An Election Day Reading List from Charles Pierce

This is a list of 15 books that includes everything from Robert Caro's monumental biography of LBJ to Twilight of the Presidency, one of the scariest books you'll ever read.Written in 1970, here's what the blurb says:

Former special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson, George Reedy, examines the growing isolation of the president from the country's citizens, the air of unreality, and the virtually unchecked power that works to corrupt any man who holds the office of the President.  

check out the full list here.

A Week of Political Books: All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister

We're one week out from what will be an historic election, no matter which way it turns out. America will never be the same no matter which candidate wins. I've got a whole reading list that includes Hillbilly Elegy and The Man Without a Face. II pulled that last book off the Guardian's list of ten must-read books about Vladimir Putin. Check out the list here.)  The book I've just finished is Rebecca Traister's All The Single Ladies.

This is the review excerpted on the book's Amazon page:

The New York Times bestselling investigation into the sexual, economic, and emotional lives of women is “an informative and thought-provoking book for anyone—not just the single ladies—who want to gain a greater understanding of this pivotal moment in the history of the United States” (The New York Times Book Review).  

It's an important book, I think.

New from Alexandra Sokoloff

The latest (number 4) in her "Huntress" FBI series is out. Yay. Check it out on her site.

In Celebration of Women--Edna Lewis

This book came up in, of all things, a search for "gargoyles." The cover is wonderful, isn't it? This is an illustrated biography of the chef and natural food advocate Edna Lewis (with recipes) and it's filled with lovely illustrations and a kind of crazy quilt of folk tales and received wisdom that gives the impression of being in the middle of a family reunion. For foodies. And feminists. And people who love illustrations.

Don't listen to me, listen to Salman Rushdie

Returning to my roots

My genre is mystery.
It's what I read for pleasure.
It's what I always wanted to write.
When I first started writing fiction, it was crime fiction that I wrote. Sometime the crimes were mixed with fantasy; sometimes with science fiction; sometimes even with romance. But they were always mysteries.
I wrote a long novella as my first mystery and I could not get arrested for it. Then I wrote a shorter novella in the fantasy romance vein and I suddenly started selling books. I wrote a sequel to the fantasy romance and that sold too, as did a couple of novelettes I wrote.
It's nice selling books.
And I very much enjoyed writing them.
But I'm going back to my roots for NANOWRIMO. This November I'm going to write a psychological mystery, my version of the female centric thrillers that are suddenly hot. I have a pretty good idea I think; at least and idea that excites me enough to put my heart into writing every day for a month.
And to celebrate, I bought a cover from The Book Cover Designer, my favorite "go-to" for premade covers.
The designer was Valdas Miskinis  of Book Cover Arts and at no extra charge I was provide three font variations, which was a nice surprise.
Wish me luck with this one.
Because I've missed writing crime.

Vote Early. Vote right now.