They Opened Up the Friends of the Library Bookstore... After Almost a Year... I Couldn't Resist...

More Mercedes Lackey.  I went there.  Totally went there.

How My The Wheel of Time Hardback Book Collection is Coming!

Hee-Haah! I got the final three books in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series in hardback the past two weeks. I'm upgrading my collection from the mass market editions. I've learned how the hardcovers are better suited for my reading experience. For real, The Wheel of Time books are thick, super involved high fantasy books that begs for patience and comfort. I will go back and upgrade the first three books one day. But since I am still on book nine, I'll wait until I finish the series to do so. (I'm telling myself that barely legal lie.)

Anyway, the key question now is when will I pick the series back up again? I have been having a hankering for them (or at least to see what Rand, Mat and Nynaeve are up to). And whenever that feeling comes knocking, I know it is almost time to cross the threshold back into The Wheel of Time. Either way, I am committed. I made it through book seven, A Crown of Swords, with complete relit enthusiasm for the books. I made it over a hurdle, and enjoyed book eight as well. However, I stalled again on book nine, Winter’s Heart. This is the “heart” of the so called “slog”. But if I can push through that one, as well as the following book, I will supposedly be good to go with the rest of the series. As readers have stated, books eleven to the end are sensational.

Anyway, the slight bowing in my shelf holding the series up shows I am a dedicated fan.

#MarchMysteryMadness Tinks & Links

My #ReadSoulLit Start-Ups

 

So I would start a James Baldwin book the weekend before taking my Grandmother to two specialists the following week. Then the week after is my birthday week, as well as my return to the classroom. Busy little beaver, I suppose. Not the best time to find myself waist deep in Baldwin’s level of immersion and gripping engagement. Yet, I chose to pick up his book, Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone. But who am I kidding? It is always the perfect timing for a Baldwin book. As I write this, I am fifty pages in and on my second cup of coffee for the evening. His work is that absorbing; I always want to be alert to his offerings. And here it is about to start raining! The right vibe. The right move. The right night. As I have stated, perfect timing.

I’m halfway through Tammye Huf’s A More Perfect Union. It is the book chosen for the #ReadSoulLit read-along of 2021. So far, I am liking the book. It is a fictionalized retelling of the author’s ancestors' love story, seeded in a Virginia plantation around 1849. You take a slave named, Sarah, and her Irish immigrant beau named Henry; imagine the peril involved. One thing I enjoy is Henry's narrative insight into the Irish immigrate experience. I also enjoy the parallel of family pain and trauma both Sarah and Henry share, though the overall illustrations of those shared traumas are fairly "light" (if you will). Nevertheless, their pain is something that draws them to one another. To keep a balance, Sarah and Henry do alternate shifting his or her narrative throughout the book. Yet, there is a third character named Maple that is as desperate to share her painful narrative as well. And an interesting one it is, considering she is the half-sister of the plantation’s mistress.

hey & #readsoullit (+ #marchmysterymadness release)

 

Do I Feel Like Reading More of Mercedes Lackey's Work?

So here it is. The truth. I closed out reading Mercedes Lackey’s By the Sword feeling unfulfilled and unmoved by the book. So I'm wary of trying more of Lackey’s work. Don’t get me wrong, though. I enjoyed Lackey's Diana Tregarde series, as well as the first book in her Elementals series. As for the two dips I’ve taken into her Valedmar series, I've yet to come away with a hunger for more. And after finishing By the Sword, I am stuck wondering whether Lackey’s work is worth it to me. You see, By the Sword started off great. I was into Lackey’s fantasy character, Kerowyn, catapulting in her own direction in life. She wasn’t interested in becoming anyone’s wife or housekeeper. Nah. She desired the mercenaries way of life, or a means to be a hero to people.

Cool fantasy stuff, indeed.

Unfortunately, by the end of the book things changed for me.

Valerie Wilson Wesley's "A Glimmer of Death" is Out! Happy Release Day!

Listen. I stood at the stove about to reheat some lasagna (with cheap off-brand breadsticks from Wal-Mart and a "girl-bye" to them) when the UPS man delivered this baby to me. The book came on time. Delivered on its release date. I didn’t get played like I anticipated. So I was good to go! Y’all know the mailing services are off the chain these days. And my messy tail is contributing to it via Amazon purchases. But we’ll talk about that some other day.

THE FACTTTTT ISSSSSSS…

Valerie Wilson Wesley is one of my favorite black mystery writers, and she's back with a new series. Also, she's back with a fresh shift in gears toward undertaking the cozy mystery sub-genre. Wesley is best known for the famous Tamara Hayle lady private-eye detective series. She also has a catalog of black contemporary works out there (Playing my Mother's Blues being one). And Wesley is also known for two gothic romance novels (check the labels for “Savanna Welles”). My point is that Wesley has done about everything except cozy mysteries. Until today where we have A Glimmer of Death, book one in Wesley’s Odessa Jones series.

Get into Wesley's Tamara Hayle private-eye series, please