Readus Interruptous

[#1]

"Readus Interruptus" - love it.  I've been trying very hard to finish books before starting new ones since the "in-progress" bin has started overflowing.

And then HarperPerennial sent me Blake Butler's There is No Year...*sigh* I have no willpower.

[#2]

Feel your pain... at least I'm struggling through these. Thanks for the rec!

[#3]

Just realized that my agreement on O'Nan's Snow Angels - great book - made into a snooze of a movie didn't make it onto the previous comment.  Drat cyberspace.  The Speed Queen sounds like a really interesting piece...there's another for the TBR, lol.

[#4]

That movie was a real downer, but really nice performances (especially from Sam Rockwell and Nicky Katt). O'Nan's Last Night at the Lobster has been on my radar for a long time now, too.

[#5]

Well, my tastes run more to the cozy mystery, which you will probably be able to tell from the list of books I've been reading, and then I seem to have gotten attached to a certain subgenre, which you will probably be able to guess from the titles.

I've just finished Real Murders by Charlaine Harris. It's the first in her Aurora Teagarden series.

Most mystery buffs are probably most familiar with Harris' Vampire series featuring Sookie Stackhouse, which I read, but I confess, I like ALL of Charlaine's series. I recently finished the latest book in her Harper Connolly series(which features a protagonist who, after having been struck by lightning, has the ability to discover dead bodies. Harper's really been searching for her own lost sister who just vanished years ago, and the latest book deals with her finally finding out what happened. I suspect it's going to be the last book in the series, but I could be wrong).

The Shakespeare series featuring Lily Bard is good, too.

I love books that use puns or play on words, and a brand new series by Ellery Adams does just that. The first book, A Killer Plot, introduces the reader to Olivia Limoges and her standard black poodle, Captain Haviland. The second book, A Deadly Cliche, deals with a killer or killers who leave clues with dead bodies with clues that are based on cliches. The third book in the series,The Last Word, is promised for release soon, and it's definetly on my TBR list.

Here's a set of books I've either just finished reading or just getting ready to read:

Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston.

Here's a blurb from the back of the book: "When Anastasia Pollack's gambling-addicted husband permanently cashes in his chips in Vegas, her life craps out. She's left with two teenage sons, a mountain of debt, and her nasty, cane-wielding Communist mother-in-law. Not to mention a loan shark demanding fifty thousand dollars." Sounds like a fun read to me!

One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper FForde

I haven't had time to start actually start reading this yet, but I love the map in the front that's right after the table of contents. It's ostensibly a map  of "Fiction Isand" (which bears a suspicious resemblance to the British Isles) and  rather than shires or counties, there are sections on the map such as Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Comedy, Dogma, Racy Novel, and a couple of  outer islands --one of which is titled, Lies, Excuses, Fibs, another which is Chick Lit, which has a section of the island called Dubious Lifestyle Advice. I'm almost afraid to start reading the book--not sure how anything could be funnier than that map!

Death Train to Boston by Dianne Day

I know nothing, really about Day's Fremont Jones series, except that it's been recommended by fellow mystery readers. I'm always glad to discover a new mystery series, so long as it's well written, so I have high hopes for this.

The Last Templar by Michael Jecks

Since Ariana Franklin died abruptly this year, there won't be any more of her Mistress of the Art of Death series of books. I've already been through the Borther Cadfael series by Ellis Peters a number of times, and Margaret Frazer, with her Sister Frevisse and Joliffe medieval mysteries, is the only other author who covers the middle ages that I really like. So, I'm trying out the first book in Michael's Knights Templar series.

The House Sitter by Peter Lovesey

This is one of Lovesey's Peter Diamond series. I'm hoping I like it so I will have the rest of the series to enjoy.

Death of a Cozy Writer by GM Malliet

Just finished reading this, and really liked it. Malliet is writing a sort of homage to the grande dame, Agatha Christie, as there's a murder that takes place in a locked room. There's also a previous murder that occurs in a wine cellar(another historical/literary reference) and a household of greedy family members as suspects for DCI St. Just and his colleague Fear to sort through.

Another set of books I've either just read or starting to read:

The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames

Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson

Buttercream Bump Off by Jenn McKinlay

Cookie Dough or Die by Virginia Lowell

A Dinner to Die For by Claudia Bishop

Death Dines In--edited by Claudia Bishop and Dean James

[#6]

Thanks for the list. Own that cozy enthusiasm.