New Hamish Macbeth!

I read Death of a Witch, the newest M.C. Beaton novel, over the weekend. It was pretty good. The Hamish stories do get a bit repetitive after a while. This one has Hamish investigating the death of a woman who had tricked the men of Lochdubh into buying aphrodisiacs that didn't work. The killer is a bit of surprise, and the reasons for the killings is quite sad, and proves that Hamish doesn't know what really goes on behind the doors of his beloved village. The usual Hamish-is-unlucky-in-love subplot appears, too, with his two former loves and a possible new one clashing. That gets boring after a while. It would be nice if Hamish actually picks one and settles down! But then, I guess he wouldn't be Hamish.

So now I've read both new Beaton novels. It will be a long time before a new Hamish or Agatha Raisin story comes out.

That's book number ten. I really need to get back to reading...

R.I.P., J. G. Ballard.

The author of Empire of the Sun, Crash, and other novels died yesterday at 78.

Crash was kind of icky (I didn't even bother with the movie version), but Empire was a classic. I need to read it again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._G._Ballard




I finished The Reader (better than the movie), and I'll read either Cranford or A Passage to India next. I've really neglected the books so far this year. :(

Book hunt.

I just picked up The Reader today at Borders. I liked the movie, so I thought I should read the book!

I was also looking for books by Colette (Cheri and the Last of Cheri) and Maguerite Duras (The Lover and Hiroshima Mon Amour), but couldn't find any. I'll have to get them from amazon.com.

A little bit of Harry Potter lore...

I just read The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling. This is a collection of fairy tales from the wizarding world of Harry Potter. They are moral tales similar to "Muggle" fairy tales. One, The Tale of the Three Brothers, is a part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This collection has notes "written by" Professor Dumbledore. A very cute and easy read, and a nice addition to the Harry Potter series.

So that was book number eight for 2009. *lol* I really need to get reading!

Getting more read this month!

So far, I've read A Spoonful of Poison, the latest Agatha Raisin novel by M.C. Beaton. It was okay, not one of her best. I'm still on the waiting list for Death of a Witch, the newest Hamish story!

Yesterday I finished Fifty Acres and a Poodle, by Jeanne Marie Laskas. She used to have a column in the Washington Post that I loved called Significant Others. I was disappointed when she quit! This book is about Laskas buying the farm she dreamed of having as a child. It's funny and heartwarming. I plan on checking out her other books soon.

I have started reading two books for this week: Death from the Skies! by Philip Plait, and Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell. Death is a scary but occasionally humorous look at the ways our planet is doomed. No getting around it, the universe is a scary place, and it will all end someday...kind of reminds us how unique and, um...rather insignificant we are! Take...is humorist Vowell's look at American life. She's a fabulous storyteller, and I will definitely look for her other books (this is an early one). I should finish these two books this week, bringing me to a grand total of...seven books for 2009. Ugh. I need to get back into my reading!

Live Journal's question for today:

You're packing your bag for that other desert island—the one with no electricity—what 5 books do you take with you?

Off the top of my head:

Rebecca
by Daphne Du Maurier
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Complete Works of William Shakespeare (hopefully an edition with study guides/glossaries!)

Four favorites, plus one that would take a long time to get through. Five books is not enough. 100 books isn't enough!

I haven't been reading much of anything except cooking and craft books. Hopefully, I'll find time to read this month!

2 books read this month.

Numbers two and three. I finished Brideshead Revisited (though I'm still listening to the audiobook). I liked it, but I liked the first part of the book (the Oxford days) better than the second.


Next was Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. It was a funny memoir by the Star Wars actress, based on her one-woman show. She glibly but frankly describes her drug abuse, relationships, and her bi-polar disorder. It's hilarious but a little bit too short. The best part of the book is the cover art:



I never did re-read Rebecca, but I will.

I picked up one of the last three Torchwood novels: Skypoint. I'll read it this weekend, and pick up the other two next week.