Reading~~A Vacation for the Mind!

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”

Mason Cooley


It’s the middle of summer! Time to get away, which is not always that easy, so remember this: a book can take you anywhere you want to go. Where would you like to go?


Think about it~~want to visit jolly old England? Pick up a book by Edward Rutherfurd, Phillippa Gregory, Sharon Kay Penman, Alison Weir, Bernard Cornwell, just to name just a few. What did it take to build a cathedral in England? Pick up the classic Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Fantasy and British history together…Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley; Jennifer Roberson will take you on a very merry romp with Robin Hood and Maid Marion in her wonderful novel Lady of the Forest.


Take a trip through America? How else would I know how Centennial, Colorado started from a speck of sand millions of years before it became a town? I learned more about geology from James Michener in Centennial then I did in school. Larry McMurty took me on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana in Lonesome Dove that I wouldn’t have gone on otherwise. How about going along with Lewis and Clark in Stephen E. Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage as they head west to the Pacific? Civil War? MacKinlay Cantor’s Andersonville will haunt you with what one human being can do to others. Michael Shaara wrote, for me anyway, one of THE best fiction books on Gettysburg, Killer Angels. Don’t forget Margaret Mitchell to check out that most southern of southern belles, Scarlet, in Gone With the Wind. Even if you have already read it, celebrate Gone With the Wind’s 75th anniversary and read it again!

What to tag along and help solve a mystery? Help find out who the real killer is? Find out what happens when things aren’t quite what they should be? Any of these authors will love to have you tag along… Lisa Gardener; Chelsea Cain; Ridley Pearson; Charles Todd; Cara Black; Dashell Hammett; Raymond Chandler; James Ellroy; Nancy Pickard; Donald Westlake; Julia Spencer-Fleming; Karin Slaughter. This is a few of the variety of mystery authors that will envelope you in some twists and turns to the end.


How about helping to stop terrorism around the world? These are a few of my favorites, Daniel Silva; John le Carre: Stella Rimington (Rimington was the first woman to head MI5) Helen MacInnes; Alex Berenson: Clyde Eagleton; Charles McCarry; Tom Clancy; Len Deighton~~check any of these out and go on a page turning ride that will make your adrenalin pump.

Do you love a good legal thriller with great courtroom scenes? I know I do. Pick up Steve Martini; John Grisham; Scott Turow; David Ellis; Phillip Margolin; John Mortimer; William Diehl…just some that make you feel that you are inside the courtroom, watching the characters and give great descriptions of their reactions.


Ah, romance. What would summer be without romance? Some great historical romance writers are~~Lisa Kleypas; Rosemary Rodger; Katherine Woodiwiss; Jude Deveraux; Mary Balogh; Beatrice Small, without whom I would never have know what a Kadin was... nor, ahem… what they did.


Little paranormal romance? You can’t beat Diana Gabaldon; Karen Marie Moning; Kresley Cole; Lynsay Sands; Sherrilyn Kenyon; J. W. Ward; Gena Showalter; Charlaine Harris; Christine Feehan….vampires, werewolves, witches, shape-shifters, time-travel, men in kilts…oh my! What more could you ask for!


Enjoy more modern day romance? Here you go…Nora Roberts; Jennifer Cruise; Susan Elizabeth Phillips; Jennifer Weiner; Nicholas Sparks; Elizabeth Lowell; Emily Griffin~~to name just a few.


Hopefully one of these authors will take you away.

There you go~~pick where you want to go and lose yourself for a wee bit. As Dr. Seuss said, "Oh! The place you'll go!"


Happy Reading!

My Summer Book Shelf

Come on let's read again...like we did last summer
Yea, let's read again like we did last year~~
Do you remember when things were really hummin'
Yea, let's read again~~reading time is here!
(Shout out to Chubby Checker)


As far as I'm concerned, it's always reading time. With summer just around the corner, I have my stack of books ready to go....how about you?


Fallen by Karin Slaughter
A Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS by Jennet Conant
Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva (Gabriel Allon series)
Eve and Quinn~~both by Iris Johansen
Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg
Snowman by Jo Nesbo
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I also make sure to have several romance paperbacks around too, to grab and throw in my bag.


For the summer mystery book discussions~~

China Lake by Meg Gardiner~~June 21st at 4pm
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain~~July 19th at 4pm
The Alienist by Caleb Carr~~August 23rd at 4pm

I know for me, the mood I'm in dictates the book I feel like reading, so I make sure to have several different genres around to choose from. Mixing it up is always a good thing.

What are you planning to read this summer? Let me know.

Let the summer begin! Reading time is here~~~

Happy Reading!

We Cozied Up!

"Reading is to the mind what exerise is to the body."
Richard Steele


I can't think of a better way to exercise my mind then reading a book....it's great to see how many are in agreement.

We finished up the Cozy Up With a Good Book winter book club at the end of April. It was terrific! We had 68 people sign up; 55 Reader's Cards were turned in; and everyone loved the reading as a great way to pass winter. The best part is when folks tell me they read
someone different, or tried a new genre~~
and discovered that they liked it!

The top books the club read this year were:

1) Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot *
2) Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
3) Night Fall by Nelson DeMille *
4) Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
5) How Green Ws My Valley by Richard Llewellyn *
6) Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
7) Little Bee by Chris Cleave
8) Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke

9) Growing Up Laughing by Marlo Thomas

10) The Help by Kathryn Stockett

11) Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

12) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
13) Half-Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls
14) Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
15) Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

*Denotes books from the winter book discussions

The authors read the most during the book club were:

1) Robert B. Parker

2) James Patterson

3) Stieg Larsson

4) Michael Connelly

5) C. J. Sansom
6) Mary Higgins Clark
7) Lisa Gardner
8) John Dunning
9) Nora Roberts
10) Paul Theroux

We celebrated May 3rd with a party where we discussed~~what else~~books we had read over the winter, gave out raffle prizes, congratulated our top readers, enjoyed refreshments, and looked forward to the summer book club.

Thank you for joining the book club~~and enjoying reading.

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Books for 2010

"Reading gives us someplace to go
when we have to stay where we are."
Mason Cooley

I am always curious what the top books of the year are so I checked out several lists to see what were listed. Based on what books were on the lists, and what I have read over the year, here is my favorite top ten of 2010.

Top Ten Books of 2010~~~

Fiction~~

1) Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

2) Room by Emma Donoghue **

3) A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan***

4) The Help by Cathryn Stockett*

5) Faithful Place by Tana French***

6) Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carre***

7) The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachmann*

8) The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall*

9) Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes***

10) Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson***

Non-Fiction~~


1) Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

2) Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand**

3) Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain***


4) Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff*


5) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot***

6) The Last Boy: Mantle Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood by Jane Leavy**


7) Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee


8) Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol I by Mark Twain*


9) Just Kids by Patti Smith

10) Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre***

Mystery/Crime~~

1) Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane***


2) Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny***


3) Man from Beijing by Henning Mankill*

4) The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke***


5) The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo***


6) Midnight House by Alex Berenson***


7) The Red Door by Charles Todd*


8) Stieg Larsson Trilogy:
A) The Girl With  Tattoo**                                                            
B) The Girl Who Played With Fire**

C) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest*

9) Still Missing by Chevy Stevens*

10) The Scent of Rain and Lightening by Nancy Pickard***



Romance/Paranormal Romance~~



1) Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas


2) Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

3) Summer Hideaway by Susan Wiggs**


4) Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie**


5) Happily Ever After by Nora Roberts


6) Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole***

7) Lover Mine: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J. R. Ward

8) Shadowfever (Fever Series #5) by Karen Marie Moning***

9) Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse series #10) by Charlaine Harris***


10) The Darkest Passion by Gena Showalter***




The ones I read have an ***; I put a * by the ones that I want to read; and the ones I am not sure about, I put nothing.

I must say, I surprised myself with my taste for romance...I never realized how much I seem to enjoy the paranormal. Hey, a walk on the wild side every so often is never a bad thing...

Any of these on your top ten list for 2010? Which ones have you read? Do you agree with the books on the top ten? Which ones would you read?

Happy Reading!