My Love of Library Sales by Ellen Byron #GIVEAWAY

LUCY BURDETTE: You know how devoted I am to the Friends of the Key West Library--in fact it turns out our first book sale is this weekend. It also turns out that our friend Ellen Byron feels the same way about her California library. I'll let her tell it...

ELLEN BYRON: On the last Saturday of every month, this sign goes up outside my local library branch in Studio City, and I do a happy dance.

When you’re a passionate reader like I am and a collector of a specific genre— in my case, the vintage cookbooks that inspired my Vintage Cookbook Mystery series—there are few things in life more thrilling than the vast array of affordably priced books available at a Friends of the Library book sales. I make sure to hit the ones hosted at New Orleans’ Milton Latter Library whenever I’m in town. And every month I’m available, I show up to the sale at our local branch of the famed Los Angeles Public Library system.

As a regular patron, I’ve established a pattern. First, of course, I check out the Cookbooks section, where I’ve scored some incredible finds, all for the incredibly low price of a dollar for hardcovers and fifty cents for paperbacks.

My favorite find is a 1928 edition of Photoplay’s Cook Book [sic] of the Stars. Film fans know that 1928 was a pivotal year in the industry, marking the transition from silent movies to talkies. This is reflected in the cookbook itself, featuring recipes from silent stars to those who survived the seminal change like Greta Garbo and Gary Cooper. (BTW, the odds of the stars actually supplying the recipe are minimal. I’m sure they were “cooked” up by studio publicists.)

Once I’ve thoroughly perused cookbooks, I move on to the mysteries section, which the Friends of the Studio City Library separate into two categories, Paperback Mysteries and Mysteries and Suspense, which are hardcovers. I love searching for my friends’ books, which I photograph, buy, and mail to them.

After working my way through the mysteries, I travel to the travel section (see what I did there, wink wink?), after which I scope out Crafts. I’m an avid needlepointer and have found great needlework books at the sale. I also check out Nonfiction and the special section where items are incrementally more expensive. 

Here’s my haul from this past Saturday’s sale: A 1949 cookbook I’ll keep for myself, plus two or three to use as giveaways (I’m on the fence about the Paris Café cookbook. It’s so cool!) There’s a hiking guide I picked up in the Travel section and a collection of walks in Paris from the Special Section that set me back a whopping two dollars.

Over the years, I’ve befriended many of the volunteers, making the monthly event even more special. I’m incredibly grateful to them for their commitment to the sale and to our library branch. So grateful, in fact, that this is the dedication in Crescent City Christmas Chaos, my fourth Vintage Cookbook Mystery:

Readers, do you have a Friends of the Library sale in your neighborhood and do you occasionally pay it a visit? Comment to be entered in a giveaway for a Kindle edition of Crescent City Christmas Chaos.

SYNOPSIS: 

Have yourself a merry little . . . murder?

Ricki James-Diaz gets the best present ever when her parents arrive in New Orleans for the holidays. Not only is it a chance to catch up, it’s also an opportunity to jog her mom Josepha’s memory about Ricki’s adoption. The details have always been shrouded in mystery. And Ricki understands why when she learns her mother was blackmailed for years, simply for not wanting to lose her precious daughter.

But digging into the past soon lands the James-Diaz clan in water hotter than a big pot of gumbo! When the woman who extorted Ricki’s mom is found dead at her home, Josepha becomes the primary suspect. Now Ricki has another murder to solve, and tracking down a killer in Crescent City is going to take a miracle.

Luckily, ‘tis the season! And Ricki has all the staff at the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum on hand to help. Can she prove her mother’s innocence and have the case wrapped up in time for Christmas? 

ORDER NOW:

Crescent City Christmas Chaos a book by Ellen Byron - Bookshop.org US

BIO:

Ellen is a bestselling author, Anthony nominee, and recipient of multiple Agatha and Lefty awards for her Cajun Country Mysteries, Vintage Cookbook Mysteries,  Catering Hall Mysteries (as Maria DiRico), and Golden Motel Mysteries. She is also an award-winning playwright and non-award-winning writer of TV hits like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents, but considers her most impressive achievement working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. Visit her at http://www.ellenbyron.com/. 

Let's Talk Audiobooks!

 LUCY BURDETTE: I know some of you, Debs in particular, are big fans of audiobooks. John is too, he always has his EarPods in listening to something. Usually when I’m out walking, I prefer to be looking around at the world or trying to come up with plot ideas. One time I do listen is when I’m trying to get to sleep. This is very particular, though. The story has to be something that I’m already familiar with so I’m not worried about keeping up with what will happen. One of my favorites is Jenny Colgan, especially The Endless Beach or others in her Mure series. Since I love those, I bought two other titles when I saw them on sale. But oh horror of horrors, it was a different narrator—one that I did not feel the least bit soothing. I tried listening a little more while I was walking to see if I could get used to her voice, but it was like nails on chalkboard.

So that’s the question of the day. If you listen to audiobooks, how important is the narrator, and when do you most enjoy listening? And one more question, do you like the narrator acting out the voices or would you prefer they just read the darn book? (I guess you can tell what side I’m on!)

HALLIE EPHRON: I’m not (is it anathema to say this?) a huge fan of audio books or of narrators who get into all the voices. Plus I fall asleep and then have no idea where I tuned out when I restart the thing. 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yeah, um, oops. Well, I cannot listen to them. I HAVE listened to mine, although I have to say it’s really difficult to listen to one’s own audiobooks for a million reasons, but I adore my actors and am happy with the terrific response to them. The actor who reads  ALL THIS, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, is incredible, and shows how a good reader can make a book fully realized.

 But me, listening to an audiobook? Is me, sleeping. Boom, done, I am out. (I think it has something to do with not knowing where to look.)

If I try to do something else while I’m listening, I cannot do either thing, god forbid I should drive, which would be deadly. 

I’ve just downloaded one now, though, because someone told me it was unmissably fabulous, so we shall see. 

Adding this later: wow. This is interesting. The book I am “hearing” is great--but I can sort of tell that if I would have been reading it on paper, I would have thought: ”backstory backstory get on with it” but because I am hearing it, it’s like someone telling me a story, and that’s fine. Whoa.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’ve adored audiobooks ever since they were cassette tapes in HUGE boxes. The audiobooks of the Harry Potter series and novels like The Wizard of Oz and The Boxcar Children made many a long, long car trip bearable when my kids were small.

I tend to lean more to nonfiction for my audiobooks, interestingly. Right now I’m listening to Becca Syme’s ENERGY MANAGMENT FOR WRITERS. Next up will be 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History by Andrew Ross Sorkin. 

I’m going to give a shoutout to the reader who performs my audio books, Suzanne Toren. She is SO good, and I can’t tell you how many readers love her. I’ve listen to her narration for other books as well, and she always knocks it out of the park. The performer/reader/narrator is SO important to the enjoyment of the book!

JENN MCKINLAY: Like Julia, I’ve been a listener since the old “books on tape” days. I used to listen during my commute in CT and now I listen at the gym, while gardening, etc. My latest love is the graphic audio books where they have multiple narrators and sound effects! I listened to all of Sarah J Maas’s ACOTAR and Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing on audio — so good! 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Well, obviously, I am a fan. I did start with the books on cassettes, how many ever years ago, then CDs, but that was mostly in the car on long trips. (I can't listen to audio books while driving in Dallas traffic.) But the digital audio books were revolutionary. I think my gateway books were the Harry Potters, read by the marvelous Jim Dale, because I knew the stories and didn't have to worry if I didn't understand or was missing something. (The new full cast audio of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is really good and is unabridged, but I think I prefer one narrator.) I do like readers who do different accents and character voices!

Lucy and Hank, I listen while I am cooking (as long as not following complicated recipe!), washing dishes, doing mindless chores like watering and cleaning out catboxes, and I do listen in bed at night. I just set the Audible timer on my phone, so if I fall asleep I only have to back up a bit the next day.

RHYS BOWEN: there was a huge upheaval in my world when the narrator for the Royal Spyness series died. Not only because she was so young and it was so unexpected but because she was so talented. She was nominated for an Audie award every year and one year she won, beating out Meryl Streep. So the fans had a hard time accepting a new narrator, who was quite good. But this time she was nowhere to be found so I had to choose yet another new narrator. Luckily the actor who has done the Molly series was available so all is well. But the narrator makes a huge difference. A grating or inappropriate voice and the book is ruined!

Red readers, are you audiobook fans? How important is the narrator?

But Who Is She? a guest post by Cara Black

 LUCY BURDETTE: Reds, I’m delighted to welcome our long-time friend Cara Black back to the blog. You probably know her as the author of 21 bestselling Aimee Leduc mysteries set in Paris, but she’s here to introduce something new. You know I will always follow her to Paris...Welcome Cara!

CARA BLACK: 

Bienvenue, Reds and readers, to Huguette! 

But who is she?

Unlike most of my stories, which begin with a “What if . . .?” Huguette began with a “Who is she?” 

I referred to the mistress of Aimée’s treasured grandfather Claude in several of my Aimée Leduc books set in Paris. he always remained a cipher, making me wonder—who is this woman? Granted, she was only a small detail within the Aiméeverse. Aimée herself wasn’t even born when this novel takes place. If you haven’t read the Aimée Leduc series, no worries, this story stands alone.

Huguette’s life reflects the reality of existence  in postwar France, a little-addressed subject in fiction, though very real and within living memory. This time fascinated me. I knew there had to be more than just what is seen in Libération–era photos of GIs kissing French girls on the Champs-Élysées, popping Champagne, and handing out chocolate. That, combined with the stories I heard about the French cinema from a friend’s mother, spurred me to explore this era. The more I researched, the more I wanted to understand what it would feel like if I wasn’t one of the lucky wearing Dior’s new look in 1947. If, facing rationing, power cuts, and equipment shortages in postwar France, I had to fight to survive. 

That brought me to the character of Huguette. An orphaned young woman struggling with the odds stacked against her—and forced to make tough moral choices for the sake of her own survival. Once I had answered the question “Who is she?” I could pursue “What is her story?” and finally, “What if . . . ?”

Though many of Huguette’s circumstances are specific to the times she lives in, I’ve faced plenty of struggles and hard decisions of my own. Difficult choices when it seems like one can’t win for losing. Maybe you can relate to this, Huguette’s journey and resilience may resonate with you. 

Have you experienced a dilemma and knew the outcome would be life changing? And in so doing find an inner strength? 

Let me know.

Cara Black is the author of twenty-one books in the New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc series as well as the WWII thrillers Three Hours in Paris and Night Flight to Paris. She has won the Médaille de la Ville de Paris and the Médaille d’Or du Rayonnement Culturel and received multiple nominations for the Anthony and Macavity Awards; her books have been translated into German, Norwegian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew. Her latest book HUGUETTE, a novel of Libération comes out in December.