I found a new romance writer that I love!

I love it when I find a new author! I just finished Lisa Kleypas's new novel Smooth Talking Stranger and I enjoyed every minute of it. Kleypas had, to this point, only written historical fiction which isn't one of my strong reading interests. But I picked up Smooth Talking Stranger on the suggestion of a friend, and it is one of the best novels I have read in long time. Its got all the key elements for a good love story: Jack is a rich but down to earth Texas playboy, Ella, his polar opposite, is an environmentalist vegan, Luke is the requisite adorable baby they are both trying to help. Jack and Ella's different views of life clash into some steamy sex scenes that are just graphic enough to make you wish you had a man like Jack in your life. Then there is a tragedy toward the end of the book that turns everyone's life completely around. I very much enjoyed this novel and believe that anyone who likes a good romance will too. But, please read Sugar Daddy and Blue Eyed Devil first; the books are not really a "series," but if you start with Smooth Talking Stranger like I did, you'll have to catch up with Jack's family on your own. Reading Sugar Daddy and Blue Eyed Devil first will give you that introduction.

Non-fiction That Reads Like Fiction

For the most part I think of myself as a fiction reader - but what I really am is a "good" story reader. Any good story! Give me a riveting, what-happens-next plot and I'm hooked. The following are non-fiction titles that 'read' like fiction. The kind you can't put down. Give these a try:

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
A Trip to the Beach by Melinda Blanchard
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Drinking a Love Story by Caroline Knapp
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Horatio's Drive by Dayton Duncan
Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury
Ice Bound by Jerri Nielsen
Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
Lucky by Alice Sebold
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

Do you have favorite non-fiction titles? Please share with us!

Thank You for Supporting the Library!

Here at CML, and at libraries all across the city, we have truly been humbled by the outpouring of support that has come from you, our customers. We don't know what the outcome will be of the state budget, but you did your part to make your opinion heard: 35,000 emails were sent to state legislators! Obviously, they have some hard work ahead of them, but we also thank them for listening. Over the next few weeks we will keep you updated as things unroll.

Thank you for proving how vital libraries and the services we provide are to the community! Thank you for helping to save Ohio libraries!

Listened to a Good Book Lately?

The first audio book I took a chance on and listened to was Marley and Me by Josh Grogan. Before this I hadn’t really seen the point in listening to a book. I thought I would miss out on the experience of turning the pages and reading the book. I thought I would zone out from the book as I tend to do with the radio sometimes. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed listening to Marley’s mischievous tales on my 30 minute commute to work.

Over the years I’ve now listened to many audio books. One set that stands out are the Harry Potter series. The narrator on these, Jim Dale, does an amazing job of animating the characters in the series. I had been curious about the HP series for sometime but hadn’t gotten around to reading them. Listening to the first few got me into the series.

Often I find with audio books that the narrator can make or break the listening experience. Maybe I just have high expectations since listening to Jim Dale who was so amazing that he had me hooked on audio books. How do you feel about audio books? Do you prefer books on tape or books on CD? What was the last book you listened to? If you haven’t listened to a book, give it a try, share your experience.

Current read: Snog a Puppy’s Guide to Love by Rachael Hale.

[Image by Jeff Daly; some rights reserved]

We are lucky to have good libraries

My first memory of going to a library was in elementary school when we would march down the hall in a single file line trying to be as quiet as we possibly could because the library was some kind of sacred place. The librarian gave us wooden sticks with our names on them for when we pulled a book off the shelf to look at, we could return it to the proper spot. My grandmother first took me to the Hilliard library back when it was on Main St. I think there is a gas station or pizza place there now. It was a quiet place with that distinct book smell that I came to love. I was amazed that you could have this flimsy little card and take anything you wanted home with you. From my elementary school training, I knew that you should never eat or drink while reading a library book and bending the corner of the page to mark your place was a no-no.

As I got older, my interests grew and the library could always provide me with the education that my school and teachers didn't offer. I could learn about art, history, foreign lands, languages, astronomy, philosophy, religion, etc. I would often go and browse the shelves for anything that looked interesting. My only restriction was that once I had more than I could carry, I had to stop and check them out. I think my arms are longer than they should have been as a result. No matter what subject interested me at the time, I knew that I could go to the library and learn everything about it.

When I got older, I went to work for the library. I really could look ahead and see myself surrounded by books and knowledge the rest of my days. The library of today is a bit different than it was when I first went as a child. Now material is offered in different formats. You can listen to books or download them onto a reading device. The old card catalogs have been replaced with computerized versions which make searching faster and sometimes more confusing. There are Internet computers at all locations where a world of information is at your fingertips if you know where to look. The dusty reference tomes that occupied shelf after shelf (you know, the ones you couldn't check out) are now replaced with online versions that you can access from your very own home.

Working for the library, I have a different perspective than I had when I was just a visitor. I still see kids that remind me of myself who are curious about the world around them and love to dive into the next book that they just can't put down. There are the people who come in wanting to learn about specific subjects and aren't sure where to begin. There are also people who have lost their jobs and gave up their Internet service to save money who depend on the library to search for jobs online and apply. We often get people coming in who have never had to use a computer in their life and discover that so many things have gone online and you can no longer just fill out a paper form, visit an office or dial a phone. There are people who rely on the library computers for e-mail so they can maintain contact with family members in the military.

The library provides study materials so people can either get their GED, get certified for careers such as nursing and teaching as well as civil service exams. At the beginning of each quarter or semester for local colleges and universities, we are inundated with calls from students hoping to find even one book from their syllabus so they don't have to blow their budget on a $100 textbook.

That is why it is so disappointing to see that Governor Strickland has looked to raid the funding for public libraries to balance Ohio's budget. Libraries have been hit hard in this decade and have been getting by on less and less with each passing year. There was a time when you could request that the library purchase a certain book or movie or cd and we would. Now, we are lucky to be able to provide what is popular. If the governor's budget goes through, CML's budget will be cut in half. It is unfortunate that some child out there might no longer be able to go to his or her local library due to us having to close a branch or a job seeker having to go further away from home to submit job applications. Please contact Governor Strickland, your state representative and state senator and let them know how you feel about the library.

Help Your Library!

If you enjoy your summer reading as much as we do here at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, then please help us out! Governor Strickland is set to launch his proposal to fill Ohio’s $3.2 billion dollar shortfall in the state budget. Among many reductions, he has recommended the elimination of $200+ million from the Public Library Fund over the next two years. His proposal will have a drastic impact on all 251 public libraries in Ohio and on CML in particular. In basic terms, this will reduce CML's state funding by 50%. We cannot absorb this additional cut without serious repercussions to our organization. In fact, it unavoidably means we may have to close branches and/or significantly reduce hours of operation.

Help CML keep its libraries open and help us continue to offer the many services we provide to the community. You can take action today! We have only days to make an impact, but we can do it! Here are some steps you can take to help:

1. Send an email today to your legislator.


2. Ask everyone you know to send an email to the addresses below. Since we anticipate that legislator electronic mailboxes may be full, try to also send a letter today or tomorrow.


3. Keep yourself educated about developments. Read the newspaper and watch news on TV. Follow statewide updates from the Ohio Library Council.

Most importantly, make sure you support your local library and the services it offers. To quickly contact your legislators and senators all at once, go HERE.

Ohio House of Representatives:

• Marian Harris, District 19 -- district19@ohr.state.oh.us


• Nancy Garland, District 20 -- district20@ohr.state.oh.us


• Kevin Bacon, District 21 -- district21@ohr.state.oh.us


• John Patrick Carney, District 22 -- district22@ohr.state.oh.us


• Cheryl Grossman, District 23 -- district23@ohr.state.oh.us


• Ted Celeste, District 24 -- district24@ohr.state.oh.us


• Dan Stewart, District 25 -- district25@ohr.state.oh.us


• Tracey Maxwell Heard, District 26 -- district26@ohr.state.oh.us


• W. Carlton Weddington, District 27 -- district27@ohr.state.oh.us

Ohio Senators:

• David Goodman, 3rd District -- SD03@senate.state.oh.us


• Ray Miller, 15th District -- rmiller@maild.sen.state.oh.us


• Jim Hughes, 16th District -- SD16@senate.state.oh.us

My "True Blood" Dilemma

Last year I watched the first season of the HBO series "True Blood." I liked it. It was sexy and cool and a little scary and had great characters. It didn't take long to find out the show is based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris (referred to alternately as the "Southern Vampire Mysteries" or the "Sookie Stackhouse novels"), and after the season ended I decided to give the books a shot. Season One of the show followed the plot of the first book (Dead Until Dark) pretty closely, and there's my dilemma: Do I want to be surprised by the show or by the books? I'm leaning toward the show. I'm suprised to be saying this, but the show actually does a better job developing the secondary characters than the books do. When the killer in the first season was revealed I was completely shocked and a bit dismayed by who it was (I won't say who; no spoilers!), while in the book he was just one of a lot of background characters who were just kind of there. I have read books two and three in the series but I think I will hold off on the rest until I watch Season Two (which starts June 14) and see how closely it sticks to the books. I'm really hoping the books and show stories will start to diverge (as the Dexter books and series did) and I will be able to enjoy and be surprised by both in the future.

The Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris is an enjoyable read: lightweight, romance-y, some violence but not over the top. A good recommendation for someone who's finished the Twilight series.

Murder and Mayhem in Rural Georgia

A few years back, I started reading a series by Karin Slaughter. The book I picked up was actually the second in the series (hate it when that happens) but it was so good I read it and then went back and got the first book. Now I patiently await Ms. Slaughter's newest offering each summer. The series, Grant County is named for a fictional county in Georgia. The main characters are Sara Linton, a pediatrician who also serves as the county's medical examiner which puts her in constant contact with her ex-husband Jeffrey Tolliver who is the sheriff of Grant County. Their marriage ended several years earlier when she came home early one day to discover him in bed with another woman. Aside from the various crimes that go on in this county such as a kiddie porn ring, meth trafficking, white supremacist groups, religious cults and a hostage situation at the sheriff's office we see Jeffrey and Sara grow closer and give their marriage a second chance. Another major character in the series is Detective Lena Adams. Lena is Jeffrey's protege but she has a chip on her shoulder being a woman in a field dominated by men. She feels she has to be tougher than everyone else and is often abrasive, especially in her dealings with Sara. Lena is the opposite of Sara in that she didn't grow up with a traditional family. Her parents died when she was young leaving her and her blind twin sister in the care of their drug-addicted uncle. In the first book Blindsighted, Lena's sister is found murdered in the bathroom of a diner. As medical examiner, Sara finds similarities to a crime perpetrated against herself while she was completing her medical training in Atlanta. The rest of the series is as follows: Kisscut, A Faint Cold Fear, Indelible, Faithless and Beyond Reach.

In 2006, the author began a second series around a minor character from some of the Grant County books named Will Trent, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. This second series is set in Atlanta. The first book Triptych deals with a serial killer on the loose. There is a twist to this book near the beginning that caught me off guard, but made it that much more interesting. Slaughter has a talent for creating characters that you care about and this book is full of them. John Shelley was sent to prison as a teenager for the brutal murder of a school friend while he was on drugs. He always maintained his innocence and the only person who ever believed in him was his mother. He suffered a great deal in prison and was recently parolled. He wants to make a new life for himself, but someone is trying to frame him for these new crimes. He must find out who it is and somehow find out what really happened all those years ago. Will Trent is a tall, lanky aloof sort that no one really knows how to deal with but he is really good at his job. His demeanor helps him to hide the fact that he is dyslexic and his childhood left him feeling separated from other people. He grew up in an orphanage after being taken from his abusive father. He was never adopted but was always hopeful. His only friend is a fellow survivor of the orphanage, vice cop Angie Pulaski who lost hope early on and became bitter. Angie and Will share a bond and can always count on each other. The second book in this series is Fractured which centers around the murder of one teenage girl, the disappearance of another and the fatal shooting of an innocent young man thought to be the perpetrator in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood. In this book, Will is paired with Atlanta PD Detective Faith Mitchell. She resents being assigned to work the case with the enigmatic Will. Faith, like Lena in the Grant County series has a chip on her shoulder as well. She is in her early thirties but is the mother of a college-aged son. As they work the case, they develop mutual respect and she discovers his secret but doesn't expose him. It looks like Faith will be Will's partner in future books.

Undone is Karen Slaughter's latest and it will be released on July 14, 2009. It looks like characters from both series work together on a case. I can't say more without giving away what happened in the last Grant County book, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Why am I enjoying this?

Did you ever read a book and think "This isn’t my usual style, why am I enjoying this so much?" So it is with me and J.R. Ward’s Dark Brotherhood series. I am elated to have in my hands the newest title in the series Lover Avenged. For anyone unfamiliar with the series; it’s an urban fantasy series, set in a futuristic time period. The main characters are the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a group of super-strong vampires who defend their race from attack by the Lessening Society. The books are dark, violent, intense, and absolutely compelling. I don’t read this kind of stuff! And yet, I cannot put them down once I start. Each book starts with a vocabulary list and a mock family tree of the Brotherhood. Again, I read for pure entertainment; I don’t read books so detailed that I need a vocabulary to keep everything straight! And yet, J.R. Ward has completely wormed her way onto my bookshelf. Anyone else ever find themselves totally enjoying something completely out of their usual reading comfort zone?

CML Catalog - Word Clouds

Do you ever use the word cloud on CML's catalog? I often get questions from people about its purpose. The cloud on CML's website is a discovery cloud, which means it gives you a chance to explore different subjects. Some clouds are refinement clouds, which give you fewer search results that are increasingly specific. The Nashville Public Library's catalog has an example of a refinement cloud. Note the word "discovery" by our catalog's word cloud, and "refine by tag," on the right side of the screen on Nashville's catalog.

Both types of clouds can be useful. If you're not really sure what you're in the mood for, the discovery cloud can give you some interesting subjects. You can go from books about roses to mausoleums to Macbeth to machete. It's probably the library nerd in me, but I find the subjects used in cataloging really interesting. However, if you know exactly what you're searching for and the cloud is only getting in your way, you can minimize it by hitting the arrow above the cloud.

My Summer Ambition: Read a Classic

Each summer I try to read a classic novel. Of course, opinions vary on what constitutes a classic novel. You can go online and find list after list, but I go by the criterion of whether or not this is something I should have read in high school or college. You know what I mean...those books that are assigned year after year that you were either lucky enough not to be assigned or you just read something else. I also like to reread books that I read when I was much younger. Maybe it is just the fact that I have more life experience and perspective now than I did as a teenager, but they read like a brand new story.

When I was fourteen, I read Steinbeck's East of Eden. It is a kind of retelling of the Cain and Abel story from the Bible. Adam Trask favors one of his sons over the other with unfortunate results. The story is set in California's Salinas Valley around the turn of the last century. I read it again a few years ago when Oprah chose it to be the first book in her new book club featuring classics. Whatever happened to that, by the way? It seemed that the characters I liked when I was younger didn't stand out as much to me while others came to the forefront. The story had so many more layers and richness than I realized all those years ago. I had a similar experience with F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby which was a book report assignment in high school that I grudgingly read and didn't really like. I picked it up again years later determined to find out why people still recommend it. It is now one of my favorite books. If you have also read and liked it, I would highly recommend Chris Bohjalian's The Double Bind.

Another favorite of mine is D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. I think a lot of people know about this because it was banned for many years for being sexually explicit. While there are some sex scenes in the book, it is almost tame when compared to some contemporary writing. While it was published in 1928, it reads like something written more recently. It is a powerful story about the breakdown of the class system in England after World War I and how people had to find new ways to live in a world turned upside down with a little hanky panky thrown in for good measure. I find myself drawn to books about that time period. W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge is the story of an American who served in the Great War and it changed the trajectory of his life. He was no longer able to go back to Chicago and pick up where he left off. He couldn't marry his sweetheart and live the life he had planned prior to the war. Instead he travels the world and lives in the moment and studies Eastern philosophy trying to find some meaning in the fact that he lived when so many others did not.

Of course, there have been some books I have attempted and just could not get through. I've tried The Brothers Karamazov, An American Tragedy, Anna Karenina and The Sun Also Rises, but they didn't do anything for me. I don't let it discourage me from trying these kinds of books. Life is too short to force yourself to read something you don't like. There is always another good book waiting. This summer I am thinking of trying either The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and maybe Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut.

Humor in the way we used to live

I was a child in the 1970's and from what I remember, it was not a particularly attractive decade. Who could forget 100% polyester clothing, avocado green kitchen appliances and the Ford Pinto? My mother and grandmother were very much into sewing and crocheting and I grew up wearing some interesting concoctions which were quite tame when compared to what I found in a book called The Museum of Kitschy Stitches by Stitchy McYarnpants. The author has collected old pattern books and leaflets for crochet and knitting from the 1970's and early 1980's. Having seen this, I am thankful that no one ever crocheted a pants suit for me. The book is full of models wearing the finished products with some witty commentary.

Interior design in the 1970's is the subject of James Lileks's Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible 70's. Did anyone else live in a house with shag carpeting? My shag carpeting had nothing on the high-pile monstrosities in some of these homes. One photo shows someone's prized living room with all white furniture, a huge coffee table with three giant ashtrays that looked like dog food dishes. Lileks has tackled other cultural phenomena from our collective past including Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery. There is picture after picture of strange chunks suspended in a gelatinous loaf of some sort. In Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice, Lileks reveals America's obsession with the regularity of its children and the many products on the market to make it happen. Also, I am amazed that any of us are still alive considering one particular product advertised as an infant bed for those long car trips which was basically a cloth-covered cardboard box that you would place, unsecured, in the back seat.

The Legacy of Indiana Jones

I’ve always been fascinated by archaeology. Most of the blame for that can fall squarely on the broad and handsome shoulders of Indiana Jones. I loved the movies as a child, and when Jurassic Park – both the book and the movie – gained popularity, that only cemented my desire to spend my life in the dirt making fascinating discoveries and running from death cults and rampant dinosaurs.

Obviously, that never happened. We almost never end up in the jobs we think we will, do we? I discovered that I prefer the air-conditioned stacks of a library to the dust and insects and discomfort of an outside job like archaeology. Thanks to writers like Elizabeth Peters and her Amelia Peabody series, however, I can still indulge my interest in all things Egypt while staying out of the sun.

Peters introduces us to Amelia Peabody, an independent and unorthodox British woman in the late 1880s who travels to Egypt and falls in love with pyramids, the country and its people. She also unexpectedly falls in love with an equally unorthodox archaeologist named Radcliffe Emerson. The series follows Amelia and her family through many adventures and misadventures with a dry wit and an engaging style that make for quick, fun reads.

You can meet Amelia in the first book of the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. If you share my interest in Egypt, you might also want to check out the summer-long Egypt in Columbus program.

Read On

Since I started working for the library almost four years ago, I never feel like I’m reading enough. Books have always been a big part of my life but during college I never seemed to find the time to read for pleasure. During the school year I was reading only textbooks and then during breaks I never found the time to sit down and enjoy a book. I started working for CML my junior year of college and right away remembered how much I used to love to read.

The first few weeks I worked for the library, I was taking home stacks of books. I was still in school though so I wasn’t reading as quickly as I used to. At some point I came up with a system of keeping a list of all the books that passed in front of me that I wanted to read. I kept this list for many years and then last summer I found out about GoodReads. I’m constantly finding books I want to read, my GoodReads list of “to-read” is usually somewhere around 120. I love this website, it keeps all the books on my list organized and gives me a great place to find new reads. It’s also completely free! All you need is an e mail account, if you don’t have one you can get one through Gmail.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever get through all the books on my “to read” list. I do know I’ll keep trying and keep finding books to read. I just love to read. With the turn of a page you are taken away. Why do you love to read? What kinds of books do you like to read for pleasure?

Current read: Good Grief by Lolly Winston

Become a lover of audiobooks

Ah, audiobooks!
The answer to so many of life's difficulties. They are a multi-tasker's dream:
Want to read more but you're stuck an hour a day commuting? Escape to the islands via audiobooks.
Avoiding painting the living room because it's so boring? Lose yourself in a mystery while you slap on the color.
Dread the 8 hour drive to your vacation destination? Share a classic that everyone loves and arrive relaxed.

A good audiobook does everything your bound book of choice will do and more: there's the added dimension of the voice, the perfect narrator to properly pronounce, to take you to the brink, to withhold or add or flavor, simply with an inflection or a pause. And you're caught, you're right on the edge with them. Or you're holding back tears while you walk. Or you stop in mid-stride, you gasp "oh my" or "oh no".

And those of us who are really hooked want to share, we have to share. We call or email or recommend to strangers. Because it's too good to keep to ourselves. Because when you find other devotees, someone who's obsessed with your author, your narrator, you know you've found a kindred spirit. And you have to make sure they've also listened to ...(well, you fill in the blank).

Do you have this affliction? Then share with me. Recommend authors, titles, narrators. You won't like everything I suggest and vice versa but what fun expanding the possibilities! Feed your addiction while on the move. Remember: life doesn't have to come to a halt in order to enjoy a book.

By the way, the Columbus Metropolitan Library system owns thousands of audiobooks. Visit the library and you'll feel like a kid in a candy store!

Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'N Roll Cannibals

I was reading this amazing book: The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost - and though I picked this book up solely because of its title, the content (which admittedly deals little with sex or cannibals) delivers the goods.

Self-described uber-slacker Maarten decides to follow do-gooder girlfriend Sylvia to the remote South Pacific island of Tarawa, where the tiny atoll's natural beauty has been eroded by mountains of dirty Pamper's diapers sent by well-intentioned (?) capitalist countries.

Troost and Sylvia soon learn to savor the simple pleasures of life on a remote oceanic flyspeck: completing the crossword puzzle in a month-old newspaper, discussing which way to prepare the only island food: fish, and attempting to secure a steady source of cheap beer (the chapter entitled "The Great Beer Crisis" should be required freshman reading).

Initially, I was confused by the title, but after reading Troost's follow-up, Getting Stoned With Savages, I realized that these two books probably started as one, but, wait! - there's more money to be made by splitting them up into two separate titles.

Many books are blurbed with the phrase "laugh out loud funny." Despite his claims of slackerdom, Troost obviously paid attention in school, especially during writing class; his writing is smart and incisive.

Reading a book in five minutes, or judging a book by its cover

I was at the Main Library last week for a training session on Reader's Advisory, which is the art of recommending both fiction and nonfiction books. We learned how interpret the clues from the cover art and blurbs of the book. In addition to skimming the book, those clues can give a good sense of what a book is about. This is called reading a book in five minutes.

I'm sure that's very similar to what a lot of library customers do in order to decide if they want to check out a book. In fact, that's what I did after the class was over. In the new fiction area, I found a book called Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson. I liked the cover art, and the recommendations were made by other authors that I enjoy. It turned out to be a good choice - I really liked the book and would suggest it to anyone who likes Steven Millhauser or Kelly Link.

Do you like a well-written thriller?

A few years ago I found myself between books and didn't know what to read next so I resorted to my tried and true method of just browsing the fiction shelves. I pulled off a few titles that looked interesting. I skimmed the first page of Greg Iles's Dead Sleep and knew I had to read it. Jordan Glass happens upon a controversial art exhibit entitled The Sleeping Women. There is something about the women in the paintings that left the viewer with the impression that their sleep was the more permanent kind. One of the women looks familiar....just like her. A year earlier, Jordan's twin sister vanished without a trace. I really enjoyed that book and have recommended it often over the years.

What I like about Greg Iles is that each book is very well-written and you don't have to read them in any particular order. There are a few characters that pop up from time to time, but only one has been a main character in more than one and that is Penn Cage. Penn Cage first appears in The Quiet Game. He is a former prosecutor who has achieved fame as a writer of legal thrillers. At the opening of The Quiet Game it is not long after his wife died of cancer and his young daughter is not taking it well. He decides the best thing to do is to return to his old hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. While giving an interview to a local reporter who is originally from the north, he is drawn into a conversation about race relations and the way Southerners think. He makes reference to the murder of a local Civil Rights activist in the early 1960's that was never solved. When asked why, he asserts that no one wanted it to be solved even after all these years. The reporter's story appears the next day focused on the unsolved murder and implies that Penn wants to solve it. Needless to say, this doesn't set well with some people in the community and gives hope to others who never thought they would get justice including the man's widow and son. If you liked Grisham's A Time to Kill, you will like The Quiet Game.

Other titles I would recommend by Greg Iles include: True Evil and Turning Angel which are both set in Natchez. On July 7, 2009 his latest The Devil's Punchbowl is due to be released. Be sure to reserve it now!

She did it to me again!

She did it to me again! Every time Nora Roberts starts a new trilogy, I swear that I am not going to read it until all the books have been written and released. And yet, I recently found myself devouring the first book in her latest series Vision in White. It’s a quartet this time, instead of her usual trilogy, but the result is the same; she writes a great book with rich characters and touching friendships, so that I come to care about these people like my own family or friends. Then, I get to the end of the book and have to wait until December to find our how everyone is doing! It is worse than waiting for your favorite author to write a new book, because now I feel invested in these people's lives. Anyone else out there have the same experience? How do you cope with waiting for the next installment in the series?