If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book. (J.K. Rowling)
In 2005, my first inspirational novel, Scent of Lilacs, was published. It had been several years since I’d had the fun of having a book published. So when that book was released, it was almost like having a first ever book published again. In fact my first novel had been published almost thirty years before that in 1978. I had thirteen books published after that before I had those dry spell years followed by the wonderful good fortune to publish Scent of Lilacs with Revell Books. The Refuge, my newest release, is my twentieth book with Revell and my thirty-fifth published book.
Sometimes I can hardly believe how blessed I am to have been able to share so many of my stories with readers, because you see, ever since I was a young girl, I’ve wanted to write. And not only write, but have people read my stories and join their imaginations to mine. That is what readers do. A reader picks up a book and opens it to invite a story into his or her imagination. We read those black squiggles on the pages of the books and they become images in our heads and awaken emotions in our hearts as we chase characters down story roads.
When that first inspirational novel was actually a book in my hands, I wanted to celebrate with my hometown readers. At the time there were no bookstores in my little town. We still don’t exactly have a bookstore but we do have a wonderful store in the middle of our Main Street, Tastefully Delicious, that carries all sorts of specialty food along with gift items and books of local authors like me and books about Kentucky. It’s wonderful to have a place where people can find my books at a store right here in my hometown. But back in 2005, that store hadn’t opened yet and I wanted to give my local reading friends a chance to read my story. So I had a Hometown Book Party at my local library. I guess that’s how traditions start. So through the years, I’ve kept having a party to celebrate each of my new books. I make cookies, buy door prizes, and talk about my books and my writing path.
Unfortunately, I get busy talking and forget to take pictures. So I don’t have a fresh picture of the beautiful people who were kind enough to come out on a Sunday afternoon to hear me talk books. Instead this is a picture from 2012 of some who did when I was celebrating a different Shaker book, The Gifted. Some of these people have come to almost all my book parties over the years. Some who came to those first book parties have gone on to parties in heaven. Some have maybe heard enough of my stories and quit coming, but then new people have taken their places and come to talk books with me.
What a blessing to have reading friends who will come and share an hour with me as I celebrate yet another book. When Scent of Lilacs was re-issued with a new cover a few years after it was first published, I asked my friends if I should have another Hometown Book Party and some of those sweet friends said yes. So that book got celebrated twice as was fitting since that story set in the little town of Hollyhill which was based on my little town of Lawrenceburg brought me into the world of Christian fiction. It’s a world I love with readers who never fail to make me smile.
For those of you too far away to make it to my Hometown Book Party, I’m thinking about having a Facebook Book Party. Do you think that would be fun?
So thank you for reading.
I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can’t really put a book on the Internet. Three companies have offered to put books by me on the Net, and I said, ‘If you can make something that has a nice jacket, nice paper with that nice smell, then we’ll talk.’ All the computer can give you is a manuscript. People don’t want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket. (Ray Bradbury)
Today when I asked if any of the people there read e-books, most all of them said no. That they liked holding a book in their hands, turning the pages, and smelling them the way Ray Bradbury says as they absorb the words. So what about you? Do you like reading that paper book or are e-books your choice of how to read?
Comments 29
Definitely like the print books. I want to be able to flip pages.
Loved reading your news about your book parties. What fun!!! I only wish I lived close by so I could be one of your guests. I’m not sure about Facebook parties. How do they work? I read both books and ebooks. The only time I choose ebooks over the real thing is when I’m traveling or in a waiting room (how I so dislike those TV’s that all waiting rooms seem they have to have!!!)
or when the font of a book is so small I have to be able to enlarge it. Then an ebook comes in handy. My favorite is still the real thing!
I forgot to mention — I prefer to have a book in my hand. I have tried the Kindle but it just doesn’t do it for me. I love my books.
Enjoyed reading this article. I love to read which started when I was very little. I was ten years old, and certainly not old enough, the librarian started a library card for me, and allowed me to take a book home. I should mention that I am from a small town. Really liked reading all the comments and it is so good to see so many people reading. Thank you for the newsletter.
Author
Those small town libraries are a great place to discover the joys of reading, Loretta. I had a library card at a young age too. Loved using it and watching the librarian stamp the return date on the card that slid into the envelop of the inside of the book. Without that library and a mom who took me to the library, I doubt I could have ever become a published writer. So I love libraries. And books, of course. Glad you liked getting the newsletter.
I love holding and reading a real paper book and I think a facebook book party would be loads of fun!
Author
I think I’ll add it to my “to do” list, Connie.
My husband grabbed your book, “The Refuge”, when I brought it home. Although he got to read it first, we have both read it now, and feel it is your best one yet! And that is saying a lot, since we’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of your books.
We do both prefer a “real” book in our hands, with pages to turn, and bookmarks to use.
Will eagerly await your next book. Thank you! Please keep writing.
Author
So fun that both you and your husband read my book, The Refuge. And others of my books too. You can talk books with each other and have a family book club. 🙂 I’m very glad you enjoyed the story.
I like a book in my hands too and have some books with a dozen bookmarks in them.
I am writing and trying to come to the end of my first draft on my book in progress. I do hope it will turn out to be one readers might like. I appreciate your good wishes.
I do not have an e-reader and wouldn’t want one, I want the book in my hands where I can turn the pages and embrace the smell of the paper the story is written on. I so much enjoy all of your books, keep writing and thank you for writing them.
Author
Thank you, Donna. I appreciate your words of encouragement. I’m needing them right now with the story I’m working on.
It’s interesting that you mention the smell of the book in hand the way Ray Bradbury did in his quote. I hadn’t really thought about the smell as much as the feel, but it is good to have all our senses involved.
I am a paper book gal. I love the way a book feels in your hands. I love turning those pages.
Author
You’re right, Melanie. That swish on an e-book just isn’t the same and I have a hard time looking back at something I might want to see again in the e-books. If I do swish back then I feel like I lose my place. Yes, I do like those books in my hands.
I prefer paper books, but ebooks are generally cheaper. I read both.
Author
You’re right about the e-books being cheaper, Sylvia. Especially if you aren’t too particular about which book you read next. You can get a lot of great bargains in the e-book world, including cheap prices on some of my books at times.
I had a fun afternoon yesterday. It was the perfect day for a Sunday drive…the rain missed me coming and going…and the book party was fantastic.
I read both kinds of books. My Kindle makes it easy to have a lot of books with me when I go places, without carrying a bulky bag. But when I want to curl up and settle in with a good story, I prefer the real thing. And like Lisa said, you can’t get an autograph on an e-copy. Thanks for signing my books yesterday and for hosting such a lovely party!
Author
So appreciate you making that long drive over, Lavon. That was so nice of you. I always have fun at my book parties. I think I made too many cookies this time. 🙂 Those sugar cookies really weren’t all that good. They needed strawberries to go with them. But I am glad you enjoyed the party. It’s always fun to talk books with friends. Next time I’m going to bring a list of my own questions to answer. LOL. I appreciate you asking one to give me more to talk about.
Hope you enjoy the books you took home with you. I ordered those copies of Angel at the Crossroads. They should be here next week. So I’ll be in touch then.
I’ve got tons of books on my Kindle, but I prefer real books. I just finished THE REFUGE, I loved it! It was an awesome book! The end was even happier than I had anticipated!
Author
So glad you liked the story in The Refuge, Robin. And of course, I do like happy endings. While I was writing that story, I was beginning to wonder how I was goingi to work things out. Romance in a Shaker village is not an easy thing to write. LOL.
I have a bunch of unread books on my Kindle and Nook, but I generally pick a book from my stack of books when I decide what to read next.
I prefer to read actual printed pages–hold the book in my hands, turn the pages, insert my bookmark when I’m ready to pause, etc. I have not developed a “taste” for smelling books, but I do love the feel of books, even the weight of them, in my hands.
Author
I guess that smelling books is like the new car smell (not that I would recognize that one) or when I was a kid, I used to sniff my new shoes. That new shoe smell was good. I’m pretty happy when I get my first box of books from the publisher and open it up to smell that particular book scent, Suzanne. But I think the holding the book in the hands is probably the best.
Ann, I have a Kindle App on my computer that I use a lot and love it. But I also read books the old-fashioned way, I don’t think I could ever give that up completely. I’ve always loved books!
Author
I love books too, Laura. I always admire those old homes that have libraries with shelves to the ceiling. I have some shelves, but no rooms big enough for that kind of library. And my shelves fill up fast. I know that’s the reason many people have gone to e-books. Simply because they say they have no more room for books.
I love my books! There is just something about holding and smelling a real book. Knowing that book has a story that is going to capture your heart and mind in such a way that you will sit up all night long, promising yourself that you will definitely stop at the end of the next chapter and go to sleep, but knowing that you probably still won’t be able to. True, I have to read my books with a towel on those hot summer nights because I will soak the covers with my sweaty hands and wrinkle the pages otherwise.
Oh, but my goodness, it is so easy to slip that Kindle into my purse wherever I go, and it holds SO many books! Of course, I forget what book I am reading, even in the middle of reading it, and then have to try to remember how to bring up the title without losing my place. How does that technology stuff work again?
Author
I’m with you, Roma, on how hard it is sometimes to stop reading a book that has, as you say, captured your heart and you just have to find out what next. Authors do have a way of ending a chapter where it’s hard to stop. LOL.
And you’re very right about the convenience of carrying a Kindle around with you to enjoy books on the go. You’re also right about how sometimes I let the technology of it defeat me. But at least the book is still there and usually the bookmarks work.
The Scent of Lilacs was the first book of yours that I read! That got me hooked. I like both “real” books and e-books. The nice thing about e-books is that I can carry LOTS of them with me on trips, and I can read them after my husband goes to bed without leaving a lot of lights on. “Real” books are special too. I’ve got lots, of the ones I really like, that I can go back and re-read over and over. I’ve gotten on a Madeline L’Engle binge right now, and I’ve got a lot of hers in “real” books…
Author
So glad you enjoyed getting to know Jocie and friends in Hollyhill, Margaret. That’s still a favorite story of mine and I’m actually in the process of turning it into an audio book. I also love audio books when I’m traveling or working with my hands and can’t hold that book to read.
Hope you are reading many good L’Engle books.
An online book party would be fun!!!
I like books anyway I can get them, but 9 times out of 10 I read real books. (besides that’s the only way to have an autographed copy!)
Author
I think an online book party would be fun too. Now to figure out how to do it, Lisa!! I’ll have to check out the internet for advice.
So glad you have some of my books with those autographs. It’s been fun meeting up with you at various book events.