What's on the Nightstand?

   “What are you reading?” I get asked this question a LOT these days. I totally don’t mind either. There’s nothing better than introducing a fellow book worm or, even better, someone who is just finding out they enjoy reading to an amazing book. Don’t you dare laugh, you get your jolly’s your own way and I’ll get mine my way. I can’t help it that my life is snooze-worthy sometimes.

    So because of this, I thought I’d do a weekly entry dedicated to this question. The photo is a picture of my real-life bedside table (or if you live below the Mason Dixon, nightstand) and the gigantic pile of books on it. As you can see, I am in serious need of a bookshelf. I didn’t bother to include a picture of Kyle’s side because all you’d see is a tube of lip balm and the remote. Like the old saying goes, opposites attract I guess.

    Since I reached my personal goal for 2010 a few weeks ago, I’m already looking forward to the books I’ll discover in 2011. There are quite a few I’m salivating for. Spring and their much anticipated release dates can’t get here soon enough for me. With my yearly reading goal set at 100 books, this particular posting will end up featuring more than one book per week since a year only has 52 weeks. The most I've ever been able to get through in a week is four, but that was when I wasn't sleeping at all. 

    To understand my excitement and modus-operandi, you have to understand that it’s DNA deep. All this number business is malady we Wood children share in one form or another. Actually, the counting thing is a strange habit I didn’t know we shared until we all got older. Sister counts mile posts when she drives. I find myself counting people in the gym, decorative things in homes and stores and randomly counting kids at the park with blond hair. And to make it worse, they all have to be even number amounts when I purchase things. I nearly couldn’t buy our newest house because it has an uneven number of shrubs in front. It drove me nuts! At the moment, I can’t remember what Brother’s favorite things to Monk-out over are. I have absolutely no doubt that he has them though.

    Sharing what you read can be a tricky business too. I’ll try my very best to keep the posts as spoiler free as possible. There’s nothing that irritates me more than for someone to tell me what happens in a book or movie I'm enjoying.

    Without anymore build-up, here's the first of my books for 2011:

#1 Them Bones  by Carolyn Haines.

Carolyn Haines is a homegrown girl right out of Lucedale, MS so of course that made me love her instantly! Her very popular Bones series featuring delta belle, Sarah Booth Delaney, is fantastic. I read almost all the series in 2010 but I had a hard time getting my hands on a copy of Them Bones until now.  Them Bones is the first book in this series. A complete listing of her books in sequence can be found on http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ This is by far the best website for discovering the order of a series of books. The lead character, Sarah Booth, finds herself down, out and back in her hometown to face all the uppityness of the local bunch of Daddy’s Girls having been unsuccessful in the bright lights of New York City. To make matters worse, she’s real close to losing her family home to debt. A series of unusual events of her own creation puts Sarah in one pickle after another as she tries to save the home she loves. This book is overflowing with Southern humor and vivid pictures of friends, family, love lost and possibly new love found. A wonderful read on every level and one I would recommend to all.

#2 Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane.

  Stacia’s series featuring lead character Chess Putnam is my first experience with dark urban fantasy. Her writing is quite sharp and her characters are very colorful and imaginative. I find myself busting out laughing at the quick wit often. It took me forever to find her books with the lack-luster help in my local Books-a-Million or I would have read more of her work by now. Stacia has another series featuring lead character Megan Chase that I hope to discover soon if Hernando public library with get with the dang program. Telling too much about Unholy Ghosts will give away the details of the story so I’ll leave you all to read it for yourself for the most part. Here's what the book jacket says: The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed and freewheeling ghost hunter. She's got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret; she owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump, who wants immediate payback in the form of a dangerous job. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump's ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it.Stacia is a southern transplant to Atlanta, GA so that is another mark in the plus column for me. She maintains an active twitter and personal website complete with blog at www.staciakane.net where a complete listing of her work can be found.