Items for Sale + Reading Update

I have two extra issues of Schoolgirls' Weekly that I placed on eBay yesterday.  I used an auction for each, just in case more than one person is interested.  You can find them in this category of my eBay store.

I also listed some new books on eBay yesterday in order to avoid losing out on most of my remaining January free listings.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

I haven't listed any new books on Bonanza, but I have most of a set of Rick Brant books available in addition to many other nice books different from what I have listed on eBay.

Jennifer's Series Books on Bonanza

I finished reading one of the Brains Benton books by Charles Morgan last night.  The book was The Case of the Lost Loot.  As with most self-published books, it does have some errors in the text, but the story is so excellent that I didn't mind at all.  There are probably a few mistakes per chapter.  There are not a huge number of mistakes, but they always stand out when I read books.  The book is outstanding and is a worthy addition to the Brains Benton series.

When I finished the book, I reflected that I had just read a story that is better than anything Simon and Schuster has published for Nancy Drew ever since they took over the publication of Nancy Drew.  Yes, I'm saying that this Brains Benton book is better than all of the Nancy Drew Digest, Girl Detective, and Diaries books.  It's also better than some of the original 56 books as well.

The reason I compared the book to Nancy Drew is because I read the eighth Nancy Drew Diaries book, The Magician's Secret, a few days ago.  It's sad how far Nancy Drew has fallen.  The new Nancy Drew books lack that spark that makes a book special.  The Case of the Lost Loot has that spark.  There were several scenes during The Case of the Lost Loot when I was utterly delighted by a passage.

Many of the best books available today are being published by independent authors.  The publishing companies have their own agendas, and people who are able to write creatively and not have to answer to an editor are able to create wonderful books. 

The Brains Benton books by Charles Morgan are available on Lulu.com.

I read 21 books in January, so I'm on track to read almost as many books as I did last year.  I am going to read three more books by Charles Morgan this week.  After that, I will choose from the books seen in the following photo.

Most of the books were purchased with the intent to try them to see whether I should pursue additional books by those authors.  The last three on the right were purchased because they are by the authors of Rick Brant and Ken Holt, and I definitely plan to read them.

I also want to read the fourth book in Neal Shusterman's Unwind Dystology, but I'm not sure whether I will do that this month or wait awhile.

Cherry Ames and Biff Brewster are still on my list of series that I want to read soon.  I also want to read the Hardy Boys books again, but I don't think I will choose those in the next few months.

I know that some of you want me to review certain series or books, and I'm sure some of you want me to get back to girls' series.  I have been asked several times in the last year if I will review the Nancy Drew Files.  That's way too big of a commitment right now, and I don't have the motivation for it.  I have read them before, and I found the set difficult to get through because of too much repetition.  I'm going to have to be finished with absolutely all other books I want to read in the near future before I read those again.  I'd like to review them someday, but I don't have the stamina for them at this time.

I have to want to read a book.  If I'm not in the mood, it's not going to happen.  I'm not sure how many of the books in the above photo that I will try this month, because to be honest, I'm not sure I'm in the mood for some of them.  Hopefully, I will have the motivation to try several of them.