myJaxon

I love books. If you haven’t figured that out yet, then you obviously haven’t been over to Literary Escapism.

Whatever your tastes, I could probably give you a good recommendation. For instance, if you’re into the whole erotica paranormal genre, then you should probably check out Cheyenne McCray’s Magic series (Forbidden Magic). For the historical fiction people, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series (Outlander) is completely breathtaking (I actually can’t wait to get my hands on these books so I go straight for the hardcovers). For those fantasy buffs out there, Maria Snyder’s Study series (Poison Study) is quickly becoming one of my all time favorites. Another good novel is Wicked by Gregory Maguire and his other twisted fairy tales (although I’m still getting to them, so take this with a grain of salt). I used to read a lot of romance, so I could tell you to pick up a Nora Roberts book, she’s good for a contemporary romance, but if you want a really good historical romance, then I would check our either Amanda Quick (Lake & March series - Slightly Shady) or Jane Feather (Matchmaking - The Bachelor List or Kiss - Widow’s Kiss). They both tend to lean away from the whole simpering female, yet strong character, roles and have more of an independent woman in the lead. If you’re looking for something quick and funny, then the Stephanie Plum series (One for the Dough) by Janet Evanovich is a good bet.

However, when it comes to urban fantasy or just straight paranormal, I have a huge list of authors that I’ve come to love. They don’t all gravitate around the same idea of what vampires, witches, fae, shapeshifters, etc. should be like, so each story has their own unique qualities. I’ll be honest, I’ve actually come across a lot that I like, but I don’t consider all of them to be “buy worthy”. Mainly because I am on a fixed income and I can’t buy them all. So I generally take the ones that I can’t live without before buying the ones I simply like. I the books I can’t live without are as follows…

Because the list is a little long, I’m only going to include the title to the first novel in each series, but I’ll show how many books there are. If there’s a plus sign after the number, that means there are more books planned or being released soon.

Vampires & Werewolves:

• Anita Blake by Laurell K Hamilton - Guilty Pleasures (18+)
• Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward - Dark Lover (6+)
• Cassandra Palmer by Karen Chance - Touch the Dark (3+)
• Dark-Hunters by Sherrilyn Kenyon - Fantasy Lover (11+)
• Kitty Norville by Carrie Vaughn - Kitty and the Midnight Hour (4+)
• Mercedes Thompson by Patricia Briggs - Moon Called (4+)
• Night Huntress by Jeaniene Frost - Halfway to the Grave (2+)
• Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong - Bitten (8+)
• Psy-Changeling by Nalini Singh - Slave to Sensation (4+)
• Riley Jensen by Keri Arthur - Full Moon Rising (6+)
• Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris - Dead Until Dark (8+)
• Werecat by Rachel Vincent - Stray (2+)

Demons, Fae, & Magic

• Aisling Grey by Katie MacAlister - Fire Me Up (4)
• Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews - Magic Bites (2+)
• Meredith Gentry by LK Hamilton - A Kiss of Shadows (6+)
• Morgan Kingsey by Jenna Black - The Devil Inside (1+)
• Nightwalkers by Jacquelyn Frank- Jacob (4+)
• Rachel Morgan by Kim Harrison - Dead Witch Walking (6+)
• Silver Dragons by Katie MacAlister - Playing with Fire (1+)

It’s weekly geeks time again and this weeks theme:

Choose a political or social issue that matters to you. Find several books addressing that issue; they don’t have to books you’ve read, just books you might like to read. Using images (of the book covers or whatever you feel illustrates your topic) present these books in your blog.

I’ve been a supporter of Net Neutrality for awhile now, but I never really thought about looking up any books on the topic until Dewey came up with this weeks theme. So I went over to Amazon and came across a couple books that caught my interest.

1. Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Internet Services Be Regulated by Thomas M. Lenard and Randolph J. May
2. Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age by Jonathan E. Nuechterlein and Philip J. Weiser

Net Neutrality has been going on for the past couple of years and still there are Congress members who have no idea what it is. I’m sure we’ve all seen the footage of Senator Ted Stevens calling the internet nothing but a bunch of tubes. However, I’m hoping that the Senator, and other non informed members, have learned what the internet is by now. Net Neutrality is a huge issue to independent website owners, like me, because if it isn’t passed into law, then the larger companies can pay to have their sites load faster, while mine would load up as if it was still on dial-up.

Already, there are a bunch of “Save the Internet” campaigns going on. I’ve been a part of the Free Press Media Reform newsletter for awhile now, and while I don’t religiously read it daily, I do keep my eyes open. While I do agree that the internet does need to be regulated, the speed at which sites are loaded should not be something that is. Afterall, if Literary Escapism took forever to load, who would read it? Would I spend as much time working on that site if it took forever to see it? Reading has saved my sanity over the last 15 months (can you guess how old my son is) and all of the reviews and work I’ve been able to put into Literary Escapism have kept me from going stir crazy. So, I’m going to say it, “Save the Internet has a write in campaign on their site that will automatically detect who your congresspeople are simply by putting in your zip code. Go over to the site and fill out their form and send it to your Congress representatives. Although, at the moment, it seems like the Free Press site is under construction, so go over there once it starts working (if it isn’t already working by the time you read this).

One other issue that is being discussed in Congress right is the Reading is Fundamental government program. I’m going to be shameless and plug it again, but they are talking about cutting all funding to this program and that would mean millions of children who were receiving free books will no longer be able to do so. Right now, there is a write in campaign going on and all it takes is a few moments to fill in some blanks. I’m urging everyone who reads my site, to write in and make their voice heard.

Just so people can get a clear understanding on what Net Neutrality is, the Daily Show has a pretty good explanation and here it is…

So this weeks Weekly Geek challenge is to write about our fond memories of childhood books. When I think about growing up around reading, one book stands out - E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. I made it a point to read it at least once a year and usually, when I couldn’t find anything else to read, I would go back to it time and time again. My copy started out as pristine as if it was on the shelf in the store still; by the time I reached my teens, I had to replace it because the jacket was hanging by a thread. Once I turned 14 (or there about), I found my mom’s stash of historical romance novels and started reading those. Even though I was getting into the them, I still made time to read Charlotte’s Web. I haven’t read it in years, but I can’t wait until my son is old enough (and has the attention span) where we can read it together. Although, I should probably by a new one.

Now that I have a son, I’ve been finding all sorts of great children books. However, Ian’s attention span isn’t much bigger than mine, so we’re always looking for new ones. Suggestions anyone?

So for those of you who have been checking out my book review blog, I’ve moved it to a new location. It was originally on Blogger, but since I was putting so much work into it, I decided to switch it to a Wordpress format since I am far more familiar with that. I finished getting everything transitioned tonight, so I’m calling it on the blogger version. It died at 11:03pm. Blogger has been good to me and it was easy to update, but it wasn’t real easy to manipulate and they had very few templates that didn’t look cartoony. Now I have something that is a bit more stylish. If anyone gets a chance, head on over and check it out. I would love to hear what people think about it.

Click here to check it out now.

So this is a challenge I’ve joined via Literary Escapism, but it’s something I thought I would post here as well. It’s not just centered on books, but a whole bunch of different blogs and the whole idea is to give people something to blog about at least once a week. Last week theme was “Discover New Blogs Week“. The challenge is to check out 5 new blogs from their list, leave a comment on their site, and then blog about it on our own site. So, I’ve picked my 5 and here they are:

1. Books & Coffee - This blog caught my interest by the very first post. Anyone who has Penn & Teller on their site has to be worth the read. I love Penn & Teller.
2. Dog’s Eye View - is a photography blog that has some really pretty shots on it.
3. This Book Is For You - Finally, someone who doesn’t like the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. Not that I’m saying I don’t like it, but it was kind of intimidating that everyone was liking it that I was afraid to read it in case I didn’t like it.
4. Reading Reflections - I am a fan of historical fiction, but I prefer finding new novels through recommendations since some can be a bit overblown. The review of Widow of the South by Robert Hicks was so good that it was added to my TBR list.
5. Tiny Reading Room - Finally someone who has reviewed the Katie Chandler series by Shanna Swendson. I’ve been seeing this book around that I’ve been interested in someones opinion on it. Now that I’ve seen that someone does like it, I’m definitely going to give it a try.

It’s week two of Weekly Geeks and this weeks challenge is actually a really good idea. Something I haven’t thought of and now I’m glad to see it. Basically, one of the participants, Darla, has a policy where if someone has reviewed a book that she has reviewed, then she’ll post a link to your review with her post. I.e. if both of us have reviewed the Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur, then she’ll post a link to my review on her site and I would post a link to her review on my site. It’s a great way for people to read a review and if they want another opinion, then there’s one at the bottom of the review.

So I’m going to start the policy as well. If you’ve reviewed a book I have as well, then send me a link to your review and I’ll add it to my review. The only thing I ask, if I add a link to your review, please do me a courtesy and link to mine on your review as well. This could also include traffic for both of our sites after all.

So for people who are interested in the challenge, here’s the details.