Oh, It's Reading Time Again.....

Ahhhhhhh.....to be able to read again. No reading in the bedside book Birds of a Feather - Jacqueline Winspear, I was too flippin' tired last night. A good long day of waking early for some blessed alone time and then seeing the 'rents off back to Kansas. I took Lady K to school and was able to get my Bubbles on (Bubbles in Trouble - Sarha Strohmeyer) while driving back to the house. And I read in my purse book Fire Me Up - Katie MacAlister waiting for DH to get throught the bank line. I brought that one up with me to Blackhawk in case I didn't get lucky but DH did. We both came out even and home happy.

I was back at the gym this morning and a little over halfway through Fire Me Up now, thanks to 40 min on the recumbent bike. My butt fell asleep and I just couldn't go for the hour I'd promised myself. Maybe tomorrow. More Bubbles In Trouble to and from work and I should finish that this week. I have FOUR boxes of audiobooks from RecordedBooks waiting for me in the passenger seat now.

And dontcha know that I have a coupon from B&N burning the proverbial hole in my pocket....only good through 4 November! Maybe after the 'holiday' rush.

Please, Sir, More Reading Time?

I love my family and love having company. This weekend was one and the same with the 'rents coming to visit for a few days. I took time off, so did DH. We cleaned house together and shared time with my mom and dad. Lady K was 90/10 sweetie-pie to pod child ratio the whole time. We walked and talked and raked leaves and shopped and watched Lady K at swim lessons and at a Halloween par-tay. I think I read for 12 minutes this entire weekend.
I am feeling rather virtuous in how sharing I have been and not getting too showy in my antsy-ness to get my book on.
Will get back to Bubbles In Trouble - Sarah Strohmeyer tomorrow morning on the way back to work. Will get back to purse book Fire Me Up - Katie MacAlister when I go back to work and the gym. I think I will stay an hour on the recumbent bike....
I have been able to read a teensy bit in bedside book Birds of a Feather - Jacqueline Winspear this weekend, but not but a few pages each night or in the wee hours when I couldn't sleep due to DH's snoring me out of the room and no spare room to rest my cranium. The couch in the family room is pretty comfy....

Medical Mystery Madness Complete, minus One

Soooooo, below are the books read for the Medical Mystery Challenge. It ends on 1 Nov and I don't think I can read any more before end of this month, so calling it good.
My favorite was Blindsighted and my least just chugged through hoping it got better and didn't was The Halo Effect.
I found some FAB new to me authors and had a great time with these medical thrillers.

Beverly Connor - One Grave Too Many (My first of the challenge and TOTALLY GREAT!!)

Karin Slaughter - Blindsighted (#2 of the challenges and a HUMDINGAH!!!)

Jefferson Bass - Carved in Bone (#3 of the challenges WOW!!!! )

Roberta Isleib - Deadly Advice (#4 for the challenge, very intriguing)

M J Rose - The Halo Effect (#5 for this challenge-phhht, no more of this author)

Keith Ablow - Denial ( #6 in the challenge and WOWOWOWOW)

Beverly Connor - Rumor of Bones (#7 in challenge and beginning of another wonderful series from Beverly!)

Tess Gerritsen - Harvest (#8, another humdingah from Tess)

Tim Downs - Shoo-Fly Pie: A Bugman Novel (#9 and pretty damn good)

Ted Dekker - Black (Never did pick this one up.....)

I Get My Short Week...Today is my Friday

I do get my short week and can only hope that I can get in some valuable reading time in there somewhere. My plan is to leave work and go to the Hilltop and read for an hour before Lady K pickup at school. Tomorrow is Chickie Day, so not much for reading there unless Lady K decides to hammer out a nap. Friday, DH is staying home and we will clean house. Oh joy! I will try to sneak in some Hilltop time for some coffee and reading after Lady K drop-off Friday morning. Once my folks get here, it will only be bedtime reading, I think.
I am on tape 3 of 8, side 2 Bubbles in Trouble - Sarah Strohmeyer in the car. I so want to finish bedside book Shoo-Fly Pie: A Bugman Novel - Tim Downs before end of the month to count to my Medical Mystery Challenge that ends 1 November. And then there is Creepfest 2007 challenge, so I would like to finish Fire Me Up - Katie MacAlister. Just one more.....

I had a box arrive yesterday from RecordedBooks, but forgot to look inside to see what they sent in this one. It could be Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir, Dexter in the Dark - Jeff Lindsay, Fluke - Christopher Moore, Circle of Quilters - Jennifer Chiaverinni. I also see that I have Diamond in the Ruff - Emily Carmichael (narrated by Barbara Rosenblatt) and The Archer's Tale - Bernard Cornwell on the way as of yesterday. Don't know why I have ten books out from them. I have to call and find out the scoop if something was returned, but not marked from my wishlist.

Looking Forward to a Short Week

I put in for Thursday and Friday of this week and Monday of next week off from work. I do hope it gets approved. I can't see why it wouldn't. I am not particularly occupied right now and my parents are coming to town.
These are my folks who have been divorced for damn-near ever and are becoming friends again. My dad moved from Lincoln NE to Ottawa KS last month and my mom is moving out of my sister's house in Chicago to her hometown of Fort Scott KS as of this month. These two events are merely co-ink-ee-deenkle, or are they.....We'll see. At least they are in two different small towns with 80 miles between them. Again, we will see....

On to books, something I can chat about without getting my stomach worked up in knots over. I am on tape 2 of 8, side 2 Bubbles In Trouble - Sarah Strohmeyer in the car. I just love Bubbles and in this one she is going undercover as Amish woman so as to get close to a source for a news story. This is a woman who worships at the counter of Maybelline and Fredericks of Hollywood, if you have never read the series. I cannot wait to see what happens. I haven't read/istened to these in order, so events are happening that I have heard tell of in the future books or intimated in the past.
I began Fire Me Up - Katie MacAlister as purse book. I read for 45 min this morning while on the recumbent bike. Excellent. Just love Katie Mac's humor.
I am about halfway through Shoo-Fly Pie: A Bugman's Novel - Tim Downs. Makes for interesting dreams at times since it is my bedside book.

Two in One Day....

I was correct in my thinking that I was a cat's hair close to finishing Harvest - Tess Gerritsen, BOT. I finished it as I pulled out of my driveway this morning on the way to work. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind yesterday to lay out another BOT at the same time as I was laying out my clothes for work and gym. I had Bubbles In Trouble - Sarah Strohmeyer loaded in the deck faster than you can say....well, fast.Sometimes the quips just don't flow well and it is Monday ya know.
Harvest was a humdinger all the way through as I have come to expect from Tess Gerritsen. I felt so bad for Dr Abby DeMatteo once the crap started hitting the fan. I even felt compassion for her boyfriend for standing by her for the most part. I was completely suckered in for many of the characters and it didn't make me mad at the author for doing so. It was done in a matter of fact, some people just suck kind of way. All of the characters were well written, especially the crap-weasels. The medical terminology didn't bog down the thriller aspect of the story at all. The only reason I wanted to listen faster was to get more of the story in my cranium.

While on the recumbent bike this morning, I finished another super read from Stephanie Bond, Whole Lotta Trouble. That was an intensely fun ride with some good twists and turns. I don't want to describe Stephanie Bond as chick-lit or cozy mystery. Not sure what to call her work, but it is damn good fun. More please.

Reviewed By Liz Makes Another Hit!!!

http://reviewedbyliz.com/?cat=170

So, if you like mysteries, go to the above website, especially on Sundays. Liz of RBL fame is hosting mystery authors each Sunday. The authors will post an excerpt of one of their books. Today there were 15 or so excerpts from different authors. This is so cool! Liz hosted one of my favorite challenges this year and I still visit and found the Sunday Excerpt starting today. Sundays won't suck so bad now. DH can go pray to the NFL gods in the mancave and I have something cool to read and add to my wish/shopping list.

Harvest Counts.....

I was wandering the pages of one of my favorite site, stopyourekillingme.com, and found that the Tess Gerritsen I am listening to, Harvest, counts in my weird little challenge I set for myself for Medical Mystery Madness Challenge. Itwas her first non-series book of medical suspense she wrote. Whew.... yeah, I never claimed to be not weird...double negative much?
Granted, Tess is not a new-to-me author and it is not a first in series, but it's close, so I am counting it.....if only for myself....

Ahhhhhh........self-satisfaction at its finest....

A nice restful sleep, no wake ups in the night, pick-up of birthday pupcakes (as Lady K calls them) for DH's desk along with candles (a 4 and a 9) for a nice grin to start his birthday (which I remembered before he did!). A very pleasant workout on the recumbent bike and someone found the remote to the satellite receiver so that I could watch 'Angel' and listen to honkin' good tunes and read for a glorious 45 minutes in purse book Whole Lotta Trouble - Stephanie Bond.
I chose Shoo-Fly Pie: A Bugman Novel - Tim Downs as my bedside book and put Whole Lotta Trouble in my purse. I think Shoo-Fly Pie is going to be a fast read. It's good and I didn't want to put it down to go to sleep, and I was about ready to pass out. Getting up at 3am has that effect on some people. This is from my list of Medical Mystery Madness challenge. I will hopefully finish before 1 November, end of the challenge timeframe. I will add Harvest - Tess Gerritsen to the list as completed for the challenge even though it really didn't meet the criteria I set for myself, new to me author and/or first in series.

Thank Goodness for gym time

Thank goodness for an understanding DH who agrees to let me get up honkin' early, go to the gym, work out and I get in some reading time. Though I do need better planning as I finished my book a few minutes before the time programmed on the bike. So, I went back and re-read some bits I'd skimmed before in Deep in the Woods: The Beginning - Larry J Hillhouse. I started this one on the recommendation of the author and I thought it was a nice coming of age story of a young girl transplanted to the Appalachia mountains. Then it turned to a ghost story....no....not a ghost story...a sci-fi story of Twilight Zone proportions. I heard Rod Serling's voice narrating in my cranium. A very cool effect, I might add.
No idea what I will read next, I left my book bag in the car. And I may not choose any of those anyway. I have three boxes of varying sizes, full of books, from Our Lady of the Books, Book Temptress, Pamala of the Chicago 'Burbs that I need to go through. Rosamunde Pilcher books are in one box, thrillers in another and cozies in the third.
Tape 6 of 9, side 1 Harvest - Tess Gerittsen in the car and a few more pages read in bedside book Whole Lotta Trouble - Stephanie Bond. The thing about getting up honkin' early to go to the gym and get to work early is the sleepiness factor hitting a little earlier in the evening. I just barely kept my eyes open long enough to watch Sprout channel shows with Lady K. She kept nudging me awake to watch Bearenstein Bears' antics.....sigh....I'll get better at 6 hours of sleep on a daily basis...I hope....

Slow Reading Time Now

Still in mourning for the loss of what I thought was going be a banner month of reading time. I was pulled from shift work on Friday, just when it was going to lighten up task wise. sigh....
Now working Mon-Fri, but at least I can come in early and leave early. Get some time at the foo-foo coffee shop maybe and read my purse book choice, currently Deep in the Woods: The Beginning Larry J Hillhouse. I also worked it out with DH that I can come in early, go to the gym and continue the process of getting the floof off of my bod. That can mean time on the recumbent bike which means more reading time.
I finished another Creepfest 2007 challenge book, Don't Talk Back To Your Vampire - Michele Bardsley last night. I began Stephanie Bond - Whole Lotta Trouble after sifting and discarding other choices. Some actually made it to the trade stacks as they didn't grab me immediately and I have so freakin' many on Mt Git'r'Read.
I am already diggin' the women in Whole Lotta Trouble. Be good to see them get together and get one over on the pewp-cranium guy they have in common. I started the book last night and read quite a bit before sleeping and then woke at 2am and wasn't quite ready to get up early for work, so read some more. This is going to be one I am going to make extra time to read.
I am on tape 4 of 9 side 2 Harvest - Tess Gerritsen in the car. I should finish it this week. Then try Clive Barker - Coldheart Canyon.

Multi-Tasking Reading

Nothing like being almost at the end of a really good story, so deciding to stay on the recumbent bike just a leeeetle bit longer to finish. Finished a good story and got in a stellar (for me) time on the bike. Rumor of Bones - Beverly Connor is a first in a pretty snappy series. Dr Lindsey Chamberlain is an anthropologist working on an archaeological dig and it soon becomes a discovery of changes in relationships and a humdinger murder mystery of Gothic-style proportions. I love the science of archaeology and anthropology and you know I love mysteries, so this is perfect book for me. Thank you, Beverly, for writing this series. Off to find the rest. This book was a choice of mine for the Medical Mystery Thriller challenge I joined way back. It was my first challenge and I challenged myself to find the first in a series of new to me authors. I have done well so far but for one.
Larry J Hillhouse, if you're out there, I am about to begin the book you recommended, Deep in the Woods: The Beginning - by...ahem...you. You commented on my blog after seeing that I was reading In Over Your Head and asked if I was enjoying it. I was and you suggested this one I am about to begin. It fits perfectly in my purse, so it once again meets a criteria I have for some of what I read.

I began Harvest - Tess Gerritsen in the car last night on the way home from work. It's starting out humdingah like her others I have enjoyed.

Finally Finished...

I was glad to finish Wicked Women Whodunit - MaryJanice Davidson, Amy Garvey, Nancy J Cohen, and Jennifer Apodaca. I was not overly fond of most of the anthology. The sex of the wicked women outdid the mystery of the whodunit in most of the stories. This is not to intimate I am a prude, far from it. Just would have liked more mystery along with the hottie well-written sex. I always enjoy MaryJanice Davidson and her story was a good 'un. Amy Garvey's was my favorite of the four and Jennifer Apodaca's was my least favorite. I admit I got to the point of skimming at the end just to finish. I really don't like skimming.

I started Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire - Michele Bardsley as next bedside book. I have been looking forward to this sequel of I'm the Vampire, That's Why. I had a lot of fun reading that one and this sequel of sorts looks to be just as fun.

I am very much close to finishing Stonehenge - Bernard Cornwell in the car. It had some nose-wrinkling moments and I think I am enjoying the historical back story better than the actual book. I am pretty sure I would have sucked as Bronze Age chick. I will begin Harvest - Tess Gerritsen as next car book. Seems perfect, if in name only, for October.....

I hope to finish my purse book Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris today. I am qualifying it as a contender for two of my challenges, Creepfest on WW Booktalk and for Joy's Seconds Challenge. Actually, Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire will qualify for both as well.

More Reading Time, Gotta Like It

Thank goodness for a crazy work schedule. It is now allowing me to finish books in record time. I read and finished Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even - Julie Kenner and immediately started The Tunnels - Michelle Gagnon. I finished that the next night and am now reading Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris. I should finish that tomorrow and will start one of three or four in my backpack.

I really enjoyed The Tunnels. It was a humdinger thrill ride and I emailed Michelle to that effect. And she emailed a reply!! Love hearing from authors I admire. This is her first novel and I can't wait for more of the series and more of any stand alone she will write.

Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even was a fun YA book. I love vampire books, especially the wonderfully written vampire books. I like Julie Kenner when she writes her vampire or other paranormal books. Loved Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom. Couldn't get too fired up about her The Givenchy Code, but will definitely read the rest of the Carpe Demon series and the Good Ghouls' series.

September Books

~The Trouble With Magic - Madelyn Alt,pbk, good debut of this series

~Feint of Art - Hailey Lind,pbk, good start to a good cozy series

~The Sugar Camp Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverinni,bot, gentle well written series

~Better Than Chocolate - Bruce Golden, tpb, love-love-love this sci-fi, mystery, cool book

~A Secret Rage - Charlaine Harris, pbk, good stand alone book from one of my favorite authors

~Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay, bocd, yep, that Dexter is a hoot

~The Chick and the Dead: A Pepper Martin Mystery - Casey Daniels, pbk, good follow up to Don of the Dead where Pepper learned she sees dead people....and she still can

~Ghost of a Chance - Yasmine Galenorn, pbk, pretty decent, but looking forward to her fantasy work

~Witch Way to Murder - Shirley Damsgaard, pbk, this is a good series start and definitely looking for more

~Knit One, Kill Two - Maggie Sefton, pbk, makes me want to knit and solve crimes...

~Shadow Man - Cody McFadyen,pbk, O...M...G!!! SO yowzah excellent

9 books, 2 audio, total for year = 88

And One More for September

Able to add one more to the September section in my book journal. I finished Shadow Man - Cody McFadyen yesterday and what a humdiner. It's well written and grabbed my attention quickly and caused bad dreams. Can't get much better than that. I will now be on the lookout for #2 in the series, Face of Death.
I started Wicked Women Whodunnit (Whodunnit? Honey, Who Hasn't?) first story is by MaryJanice Davidson and good. Ready to start the second story when I get home in a few hours. That's the bedside book.
My next purse book was found at the grocery store, because hey, who doesn't browse the books while on the search for broccoli or hot dog buns? Anyway, Good Ghoul's Guide to Getting Even - Julie Kenner was stacked on the shelf with the other Halloween books and, as it is on my shopping list and it is October and Our Lady of the Books Pamala is having Creepfest this month, I decided this would be first up for the Halloween reads.