What Are You Reading?

Know what I hardly ever get to talk about any more?

The books I'm reading.

Seems odd, doesn't it?  A writer who doesn't get to talk about books enough?

Yeah, something's wrong with that one.

This summer, I thought I'd get to do a whole lot of reading.  After all, God called me away from my teaching job, so the summer was free of yearly planning and summer meetings… except it wasn't.  I still had a couple of meetings.  And I wound up watching my precious nephews.  And we got a new niece. And my daughter's best friend spent a week with us.  And… Bible School.  Wait.  Free time?  Where did you go?

But I did get to dive into some books and thought I'd share some short impressions with you.  Ready?  And start thinking… because I want to hear what you're reading.  I need to refresh the "to be read" pile!

Love Inspired Suspense's "Witness Protection" Series:
I fell into this one by accident.  I tend to read a lot of LIS novels when I'm writing, because it keeps my head in the game. I'm weird. If I'm reading women's fiction and writing suspense, it scrambles my brain.  Anyway, I read the fourth book first, then I had to go back and read the rest to find out what was happening with the illegal baby smuggling/selling/adoption ring. I loved the way the characters flowed among the stories, so we got to see them more than once.  And the suspense… yep.  Caught myself tensing up quite a bit in some of the stories.

 Julie L. Cannon's Scarlett Says:
Julie and I were agent mates, though I did not know her well. It still tilted the world a little when she passed away suddenly before this book was published. Abingdon sent me a copy to read, and it was actually the first book I read this summer.  It took me some time to get into it, largely because I had the wrong mindset going in.  I was expecting it to be something different than it was.  Once I readjusted, I realized Julie had a real talent for making quirky characters come to life.  Joan is different… and real. And you've got to love her in spite of the fact she's not like you and me. Siggy practically stole the novel… I loved him.  And the fun tidbits about Gone with the Wind and Margaret Mitchell re-piqued my interest.

Sarah Sundin's In Perfect Time:

I just finished this one two days ago.  I read it in four days. (I guess I did find some reading time after all…) Of course, I was very low on sleep by the time I turned the last page… Sarah Sundin will do that to you. I have yet to read one of hers that I can't put down.  If you're a fan of WWII novels, go buy her books now.  In Perfect Time is the conclusion of her "Wings of the Nightingale" series about flight nurses during WWII.  This one follows "bad girl" Kay Jobson, who really isn't such a bad girl after all. It's about what happens when your dreams change… and when God gets a-hold of you and turns your whole life around.  It's about who you really are versus who you think you are.  And, of course, it's about Kay and Roger… two people with pasts that haunt their presents.  My favorite book of the summer.  (I say that about all of her books… and it's true about all of her books.)

Now… what were your summer reads?  Any memorable books on your list?

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Jodie Bailey may or may not need more time to read. She's the author of two Love Inspired Suspense novels and has a novel with Abingdon Press, Quilted by Christmas, releasing in October.  In the same month, she has a novella in the Love Inspired Suspense collection Holiday Defenders.  She's looking forward to the fall and sweatshirt time… and many more good books to read.

Tidbit Tuesday--Was She Anything Like Scarlett?

Jodie here.  I know, it's typical for me to talk about the Outer Banks, but I've been reading up on something (well, someone) else lately, so why not share about that?  I share an agent with the lovely Julie Cannon, who passed suddenly in October 2012, leaving many friends stunned and saddened.  The "book of her heart," Scarlett Says, released this past October and it's been on my TBR pile.  Now that school's out, I've been able to dig in.  And it has me wondering about Margaret Mitchell, who (as pretty much all of us know) wrote Gone with the Wind.

I always knew Mitchell was killed when she was struck by a car. She was writing the sequel when she died.  That always made me sad.  And believe you me, I was not a fan of the 1991 sequel.  I believe it's the only book I ever threw at a wall.  :-)

What I did not know was that Margaret Mitchell declared she was more like Melanie Wilkes than Scarlett O'Hara.  After reading up on her a bit though, I wonder how well she knew herself.  Apparently, she was quite the flirt--and proud of it--and was a woman who had no problem standing up for herself or the things she believed in.  I think I'd have liked to have known her… and I think she was more Scarlett than she realized.

But it's her childhood years that fascinate me.  When you read her biography, you see where the characters from Gone with the Wind were born.  The family plantation in Wilkes County.  Great-grandparents who immigrated from Ireland to settle on a plantation near Jonesboro, where they proceeded to have a multitude of daughters.  A paternal grandfather who made his fortune running a lumber mill near post-war Atlanta.  Fearful nights hiding during race riots near her family home. Sundays with her aunts, uncles, and grandparents, who told story after story about the Old South and the ravages of the Civil War.

It's that passion, that drive in her blood, that made Gone with the Wind resonate for so many.  It's not the story itself, it's the people who populate the pages, people woven together from Margaret Mitchell's life and the lives of those she loved.  I agree with Steven James, who said, "Don't write what you know.  Write what you feel." Wouldn't all of our books be incredible if we took that one to heart?

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Jodie Bailey was in Atlanta, GA visiting Agnes Scott College the day Scarlett was released.  The bookstores were insane.  She was also there the night the Braves won the World Series.  All of Atlanta was insane.  Her latest novel, Crossfire, is set an hour away from Atlanta and has absolutely nothing to do with Scarlett O'Hara or the Atlanta Braves.