I didn't even know she had a new one out...

M.C. Beaton's new Agatha Raisin story, There Goes the Bride (number 20!), is sitting on my desk as I type. As soon as I'm finished posting, I'll start reading! And a new Hamish MacBeth, Death of a Valentine, is coming in January! I hope these books keep coming for years.

Ianto Jones lives. :p

Well, at least he lives on in the latest Torchwood novels. I picked up three today- The House that Jack Built; Bay of the Dead; and Into the Silence. And there are three new ones coming soon! My cup runneth over. I'm going to be reading a lot this weekend!

A quick re-read.

Last week I saw the musical Wicked on Broadway. I figured it would be smart to read the novel by Gregory Maguire again, just to see all the differences. I loved the musical, and the book is just plain awesome. I'm going to read its sequel, Son of a Witch, next, and then his other books.

Now I need a new series to read...

I've just about finished Cross Bones, the last of the Kathy Reichs novels on my to-read list. I'm also listening to all of the books on tape. I'm trying to decide what mystery/crime author I should check out next!

21 books read. It's October. I have really been a slacker in the reading department this year. :(

Kathy Reichs is awesome!

I've read several of her books now- Deja Dead, Deadly Décisions, Fatal Voyage, Grave Secrets, Bare Bones, Bones to Ashes, and I'm just about finished with her latest, 206 Bones. Each book is about forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Tempe" Brennan and the cases she helps solve. Some are absolutely gruesome, dealing with plane crashes, masacres, and serial killers. The detail is amazingly real (because of Reichs herself is a forensic anthropolgist and academic). And there are plenty of interesting supporting characters.

So far I think 206 Bones and Fatal Voyage are my favorites.

The television show Bones is so different. Only the character's name and occupation are the same. The books are so much better, but the show is a lot of fun. Book Tempe is far more interesting than television's "Bones". 

Once I finish 206 Bones, my total will be 21 books read (not counting several cookbooks, which I will probably add to the list). 

Still behind on my reading.

I just picked up Cheri and The Last of Cheri by Collette. I'm looking forward to reading them.

I've recently gotten hooked on the T.V. series Bones, which is (very loosely) based on the crime novels by Kathy Reichs. I enjoy the series, but I've heard the books are way better. So I'm going to start reading them. This will at least bring me a little closer to my goal of 50 books this year!

QFT.

I'm sorry, but the Twilight books are drivel. I couldn't get through the first one.

I've spent most of this summer rather ill, so my reading has suffered. I have finally finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...and I laughed through every freaking page. Looking forward to Sense and Sensibilty and Sea Monsters!

Three more.

I finished all three of the Torchwood novels this week. Very entertaining! So I'm up to 13 books...and it's already June. Pathetic! I'll read more this month.

Summer reading- started.

I've started with the three Torchwood novels I haven't read yet. I'm almost done with Pack Animals, which is good, gory fun and a lot like an episode of the show! Next up: Skypoint and Almost Perfect.

The more serious reading will start in June- I still have Cranford, A Passage to India, and Villette in my to-read pile.

I still can't believe I've neglected my reading so badly this year.

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.

Re-Rebecca.

:p

A live journal meme going around right now has people grabbing the closest book and posting a line from a specific page. The closest book to my computer happened to be Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. And it also happens to be my favorite. I think I'm going to re-read it today for the umpteenth time. "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..."

So that will be book #2 for 2009. No rule that says re-reading books doesn't count!

First book for 2009!

I read Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë in one day. I liked it. It was a simple story without any of the wild drama the other Brontë sisters wrote. No obsessive love like Wuthering Heights, and no crazy wife locked in the attic like Jane Eyre. It's a nice tale about a governess and her life with two different families- one with horrid children, the other with somewhat shallow daughters. She finds love with a vicar. Happy ending for Agnes, no strings attatched! Agnes is almost too good to be real, but she's smart and tough, even when things are terrible.

One book down, 59 to go!