Got any book/reading thoughts to share?

[Ann]

Flirting With Disaster "When Love & Nature Collide" seems to be the book your friend wrote, Amy. Good luck to her!

[Amy]

Thanks.

[Sherry]

MsG wrote: "I love the smell of coffee and books so I still hang out at my local book store.

I love lounging at my local library, although they don't have coffee; but ohhh all the books."

welcome ms. g!

[Mary Jo]

Entering a book store such as Powell's in Oregon, is like entering a room filled with friends, old and new, dead and alive.

[[deleted user]]

MsG wrote: "I love the smell of coffee and books so I still hang out at my local book store.

I love lounging at my local library, although they don't have coffee; but ohhh all the books."

I love going to the library. When I'm down the library is my antidepressant. LOL.

[Mary Jo]

The libraries have a new life. In NYC, for the past 20 years, they've been drop off sites for after school kids to learn/horse around on the computers. Now, because of independent publishing and all of us independent publishers aching to have our books in libraries, they have a new life. A shameless self promotion: my mystery, The Lemrow Mystery, available on Amazon etc.The first chapter, in English and Spanish, is available on my blog nymysteries.com. Mary Jo

[BarryP]

I just inherited a nook color. Too light and thin to hold a door open, so I'll have to find another use for it.

[Ann]

congrats Barry! I am not familiar with the device except in a general way and it probably wouldn't make a good door stop - but it appears to be a decent tablet. Enjoy!

[Donnajo]

Congrats I love mine.

[Mary Jo]

I've been listening to the audios of J. K. Rowling's mystery series published under the name of Robert Galbraith. Do they stink. I'm a fan of her Harry Potter series but think the Galbraith stuff was only published on Harry's back.

[Ann]

Mary Jo
I enjoyed listening to the Cormorran Strike books written under the Galbraith name, but certainly understand you may not have cared for the first book.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Definitely not like Harry Potter! I enjoyed the Cormoran Strike books, the second more than the first. On the other hand, I thought The Casual Vacancy was meh.

[BarryP]

What does the Times have against M/T?
100 Notable Books of 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/boo...

[Dan in AZ]

They only like books that sell under a thousand copies.

[Ann]

I have often wondered why our favorite genre gets such short shift on best of the year lists, Barry. The only thing I can think of is that since best lists are (very) personal opinion, they have not hired anyone quite like us to review books.
We are too busy reading for the pure pleasure of it.

[Shomeret]

Ann wrote: "I have often wondered why our favorite genre gets such short shift on best of the year lists, Barry. The only thing I can think of is that since best lists are (very) personal opinion, they have no..."

This is literary snobbery. You will probably never see any genre fiction on these lists unless they were written by critically acclaimed authors of literary fiction. If, for example, David Mitchell decided to write an M/T, it would probably end up on the NYT Best of the Year list. On the other hand, most of us would probably be complaining that it's slow and excessively literary.

[BarryP]

My local paper's "best of" was closer to the kind of books we have been reading.

http://www.theday.com/books/20141229/...

[Shomeret]

Barry wrote: "My local paper's "best of" was closer to the kind of books we have been reading.

http://www.theday.com/books/20141229/..."

Yes it is, and there were two books on that list that I'd actually read.
I Always Loved You and Joyland.

[Melodie]

Barry wrote: "My local paper's "best of" was closer to the kind of books we have been reading.

http://www.theday.com/books/20141229/..."

I also read 2 of them, CHEAP SHOT and JOYLAND!

[Sherry]

Barry wrote: "My local paper's "best of" was closer to the kind of books we have been reading.

http://www.theday.com/books/20141229/..."

i agree, barry- saw the list in the paper this morning. i've actually read 4 of the books on the list.

[Ann]

It is a good list. I have several on my TBR wish list and have read two or three I think, need to study it closer later. Thanks for sharing. You have some good local book reviews!

[BarryP]

We are lucky that the culture guy on our paper is an M/T reader.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Barry wrote: "My local paper's "best of" was closer to the kind of books we have been reading.

http://www.theday.com/books/20141229/..."

Nice! I've read..

Natchez Burning
Deadline
Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot

I have heard good things about..
All the Light We Cannot See
I Always Loved You
Joyland

I am intrigued by:
Those Who Wish Me Dead
Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood

[Sherry]

Barry wrote: "We are lucky that the culture guy on our paper is an M/T reader."

true,that.

[BarryP]

Paper books will never die

http://gizmodo.com/paper-books-will-n...

[Ann]

A very good article and I agree! All we do is add to the options, not replace something so simply elegant as a bound and printed book.
Barry wrote: "Paper books will never die

http://gizmodo.com/paper-books-will-n..."

[Stephanie]

Currently finished First Night of Summer by Landon Parham

What a pulse-pounding, page-turning thriller mystery! A must read for 2015!!

[Dan in AZ]

Another one added to the ever-lengthening list, especially since an old board friend of ours moved to Ruidoso.

[Melodie]

Stephanie wrote: "Currently finished First Night of Summer by Landon Parham

What a pulse-pounding, page-turning thriller mystery! A must read for 2015!!"

Hmmmm...I used to live just down the road from Ruidoso in Alamogordo, so find books set in this area interesting.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Stephanie wrote: "Currently finished First Night of Summer by Landon Parham

What a pulse-pounding, page-turning thriller mystery! A must read for 2015!!"

This does sound intriguing. Off to request it from the library.
=====
edit: hmmm. no copies available at either library consortium or on audible.com. I did find a couple of copies on amazon....

[Cat]

I'm reading the Graveyard Queen Series by Amanda Stevens. It's excellent. I would like to discuss if anyone else has read it.

[Melodie]

Cat wrote: "I'm reading the Graveyard Queen Series by Amanda Stevens. It's excellent. I would like to discuss if anyone else has read it."

Had never heard of this series, so I looked it up. Looks interesting!

[Ann]

Cat: The first book does look good, Cat. I haven't read it though. If I get to it soon enough I will post about it under the Buddy read folder and let you know. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Cat wrote: "I'm reading the Graveyard Queen Series by Amanda Stevens. It's excellent. I would like to discuss if anyone else has read it."

[Carol/Bonadie]

I read the description of the first book and it sounded familiar. I wonder if I heard the author talk at Bouchercon. Any other attendees here find it familiar?

[Melodie]

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "I read the description of the first book and it sounded familiar. I wonder if I heard the author talk at Bouchercon. Any other attendees here find it familiar?"

Not me....but could have been at one I didn't go to. Just got a copy of it on PBS.

[Ann]

Melodie: I got the ebook on loan from the library and will start it soon, still reading Mad Mouse with DJ
Melodie wrote: "Not me....but could have been at one I didn't go to. Just got a copy of it on PBS. "

[Ann]

Carol: not from Bouchercon, but the Graveyard Queen series books sounded a bit familiar to me by being a bit like Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly books. I like those so figured these sound good to try after Cat mentioned them.
Carol/Bonadie wrote: "I read the description of the first book and it sounded familiar. I wonder if I heard the author talk at Bouchercon. Any other attendees here find it familiar?"

[Karen B.]

I have two book recommendations The Silver Tattoo The Silver tattoo by Laura Treacy Bentley and No Motive for Murder No Motive for Murder by Doug Hantke. I am reading The Silver Tattoo for the second time because the author recently published a prequel to it ... Night Terrors the Prequel to The Silver Tattoo is not as much of a Thriller as the book itself but it's still great. I have read the above book by Doug Hantke and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I also read two of his short stories, and loved them.

[Dan in AZ]

Recommendations are always welcome.

[BarryP]

I dislike this kind of branding and tend to shy away from the books, unless the secondary author is the one I want to read.

[Ann]

Gail: with the exception of authors who have died and someone picks up the mantle (like Robert B Parker) and a select few others who are good partners (i.e. PJ Tracy, or Peter Straub writing with Stephen King) I tend to steer clear of cobranded authors.
My opinion is that they seek to publish more books and quicker. That doesn't scream quality to me.
I revere the authors who write quality books.

Gail wrote: "How does everyone feel about popular authors that begin to publish with a second author? Is it cheating? Is it a way to stay popular? Is it a way to stay fresh? ..."

[Carol/Bonadie]

Gail wrote: "It feels like that to me also. What happens to a great author when they run out of ideas? It must be a quandry for them. ..."

That's an intriguing question. I wonder if the cobranders have run out of ideas or if they have ideas but no time time to write, so they hire a ghostwriter who isn't really a ghost.

This idea of an author who runs out of ideas sounds like a great premise for a mystery novel.....

[Dan in AZ]

Don't we often find out that the secondary author actually wrote the book and the well known author only provided the basic idea and name recognition?

[Karen B.]

I always thought the second author's name was a way of separating books in different genre. For example, although I like even love some Stephen King books, I always know I will like one with Stephen King/Peter Straub. I've also found that sometimes the second author's name is actually an alternate name the author uses for some of the books. For example some of the original Dean Koontz books were published under different names and he gave them new life by republishing with his own more recognizable name. I don't think that's cheating. sorry I can't remember the right spelling of the word pronounced (su do nim)

[Ann]

Karen: I agree that many times that is the case where two names are still the same author. Recently Richard Price's book The Whites is listed under the pseudonym Harry Brandt.
Karen B. wrote: "I always thought the second author's name was a way of separating books in different genre."

[Carol/Bonadie]

There are probably examples for each case we've brought up so far. My understanding of the Stephen King/Peter Straub books was that they were true co-writing collaborations, as opposed to one being the lead and the other an add-on. My sense of the James Patterson co authorships is what Dan said -- the big name with the idea and the name recognition, the second name with the time to write. Then there are the pseudonym situations like J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith, Richard Price/Harr Brandt, Stephen King/Richard Bachmann, etc. Where the connection is either known at the time of publishing or not known, but one name appears on the book.

[Ann]

Another good example of each author name being for a genre is Jayne Ann Krentz who also writes as Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick.

[Melodie]

And then there's the Richard Castle books! Does anyone know for sure who actually writes them? I've seen lots of speculation.

[Karen B.]

How about the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child books? I always was under the impression that they truly were writing together as a team.

[Karen B.]

Oh and don't forget the ones that are jointly written by a group using a formula. I first learned about this when as a teen I learned that my beloved Nancy Drew books were written by a group of writers (assembly line fashion) and there was no real Carolyn Keene

BTW, I have long suspected that James Patterson was not the writer of so many books. I think that explained my love/hate of some of his books.

And as for teams, don't forget we now have Stephen King and one of his sons (Joe King) writing stories as a team. He also has another son who is a writer but chose deliberately not to use the King name. And then there is his wife Tabitha who writes as well. What a family of writers!