Ooooh, The Last Aloha looks good!  Just wishlisted it.  That reminds me, I should probably move Michener's Hawaii up to the top of the TBR pile.  I've been wanting to read it forever.

Hitting my hold shelf any day now,

A novel based on the Donner Party - a group of more than 80 pioneers who were snowbound in 1846 in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, during which some of them resorted to cannibalism - is narrated through the hauntingly imagined journal entries and letters of Tamsen Donner.

Cathy, I picked up the ARC of that book at B&N.  I was thinking I would read it after Aztec.

I love tales of the wagon trains and old California so I'm excited about it. There's another book I read once on the Donner party but it was in a diary type format for the most part and really suffered because of that.

Okay, I broke down and ordered and pre-ordered some MORE books (not all are HF):

Pre-orders:

The Mysterium by P C Doherty

Heartstone by C J Sansom

Lost River by Stephen Booth

and, of course, I have A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin (and Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly) on the way next month.

Coming soon, I hope:

The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick

The Kings in Winter by Cecelia Holland

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner

Recently received:

The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley

The Proud Villeins by Valerie Anand

And, of course, Mists of Avalon and A Reliable Wife will be coming froma couple of dear HF forum members!

NOW! To find the time to read them!!!

Oh and this is funny and really optimistic: I pre-ordered the PB of To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick - won't be available for something like 445 days!!!

Sounds like you're having fun, Jeanne!

I just preordered The Captive Queen by Allison Weir and Cleopatra's Daughter in PP from Book Depository.  Both will be available in 19 days and both were 50% off. They're not being released in the US until July.

Cathy - What's the name of the Donner party book? I can't make it out and when I click on it, the link doesn't work.

Hi Shelley, I didn't know I put a link in there. Just copied the image off of Amazon

It's called Impatient with Desire by Gabrielle Burton. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401341012?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401341012&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Shelley, speaking of the book on the Donner party (Impatient with Desire) it's a DNF. It's a fictional journal of Tamsen Donner, and since I've read a book based on journal/diary of one of the Reed girls I wasn't getting anything new or fresh.

Landing on my library hold shelf any day now,

I loved Moloka'i.  Good story and quite informative.

Cathy, I read 2  non-fiction books on the Donner party that were excellent.  I purchased them at the Donnor Museum in the early 90's.  My husband and I were camping at Lake Tahoe and went there on a day trip.  I remember reading by flash light in the tent at night.  I cannot remember the names of them.  I have Snow Mountain Passage on my TBR, which is about the Donner Party.  It has decent reviews.

I think I have read Snow Mountain Passage but will have to go visit the Ammy page to be sure.

The Donner Party fascinates me.  I have Snow Mountain Passage on my bookshelf. 

I treated myself today at the bookstore. Bought Wolf Hall, Rebels and Traitors and The Lovely Bones (not HF). I already started Wolf Hall.

Genie - Let me know what you think of Wolf Hall.  I'm about 200 pages into it, and I can't decide if I like it or not. I posted my thoughts in the current "what are you reading this month" thread.  I really liked it at first, but now I'm finding it somewhat boring and slow moving, and I don't know if the author's style is for me. 

Shelly, I responded in the Whacha Reading thread.

I've been in such a slump for the past couple of months for personal reasons. Fortunately, things have been looking up lately and I have found my mood affecting my willingness to spend money on books. Odd how that works. Good mood = spend. Bad mood = save. Hmm?

Anyhoo, I just bought my first batch of books outta the PBS Marketplace. I thought I got a pretty good deal. I used credits to offset the purchase.

I bought:

• The Isle of Stone by Nicholas Nicastro
• The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
• Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors

All for $17, including shipping. Woohoo!

Sigh.....

So I win a copy of Hester on LT's early give aways. It never comes and never comes and finally the library gets some in. I've read it and reviewed it. Can you all guess what came in today's mail? This is the second time this has happened, you have to wonder how *early* these publishers want people looking at their books.

I only ever won an "early review copy" once on LT, but it took more than 4 months to arrive. By the time I received it, I had forgotten about it. LOL. I did review it though.

Well, I think that I had a red letter day! We took our visiting guests from Rhode Island to Tombstone and returned to find the mail box just chock full! I got Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks; A Reliable Wife from our own dear Shelley; Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick from the book Depository! Wow, what could be better?!!

Jeanne, awesome haul.

Genie, I shake my head at how long these take considering they want the word out early.

I also got The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn via Amazon Vine.

<<I pre-ordered the PB of To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick - won't be available for something like 445 days!!!>>

Jeanne, you get this from Book Depository in 44 days and it's 50% off with free shipping.  It's available May 6, 2010
To-Defy-a-King

Go, Donna! See, Jeanne, ya just gotta ask your girls where to buy books.

I planned to thank Donna about the info she provided and to thank her for having my best interests at heart -Thank you Donna!

When I checked this out at Book Dep, the copy that is ready in 45 days is the HC copy. I ordered the PB and it's not ready for 485 Days!!! I don't know if I can change my order there or not as I've never done that before. If I can't, that won't be a problem as I most likely won't have the time to get to it until then -IF then!!

Waiting for me on the hold shelf. All I know about the Lide book is it's about William the Conqueror in his youth. I think.