I confess. I started on this Spring’s Read-a-Thon early. I couldn’t help myself.

After finding some great books at the library to download, I just couldn’t let my e-Reader sit there all full of words with no one to read them.

I started with The Iron Thorn and flew through the book in two days. For those of you who love steampunk, horror, and fantastical scenarios, this is the book for you. It is so refreshing and unique for its genre that it actually cannot be, nor should be, pigeon-holed into just one. There were some parts I felt could pull a reader off track a bit, but the author was able to regain my attention with some compelling storytelling and character development. I look forward to reading the second in the series.

I’ve switched to some physical books I have, but I hope to get to Moon Over Manifest at some point during the Read-a-Thon.

For now though, since I can never get enough of the ‘punk’, my current read is the first in the Burton & Swinburne series called, The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack. Actually, I accidentally started reading the second book, The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, but realized that I’d rather begin at the beginning. It was hard. After only a couple of chapters I was hooked! Both books do a 0 – 60 in no time and as I read I found myself completely engrossed. I have a feeling by the end of this event I’ll have both books finished and will be looking to get a hold of the third as soon as I can.

I’m not sure if I will have enough time or energy for another before this all ends, but my hope is to at least start a non-fiction book as I’m woefully behind in my challenge to read five this year. So far I’m still torn between The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived and Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found.

Either way, I do intend on starting one of them.

It’s been a wonderful day of reading, snacking, watching/listening to the hockey playoffs and planning a BBQ for dinner. Can’t get any better than this. Don’t you think?

If you are participating, I hope your reading is going as well as mine!

Blood and Fire by Carrie Clevenger & Derine Dorman
Kindle eBook, 205KB
Dark Continents Publishing (January 1, 2012)
ASIN: B006SD3F2S

FTC Disclosure:
I am not receiving any kind of compensation for this announcement.

Think you can? Handle the heat?

If so, then this weekend head on over to Amazon and check out Blood and Fire. Why? Besides being a kick-ass read, Blood and Fire will be free February 10, 11, and 12.

Bassist and all-round slacker Xan Marcelles spends his nights at a remote tavern in Pinecliffe, Colorado. But there’s something else, he’s also a vampire, and although he reckons he has a handle on this secret, he’s not prepared for the day when people he thinks are the FBI drug him and haul him away.

Ashton Kennedy isn’t human anymore and, as a member of a race of beings known simply as Inkarna, exists through the aeons by stealing bodies. At first his mission seems simple enough: break into the stronghold of a rival Inkarna House and liberate an artifact. He doesn’t bank on discovering a vampire, bound and tucked away neatly in a sarcophagus.

The two unlikely allies are thrown together in a house of mysteries, and have to battle overwhelming odds against an implacable enemy. The question is, can they overcome their differences long enough to make it out alive, or undead?

There are a lot of great reviews out there, and I suggest looking the ones over at Goodreads.

You can read more about Xan at his website Crooked Fang. He also has a Facebook Page. If you want to know more about Carrie…and you should…she can be found at Mindspeak and The Reading Room.

Nerine also deserves a look-see, and you can find her at her website, on Facebook, and at Lyrical Press.

But there are also those who prefer to share with a group, seeking interaction to broaden their reading experience.

Book Clubs and Reading Groups are excellent ways for readers to connect and share their passion for the written word, be it reading fiction or non-fiction.

If I were going to recommend some books for a group read, it’d be the following:

Literary Fiction:

• The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
  Published 1952, Pulitzer Winner, Human struggle/Allegorical
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  Published 1960, Pulitzer Winner, Coming of Age/Morality/Prejudice
• Death Comes For The Archbishop by Willa Cather
  Published 1927, 100 Best English-language Novel of the 20th Century, Southwestern Culture/Religion
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  Published 1958, Man Booker International Prize, Traditionalism/Change/Colonialism
  – alternate choice could be Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Contemporary Fiction:

• The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein
  Published 2008, N.Y. Times Bestseller, Family/Love/Philosophy
• Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
  Published 2010, Winner 2010 Indie Next, Prejudice both Social and Racial/Romance
• Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
  Published 2011, N.Y. Times Best Book of the Year, Coming of Age/Family Relationships

Historical Fiction:

• Snow Flower and The Secret Fan by Lisa See
  Published 2005, N.Y. Public Library Books for the Teen Age, Female Friendship/Chinese Culture
• Suite Française by Irene Némirovsky
  Published 2004, N.Y. Public Library Books for the Teen Age, Character Under Stress/Humanity
• The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
  Published 2009, Alex Award-YALSA, Mystery/Dickensian-like story

Science Fiction/Fantasy:

• Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
  Published 1959, One of the First (and still best) Post-Apocalyptic Novels
• The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd
  Published 2009, New York Times Notable book, Ethics
  – alternate selection, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
  Published 2011, SCIBA Award for Fiction, Thriller/Magic/Romance
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  Published 1985, Both the Arthur C. Clarke & Nebula Awards, Dystopian Society/Social Criticism

Non-Fiction:

• Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
  Published 2009, N.Y. Times Notable book, Prejudice/Politics/Current Events
• Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
  Published 2007, 10 Best Books of 2001-N.Y. Times, Depression Era Memoir
• Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther
  Published 1949, Bestselling Memoir, Family Struggle/Courage/Inspirational

If you are part of a club or group, how do you choose what to read? If you’ve already made up a list for this year, share a link in the comments. Perhaps it will help others decide if they haven’t already.