Tag Archives: audiobooks

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Comfort Reads

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We all have comfort reads. Those books that we read again and again when we either love so much we want to live in those books or we can’t find anything else and those are a good place to revisit.

I have a couple. And by “a couple”-I mean a couple books AND a couple of series. There are categories, because of course there are. I love books! There are too many to love only one.

Physical Books

First and always is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. i can’t even tell you how many times I’ve read this book. I have several copies with pretty bindings/covers but that’s not the one I go to. I always go to my original hard back copy that I bought in 1998 from Barnes and Noble. It smells wonderful and the pages are all yellowed from age. Part of my comfort read is the story but it’s also the book itself. The feel and smell of the book brings me back to the first time I read it and makes it fun all over again. This is the only book I actually reread in the physical form.

Audiobooks

This for me is Lead by Kylie Scott. This is the third in the Stage Dive series. There are four books in this series and a few spin offs. this one though, does it for me. I’m not even sure what it is that does it for me but this combination of self-loathing in the hero, the less than picture-perfect heroine who is underestimated. I’ve never actually read this book but I’ve listened to it about a thousand times. Every time I go in, I just let my friends know that I’m visiting Jimmy and those who know . . . know.

Series

Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews. I have both read the physical books, ebooks, put tab markers in my favorite parts to reread, and listened to these MULITPLE times. They’re just delightful. The characters are so well developed and the world buliding is amazing and so rich. I’m 43 . . . going on 44 and as a writer, I want to be like them when I grow up. The Long and short of this, buy all of these books (including the spin offs).

Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole. This is a series that I have both in physical book format and audiobook. i have a few on ebook but not all of them. I prefer physical books to ebooks. Okay, to be fair, these books are like crack. I, of course, have my favorites: Lothaire, Shadow’s Claim, Pleasures of a Dark Prince, and Dark Desires After Dusk; but there are like 20 of these things and I’ve listened to them more than once. I think Lothaire and Nix might be my favorite characters EVER. Plus, the audiobooks have the added benefit of being read by Robert Petkoff and he’s just amazing.

Buy all these books!

What are your comfort reads?

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Work From Home – Wins and Losses

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Things I haven’t done since the work from home order went into effect.

  1. Driven a car in two weeks – hell, been IN a car for two weeks
  2. Worn jewelry – of any kind. Not even my wedding rings.
  3. Listened to an audiobook
  4. Left my neighborhood – hell we’re lucky I’ve left my house
  5. Worn anything that wasn’t yoga pant or jeans – I had to put on jeans to make sure my yoga pants weren’t lying to me. They were.
  6. Been alone. I haven’t been alone in more than a month.

Things I have done since the work from home order went into effect

  1. Played scrabble and won, by the way
  2. Put together a jigsaw puzzle
  3. Marie Kondo’d my drawers – it did not, however, create more space
  4. Got my daughter hooked on UNO – I can’t tell you how excited I am about this
  5. Yoga everyday again
  6. Gained 7 pounds – I’m on my way to the “quarantine 15”
  7. Ordered stamps from the Post Office – did you know if you ordered them online from usps.com, they’ll deliver them to your house?!? Shut the fuck up! This blew my mind and changed my world. I bought dragon stamps, cause why wouldn’t I if I had the option…
  8. Drank and entire pot of coffee EVERY DAY, by myself
  9. Eaten an entire 10 oz bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs – please see point #6 above
  10. Ordered tacos every Tuesday since this started – I have to support my local businesses…right
  11. Actually seen my friends more since I don’t have to leave my house to do it. Thanks Zoom!

So there you have it. What’s your work from home situation been like? What have you done or not done that seem utterly strange or amazing to you?

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A Shit Show & A Happy New Year

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Well, I was on vacation since the week of Christmas and I was supposed to get so much done. Um, I did not. I barely left the house and ate my way through just about everything we had. I can feel the weight gain as I type. But, here’s a recap of what did happen. I’m warning you now, this is going to be a long one.

  1. Ugh, it’s been rough to live in Columbus this past week. First, OSU lost to Clemson which probably most of you know. I didn’t watch it because I just…can’t. I am an anxious and angry fan. Then OSU basketball lost to WVU the next day. Then CBJ lost and the goalie got hurt because of stupidity. So there’s that.
  2. I binge watched The Witcher on Netflix. It took me three or four episodes to decide if I actually liked it and finally decided on yes. I did have to watch it with the closed caption on so I could understand what they were saying and they were speaking English. Whoever was responsible for the sound mixing on this show sucks. However, it did make for some great reading. There were some “Hmm’s” from Henry Cavill, quite a few “sigh”s every time someone took a breath. I kept yelling at the screen, “that was a snort you idiots!”. Then there was the “whooshing”. I shit you not. Every time the wind blew, the cc marked it as “whooshing”. It was amazing. On top of all of that, I keep humming that stupid song in my head.

You’re welcome! #sorrynotsorry

Now, the timeline is screwy but once you figure it out, it makes total sense. The sword work was quality and Henry Cavill did all his own stunts. I read an article about how big a fantasy nerd he is and quite frankly, it makes me adore him all the more. There are a couple of points that need to be addressed. Gerald of Rivia and the Bard Jaskier are the Bromance I didn’t know I needed in my life and Yennefer is a BADASS. I love her. If you haven’t seen the trailer, here you go.

3. I followed my binge watching with something a bit more low key and WAAAAAAY more soapy. Welcome to Virgin River.

OMG, this had every cliche plot twist you could imagine.

  • Dead husband and child…got it.
  • Woman running from her past to a small town to forget…got it.
  • PTSD Irag Vet leading man…got it.
  • Battered woman hiding her and her kid from an abusive husband…got it.
  • The woman the hero didn’t actually love is now pregnant right when he’s finally discovering love…got it.
  • Oh, and did I mention the heroine can’t have kids…got it.

The only thing we’re missing here is amnesia. I expect season two will not disappoint on that front. And yes, I will be watching it.

The best part of all of this was that Ross was around while a few of the early episodes were on and he was CRINGING and talking about how bad it was. I got a couple of “really?”s out of him which just made it more fun for me to watch it. Bahahahaha! I love torturing him. It brings me joy.

4. Ross and I went to see StarWars: Rise of Skywalker. It was – meh. There was a point, and I realize this is stupid but I’ve been watching Luke try to lift that fucking X-wing out of the Dagoba swamp for like my entire damned life so when he finally lifted it out of the sea for Rey, I was so fucking proud. That was the highlight of the movie for me. There were parts that were very heavy handed but then I remembered that when I was a kid, we get the “certain point of view” lecture and I remember thinking (when I was six or seven back in the now distant 1980’s) how profound that was.

5. I got pod cast equipment for Christmas which is exciting. This means that I can record my own work for audiobooks because I’m too poor to hire a professional. To all my friends that said they couldn’t read my books because they heard my voice in their heads…this won’t help you.

6. Last by certainly not least the shit show that is RWA. No, i’m not joking. #RWAshitshow was actually trending along side #Istandwithcourtney

This shit has now been covered by the NYTimes, Washington Post, The Guardian, as well as several other national media outlets. Feel free to review any or all of these articles. There’s a pretty good recap on twitter by Cate Eland (or see below).

https://twitter.com/RomancingNope/status/1211025913128902657

The worst thing is, this keeps getting worse. With each new release that RWA puts out, they just keep digging themselves a deeper hole. The reality is that I wasn’t going to renew my membership in August with RWA or my local chapters this month for my own reasons. I’ve often felt marginalized because of the genre I write and I never really fit in. I’ve discussed that here before so I won’t rehash. I’m not surprised that those people, particularly women and men of color, were also marginalized. RWA focuses too much on a mold of romance and if you don’t fit in that mold, they don’t want you.

I’ve been reading my digests pretty much everyday and following this shit show on twitter. Honestly, I’m disappointed in some people and incredibly proud of others but that’s to be expected.

So there you have it. Happy New Year everyone!

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Audiobooks

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I listen to quite a few audiobooks. In fact, I might listen to more books per year than I actually read. Mostly, because I can listen to them in the car and at work which makes my work day much more enjoyable. I can’t listen to music at work. I have a tendency to sing along and no one wants that. Really, no one wants that. It’s weird. Plus, I was never really into music. I like music. I could never just sit and listen to it. I always had to be doing something else. That’s why audiobooks makes so much sense. And with the ability to download the content to my phone (instead of the bulky CD’s pack you would need in years past) it’s so much easier. My Audible library is ridiculous and quite frankly Amazon has too much of my money. Actually, there are a couple of authors that have all my money because I own their books in three formats (physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks). Thanks Kresley Cole and Ilona Andrews! No really. Thanks! I want to be you when I grow up some day. I’m 38, by the way.

The flip side is that audiobooks can also be very very bad, independent of the book itself depending on the narrator. This is a performance and quite frankly, if you can’t do an accent, don’t try. I’m listening to something now that just delivers everything in a monotone and has the worst Irish accent I’ve ever heard. Lucky Charms Leprechaun type accent. It’s horrendous and I’m not sure I want to listen to it. I’m in it to win it though. I’ve listened to two hours and it’s only eight hours long. I might as well finish.

As we’ve said before, I have a problem with books. Is there a BA (books anonymous) group I can join? Do I even want to?

Nope! And I have zero shame about that.

 

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To Anita Blake or Not to Anita Blake, That is the Question!

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Crimson Death, the 25th installment of the Anita Blake series, came out in December. I’m usually one of the faithful when I read a series. I have a hard time putting a book down, even if it’s horrible. Any one of my friends can tell you this about me. This part of my personality drives Ross CRAZY. He’s taken books away from me (and hidden them) when I complained but refused to stop reading them. Somewhere in the back of my head, I always think the book can get better.If I just read another chapter, maybe that’s where it gets good. I’ve been disappointed every time, but there’s always hope.

This brings me back to my point. I’ve read all the previous 24 Anita Blake novels. All of them. Within the first week of the release date. I’ve been disappointed A LOT over the last many. There has been so…much…sex. I mean like so much sex in so short a time period that I’m not sure how Anita gets up and walks around. There are only so many orifices and for fuck’s sake, you can’t hit all of them, at one time, four or five times in a 24 hour period and still function or walk properly. Ya just can’t.

Plus, there’s been so much expansion of the “relationships” between Anita and about 15 other people. I don’t care about those other people. I just want some Jean Claude. That’s it. We started the series in Guilty Pleasures with Jean Claude. I’d like to go back to Jean Claude. The glimpses I get of JC are not enough. I miss him.

Below is the blurb from Amazon for Crimson Death:

“Anita has never seen Damian, her vampire servant, in such a state. The rising sun doesn’t usher in the peaceful death that he desperately needs. Instead, he’s being bombarded with violent nightmares and blood sweats.

And now, with Damian at his most vulnerable, Anita needs him the most. The vampire who created him, who subjected him to centuries of torture, might be losing control, allowing rogue vampires to run wild and break one of their kind’s few strict taboos.

Some say love is a great motivator, but hatred gets the job done, too. And when Anita joins forces with her friend Edward to stop the carnage, Damian will be at their side, even if it means traveling back to the land where all his nightmares spring from…a place that couldn’t be less welcoming to a vampire, an assassin, and a necromancer: Ireland.”

The blurb doesn’t sound like there’s any Jean Claude. At. All.

This brings me to my dilemma. I haven’t purchased Crimson Death. However, it is available at the library on audio book. With no wait, I might add. That thing is 24 hours and 12 minutes long which equates to 720 pages. I’m teetering on listening to it, because I have a sickness. But I know:

A) there will be minimal JC, if any.

B) there isn’t that much character development left after 24 books that could justify 720 pages.

C) I don’t want to be sad again after finishing it.

But maybe I won’t be sad, or angry, or let down at the end. Maybe this will be the best of them all.

Help!