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Posts by Jane J
The world had been pretty dark and depressing lately (especially if you're a woman) which has made me look for truly heroic characters in the books I'm reading. Happily for me K. B. Wagers' third in the Indranan War trilogy came out recently and I could once again dive into the adventures of Hail Bristol and her loyal band of supporters who are trying to save the empire.
Though the big weekend of Wisconsin Book Festival events is past, the Book Fest goes on year round. Next up is a visit from the incredible Alexander McCall Smith. He's here to talk about the latest in the Precious Ramotswe series, The House of Unexpected Sisters:
Lady Arianna Hadley has led a colorful, and hard, life because of the choices her father made. After his murder Arianna takes on a disguise and the role of French chef in an aristocratic household, so she can support herself. Her specialty is making incredible creations from the newest food fad in Regency England, chocolate. Her precarious existence is threatened when the Prince Regent takes ill after consuming one of her desserts.
I’m a late convert to podcasts. When everyone else jumped on board three years ago and was listening to Serial, I wasn’t. I can’t even tell you why. I do like true crime stuff and I’m a bit of a news junkie. But I haven't been an audio-type person (not audio books anyway). So the podcast world was passing me by. Until recently. After a friend showed me how easy it was, I dove in. Thanks to Beth, I’ve developed a nice list of ‘casts that I regularly listen to, some (though not all) of my current favorites include:
“The first thought I had after I died was: How will my dog cope with this?
The second thought: I hope we can still go with open casket.
Third thought: I have nothing to wear to my funeral.
Fourth: I’ll never meet Daniel Radcliffe now.
Fifth: Did Bobby just break up with me?”
On September 23rd, the Pinney Library will hold it's fourth annual Pinney Mini Book Festival connecting local authors and patrons. In addition to a local author presentation of 5-10 authors, Pinney will host a panel session comprised of 3 successful authors, editors, and/or publishers. We hope this will further foster community and collaboration among local budding authors who are honing their skills and marketing their work.
"When she woke she was red. Not flushed, not sunburned, but the solid, declaritive red of a stop sign."
So opens Hillary Jordan's sophomore novel (after Mudbound).
I used to read Jane Feather but haven't picked up anything of hers in a while. So I decided to dip back in and read one I hadn't yet. And boy am I glad I did. The Widow’s Kiss starts off with a bang, or maybe that’s a thud, when Lady Guinevere Mallory has a hand in the death of her drunken, abusive husband. He comes at her while she is standing on a balcony and ends up falling to the stones below. Whether or not Guinevere intended his death is unclear. Even her longtime servants are a little leery since this is the fourth husband she’ll be burying.
The Wisconsin Book Festival just announced the line-up for their 15th Anniversary event, November 2-5, 2017. You won't want to miss this.
Check out the event schedule at: wisconsinbookfestival.org.
The 75th World Science Fiction Convention took place a week ago and the winners of their awards, the Hugos, were announced on August 11th and some great choices were made.