Might be off topic - reading slump

I love Ian Rankin, but his work is dark. Am also loving Ken Follett and newer John Grisham novels (anything written after _A Painted House_).

Elizabeth

I too love Ken Follett. John Grisham not so much, but I haven't read the newest ones.

Lucille

While we were gone I picked up a JG novel, named the Street Lawyer. It was an older one, but I didn't remember reading it before. It was an excellent book, and also made one think.

Gillian

Cheryl,

Check out Michael Gruber. "The Book of Air and Shadows" is about a lost Shakespeare play and is fabulous. There's also a series with a cop that should probably be read in order. I think Jaguar Night (or something to that effect) is the first. Wonderfully written and different.

Sara

I don't there is one, but if there is one, I buy it.

C

Might have been the third one or toward the end of the second. Or her other writings... All I really remember is that she got on a subject that I completely disagreed with her on and her opinion was that if I didn't agree I wasn't a liberated woman or something to that effect.

C

I recently read _The Last Juror_ and found it to be really compelling.

Elizabeth

I was going to suggest _The Book of Air and Shadows_ but she said she didn't want anything too serious and I think it is very serious. _The Historian_ is also excellent, if very dark. But what will make you laugh out loud is _Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal_ by Christopher Moore. Someone gave it to me right after my surgery last year and it was painful.

Elizabeth

I love the No. 1 ladies Detective Agency! I haven't read the newest yet, though I'm on the waiting list at the library. Great stories!

Louisa

I was sorting our books a couple of weeks ago, and found and re-read

84 Charing Cross Road, by Helen Hanff. It's a neat little book , a series of letters exchanged between the author and the owner of a used bookshop in London in the postwar years. I highly recommend it. Lots of discussion about what makes a book enjoyable and memorable.

Louisa

Louisa I adored that book . mirjam

I bought 2 , and a friend lent me several of the series , it is a Great series ,,, wonderful reading and i now drink that wonderful tea!!! mirjam

I adore Christopher Moore. Any of his books are laugh out loud funny. And very different.

Sara

On Sep 25, 4:08=A0am, Cheryl Isaak wrote:

Because my work hours haven't been conducive to library visits, I've been re-reading all of my Mary Balogh historical romances. In spring I re-read all of my Amanda Quick and Catherine Coulter historical romances. I also love Georgette Heyer's regency romances and her mysteries from the 1920s. Though I read mostly for escape, I also read a serious book now and then. One good one, though I don't have any children myself, was "Why Gender Matters". It was a fascinating look at how different genders learn differently at different ages. I also like the occasional military historical books like the one about the rescue of POWs from one of the Japanese prison camps near the end of WWII. I usually stick to historical mysteries or romances because they tend to be more escapist but I also enjoy the occasional foreign modern mystery. Somehow, if it's in another country, it makes it more fun. :-) I loved Marion Chesney's regency romance series, though the "Daughters of Mannerling" was a little too far out, and I also like her modern mysteries with Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth. OH! The other one I was enjoying was the Periodic Table mysteries by Camile Minichino. The character is a retired physicist who ends up going to work as an "expert" for the police department in her old home town of Revere, Mass. She lives in the upstairs apartment at the mortuary owned and operated by her best friend's family. I think the last one I read was "O", but I don't remember exactly.

Now that DH and I will be working different hours again, I'll be able to listen to some books on tape in the evenings while I stitch. I love listening to older books like Jane Eyre or Huckleberry Finn on tape.

Liz from Humbug

These will let you escape to another time and place and to laugh a little. And, they are on topic! The Magdalene la Batarde series from Roberta Gellis was lots of fun to read. There are currently four books available: A Mortal Bane, A Personal Devil, Bone of Contention and Chains of Folly. Roberta is apparently planning/writing a fifth in the series. They are mysteries that take place back in "OLD England" during medieval times. Magdalene is in charge of a group of women who, well, "work nights" for lack of another term that would attract the kind of attention that rctn doesn't need. :-)) During the days, one of the things they do to bring in extra income is to design and stitch alter cloths and fine linens. :-))))) The Captain of the Guard (I think) is a friend of Magdalene's and is also in love with her. He is the one who tends to involve them in the mysteries. The history is accurate and the mysteries are fun and interesting. Liz from Humbug

She's writing a new one - thank heavens. I really enjoyed them but thought she's given up on the series with the long break between books.

I adore the Vicky Bliss series from Elizabeth Peters. But I think in some ways, she's written herself into a corner with the characters. Ditto for Joan Hess's Magoddy series. Cheryl

I like to get JG on audiobook. He's not an author I like to "read read," but his stories are good. He's almost completely plot-driven, and it comes across well as an oral storyteller.

sue

And there are always Tanya Huff series. I liked the "5 Quarters" series- bard stuff. And the Deeds of Paksenarrion - pretty classic (years ago one of my hockey pals decided that Pax would be here nickname in honor of...)

ellice

I'll look at my stash - I have all his books, except Ysabel. It's a couple of series, and some stand alones. I think you'll like them - I'm betting, Sue, that you'll appreciate his use of language.

Ellice