No, I can't believe it's already September! Last night I started the third book in Denise Mina's Garnethill trilogy, Resolution. Otherwise, still working on the last books I mentioned in August. :)

How about you folks? What have you got your noses (or ears?) into? Do your reading habits change from season to season? Mine don't, not very much anyway.

Cheryl

WOW a new month!!!!  How has this happened???  Still working on "The Charlemagne Pursuit" with Cotton Malone!!! 

As for reading habits, the don't really change with the season --- mostly mystery/thriller, historical mystery, and occasionally historical or sometimes just current fiction (The Help, etc.)

Happy September!!!

I am finally reading Mama Does Time by Deborah Sharp. It is a fun book. LOVE the characters. This one would make a great movie. I have the second book in the series. I hope the series stays solid as it advances.

Happy September to everyone.

Alice

Just started What The Night Knows-Dean Koontz yesterday, so that is my current read.

My reading habits don't change with the seasons, but I do change it up from time to time....mystery/thrillers, certain horror authors, and certain paranormal romance authors.

I do have a question...What is a Cozy Mystery?  

Hi Tammy --- I found the following just doing a Google search --- they pretty much sum it up.  Someone here, Cheryl maybe, also has a very good description of cozies.

• Cozy mysteries are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humourously. The term was first coined in the late 20th century when various writers produced work in an attempt to re-creating the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

 Cozies are mystery novels typically set in English country houses, villages, or other benign environments. Cozies feature very little violence, aside for the murder, and few gory details. The term arose from the relatively genteel settings, the common use of amateur sleuths as protagonists, and the fact that all loose ends are tied up and the villain caught and punished by the novel's conclusion. Agatha Christie's Jane Marple novels typify the subgenre. Hard-boiled detective novels are the opposite of the cozy.

@Tammy--go to http://cozy-mystery.com/   This is an excellent site! You will find a further definition of "cozy" plus list after list of authors and themes.

I'm not reading a mystery today. Instead, I picked up Forever, the third installment in Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Yes, it's a young adult fantasy about werewolves, and yes, I am one of those readers who swore she would NEVER select a book that had anything to do with vampires, werewolves, etc. However, as I continued to see teenage girls come into the library and scramble for this series, I finally decided to give it a try. At first, I kept seeing the Twilight characters in the back of my mind, but as the initial Stiefvater book, Shiver, progressed, and I learned of the circumstances that had changed the lives of both Sam and Grace, I will admit that I was hooked.

I'll return to the mystery genre for my next book.

Cheryl, I was so sorry to hear about your mom.  It makes a big hole in your life.

Well, I have spent the past week and a half, through an earthquake and Hurricane Irene, reading the 934 pages of Shantaram, a novel by Gregory David Roberts.  Not a mystery per se, but quite mysterious in places, it is a vast story set mostly in India and also Afghanistan.  The best parts, for me, were set in the Mumbai slum giving a view of the goodness, honesty, and courtesy of the residents in horrible situations and surroundings.  This was a different India than in Tarquin Hall's Vishna Puri series and takes you through the many different layers of the country and the people.  It's worth reading and, BTW, when I finished the book I went right back to the beginnning and read a few chapters over again.

I am now reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows which brings me to the subject of books with water damage.  Lately I have received several and the sender is usually shocked that it is there, even though one book that looked like a whole cup of coffee was spilled on it.  "It must have happened during shipping."  Anyway, even though I now check the books pretty carefully when I receive them, this one had water damage inside which I did not notice until I started reading it.  Excuse the ranting, I am just venting.  I'm reading the book anyway and enjoying the story very much.

Susan

Becky & Anna -- Thanks for explaining Cozy's.  I put one on my WL a couple days ago & didn't realize it was a cozy.  I liked the title. lol!!  It's called...Getting Old Can Kill You by Rita Lakin.  My birthday is the 28th of this month & I'll be 51, so it seemed to fit. LOL!!  Now I know more about them I'll be adding more to my list...which is multiplying like rabbits.  I also added the Cozy website to my favorites.

Again Thanks!!

Tammy, just a heads up if you didn't know and you're like me about reading books in order. Getting Old Can Kill You is the 7th book of that series. It's a pretty good and humorous series, if a bit predictable. I keep on reading it because I love the characters.

Tammy --- You are most welcome.  Also very good advice from Ellie about "series" books!!!  The place I use most to check on the order of books in a series is www.fantasticfiction.com.  Occasionally they have had an oops in their order, but for the most part, they are usually correct.

Susan --- In my opinion an off topic rant is justified once in a while.  Mine lately has not been "damaged" books, but having my requests go thru about 4 people before someone actually responds and mails the book!!!!  Funnily enough, I am usually not in any hurry to receive the book, but it just bothers me that some folks simply never respond.

Well as I screwed up and grabbed Annette Blair's Skirting the Grave first, I'm now reading Death by Diamonds. A series I will be caught up on! I'll soon have Ink Flamingos on the way, and as that series is finite, that one will be finished as well. I'm as happy to catch up on a series lately as I am to finish a book, so many I'm behind on. I'm rationing "Farewell, Miss Zukas," as that's one I'm sad to see end. Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon and A Trick of the Light by Laurie King are both on the way too, and I've been rationing one or two of each of those series during the wait, so I'm behind again. :-) And...the challenge is being neglected a bit. I need to get a bunch of reading in this weekend - next week I'll be helping an attorney friend prepare for a trial, so when I walk out the door in the a.m., I won't know if I'll be be back in 5, 8 or 12 or so hours - so reading time will be minimal.

I'm listening to Savage Run, the second Joe Pickett book.  I still think the narrator, David Chandler, is terrible but I keep hoping he will get better with practice.

Reading Haunting Jordan  by P.J. Alderman and enjoying it quite a lot.  I'm thinking that book #2 will be going on my WL-another series...  Also reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on my e-reader. Well, the famous ruby slippers weren't originally ruby! Who knew?? Not me since I never read the book as a child. Though I've seen the movie probably 30 times.

My reading habits don't really change with the seasons but I do go through fazes. I do like mostly mystery/thriller but I also read historical mystery, historical fiction, chick-lit, and an occasional romance or current fiction. I really don't know what I did before PBS. I can remember a time not too many years ago when I would go to the UBS and just search for something to read. Didn't even know what a TBR pile was. :-O  I had no idea how many great authors and books I was missing out on. I you PBS!!!!

Ellie -- Thanks, I did see that is a series & I do like to read them order if I know beforehand.  So since I don't have this one yet I'll make sure I get the others before I start reading the series. Again, Thanks for the heads up.

Terri (Twill) --- ANOTHER SERIES --- OH NO!!!!!!  How many series have I gotten into as a result of first Frugal Reader and now PBS????  Too many.  I too used to go to the used book store and buy books by KNOWN authors and I did NOT have shelves in my basement holding 200+ books!!!  Again, I say, going to Delaware Park for the slots would be much worse --- wouldn't it????

Still subbing full-time and still exhausted all the time but I did pick up Kwei Quartey's second Darko Dawson mystery, Children of the Street and it seems to be holding my attention.  I have a nice long weekend and then only four more days on this particular job so...I might get back into my groove.

**ETA** I just finished listening to Fool by Christopher Moore.  This isn't really a mystery and this author is sort of hit or miss for me but I LOVED this one!  A real laugh-out-loud, put the book down before you wet yourself book.  A working knowledge of King Lear is probably helpful but not necessary.  Fun stuff!

Finishing up Dog Walker book 5 by Judi McCoy

I'm working on Lea Wait's  "Shadows" series.  Have 1 & 1/2 to go.  If you haven't seen them before, the first book is titled "Shadows at the Fair: an Antique Print Mystery."  Shadows is the name of the main character, Maggie Summer's, antique print dealer business. She goes to various antique shows throughout the year to sell these prints. This is a good example of a cozy series.  I think these should also be read in order to see relationships develop.  The other titles "Shadows on the Coast of Maine", "Shadows on the Ivy", "Shadows at the Spring Show', and "Shadows of a Down East Summer."

It is on it's way to me, but I'll be reading the new Donna Andrews book "The Real McCaw" as soon as it comes in!

Decided to give David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter series a try. The first book, Open and Shut, published in 2002, was a finalist for not only the 2003 Edgar and Shamus awards for Best First Novel, but also for the 2003 Nero Award. I'm liking it thus far. Will do my best to find time to read the remaining eight books in the series.

Rosenfelt was formerly employed in the movie marketing business. Now, in addition to penning mysteries, he helps his wife run a dog rescue operation.

I just finished Buried Alive by Jack Kerley which brings me up to date on this series. What an adventure! I really like these Carson Ryder books - full of action! In this book, no one is actually buried alive, thank heaven, Carson is almost required to take a vacation from his job as a detective in Mobile, AL, so he rents a cabin in the mountains in Kentucky and decides to try his hand at some mountain climbing. Wouldn't you know it, he gets an anonymous call on his cell phone leading him to a murder scene. As a result he gets entangled in the criminal goings-on of the area which ends up involving a few more murders. Even though he keeps telling himself to back away - after all, this is his vacation - it's obvious that the team needs his help, and help he does! As usual, I will anxiously await the next book in this series........

I startged Paul Christopher's SWORD OF THE TEMPLARS last night. I picked up one of his 2010 Templar book at a library sale now realizing it was part of a series, so of course I had to start at the beginning.

I requested the first Finn Ryan book from here so I can start this series of his, too.

So far so good on SWORD. Not spectacular but keeping my interest. And apropos to nothing in particular, this is the last weekend my library will be on their summer schedule. I truly missed being able to go there on Saturday mornings during the summer.

Gail

I've been reading!

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton; Holmes on the Range (Holmes on the Range, Bk 1) by Steve Hockensmith; A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer; and Honeymoons Can be Murder by Connie Shelton.

Still working on The Third Wife by Jasmine Cresswell.  It's a page turner and was keeping me awake so I switcjed to polish off one that puts me to sleep .  Grave Justice by Glen Ebisch.  It's a nice little series, a touch of paranormal, second of the series and I have no idea why I fall asleep reading it in a flash!  Then bad me, picked up the latest Stephanie Plum, Smoking Seventeen.  I'm laughing out loud in spots and that's a good thing.  Shades of the beginning of the series.  Do you love Morelli?  Do you love Ranger?  How do you feel about Dave?  Yes indeedy another man in Stephanies life, thanks to mom.

Finally a non-mystery, Marrying Mom by Olivia Goldsmith.  Another laugh out loud.  I know it sounds like a lot but it's four books and I should finish off the Stephanie this week with no problem.  I think Marrying Mom as well.  Shoot, it's just four books I should be able to polish them all off this week.

I started Gregg Hurwitz's They're Watching, but I am having a hard time staying with it. I keep putting it down to read something else. Think I am going to read Colin Cotterill's Disco for the Departed.

Finished: What The Night Knows -- Dean Koontz  This was a good read.  Good vs. Evil...Strength vs. Weakness...Redemption, Forgiveness, Faith & Family.

Now reading: The Lincoln Lawyer -- Michael Connelly  I'm wanting to read this before I watch the movie. 

Geri -- WOW you are a reading maniac!!!  Good for you!!  I do really enjoy Michael Palmer and the one you mention is one I have not yet read.

Tammy -- I read "The Lincoln Lawyer" when it first came out and really enjoyed it.  Little did I know that the prolific author has written two more using the title character and also mixed in his Harry Bosch character in both of them. L I have them on a reminder list.  Like you, I try to always read the book prior to seeing the movie.

I am STILL working on "The Charlemagne Pursuit" --- seems like forever doesn't it????  I keep going to sleep at night after just a few pages!!!