Recommended Reading

I have been considering what I should read next. My reading of late has mostly centered around grammar books (Clean, Well-lighted Sentences and Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences), which I highly recommend, however, I have been feeling in the mood for something more... fictional. Or, at the very least, a good history that is so entertaining that it reads like fiction.


Enter my friends. The American tv show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has entered the phrase "poll the audience" into our collective vernacular, and that is exactly what I did. Here, then, are the suggestions that I received from my literary-minded friends on Facebook:

1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt, recommended by both Christina and Jeffrey
2. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luiz Safon, recommended by Leslie
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, recommended by Krishan
4. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, recommended by Christine
5. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, recommended by Leif
6. Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose, recommended by Michelle
7. River Rising by Athol Dickson, recommended by Mrs. Larsen
8. East of Eden by John Steinbeck, recommended by Mike
9. Cutting for Stone by Anthony Verghese, recommended by Amy
10. Juliette, a Novel by Anne Fortier, recommended by Katie
11. Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov, recommended by Adty
12. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar, recommended by Rachel

Thanks for the suggestions, dear friends!  This should keep me busy for a while.  What about you, friends in the blogsosphere?  Have you read any of these books?  What did you think? Have you read any good books lately?


XOXO,

Sometimes I Wish...

Sometimes I wish that I had the life of my alter ego... (she seems to have all the fun!)

She looks so happy and lucky in love. He's kind of cute, too.

Of course, if I couldn't have that, I'd settle for a random superhero power-- hands that heal, anyone? Or maybe they just emit a strange light? Okay, well that would be weird.

I know… Maybe I could just turn into a vampire? What do we think?

XOXO,

*These are all pictures of me, by the way, taken during happier times when I was working. Can't say that I've been doing much of that lately!

Novel Cover

It's a terrible picture, I know, but I forgot my digital camera that day and had to use the one on my phone. Obviously the one on my phone is just about worthless.

In a recent post, I told how I used to pose for the covers of romance novels. It's a quick, easy shoot, and the costumes are fun to wear. I haven't done this kind of work in ages (since 2007), but I got a phone call the other day asking if I would be available to shoot one, so of course I immediately agree.

I got to wear a Georgian era dress, as you can see above. The title of the book is The Countess of Scandal and it probably won't be out until the end of the year. I'll be sure to post the final picture when it comes out.

I also shot another romance novel cover while in New York. I wore a black trench coat a la The Matrix, and that book is called Born of Fire.

I'm hoping to do a post soon with all of the covers I've shot so far. I just have to find the notebooks where I wrote that information down.

Of Vampires and Twilight

I am so excited for the midnight release of Twilight, the film version of the popular vampire novels by Stephanie Meyer, on DVD.

My discovery of these books have been very timely as I became engrossed in them last week, obsessively reading through all four books in about a week's time span, and now, without delay, the movie is being released-- just in time for me to drool over Edward Cullen and the other vampires.

A few years ago, I worked a lot with a photographer who shot romance novel covers. She'd book me to be the heroine and we'd work for about a half hour recreating the image for the cover of those books-- the best part is that I often got to work with a hunk. After the photo shoot, an artist would render a cover based on my picture. I probably only did about ten covers in total, but those were probably some of the most fun shoots I've ever done.

One of the book covers I did happened to be a vampire novel-- Be Still My Vampire Heart by Kerrelyn Sparks. It's a fun cover, and the really cool part is getting to see how I would look as a vampire. Pretty awesome, right?

Did you read Twilight? What did you think?