To Read or Not to Read - That is the Question!

Generally we talk Christian fiction here at the BB, but today I want to talk about those moments when we choose (or refuse) to read a general market book that might be outside of our normal reading selections. What makes us tune into the buzz and pick up a book that everyone's talking about? Or what makes us decide to tune out the buzz?

For Christmas, I asked for The Hunger Games trilogy. I'm currently on part two of the first book, and I'm quite enthralled! However, so far I have successfully avoided the Twilight movies and books. For some reason, with that particular series, I wanted to be rebellious and go against the pop. culture flow.

Here are some of my reasons for picking up The Hunger Games:

#1 - The Movie

...or in this case, the trailer. I saw the movie trailer on the Black 'n Gold Girl's Book Spot blog, and it certainly captured my attention! I've watched it over and over. Everything about it - the music, the quality, the cliffhanger, and the acting - engaged me. I wanted to know more about this unique and terrifying story! If you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out:



(Another movie-to-book experience I had was with The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers. I love movies directed by Michael Landon Jr., so I ended up getting the book and the movie. I watched the movie, then read the book. And I loved both!)

#2 - Word of Mouth

...especially from friends. With The Hunger Games, some of my blogging friends have been talking about the series and reviewing the books. My RA, some of my friends, and even my aunt have read the trilogy. And mostly I've been hearing great things about the books. Some have mentioned the violence and perhaps a dissatisfaction with how things turn out. But overall the WOM seems to be favorable.

#3 - The Plot

...is thought-provoking. While Twilight seems to have "entertainment" buzz, The Hunger Games seems to raise some really difficult questions and make you ask, "What would I do if I were thrown into the world of this story? What is the message of this book (and the whole series), and what can I take away from it?" From the trailer and the descriptions of the book I really wanted to find out what my own opinions are and what my answers to these questions would be.

To Read or Not to Read?

So those are the main reasons why I chose to read The Hunger Games. I'm still in the process of discovering my answers to those questions I just mentioned, and I still don't know what my final opinion will be. So this is not necessarily an endorsement of the series. With all the buzz going on right now, though, I thought this would be a good time to talk about what makes us listen to or ignore that buzz.

What about you? Have you read The Hunger Games series? Are you going to? And does anybody want to try to convince me that Twilight is worth watching or reading?

(Cover image from the author's website.)

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Winners!!

Happy Saturday, BB fans! Thanks to everyone who participated in our "puzzling" Friday giveaway! Keep all those facebook and Twitter notifications, coming!

This week's winner is:

Emily - Cherry Blossom Capers by Cara Putman.

Congratulations, Emily! Please use the button in the upper right side of this page to email me with your email address. Then, sit back and wait for your book to arrive.

Thank you all so much for stopping by The Borrowed Book!

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Weekly Drawing

It's fun Friday at The Borrowed Book, and you have several chances to win. Here's how - instead of leaving a comment, leave the time it took you to complete the puzzle in the comments section. Winners will be drawn from ALL of the times, so the person with the fastest time may not be the actual winner, but by leaving your time, you double your chances.

Want another entry? Tweet your puzzle time and mention The Borrowed Book, get another entry. RETWEET our Tweet, get two entries!

Post your puzzle time on BB's Facebook wall and...you guessed it...get another entry!

Post it on your OWN Facebook wall and you could get as many as FIVE entries.

It's all a way to spread the word about the great giveaways on BB. So c'mon! Help us spread the word, and have a little fun at the same time. :-)

This week's puzzle feature is brought to you by Cara Putman and her anthology collection, Cherry Blossom Capers.

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Cara Putman Interview

I'm welcoming Cara C. Putman to The Borrowed Book today. Cara lives in Indiana with her husband and four children. She's an attorney, teacher at her church, and contract lecturer or adjunct faculty at a local community college and Big Ten University. She has loved reading and writing from a young age and now realizes it was all training for writing books. An honors graduate of the University of Nebraska and George Mason University School of Law, Cara loves bringing history and romance to life.

Cara, I know your four-in-one novella Cherry Blossom Capers is releasing this month. Tell us a little about the common thread the stories share and what your story is about.

Cherry Blossom Capers tells the story of four neighbors who live in a charming community inside the beltway of Washington, D.C. Four gals with very different careers who all find trouble and love. White House assistant chef Tara Whitley works with an old flame, FBI agent Jack Courtland, to stop a plot to sabotage a state dinner. Attorney Ciara Turner and her nemesis Daniel Evans have trials tracking down a judge's murderer. Archeologist intern Samantha Steele and security guard Nick Porter are on the heels of a dangerous forger. Shop owner Susan Holland and renovator Vince Martini turn upside down her late uncle's mansion while investigating a string of mysterious accidents.

My novella is Dying for Love. Attorney Ciara Taylor is horrified when she stumbles over a judge's dead body in Alexandria. Will she be able to retain her composure and control when she joins her nemesis Daniel Evans in investigating the murder? Constantly on the opposite side of domestic cases, they have to work together to find the murderer. . .just in case the police and marshals run out of luck. As they are thrust back together, Ciara is reminded of how Daniel swept her off her feet as a clerk. Now she has to choose whether to risk her heart to love.

I love the tagline for the book--Lovers and Lawbreakers Collide Under the Cherry Trees. Who came up with that hook?

I wish I could say I did, but it was the marvelous marketing department at Barbour Publishing. It certainly sums up the book!

You wrote this book with three other authors. How did the four of you go about developing the idea that would link the stories together?

We first started developing the idea in 2007. We'd gotten to know each other through ACFW and wanted to help Gina Conroy get her first publication. We quickly landed on Washington, D.C. as the setting because of the great diversity it allows in careers, etc. From there we each picked a career we enjoyed and built our what-ifs from those ideas. It has been so fun to work together!

Is this the first time you've written a novella collection? If not, what are the others you've done?

This is my first novella. I have a second releasing in May: Rainbow's End with Nicole O'Dell, Annalisa Daughety, and Valerie Comer. It was such fun to get to do some collaborative writing. Usually writing is so solitary that for an extrovert like me it can drive me batty. Working on these two projects was a treat. I will always be grateful to Becky Germany for the opportunity.

You are a prolific writer and write across several genres. Do you find that readers follow you from genre to genre, or do you have a different reader base for each genre?

So far I think my readers have followed me to an extent. There are some fans of contemporary mysteries/suspense who will never pick up a historical and vice versa, but I've been delighted by the number who read both. I think that's because there are common elements across all my books. One would be a strong heroine who often doesn't see her strength at the beginning but as the story develops begins to see how strong she can be. Another is the common spiritual theme that no matter how bad circumstances are God never leaves us. And the third would be a strong sense of setting.

You've said that you want to write stories that help women to see how God can restore their lives and give them strength and hope. How does this apply to your story in Cherry Blossom Capers?

What a great question! In Dying for Love, Ciara assumes she's lost her only chance at love, but she comes to see that the past can be redeemed and made stronger as we lean on God for wisdom and direction.

What are you working on now, and when will it release?

Right now I'm working on the marketing for my three spring releases and waiting to hear about proposals that are out with publishers.

What message of hope would you like to leave with our readers today?

I'd call it more of a challenge. That as we launch 2012, what ways do you want to see God move in your life? I'm asking Him to call me to a deeper relationship. One where I am changed and transformed so that all anyone sees when they look at me is Him. I want an intimate relationship. And that would be my prayer for those reading this blog. That they would seek a deeper relationship with God. And that as they seek Him they would find Him in richer, deeper ways than they imagined.

It has been a pleasure to have you with us at The Borrowed Book today. Thank you for being our guest today and sharing your thoughts with us.

Cara has issued a challenge to all of us for the new year. What do you want to happen in your life this year? Leave a comment and tell us what you hope to accomplish.

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Best Books of 2011

Amazon released its list of The Best Selling Books of 2011 recently. Being an author myself, I was quite interested to discover which books readers found most interesting. Surprisingly, at the top of the list was Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

Why "surprisingly"? Because unlike other legendary inventors, Jobs was never credited with life-saving innovation. Yes, he created a mammoth in the field of technology. His products touch lives around the world. But does he stand with "the Fords, Edisons, and Gutenbergs of the world," as some would claim? You decide.

Here's the product description:

Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.

About the Author

Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughter.

To see all of Amazon's Best Selling Books for 2011, click here.

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Author Interview with Susan Sleeman

What inspired you to become an author and when did you get your first big break?

The life long love of reading inspired me to want to write a book, but it was God who arranged free time for it to happen. I’ve always enjoyed writing from creative to technical writing I’ve done in the corporate world, and I said for years that I was going to write a book, but I was so busy working full time, raising children, and volunteering at church that I never made the time. Then I had some health issues that limited my physical activity and I was forced to sit for long periods of time. So I started to research the craft of writing and began my first book. Soon I was writing as often as I could and actively pursuing publication.

In 2008, Barbour Publishing contracted my cozy mystery titled Nipped in the Bud. This mystery line folded, not only once but twice and now many of the authors are working together to release them in e-book format under the Spyglass Lane Mysteries imprint. You can find details about the entire line at www.spyglasslanemysteries.com.

The same year, I contracted a romantic suspense book with Love Inspired and now have a three book series published in this line. These books, High-Stakes Inheritance, Behind the Badge, and The Christmas Witness feature the three Morgan brothers of Logan Lake, Oregon and can be purchased wherever books are sold.

What is the most important thing you want your readers to take from your books?

No question here. God is in charge and, if we know what’s best, we will seek His guidance and follow His leading. I guess since this is something I continually struggle with, it shows up time and again in my writing. But I know I am not the only one who has a hard time wanting to be in charge of my life and so I write about it to remind others, too. We are taught as we grow up to be independent, take charge, and make something of ourselves, and we lose sight of the fact that only with God’s guidance can we become everything He has created us to be.

What are you currently writing?

I have a new romantic suspense series called The Justice Agency releasing this year. This series is about five adopted siblings who work in various fields of law enforcement until their adoptive parents are murdered. When the police can’t figure out who killed their beloved parents the Justice siblings come together to solve the case. They discover in the process that they like working together and they form an investigative agency called The Justice Agency. They dedicate the agency to helping people who traditional law enforcement is either unable or unwilling to help. Double Exposure, the first book of this series will release in June  and Dead Wrong will release in November.

Tell us about your current release.

Nipped in the Bud is book one in my Garden Gate Mystery Series. Read Between the Tines and Seed You Later, books two and three will be published later in the year. These books take place in Oregon in a fictional town named Serendipity and feature Paige Turner, a landscape designer and host of a local radio show. After Paige bickers with a town official and that day he's discovered dead in a mound of mulch, she finds herself in . . . well, a pickle! With no alibi for the time of death, she struggles to prove her innocence and needs help staying out of jail. She enlists the help of lawyer Adam Hayes and soon discovers she has feelings for him. The question is will his knowledge of the law keep her out of jail and will he win her love?

Of all the characters you’ve created in your books, which is your favorite and why?

I love Paige Turner in Nipped in the Bud for many reasons. She's a quirky character who has a habit of thinking of people by the plants they resemble and treating them accordingly. As a landscape designer and host of a local radio show with more whacky callers than legitimate gardeners, Paige is more at home with plants than people and is often uncomfortable in social settings. She is often outspoken and fails to filter what she says before speaking. She has a knack for finding trouble and there is no trouble bigger than discovering a dead body. And of course, she loves gardening, which is a passion of mine, so I can't help but like her.

SUSAN SLEEMAN is a best-selling author of inspirational romantic suspense and mystery novels. She grew up in a small Wisconsin town where she spent her summers reading Nancy Drew and developing a love of mystery and suspense books. Today, she channels this enthusiasm into writing romantic suspense and mystery novels and hosting the popular internet website TheSuspenseZone.com. Susan currently lives in Florida, but has had the pleasure of living in nine states. Her husband is a church music director and they have two beautiful daughters, a very special son-in-law and an adorable grandson. To learn more about Susan visit her at her:

Website  http://www.susansleeman.com 

Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SusanSleemanBooks

Or on Twitter  http://www.twitter.com/SusanSleeman

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Happy New Year!

I wished upon a star...

And was as stealthy as could be.

But though I searched near and far...

The only present I found was me!

OK, it's late on New Year's Day (or should I say early on January 2nd?); it's my turn to post; and this is what I came up with! (I just ended that sentence with a preposition...oh, the shame!) I probably shouldn't start 2012 with a cheesy rhyming post, but there you have it! Hope it makes you smile regardless of the cheesiness. ;)

Happy New Year to all of our readers! Whatever presents you found this year under the tree at Christmas, I hope you enjoy the present God has given us in this day, as well as His profound gifts of grace and love. May God bless you all!

(Note: Muffin Man - the cat - did, in fact, get cat treats for Christmas, but he appeared to enjoy the empty boxes and such immensely. He makes a pretty cute gift, don't ya think?)

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