FINISHED -

1. "NO RIVER TOO WIDE" by Emilie Richards (Goddesses Anonymous #3) (A++++++) Some betrayals are like rivers, so deep, so wide, they can't be crossed. But for those with enough courage forgiveness, redemption, and love may be found on the other side. On the night her home is consumed by fire, Janine Stoddard finally resolves to leave her abusive husband. While she is reluctant to involve her estranged daughter, she can't resist a chance to see Harmony and baby Lottie before she disappears forever. Harmony's friend Taylor Martin realizes how much the reunited mother and daughter yearn to stay together, and she sees in Jan a chance to continue her own mother's legacy of helping women in need of a fresh start. She opens her home, even as she's opening her heart to another newcomer, Adam Pryor. But enigmatic Adam has a secret that could destroy Taylor's trust and cost Jan her hard-won freedom.
2. "BIG SKY SECRETS" by Linda Lael Miller (Parable, Montana #6) (A++++) Self-made tycoon Landry Sutton heads to Hangman Bend's Ranch to sell his land to his brother Zane. Though he's got cowboy in his blood, Landry plans to return to city life before the dust even settles on his boots. Of course, he didn't count on falling for Big Sky Country…or Ria Manning. Ria's starting to settle into country life herself…until she has a close encounter of the terrifying kind with a buffalo. Turns out the peeping monster belongs to the cowboy next door—and he has her running even more scared than his bison. She wants a home where the buffalo don't roam, and the men don't either. Could Landry's homecoming be her heart's undoing?
3. "JINGLE BELL ROCK" "HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING" by Lori Foster (A+++++) He sees you when you're sleeping - What Booker Deans wants for Christmas isn't under the tree. It's right next door. Frances Kennedy is everything Booker desires...and the gift he has planned for her involves a lot of delicious unwrapping. "ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS" by Janelle Denison (A++++) When sexy pediatrician Matthew Carlton plays Santa, pulling Faith Roberts on his lap, he has no idea what's on her Christmas wish list...or how much he'll enjoy filling every bit of it. "TURNING UP THE HEAT" by Susan Donovan (A++++) Being stood up on Christmas Eve is bad enough, but now Valerie's furnace is broken, too. Good thing that sexy repairman is available to raise the temperature dramatically. "BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE" by Donna Kauffman (A++++) It's been ten years since Susanna York left Jace Morgan. Now, as fate reunites them during a holiday snowstorm, they'll have plenty of time to discover that distance only sharpens certain hungers. "A BLUE CHRISTMAS" by Alison Kent (A+++++) Thomas "Blue" Miller never expected to see Jessie Buchanan on his Christmas farm again. But now that she's here, he's ready to show her exactly what she's been missing. "THE NUTCRACKER SWEET" by Nancy Warren (A+++++) Co-workers Daniel and Tara couldn't hate each other more. So when they end up as Secret Santa partners, it's a perfect chance for revenge and a dare that just may egnite the steamiest night of their lives.
4. "THE HOLIDAY GIFT" (Cold Creek #15) (A+++++) All widowed rancher Faith Dustin wants is a quiet Christmas with her two kids and her best friend - cowboy Chase Brannon. Until he kisses her under the mistletoe! Chase lost his chance with Faith years ago; he won't blow this one. But he'll need all the magic of the season - and two matchmaking kids - to unwrap a second chance at love. "A COLD CREEK NOEL" (Cold Creek #11) by RaeAnne Thayne (A+++++) After a devastating tragedy, Caidy Bowman wants only to hide out on her ranch. Then widowed veterinarian Ben Caldwell arrives in Pine Gulch for the holidays with his two children. For the first time, he's got hope for the future. Their future - if he can convince Caidy that Christmas is the season for miracles.
5. "THE INNOCENT" by David Baldacci (Will Robie #1) (unanbridged audio CD) (A+++++) America has enemies - ruthless people that the police, the FBI, even the military can't stop. That's when the U.S. government calls on Will Robie, a stone cold hitman who never questions orders and always nails his target. But Will Robie may have just made the first - and last - mistake of his career. The innocent...It begins with a hit gone wrong. Robie is dispatched to eliminate a target unusually close to home in Washington, D.C. But something about this mission doesn't seem right to Robie, and he does the unthinkable. He refuses to kill. Now, Robie becomes a target himself and must escape from his own people. Fleeing the scene, Robie crosses paths with a wayward teenage girl, a fourteen-year-old runaway from a foster home. But she isn't an ordinary runaway - her parents were murdered, and her own life is in danger. Against all of his professional habits, Robie rescues her and finds he can't walk away. He needs to help her. Even worse, the more Robie learns about the girl, the more he's convinced she is at the center of a vast cover-up, one that may explain her parents' deaths and stretch to unimaginable levels of power. Now, Robie may have to step out of the shadows in order to save this girl's life...and perhaps his own.
6. "THE BUTTERFLY" by Sharon Sala (A++++) The Victim: Chaz Finelli, the celebrity photographer who snaps the juciest photo of his career - only to be brutally murdered for the secrets his camera could expose. The Witness: China Brown, a young woman whose luck had run out long before she found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time...long before she was shot in cold blood after witnessing a murder. The Cop: Ben English, a tough-as-nails cop who's got a bizarre case on his hands - and a star witness who is making this case very personal. China Brown is alive, but barely. She doesn't want to live. She's lost the only thing that ever mattered: her unborn baby. Drawn to this lovely, fragile woman, Ben English must convince her to help him find a murderer in a scandalous case where the suspects reach into the upper echelons of Dallas society, politics and the media. And as a killer closes in, she must place her trust in one man, because her life - and her heart - depend on it.
7. "SHE CAN HIDE" by Melinda Leigh (She Can... #4) (A++++++) Abby Foster just wants a quiet, normal life. The high school teacher left everything about her past behind when she moved to the mountains of Pennsylvania, but only three years after surviving a brutal attack, Abby awakes in an icy river, facing death once again. This time, though, she doesn’t have to face it alone - if she can manage to trust the sexy cop who just risked his life to save her. Officer Ethan Hale’s gut tells him there’s more to Abby’s “accident” than meets the eye. When his investigation uncovers a fresh string of murders tied to her old case, he’s driven to do anything to keep Abby safe. But Abby’s former assailant is in prison, so who else wants her dead? As a killer shows no sign of stopping, Abby has no choice but to trust Ethan with the truth about her past…and any hope she has for a future.
8. "WHEN WE WERE SISTERS" by Emilie Richards (A+++++++) As children in foster care, Cecilia and Robin vowed they would be the sisters each had never had. Thirty years later their bond remains strong. International pop star Cecilia lives life on the edge, but when Robin is nearly killed in an accident, she drops everything to be with her. Robin set aside her career as a successful photojournalist to create the loving family she always yearned for. But now, as she realizes how close she's come to losing everything, she questions what she really has. Gazing through a wide-angle lens at both past and future she sees that her marriage is disintegrating. Her attorney husband is rarely home, leaving Robin to be both mother and father. She and the children need Kris's love and attention, but does Kris need them? When Cecilia asks Robin to be the still photographer for a documentary on foster care, Robin agrees, even though Kris will be forced to take charge for the months she's away. She gambles that he'll prove to them both that their children - and their marriage - are a priority in his life. Cecilia herself needs more than time with her sister. A lifetime of lies has finally caught up with her. She wants a chance to tell the real story of their childhood and free herself from the nightmares that still color her nights. As the documentary unfolds, memories will be tested and the meaning of family redefined, but the love two young girls forged into bonds of sisterhood will help them move forward as the women they were always meant to be.
9. "AN ISLAND CHRISTMAS" by Nancy Thayer (A+++++) As Christmas draws near, Felicia returns to her family’s home on the island to marry her adventurous, rugged boyfriend, Archie. Every detail is picture-perfect for a dream wedding: the snow-dusted streets, twinkling lights in the windows, a gorgeous red and white satin dress. Except a lavish ceremony is not Felicia’s dream at all; it’s what her mother, Jilly, wants. Jilly’s also worried that her daughter’s life with daredevil Archie will be all hiking and skydiving. Wondering if their handsome neighbor Steven Hardy might be a more suitable son-in-law, Jilly embarks on a secret matchmaking campaign for Felicia and the dashing stockbroker. As the big day approaches and Jilly’s older daughter, Lauren, appears with rambunctious kids in tow, tensions in the household are high. With the family careening toward a Yuletide wedding disaster, an unexpected twist in Nancy Thayer’s heartwarming tale reminds everyone about the true meaning of the season.
10. "ALONE IN THE DARK" by Karen Rose (Romantic Suspense #17) (Cincinnati #2) (new author for me) (A++++++) Homicide Detective Scarlett Bishop has seen enough bad guys slip through the cracks and too many innocent victims go unavenged to know good doesn't always prevail. So far she’s been able to lock away her rage and her vigilante fantasies. That lock is about to break. Former Army Ranger Marcus O'Bannion is a fierce champion of victims’ rights. His secret past gives him good reason. He believes he’s seen the depths of human depravity, but then his investigation into the murder of a young girl who once asked for his help lures him and Scarlett down a dark, dark road - and straight into the crosshairs of a dangerous, powerful underground ring that deals in human trade. To stop them, Scarlett and Marcus have to be just as cunning and just as ruthless. But first they have to make it out alive.
11. "SWEET ANGER" by Sandra Brown (A+++++) Television newscaster Kari Wynne blamed her shattered life on one man - D.A. Hunter McKee. He hadn't directly caused her husband's death, but he had destroyed his reputation. Still, the desire that exploded every time they met was almost overwhelming. Now, Kari will begin a desperate search for the truth about her husband's mysterious death...and about the man she wants to hate who somehow awakens within her the kind of passion she has never known before.
12. "THE CARE AND FEEDING OF UNMARRIED MEN" by Christie Ridgway (Wisegirls #2) (A++++) Eve Caruso keeps her finger on the pulse of Palm Springs and reports every spicy celebrity tidbit to her loyal readers. She knows everyone in this town - except that mysterious hunk who just strolled into the exclusive spa where she's conferring with hot new starlet Jemima Cargill. Nash Cargill - nicknamed "The Preacher" by all his rowdy friends - is here to protect his flighty sister from a stalker, not fall for a sexy society columnist. But Eve has the perfect name - she's wildly tempting. Nash should resist; after all, her luscious lips speak trouble, her two sisters are too interested in their affair, and the rest of her family defines "notorious." But Eve is more vulnerable than she seems, and Nash has never said "no" to a lady in distress.
13. "EVER AFTER" by Rachel Lacey (Love to the Rescue #3) (A+++++) Caught in the act...Olivia Bennett is not having a happy birthday. Instead of blowing out her twenty-nine candles, she's stuck in jail, caught red-handed in a graffiti incident that (perhaps) involved one too many strawberry margaritas. Worst idea ever. The only bright side is that she ended up in the strong arms of the most gorgeous lawman she's ever seen. Pete Sampson (aka Deputy Hot Stuff) faces intense pressure from the sheriff to find out who's behind a string of vandalisms. And after her spray-painting spree, Olivia is suspect number one. Still, Pete can't stop thinking about her. Wanting her. Now he's torn between his duty and his overpowering desire for the vivacious waitress. But he may have to bend the rules because true love is more important than the letter of the law.
14. "FOREVER THIS TIME" by Maggie McGinnis (Echo Lake #1) (new author for me) (A+++++++) Find your joy - Boston therapist Josie Kendrew is really good at mending everyone else's broken heart - just not her own. When she rushes home to Echo Lake after her father's stroke, Josie finds herself face-to-face with too many painful memories from the past, including the loss of her "little sister" and Ethan Miller, the boy she left behind. Ethan is now all man - and he has done wonders as CEO of Snowflake Village, the Kendrew family's Christmas-themed amusement park, which charms year-round visitors from all around New England. Suddenly, Echo Lake holds more than ghosts from the past. It also holds the possibility of a second chance at love. And never let go...Ethan's been picking up the pieces of the Kendrews' shattered family for as long as he can remember. But doing good isn't the same as being happy - and Ethan can't deny that the sweet, smart girl he once adored has beome a gorgeous woman he cannot resist. For both Josie and Ethan, it's a time of love and promise, and of finding the dreams they'd thought they had lost.
15. "WILD AT WHISKEY CREEK" by Julie Anne Long (Hellcat Canyon #2) (new author for me) (A+++++) Everyone knows the Greenleaf family puts the “Hell” in Hellcat Canyon - legend has it the only way they ever leave is in a cop car or a casket. But Glory Greenleaf has a different getaway vehicle in mind: her guitar. She has a Texas-sized talent and the ambition (and attitude) to match, but only two people have ever believed in her: her brother, who’s in jail, and his best friend...who put him there. Sheriff Eli Barlow has secretly been in love with Glory since he was twelve years old. Which is how he knows her head is as hard as her heart is soft - and why she can’t forgive him for fracturing her family...or forget that night they surrendered to an explosive, long-simmering passion. But when a betrayal threatens Glory’s big break, Eli will risk everything to make it right...because the best way to love the girl from Whiskey Creek might mean setting her free forever.
16. "ONE SUMMER" by David Baldacci (A+++++) It's almost Christmas, but there is no joy in the house of terminally ill Jack and his family. With only a short time left to live, he spends his last days preparing to say goodbye to his devoted wife, Lizzie, and their three children. Then, unthinkably, tragedy strikes again: Lizzie is killed in a car accident. With no one able to care for them, the children are separated from each other and sent to live with family members around the country. Just when all seems lost, Jack begins to recover in a miraculous turn of events. He rises from what should have been his deathbed, determined to bring his fractured family back together. Struggling to rebuild their lives after Lizzie's death, he reunites everyone at Lizzie's childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack will begin to learn to love again, and he and his children will learn how to become a family once more.

CURRENTLY READING - 

1. "Gastien: From Dream to Destiny" by Caddie Rowland (Gastien #2) (reading on an Kindle app on my computer)  
2. "Body Moves" by Jodi Ann Copeland (new author for me)  
3. "Lord of the Privateers by Stephanie Lauarens (Adventuers Quartet #4) (new author for me)  

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO -

1. "The Calamity Janes: Gina and Emma" by Sherryl Woods

The Life Before Us by Romain Gary. This turned out to be a good read. I read in the afterword of this book that Gary liked Henry Miller. This book was a little like Tropic of Cancer in style. Sort of rambling at times.

The Machine in the Garden by Leo Marx. This is one of those books I was supposed to read in college but never did.

Man at the Helm    Nina Stibbe

Who Wakes the Groundog? Ronald Rood

Rose in a Storm  Jon Katz

Alaska Bound     Michael Dixon 

Island Practice  Pam Belluck

Closing Time  Joe Queenan

Lost Cat Caroline Paul

Porch Lights by Dorothea Benton Frank - not a genre I usualyy read but here it is.  So far its pretty good.

Reading:

Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius Invention and Tragedy by David Lindley

The Visible Man by Chuck Klosterman

I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This by Bob Newhart

U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton

Finished:

Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home--A Memoir by Lise Funderburg

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Cathedral by Raymond Carver, short story book

November 11, 1963 by Adam Braver

The Keeper by Sarah Langan

Finished in July:  The Lake of Dreams   by: Kim Edwards

                          The New Tea Book - A Guide to Black, Green, Herbal, and Chai Tea  by: Sara Perry

                          Education of A Wandering Man  by: Louis L'Amour   for book club

                          Dark Places  by : Gillian Flynn

                          Inside the O'Briens  by: Lisa Genova

Currently Reading:  Band of Angels  by: Julia Gregson

Hope to Get To:      Your Friends And Mine  by: Kenny Rodgers  for book club  Our book club occaissionally decides to to do a reader's choice coffee table book

                             Life Sentences  by: Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

                             Friday Night Knitting Club  by: Kate Jacobs

                             Knit Two  by: Kate Jacobs

                             Knit The Season   by: Kate Jacobs'

Finished this month: The Heat Islands by Randy Wayne White--- When the most hated man on Sanibel Island is found dead, Doc Ford's friend is arrested for his murder.  Doc knows he couldn't have done it, so does a little investigating on his own. Love this series!

The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose by Susan Wittig Albert --- Several of the Darling Dahlias have things going on in their lives; Verna is suspected of embezzling money from the town, Ophelia has to find a job to pay for furniture she ordered from Sears & Roebuck, Bessie is trying to help Miss Rogers find out about her grandmother's pillow.  All the Dahlias are standing by each other through trying times.  A sweet look at the small town of Darling, Alabama during the Depression.

Death at Bishop's Keep by Robin Paige--- 1st in the Victorian Mystery series, interesting look at this time period and how people related to the hired help [some good, some bad]. Also a young American woman is brought to England by her aunt to act as her secretary, not knowing she writes "penny-dreadfuls" and is an amateur detective. Fun read.

True Blue by Luanne Rice --- Rumer Larkin is a veterinarian in Hubbard's Point, Jeb Mayhew is a retired astronaut who has brought his son back to Hubbard's Point to try to reconnect with him and, hopefully, with Rumer whom he had left years ago when he married her sister. Rice writes stories that speak to the heart.

The Alpine Betrayal by Mary Daheim--- Emma Lord is the editor & publisher of the Advocate, Alpine, Washington's local newspaper. A movie company comes to town at the same time the annual Loggerama is going on with it's wet T-shirt competition, loggers' competition and ..... murder. 

Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner  --- I didn't read this all the way through, something I seldom do, because I couldn't get past all the references to spiders and tarrantulas. I did, however, read the last chapter [again something I've never done before] to see how it ended. I like Lisa Gardner's books, but this one was just a little too much for me.

The Manning Sisters by Debbie Macomber --- Needed something light after the Gardner book!! This is one of Macomber's earlier books, but it was a fun read.  Two separate stories about Taylor Manning and Christy Manning, both city girls who end up in Montana and are drawn to two local men.

The Manning Brides by Debbie Macomber ---A good lesson in miscommunication and misunderstandings! Two of the Manning brothers fall in love with two women, one a "best friend" and one a sister-in-law. Both men are afraid to express their feelings, but so are the two women.

The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters --- Amelia and Emerson are once again in Egypt excavating in the Valley of the Kings. Ramses, David and Nefret complete the group, and as usual, trouble seems to find them.  The Master Criminal and others are suspects when bodies keep turning up.  A delightful series.

Currently reading: ---

Still chugging away at When We Fell.  Almost through.  On to Darksong Rising, the 3rd book in Modesitt's Spellsong Cycle.  FINALLY finished When We Fell (don't bother).  On to People of the Morning Star.

Judye

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. compelling read. Only 200pp. Couldn't put the thing down.

I am about 70 pages in to A Death In the Family by James Agee.  Supposed to be a minor American Classic.  Agee's writing is very minutely detailed, and often his paragraphs span a page and a half, which I personally find cumbersome.  But I am finding it readable and interesting so far.  Anyone else read this one?

It has been too many years since I read it. Hardly remember it. I was an American lit major so this was an obvious read for me. It didn't make much of an impression on me. I remember only a little of the plot. The father and the car. Maybe Let us Now Praise Famous Men might be better known.

It's nice to see people still reading old classics like this one.

Not Tonight Josephine by George Mahood. travel book. British guy and friend land in NY and buy a used car and drive across country to CA at which point friend must return to UK as his visa expires. Mahood returns to NY alone. lots of interesting people and incident as the trip progresses.

Charles--have you read any of George Mahoods other books? I think I may have found a new author to me that I may enjoy reading..........

No I have not. I notice the book that has the two guys walking away from the camera (can't think of the title but I think it has 'free' in there) has good reviews on amazon and one reviewer even said they liked it better than this book. I know it probably has nothing to do with anything but it put me off a little when I noticed his books are self published. That may be why there are a few typos scattered through the book. I only read Not Tonight Josephine because it was a travel book and the premise looked interesting to me. I don't anticipate reading any other of his books.

The New Shoe by Arthur Upfield. The author is Australian. a mystery set in Australia. very enjoyable. I'm about half way through. some red herrings so far. Police procedural sort of.

Finished last night. One of those books you hate for it to end. best book I have read in a while.

Whoredom in Kimmage by Rosemary Mahoney. barely started. reviews very good.

All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg. just started. I hope this will be good. I would like to read one of his other books. Ava's Man.

Currently reading "A Man Called Ove".  This is our book club selection for September. 

It is translated from Swedish.  At first the writing style was a little off, but I soon fell into the rhythm.

I am almost done. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars :)