FINISHED -

1. "TAKEN BY TUESDAY" by Catherine Bybee (Weekday Brides #5) (A+++++) He'll do anything to keep her safe, for the rest of their lives. Judy Gardner. College graduate Judy stands ready to conquer the world...if she can get a job. Hoping to transition from aspiring architect to famous architect as quickly as possible, the dark-haired beauty moves to LA, staying in the home of her celebrity brother, Michael Wolfe. But it's hard for Judy to focus on work when the sexy bodyguard she fell for last summer keeps showing up in her life and leaving her breathless. Rick Evans. With his hard body, green eyes and easy smile, Rick could have any woman he wants. But the Marine-turned-bodyguard only has eyes for Judy and her spitfire attitude. When a faceless villain attacks Judy, Rick will stop at nothing to protect the woman who opened his heart from the monster hunting her.
2. "HIDDEN FIRES" by Sandra Brown (unabridged audio CD) (A++++) The moment preacher's daughter Lauren Holbrook walks into the Texas mansion, she suspects she has been tricked. Instead of becoming wealthy Olivia Lockett's secretary, Lauren is presented with a scandalous offer to marry, in name only, the Lockett dynasty's heir - womanizing rebel Jared Lockett. Lauren doesn't know Olivia's real motive, but she is all too aware of her feelings for Jared. Now, in spite of terrible risks, she has to trust her reckless husband - and fight to make their marriage as strong as her love.
3. "FLEE THE NIGHT" by Susan May Warren (New Author For Me) (Team Hope #1) (A+++++) The past could not have picked a worse time to find her. When Lacey Montgomery boarded the train she never expected to wake up hours later handcuffed to a hospital bed and under investigation by the National Security Agency. Lacey, an ex-CIA operative, is a liar, a murderer and a fugitive. Or is she? With nowhere to turn for help, Lacey contacts the one man she believes she can trust. A man who is convinced that Lacey betrayed her country and murdered her own husband. Now Lacey must prove to Jim Micah, an ex-Green Beret, that she is not who he thinks she is. As Micah is drawn further into Lacey's world of aliases, covert ops and espionage, he must face the questions and pain of his own past. Only by trusting God and daring to trust each other can Lacey and Micah flee the secrets of the night.
4. "LIVING ON THE EDGE" by Shannon K Butcher (New Author For Me) (Edge #1) (A+++++) After a devastating injury, Lucas Ramsay knows he's finished as a soldier. But when the general who saved his life asks him for a favor, he says yes. All Lucas has to do is keep the general's daughter from getting on a plane to Colombia, which is easier said than done. Independent to the core, Sloane Gideon is a member of the Edge - a group of mercenaries. But she's not on the clock for this mission., Her best friend is being held by a vicious drug lord and Sloane must rescue her - no matter how many handsome ex-soldiers her father sends to dissuade her. With little choice, Lucas tracks Sloane to Colombia, where she reluctantly allows him to aid her in her search. But as they draw closer to the target, they grow closer to each other. And before the battle is over, both will have to decide just what they are willing for fight for.
5. "A SOLDIER'S HEART" by Kathleen Korbel (A New Author For Me) (A+++++) Her wounds had never healed. Over twenty years earlier, in a war-torn foreign land, an unnamed nurse had struggled valiantly to pull Tony Riordan away from the brink of death. She's given him a most precious gift - the will to live. And now Tony could see the confusion in Claire Henderson's eyes, could see her struggle with the same nightmare images that had haunted him for years. Claire Henderson had saved his life and it was time to return the favor. As a marine sergeant and an army nurse, they'd shared the same overwhelming emotions and uncontrollable rage. But he had learned to handle the horror, while her soldier's heart was breaking beneath her woman's soul.
6. "THE HOMECOMING" by Robyn Carr (Thunder Point #6) (A++++++) At the age of nineteen, Seth Sileski had everything. A superb athlete and scholar, handsome and popular, he was the pride of Thunder Point. Destined for greatness, he lost it all in a terrible accident that put an end to his professional football career when it had barely begun. The people in his hometown have never forgotten what might have been. Seth has come to terms with the turns his life has taken. But now he's been presented with an opportunity to return home and show his father - and the people of Thunder Point - he's become a better humbler version of his former self. Winning over his father isn't the only challenge. Seth must also find a way to convince his childhood neighbor and bst friend, Iris McKinley, to forgive him for breaking her heart. With his homecoming, will Seth be able to convince the town, his family and especially Iris that he's finally ready to be the man who will make them all proud?
7. "TWILIGHT IN TEXAS" by Jodi Thomas (McLains #4) (A++++) It was love at first sight. When Wolf Hayward and Molly Donivan gazed into each other's eyes in a crowded train station during the Civil War, they knew they were meant to be - and sealed their commitment with a passionate kiss. He promised to find her after the war - until he realized she was the daughter of a Union general when he was a Southern spy behind enemy lines. But he'll never forget her and Molly will pledge to wait for the man she only knows as "Benjamin." Eight years later, Wolf - now a Texas Ranger - is chasing down some outlaws when he is struck down by a falling signpost - and wakes up to see the beautiful woman he has never forgotten. Molly doesn't recognize him as the handsome soldier who swept her away so long ago, but she can't help being intrigued by his kindness and charm. And she can't help imagining what it's like to be in his arms after the sun goes down.
8. "THE BEEKEEPER'S BALL" by Susan Wiggs (Bella Vista Chronicles #2) (abridged audio CD) (A+++++) Isabela Johansen, a celebrated chef who grew up in the sleepy Sonoma town of Archangel, is transforming her childhood home into a destination cooking school - a unique place for other dreamers to come and learn the culinary arts. Bella Vista's rambling mission-style hacienda, with its working apple orchards, bountiful gardens and beehives, is the idyllic venue for Isabel's project...and the perfect place for her to forget the past. But Isabel's carefully ordered plans begin to go awry when swaggering, war-torn journalist Cormac O'Neill arrives to dig up old history. He's always been better at exposing the lives of others than showing his own closely guarded heart, but the pleasures of small-town life and the searing sensuality of Isabel's kitchen coax him into revealing a few truths of his own. The dreamy sweetness of summer is the perfect time of year for a grand family wedding and the enchanting Beekeeper's Ball, bringing emotions to a head.
9. "IN HIS SIGHTS" by Jo Davis (Sugarland Blue #3) (A++++) When a dangerous criminal targets those whom Sugarland detective Chris Ford holds dear, nothing will stop him from hunting down his man. Chris is one of the best and brightest at the Sugarland PD but lately a mysterious illness has him struggling to get through the day. When his symptoms land him in the care of brilliant and sexy Dr. Robyn Lassiter, Chris realizes that he is the latest victim in a rash of mysterious poisonings in the area - most of them fatal. Figuring out who's causing the deadly outbreak has become a very personal - and dangerous - race against time. Despite battling her own personal demons and painful past, Dr. Robyn Lassiter can't fight her attraction to her new patient. But as she struggles to help Chris track down the sick mind behind the deaths, she's at risk not only of losing her heart but of falling headlong into a lethal plot that could take her life.
10. "FIRE DANCER" by Colleen Coble (Smoke Jumpers #1) (A++++) Dry needles had been piled up and a match lay in the middle. Her boots smothered the flames. The match told her the fire had been deliberately set. But why? A flutter of white caught her attention. The wind whipped a paper nailed to the tree. She unfolded it and stared at the writing: Let the Dance begin. A decade ago, Tess masterson's parents died in a terrible barn fire. Now she's become one of the best smoke jumpers in the business. Though she makes a living jumping out of planes into roaring wildfires, she's never found the courage to face the wounds of her past - or to deal with the anger that flares whenever she encounter Chase Huston. When a serial arsonist known as The Fire Dancer strikes near her old homeplace in Arizona, Tess is forced to examine the past as it relates to the present. Her smoke jumpers team offers support, but can she trust her fellow adrenaline junkies as wildfire after wildfire is set? And how will she find it in her heart to accept and forgive - or will she always run from her past?
11. "LINGER" by Maya Banks "STAY WITH ME" (A+++++) Catherine hopes her announcement to the two men in her life - she's pregnant - will be the perfect tart to the vacation they promised her: two weeks on a Jamaican beach. No cell phones, no emails, no business. But when they blow her off for yet another "business emergency", she packs her bags for her long-awaited vacation - alone,. When Logan and Rhys come home to an empty house, they realize two things: One, it was a mistake to take Catherine for granted. Two, they're not willing to just let her walk out of their lives,. Getting her back will be the toughest deal they've ever negotiated. "SONGBIRD" (A+++++) Years ago, Grear and Taggert meant everything to Emily. Their cavalier rejection sent her into the arms of their youngest brother. Her angelic voice launches her to stardom - until tragedy shocks her into silence. Grieving for their brother, Taggert and Greer take Emily back to Montana, determined to help her heal and find her voice again. Under the protective shield of their love, she begins to blossom. Then an old threat resurfaces. Now the men who love her face a fight for what they once threw away.
12. "LOVE, LIFE AND A POLAR BEAR TATTOO" by Heather Wardell (New Author For Me) (Toronto #1) (A++++) (Kindle) When Candice's in-laws were killed eight months ago buying a huge faux polar bear rug for her Christmas present, she lost more than just two of her favorite people: she lost her husband Ian as well. After only two years of marriage, their guilt and pain have left them living together but apart, unable to really talk for fear of what they'll say to each other. Ian leaves for a month-long contract overseas and Candice plans to use the time apart to decide whether her marriage can be saved. When her ex walks back into her life as the new client at work, ten years more attractive yet saddened by his own recent loss, she's left wondering what she really wants from life and love.
13. "CHANCES ARE" by Christie Reece (Last Chance Rescue #10) (A+++++)  (Kindle) She is his dream come true. He is her nightmare. Angela Delvecchio has always dreamed of being an LCR field operative. As LCR's main researcher, she's helped rescue victims, but always from the sidelines. Until now. Last Chance Rescue has been asked to assist the authorities in apprehending a serial killer terrorizing London. Angela knows this is her time and her mission.
14. "DEATH, TAXES AND A FRENCH MANICURE" by Diane Kelly (New Author For Me) (Tara Holloway #1) (A++++) What's your tax burden? Tara Holloway has got your number: A special agent on the IRS's payroll, she's dead-set on making sure that money crimes don't pay. Tax cheats, beware: The Treasury Department's Criminal Investigations Division has a new special agent on its payroll. A recovering tomboy with a head for numbers, Tara's fast becoming the Annie Oakley of the IRS - kicking ass, taking Social Security numbers and keeping the world safe for honest taxpayers. Tara's latest mission finds her in hot pursuit of ice-cream vendor Joseph "Joe Cool" Cullen. Along with frozen treats he's selling narcotics and failing to report his ill-gotten gains on his tax returns,. Over Tara's dead body! Then there's Michael Gryder, who appears to be operating a Ponzi scheme...with banker Stan Shelton...whose lake house is being landscaped by Brett Ellington...who happens to be dating Tara. If following that money trail isn't tough enough, now Tara must face a new conundrum: Should she invest her trust in Brett - or put him behind bars?? New love always comes at a cost. But justice? Priceless.
15. "DREAMWEAVER TRAIL" by Emily March (Eternity Springs #8) (A++++++) After another lonely Valentine's Day, Gabi Romano trades mountain snowfall for sunshine and sand at a luxurious Caribbean getaway. There she finds not one but two thrilling new passions: creating art glass and Flynn Brogan, the sexy caretaker next door who brings her fantasies to life. But when violence interrupts their romantic interlude, she learns that Flynn is living a lie. Heartsick, she decides to concentrate on her craft. Playing with fire i safer than loving a man like Flynn. Flynn is determined to make things right with Gabi - until his enemies interfere,. Now damaged and driven by a need he cannot define, he seeks out Gabi's Colorado community as a mystery man searching for peace, though not expecting redemption. But he never imagined a place like Eternity Springs, where lives are changed, second chances are given and the possibility exists for two wounded souls to find their way home...to each other.
16. "THE HEALER" by Dee Henderson (O'Malley's #5) (A+++++) (audio Cassette) A flood brings them together...Rachel O'Malley is a trauma psychologist who works disasters for the Red Cross; her specialty is helping children. Captain Cole Parker has spent the last year fighting fires, investigating arsons - and falling in love with Rachel. When a flood surges through their community, it's a chance in the midst of tragedy to spend some precious time together. And Rachel is relying on Cole's love. For years, Rachel has touched grief while helping others work through it, but now grief is getting very personal...she may lost her sister to cancer. She's depending on Cole - her rock, immovable  to help her make it through. But the floodwaters conceal a deadly surprise...a crime scene is swallowed up by the waters. One person is dead and the police suspect there may be a second victim. The murder weapon has fallen into the hands of a child and the flood disaster is about to be eclipsed by gunfire at a local school. And Rachel is caught in the crossfire. Rachel knows one of the injured students, a child who died and the shooter. She's struggling to do her job even as she copes with her own trauma. For she must deal with more than just grief among the children she is trying to help - one of them still has the gun. And Rachel fears a third tragedy will soon follow unless Cole and the O'Malleys can solve a murder still hidden by the floodwaters.
17. "DANIEL'S DESIRE" by Sherryl Woods (The Devaney's #5) (A+++++) When a runaway teen surfaces at Molly Creighton's tavern, Daniel Devaney's job as a child advocate forces him to investigate...and to confront his tumultuous past with Molly. Though a tragic loss shattered their relationship four years ago, Daniel is now ready to accept responsibility for their breakup and make a fresh start. Their overwhelming attraction is undulled by time, but Molly fears risking her heart again. Daniel vows to banish the shadows from her eyes and prove he is the man she needs him to be. And with his brothers and parents at last reconciled, Daniel's deepest longing - for family - is almost fulfilled.
18. "THE BEST KIND OF TROUBLE" by Lauren Dane (The Hurley Boys #1) (A++++++) She has complete control...and he's determined to take it away. A librarian in the small town of Hood River, Natalie Clayton's world is very nearly perfect. After a turbulent childhood and her once-wild ways, life is now under control. But trouble has a way of turning up unexpectedly - especially in the tall, charismatically sexy form of Paddy Hurley. And Paddy is the kind of trouble that Natalie has a taste for. Even after years of the rock-and-roll lifestyle, Paddy never forgot the two wickedly hot weeks he once shared with Natalie. Now he wants more...even if it means tempting Natalie and her iron-grip control. But there's a fine line between well-behaved and misbehaved - and the only compromise is between the sheets!
19. "BANNER O'BRIEN" by Linda Lael Miller (Corbins #1) (A+++++) In 1886, lovely Banner O'Brien overcame every obstacle and gained her coveted medical diploma, but she still fears the brutal man who left her with a legacy of nightmares. She flees west to the Washington Territory, hoping to find peace. Hired to temporarily replace an injured doctor in little Port Hastings, Banner soon discovers how unlikely peace is. The other doctor in town - Adam Corbin - is a brilliant physician...and a handsome, arrogant, moody man. While he is surprisingly willing to respect Banner's professional skills, their personal relationship is fiery and impassioned from the moment they meet. Banner and Adam cannot keep their hands off each other, or their mouths from seeking sweet surrender, but both hide a shadowed past. How can they dream of a future together - when they continue to conceal the truth?
20. "HOME TO WHISKEY CREEK" by Brenda Novak (Whiskey Creek #5) (A+++++++) Sometimes home is the refuge you need - and sometimes it isn't. Adelaide Davies, who's been living in Sacramento, returns to Whiskey Creek, the place she once called home. She's there to take care of her aging grandmother and to help with Gran's restaurant, Just Like Mom's. But Adelaide isn't happy to be back. There are too many people here she'd rather avoid, people who were involved in that terrible June night fifteen years ago. Ever since the graduation party that changed her life, she's wanted to go to the police and make sure the boys responsible - men now - are punished. But she can't, not without revealing an even darker secret. So it's better to pretend. Noah Rackham, popular, attractive, successful, is shocked when Adelaide won't have anything to do with him. He has no idea that hi very presence reminds her of something she'd rather forget. He only knows that he's finally met a woman he could love.
21. "PERFECT TIMING" by Catherine Anderson (Kendrick/Coulter/Harrington #11) (A+++++) Tragedy has struck the Harrigans - Quincy's beloved sister-in-law Loni is gravely ill and nearing death. Quincy, like his brothers, feels helpless to save her and the clock is ticking. Then, with perfect timing, a winsome red-haired woman named Ceara O'Ceallaigh mysteriously appears on Quincy's property and insists that Loni can be cured. Only Quincy, she says, as the sole remaining Harrigan bachelor, can make that happen - by marrying Ceara. To Quincy, Ceara is a charming and quite likely deranged spinner of dreams who can't prove she's telling the truth. But how can he pass up any attempt t restore Loni to health? Against all better judgment, he decides to marry Ceara. Maybe he's making the worst mistake of his life. Or maybe he's opening himself up to possibilities that defy explanation...and that will send him on a miraculous journey toward enough to last forever.
22. "THE MARRIAGE PACT" by Linda Lael Miller (Women of Bliss County #1) (A+++++) Ten years ago, Hadleigh Stevens was eighteen and this close to saying "I do," when Tripp Galloway interrupted her walk down the aisle. Now that she's recovered from her youthful mistake and Tripp's interference, Hadleigh and her single friends form a marriage pact. She doesn't expect Tripp to meddle with her new plan to find Mr. Right - or to discover that she's more attracted to him than ever! Divorced and eager to reconnect with his cowboy roots, Tripp returns to Bliss County to save his ailing father's ranch. He's not looking for another wife - certainly not his best friend's little sister. But he's never been able to forget Hadleigh. And this time, if she ends up in hi arms, he won't be walking away!
23. "CHRISTMAS IN TWILIGHT" by Lori Wilde (Twilight, Texas #5) (A++++++) (book I received from the author in exchange for a review) It's Christmas in Twilight, Texas. The Cookie Club is baking, the town is decorated and Delta Force Operator "Hutch" Hutchinson has finally, reluctantly, returned home....only to get pepper sprayed by the delicious-looking stranger who's taken over his house. She says her name is Jane and she immediately sets down ground rules. Top priority: no touching. For Hutch that isn't easy - he was wounded in action, but one part is still working very well. Then Hutch learns the truth. Jane harbors a frightening secret - she's really Meridith Sommers, on the run from a dangerous ex-husband and desperately in need of the safety Hutch can provide. In that moment, he vows he'd do anything in his power to protect her. And as Christmas approaches, they discover that their love can conquer the past and overcome any obstacle - but what price will they pay?
24. "KISS AND TELL" by Linda Howard (John Medina #1) (A+++++) Still reeling from her mother's recent death. Karen Whitlaw is stunned when she receives a package containing a mysterious notebook from the father she has barely seen since his return from the Vietnam War over twenty years ago. Unwilling to deal with her overwhelming emotions, Karen packs the notebook away, putting it - and her father - out of her mind, until she receives a shocking phone call. Her father has been murdered on the gritty streets of New Orleans Homicide detective Marc Chastain considers the murder nothing more than street violence against a homeless man and Karen accepts his judgment - at first. But she changes her mind when her home is burglarized and "accidents" begin to happen. All at once, she faces a chilling realization: whoever killed her father is now after her. Desperate for answers, Karen retrieves the only thing that links her to her father - the notebook he had sent months before. Inside its worn pages, she makes an unsettling discovery: her father had been a sniper in Vietnam and the notebook contains a detailed account of each one of his kills. Now running for her life, Karen entrusts the book and secrets to Marc Chastain. Together they unravel a disturbing story of politics, power and murder - and face a killer who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the kill book.
25. "BAREFOOT IN THE SUN" by Roxanne St. Claire (Barefoot Bay #3) (A++++++) When running is all you've ever known...sometimes the bravest act of all is to stand still. Caught between fight and flight, Zoe Tamarin has always picked flight. Since she was rescued from a nightmare childhood by her great-aunt Pasha, they've been on the move, never staying in one place long enough to risk exposing their precarious past. But now that they've reached the sun-baked shores of Barefoot, Zoe may have to stay and fight - for her aunt's life...and for a love she ran from years before. Oliver Bradbury came to Florida to start over, as both a doctor and a father to his eight-year-old son. He never expected life to hand him a second chance with the woman he lost years ago - but one look at Zoe Tamarin and he knows he'll do whatever it takes to prove that this time, he can be the man she needs. But when demands of family and friendship threaten to shatter their rekindled passion, Oliver must heal Zoe's lifelong wounds with more than hot kisses....but will that be enough to keep her from flying off with his heart?

CURRENTLY READING - 

1. "The Sugar House" by Jean Scheffler (New Author For Me) 
2. "Revenge" by Rebecca Zanetti (Sin Brothers #2) (Kindle)
3. "Whippoorwill" by Sharon Sala (Whippoorwill #1)

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO -

1. "Ladies' Night" by Mary Kay Andrews

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I am a little past half way and still have not gotten to the part the movie was based on.

Finally finished this weekend. Very good book but man it's long.

Currently Reading:

Somerset - Leila Meacham

Finished:

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend - Matthew Dicks - 4.00 Stars

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan - 3.00 Stars

Tatiana & Alexander - Paullina Simons - 4.5 Stars (Excellent)

Mary Coin - Marisa Silver - 3.5 Stars

Finished: Cat in a Diamond Dazzle by Carole Nelson Douglas --- The Midnight Louie series, Temple Barr is solving a murder while hunting for a shoe that's hidden somewhere in Las Vegas and if she finds it, she will win  a pair in her size.  A lot of time spent on a romance writer's convention [where the murder[s] took place]. Because of that, the story seemed to bog down at times. 

The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille --- Took about a third of the way into this story for me to really get interested.  A lot of the first part is background about the people and history of The Gold Coast, an area on Long Island Sound known for it's wealth [which I wasn't aware of]. DeMille's characters are not very likable with the exception of John Sutter, the main protagonist who's a Wall Street lawyer handling taxes, family matters, etc. and not criminal cases.  He becomes involved with the reputed Mafia don Frank Bellarosa who moves into the estate next door to his on The Gold Coast. John's whole way of life begins to change after this meeting, much to his dismay.  Surprise ending, I didn't see this coming.

Far Harbor by JoAnn Ross --- After her divorce, Savannah Townsend returns home to Far Harbor, Washington to try to get on with her life.  She decides to buy the abandoned lighthouse and turn it into a B&B.  Along the way family issues come up and she finds herself involved in not only the restoration of the lighthouse, but also making a new life for herself. Fun read.

Currently reading:  The Music of the Spheres by Elizabeth Redfern

Up Next:  Reap the Wind by Iris Johansen 

Books read in 2014:  Jan. - 8,  Feb. - 7,   Mar. - 7,   April - 4,   May - 9,  June - 11,   July - 9,   Aug. - 11,   Sept. - 7

Bouncing Back by Joan Rivers - Mostly a self-help book with a lot of her humor thrown in. Somewhat of a memoir, she tells the story of how she got over her husband's suicide and other life disasters in sections throughout. It's not heavy and funny enough that you don't notice the self help so much.

The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma Of Steig Larsson by compilation - Mostly a collection of articles by many different people with a bit of a bio. It has some interesting information but is overall boring as hell. It was quite a slog and I ended up skipping a lot of the more off-subject articles.

Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indridason - audio - Tense and kind of slow and uneventful, it was also compelling. It wasn't boring even though the only action was piecing a story together by talking to various people. It's a connecting story about the detective's brother who was lost in a storm as a child and a woman who disappeared many years ago, also attributed to the same storm. But is that really what happened to her?

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry - audio - Third volume of his memoirs. I love everything about him but there was a big section where he read from a diary he kept during his cocaine years that I could strangle him over. In writing it would have been fine, lots of abbreviations just like anyone else would do to speed up a diary entry, but he read them as he wrote them making it sound terribly naff and hipster. He has definitely left room for a fourth book, this one doesn't really say that much. It gives a summary of the first two books for those who haven't read them and then gives a rough outline of his working life up until the end of the coke years. The concrete info is a bit thin, compared to how he usually writed. Maybe he doesn't remember it that well. Goodreads link, it's not in the PBS system.

1q84 by Haruki Murakami - The story was excellent but man the droning on and repetition. It should have been about 1/3 as long as it was(924 pages). What's funny is one of the characters is a writer and he notes how the guy rewrites a text removing all the unnecessary lines and words, tightening up the story so there is no excess. If only he took that advice. One thing he does a lot is repeat lines, like one character will say to another "you must close the door" and the other character repeats back "I must close the door". He does that a lot. Way too much filler.

The Last Bassalope by Berke Breathed - Not his best story but better than most kid's tales.

Dregs by Jorn Lier Horst - #6 in a series and I think it would have been better if I had read the other ones. It seems our MC has an ongoing medical problem that almost gets everyone killed and is written off by the author as stress. I'm not buying that, kind of discredited the story. The ending was a little disappointing and they never explained one of the major mystery points, it is shown to tie in with the crime but they never show how. Weird.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I wasn't crazy about the ending but I thought it was a good book. Kept my interest, it was original, and it paints a very desirable fantasy world. I didn't know it was supposed to be a YA book when I read it, it didn't talk down or simplify. I wish there were a sequel.

What I'd Say To The Martians by Jack Handey - Jack Handey of SNL, this is a book of short stories and a few Deep Thoughts and a couple sketches from SNL. Pretty funny but a lot of it was rehashed, stuff from the show. He does write out the script for Happy Fun Ball so there's that.

Let The Right One In by John Lindqvist - A vampire tale but a little different than the usual. It's more about the people around the little vampire than the actual vampire. It's a very different sort of book.

If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell - audio - Memoir of sorts but it is almost strictly about his work. Detailed descriptions of how his movies were made, down to how they got financing. Great book if you are into filmmaking.

Diary Of A Mad Diva by Joan Rivers - audio - Written shortly before she died, it was kind of sad how fine she sounded and a long way from death. Lots of insults, very funny. Not so much a memoir as a loose collection of stories and comedy bits. It was quite enjoyable.

My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall - audio - I really liked this one. Lots of info and anecdotes and lots of celebrities, since she came from a show biz family. She's had a wild life and doesn't hold anything back.

Behind The Curtain by Dave Berg - About Jay Leno's Tonight Show. It is terribly written with a bunch of petty, unfounded knocks against David Letterman. Quite a few of the things I know for a fact aren't true just from watching his show. The whole book is "OMG Jay is soooo great!!!!" and "Boo Letterman, you are selfish and petty and hate people". It was ridiculous really. If it weren't so short I would have pitched it. There are a few good celebrity anecdotes but way too much about boring non-entities like politicians and news casters. Terrible bok.

1. And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov

2.The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner

3. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimmage by Haruki Murakami

Currently Reading:
Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn
stories in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection

Listening To:
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

reading The Ninth Wife and continuing the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King,  The Moor.  This weekend I am going to start The Passage.  I found a copy in LP and swapped the reg print copy here that I had bought.

Finished

• Last Detective by Robert Crais
• The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell
• The Christmas Kid by Pete Hamill
• The Heist by Janet Evanovich
• The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain
• Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

Currently Reading

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Listening to

• TBD

Reading:  Odd Thomas, The Skies of Pern,  Gone Girl, By Heresies Distressed, Dhampir, The Drawing of the Three, The Wiseman's Fear

Finished:  Pawn of Prophecy, Midnight Alley, Frostbite, Feast of Foods, The Drawing of the Three, Ghost Town, Name of the Wind.

Kicked  to the curb:  The Dark Mirror (hopelessly damaged), Bitten (got to last cassette and it bunched up like an accordion).

Judye / maysied  **Book time lost this month due to making up a classical music library on my new MP3.

Finished

Both good books.

Stranded: Jeff Probst

Escaping the Giant Wave: Peg Kehret

A Choir of Ill Children: Tom Piccirilli                      This book was very confusing to me.  I almost quit reading it, but finished it, barely.

I'm currently reading You Only Die Twice by Edna Buchanan

"U" is for Undertow by Sue Grafton --finished, very good.

Now reading:

"V" is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton. - just started- so far so good.

Sinners and the Sea: The Untold Story of Noah's Wife: Rebecca Kanner           I really liked this.

Dark Fathom (Beck Easton): Tom Morrisey            There are 2 books in this series.  This is the 2nd.  I will start the 1st shortly.

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight:  A he said she said, alternate chapter young (maybe) lovers, I won't know for a few more chapter.  Clever plot devise: a view from both sides of a developing young relationship.  As the principals return to their respective corners after each, progressively more passionate meeting, the reader gets a looking into the thoughts of the combatants - nice foreshadowing.  The best laid plans of... well you know ... especially considering the awkwardness of youth.  Well laid backdrop, too - girls lives in a tent and assists her mom, a 60's throwback, as well as a wench (it says so on her w-2), at a Renaissance Faire.  Once every few chapters the boys odds fantasies or the girl dodgey lifestyle, take center stage, a nice sidebar to a great read.

I'm thinking of starting Dr Zhivago but I am not sure. The names in Russian novels are hard for me to deal with. I have a hard time keeping the characters straight. Just started browsing in a book of essays by George Orwell.

I was looking for a good End-of-the world read, and this series was recommended.  I wouldn't have gotten involved had I known this was a Christian series.  But, hey, even an atheist needs to peak over the fence once in a while.  On the other side is a world painted by Norman Rockwell, written by Rush Limbaugh and acted by the cast of Leave it to Beaver & The Partridge Family.  The dad is vintage Ward Cleaver on a cross, while three steps behind mom makes due with the situation at hand, in the wings all the little Partridge confront their many trials with the help of their tough but fair parents and, of course God.  God has seen fit to send a plague in the form of an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) -- which cripples the devises we so cherish in the modern world.  No phone, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury.  Someone must be saved in each book. Book One focuses on Deni, headstrong future high-earner or maybe beaten-down political wife, her mood changes quicker than a traffic light.  Deni wants out of her parents nowhere town and old-fashioned ideas, and attempts to flee Pleasantville for DC, where her job and future husband await.  But wait, God has a plan for her and it ain't fun.  Suffice to say that all the evil that transpires are merely tests of faith and all good is by the grace of God.  I would have preferred that s(he) just called the whole thing even, and stop using us mere mortals for entertainment.  Stripped of all piousness the books are terrific reads, well paced and plotted with enough tension to keep the pages turning well into the night.  I whipped through parts one and two, and have three on the way.  Yeah, this is what I do with my evening, may God have mercy.  BTW - don't look for meetings of the LGBTQ Nation, they don't live here.

Well it is the 16th and I haven't finished a single book yet.  I have been reading “The Mountain between Us" by Charles Martin, and I was listening to “Necessary Lies” by Diane Chamberlain but it expired before I was done.  Since I live in NC this is interested but not riveting. I am listening now to “My Reading Life” by Pat Conroy, which is interesting in small doses.  “Cold Sassy Tree” is available on audio so I may start that.  I am kind of bouncing around this month…….

Bad Monkey: Carl Hiaasen               Another good book by this author.

The Mayan Secrets (A Fargo Adventure): Clive Cussler, Thomas Perry    Clive Cussler is one of my favorite authors, but this one just did not keep my interest as much.

Since I live in NC

Have you read anything by Clyde Edgerton. Raney is pretty good and I liked Walking Across Egypt.

I'm in the middle of Dear Irene, by Jan Burke, which is an "Irene Kelly Mystery", a series I'd never heard of.  Irene is a newspaper reporter who turns sleuth when the mysteries find her.  So far, I am finding the writing very amateurish.  Written in the first person (which I normally like) she just slogs though each scene without frills or much of anything else, just lots of dialogue.  And then, and then....and then, like that.  But the developing mystery is keeping my interest.  A serial killer is taunting her via cryptic letters referencing Greek mythology.  Not sure I'll read another in this series; it's just too soon to tell.

ETA:  I ended up liking this book more than I thought I would at the start.  I flopped on the couch intending to read myself "into a nap"--and the nap never came, I just kept turning the pages!  So, the mystery had me hooked.  A recommended mystery.

Charles,

I have read several of Edgerton's books. Some I liked better than others.  Walking Across Egypt was my favorite so far.  I didn't really like Where Trouble Sleeps and Killer Diller was a little bit silly I thought. I have Raney, In Memory of Junior and The Floatplane Notebooks to read.  What did you think of them, if you've read any of them that is?

The Floatplane Notebooks seemed to me to be a departure from the usual Edgerton. It seemed like more of a serious novel. I enjoyed Raney. I had a copy of Junior at one time but it didn't look too good to me for some reason and I got rid of it. I think of Edgerton as a North Carolina writer. He seems sort of connected to that state in some way.

You can find Edgerton on youtube speaking at some different functions.

I'll have to check him out on youtube.  Funny how I can really like one book by an author and the rest of his work doesn't do anything for me.

reading now The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. nonfiction. I forgot the author's first name. Last name is Hornfischer. Tin can is a sort of slang term for a destroyer. They get that name because they are relatively small ships and they bounce around a lot in the ocean. especially in rough weather. The story is of a battle between a small group of American ships and a much bigger group of Japanese ships.