"Ruth" by Lori Copeland

"A Cold Heart", by Jonathon Kellerman

Just today I finished Crow Lake, Mary Lawson's first book. Casey recommended the second, The Other Side of the Bridge, in one of these "What are you reading?" threads. Thanks, Casey! I loved both books. I find the author creates remarkably sympathetic male characters. And the northern Ontario setting is similar in some ways to where I live.

I have a large stack of mysteries beside my bed. Not sure which one I'll pick up next.

I'm reading "The Neighbor" by Lisa Gardner, love her mysteries. Just finished "The Gone Girl".

Just started Janet Evanovich's new Stephanie Plum book Notorious Nineteen.
Good so far. I always look forward to the new Plum books.

Emily Griffin's latest but I forget the title. It's upstairs.

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichel (she used to be the restaurant critic at the NY Times). And Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place. I have loved what she writes for so long, but realized I hadn't read her greatest story.

One is easy and lovely. The other is thought provoking and touches me to my core.

Here is a link that might be useful: an interview with Ruth about G&S

Just finished The Queen of Minor Disasters by Antonietta Mariottini. It was really cute and funny. The author's family is in the restaurant business and she included a lot of her families' recipes.

Really enjoyed it. Even nicer--it took place at the Jersey shore, and the author is donating all her procedes to the Sandy Relief effort.

"The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives"

Just finished "Madam Secretary", Madeleine Albright's memoir written in 2003, and now I know more than I ever wanted to know about the world situation during the time she was in office. Very interesting, however, in light of the way things have evolved now in the Middle East. Now I need to look for a bit of fluff to read.

Rob333, I've several of Ruth Reichl's books and have thoroughly enjoyed them, especially "Comfort Me with Apples".

Have you read Tender to the Bone? I loved loved LOVED the food parts and the Paris descriptions in Comfort me, but the other was kind of hard to bear.

A collection of Pete Hamill's Brooklyn stories, "The Christmas Kid". DH chose it and enjoyed it. I liked it, but suggest reading in small doses lest the Irish melancholia overwhelm you.

A novel by Christine Schutt, "Prosperous Friends". One reviewer likens it to "Portrait of a Lady" set 150 years later. Two married 'adult' only children (with potential) drift through life like moons orbiting their more forceful and financially fortunate friends. (Another reviewer mentioned Fitzgerald.)

I need to find something frivolous...fast!

"Spare Change" by Betty Lee Crosby...Loved this book.

Just started "Nobody's Fool" by Richard Russo...So far it seems like I'm going to love this one too.

rob, Yes, I've read 'Tender to the Bone' and I did enjoy that, too. Guess I'm really a foodie at heart and have enjoyed reading books written by and about various chefs. Better to read about the food than eat too much of it!

I do both! Double whammy. You'd have to be a foodie to enjoy her books as you can taste her descriptions.
:)

Thanks!

Just finished ...

Watership Down by Richard Adams ... and old classic about society featuring rabbits.

Stiff by Mary Roach ... Roach is a respectful, yet humorous author who thoroughly researches and writes about touchy subjects. This one is about corpses. If school textbooks were written like this, I'd have make it to Harvard. Lots of info but actually fun to read.

Just started ...
Perla by Carolina De Robertis
The Friday Evening Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

Jodi-

I have only been reading recipes, no time this time of year for a good book.

Sue

I just finished;
Brain on Fire-A Month of Madness...could not put this book down.
Now I am reading;
Cross Roads

Just finished "The Ups and Downs of Being Dead" very good. Just started "The Bone Bed" by Patricia Cornwell.

i am reading another Janette Oke book I just love her books

At CostCo today I picked up 'The Witch's Daughter' by Paula Brackston~~~I had to make myself finish the Kindle book I was reading before I could start this~~it sounds good! I am in a hotel room in San Diego and just finished my Kindle book~~~so now I can stay up all night, since I am by myself and read! I am almost wishing it will rain hard all day tomorrow so I can stay in my room and read;)

I used to be an avid reader and was known as the book lady at retaurants but the last couple of years it is too difficult and tiring. Dont buy any books lean on computer reads

Just started Jonathan Tropper's, 'Everything Changes.' Enjoyed his, 'This is Where I Leave You,' several months ago. Tropper makes you laugh while telling a good story.

Jodi, Yeah, I've read "Stiff" also, but not at the same time as I'm reading foodie books!

LOL Maxmom, don't blame you there. :-)

I'm reading "Messie No More" and "File, Don't Pile" -- getting good, practical ideas from both and already starting to put some of them to use.

Just finished 'The French Gardener' by Santa Montefiore... very good! Now am reading 'Good Grief' by Lolly Winston. I'm just on the second chapter, but am loving the authors descriptive writing.

I'm trying to finish Guernsey Potato Peel Literary Society. It's cute, but I keep putting it down to read my book club book for the month.

My book club just finished The Light Between Oceans, by ML Stedmen. Interesting read, good question posed, wasn't thrilled with the ending.

Our next is The Five Men who Broke my Heart by Susan Shapiro.

I have Gone Girl on hold at the library. At one point I think there were 600 people in front of me!! Oh well

circus fire..its about a fire at the Ringling brothers circus in the 40's

Triangle...its about a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist facotory

I'm reading The Year of the Moon Goose, by T.W. Berger. Terry was a neighbor and friend when I was growing up. His book is a collection of essays and poems. I am really enjoying it.

The Year of the Moon Goose: : Essays and Tidbits from the Banks of Marsh Creek

Here is a link that might be useful: The Year of the Moon Goose

11/22/63. I was in Dallas last week and visited the area. Saw the school book depository, the window. Commerce St. Now when I get to that part I'll be able to picture the area.

Kim--doesn't that make such a difference? I'd pictured the area totally differently before I had the opportunity to go to Dallas and visit the 6th floor museum and walk around the vicinity. Really helps to understand what happened that day to actually see it, doesn't it?

Samkaren, you seem to have a fire theme going on, and I was reminded of a book I read last year that I highly recommend: To Sleep with the Angels: the Story of a Fire, by David Cowan. It is about the tragedy of the fire at the Chicago Holy Angels school that was instrumental in changing fire safety laws. It hit home to me since I grew up in the area and,while I was too young to remember the actual event, I well remember the kind of somber horror that our parents had when that school was mentioned. The book also describes the changing demographics of the neighborhood after the event from 1st generation Italian. Anyway--I found the book exceptionally well written and fascinating on many levels.

I'm reading Doris Kerns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, a biography of Pres. Lincoln centered on his "mastery of men & how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation's history." It is the book upon which the movie, "Lincoln", was based.

Yes, I'm glad I got to see the area and that I'm reading the book. I didn't appreciate the impact of how that changed history.

I remember Kathsgrdn reading it. I will check out her new choice Killing Kennedy.

I'm catching up to DH in "The Double Game" by Dan Fesperman. It's set in current time, but revolves around spies and mystery writers of the Cold War era. The reader gets to visit Vienna, Prague, etc. as well as read some bits and pieces from some classic mysteries.

I am in the midst of reading (well rereading actually) the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon. A wonderful mix of historical fiction and time travel, with some romance and men in kilts mixed in.

abbey

I'm reading "Joy for Beginners" by Erica Bauermeister (she also wrote "The School of Essential Ingredients," also on my to-be-read list, growing longer every day!). I'm really enjoying it.

SAMKAREN: The circus fire book -- about the circus fire in Hartford, Connecticut! My mom told me that her brother was there and used his pocketknife to cut the tent near him so he and others could jump out. That's a story I wished I'd known about earlier to ask him about (and I just took a look at the Wikipedia entry about the fire and there's a first-person comment about a boy who did the same thing; I'm getting a shiver thinking that was my uncle, but perhaps there were several other people with pocketknives at the time, not so common today).

Are you reading the book about "Little Miss 1565", the little girl whose identity has never been positively, conclusively determined? Quite a sad thing.

"just imagine": Just started Jonathan Tropper's, 'Everything Changes.' Enjoyed his, 'This is Where I Leave You,' several months ago. Tropper makes you laugh while telling a good story."

I really liked 'This is Where I Leave You', too. I enjoyed his writing very much, and had many laughs. I've been meaning to read other books by him.

I'm reading The Christmas Box trilogy by Richard Paul Evans. I know they're older books but I have never read them. I'm on the 3rd one now (The Letter). They're a bit fluff but I like reading a Christmas themed book this time of the year and with all the running around, decorating, etc I have been doing, fluff is enough for me right now.

I needed a new series, so I am reading Iris Johansen's first book, The Face of Deception. It's ok.

I read Sail by James Patterson.....worst book I have read in years.....poorly written, dumb plot, not at all believable.
Just finished Racketeer by John Grisom......well written, good plot but not something I would enjoy reading gain.
Now I am reading Trace by Patricia Cornwall. I am not far enough into it to tell if it will be worth reading.
I recently reread Watership Down......I have a signed paperback by the author. I loved the book.
A Team of Rivals is one of my all time favorites.

I read Sail by James Patterson.....worst book I have read in years.....poorly written, dumb plot, not at all believable.
Just finished Racketeer by John Grisom......well written, good plot but not something I would enjoy reading gain.
Now I am reading Trace by Patricia Cornwall. I am not far enough into it to tell if it will be worth reading.
I recently reread Watership Down......I have a signed paperback by the author. I loved the book.
A Team of Rivals is one of my all time favorites.

Please, do not read or waste your money on "The Bone Bed" worst Kay Scarpetta one ever! Has always been one of my favorite series. So dissatisfied.

currently reading 'the island' by elin hildebrand. i love her books.

The Power of a Whisper by Bill Hybels

Excellent book!!!

A good "fire" book? Young Men and Fire, by Norman Maclean. It's about smoke jumpers and it is well written. The writer himself had been a firefighter. He's also the one who wrote A River Runs Through it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicago Tribune Review of it

DH has returned from the library with "Live By Night" by Dennis Lehane and "In Sunlight and In Shadow" by Mark Helprin. Two nice, LONG, books for the predicted cold and rain (maybe some snowflakes).

Helprin's "A Soldier of the Great War" is one of my all-time favorites, but I wasn't fond of his New York City tomes. The only big favorite I recall is "The Good Thief" by... Balabin? (Something like that.) Not many tales reduce me to tears at the ending.