Today’s Question:
I’ve seen many bloggers say that what draws them to certain books or authors is good writing, and what causes them to stop reading a certain book or author is bad writing. What constitutes good writing and bad writing to you?
My Answer:
  Good question!!  I just had this happen.  I picked up the next book in line from my request pile, liked the synopsis, liked the title and then started to read.  Fifty + pages and had to put it in the DNF pile.  It was very wordy, and in my opinion rambling at times.  I still hadn’t been pulled into the story line by the 50+ pages.  Picked up the next book, same thing, good synopsis, good title, started reading and was hooked by the first page and a half.
  If I can’t connect with the characters, storyline and/or visualize the scenes through the author’s written words by the first 50 pages, then I can almost guarantee it will end up a not so good and/or a DNF.  I used to have 100 pages as my cut off point, but an author told me that a reader should be “hooked” within the first few pages. 
 

  As I hang my head in shame and shake it no, I didn’t.  First time that ever happened, I swear!!  Since I am still not allowed to drive and hubby didn’t leave work until very late, he went straight to the polls and just made it himself.
Where do you get news about what’s happening in the world? (Newspapers, Internet, Local Television Stations, Cable News, etc.)
Morning routine includes booting up computer, grabbing coffee mug and turning on TV first for local news then to a cable news station, which stays on all day, just in case there is breaking news (have done this ever since 9/11).  I also subscribe to CNN Breaking News for my computer.
Do you read in bed before you go to sleep?
Most of the time, but lately no, by the time hubby gets home, we eat, clean up, talk, we are asleep by the time our heads hit the pillows.

Today’s Question:
I’ve seen many bloggers say that what draws them to certain books or authors is good writing, and what causes them to stop reading a certain book or author is bad writing. What constitutes good writing and bad writing to you?
My Answer:
  Good question!!  I just had this happen.  I picked up the next book in line from my request pile, liked the synopsis, liked the title and then started to read.  Fifty + pages and had to put it in the DNF pile.  It was very wordy, and in my opinion rambling at times.  I still hadn’t been pulled into the story line by the 50+ pages.  Picked up the next book, same thing, good synopsis, good title, started reading and was hooked by the first page and a half.
  If I can’t connect with the characters, storyline and/or visualize the scenes through the author’s written words by the first 50 pages, then I can almost guarantee it will end up a not so good and/or a DNF.  I used to have 100 pages as my cut off point, but an author told me that a reader should be “hooked” within the first few pages. 
 

  As I hang my head in shame and shake it no, I didn’t.  First time that ever happened, I swear!!  Since I am still not allowed to drive and hubby didn’t leave work until very late, he went straight to the polls and just made it himself.
Where do you get news about what’s happening in the world? (Newspapers, Internet, Local Television Stations, Cable News, etc.)
Morning routine includes booting up computer, grabbing coffee mug and turning on TV first for local news then to a cable news station, which stays on all day, just in case there is breaking news (have done this ever since 9/11).  I also subscribe to CNN Breaking News for my computer.
Do you read in bed before you go to sleep?
Most of the time, but lately no, by the time hubby gets home, we eat, clean up, talk, we are asleep by the time our heads hit the pillows.

Hollywood Savage by Kristin McCloy
Published by Washington Square Press
A division of Simon & Schuster
ISBN 978-0-7432-8647-3
At the request of Simon & Schuster, a TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from back of book): “Meet me at five,” the voice said on the answering machine, Four ordinary words yet, when heard by the wrong person, enough to change the course of a marriage.
  Marooned in Hollywood while writing a screenplay based on his latest bestselling novel, Miles King, records in his journals his escalating conviction that his glamorous wife, a New York-based journalist named Maggie, his having an affair.
  Amidst the un-buffed egos and the longing for connection and fame he encounters at every cocktail party and no-name bar in Hollywood, Miles finds unexpected comfort in an affair if his own with Lucy, a young mother whose open, eager mind sparks an irresistible passion in him. Miles’s constantly shifting emotional state-a potent brew of lust, guilt, anger and betrayal- is only one of the perils he must navigate as his fantasies become increasingly hard to distinguish from reality.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: When I first accepted this book for review, I thought it was going to be the typical Hollywood life style that is the basis of many books, the gossip in magazines and on entertainment TV shows. The following opinion is mine and only mine. I read 50+ pages, and at that point, I still had not been pulled into the story. I found the narrative of first-person very wordy, that at times, I would have to reread sentences to process what was really being said. I felt that the storyline was slow paced in the pages read. Unfortunately, this book had to be put aside in the DNF pile.

Hollywood Savage by Kristin McCloy
Published by Washington Square Press
A division of Simon & Schuster
ISBN 978-0-7432-8647-3
At the request of Simon & Schuster, a TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from back of book): “Meet me at five,” the voice said on the answering machine, Four ordinary words yet, when heard by the wrong person, enough to change the course of a marriage.
  Marooned in Hollywood while writing a screenplay based on his latest bestselling novel, Miles King, records in his journals his escalating conviction that his glamorous wife, a New York-based journalist named Maggie, his having an affair.
  Amidst the un-buffed egos and the longing for connection and fame he encounters at every cocktail party and no-name bar in Hollywood, Miles finds unexpected comfort in an affair if his own with Lucy, a young mother whose open, eager mind sparks an irresistible passion in him. Miles’s constantly shifting emotional state-a potent brew of lust, guilt, anger and betrayal- is only one of the perils he must navigate as his fantasies become increasingly hard to distinguish from reality.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: When I first accepted this book for review, I thought it was going to be the typical Hollywood life style that is the basis of many books, the gossip in magazines and on entertainment TV shows. The following opinion is mine and only mine. I read 50+ pages, and at that point, I still had not been pulled into the story. I found the narrative of first-person very wordy, that at times, I would have to reread sentences to process what was really being said. I felt that the storyline was slow paced in the pages read. Unfortunately, this book had to be put aside in the DNF pile.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
*Grab your current read
*Open to a random page
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
*Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Jeff exhaled, shoving his hands in his pockets and finally turning toward her. “No. It’s…I mean, you were going to tell me eventually, right?”

page 229

Hosted by Katrina from Callapidder Days

Today’s question (#6)
This week’s question:

Where do you love to read? Note: I don’t mean where do you actually do most of your reading, because that might be the carpool line, the work cafeteria, or even the bathroom (if you have to escape from a few small children in order to read a chapter of your book). I mean, what are a few of the places where you LOVE to read?

  I have answered this question on many different occasions and many different memes but am going to add a few more locations other than my daily reading sites.
  Every day reading depends on the time of year.  I am usually in my favorite recliner, with afghan when it’s cold out.  During the summer either by or sitting on a “chair” float in the pool. 
  Now for all the other occasions.  While on vacation, which our favorites are Aruba or a cruise.  When on a plane, helps take my mind off flying and the time we are in the air, since I am a very nervous flyer.  If hubby and I are driving to a destination that takes approx 1 hour or more, I will read in the car, in between conversations. And now that I have the thought of these places in my mind, I think hubby and I will be having a discussion tonight at supper, that we are overdue.