Me? Obsessed With A Book Series? Naaahhh! LOL

Happy Thursday All,

Well, I'm settling back into my usual daily routines since being away all weekend for my grandfather's memorial. Of course, no routine would be complete without some sort of twist, right? Mine happens to be allergies! At least they seem to be getting better, for which I do thank God.

My current WIP, (no, I can't talk about it, sorry. It's easier for me to write when not too many people know very much about what I'm writing. I don't know why), is coming along. A little slowly, but I'm starting to get a tiny piece of the passion I've been missing back. I really like this story, and the way it's being told. I have a few details to tweak and stuff, but I'll do that when I start editing. Right now, I'm focused on getting the story out of my head and onto written format.

Anyway...today I wanted to talk about obsessions...particularly book obsessions, which, for me, there are many, but I'm going to talk about my newest one.

What I've noticed about myself is that when I get excited about a series (especially one I've never read, whether a new series or not-so-new series) I tend to read all I can about it, and get my hands on as many books as possible. Currently this obsession is the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

In my last post, I talked about Obsidian, which is one of the first books in the series (the novella, Shadows, is a prequel to the series). I'm not usually into reading books with aliens in them. In fact, I mostly only see those in Sci-Fi series, or things like Star Wars (which is more fantasy than Sci-Fi--yes, I've heard the debate over whether Star Wars is Sci-Fi or if it's Fantasy, and after contemplating both sides, I'm leaning toward Fantasy for Star Wars...but it does have aliens in it, so that's why I mentioned it). Or Star Trek, or X-Files.

However, I really like the way Ms. Armentrout handles aliens and all that. It's not the whole "Aliens-coming-to-Earth-to-take-over-the-world" so much as Aliens who want to fit in, have a life, and be a part of the community--and oh yeah, kick the butts of the bad aliens who want to steal their powers and kill humans. I can handle that. It's got aspects of paranormal, fantasy, and yes, there's romance in her work, too. All of which I really enjoy.

So, I guess you could say it's not too surprising I'm all into the Lux series after all.

By the way...here's a piece of trivia...did you know the word "lux" means "light" in Latin? Yeah, I learned that from reading Obsidian I also double checked it on Google Translate.

What are some of your book obsessions? Why are you gung-ho crazy over them?

P.S. Speaking of obsessions (okay this isn't books, but TV show)ABC's Once Upon A Time Season 2 starts this Sunday (September 30, 2012)!

Have A Thrilling Thursday!

Making Friends With Betsy

Happy Wednesday Everyone,

When I was growing up I read Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy Books: 

Betsy-Tacy

Betsy Tacy & Tib

Betsy-Tacy Go Over Big Hill

Betsy-Tacy Go Downtown

Heavens To Betsy

Betsy In Spite Of Herself

Betsy Was A Junior

Betsy And Joe

Betsy And The Great World

Years later, I found Betsy's Wedding and finally got to see Betsy happily married and settled.

I now own all the books, including Betsy's Wedding and have read them at least once through, if not more since I got them a few years back.

Growing up there were other series I got into, but I don't think I've read those series as much as I've read this one.

To me, there's something incredibly personal about the fact that the characters and events bear a strong resemblance to the author, her friends and events in the author's life. It's part of the appeal. You feel like these characters are real. You want to be their friends. You want so badly to walk the sidewalks of Mankato and visit Minnehaha Falls. Names and street names have been changed for the books, of course, but the similarities are still there. Some re-prints of the novels (such as some of the editions I own) even have the parallels between the author's life and that of her characters.

In any case, if you haven't read the Betsy-Tacy books I think you're in for a treat. The writing is straight forward and simple. The characters are fun and feel real. History comes alive (The last 2 books--Betsy And The Great World and Betsy's Wedding cover the beginning and the USA's entry into World War I). There's not a lot of suspense in these books, but I don't read them for the suspense. There's a certain something about them...I don't know how to explain. I just know that several of my sisters and I read them, loved them, and re-read them. And, I'd read them again, no problem.

Have you ever read a series that you've read so much that now the characters are like old friends?

Have A Whimsical Wednesday!