One Inch of Grace posted “I’ve Been Tagged” and instead of tagging followers, let everyone come and answer one of these questions:
1. What advice would you give to new parents?
2. How is your life different than you imagined it would be 10 years ago?
3. Have you ever had a good lesson that came in strange wrapping paper?
4. What is something you said you would never do that you now do routinely?
5. What books are you reading and what do you think about them?
6. What path did you take to do the job you are doing now?
7. If you could change something about your life, what would it be?
8. What is the best thing that has happened to you in the past year?
9. What do you think will be different about your life in 10 years?
10. What is your favorite blog post ever, and why (you can include your own)?
I’m answering #5, feel free to answer any of the questions in our comment section or your own blog with a pingback, or go to the original post here.
What books are you reading and what do you think about them?
I’m constantly in the middle of multiple books. At the moment, I am reading Stay Tuned, Delivering Happiness, and Three to get Deadly.
Stay Tuned
Synopsis: For TV producer Melissa Moore, crisis management comes with the job. From employee disputes to her high-maintenance boss, there’s not much she hasn’t seen or can’t handle.
But no one—including Melissa—expects a fistfight during the ten o’clock news. When sexy-but-crazy Alyssa Andrews lands a punch on her co-anchor’s face, Melissa jumps on set to help. She’s determined that WSGA’s reputation won’t be destroyed on her watch.
Both anchors are fired and Melissa agrees to fill in—but not before polishing her look from haircut to heels. While the new Melissa wows WSGA viewers, her personal life starts fraying at the edges. Melissa’s husband is away more than he’s home, leaving cryptic Post-it notes in his wake. Her mother’s antics spiral out of control at the nursing home and a stalker decides Melissa is her next target.
My Thoughts: I’m about 50% of the way through and it’s finally getting good. I think it’s a personal preference thing because I’m upset by the lack of… character development isn’t right, but it’s along those lines. The characters are certainly changing and developing, but very much like In Leah’s Wake they see a problem in their personal life they just refuse to fix. It’s driving me nuts. I was thinking it would be more like Single in Suburbia which I LOVED despite being weak on plot. I love books about people just being people and struggling through life. I don’t like characters avoiding their life and being passive in their own stories.
Delivering Happiness
Delivering Happiness, I am reading for work. It’s about the Zappos story and company culture. The success and failure of corporations leading up to the Zappos endeavor. I love it, but I’m in marketing and I’m very sensitive to corporate culture, so this won’t be a book for everyone.
Three to get Deadly
This is the third book in the Stephanie Plum series. I’ve read random books and I’m finally starting at the beginning and reading them all of the way through. I love all Stephanie Plum novels. Janet Evanovich can make the most random and should-be-boring moments in the book interesting. She is the only author I know who can get away with mentioning her character’s bladder needs and get away with it.
Reviews to come when I’m finished with each of them, and as soon as I finish Delivering Happiness, I am going to start Catching Fire.
-Eliabeth Hawthorne
What about you? Read anything good recently?
Ermilia 
I read the Hunger Games, but have to finish the next two. I enjoyed the first one more than I thought I would.
I was pretty excited about the first book. I had heard of it, but as soon as I saw the previews I knew I had to read it. Sadly, 2 and 3 are going to have to wait. I just signed up for another Novel Publicity blog tour, so Speculation has to come first.
My comment is to question. Let you children be what they want to be, not what you want them to be.
I love that. Thanks for commenting cousin.
I will answer question number two. 🙂 Ten years ago, I thought I would be working in some swanky cosmetics laboratory in Toronto or L.A,, writing as a hobby, and married with a house in the suburbs with a kid. Haha!
Turns out that I am happy the final three things didn’t happen at this point…although I still am in search of a good day job that can support me until my books really take off.
As for good reads recently, I really enjoyed The Hunger Games (But who didn’t, right?) Also good is Asylum Lake and Darkness Follows. They are both horror novels if that is your thing.
Hi Sara, thanks for stopping by. Isn’t it interesting how life takes unexpected turns for the better? Toronto and L.A. are quite different, how did you come up with those two locations? I’m not a horror reader, though I like dark fantasy so maybe I haven’t been exposed to it properly. I may have to pick one of those up. If you were to recommend a horror novel to someone new to the genre, what would you recommend?
I live in Ontario so Toronto is the closest city, and then L.A. just sounds so glamorous. 🙂 I love dark fantasy, too. For a good horror novel, I would recommend something not too graphic like House by Ted Dekker or Scream by Mike Dellosso to someone new in the genre.
You might enjoy Simon R. Green. I reviewed The Good, The Bad, and the Uncanny, because how on earth can you not pick up a book with a title like that. https://ermiliablog.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/book-review-the-good-the-bad-and-the-uncanny-by-simon-r-green/
Added Scream to my TBR list because I couldn’t find the other one on Goodreads.
Awesome. 🙂 I hope you enjoy Scream. I will have to check out The Good, The Bad, and the Uncanny. That is quite a title.
#3. I got a Christmas present that was in a large box wrapped in plain brown paper. Under that was newspaper. Then inside the box was another box, similarly wrapped. By the time I had reached a small, soft, irregularly-shaped package wrapped in actual Christmas paper, I was sitting in a pile of strange wrapping paper and boxes. The package was nothing be shredded paper. Not even useful as confetti. My parents were mad at me for sneaking open one my birthday presents and then re-sealing it. I don’t think I really learned anything from it. I already knew my father was a jerk.
I actually started reading Stay Tuned, but put it down just as it was starting to get good. I just haven’t had a lot of time for reading or writing lately.
I’m very curious where in Stay Tuned you thought it started getting good, but I don’t want to post spoilers. As for your present, we do that habitually to each other. Unwrapping is half the fun!
I was ready to abandon Stay Tuned by the time I got to the the fistfight, to be honest. I read a little past that before I put it down (to read Blind Sight). I thought it was picking up at that point and it’s back to next on my queue… maybe next week.
I think you’re further than me. I’m at the altercation in the bathroom at the event.
I am also going to answer #5. I am reading a few books at the moment. A Girl’s Guide to Taking Over the World: Writings from the Girl Zine Revolution, edited by Karen Green and Tristan Taormino… this book is great so far! I love seeing so many zines from all over the country put together in one book and with such wide subject matters but many of the same emotions and feelings put forth into them. I’m also reading Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, which is a hilarious and wonderful read; his style is mesmerizing and his satire is intriguing. Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer is also a great read; on the opposite end of the weight scale (me being super tiny and thin), much of the emotions the main character is going through are many of the same emotions I went through while being thin; body weight is a big stigma in society but reading about a woman whose soul is strong and mighty can give hope to all. Last book I am reading is The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I am only a few pages in but the story telling is just beautiful. The way the main character speaks of friendship and his apartment (which is a wild mess of things) is so lovely and realistic, while still capturing a sort of nature that is almost unattainable.
I do indeed love to read. Thanks for this post!!! It’s good to be back on wordpress reading folks’ posts.
Hi Ashley, good to have you back and commenting, I’m going to have to pick some of those up, in five years or so when I’m through all of the books I need to read first. Since writing the post, I was chosen for a blog tour for Speculation, a mystery novel that sounds similar to the movie, The Ultimate Gift. Since this is time sensitive, that means Catching Fire is getting pushed back.
I’m answering #8:
What is the best thing that has happened to you in the past year?
Blogging 🙂 Without it I wouldn’t be as I am now! My passion for writing would have melted away have I now started my blog. And I’ve learnt so much by getting in touch with the blogosphere. And I know that writers don’t write for themselves, their own success etc, but for their readers – the audience is what really matters because without them there is nothing else.
😀 I’m so glad to have been able to connect with you and it amazes me just how big the blogging network is. I’ve been keeping a list of the most interesting countries to find our blog and it seems every few days we get another one. Certainly have loved having you around and getting to know you!