There's Nothing Like A Good Book...

And these are certainly nothing ... nah, forget it. Old joke.

Okay. Really short post here, because there's so much going on I don't know which direction to run. It'll all be made clear soon. But until then, here are few books that literally made my neck snap as I passed them when I was out doing some last minute Christmas shopping. (I have to admit that I'm starting to get why common wisdom holds that the print publishing industry is in deep, deep doo doo.)

I know there are about half a million jokes here. But quite frankly I'm having so much trouble just wrapping my head around the fact that this exists at all, that I can't quite move away from it. I'm sure Hilary is a lovely young woman. And I know for a fact that she does lots of work for some wonderful causes. It's just that she's always struck me as someone who's perfect for acting because she does better when someone is writing her words for her. But hey, I could be totally wrong about both that AND this *sigh* novel.


When the cover of this next "book" caught my eye, I stopped so quickly the poor woman walking behind me ran full force into me and then went careening into a display. Good thing it was a Snuggie display.

STOP IT. RIGHT NOW. JUST STOP IT. DON'T MAKE ME TURN THIS CAR AROUND.


Oddly the hunky bloodsucker with two-day stubble was NOT the only jaw-dropping example of "get it away from me it makes my eyes burn" fiction on the shelves. There was also this fine literary venture that somebody should buy for Sarah Palin. Maybe it would cure her of her love of blowing holes in our lupine brothers and sisters on the off chance one of them might be this hot in human form. (Seriously though. Ludicrous premise aside, the himbo on the cover? "Ahwoooooooo!" - just sayin'.)

So. Anybody else seen anything - book or otherwise - that caused them to pause while Christmas shopping this season? Well come on then, share already!


Speaking of romance novels - or bodice rippers as Eric refers to them - I recently read an article about the hottest new trend among these rapidly composed and quickly marketed little love bombs. Are you ready for this? Same-sex male romances written for straight women. Honestly. I'm totally serious here. I would never joke about something like - okay, so I would. But I'm not this time.

Apparently the whole thing started with fan fiction on the Interweb and publishers took notice of the amount of reads the stories were getting. So they contacted some of the most popular authors and signed them to book deals. "A thousand monkeys sitting at a thousand typewriters" and all that.

Actually, if you think about it, this progression makes perfect sense. After all, it's only a small step from glittery, androgenous pretty-boy vampires to glistening, sweaty hardcore man-on-man action.

I know you are, but what am I?

Jim