How's everyone doing?  I have a great start on the challenge, in just the first two months.  I'm trolling other's lists for suggestions for categories I still need to do. 

So far, I have liked all the books but one.  Walking In Circles Before Lying Down had such a cute title and premise, but was an awful, boring read with annoying characters.

So, whatcha reading?

I've gotten hooked on an author new to me: Ron Rash. It all started with Serena, which I read for a book club. Then I moved on to The Cove (spectacular!) and I've checked out a couple others I haven't started yet.

I also loved Emma Donoghue's unique book of short stories: Astray. She tells a story, then relates how it was based on a true incident. Quite remarkable (and a lot better than her previous book, Room).      

The Agatha Raisin series (by M.C. Beaton) is also highly enjoyable. (Agatha is not your typical detective!)

                                                                                                                                                     Rose                       

Updated again!!  Hey, what is everyone reading?  I just finshed Clash of Kings by George RR Martin, and am starting Killer Crab Cakes by Livia Washburn.

I have now read two books by Robert McCammon.   Swan's Song and Gone South.  This guy can write.  Wonderful creepy characters and angels all in the same books.  I will be reading more of him.

I broke down and bought a copy of Wool by Hugh Howey.  This very well may be my book of the year.  I haven't been this absorbed in a story for a long time.

Interesting suggestions, Cosmina, I'll look at those.  Right now I am reading Cookbook Collector, a book I have wanted to get to for some time.  I kept getting distracted by Basement book club selections, or the Cozy mystery book discussions.

I am having an issue with my spine, so I cannot do a lot of physical things right now, hope to at least make a dent in the TBR pile.

I really liked the Cookbook Collector and also by the same author, Paradise Park.

Just finished Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell.   4.5 stars.   One of those books that gets better and better,  until a really great ending. 

Still working on Cookbook Collector.  I had surgery and that got in the way for a bit.  I just now feel like I can concentrate enough to maybe follow the story.  Still not back to normal, and I will be off work for at least 3-4 more weeks.

I just finished The Hand that First Held Mine, by Maggie O'Farrell.  It was recommended to me several years ago, and I just got around to it. It is woven well and intricately. Unfortunately, I read it while floating on a raft in the pool and dropped it, making it ineligible for swapping. But if you find a copy, it's worth reading.

If you read YA, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, is a great read.  I don't ususally like YA and considered swapping it without reading it, but in the end I read it in a night.  Great characters, great writing.

Hi Everyone, I just finished Louise Erdrich's The Painted Drum and am shocked by how utterly beautiful it was. I want to swallow it, or bathe in it, or otherwise commit every word to memory.

Here is just one example: "Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could."

Just finished Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen - wonderful book!  I read it in one day, could not put it down!!