Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Does a mild mannered librarian and romance junkie by day who is a kickass super hero by by night wear a cape? Inquiring minds want to know.

The totally cool Super Librarian Wendy took pity on my sad tale of having no decent UBS any more and told me about a great store in our area. We were able to meet today and not only did I score some awesome books (Cheryl St. John and Terri Brisbin!) we were able to have lunch together. It was great to meet Wendy and be able to talk, in person, about books and book stores and the blogs we have in common.

Now I'm hoping we can all convince her to go to Dallas so we can get the scoop from four different POVs and voices. While they each love romance Sybil, Jane, Kristie and Wendy all have their own inimitable voices. Frankly, I can't wait to hear, see and read their tales.

Thanks Wendy, it was fun AND I found a good UBS once again. As for the cape...I'll never tell.

Ponderin'

PINKY & THE BRAIN
ANIMANIACS
Warner Brothers & Steven Spielberg


16 May 98 - Brain Food
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
(Pinky) Whoof, oh, I'd have to say the odds of that are terribly slim Brain.
(Brain) True.
(Pinky) I mean, really, when have I ever been pondering what you've been pondering?
(Brain) To my knowledge, never.
(Pinky) Exactly. So, what are the chances that this time, I'm pondering what you're pondering?
(Brain) Next to nil.
(Pinky) Well, that's exactly what I'm thinking, too.
(Brain) Therefore, you *are* pondering what I'm pondering.
(Pinky) Poit, I guess I am!

I have no expectations that people are pondering what I'm pondering at any given time or on any given day. However, here's what's been racing around my gray matter the past few days.

GRIEF
As I've mentioned before when some tragedy happens in the world. It is sometimes pretty unbearable to watch or read the news about those happenings. However, I feel the least we can do is bear witness as citizens of the world and do what we can within our small sphere of influence to change things.

Today I'm full of grief for the family and friends of the people who were murdered at Virginia Tech yesterday. I grieve for my country that refuses to make the changes we need to with regard to gun laws. The Bill of Rights giving us the "right to bear arms" is over 230 years old. We live in a different time and century. We have to do something to stop the violence. Is it more important to perserve the right to carry a gun than to have a free, safe and open society?

PRIDE
Sometimes I shake my head and lack the understanding for the fights and muckraking out here in the blogosphere. Conversely I'm pretty proud to be a part of a community that has taken on the tough subject and discussions that have been raised recently with the rape/forced sex issue brought up with the current release of CLAIMING THE COURTESAN by Anna Campbell. Yes, there are as many opinions as there are people, but most of what I've read while put in strong terms has been a free and open dialogue without personalizing it or name calling. If for some reason you have seen where the conversation broke down and got nasty, please don't link or mention it here. I've been happy to see the topic discussed intelligently without deteriorating to generalities and snark. Some of the sites where I've seen good posts and discussion are: Dear Author, Wendy aka Super Librarian and Argh Ink (Jennifer Crusie).

SOMETIMES
How many times have I put clothes from the washing machine to the dryer? I've been married 26 years. I have one husband and two children. I do laundry a couple of times a week. So how many times? Sometimes I'm shaking and tossing clothes into the dryer with impatience, sometimes resentment, and sometimes with a joyful thanks that I have these people to do laundry for. Sometimes, like today I feel connected to all the women of the world who are beating their clothes against rocks, walking miles to get water to do wash, carting clothes to a laundry mat, or like me walking out into their garage laundry room to wash their family's clothes. As different as we are, we are also the same.

REVIEWS
In my blog travels today Marg mentioned she was caught up with her reviews. I asked her if she had review deadlines, was reviewing for other publications or organizations or if she reviewed everything she read. She answered that she reviews everything she reads. Holy crap!! Was my thought when I read her reply. I have no where near the patience, talent or perseverance to review every book I read. In fact the thought of doing that is overwhelming. My current book count for the year is 113. There have been 107 days in 2007 and I've read 113 books. Yes, I had a truly slothful January and read like crazy. Yes, there are some shorty ebooks in there, but as you can see this comes to more than a book a day. I can't imagine trying to review them all. Kudos, to you Miss Marg. I admire you greatly for your steadfastness and your reviews. I love reading your reviews and other readers who are as prolific in their book reviews. Sadly, I will never be among your ranks.

However, I am going to be posting my thoughts on Linda Howard's latest Silhouette Nocturne in the next couple of days. I read it over the weekend. Anybody else had a chance to read it yet?

That about covers this series of ponderings. God knows what it will be next.

DIRTY by Megan Hart

This book was not what I expected. Coincidentally after I finished reading it mid-day yesterday my husband phoned. I was sort of weepy telling him I'd just finished a book that was supposedly an erotic romance and it had sort of knocked me on my ass. My dilemma in trying to do any sort of review of this book is that it has so many personal emotional triggers in it that I don't know if I can give it an honest evaluation as a book on its own.

I do think that a writer has to be pretty darn talented to write life situations and relationships so accurately that a reader would find them personally identifiable. I found myself wondering if Ms. Hart had experienced some of the same situations she put her characters in for her to so accurately capture their emotions. There is no way to fake to a child of an alcoholic parent what it feels like to be abandoned by a parent consumed with their addiction unless you've experienced that sort of loss first hand. At least I don't think so. Reading words coming out of Elle's mother's mouth that I've heard first hand from my own mother was a little bit freaky I have to say. While I've never suffered the trauma that Elle did, there were many quirks to her personality that I have in common with the character that made it a bit uncomfortable and emotionally draining to read at times.

So while I'm caught up in the turmoil of these personal emotions it's difficult to talk to anyone about the book and remove those factors. One of the first things I did when I sat down to write this was to look for other reviews. I immediately went to Dear Author and found a review that Jane did of DIRTY back in January. Since I was hardly around from mid-November to mid-January working on my heritage scrapbook project I missed most, if any, buzz there had been about this book. To tell you the truth I don't know how or why it got into my TBR. Somebody somewhere that I read a review or blog about it must have liked it.

Tara Marie had mentioned in her comments at the Dear Author review that she had picked up this book a couple of times and put it down and just couldn't get into it. I had the same experience. In fact I was in the process of a book purge when I picked DIRTY up and was leafing through it and reading bits to see if I should try to read it one more time or put it in the bag of books to be traded. Somehow, this time, I kept reading.

Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

This is what happened... I met him at the candy store. He turned and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children's candy store, mind you--this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss's wife because you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were both at a conference in Milwaukee. Hypothetically speaking, of course. I've been hit on plenty of times, mostly by men with little finesse who thought what was between their legs made up for what they lacked between their ears. Sometimes I went home with them anyway, just because it felt good to want and be wanted, even if it was mostly fake. The problem with wanting is that it's like pouring water into a vase full of stones. It fills you up before you know it, leaving no room for anything else. I don't apologize for who I am or what I've done in--or out--of bed. I have my job, my house and my life, and for a long time I haven't wanted anything else. Until Dan. Until now.

For me this blurb doesn't do the book justice or accurately give you an idea what the read will be like. I guess I get how this is called an erotic romance. Sort of. Is there sex? Yes. Is it really hot and wild? Not particularly. I would classify this more as a dark urban contemporary romance. Besides Jane's review I read most of the 13 now posted on Amazon as well. I don't see where alot of people have had the same reaction as me. For one thing I don't see much of the personal identification I had with the character and situations. I can understand from Jane's review her problems with seeing Elle as not very likable. Although I don't see Elle as flat and gray as Jane does and I realize that while I was reading I was trusting the author not to let me down and give me a pretty good reason for Elle's behavior. Ms. Hart does do that. Although I have to say that the book takes too long to start giving the reader peeks and hints as to why Elle is the way she is.

I was disappointed that we don't know more about Dan than his just always reacting to Elle. Why is he able to accept her and the restrictions she places on their relationship. What makes Dan tick? I don't think we get to see any (enough) of that. I am glad though that Elle is not a whiner or complainer. She's found what works for her so she can function somewhat normally and she's doing it.

For me this book is about redemption and the claiming of one's own life. Who harder to forgive than ourselves? For those reasons it made DIRTY a very worthwhile read. How I will feel about the book ultimately I don't know. Many of my thoughts are still swirling around my own personal demons. Only time will tell. I do know that I went to Ms. Hart's web site I found myself interested in her next Harlequin Spice release due out in May called Broken. I'm looking forward to reading it and comparing the experience to this book.

A final note, as usual when I really like or am intrigued with an author I go looking for other books of theirs to glom. There are many of Ms. Hart's to choose from at Amberquill Press both erotic and non-erotic titles. Interestingly I didn't purchase a single one. Like DIRTY that languished in my TBR for several months I didn't feel compelled or interested to buy after reading the blurbs and/or excerpts from those books. Maybe I'll figure out why about the same time I find out how I came to have DIRTY in the first place.

Nalini Singh & the Incredible Wonderful Blog Experiment

When I saw this contest posted on KarenS and then AngieW blogs I knew I had to participate. I'd read Rosario's post about reading Ms. Singh's book and was intrigued enough that I went to my used book store and bought all her already released Silhouette Desire books. I've read a couple already and was sufficiently drawn to the writing to put her Sept 5 single title release, SLAVE TO SENSATION on my "To Buy" list. Read on about the incredible wonderful blog experiment.

I am participating in a blogging experiment hosted at Dear Author. To enter the contest, put up this blurb, image, and trackback and you are entered to win the following prize package.

$200 Amazon gift certificate
Signed copy of Slave to Sensation
New Zealand goodies chosen by Singh
ARC of Christine Feehan's October 31 release: Conspiracy Game You can read about the experiment here and you can download the code that you need to participate here.

SLAVE TO SENSATION
Nalini Singh Berkley / September 2006

Welcome to a future where emotion is a crime and powers of the mind clash brutally against those of the heart.
Sascha Duncan is one of the Psy, a psychic race that has cut off its emotions in an effort to prevent murderous insanity. Those who feel are punished by having their brains wiped clean, their personalities and memories destroyed.
Lucas Hunter is a Changeling, a shapeshifter who craves sensation, lives for touch. When their separate worlds collide in the serial murders of Changeling women, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities…or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation.

Excerpt