Let’s Talk About Tastes: What do you like to read?

These are mostly books I didn't read and ended up giving away. Though I read Toni Morrison and Charlaine Harris. Priorities, eh?

These are mostly books I didn’t read and ended up giving away. I just wanted to included a photo. Though I read Toni Morrison and Charlaine Harris. Priorities, eh?

I think a decent way to begin this whole thing is to chat to you about what I read. What I like and don’t like. Because then you’ll know whether or not you might actually want to stick around. You could easily do this by stopping over at my Goodreads profile (feel free to friend me), to see what I’ve been reading, what I want to read, etc.

Let’s start with things I read in 2013 that I disliked. Because that list is shorter.

DON’T READ THIS:

• A Modern Witch (and I presume its entire series) by Deborah Geary. Don’t read this if you want to read a book with a plot. Or any conflict. Or characters not made of glitter-covered cardboard. This is the story of a very powerful witch who a family of witches accidentally finds on the internet. They tell her she’s a witch. She’s a little conflicted but goes to stay with them in California to learn about her powers. Happiness and more happiness ensue. The end. I couldn’t bring myself to even consider moving onto the rest of the series.

• The House of Night series by the PC & Kristin Cast. I’ve read all of these books. Mostly because one of my best friends enjoyed them. They’re ok. But I think the subject matter is both too adult for anyone under, oh, 13 or so, and too immature in terms of the dialogue used. They always seem to be speaking in a way that sounds like exaggerated youth but it comes off as hokey and too much.

• The Fifty Shades of Grey series by EL James. Oh, now where do I even begin? For starters, this is BDSM done badly. There’s also a lot of manipulation and outright abuse here. As someone who grew up in a household with an abuser, it’s not cute, it’s not romantic, it’s not funny, it’s not fun. I loathe these books. Some of the more normal sex is ok. But seriously? The thing with the tampon? Ugh. The ice cream? No! Just staaahhhpp already! And beyond the screwed up subject matter, these are terribly written. I want to track James down and beat her with a thesaurus. I will do it with a smile on my face. On average she uses the word murmur(s) once every 2-3 pages. Get out your Kindle and check it. Girl’s got no imagination.

• The Matched series by Ally Condie. Some parts of these books were really ok. Some of the adventures were all right. But they were mostly dull. Not dreadfully dull like A Modern Witch, but it just felt like it took quite a while for anything exciting to happen. The series also “borrows” from other writers substantially. You can see it everywhere. She picked this from here, this from there, and that from over there. Put it together, rename some things — smack! You’ve got Matched. My other gripe with this series was it was trying so very, very hard to be intellectual and philosophical that it was just too much.

There you have it. That’s about it. I’m not hugely picky when it comes to what I’ll read. I mostly go for a lot of fluffy stuff, but sometimes delve into more serious books. I think I read so much fluff because I was a journalist for the first part of my career. I had decided that the every day things that I wrote about (car accidents, fires, murder suicides, robberies, school boards, local elections) were heavy enough subject matter that I needed lightheartedness. Now that I’m in a much less stressful line of work I’m challenging myself by expanding my picks.

Currently, I am reading Ever Evangeline by WC Anderson. It’s confusing, as I read the first in the series quite a while ago. Most series of books, when you start on the second, third and so forth, will recap at least a bit of the original book. Sometimes I hate it because having just finished the last one in the series, LET’S KEEP MOVING. In this case, I wish this book included that part. It does not and I’m more than halfway through the book and still feeling a bit lost.

I’m also listening to the audiobook of Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon. It’s long (30+ hours) but so far very engrossing. I had no idea that this was a series so I’m delighted there are more. Murder, mystery, witches, history… it’s all good so far. Though a little disturbing in places, but hey, that’s all part of the fun, right?

Till next time.
-Leslie

An introduction.

This is the same thing I put in my About Me section. I just figured I’d stick it here too because this is new and I’d be telling you this in an initial post anyway. More to come later.

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Profile Photo

Hi. I’m Leslie Loges. I’m obsessed with books. My husband bought me a Kindle a few years ago because my books were taking over so much room in our small condo in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Now I have two Kindles, but also have  a tendency to read on my phone, listen to audiobooks on my phone and still carry around paperbacks. There are still piles of books in my house.

I grew up loving reading. Something instilled in me by my father. I also grew up loving writing, but creative writing isn’t my forte. I began my career as a journalist in high school, and left the field in March 2013 to move into corporate communications — a much more stable field that pays a lot better. Since then I’ve found I have even more time for books. In the last 10 months I’ve read about 100 of them. So I like to write, but I was always terrible in my creative writing classes. I was more drawn to poetry and journalism. Maybe I’ll share some poetry here occasionally. Maybe. And who knows, maybe someday I’ll try creative writing again. I got a C in that class.

I have an obsession with words, so I thought I would share it. I’m not exactly sure what types of things will be included but I’d assume thoughts on books, thoughts on writing, reviews, perhaps information on area book signings and maybe some of my own writing. We’ll see.

Side note: I also have an obsession with hula hoops. To learn more about that, visit www.TillyWhirls.com.