A bit of light reading

I am going to pick up today where I left off last post just because I am so obsessive compulsive. Not going to talk about book readers much today though. I thought I would focus on some of the books I have read lately and those books I plan to read soon.

When I got back into the “reading thing” I decided I wanted to read some spooky stuff. You know....tales of the macabre and ghost stories. I am not that big into slasher tales but I like a well told spooky story that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I started with “Dracula” by Bram Stoker. I have seen every Dracula movie there was to see but had never taken time to read the book. I was not disappointed. Then I read some stuff by Dean Koontz, Algernon Blackwood, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, M.R. James and W.W. Jacobs. Most of this reading material is in the public domain and easily obtained. My next post will cover where to get classic books for free.

For some reason I had my fill of horror and quite by accident it overlapped with True Crime genre. I started reading about Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, and then I bought a copy of “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote. Thus far, it is one of the best books I have read. I really like it when a writer can capture your attention and hold it. You know the kind of books that are hard to put down? This was one of those books for me. I did come across a couple of books I wanted to share links with here. Well...maybe three. :) I just think these are books and authors you would enjoy.

Jerry Bledsoe is a writer from North Carolina who was once a writer for the Greensboro News and Record. A very good writer in the True Crime genre. Alas! Not all of his work is available for my Kindle yet. Bummer. :(

Kennesaw Taylor is a humorist from Georgia. I found him quite by accident looking for something to read. His humor work puts me in mind of Lewis Grizzard but he has a style that is definitely his very own. The book I read by him had nothing much to do with humor though. The book is titled: “Informally Educated: A True Tale of Child Abuse, Survival and Murder.” This book is the story of his childhood and it will bring tears to your eyes with what that boy and his family had to endure. I read this book in one sitting. It was that good!! Fortunately a good bit of his material I can get for my Kindle.

While I am still reading some of the True Crime books I have diverted a bit of my attention to the Humor genre. I will tell you something that tickles me just as much as the humor books do. Mark Twain has been dead a hundred years now and his autobiography is number two on the New York Times Bestseller list. :) Now that is what I call a comeback!! I would like to read this one for real. If you have...don't tell me anything about it. I want to read it for myself. :) Do yourself a favor and check out the links of the authors Amazon page. I am sure you will find something you like. That should do it for my December reading list. :)

To Kindle a fire

A few months ago my daughter told me she would like to have a Nook for her birthday. My response was: “What on earth is a Nook?” Turns out to be one of those book reading devices. Now I balked at this idea at first. When I learned what the price of these devices were I balked a lot. “Do you know how many books you can buy for a $150?” I just didn't think it was worth the money it would take to get her one. Then I came into a bit of extra cash and decided it was just a book reader...not a Mercedes. Long story short...I bought it for her.

Now something happened after I got that thing for her. It was something I didn't expect at all. I liked it!! I wanted one for myself. It was cool to be able to carry a hundred books at a time that weighed less than a pound. Not only that, but you could change the font size of the book you were reading. You didn't have to look for special large print books. One book did it all. Everything was in black and white including the pictures. This thing read books, pictures, music files. It even had wi-fi and a web browser. It was really a cool gadget! It was about this time I started shopping for myself.

I reviewed several different eReaders: The Nook, Kindle, Sony, Kobo and etc. While they are all a bit different in how they navigate, they all do about the same thing. So it is really a matter of preference and the availability of books for them. There is still only one problem with them. The price. All of these devices are worth no more than say....$119. That is just my opinion but it is an experienced opinion. I have been buying electronic stuff a long time. Anyone who knows me will know that it takes a lot of time and about two sticks of dynamite to blow me off my wallet. However, I did finally break down and get myself a Kindle. I have to admit I love it and have done more reading lately than I have done in years. It has kindled a little fire in my heart for reading again. (Pun intended).

Prices right now are pretty low for some of these eReaders because of the Christmas shopping season. So if you like to read or know someone who does, it may be worth your time to look at these devices. If you buy one for someone as a present you may as well get two....Just so you won't be jealous of theirs. :)