Book Blitz

Today was a good day in the book world for me. I went and saw my old college buddy Gene and his lovely wife Jaci [ children's lit professor ]  at Motte and Bailey Bookshop.

I'm lucky that after nearly thirty years, I ended up in a town where my bookcrazy friend has a bookstore. I have library card #009 from his college lending library he set up with another book fan Mr. Dibble in 1986.

I love buying books. Gene always has some real charmers. The process is made more enjoyable now because I get to buy books for grandchildren.

The picture is a selection of some of this year's works. Cheeto is inspecting the glue back binding of a volume of research papers regarding Roman military settlements. Not everything I buy is for the grand kids.

I also bought this :

I have been looking for a copy now for three or four years and asked Gene to find me one. He luckily had one from just this week on his new arrivals shelf in pristine condition. All of his books are nice but this year I found several I don't think have even been opened. This _Once and Future King_  ( T.H White) may have been opened but has never been read. Great find.

Laying these out for the picture reminds me that I had a conversation briefly (online) last week with a couple of authors I respect. They were lamenting the shilling necessary by mid-listers to get their books in front of readers. This is an evil I do not yet know but will perhaps endure should I be fortunate enough to publish a novel or two. It occurred to me how much we readers depend on other "lead readers" whose opinions we trust. It also made me realize that I've become one of those lead readers as my friends ask for book recommendations quite frequently.

So, I should set aside a bit over at the side of this blog for books of note I have read recently, books a writer should re-read, and books in queue. I think once a week I'll talk a little about the books outlined and mention their appeal. I read widely - too widely for my own good - and have always been blessed with being a fast reader. I took two literature classes in high school for three or four consecutive semesters and took one or two local college literature courses simultaneously. I would read before school, at lunch, and late into the evening. With exercise, the young get by with very little sleep. I lived on four or five hours for years. Now I need to dream more than I used to. It helps organize things. 

Anyway - I think a little book discussion of the reading and a chance for others to suggest their current projects is an excellent idea. We'll do that this week.

Now - off to sausages and writing. Nothing like a big plate of sausages before grinding some fiction text into shape. The process of constructing both is much the same. Keep your fingers and toes away from the grinder, ladies and gentlemen. This isn't a drill for amateurs.