59, 60, 61, 62

I was in Alberta earlier this fall and my wonderful hosts sent me home with a suitcase FULL of books! I finally had some time to start reading.

Expiration Date by Eric Wilson is the story of a man who has fallen on hard times. Returning home to live with his parents (and get his life sorted out) he meets a woman on the bus who makes a strange promise to him. Soon the hero finds that by touching the skin of those he comes into contact with their death date is revealed to him. There's a side story that involves Russian royalty, and all in all the story reminded me a lot of Frank Peretti. An intersting and fast paced read.

Next up was Stole Lives by Brian Reaves. This one is a story of revenge, grace and redemption. Interestingly though both of these books were written by Christians, neither really bashes you over the head with the salvation story - which I like. In fact, both of these stories were probably meant to appeal to non-Christians but hook them into finding more about Christianity. Just a guess. Another good story, this one had me reading as fast as I could to find out what happened.

Months ago another friend of mine leant me two books from an author she's recently become addicted to. I finally remembered I had her books and read them. Even Now and Ever After by Karen Kingsbury. Honestly, just from reading the backs of the books, these aren't my kind of stories. And after reading them, I can say they're well written and interesting, but the kind of thing I would have read about 20 years ago. Still, they now I can say I've read KK and I know I probably won't seek her out.

57 & 58

Hmn, somewhere along the line I stopped blogging about books as I read them.

After I finished Playing with Fire, I devoured the other book I'd bought by him. By happy chance I'd picked up the two books that followed the PR book I read this summer. And even odder, I read them in sequence. So Strange Affair was the third of his books and I have to admit, I'm hooked. Britmystery along the lines of PD James or Ruth Rendell.

I feel like I quickly read another book before I had to start on the book for our book club. As I haven't quite finished that, I won't mention it yet. Suffice it to say it was last month's book and I'm still not quite done! However, I've recommitted to reading all the books I started this year and haven't finished (unless they were rubbish) so there's a stack of them waiting for me. After book club meeting, I finished Early Days by Miss Read.

Then it was on to Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan Lake. EXCELLENT book, though I almost feel like I need to read it again and not be so emotional about it this time.

56

I picked up a Peter Robinson mystery earlier this year. It was a British mystery and pretty good as I recall. So when I saw two more of his mysteries for $1 each this weekend, I snapped them up. Asked the girl at the desk to forgive me my fluffy choices, but I needed them for the plane. She seemed quite offended and said he definitely wasn't fluff...and after reading "Playing with Fire" I agree. Peter Robinson can spin a mystery with the best of them. And unlike a lot of mystery writers, his stories aren't too easy to figure out. There's lots of spins and turns, but because of how he narrates his stories, they're not annoying. In fact, they're kind of natural. The sort of thing that really would happen if you were investigating the murder.

So I didn't read a KK book after all, but I think this was well worth the detour.

55

What a black hole September was...I re read The Cellist of Sarajevo for my book club. That took a lot longer than I wanted it to. Though I do think it was worth it.

Then I picked up The Geographer's Library. By the first page I was completely hooked...although I really thought the book was going one way and it turned out to be very similar to a Da Vinci Code type of story. Awesome, awesome story if you like those sort of stories. Which I do.

Next I'm going to try some Karen Kingsbury....

53 & 54

My inlaws know how much I love to read so they stocked my room here with books. I have no idea how I'm supposed to read them all considering how busy they've been keeping us! However...

The first book was The Lazarus Trap by Davis Bunn. It was a sort of Bourne Identity story, but clean. Written by a Christian, but not overtly Christian. And a good story.

The second one is the first of a trilogy by Melanie MOREY Jeschke. Yes Morey, just like me. The book is called Inklings and it's very Christian and not my usual type of book. Sappy romantic. But hey, it's a good holiday read!

51 & 52

Phantom Prey by John Sanford

This one was surprisingly good for a crime novel picked up from the little store on the beach. I had brought Friday Night Knitting Club and just couldn't get into it. So I bought this. Think I finished it that day too.

I tried to read FNKC for another week or so and it just wasn't doing it for me. So I read the end. And even after finding out the terrible thing that happens and the sappy ending I just didn't care about anyone in the book. So I traded it in.

And picked up Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble. And really, REALLY enjoyed it. Plus, it's written by a Brit so all the britishisms sounded authentic. AHHHH

49-50

Oh man. Ever since I joined a book club earlier this spring, I've been trying to branch out with my reading. I walk into a bookstore and try to find books that I think are book club worthy...or at least out of my normal range of reading. I bought myself a little book case which I keep next to my room and anything that might be interesting goes there on my To Read pile.

A few months ago I picked up 39 Steps. The book is a little Jeeves and Woosterish in that it's the story of a rich young man who is bored with life. He's returned to England after working in mining in South Africa and is finding British society life just a little tedious. He decides that if nothing exciting comes his way within the next few days he will return to South Africa.

That's when adventure comes into his life in a big way. You can read more about the novel and the author here. Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed this book and this style (the author himself calls it a Shocker novel, popular in the early 20th Century.)

Another book I picked up on a whim was I Capture the Castle. The cover of the book was gorgeous and the tag on the front said, "The acclaimed novel is now the most romantic novel of the year." I'd never heard of it, but that intrigued me. Here's what the back of the book says, "I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen - year old Cassandra and her family, who live in not so genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives over six turbulent months to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny, yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry she has "captured the castle" - and the heart of the reader - in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments."

Even though this book is set in the early 20th Century, I thought it had been written recently. I'm not sure why. And while this book reminded me of Pride and Prejudice (Cassandra and her sister joke that they are Brontesque Austen characters), the story is original and charming and I was really sad to finish it. Oh. And it was written in 1948. In case you're wondering. And here's something else that shocked me. Dodie Smith (the author) wrote the novel, The Hundred and One Dalmations. I didn't even know it was a book!