Off the Shelf (Book shelf, that is)

(or, since school has started, maybe it's time for some book reports...)

I just love to read. Mostly novels - historical romance, science fiction/fantasy, mystery - Much to John's dismay, I can spend a WHOLE evening or a WHOLE weekend reading! Here are some of the most recent books that I have been reading.

I love Diane Mott Davidson - not only do you get a great murder mystery, but you get recipes to boot - and some of them are very good.

Murder follows Davidson's main character Goldy Schultz, around like it did Jessica Fletcher from the Murder She Wrote TV series - Who knew so many murders could happen in such a small town... In this book, the dead woman is not only a friend of Goldy's , but the daughter of her neighbor - who begs Goldy to find out who killed her daughter. As per usual, you are kept hopping and guessing as to who the murderer might be.

Here we have my all time favorite pair of shoes - a burgandy high heel - suede on one side, swirled into patent leather on the other - I gotta tell you, I only got to wear these shoes about 5 times, (before my bunion got so bad that I couldn't get them on), but I'm never going to give them up. They are the most gorgeous shoes I've ever owned and like Kathleen Turner said to Michael Douglas, in "Romancing the Stone" - "those were Italian" (of course he had just chopped the heel off, and proclaimed - "and now they're practical")

Anyhow, I digress... Last month, I went to a "Literature Live" reading at our local Independent Book Store, Village Books. The author, Christina Dodd, told about how she had gotten "where she was" (ie - 32 books in 15 years) and read us the first chapter of her newest book, "Trouble in High Heels" - OF COURSE I HAD TO BUY THE BOOK - how could I not after hearing the first chapter! It's a very fun read - and has a surprise ending! After I finished it, I logged into the B'ham Public Library web site and promptly checked out 4 more of her books. They were good - I need to take them back (before I get a past due fine) and get some more.

Although I've watched all the "Joe Leaphorn" movies on Public TV, I've never read any of Tony Hillerman's books. It was in my Literary Guild catalog for something like $4.59 - how could I pass it up? It was easy to imagine the characters as they are played on the TV - & Jim Chee gets a little romance in this one - luckily for him, ex-Officer Bernadette Manuelito, doesn't give up easily - I think I may have to find some more Hillerman books to read.

Of course I've read a whole bunch of Nora Roberts - she's "repackaged" alot of her earlier Harlequin Romance novels in twos or threes (some of the family stories or trilogies) - pretty sneaky - what a money maker that is - she's already sold them once 20 years ago, now she's selling them again! And I'm buying 'em - Go figure.

I've also read a couple of books this summer, by a woman who is a new Shetland Sheep breeder - Syne Mitchell wrote four really enjoyable Science Fiction novels in the late '90's & 2002 - she is a great story teller and her characters are very compelling - her books can only be found in "used" book stores now, but Powell's books in Portland had all four - Here's her web site - read the first chapters of her books - it will leave you wanting more - http://www.sff.net/people/syne/index.htp

My sister Merrill just sent me "The Alpine Escape" by Mary Daheim. It falls "in the middle" of Daheim's twenty Emma Lord, Alpine mysteries - alphabetically named, like the Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries. It really kept my interest and had some great characters - certainly bears looking into some more of her books.

Well, have I bored you to death? Hope not - I hope this will make you want to put on a pot of tea and curl up under a nice fleece blanket with your favorite book...good reading!

OOPS! I forgot Debbie Macomber's newest book "6 Rainier Drive" Just finished that one today at lunch!