Daily Thoughts 6/11/2010

Front view of a plant sculpture of a green bookworm reading a book with a B and C on it. Photo from Manchester.11 July 2008 (2008-07-11), 15:09:08, Taken by Terry from Wikimedia, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Daily Thoughts 6/11/2010

Today, I looked at my stats. I looked at Webmaster Tools to check on search queries related to my blog. http://www.google.com/webmaster/tools/

The number one search term which my blog comes up under is Rosie The Riveter. There is a certain irony in this. It is exactly the type of thing which I don't mind being attached to. This is followed by monopoly pieces. I am rather partial to the hat. Then comes Mary Shelley. I do rather like Frankenstein. The internet can be both silly and amazing at times.

The keywords are almost on target. The number one keyword is thoughts followed by book. I do think a lot and read a lot of books. The keywords are not that far off.

I also like to look at http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/ Yahoo's Site Explorer. I find it to be more interesting and accurate than most other site exploration functions including the hit counter on my blog. I usually find out about some rather interesting sites that are linked to my blog.

Here are a few that are not in my blogroll. I wonder sometimes if I should include a set of links for non-book related sites in my sidebar. There are a few blogs which follow me very regularly which have other functions than books. Chicago History Journal is where I get the majority of inbound links for my blog. I find it rather interesting. http://www.chicagohistoryjournal.com/ .

Another blog which I enjoy a lot is Cromely. The pictures of gardening, travel and conventions are wonderful. He has some excellent comic book material, material on Star Trek, and a few book reviews. If a blog has a lot of book reviews, but is not purely a book review blog, is it a book review blog. Blogs are very flexible in their content. http://cromely.blogspot.com/

There were also a few book blogs which linked to my site in their blogger profile, but not necessarily in their blogroll; Bookish Ruth, http://www.bookishruth.com/ , Lexie, http://lotuseyes.livejournal.com/ , Magdalena ball, http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/ , and Sandra http://freshinkbooks.blogspot.com/ .

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn came in for me to read. This is for me to read for my Readers Advisory 101 class. Occassionally, we have to step out of our normal reading habits and try books which are a bit different, not necessarily our favorite subjects. Reading it would be part of my continuing education as a librarian.

Today, I focused a bit on getting the Bookletters page ready, took one more look at the Suggestion an Item form for our library website, and printed up some flyers for the upcoming poetry program. I also talked to someone about a table they set up in the lobby. They are offering computer classes for adults something which a lot of people have been asking for at the library.

We finally have a new bestsellers page put together from Bookletters and a suggest an item for purchase form up on our website. I have worked a little bit more on evance which is an online sign up form for summer reading. It is the second year we are going to be doing the adult section of the summer reading program.

I also picked up a short paperback called Food Rules An Eaters Manual by Michael Pollan. He is the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma.

I read some of The Viscount Who Loved Me. It is easily one of the most atrocious books I have ever attempted to read. The rakeViscount Bridgerton father dies after being stung by a bee and his love interest reads gossip sheets. It is awful. On the cover of the book are the words USA Tdoay Bestselling Author. It made me sleepy.

I do occassionally read romance titles. I like Elizabeth Lowell and Linnea Sinclair. I am even intrigued by some of the settings in romance, the Harlequin NASCAR romances seem like they would be interesting. We get lots of requests for romance, especially African American romance, Brenda Jackson and Rochelle Alers are asked for a lot. We get a lot of historical romances. Kathleen Woodiwiss is very popular.

The world's most romantic couple?

Romance is as romance does. Who's to say how romantic one is, unless you're one of the people inside the relationship?

Of course, as a writer, even though the characters are the one getting mushy with one another, I am in the middle of it all.

So here's a hint: the best romance is found in the sweet, little things of everyday affection.

~*~

Heather S. Ingemar has loved to play with words since she was little, and it wasn’t long until she started writing her own stories. Termed “a little odd” by her peers, she took great delight in exploring tales with a gothic flair, and to this day, Edgar Allan Poe continues to be her literary hero. To learn more, please visit: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heatheringemar

My First Favorite Book - Forever Amber???

So, maybe this wasn't my first favorite book! As most young readers, I devoured Nancy Drew and even read The Hardy Boys. I read every young reader sports biography I could get my sweaty little hands on — from Aaron to Zaharias.

But, I'll always remember Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor, the historical novel that was banned in Boston, among other places. I was almost 15, and getting bored with the reading material available in my small town library. In those days, the Young Adult category was non-existent.

Enter: The head librarian who also happened to be my dear aunt! She noticed my frustration with age-appropriate books and started stashing books under her desk that she thought I might like. Books that my mother would've fainted dead-away had she known, even though my aunt was careful to suggest books that had no erotic content or 4-letter words. Mostly just romance. As I remember, "heaving bosom" was about as bawdy as it got.

I read everything from Tolstoy to Belva Plain. But, the beautiful, historically relevant, Amber St. Clare still haunts me. Unfortunately, it isn't the romance that I remember most about the book, but, instead, the Great Plague! These were the first vivid accounts I'd read of this horrific event, but, don't worry, I'm keeping them to myself on this post. If you want to know more about the "rat plague," Google!

But, plagues aside, I have a decision to make. I'm torn between wanting to read Forever Amber again, after all these years, or simply keeping the memory of this special book and my special aunt in my heart.

What's your advice?


Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning 'Tween fantasy/mystery series, Cynthia’s Attic. Her children's mystery series was inspired by a recurring dream about a mysterious attic. After realizing that the dream took place in the home of her childhood friend, Cynthia, the dreams stopped and the writing began.

She is also co-writer of the humor-filled, women's lifestyle book, Women Only Over Fifty (WOOF), along with published stories, Ghost Light and Christmas With Daisy, A Cynthia's Attic short story.


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