Category: Reading



The Scriptorium Daily.Lots of writing education. Enjoy!


Betty's (Little Basement) Garden
Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden by Laurel Dewey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Look, I like sci-fi and fantasy. This book was too real. On the other hand, it was fiction enough to keep my attention. There was a story and character development, plots within plots, and romance. And they all tied up well at the end of the book.

Meanwhile, something that I find irritating and almost earned it four stars was the information dumping. On second thought, I would have read none of that information anywhere else. And I might need it to guide my real life one of these days. Yes, I would read the book again. There is much to learn here and not just about cannabis.

I loved how the Betty grew stronger as the book progressed. I see a lot of fems that have been told to be quiet, be pretty, and remain in the kitchen– barefooted. Betty loves to cook so that part was no problem. She, also, learned to speak her mind, even when it was not what her peers wanted to hear.

As many of my friends know, I have fibromyalgia and it has me nearly bed-bound. The pain is horrendous and exhausting. I have gone through all that pharma wants to throw at me but nothing works and the side-effects are very dangerous. I must admit to wondering how cannabis might work for me. I am one of the few people who was a teen in the sixties that didn’t try drugs. So I have no way of knowing if it would work for me or not. But as I start to explore pain management with my doctor I am going to ask. My state is setting up dispensaries soon. That is why I ended up buying the Kindle version of the book,(it had been free from the author-for review). I may need it later to refresh my memory of what I may need.

I wish the book had a glossary or footnotes so one could look up the very research that had gone into the book. It seems extensive.

I believe in holistic healing. Herbs, teas, etc. help me a lot without side effects. Cannabis is just one more of Mother Earth’s healing plants. Let’s learn what we can and respect it for its properties.

Thank you Laurel Dewey for letting me read your wonderful novel.

View all my reviews


Twitter / dar49: I’m in the top 1% of reviewers …. WOW!!!!


Which kind of book lover are you? [infographic]. Thought this was fun. Which are you?


Fallen Angel. Can’t wait to read this!


Literary Birthday – 22 July – Tom Robbins – Writers Write Creative Blog. I loved Skinny Legs and All. Couldn’t believe the inanimate things talking to each other in a cave. Threw the book into the back of the car. Got stuck one day (car broke down) found the book and found I couldn’t stop reading. I am embarrassed to admit to crying over missing dirty sock. I need to read his more recent stuff.


What an exciting conclusion to a great trilogy. Read my review here:

<a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15827257-emergence&#8221; style=”float: left; padding-right: 20px”><img alt=”Emergence (Eden’s Root Trilogy #3)” border=”0″ src=”http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1365267098m/15827257.jpg&#8221; /></a><a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15827257-emergence”>Emergence</a&gt; by <a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/719277.Rachel_Fisher”>Rachel Fisher</a><br/>
My rating: <a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/605511766″>5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Wow! What a ride! Look if I’m dingy today, I blame Rachel Fisher. This book started out rolling and didn’t stop. Real life got in my way, or I would’ve finished this in a day or so. Somewhere around 60%, it felt slower but that was the calm before the storm. I figured last night. I’d start reading it midnight and I would fall asleep. The sun was well up in the sky for two hours before I fell asleep. I could not put the book down. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Fi and her friends.<br /><br />I gave this five stars because, as usual, Ms. Fisher told a wonderful tale. But I noticed that somewhere around 60% of the book, there were a few mistakes words left out or tiny misspellings. The other thing that really bothered me and I know this is just me, how did Fi deal with dirty diapers? I’ve had four kids. I could not have fought a war with any one of them hanging from me. I know Fi is a really strong woman. But somehow I have a hard time grasping a woman who just gave birth and running 3 miles with her baby in the backpack. It just seems rather impossible to me. But that doesn’t stop the story. And it is an amazing one. Maybe I missed something in reading it.<br /><br />I love the ending! I will have to reread the trilogy again as I miss this great bunch of characters!
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<a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/813598-darlene”>View all my reviews</a>


I just finished reading The River by Cheryl Kaye Tardif. It was quite the adventure. Read my review on GoodReads:

Goodreads | Darlene Milner’s review of The River.

I usually copy these to my LiveJournal and Amazon but am never as happy as the reviewing possibilities on GoodReads.


Creative Writing Tip: Read Outside Your Genre.

I found this to be true. I tend to get stuck in certain genres. My own writing tends to be sci-fi/fantasy and it is my favorite to read. Every now and then something comes along and breaks up my whole world. Take for instance my sudden Game of Thrones obsession. It is somehow very inspiring to my own writing. Yes, I know it is my genre. But I have been on a strong fem leads and writers of late. So this broke my own rules. Lately I read more non-fiction, like the book about blogging I just finished. Or autobiographies have started creeping in. I see how it affects my writing to get stuck in my reading diet. Creepy mysteries and thrillers have found their way into my reading and I find those add an edge to my writing.

What are your thoughts?


Paper or plastic – print and electronic books compared [infographic].

Kindle with text-to-speech is the only way for my old eyes. I was able to read 225 books last year because of this system. Before Kindle my reading habits had faded to the background of my life. I missed my dear friend. Books had been my food for so long. Now I am back to devouring four or five at a time!

 

What’s your preference?

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