Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

Harper Connelly has an unusual talent- she can locate dead people. Like a psychic in a murder investigation, she is distrusted and unwelcome, but her services are often valuable. Harper and her brother, Tolliver, are in Sarne, Arkansas to help find the body of a teenager gone missing. Sarne has secrets though, and it seems that someone doesn't want them uncovered.

I really enjoyed this book. Harper's "talent" is interesting and her character seems well developed. Her brother is a bit of a cliche, but I expect Harris will make him unique as the series progresses. I'm interested in seeing how she makes this into a series, as there are very few characters from this book that can reappear in the next. The mystery itself was a big thin, I definately knew the plot twist, and was 99% sure on who-dun-it. Regular mystery readers would know the minute the villian appears. I don't think this one was as good as the first Sookie Stackhouse mystery, but am more than that willing to keep reading.

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

Joanne Baldwin is a weather warden, part of a secret group of people who can control the weather and change the course of storms, fires, etc. The wardens live in our world and keep the general population from being wiped out by Mother Nature. She's on the run because she (sort of) killed someone, someone more powerful than her. She's trying to get to the only person who can help her, Lewis, who is also on the run.

This was a great book. The premise was completely new to me, and so the whole world Joanne lives in was interesting. Almost from the first page I was hooked. There's a little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance, and a lot of fast driving. This books isn't a heavy, serious book. It's a lot of fun, with a nice twist to the ending. I will definately be reading the rest of the series.

Another book Meme

I first saw this one over at Bookmark My Heart, but have since seen it, oh, everywhere.

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? Trade paperback. The size is perfect, but not to heavy. Plus, I like the way they look on my shelves.

Amazon or brick and mortar? Brick and Mortar, though I do love Amazon. It's way to easy to convince myself to add another book for the free shipping.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Barnes and Noble, but the closest one is 350 miles away. The closest Borders is 10 minutes away.

Bookmark or dogear? Bookmark! Or whatever random flat thing is handy. Lately I've been using a Christmas postcard in one book, a New Yorker subscription card in another, and a picture of my baby in a third.

Alphabetize by author or alphebetize by title or random? Fiction is alphabetized by author. Non-fiction is grouped by subject, but not alphabetized. Or this would be my ideal way of doing it. However. I share a house with someone who is not so picky, and books do not stay this way.

Keep, throw away, or sell? It would kill me to throw away a book. I used to keep everything, and sell nothing. Now I keep about half and trade the rest at http://www.paperbackswap.com/.

Keep dustjacket or toss it? Take if off to read the book, but don't toss it.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? Uh. I think I answered this already.

Short story or novel? Novel. I have been telling myself to read more short stories, and even ordering some, but I never seem to get around to them.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? Anthology. I can't see the point in short stories by one author. Might as well read a novel! Anthology is a good way to test a lot of new authors at once.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter. I just started in on my re-read in preparation for Book 7.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? Wherever. I have a tendency to stop in the middle of very intense passages (of any sort, emotional, suspenseful, anything). It's often overwhelming to me, and so I put the book down and reset my emotions. Sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for days. Wierd, I know.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? "Once upon a time"

Buy or Borrow? Buy. I'm bad at returning books on time. I like to pick when I get to read them, and not be constrained to 2 weeks.

New or used? Either.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? All of the above.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Tidy ending. I read two books in a row with cliffhangers one summer and it about killed me. (Roses are Red by James Patterson and A Perfect Evil by Alex Kava)

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? I rarely read in the morning, but I do read on my lunch break. I usually get the most reading in once the boys have gone to bed.

Standalone or series? I love series, but have nothing against a stand alone.

Favorite series? Stephanie Plum. Sookie Stackhouse. The In Death series. The beginning of the Anita Blake series.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald.

Favorite books read last year? Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison.

Favorite books of all time? Eat, Pray, Love. Gone With The Wind. The Little Prince. Heartbreak Hotel.

The TBR Challenge

Because I need more goals in life....

I signed up to participate in the TBR (to be read) challenge. Like a lot of bookish people, I have a lot of books that I've never gotten around to reading. Some of these books have been following me around for, uh, years. Some of them I got last summer, or last week, but there's always something more pressing when I go to select a new book. Yesterday I found a link to the challenge here. Signups are accepted til the end of the month, so hey, why not? Umm, cause I already signed up for the new author challenge? I decided that if my new authors were authors I've had collecting dust, all the better, right?

The rules of the challenge:

1. Pick 12 books that have been on the TBR pile (or in my case, piles) for more than 6 months.
2. Read one book a month in 2007, until the list is gone.
3. It is permissable to have an "extra credit" list of alternates, in case the original twelve aren't doing it for you.

Here's my list, in no particular order:


Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
The Eight by Katherine Neville
Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner
The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch by Marsha Moyer
Try by Lily Burana- FINISHED

My "Extra Credit"
Toddler Edited by Jennifer Margulis
The Imperfect Mom Edited by Therese J. Borchard
Katherine by Anya Seton
The Makeup Girl by Andrea Semple
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
The Dogs of Bedlam Farm by Jon Katz
The Shadow of the Wind by Carols Ruiz Zafon
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn


I will link this post to the icon on the left, and update as I get them read. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

A Note About Ratings

I've decided to try to rate books again. I tried this once and couldn't keep it up, it was Too Much Pressure. But since I've decided to review more, it only follows that I'll need to give a rating. I'm planning on something like this:

1/5- Didn't Finish
2/5- Not memorable, wouldn't recommend to anyone, won't seek out more by the author.
3/5- Good book, might read more by the author- if it looked interesting. Would recommend with reservation.
4/5- Really good, tell everyone about it, definately read more by the author.
5/5- A keeper, not to be traded. Find every book ever written by the author.

I'm guessing most books will fall in the 3/5 and 4/5 categories, with a handful of 1/5s. I want to keep it simple so that I don't spend a lot of time obessessing over how to rate it.

Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

I've heard a lot about Meg Cabot. The author of one of the blogs I read daily is her biggest fan. She wrote The Princess Diaries. How could I not have heard about her? Several weeks (ok, months) ago I purchased this book on the buy 3 for the price of 2 table at Borders. This is one of the few books I've bought new in months. It sat there forever, mocking me for paying money and then not reading it.

Last weekend I woke up before either boy. Mike was sleeping on the couch, Tristan was in his crib. I didn't want to wake either of them by wandering the house and the book I was supposed to be reading was in the living room, so I picked this one to fill in. Turns out, it was an excellent book. Very fast paced, very funny, easy to read.

Size 12 is Not Fat is the story of Heather Wells. Heather is a washed up former teen pop star (think Debbie Gibson). She's recently broken up with her fiance (think Justin Timberlake) and is broke. Her mom and manager ran away with her fortune and her dad is in prison. Heather takes a job as assistant director of a dorm, I mean, residence hall, at New York College. When the second freshman girl dies she becomes convinced that it is not accidental and the story takes off from there.

This was very like Nancy Drew for grownups. It's not a dead serious mystery, I'm sure any true mystery fan will know who-dun-it for the first time it's hinted at. Heather is a very likeable character. She's not perfect. She's a size 12. She makes mistakes. The story is told in her voice, and we hear her thoughts all the way through, including when her thoughts stray. I found it to be very easy to read, and will definately read more of Cabot's books. For a quick sample of her writing, her website and blog are here.

As I faint dead away...

Today as I was wasting a little time online I found this blog about books. Oh Yay! I thought, a new blog. So I started to click links and follow posts around and.... now I have TWENTY-SIX new bookmarks. ALL ABOUT BOOKS. A good many of them I have barely looked at, and, in fact, named the folder "blogs to explore later" but I can already tell you that there's some good stuff there! Keep your eyes open, I'll be adding a few links to the list at the left as well.

All these blogs about books are intimidating me a little, I must admit. I started this little blog of my own to do exactly what they are all doing- but they're all doing it better than I ever could! Yikes! I guess the only remedy is practice practice practice.

Of course, if I don't stop reading blogs and start reading books I'll never have anything to post about anyway.

Edited Jan.23 to add: ok, I keep going and going, I have 61 blogs. About books. Who needs sleep?

2007 New Author Challenge

I signed up to participate in the 2007 New Author Challenge over at Paperbackswap.com . The idea is that you read 26 new-to-you authors in one year. This didn't seem like it would be that hard. I just had to read 2 books a month, right? And since I read at least 40 books a year (and we ALL know that just cause you did it LAST year you'll do it again THIS year, right?) I figured I could read my 26 new authors and still have plenty of time to read my old favorites aroundthem.

Today is the 12th of January. I've read one book. At this rate I'm either not gonna get to read anything by a known author or not gonna meet the challenge. Someone kick me in gear!

New Year's Resolutions

Did you make any?

Here's mine:

• Spend less time online and more time reading/knitting/playing with the boy.
• Take the boy more places.
• Blog more (which would seem like more time online, but not if I cut out the CRAP.)
• Beat down some debt.
• Focus on Healthy, and not The Number.
• Clean ONE room of my house, every day.

I am also going to create some reading goals for myself this year, so stay tuned!

Year End Wrapup

I do this every year for my own amusement. It's a lot of fun for me to compare previous years and see how my habits change.

In 2006:

43 Books
13,055 pages

5 non-fiction
14 memoir
15 fiction, mostly paranormal or mystery
4 chick lit
5 romance

28 Publishers (the most going to St. Martin's Press and Ace Books with 5 each)

24 new to me authors:
Julie Powell
John Grogan
Julia Scheeres
Barbara Robinette Moss
Caroline Knapp
Maureen Corrigan
Lauren Winner
Joan Didion
Steven Levitt
Elizabeth Gilbert
Patricia Briggs
Kate Angell
Charlaine Harris
Jennifer Weiner
Cara Lockwood
Karyn Bosnak
Terry Ryan
Laura Fraser
Stephanie Lehmann
Sarah MacDonald
Emily Giffin
Caroll Spinney
Brain Wansink
Marlena De Blasi

Best books of the year:
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison
Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink

Most disappointing:
A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (it was ok, just not all it was hyped up to be.)
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan (again, it was ok, but I had really high hopes.)

Year of Publication:
2006-9
2005-14
2004-1
2003-7
2002-3
2001-4
2000-1
1999-1
1996-2
1992-1

I read the most books of any year since 2001.
I did not read a classic.
I read two memoirs from Southern authors- Jesus Land by Scheeres and Turn me into Zeus' Daughter by Barbara Robinette Moss
I read the most books by Charlaine Harris (6), also Southern.

Next year:
More fiction by men. Not ONE fiction book this year was by a male, and in fact only 4 of the 43 were written by men.

Read all the books I buy/acquire with a copywrite date of 2007 IN 2007. Try to catch up on the 2006s.

Review more of the books I read here.