Ok. I finished a couple of books this weekend, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with any of them, so I don’t want to devote a whole post to each of them. Here goes:

Jane Austen’s Emma by Julia Barrett – This is Sanditon, which is what JA was working on when she died, but JB decided to finish it up for her and publish it. For one, the editing was horrendous. Someone doesn’t know how to use quotation marks. Also, the style was definitely not as subtle as Jane’s. The characters were boring and flat.

Misery Loves Maggody by Joan Hess – Apparently this series has fans. I don’t get it. The main character wasn’t funny or particularly smart. The supporting characters were annoying and crabby. And it takes place in Arkansas. It’s written in Arkansas vernacular. It was a little too close to home.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Aren’t you glad I didn’t use up 2 posts for that?

Groan…. I did it again. I read the whole thing in one sitting. I stayed up really late, but I had help from my 3-year-old who had her elbow out of socket and wasn’t sleeping very well. I took advantage of my time awake to read the whole thing.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right? I have promised myself not to request the next book from the library til at least Tuesday, which would be the earliest they could get it to my branch anyway.

I read Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich yesterday. I started it while I was making dinner. Then I put it down for a while. I picked it up for my bedtime read. Bad idea. I put it down only to go to the bathroom. I finished it at 2:30 this morning. Today I am tired and have this horrendous headache. Why, oh why, did I read so much last night?

The sequel to A Year In Provence.

I actually liked this one better. Mayle didn’t seem to be so bitter about the crazy people he lives near, the unpredictable weather, and the laid-back culture. He seemed to be able to take it all in stride and adapt as opposed to complaining about it. Still, I don’t think I want to move to the French countryside.

Subtitle: On First Reading Jane Austen.

Weldon calls this a novel in letters, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was really a mini-biography and litereary criticism. She is writing to her neice and is trying to convince her to read Jane Austen’s work by giving some background on Jane and discussing each book.
I wish every biography could be this humorous and enjoyable.

I had been avoiding this series for year because I felt it was too over-hyped. Well, I finally decided to try one, and it was just what I needed. Sometimes I just need a good mystery with a kicky female heroine.

This is the first in the series, and it details how Stephanie Plum gets in the bounty hunter business due to financial desperation. The one she’s after, which will garner her $10,000, is a guy she had a dalliance with in high school who never called her afterwards. She has to learn the ropes the hard way, before she gets killed. Oh, also, there’s a crazy, rapist, professional boxer after her.

It’s not Great Literature, but it’s perfect for what it is.

Finally finished this one last night. It took me about 10 days to read this 350 page book. I decided it’s because it’s May and May is always a busy month.

This one starts off with Captain Aubrey at home in England with his wife, twin girls, and mother in law. He’s slowly going crazy in this situation and longs to be at sea. Dr. Maturin shows up with orders for Aubrey to go to an area East of Madagascar to take a couple of French Islands. The rest of the book follows that action.

I still love this series. Dr. Maturin is a riot. O’Brian’s writing is so subtle, that you almost don’t catch it when something funny happens. I like that. It makes me feel smart.

I loved Book Lust. I just sort of liked More Book Lust. I liked reading it, but I didn’t really like the subjects she chose to recommend books about. None of them really grabbed my interest. I do have the sneaking suspicion, however, that I will one day be interested in several of those categories, and will therefore be quite glad I have the book.

More Book Lust is out!!! I love Nancy Pearl.

I know, I know. It came out last month, apparently, but I had it on good authority it would be out May 10th. Oops.