Life has a way of compressing time and making resolutions hard to accomplish, well, at least I’m back to working out with a trainer, and so, I feel I’m getting one thing done right. But my reading has become mostly things I need to read, not always what I want to read. Doesn’t make sense, does it? When I spend time in the hospital with my husband — in for surgery, successful — I always read a vampire book. Isn’t that ridiculous? But hey, it got me through a few strokes and one heart attack, so I think of it as my “good-luck, all will be well” genre to read while waiting for results. Unfortunately, the one I picked this time, was okay, but didn’t capture my attention to the degree it needed. Or as my daughter is so fond of saying, lots of boring bits in the middle. I tried for two days to get past more than chapter five, but finally gave up after doing the skip, read, skim, skip, read, check out the last paragraph, go back and read some more. The sad part is the book is the beginning of a series, and yeah, I know,…

I read 117 books in 2005. That was down a few from what I read in 2004, but as I read quite a few e-books in ’04 and not nearly as many in’05 I think it was pretty equal. The one thing I’ve noticed is that I used to read a few historicals. Now I’m reading all contemporary. I still have a bunch of historicals to read, and have gone through my pile thinking should I dejunk these or not? I just can’t bring myself to do that as they’re by authors whose historicals I have read in past years, and enjoyed. It’s a good thing that books don’t require refrigeration, or spoil. They might age, but hopefully I’ll look at when they were written and be able to remember what was happening in that era and think yes this book is true to it’s birth year. Someone asked me to name my best read of ’05. That was hard. It’s much easier to tell what I truly didn’t enjoy. As I do a quick skim of my list I realize that there was nothing there that I would really have kept if I were a true book keeper. At…

I had to go back through my review binder to get the total but here it is. And no I did not break it down by ratings or anything yet. I’ll do that later this week when I write my column for Fresh Fiction. I read a total of 76 books this year and that’s just ones I actually read. I also listened to a total of 41 books, since May 2005, which was when I first started keeping track. I seem to average 1 audio a week at least so I can tack on 16 more audio books, as a guesstimate. Not nearly as many books read as I would have thought my count would be, but it still is more than one book a week so that’s not too shabby! LOL How did everyone else do? Did you read as many as you expected, or less? For people who track every year, how does that compare to 2004? Any goals to meet or beat your 2005 totals? Kelley Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

So did everyone have a wonderful holiday? Mine was great… Got lots of time in with my niece and nephews. 🙂 I finished four books on vacation. (I went home to PA for the holidays and have been here a week. Back to TX tomorrow.) Granted two of those I started before I left for vacation but… I finished In Stone’s Clasp by Christie Golden this week, on the plane trip here. This was the second in her Final Dance series for Luna. Last night I finished Battle for Barnstable by Alan M Brooker, a horror novel from Amber Quill Press. I also started and completed reading both the first and second books in Elizabeth White‘s Texas Gatekeepers series for Love Inspired Suspense. These were Under Cover of Darkness and Sounds of Silence. These were the first books from this line I’ve read and I enjoyed them quite a bit. Now I’m reading Cupid Inc by Michele Bardsley, due out in February. It’s a one author anthology and is quite steamy! And very funny too. I’m about 20 pages from finishing the second story. I also picked the 9th book in Angela Verdenius‘ Heart and Soul series last night, Heart…

Wow! Where is everybody? I guess everyone’s out doing the holiday thing. I always do mine early so while everyone else is stressing over it, I can relax a bit. 🙂Well I finished my advance copy of Touch of Evil, the new book by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp due out in March. Excellent book! Gritty and well done, with a take charge kind of gal for the heroine and her sexy werewolf beau, Tom. Totally different world then their Sazi books, but just as good. Next up in paper is In Stone’s Clasp by Christie Golden. In audio I finished Brenda Joyce‘s House of Dreams. Good gothic romance with some creepy moments, as well as some over the top moments. In electronic, I’m still working on Some Enchanted Autumn by Linda Andrews (?) – I am blanking on the author but I think this is who it is. In audio I’m working on House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine in the car. This is another good gothic story. I’m loving it and want to rive longer than necessary to see what’s next. At the office I’m working on Dean Koontz’s Fear Nothing. I’m not enjoying this one as much,…

Christine Feehan’s first audio book was released today!! Can you tell I’m excited? LOL Dark Guardian is the first book by Dorchester to be made in to audio. Next month… Dark Prince and January 2006, Dark Desire. I’ve been waiting for her books to come out in audio ever since I got hooked on this format a couple years ago. And the best part is that it’s UNabridged! I’ll be ordering my copy from Dorchester this weekend, on CD. Here’s the link to the announcement at Dorchester’s Website in case you are interested:http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SpecialFeatures.cfm?ID=2028 Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

THE COLBERT REPORT NASCAR has entered into a licensing agreement allowing Harlequin to publish steamy novels with racing themes, with titles like Into the Groove and Dangerous Curves. This is a terrible idea. NASCAR is one of the final frontiers of male bonding, where the love of speed and horrible car accidents draws men to together to drink beer and high-five. The only women who should be allowed into this holy speedway are the ones willing to be turned into meaningless objects to be leered at by gearheads. Hey, Harlequin, we don’t drive racecars through your wildflower meadows. Don’t put Fabio in our firesuits. Unfortunately, there are things you just don’t make up… So you think both NASCAR and Harlequin really think this is a match made in heaven? Who wants to read a romance set in the race pit? Have you checked out the guys who go to the races? Most of the ones I know leave their families behind for a weekend of unchecked “fun” Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Check out the tour diary of Marcia Talley and Kate Charles. They called it the “saints and sinners tour” but when they stopped in Plano, we thought they were just being saintly *G*. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

After much indecision, I felt the fates align and trooped off to the Uptown signing on Saturday. I wasn’t expecting too much, but did hope my knee wouldn’t give out completely as the last shot was a KILLER. It was one of those pleasant November days in North Texas, nice wind, but not blustering; warm, but not sweltering, a great day to be out and about. And so after a quick lunch at my husband’s favorite deli in North Dallas — Jersey Joe’s — we were off to the Uptown Borders for a signing by several North Texas authors. An eclectic mix, non-fiction photography collection to hard-boiled detective mystery to modern fantasy to women’s fiction to I’m not sure what to call the last one. Hmmm… Noting the new hours of the Chase Bank next door, I was unceremoniously dumped with the camera bag and my shopping bags while he went off to buy a few quarters. After all, he needed something to jiggle in his pockets to annoy me and the daughter in college ran out of laundry change and we really didn’t want her coming home with two suitcases of dirty laundry. I wonder if he really believes…

In eBook, I finished The Flyers by Jennifer Cloud a few days ago, and immediately moved on to Treading the Labyrinth by Rae Morgan. In audio I finished The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub in the car. Now in the car I’m listening to Ghost Moon by Karen Robards. At work I finished Left Behind 9: Desecration – Antichrist Takes the Throne by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins and moved on to Left Behind 10: The Remnant – On the Brink of Armageddon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins. I also finished White Oleander by Janet Fitch at work this past week.I finally reached the top of the waiting list at the library for Black Rose by Nora Roberts so I picked it up today and started listening to it at home today while I did housework. In paper, I’m still working on Time of the Wolf by Julie D’Arcy which is quite good. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.