A Journey Through Books

Books have always been a major part of my life. I read in happy times and sad, and all those times in between. Sometimes I read to escape, other times for knowledge, most often for just the pure pleasure of reading.

I confess, I've not written a new blog post in simply ages. Sometimes life and writing get in the way. But in spite of numerous distractions I always find time to read. So I thought I'd share with you a list of those wonderful, exciting, interesting, awesome and great reads since my last blog post. These are books I've read, loved and hope you'll enjoy. The books are in the order in which I read them. All of them were great reads.



Broken Ferns (Lei Crime #4) by Toby Neal
Island Fire by Toby Neal
Fortune's Rocks by Anita Shreve
Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
The Linen Queen by Patricia Falvey
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth
The Visitors by Sally Beauman
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The English Spy (Gabriel Allon, #15) by Daniel Silva
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Empty Throne (Saxon Tales, #8) by Bernard Cornwell
Mila 18 by Leon Uris
The Shell Keeper (Lei Crime KW) by Christine Nolfi
Twisted Vine (Lei Crime, #5) by Toby Neal
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The Beekeeper's Daughter by Santa Montefiore
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
Circling the Son by Paula McLain
The Storm of the Century by Al Roker*
Breaking Sky by Cort McCarthy
Shadow (Blue-Link, #1) by Maureen A. Miller
Dry Bones (Longmire, #11) by Craig Johnson
13 Hours in Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff*
Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall

(* = Non-Fiction)

Note - Please forgive me if I left off any. There were so many books, I might have missed a few.

Whew! That was a lot of books read from April through December in 2015. Since the books were so numerous, I decided to list my 2016 reads in another post.

Keep reading, my bookish friends. And please feel free to list any of your favorite reads in the comments below.

Raving About Books

Another day of rain, so this is definitely a book day. I've been reading so many great books lately that it's high time for me to rave about them.

I can't believe that the last post where I listed books I'd read and recommended was in July of last year. My only excuse is that life and grandkids and my dogs and writing and reading got in the way. Well, in this post I'll play catch-up and rave about the books I've read since then. I can highly recommend every one of the books listed below. (Note - The books are listed in the order read.)

Books Read from August 2014 through December 2014:

Plague by H. W. "Buzz" Bernard
Outlander (#1) by Diana Gabaldon*
Redcoat by David Crookes
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2) by Diana Gabaldon
Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon
Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) by Diana Gabaldon
Blood Orchid (Lei Crime #1) by Toby Neal
Torch Ginger (Lei Crime #2) by Toby Neal
Married by Midnight by Talli Roland
Black Friday by Alex Kava
The Salaryman's Wife (Rei Shimura #1) by Sujata Massey*
Zen Attitude (Rei Shimura #2) by Sujata Massey

Books Read from January 2015 through April 2015:

The Flower Masters (Rei Shimura #3) by Sujata Massey
The Defector (Gabriel Allon #9) by Daniel Silva
Black Jasmine (Lei Crime #3) by Toby Neal
The Rembrandt Affair (Gabriel Allon #10) by Daniel Silva
Portrait of a Spy (Gabriel Allon #11) by Daniel Silva
Never, Never (#1) by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
The Fallen Angel (Gabriel Allon #12) by Daniel Silva
The English Girl (Gabriel Allon #13) by Daniel Silva
The Heist (Gabriel Allon #14) by Daniel Silva
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
1984 by George Orwell*
Z, A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
Neverhome by Laird Hunt
Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough
The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman
The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
Stella Bain by Anita Shreve

* Books I've read more than once.

Hmm! Obviously I've been spending lots and lots of time reading. However, there's never enough time to read all the books I want to read.

My local library is only a mile away, so I go there at least once a week. Plus, I have zillions of books on my two Kindles (my old Kindle Keyboard and my newer Kindle Fire). I confess, I have way more books on my Kindles than I'll ever be able to read in ten lifetimes. Of course, there's no such thing as too many books.

Yes, every single one of the books listed above were great reads. I just know you'll love reading them too. If you want, you can check out my Goodreads page for my short reviews on each of these books.

Teri Heyer's Book Reviews on Goodreads

Books I'm currently reading:

Fortune's Rocks by Anita Shreve
Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carnes

Happy Reading!!!!

Books and Football

I happen to love football, so it's kind of a sad moment when Super Bowl Sunday arrives. I always enjoy watching the game, but then it also means the end of football season. On the other hand, it also means I'll have a lot more time to read on weekends until the next football season starts.

Since I'm talking about books and football, here are a few you might want to read:

Coming Back Stronger by Drew Brees*
First Things First: The Rules of Being a Warner by Kurt Warner & Brenda Warner*
Manning: A Father, His Sons and a Football Legacy by Peyton Manning & Archie Manning
It's Only a Game by Terry Bradshaw
Football for Dummies by Howie Long & John Czarnecki

Books for those who love contemporary romance and football:

It Had to Be You (Chicago Stars #1) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips*
Heaven, Texas (Chicago Stars #2) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips*
Nobody's Baby But Mine (Chicago Stars #3) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips*
Any Given Christmas (A Sugar Shack Novel) by Candis Terry*
Blitzing Emily (A Love & Football Novel) by Julie Brannagh
Fourth and Goal (Seattle Lumberjacks #1) by Jami Davenport

* = Books I've read and can definitely recommend. The others are books I want to read.

I've read  and loved all of Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Chicago Stars Series and Candis Terry's Sugar Shack Series. I'm looking forward to reading the Love and Football Series by Julie Brannagh and the Seattle Lumberjacks Series by Jami Davenport. What can I say? I just love football.

I'd take time to list more football books, both fiction and non-fiction, but it's time to watch the Super Bowl XLIX Pregame. By the way, I'm rooting for the Seattle Seahawks this time around.

Summer Reads

Ever since I was a little kid, summer and reading have gone hand in hand. I remember walking, usually barefoot, to the library and spending hours searching for just the right books to bring home. Then I'd walk back home with an armload of books. My next door best friends almost always went with me and sometimes we even let my little brother tag along. I always came back home with an armload of books.


Obviously I'm no longer a kid, but I still look forward to summer reads. Most of the books I enjoy these days are on my Kindles (my old Kindle Keyboard and my newer Kindle Fire), though I still make regular trips to the library. I no longer walk barefoot to the library, but I do drive home with an assortment of books.


Considering we've reached the mid-point of a long, hot, muggy (Hey, I live in Florida) summer, it seemed like the perfect time to write a post about summer reads. So here's a list of the books I've read since the first day of summer. All of them were great reads which I can definitely recommend.


My Summer Reads:


Outback Station by Aaron Fletcher
Summer of the Loon by Deanna Lynn Sletten
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Virgin, Widow, Whore by Deanna Lynn Sletten
Jungle of Deceit by Maureen A. Miller
When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman
Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams*


I'm almost always reading more than one book. So what am I currently reading?


Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman
Sharp's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell
Time Trap by Micah Caida
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing


What other books are on my summer reading list? Hmm! That's a good question. I always have more books on my list than I have time to read. However, here are some books I hope to read the second half of this summer.


On My Summer Reading List:


BEYOND: Three Paths by Maureen A. Miller
Devil's Brood by Sharon Kay Penman
Her Perfect Life by Vicki Hinze
The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris*
City of the Sun by Juliana Maio
Hurricane Hole by R.P. Dahlke
We Two: Victoria and Albert ... by Gillian Gill*
Crisis of Identity by Denise Moncrief
Across Great Divides by Monique Roy
A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir


* = Non-Fiction


I know, that's a pretty ambitious reading list. I doubt that I'll get to all of them before the summer is out and, of course, I'll most likely add more to my list. Oh well, I read all year long, so I'm sure to get to all of them eventually. Just remember, there's no such thing as too many books.


What are you reading this summer? I'm always looking for suggestions, so please feel free to add yours in the comments below. Happy summer reading to y'all.

A Writer's List of New Year's Resolutions

Dream Big for 2014. (Sunset over Pensacola Bay.)

Every New Year I make a mental list of New Year's Resolutions and then, as the year proceeds, I turn around and forget those resolutions one by one.

So why should 2014 be any different? Well, this New Year I'm going to write down some of those resolutions in my blog for the world to see and, hopefully, for me to remember.

Of course, it's not just about remembering those profound resolutions, it's about the doing too. Yesireee, it's the doing that's the hardest part, for sure.

So here goes, my List of New Year's Resolutions for 2014:

1) Write, write and write some more. (I can't be a writer if I don't write. Duh!)

2) Think good thoughts. (My mom says if I have good thoughts then I won't ever have any medical problems. I'm hoping it applies to writing too and I won't have any writing problems?)

3) Write every single day even if I delete it all the next day. (Best to delete the not-so-good writing of the day before so no ones sees it. Just sayin' ...)

4) Dream Big and then follow it up with some hard work. (Like writing my butt off.)

5) Eat, sleep and be merry. (Hey, it sounds good. Cheers!)

6) Finish all those zillions of short stories, novellas and novels pining away in my laptop. (Well, maybe not all of them, but at least a few.)

7) Publish more books in 2014. (More is better, so they say.)

8) Spend less time on Twitter. (This is a hard one. I happen to love Twitter.)

9) Read for inspiration. (Oh, this is an easy one. I always read, lots and lots of books.)

10) Keep the Faith. (I am a writer. I know how to write. I am going to write. Hip hip hooray!)

Now I have to admit these New Year's Resolutions are pretty lame, but if I follow them I will get some writing done and some of my works-in-progress finished and out there for my readers to enjoy.

In the meantime, wishin' y'all a very wonderful, awesome and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! May your New Year be filled with peace, prosperity and lots and lots of books.

Christmas in November - Some Holiday Reads

'A Christmas Contract' on my Kindle Fire.

It seems the older I get the faster the year zips by. This year is no exception and feels like a breakneck race to the holidays. Well, it's a good thing I enjoy the holidays and look forward to all those wonderful holiday reads.

I couldn't help doing a post about some of the holiday reads on my Kindle Fire. In fact, the past couple nights I actually started reading a collection of Christmas romances. These holiday reads are like comfort foods for the soul.

'Mistletoe in Manhattan' on my Kindle Fire.

If you love reading romances, both contemporary and historical, you'll be sure to find something to like in the holiday books I've added to my Kindle Fire. Some of these I've read before and others I haven't yet started. Oh, I just love holiday reads.

This list below is just some of the Christmas books on my Kindle Fire. They range from sweet romances to spicey hot and everything in between.

'Army Doctor's Christmas ...' on my Kindle Fire.

I'm currently reading Helen Scott Taylor's Army Doctor's Christmas Collection which includes, Army Doctor's Baby, Army Doctor's Wedding and Army Doctor's Christmas Baby. I have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying this heartwarming collection of Christmas reads.

'A Home for Christmas' on my Kindle Fire.

Christmas Holiday Reads (in no particular order):

Army Doctors Christmas Collection by Helen Scott Taylor
The Christmas Contract by Jan Romes
A Home for Christmas by Deborah Grace Smiley
Mistletoe in Manhattan by Talli Roland*
A Cowboy for Christmas by Lori Wilde
Xmas Affair by Ruth D. Kerce*
A Spy for Christmas by Kristen James
Kiss of the Christmas Wind by Janelle Taylor
Any Given Christmas by Candis Terry*
The Gift of Gray by Jan Romes
All I Want for Christmas is You by Lisa Mondello
A Grosvenor Square Christmas by Anna Campbell, et al.
Blue Christmas by Diane Moody
A Bush Christmas by Margareta Osborn
Christmas at the Red Chiefs by Linda Lael Miller*
A Dixie Christmas by Sandra Hill

(* = Holiday books I've read, enjoyed and will read again.)

'Xmas Affair' on my Kindle Fire.

There are just so many great Christmas Holiday books out there, so please feel free to add your recommendations in the comments below. Remember, there's no such thing as too many books and definitely no such thing as too many Christmas Holiday books.

Best wishes to y'all for a wonderful holiday season. Happy reading too.

Hopelessly Addicted to Books

'Far in the Wilds' by Deanna Raybourn

I have to admit that I'm hopelessly addicted to books. This is an addiction that started when I was a small child and hasn't let up all these many years later. Nope, I'm not going to confess to the actual number of years. Just trust me to say that it's been a long, long time.

I have bookshelves full of books, boxes of books under my bed, stacks of books in my closet, books on end tables and dressers and any number of places.

'A Spear of Summer Grass' by Deanna Raybourn

On my Kindle Fire and Kindle Keyboard I have more books than I can count. Well, actually, I can count that high, but suffice to say that it's a heck of a lot of books. I probably have more books than I can read in several lifetimes. So I think it's fair to say this is a true addiction.

Is this a bad thing? Are you kidding? Absolutely not. Being addicted to (in love with) books is a very good thing. I'm never bored, because there's always a book (or two or three or more) at my fingertips.







'HIGH TIDE' by Maureen A. Miller

How did this happen? Well, to begin with, my mom started reading O'Henry and Terhune stories to me when I was still too young to start school. Once I could read on my own I practically lived at the library. Every birthday and Christmas all I ever wanted was books. Whenever I had a little bit of money I bought more books. Even today I'd rather shop for books instead of clothes, shoes or anything else I can name.

I read every chance I can get: when I first wake up in the morning, before I go to sleep at night, and whatever stolen moments I can find throughout the day. Books are what keep me sane, calm, hopeful, optimistic, I could go on and on.

'Stella in Stilettos' by Jan Romes

In honor of this addiction to books, I thought it fitting to list some of my latest reads. After all, I'm sure many of you also suffer from this same addiction and are probably looking for some more great books that you just must have.

I'm almost always reading more than one book. Usually I have a hardback or paperback book that I'm reading, in addition to one or more eBooks on my two Kindles. It pretty much just depends on my mood of the moment as to which book I want to read at any given time. I'm also a night owl, so I do a lot of reading well after the midnight hour. I'd much rather lose sleep and read.






'The Orchid House' by Lucinda Riley

Books I'm currently reading:

A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn
The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley
That Summer in Cornwall by Ciji Ware
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose










'BEYOND' by Maureen A. Miller

Books I Read and Loved in May:

The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
Long Trail Home (Texas Trails #3) by Vickie McDonough
BEYOND (BEYOND #1) by Maureen A. Miller
BEYOND: Two Suns (BEYOND #2) by Maureen A. Miller
Secrets of Paris by Luanne Rice
Baby, Don't Go (Southern Roads #3) by Stephanie Bond
Baby, Drive South (Southern Roads #1) by Stephanie Bond
Stella in Stilettos by Jan Romes

'Baby, Hold On' by Stephanie Bond

Books I Read and Loved in June:

Baby, Hold On (Southern Roads #3.5) by Stephanie Bond
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
Endless Night by Maureen A. Miller
The Diamond Smugglers by Ian Fleming









'CATALINA KISS' by Tracy Ewens

Books I Read and Loved in July (to date):

Catalina Kiss by Tracy Ewens
Baby, Come Home (Southern Roads #2) by Stephanie Bond
High Tide by Maureen A. Miller
Far in the Wilds by Deanna Raybourn

If you'd like, you can check out my reviews for all the books listed above via my Goodreads page:

Teri Heyer's Goodreads Page

'ENDLESS NIGHT' by Maureen A. Miller

Note: The photos in this post are books on my Kindle Fire. For the record, I love my Kindle Fire (great for reading inside and in the dark or low-light conditions due to back lighting) and my Kindle Keyboard (which I've had for years and read outside and at the beach due to the non-glare screen). I still love hardback and paperback books too. I also frequent my local library and used bookstore.

Are you hopelessly addicted to books too?

Sitting, reading, dreaming and gazing out at the world ...

Shoreline Park, a perfect place to gaze at the world.

Some days all I want to do is find the perfect place to sit, read, dream and gaze out at the world.

Lucky for me that I happen to live on the Florida Panhandle and close to the beautiful beaches of the the Gulf of Mexico. This is the land of water, water, everywhere. So almost anywhere that I can sit and look at the water is the perfect place to read, dream and gaze at the world.

Since I'm also a writer, it should be the perfect place to sit and write too. But some days it's best to leave the writing to those voices in my head. Some days it's best to just sit and maybe think about writing.

Shoreline Park is one of those places where I can sit in the shade of a gazebo and gaze out at the world. Hmm! Is that where the word "gazebo" came from? Just wondering.

Well, last night was a rip-roaring storm that brought an abundance of lightning, thunder and rain. The temp yesterday reached the mid-90s, but the much needed rain dropped it back down to the low 80s. Ahhh, a temporary reprieve from those hot, hot, HOT days of summer.

The air today is humid, thick, heavy, almost dripping. The rain could start again any minute. But then the sun breaks through the clouds for a moment or two. Then it's cloudy once again.

This is one of those days where I don't feel like doing much of anything.

After-Easter Lilies and more April Showers

After-Easter Lilies in my backyard this morning.

This week my backyard Easter Lilies started blooming. Obviously they didn't make it in time for Easter. My front yard Easter Lilies are still a week or two away from blooming. Hmm! Apparently there's something different about my front and backyards. My After-Easter Lilies looked so pretty in the rain this morning.

Rain? Yesiree! The latest round of April Showers began in the wee hours with an accompaniment of lightning and thunder. My dog, Dude, who is usually a bit stressed over lightning and thunder, slept through the whole wild night. I suppose Dude was worn out from yesterday afternoon's romp at the dog park.

April Showers on our patio.

This morning it's still raining, drizzling. According to the TV, another line of thunder showers is heading our way.

This morning, while the rain was at the drizzle stage, my dog Shani and I went outside to take photos. Wildflowers are blooming all over our backyard. Beautiful purples, lavender, yellow and white. The Wisteria growing on our patio trellis is blooming too. The Wisteria has delicate white blooms.

Here on the Florida Panhandle, close to the Gulf Coast, it's definitely a day of April Showers. The air smells so fresh and clean. Windows are open and I'm listening to the musical sound of rain. This is a perfect day to sip coffee and read.

Wisteria that bloomed in this morning's rain.

I'm always reading an assortment of books at any given time, depending on my mood at the moment. So here's a list of my current reads:

The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory (from the library)
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (on my Kindle)
The Abilene Trail a Ralph Compton Novel by Dusty Richards (paperback)
The Chisholm Trail by Wayne Gard (a history book from my bookshelves)

A perfect morning to sip coffee and read.

I'm researching Texas history for a western romance series I'll be writing, which is why I'm reading the last two books listed above. My husband and I are planning a Texas vacation soon so I can further my research. Hey, that's a good excuse for some much needed time off to sight-see.

I can't wait to walk along the Brazos River, which was a crossing point for the Chisholm Trail (also known as the Abilene Trail) and the Shawnee Trail. So please check back for upcoming Texas posts with lots of photos. I happen to love Longhorn cattle, so rest assured I'll have photos of Longhorns too.

Shani checking out this morning's April Showers.

As I'm writing this, Dude and my husband are off on a car ride in the rain. Shani, on the other hand, is curled up next to my recliner. She doesn't care for car rides.

Today I'll be enjoying the lovely April Showers and reading one book or another. Thanks again for stopping by.

Passionate About Purple

Purple Pansies in my flowerpots.

  

Purple happens to be one of my all-time favorite colors. Why? I haven't a clue, except that the color seems to call to me. So you see, I'm passionate about purple.

As an artist, which is something I do when I'm not writing, I love to paint, which means I love colors. So I love using purple in all its many shades in my landscapes, seascapes and florals.

One of my favorite childhood books is Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill. It's a book of poems about colors. I still have the book my mother gave me all those many years ago. It was a favorite which I shared with my daughter when she was young and which I now share with my grandkids.

Another kid's book that I've always loved is Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.

One of my very favorite books is Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage. Lassiter is a to-die-for-hero. And I swear I can smell the purple sage. I've read this book more times than I can count. It's simply awesome! Amazon offers a free Kindle version of Riders of the Purple Sage, but some of the original story was edited out when it was first published back in 1912. The Leisure Books Edition, if you can find a copy, is the restored version before those edits. I've read both. The Rainbow Trail  is the sequel, published in 1915. The Desert Crucible  is the Leisure Books Edition, also hard to find, which is the restored version.

If you want to know more check out:  Zane Grey and Riders of the Purple Sage (on Wikipedia)

Another one of my all-time favorite "purple books" is John D. MacDonald's A Purple Place for Dying. This is the third novel in the Travis McGee series. This is an awesome series of books, definite keepers. Unfortunately, the series is quite pricey in eBook or paperback editions, so you might want to check your library or used book stores first. In a previous post I listed all the Travis McGee novels in order (see post dated 11/1/12, "Florida is a State of Mind").

If you want to know more about this great series check out: Travis McGee (on Wikipedia)


Tiny purple and orange Violas in my flowerpots.

Now back to my passion about purple. I happen to love the color in all its varying shades. I particularly love purple flowers, so I currently have purple Pansies and purple and orange Violas in my flowerpots (see flower pics in this post).

I have a neighbor with a purple Dodge Charger, so obviously I'm not the only one who is passionate about purple. I haven't gone to that extreme with the color purple, but I do have a purple cover on my Kindle Fire and I have purple t-shirts, socks and even purple undies (Oh, my!). I'm also a big-time NFL football fan and have two favorite "purple teams": the Minnesota Vikings and the Baltimore Ravens. Hey, what can I say? I love the color purple.

Now for those who regularly read my blog posts, I usually add a list of books. This time it's a list of fiction that has purple in the title. Some of the books are well known and others not so well known. Although I haven't yet read any of the books listed below, they all sound like great reads. All of them are available as eBooks.

Purple Fiction (in no particular order):

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Purple Roads by Fleur McDonald
The Purple Cloud (Classic) by M. P. Shiel
Purple by Graham J. Sharpe
Night of the Purple Moon (The Toucan Trilogy) by Scott Cramer
The Purple Shroud (A Novel of Empress Theodora) by Stella Duffy
Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
Knight of the Purple Ribbon by Jennifer Wells
Purple Moon (Shadow Guardian Trilogy) by Judith P. Vaughan
Kiki Loweinstein and the Purple Passion (Short Story) by Joanna Campbell Slan
Talking Dogs, Aliens and Purple People Eaters (Ellora's Cave) by Shelley Munro
Purple Shroud (A Yorkshire Dales Mystery) by Susan Parry
The Meaning of Purple Tulips by Blaithin O'Reilly Murphy

Purple Non-Fiction (in no particular order):

I Shall Wear Purple by Linda Mather
If It's Purple, Someones Gonna Die: The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling by Patti Bellantoni

If you've enjoyed my "Passionate About Purple" post, you might want to check out my "Seeing Red" post (posted 1/24/13).

Once again, thanks so much for stopping by. Since I love colors, I'll be doing other color posts from time to time. A special passionate shout-out for the color purple. GO PURPLE!

Seeing Red

Red Poinsettias.

As a redhead, the color red has always been a part of my life. I learned early on that my red hair set me apart. I was one of the very few kids, in my neighborhood and school, to have red hair. The cute, popular girls were blonds and I was, well, just a redhead.

When I was a child I remember wanting a red dress, but I was told over and over that "Redheads can't wear red." What? Is that true? So I never did get that red dress. Even as an adult I've yet to own or wear a red dress.

Power suits are supposed to be red, but I never had one of those either. My suits were always black, brown, gray or tan, never power-red.

Once upon a time I had a pair of red slacks which I wore with a red and white striped blouse. I loved that outfit, but no one ever said, "Gee, you look great in red."

I once owned a candy-apple red Opal GT. It was an older sports car with faded red paint when I got it, but spiffed up with that candy-apple red paint job it looked great. I only had it for a couple years, because the engine had problems and it kept breaking down. That was during my college years and I couldn't afford to keep paying for repairs.

In my late thirties I had a fire-engine red, 4-wheel-drive, Isuzu Trooper. Well, it wasn't just mine, I had to share it with my husband. One vehicle for two adults. We couldn't afford a second vehicle at the time. Suffice to say I loved that red Trooper and drove it for well over 100,000 miles. When we finally sold it the paint was a faded red.

Talking about faded red, well, my red hair is now quite faded too. I may be older and wiser, but I'm also faded. Oh well, it's better than the alternative. These days I have a gray vehicle. To match the gray in my hair?

Now as I was saying, the color red has always been a part of my life. Besides being a writer, I'm also an artist. So I love colors. Alizarin Crimson, an awesome shade of red, is one of my favorites.  I once did a series of paintings in black, gray, white and lots of red. I really enjoyed painting them, but never sold a one. They're now buried somewhere out in my garage. Gee, some people just don't appreciate the color red.

I happen to love flowers, particularly those in shades of red, roses especially, but during the holidays I enjoy poinsettias too. That's why I decided on the poinsettias photo above for this post.

My husband has his eye on a bright red Chevy Corvette. Personally, I'd rather have a red Chevy Silverado 4x4 with a crew-cab. But we're not likely to ever get either one since money doesn't happen to grow on trees. If we ever do get rich, well, you know where I'm going with this train of thought.

In honor of the color red, I've listed some Red Fiction below:

Real Women Wear Red by Kathy Holmes**
The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory
Red Mojo Mama by Kathy Lynn Hall**
Red is an Attitude by Kathy Lynn Hall**
Black Oil, Red Blood by Diane Castle**
Red Magic by Juliette Waldron
The Red Heart by James Alexander Thom
A White So Red by K. D. Jones
The Quick Red Fox (Travis McGee) by John D. MacDonald*
Red Mist (A Scarpetta Novel) by Patricia Cornwell
The Girl from Red Lion Square (Regency) by Lizzie Church
Christmas at the Red Chiefs by Linda Lael Miller*
Red Hot Deadly Peppers by Paige Shelton
The Red Rooster by Michael Wallace**
Red Leaves by Paulina Simons
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Beneath a Blood Red Moon by Heather Graham
Red's Hot Cowboy (Spikes & Spurs) by Carolyn Brown
A Dead Red Cadillac (Lalla Bains #1) by R. P. Dahlke**
A Dead Red Heart (Lalla Bains #2) by R. P. Dahlke**
A Dead Red Oleander (Lalla Bains #3) by R. P. Dahlke*
His to Protect (Red Stone Security) by Katie Reus
Forged in Fire (Red Hot SEALs) by Trish McCallan
Forged in Ash (Red Hot SEALs) by Trish McCallan
The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Shattered Valor (Red Team) by Elaine Levine
Red by Kate Nolan
A Bright Red Ribbon by Fern Michaels
Redfield Farm by Judith Redline Coopey
Red by Erica Spindler
Red and the Wolf (Enchanted Fairytales) by Cindy C. Bennett
Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen) by Joanne Fluke
Red Right Return (Buck Reilly) by John H. Cunningham** 
Dirty Red (Love Me With Lies #2) by Tarryn Fisher
Red Rose Moon (Cain Chronicles #4) by S. M. Reine
Red Velvet Revenge (Cupcake Bakery) by Jena McKinlay
Redcoats by David Crookes
Red Sky Night by Martin Quadroy
Red Cell (Rogue Warrior) by Richard Marcinko
Roses Are Red by James Patterson*
NYPD Red by James Patterson & Marshall Karp
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy*
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy*
Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane*
Red Sky at Night (Thorn Series #6) by James W. Hall
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammet
Red Jungle by Kent Harrington**
The Red Rover by James Fenimore Cooper**
Red Lands Outlaw (Ballad of Henry Starr) by Phil Truman**
Red, Green or Murder (Posadas County #10) by Steven F. Havill
Dead in Red (Jeff Resnick Mystery) by L. L. Bartlett
Red Flags by C. C. Brown
Red Alert (Dr. Strange-Love) by Peter Bryant**
The Red Horseman (Jake Grafton) by Stephen Coonts
Red Phoenix by Larry Bond
The Red Door (Ian Rutledge) by Charles Todd
Red Light by T. Jefferson Parker
Red Winter by Grant James Turner
Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell
The Trustworthy Redhead by Iris Johansen

*Books I've read and enjoyed/loved.
**Books TBR on my Kindles.

How could I possibly miss the Red Hat books? So here are a few of them.

The Red Hat Society: Fun and Friendship After Fifty by Sue Ellen Cooper
The Red Hat Society's Laugh Lines by Sue Ellen Cooper
The Red Hat Society's Queens of Woodlawn Avenue by Regina Hale Sutherland
The Red Hat Society's Domestic Goddess by Regina Hale Sutherland
The Red Hat Society's Acting Their Age by Regina Hale Sutherland
The Red Hat Club by Haywood Smith
Red Hats & Renegades by Barbara Falkenrath

Well, after putting together the above lists of books, I'm seeing a lot of red. I hope you all find some red books you'd like to read. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hmm! What color should I write about next?

It's all about "Bond, James Bond"

On December 30th Amazon/Kindle had a Daily Deal I could not pass up. All of Ian Fleming's James Bond books were offered as eBooks for $1.99/ea. Now I have been a 007 fan for like forever, but had never read the books. Well, how could I pass up a deal like that? So just before midnight, when the offer would expire, I added thirteen of the fourteen books to my Kindles (my old Kindle Keyboard and my newer Kindle Fire). Why not all fourteen books? Well, I had previously added one of the books to my Kindle a few months back, but had never gotten around to reading it.

Now let me back up a bit. I said I'd never read the James Bond books before, but that's not quite true. When I was a school age kid, around the ages of eight to twelve, I used to sneak "those books" out of my dad's top dresser drawer and read as much as I could in a few minutes sitting. You see, my dad read and loved all of Ian Fleming's 007 books, but warned me that I was too young to read them myself.  Well, any parent knows that a warning like that will certainly lead to said child reading those same books.

My dad said the same about the Louis L'Amour books that he read, so I would sneak-read those too, but that's another story for another post. The result, today I own just about every single Louis L'Amour book ever written, all in paperback and to date I've read over half of them.  My dad also said the same about the Zane Grey books he was reading and Zane Grey's books are now among my all time favorite reads.

So maybe the lesson here is to tell your child not to read something, which results in said child becoming a voracious reader who is addicted to books. Well, in retrospect, I don't see the harm in my reading Ian Fleming, Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey as a child. The books are wonderfully written and quite tame when compared to today's YA books.

Sadly, my dad passed away from cancer back in 1996, so I never got a chance to tell him that I used to secretly reads bits of his books. Well, I hope that somehow he's learning about that now.

So back to "Bond, James Bond." The invincible 007 is certainly one of the handsomest, to-die-for heroes ever created by the stroke of a pen. I wonder if Ian Fleming realized that as he wrote the very first book, Casino Royale.

The James Bond books were published between 1953 and 1966, one a year. But 007 didn't make it to the big screen until 1962 with Dr. No, the sixth book in the series. Sadly, Ian Fleming passed away in 1966 and didn't live to see that his unconquerable James Bond would live on forever in his books and on the big screen.

Ian Fleming Author Page and Books on Amazon/Kindle

Ian Fleming (28 May 1908 - 12 Aug 1964) - Wikipedia

Ian Fleming's James Bond, 007 books in order with publication dates:

Casino Royale (1953)
Live and Let Die (1954)
Moonraker (1955)
Diamonds are Forever (1956)
From Russia with Love (1957)
Dr. No (1958)
Goldfinger (1959)
For Your Eyes Only (1960)
Thunderball (1961)
The Spy Who Love Me (1962)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963)
You Only Live Twice (1964)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1965)
Octopussy/The Living Daylights (1966)

Note - the last two James Bond books were published posthumously.

On New Year's Eve I started reading the James Bond books. To date, I've read the first three and absolutely loved them. I wrote short reviews for each of those books on Goodreads and will continue to review each one as finished. In my opinion, Ian Fleming was a 5-Star author. Don't for one minute think his books were pulp fiction. Believe me, these books are awesome reads. Written in the '50s and '60s, these books are not politically correct according to today's standards, but don't let that put you off. Just jump in and start reading about "Bond, James Bond."

My Goodreads page with my reviews of Ian Fleming's James Bond books.

Now the other side of the bigger-than-life James Bond character are the 007 movies. I don't need to point out that just about every adult and YA female on the planet has fallen madly in love with James Bond. Sean Connery's portrayal of James Bond is, well, to-die-for.  I've loved every actor who played James Bond, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig and everyone in between. Do I have one favorite? Oh, please, don't make me pick just one. Suffice to say, I love them all.

List of James Bond films - Wikipedia

James Bond movies on Amazon

The Official James Bond 007 Website

I've seen all but the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall with Daniel Craig as 007. Due to the holidays, I just haven't had a chance to see that one, but rest assured I will. How could I possibly miss one single James Bond 007 movie? I love every one of them.

My step-father, who passed away a few years ago, loved the James Bond movies and had a collection of all but the latest ones. So when I visited my mom last week, I borrowed that collection. I'm looking forward to watching all the movies as I read the books. It'll be interesting to compare the books and movies. Plus, I can't think of a better way to spend some of the chilly winter days and nights. Of course, I live in Florida where winter is very short, so I need to get busy on my James Bond 007 marathon of books and movies. Sleep? What's that? I have books to read and movies to watch. Catch you all later.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Christmas is only two days away? How did that happen? I still have presents to wrap and goodies to bake. And I still have lots more great Christmas books to read.

Yes, we finally did get a Christmas tree. My husband and I always get a live potted tree of one sort or another so we can plant them in our yard afterwards. So this year's tree is a Leyland Cypress, about three feet tall and only big enough for one string of blinking lights and a handful of blown-glass ornaments. It pretty much looks like a cute little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I love it!

My husband put Christmas lights out front. We have a big old date palm tree which he strings with lights like in the Corona Beer commercial. You gotta love a guy's touch when it comes to decorating  for Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Shani.

My dogs, Shani and Dude, have been sniffing around the wrapped presents, hoping to find one that smells like a dog goodie. Only their presents (rawhide chews) are wrapped and in the pantry closet so they won't open them before Christmas.

I didn't finish up my Christmas shopping until yesterday, a quick trip to town where I made my way among the crowds and bought the last few presents. The mall was so packed, not a single parking space available, that I didn't even venture there. Yesterday was Walmart and ToysRUs. Both were crowded with people were buying cartloads of Christmas presents. I was relieved to make my way through the heavy traffic and get back home to semblance of peace and tranquility.




Dude howling about his Christmas bow.

This morning I put a Christmas bow collar on Dude. He wasn't all that pleased and lifted his head to howl an "Ahhhh-rooooo" in protest. Then he posed sweetly for some cute pics.

Dude is actually a ham when it comes to posing for pics, so I took quite a few of them. Once he got used to his Christmas bow collar he didn't seem to mind it a bit.

Shani was a cute as ever in her red Christmas bow. Shani absolutely refuses to have anything around her neck. She doesn't much care for her leopard print dog collar either. When we go for a walk she much prefers a harness, though she'd walk just fine without a harness and leash. In fact, Shani is totally against Leash Laws, just sayin'...

Merry Christmas from Dude.

We have family from California here for the holidays. So I probably won't be blogging much between Christmas and New Year's. I'll be spending a lot of time with the grandkids too.  Christmas is really for kids, so it'll be lots of fun.

In my spare time, and I don't have much of that this time of year, I've been reading an assortment of holiday books. I've enjoyed them all. I can definitely recommend reading Candis Terry's Any Given Christmas, Linda Lael Miller's A Creed Country Christmas and Christmas of the Red Chiefs, in addition to Talli Rolland's Mistletoe in Manhattan and Miracle at the Museum of Broken Hearts.

I have way more Christmas books on my two Kindles (my old Kindle Keyboard and my newer Kindle Fire) than I have time to read before the holiday. So I'll probably be reading Christmas books well into the new year. I just started reading Barbara Witek's Santa Wore Combat Boots and Linda Lael Miller's Holiday in Stone Creek (I'm almost always reading more than one book at any given time).

Christmas/Holiday Reads on my Kindles (in no particular order):

A Cowboy for Christmas by Kristen James
A Spy for Christmas by Kristen James
Cold Comfort by Ellis Vidler
The Gift of Gray (Christmas) by Jan Romes
Three Wise Men by Nancy Ricker, Jan Romes & Laura Ricker
White as Snow (A Christmas Story) by Donna Westover Gallup
Xmas Affair (A Sensual Short Story) by Ruth D. Kerce
A Wee Christmas Homicide by Kaitlyn Dunnett
One imPerfect Christmas by Myra Johnson
A Simple Amish Christmas by Vanetta Chapman
It Really IS a Wonderful Life by Linda Rondeau
A Home for Christmas by Deborah Grace Staley
Kiss of the Christmas Wind by Janelle Taylor
One Snowy Night Before Christmas by Pamela Fryer
Harlequin Holiday Collection by Debra Webb, et. al.
All I Want for Christmas is You by Lisa Mondello
A Christmas in Two Egg, Florida by Dale Cox
O Little Town by Don Reid
Must Love Santa by Nina Bruhns
A Cowboy for Christmas by Lori Wilde
Mistletoe Christmas by Stacey Joy Netzel
A Very Holly Christmas by Sheila Roberts
Jingle This! by Stephanie Rowe
Catch That Santa by Karen Doctor
A Victorian Christmas by Catherine Palmer
The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts
Blue Christmas by Diane Moody
A Dixie Christmas by Sandra Hill

Hmm! So many great Christmas books. I think I have enough to get me through the next several Christmas seasons. Well, what can I say? Yes, I'm definitely addicted to books.

From my family to yours, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Rainy Day in Florida

My patio on this rainy day.

I woke up this morning to the wonderful sound of rain. Lots of rain. Torrential rain. Typical Florida gully-washer rain. Our zillions of little frogs are happy campers. Our trees, shrubs, grass and flowers are happy, happy, happy. My dogs, Shani and Dude, are not so happy. They love playing in water, pretty much any water, but not rain. Go figure.

Well, this is our first rainy day since Hurricane Isaac deluged the Gulf Coast a few weeks back. So we really needed this rain. Now the air smells squeaky clean. I'm lovin' it. According to the meteorologists, we're supposed to have rain all day today and tomorrow too. Yea! Yes, I'm definitely smiling.

This is a great day to sit inside and watch the rain. A great day to read. A great day to write another blog post. So here goes, this is my post about rain.

A few years back my husband and I and our three dogs (Maggie, Nikki and Shani) lived in the Texas Hill Country. We had a house on the top of a hill with a gorgeous view of more hills. Also, we had a whole family of deer who visited us daily for a breakfast, lunch and dinner of feed corn. Our dogs loved it there. They'd stretch out on the patio and watch the deer. Our dog, Nikki, would go wander among the deer and then settle down with them for an afternoon nap. The one thing we didn't have in those Texas hills was rain. In the year and a half we lived there, we only had three days of rain.

Dude getting out of the rain.

The thing I remember about that Hill Country rain is the temporary little stream that crossed our driveway. Tiny frogs would jump into the water and be whooshed downstream. What a ride! I have to admit that it looked like fun.

I was born and raised in southern California where rainy days were few and far between. A rainy day meant my best childhood friend, Debbie, and I would wade/walk home through the water racing down the gutters. We'd arrive home in wet shoes, soggy clothes and big smiles. Rainy days were the best of all.

These days, older and a bit wiser, I hope, I still love the rain. I can happily sit and watch the rain for hours on end. This is the kind of day where it's fun to sit and do nothing at all.

In honor of a rainy day, check out the cool rain books listed below. As anyone who follows my blog knows, I love to make lists of cool books to read. So hopefully you'll all find some great rainy day books that you'll want to read.

Rain Fiction (in no particular order):

Hot Rain by Kat Martin*
A Garden in the Rain (MacLeod Family) by Lynn Kurland*
Texas Rain (Whispering Mountains) by Jodi Thomas*
The Lonely Silver Rain (Travis McGee) by John D. MacDonald*
Rain and Other South Seas Stories by W. Somerset Maugham*
Desert Rain by Elizabeth Lowell
Rainshadow Road (Friday Harbor) by Lisa Kleypas
Barefoot in the Rain (Barefoot Bay) by Roxanne St. Clair
Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard
Rain by Leigh K. Cunningham
The Art of Dancing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Fire and Rain by Diane Chamberlain
Drink the Rain by Cynthia Davis
Cry of the Rain Bird by Patricia Shaw
Where the Rain is Made by Keta Diablo
Rain Song by Alice B. Wisler
After the Rain by Nicola Thorn
In the Midnight Rain by Barbara Samuels
A Gentle Rain by Deborah Smith
Bittersweet Rain by Sandra Brown
Tears Like Rain by Connie Mason
Falling for Rain by Janice Kirk
Rain by Kieran Nicolas
Keeper of the Rain by J. P. York
Listen for the Rain by Heather Atkinson
And the Rain Came Down by Terrie B. Cambridge
Dancing in the Rain by Kathryn Woodhill
Rainy Days by Lory Lilian
Winter Rain (Jonas Hook) by Terry C. Johnston
Caribbean Rain (Manny Williams, Bk4) by Rick Murcer
Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin
The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton

*Rain Fiction I've read and loved.

I'm sure I've missed a lot of great rain fiction. So please feel free to add your favorites in the comments below. This is also an opportunity to list any rain fiction that you've written.

Note: All of the books above are available in eBook format.

Crazy About Books

My living room bookshelves.

I have been crazy about books ever since I was a small child, years before I could read a book on my own. Why? Because my mom read to me from the very beginning. She read more than just nursery rhymes and fairy tales. She read short stories from magazines and anthologies to my brother and I. But best of all, she read us the wonderful stories by O'Henry and Terhune.

My earliest memories include O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Ransom of Redchief." How could I not fall in love with books? How could I not become crazy about books?

I fell in love with the library when I was just a toddler. Mom would take me there and we'd sit on the rug on the library floor and go through one book after another. She'd read bunches of books to me before we selected the ones to take home. Honestly, I think my mom should get a medal for reading a record number of books to my brother and I.

When I could finally read on my own, a whole new world was opened up to me. I still remember the first day I read a book that didn't have any illustrations. How would I know what the characters and the scenery looked like? Mom's response, "You create the pictures in your head." Of course! I'd already been creating my own stories in my head, so it only made sense that I could do that with the books I read.

I raced through the Betsy Tacy books, Little House on the Prairie books, Little Women, Nancy Drew, and every book I could find about horses. Favorites were Savage Sam, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Enormous Egg, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle in Time, Silver for General Washington, Johnny Tremaine, The Bronze Bow, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, Heidi, The Little Princess, Misty of Chincoteague,  I could go on and I. Suffice to say, you could name a book and I probably read it way back then.

So now we get to the fact that as an adult I'm still crazy about books. When my husband and I moved from the Texas Hill Country back to the Florida Gulf Coast a few years ago, I had twenty-seven very heavy boxes of books. That was after I took bags of books, mostly paperbacks, to the library. The packed boxes were so heavy they required a dolly to cart them onto the U-Haul.

Now that we're contemplating a future move, my husband has already said, "I'm not moving all those books again." I just smile sweetly. I'll give away a few books and pack the rest in smaller boxes. And next time, maybe I won't number the book boxes?

The books on my living room bookshelves are my most treasured tomes, many of them hardbacks. Most have been moved across country and back, from Florida to Las Vegas to St. Simons Island to Florida to the Texas Hill Country back to Florida once again. Mind you, that's thirty years of moving back and forth across the country. Thirty years of collecting more and more books.

What books have I been carting around and collecting for years? Well, there's a heck of a lot of them.  I'm not about to list them all, at least not on this post, but you'll find lists below of some of the books on my living room bookshelves shown in the picture above.

I decided the best way to do this is to give you a guided tour of my living room bookshelves, which is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. I love reading history, so there are a lot of really great books on those shelves. Also, some great fiction and short story anthologies. So here goes. I hope you find something that you'll want to add to your own book collections.

Left bookshelf (a selection of books from the top shelf down):

1848, Year of Revolution by Mike Rapport
Worlds at War by Anthony Pagden
The Third Reich at War by Richard J. Evans
Postwar, A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt
Gellhorn, A Twentieth Century Life by Caroline Moorehead
A History of the Jews of the Modern World by Howard M. Sachar
A World Undone, The Story of the Great War 1914 to 1918 by C. J. Meyer
Cobra II by Michael R. Gordon & General Bernard E. Trainor
Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden

On Call in Hell, A Doctor's Iraq War Story by CDR. Richard Jadwick
Fiasco,  The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks
Germs by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg & William Broad
Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile
The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Vietnam, A History by Stanley Karnow
O Jerusalem! by Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre

Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson
1776 by David McCullough
Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
Washington by James Thomas Flexner
John Adams by David McCullough
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
Plymouth Colony by Eugene Aubrey Stratton
A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman
The Crucible of War by Fred Anderson
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones

The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England Ed. by Nigel Saul
The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis
Scotland, A Concise History by Fitzroy MacLean
Scottish Battles, From Mons Graupius to Culloden by John Sadler
Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard
Born to Rule, Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria by Julia P. Gelardi
The Hollow Crown by Miri Rubin
The Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe
Robert the Bruce, King of Scots by Ronald McNair Scott
Castles and Keeps of Scotland by Frank Roy Fraprie
Mirage, Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt by Nina Burleigh
An Illustrated History of the Crusades and the Crusader Nights Ed. by Charles Phillips

The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain Ed. by Kenneth O. Morgan
History of Art (Fifth Ed. Revised) by H. W. Janson & Anthony F. Janson
The Book of 1,000 Poems by Wings Books
An assortment of art books on Gauguin, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Salvador Dali, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo and many others.

Right bookshelf (a selection of books from the top shelf down):

Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo
Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
Anthem by Ayn Rand
The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
Sons of Liberty by Marie Jakober
Only Call Us Faithful by Marie Jakober
Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller
The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice
The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners by Luanne Rice
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Unlikely Soldier by Gerald Seymour
Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva
The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough

Wild and Wooly, An Encyclopedia of the Old West by Denis McLaughlin
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
The Lance and the Shield, The Life and Times of Sitting Bull by Robert M. Utley
Lone Star Justice, The First Century of the Texas Rangers by Robert M. Utley
Commanches, The History of a People by T. R. Fehrenbach
Black Elk Speaks by John G Neihardt
Crazy Horse by Mari Sandoz
Three Roads to the Alamo by William O. Davis
The Trail of Tears by Gloria Jahoda
Frontier Texas, History of a Borderland to 1880 by Robert F. Pace & Donald S. Frazer
Indian Wars by Robert M. Utley & Wilcomb E. Washburn
The Captured by Scott Zesch
The Chisholm Trail by Wayne Gard
The Longhorns by Frank J. Dobie
The Mustangs by Frank J. Dobie

The Oxford Book of American Poetry Chosen & Ed. by David Lehman
Contemporary Fiction, 50 Short Stories Since 1970 Ed. by Lex Williford & Michael Martone
The World of the Short Story, A 20th Century Collection Selected & Ed. by Clifton Fadiman
The Wordsworth Collection of Classic Short Stories Selected by Rosemary Gray
Lone Star Rising, The Texas Rangers Trilogy by Elmer Kelton
Ranger's Law, A Lone Star Saga by Elmer Kelton
The Pushcart Book of Short Stories Ed. by Bill Henderson
The Art of the Story Ed. by Daniel Halpern
The Art of the Tale Ed. by Daniel Halpern
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (The Finca Vigia Ed.) by Ernest Hemingway
The New Granta Book of the American Short Story Ed. by Richard Ford
A Century of Great Western Stories, An Anthology of Western Fiction Ed. by John Jakes

Nothing But Victory, The Army of the Tennessee 1861-1865 by Steven E. Woodworth
Personal Memoirs Ulysses S. Grant Ed. by Caleb Carr
The Sword of Lincoln by Jeffrey D. Wert
The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton
Terrible Swift Sword by Bruce Catton
Never Call Retreat by Bruce Catton
Sherman's March by Burke Davis
Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears
Gray Fox, Robert E. Lee and The Civil War by Burke Davis
The New Annals of The Civil War Ed. by Peter Cozzens & Robert I. Girardi

The West, An Illustrated History by Geoffrey C. Ward
The Time-Life Series on The Civil War
Plus books on art, history, guns, birds, wildlife and more.

This is only about half the books on these two bookshelves. Remember, this is a collection gathered over a period of thirty years. By now you're saying, "She really is crazy about books." You're also most likely sympathizing with my husband about carting all those books around every time we move. And no, I'm not about to get rid of any of the books on these two bookshelves.

I'd love to hear from others who are crazy about books too. So please add your comments below.

Note: For those who might be interested, the art on the bookshelves were all painted by me with the exception of the watercolor of potted flowers which was painted by my mom. By the way, she's an incredible artist, but I'll save that for another post. The wood carvings and other paraphernalia were collected through the years.