July Book Buys!

This month has been diverse and fun in the way of book purchases; in the way that I bought books I really want to read instead of ones that I might read at some point in the future.

Yes, I'm one of those book collectors.

Well, the first book I bought was at my craft group and it was 'A Prisoner of Birth' by Jeffrey Archer. Now the blurb on the back of this book sounded great and so I grabbed this book for this reason; not because I'm a huge fan (which I'm not). And I've been past his house while I was holidaying in the UK.... and what a house he owned at that time! Well, before he had to sell it to pay for legal fees.

The second book was received through the mail - 'Coffee House Lies' by Carly Berg. It was a Bookcrossing bookray I have taken part in of flash fiction... now when it comes to short fiction, I really savour it and take my time reading it. I love to enjoy these books. So, I'm one of those who will probably take about a month to read something that will take about two weeks to read for somebody else. And being an author of flash fiction - creepy flash fiction - I find this book of light work refreshing.

I got my third book, 'Immortal Espionage' by Debbie Behan off the author herself for $20 at my writer's group. I'm up to page 50 and am savouring this book totally. I've proofread a bit of this book, so have been able to know how some of it goes; however, up until around the part of where I'm up to is all I got up to... after this, I'm on my own.

There's one Stephen King book I didn't own until around two weeks ago. 'Lisey's Story' was the book; and I had heard mixed reviews about it... really mixed reviews. So, when I found this book in a box at my craft group, in amongst a collection of Stephen King books I had already read and collected), I just had to have it. So, I scratched together $2.00 and bought it. Now, it's sitting on my shelf - along with 5 other Stephen King books - waiting for me to open its pages, waiting for me to read it.

So, there you go... my book buys this month!  How did you go this month? Did you buy books just for the sake of buying them or did you buy books you have been hankering for for years? Until my next post, happy reading.

Animal-Loving Books To Read

I love animals - adore them - and it's always a totally different experience when it comes to reading about them in a storyline of a book.

So, here's a list on Buzz Feed of the 51 books which are must-read if you love animals... however I found there were a few which they missed out on, some I thought shouldn't have been there and the list could have been longer.

Books To Read With Animals In Mind

Until my next post, happy reading.

My Writing World Right Now

Just before I caught this bug going around, I was running around looking at publishing places, talking to fellow writers, bought some of their writings and attended an open day at InHouse Publishers as well as a couple of book launches.

Yep, I was right into the writer's world of bliss... I love this part of my world; as well as the solitary part of it where I disappear into my home office, close that door to the rest of the outside world and build the worlds inside my books.

I know it seems easier to have a world like that to exist in - but really, it's so good to know there are people out there who are just like me, who vanish from their everyday lives into a part of their houses to work on their books - whether they are fiction or non-fiction.

However, what I'm working on now is non-fiction and very much for somebody who I care for very much: my niece, Riley. She spotted my book on my phone titled: 'Riley's Book' and she wanted to know what it was about. Being a person who has never lied to her since she was born, I told her about it; saying that now she's so settled that maybe I might stop writing it. But she surprised me and said no, keep writing it! She wanted to read what I had to say about life, its rules and how I saw it from my views. She wants to have something that was personally hers from somebody who cared enough to start something like a book on life for her.

Have you ever done this kind of thing for somebody like this? If so, did it work out, and how did it go? Until my next post, happy reading.

Reading When You're Sick

Well, yeah, I'm not well right now.  I've come down with that horrible, dreadful cold that's been going around - and this is something I don't normally catch. 

Normally, I catch this after it's gone around to everyone, and I'm the very last person in Queensland - nay, Australia - to get it!

So, this year, I thought to be different and be the first to catch it to get it over and done with.  In truth, I've been on the go with different projects, the markets, books, and other things going on in my life so much that I haven't really slowed down - and my immune system has suffered for it; so I it's all caught up with me.

Yeah, I looked over my 365Project site and found I really haven't stopped for anything but to sleep and eat and - well - that's about it.

So, I've been down and out with this horrible cold/flu thingy for the last three days, haven't slept much for the first two nights and just last night, I crashed and slept for almost eight hours... this is a good change. So good in fact that when I woke up this morning, I almost jumped out of bed because of the energy I had... very cool!

But yesterday, I sat down for around 2 hours and read a book from my childhood.  It was a 'Jinty' Classic comic book and I loved it!  I felt so good in myself to just slow down and enjoyed not needing to do anything just because I was home and things needed to be done. 

Of course things need to be done.

However, I can't get everything done in one day... but reading is also very important to me as well. And to have a great reading chair in my possession and in my home is something to keep myself from rushing around so much. It's a thing to help me slow down; to help me recover from this horrible cold (well, besides eating everything not nailed down and watching hours of television in the afternoon too!). 

So, what do you do when you're down and out with a cold or flu? You know what I'm up to now I'm not well.  Until my next post, happy reading!

Health Benefits From Reading

Don't you love it when you find out that your passion for reading and books is actually healthy for you?

Well, us readers already knew it was healthy - but some people out there who teased us for being a 'book worm' and a 'nerd' didn't.  And now, they're struggling to get into reading when we're leagues ahead of them... 

... now we won't call them any names, because we're above that, but it's a level playing field when it comes to books and reading.  However, I found out there's a list of great health benefits to being an avid reader in this article! 

The next best thing I've found while wandering around on that site was that I found out being an author is a job people really want to be.

But unless you've really put yourself out there, a lot of people don't know how hard it is to get published. I've been trying to put my work into print since I was 15 years old and I'm still not published and I'm in my 40's now... yep, it's hard. So, here's the great article on that topic too.

Well, I hope you enjoy those articles I dug up about writing and reading.  Until my next post, happy reading.

Books-a Travellin' With Me

I love to travel and I love to read... thus meaning when I go on holidays, I take some books with me. However, I do come home with a box - or two - more in the boot of the car.

Last Thursday, I stayed overnight at a friend's house to work on a new painting and took a couple of books with me to read before bed. However that never happened - even though I put the Kurt Vonnegut bok on the bed with my glasses case next to it. Instead, I just snuggled down under the covers with my hand on the book and closed my eyes 'for a second' and crashed.

I woke up to my alarm at 6am the next morning in the dark with the book and my glasses case neatly on the floor next to my bed. My friend's husband had come in to turn off my light and found my attempt to read my book 'rather charming' and took it upon himself to make sure I didn't harm the book or my glasses case and put them onto the floor for me.  Yeah, I have great friends who know I love my books enough to not want to leave them where I'd probably damage them - or my glasses case.

But I do love to travel with my reading material so when I do get the time to read, I can just sit and read. What books to you love to take with you when you go on holidays? A bit of suspense and thrills? Or do you love being scared by some horror? Or are you at the other end of the scale where you're a big romantic? Me?  I love to read short stories and some non-fiction about writing and publishing. Until my next post, happy reading!