Wow, I get to start the thread for once. Still working on Deepwater by Pamela Jekel. It's now 1770 and things are getting pretty heated in North Carolina.

I am reading one that isn't historical- A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash.  This one I have to get read because it is due to the library shortly and I can't renew it again.

I just started One Thousand White Women, for my ftf book group.

Its  July!  Holy Cow!  I am reading Sisters Beneath the Sheets a Nell Bray mystery by Gillian Linscott aka Caro Peacock.  I doubt seriously that I will get much reading done this week.  My youngest is moving to Mesa AZ. next Sunday.  We have a lot to accomplish in a short time and with the holiday midweek we have to fore go even the modest celebration we had planned. To get her apartment packed up and cleaned. Get the truck rented and ready to go.  I love my kid but to do this cross country move from intervew to move in 2 weeks is an ongoing  trial.  Let alone giving her father and I time get our heads and hearts wrapped around the fact that she will be moving 1500 miles away.

I'm reading Mercury's Rise by Ann Parker, book 4 of the Silver Rush Mysteries.  (Thanks, Aimee) . Both Kelly and I enjoy this series.

Linda

Now into Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury.  This is a collection of 22 of his short stories of which he wrote many.  Also read Dandelion Wine by Bradbury which I believe fits into Home Sweet Home for the HF challenge.  Wonderful, wonderful read described on the cover as "a giddy leap into nostalgia".  I felt it deserved five stars!  Finished a sewing circle cozy mystery.  Not sure what so many seem to enjoy this series so I found myself giving Dangerous Alterations by Elizabeth Lynn Casey three stars.  The same for Vanish by Tess Garretsen which won an award but I'm not sure how unless the competition was weak.  Read The Hobbit and The Sisters Brothers.  Both were such good reads for different reasons, of course.  I read a much abbreviated version of Hobbit to my children so it was a great joy to read the long version.  And, the droll humor of Sisters was so very entertaining.   Truly enjoyed Suite Francaise, the only book written by this author about what happens to the people of France as the Germans invade and occupy their country.  It's realistic and so interesting.  Done with The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson which I liked a lot as well as Exit the Actress by Priya Parmar, the second book I have read about Nell Gwyn and I quite enjoyed it.   Took me a bit to get used to the writing style the author used but once I was accustomed to it I became so caught up in the story.  I would classify Where Lilacs Still Bloom by Jane Kirkpatrick as historical since it's the story of Huda Klager, a German housewife with an eighth grade education whose passion to create something more useful which led her to develop first a better apple for her pies from which she does much more with plant hybridization.  From there she moves to daffodils and then lilacs as she searches for a 12 petal blossom and a cream colored lilac.  Of course, her interest puts her in a different category than most women of her time (1800's).  It's a beautiful book about a fascinating woman!  

Completsed a sewing circle cozy mystery.  Not sure what so many seem to enjoy this series so I found myself giving Dangerous Alterations by Elizabeth Lynn Casey three stars.  The same for Vanish by Tess Garretsen which won an award but I'm not sure how unless the competition was weak.  Read two other mysteries, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley, not as good as The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie or his third but it's ok and The Game of Thirty by William Kotzwinkle who has written many mysteries.  Within the first hundred pages I thought I was reading a Dragnet book if you recall that television series.  It's well done.  Also completed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews which I quite enjoyed.  Someone said that this series is classified as paranormal but I thought it was more fantasy than that.  The heroine is a mercenary with magical powers.  Dragonwings by Laurence Yep, a YA book that is historical fiction based on a real person as well as a fantasy.   It was good.  Also read PEEPS by Scott Westerfeld for the YA challenge.  It's a bit like reading two books - one about parasites and one about PEEPS, vampires whose condition is caused by a parasite.  OK read.

I'm finishing up Blood Star by Nicholas Guild which is every bit as good as his  first book, The Assyrian.

REK

I just started One Thousand White Women this evening and I'm already 1/4th finished, so it promises to be quick reading.  I like the journal format and the premise is interesting but I'm having difficulty taking any of it very seriously so far.

I finished Island of Bones early on in my trip, and absolutely loved it. Crowther & Westerman did not disappoint, and I really enjoyed a couple of the new characters introduced in this book. Solid mystery that kept me turning pages--and even though I had an idea as to who the "big bad" was, the ending was still very satisfying. Ms. Robertson (who is now a Mrs., or so I hear) has once again earned her spot on my "must read" shelf!

I'm planning to start a newish YA next, Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. From what I can gather, It is set in medieval France, involves an assasin nun with special powers, and features Anne, Duchess of Brittany as a character. The reviews are all over the place and I'm going in to it with a bit of trepidation, but someone on GR described it as "Jane Eyre meets Poison Study" and I can't help but be intrigued by that!

I'm going to call Green,by Dekker, finished, even though I skimmed and skipped through the middle 100 pages.  I'm not sure if it really isn't as good as the trilogy it follows (or preceeds, if you take the original ending) or if it was me just having "enough" for now, and I'd have liked it better if I took a break and came back later.  One of the characters from his Paradise, Colorado series is prominantly featured in it, and I wasn't very interested at the moment, but I'll probably read the series somewhere down the road, and come back to finish the middle 100 pages of Green, then.

Moving on to Chadwick's First Knight.  I'm about 100 pages in.  On the one hand, this is definitely not up to her usual standard, but on the other hand, she's doing pretty darn well with the material she had to work with.  She managed to give Richard Gere (I can't possibly think of him as Lancelot) a tiny bit of depth.

I finished "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana" by Anne Rice.  I felt the first half was about a two, but the second half finished at a five.  I am sad that I suspect she will leave this trilogy unfinished.

My son was in a baseball tournament in Portland this weekend, so I had some time to get nearly through the third of the Millenium books, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest." I'll finish it up tonight, probably. 

Guess I'm now reading 50 Shades of Grey. I put my name on the library Kindle list about a month ago. That was fast!

Bracing myself for this one. LOL.

Genie, have fun. Unintenionally hilarious.

I've started The Turning of Anne Merrick by Christine Blevins. I enjoyed The Tory Widow and this sequel has started out quite nicely.

One quote that tickled me:

Jack is talking to Titus as they observe Anne & a British captain talking: "This is not good ... He's got mischief on his mind - that's for certain. Look at him standing beside my Annie, grinning like the butcher's dog."

... grinning like the butcher's dog ... love that!

Kelly

Started the classic Sarum over the weekend....still in caveman times, though

Just started The Mirrored World by Debra Dean.

That's great imagery, Kelly! I love little lines like that, they always make me chuckle.

I'll be curious what you think about The Mirrored World, Cathy. I hadn't heard about that one, but the blurb sounds very interesting!

I have a quick OT question, but couldn't justify a whole new thread for it: Do any of you have bifocals? I just got mine today, and am having a devil of a time adjusting to them! I've worn glasses since I was a young child and am used to having to adjust to a new prescription each time, but this bifocal thing is a different beast entirely. For those of you who do have them, how long did it take you to adjust? Any tips?

Aimee - I don't have them, but my aunt once mentioned that she had to teach herself to close her eyes when she was turning so that she didn't get disoriented.  Perhaps that will help?

Aimee, I have them (bifoculs). They were a BEAR at first, especially around things like stairs and street curbs. You will get used to them eventually.

I'll let you know more about Mirrored World tomorrow. Going well, but an awfully short book. This author has also written Madonnas of Leningrad I think it is?

Aimee, I have bifocals--have had them for several years--and I still hate them. I never got used to looking down into that little space to see close up. I don't think I could make it without contacts. I only wear one--in my right eye--for distance. I know others who have bifocals and have no problem with them so you probably will get used to them.

Colleen, I'm interested in hearing what you think of Sarum. It's been on my shelf for a couple of years. It's a big honking door stopper, so if I can pitch it ...

Aimee, I've worn bifoculs for years. I remember they took some getting used to, particularly when I looked down. I kept wanting to step up steps that didn't exist. LOL.

Well guys, I finished Sisters Beneath the Sheets by Gillian Linscott aka Caro Peacock.  I loved it some of the best lines from it are... "To say he was well dressed would be like calling Leonardo da Vinci a man who sketched." Also, "I spoke to her in French, because I find it easier to be hypocritical in a foreign language.”  There are 10 books in this series none unfortunatey in the system.  

Now I am starting The Yard by Alex Grecian, it looks right up my alley. 

Well...I was reading Tuck, but it was a library ebook. It turned into a pumpkin and went poof at midnight. I got back on the waiting list, but it will be at least 6 weeks before I can get it again. Just long enough for me to forget what's going on.

I started Moloka'i. I'm only on chapter 2, so it's too early to tell, but I've heard good things about it. I'm already won over by the MC.

A question: There was a book everyone was talking about a while ago. I think it was by Elizabeth Chadwick. It had a very romantic wedding night scene in it. Anybody remember the title?

Oooh Letty - that's another one on my WL - for ages now! Our library doesn't have The Yard on Kindle so it's on my WL at the library too!!

Aimee:  I have bifocals too and they will take some getting used to.  I had lots of trouble with my first pair and then my eye doctor changed the placement of the "window" with my second pair and things were much better.  I love mine now.

I've been reading The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed, excellent n/f about Sally Hemings and her family.