Good Friends, Good Books, and a Sleepy Conscience...

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“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience:
this is the ideal life.” ~Mark Twain

Source: Chris O'Leary Illustration

Many Saucy Readers and Wenches in the United States are preparing to celebrate the annual Thanksgiving holiday. Traditionally, we take time away from our jobs and busy schedules to gather with family and friends, prepare and consume large quantities of delicious foods in appreciation of a bountiful harvest, and contemplate the many things for which we are grateful.

Numerous Americans seem to be extremely thankful for football games, which they spend the entire weekend watching. Or shopping, which they sometimes begin as early as 12:01 A.M. on the day after Thanksgiving. Predictably, no matter what country they live in, the Wenches are thankful for the endless supply of books we have to choose from.

As we look back over the past year, we’re kind of amazed at the volume and variety of books we have discovered, dissected, drooled over, and obsessively discussed together. And for the fabulous friendships that have formed from our fretting and fangirling.

So we asked each Wench to share with us the book or series she is most thankful for. It probably comes as no surprise that some Wenches refused to be limited to a single selection. But if we love so many books so much that we can’t choose just one favorite, then that is a problem we are thankful to have!

Keep reading to see the books that topped our lists and share your favorites with us!



Amanda

There are many books that have set me on the path where I am today. I wish I could list them all, but since I have to name only one book or series that I am thankful for, I will choose the series that has impacted me the most in 2012. I am most thankful this year for the Cut & Run series by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban. I cracked open my first Ty & Zane book six months ago. Since then, not one day has gone by that I have not thought about those books. It’s fun, a little drama, lots of laughs, and plenty of smexy lovin’ all in one place. Are the answers to world peace within these pages? No. Are the answers to personal peace within these pages? Absolutely. They bring me such joy, and for that, I am thankful. 


Angela
The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. This was the book that started me on my love of fantasy, and later paranormal, novels. The creation of an imaginary world really struck a chord with me, and I often find it hard to read a book that is based in the here and now. 

Anne
I am thankful for The Hobbit by Tolkien as well. My dad read that to me as a very small child, and that is what started me on my love of reading. Without that book, I might not have grown to love reading as I do, which means, I wouldn’t have met all of these amazing Wenches.




Barb
I have so many books to be thankful for this year, but I am going to go with the Downside Ghosts series by Stacia Kane. This dark, gritty, disturbing, yet beautiful series forced me to look at the world differently while allowing me to truly appreciate the beauty within the hideousness. I know that this series has forever changed what I value in a book, in a series, and I am so thankful. 





Donna
I’m going with the Harry Potter series. I picked up The Chamber of Secrets in a children’s toy store back in 1998. I had a seven-year-old son who had zero interest in reading, and I was pulling my hair out. I saw this book on a table near the cash register and thought I’d give it a try. I hadn’t even heard of it before then. We read to him every night at bedtime, and it wasn’t long before he was the one reading to us. Harry Potter has made a huge, positive impact on both of my children, and for that I am so thankful.


Katherine
I’m most grateful for the Harry Potter series because my kids are finally getting to an age where they can enjoy a series that I love as well. Watching them discover a new world as I read to them brings me such joy, and I’m thankful for the books, but most of all for the experience! 

Jaymie
The Fever series! It’s the only book series I continue to think about and reread, and I'm happy to have discovered it, thanks to some Wenches.


Zee
Right now, I am thankful for the Fever series and Karen Marie Moning. She really opened my mind to the UF/PNR world, and I KNOW I will always be into the Fever world. And now I have Dani’s story to look forward to! This series also brought me closer to a few of the AMAZING Saucy Fever Wenches.

Merit
I am thankful for the Twilight series. Fluffy and silly as it is, it led me to the Southern Vampire Mysteries (Sookie Stackhouse Novels), and to this group of wonderful friends I have the honor to know. I am thankful for Diana Gabaldon’s amazing Outlander series. I would say it extended my horizons, both mentally and emotionally. Honorary thanks to the Fever series — such a joy! 

Olga
I know you will laugh at me but I have to thank Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. It’s fluffy and silly and YA, but Twilight re-awakened my desire to read. Only after Twilight have I become a reading machine. I also love the Fever series and Karen Marie Moning; this woman spoiled me rotten with her amazing writing. There will be no other book series as good as Fever. Not in this lifetime.

Kathi
I am thankful for the Southern Vampire Mysteries that brought us together and the many books we have discovered together since, most notably the Fever and Outlander series. Shadowfever is the one book I am most thankful for. Outlander is the series I am most thankful for. It brightens my long, gray winter days with wit and wisdom. It lets me share the remarkable journey of two amazing characters and some colorful sidekicks who truly feel like members of my own family. I would miss them terribly if they were no longer part of my life. Outlander also serves as an inspiration and practical how-to guide for creating and nurturing a good marriage, with passion, patience, laughter, kindness, respect, open and honest communication, tenderness, spontaneity, fierceness, dare I say sauciness, and a love that never wavers throughout decades of turmoil and adventure. 


Beta
I’m thankful for the Southern Vampire Mysteries, because through them I met some amazing women who introduced me to other great books and series I absolutely love, like the Fever series, which brought me even closer to the awesome Wenches in here. It really is an awesomesauce book series, in a league of its own. I can’t wait until my oldest daughter is old enough to read it and tell me what she thinks.

Shau
I guess I’m most thankful for the Southern Vampire Mysteries series. I got to meet all of the Wenches because of it!

Veronica
I am thankful for the Southern Vampire Mysteries series because it introduced me to the Sookieverse Blog, where I met a bunch of wonderful ladies who introduced me Barrons and Bones and Cat and Mac and Dani and Ty and Zane and Vishous and Zsadist and... and... and who brought me along on a journey that includes the Saucy Wenches Book Club.


There’s our list, Saucy Readers! Do you have a book or series, new or old, that you’re thankful for this week?

Comments

  1. KristaNovember 21, 2012 at 2:00 PM

    My sentimental picks: The Boxcar Children series because they inspired my love for reading. The Night World series because they inspired my obsession for all things paranormal.

    I am thankful for my 3 favorite series: The Hallows, the Fever series, and the Downside Ghosts series.
    I am also extremely thankful to the blogging community for introducing me to the Fever and Downside Ghosts series.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathi Alexandra Malcontent MacKenzie FraserNovember 21, 2012 at 3:03 PM

      Yes, I remember The Boxcar Children!!! My whole class read those books in the third grade. Loved them!

      I feel like I'm really missing out by not having read Downside Ghosts yet. It's on my schedule for after the holidays, when I have time to really buckle down and concentrate without interruptions. And I still have to check out The Hallows. So many books to look forward to!

      Delete
  2. UnknownNovember 21, 2012 at 2:20 PM

    Anne, I'm so happy that we love the same book :). Wonderful selection of series / books here and definitely a tough one to pick one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LisaNovember 21, 2012 at 8:01 PM

    Amanda... :) I wasn't surprised at all to see that you chose the Cut & Run series.

    And I completely agree with you. I'm thankful for many books and book series for lots of different reasons, but Cut & Run and the Black Dagger Brotherhood are definitely at the top of my list this year. These books have opened up an entire new world of literature for me that I wouldn't have tried before them and now can't imagine not reading.

    Ty & Zane have absolutely become my happy place. :)

    ReplyDelete

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