More Good Books

On the recommendation of a friend, I have just finished reading Joe Hill's "Horns". The story was good and extremely well written, but not my kind of thing. I did really enjoy Hill's "20th Century Ghosts", an eclectic group of short stories.
     I have also just finished The Hunger Games, which I loved and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. This is a book I put off reading - like many that I ignored the hype about, because I figure if the masses love it, I probably won't. Which is ridiculous, since I ended up liking (among other titles I can't call to mind at the moment) Harry Potter and The Percy Jackson Series - both also written for YA, but loved by readers of every age. If you haven't read The Hunger Games, give it a try.
    I am in the middle of reading Stephen King's latest tome, 11/22/63 (also on the recommendation of a friend) and it is really good. I have just started reading Eragon, another YA phenomenon that went mainstream that I never got around to reading when everyone was raving about it.
    Not long ago I read the latest in the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris, which was as consistently enjoyable as all the previous books in the series. I can think of a few other authors could take lessons from Harris on how to do that.
    I received an email the other day telling me that the new Janet Evanovich title in the "Wicked" something series is about to be released. I read the first one and it is a fun if frivolous story and I am looking forward to the next one.
    Like many bibliophiles, I sometimes get anxious when there are many new (and old) books that I want to read, but that is preferable to (those very rare times of) not having any new reading to look forward to.

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What I'm Currently Reading...

I recently finished Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero. I plan to read the next in that series, Son of Neptune, but I am now reading the latest by Tim Dorsey, When Elves Attack, and I believe Dorsey will have another book out soon which I am anticipating.
         I am reading the Novemer/December and January issues of Writer's Digest, which for some reason arrived at my house within days of each other.
        I have given into the hype and started The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larson. So far, I am  intrigued and I like the author's writing style, but I have been warned by some (and told the opposite by others) that is has some graphic violence that I will not be able to read. I sometimes have very delicate sensibilities with such things.
        I have acquired the biography of celebrated racehorse trainer, Vincent O'Brian, which I had planned to read when I am on vacation in January, but that may be prempted by offerings of some of my very favorite authors.
        I am looking forward to receiving as Christmas gifts the latest releases by Janet Evanovich and Mary  Janice Davidson and possibly Robin McKinley. I also ordered for myself - Merry Christmas to me- The Wise Man's Fear, the sequel to The Name Of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss which I thoroughly enjoyed. There are two by Harlan Coban I would also like to read: Live Wire and Shelter. And I have not yet begun obtaining other works by Bateman, which I am anxious to do...
       My two fallbacks if I should inexplicably run out of things to read are The Complete Works of Mary Roberts Rhinehart, all 1000+ pages of which I have downloaded to my Nook, and the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters, of which I have read some, but not all.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year (and happy reading). As encouragement to keep writing, consider that someday readers and fans of our own work may wait axiously for and delight in the arrival of books and stories we have written.

www.jennifermballard.com
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www.trustindarkness.weebly.com