I'm making my way through James Patterson's Alex Cross series... crime thrillers and some ugly stuff going on so I may have to take a break soon for a good Tilly Bagshawe bonkbuster or some chicklit! I recently downloaded over 1000 books with lesbian themes to my kindle so I guess I should tackle those one of these days XD I saw others mention the Sookie Stackhouse books... I read all 13 of them this year - so much fun!!!

In real book form Mo Stars Complete Dark by Stephen King

In Kindle form starting the Deviations Series

Finished only 3 books in December but they were really good. And because of this thread, I am now reading the following:


Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
by Donnie Eichar

and

James McBride's latest novel: The Good Lord Bird (Aug. 2013)


and my current "fluff" (not necessarily a silly book but something I read on and off in sections) is a vintage Thanatochemistry/Embalming manual. It's a tome at over 500 pages and I skip the mathematical equations for fluid levels but the explanations of restorative art are fascinating.

I too am reading, The Good Lord Bird
(I borrowed it from a friend, recently).


After spending my day out and about, I picked up several books to stash away for reading late at night:

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: The Annotated Frankenstein (2012).
-- Edited by, Susan J. Wolfson and Ronald L. Levao

Written On The Sky: Poems from the Japanese (2009 edition).
--Translated by, Kenneth Rexroth

Dancing Embers (Twisted Spoon Press, Prague: 2002).
-- Poetry and Prose by an ethnic Hungarian poet who resides in Transylvannia, Romania: Sándor Kányádi.

The Poems of Li Ho: 791-817 (Oxford University Press, 1970).
--Chinese poetry by Li Ho translated by, J. D. Frodsham.

What I'm reading
 

House Girl by Tara Conklin~~

Just finished reading
 

Joyland by Stephen King & One Degree of Separation by Karin Kallmarker

Gone by Jonathan Kellerman ... it is one in his Alex Delaware (AD) series. I love the characters, they are all familiar to me since I've read so many of the AD ones. I have had it awhile now. In real life, Jonathan Kellerman is a child psychologist.

I am a very active person and lately it has been difficult to be still and read - would rather be outside tooling around (woodworking) or indoors assembling a gadgie. My current on going indoor project is making a lamp for the fun of it. I am sure I will give it to someone, don't know who yet, when completed. I think I am finished with it and then get another idea to do something more to it. About a week ago, I found the neatest switch (very unusual looking) on a sale table at Home Depot. It works great and is so cool. I like using my hands to create things.

Common Murder: A Lindsay Gordon Mystery by Val McDermid

A series about a journalist who turns detective on occasion. This is book two in the series. A good read set in Scotland and England.

I discovered the Ender series and loved the writing style. I had grand plans to read the whole thing and I was SO excited to have found a new series. Then Orson Scott Card turned out to be a giant homophobic, racist weirdo. I feel dirty that I gave him money for this books with the way he spews vitriol.

Thank goodness I just got "The Wolves of Midwinter" by my dear Anne Rice, it
seems a perfect antidote for that hateful Card. Anne Rice publicly denounced the Catholic church for their antigay foolishness. My kinda girl.

Yes OSC is terrible person!!

I just downloaded a whole bunch of books about Marilyn Monroe to my Kindle so I am super pleased about that! Will take a break from Alex Cross soon to give them a read!

3 different romance series... at once... teen romance at that... I'm sad...

Think I am in love with this woman's mind
 

Communion : the female search for love / Bell Hooks

Beginning with All about Love (2000), hooks, a courageous, incisive writer whose compassion is backed by vigorous intellectualism, embarked on a provocative, invaluable dissection of the myriad obstacles to love in a society shackled by racism, the subject of Salvation: Black People and Love [BKL F 15 01], and patriarchal assumptions, the focus of this blazing inquiry.

Working from the premise that women of all backgrounds are still made to feel that their worth, or lovableness, is gauged not by inner qualities but by their appearance and how they serve others, especially men, hooks traces the dire effects of society's ongoing devaluation of women as she parses the dynamics of marriage, contrasts the experiences of different generations of women, analyzes women's collusion with patriarchal culture, and assesses feminism's achievements and failures.

Digging deeply into the snarl of sexist habits of thought and being, hooks concludes that women can have true love and autonomy in their lives only if, starting with mothers and daughters, they genuinely support each other in confronting misogyny in all its insidious forms.

"The Seven Story Mountain" by Thomas Merton.

"Contemplative Prayer" by Thomas Merton

and......

"Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets; Design and Build the Ultimate Car" by David Meade


Katniss~~(Competition and Contemplative topics....it's all about balance!)

finally finished
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
by Donnie Eichar

overall a pretty good easy read and i was all in all the way through

the author's theory of the hikers last night - chilling

mystery solved to my satisfaction

Queering Marriage: Challenging Family Formation in the United States (Families in Focus) by: Katrina Kimport

This is a fascinating book on how same sex marriage impacts heterosexual privilege. In certain ways it supports the family values of the past, while building new bridges into a new worldwide cultural expansion. It illustrates how we as gay people have altered the thinking of millions of heterosexual couples. They have understood marriage is more than just a fact of life which is natural and taken for granted. It is to be cherished because we have been fighting for the ability to love and share in marriage. Must read.

Almost finished with..
 

Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck

It was described in a blurb I read as the Help meets To Kill a Mockingbird

I'm reading 'Envy and Gratitude', a collection of papers by Melanie Klein.

The woman is awesome if not a little bit scary.

Feminist nostalgia continues.....
 

Feminist theory from margin to center / Bell Hooks.

Black women: shaping feminist theory -- Feminism: a movement to end sexist oppression -- Significance of feminist movement -- Sisterhood: political solidarity between women -- Men: comrades in struggle -- Changing perspectives on power -- Rethinking the nature of work -- Educating women: a feminist agenda -- Feminist movement to end violence -- Revolutionary parenting -- Ending female sexual oppression -- Revolution: development through struggle.

Just finished "MockingJay" the 3rd book in the Hunger Games. Was pretty good. Now I think I will look through my books and start up a new read.