As the holiday season is upon us, I’m finishing the year — as I end each year — reading Dickens. This year A Christmas Carol is my 50th book read, which is my Goodreads goal for 2024. My God! It’s no wonder I haven’t written much in the past few months! Nearly a book a week. Whew!! I’ll post the entire list next week.
I’ve read and enjoyed nearly all the books I read this past year and came across several of the year’s best as part of an amazing book club. Plus, the list holds many by Indie authors, of course.
If you have not read A Christmas Carol, I urge you to do so or at least I hope you enjoy the above excerpt. In the words of Scrooge’s nephew, “Christmas had never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket but I believe it had done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”
A few favorite shots from last week in NYC 🍎 Landing JFK New York Public Library Amazing Pizza Strawberry Fields The Dakota from Central Park Times Square Why my feet hurt — but just a little Katz Deli — had to ignore the line around the block & visit x2 911 Memorial Sabrett’s Dogs
Visiting NYC. Have never been so it’s about time. I have a few sites in mind — will likely hit the subway hence the meme 🤣— and looking forward to wandering a bit while appearing to know exactly where I’m going. First stop today the NYC Library on 5th Ave 📚 If you know of coffee shoppes or cafes in the Murray Hill area of Manhattan, please do let me know 🍎
With November half gone, I’m just now posting my October reads. Only read four, same as in September. My excuse is that my brain is finally cooling off after our hellishly hot Arizona summer.
Two are by Janet Evanovich whom I have stated is my go-to when I want an easy, enjoyable and usually funny read. Enjoyed them both.
Tough Cookie was in the bunch and I haven’t read many in the Goldie-the-caterer series. I must admit that this one tried my patience a bit. It took me too long a while to get into the story and the plot dragged through the first third of the book. Near the end, Davidson had the heroine flashing some wild self-defense that was largely not Goldie behavior, in my humble opinion. Oh, well.
The serious choice last month was The Women by Kristin Hannah, about gutsy combat nurses caring for the wounded in Viet Nam. If you have not read this book, you must and that’s all you need to know.
The story made me grateful to have paid my respects at the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial in D.C. soon after its installation during a work-related trip to our capitol city.
My reaction included a tearful, disturbed response to the rows and rows of names that seemed to continue ceaselessly, causing concern from younger colleagues who accompanied me. As much as I tried, it was hard to help them understand my sadness.
Read the book — which revers the soldiers, but also the nurses who put their lives at risk to help them.
Come visit my table (and dozens of other vendors too!) this Saturday, Nov 16, at the RR Craft Fair, from 9-1pm. We’ll be in the Hermosa Ballroom and I will have copies of my four mystery novels for sale as well as info about upcoming projects, like maybe a prequel to the City Streets trilogy and as scary as it sounds, a memoir 😳
All four were new-to-me authors and all four have deep cultural elements.
Two (Peters & Hirahara) were book club picks and the other two were recommended by my sister (Penny) and the other (Sepetys) by a friend, both of whom are librarians.
All were brilliant! I tried to rate them 1-4 but it’s impossible.
The Penny is first in a long series that I will continue enjoying one by one.
My friend Carolyn lent me ‘I Must Betray You’ by Ruta Sepetys. A gripping tale based on surviving the brutal Ceausescu regime in Romania. A young man, Cristian, is an aspiring writer and poet. Life is a torment due to extreme state-sponsored poverty, excessive control, and fostered distrust of everyone one encounters. At his peril, Cristian chooses to listen to his conscience. Two-thirds in and already highly recommend it.
As an Indie author, reviews can be few and far between, so when one rolls in we celebrate! Glad you enjoyed it & thanks so much to my awesome readers!!
Hello fellow readers & happy Sept 1st. In August, I finished writing the prequel rough draft (finally!) and managed to mark four books off the old tbr list.
I’ve read Jonathan Kellerman’s books over four decades and adore his MC. Alex Delaware, a child psychologist, helps his best friend, Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, solve murders. As a former psychologist, Kellerman knows his character. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mad Honey is my first by Jodi Picoult (with a writing partner) and I happened to find it at the RR library. A single mom who makes her living as a beekeeper sees her life fall apart when her teenaged son is accused of a crime. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When I want something light and funny I gravitate to the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie, the reluctant bail bondsman from New Jersey, always makes me laugh aloud along with her cohorts Lula, Morelli, Ranger and Grandma. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon is the Sept choice for book club so I needed to get on it. Picked it right up at the Eloy Library — Thanks, Jane! Yeah! Intense historical fiction set in late 18th century Maine about a midwife, her family, and her community as she uses her medical expertise to solve a crime. Very well written. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A writer friend says the way to emerge from a bout of writer’s block is to write about it. I’m not sure about this theory, but I’m willing to give the remedy a try — so here goes.
We call it a case, a bout, a spell — as though the writer suffers from some ailment. I even used the word remedy. All I know is that a lack of motivation, almost an aversion, has for months plagued my desire to write. Oh my, another illness term.
I asked myself questions: Had I pushed too hard and for too long? Had health and emotional challenges caught up with me? Was the heat of an AZ summer becoming too much even though I’ve dealt with the seasonal inferno in the past? Who knows?!
I gave myself a hard time about this. What the hell is your problem anyway? I asked. Get over it! I could hear Matt, my editor, expressing his view that “you just gotta put your butt in the chair and do it!!” Ugh! My problem is not that my expectations are too high. I don’t have a problem with producing a crappy first draft. I no longer give in to early process pickiness. Clean up happens where it should, in subsequent drafts. A brilliant novelist — Hemingway or Steinbeck — someone, anyway — said all first drafts are shit and I believe it.
Last March I finished a “rough” draft of a memoir, my first venture into writing non-fiction. It took a lot out of me to write it and I was glad to finally ask a few trusted readers for feedback. Around the same time I started writing a prequel to my City Streets trilogy. The prequel is written in Leah’s voice. Leah is the troubled teen referred to in the title of the first book, Runaway.
Having written two sequels I can say that a prequel is a whole different thing. It’s like crawling under an existing foundation instead of adding on or building up or out. It’s a challenge. Were the themes of the two projects too much? Possibly. Was working on them at the same time too taxing? Maybe.
Okay. Enough. I’ll leave my effort in therapy for writer’s block right here. Thank you for hanging in there with me. I have put my butt in the chair a bit lately and seen glimpses of recovery. I’ll keep you posted.
Susanne Perry Publishing 