Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 05-17-13

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

Book club reader Peggy Dziurlikowski still prefers holding a book in her hand when she reads, instead of a device. What's your preference? I'd love to hear from you. My email: [email protected]

From my Email Bag:

"Suzanne,

I have written you before but this is a thank you for introducing me to Blaize Clement's books. When I retired in December I started going to the library again. Although I have always loved to read because I can be transported to another locale or event through the joy of reading. I started with some of the authors you introduced me to. I absolutely love Dixie Hemingway and since we have vacationed in that part of Florida for many years it was not hard to imagine myself there. In fact in September my husband and I will be in Bonita Beach again for a month. I can honestly say that there is sheer magic when I open a book and immerse myself in the story. I still love holding a book in my hand and not a machine.

So thank you, thank you."--Peggy D.

Last call to enter the drawing for my homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies! I'm baking again this weekend, so be sure to enter today. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May13Cookies

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: PREDATORY (Fantasy) by Alexandra Ivy, Dianne Duvall, Hannah Jayne

I've always known when writing about Nina that she's larger than life, and larger than San Francisco. She has a wardrobe that spans centuries and a fashion sense sharper than her fangs--it was only a matter of time before she broke out, headed to Manhattan, and starred in her own Underworld Detection Agency installment. She insists we call her stories The Nina Chronicles. You know how those uptown vampires are--all fashion, all fangs, all the time.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on PREDATORY to read more and to email authors.

KIDSBUZZ: This week, enter to win free children's and teen books and meet Soman Chainani, the author of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL and Mona Ombogo, author of SOULFIRE. To read all about them and learn how to win free books, see www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz

* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE PURPLE CLOUD by M. P. Shiel. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May2013Classics

 

 

 

Dear Reader Column 05-16-13

 

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

Sue Halpern, author of six books, her latest A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home is today's guest columnist. One particular line in Ms. Halpern's column today resonated with me--it's so true. "I've learned that you think more clearly about life--yours and everyone else's--when you're in the presence of death, and that this is a good and even happy thing."

Meet Pransky, meet author Sue Halpern and read about their nursing home adventures. Please send an email welcoming Sue to the book club and when you do, you'll be entered in her drawing for one of 10 Advanced Reading Copies of her soon to be released book, A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home.

Email Sue Halpern at: [email protected]

Take it away Sue...

Often when people learn that my labradoodle, Pransky, and I are a therapy dog team at the local public nursing home they want to know what it is, exactly, we do. And just as often, I find myself at a loss for words. "Well," I say, "we just go there." Or, "we hang out." And it's true: we do go there, and we do hang out. We visit people in their rooms, and drop in on the group crossword puzzle, and take detours into the nurses' stations, and do tricks for the patients in the memory care unit.(Pransky only has four tricks, but because it's the memory care unit, no one seems to remember that she hugged me on command the week before, too. They always seem genuinely delighted when she rises up on her back legs and throws her front legs onto my shoulders.)

I, too, wondered what we'd be doing at the nursing home when I made the decision four years ago to train with the dog to be certified so that we could work there. I'd only been in the building once, for fifteen minutes. For me, nursing homes were places you didn't go unless you had to. But something was drawing me there, and it wasn't just Pransky pulling on her leash the first day we showed up. It was a sense that we might have something to offer, my dog and I, and that if I knew that, then it would be selfish not to find out.

Over the past four years, I've learned a lot at the nursing home; it would have been impossible not to, and it motivated me to write A Dog Walks Into A Nursing Home. I've learned that you think more clearly about life--yours and everyone else's--when you're in the presence of death, and that this is a good and even happy thing. I've learned that animals can teach us how to be more human. I've learned that the joy you think you're spreading to others comes right back to you, gaining strength as it does. And I've learned that it's not always about doing--that sometimes it's about being. What we do at the nursing home is be there. We show up, we pay attention, we bring news and good cheer from the outside world, and Pransky presents herself for petting. That this is called therapy reminds me, week after week, that the old fashioned notion that healing comes from the laying on of hands is true. It doesn't hurt that one of us has gorgeous, soft, wavy, blonde hair, either.

Please email me at [email protected] with a life lesson have you learned from an animal in your life for the chance to win one of ten advance review copies of my upcoming book, A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home.--Sue Halpern

* Be sure to enter the May Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway. A big bag of my homemade chocolate chip cookies could be coming your way. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May13Cookies

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: NORTH OF HOPE (NonFiction) by Shannon Polson

How do you navigate the landscape of grief? When my parents were killed by a grizzly bear on a rafting trip in the Arctic, I asked that question. A year later, I went to the Arctic to retrace their trip: to grieve, but also to heal.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on NORTH OF HOPE to read more and to email author Shannon Polson, you'll get a reply.

*Fun, free books and meet authors. Ask questions, they'll reply and read samples from their books. Visit AuthorBuzz at: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

(Fiction)
JENNIFER AN O'MALLEY LOVE STORY by Dee Henderson

(Thriller)
THE INNOCENCE GAME by Michael Harvey

(Fiction)
OURS TO LOVE (A Wicked Lovers Novel) by Shayla Black

(NonFiction)
NORTH OF HOPE by Shannon Polson

(Fantasy)
PREDATORY by Alexandra Ivy, Dianne Duvall, Hannah Jayne

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE PURPLE CLOUD by M. P. Shiel. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May2013Classics

 

 

 

Dear Reader Column 05-15-13

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

"Why do cats do it?"

I don't know. But when my husband and I are returning from a walk, if he reaches the side porch of our house first and yells back, "Don't come here Suzanne, just wait on the sidewalk..."

I know Cooper, the stray cat we took into our home, has done it again.

Scruffy, skinny, and standing in front of our door looking for a handout, the first time we met Cooper he was afraid, but even more hungry. Too skinny for surgery (Cooper wasn't neutered), I fattened him up with turkey and gravy bits for a week, then lured him into an animal rescue cage, using stinky sardines as bait, and took him to the vet to get "fixed."

I've trapped numerous cats and had them fixed through the local rescue program. Most cats are anxious to head back outdoors as soon as the anesthesia wears off, but not Cooper. So I spread newspapers out on the floor and let him recuperate in a big, roomy cage. Three days later Cooper was ready to leave the cage, but not our house. After he stepped out of the cage, he casually walked into my bedroom, jumped up on the bed, curled-up on my quilt and he's been part of our family ever since.

Every person in a family should contribute and Cooper's decided he should be one of the bread-winners. Now if he could bake a loaf of crusty sourdough bread (one of my favorites), I'd be appreciative. But Cooper seems to feel he needs to provide the main course, and he serves-it-up on the doormat on our side porch.

Yuck! "Why does he do that?"

My husband says leaving "dinner" on the side porch is Cooper's way of showing love. It's a "thank you" gift. He's trying to help support the household. But it's really hard to be grateful. So instead of scolding Cooper, I had a little chat with him the other day.

"Listen-up Cooper. There's plenty of food to go around, you don't need to bring a dish to pass when you come to dinner. If you really want to help, how about learning how to wash dishes instead?"

Now there's something I'd be grateful for.

* Are you ready to munch and dunk cookies? See smiling cookie winner faces and enter-to-win a big bag of my chocolate chip cookies. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May13Cookies

* Congratulations to the winners of Guest Columnist Susanna Calkin's book A Murder at Rosmund's Gate: Mary Rodriguez, Kathy Hayes, Susan Stewart, Sharon Berger and Eleanor Miller.

And the winners of last week's drawing for a book from my bookshelf are: Iris Sachs, Lucille V. Clark, Nancy Lifsey, Laura Rivera and Alma Zyko.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: OURS TO LOVE (A Wicked Lovers Novel) (Fiction) by Shayla Black

Welcome to the Wicked Lovers--dark, dangerously erotic stories about high-octane men and the daring women they risk all for. In Ours to Love, a billionaire playboy and his cynical older brother each vie for an irresistible innocent who completes them. But as fear and desire collide, a killer is watching, intent on destroying everything they hold dear.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on OURS TO LOVE to read more and to email author Shayla Black, you'll get a reply.

KIDSBUZZ: This week, enter to win free children's and teen books and meet Soman Chainani, the author of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL and Mona Ombogo, author of SOULFIRE. To read all about them and learn how to win free books, see www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz

* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE PURPLE CLOUD by M. P. Shiel. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May2013Classics

 

 

Dear Reader Column 05-14-13

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

Bag it, munch it, read it!

Bag it! My favorite over-the-shoulder book bag (actually my favorite for anything bag) is my Penguin Classics tote bag. Enter today's drawing for a bag, just like the one I use. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/May2013Classics

Munch it! My oven is preheating (as I type this), so that means in 8 minutes and 30 seconds, I'll have just-out-of-the-oven homemade chocolate chip cookies, cooling on my counter. I'm baking today, are you ready to munch and dunk cookies? See smiling cookie winner faces and enter-to-win a big bag of my chocolate chip cookies. I send them overnight to your door. Go to:
http://tinyurl.com/May13Cookies

Read it! This month's Penguin Classic, The Purple Cloud by M. P. Shiel. Click to start reading: http://tinyurl.com/May2013Classics

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: THE INNOCENCE GAME by (Thriller) Michael Harvey

After four Michael Kelly novels, The Innocence Game is my first stand-alone. It's about three students at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism who dig into a death penalty case the Chicago PD would prefer remains buried. I teach at Medill and the protagonists' voices come right from the classroom. As for the death penalty cases, they too are taken from real cases I've covered and men I've met on death row.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE INNOCENCE GAME to find out more about the book and the author, Michael Harvey. Send him an email, he'd love to hear from you.

Dear Reader Column 05-13-13

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

"Is the grass greener for an author?"

Today's guest columnist, author Jeanne Kalogridis, shares a glimpse of her 'backyard.' Be sure to enter Jeanne's book giveaway at the end of today's column. Five copies of The Inquisitor's Wife are waiting for lucky readers.

Welcome to the book clubs Jeanne, thanks for visiting today...

Before I was published, I thought authors lived a glamorous life, riding in limos to champagne-drenched book parties or chatting on the phone with their agents as they sunned by their swimming pools, scribbling down their Next Brilliant Idea with their gleaming Mont Blanc pens. The first time I sold a book to a publisher, I figured I was set for life. I'd buy a house in California, one in Manhattan and one in Paris, and join the jet set.

Didn't quite work out that way.

Here's a prime example of the reality of a writer's life: Back in the early 1980s, I was working out in the yard when the phone rang. I ran inside, picked it up and gasped a breathless hello.

"What've you been doing?" my editor asked.

"Shoveling dog poop," I said truthfully. I had two healthy, well-fed Springer Spaniels in my family at the time and it took some doing to keep up with the dog-food-in dog-food-out cycle.

He laughed. "Well," he said, "your book is on this week's New York Times Bestseller list. So, what are you going to do now to celebrate?"

I thought a moment. "Finish shoveling dog poop."

That really was the extent of my celebrating. I was pleased, of course; it meant some extra income for a while, but it didn't mean that I was set for life, with nary a financial care down the road. I got a congratulatory call the next day from my agent, and that was that.

My career began in 1981, and I've had the great luck to be able to make my living as a writer ever since. But I'd be lying if I said that I'd spent a lot of time in limos or ever managed to swing that house in Paris. Most of it's been spent staring at a computer screen wearing a bathrobe and white noise headphones, a la Kathleen Turner in ROMANCING THE STONE. I've made some money, but I've also suffered like everyone else from the recession. Throughout it all, I've been buying my own groceries, putting dinner on the table and rolling the garbage out to the curb like the rest of the world.

In fact, after three decades and more than thirty books to my credit, I'm still out there in the back yard, shoveling dog poop.

--Jeanne Kalogridis

A native of central Florida, Jeanne lives a boring life with a Labrador somewhere in small-town southern California. She adores languages and earned a B.A. in Russian and an M.A. in linguistics. She's written over thirty novels and enjoys yoga, art quilting, hiking, dog training, and poop scooping. Her new novel is THE INQUISITOR'S WIFE, the story of a young woman caught in the treacherous web of the Spanish Inquisition in 1481 Seville.

Welcome Jeanne to the book club, and enter-to-win one of five copies of her book, The Inquisitor's Wife. Send your  email to: [email protected]

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: JENNIFER AN O'MALLEY LOVE STORY (Fiction) by Dee Henderson

Jennifer's story weaves through all six of the O'Malley series books, and she has become a fan favorite. For readers who want to know how Jennifer and Tom met, to read their love story, this is the book.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on JENNIFER AN O'MALLEY LOVE STORY to read more and to email author Dee Henderson, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 05-10-13

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

I have books, including audio books, that need good homes. Enter today's Book Giveaway. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/DRbookaday

Thanks for taking the time to write. I appreciate it very much.

From my Email Bag:

"I've been a reader of your book club for the last nine years, and your emails are almost always the first emails I get every day, along with the book-club read.

To tell you the truth, my daily 'fix' is reading your column. And yes, since I have a regular nine-to-five office job and two toddlers demanding attention when I'm back home, I often do not get to read your column the same day. But, contrary to your advice, I always save the mail and then open it to read whenever I feel like, when I want to just smile, when I want to feel like a 'normal' woman, when I just want to sit back and catch my breath and also when I'm looking for some comfort and some smiles, peace with self. I live away from all family except my kids and a weekend husband, so your columns see me through life and help me live it better. Thanks for being there! It's so good to read with you."--Richa Bagla

"Suzanne, I've been reading with your book club for many years now and I have to admit that in the beginning, I did feel a little guilty deleting an email. These days...not so much! Sometimes, I just don't have time to read the whole thing. And there are those (very) few books that just don't interest me. I do however, make a point to at least read your personal messages--no matter what. Sometimes I'll have a whole week's worth of your emails sitting in my inbox. 'Don't delete those! Have to see what Suzanne has to say!' I love your words of encouragement, your insight-fulness, and the stories about yourself and your family. I feel like we would be great friends if we lived near each other! Your emails are what I look forward to as I start my day at work. kind of a deep breath before I start plowing through the day!"--Nancy

Congratulations to recent book winners:

The winners of Guest Columnist Suzanne Rindell's book The Other Typist are: Cathy Reed, Nancy Reynolds, Sharon Berger, Mrs. Sue Crumrine and Pat Harmer.

The winners of Guest Columnist Anton DiSclafani's book The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls are: Becky Haase, Sandi Visconty, Bonnie Brown, Marcia Barker and Martha Preecs.

To enter today's Book Giveaway, go to: http://tinyurl.com/DRbookaday

Have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: SEDUCTION: A NOVEL OF SUSPENSE (Thriller) by M.J. Rose

In 1853 Victor Hugo held the first of more than 100 secret seances to reach his daughter--so begins Seduction, an atmospheric tale with a ghost story at its heart.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on SEDUCTION to read more and to email author M.J. Rose, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 05-09-13

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

Suzanne, your story about Home Ec class was funny, and brought back a lot of memories. I am (still) not a good cook, and I believe it all started in 7th grade Home Ec class. Each class had to prepare a meal for a teacher. My assigned dish was cooked, glazed carrots. What I didn't know was that the carrots were supposed to be cooked before the glaze was added...I honestly can't tell you how this story turned out, but I still laugh to myself when I think back. Do you have any stories about your Home Ec sewing class?"--Sharon C.

(Suzanne replies:)

If I recall, I was a real pain in Home Economics class in high school. I wanted to do things my way, but the teacher always had her own agenda. Home Ec class was one of those love/hate relationships. I loved the fact that we got to eat everything we made--especially the cinnamon rolls (I still use the recipe today), but I hated the corduroy jumper I made in sewing class.

My wide-ribbed, dark green, corduroy jumper was cut from the same pattern as everybody else's. So even if I'd actually liked the jumper, when it was finished, no way could I wear it to school. It would have been a fashion disgrace. Think about it--all twenty girls in my Freshman class showing up for school, wearing a rainbow assortment of corduroy jumpers, all cut from the same pattern, on the same day--I don't think so.

Even though I'd never made a corduroy jumper or done any sewing in my life, my way of doing things always seemed to take less time than my teacher's way. And of course I never let a day go by without telling her. I can't remember my teacher's name, but I'm so glad the woman put up with me, because now I sew quilts and I just finished sewing two skirts for myself. And I am also passing on the fun of sewing to my six-year-old grandson, Paul.

Wherever my Home Ec teacher is now, I hope she reads this:

"I couldn't have done it without everything you taught me!"

To see photos some of the baby quilts I made for Paul when he was born, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/quilt4.html

To see one of Paul's sewing projects, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/garden-11-12.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Fun, free books and meet authors. Ask questions, they'll reply and read samples from their books. Visit AuthorBuzz at: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

(Thriller)
DEAD LIONS by Mick Herron

(Thriller)
MURDER AS A FINE ART by David Morrell

(Thriller)
SEDUCTION: A NOVEL OF SUSPENSE by M.J. Rose

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

 

 

Dear Reader Column 05-08-13

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

"Tell me a story."

I ask readers to share a personal story and book club reader, Susan, sent me a 45-year-old "cover-up" story. (I'm omitting her last name in case her old professor or classmates are reading at the book clubs.) I loved her story!

Dear Suzanne,

I was a student in college, majoring in Home Economics and living in the home management house at the time. I was the sous chef for the week, responsible for breads, desserts and salads. The classmate who was chef that week was a nervous type, and easily rattled. I, too, was a nervous type and just as easily rattled, with an overload that quarter, which did nothing to help me with order and efficiency.

After a frenetic load of classes that morning, I began my sous chef tasks for the evening, which included an especially involved "from-scratch" cake. I had mixed all of the ingredients before I realized that I had forgotten to separate the eggs, folding the egg whites into the batter. Too late now.

Quite overcome with an attack of nerves and guilt, I headed off to the store to purchase more ingredients. (A no-no in Home Economics, since your budget should cover all weekly expenses.) So this expense I had to manage on my own. Plus this was the evening the professor was to dine with us! I was pressed for time, so I selected a Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines boxed cake, complete with icing that sounded similar to the one I was expected to make. I can't recall what I did with the (horrors, not-from-scratch) evidence, but I'm sure it was well hidden from the chef and everyone else.

Dinner arrived. The cake looked great, but it had not passed the taste test. Everyone loved it! The professor asked for the recipe, which was a first, and the chef applauded me on a job well done. Only 45 years later am I able to "fess-up" to the cake cover-up.

Love reading with you.--Susan

Thanks so much Susan, and as a thank you I'm sending you a free book.

I'd love to hear your story. "Tell me a Story." Email me at: [email protected]

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Warm regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: SEDUCTION: A NOVEL OF SUSPENSE (Thriller) by M.J. Rose

In 1853 Victor Hugo held the first of more than 100 secret seances to reach his daughter--so begins "Seduction," an atmospheric tale with a ghost story at its heart.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on SEDUCTION to read more and to email author M.J. Rose, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 05-07-13

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily
column at: DearReader.com


AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

I'm very pleased and honored to welcome today's guest columnist, author John Lescroart to the book clubs. The Huffington Post said, "John Lescroart's writing skills are a national treasure." And I agree.

Mr. Lescroart is the author of twenty-four novels, fifteen of which have been New York Times Bestsellers. With sales of over ten million copies, his books have been translated into twenty-two languages in more than seventy-five countries,

John's new book, out this week is The Ophelia Cut. He will be touring for the next three weeks and won't be regularly checking emails, but you can find out more about him at his website: http://www.johnlescroart.com/

Thanks for stopping by the bookclubs, John...

Many thanks to Suzanne for asking me to be a part of her wonderful Dear Reader program.

Her guidelines suggest that we authors write about something interesting that we've done recently, rather than give our own two cents about how and why we write, topics we've pretty much seen our fill of. (See, there's a sentence right off that ends in a preposition, which is a bad thing to end a sentence with. . . with which to end a sentence. . . ? oh, never mind!)

Fortunately, it turns out that I've just concluded one of the most fascinating months of my life. And I almost didn't do it. In fact, at first I fought the idea of going on an African safari tooth and nail.

There was reason behind my intransigence: when I was 24, I was bumming around Europe and the next logical place to go was Africa. Fortunately, at the time, my best friend Al Giannini (still my main legal consultant) was in the Peace Corps in West Africa. So I boarded a boat in Marseilles and made the six-day journey to Dakar (much of it recounted in my novel, Sunburn). After a month in the bush with Al, we returned to the big city and before long I had caught a case of dysentery, which evolved into pneumonia. Then, because I was so sick, I forgot to take my malaria medication, and so I got the trifecta--e. coli, pneumonia, and malaria--all at once!

After losing, and this is not a typo, SIXTY POUNDS in twenty days, I finally got smuggled onto another boat to get me back to Europe where I might have a chance to recover. Because I couldn't walk under my own power, Al and his friends poured gin (or was it Scotch?) on my head and pretended I was drunk so that they would let me aboard.

Needless to say, my memories of the Dark Continent were dark indeed.

And then six months ago, one of my wife Lisa's best friends, Julie, said that she and her husband were giving their identical triplets a 25th birthday present of a safari in Tanzania. And did we want to go with them?

Lisa said, "Of course." I said, "Absolutely not."

But my bride was going whether I went or not. So, finally, I gave in.

It was an incredible trip! We flew from San Francisco and took a three-day layover in Amsterdam to visit my publishers there and get over jet-lag, then met up with Julie's family and boarded the KLM flight to the Kilimanjaro airport. Our guide Amey (pronounced Ah-mee) turned out to be fantastic--fluent in English and knowledgeable about seemingly every bird and animal we encountered. For eight days, the eight of us explored the great Tanzanian national parks-- Arusha, Tarangiri, Ngoronogo, and of course, Serengeti.

We saw dozens of lions (one only a foot from us through our mosquito netting!), hundreds of elephants and giraffes and warthogs and baboons (I loved the baboons!), thousands if not millions of zebras and wildebeests and flamingos, hippos, rhinos, jackals, hyenas, and more and more and more. We actually drove along within the immense herd of the wildebeests and zebras as they ran along in the Great Migration.

My favorite moment was my first glimpse of the Ngorongoro Crater, which gets my vote as the true Garden of Eden. Twenty-three miles across, surrounded by two thousand foot cliffs, it struck me as a much more beautiful and likely spot for human life to begin than the more commonly accepted Olduvia (really, Oldupai) gorge, which was only a few miles away.

What a tremendous experience, and to think I almost didn't go.

If anyone out there is interested in the trip of a lifetime, I highly recommend that you Google "Deeper Africa" and see where the road leads. Happy Safari!--John Lescroart

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: MURDER AS A FINE ART (Thriller) by David Morrell

Perhaps you know that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based Sherlock Holmes on the mysteries of Edgar Allan Poe. But did you know that Poe was indebted to Thomas De Quincey? The notorious Opium-Eater of Victorian England, De Quincey anticipated Freud by fifty years and was an expert in murder. Murder as a Fine Art shows this first great detective investigating mass killings identical to ones that terrorized London forty-three years earlier.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on MURDER AS A FINE ART to find out more about the book and the author, David Morrell. Send him an email, he'd love to hear from you.

Dear Reader Column 05-06-13

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AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

"Tell me a story."

Last week I ask readers to share a personal story. Book Club reader Judy Simmons told me a whopper! A story that will make you wonder, 'How could she do that?' But I could see my mischievous self ending up in the same situation.

Let Judy tell you her story...

I used to be a Home Ec teacher and one of the units was working with yeast. We always started with a loaf of bread, moving to the great finale of pizza with homemade dough. This particular class was towards the end of the day. They made their bread and got it in the oven, but I had the task of taking the freshly baked breads out of the oven after school--four kitchens, four loaves.

On that particular day I had a very sweet student from that class in for detention. She really was a sweetheart, I don't remember what she did wrong, but she was with me, so I recruited her to help. When we pulled the bread out of the oven, you can imagine the wonderful smell x 4, almost unbearable. After much deliberation, we (with great guilt) sliced off a piece to eat, and then another. And then it got to the point well, we might as well eat the whole thing.

'Oh my, what have I done? And I'm supposed to be a role model for these kids.' So the next morning, before the students entered the building, I drove down to the local bakery with bread pan in hand and begged, "Please, please, find a loaf of white bread, unsliced that will fit into this pan." Which they did.

I came back to school, and popped it the loaf of bread in the oven to warm. It looked perfect. I swore my little detention student to secrecy and hoped she'd never tell. The class had a great time eating all four loaves, and the students who made the bakery bread thought theirs was the best looking and tasting.

Forty-five years later, I still feel a small pang of guilt over it, but I also have such warm memories of being a teacher to some wonderful kids.--Judy Simmons

Thanks for the great story, Judy. For some reason, I feel the need to bake a fresh loaf of bread. As a thank-you for sharing your story, I'm sending you a random book from my bookshelf.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: DEAD LIONS (Thriller) by Mick Herron

Jackson Lamb and his crew of Slow Horses--spies who've made a spectacular mess of their careers--return to find their mundane daily tasks interrupted by an echo from the Cold War. Alexander Popov never really existed; he was a bogeyman invented by the KGB. Nevertheless, he seems to have sprung back to life, setting in motion a decades-old conspiracy with a brand-new target: London's newest, tallest skyscraper....

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on DEAD LIONS to read more and to email author Mick Herron, you'll get a reply.