The End of February Reading Update

I have been called to task for being remiss in keeping up my blog.  I shall now remedy that situation.

During the months of January and February, I have read 36 books (so far).  My great start into non-fiction was quickly shut down since the books I chose were boring and probably not appropriate.  The book The Planets had a strange structure that was neither comfortable nor informative to me.  The Elements dedicated two lavishly illustrated pages to each element in the periodic table.  After a good introduction my reaction was pretty much "meh".

Set free from the strictures I had set for myself, I happily reverted to nice fluffy, cozy mysteries and one series that is probably good for young folks (no sex or violence) but I liked it.

The first group of books I read were the Witch series by Debra Geary.  10 books and one novella. If you are going to read these, you really need to read them in order.  You can refer to http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk for the lists for the names of the series and each book.  These are really happy, happy books where everyone eventually loves everyone else.  Nice fantasy with some interesting witchcraft/magic thrown in.  For a book to capture my attention, I have to like the characters and there were tons of likeable characters and a few a little unlikeable ones who then had changes of heart.

The next series to grab me was Abigail Keam's Josiah Reynolds Mysteries.  The characters were more complex than in the witch series.  I read all but the most recent title, an oversight for sure.  I read the 2nd one first and I was hooked.  These were plotted tightly enough that I didn't figure out "who dun it" until late in the game.

I finished a book I had started last year:  Nancy Tesler's Sharks, Jellyfish and Other Deadly Things. I have read other books in her Carrie Carlin series but don't find them compelling.  If you are looking for good cozies, I can recommend other books and series.

I re-read Anne McCaffrey's Pegasus in Space which is part of her Pegasus.  If  you want to start reading McCaffrey, I can make lots of recommendations.  Her Pern series is great until you get to some of the last books.  The ones she wrote with her son, Todd are good but I don't recommend the ones that he wrote alone.  Sorry, Todd.  McCaffrey recommends that you read the books in the order that they were written, rather than in a chronological order determined by the internal timeline of the series.  This works just fine.  Start with Dragonflight.  McCaffrey is a wonderful world builder!

I really like the way Lorraine Bartlett writes so I read her whole series that she writes under the pseudonym of  Lorna Barrett: Booktown Mystery.  And when I finished those I read the Victorian Square Mystery series which she writes under her own name and then finally, I read four books in the Jeff Resnick series.  This last is quite different from the other two series.  She writes them under the name L. L Bartlett.

I decided I needed a break from Bartlett and am now reading a series by Lee Hollis (a pseudonym for a brother and sister writing team).  I find the characters a bit annoying but the books are so tightly plotted that I don't figure out who the murderer is until I am told.  They are pretty quick reads.

Here comes the stunner:  I am reading Great Expectations.  I have never read any of Dickens long works and have been intimidated by them.   But I have gotten far enough into it, that I am sure I will stick with it.  There is a story that goes with this.  I decided to try audible.com and have the book read to me as I was reading.  They call that immersion reading.  I couldn't get my Kindle Fire to link the text with the recording I had bought.  (Amazon owns audible).  After spending a lot of time with two different help specialists, and buying a different text that was supposed to have a "professional narrator",  I finally gave up and told the guy that I didn't have the patience to pursue it further.  So now I put the audio on my Fire and listen with headphones while I read on my Kindle Touch.  Ain't technology grand?

That brings the blog up to speed on my reading.  Next blog will be about kids and grandkids and dog.
TTFN!