pump.

Do you love a good legal thriller with great courtroom scenes? I know I do. Pick up Steve Martini; John Grisham; Scott Turow; David Ellis; Phillip Margolin; John Mortimer; William Diehl…just some that make you feel that you are inside the courtroom, watching the characters and give great descriptions of their reactions.


Ah, romance. What would summer be without romance? Some great historical romance writers are~~Lisa Kleypas; Rosemary Rodger; Katherine Woodiwiss; Jude Deveraux; Mary Balogh; Beatrice Small, without whom I would never have know what a Kadin was... nor, ahem… what they did.


Little paranormal romance? You can’t beat Diana Gabaldon; Karen Marie Moning; Kresley Cole; Lynsay Sands; Sherrilyn Kenyon; J. W. Ward; Gena Showalter; Charlaine Harris; Christine Feehan….vampires, werewolves, witches, shape-shifters, time-travel, men in kilts…oh my! What more could you ask for!


Enjoy more modern day romance? Here you go…Nora Roberts; Jennifer Cruise; Susan Elizabeth Phillips; Jennifer Weiner; Nicholas Sparks; Elizabeth Lowell; Emily Griffin~~to name just a few.


Hopefully one of these authors will take you away.

There you go~~pick where you want to go and lose yourself for a wee bit. As Dr. Seuss said, "Oh! The place you'll go!"


Happy Reading!

We Cozied Up!

"Reading is to the mind what exerise is to the body."
Richard Steele


I can't think of a better way to exercise my mind then reading a book....it's great to see how many are in agreement.

We finished up the Cozy Up With a Good Book winter book club at the end of April. It was terrific! We had 68 people sign up; 55 Reader's Cards were turned in; and everyone loved the reading as a great way to pass winter. The best part is when folks tell me they read
someone different, or tried a new genre~~
and discovered that they liked it!

The top books the club read this year were:

1) Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot *
2) Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
3) Night Fall by Nelson DeMille *
4) Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
5) How Green Ws My Valley by Richard Llewellyn *
6) Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
7) Little Bee by Chris Cleave
8) Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke

9) Growing Up Laughing by Marlo Thomas

10) The Help by Kathryn Stockett

11) Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

12) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
13) Half-Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls
14) Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
15) Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

*Denotes books from the winter book discussions

The authors read the most during the book club were:

1) Robert B. Parker

2) James Patterson

3) Stieg Larsson

4) Michael Connelly

5) C. J. Sansom
6) Mary Higgins Clark
7) Lisa Gardner
8) John Dunning
9) Nora Roberts
10) Paul Theroux

We celebrated May 3rd with a party where we discussed~~what else~~books we had read over the winter, gave out raffle prizes, congratulated our top readers, enjoyed refreshments, and looked forward to the summer book club.

Thank you for joining the book club~~and enjoying reading.

Happy Reading!

Tony Hillerman

"You write for two people,

yourself and your audience,

who are usually better educated

and at least as smart."

Tony Hillerman 1925-2008

Mystery writer Tony Hillerman, 83, died Sunday, October 26, 2008. For those of us who read his mysteries we know what a loss it is; for those who haven't been introduced to Hillerman, take a chance. Hillerman wrote over 29 books, most of them mysteries, set in the Southwest and featured Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Hillerman wanted to help the Anglo culture understand Navajo traditions while sharing his admiration of the Navajo culture. His love of the Southwest shone through in all of his books, fiction and non-fiction.

If you enjoy mysteries, the Southwest, and learning about the culture of Indians, you are in for a treat. Hillerman introduces us to his favorite passion, the Navajo and their culture, how they think, how the Anglo had changed their way of life, and how both cultures learn to except each other and live along side each other. His mysteries would take you deeper in the history of the Navajo and you will be amazed what you learn from reading about them in fiction style. The Navajo honored him with the Special Friend of the Dineh award to thank him for letting his readers know that were more then primitive people. On that, he succeeded.

Hillerman never forgot who he was writing for, his audience, and to entertain them. He was also a writer that you could read them faster then he could write them....which is important to me as a reader. Writers who push three, four or more books a year I feel are not considerate to their readers. (That's for another blog)

If you are looking for a new mystery writer, something different, I highly recommend Tony Hillerman. You will be glad you did.

Thanks Mr. Hillerman for some wonderful mysteries, books, and enabling us, as readers, to learn about the Navajo people. You will be missed.