On my bookshelf

It's been a while since I wrote about what I am reading these days. Usually I finish up a book and forget about it before I come all the way downstairs to the computer. (update - I am about to order a new computer, a notebook, so I can have it upstairs - or anywhere in the house, for that matter - so it won't be so arduous to post!)

Anyway ... here's what I have recently finished, am in the middle of, and have waiting to be read.

This is the latest book I have been reading about how to write a book. It's by a successful mystery author, and really makes sense to me - I have always thought, from my own reading interests, that if the characters are likable you will develop a loyal readership even if your plot isn't always stellar (it has to be good, but if the reader likes your characters they are forgiving on occasion.) So perhaps I will actually start writing one of these days instead of just reading about writing and talking about doing it.
This book was my book club selection for two months ago, and I still haven't finished it. I love that it is historical fiction set in China, since I am interested in all things China these days, and everyone else in the book club who did finish it loved it, but it's just failed to keep my interest and though I have renewed it countless times at the library, I don't know if I will ever finish it.
This one I was excited to order but now that it's here, I haven't even opened it yet. I like the idea of green investing, and socially responsible investments, but to act on those ideas requires that I know a bit more about investing and while I aspire to that state of knowledge, right now I have too many other things (like laundry) on my plate. But I figure having the book in the house is the firststep and I get half-credit for that, right?

This one I bought on a whim at Barnes & Noble. Perhaps that's how you make your millions, you have a book that people buy on a whim? Anyway, it's actually a very good step-by-step instruction book on how to take "your product" from idea stage to market. Now I just need a product.

I was looking for A Tale of Two Cities for Ben to read for school and saw this on the shelf and thought I would re-read it, as I haven't read it since junior high. I suspect I will like Dickens more now than I did then.



Here's one of the mysteries written by the author of that "how-to write a mystery" book. The main character is Brady Coyne, a lawyer who loves to fly fish, and I have been devouring the books as fast as the library can send them to me. Which led me to ...
This one (or rather, this is one of several) - a jointly written book by that author, William Tapply, and, apparently, his buddy Philip Craig, who writes his own series of mystery books about J.W. Jackson, a retired cop who now lives on an island - where Brady Coyne likes to come to fish. So another series for me to get lost in! Such fun!

So ... that brings you up-to-date on my reading. I was just randomly perusing other people's blogs a bit ago and found a recommendation for a new author, Harlan Coben, who was favorably compared to Robert Parker, one of my all-time favorite mystery authors, so now I am going to go reserve some of his books at the library.

Happy reading, all!