An old favorite: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.

Also, for the trashy side: Belle de Jour, by Anonymous. Very tawdry.

I just finished Water for Elephants. I really like the way Sarah Gruen writes. Very descriptive and leaves your mind thinking. I'd never really given any thought to circus life before and found this very interesting. But, also a little depressing to think about how those poor animals and "lower" people were treated. Over all I really enjoyed reading Water for Elephants.

I have also been reading The Women Who Danced By The Sea, Finding Ourselves in the Stories of our Biblical Foremothers by Marsha Mirkin. She has a very interesting approach to the women of the Bible and how they interacted with their families. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and, where it isn't something I would want to read more than once, it has given me lots of food for thought and had me cracking my Bible open more than once.

I have also just finished two books in a new series that I found. They were The Mournful Teddy and The False Hearted Teddy. Sorry I can't think of the author's name right now. They were really good cozy mysteries. I really enjoyed them but then again I am a Teddy Bear lover also.

I started reading Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanna Fluke last night. Looks like it is going to be her standard for this series. The series is starting to get a little boring. It is becoming the same old same old. Will have to see how this one goes to see if I bother reading her next one.

Sheba's Mom, I'm glad you liked Water for Elephants. I have to read it for book club, so it's good to know that it should be at least somewhat enjoyable. Have you read any of the Aunt Dimity mysteries? They feature a very wise stuffed bunny. Just to continue the stuffed toy mystery idea... That's a kind of funny group, isn't it?

I just finished the His Dark Materials trilogy. I've read it several times before and I got a distinctly different message from it now than I ever have. I LOVE books like that! The end had me crying so hard that I couldn't believe it- not my reaction when I was 15 when I last read it! I've read just about anything Philip Pullman has ever written and it's all simply marvelous.

Allie, what's it about? Good for you for re-reading something from your youth. I have a feeling I'd get such different things out of the books I read when I was younger if I read them now. But the thought of going back and re-reading and how much time it would take when there are SO many books I've never read....well it just sounds overwhelming! So, the only one I've done that with, so far, is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, since we read it for my book club. I definitely got different things out of it, but I think I might have gotten more when I was younger!

Allie, I read The Golden Compass in college and loved it, I keep meaning to read the entire trilogy before the movie comes out! My DH loved the trilogy and our first pets together he named Lyra and Will (they were lizards). (The second set of lizards were Vernon, Petunia, and Lily...guess where we got those names?!) My to-be-read pile is just sky-high...and the book I'm reading right now I am ALMOST done but it's taken me forever to get through it. Just busy plus it's very dense (still Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex). I am looking forward to moving onto something else!

I'm reading Anne of Ingleside I bought a set with the last 3 books Loved windy poplars and house of dreams INgleside is dragging!
Also reading a Media Critique of Harry which is interesting
I've been wanting ot read his dark materials!!

KO, I definitely felt like I had to drag myself through the last Anne book...but I loved the series so much I made myself finish it. The first couple are just fantastic!

I'm about halfway through another Kris Radish book, The Sunday List of Dreams. It's really good--has her usual goal of getting readers to live their lives with joy and passion, but the story is about a woman who has always kept a list of her "dreams"--things she wants to do but hasn't, for one reason or another. At the beginning of the book, the woman (Connie) is just about to retire and give herself the time to finally follow those dreams, one of which is about reconnecting with her estranged daughter. I really enjoy the storyline between Connie and her daughter. It seems very "real."

After I finally, finally finished Leonardo's Swans I was up for something easy, so I read American Girls About Town, one of those little short-story compilations which includes authors like Adriana Trigiani, Jennifer Weiner, Lauren Weisberger, Melissa Senate, etc. It was fun and easy and that is what I needed! Onto greener pastures now. I am trying to read a nonfiction book to review and then I am going to dig into A Thousand Splendid Suns for some more difficult but enlightening reading.

Congrats, Jessie, on finally finishing that book! Whew! You'll have to tell me about A Thousand Splendid Suns. I think it's going to be our book choice for three meetings from now.

Well, for a long time I hadn't read much, but now that I'm on my own I have more time! I recently finished Mary Mary by James Patterson, and am looking forward to borrowing Cross from my SIL. Then I will be caught up on his Alex Cross novels. I'm addicted!

For Christmas, I'm going to ask for several Dean Koontz novels that sounded good to me. For awhile he got really weird sci-fi on me, but he still puts out some good suspenseful thrillers. Otherwise, I may start reading Ricochet by Sandra Brown. I borrowed it from my mom and she seems to like her but I don't know much about her.

Oooh, Lisa, Sandra Brown is a GREAT writer!!! I've loved everything I've read by her. James Patterson, on the other hand, though a good writer, scared the bejeesus out of me! We read Honeymoon by him for my book club and it was too much for this poor soul to handle! It's wonderful to get into a series by an author, though, isn't it?

So, while waiting for DH to get out of surgery on Wednesday, I managed to finish The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I get what you meant, Jessie, about the first half being better than the second half. I liked it much, much more than I thought I would. The subject matter took back seat, in many ways, to the writing, which was just splendid. (I'm starting to wonder if the latest popular books are popular because of their writing rather than their topics, which seem to be bleak, dreary, and off-putting. ) I kept expecting bad things to happen because of the way she was describing each situation, but they didn't...and when something bad finally did happen near the end of the book, I was completely hit upside the head with it!!! I had no idea that was coming and it totally shocked me! I actually started yelling at my book...out loud! (thankfully I was home by that point so no one hauled me off to the psych ward... )

I also finished Kris Radish's The Sunday List of Dreams. It got much better after the first chapter or two. Once it took off, it just didn't stop! I absolutely loved the description of the women's festival (which I'm assuming is meant to be Michfest?) and thought the interactions between the characters were much more honest and real than some of those in Annie Freeman. I can't wait to read more from this author!

I have Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn by Radish in my pile at home. Have you read that one, Laurie? Not that I have any lack of books to read in said gigantic pile. I've finally started Mary Called Magdalene by Margaret George again. It's been in the pile for about a year. I read half of it in college and then had to take it back to the library but have always wanted to read the rest and so here I go! It's an endeavor...625 pages. I'm also reading Tight Squeeze, Christian mom-lit by Debbie Digiovanni, to mix it up a little bit! I gotta balance out my light and heavy reading.

Happy Reading!

Laurie I haven't picked up the Aunt Dimity series yet. I have so many to read now I'm trying not to start any new series that I don't already have in my pile. Once I start a new series I have to read the whole series to get caught up. Heaven forbid they have a life without me.

Jessie did you enjoy, what you have read in the past of, Mary Called Magdalene? I picked it up at the same time I got Women Who Dance by the Sea but I haven't had time to read it yet.

I too try to read something light with the heavy and right now I'm reading Basic Income Tax for the class I am taking. It's heavy enough right now (in more ways than one)

I did finish Key Lime Pie Mystery and it was her usual fair. Starting to get really boring and all right already make up your mind on who you are going to marry or dump them both and move on.

For my light reading right now I'm reading 2 books. The first one is Distant Echos sorry can't remember the author right at the moment. It is a christian mystery set in Hawaii. Pretty good so far but then I was sure I would like it when I found out one of the main characters is a dolphin. The second one is Smoky Mountain Tracks by Donna Ball. It too is pretty good for a first book author. It is of course a mystery and involves a search and rescue dog and handler. Another of my favorites.