I have that rare thing this time of year-a weekend without a deadline on the other side of it. Next one is almost TWO WEEKS away! So while the boys are all inside watching nonstop college basketball, I plan to take the weekend and read a whole book. Outside. In the sunshine. With a tea tray. and cookies. Then later, wine. Bliss.

Either Lousie Penny's Brutal Telling or Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen.

Sarah: I have requested the Chet and Bernie first book which is in our library system. I like animal detective books if they act like normal! I have problems getting all the books that I get recommendations for. I did get a series "Bones....etc." featuring a dog and cat and enjoyed them. The dog did dog things and the cat slept a lot in between their kind of detecting. One character remarked in a non-animal detective book that if she saw her cat using the computer and fax machine, she would take it to the veterinarian! My cat called an emergency number once but that was because he jumped onto the phone and hit a programmed number. I made sure that could not happen again!

The Rita Mae Brown "Mrs Murphy" and "Sister Jane" series are entertaining in that way. The animals are animals....they do dog and cat and owl and fox things-but they also communicate inter-species and use their superior sense of smell and (just ask them) intellect to push the humans to the solution. Light, fun, relaxing. brain bonbons. a very necessary goodie.

annpan and CeCe -- That describes Chet. He's most definitely a dog, but he's able to use his natural abilities to help out -- but not to an outrageous degree.

Hope you enjoy the book, annpan.

Read The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. Honestly, her prose has an inner radiance that is humbling to read.

I'm reading "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" and really enjoying it. It's a really fast read with the type of characters I love.

Also still savoring TKAM for discussion.

I'm reading "The Elephant Keeper" by Christoper Nicholson and loving it!!!

Cece, while I love Louise Penny's books, I didn't like the end of that one at all - you will know what I mean.

I have nearly finished the forthcoming David Mitchell book, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and it is wonderful. Just the kind of book I like, with a gripping story and some historical fact, and in addition, the writing is so good I have even noticed it! I don't usually notice writing unless it is awful *g*

i just finished The Help. It was a book club choice and I am looking forward to teh discussion. Now I will have to read the thread on RP devoted to this book.

Don't have a clue what to read next. Books everywhere, but I just can't settle on one. Ever had that happen? What do you do?
PAM

Just finished "Sweetness in the Belly" by Camilla Gibbs, a novel about an English girl who has hippy parents who desert her to get raised in the Muslim religion/way of life and then moves to Ethiopia during the awful Haile Selassie/famine times. Then she travels to England to help reunite Ethiopian refugees with family members. Sounds like a very depressing book, and no, it wasn't happy-happy, but it was hopeful. I learned a lot about the Muslim religion and the Quran etc...

Also reading a non-fiction book called "May you be the Mother of one Hundred Sons: A journey among the Women of India" by Elisabeth Bumiller. Fascinating as she visits different sections of India which are vastly different and have different cultural rules for the women in those areas. She covers the rural villages where life for women is very very hard, covers the actresses in the Bollywood scene (who even though they are very "modern" are still under the gun for being women) and now I'm on a chapter about artists in Calcutta: a visual artist, a poet, and a writer... Very interesting indeed and makes me grateful I was not born a poor rural Indian farmer's wife....

Not sure what my fiction book will be next, but may pick up "Bellwether" which is supposed some good sci fi piece...

I just finished The Grand Sophy recommended as her best by several of you on the Georgette Heyer thread. I had only read a few of her mysteries and thoroughly enjoyed this one. Thanks for the recommendations.

I'm reading "The Likeness" by Tana French and would be interested in any comments anyone might have about this author. It's a first for me.

twobigdogs,

I know the feeling, this happens to me heaps!! Especially after you have just finished a gooood book. If a book does not grab me in the first few pages out it goes.
Keep trying it is nothing for me to scrap five in a row!!!

Just keep trying it will happen.

I've just finished "To Kill a Mockingbird". What a tour de force! Now I am reading "Wildflower" by Mark Seal. This is the true story of a wildlife photographer and conservationist, Joan Root, who was murdered mysteriously in Kenya in 2006.

Have begun The Bright Forever by Lee Martin, about the disappearance of a nine year old girl in a small town in Indiana in 1972 (it's a novel, not a true story). When I was in transit all the time, I worked two summers near the area of the book's setting. The book takes place in summer, so I can see the landscape in my mind.

The book mentions many songs, some of them from that time, like "The Candy Man".

Twobigdogs,
When that happens to me, I look at the books, rearrange or dust them, until one of them sort of reaches for me. It may take a couple of days, but invariably, one of them does.

Carolyn, coincidentally, I also read The Grand Sophy, this weekend. Not every Heyer book is a keeper for me, but this one is. I had the feeling Sir Horace knew exactly what he was doing when he had Sophy stay with his sister, and was up to a bit of mischief himself. Great fun!

I guess I've been in the mood for light, cozy reads. I also gulped down Mary Stewart's Thornyhold -- not one of my favorites, but still a nice, rainy day type read. All of Mary Stewart's novels are keepers for me. I'm so glad some of these are being reissued. As a girl, I read mainly library books, and am only now starting to collect them as they are reissued.

I just finished Deborah Blum's novel "The Poisoner's Handbook" and it was fascinating! Anyone read it? She writes about New York City in the 1920's and the men who investigated murders through science/forensics. I will suggest this to my book club.

I am now reading "Wild Child" by T.C. Boyle who is a favorite short story writer of mine. His books are always great.

Read Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards in one sitting and an entire box of Kleenex. What a tearjerker! But a wonderful memoir of how the author's life was changed when she agreed to care for horse rescued by the SPCA. This was the author's first book, and I have already requested her second, which is something of a sequel, but seems to be more of how her life was changed by the success of her writing. As I am about the author's age and there are many similarities, I am greatly looking forward to reading it. She has another coming out in May; I put myself on the list for that one too.

Also have been reading Beverley Nichols Cats' A.B.C. which is so wonderful I am going to have to purchase it. So clever and lighthearted with an elegance that can only be Nichols. Also one of the rare animal memoirs that does not contain any death scenes, praise be!

Georgia P., I love Mary Stewart, too. My introduction to her books was Nine Coaches Waiting as a condensed novel in The Ladies Home Journal back in the 50s, and I believe I have every book she ever wrote. I especially liked Madam, Will You Talk for some reason; and, of course, the King Arthur series that was so different from the others.

I have read a little way into Motherless Daughters, enough to see that it is for women who lost their mothers at a young age rather than for me; but I keep thinking of my cousin's daughters. She died at 44 after a several-years-long fight against cancer, leaving four children, the youngest a 17-year-old boy. Especially the oldest daughter was devastated. My cousin died in 1978, and I will decide after I finish the book if I should recommend that the girls read it. I don't see them much, but I do know that they have never let go.

Yes Kath, it hurt my heart. Which illustrates how powerful she is as a writer-it is all pretend!

Anxiously awaiting the next one, which is in pre-production-and the one after that is being written! (I read her blog. Yesterday her dog was skunked. I laughed out loud reading about it. The woman can write!)

Had to decompress after reading it-so I pulled out Enter A Murderer by Ngaio Marsh. Sort of like slipping into sheepskin slippers after a day in fabulous heels. Comfy.

Almost halfway through To Kill A Mockingbird, a reread for our discussion. I picked it up last night and have hardly put it down. What a terrific novel! And it doesn't hurt that I have a beautiful but compact 40th anniversary edition from the library.

When I can snatch a few moments, mostly at work, I am reading Pop Goes the Weasel-The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes by Albert Jack. Although some of the derivations seem a bit far-fetched, it is very, very entertaining.

Also How To Sew A Button (and other nifty things your grandmother knew) by Erin Bried is good fun, although I take issue with some of the advice offered therein. I am almost grandmother age myself, although I suppose the author is talking about my grandmother, who was born in 1902. I wonder what she would think of this book? Anyway, it inspired me to darn some socks rather than throwing them away, actually a lot of fun. I now am regularly wearing socks that are older than some of my co-workers! What a world.

Just finished 'Sweet and Deadly,' a reprint of Charlaine Harris' first book. Written in 1981 and the heroine smokes cigarettes! Seems so odd these days!
Just as well I got a load of library books as we had the most terrible storm after 4 months of no rain Perth was flooded with lots of damage from water and golf-ball size hailstones. My local library is closed for repairs but luckily I did not lose my electricity supply as so many did.

siobhan...I have my grandmother's darning egg, plus several I bought in a "junk" tool shop in Maine last summer. I did learn to darn my socks when I was a child, and did do it into my teens. I'm not sure when I stopped. It's a very easy, and relaxing, chore as I remember it. I do, now, recall doing some of my wool socks when I was first married. The cotton socks are so inexpensive these days, they hardly seem worth it. And they make such great dust rags.

I am going to look into this book.

I am reading "Die Trying" the third or fourth book in Lee Child's Jack Reacher series (Jack Reacher being a former soldier/lone wolf type). I have not read the others in the series but don't feel I am missing anything (i.e. continuing storyline) by starting with the third. I was impressed with the lead female character in this one (a kidnapped FBI agent), although she seems to be falling a bit into the "helpless" role as I get midway into the book. On the whole I find it's a page-turner though, with some CSI-type elements to it, which I love!

I have just started Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. I haven't read her Time Traveller's Wife, but this one seems like it will be really good.

I began reading Cold Justice, an Australian crime book by Katherine Howell, but had to stop midway to read Remember June by Damien Leith. Damien won the Australian Idol singing competition in 2006, and I am a big fan. This is his second novel. The story is good, but not so sure about the writing, it's a bit stilted. Not an opinion I am game to voice at the fan forum where I am a member though. Several people there said his first book was one of the best they had read - even though I am a huge fan, it made me wonder how many books they had finished LOL.
An interesting note: the HarperCollins rep knows I am a big fan and brought me a small excerpt from the book. By coincidence, on the same day Damien was in Adelaide and came into the shop to see me (he is such a nice bloke, I can't imagine many 'celebrities' doing that!). Damien asked me to tell him what I thought and I found a word I thought out of place and said so. To my surprise, the word has been changed in the final copy!

That's quite a story, Kath!

Annpan,
They showed that storm in Perth in the news here. It looked pretty powerful.

Just started "Mapp and Lucia" by EF Benson. It seems that I am reading a book in the middle of the series, but I am having no trouble sorting out the characters. Are the other books as good as this one? Or more of the same? This is a bonbon book and just what I need right now....

Kath - how cool that Damien came into your shop and looked for YOU. And that he took your advice. He knows who to trust for sure. :-)

Lemonhead: I think that all the Mapp and Lucia books are wonderful, actually the early ones only deal with Lucia. There are some follow-up books by Tom Holt which are well done and a Major Benjy book which I have not read.
Reader in transit, that was a terrible storm indeed and has done a huge amount of damage to so many people. My son's home has been flooded, my grandson has lost two windshields on his family's cars. I was lucky that I had no problems but others in this retirement village were flooded and need new carpets at least. The report is that there are 200 million Aust. dollars insurance claims. I was upset to see that heritage stained-glass windows were destroyed and the fine arts library flooded with a number of books ruined at the University where I used to work.

I'm about half-way through The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw. It's about two families who were friends years ago, when they both had summer homes in Massachusetts. The Mom from one of the families dies under mysterious circumstances, and eight years later family secrets start to emerge. It's an okay book, but probably not one that will stick with me.

I finally finished "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand." I dragged it out as long as I could because I didn't want it to end. Big sigh. I really enjoyed that book and wish I could find some more like it.

I think I'll move on to a Terry Pratchett just for fun -- "Eric."

Ann, sorry to hear about the damage your son and friends suffered. We rarely hear about terrible weather in Perth - like Adelaide, you seem to have nice Mediterranean climate most of the time.

TKAMB was a hard act to follow. I am currently trying to read 2 books and not enthralled with either one: a re-read of Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" is leaving me bored. As well, E. Hemingway's "True at First Light." The latter is about big game hunting in Kenya during the time of the Mau Mau uprising. Somehow, it's a real downer to read about all the gratuitous killings of beautiful wild creatures. This was the author's last work and was published after his death by suicide.

I've had a week of fiction, including Bohljalian's Secrets of Eden, and Tyler's Noah's Compass, both of which were very enjoyable. Noah's Compass probably more thought provoking: about memories, and choosing which handle on the memory to take hold of...the one that makes us happy or the one that makes us angry, and the selectivity of memory. I heartily recommend it.

The some quick reads: "The Girl Friend's Club" which was lots of fun but in no way thought provoking or meaningful!, "dirty little secrets" about a teen growing up in a home with a hoarder as parent.
And then: the long awaited newest Jodi Picoult House Rules about a young man with Asperger's. I really enjoy the way Picoult gets into the personality of her characters when she writes from each person's point of view. A few paragraphs, and I could hear not only the literary voice, but the physical voice of Jacob, the main character. It will be a good weekend.

Then, I will continue with some religious books I have been reading during Lent, particularly The Return of the Prodigal Son and Death on a Friday Afternoon. I hope to finish both during Holy Week.

I finished Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. It certainly is an unusual book. The main characters are mirror image twins in Chicago, the daughters of an identical English twin estranged from her sister. The London sister dies and leaves her flat, which is adjacent to Highgate Cemetery,to the girls. It is a very readable book, interesting characters, exploration of sisters, secrets, and identity. I would love to hear the thinking on it from any of you who have read it.

Veronicae, I would like to hear more about your take on House Rules when you finish it. My (adopted) grandson has mild Asperger's. We knew nothing about it at all previously and were rather relieved to find out there were reasons that he had trouble making friends and playing sports. I suppose the book explains that it is a disease of the central nervous system, hence the lack of muscle coordination and the inability to pick up on body language. He is 15 now and has learned some of the social skills that do not come naturally to him, but he lives in pretty much a black and white world--no shades of grey or telling fibs for him. He is a super sweet boy and has been such a joy to us. He now has his first crush on a girl and is too scared to invite her to go have a milkshake with him.

Carolyn, I will certainly do that.

The young man in the novel has a social tutor, who is working with him on how to handle those kind of situations. I feel so bad for these kids. To live in the world but not of it. And what a challenge for the parents.

I have had The Remains of the Day on a TBR pile for ages and have just finished it. I think I enjoyed it as much as I did because I had seen the film with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, which does so much to bring to life the strange characters of the butler and the housekeeper.
Some of the location shots were done at the now faded holiday resort of Weston-super-Mare on the Somerset coast using the hotel where my late Mother was a guest. And no, they didn't want her as a 'extra'. Everyone had to keep out of the way and watch from over the banisters.

Kath, are you out there? I owe you an apology. I told you if I had to read and enjoy a 'Booker Prize' winner I would chew off my own ankle.
Well, I loved Wolf Hall and enjoyed The Remains of the Day so I am now hobbling about on bloody stumps.

Vee, I'm still laughing at that about an hour after I first read it. I guess they have to get it right sometimes!

I gave up on The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, begged pardon at my book group meeting, and discovered only one of the eight of us had managed to finish it ... Needless to say I felt much better!

I finished Major Pettigrew's Last Stand yesterday and loved it. It's light, happy, thoughtful -- perfect and just what I needed.

Last night I started The Elegance of the Hedgehog and so far I like it very much. To Kill a Mockingbird is still in my TBR pile and should be next.

Went out of town which meant a four-hour stopover in Dallas Fort Worth airport, so managed somehow to find myself in a book shop (imagine that) and bought "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" by Daneyal Mueenyddon, an author who lives in Pakistan. I really enjoyed this one as it was more a collection of short stories, but each story linked back to a character or situation in a previous story. Very clever, and it was well written. I got completely sucked into the world of both rural and cityfied Pakistan as it is now (according to this author) so can recommend this one. Apparently it was a finalist for the National Book Prize,but it had slipped my notice. Glad I picked it up.

Now reading my NF for the week- "Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the art of Diagnosis" by Lisa Sanders, MD, who is the medical advisor for the tv programme House.... I am a bit disappointed in this, as it's not as interesting as I had thought it was going to be (considering I love House). But it's not bad, and is currently talking about the need for docs to go back and relearn how to use their senses (sight, hearing etc.) during the physical exam instead of 100% relying on expensive medical procedures and tests. I happen to have a good doc who does a thorough exam each year, but my old MD who, although very nice, only did a cursory exam compared to what I have now.

Also got a mammoth book from the library - "Sister Wendy's 1000 Masterpieces" of western art. Lovely to pick up and put down every now and then... Plus I get to do curls with it! :-)

Thank goodness, my local library has re-opened after the repairs needed after the huge storm. I borrowed several books by Veronica Heley from other libraries, all of the Abbot Agency series. Not bad.
Spoiler...I think I would have found Hamilton a nice man but why did he need to pray and meditate so much when he was alive.
Is running a domestic agency that difficult? :-(

I finished The Swimming Pool by Holly Lecraw. I thought it was just so-so. It's about two families dealing with the death of the Mom of one of the families, eight years ago. Family secrets abound, all of them predictable. I think I've just read too many of these types of books; it's to the point where I cringe if I see the words dysfunctional and family used to describe a book.

Now reading Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich. It's pretty good. A young woman and her husband move to the Nebraska prairies to farm in the mid to late 1800s. The begining of the book is set in Iowa, which was interesting to me since that's where I'm from. The Cedar River (which makes a brief appearance in the story) is about two miles from my house.

I have been listening to via the BBC The Beacon by Susan Hill. A slightly spooky tale set in a remote Welsh farm house and now, Hilary Spurling's very new book Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck in China. China, for a US missionary, wasn't a very healthy place (in every sense) to be at the end of the nineteenth century. Her father only made ten converts in as many years, and her own siblings died like flies.

Finished off the enjoyable lightweight "Mapp and Lucia" by EF Benson. Once I got the characters sorted out, it was a nice gentle read about the chicanery that goes into village politics in the UK in the 1930's. Pretty funny in parts, and I might read the others in the series, but not right now. This was a delicious little parfait.

Now on to "The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the most devastating plague of all time" by John Kelly. That's my NF choice, whilst my F choice is "Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin (imagine an accent acute on the "o" and the "i" in that surname).... Been looking forward to this for a while so quite excited to start it.

Have finished The Bright Forever by Lee Martin. What I found interesting was the story being told by different persons.

Lemonhead,
I've requested Brooklyn from the library. Let me know what you think of it.

I just finished House Rules by Jodi Picoult. She reports using information from children with autism and aspergers. Wow! she appears to have really listened to what they had to say. And their parents as well. As a pediatric nurse, I have always considered the parents of "disabled" kids as my heroes. Even more so after reading this book.

I enjoyed it immensely, and didn't want to stop reading, and am definitely having book withdrawal symptoms.

An added treat, was looking at language, and how we often don't hear what people are really saying. This is a large part of the theme, and my English teacher husband enjoyed the concept of what words mean...and how people use and hear them differently. What is a true statement?

Carolyn, I think you should give it a try. I found it disturbing sometimes, so beware. It is hard. But it was a great look into someone else's world - for real, a different world.

Reader in Transit -

You are in for a real treat with Brooklyn when you get it. It's a book that sucks you in and you can only just pull yourself out of it when you have to bed. It's really well written and I just can't wait to go home and read it at lunchtime.

Honestly, a super book so far....

Thanks, Veronica. I mentioned the book to my daughter, and she bought it. I will read it when she finishes, but she is a busy lady so it may be awhile.

Just finished Kostova's The Swan Thieves and enjoyed it greatly while recognizing its shortcomings. It's good but misses great. I guessed the denouement as soon as we were introduced to the eponymous painting. And the worst part of all, and probably the most damning comment I could make : it has a Nora Roberts dearth of interesting antagonists. I don't like books where everyone is just too nice and loving. Yeech! YMMV

Next up: Ann Tyler's Noah's Compass

Chris - I read Noah's Compass last week, and it was one of the best I have read in a long time. A lot of thinking happened. Great characters. I think I would like Liam. I told my husband that if he were ever to be alone, he would be Liam.