Amy Hill Hearth

You know that American television is far-reaching when you turn on the TV in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, as I did a few years ago, and to your amazement, the first show you come across is "I Dream of Jeannie" broadcast from a Jordanian television station. Talk about disorienting! My husband and I were unpacking our suitcases and admiring the view of the Dome of the Rock from our room when I decided to check the news. I was looking for CNN or the BBC but of all things, there was "Jeannie" in her circa-1960s Americanized belly-dancer outfit being chased around a room by Larry Hagman playing a frantic astronaut. Don't get me wrong - I loved the show when I was a kid, and I was sorry to hear the news that Larry Hagman has passed away. While everyone else seems to remember him as J.R. on "Dallas," I prefer his role on "I Dream of Jeannie," although I have to wonder what people around the world must think about Americans as depicted in either show. Read More 

My friend Alison has known me since we were both six years old. She now lives in Cary, North Carolina, but in the 1960s, when we were in grammar school, we lived near each other in a section of Columbia, South Carolina known as Forrest Lake. Alison and I spent much of our time on or around the water - in a rowboat (with my dog, Grinch, as our companion) or knee-deep on the shoreline catching minnows. And, just like the narrator of my novel, MISS DREAMSVILLE, we rescued turtles that crossed the road over a causeway adjacent to my house. Some of them were snapping turtles and if we'd had a lick of sense we would have realized they were dangerous - as were the cars that whizzed right past us. No wonder we kept this little hobby a secret from our mothers. Then, after a teacher read aloud from THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, I was obsessed with the idea of building a raft. (It sank.) Our lake was really just a large pond, but in our eyes it could have been the Mississippi River in all its glory.  Read More 

Is there an indy bookstore in your area that you love? If so, send me an e on my website, www.amyhillhearth.com, and I will mention it in a future post - or feel free to comment below!

Here are a few I love -

Beauty  Read More 

I've received a dozen or more email from fans in the last few days with a common thread: Superstorm Sandy, by necessity, had provided them with an opportunity to read. With no power and nowhere to go, they read my novel by daylight, by candlelight, or, in at least one case, by flashlight. Then  Read More