Bookstores always suck me in…
I don’t know what it is about bookstores that always suck me in, but I can’t just browse I have to buy. Not only buy, but also buy more than I intend.

The other day I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up Susan Johnson’s new book At Her Service. I went specifically to buy her book and that was all, but somehow I walked out of the bookstore with her book and four others.

It’s very rare that I walk out of a bookstore without spending close to a hundred dollars. I blame the tables. Some marketing guru for Barnes and Noble researched people like me and understand that if they group certain types of literature together on tables… people will buy. It’s that whole “If you build it, he will come” concept.

Barnes and Noble built it and I came and bought.

The problem is I get sucked into bookstores more often than I should. But really is that a bad thing? Books stimulate the mind, imagination and transport you to other worlds. Books make you laugh out loud and cry. Books connect you to characters in ways that movies or video games can’t.

Books are definitely a vice of mine, but they’re not a bad habit. Reading has never been bad for you!

Bookstores can suck me in anytime…

Labels: Barnes and Noble, books, bookstores, erotica, impulse buying, Literature, Reading, Susan Johnson

  posted by Matildakay at 10:32 PM 0 comments

Lauded for Her Light Verse
"A bit of trash now and then is good for the severest reader. It provides the necessary roughage in the literary diet."

~Phyllis McGinley, lauded for her light verse.

Labels: daily quote, diet, lauded, light verse, Literary, Phyllis McGinley, Reading, trash, wild women, wild words, Wild words from wild women

  posted by Matildakay at 1:03 PM 0 comments

Sidebar Goodies!
There are a lot of new and exciting things going on in my blog sidebar these days…

I’ve added a widget to my goodreads.com book page so you can check out what I’m reading. I’ll be adding books to this page periodically so keep checking back.

I also added a widget to my new flickr.com page where I’ve begun uploading some of my photos. I’ll be adding more photos as I go through all the photos on my computer. I’ve been wanting to start a flickr page for a long time now, and finally just sat down and started uploading photos. So if you like photography, check out my photos.

One of the most exciting new things in my blog sidebar is the link to buy the erotic fiction anthology I’m on the cover of, 39 and Holding… Him. You know you want to buy the book, so go ahead and buy it!

And don’t forget to buy Noveltown products while you’re buying! I’ve put the links to buy Lords: Part One by N.L. Belardes and the Noveltown Review literary magazine in my blog sidebar. If you don’t already have these Noveltown products you’ll want to pick them up!

All these new sidebar items sure make my blog sidebar more colorful… and hopefully fun for you all too. So get to clicking...

Labels: 39 and Holding... Him, Blogging, blogs, books, erotic fiction, erotica, flickr, good reads, Lords: Part One, Noveltown, Photography, Reading

  posted by Matildakay at 10:53 PM 0 comments

Naughty Novelist
"The biggest critics of my books are people who never read them."

~Jackie Collins, naughty novelist.

Labels: books, critics, daily quote, Jackie Collins, naughty novelist, novelist, Reading, wild women, wild words, Wild words from wild women

  posted by Matildakay at 9:40 AM 0 comments

Prickly English Poet
"My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence."

~Dame Edith Sitwell, prickly English poet.

Labels: Dame Edith Sitwell, English poet, hobbies, Music, poet, Poetry, Reading, silence, wild women, wild words, Wild words from wild women, Writing

  posted by Matildakay at 10:26 AM 0 comments

The Almost Moon
I walked through Barnes and Noble last night and browsed the tables full of new and suggested books looking for something new to read when the name "Sebold" jumped out at me. A new book by Alice Sebold!

I discovered Alice Sebold's books The Lovely Bones and Lucky this past year and devoured them. Sebold is by far my favorite new author. Her beautiful intelligent voice and her ability to infuse each and every word with such emotional intensity keeps me rivited to the of the story.

So I scooped up Sebold's new novel, The Almost Moon, took it home and read the first paragraph.

"When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily. Dementia, as it descends, has a way of revealing the core of the person affected by it. My mother's core was rotten like the brackish water at the bottom of a weeks-old vase of flowers. She had been beautiful when my father met her and still capable of love when I became their late-in-life child, but by the time she gazed up at me that day, none of this mattered."

See how Sebold grabs you right from the first sentence. I can't wait to dive into The Almost Moon.

Labels: Alice Sebold, Dementia, Lucky, Reading, The Almost Moon, The Lovely Bones, Writing

  posted by Matildakay at 12:47 AM 2 comments

Destiny
Last week I sat outside a courtroom reading a short story ironically about destiny. Inside, my friend was getting a second chance on life. Was it destiny to read a story about destiny during her life changing moment? Was there really such a thing as destiny, I wondered?

The character in the short story went in search of her destiny…

She consulted fortunetellers, palm readers, and psychic healers looking for answers but received only more questions about her fate. I don’t think fortunetellers; palm readers or the like can tell your destiny. I think the only one that truly knows our destiny is God. He has a plan for my life. But without the blueprints how do I find my destiny? Surely all the wrong turns I’ve made in life have deterred me from reaching my destiny. Or was this it? My destiny. And I just didn’t know it.

It was destiny that I met my friend 17 years ago. God knew we needed each other. Which is why I found myself sitting outside a courtroom supporting her one afternoon last week and wondering about destiny.

I used to think that destiny included a fairy tale ending. I don’t think that anymore. Destiny could be what you make it. Or to quote a chick flick I saw late one night, “A man’s character is his destiny.”

Either way, I sat outside that courtroom because she needed me. It was destiny.

Labels: destiny, fate, fortunetellers, God, palm readers, pyschic healers, Reading, short story

  posted by Matildakay at 11:50 PM 1 comments

Good Reads
Keely recently sent me a link to a fabulous website called goodreads.com where friends can share what they are reading...

It's my new favorite website!

If you love to read like I do...



Check out goodreads.com and become my friend so I can fall in love with some of your favorite books too.

Labels: books, good reads, Keely, Literature, Reading

  posted by Matildakay at 10:48 PM 2 comments

Are you doing your Summer Reading?
Remember when you were a kid and your teachers would send a recommended summer reading list home with you at the end of the school year hoping you would do more than just play video games, like improve your mind. How many of you were good boys and girls and actually read a few books on the recommended summer reading list? How much did your summer reading influence your life as a child? As an adult? Is reading a passion in your life?

I don’t know about you, but I’m always reading. I have a stack of books at home that are in my “to be read” pile, but I continue to buy more books. I can’t help myself. My logic is I’ll eventually read them all.

Noveltown is not only passionate about writers, we’re passionate about readers too! Without readers the Indie literary presses and the publishing world would come to a screeching halt and eventually cease to exist. Books would become coasters, or those things you press flowers in, or worse! I don’t even want to imagine a world without books, its too horrible a thought. For in books our imaginations run free within world’s writers create for us. J. K. Rowling is the most successful author ever because of readers!

It’s mid summer and Noveltown just wanted to check in on you to make sure you’re doing your summer reading…

For all of you Paperback Writer readers who are book sluts, word whores, always carry a book with you in your purse or backpack, read while laying out by the pool, on the beach or by a lake, and plan what books you’re taking with you on vacation we’ve got some fabulous recommended summer reading for you.

(Read the full blog on Paperback Writer for great summer reading recommendations from Salon.com and Noveltown)

Labels: Bakersfield, J.K. Rowling, Literary, memoirs, novels, Noveltown, Reading

  posted by Matildakay at 9:45 AM 0 comments

Lost and found in words…
Aspiring writers are always told they must read if they want to be good writers. I’ve read that advice in many articles, heard it at writing conferences, and I can’t tell you how many times N.L. has given me that same advice. “Read, read and read some more.” Its true. The more you read great writers, the more you learn about writing styles, plot and character development, good sentence structure and literary themes. And so now when I read I’m not just devouring the story for escapism or entertainment, I also pay attention to the writing.

Lately I’ve been reverting back to a favorite pastime, losing myself in books. I’m always reading, but I go through phases where I’m devouring words in massive volumes. At one point in my life I was drowning in words, reading up to five and six books a week. I would dive in and escape the real world of divorce in the stories I found within the pages. Eventually life settled down to a normal pace and so did my reading.

Something magical always happens to me when I’m reading. I get lost and found in the words. I can lose myself in the story and escape the mundane routine, the unrequited issues, and the emotional ups and downs. I open my imagination and become part of the story living through the characters. I take a fictional walk and get lost in the writing. But something else happens too. I find myself in the words. I find myself laughing or crying through the words. I find myself saying: “I know exactly what you mean or feel,” “I’ve been there,” “I’ve said that!” and “Oh my God, how did they know.” Screen writer/director Nancy Meyers must have a window into my soul for she seems to write my life almost word for word and I have the uncomfortable pleasure of watching beautiful actresses play out my life on the big screen. The bitch. If she doesn’t quit writing me, there won’t be anything left for me to write. But this magic is the moment when the writing is good and I get lost and found in the words the most. When the words transcend the page and touch my life and I carry them around with me like a secret.

In the large stack of books I’m currently reading, here are a few worth mentioning.

A Thousand and One Nights by Lara Tupper: As an active reader of chick-lit, I was given this book to read for Noveltown. Although after reading it, I hesitate to stereotype it as chick-lit. It doesn’t follow the typical chick-lit formula. What it is, is an original, well written adventure of a lounge singer set in exotic locations. I was touched most by the humor within the sadness of the story as the characters isolated by their foreign locations, must depend most upon the person they are growing apart from. I’ll be writing more about A Thousand and One Nights and interviewing Lara Tupper for the Noveltown blog.

The Marriage Diaries by Rebecca Campbell: I picked this book up expecting it to be a light, fun chick-lit read. It was a fun, witty read that had me laughing at times. But it had depth like most marriages do. The writing is brutally honest and dissects the marriage from two points of view, the wife and the husband’s. What would you do if you stumbled onto your husband’s private journal on the home computer hard drive and found out he was contemplating an affair? Campbell smartly takes the characters in a much different direction than I had expected.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold: Last year at the Yosemite Writers conference a panel of agents all agreed they were looking for the next “Lovely Bones” and that books like that were rare. The Lovely Bones. I wrote the name down in my notes and promised myself I’d read it. I finally read The Lovely Bones and now I know why the agents were all raving, it’s stunning. A literary masterpiece. I literally could not put the book down. Sebold weaves a riveting tale of the human experience uniquely told from the perspective of the murder victim as she watches her family, friends and her killer. From unspeakable tragedy and suspense Sebold gives hope and humor.

She writes:

“These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections – sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events that my death wrought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future. The price of what I came to see as this miraculous body had been my life.”

The Lovely Bones is my new favorite book and a must read. If you read nothing else this year, read The Lovely Bones.

I have more books to dive into and get lost and found in the words…

Labels: found, Literary, lost, Noveltown, Reading, words, Writing

  posted by Matildakay at 11:45 PM 9 comments