A Year on Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball

A nice quiet novel about three women friends in their 50s who decide it's time for a change, sell their houses and buy a "fixer upper" in the Shenandoah Valley. Very enjoyable.

Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Dear Tara, Heather, Robert, David, and everyone else who has told me to read Terry Pratchett, You were right. I am really enjoying Wee Free Men. I think I did try to read it before but I must not have been in the right mood. It reminds me of so much funny British fantasy literature that I have enjoyed - Expecting Someone Taller by Tom Holt, and of course Good Omens by Gaiman & Pratchett.  Heather bought me the trilogy, so I'll be reading about Tiffany Aching's adventures for a good long while, and savoring every word.

Books of late

Snow Flower & the Secret Fan by Lisa See -- yes, I know, I'm 5 years late on reading this one.   According to Jane by Marilyn Bryant -- fun chick lit about a woman who shares space inside her head with Jane Austen   Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt -- just couldn't finish this one, even though it was extremely well written -- not after it started telling the story from the serial killers' point of view. Too much bad mental hygiene.   Mind Your Manners, Alice Roosevelt by Leslie Kimmelman (picture book) -- Fun   Betsy Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace -- can you believe I never read this? I think I would have loved it as a kid.   Sleep While I Sing and A Chill Rain in January, both by L. R. Wright -- not as enjoyable to me as her first novel "The Suspect" because both of these novels involved sociopaths or psychopathic killers and that's just not my thing,

Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor

Oh. My. God.   WHAT a book! Amazingly gripping and gothic and scary and well-done. Set in London in the '30s. I got drawn in by the first paragraph and savored this one to the very end. And with each revelation I became more and more in awe of the author's skill at keeping the tension going so expertly. At the end I actually gave a physical shudder (both of horror at how the book ended and delight that it was done so well). I cannot WAIT to read more books by this author. Why haven't I ever come across him before? Have I been living under a rock? Wow. I'll be recommending this one to pretty much everyone I know, for awhile. Give it a try if you like gothic novels, thrillers, or just a damn good read.

The Suspect by L. R. Wright

I forget where I read about this book (originally published in the mid 80s) but it got a rave review, and I must say I quite enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series!

this weekend's book bonanza

East of the Sun by Julia Gregson. Thanks to Diane D for recommending this book to me - I really enjoyed it. It's about three women who head to India in the '20s and what they find there. Once I started the first page, I was hooked and it was really hard to put down.  The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri -- also a recommendation by Diane D., also a good book. This one is about a tightly-knit group of women in Ireland and how they are changed by the arrival of a young woman who is traveling to escape her painful past.  NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.   Really a fascinating book on how what we think we know about kids and how they develop may not be entirely true. It also gave me a better understanding about how parents might need training too, in order to get better at helping their babies and kids learn. Seat of the pants works okay, but sometimes it's good to have a little more information.

Denville Book Barn Rocks My World

Check out this immense pile of books - 25 of them, for $25.00 at the Denville Book Barn! (It's on Pocono Road in Denville NJ, hours are 9 to 1 on Tuesdays & Saturdays. And yes, they take donations too, but only 2 bags or 2 boxes at a time.)

You'll notice there are a lot of different types of books in the pile. This is because I am responsible for keeping my father, my mother and my aunt in books, and buying used is a good way to do it, especially since for some strange reason my mother has a complex about library books. She is afraid they will get lost in her house and she will owe a fine.

My dad will occasionally agree to read a library book, but it makes Mom nervous even knowing that there is one in their house. My aunt and I are the only two people in my family who use the library regularly.... and although my parents claim they have library cards, I fear they may have expired long ago.

Now please excuse me, I have to go get some reading done!

latest reads

The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir by Diana and Liz Welch (on my Kindle) You Were Always Mom's Favorite: Sisters In Conversation Throughout Their Lives by Deborah Tannen (on my Kindle) NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson  (on my Kindle) Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl  (library book) Damn you, Kindle! You make it much, MUCH too easy to purchase books! So every time I see a great book review I download a sample and more times than not, I find myself purchasing the book at the end of the sample chapter. With the result that now, the backlog of books to be read on my Kindle is probably as large as the backlog of actual books on my shelf waiting to be read.  Wait a second... why am I writing this? I could be reading!!! Excuse me...

Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert

Stayed up late last night reading Melissa Gilbert's honest, funny and engaging new memoir. I really enjoyed it.

Greenstone Grail by Amanda Hemingway

At first I could not figure out whether this was a teen or an adult book. I'm still not entirely sure. Some libraries have it in their teen section, others in the adult fantasy section. I would say, having read about half of it, that it would be for older teens, not younger ones. Although I enjoyed the writing, it was a slow-paced book and once I found out that it (and its sequels) was a retelling of the Arthurian legend, I just couldn't bring myself to finish it. I don't know why, but Arthurian stories do absolutely nothing for me.  I do think this is a book that many people who enjoy fantasy and/or Arthurian legends will enjoy. It just doesn't happen to have been my cup of tea.

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

This book is currently generating a lot of buzz and I can see why - I quite enjoyed it. The characters were appealingly flawed, and I liked how Tropper wrote the family dynamics, even though reading about how they interacted was kind of like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Bumbling and ultimately hopeful, the main character's confusion and existential anxiety were very well written. It's nice to read a book like this, where people screw up, they act irrationally, and yet you are still left with a feeling of hope and redemption at the end.

The Little Lady Agency and the Prince by Hester Browne

This was a fun, frothy ending to a really nice trilogy of books featuring Melissa Romney-Jones, a very appealing and real heroine. If you haven't read the Little Lady books, you are missing out!

A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss

It took me a good week and a half to get through this dense 18th century thriller by the author of Whiskey Rebels (which I really enjoyed). This one was good too, and interesting, but I didn't like the characters much (including the main character, Benjamin Weaver), and I don't care much for this time period, so I probably won't read any more of Liss' novels featuring Weaver.

Stone's Fall by Iain Pears

Wow. This one was hard to put down. A great novel of suspense and mystery, interesting and well written. Anyone who enjoys slightly dark, gothic tales (like Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfeld or Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon should probably give this a try.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

A quick read; a magical and charming kid's book.

Recent reads

Shelter Me by Juliette Fay - really enjoyed this debut novel. Well written characters, an absorbing plot and a flawed but likeable protagonist. I'm looking forward to more of Fay's work.   Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich. Pretty hilarious. Not high literature by any means, and the ending was kind of weak, but I still enjoyed it.   Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper. Too bad the book doesn't live up to its tagline, which is fabulous - "She's a librarian with a really long shelf life."  I just couldn't get into it.   Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne -- the sequel to Little Lady Agency. Good chick-lit fun.

The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne

Funny and sweet novel about a woman who basically inherits a decrepit old finishing school and tries to modernize it. The class she creates on "Handbag Love" was so apt, I'd have taken the class myself!

Good reads

Three excellent reads I just finished up: Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede -- a teen novel about magic in frontier days on an alternate Earth. It's just wonderful, I loved the female protagonist and I even enjoyed the first person narrative, which doesn't always work for me. I have always been a Wrede fan and this one, the first in a new series, makes me feel like pawing the ground in frustration because I have to wait for the next one to come out.  The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne -- fun British chick-lit, well written and with a great sense of humor. A nice sensible heroine too, not some dithery vague twit that I can't relate to. Really looking forward to reading the sequels to this - and anything else Browne writes! Wish You Were Here by Lani Diane Rich -- I love a good romance novel that makes me laugh out loud, and this one did, several times. The main characters were likeable and well-written, the dialogue was snappy, and I'm so glad I discovered this author. Can't wait to read more of her stuff.

recent reads

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory - this is her latest, and not bad, except I didn't really care much for the main character, so I felt it hard to root for her.   The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly - a fun read about an unconventional girl growing up in the early 1900s in Texas.   The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr by Judith St. George - an interesting kid's book about these two men who ended up fighting a duel and inspiring one of my favorite commercials. Retirement Homes Are Murder by Mike Befeler - What would happen if you had no short-term memory and someone accused you of murder? This feisty old guy fights back.   The Second Mouse by Archer Mayor - Couldn't quite get into this one, but it is probably one that a lot of people would enjoy.

latest books

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher - the latest offering from one of the best teen authors out there includes 3 short stories featuring characters from many of his books, all stuck in Mr. Nak's anger management class. A very good read. Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal -- a fun cooking/romance, I thought. Publishers Weekly's didn't like it much, but I enjoyed the descriptions of what it is like to be a female chef in a male-dominated world, the food and restaurant where the protagonist works, her relationship with her (dead) relatives, and the descriptions of Colorado.  The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff -- one of my favorite entertaining fantasy writers is back with another urban fantasy, this one set in Calgary. Quite entertaining. And hey, did you ever read Tanya Huff's "Blood" series? Toronto private eye Vicki Nelson and her undead sidekick Henry (bastard son of Henry VII) kick some serious demon/monster butt in this great series, which came out in the early 90s.