Reading and Writing

Wow--readers write and writers read and performers often bridge any gap that remains.
My book club has lead me to great and not so great reads this past year--the worst (to me--Ahab's Wife. I know it won awards, but I found the style too reminiscent of Melville's to be enjoyable and the story too full of contrivances and stylistic tricks to be entertaining. Plus, I never warmed to the main character. It is hard to write an interesting series about an unlovable person--MC Beaton has done it with Agatha Raisin, a series of light mysteries that I'm sure the literary top folks would consider beneath them but...
Great reads: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, The Color of Water, Brunelleschi's Dome, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet--among others and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
My own book of short stories came out this year--complied by Edith Edwards and myself it contains tales of ours, many award winners of women in the south, and it also has one tandem piece of writing. We had a good time producing it--some glitches due to our lack of expertise with adobe, but I think it still makes a good read.
Hope those of you who order it from amazon.com (where it is reduced from the $18 price) will enjoy it.