Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

7 Gift Ideas for Book Lovers

Christmas time's a-coming! If there is a book lover on your list, then you might be wondering what to get them. Lucky for you--and anyone else in this predicament, book lovers are easy to please!

How could we not want to go above and beyond to reward book lovers for their happy-go-lucky nature when it comes to receiving presents? Here are some ideas for the book lover in your list:

  1. Bookmarks - It might seem like the obvious choice, but we book lovers can't ever have too many bookmarks. I use mine in both books I'm reading, and notebooks I'm using to jot down ideas for my next writing project.
  2. Book Light - Show me a book lover, and I will show you someone who stayed up reading past their bedtime. Clip-on book lights allow reading in the darkest of conditions, whether you clip it onto your book or your glasses.
  3. Notebook - A book lover can use a notebook to write down thoughts about their favorite books. And a writer can never have too many notebooks--just sayin'!
  4. Book Art - Sites like Etsy and Uncommon Goods offer unique gifts, a lot of which are handmade by up and coming artists. You can tickle the book lover in your life while simultaneously supporting creative arts.
  5. Gift Cards - I have never known a book lover to turn down a gift card. In the past my family has given me cards for shopping at Amazon, coffee shops, and local bookstores, and I've enjoyed them all with equal enthusiasm.
  6. Travel Mug - It's easy to get lost in a good book, but important to stay hydrated. A travel mug helps solve the problem and if it gets knocked over then the lid means the mug's contents are less likely to spill on the pages.
  7. Warm Blanket - Last year my mother-in-law gave me a blanket for Christmas. It is not only dog-themed, but it is also made from the warmest fleece I have ever felt in my life. When I curl up on the couch to read on a chilly evening, you can bet I have my blanket with me.

And there you have it! It is no coincidence that writers are also book lovers. If you have a writer on your holiday shopping list, then many of these ideas would work for them as well.

Do you have a different idea not listed here? Tell me about it in the comments section below!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

What Is a Cozy Mystery?

Despite all the cozy series available through both online and retail book sellers, there are still a lot of people who have no idea what a cozy mystery is. Books authored by Agatha Christie are probably the best and most recognized examples of cozy mysteries.

Also called "cozies", a cozy mystery is a sub-genre of the larger one known as crime fiction or mystery. In a cozy mystery:

  • Sex is all but nonexistent. What happens in the bedroom stays there.
  • There's a lack of blood and gore. If it does feature, then it's downplayed.
  • The overall tone is light, if not lighthearted. There might be puns!
  • Crime typically takes place in a community or small town.
  • The sleuth is an amateur with ties to some brand of the law.

If cozy mysteries were television shows, then you'd most likely find them on the Hallmark channel or some equally family-friendly television programming station. Some good examples are Murder She Wrote, Pie in the Sky, the Father Dowling Mysteries, or Matlock, although the latter was a criminal defense lawyer and not an amateur sleuth.

As Lieutenant Columbo would say: Oh, just one more thing....

My cozy mystery for NaNoWriMo is coming along nicely. I'm slightly ahead of the curve as far as daily word counts, and look forward to completing the book so I can move on to the next phase of seeing it in print.