Sunday, July 3, 2011

Book Talk,Rambling and a Contest too

I am reading a few different books right now. I tend to flip from book to book, depending on where I am reading and my mood. So it is not unusual for me to have 4 or 5 books going at the same time. A lot of my friends ask me how I do that. In reality I thought everybody read like this. I don't get characters or plots confused. I think it is because I tend to look at books as  friends. My favorites become family. Your friends and family are made up of all different characters with all different plots going on. Generally you don't confuse them. Thinking about the reactions that confusing my family/friends could cause just distracted me and I had to laugh.  That could really cause some major fireworks. My circle is made up of a variety of types of people. I tend to take you as you are and not worrying about changing you. I mean if you choose to be with someone on any level doesn't that mean you like them? So why change them? Wouldn't that turn them into someone you have a chance of not liking? I digress. I do that often. Expect it. 

So I have been reading Half-Assed: A Weight Loss Memoir by Jennette Fulda. I have been reading it since June 15th. Don't take that as a sign of anything though. I tend to get distracted easily, (see above). This type of book is usually difficult for me. I have my own issues with weight. It is not a bad book. I did enjoy it. The author writes with humor and wasn't afraid to write about the touchy subjects. She has had an amazing weight loss. Her journey is interesting. I liked that she doesn't give out a specific diet plan. I'm not impressed with diets. Diets are like vacations. They are for a specific amount of time and when they are over you need another one to recover from the one you just had. I like that she stresses it is a lifestyle change. The message is find what you can live with and do it. Or that is the message I got. 

I am also reading Mindbenders by Ted Krever. This is a different choice for me. I found it on Good Reads. The author offered to send it free. Free is good. The plot does intrigue me. It is set in the Everglades. It opens up with a murder and a mystery. Two friends of the dead man, (not actually friends with each other as one was a hermit and the other is suffering from some major PTSD ). The hermit is a legend of a Soviet mind control program who disappeared. The story is set 20 years after this disappearance.  Greg is a vet who has been home from the Middle East for a year. He is suffering some major memory loss.  Uncle Dave, the dead guy, used Greg as a vessel to store information subconsciously. Information Max, the hermit, can tap into. It is fiction based upon facts. Major governments have been experimenting with the human mind for years. I think far more than we are comfortable admitting. Mr Krever, I think, has done an awesome job. I am hooked into this story and, as I said, it is not a first choice read for me. I would recommend this book and I haven't even finished it yet.

The third and final book I am reading is one I wrote about on Friday. Rose Pressey's Rock 'n' Roll is Undead. I need a fun read thrown in about now. After Desperate Times and now Mindbenders, I could get paranoid, ( as I am already demented this could be bad - or really funny). Ms. Pressey will save me from that I am sure. I had fun reading her other books and have noticed her growth as a writer with each one. I did make an error on Friday. I was under the impression Rock 'n' Roll is Undead was book 2 in the Mystic cafe Series. It is not. I apologize for that error. 

Now for the contest, which ties in nicely with my last book. Rose Pressey is offering you the chance to be a character in her next Mystic Cafe Series book. The winner will also receive autographed books and advanced reading of the book. The winner will also be interviewed on her blog. For information on this contest please go to  http://rosepressey.com/blog/2011/07/01/contest-be-a-character-in-the-next-mystic-cafe-book/#comments and follow her instructions. 

There will be more contest coming up. I am in the process of developing one of my own. I am thinking of making it where you need to leave a comment containing a snarky bit you found in a book that you found amusing. What do you think?                                                 

Review: Inheriting Murder: A Bobwhite Mountain Cozy Mystery

Inheriting Murder: A Bobwhite Mountain Cozy Mystery by Jamie Rutland Gillespie My rating: 5 of 5 stars ...