PEOPLE! You rule. I love you. Thank you so much for taking care of me here. There are a lot of books down there that look so good, sooooo good, and I am cheered just reading the list. My intention is to print it out and take it to Powell's. But this week I've been zooming around and the closest I've gotten to books has been Target, and my friend Sarah's house for lunch on Tuesday, and she gave me the Ruth Reichl. I've already finished half of it, which is so unlike me, because I am a pretty slow reader. But I got the other three at Target, and even the checkout lady was like, "You've NEVER read Janet Evanovich??? NEVER???!!!" "Er, no, I know, bad." "I can't believe you've never read Janet Evanovich. NEVER!!! Ooooooh, you are so lucky!"
I know, that's just how I feel. I am psyched. Amazingly, I have actually read a bunch of the stuff that was suggested, but a whole bunch of it I've never even heard of (as above, apparently, I am the last to get with the program) so this is good. I need this. And Leisl, because I love you and because you begged and because you've been reading this blog for two years (sigh, time flies), I may even put them in a list like I did a few years ago (almost to the day — weird) but not for a little bit because I want people to still add to it so I don't miss anything. I need to look at that list and see what I did wind up reading on it (the old one). I might even join one of those booksharing sites. But then I think I already have too many things to do on line and I just want to read. Because, you know all I ever wanted to do was read.
Add Rita Mae Brown to your list. She writes mysteries that have human characters, but feature a corgi and two cats.
You are going to love Janet Evanovich! Laugh out loud. I have read the series like three times and still love them every time I read them. Enjoy!
Janet Evanovich? I'm intrigued. I love it when people get excited about books and I'm always looking for a good book to stick my nose in. The last good book I read was The Other Boleyn Girl (Nope, I'm not planning to see the movie) and I'm currently reading the Twilight vampire saga although I see that more of a guilty pleasure than anything else. :)
Have you read Sue Grafton? Her alphabet series is fabulous!
I've never read Janet E either! I read obscure stuff though (well for a girl anyway). I'm working my way through the Alex Cross series by James Patterson and then I'm re-reading Faulkner's As I Lay Dying - like I said - obscure for a girly huh?
Those you have look intriguing and I hope you do compile that list. Cheers!
oh the penderwicks! this is one our top books at home, read and over and over.
you'll love it.
I was behind times too when I discovered Janet Evanovich. I like the Stephanie Plum books most. You are in for a real treat! I don't know if the humour would translate well, as they are quite 'English' books, but I feel you might like that, but the Agatha Raisin series by M C Beaton are really good. English village mysteries! Oh, and I have just discovered, after years of resisting reading them because I thought I would not like them, The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Happy reading!
ooo, Janet Evanovich... the Stephanie Plum series... really cracks me up. Like laugh out loud while reading making people think your weird kinda laughing. But that's me. I hope you like it too.
Janet E is a hoot. Good choice!
You are not the only one who has not heard of Janet Evanovich. I walk into a bookstore and I know I can buy on line, but I love spending time in a bookstore. I see all the books I would love to read, then turn around and see all the cookbooks with all the amazing recipes I want to try and the all the craft books that I also want to do, plus the gardening section. There is just not enough time to read them all. Glad to see that you found some interesting books. Have a good weekend
Books are just so good! I wish I had more time to spend reading them too. But there are a million other things I want to do too!
The suggestions are working for me too. Janet Evanovich? So, I should pick this one up, huh?
whoa a club is forming i can see it now... "anyone who has not read Janet Evanovich please stand up!" chairs all over the world scraping across wood plank floors. well i haven't read her but with the sophisticates that i know people this here blog i trust the recommendation and will go with out and get one from the library!
thanks to the posiepals!
your friend, bird tweet robin from down the road
Oh, Janet Evanovich is the best fluff! Those books are so much fun. And I loved Tender at the Bone too, although it does make me hungry :o)
A list would be so wonderful! I hate when I finish a book and have nothing new to start on.
My husband has ordered me a Kindle electronic reading device from Amazon and it should be arriving next week. It is pricey but I am spending so much money on books each month and then have to get them out of the house somehow that this should be an eventual savings in both spending and space. I've been donating my books to our area shelter and that feels good but NOT having the book at all and getting a new one at the punch of a button is appealing!
Just what I needed!! I think I'm gonna get myself an Evanovich novel. I've been on a non-fiction fix lately and I need a dose of fluff!
Oooh, I was really hoping you'd make another list, too..that would be awesome..I've never read Janet Evanovich either..now it seems like maybe I should..
Hi from Beautiful British Columbia! I recently discovered your site (thanks to Country Living) and I can't get enough. I love it. Your writing style ... and your photos are amazing (even the stack of books today is a work of art). I'm in awe. I can only aspire. And you most certainly do inspire. Thanks Alicia.
Sweet Alicia, I am still here, still reading the blog every day, but I find it hard to comment (you know why). I love the sweet little clothespin doll. She is just the perfect embodiment of spring.
You and Andy and puppers are often in my thoughts this time of year because I know spring is your season. I am glad to read here that it is a joyous and productive one for you.
About the reading, I am ever the reader as well and Les bought me a Kindle this Christmas. I love mine and I really feel that it's helped me save a few trees already. The selection available for Kindle isn't as good as an average bookstore (Janet Evanovich is there however) but it's getting better. There is nothing quite so gratifying as finishing a book, deleting it off my little Kindle (no muss! no fuss!) and downloading the next one in seconds. Seriously, you should consider one.
Also, did you watch Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Return of Jezebel James? Ugh, it was so awful! I was very disappointed.
Ooooh, The Penderwicks is on my Must Read list after "Bookshelves of Doom" said it's in the style of the Melendy books by Elizabeth Enright. (There is a second one out now or coming out soon.) They have it at Target? I must swing by!
My Grandma just read a Janet E book. She said that the book is so funny that she was up til 4 am laughing so hard reading Plum Lucky.
Janet Evanovich was a hilarious read for the first books (up till probably seven or eight) but alas, like all things that don't know how to stop, it gets very repetitive. With the earlier ones, I couldnt wait to read the next one. Now I dont even care to.
I just finished Franny & Zooey again and The Great Gatsby again. My boyfriend is in the middle of reading Swann's Way. We are bunch of freaks. I am getting ready to read The Brothers Karamazov as my boyfriend loved it.
My absolute favorites are:
The Red Tent
Expecting Adam
Eat Pray Love
Redeeming Love - Based on a bible story but don't let that scare you (My bookclub with lots of different religions represented (including atheist) voted it their number one book!)
By the way I LOVE YOUR HOUSE!!!!!!
I found the Stephanie Plum series about three months ago and have now read them all, plus a few of her other more romancy novels, and I'm hooked. Janet Evanovich turned me into a different typ of reader. I always read well-reviewed, deep-minded, enhance-your-intellect-even-if-it-wounds-your-soul tomes and now I am loving fluff. I can't help it. Some of my favorite new authors? Jennifer Crusie, Leanne Banks, Susan Andersen, I could name more. My 18-year-old daughter is looking down her pert nose at me. How I could I read a romance novel? The things my parents used to call "Pulsing loins?" Well, I just think romance/suspense/humorous novels are different today. Sure, you can still find Fabio carrying a crinoline-clad maiden but you can also find contemporary laugh-out-loud, witty fun (with an occasional side of pulsing loins). What's wrong with having some fun with your reading, especially when your own life might be on the stressful side and maybe you don't want to read "Atonement" right now because the betrayal in it will make your gut wrench?
Anyway, as you can tell, you hit a nerve with this subject because I am being belittled currently at home. It's good to see someone else enjoying a light read. Oh, but beware, my time devoted to knitting has suffered greatly. Just a warning.
My mind went completely blank when I read your request for lighter reading, but was I ever glad you brought it up! I only managed to get through a small portion of the responses (so far), and it's already helped beef up my library list. Thanks, Fellow Reader! :)