confessions of a southside catatonic chataholic

...slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.'
~ William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958

Sometimes, though, you lose your book mojo and feel like you live several lives just opening the cover let alone trying to read a complete novel. I think that's what happened to me. I lost my romance novel mojo. For most of May I was picking books up, taking them home and reading them without really getting anything out of them. As a result I haven't posted a review to our library website all month. Ack. That's not an indictment on the authors, either, it's more about my headspace. Probably the whole birthday-ambivalence thing. For someone who produces 2 romance newsletters a month, losing your mojo is a big bucket of wtfery, right there. It hasn't quite come back, but I can feel a tingle. A possible resurge. A mojo-less Tosca has to be ignored, though, because books have to be read, reviews have to be written and newsletters have to be sent out. Were those moods just hot flashes? At 35 I'd hope not but who really knows. Let's not call them hot flashes. Let's call them 'intense, short, tropical vacations' instead. Makes me feel better. As Kalani tells me, 'To-may-to, po-tah-to.'



As usual I have books up to my eyeballs so I'm only going to list a couple that have caught my eye over the last week or so. I started 2 books just yesterday, both of which are below.

Title: Little girls lost by J. A. Kerley
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2007
Genre: Crime
Synopsis: "Children are disappearing in Mobile, Alabama, the latest snatched from her own bedroom. There are no clues and, as yet, no bodies. Homicide Detective Carson Ryder is called in to investigate the abduction of little LaShelle Shearing only to find the case getting tangled up in murky departmental and civic politics. And with his partner Harry Nautilus fighting for his life after being viciously attacked, Carson is feeling increasingly isolated. Public rage is now reaching dangerous levels, and Ryder's bosses turn for help to ex-Detective Conner Sandhill whose uncanny ability to spot connections and details missed by others is legendary - but who left the department under a cloud. Ryder and Sandhill form an uneasy alliance in the hunt for the missing children, a hunt which becomes all the more urgent for tragic personal reasons. But at the root of these disappearances is something truly evil{u2026} and its source is closer to home than either could have imagined." --Publisher. (Image courtesy of FantasticFiction.co.uk).

Briefly: I enjoy Kerley's writing and I really like Carson Ryder as a character. He's a little bit imperfect, has a serial killer for a brother and genuinely wants to do the right thing. It probably also helps that I heart Harry Nautilus, Carson's partner :) Have only just started it (as in the first chapter) and yeeaah definitely liking it much!

Title: Mark of the demon by Diana Rowland
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: c2009
Genre: Paranormal romance
Synopsis: "Why me? Why now? That's what Beaulac, Louisiana, detective Kara Gillian was asking herself when an angelic creature named Rhyzkahl unexpectedly appeared during a routing summoning. Kara was hoping to use her occult skills to catch a serial killer, but never had she conjured anything like this unearthly beautiful and unspeakably powerful being whose very touch set off exquisite new dimensions of pleasure. But can she enlist his aid in helping her stop a killer who's already claimed the lives--and souls--of thirteen people? And should she? The Symbol Man is a nightmare that the city thought had ended three years ago. Now he's back for an encore and leaving every indication on the flesh of his victims that he, too, is well versed in demonic lore. Kara may be the only cop on Beaulac's small force able to stop the killer, but it is her first homicide case. Yet with Rhyzkahl haunting her dreams, and a handsome yet disapproving FBI agent dogging her waking footsteps, she may be in way over her head...."--p. [4] of cover. (Image courtesy of FantasticFiction.co.uk).

Briefly: I'm a sucker for any story set in New Orleans. Yes, I know that there are other places in the world to visit, but since I was 8 I'd wanted to see New Orleans. Having done so, I could quite easily go back there time and again. The mix of old world history, spirituality and modern beliefs is fascinating. Just started this, love the cover, enjoying it so far :)

I've been playing in Tumblr - not with any great intent, but geez it's so easy to use. Hell, if I can do it anyone can do it. It's so simple to post a video clip, an image, a link, a quote or even an audio clip *sigh* I think I'm in love with it :) You can check me out on Tumblr. Ask me a question or post a response. Go see it if only to check out the 'starfish porn' image. Pretty colours! Jesus, I'm shallow. And...I'm over myself.