Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather
by Jacqueline Winspear

Finished! I wish I could cross it off a list, but I just read it for fun. Not a book-club, not a challenge, not for school.
Actually, maybe I'm glad it's not on a list of any kind. There is a point of being too regimented. (I'll never see that point, but..... )

It was a great "classic" mystery novel, with a heroine I fell in love with.
The second in the Maisie Dobbs series, it is set somewhere between the 1st and 2nd world wars. The aftermath of WWI in England, is as central to the story/series as the mystery itself.

Ack!! I tried, but I cannot write a review. I feel too much pressure....like I'm in school.
Now I can write a "column" anytime.... a column where I can meander and talk about random things that mean nothing much, but then they all come together at the end. But, a book review, no.

I liked the book.
The ending left me wanting to know more about what's going to happen in Maisie's life.
If you've read it, leave me a comment and let me know how you liked it.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

from "The Big Love" by Sarah Dunn.
page 55.

I was going to say that he and Kate Pearce deserved each other. I was going to warn him that she was going to leave him again, just like she had the first time, and he'd better not come crawling back to me, because I won't take him back, not in a million years, not for all the tea in China, not if he was the last man on earth.

*****

TBR Challenge

I'm late....it's the last day of March and I'm signing up for the 2009 TBR challenge.
The challenge is to read 12 books in 12 months...from your TBR pile (to be read pile).
I'll have to play catch up a little bit, because I only have 9 months left.

I belong to 2 book-clubs where we meet monthly and we all read the same book, and also a quarterly book-club where we do the same.
I've made my own decision not to include any books from the book-club lists on this challenge.

Here is my list:

Can you read the titles?

1. Dead Irish by John Lescroart
2. What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
3. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
4. The Big Love by Sarah Dunn
5. Love Walked In by Marisa De Los Santos
6. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
7. The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan
8. The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
9. We're Just Like You, Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark
10. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
11. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
12. Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

If you want to play fast and furious "catch up" reading like me, go here and join the fun.

My husband, just noticed me choosing, stacking and taking a pic of these 12 books. He asked when I had to have the challenge done. I said, by the end of December. He laughed and said "no problem".
I hope so.....

Musing Monday: Lists

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about recording your reading…Do you keep track of what and/or how many books you read? How long have you been doing this? What's your favorite tracking method, and why?If you don't keep track, why not?

Great Question! If you want to play along go here and join in.

*******
I have been a reader for most of my life. I have been a collector of books for most of my life. I have been a library user for most of my life. But it wasn't until just a few years ago, when I started reading series mysteries and/or suspense novels with returning characters, did I begin to keep track of them.

Interestingly, the mystery novels are the only ones I "list". I started doing it, so that I if I was ever at a yard sale, or used book store, I could pick up the "very next one in line" of the many, many mysteries I want to read. (I only read a mystery novel every 3rd or 4th book mind you, and I have to read them in order, so this could take me forever, as the list is quite long.)

On the Library Thing, I have cataloged over 426 books. I have these in my home along with probably 50 more that I have purchased over the last year.
And this does not include my "children's library closet". (now that the idea of listing all my books, or all my books read has taken seed inside my brain...who knows what I'll be doing with my free time this year. Making lists? )

Because I wanted this list of mystery books with me....it is in a little notebook that I have carried around with me for the past 3-4 years. Needless to say it has gotten pretty beat up. And because I grew up knowing nothing of the techo-revolution, I still keep my notebook/list by hand. Kind of.
I did print off lists of books by author and then stick them in the notebook.

And I have a color-coded system.... yellow highlite means I own them, blue means I've read them.

Let me show you.......

First, the front of my notebook, with sticky note attached. The sticky note has the name of a book I want to look for.

Inside cover

scraps of paper with new authors and books that "might" make it into the notebook, if they are worthy. (the trouble with that, is there are always new books, new authors I hear about. I end up with many scraps of paper)

First page

Notice these are in ALPHABETICAL order.....

Middle

Some of my favorite authors!!! The Bloodhound mysteries....great!

At the end is a list of books that one of my book-clubs has read since the beginning of our group. It began typed and then I just started writing them in.

And that is how I list some of my books. Old-school. LOL

and here we are at the end of my notebook with more scraps of paper slipped in!

Good Books/Good Eats

Supper and Book-Club

We met and discussed "The Lace Reader" by Brunonia Barry, last Thursday. It was my choice.
I hadn't read it before I made the choice for my book-club.
I know that a lot of people choose a book they have previously read...they want to make sure it's a good book.
But "good" is pretty subjective if you ask me. (see this post)

I used you...the book blogging community to make my choice, and you did me good.
I chose a book that seemed "hot" on all the book blogs a few months ago, and the fact that Barry self-published at first, and used the Internet to promote her book to book groups around the country, intrigued me.

I'll cut to the chase, because while I'm an avid reader, I'm a horrible reviewer. I liked the book. As did everyone at the book-club who read it. There were 8 of us at the book-club and 5 of us had read it. All 5 of us really enjoyed the book...and after the night was over, I think we convinced the other 3 to give it a try.

If I had a footnote that said "if you liked this, you might like this"
I would say, that if you like "The Lace Reader," you might like "The Double Bind" by Chris Bohjalian. There was a common theme, that is not apparent until the very end.
Both of these books are good. I think you will enjoy them.

And my bookmark for Monday....
It was in my Christmas Card, from my friend Ruth.

Eleanor Roosevelt. What an amazing woman. The photo of her on the bookmark is a stamp in "mint" condition. a 20 cent stamp.... they must have issued this quite some time ago.

Book club photos and a link to what the supper was for book-club evening. (my other blog--click on the link--it's food.)

There really were books there! As well as my book-club friends. It was Renee's birthday so we bought her a book...what else?

A girl after my own heart

A Girl after my own heart.

Last night we went to a potluck/birthday party. A nice excuse to get together with friends, as it's been a while... we all have such busy schedules.

It was a really nice/fun evening, but my favorite part was this... our friend's daughter...in the midst of a family birthday party was reading a book.
She didn't want to miss out on the fun, but her heart belongs to a book!

A Girl after my own heart! I just love her.

Booking Thru Thursday

This week's Booking Through Thursday question is:

“What’s the best ‘worst’ book you’ve ever read — the one you like despite some negative reviews or features?”

okay...this is the hardest question I've ever had.
Books are totally subjective. What I might consider bad, you might not and visa-versa.

10 minutes have passed since I began to write this, and as much as I try, I can't think of a best worst book that I've read.

Some mysteries are hard to get thru. And I love a good mystery, but for the most part, they do follow a formula. I mean, 95% of the time, the good guy wins. That is why you have to have great character development in series mysteries.
But they're not "bad" books... I love them.
I think formula books in general, are not great pieces of literature.... I am thinking specifically about children's books.... The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Babysitters Club, The Goosebumps. All not great, but what a fan base!!

um......
one time, in a hurry at a book store, I accidentally picked up a "gay" book which I ended up really liking. It was a good book. I'm sure some people would think of it as a "bad' book, but that's probably based on a belief system and not on how well it was written or not. It was a really good story. (I cant' even remember the name of it now).

Twilight keeps popping up in a lot of people I survey (my daughter in law my friend, my co-worker).

Hard question this week!
It's subjective.