You know, it’s sort of interesting to take a look at your life and figure out why you do the things you do. I don’t mean why we do crazy, idiotic things… Those are just freakish mistakes that we make. I mean, for example, why do we… let’s say… READ?!?

I grew up in a household where reading was NOT important. It was not something that was pushed, emphasized, cajoled, expected… (You probably get my drift!) Yet, whenever my father was stationed at a new location, one of the first things that I did was to ask my mother to drive me to the local library. To my knowledge, I am the only one of the four children who showed the least bit of interest in reading.

I remember making my way through Edna Ferber’s classics (So Big was a particular favorite of mine) and Pearl S. Buck (The Good Earth was another favorite.) Followed by classics like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. I also went through a “reading stage” where I couldn’t get enough Greek/Roman mythology.

When I lived in Chile, since I spoke English (rather!) fluently, the English teacher let me read mythology during the regular English class time. (My parents sent all four of us to Chilean schools, where we were the only native English speakers.) Little did I know that Sister Serena was starting me on a path that would include a love for all television shows that deal with ancient civilizations!

(More on these ramblings later…)

I am not sure if I should post this… The last time I raved about something that I love I received MANY emails from folks who didn’t take the time to read the blog, and simply asked me to send them the free Kraft Food and Family Magazine. I sent each of them a letter giving them the phone number and email address of the real distributors of the magazine… and am hoping that each of them received  my letters and that they are actually getting the magazines now.

Anyway… back to why I am writing this blog. I know that I have mentioned (probably several times) that I am a cross stitcher. I just love to cross stitch while I watch television… something that bothers my husband, so I don’t stitch while we watch something together. I am wandering (again!) from my blog’s point…

Last summer (2007) my daughter and I took a tour through Canada and some of the northeastern states. Whenever we had free time to do our own thing, we would wander around… and invariably find a bookstore of some sort. One time, when I was looking for something other than a cozy mystery (or police procedural, true crime, ETC!) to read, I found myself looking at the magazines. I found myself drawn to a magazine that I had seen in the past: Cross Stitch & Needlework Magazine.

I usually purchase cross stitching books and pamphlets for the projects that I want to do, but I had been drawn to Cross Stitch & Needlepoint magazine before… When I got home, I put it on my Christmas Wish List, and was very happy when I received a subscription. This is a magazine that I actually keep “whole” rather than rip out the pages that most interest me. That’s because almost all of the pages interest me! I get a sprinkling of different artists (as in cross stitchers) projects. I enjoy reading the letters to the editor, the editor’s letters in each issue, the “fabulous finds” page, the projects… even the ads are beautiful to look at!

If you have a non-cozy mystery find that you would like to share… please feel free to drop me a comment…

A site visitor to the site who is a library science student asked for some more clarification about the site for a paper she is writing – the following is how I answered her questions:

“…As I said in my “About” page on my blog… I pretty much started this site because I love to read cozy mysteries. I didn’t actually start the site thinking that it would become as big as it has. I started the site with only the authors who I had personally read. However, with time, I got more and more recommendations of authors who other cozy mystery readers thought would be ideal for the site.

Again, as it says on the “About” page… I started making lists of all of the authors I followed. Also, I had one particular friend from the days when I was in online mystery reading groups who had very similar preferences in authors. So, we would “introduce” each other to new authors. The online mystery reading groups that I belonged to would take nominations from the members and then vote on which books we would read every month… so I was introduced to a lot of new authors.

I had (literally) pages and pages of authors who I read, and my husband kept telling me that rather than retype the list each year when I brought it up to date, I should store it on my computer so that I could just “strike out” the books that I had read or add the new books that the author had written during the last year. I did all of this for several years before I actually started the site. My husband thought that since I liked chronological lists of my favorite cozy authors, there were probably people out there who would also like lists of their favorite authors’ chronological lists. And, since I am always on the lookout for new Cozy Mystery authors, I knew that there were others looking for new authors to add to their lists.

As for my “authority”… Several times on the site I have written that I simply love the cozy genre of mysteries. I don’t tout myself as an expert of any sort… I simply like my cozy mysteries, and like to read books in their correct chronological order. I became very frustrated having to pick out all of the books by one author out of the library shelves just so that I could get their chronological publishing dates. (Of course… it doesn’t need saying that I always re-shelved the books in the correct alphabetical order!!!)

Yes, I do believe that I have connected readers to books that they will enjoy. I receive a good deal of mail from site readers, and many of them have told me that they found a new author (or two, or three!) from perusing the site.

I get most of my information from the different authors’ websites, from a wonderful librarian who writes me letters keeping me posted on new books from some of the authors on the site, or new series from some of the authors on the site, and from readers of the site. I am amazed at how many people want the site to be a good site, which is complete with up-to-date information. And, the amount of author recommendations astounds me! I am very lucky for all of the site readers’ input!

Since I always go to the authors websites, I believe that the “validity of any information” is 100%. Of course, since not all authors have websites, I have actually had to contact some of them so that they can provide me with the correct information via emails. And, in some cases, the authors’ websites are organized in such a way that it is difficult to decipher the books’ order… that’s when I hit the internet and Google everything I can.

I have a search feature on the blog part of the website, but haven’t thought about putting one in on the main site. I rely on my husband to fix/upgrade/”computerize” the site and he is so very good about doing all of the actual computer work that I hesitate asking him to have to work through that type of feature. But, I am sure that we will discuss it….”

***Actually, I should not have said 100% accurate… I have received letters from site readers a few times where I have been told that my dates were off by a year or two, and once, I was corrected by a fan of an author who told me that I had “topsy-turvied” two books… But, since I always correct things (after verifying the need) on the site that are brought to my attention, I think that I can safely say that I strive to be 100% accurate.

♦Not in my answers is this: Thank you all for the author recommendations and the comments. This website has grown because of the response of people like you!♦

For some reason, I just don’t seem to be the talk-show format type of viewer. Every once in a while I will tune in (actually I set up my taping device) to a talk show to see if I think I might enjoy watching it… I know that there are so many other people who love these shows. I guess that I’m just not interested enough in what guest “stars” think or do.

That was all before The Bonnie Hunt Show. Since the show is still in its infancy (this is its debut week) some might think that I will change my mind…. and I might! But I think that I have finally hit upon a talk show that really appeals to me. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I have always enjoyed the humor of Bonnie Hunt… or if it’s because she comes from a “working” background (Did you know that she used to be an R. N.?)… or if it’s because she seems so “normal”… But, I have been tuning into her show this past week, and I love it!

She talks to “normal” people, while sprinkling in the mandatory “stars”… She talks about her family, and how much she adores her siblings and their children… She talks about finding “rats” in her house (although I want to think that they are mice… which seem a little more palpable than rats!) She talks to her crew and actually knows their names… She just seems so “normal” and is so funny. And, dare I say it, the show seems so… positive. It’s hard to describe it… I just felt myself smiling all the way through it… and loved that she actually seems to like her staff… sort of a “feel good” type of show.

Anyway, that’s my current take on The Bonnie Hunt Show… Who knows what I’ll think in a year… But right now… I am loving it!