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Thursday, March 15, 2007

TT #44



One Thing Leads to Another
Part I
discovering favorite authors



Way back in the mists of time, I read mystery and science fiction/fantasy almost exclusively. One day in 1996, I was browsing through a Stars & Stripes bookstore looking for something to read, when I discovered something that sounded perfect: a futuristic mystery. Even someone who hasn't heard this story before can probably guess that I'd found Naked in Death (#10) by

1. J. D. Robb. I was hooked. Inside the front cover was a list of books by

2. Nora Roberts. The name rang a vague bell, so I looked through my books and discovered that, sure enough, it was the author who'd written two of the three books I'd found worth saving when I'd "tried romance" by subscribing to Silhouette for a few months. So I ripped out the order form in the back of Naked in Death and sent it in and waited patiently for my big box of oxymoron books to arrive from Berkley.

When I discovered email loops, I promptly joined one for J. D. Robb. Since the romance genre was new to me, I was soaking up recommendations left and right, but I was discovering that all that is raved about is not gold, so I was becoming cautious. Everybody, though, was raving about

3. Janet Evanovich, so I bought One for the Money. I'd never laughed so hard in my life while reading a book--not even Pratchett. It was sheer torture waiting for the next 3 books in the series to arrive from the Mystery Guild. So the next time everybody started raving, I paid attention, and bought the first 9 books (3 omnibuses, one single title) in the Anita Blake series by

4. Laurell K. Hamilton from the SFBC. I devoured them, and promptly joined an email list. It was a very vocal, very intelligent email list--there were a lot of arguments, but they were all backed up by evidence from the books. Say something stupid, and they'd rip you to shreds, but say something smart, and even if they disagreed with you, you'd get a good discussion out of it. I was mildly startled to discover that one of the most literate posters there was

5. Dallas Schulze, the author of the 3rd book I'd kept from my Silhouette subscription. So I immediately set about collecting and reading all her books. It was nice to know I'd been right all those years previously. Dallas debated quite a lot about writing with another member of the LKH list,

6. Jim Butcher. When I discovered he'd written two books, I grabbed Storm Front, expecting to be polite about it. Instead I was impressed, and rushed off to join McAnally's, the email list named after the bar in the Dresden Files.

Meanwhile, back on the J. D. Robb list, we had a new member:

7. Christine Feehan. I thought it was only polite to give her books a shot, since she only had 3 or 4 out at the time. I loved them, and by then I'd figured out whose recommendations to trust. So when those people were raving about Welcome to Temptation by

8. Jennifer Crusie, I went out and bought it. Unfortunately, what they were raving about was the sex scenes, and at that point, I'd already discovered Emma Holly, so I was underwhelmed. Still, the people whose taste I'd learned to trust kept raving, so I went out and bought Tell Me Lies and Crazy for You, and that hooked me. So when a friend started an email list, I followed here there, and when the writers list branched off from that, I followed there, too. Which is where I first discovered

9. Lani Diane Rich, who sold her NaNo book. Impressive, I thought, but again, I was prepared to have to be polite. I didn't have to be. Later,

10. Alesia Holliday joined the Cherries, and this time I was prepared to be wowed by her books. I wasn't disappointed. On the Cherry list, I learned that

11. Anne Stuart was a friend of Jenny's, and several people had been raving about her books on the J. D. Robb list as well, so I picked her books up, too. The combination of recommendations from both the Cherries and McNab was what prompted me to pick up

12. Susan Elizabeth Phillips's books as well. But when McAnally's, the Cherries, and the JDRobb list all raved about

13. Lois McMaster Bujold, it got a bit overwhelming. It took me a couple of years to cave in to the pressure and try her.






Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

sheesh. how in the world did I inadvertently turn off the comments? I thought Blogger was just being wacky. Anyway. Comments are back, but if they go missing again:

note: if the "comments" link is missing, go ahead and leave a comment on the Booking Through Thursday post or another post and I'll put your link in the list here.
  1. Julia: book series
  2. Raggedy: letter of recommendation?
  3. what's in Tink's handbag
  4. Nancy's to-do list
  5. Angela/Sci Fi Chick: Daniel Craig
  6. Gattina: retired husbands
  7. Carmen: Ireland
  8. Dragonheart's mom's birthday
  9. Christine: St. Patrick's Day
  10. Rashenbo: Amazon rainforest
  11. movies from Annie's childhood
  12. Caryle's childhood
  13. what Wacky Mommy did as a kid
  14. Susan Helene Gottfried: St. Patrick's Day adventures
  15. Joan: green
  16. Melody: tea
  17. Caylynn's birthday
  18. You're next!


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


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Comments:
First I gotta said, great mind almost think alike! We were thinking of books at the same time ;)

I was so glad I paid attention to reader raving about Janet Evanovich, Anne Stuarts,Christine Feehan and Susan Elizabeth Phillips too! Love them all. Am glad to see you decided to read Ann Stuart's books, they were great!

Great list, I reconzied them all! Happy Thursday Thirteen and I hope you have wonderful day!
 
We enjoy some of the same books.
Terrific Thursday Thirteen!
My TT is posted.
Have a wonderful day!
Happy TT'ing!
*^_^
(=':'=)
(")_ (")Š
Raggedy
 
Strange how one thing leads to another, I recognize that! I don't know all of those authors, but I like the ones I do know. So I'll have to check the others out!
Thanks for visiting my handbag TT.
 
Funny how this happens. How can you keep up with all those lists! I love the In Death series.

The problem with thirteens that have to do with books is that it adds to my TBR list, which is neverending as it is.

Thanks for sharing!
 
I'm partial to #3, 6, 10, & 12 myself..
Great list!
(I liked LKH's first few books, but then she took a turn I didn't care for.. as many have stated, I'm sure)
 
The only author I know in this list is Nora Roberts all the others don't ring a bell ! I have read Silouette (I don't remember the rest) already a while ago.
 
Hey, YOUR comments are back, too! Are they coming and going? That might be a Blogger thing; mine had been turned off (edit your post and go under "post options" -- mine had been set to not accept comments for some reason. Maybe it's a blogger thing, groaning under the weight of TT comments?)
 
Yeah, I discovered how to turn them back on--still not sure how they got turned off. I'm pretty sure I didn't mess with it. But I wouldn't have checked if you hadn't mentioned it--thanks! :)
 
that ol' "great minds" thing is goin' on here. You listed several of my absolute favorites! thanks for coming by my blog.
 
Wow, you have a great list here, Darla. Some of them are my favourites too! :)
 
I may have to try some of those authors! Several of the names are familiar, but I haven't actually picked up any books by those authors yet, so I may have to give some of them a try. Thanks for the suggestions!

And thanks for stopping by. :)
 
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