I have a Nook Color, which I might have mentioned that I love. But, it has changed my book-shopping habits more than I anticipated. Now that Amazon has unveiled the shiny new Kindle Fire, I plan to become a dual e-reader owner. (I had to have color, you see.) And I can easily justify to Sugar why it’s essential that I have both–I hope.

Anyway, about book shopping….

Today I perused my to-be-read list, which consists of a stack of actual books purchased pre-Nook, and 21 books I’ve downloaded to my Nook but haven’t yet read. These are all books I’m eager to read–some are written by friends, some by favorite authors, some both. But, on any given day, what I want to read is driven by the mood I’m in. Nothing in my to-be-read list jumped out, grabbed me by the throat, and shouted, “You must read me now!”

I checked the Goodreads recommendations–this is a great feature, by the way. Goodreads checks what you’ve read and rated highly and recommends books for you. There were good suggestions on the list. I decided to download either Lethal, (the new Sandra Brown novel) The Affair (the new Lee Child novel) or (and this was the odds-on favorite) Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman. I SO miss Jesse Stone.

With those three novels in mind, I logged on to the B&N website. Yes, I know I can easily shop directly from my Nook, but because the screen–and therefore the store–is bigger, I prefer shopping on my laptop.

I clicked Nook Books, selected fiction, then mystery. I sorted by Bestselling. The first 2 books on the screen were The Affair and Lethal. Should’ve been an easy in and out of the store, right? Not so fast. I love browsing books. So, I meandered down the list. Number three was a Michael Connelly–also a favorite author–and this was a steal–a back-list title for only $1.99. But, it was a title I’d already read and own in paperback.

The first page of 573 pages of mystery novels held 30 titles, most by name-brand authors. Many of them I’ve already read. Some I just wasn’t in the mood for. I went to page 2. More of the same–some new titles by favorite authors, some back-list titles–plus here a few authors whose names were familiar, but whose work I’ve never read, along with an unfamiliar name or 2. My scrolling slowed.

There, on the bottom line of page 2, a cover and a title caught my eye” January Kills Me, by Evan Katy. I read the first sentence of the overview: “January Kills Me is a romantic comedy, an action filled mystery and a cautionary tale of how not to go about recovering from a divorce.”

DING-DING-DING! We have a winner. That caught my attention. I glanced at the reviews. There were only 12 ratings so far, but the overall rating was 4.5. The five reviews on the first page were all glowing endorsements.

But, wait… the book is only 99 cents? Is this a back-list title of someone I haven’t read before, or an indie author? Great cover, great title, great reviews–nothing that screamed, “This is somebody’s first draft of her first novel, and she got her cousin to upload it because he knew how.” It was a completely professional package. And (I had to look) Evan Katy is an indie author.

I can gamble with 99 cents. Jesse Stone, I still miss you, but maybe next week. The budget is a little tight just now.

Peace out,

Susan

P.S. As a reader, I never looked to see who published a book until the day I started researching publishers and agents as a writer. I’m not an advocate for independent publishing or authors. Neither am I predisposed to think that a novel written by an indie author is of poor quality. I am a lover of good novels, however they arrive on my e-reader. I am also the CFO of my family budget.

Okay, he doesn’t sleep with them. But he clutches them to his chest for a few minutes every day. He loves his Nook, but he also loves the tactile sensation of holding a book with his favorite author’s signature. So do I.

And who can really enjoy a book signing–where you get to meet one of your favorite authors, and maybe have your picture taken with her/him–when you have nothing tangible to be signed as a memento?

Until recently, this rather extreme measure was the only option. Now, Amazon offers this for Kindle owners, but you have to sign in with Twitter, and it appears to be only available for select authors and/or titles.

Here’s what I plan to do, sometime before the South Carolina Book Festival next year. I’m going to make myself a Reader’s Passport–essentially an update on an autograph book. (Disney offers something similar for your favorite characters.) I’ll start with a scrapbook–one with a cover that strikes my fancy. I’ll personalize it a bit, and make sections for my favorite genres–mystery/crime, thriller, romance, mainstream fiction, et cetera.

Then, like collecting passport stamps, I’m going to collect autographs. Most authors have either postcards or bookmarks–or something with the cover art of their book–at an author event. I’ll ask her/him to sign whatever is available. If I’ve collected every book she/he has ever published, maybe I’ll have my picture taken with him/her and add it to the page in the scrapbook.

Then if I want to sleep with my autographs, my bed will be much more comfortable. If you’ve switched to an e-reader, how will you have your books autographed?

I love novels–so much that I may need an intervention, or possibly a support group. I typically read books that fall into the mystery, suspense, or thriller genres, though I do enjoy the occasional women’s fiction or romance novel. And I sometimes pick up a mainstream or literary read, especially if it’s a Southern novel. (I love everything Joshilyn Jackson has ever written.)

Recently I was reading a very well-written Southern mystery, something I would ordinarily be incapable of putting down. But I struggled to stay engaged in the book. It’s written from three different rotating characters’ perspectives, and they get roughly equal stage-time. There isn’t a clear main character. This made it difficult for me to become invested in any of the three candidates. I understand that this is purely a subjective preference. Certainly, other authors write this way, and other readers enjoy these books.

Maybe I’ve always been this way, but I’ve only recently noticed that I prefer books with only one narrator. The occasional, brief chapter in the villain’s (or love interest’s) point of view doesn’t bother me, but I want to experience most of the story through the eyes of one main character

Maybe this is a response to an increasingly complex world, but I want my reading entertainment to be focused. I don’t mean I want it delivered on a fifth-grade level. But I like slipping into a character’s skin and experiencing her/his world. It’s harder for me to stay in character if I have to keep switching roles.

Or maybe I just need to keep the number of voices in my head at a manageable level.

Peace, out…

Susan

So, I finished reading Josh Bazell’s debut novel, Beat the Reaper. I know, everyone else read this back in January or whenever. It was a bestseller, but somehow I missed it. Then, at Bouchercon, authors on several panels raved about this book. I rushed right out and bought it, and added it to my to-be-read stack.

Aside from the cover blurbs, there are five pages of praise, excerpts of reviews, etc., in the front of the book. This alone is impressive, especially when you look at the names: Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, Hallie Ephron and others, along with virtually every newspaper and magazine that still reviews books.

The premise of the book (if you’ve been on a desert island all year, or, like me, were spending your days in an alternate reality), is this: Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at a nightmare of a hospital in Manhattan. Dr. Brown is also in the Witness Protection Program, his previous occupation mob hit man. He stumbles on a terminally ill patient from his mob days, and spends most of the book trying to stay alive while still taking care of his patients.

Beat the Reaper is roughly half flashback to why and how Peter became involved with the mafia, and how he came to be in WITSEC.

It’s a thoroughly entertaining read, and it lived up to all its best blurbs. My personal favorite is from The Journal of the American Medical Association: “Bazell’s thriller is brutal and vulgar but at the same time hilarious and unflinching.” Hmm… a group of doctors thinks it’s unflinching.

Look, this book is not for hypochondriacs. In fact, I shouldn’t have read it myself, as I am nothing if not a hypochondriac. I’ll likely never go within a hundred yards of another hospital. May as well cancel my health insurance right now.

I also would not recommend this book to my mother, or anyone else who has an aversion to that four-letter word that rhymes with duck. No, I am not a prude. I’ve been know to use that particular obscenity myself. (My mother never reads my blog.) In fact, it appears in my own internal monologue far more often than those close to me would ever imagine. But not every reader is comfortable with such generous use of the many variations on that particular word.

I don’t personally know any mobsters, but this language feels real, so it works for me. How are hit men supposed to talk?

Juxtaposed to the hilarity, the flashbacks of Peter’s visit to the Holocaust camps in Poland are hauntingly dark, his childhood tragic. Bazell makes us empathize with his conflicted and complex killer, who only kills “killers whose deaths would improve the world.”

Peter Brown is also a deep hit man. My favorite quote from the book is: “Ah, youth. It’s like heroin you’ve smoked instead of snorted. Gone so fast you can’t believe you still have to pay for it.” Indeed.

I’ll be first in line to buy the next Peter Brown book. But don’t tell my mother. She’d no doubt worry for my soul.