These past six months or so, I’ve really been getting a lot of use out of my library card. Ever since I signed up for Library Elf, that wonderful service that sends out reminder emails about books coming due or overdue, I’ve even managed to keep my library fines down to a minimum (you don’t want to know about the arm and the leg I paid to my library before I discovered Library Elf – and I have no excuse, not really, because there’s a branch of the library within a few blocks of my house).

(If you’re not using Library Elf, I definitely recommend you check it out and see if your library is listed with them.)

I discovered a few months ago that my library offers monthly newsletters that feature their latest acquisitions in a variety of genres. I’ve signed up for several of these newsletters, and always look forward to getting these emails – I’m always sure to add a few more holds to my library account.

Yesterday came with a flurry of these emails. The books listed in them aren’t necessarily new releases – often they are just “new to us” acquisitions. And of course, I placed several holds!

The Crossroads, by Chris Grabenstein. I’m not sure why this showed up in the new books for teens newsletter, actually, as I’d already borrowed it once previously (but then got stuck under an avalanche of deadlines and had to return it unread). It’s by Chris Grabenstein, who writes the John Ceepak mystery series for adults, which I really enjoy.

Zack, his dad, and new stepmother have just moved back to his father’s hometown, not knowing that their new house has a dark history. Fifty years ago, a crazed killer caused an accident at the nearby crossroads that took 40 innocent lives….

The Brightest Star in the Sky, by Marian Keyes. I think I’ve read one Keyes novel in the past – I seem to remember I enjoyed it. The storyline in The Brightest Star in the Sky sounded very intriguing. Since Keyes is such a popular author, it will be a while before I get my hands on this one.

The Brightest Star in the Sky follows seven neighbors whose lives become entangled when a sassy and prescient spirit pays a visit to their Dublin townhouse with the intent of changing at least one of their lives.

But what will this metamorphosis be and who will the sprite choose? There’s Matt and Maeve, the newlyweds struggling to overcome the first obstacle in their storybook romance; Lydia, the brassy but vulnerable cabbie; Katie, the just-turned-forty PR executive searching for a more gratifying life; and the eldest resident, Jemima, currently playing hostess to her son Fionn, who is in town to star as the hunky gardener in a hot new television show.

The Book of Tomorrow, by Cecelia Ahern. I haven’t read Ahern’s P.S. I Love You, but I did enjoy the movie (much more so the second time around, when I knew what had happened – I think I went through a whole box of tissue paper that time). The Book of Tomorrow sounds quite interesting:

Tamara Goodwin has always got everything she’s ever wanted. Born into a family of wealth, she grew up in a mansion with its own private beach, a wardrobe full of designer clothes, a large four poster bed complete with a luxurious bathroom en-suite. She’s always lived in the here and now, never giving a second thought to tomorrow. But then suddenly her dad is gone and life for Tamara and her mother changes forever. Left with a mountain of debt, they have no choice but to sell everything they own and move to the country to live with Tamara’s Uncle and Aunt. Nestled next to Kilsaney Castle, their gatehouse is a world away from Tamara’s childhood. With her mother shut away with grief, and her aunt busy tending to her, Tamara is lonely and bored and longs to return to Dublin. When a travelling library passes through Kilsaney Demesne, Tamara is intrigued. She needs a distraction. Her eyes rest on a mysterious large leather bound tome locked with a gold clasp and padlock. With some help, Tamara finally manages to open the book. What she discovers within the pages takes her breath away and shakes her world to its core.

Murder at Longbourn, by Tracy Kiely. I couldn’t resist this cozy-sounding murder mystery, although on reading the summary, I’m not sure where Jane Austen comes into play …

A die-hard fan of Jane Austen novels and the traditional English mystery, Tracy Kiely has combined elements of both for this truly delightful and witty debut. Planning New Year’s resolutions to rid her life of all things unhealthy, Elizabeth Parker has dumped fatty foods, processed sugar, and her two-timing boyfriend. Indeed, the invitation to join her Aunt Winnie for a How to Host a Murder Party on New Year’s Eve at Winnie’s new Cape Cod B and B comes just in time. But when the local wealthy miser ends up the unscripted victim, Elizabeth must unearth old secrets and new motives in order to clear her beloved aunt of suspicion.

The Taken, by Inger Ash Wolfe. This is the sequel to The Calling, which I haven’t read yet either – a copy of The Calling is available on the shelves, so I’m going to get a hold of it and get it read before this hold on The Taken comes my way. It was actually the summary of The Calling that made me decide to give this series a try.

From The Calling:

Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef has lived all her days in the small town of Port Dundas, Ontario and is now making her way toward retirement with something less than grace. Hobbled by a bad back and a dependence on painkillers, and feeling blindsided by divorce after nearly four decades of marriage, sixty-one-year-old Hazel has only the constructive criticism of her mother (the former mayor) and her own sharp tongue to buoy her. But when a terminally ill woman is gruesomely murdered in her own home, Hazel and her understaffed department must spring to life. And as one terminally ill victim after another is found, Hazel finds herself tracking a truly terrifying serial killer while everything around her spins out of control.

Through the cacophony of her bickering staff, her unsupportive superiors, a clamoring press, the town’s rumor mill, and her own nagging doubts, Hazel can sense the dead trying to call out. Will she hear them before it’s too late?

From The Taken:

Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef is having a bad year. After major back surgery, she has no real option but to move into her ex-husband’s basement and suffer the humiliation of his new wife bringing her meals down on a tray. As if that weren’t enough, Hazel’s octogenarian mother secretly flushes Hazel’s stash of painkillers down the toilet.

It’s almost a relief when Hazel gets a call about a body fished up by tourists in one of the lakes near Port Dundas. But what raises the hair on the back of Micallef ’s neck is that the local paper has just published the first installment of a serialized story featuring such a scenario. Even before they head out to the lake with divers to recover the body, she and DC James Wingate, leading the police detachment in Micallef ’s absence, know they are being played. But it’s not clear who is pulling their strings and why, nor is what they find at the lake at all what they expected. It’s Micallef herself who is snared, caught up in a cryptic game devised by someone who knows how to taunt her into opening a cold case, someone who knows that nothing will stop her investigation.

Don’t you love placing holds on books at your library? I like adding to my holds list – it’s like having a guarantee that I’ll always have something good to read. If I’m lucky, the books trickle in at a nice, steady pace … (if I’m not so lucky, I come home with 20+ books and no time to read them all!)

More BBAW fun: Show us your TBR pile. And as luck would have it, I’m actually really, really prepared for this post (which is quite an odd thing, as I’m not particularly well-known for preparedness).

A while back, I was tagged for the What’s On My Desk Wednesday meme, and I posted the following picture of the tidiest TBR pile in my house – the tidiest one at the time, that is:

Needless to say, this particular TBR pile only grew untidier. As TBR piles have the tendency to do, the books in this pile got up to some very naughty hijinks in the middle of the night and they all reproduced– over and over again. Until finally, it got to the point where I couldn’t get to my desk without heavy-duty lifting.

I’m not kidding.

Since I work from home, this was not a good thing. It was either clear up this TBR pile, or starve. Although I’m on the untidy side, and a master procrastinator, I also like to eat. So I decided I’d better clear this pile up.

My Great TBR Shelving Idea

That’s when I got my great TBR shelving idea. It’s such a great idea, I bolded it so it would catch your attention.

We recently bought this very cheap “shelf” thing which is supposed to hold about 250 DVDs or 150 VHS cassettes (remember those?). It cost about $30; we bought it at Walmart. It was a cinch to put together – although a little bit on the wobbly side, but that doesn’t really matter because you’re going to be putting books on it. Books = heavy.

The beauty of this shelf is that it’s got an extremely small footprint (as far as a bookshelf goes) – it measures, roughly, 6” X 22” at its base, and is about 46” tall. You can took it away in almost any corner. Here it is, when we first put it together, tucked in between my six-year-old’s toy and book corner and his Geotrax trains box (which you can’t see in the picture, but trust me, it’s there).

Here’s a closer look, so you can see that this baby doesn’t actually have any shelves! (I think that’s why it’s so cheap – it’s just dowels, basically).

And here it is, fully loaded with that renegade TBR pile that had grown to enormous proportions on my office floor.

Guess how many books it’s holding in this picture?

It’s holding 99 books!

I’ve added a bit to it since then, so it’s holding about 103 books right now – but that includes a lot of thick hardcover books. If you used one just for your paperbacks, you could probably get a lot more on it.

Want A Closer Look?

Here’s a shot of each shelf – I wanted to get close enough, so some books at each end didn’t make it into the pictures.

The top shelf:

Second shelf:

Third shelf:

Bottom shelf:

And in conclusion: (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase in a post!) I love these little DVD shelves! I have several other TBR stacks lying around the house, and I plan to tuck more of these shelves all over the place, just for them. And I might use a few to house my permanent paperback collection, too.

I just have to find some nice little unused spots around the house, and I’m good to go.

What do your TBR piles look like?

At the start of Holly’s Inbox, by Holly Denham (the pen name of Bill Surie), Holly Denham starts her first day as a receptionist at a busy corporate bank. From here the reader is taken into her email inbox as she emails several different people throughout the course of her work day. The reader gets to tag along to read her emails to and from friends, co-workers, and service providers.

Not only do you get to peek at someone else’s emails, there’s also a romantic storyline to follow, along with a few funny subplots.

Don’t let the size of this book put you off. It weighs in at 665 pages, but since each email is formatted as an email, with appropriate From and To lines, the actual story isn’t as long as it seems. The style of the writing is in keeping with the breezy, chatty style of personal emails, so the book is an easy and fun read.

I read the book in one sitting, and one thing I noticed was that, by making the reader aware, gradually, that there are certain things we don’t know about Holly, there’s actually a nice bit of suspense – it was this suspense that sent me galloping over the last third of the book, because I wanted to find out answers to certain questions.

Not that I didn’t have some quibbles about Holly’s Inbox, though. I don’t want to include any spoilers, so this might not make complete sense to you until/unless you’ve read the book. I really didn’t get James’ character. (James is Holly’s new boyfriend). It just didn’t feel that credible to me that James pre-Spain/up-to-Spain and James post-Spain were the same person. Given what James post-Spain is like, seriously, why would he do what he did while in Spain? Guys like James post-Spain don’t do things like that – there’s no point. What happened in Spain just didn’t make sense to me.

And why was James post-Spain the way he was? We don’t really get a reason for the change from James pre-Spain and James post-Spain, and it’s a bit frustrating not to know his motivations.

Jennie also seemed a bit unbelievable, although incredibly fun to read, especially at the end when she got her comeuppance. And the reason behind Holly’s animosity toward Toby is a plot mechanism that’s pretty old.

But still, despite these quibbles, I enjoyed this book. It was a fun and quick read, and I laughed out loud several times. I thought Bill Surie developed his characters quite well within the limitations of the email format.

Holly’s Inbox has been compared to Bridget Jones’ Diary, and there are certainly some similarities. For me, it wasn’t as good a read as Bridget Jones’ Diary, but regardless, it was a good read overall.

Where to buy Holly’s Inbox:

U.S. (Amazon.com) | Indiebound | UK (Amazon.co.uk)

Review copy details: published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2009 (originally published in 2007), trade paperback, 665 pages, review copy provided by publisher

Yesterday I accidentally indulged in another book-buying binge. Yes, in case you’re wondering, it was totally by accident. I had no intentions of splurging on anything when I entered Costco.

Unfortunately, since it’s summer, the book section at Costco is a dangerous place for a book lover to be. I think the marketing assumption is that in the summer, people buy books to read on the beach or on holidays.

I’m thinking now that those marketing people are geniuses. Either that, or I’m extraordinarily susceptible to marketing ploys. (Okay, so maybe it’s the latter.)

Here’s the stack I came home with:

And here are the covers:

I’m not sure when I’ll have the time to read these. I do, however, feel good knowing I now have them on hand, for whenever the right reading mood strikes.

Want to know something even sadder? Do you see the BrainMatics Logic Puzzles? My husband (who happens to be just as bad when it comes to cookbooks, by the way) happened to slip a copy of this one into the cart, too, thinking I’d enjoy it. So we came home with TWO copies. I’m promising myself I won’t give in to temptation again when we go back to Costco to return the duplicate copy.

Do you go on book-buying binges occasionally? Please say yes!

I’ve finally pared down my vacation reading list – room is limited, unfortunately, so I had to be very selective. Here’s what I’ll be taking with me on holidays.

Print books:

Audiobooks:

Ebooks:

I’m probably not going to be able to read all of these books, but I figure I’ll have something for nearly every reading mood that strikes me.

What’s on your reading list this summer?

It happens to me, on a fairly regular basis. I go on these book buying binges, and unlike other types of binges, afterwards it feels lovely. I had ample justification for this one, as a group of us on Twitter came up with a wonderful event: “No BEA? Books Anyway!”, hosted at Devourer of Books. There’s still time to play, by the way. The event is open all weekend.

I ended up going to four five different places. And I have another big excuse for this particular binge: we are going to be vacationing in the Maritimes for two weeks in July, so stocking up on reading material for the 19 hour drive there and back, not to mention the two weeks on the beach, is actually an essential thing. No, really. It is.

Basically, I bought for myself, for my two teens, my six-year-old, and my husband, who loves to cook.

So here we go!

First stop: Online shopping at Chapters, Canada’s big bricks ‘n’ clicks bookstore. (Ironically, the pics and links are from/to Amazon.com – my apologies to my fellow Canadian readers, but it’s much easier to do it this way. But Chapters definitely carries all of these books, too.) If you hover your mouse over a cover, you should be able to see a small box with the title.

The Harry Turtledove books are for my older son, who loves reading alternative history books. The two Mad Lib books are for my daughter; her best friend is coming with us (we did a similar trip last year) and their idea of fun is to play Mad Libs using my older son’s name in various places, which bugs him no end (that being the point, I gather, of the whole thing).

I had borrowed both The Language of Bees and Now and Then from the library, but couldn’t finish them in time (I want to read The Language of Bees slowly so I can savor it);  I couldn’t renew either of them because they’re on other people’s holds list, so I thought it would be a good idea to get my own copies.

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is a special treat just for my vacation: I read about it earlier this week on this wonderful post about memoirs at Books and Movies, and just knew it would be perfect for me.

The cookbook is for my husband; he’s fallen in love with Italian food, so it looked like a good fit. And the rest of them I discovered by browsing the bargain outlet section.

Next up: Winners. Winners is actually more of a clothing store; they sell brand name clothes, shoes and handbags at discounted prices. I normally leave that store with lots of clothes and shoes – very definitely shoes. And handbags. I have a thing for handbags, too. But they also have a small toy section, and an aisle of discount books. To keep me from wandering the rest of the store, I brought my six-year-old with me; we picked up mostly toys, but I also picked up this book (I almost forgot this one!)

Then I went to Homesense, another favorite store of mine. Homesense carries lots of lovely things for the home; it’s affiliated with Winners, and the merchandise is all at discounted prices. They have a larger discount books area, so I managed to pick up the following books:

All of these books were impulse buys; they were also bargain-priced, which always adds to the good feeling of a binge.

Of course, I can never resist the book aisle at Costco, which for me is located too conveniently close to Chapters:

I also bought Specials, but the image won’t show up for some reason – I’ve been meaning to read the Uglies series for a while now, and Costco had the four titles in paperback for a great price. I’ve read Book one of the Immortal Instruments series, so thought it would be nice to pick up books two and three. I read Literacy and Longing in L.A. last year and just loved it, so A Version of the Truth was a must-buy. The Jennifer Weiner book was an impulse buy; Weiner always makes me laugh, so it looked like a great vacation read.

Last stop: Chapters – the physical store. I could browse the aisles at Chapters for ages, but unfortunately, I had my six-year-old with me again, as well as my daughter and her friend, an exchange student from Japan. So I was more or less in “grab what I can” mode – but as it turns out, even when under constraints, I can grab quite a few!

Luckily for me, this weekend turned out to be a special weekend for iRewards card holders at Chapters (I’ve been an iRewards card holder ever since the program began, and when they switched over to their current program terms, they actually gave me a lifetime membership, so I never have to pay to renew. Honestly. That’s how much I buy from them!)

As you can see, I wandered down the “Writing & Publishing” aisle. I’ll be starting a “Books for Writers” review feature here (my flimsy excuse for picking up these writing books). And I blame my purchase of How I Got Published: Famous Authors Tell You in Their Own Words on Louise Penny; as I flipped through the book, I saw that she had contributed her story. How could I resist?

The anime books are for my daughter, who’s not much of a reader; she’s mainly interested in filmmaking and anime. The story books are for my younger son, and yes, he has a wide range of interests. He likes My Little Pony as much as he enjoys Diego, Handy Manny and Thomas the Tank Engine.

So this is my contribution to No BEA? Books Anyway! I think I did pretty well, although now all I need is more time to read!

I didn’t get a chance to visit the library last week but fortunately (I think) they keep holds for four days and I managed to squeak in at the last minute and pick up another batch of books.

Then the phone rang with another automated message …

So here’s this week’s library loot:

Mystery: The Language of Bees, by Laurie R. King. I’m already sinking my teeth into this one! The latest Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery, I’ve been looking forward to its release for a while now.

Mystery: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley. I stumbled onto this one at another book blog last week and then, when I was at the library picking up my holds, I saw it in the “New in Books” display! Of course I grabbed it with my hot little hands, and I’m already halfway through it. Flavia de Luce, the 11-year-old narrator is really quite a character! I should be finishing this up soon so watch out for the review.

Paranormal: Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead. This is Book One of the series, and has been on my list for a while now.

Paranormal: Frostbite, by Richelle Mead. Book Two of the Vampire Academy series.

Memoir: Heat, by Bill Buford. The subtitle to this one is “An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany”. I’m reading this one for my food blog.

Young adult/Mystery: Dead and Gone, by Norah McClintock. McClintock caught my attention with her Chloe and Levesque mysteries, which I wrote about here. This book is a different series, but I thought I’d like to give it a try.

Young adult: Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson. I can’t remember how this title ended up on my wish list, but now that I have it, it definitely sounds interesting. Here’s the summary from Amazon:

Scarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small hotel in the heart of New York City, and Scarlett lives there with her four siblings – Spencer, Lola, and Marlene. When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite in the once elegant, now shabby Art Deco hotel. For Scarlett’s fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite, and a permanent guest called Mrs. Amberson. Scarlett doesn’t quite know what to make of this C-list starlet, world traveler, and aspiring autobiographer who wants to take over her life. And when she meets Eric, an astonishingly gorgeous actor who has just moved to the city, her summer takes a second unexpected turn. Before the summer is over, Scarlett will have to survive a whirlwind of thievery, Broadway glamour, romantic missteps, and theatrical deceptions. But in the city where anything can happen, she just might be able to pull it off.

Paranormal/Thriller: Running Hot, by Jayne Ann Krentz. An Arcane Society novel. I have read one of these previously – at least, I think I have. I vaguely remember it being entertaining but obviously it wasn’t one of those memorable reads (or I’d remember more of it, right?). Still, this one looks good, and I love the term “Arcane Society”.

Children’s book/Mystery: The Mask on the Cruise Ship, by Melanie Jackson. Dinah Galloway is a budding diva, enthusiastic gourmand and amateur detective. This one sounds like fun.

Mystery/Audiobook: The Big Four, by Agatha Christie and narrated by Hugh Fraser. I’m still on my Agatha Christie audiobooks kick.

I’ve been getting so many books at the library lately, I’m not as tempted as I normally am when I’m at a book store or in the book aisle at Costco. The thing with library books is that you only have a limited time to read them … and that’s a scary thought when all the recent additions to my TBR are library books!

It’s Mailbox Monday, when book bloggers talk about the book titles that came to their house that week. Here’s what arrived in the Ms. Bookish household:

Mystery: Long Time No See, by Susan Isaacs. Via Bookmooch. Judith Singer (last seen in Isaacs’ Compromising Positions) is back, this time to investigate the death of Courtney Logan, former investment banker turned suburban mommy.

Memoir: A Circle of Quiet, by Madeleine L’Engle. Via Bookmooch. This is Book 1 of L’Engle’s Crosswicks Journal series. L’Engle is one of my favorite authors, and I’ve been wanting to read her Crosswicks Journal books for quite a while now.

Children’s books: And finally, I bought Books 1 to 3 of The 39 Clues series:

The Maze of Bones (Book One), by Rick Riordan
One False Note (Book Two), by Gordon Korman
The Sword Thief (Book Three), by Peter Lerangis

To check out what other book bloggers received in their mailboxes this past week, make sure to check out The Printed Page!

When I was a child, my mother was always telling me, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.”

I’ve been thinking that the same applies when it comes to books. I was taking a look at the links I’ve been hoarding this week, links to blog posts about books that I simply must have in my TBR.

This, I think, is one reason for my recent embarrassment of riches from my local library … my eyes are bigger than my, uh, reading time available. (Got to work on that phrasing.)

Here’s what caught my eye this week:

From Deborah at Books, Movies & Chinese Food (and yes, I totally and absolutely fell in love with the name of her blog!) comes Play It Again, SAHM, by Meredith Efken. The book is the last one in a series about an email group of stay at home moms – and if that wasn’t intriguing enough, Deborah’s enthusiastic review definitely would have done the trick.

Next up is Hannah’s review of Season of Secrets over at Chicklish. Amazon didn’t have a summary of Season of Secrets (by Sally Nicholls), but Hannah writes that “It’s a story of love, hurt, loss, and strange, mysterious magic.” I love that phrase – strange, mysterious magic …

Of course, Cathy over at Kittling Books stuck another title onto my TBR. She’s always doing this – in fact, she’s responsible for the enormous stack of Deborah Crombies waiting for me right now. She finds these incredible mysteries and then has to go and review them, so that I’m always coming away from her blog with yet another title (or three) that I really have to read. The fact that she’s been dead accurate so far, in that I’ve loved every book I’ve discovered through her blog, makes things even worse, because, as they say, “resistance is futile” and so my TBR list grows. This time around, Cathy’s reviewed The Cold Blue Blood, by David Handler, and I’m hooked when she tells me who the main characters are, before I’m even into the review.

Shannon over at Confuzzled reviewed Wicked Game, by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush, and this line from her review caught me, hook, line and sinker: “This was a thrilling book. It even gave me dreams at one point, and not good ones.” Not that I’m in line for anything but good dreams, but still, I definitely want to read this one.

Anysia has a review of a book called Dissecting Death over at Booklorn, and this is a book I’ll be getting the next time I’m online at Chapters. The full title is Dissecting Death: Secrets of a Medical Examiner and it’s written by Frederick Zugibe and David L. Carroll. I need this one because I’m working on a story right now – my novel from last year’s NaNoWriMo – in which I’ve discovered the pathologist is going to play a larger role than I had originally thought she would. The thing is, though, I’m not particularly knowledgeable about forensics! So this one is perfect.

Next is an urban fantasy series: the Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher. I read this review at Lesa’s Book Critiques and knew immediately that it’s a series I want to get to know better. I mean, really … a wizard in Chicago? It sounds like such fun. Not to mention that Lesa says it’s one of the best books she’s read this year.

Now for Garden Spells, by Sarah Addison Allen, which has actually been on my TBR list for a while, but I’ve just never gotten around to it. Then I read Brie’s wonderful review at Musings of a Bibliophile and realized I needed to do something about digging this one out of the depths and getting a start on it.

I’ve been kind of jumping all over the place this week, some mystery here, some chick lit there, a splash of urban fantasy here and there, so it’s probably no surprise that I now really want to read Peter Walsh, too. He’s a decluttering and organization expert, and MizB’s review of his book, It’s All Too Much, with her talk of the “tough love you need to hear, but in a good way”, had me scribbling his name onto my list.

MizB also happened to blog about a light fluffy romance with a female main character who was into quantum physics. It should be pretty clear by now – I’m powerless to resist the pull of stuff like this. Then I saw Amazon’s description of The Life of Reilly, by Sue Civil-Brown, and realized it also has a ghost in it. Talk about no resistance. I was more like a puddle by then.

Next up is Too Good to Be True, by Kristan Higgans, which has a pretty good storyline. Truth be told, I like the “I’m pushed into a corner, I’m going to have to make up a gorgeous hunk that I’m dating so no-one will feel sorry for me” storyline almost as much as I like Cinderella storylines.  S. Krishna’s review clinched this one for me.

Then I stumbled onto this review of Angora Napkin at Joanne’s Book Zombie. I mean, a graphic novel about an all-girl band that has zombies in it, plus some good rock ‘n’ roll? When I get my hands on this one, I’ll have to read it quickly before my daughter sees it, that’s all I can say.

And even when I’m doing things like hunting up giveaways for the big Sunday book giveaways post, I’m still stumbling onto titles to add to my TBR list. There’s a giveaway for I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter, over at Things Moms Like, and the book sounds so much like The Squad series (you can read my review here), if I don’t win it (yes, you bet I entered!) I’ll have this one on my shopping (or library holds) list.

The last thing to catch my eye this week? Lizzy at Lizzy’s Literary Life has a great review of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, the first of an upcoming series of detective novels featuring 11-year-old Flavia de Luce. It sounds like great fun, and now it’s on my list.

I think that’s the reason why my eyes are so big. I look at each of these books and I can see the fun I’ll have reading them. And that’s something I can’t resist.

For more Friday Finds, make sure to visit Should Be Reading.

Here are the books that arrived at the Ms. Bookish household this past week:

Mystery: Bones, by Jonathan Kellerman. I have read all of Kellerman’s previous Alex Delaware books, and I’m definitely looking forward to this latest one – I’ve been waiting and waiting for it to come out in paperback (which it did before my turn came up for the hardcover version at my local library). Kellerman’s mysteries are complex and intricate, and since I know they’re difficult to put down, I’m waiting for a nice chunk of time when I can sit and read this one from cover to cover. (If I don’t, and give in to impulse, I’m almost guaranteed a 3 am bedtime as a result, and I’m getting a little long in the tooth for that kind of thing these days.)

Romance: Married in Seattle, by Debbie Macomber. I actually bought this book by mistake. I’ve been meaning to read Jodi Picoult, but I couldn’t remember her name (that long in the tooth thing again) and when I saw the name Debbie Macomber, I thought, that must be who I was thinking of. Only it wasn’t.

Mystery: In a Dark House, by Deborah Crombie, via Bookmooch. I just finished reading this a few days ago – the review is on my to-do list. I read the first Kinkaid/James mystery last summer and enjoyed it, and after stumbling on a few reviews of other books in the series, I decided to pick up In a Dark House – and I am extremely glad that I did! I am determined now to read all the books in the series. Yes, it was that good.

Update: Forgot this one (not sure why, since I’m actually in the middle of reading it – oh wait, that long in the tooth thing, again, right?): Chick Lit: It Would Be Funny … If It Wasn’t My Life, by Lisa Dow. This one’s a fun one, so far.

Mailbox Mondays is hosted each Monday over at The Printed Page – it’s a great way to see what other book bloggers are adding to their TBR piles.

It’s time for Mailbox Monday again – Mailbox Monday is hosted each Monday by the Printed Page, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to check out the books people have added to their TBR piles in the last week.

Here’s what arrived in my home this week:

Chick lit: Midori by Moonlight, by Wendy Tokunaga. I won this book in a giveaway over at S. Krishna’s Books and I’m really looking forward to reading it.

Mystery: The Spellman Files, by Lisa Lutz. This one caught my eye while I was out shopping – it looks like a fun quirky mystery kind of like the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovitch.

Paranormal: Marked, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. This is the first in the House of Night series.

Young adult: Family Affairs: Secrets of My Hollywood Life, by Jen Calonita. This isn’t the first in the series, but I bought it anyway – it just looked too interesting to resist.

Non-fiction: The Towering World of Jimmy Choo, by Lauren Goldstein Crowe and Sagra Maceira De Rosen. I love shoes – need I say more? ARC courtesy of Bloomsbury.

Children’s Books: Little Skink’s Tail, by Janet Halfmann. This delightful picture book has already reaped a tower of awards; I’m definitely looking forward to reviewing this one. Review copy courtesy of the author and Sylvan Dell Publishing.

What books came into your house this past week? And don’t forget to hop over to the Printed Page to see what treasures have arrived at other book bloggers’ houses, too!

Here’s what arrived at the MsBookish household this past week:

Mystery: Fatal February, by Barbara Levenson, courtesy of Lance from Hidden Staircase Mystery Books. I will be posting an author interview with Barbara Levenson here on February 17, so stay tuned, everyone!

Chick Lit: Houston, We Have a Problema, by Gwendolyn Zepeda, ARC courtesy of Hachette Book Group. This looks like it will be a super fun read.

Mystery: The Man on the Balcony, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, which came to me via Bookmooch. I read about this series at Meg Cabot’s blog, and it sounded good. This is one of my first Mooches – I think I’m finally figuring out how to use Bookmooch!

Check out what arrived at other book bloggers’ mailboxes this past week, at Marcia’s Printed Page.

It’s time for Library Loot, where book bloggers share what they brought home from the library this past week.

I love going to the library, although these days, because I’ve been very efficiently using the library’s request holds system, I normally just pop in, grab my on hold books off the hold shelf, take a quick look at the “New” section and come right back home.

I kind of miss just wandering around, not having any goal except finding interesting-looking books. My work schedule will be much easier after the next two weeks, so I will probably be doing more treasure hunting at the library after then. But I did manage to get to the library for an afternoon of browsing this past week, as well as having some requested books come in.

My husband likes to say I’m the library’s biggest financial supporter; he bases this on the amount of library fines I’ve paid in all the time that he’s known me. I actually don’t feel embarrassed about the amounts anymore – not when people are getting charged $1 a day for overdue DVDs!

Here’s what I picked up from the library this past week:

Mystery: A Cure for All Diseases, by Reginald Hill. I actually borrowed this late last year, but wasn’t able to get around to reading it until it was due back. I couldn’t renew it because someone else had it on hold, so I requested it again. I love Dalziel and Pascoe, and have been wanting to read this one ever since finishing up Death Comes for the Fat Man early last year.

Contemporary fiction: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I put in a hold request for this a few months back – it’s a book that I probably would never have discovered if it weren’t for book blogs (I have a lot of books on my TBR and i-want lists that are a direct result of hanging around other book blogs). I’m looking forward to this one.

I only picked up two books this past week, but I took an afternoon to hit the shelves specifically in search of audiobooks. I dislike abridged versions of audiobooks, and will always opt for the unabridged version (or not get the audiobook at all if there is no unabridged version) but there’s an exception to this: BBC Radio Collection (BBC Audio) audiobooks!

These audiobooks are simply wonderful. There’s a full cast of characters, all with rich, plummy British accents, and lots of background sounds to get you right into the mood of the story. When you’re ready for something light and dramatic, but you don’t really want to watch a movie, these are extremely fun listens.

So far I’ve just been listening to mysteries from the collection, but there are audio presentations of lots of other kinds of novels too: see the selection here and here.

I picked up the following BBC Radio Collection audiobooks this past week:

Cover Her Face, by P.D. James, starring Robin Ellis, Siân Phillips, Beatie Edney and Hugh Grant. Yes, Hugh Grant! I don’t know if this is THE Hugh Grant (haven’t listened to the CDs yet), but anyway, this Hugh Grant plays the role of Felix, one of the major characters (not Dalgliesh, so he’s probably one of the main suspects).

Three Act Tragedy, by Agatha Christie, starring John Moffatt (as Hercule Poirot), George Cole, Michael Cochrane and Clive Merrison. I remember the plotline (but not who-done-it) so I know I’ve read this one before, but definitely not under this title (for a brief second there, I was quite ecstatic, thinking here was finally an Agatha Christie title I hadn’t read before).

Peril at End House, by Agatha Christie, starring John Moffatt (as Hercule Poirot, once again). No other actors are listed on the back, and there’s no little booklet inside, so I don’t know who plays the rest of the main characters. I have read Peril at End House numerous times, so I know that by midway I will have remembered who-done-it, but the dramatization will keep it interesting, I’m sure.

Lord Edgware Dies, by Agatha Christie, and starring, of course, John Moffatt as Poirot. Other actors include Simon Williams and Nicola Pagett.

Each of these audiobooks runs for about two hours or so, so they don’t require a huge investment of time. And have I mentioned how much fun they are?

What did you get from the library this past week? And have you tried the BBC Audio (BBC Radio Collection) audiobooks? What did you think of them?

After last week’s enormous Mailbox Mondays post, I actually thought I wouldn’t have anything at all to include for today’s post. But as it turns out, I did receive some new books:

Contemporary romance: Sundays at Tiffany’s, by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet, which I won at A Circle of Books. I had this book in my TBR pile, but it was a library copy, so I was very happy to have won this one and return my library copy (which I had already renewed once).

Urban Fantasy: The Kitty Norville series, by Carrie Vaughn, courtesy of Hachette Book Group. I’m very excited about this series – it’s about werewolf/DJ Kitty Norville – and I will be hosting an author interview with Carrie Vaughn here during the book tour that will be hitting the blogosphere sometime near the end of March!

Spirituality: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao, by Wayne Dyer. This book happened to catch my eye while I was out shopping; I’ve been wanting to learn more about the Tao for a while now, and it seemed to me that Dyer’s book would be an easy introduction.

Mailbox Monday is held every week at Marcia’s Printed Page – you can check what other book bloggers have received in their mailbox this past week. I love reading all the posts because I usually end up finding about a new-to-me book to add to my “I want that!” list.

This year my husband and I seem to be in a major de-cluttering mode; one result is that I have been going through my books trying to figure out which ones to add to Bookmooch, which ones I should give away and which ones I really want to keep.

And so of course, I’ve been finding books that I own, that I haven’t yet read – and that I actually DO want to read.

Here are the treasures I unearthed from my own book stash this week:

The Mother Trip: Hip Mama’s Guide to Staying Sane in the Chaos of Motherhood, by Ariel Gore. I bought this one back when it first came out (that will give you an idea how LONG it’s been on my shelves!), and when I first came across it the other day, my first thought was to add it to my Bookmooch inventory.

And then I started flipping through the book. I really shouldn’t do that, you know. Because of course I found a few paragraphs here and there that were interesting, and on further investigation, there were lots of essays in it that looked interesting … and now this book is in my TBR pile.

The Manolo Matrix, by Julie Kenner. This is a chick lit mystery, and I’d read and enjoyed the first book by this author (The Givenchy Code). So of course I added this to my TBR pile – and wouldn’t you know it, I ended up picking up a copy of The Prada Paradox when I was online book shopping last week for a great price. Very synchronistic.

And speaking of synchronicities … a few weeks ago, I’d been by Beth Fish’s blog, and loved her review of French Lessons, by Peter Mayle. I decided to put the title in my i-want list – but guess what? Yup. No need to get it, because it turns out I already own it!

De-cluttering is great when you end up getting rid of stuff; it’s not so great when it just swells your TBR pile. And as some of you already know, my TBR pile is really huge already ….

It’s Mailbox Monday again – this is where I get the chance to list all the books that came into the house this past week.

This past week, I more or less made up for the the sparse new arrivals a few Mondays ago

I made the mistake of ambling over to Chapters.ca to buy a few non-fiction titles I’ve been really wanting to read. “Mistake” I say, but of course, my bookish heart doesn’t really mean it! I had a load of fun (I ended up spending a very long time in the bargain section, too), and it was kind of like Christmas all over again when the two big boxes of books were delivered. Then, a little later in the week, my husband and I popped into Sam’s Club for a look, and I couldn’t resist a few more books.

Here’s the list of what I bought this past week:

Non-fiction titles:

Memoir: Yes Man, by Danny Wallace. I just couldn’t resist this one – it sounds like such a happy, fun read.

Spirituality: Wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn, by Florence Scovel Shinn. This book, and the following five titles are on the recommended reading list of a course I’m taking.

Spirituality: Awakened Imagination, by Neville Goddard

Spirituality:Bridging Science and Spirit, by Norman Friedman

Spirituality: Miracles of Mind, by Russell Targ and Jane Katra

Spirituality: Three Magic Words, by U.S. Andersen

Spirituality: Your Faith is Your Fortune 1941, by Neville Goddard

Children’s books/Non-fiction: The Cranium Big Book of Outrageous Fun, by Cranium Inc. This was on sale, and I couldn’t resist. (Note: I’m not sure how many more times you’ll read “I just couldn’t resist” in this post. No need to count, though. Seriously. I already know I’m letting my book-a-holic status out in the open with this post.)

Fiction titles:

General fiction: Thanks for the Memories, by Cecelia Ahern (I see that Amazon has this listed as Hardcover, to be released in April 2009, but the copy I have is a UK paperback version, published 2008). I enjoyed the movie PS I Love You (although I haven’t read the book), so I thought I’d give this one a try.

Children’s books/Mystery: The Dollhouse Murders, by Betty Ren Wright. This is a book I talked about in a recent Friday Finds post.

Chick Lit: Diary of a Blues Goddess, by Erica Orloff. Couldn’t resist this one.

Chick lit: My Heart May Be Broken, but My Hair Still Looks Great, by Dixie Cash. Couldn’t resist this one, either.

Chick Lit/Mystery: The Prada Paradox, by Julie Kenner. I read the Givenchy Code and enjoyed it, and this one was listed at a bargain price, so I thought, why not? (Those two little words lead me into trouble a lot). I also recently discovered I had The Manolo Matrix in my stash, unread, so the timing seemed right.

Children’s books: The Private Notebooks of Katie Roberts, by Amy Hest. This book combines the two diaries of Katie Roberts (age 11, and then age 12) set in the years after World War II.

Young adult/Fantasy: The Kingdom Keepers, by Ridley Pearson. I haven’t read this series yet, but it’s been on my i-want list for a while. What exactly happens at Disney after dark? What a great premise!

Young adult: Chloe Leiberman (Sometimes Wong), by Carrie Rosten. I simply could not resist this one.

Children’s books/Mystery: The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas (Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars), by Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin. This looked good, and is a great fit for the Baker Street reading challenge I’m doing this year.

But wait! There’s more!

A few weeks ago Michelle from Random Reading and I arranged to do an exchange of books, although it was a lopsided exchange, to say the least, as I got a whole bunch of Ngaio Marsh books plus a Donna Leon book, and Michelle only wanted two of mine in return! As luck would have it, Michelle’s package arrived last week too:

Mystery: A Venetian Reckoning, by Donna Leon – I have read one previous book by Leon and enjoyed it very much, so I’m thrilled to have this one in my stash now.

Mysteries, all by Ngaio Marsh (the links are to the only versions that Amazon has; they aren’t the versions I received): Death in a White Tie,  Vintage Murder, False Scent, Scales of Justice, Died in the Wool and Singing in the Shrouds. If you enjoy British mysteries you’ll probably like Marsh’s Scotland Yard detective, Roderick Alleyn. It’s been a while since I last read a Ngaio Marsh mystery, so I’m definitely looking forward to rereading these.

Last but not least (if you’re getting this vague picture of me drowning in books, you’d be pretty close …) the library also called with a few more holds that I had requested:

Mystery/Suspense: The Pagan Stone, by Nora Roberts. I haven’t read the first two books in the trilogy yet, but this is the one that arrived first, so it looks like this will be the one I’ll read first! I haven’t read a lot of Nora Roberts, but this series sounds interesting.

Mystery: Christmas is Murder, A Rex Graves Mystery, by C.S. Challinor. I can’t remember why I put a request in for this one – I’m sure it was something I read on someone’s blog, somewhere! But now that I have it, It does sound good – kind of Agatha Christie-ish.

Fantasy: Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. This book is huge – 960 pages. I suspect I will dip into the library version, and then if I get into it, I’ll just buy it so I don’t have to rush through it.

Finally, I’m all done! If you’re interested in adding new titles to your own list of books you’d like to read, head on over to the Printed Page for more of other book bloggers’ Monday Mailbox titles.

It’s Mailbox Monday again, and here’s what arrived at the Ms. Bookish household this past week!

Young adult/Mystery: Skeleton Creek, by Patrick Carman. This one is an ARC courtesy of the author. I’m very excited about this book because of the interactive video component – my daughter isn’t a big reader, but she’s a filmmaker and it’s hard to drag her away from YouTube most days. I’ll be asking her to help me review the video portion of the book.

Young Adult/Fantasy: The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. This one arrived courtesy of the library (I am constantly making full use of it’s requests program). I’ve been looking forward to reading this one, as I’ve come across some nice reviews about it.

World fiction: Slumdog Millionaire, by Vikas Swarup. I admit, I hadn’t even heard of the movie, but when I saw this at the bookstore, it caught my eye. I read the back cover and I was hooked.

Children’s books, Fantasy: Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke. Yes! I finally got my hands on a copy of Inkheart! It is a series that I’ve been wanting to read for a while – I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, “You haven’t read the Inkheart series yet, Belle? You? I can’t believe you haven’t read it yet. It’s exactly the kind of book you love.” Yes, well, true and true, I think. And now when people ask me, I will (soon) be able to say, “Why yes, I have. After all, it’s exactly my kind of book, don’t you think?”

Mystery/Suspense: Last Resort, by Hannah Alexander. I was doing my usual race in/out of the library, my intention being to scoop up the books I had on hold (I’m telling you, requesting books is such a huge time saver), when this book (and the next, actually) caught my eye. To be honest, I’m not too sure why it caught my eye, since it’s a medical suspense thriller, which is not a genre I read a lot of, but there you have it – in my quick dash into the library, I scooped this one up.

Humor: The Queen and I, by Sue Townsend. This is the other book I scooped up in my mad dash in and out of the library. There was, of course, a good reason why this caught my eye – as soon as I saw Sue Townsend’s name on the cover I thought immediately of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, which I loved when I was younger. And how could I resist the one line description on the back cover: “England’s Royals are given the sack and go on the dole.”

Suspense: The Dracula Dossier, by James Reese. Another premise that sounds good: the story of Bram Stoker’s encounter and conquest of Jack the Ripper.

Short story collection: Just After Sunset, by Stephen King. I’ve been lusting after this one ever since I read Joanne’s review of it over at Book Zombie. And now I have it in my hot little hands.

So there you are – all the new book arrivals at my house this past week! For more glimpses into other book bloggers’ mailboxes, check out Mailbox Monday over at The Printed Page.

This is the first edition of Waiting on Wednesday here at MsBookish.com – each Waiting on Wednesday, I will be discussing a book that is to be released that I can’t wait to get my hands on. This week’s Waiting on Wednesday book is The Language of Bees, by Laurie R. King, the latest book in the Mary Russell series, which will be released on April 28, 2009.

If you’re not familiar with the Mary Russell series, and you like Sherlock Holmes and/or a good, well-written and complex mystery, you’re in for a real treat. The first book in the series is the excellent The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.

As for The Language of Bees, here’s the full scoop, according to Random House:

In a case that will push their relationship to the breaking point, Mary Russell must help reverse the greatest failure of her legendary husband’s storied past—a painful and personal defeat that still has the power to sting…this time fatally.

For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was especially sweet. There was even a mystery to solve—the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of Holmes’s beloved hives.

But the anticipated sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a galling memory from her husband’s past. Mary had met Damian Adler only once before, when the promising surrealist painter had been charged with—and exonerated from—murder. Now the talented and troubled young man was enlisting their help again, this time in a desperate search for his missing wife and child.

When it comes to communal behavior, Russell has often observed that there are many kinds of madness. And before this case yields its shattering solution, she’ll come into dangerous contact with a fair number of them. From suicides at Stonehenge to a bizarre religious cult, from the demimonde of the Café Royal at the heart of Bohemian London to the dark secrets of a young woman’s past on the streets of Shanghai, Russell will find herself on the trail of a killer more dangerous than any she’s ever faced—a killer Sherlock Holmes himself may be protecting for reasons near and dear to his heart.

A lot of great fun comes about because of book blogging: I was fortunate enough to learn of the pending release of The Language of Bees when I signed up for the Baker Street Challenge, and immediately scooted over to my local library’s website, where I discovered that they had the book “On Order”. I promptly placed a request, and to my delight, I am first in the queue!

A further treat? While I was scouting around for more information about the book, I also discovered Laurie King’s blog. You can learn more about the writing of The Language of the Bees here.

I’ve already spotted quite a few Mailbox Monday posts in my feed reader – it occurs to me I’m always running a bit later than everyone else when it comes to posting. Actually, it occurs to me that most book bloggers have a TON of energy and I’m not sure how they do it!

I seem to find my blogging rhythm in the evenings, as I’m settling down to more fun and unwinding before bed …

Here’s what came in the mail for me this past week: I’m very excited about these two books – I first read these when I was in my early twenties, borrowed from the library, and they were out of print even then so I could never get my own copy, and I wanted my own copies so very much!

I’ve had them in the back of my mind for ages, and kept meaning to wander over to Abe Books to see if I could find a copy or two or four. Then last month, for some reason, I decided to check Amazon – and discovered they were re-released last November! So I bought these as a post-holiday treat for myself, and I’m so looking forward to reading these back-to-back! Both my Siamese cats have passed on, and I won’t be able to get another one for a while, as our resident feline is a holy terror and would gobble up a kitten alive, but I’ll be able to dip back into my memories with both these books.

Memoir/Non-fiction: Cats in the Belfry, by Doreen Tovey. Don’t those two little imps look so mischievous? I remember laughing my way through this book, and at the same time, felt such familiarity with the antics of Sugieh and later on, her kittens. They were so much like my own cats. This first book starts with the adventures of Sugieh, and then her two darling kittens, Sheba and Solomon.

Memoir/Non-Fiction: Cats in May, by Doreen Tovey. Cats in May is the sequel to Cats in the Belfry, and continues to follow the antics of Sheba and Solomon.

I’m still waiting for The New Boy and Double Trouble to be available, but in the meantime, I just know I’m going to fall in love with these two books again. If you’re a cat lover – and especially if at some time you’ve been (or are) the slave companion to a Siamese cat (or two or more) – I definitely recommend both these books.

This is a bit late, but I have an excuse, since I wasn’t actually here after Christmas to write this post and Disney, incredibly enough, actually charges a daily fee for online access, so I also have an excuse for not writing this post while I was away on holiday. Not that I need an excuse, of course – but then again, I’m suffering from an attack of blogger’s guilt.

I was actually quite surprised at the reading spoils under the tree for me, because I handed my wish list to my nearest and dearest quite late in the game, and if they went online they risked my presents arriving after the big day. Despite this, they managed to find a lot of my requests at our nearest Chapters.

Here’s what I received:

Thriller: The Fire, by Katherine Neville. I know I’ve had this in my TBR pile, but it’s a library copy so I was very happy to return that copy and replace it with my very own!

Young adult: Kitty Kitty, by Michele Jaffe. I read Bad Kitty, Jaffe’s first book, last year, and enjoyed it very much, so I was very happy to add Kitty, Kitty to my TBR.

Fantasy: The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling. I’m definitely looking forward to this one, especially after I read Ann-Kat’s review.

Historical romance: The Darcys & the Bingleys, by Marsha Altman. I know I’ve mentioned that I don’t like reading historical fiction, but Pride and Prejudice happens to be one of my all-time favorite books, and when I first read about this book, it really intrigued me.

Mystery: The Private Patient, by P.D. James. I am a huge P.D. James fan, and it’s a delight to have the latest Adam Dalgliesh book in hardcover, rather than having to wait for it to come out in paperback (or my time in the long wait list at the library to come up).

Young adult: The Squad: Perfect Cover and The Squad: Killer Spirit, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I can’t remember the blog where I first read a review of The Squad: Perfect Cover but it sounded like a great read: a computer geek girl who is a rebel and an outsider gets an invite to try out for her school’s cheerleader squad. Definitely NOT high on her list of things to do, but they manage to entice her to check it out – and she discovers that the cheerleading squad (known as the God Squad at her school) is actually a covert CIA group of operatives.

How could I resist putting both of these on my wish list? And I read both of them while at Disney, and they were both delightful (full reviews coming soon).

All in all, I am extremely happy with these new additions to my TBR pile – huge thanks to my family for putting these under the tree for me!

I’ve joined the Read Your Own Books Challenge 2009. This will be a good one for me, as I have several books that I own and haven’t gotten round to reading yet. (Several is not a good word for it. Something like “bajillions” is probably better. Think non-quantifiable and you’ve just about got it.)

The rules are pretty simple:

1. Set a goal for how many of your OWN books you’d like to read in 2009

2. Read from your own collection between January 1st and December 31st, 2009

My goal for this challenge: 50 books.

I will update this post with the books as I read each one. My intention is to review each one too, but I’m not making that part of the challenge!

It was a busy week this past week for incoming books, with, it seems like, a little bit of everything. I’ve already mentioned some of the books that arrived this past week, in last week’s Friday Finds post, so I won’t mention them again here (including some romance/chick lit – I just noticed there’s none in the list below).

Essays: Fear Itself: The Horror Fiction of Stephen King, edited by Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller

Children’s Mystery: Doppelganger, by Pete Hautman and Mary Logue (review is here)

Paranormal Mystery: An Ice Cold Grave, by Charlaine Harris (just finished it, review coming soon)

Thriller/Mystery: Raven Black, by Ann Cleeves

Children’s Fantasy: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, by Trenton Lee Stewart

Paranormal mystery: Casting Spells, by Barbara Bretton

Mystery: Lovelace and Button (International Investigators Inc.), by James Hawkins

Mystery: The Suspect, by L.R. Wright

Children’s Fantasy: Savvy, by Ingrid Law

Children’s Novel: Clementine’s Letter, by Sara Pennypacker

Essays: 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, by Jane Smiley (I had already read a copy of this from the library, and loved her list of 100 classics so much that I decided I needed my own copy)

Memoirs: Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin

Lots of great reading coming up!

Tuesday Thingers

Popular this month on LT: Do you look at this list? Do you get ideas on what to read from it?

Have you read any of the books on the list right now? Feel free to link to any reviews you’ve done as well.

Here’s the list:

1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

2. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

3. Nation by Terry Pratchett

4. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

5. Anathem by Neal Stephenson

6. American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld

7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski

9. Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland

10. Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) by Stephenie Meyer

I have, sadly, not read any of these. However (ah, there is a bright spot to this!), I currently have The Graveyard Book and Eclipse in my TBR pile, and because of my meandering through this list, I’ve also added the following titles: Dewey, Anathem, and Any Given Doomsday.

It’s always a great day when I add more to my TBR pile.

Update: After reading this review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at Joy’s blog, I’ve decided to add it to my TBR afterall.

A little late with my Mailbox Monday post! But I just had to write this up, since I had such a nice round-up of reads come to the house this past week:

First up, in children’s fiction: The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, both by Jeanne Birdsall. I have been wanting to read The Penderwicks for some time now, so it was lovely to have both of these arrive. I’m definitely looking forward to these!

I recently finished and reviewed The Wright 3, by Blue Balliett, so The Calder Game has come at a good time, as Petra, Calder and Tommy are still very much in my mind. The earlier books in Balliett’s art-related mystery series for children are wonderful, and I’m sure this one won’t disappoint.

Moving on to the mysteries, first up is The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday, by Alexander McCall Smith. I’ve followed Isabel Dalhousie’s adventures since The Sunday Philosophy Club; I fell in love with her right from the start, and my main criticism of the series is that Smith tends to portray her as “older”, but she’s only in her 40s (with a new baby!) and I’ve never seen her as being “older”.

For a little bit of light mystery, there’s Withering Heights, by Dorothy Cannell. While this is the 12th book in the series, it’s my first Ellie Haskell read. It sounds like a fun and sassy kind of mystery.

Next comes another light mystery, with a paranormal touch: Death Perception, by Victoria Laurie. This is my first foray into the “Psychic Eye” mystery series. It definitely looks like it will be a fun read.

Finally, and still in the mystery category, there’s White Corridor, by Christopher Fowler, a Peculiar Crimes Unit book. I had previously read The Water Room, and enjoyed it very much. Fowler’s main characters are wonderfully quirky and the mystery was very absorbing, so I’m very much looking forward to getting reaquainted with Arthur Bryant and John May.

It looks like I have a wonderful reading week ahead of me. Reviews of each of these books will be forthcoming. Right now, I’m deep in The Riddles of Epsilon, by Christine Morton-Shaw; it is wonderfully creepy and mysterious, and should be the next review to be posted here.

I have just ended up swelling my TBR list (as if it needed it!). I just came across Kirkus Reviews’ Best Children’s Books of 2008, via the Write4Kids blog.

It’s a great list of children’s books; some of them already are on my TBR, but some of them aren’t. I’d like to make my way through all the picture books and children’s fiction titles on this list (I’m not that big on the non-fiction, biographical or historical titles). The following are winging their way to my TBR pile as I type:

The Remarkable and Very True Story of Lucy and Snowcap, by H.M. Bouwman

Chicken Said “Cluck”, by Judyann Ackerman Grant

Savvy, by Ingrid Law

Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog, by Mini Grey

Clementine’s Letter, by Sara Pennypacker

I Will Surprise My Friend, by Mo Willems

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, by Lenore Look

The House in the Night, by Susan Marie Swanson

Others on the list that I’m also eager to read:

The Unnameables, by Ellen Booraem

Stinky, by Eleanor Davis

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, by Marla Frazee

The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd

Why do I feel like a kid in a candy store?