Not much better...

I still haven't finished a book. I stopped reading "Full Dark House". It isn't bad, it's just not holding my interest. I picked up "Dead Witch Walking" by Kim Harrison.

This is a witch/vamp book. I'm not sure how much I like it. The main character seems to spend a lot of time "feeling uneasy" and she's the witch. I should count how many times she's described as uneasy. It's a little repetitive but I'm still reading. No guarantees on finishing it, though.

We're going camping from Friday until Monday so I'm hoping to get some serious reading in. Although Saturday will not be much of a reading day since both my kids and my SIL and BIL are coming to the campground to celebrate my 50th birthday. My birthday isn't until Wed. the 29th but this is the only time we can all be together. We are camping with our best friends and Sue's 47th birthday is Monday the 27th so it's a double celebration.

Sue is hard to buy for so we got a copy of Deborah Macomber's "The Shop on Blossom Street" for her. And a coffee table book on gardens in the French Riveria. She knits and crochets so I think she'll enjoy Macomber's book. I found it was a quick, fun read. I haven't read the sequel "A Good Yarn" yet. And Sue is a rabid gardener so I hope she likes the garden book.

Now it's time to get ready to leave. I want to stop at WalMart this morning and see if they have "Eleven on Top" by Janet Evanovich. It came out yesterday but WalMart didn't have it out yesterday morning. I hope it's there today as I really want to read it.

Fickle, I am...

I really need to stick with a book. I got part way through "Out" and just stopped reading it. No real reason. I didn't dislike the book. And I'd like to finish it sometime. Just not now, I guess.

I did buy and read "Black Rose" by Nora Roberts. It the second book in her "In the Garden" trilogy. The first book is "Blue Dahlia". I like most of her books. She always thoroughly researches whatever subject she writes about. This trilogy takes place in Tennessee. It involves a plant nursery and has a mysterious ghost. A satisfying, interesting read.

The present book I am reading is "Full Dark House" by Christopher Fowler. It was recommended on the 4 Mystery Addicts list and sounded interesting. I'm not that far into it but it's good so far. Here's a jacket excerpt: "Edgy, suspenseful, and richly atmospheric, here is the first novel in a riveting new series starring two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department's Peculiar Crimes Unit. In Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler tells the story of both their first and last case - and how along the way this unlikely pair of crime fighters changed the face of detection." I do wonder how it can be a series if this book has both their first and last cases in it.

I'm only 30 pages into it but I don't want to stop reading it yet. With my track record lately, this means it's quite interesting. And since my library book pile is growing again, I can't dawdle in reading it.

Abandon ship!

Or at least abandon "Dark Water"! This was not the book I was looking to read. It isone of those steamy romances disguised as a suspenseful mystery. I used to read lots of those but this one is not interesting me at all.

The book I'm reading right now is for a discussion on the 4 Mystery Addicts group. It's "Out" by Natsuo Kirino. It's a Japanese mystery translated into English and so far it's really grabbing my attention. The description seemed a little dark and I almost didn't read it. But I had ordered it from the library so I decided to at least start it and see what it was like. And I'm glad I did.

It's the story of four Japanese women who work the night shift at a box lunch factory. One of the women kills her abusive husband and now they are involved in helping her get away with the murder. The characters are well drawn and the descriptions pull you right into the story. I am only on page 66 and I can't believe how much information I have on the characters already. It's a 359 page book with small print so it's going to take me a while to finish it. That's okay if it continues to be as good as it has started out to be.

Onto new things

I finished "Death Below Deck" last night. It was an okay read. Not much suspense but I also didn't hate it. Now I need to read something that grabs my attention and doesn't let go until I finish the book.

I just this minute started "Dark Water" by Sharon Sala. I think it's going to be romantic suspense but that could be just the thing to hold my interest right now. Here's a little bit from the back of the book:

"Two decades ago, Sarah Jane Whitman's father disappeared with an embezzled fortune from his local bank, an act of betrayal that subjected his wife and daughter to a vicious scandal. Now a body has been pulled from its watery tomb, a body that is identified as Frank Whitman's. This grim discovery proves Sarah's father was innocent...and that the real thief got away with murder.

Now Sarah's obsession with uncovering the truth is making some people in Marmet, Maine, very nervous..."

I'm hoping it's better than the last couple of books I've tried to read.