13, 14, 15!

Two non fiction books and the funniest novel I've read in ages!


Fantasy Cross Stitch by Lesley Teare- she's one of my favorite cross stitch designers, so I was looking forward to this book. It's going to be a long time before I can do anything from it, but I just loved going through it. I love her fairy designs more than anything! Her dragons are wonderful, too.

The Sweet Spot is filled with Asian-inspired desserts that I can't wait to try. Some of them are truly Asian in origin (such as red bean paste filled sesame balls), and others have Asian ingredients in Western desserts- for example, a layer cake made with green tea icing. The book has very detailed recipes and photos of the finished desserts.

Finally, I finished reading You Suck in one day! It was even funnier than The Stupidest Angel...and that one had me falling off of my seat laughing. You Suck made me laugh even harder. It's pretty hard not to be amused by a book about vampires in love... especially when the opening line is "You bitch, you killed me! You suck!" It's downhill from there, and it's fun.

Back to more serious reading...Wings of the Dove, and I also have Howards End on audio.

The books, they keep coming...

I put Mansfield Park aside again. I'll get to it next month. I just checked out You Suck by Christopher Moore. I loved his Stupidest Angel, so this should be good. I need something funny for a change. Wings of the Dove is so depressing.

More reading for me...

I just joined a reading group at live journal- mandc_read. They're going through the entire Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series. I missed Master and Commander, but they've just started Post Captain, so I'll be reading the first chapter tonight. I've been wanting to re-read the series for a while, so this is as good a time as any! I loved those books, and the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is one of my all-time favorites now.

I won't be neglecting the rest of my reading list! I still have Mansfield Park and The Wings of the Dove to read this month.

I watched the new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility on PBS over the last two Sundays. I may just have to re-read that one, too! I skipped the new version of A Room with a View, though. I heard some bad things about it...S&S was wonderful, though.

Very behind in my reading...

I've started The Wings of the Dove, but haven't gotten very far yet. I hope I'll have time to read in the next few weeks.

Still waiting for the three new Torchwood novels- my local store doesn't have them.

I count craft/cookbooks in my reading lists, so I have read two books recently- a new cross stitch book, and a book about Asian-inspired desserts. I'll write them up later.

Book number 12!

This was a bit of fun reading: Read it and Eat by Sarah Gardner. It's full of fun suggestions for book club discussions and meals to go with them. It's by month, with themes for each month (Christmas, Banned Books, June Brides, etc.) and there are four bonus sections. Every month has four books, with a brief summary, a discussion guide, and menus to go with it. Gardner is very clever, even downright funny, with some of her menus: For example, a discussion of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle features an all-vegetarian menu! For Jane Eyre, there are tea sandwiches: The Rochester (slightly toasted), The Bertha (a bit nutty), and The Jane (plain, strong, and very good). This is a terrific guide for those planning future book club meetings.

Update March 18...

Two more books, bringing my total to eleven:

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Classic romance with a good deal of humor. Forster really knew how to expose the absurdities of class differences. I love this novel! I read it through knowing how it would end, and loving every bit of it.

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

This falls under the love or hate category- I happened to love it. It's a strange story about a winged circus performer and the American journalist who follows her to get her story. "Is she fact or is she fiction?" The story is in three parts- London, St. Petersburg, and Siberia. It is a vivid portrait of the sideshow lives at the turn of the 19th/20th century. It's part fairy tale, part freak show. And it's an enjoyable ride. I need to find some of Carter's other works. It's a shame she died so young (back in 1992).

Up next, Mansfield Park (finally). And three new Torchwood novels will be out before the end of the month!

Reading log update...

I finished Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict in two nights. It was an amusing story about a 21st century woman who wakes up in the body of an Austen-era woman. I loved the idea, and it worked really well.

Next, I finished the last of the Torchwood novels that I had- Another Life. It was better than Border Princes, not as good as Slow Decay. It was the first novel published, so the characters weren't quite in tune with how they are on television.

My dad signed me up for a church Lenten study, and we had to read The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I'm really not into books like these- I think they are designed for people who don't go to church regularly. It's not so bad, it's just stuff I've heard before, because I've been a churchgoer my entire life.

I'm finally reading Nights at the Circus. I'm really enjoying it so far. It's weird and wonderful.

I had to take The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen back to the library before I could finish it. I'll check it out later...much later, because I have so much else to read. Next up, A Room With A View, and Mansfield Park at last. I've put it off for too long! I have both on audio cassette.

So my total for the year so far is nine books. I'm pretty sure I'll make my goal. I've picked out a few books I want to re-read this year- Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky by Patrick Hamilton, a lost classic from the 1930's- being re-published in the U.S. this year (I have the U.K. edition); and Jane Austen's Emma. Nothing wrong with going back to a favorite every now and then!