Kipper in Oklahoma says that reading is hot.



Behind the cut, he has more photographic proof.

( click here for photos )

After all that work, Kipper gets a well-deserved nap to dream of mystery, romance, and more books.


Thanks to Ron, 'Nathan, FARB, Rhonsey, and Tim for doing photos.

A perfect evening:



( click for more photos )

I was alerted by Shawn over at Everything and Nothing to this article in the New York Times telling us there's been a reverse in a twenty-five-year decline in the number of people reading for pleasure. Since the publishing industry has been as hard-hit as any other recently--and no one's offering writers a bailout, the bastards--it's always good to hear anything encouraging.

I love readers, and related to that...

Linda over at Raven's Range gave me permission to reprint a photo of her enjoying a book during a sunny break from a blast of snowy weather they had recently.

Linda's promised to send me a photo of herself reading A Coventry Wedding as soon as she purchases a copy. I am SO LOVING the e-mail I'm getting. I've hit a bit of a writing slump. Not writer's block, just writer's dormancy. So getting positive feedback on the new novel is sort of a kick in the PJ bottoms. I felt the same upon reading a thoughtful review from Lawrence Schimel in the Lambda Book Report for When You Don't See Me.

Did I mention that I love readers?

I've posted before on here, or maybe on MGH's LJ, about the first book I remember reading, which was aptly titled Baby's First Book. The cover illustration gave me my first glimmer of the concept of eternity. It's a book the termites ate, and my mother later found a used copy to replace it. Little Golden Books, bless them, still publishes it, and I scored a copy for Miss Amelia because the cover baby reminds me so much of her:



And speaking of children reading, my sister wrote a book to give to her granddaughter Morgan at Christmas. Morgan's aunt (Debby's daughter Sarah) illustrated it. I don't have a copy of the illustrated version, but I do have the story itself on my computer now, and I'm looking forward to reading it. You never know with kids if they'll understand how special something like that is, but when Debby turned away from Morgan after giving her the book, Morgan suddenly hugged it tightly to her chest and closed her eyes. I didn't get a shot of that, unfortunately, but I did get Morgan in the coolest jeans ever.



There'll be more beautiful/cool children photos for a while, because I'm so crazy about them. And remember, if you have a photo of yourself reading my books, or ANY books, I'll be delighted to post them on here as part of the Reading is Hot campaign. Even if the book you're reading is one by Famous Author Rob Byrnes, although we're still not sure who he paid off to steal our Lammy back in Aught Seven.

I can't tell you how many times I've rolled my eyes when people share "What I'm Reading" on their blogs. And this story from BBC News explains why.

Nearly half of all men and one-third of women have lied about what they have read to try to impress friends or potential partners, a survey suggests.

Men were most likely to do this to appear intellectual or romantic, found the poll of 1,500 people by Populus for the National Year of Reading campaign.

The men polled said they would be most impressed by women who read news websites, Shakespeare or song lyrics.

Women said men should have read Nelson Mandela's biography or Shakespeare.

Among the 1,500 who took part in the research were 864 teenagers.

About four in 10 of the 1,500 said they had lied about what they had read to impress friends or potential partners - 46% of men and 33% of women.

Among teenagers, the figure rose to 74%, with most saying they would pretend to have read social networking pages or song lyrics.

One in five adults said they would read their chosen material whilst waiting for their date to arrive in the hope of making a good first impression.

Honor Wilson-Fletcher, director of the National Year of Reading campaign, said: "Reading is a brilliant tool for self-expression.

"I love the fact that every generation seems to know that it can help us all increase our potential appeal in the search for love and romance.

"For all the talk of our superficial obsession with beauty, it looks like underneath it all we know that brains contribute to sex appeal too."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/7776046.stm
Published: 2008/12/11 02:47:26 GMT

Y'all do remember the Reading is Hot! campaign, right? And that it's always a good time to send a photo?

Our friend Jandy* is proof that reading is not only hot, but funny and pretty freaking adorable.

( that wacky Jandy )

*Jandy, whose name I stole for the main character of my next Coventry book because she said I could. Dawni's latest post reminded me that I just passed my third anniversary on LJ (Happy anniversary to me!) on December 13. Jandy was one of my first LJ friends!

Because the painters are here, I've lost my kitchen again. Everything's taped over with paper and plastic, and we're back to using the bathroom sink to clean dog bowls and such. We're all shut off in one half of the house. I was writing on my laptop when I decided to check on the whereabouts of my quiet family.

( they seem to be handling exile pretty well )

...that Reading is HOT! Here's Johnny (I've been dying to say that) with Biscuits and Cleo, reading the new Robert Rodi novel, When You Were Me.

It's been five years since Robert Rodi's last novel, Bitch Goddess. His other novels are Fag Hag, Closet Case, What They Did to Princess Paragon, Drag Queen, and Kept Boy. You can check out this link to learn more about Robert Rodi and his work.

Thank you, venusunfolding for permission to use the photo. Keep 'em coming, folks!

'Nathan recently ordered Alyson's BEST GAY LOVE STORIES 2005 because he wanted to read David Puterbaugh's story "Me Too." He said he's really enjoying the entire collection though. In fact...
( looks posed, but it's not )
Thanks, y'all, for this photo.

Gary reading Someone Like You.


Gary deeply into New Orleans Noir.


Greg looking a little stern about SOMEONE LIKE YOU. I'm hoping that doesn't mean he found a mistake.

Speaking of mistakes, Tim and I are REALLY pleased with the galleys from MOONLIGHT AND ROSES because of a keen-eyed copy editor. However, as we've been sitting side by side looking everything over, we keep finding ourselves stopping to read aloud great lines from some VERY good writers. I so admire the authors in this collection.

Remember, if you send me photos of you reading ANY GLBT book--it'll go right here on my LiveJournal. Thanks!

Mary Kay at D.C.'s Lambda Rising Bookstore has thwarted my fiendish plan to one-up Famous Author Rob Byrnes. I know that she has met and likes (?!?!) FARB, so I was trying to get a photo of her for MY LiveJournal before he could get one for HIS blog.
( read more here )