Dee Reads

  My life has been interwoven with many wonderful libraries!  I hope your's has too.  To be without such a valuable resource is sad.  When I consider the ways in which libraries have enriched my life, I think of  the librar y of my small hometown, Spencerville, Ohio.  Small town = small library.  Although it was part of a public library system, I don't think it was much larger than a studio apartment, but did it ever open up a bigger world to me. It looks a lot different now, some forty years later, and I haven't visited this new building, but I trust it serves the same home-away-from-home need for current readers that it did for me.  Saturday visits, spending time there researching and writing a term paper on Marilyn Monroe, and reading over and over a true crime book on infamous murders.  I know, today that last one would probably prompt an appointment with a therapist, but I found it utterly fascinating.  Even my backside has a librar...

Let's take some time to talk about a variety of shorter reads; novellas, samplers, or short stories.  As many of these shorts that are out there, there are reasons for reading them.  Some readers I know take on a short as a way of sampling a new author or genre.  Not a bad thought!  There are those of us who select a short story when we need a break, maybe from a big chunk of a book or perhaps from a subject that has been difficult to handle emotionally or absorb intellectually.  Also, a good idea!  Whatever your reason, and I don't believe there's a bad one, let's wade into a little of these three possibilities. Novellas are probably the first thing that jumps to mind when you hear "short read", but what is a novella?  And will a brief piece of writing be able to convey a plot?  A novella is generally described as a piece of narrative fiction, shorter than your "average bear" novel🐻, but longer than most short stories.  How about an idea or...

This being my fourth blog post, I thought a little background on how I plan to choose topics might be of interest. My initial thinking was to write on topics that were "book adjacent" - to share with you some of my perspective, but stay away from more traditional book reviews. Up to this point, that's what I've tried to accomplish.  However,  I've had a slight change of heart.  Afterall, there are so many great books out there, we really need to share.  I think I'll do a book review every few posts.   Introducing the work of Marcie R. Rendon  -  Happily,  I stumbled upon Marcie at the Texas Book Festival (more on the festival in an upcoming post) in November 2022.  Without that happenstance, I might have missed an author that is gifted at writing a piece of fiction, that both entertains and educates. I admire and envy this ability!  What a gift!  Before I delve into my thoughts on her latest, Where They Last Saw Her, let me int...

If you're at all the sort of reader I am, you probably follow book groups and authors on social media.  I keep up with a lot of them on Facebook.  I'm not as savvy as I need to be to use many of the social media platforms, so I concentrate on one.  Maybe one day I'll sharpen my skillset and branch out.   While I was on Facebook one morning perusing my page for new books, I noticed there was a lot of talk about books that are rarely mentioned, but once read seem to be gems of the reading world.  They simply don't get the buzz some other authors do.  Immediately, two or three authors jumped to my mind!  I'm going to share three of them with you here. Kicking it off with Aaron Stander.  I can't remember how I came upon Aaron's work, but have truly loved the eleven mysteries he's written set in Michigan, featuring Sheriff Ray Elkins.  They appeal to me in two ways.  First and foremost, they are well-constructed mysteries with great, som...

I have always wanted to start my very own blog...so here we go! I love reading! All kind of books! I particularly enjoy thrillers, mysteries and police procedurals.  There are times when my love of this genre leads me to contemplate "how do I get away with murder".    I need to know where and how to hide the bodies!  Help me out here. Give me some ideas.😉 On a serious note, I do read very broadly and always have, from the time I borrowed my first Nancy Drew Mystery, at about age seven, to today when I continue to love a good mystery series.  For instance, the Tracy Crosswhite Series by Robert Dugoni is a stand-out for me. You can check out the first in Tracy's series, My Sister's Grave . Once you get a taste for Tracy, a Seattle P.D. detective, you will quickly wolf down her entire ten-book saga.   You'll be left with such a voracious appetite, you might want to jump right into Robert's newest series featuring Seattle lawyer, Keera Duggan, in Her Dead...