Hi folks!
It’s typically crazy here for me. Work has been busy, but in a good way. We’re doing some cool things at Seton Hill that I can hopefully tell you about soon. I’m also very busy with book six, Jane’s final adventure. It’s going well, although I’m about 75 pages to the end, which is the part I always HATE writing. The trick is to persevere, get it out, and fix it in revisions.
But I’ve also been trying to read a lot (especially cozy mysteries) and see some good movies. Here are some things that I’ve found to be extra special treats:
I absolutely adored The Artist. I was simply enchanted by it, and not just because of Jean Dujardin’s gorgeous Gallic schnoz. It was simply lovely, with a fun, fresh conceit that I don’t feel I’ve seen in a very long while since everything tries to be so dreadfully serious all the time. Not that it doesn’t have its serious moments . . . but that just makes it even smarter. 🙂 It was clever entertainment at its best.
Another delightful import from the French that I’ve watched a few times is Microcosmos:
To say I love a nature documentary is a massive understatement, and this one was absolutely gorgeous. Weird and wonderful, it shows our Earth in a way I found absolutely awe inspiring (and inspiring).
As for books, Juliet Blackwell gave me two recommendations of authors who I’ve since taken to bed with me nearly every night, and our little menage has brought me oodles of pleasure. The first author is the estimable grand-duchess of the modern cozy, Elizabeth Peters. First I read her Vicky Bliss series like I was eating brilliant bonbons: 
They’re SO SMART and amazing and hilarious and OMG I loved them. I’m now four books into her Amelia Peabody series, which is very different but equally smart and delightful. Love it!
The other series I’m motoring through (I’m currently reading one Amelia, then one of these) is Victoria Laurie’s Psychic Eye series. They’re paranormal cozies and so much fun. Even more fun is the fact I met Victoria and instantly really liked her, and it’s wonderful when you like a person’s book as much as you like them. I see what I enjoy about her in her fiction, and it makes me want to get to know her better. But not in a creepy way, although I do keep tweeting about taking her to bed with me. I mean her books! Really. Here’s the very cute cover of her first book in the series:
So that’s what I’ve been up to in all my spare time. 😉 Have you seen or read anything you’d like to recommend?
(ps: today you can also find me blogging about Alpha Hero pick up lines over at Pens Fatales)
I've been devouring the Stephanie Plum mysteries. Fluffy and delicious. I also am a fan of Amelia Peabody…I read a few of them while I was in Egypt!
I've been going back and forth between Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy on Kindle (ohmygosh it was addictive!) and one of Charles de Lint's Newford series books. I love de Lint's books, but they're dense and rather slow moving, especially his earlier works, compared to Collins' books. In fact, I finished all 3 of those (and another ebook) in the time it took me to read the first half of the de Lint. I'm not sure how much of that is due to the format (I'm reading de Lint the old-fashioned way) and how much is due to writing style and content.
Both authors have much to recommend them, notably that both know how to create a world and characters you care about and root for. And for me, it's more about the characters than the action… or even the writing… most of the time, anyway.
And, like Kristin, I also love the Stephanie Plum novels. Brain candy of the most delightful and ticklisk kind!
I love Elizabeth Peters. I read one of the Vicky Bliss novels in a shortened form in a fiction magazine annual when I was about 14. It spent the next 25 years in the back of my head (I had a major fictional crush on John) and then one day I read an Amelia novel and I realised it was the same author. I finally found all the Vicky Bliss novels. (I had to send to America for some of them). She is one of my fave authors.
What a luxury to read her in Egypt! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I just got into the Stephanie Plums, too! They're very fun. Not Elizabeth Peters, but very fun! 😉
I do think I like the VB series even better than the Amelia series, although I adore them both. VB is just SO unique as a contemporary heroine, I adore her! Not that I don't love Amelia, but VB has a special place in my heart for sure. 😉