SaraPepparkaka

Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed "Waking the witch"- I ordered it and it should be on it's way here even as I type. I think it might arrive today to the post office, but I won't be able to pick it up from there until tomorrow.

Well, Kylie, if 3-4 books were going to cheer you up, then imagine what 20 will do! You will be bouncing!

I've read many of Alexander McCall Smiths books, but I'm not up to date on any of his series. I like reading about 44 Scotland Street best, then comes Isabel Dalhousie, then The no 1 detective. For 3/4 of "La's Orchestra" it was lovely, and full of the little philosophical thoughts about everyday things that I like reading so much. Then either the book or me lost focus.

Two more books read. "The secret passion of Simon Blackwell" by Samantha James and "La's orchestra saves the world" by Alexander McCall Smith. The first one is a romance in the tradition of "he had to marry me because he's an honorable man, but I'm sure he doesn't love me". And in this case I was inclined to agree, but the author insists that He loves Her, and they lived happily ever after. But bonus points for not making his previous marriage an unhappy one, and instead really facing the problem of being wife number two. I was a bit unhappy about the ending of book number two as well I was perfectly happy with 3/4 of the book, though. Maybe he was just in a rush to finish it?

My reading this week: "Red Riding Hood" by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright and David Leslie Johnson. I was on a business trip to Helsinki, walked pas the bookshop in the airport, and walked out again with this book. It has a vague sort of YA feel to it. Other than that, it has some of the complicated relationships I enjoy. It's not really fairytale-like unfortunately, but a fast read for me. 3 or 3,5 of 5.

Chrissy, so glad you liked "Neverwhere"! It's one of my all time favourites!

"Rivers of London" is now on my wishlist!

Proud to add a book for Zimbabwe, "An Elegy for Easterly", a collection of short stories by Petina Gappah. The collected short stories gave the impression of a choir, where each voice descibed their part of something whole, perhaps of Zimbabwe.

I DID read Amanda Quick number 4 (Ravished) before I went on to something else. That something else was indeed Kajsa Ingemarsson, whose books don't seem to be translated to English. But as far as I could see, they are translated to German, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish. This one was called "Wheel of fortune", and tells us the story of three unlikely friends, brought together by the thrilling fact that a fortune teller moves into the neighborhood. A nice feelgood novel. Then I just finished "An Elegy for Easterly" by Petina Gappah. She's from Zimbabwe, so this will be added to the UN challenge. It was about time I added something to that challenge, and I'm happy to cross Zimbabwe off my list.

Hello Rose's mojo, don't run away again!

Vodkafan, I have a theory about the dreadful murders and miserable situations in at least some Scandinavian books lately. It's precisely because life in general is safe and Swedish and Norwegian people in general seem to have a positive view of things, that they are able to write these very scary books. For them, it's pure fiction, even if they can imagine it, it doesn't mean they really can IMAGINE any of it happening in their own lives. And why I think that is because when my own life feels unsafe I read "safe" books. Which for me generally means I read romance books. See how it works- when I'm a tiny bit worried about a doctor's appointment, I read Amanda Quick novels for the entire week! Pickle- no I haven't read any Jayne Anne Krentz books actually. I would enjoy them I suppose. On the other hand, it's good to have something left to read in the future. And something I'm reasonably sure I won't dislike, no less.

Have been reading Amanda Quick this week. Three of them, to be precise. Started off with "I thee wed", then went on to "Surrender" and finished off today with "Wait until midnight". I did not like the hero in "Surrender", I must say. I may even put that book up for adoption on Bookmooch, since the mystery also left a bit to wish for. "Wait until midnight" was the best of the lot. I still have one unread Amanda Quick left on my shelf, but I may read something else in between. Or not. I have a book by Swedish author Kajsa Ingemarsson, too, that I'm looking forward to. Do you know, she doesn't write mysteries at all, not a murder or a police officer in sight. One does wonder if she IS Swedish. In the only other book that I've read by her, the main character was a writer of detective stories, though. Anyway, I liked that book, and when I saw one by her in the second-hand bookshop, I decided to buy it.

Here I was saying in my personal thread how little I'm reading, and then this week/weekend I've read no less than three books. I continued with Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" series, part two is called "Pretties", and it was a good read, and somehow had even more substance to it than part one. I like that in a series, that it seems like the characters really develop and change. Then, as many YA series, the book ended with a cliffhanger, and THAT I'm not so fond of. If the book is good, I don't really need to be manipulated into reading the next one. Lead me not into temptation, I can walk by myself. Other than that I have grown more fond of Tally, and of the fact that this book really does an attempt to describe that nothing is just black or white, that mostly life consists of different shades of grey. And dystopia, what's not to like about dystopia! Then, on and off I've read "Black house" by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and finally finished it this week. It's the sequel to "The Talisman", a book I remember liking when I read it many many years ago. Now this sequel didn't really keep my attention, but I also didn't have a lot else to read. It's nothing like "The Talisman", there were some good characters, for example Henry Leyden, the blind DJ, but it just wasn't the same now that Jack Sawyer was all grown up. The best books Stephen King has written are the ones where the main characters are children/almost teenagers, at least I think so. I did like how the book ended, though. And then, a little cosy mystery in an embroidery shop, "The quick and the thread" by Amanda Lee. Can't really say much about that other than it was easy to read while I was worrying about other things. Like the house full of guests for the weekend. But the weekend did have some treats as well, another weekend for the boys practising band playing, so we were treated to a concert today. Big brother is really taking to the base guitar, and has really developed a lot this year. Little brother said, "Mum did you hear I was playing really loud!" (he plays electric guitar). "Yes" I said. "It was real easy, I just played as fast and loud as I could, wasn't I good mum!" "It certainly looked like you were having a good time" says diplomatic mum.

I feel the same way about Elena- she's not my favourite character. Which one IS your favourite then?

Am at work. Just ate a banana. Slow day today..

I admire you for the project, Janet! I need to sort through my books sometime soon, too, and decide which ones to keep and which ones to give away. I keep a number of books that I hope my husband will like to read some day (I have never quite given up hope that he will one day become a reader), but since space is limited, some of those books may have to go.

Now I've read the Jo Nesbo book that my husband brought home from Norway, "Panserhjerte". The thing is, I was really not in the mood for Norwegian misery. So I won't say much about the book other than that I would probably have thought it a bit too long even if I had been in the right mood for it.

A book that wasn't a slow read: "The iron duke" by Meljean Brooks. It came highly recommended, and steampunk combined with romance, well, let's just say, that should be precisely my cup of tea. But it was a 3/5 book, well worth the time invested (and a fast read it was), but nothing THAT special.

Finally something to add here! And it's an interesting one! "The Tokaido Road" by Lucia St Clair Robson. This is the story of a girl whose father was executed, and it takes place in feudal Japan. She is determined to avenge her father's death, and to do that she must travel the Tokaido road from Edo to Kyoto. Many people are out to stop her, and none of them are what they seem. Friends turn out to be enemies and enemies turn out to be friends. This was, for some reason, a book I needed to read slowly. This isn't ideal for me, but in this case it did work, I didn't feel like starting another book or anything, and I will have a lot of nice quotes to put in my book. It's also a very poetic book, so if you have even the slightest of interest in feudal Japan, and is a little bit fond of poetry, then this is a book for you.

Heh, I read the posts about friends and reading, and realized I don't have a friend I couldn't take to the library with me. Not many of them read as much as I do, but still. I find readers in the most unlikely places. Generally they own cats too. They certainly own cats if they are friends I've known since we were children.

Breakfast. A cup of tea and some dark rye bread, delicious. Also not in a hurry anywhere so breakfast is an overall nice experience today.

Also, I may have been born in the wrong place in the wrong time. It seems I should live in a crumbling old building with a huge library, and a neglected park. Oh well, I do aspire to that, even if our house isn't OLD old, being from the late 1970's, but I certainly neglect the garden, and I DID get my husband to put up those bookshelves for me- they turned out quite nicely! (I wonder if he really knows how grateful I am for them..)

Well, my reading this week is "Reckless" by Amanda Quick, I truly do see the formula, I did almost immediately see the formula the books are written after, it's just I have a thing for precisely that sort of hero. So I enjoyed it! The second book read is "I capture the castle" by Dodie Smith. This is a pearl. It's full of all the things I love: books, crumbling buildings, charmingly complicated people who do unexpected things, and last but not least true love (and rarely does it follow a formula like in the "Reckless" book ). I see on the cover it's been made into a film. I cannot imagine how, and I don't think I will ever see it. I think the film would be terribly sentimental, and the book really isn't, and all the better for it.

Well, if the book was calling to you there's not much else to do! Happy reading!