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I've slowed down, again. This week I finally took the time to figure out how to play movies on my tablet and discovered that watching all those non-English series I've got are a lot easier to concentrate on when watching them on my tablet. I'm currently on a Borgen-binge. Next week the new Simcity is released and if the game is as good as the limited-play beta was I will be hooked on that for a while.

Faithless by Karin Slaughter.
The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan.

I really need to get to reading a new book this year.

I'm reading something, though! I'm almost finished rereading the Kate Daniels series! Only one more book + side stories to go.

I'm not counting them as a read for this year.

MrsJoseph wrote: "I really need to get to reading a new book this year.

I'm reading something, though! I'm almost finished rereading the Kate Daniels series! Only one more book + side stories to go.

I'm not coun..."

As long as you're having fun.

I think after two years and three months of reading more than ever before I might have slowed down to my "normal" reading pace. Partially due to Simcity coming out but even in the week before that I read slower.

Extraction by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
Yesterday's Gone: Episode 2 by Sean Platt & David Wright.
Yesterday's Gone: Episode 3 by Sean Platt & David Wright.

The Yesterday's Gone serial is starting to grow on me. The first "episode" I read at the start of the year and I thought it was okay. I had planned on reading just one more episode but couldn't put my Kindle down after finishing it, so I read another one (they are quick reads). It's a mixture of Stephen King's The Stand, Justin Cronin's The Passage and a pinch of The Walking Dead (although there are no zombies, as far as I know after reading three episodes). I'm now very curious how the story will continue, but I don't want to burn out so I'm trying to pace myself.

I thought I slowed down, that was until I discovered Yesterday's Gone.

The Last Oracle: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins
Yesterday's Gone Episodes 4-10

I think after I finish the second season of Yesterday's Gone I'll try to take a break from the series. I had planned on doing that after season one but it ended on such a cliff hanger that I just had to keep reading. Chances are that will happen again.

Yesterday's Gone Episodes 11-12
The Bones of Avalon by Phil Rickman.

I'm feeling very indecisive with books at the moment. Going from post-apocalyptic horror to historical mystery. What I do know is that I'm in the mood for easy and not too long reads.

River's End by Nora Roberts.
Haunted by Heather Graham.

Simcity is really eating into my reading time, LOL. I've also been a bit undecided what to read. I'm not in the mood for long, hard books, hence Haunted. At the moment I'm leaning towards sci-fi (Ringworld series) and fantasy (I'd like to read something similar to Abercrombie's First Law series).

I finished The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven today. I liked it a lot better than Ringworld, the first in the series. It seemed to me the characters were much more rounded and a lot less annoying than in the first book. However, there are still a lot of questions unanswered so I guess I have to continue this series.

Bianca wrote: " Yesterday's Gone Episodes 11-12
The Bones of Avalon by Phil Rickman.

I'm feeling very indecisive with books at the moment. Going from post-apocalyptic horror to historical mystery. What I do know..."

I know how you feel. I'm not really finding anything catching my attention. :(

MrsJoseph wrote: "I know how you feel. I'm not really finding anything catching my attention. :( "

It isn't so much as nothing catching my attention, it's more of nothing holding my attention long. I like the books I'm reading, but not enough to continue straight away with that series, or even that genre. Even when thinking about which book I want to read next I'm going "let's try series A! Nah. Series B? Nope. Maybe genre X? Definitely not! Genre Y? Can't be bother...". In other words I'm really annoying myself.

The Haunting Season by Michelle Muto
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Beloved by Toni Morrison
A reread, I had to read this book in my first year of college and I don't think I really appreciated it back then. On rereading it I liked it more, but I still didn't love it. Still a good and worthwhile read.


Island 731 by Jeremy Robinson
It reminded me a bit of James Rollins' Sigma Force series. However, this book isn't as thoroughly researched as Rollins' book. The science described isn't very believable and it's over the top. However, it's a quick and entertaining read, just what I needed at that time.

The Heresy of Dr Dee by Phil Rickman.
Very enjoyable. I liked it a little bit better than the first book in the Dr John Dee Papers because the pacing was better and more balanced.

Bianca wrote: "Beloved by Toni Morrison
A reread, I had to read this book in my first year of college and I don't think I really appreciated it back then. On rereading it I liked it more, but I still didn't love ..."


I can't read Toni Morrison. She freaks me out. I tried The Bluest Eye and couldn't do it. Beloved...thank goodness the movie spoiled the plot (I didn't watch it).

I've been lazy with updating what I've read this month, so here is what I've read since my last update:

River God by Wilbur Smith
Two Graves by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman
Midwinter of the Spirit by Phil Rickman
Hallowed Ground by Steve Savile & David Niall Wilson
What Darkness Brings by C.S. Harris

With everything that's going on at the moment I've kinda put my challenges on hold. I might pick it up again later in the year but now I'm so busy with cleaning and soon redecorating after the fire in the neighbours' basement (we've got a lot of smoke damage) that I'm glad if I manage to read 10 pages at night.

Shelly wrote: "Impressive list for the end of May, though! I started Coraline and haven't finished it yet, and the C.S. Harris books (or at least the first one) are unofficially part of my summer reading challenge."

The Sebastian St. Cyr series is ideal summer reading IMO. I'm now reading Heather Graham's "Harrison Investigation" series. Nice and easy, since I just can't deal with anything complicated at the moment.

Bianca wrote: "With everything that's going on at the moment I've kinda put my challenges on hold. I might pick it up again later in the year but now I'm so busy with cleaning and soon redecorating after the fire..."

I'm sorry to hear about the fire. I'm glad you are ok.

MrsJoseph wrote: "I'm sorry to hear about the fire. I'm glad you are ok. ."

Ditto.

Thank you all.

It's been almost six weeks now and we're almost ready to open the store again (hopefully tomorrow)!

Hopefully now I'll get some more time to myself. I have been reading, of course, so here's my list of the last two months:

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
A Crown of Lights by Phil Rickman
Asylum by Kristen Selleck
The Ruth Valley Missing by Amber West
The Bat by Jo Nesbø
Ghost Walk by Heather Graham
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Bianca wrote: "Thank you all.

It's been almost six weeks now and we're almost ready to open the store again (hopefully tomorrow)!

Hopefully now I'll get some more time to myself. I have been reading, of course,..."

Nice list! And congrats on the store!

I finished Triptych by Karin Slaughter last night. After The White Queen by Philippa Gregory I needed to read something that was the complete opposite.

I'm reading Karin Slaughter's books in publication order, this was the first in the Will Trent series, because her Grant County and Will Trent series occasionally merge into the Georgia series. To keep it simple I just read those two/three series in order.

I really liked this new, for me, series. Will Trent isn't the standard main character hero you often find in crime thrillers. Slaughter revealed just enough about Trent's history to have me really curious for the next book.

I finished The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell yesterday. I really liked it. Like Rollins' Sigma Force it's about a quest to find a religious artifact. And like Sigma Force it's and adventure thriller, however, the Order of the Sanguines series has some fantasy thrown in.

Yes, it are vampires but not the annoying kind. And I'm a sucker for religious artifact quests so I can't wait for the next in this new series.

Shelly wrote: "Bianca wrote: "I finished The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell yesterday. I really liked it. Like Rollins' Sigma Force it's about a quest to find a religious artifact. And like Si..."

There's a prequal short story, introducing one of the main characters City of Screams, which is only $0.99 on Amazon.

I hope the series will stay as good. I've found that with those adventure thrillers writers have a tendency to write the same story over and over again just "dressed" differently (like Cotton Malone by Steve Berry).

Sigma Force doesn't have that (at least not up until where I am now), probably because there is a big group of main characters and each book focusses on a different character(s).

Bianca wrote: "I finished The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell yesterday. I really liked it. Like Rollins' Sigma Force it's about a quest to find a religious artifact. And like Sigma Force it's ..."

Have you read the Belgariad?

MrsJoseph wrote: "Bianca wrote: "I finished The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell yesterday. I really liked it. Like Rollins' Sigma Force it's about a quest to find a religious artifact. And like Si..."

No, I've never heard of it before but it looks interesting. I try to keep my epic fantasy series to one active at the time but I think I'll start this series after I finish Mistborn. Thanks for the tip!

I ditched Heresy by S.J. Parris, I just couldn't get into it. I've started City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and when I looked up again I was 22% in, so I guess I'll finish the series. I also just watched the second trailer of the film and now I want to see it. The release date is great, just a couple of days before my birthday and since my sister always gives me a giftcertificate for the cinema I'll be using it for that film.

Welcome! :)

It's fantasy but it does have that "religious artifact" thing going on. It's just a fantasy religious artifact.


ANd you reminded me I need to read Mistborn.

MrsJoseph wrote: "Welcome! :)

It's fantasy but it does have that "religious artifact" thing going on. It's just a fantasy religious artifact.


ANd you reminded me I need to read Mistborn."

I like fantasy and I like religious artifact quests, so a combination should be good.

I've read the first two Mistborn books and really liked them. I'm keeping off reading the third because it's so long and I'm just not in the mood for long reads at the moment.

Last night I finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and loved it. I can't wait to start the next book in the series, however, to prevent series-burn-out I am first going to read the next Merrily Watkins books.

I finished The Lamp of the Wicked by Phil Rickman yesterday. Another great Merrily Watkins book. Usually if I read a series in relatively quick succession I burn out after four or five but I don't have that with this series (yet, knock on wood I won't). I don't know if it's because each book deals with a very different theme or because the characters and situations are very believable.

I read that ITV has commisioned a pilot be shot. Hopefully it'll be a succes!

It was so incredibly hot today there wasn't much else to do than to sit as still as possible and read.

So I finished City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. It was an okay and fast read. I did get annoyed by the ending because it's again a sort of cliffhanger about what will happen to Clarry's mom.

Earlier today I finished John Connolly'sThe Reapers. In this installment of the Charlie Parker series we follow his killer/criminal friends Louis and Angel.

It had a long and slow start but when it got rolling it was very hard to put down.

Earlier this week I finished Glen Ebisch's The Crying Girl, which was okay, but short and certainly not worth the $7 I spend on it.

Just now I finished Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter. Which is, according to Slaughter's website, the last in the Grant County series. Not only was the story very good but the ending, just, wow. I know that Sara Linton will come appear in Slaughter's Will Trent series and I can't wait to see how she deals with what has happened.

Bianca wrote: "I finished The Lamp of the Wicked by Phil Rickman yesterday. Another great Merrily Watkins book. Usually if I read a series in relatively quick succession I burn out after four or five but I don't ..."

I just put the first one on the potential read list.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "Bianca wrote: "I finished The Lamp of the Wicked by Phil Rickman yesterday. Another great Merrily Watkins book. Usually if I read a series in relatively quick succession I burn out after four or fi..."

Have you read the others in the series? If not, read those first since the series (at least up to now) has got great character development and for some it's best to read their story from the first book.

I'm now reading the next one in the series and it looks like another good one. I've slowed down a bit because I've discovered the listening to podcasts before I go to sleep and that's eating into my reading time.

I haven't read anything in th eseries so I put the first book on my potential read list. The synopsis sounded interesting so I pressed the button.

Last year I read another book by Rickman Curfew and in it features one of the regulars of the Merrily Watkins series. Apparently he does that often, he's also written some ghost stories before the Merrily series and some character appear in the series.

If you like him you can also check out his John Dee series (just 2 books up until now).

Yesterday I finished The Prayer of the Night Shepherd by Phil Rickman, the sixth book in the Merrily Watkins series. Up until this book this one is my favourite, about where Arthur Conan Doyle got his inspiration for The Hounds of Baskerville.

I've gone straight to the next Merrily book, after this one I will take a break and read the third Mistborn book. I've also decided that in September I'll be focussing on classics (I can't promise I will only read classics).

Time for another update:

The Smile of a Ghost by Phil Rickman
Virginia Creeper by Blaine Lee Pardoe
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon
The Doomsday Key: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins

I'm really liking the Commisario Brunetti series by Donna Leon. I've tried several crime series set in Italy, I like Aurelio Zen and Nic Costa, but they're not easy reads and Inspector Montalbano just wasn't for me (although I suspect it might have something to do with the translation). These are nice and easy reads, the crime itself doesn't seem to be the most important thing but the people and Venice itself.

Another two books finished this weekend:

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Not much is coming of my intention to focus on classic novels this month, oh well.

Finished in the last week:

The Remains of an Altar by Phil Rickman
The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

I forgot to update last week. Over the past two weeks I've finished:

The Devil You Know by Mike Carey
The Final Descent by Rick Yancey
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

and today or tomorrow I'll finish
Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead

The Curse of Malenfer Manor by Iain McChesney
The Fabric of Sin by Phil Rickman
Yesterday's Gone: Season Four by Sean Platt and David Wright

I need to get a move on with my age challenge, I've only 9 out of 34 books and I want to try to get the challenge half way done by the end of the year.

The Black Country by Alex Grecian
City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

The first one was a bit disappointing for me. I've studied in/near the Black Country in the UK and was hoping to recognize something in the story, but that didn't happen.

The Devil Colony by James Rollins
Stoker's Manuscript by Royce Prouty
To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman

Good to see some activity here.

Finished this week:
New Year Island by Paul Draker
Dressed for Death by Donna Leon
and my Halloween read
The Small Hand by Susan Hill

I'm going on vacation in just over a week and I'm trying to decide what to read. Next week Merrily Watkins #12 is released and I'm hoping I can wait with reading it until my vacation, but other than that I'm not sure. I'm torn between trying to finish some series or reading one of the long books I've had on my TBR list for a while (Musashi, The First Man in Rome or Gai-Jin).

Wow, those are doorstoppers. :) I have a hard time rationalizing the effort of even a 500 page book these days.

Musashi would get my vote out of the three.