Finding Themes While Reading

One of the books I'm currently reading is called The House Witch by Delemhach (though I may be done with it by the time this post goes live). As the title suggests, it's about a male witch (the term applies to all genders) named Fin whose skill with domestic magic enables him to become a royal cook. 

As I've been reading this book, I've noticed that several sets of father-son relationships are mentioned. There's Fin and his abusive father, the king and prince Fin serves, a family that burdens their male children with embarrassing names to toughen them, and probably more. There's also an important brother-sister relationship. All of these relationships deal with the power imbalance between the people involved. 

Echoing this theme is the difference in culture between the main country, Daxaria, and Troivack, a neighboring country that is planning to start a war with Daxaria. There is little to no love between family members in Troivack; in fact, the sister I mentioned earlier is originally from Troivack and only learned to love when she came to Daxaria. The book is part of a three-part series, and fortunately my local library has all the books. It's just a matter of getting to them, along with all the other books I want to read.

At this point in the series, it's too early to tell if the family theme will be the most important theme throughout the entire story. But it'll give me something to watch for. 

Have there been any themes that jumped out at you in the books you've read recently? If so, feel free to share them in the comments.

Library Habits

Libraries are the best place to indulge without spending money or consuming lots of calories. Every so often, I end up checking out more books than I can finish in a month. Here's a photo of my latest library book stack. Most of these books were checked out three weeks ago, but a couple were holds that came in afterwards. Please note that this stack doesn't include several books I already finished and returned (A Short History of Humanity, Arsenic and Adobo, A Sprinkling of Murder, A History of the Human Brain, A Study in Scarlet Women, and Catfishing on CatNet.), and I finished reading Fugitive Telemetry before I took this picture. Currently I'm in the middle of Ageless, and I'll start The Dictionary of Lost Words soon, since a dozen people are waiting for it.Thankfully, my library will automatically renew books as long as no one else has a hold on them. As you can see, most of the books are marked "New." I tend to spend the most time browsing the new books, though I have a long list of older books to check out when I'm ready for them.

 If you use the library, how often do you go? Do you check out other items besides books? Feel free to share in the comments.

Mid-Month Mysteries: Libraries

Since anyone who loves to read mysteries probably also loves libraries, it's not surprising that there are many series that feature libraries. Here are a few series that I've started along with some more that I'd like to check out (pun intended).\

 Death Overdue is the first book in Allison Brook's Haunted Library series. The main character is a librarian who solves mysteries with the aid of a ghost that haunts the library. There are currently four books in the series.

A Murder for the Books is the first book in Victoria Gilbert's Blue Ridge Library series. I think I accidentally skipped ahead and read the fourth book in this series, which is called Bound for Murder. I need to go back and read the other books in order. This series currently has five books.

The Bodies in the Library is set in England. The library here is a private one made of first editions from a noblewoman's library. I've read the first book, but there are two more in the series by Elizabeth Spann Craig.

A new series coming out this summer starts with Murder at the Lakeside Library, by Holly Danvers. The library here is an informal one that's part of a lakeside cabin in Wisconsin. I'll have to keep this one in mind.

There are a lot of other series I could list, but I'll keep this post short for now. Have you read any of these series? Are there others that you'd recommend? Feel free to share them in the comments.

 

Book Apps

 This weekend, after over three and a half years, I finally upgraded my phone. It had very little storage, and even adding a SD card didn't help much. The screen was so badly cracked I could feel it through the screen protector. I'd also been having issues with the GPS for a while, and the phone was finally starting to have some connectivity issues as well. The main reason I held on to it for so long was the cost of upgrading, but some mid-grade phones just came out that made it more manageable. The customer service representative at the store tole me I could get six or seven years out of the new phone, but if I can manage at least four, I'll be content.

Now that my phone has more storage, I can download more apps. Of course there are a lot of entertainment apps for movies and games. However, I can also download more books for my Kindle app and can now use multiple library apps, such as Hoopla and Cloud Library. I also have an Audible account, but I personally use it for lectures more than audiobooks. Books are available in other apps too. Google Play offers them (I finally managed to list most of my books on their store this summer), as well as Apple Books and Kobo. I'm not sure if Barnes and Noble has an app, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. There are also apps that offer free books, but I'm not sure if all of those are available legally, so I'll avoid those.

Do you read books on a device other than a dedicated ereader? If so, what apps do you use, and would you recommend them? Feel free to share in the comments.

Library Books

It's funny how I can go into a library intending to get just a couple of books and end up with a stack. I put two books on hold Sunday and picked them up yesterday after work. But first I had to see what was new in the Science section and then in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and my son had expressed interest in World War Two, so I picked up a couple of books for him. I wound up with eight books, six of them for me. When I was younger and had more free time, I could finish them all before they were due. These days, I'll probably end up renewing some of my books. I guess that's why I still have so many paper books I haven't read and thousands of samples in my Kindle library--as soon as I see a book that looks interesting, I grab it, no matter how many others I still have to read.

How many books do you check out on your typical library visit? Do you finish them before they're due, or do you have to renew (or let them become overdue)?

Indie Author Day

This Saturday is Indie Author Day. I'll be part of an event at the Schaumburg Township District Library along with twenty-three other authors. It's from 11:00-1:00. I'll have books for sale, free chocolate and bookmarks, and possibly a giveaway of some sort for people who sign up for my mailing list. If you're in the area, I hope you stop in. Since I'm sure most of you aren't near the Chicago suburbs, consider supporting me or another indie author with an online purchase. Happy reading!

Indie Author Day

If dogs can have their own day (which was last week), why not indie authors?

The first annual Indie Author Day is scheduled for Saturday, October 8th. Libraries across the United States will be holding a variety of events to support local indie authors. You can learn more about Indie Author Day at their own website, indieauthorday.com. This is also where authors and libraries can sign up to join the event. I think signing up puts you on the ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors) mailing list, as I received an e-mail from them with an offer of a free eBook shortly after I signed up.

One caveat I would point out is that one of the sponsors of Indie Author Day is SELF-e, a service that asks indie authors to donate eBooks so SELF-e can sell them to libraries. I don't mind donating paper copies of my books to the local library or offering permafree books as a marketing strategy, but other people shouldn't profit off of my free works. Hopefully they won't pressure me to enroll with SELF-e.

My local library hasn't signed up yet to be part of Indie Author Day, so I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to do anything with them or if I'll be able to participate at another nearby library. I'll keep you updated as the time draws closer.