Random Thoughts - Part ???

Wonder of wonders, Shmoo went to visit his brother. He finally admitted he misses Beanie. They have some serious video game time planned and a trip to the Magic Kingdom. This bit of news does my mother's heart good. Shmoo decided while Bean was home over the weekend that his brother is actually "pretty cool". I couldn't help but wonder if there had been some alien body snatching going on, but I'm not one to question a boon.

What does one eat for dinner when sons are not home and husband has already eaten? A Starbucks mocha light frappaccino, popcorn, cantelope and a cookie. What can I say. It is very liberating.

After gymnastics I don't think there's anything I'm excited to see at the Olympics. Track and Field just doesn't do much for me, although those sprinters are something to behold. Sure I've watched some beach volleyball, some basketball, horse jumping, and diving. Nothing has piqued my interest like the gymnastics did. Did you see the mens' rings competition? The muscles, strength, endurance? Unreal. Very impressive.

Tomorrow is TBR Challenge Day. Will I be ready? Uh, don't hold your breath. I love this challenge I really do. I've read books I might not have read without it. How'd I let this creep up on me again?

How is it that it seems like every other blog I read in Romancelandia has a review of HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE by Nalini Singh already? Huh? You guys suck. Although I guess I can't grumble because I have the ARC of WANDERLUST by Ann Aguirre that I'm dying to read and have only gotten through the first 8 pages.

Which begs the question, why am I writing a post when I could be READING????

BTW, bunches of contests out there. I'm pimping one at LET'S GAB. Lori has the three Elizabeth Hoyt books to give away if you go over and tell her your favorite Olympic event, winter or summer. Go on, you know you want to.

Me? I'm going to read. I think. Right after I do some stuff for work and eat some more popcorn. Doofus thy name is Rosie.

So many thoughts...so little time!

Go check out a guest post from July 13, 2006, by Sarah McCarty at Let's Gab. It's about commas. Yep, sounds dry but actually hits on a peeve of mine; lousy grammar in books. I love a book that flows and that is attributed to two things in my opinion, the author's voice and the grammar. I wholeheartedly agree with Sarah's assessment that reading a book, any book, shouldn't be such hard work!

Which also ties into a post on KarenS blog about how erotic romance is killing the whole damn romance genre. If you go to the link of Ms. Barnett's post in its' entirety you will see she speaks of print runs etc. Of course, me being me I have an opinion on this. I know...nobody asked me...but here it is anyway.

I think that once publishing houses realized how popular the Romance genre (at one point in the late 80's or early 90's 50% of all books sold) it was sell, sell, sell! Can you imagine? Pretty unbelievable right? Now we have book recommends from Oprah to elevate us, sci-fi books that tie into TV series (Star Trek) and whole novels to tell super hero stories (Superman, Batman, X-Men). So the romance genre has some pretty stiff competition and the publishing industry response to this competion? Glut the market!! There are more types and kinds of romance than ever. More books than ever. Of course, this does not necessarily mean BETTER books just MORE books.

So in response to Ms. McCarty's comments I think that the removal of commas is symptomatic of a larger picture which also addresses Ms. Bartlett's comments about smaller print runs...the publishers just want to sell more books by more authors and see which ones the readers find. If a book is good in any genre and strikes a chord with people I still believe it finds its intended audience. With the help of the internet's reader blogs, author sites, and on-line book sellers, readers can find a book at their finger tips. We can search for older books, download books, view covers, read excerts...all to the reader's advantage. However, I think it is a shame that we seem to be sacrificing quality for quantity.

I have my favorite authors that I anxiously await their next book. However, I'd much rather wait for a new book than have an author squeezed to deliver a book by a deadline and not do their best work.