Books, books, and more books

Not sure what happened to September. I usually post at least monthly, but last month was so full of events and classes I was teaching and then there was the fabulous SCWC conference in Irvine. I was thrilled that one of my friends and clients (Jasmin Iolani Hakes) won the fiction award for an excerpt from her Work-in-Progress, Hula. You will be hearing from Jasmin very soon, I have no doubt. As usual the conference was a great time for networking, meeting old and new friends—authors, editors, and agents.

           Something else fun that happened in September—I got certified as a SCUBA diver! Now, if I need to, I can strap on a tank and dive under my boat, or see that our anchor is well stuck, or explore a reef without having to come up for air. Very exciting to see a whole new underwater world. After all, most of the world is covered with water, and at the rate the climate is causing the ocean waters to rise, it’s going to be even more watery pretty soon.

          Anyway, here we are in October—which means that even in So Cal, autumn is here and there will be rain and cold someday—a great time to cuddle up with a good book. I have a stack of books I’m reading for work (evaluating and content editing for author clients, which is one of the things I do as an editor). Luckily, I have very talented clients, so my reading stack is always full of an electric mixture of mysteries, memoirs, business books, and recently even a dating book for people over 50. Check out their Facebook page here.

          I do keep another stack of books to read just for pleasure, too. A couple I loved recently were: The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, a nonfiction book that reminded me of how fun a great nonfiction book can be. Speaking of non fiction brilliance, I really enjoyed reading Girl Boner: The Good Girl's Guide to Sexual Empowerment by August McLaughlin. I thought I knew a lot about sex and sexuality, but I definitely learned a thing or two. I love how the book is written so inclusively, too, so it doesn't exclude any gender, outlook or sexual choice. It would be a great gift—seriously, it’s a book that mature teenage girls could appreciate and women of absolutely any age could, too.

         I like to read well-reviewed YA books, sometimes, and the latest stand out was The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas. What an eye opener! The story is literally “ripped from the headlines” about a police shooting of an innocent young black man, told from the POV of the young girl who was in the car with him. Apparently, there’s a movie in the works. Big surprise, there.

         My fave novel last month was The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson. It’s everything I like in a book—books, intrigue, love, cool characters, family drama, and real places. In this case Los Angeles, my old hometown. That made it even more fun. I also enjoyed The House of Broken Angels by Luis Urrea, though it isn’t my favorite of his wonderful books.

         Anyway, it's back to work now, I'm line-editing a book set in Ancient Egypt. Lucky me—I really love what I do!  I get to learn and explore so many ways of living and live so many lives through books. 

         What have you read lately that you loved? I’d love to hear about it.

         Hasta pronto!