Bear Chick Reads - The Hanged Man by P.N. Elrod

The Hanged Man combines the best of science fiction, Steampunk and mystery together in one action packed story.  Alex is a young woman serving as a crime scene reader in Her Majesty’s Psychic Service.  A Christmas Eve hanging drops Alex into the middle of a governmental crisis, in which she battles traitors, monsters and her own broken family.  With the aid of a reluctant new member of the service, Lt. Brooks, and other reliable accomplices whose descriptions might give away plot points, Alex leads us on an intense adventure through the heart and underground of London.  I loved Pat Elrod’s Vampire File series (if you haven’t read those, get ye to Amazon!) and I‘m hoping HM Psychic Service has many more fine installments on the way.

Mare’s Scale of Literary Wickedness

Wicked Boring         Yawn-don’t bother   

Wicked Good           Don’t run any red lights getting to the library but worth reading

Wicked Cool            Good enough to spend 50 cents for a library hold so you can be the next to read it

Wicked Awesome    So damn good, if your library doesn’t have it, get it from Amazon

Mode of reading: Hard cover book

C’est La Vie! Do What You Love!

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How A Compulsive Reader Rolls

My name is Mare and I’m a compulsive reader.  When there are none of the below outlets for me to peruse, I read posters in the doctors office, signs in the windows of fast food places, those little A-frame advertisements on restaurant tables for seasonal drinks and desserts.  And I’ll read them over and over again until the doctor or the traffic signal or the meal arriving interrupts my obsession.  I’m not looking for a way to cure myself.  Far from it!  I’m embracing all the ways to read!

Books will never go the way of the dinosaur.  There will always be people like me and Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise who will have a soft spot for paper in this increasing age of technological libris. 

Or the people of Milton Keynes, who staged a campaign to empty their library of books, to show the evil town council the need for the Stony Stratford branch library (read story:   http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jan/14/stony-stratford-library-shelves-protest).

Our house is filled with shelves of books and piles of magazines.  I have a standing Saturday morning date at my local library, dropping off what I’ve finished that week and picking up new material.  It thrills me to be the first to put a Newly Acquired book on hold. Sometimes I stop into the bookstore on the ground level and a few times a year they hold book sales, too!  And still, this is not enough for me, the compulsive reader. 

I love the Kindle app on my phone, because even if I’ve found myself in a situation where I don’t have a real book (??!!), I always have something to read (yes, I always have my phone with me…).  I buy books for my Kindle that aren’t in the catalog of my local library.  What my library does have, though, are e-books you can download through Amazon to the Kindle app, which I’ve done several times.  Also, there’s a trend recently for authors to write short stories or novella’s exclusively as e-book content.  They usually run from .99 cents to around $5.99 and serve as welcome little treats between full books.  Read my latest Old School Mare blog post to see how I’m using my actual Kindle device for school: http://oldschoolmare.blogspot.com/2013/07/bonjour-mes-ami.html

  

I have a problem with magazines.  I find them a great temptation and, as stated, have heaping piles of them wherever I sit for more than 10 minutes…  When I bought the Kindle, I was hoping to use that for magazine subscriptions.  What I didn’t realize is that the black and white Kindles don’t support magazines…  Someday I will get a Kindle Fire but for now, my local library has a subscription to Zinio, an online magazine system.  Their selection is limited at this point but I have been able to access issues to read the one or two articles I was interested in without having to pay the $4 or $5 to do so.  Awesome!

The other thing I’ve been doing lately is getting books on CD’s at the library.  I download them to my phone and listen when I’m walking or at other times when I can pay them most of my attention (making jewelry, washing dishes, shaving my legs).  Usually, the books I find on CD’s are things I may not have noticed in my usual sections of the library (mystery and non-fiction/travel), like The Girls of Murder City about the women who the play and movie Chicago are based on and Then Again, Diane Keaton’s autobiography read with good humor and emotion by Keaton herself.

Sometimes I feel like I’ve gone to the Dark Side by embracing alternative reading methods.  My father ran a printing press for most of his working life (it was at a box factory, but a pressman is a pressman…) plus my Day Job is doing payroll for a local shoppers publication that has seen a sharp downturn in recent years.  But I think as the world changes, some things diminish and other things expand in a natural progression.  Writers still write and readers still read and the variety of ways we can partake of words and sentences and paragraphs will always keep the Force strong within us.

Do What You Love!

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Entertainment Saturday (Belated)

Earlene Fowler’s Love Mercy--An appeal for another adventure

I read this book when it first came out and I loved it. The paperback is coming out this Tuesday and in her recent newsletter (view that HERE), Earlene said the publisher hasn’t requested a sequel but I think if you read this book, you’ll want to take another trip with these characters.

Love Mercy is still grieving the loss of her husband when her long lost granddaughter sweeps into town with a stolen banjo and an attitude. (see the entire review on my other blog HERE) The book revolves around 3 women, all with stories to tell and hearts to mend, but it’s not a romance by any stretch of the imagination.

My first brush with Earlene’s work was the Benni Harper quilting mysteries, which take place in Central California and features museum director and rancher Benni, her husband, Gabe, the chief of police and assorted friends and relatives, including her spitfire grandma, Dove. The newest Benni book, State Fair, is also coming out this Tuesday! Hooray! I’ve missed that girl. The Saddlesmakers’ Wife, a stand alone book, was also a good story with a strong heroine.

So, give Love Mercy a read, if you will. Then maybe Earlene’s publisher will beg her for another tale of strong women on the California coast! Here’s where to find it on Amazon.

Do What You Love!

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Saturday Book Blog

This week I finished the second Paul Tremblay book featuring the narcoleptic PI, Mark Genevich, called No Sleep Till Wonderland. Just as good as the first book, it may actually be better in some aspects. Now I’m reading the second Charles Finch book, The September Society, whose lead character is the Sherlock Holmesesque Charles Lenox.

So, today I offer another readers’ source, Shelfari. Maybe you’ve noticed my widget that shows what book I’m reading, over to the left of the blog posts. I saw that widget on another blog and thought it would be so cool to have one on mine. I’m always interested in what people are reading. If there’s a photograph in a magazine with books on shelves or coffee tables, I always try to see what the titles are. I figure if I’m nosey, I mean curious, about what other people read, maybe they’ll be interested in what I’m reading, too.

Shelfari is a website for readers with several features. Mostly, I enter what I’m reading, review the book once I’ve finished it and start the next book. But they also have groups you can join, you can make friends to chat about all things books and there’s a blog. It also posts how many books you’ve read this year and last year at the top of your homepage, which I find kinda cool--it’s almost like I’m in competition with my last year’s self.

I love going to yard sales because I get to see a part of town I might not have discovered otherwise. The same is sometimes true for blog posts~to write this post, I’ve delved into Shelfari more than I have in the last year and a half I’ve been on it. I found that if you call up a book, you can get scads of information on it, including the first line, the locations, cast of characters and table of contents. On another tab of the books info page, you’ll find reviews from other readers, as well as discussions and all of the editions of a book that have been issued. So much book info, so little time!

So, if you’re a bookwork like me, take a look at Shelfari. If nothing else, you can use it to track what you’re reading, like I do. And you may find some new books to brighten your day!

Do What You Love!

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What to Read Saturday

I’m still catching up on some of my favorite mystery series, so I thought I’d write about a reading resource.

At my fave library, I sometimes pick up a publication called Book Pages, with reviews and columns about, what else, books. I always go through it as soon as I get home, to find new things to read and authors to love. And recently, I found out that they also have a website. So even if your library doesn’t offer Book Pages or, heaven forbid, you don’t get to the library that often, you can log on and keep up to date on new books, authors and even book clubs. Do you enjoy writing and want to pursue it? There’s a column for newbie writers. Love book clubs? Contests? Blogs? They’ve got it all!

My favorite features are Meet the Author and Meet the Illustrator, where the artists tell you in their own words about themselves and what they do. As an example:

So, when you’re looking for something new to read, log onto Book Page and have fun browsing and, of course, reading!

Do What You Love!

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Saturday Book Review-My Life in France

I loved Julie and Julia, both the book and the movie. But when I saw in the end credits that the movie was based not only on Julie Powell’s book but also Julia’s My Life in France, I had to reserve it at the library. Published posthumously, Julia’s nephew, accomplished writer Alex Prud’Homme, had helped her sift through letters from her husband, Paul, to his twin brother Charlie and other ephemera from their time in Europe.

Julia and Paul met while working in the Foreign Service and were thrilled to be stationed in Paris. Even non-foodies, like myself, will enjoy her descriptions of their quirky apartment and the friends they make in the City of Light. Naturally, a lot of the book is about food: her studying at the Cordon Bleu, eating at restaurants all over France and preparing recipes for Mastering the Art of French Cooking. As I said, I’m not much of a foodie but I was interested in the story of her collaboration with two French women and the long road to being published.

I also found her husband, Paul, fascinating-he not only worked at his diplomatic job, he was a talented photographer and artist. In fact, the book is full of his photographs--check out the full 2 page spread of their Valentines Day cards throughout the years. And he wholeheartedly supported anything Julia wanted to do--reminds me of my own husband!

The latter part of the book has the Childs traveling back and forth from their Cambridge home to a house they built in Provence. When Paul retired, they made the Cambridge house their main residence and fell into the WGBH show that would make Julia Child a household name in the US--The French Chef.

Even though she collaborated with her nephew, the book is written completely from her perspective. You can hear her voice in every sentence. This book made me yearn to meet her… I guess I’ll just have to settle for watching a few of her French Chef episodes. Or maybe I’ll just buy a DVD of Julie and Julia!

Do What You Love!

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8 Things Thursday

8 Fave Books

1 To Kill a Mockingbird

2 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

3 The Cracker Factory

4 Possession

5 The Stand

6 Snow Falling on Cedars

7 The Little Prince

8 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Do What You Love!

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Bio of a Jewelry Fanatic

I'm Bear Chick and I'm a jewelry addict. I love to buy it and I love to create it. Be kind to me!

As if you didn't already know that, if you've been reading my blog for more than an entry or two. But I joined Blogfire, a guild for blogging ArtFire members, and I need to write a little introduction and bio for the latest Blog Carnival. It occurred to me that I probably haven't actually done anything like that on my blog, so here goes.

As long as I can remember, my mother and grandmother were jewelry fanatics. My grandmother's last gift to me was a shirt box full of her old jewerly. So, the adornment obsession comes naturally.

I came to jewelry making late in life, not believing I could craft anything people would like. But I took one adult ed jewelry class and I was hooked. I've always loved pattern-I can pick out a pattern in the most mundane things-a tile roof, shadows, polka dots. When I first started beading, making patterns of colors and shapes and materials fascinated me. I'd stay up late into the night, stringing, stringing, stringing. Now I've branched out into other things, like chain making, which is Pattern Nirvana! But I've also been doing a Charm N Bead series of necklaces and bracelets that are as random as I'll ever get-I admit, I place the charms in somewhat of a design, but the beads are totally random!

I sell my creations on ArtFire (chains and a Charm N Bead or two) and Etsy (beaded jewelry and artwork). This spring I'm planning on upgrading my show booth to go out into the world and do some shows again in the summer/fall. I love to do custom work because it's like a puzzle, especially when someone comes to me with the materials to make something--that's my kind of challenge.

In my life outside of jewelry, I work full time for a Shoppers Guide publisher, where I just celebrated my 20th anniversary. I've been in payroll most of that time, first doing actual payroll checks and now more into the auditing side of the department. 20 years is a long time and I'm happy to say the people I work with have made that time fly by.

I've been married for 28 1/2 years to the nicest guy on the planet. The Husband works at a SoCal amusement park, playing banjo and robbing trains and he's my biggest supporter. We have two crazy cats, who enjoy keeping us up at night. We love to travel and can occasionally agree on what to watch on TV.

Reading is one of my biggest pleasures. Books, magazines, blogs. If it's got words, I'll read 'em, even backwards and upside down!

So, that's my story. I'm looking forward to reading all my fellow BlogFire members' bio's now!

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