Life is so busy, yet my heart-strings pull me to reading. I read many things, not just books, and listen to many things too. Lately, I’ve read a lot of magazine and newspaper articles and listened to podcasts of books and short stories and radio classic broadcasts.
A few years back, a dear friend, George, passed away unexpectedly. During the cleaning, clearing, and redistribution of his things, I was lucky enough to receive a pile of old magazines. I have thought about digging into those mags and seeing what treasures are buried there. But, that idea keeps getting pushed back on the “never-ending-to-do” list.
Then, yesterday, while skimming the New York Times, I came across this article about a serious collection of magazines owned by James Hyman of The Hyman Archive – All Good Magazines Go to Heaven. A fascinating read and as I read, I realized a visit to this archive would probably cause me to lose months from my life as I would get lost reading. Do yourself a favor, read this article and learn about The Hyman Archive.
During the free book give-away of The Fire Within, a reader reached out to me on my FaceBook Author page and asked me about the idea of exchanging reviews. The reader, Gino Cox, is an author too.
I’m a slow reader and its mainly due to the huge amount of reading I must do for my technical writing gigs that pay for my writing habit. Gino Cox is the author of Ice Cold. It is a good read. I’m about twenty percent through. Gino is patiently waiting on my review. As a sneak peek…get the book! It is one hell-of-a-ride. The Iceman is Ice Cold with revenge on his mind. The narrative is full of twists and turns. Just the kind of book you would enjoy.
Recently, while sitting in the Martin room, it dawned on me why I’m not checking off as many books on my reading list as I’ve done in the past. I’m no longer driving an hour back-n-forth from work every day. When I drove to work, I’d listen to books on tape. I miss that. It saved me all kinds of time and I was able to ‘hear’ many good books.
A good book I’ve ticked away at reading in small chunks is by one of my favorite authors, Sue Grafton. The book is W – W is for Wasted. Kinsey is at it again and it is such a good escape. Sadly, my slow reading has me several letters behind in Grafton’s series. If you’ve not read her series featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone, you are in for a treat.
A writing book I picked up and have found not only informative to read but a fun read too is James Scott Bell’s How to Write Pulp Fiction. His opening description:
“Type Hard. Type Fast. Make Dough. That was the formula of old-school pulp fiction—plot-driven, popular and gobbled up by a reading public hungry for more.”
sets the stage for an excellent learning experience. Of course, I’m very partial to his writing and love his fiction work as well. The link to his Pulp Fiction book will open doors to all of his work. If you enjoy a good thriller, his Mike Romeo thriller series is a must read.
As for audio listening, I do love listening to Radio Classics on Sirius-XM radio following Greg Bell’s wonderful playlists as well as a variety of podcasts, such as Myths and Legends by Jason Weiser.
Update:
The Owl, the Sword, & the Efil Stone – Book One of The Chronicles of Eldershire
- Book signing is set for Friday, February 23 at Petals of Wytheville from 5 to 7 p.m.
- eBook and print book to be released on Friday, February 23
- Map of Eldershire for you to enjoy while reading book one
- Words of Eldershire concordance
The countdown continues — today is 184!
Read & Write On!
Hot dog…the blog is back!!! Was devastated that we lost Sue Grafton before she finished her alphabet series. She finished “Y” but only got as far as the title of what would have been the last one, “Z is for Zero.” And she made sure nobody would do it under her name or anything. (But at least one lady in one of the Wytheville library’s book clubs has started a rumor that “Z is for Zero” is somewhere in the library so she can see how many people look for it!)
Thanks, Paul for welcoming my blog back. I slipped a little on my plan to blog weekly, but I managed to get to in this month. We’ll see how well I do in February. I’m taking it one month at a time. 🙂 As you, the passing of Sue Grafton was a huge heartbreak. And, I’m sad the “Z is for Zero,” will not be written. Ms. Grafton did her writing her way, which is one reason I admired her so much. For that, having the alphabet end at “Y,” is not a bad thing. “Z is for Zero,” is a wonderful short-short-short story too. My regret is that I never had the privilege of meeting her in person. I’d followed her for a long time. Write on my friend!